Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Khaled Abu Toameh asks why everyone is lying to PalArab 'refugees'

Khaled Abu Toameh continues his stellar series of articles in Hudson-NY, telling the truth that goes against all conventional wisdom of the Middle East:

The Palestinian Authority, like the rest of the Arab governments, has been lying to the refugees for decades, telling them that one day their dream of returning to their villages and towns, many of which no longer exist, would be fulfilled.

Meanwhile, the refugees are continuing to live in harsh conditions in their UNRWA-administered camps in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

No Arab or Palestinian leader has ever dared to confront the refugees with the truth, namely that they are not going to move into Israel. On the contrary, Palestinian and Arab leaders continue to tell these people that they will go back to their former villages and towns.

Arab and Palestinian governments are lying to the refugees because they want to avoid any responsibility toward their plight. The Arab governments hosting the refugees have done almost nothing to improve the living conditions of the refugees.

On the contrary, Palestinian refugees living in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan have long been subjected the victims of racism and other repressive and unjust measures and laws that deprive them even of basic rights. Governments such as Jordan receive a payment for each refugee, turning the refugees into nothing more than property, like stocks on Wall Street.

Since its establishment in 1994, the Palestinian Authority has also done very little to help the refugees. In the West Bank, most of the international aid is being invested in major cities such as Ramallah, Nablus, Bethlehem and Jenin, as well as scores of villages.

UNRWA is also not offering a solution to the refugees. Instead, the UN agency is perpetuating the problem by creating new generations of refugees. UNRWA is in fact encouraging the refugees to stay where they are. For UNRWA, refugees are a gigantic UN jobs program, providing over 30,000 of them, costing over $1 billion USD a-year, or, according to separate sources, a third of all other UN regugee services combined.

The case of the Palestinian refugees is one of the most important issues in the Israeli-Arab conflict. It needs to be solved for once and for all -- and immediately. The refugees have the legitimate and moral right to continue dreaming about their original villages and towns. But the Arab and Palestinian governments do not have the right to continue lying to these people.

The issue of the refugees can easily be solved if the entire international community, with the help of the Arab world, gets together to find a solution. Israel alone will never be able to solve the problem.

The refugees should be offered financial compensation or resettlement in Arab and other countries. Those who wish to move to a Palestinian state that is established alongside Israel in the future should not be denied that right. Arab countries should be urged to absorb Palestinian refugees.

Western countries should also participate by taking some of the refugees and offering them a new life. Why not establish an international fund that would offer financial compensation to those who lost their homes and lands? And let us not forget that there are also hundreds of thousands of Jewish "refugees" who lost their properties in Arab countries.

The world needs to tell the Palestinian refugees that while they are entitled to many rights, they must forget about returning to Jaffa, Haifa and other places inside Israel.

The issue of the Palestinian refugees can be solved only when a courageous Arab or Palestinian leader confronts them with the truth. As long as the refugees are being fed with false hopes, there can be no solution.

More on the fake graves in Mamilla

Palestine Today writes that the Muslim Waqf and the Al Aqsa Foundation went to court to stop the demolition of Arab graves in the Mamilla cemetery.

Their lawyer eloquently said, "We are the owners and the ones with the rights this historic Muslim cemetery. No one else has any rights there! There is no basis for the occupation authorities to demolish the graves of Muslims, [it is a] heinous crime and a flagrant violation of basic human rights, and violation of the feelings and beliefs of the Muslim people."

The only problem is that the Jerusalem Municipality isn't destroying any Muslim graves, but instead they are dismantling new headstones that the Al Aqsa Foundation have erected only recently in order to expand the boundaries of the cemetery. No one is buried under them.

Of course, the Arabic press is silent on this minor fact. They are inciting their readers by telling them that hundreds of their ancestors' graves are being destroyed.

This outright lie, that Israel is targeting Muslim graves, started in August. It was even believed by the president of the UN's General Assembly, who happily repeated the lie.

And so it goes.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

Gulf states drop in press freedom rankings

From Arabian Business:

Many Arab states in the Gulf region have dropped in this year’s world press freedom rankings, Reporters Without Borders said.

