Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Fayyad's propaganda road

A press release that is apparently from the Palestine Prime Minister's office although I couldn't find it on its website:

We build roads of peace, the Israeli government destroys them. We plant trees to protect our environment, they uproot them. We send our young children to school and their soldiers bully them and beat them up. Our state-building efforts meet with state-destruction by Israel.

We note with alarm that Israel continues with its persistent policy of destroying infrastructure that we build for our people on our land, economic projects and private homes. Prime Minster Netanyahu is vociferously fighting for the rights of Israeli settlers to illegally build on Palestinian land while Israeli soldiers and settlers relentlessly attack, destroy, and violate Palestinian children, women, and the elderly within their own neighborhoods and homes. The unwarranted destruction of the “Freedom Road” in the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan by the Israeli authorities is an affront to all countries that contributed to building this road for Palestinian families to access their homes, schools, agricultural land, and health clinics. We request donors to report back to their capitals on the unjustifiable destruction of this road that was paid for through the generous support of their tax payers.

Here's the photo that accompanied the release:

So why are the evil Israelis destroying Palestinian Arab roads that are only meant to help little old Arab ladies get to their health clinics?

The answer is that the road was not built to help Palestinian Arabs, but rather for the purpose of forcing Israel to destroy it so that the above press release could be written and heartbreaking photos can be distributed.

Because what Salam Fayyad's office is not saying is that this road was built in Area C, the part of the West Bank that remains under full Israeli control under the Oslo Accords. Fayyad is simply not allowed to build there according to the existing agreements.

As the LA Times Babylon and Beyond blog states:

According to the Oslo breakdown of the West Bank, Area C, which makes up more than 60% of the West Bank land, remains under full Israeli military control. But Area C is also an important segment in Fayyad’s state building program, crucial to his dream of setting up the necessary infrastructure for a viable Palestinian state by August 2011.

Israeli officials had informed Fayyad and the village residents that they would not allow the road because it was located in an area under its full control.

According to the village mayor, the Israeli army tried to stop construction on the $335,000 road, paid for by the Palestinian Authority, several times. But they continued with the project, and when the road was completed, Israeli officials informed the mayor two days before the inauguration that he had one week to destroy the road or the army would be sent in to do so.

But Fayyad snubbed the Israeli threat and proceeded with the official inauguration ceremonies.

Israel did not act until about three months later, when Fayyad was abroad, and bulldozers were sent in.

In other words, Fayyad took $335,000 from money donated to the PA from mostly American and European state donors to build a road that he knew - and was warned explicitly - would be destroyed.

Now, he is saying that he will tell his donors that their money was wasted by Israel destroying a road, without telling them that he is using possibly millions of dollars of Western aid not to build a state but to score cheap propaganda points against Israel.

And Fayyad has planned to do this and similar projects for well over a year. As a JCPA analysis from October 2009 said,

Fayyad's "blueprint" calls for massive Palestinian development in Area "C" of the disputed West Bank, which is under Israeli civil and security control, and which directly challenges the delicate, agreed-upon framework of the 1993 Oslo accords.35 Palestinian plans include building an airport in the Jordan Valley, taking control of Atarot airport near Jerusalem, establishing new rail links to neighboring states, and water installation projects near Tulkarem and Kalkilya close to the pre-1967 "green line."36 Israeli security echelons firmly oppose Palestinian airport development plans near Jerusalem and in the Jordan Valley. Furthermore, Fayyad's agenda has broader designs on Area "C." Fayyad told the Arab daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat in a September 1, 2009, interview: "Many think that zone "C" areas have become disputed territories rather than occupied territories in the public consciousness. We assert that these are PNA territories where the state will be established."

This was no mistake. This was Fayyad cynically using donor money to make a political point, in a a plan that he published.

And JCPA's footnote 36 reveals more:

Fayyad, Ending the Occupation, Establishing the State, p. 35. Fayyad's aggressive plans to build in Area "C" of the West Bank is the most far-reaching attempt by the Palestinian Authority to establish de facto control outside of Palestinian Areas "A" and "B" as defined at Oslo. See also Alan Baker, "De Facto Deliberations." Baker, former legal advisor to Israel's Foreign Ministry and a legal architect of the Oslo accords, notes: "The concept of a one-sided establishment of a de facto state outside the agreed-upon process would appear to ignore a central component of the framework in which Fayyad himself is permitted to function, and from which he derives his own authority." The 1995 Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip "still remains the valid source of authority for the Palestinian administration in the territories, as well as for the entire functioning of Palestinian governance. This agreement sets out and enables the establishment and functioning of the Palestinian Council (which serves as the parliament of the Palestinian Authority), details the mode of election of its members and appointment of its ministers, and defines its jurisdiction, its legislative and other powers, structure and prerogatives."

If Fayyad is throwing out Oslo, he is also throwing out the entire political structure of the Palestinian Authority. He obviously feels confident enough that he can make unilateral moves like these without any repercussions.

But shouldn't nations know that they are paying money for him to build infrastructure specifically for it to be torn down?

UN Watch scores major victory

Received via email from UN Watch (the website does not seem to be updated yet):

I just learned great news: German law professor Christian Tomuschat, the anti-Israel and anti-American official heading the U.N. committee to enforce the Goldstone Report, has resigned. The biased U.N. probe now has no leader, and is in disarray.

This unprecedented resignation follows a global campaign by UN Watch that exposed Professor Tomuschat's egregious bias and breach of his obligation under international law to be objective and impartial:

•   UN Watch's team of researchers tracked down and translated Professor Tomuschat's German academic writings. We published a 30-page report revealing how he had frequently compared Israeli actions with the "barbarism" and "inferno" of World War II; how he performed legal work for PLO leader Yasser Arafat; and how he repeatedly accused Israel of “state terrorism.” This was reported worldwide.

•   When Tomuschat delivered his report to the U.N. Human Rights Council in September -- calling for the investigation of Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni for alleged war crimes in Gaza -- UN Watch was the only group to take the floor and directly challenge Tomuschat for his bias, stirring reactions from Tomuschat as well as the council president himself.

•   When Tomuschat then appeared at a U.N. press conference, journalists followed up on UN Watch's campaign and challenged Tomuschat to defend himself.

Finally, thousands of UN Watch supporters worldwide have been taking action on our website every day to demand from the U.N. that Tomuschat resign. In the end, he gave in.

Stellar job by Hillel Neuer and UN Watch!

The Schwartzenegger Chanukah Hora

The anti-semites always said that Jews control the government - and here's proof that we can make them dance to our tune whenever we want to:

(h/t O)

Wikileaks: Egypt recruiting spies in Iraq and Syria against Iran

An interesting cable about a meeting between Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen and Egyptian General Intelligence Service Chief Omar Soliman, April 2009. In it, we learn that Egypt is recruiting spies in Syria and Iraq to infiltrate Iran, that Egypt is just as upset at Iran as any other Arab state - and not just because of the nuclear issue; that Iran was smuggling arms and $25 million of cash into Gaza a month; that Gaza puts moderate Arab regimes in a corner (presumably because they don't support Hamas radicalism but their people do), that Soliman does not distinguish between Hezbollah and Iran at all. Excerpts:

Soliman said radicalism was the "backbone" of regional security threats, adding that radicalism in Gaza posed a particularly serious threat to Egyptian national security. Soliman said Egypt must "confront" Iranian attempts to smuggle arms to Gaza and stop arms smuggling through Egyptian territory.

We do not want incidents like Gaza to inflame public anger," Soliman said, adding that the Gaza conflict put "moderate (Arab) regimes" in a corner. To prevent another outbreak of violence, Egypt is focusing on Palestinian reconciliation and a durable cease-fire between Hamas and Israel. On reconciliation, Soliman explained, the ultimate goal was to return the Palestinian Authority to Gaza, as "Gaza in the hands of radicals will never be calm."

Iran is "very active in Egypt," Soliman said. Iranian financial support to Hamas amounted to $25 million a month, but he said Egypt was "succeeding" in preventing financial support from entering Gaza through Egypt. Iran has tried several times to pay the salaries for the al-Qassam Battalions, but Egypt had succeeded in preventing the money from reaching Gaza. Soliman said the Egyptian government had arrested a "big Hezbollah cell," which was Hezbollah's first attempt to stand up a cell within Egypt. Iran was also trying to recruit support from the Sinai Bedouins, he claimed, in order to facilitate arms smuggling to Gaza.