Kuwait, which came top out of all Arab nations in the 2009 list, fell 27 places to number 87 out of 178, drawing level with the UAE, according to information on the group’s website.

Kuwait is regarded as having the freest press in the Gulf region, however its treatment of the writer Mohamed Abdel Qader al-Jassem, who has been jailed twice following accusations against official figures, is one of the reasons for its decline.

Qatar also dropped 27 places on the list to 121, while Bahrain slipped from 119 place to 144 due to the "growing number of imprisonments and trials, notably against bloggers and netizens," Reports Without Borders said in a statement. Oman fell 17 places to 124 and the UAE slipped just one place.

However, Saudi Arabia bucked the regional trend, rising six spots to 157 place. Despite the increase the country languishes last among GCC countries.

The full report is here.

The methodology of the rankings seems to be somewhat consistent, although they didn't release the detailed answers to the questions that went into the scores so there may have been inherent bias in how they answered the questions as well as how highly they ranked some questions versus others. In the end, it is impossible to be truly unbiased in a survey such as this one.

Lebanon ended up at 78, Israel at 86 but "Israel territories" at 132, Jordan 120, Egypt 127, Iraq 130, Algeria 133, Morocco 135, Turkey 138, PA 150, Syria 173.

For contrast, the US ended up at 20 but US "extra territorial" at 99.

Many of the top countries were in Scandinavia. Not that I know one way or the other, but I wonder how many viewpoints they allow that go against the politically correct.

Cool Hebrew University video

A single 5-minute tracking shot of dozens of students lip-syncing Glee's redo of Queen's "Somebody to Love," done last week, with the videographer walking throughout the campus.

The FDD study of Palestinian Arab social media

I briefly mentioned a report by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies that analyzed Palestinian Arab social media (blogs, message boards, Twitter) to find current trends. Commenter "Elder of Lobby" pointed me to the actual study.

The authors acknowledge that online forums are not necessarily representative of what people really think. As with English-language Web 2.0 sites (and in real life,) the people who scream the loudest with the more extreme positions tend to get the most attention.

The survey did note that traditional polling is not any better - pointing out that the polls that the US relied on saying that Fatah would easily beat Hamas in the 2006 elections were way off, and suggesting that an analysis of social media could have headed off that mistake.

The report identifies three broad trends:

First, Palestinian social media is dominated by users who harbor radicalized perspectives. The landscape is not completely devoid of users with moderate to liberal views, but it is influenced heavily by political and theological radicals.

This is no different from any other social media, so it doesn't tell us anything new.

Second, there appears to be little cross-over between radical and liberal sites, indicating a significant lack of debate between radicalized users and those with non-violent ideologies.

This is also largely true in Western social media, although there are exceptions. Even where multiple viewpoints are seen, rarely will one find anyone convincing the other side of anything.

The third trend, however, I found most interesting:

Third, Palestinians who espouse moderate or liberal viewpoints online are often inclined to blog in English rather than Arabic. Indeed, there is no shortage of English-language blogs produced by Palestinians and other Arabs to address local and regional issues in general, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in particular.

That finding is important. It indicates that Palestinian Arab political moderates are not welcome to post their opinions in Arabic where (one presumes) the majority of the social web users congregate. Moderation is not rewarded in Arabic, but the English-language audience is much more inclined to identify with such thinking, meaning that an important potential source for dampening extremism in the PalArab media is missing.

Language is important. People who share a language naturally are less guarded in what they will write to their peers than they would be to outsiders. Absent peer pressure to the contrary, thsi extremism will tend to intensify. This would explain why extremists dominate in Arabic - there is no peer pressure within Arabic language posters to stand up and tell them that their ideas are wrong.

Newsweek, which just wrote an article mirroring the "Elders" saying that Hamas should come to the negotiating table and has moderated its positions, should read this report:

[T]he Palestinian social media environment gives no indication that Hamas is willing to seek peace with Israel. There were no scored posts on this topic on any of the pro-Hamas forums. Nor were there any posts attributed to pro-Hamas users on this topic on other web forums. From discussions about the flotilla violence in late May to the rumors of reinvigorated peace talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel during June and July, rejectionism was the dominant position among Hamas users. Accordingly, decision-makers weighing the benefits of engaging Hamas in talks should be wary of claims that the group has become more moderate and pragmatic, or that it privately wishes to negotiate peace with Israel and the United States.

The authors note the incongruity that I have mentioned a number of times of the disconnect between Fatah's official political positions and what its adherents say to each other.

Broadly speaking, most Fatah supporters embraced the notion that Israel was an enemy, rather than a peace partner.

In general, the study mirrors what I have seen from reading the Palestinian Arabic news media and comments for the past few years via Google Translate. for example:

Palestinian social media commentary on Israeli-Palestinian political reconciliation was overwhelmingly negative. Potentially positive diplomatic steps were often derided in the Palestinian online environment. Thus, despite Washington’s efforts to win the hearts and minds of Palestinians—both through new Obama administration policies and online engagement with Palestinians through a State Department initiative to explain those policies—the online forums suggest that there is currently scant support for a new peace initiative.

I can see the study being accused of bias, as it does not explain well the scientific basis for its views. The description of the methodology is interesting but it doesn't translate to any real numbers or trends, and since the Foundation for Defense of Democracies is perceived as a right-wing group, its findings may be dismissed out of hand by those who need to read it most.

It would have been more effective if it showed more rigor in drawing the lines from the research to the analysis. And it would be a shame if it is not studied closely by the current US administration.

Afternoon open thread

I missed it at the time, but my 9000th post was published a couple of days ago.

So now it is time to take advantage of some well-deserved bloggers' block.

If you have any cool links, feel free to post them in the comments.

Big break in Mabhouh assassination! OK, maybe not...

From Gulf News:

The Dubai Police chief on Tuesday confirmed the arrest in Canada of a suspect believed to be involved in the assassination of Mahmoud Al Mabhouh, a Hamas commander, in the UAE last January.

Speaking to reporters here, Lieutenant-General Dahi Khalfan Tamim said the Canadian authorities have arrested a suspect who is connected to the murder of Al Mabhouh.

The Hamas commander was killed in a Dubai hotel on January 19 by Mossad agents.

Lt-Gen Dahi told reporters that he has been informed of the arrest "verbally" by a representative from the Canadian embassy.

He went even further:

Canada actually informed Emirati officials of the arrest in June, but requested that they not announce it, Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim told Al Arabiya television.

"I am astonished. Why this attempt to cover up on this issue? We must act transparent, reliably and quickly in such cases," said Khalfan.

Speaking to the Al-Ittihad daily, Khalfan did not say why Canada had called for secrecy, nor explain why he had not said anything until now, given his objections.

He said he went public after the news was reported in the Canadian media.

Only one, slight problem:

Dubai’s outspoken police chief insists a Canadian security official informed him of the secret arrest of a Mossad assassin, even though Canadian officials deny having ever told him that.

His pronouncement has caused befuddlement in Canada’s national-security establishment, leaving some officials to speculate that Dubai is seeking to embarrass Canada amid an ongoing row over airport rights.

“Baseless,” was the word one well-placed Ottawa official used to describe the general’s claim.

Given the lack of specificity of Lt.-Gen. Tamim’s comments, the reaction in Ottawa is mostly one of confusion. “We have nothing to say at this point,” said Sergeant Greg Cox, a spokesman for the RCMP.

Two senior sources at the Canadian Embassy in the UAE told The Globe they did not inform the Dubai police chief about any arrest. “We are trying to verify this information with our colleagues in Ottawa,” one said, asking to remain anonymous. “Tamim said we gave this info to the Dubai police, and we didn’t.”

So why is Dubai starting to say lies about Canada? This could be one reason:

For years, Dubai has been lobbying for Canadian airports to open themselves up to more flights from the Gulf. Meanwhile, Canada has had unfettered access to the so-called “Camp Mirage” logistics base – a Dubai landing strip that’s existed for years to supply the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan with men and military hardware.