Egypt has "started a confrontation with Hezbollah and Iran," Soliman stressed, and "we will not allow Iran to operate in Egypt." Soliman said Egypt had sent a clear message to Iran that if they interfere in Egypt, Egypt will interfere in Iran, adding that EGIS had already begun recruiting agents in Iraq and Syria. Soliman hoped the U.S. would "not walk the same track as the Europeans" in regards to negotiating with Iran and warned against only focusing on one issue at time, like Iran's nuclear weapons program. Iran must "pay the price" for its actions and not be allowed to interfere in regional affairs. "If you want Egypt to cooperate with you on Iran, we will," Soliman added, "it would take a big burden off our shoulders."

The video bears of truth

Xtranormal lets anyone create videos with pre-defined characters...and people are doing that.

Here's a cartoon representation of a conversation between Netanyahu and Obama:

And here's an excellent cartoon made by Mere Rhetoric describing how the State Department has its priorities a bit skewed:

PA Ministry of Information removes study denying Kotel is Jewish

As I mentioned earlier today, the US condemned the PA's position that the Western Wall is not Jewish, as shown in a study published on an official PA Ministry of Information website.

The pressure seems to have had an effect, as the study is no longer available on that website, as reported by Hamas' PalTimes.

Hamas takes over major documentation facility

In Gaza one can find the National Center for Studies and Documentation, which contains many historic books and manuscripts. It was founded and run by Abdallah al-Hourani.

Hourani died yesterday in Amman.

Today, Hamas took over the facility.

Because, of course, Hamas can be trusted to ensure that the documents remain accessible, even the ones that might embarrass Hamas or that make Fatah look good.

Iranian missiles in South America

Germany's Die Welt had a major story that was overlooked last week:

Iran plans to build a missile base in Venezuela

Iran plans to place medium-range missiles on Venezuelan soil and to deepen the strategic cooperation with the regime of Hugo Chávez. "Welt Online" learned from Western security sources that an agreement between the two countries was signed during the last visit of the Venezuelan president to Tehran on October 19. The previously undisclosed contract provides for the establishment of a jointly operated military base in Venezuela and the joint development of ground-to-ground missiles.

The agreement follows a recommendation of the Supreme Security Council of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and religious leader Ali Khamenei a few months ago. According to information of this newspaper, the Security Council had proposed a joint military facility on Venezuelan soil to increase the deterrent power of Iran against the West. The cooperation would be a way for Iran to establish a strategic base in the South American continent - in the United States' backyard.

"Welt Online" learned that Venezuela has agreed to allow Iran to establish a military base, which would be manned by Iranian missile officers, soldiers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Venezuelan missile officers. The base is mainly as a storage location for a strategic Iranian weapons reserve. In addition, Iran has given permission for the missiles to be used in case of an emergency. In return, it says in the agreement that Venezuela can use the basis for "national needs". This would increase the threat to neighbors like Colombia. Iran also pledged to help Venezuela in rocket technology expertise, such as intensive training of officers.

Also planned is the joint development of a ground-to-surface missile, based on the extensive experience of the Iranians. The agreement also provides for Iranian Shahab 3 (range 1300-1500 km), Scud-B missile (285-330 kilometers) and Scud-C missiles (300, 500 and 700 km) on the new base to relocate, and four mobile launchers.

(h/t Joel via Israel Army Radio Online)

Morning links

Lots of stuff going on...

A Wikileaks memo says that Germany asked the US to threaten to withhold its veto of Goldstone unless Israel adhered to a building freeze.

Another has surprisingly pro-Israel statements from Qatari's leader towards Israel.

Yet another shows surprisingly close ties between Israel and the UAE.