The UAE abruptly cut off Canada’s access this month, forcing Defence Minister Peter MacKay’s flight to redirect to Europe midair, after he ended a three-day tour of Afghanistan.

"Work accident" in Rafah

The Islamic Jihad mouthpiece Palestine Today reports that Israeli warplanes bombed Rafah this morning, causing some 13 to be injured in the huge explosion, including women and children.

The Fatah-oriented Palestine Press Agency, however, says that there was an "internal explosion" at a military site belonging to Hamas - a "work accident."

Which seems more likely?

A picture contradicts a thousand words

From Reuters:

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal (2nd R) meets members of The Elders delegation Lakhdar Brahimi, Ela Bhatt, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former Irish President Mary Robinson (L-3rd R) in Damascus October 19, 2010. The Elders are on a tour of the Middle East to build support for a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

While Reuters and the wannabe tribal elders claim that they want a peace agreement between Israel and the Arabs, the poster shows quite the opposite.

Right above Jimmy Carter's head is a map of Hamas' vision of "peace" - a world without Israel altogether.

It is telling that the self-proclaimed global leaders allow themselves, without compunction, to be props in a Hamas advertisement for the destruction of Israel.

One wonders whether they would take a walk with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a gaggle of wire-service reporters to survey Iran's exhibition of Holocaust-denial cartoons, or if they would have agreed to a photo-op in front of a picture of the World Trade Center crashing down.

The fact is that the public and prominent display of maps showing a Judenrein "Palestine" (whose only relationship with historic Palestine is that it portrays areas that Jews have some level of political control over) is no less offensive than proud pictures of 9/11.

The world has become numb to such an outrage, of course. You will have to look long and hard to find any so-called "peace" activist saying a word against these graphic paeans to ethnic cleansing that are pervasive in the Arab world.

But make no mistake - that is what a map of "historic Palestine" is. It's ubiquity makes it no less offensive, and for people who truly want peace, this should be obvious.

(The words on the poster are the Koranic verse that Muslims use to claim that Mohammed journeyed to Jerusalem, h/t Ali.)

Funny: Ahmed, the flag manufacturer

Thanks to Jacob who translated this so I could add subtitles:

Peace talks doomed - but keep it quiet until November

From McClatchy:

The Obama administration has secured pledges from senior Mideast leaders to continue their fitful peace negotiations until after next month's U.S. midterm elections, largely to avoid handing the Obama administration an embarrassing diplomatic setback before the Nov. 2 elections.

Israeli and Palestinian officials told McClatchy Tuesday that efforts to reach a compromise would continue until at least Nov. 3, a move they said "served the current American government."

"The time frame we are following has been designed around the elections in America," said a senior member of the Palestinian negotiating team. "We have been asked not to issue announcements that could embarrass negotiation officials."

He and Israeli officials declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.

So when the Obama administration says it wants peace in the Middle East, is this because this is a vital imperative to further world stability - or is it a way to get more Democrats in Congress?

This sort of contradicts the idea of the administration being an honest broker. An arbitrator should have no personal stake in the outcome - or existence - of negotiations.

Can you say "farce"?

UPDATE: Barry Rubin figured this out two weeks ago.

"No humanitarian crisis in Gaza - it's much worse!"

I've mentioned previously how, in the wake of blogs and (belatedly) news organizations finally covering the phenomena of malls and water parks and fancy restaurants and luxury hotels in Gaza, the fake "humanitarian crisis" meme has morphed into something else - a crisis of hopelessness, or despair, or some other non-specific formulation that is a reframing of the entire situation.

Those who pushed the convenient but lying meme of starvation and genocide - people like Jimmy Carter - are now forced to figure out how to keep the pressure on Israel but without the lazy shorthand of "humanitarian crisis."

The latest people who are scrambling to redefine Gaza are "The Elders," the "four confused geriatrics who are wandering the Middle East trying to help terrorists" as Noah Pollak writes.

Mary Robinson, one of these busybodies who just met with terrorists in Gaza (unfortunately, not in front of the cameras this time,) said "This is not a humanitarian crisis - it is a political crisis and it can be solved politically."