In other diplomatic news, the US condemned PA statements that there are no Jewish ties to the Kotel. Here's how Al Arabiya illustrated the story:

(h/t Joel for most of these)

"Human rights" groups' double standards on white phosphorus (Zvi)

From Zvi, commenting on this story about Gaza terror groups using white phosphorus in rockets towards Israel:

Clearly, it is a "war crime" for Israel to use white phosphorus in such a way that its use is legal - as a smoke screen to protect maneuvering troops - but it's okay for Gazan terrorists to use it in such a way that it cannot possibly be legal; there are no maneuvering Gazan troops in the vicinity who could use these particular weapons as a smoke screen.

Amnesty's last mention of white phosphorus was in August. They have been completely silent on this matter.

HRW is even worse. Only a few days ago, they made a statement at a weapons conferenceabout the use of incendiary weapons in Gaza, showing that they are continuing to focus on the use of such weapons. Despite the conference giving them a perfect opportunity to speak out about the use of white phosphorus as a weapon of terror against Israelis, and despite their clear intent to continue to focus on WP devices, HRW has chosen not to make any statement at all about the blatantly [war] criminal use of white phosphorus munitions by Hamas terrorists and their allies in Gaza.

The failure to make such a statement indicates to the perpetrators and other terrorist groups, from Hezbollah to Hamas, that the international human rights community condones the use of white phosphorus as a weapon of terror against Israeli civilians.

A forceful, direct and unequivocal condemnation of this blatantly criminal behavior might not have any effect, but then again, it might convince Hamas and other terror groups that adopting its wholesale use would be a costly PR disaster for them. These groups are clearly building WP weapons now. The condemnation must come NOW, before these weapons are stockpiled and entrenched in the minds of Hamas planners, and before it becomes too late to save numerous civilian lives.

Once again, there are circumstances in which the use of white phosphorus is legal, even if some groups do not approve of the use of WP smoke devices. The IDF used white phosphorus to screen troop movements, which is a legal use of white phosphorus. The most that can be argued is that in Gaza, the use of these smoke devices fell into a gray area. But it is also true that as the human rights groups attacked the (legal) use of WP during the war, the IDF even made good-faith efforts to stop the use of WP, even though this endangered the lives of its soldiers. The IDF clearly acted in good faith, trying to minimize the danger to civilians.

The manner in which Hamas and its allies are using white phosphorus today is diametrically opposite. The Gazan regime and its allies are using WP as a weapon of terror. This cannot possibly fit into any category that could be remotely described as legal.

It is clear that these attacks are only the beginning. It is clear that this behavior - if not immediately and severely condemned by the global community - will spread within Gaza and become entrenched there, and from there it will spread to other parts of the world.

It is clear, also, that Gazan Arabs as well as Israelis will die from these WP terror weapons, because many of the flying bombs fired by Gazan terrorists fall short and kill their own people. It is clear that any decent human rights advocate should be absolutely appalled by the blatant and deliberate perpetration of war crimes by Hamas and its allies.

I call upon the international human rights community to speak out loudly, clearly and forcefully on this point, now.

The official Hasbara 2.0 poster, and some Technorati news

I can now reveal the official poster for the Elder's off-Broadway extravaganza, at Yeshiva University, scheduled for next Tuesday:

I am still working on the slides - I am pushing a hundred Powerpoint slides, so the talk will likely last some 90 minutes or so (I speak fast.) There is a lot of information there, though.

The organizers wanted some stats about my blog, so I looked once again at my latest Technorati rankings.

Readers may recall how surprised I was last August when Technorati ranked this blog #56 in Politics and #15 in World Politics among all the thousands of political blogs they follow.

And then how blown away I was when in the beginning of November my rankings rose to #50 in Politics and #7 in World Politics.

Today.....drumroll, please....my rank is

Politics: #41

World Politics: #4 !!!

Yes, I'm blowing away Juan Cole, and Marc Lynch, Stephen Walt, the LA Times Babylon and Beyond blog - even The White House Blog!

And my blog is one of the very few in the top tier that is primarily run by one person.

Very, very cool.

By the way, this was my second biggest month (after Flotilla June); according to Statcounter I am hitting almost exactly 100,000 pageviews (Google says about 150,000.) I also hadn't checked my Feedburner lately, it says that I have over 1100 RSS subscribers. (RSS readers are now set up to link to the comments, by the way.)

UPDATE: Back down to 7 in World Politics, but up to 38 in Politics. Fame is fleeting.

Yodeler fined for upsetting Muslims in Austria

From The Austrian Independent:

An Austrian has been fined for yodelling while mowing his lawn, according to a report.

The Kronen Zeitung newspaper claims Helmut G. was told by a court in Graz, Styria, that his yodelling offended his next-door Muslim neighbours.

The men reportedly accused the 63-year-old of having tried to mock and imitate the call of the Muezzin. The daily paper writes the Austrian was fined 800 Euros after judges ruled he could have tried to offend them and ridicule their belief. The Muslims, whose nationalities were not revealed by the report, were right in the middle of a prayer when the Austrian started to yodel.

"It was not my intention to imitate or insult them. I simply started to yodel a few tunes because I was in such a good mood" the man told the newspaper today.

It gets better:

The Muslim worshippers, meeting in a private house, use loudspeakers in their backyard during their prayers!

Helmut G. is being invited to talk shows and the incident is causing a stir in Graz.

(h/t Silke)

Chanukah menorah upsets Palestinian Arabs

From the PA's WAFA news agency (Arabic):

Settlers have just erected a huge brass candlestick on the outskirts of the city of Nablus in the West Bank.

Witnesses said that the menorah was set by a crane near the Za'tara triangle a few kilometers south of Nablus, and pointed out that this area is at the center of a number of extremist Jewish settlements.

The menorah is often used in Jewish religious rituals, and the settlers seek to impose their ideology onto the West Bank through actions such as these.

(h/t Dovid Haivri, director of the Shomron Liaison Office, who will happily accept donations to allow more public Chanukah displays to be set up in Judea and Samaria.)

Amnesty doesn't think the intifada ever happened

Reading the latest Amnesty UK report slamming Israel on not doing enough for Gaza is an unreal experience. Sprinkled throughout the report are comparisons and statistics that simply ignore the second intifada and Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, all for the singular purpose of making Israel look as bad as possible.

Here are some examples:

Gaza’s economic output per capita is today 40% lower than it was in 1994, at the start of the Oslo peace process.

Why are they comparing Gaza's economy today with its 1994 economy? The implication is that Israel's commitment to Oslo is a sham, as the economy of Gaza has gone down - due to Israeli actions - since that agreement was signed.

However, the economy in the territories was doign extraordinarily well in the years 1994-1999. Real GDP growth in 1997 was 12.2%, in 1998 it was 11.8% and in 1999 it was 8.9%. And then in 2000, with the intifada, it plummeted: -5.4% in 2000, -15.4% in 2001 and -9.4% in 2002. I don't have the Gaza figures separately, but the closing of the Erez industrial zone and the border closure because of the constant terror attacks threw tens of thousands of Gazans out of work. The withdrawal from Gaza cost many more jobs as well. The reason that Gaza's economy is in shambles is because of a policy of terror that was created by the Palestinian Arabs, not because of Israel's reaction to save its citizen's lives. But to Amnesty, the intifada never happened, and Israel is still "occupying" a territory in which is has no people.

Overall ban on exit and entry still in place. No expansion of the few exceptional categories of Palestinians allowed to travel through Israeli controlled crossings. Number of exits below 1% of 2000 levels.

Again, Amnesty ignored the terror spree and rockets from Gaza as a reason why Israel doesn't want Gazans to have the free access to Israel that they had before 2000.

But beyond that, even though the paper is entitled "Dashed Hopes - Continuation of the Gaza Blockade," it doesn't mention Egypt's role in the blockade - or Egypt's opening of the Rafah border. In this case, Amnesty says that the number of exits through Israeli crossings is down - but they ignore Egypt's crossings which has increased Gazans' mobility. Why do they only speak about Israeli crossings in this statistic, and why do they ignore Egypt's role in blockading Gaza? The only possible answer is because the report is not meant to help Gazans but to castigate Israel.

Even in cases where the real statistics can make Israel look bad, Amnesty specifically bends the numbers to make Israel look worse:

In fact, the UN reports that Gaza requires 670,000 truckloads of construction material, while only an average of 715 of these truckloads have been received per month since the ‘easing’ was announced.