The Elders' blog gave space to John Ging, whose job at UNRWA gives him more than a passing interest in prolonging Palestinian Arab suffering for the next few generations. He was more expansive in his attempts to tap-dance around the topic:

Instead of dealing with the obvious facts on the ground, the truth is either denied or ignored and instead a debate rages around whether there is a humanitarian crisis or not and whether adjusting or easing an illegality is the appropriate response. Let me say unequivocally that there is a crisis that is far larger than a “humanitarian crisis”; there is a crisis that affects every aspect of public and private life in Gaza.

As the Elders will see, the water and sanitation infrastructure is a state of collapse with 80 million cubic litres of untreated sewage pumped into the Mediterranean every day; 90% of the water unsafe to drink by World Health Organization standards. They will also see the poverty and staggering levels of aid dependency, where 80% of the population are dependent on handouts of food from the United Nations. Yes the shops are full of consumer goods, now from Israel rather than the tunnels, but very few can afford to buy them. Unemployment is at record levels with 95% of the private sector businesses closed and the ban on commercial imports and exports still firmly in place.

The result of this and much more is that 100% of the innocent civilians despair at the mismatch between the political rhetoric of the international community and their refusal to take effective action to uphold international law,

See? 100% of Gazans are suffering from acute despair! This is worse than starvation!

These old fogies, who fully support spending hundreds of millions to maintain Hamas' hold on power, know that Hamas is a better investment than merely buying food for millions of kids who have flies buzzing around their distended stomachs.

Religious Jewish girl on "America's Next Top Model"

Esther Petrack, an 18 year old girl who was born in Jerusalem and attended a modern Orthodox school in Brookline, MA, is apparently competing in the TV show America's Next Top Model.

She elicited some controversy when she told host Tyra Banks that she was Sabbath-observant, and then seemed to throw it all away when Banks told her this was a seven-day-a-week competition:

Clearly there was editing in that segment. (Just as clearly, there was more interest in her breast size than in her religious practices.)

Now her mom is defending her, saying that she did not say what the TV show tried to make it seem like.

The fateful words “I will do it” in an answer to the question about working on shabbat were the result of editing. Esther never meant or said that she would give up shabbat for the show, neither did she do it. These words were taken from a long conversation about the principles and laws of shabbat and how Esther was planning to observe them. The producers cut out these 4 words to create a more scandalous storyline; judging from the amount of reaction, they were quite successful!

I'm not quite sure how all of this will affect her chances for a shidduch...

Lotsa links

CiF Watch and Melanie Philips on the dis-invitation of a pro-Israel speaker at a panel discussion in Belfast. Not only is Israel delegitimized, but also her defenders.

Yesterday, I quoted the European Jewish Congress warning on the dangers to Jewish communities in Europe, and one example was a "throw the [Israeli] soldiers into the sea" event for children. The Philosemitisme blog has more details on that event as well as one before it. (h/t Ora)

A new study methodically monitored Palestinian Arab posts on websites and found that - surprise! - they aren't nearly as moderate as the West insists they are! (h/t Daily Alert)

The Dead Sea Scrolls are coming - to Google!

Naomi Campbell is the latest celebrity to join the Kabbalah bandwagon.

Here is a video of a diamond that shows a Star of David in its internal pattern from all angles:

At this site you can see a video of a girl singing Old MacDonald - in Yiddish!

An interesting video summing up Turkey's crimes over the past century:

Erdogan posturing for his Arab friends

From Ma'an:

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said he would not attend a climate change conference in Athens on Friday if his Israeli counterpart is present, he told Greece's Skai TV on Monday.

Erdogan is due to attend a Mediterranean conference on climate change in Athens on Friday. "If the prime minister [of Israel] takes part in this event, I will not be there," Erdogan said.

The funny part is that there is zero indication that Netanyahu planned to attend this conference. Israelis have presented at similar conferences, but there are no Israelis stated to speak here. The only other leaders mentioned in the program are the prime ministers of host Greece and Malta, as well Salam Fayyad of the PA.

In other words, Erdogan made a statement to look tough when he knew very well that he would not be forced to follow through. It was simple posturing for the media, and it worked, as his statement was picked up by a number of news services.

"Settlers storm Tomb of Joseph"

Once again, a group of Jews went late at night to pray at the Tomb of Joseph near Shechem (Nablus,) and the Arabic media freaks.

This time it is Palestine Today saying they are "settlers" who "stormed the shrine" and "raided" the area, which is supposed to be accessible to Jews under existing agreements.

The IDF needs to go to with them to protect the worshippers from being lynched.

Islamic Jihad distances itself from "rogue elements"

On Sunday, Israel killed two people who were about to shoot rockets towards Israel.

No terror group claimed them as members. And therein lies a tale.

There are reports that Islamic Jihad is separating themselves from members who act "impulsively" or who also claim membership in other groups, especially Salafist groups.

This appears to be an attempt to rein in their members. It is considered a "fateful decision," as in the past they would take responsibility for anything done by their members.

At least one of the would-be rocket terrorists were members of Islamic Jihad. Apparently, these rogue operations have been embarrassing for Islamic Jihad, especially the numbers of people killed.

Abbas "willing to renounce future claims"? No, he isn't.

From Bloomberg:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said he is willing to renounce all future claims on Israel after a Palestinian state is established, though he stopped short of recognizing Israel as a Jewish state.

“We are ready to put an end to historic demands” once a Palestinian state is established on land outside Israel’s 1967 borders, Abbas said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 1 television late yesterday.

Although he didn't spell those claims out, he almost certainly meant the "right to return" as well as claims on land within the 1949 armistice lines.

He is almost certainly lying. His promises are like his mentor Arafat's promises - things that are meant for Western consumption that have no basis in reality. His actions have not been consistent with these words.

But even if we take his words at face value, they are still meaningless. If a model Palestinian Arab state is established and some sort of peace treaty signed, we still have the problem that the majority of the Arab world will not accept it in their hearts. The decades of incitement, of demands for all of Israel - that won't evaporate.

For a small example, look how Islamic Jihad reacted to Abbas' statement:

[His words] affect the national principles, strength and strategic vision for our people, and do not represent the Palestinian people.

Another leading Islamic Jihad figure was even more explicit, saying that the conflict will not be over until the last Zionist departs from the soil of Palestine.

Hamas has stated similar opinions as well in the past. More importantly, they are consistent with English-language op-eds that Palestinian Arab intellectuals and academics at major Western universities write all the time.

Abbas represents only a tiny percentage of Palestinian Arabs worldwide, and probably not even a majority in the borders of 1947 Palestine either. His assurances are worthless.

The descendants of refugees whom he has not lifted a finger to help or even represent will vigorously disagree with any tampering of their sacred Right to Return - the only bone that their Arab hosts have ever thrown them.

As soon as a state is established, Arab countries will begin the process of expelling their guests to a state that does not want them and cannot absorb them, and these stateless Arabs will insist that they don't want to go to Ramallah anyway - but to Jaffa.

The number of terror groups will multiply out of frustration, and as we have seen, the West will cave to pressure by Palestinian Arab terror groups and start demanding more concessions from Israel - no matter what assurances they gave Israel in the past. It might take a decade or two, but it will happen, and no agreement drafted today can stop that from happening*. They'll hang those demands on some excuse - perhaps saying that lands outside the 1947 partition lines are also illegally occupied, or that some future fake massacre by Israel justifies how Palestinian Arabs must be returned to their historic nation, or that Israel does not allow free enough travel between Gaza and the West Bank.

Whatever the excuse, the maximal demands that we see today will not evaporate in the wake of a new Arab state on the West Bank. Like the "peace process" itself, it is a diplomatic fantasy that is far removed from reality.

And no one on the Palestinian Arab side is working to change that reality. No one - not Abbas, not Fayyad, nobody - is fighting against the daily incitement, no one is making statements to reassure people in refugee camps that they are fighting for their rights, no one is laying the groundwork for Day One of independence. On the contrary, they are (by their actions or inactions) doing everything they can to ensure a Palestinian Arab state is merely the first of two (or three) such states that will eventually encompass all of Palestine.