Even if we accept that the UN statistic is accurate, Amnesty is comparing the numbers of the total amount needed with what Israel allowed in an average month. Amnesty could have said that Israel allowed 3600 truckloads of construction material since the easing - but that makes Israel sound better than saying "715 truckloads per month."

Amnesty also says that "Access to around 35% of Gaza’s farmland...remains restricted by the Israeli ‘buffer zone’," a nebulous claim that seems to confuse "arable land" with "farmland."

Amnesty's recommendations also ignore the human rights of Israelis to live in safety:

The international community must do its part to ensure that its repeated
appeals to end the blockade are finally heeded.

1) Launch a new, concerted diplomatic initiative for an immediate,unconditional and complete lifting of the blockade, including:
• allowing movement of people including humanitarian staff into and out of Gaza;
• allowing exports from Gaza;
• allowing entry of construction materials including those for the private sector;
• allowing entry of raw materials;
• expanding operations of the crossings;
• lifting restrictions on fuel imports;
• ensuring access to Gaza’s agricultural land and fishing grounds and the protection of civilians in these areas.

And, if Amnesty's recommendations were to be implemented, unrestricted imports of weapons and long-range missiles would be allowed into Gaza as well.

Not to mention that the only way to have unrestricted movement of goods to and from Gaza would mean no crossings at all - simply tear down the fence and let terrorists have all the access they want to export their human bombs to Israel.

The entire report does not use the word "intifada" or "terror" or "rockets" once. The context of Israel's relationship with Gaza in light of the actions of Hamas and its allies is almost completely missing. And, as we have seen, Amnesty's recommendations would directly translate into a new reign of terror for residents of southern Israel - and beyond.

Apparently, Amnesty and the other "human rights" organizations that prepared this biased report are not the least bit interested in the human rights of Israelis.

Nablus TV and Firas Press report on how Palestinian Arabs are desperately trying to become citizens of Arab countries.

Gazans are trying to prove that they have Egyptian roots to become Egyptian citizens, but Egypt forces them to go through a very difficult legal process that forces most to give up in frustration amid steep legal fees. Even people who have one Egyptian parent are being confronted with roadblocks when they try to exercise their rights as citizens.

The major incentive to gain Arab citizenship is for freedom of movement. Palestinian passports are of very limited use, and many countries will not recognize them as valid travel documents.

Other benefits of citizenship include ease of setting up a business in the host country, and going to college. Some Palestinian Arabs also complain about discrimination they suffer in the Arab world simply because they are Palestinian. One person interviewed said that his brothers work in the UAE, and Egyptian citizens receive higher salaries than Palestinian passport holders doing the same jobs.

One expert is quoted as saying that this is not a new phenomenon, and Palestinian Arabs have been seeking to become naturalized citizens of Arab countries since 1948. He says explicitly the entire reason that Palestinian Arabs are treated with such contempt by Egyptians: "The Egyptian government believes that the failure to give the Palestinians Egyptian nationality will push them to hold on to their land."

This is, of course, a human rights issue. Palestinian Arabs are being discriminated against in every Arab country compared to other Arabs. The Convention of the Rights of the Child states that every child has the right to a nationality.

But good luck finding any human rights groups willing to take on this issue.

Ahmadinejad hangs out with the Hidden Imam

Interesting stuff from Amir Taheri in WSJ:

Is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a closet Persian nationalist trying to de-Islamize Iran? Is he part of a plot to send the mullahs back to the mosques to make way for an Islamist military regime?

These are some of the questions raised in the Majlis, Iran's ersatz parliament, by members who are trying to impeach the president. As astonishing as this might be for Western observers, Ahmadinejad is challenged by people who claim that he is not Muslim enough and that he harbors a hidden anti-clerical agenda to promote a mixture of messianism and chauvinism. His closest friend and aide, Esfandiar Rahim Masha'i, has even suggested that "within one year Ahmadinejad's enemies would declare him to be an infidel."

The charge that Ahmadinejad is trying to push the mullahs out of power is based on his own claim that he has a direct line of communication with the Hidden Imam, a Messiah-like figure in Shiite Islam who is supposed to emerge at the end of time to install eternal justice.