* If the agreement includes Arab countries agreeing to naturalize their Palestinian Arab guests, then there might be a slight chance. Of course, no one is even discussing that today.

Classic misoziony in the art world

(Misoziony is my term for rabid, pathological hatred of Israel and Zionism. It is my opinion that it is just as irrational and dangerous as anti-semitism.)

From AFP:

Two paintings by Norway's Haakon Gullvaag that show an Israeli flag have been withdrawn from an exhibition at the French Cultural Centre in the Syrian capital, the artist said on Monday.
His "Terra Sancta" exhibition contains works about the Israeli offensive against the Islamist-ruled Gaza Strip in December 2008 and January 2009.

Two of the works in which the Israeli flag features were removed from the show on Saturday, an angry Gullvaag told AFP by phone from Oslo, adding the French embassy in Damascus "explained to us that it was their decision.

"This was done without contacting the artist, the curator or the Norwegian embassy. I have never experienced something similar in my entire life."

The artist said the French embassy said it had concerns about a hotel near the cultural centre which normally has many Iranian guests.

"They were afraid that the Iranians would misunderstand the motifs as being Israel-friendly. Then the cultural centre claimed that some students have complained about showing the Israeli flag at all," Gullvaag said.

And what were the pictures that had the Israeli flag that were pulled out of fear that people would think they were too pro-Israel?

One is simply called "The Flag". It shows an Israeli flag, splattered with blood, standing in a pile of human skulls.

The other one, a detail in a 3-part series called "Invasion Triptych," shows an IDF tank with a dead Gaza child on top where an Israeli flag is partially visible.

And the French embassy didn't withdraw the paintings because they are incitement to hate, or because they represent baldfaced lies, or because they are slanderous, or because they are simply disgusting. They withdrew them because of the fear of offending people who might think they were somehow supportive of Israel!

Try to wrap your head around that one.

We have a Norwegian artist, a French cultural center and the Syrian/Iranian art lovers, all vying to see who can outdo the others in their public, visceral hatred and demonization of the Jewish state.

The exhibition was already shown in Beirut and it travels next to Israel's peace partners in Amman, Jordan.

UPDATE: One other angle: notice that the wire services don't bother to describe the paintings themselves, because their narrative is of the poor artist being censored by a French embassy, not the fact that the artist is filled with bile - that would just distract from the story.

Cuban pilots rescued 150,000 Jews 1951-3

From JPost via OlehGirl:

In the first years of the state, Cuban planes and pilots brought nearly 150,000 Jews to Israel from Iraq, Iran, Yemen and India, the official Cuban newspaper Juventude Rebelde (Rebel Youth) reported on Saturday. Unreported for 60 years, the airlift was one of the largest in history.

In the years after Israel declared independence, Jews in Arab countries began emigrating to Israel as their lives became more difficult. However, due to the lack of cooperation by the Arab governments, traveling by land was very difficult. Since there were no diplomatic relations between Israel and the Arab countries, it was necessary for the aircraft to be from a neutral country, according to the Juvente Rebelde report.

The Cuban connection stemmed from someone in the Israeli trade mission in New York's close friendship with Cuban businessman Narciso Otero-Roselló, a licensed pilot, according to the report. The businessman became president of new air company, Aerea de Cuba, which took ownership of the aircraft to be used in the years-long airlift and established offices in Havana and Nicosia in Cyprus.

The Cuban pilots who flew the planes on the historic mission recalled several close calls to Juvente Rebelde. They told of dust storms suffocating their engines in Iraq, making stops on desolate airstrips in Oman when making the long flights from India to Israel, emergency landings, and crashes while transporting Jews to Israel.

In early 1953, when their special mission was completed, the pilots returned to Cuba, Juvente Rebelde reported. This newly discovered chapter in Jewish and Israeli history shows how far-off countries assisted the Jewish people in the building of the state of Israel.

I found the original article in the Cuban magazine, although it is possibly the slowest Internet connection I've been on since 1994. And the end of the article goes on to talk about Israel's "genocide" of Palestinian Arabs. But it looks very interesting!