Ahmadinejad constantly talks of the Hidden Imam but almost never mentions Ruhollah Khomeini, the mullah who created the present regime. Nor is Ahmadinejad keen to pay tribute to Khamenei. A man who talks to God wouldn't bother with mere saints.

Several times a year, Ahmadinejad takes his entire cabinet to Jamkaran, a suburb of the "holy" city of Qom south of Tehran, to report to the Hidden Imam. In Jamkaran there is a well that is supposed to lead to the place where the Hidden Imam is in hiding. In a solemn ceremony, Ahmadinejad throws copies of his government's budget and other edicts into the well for consideration by the Hidden Imam.

The message is clear: A government that is preparing for the end of times, under the command of the Hidden Imam, does not need the mullahs.

Isn't it reassuring to know that the people who are most likely to topple Ahmadinejad are even more fundamentalist?

Gazans shooting white phosphorus shells into Israel. UN silent.

We all know that white phosphorus is the most hideous substance known to man, and represents the depths of immorality and scandal - but only when it is used by Israel.

Otherwise, no biggie.

From Israel's Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center:

1. On November 19, a phosphorus-containing mortar shell was fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip. It was part of an unusual attack consisting of four rockets and seven mortar shells, which may have been fired in response to the killing of Islam Yassin, an Army of Islam operative who was planning to abduct Israelis in the Sinai Peninsula. The Israeli Foreign Minister instructed the Israeli ambassador to the UN to submit a complaint to the UN Secretary General and to the Security Council chairman (Israel's Foreign Ministry website, November 19, 2010).

2. In a previous incident which took place on the morning of September 15, 2010, one day after the Sharm el-Sheikh summit,1 terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip fired an exceptional number of rockets and mortar shells at Israel (about 10 rockets). The mortar shells landed in the Eshkol Regional Council territory. At least two of them were 120-mm mortar shells which contained white phosphorus.2 No casualties or damage were reported.

3. Terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip have used phosphorus-containing mortar shells before. In Operation Cast Lead, a number of such mortar shells were fired on IDF forces, probably by Hamas. Prior to these two incidents, however, terrorist organizations operating in the Gaza Strip avoided making routine use of such mortar shells.

In the two incidents, Hamas denied using phosphorus-containing mortar shells:

- Hamas administration spokesman Taher al-Nunu claimed that Foreign Minister Lieberman’s remarks on the use of phosphorus shells were untrue. He said they were designed to cast the “resistance” (i.e., the terrorist organizations) in a negative light and provide an excuse for Israel’s own use of such ammunition (Al-Quds TV, November 20, 2010).

- Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri claimed that no “phosphorus bombs” had been fired at Israel and that Israel was making an attempt to justify its intensifying military operations against the Gaza Strip and divert public opinion on the international scene (Palestine-info, September 15, 2010).

- On the other hand, an Al-Jazeera reporter said that the use of phosphorus was hardly a surprise. Al-Jazeera crew doing a research piece on the activity of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (the Hamas military wing) had discovered that they recycled white phosphorus from Israeli shells found in the Gaza Strip and stored it in the Gaza Strip, apparently for future use (Al-Jazeera, September 16, 2010).

(h/t Joel)

Erdogan accepts "human rights" award, criticizes freedom of expression

Palestine Today reports that Turkey's Prime Minister received Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights in Tripoli, Libya, on Monday.

In his speech, he said that Turkey would not allow any attack on Islam or Islamic values under the pretext of freedom of expression.

He mentioned that the lives of Gaza's children are sacred.

He also said that Turkey would not remain silent and indifferent to violence in the world.

For some reason, he did not use the Armenian genocide as an historic example of the world's silence and indifference to violence.

Jordanian kicks Israelis out of her restaurant. Jordanians cheer.

From Al Arabiya:

A Jordanian woman gained tremendous fame after refusing to receive a group of Israeli tourists at her restaurant in protest of the crimes of the Jewish state against the Palestinian people.

Several professional associations and rights organizations praised the action taken by Salwa al-Barghouti when she decided to kick Israeli tourists out of her restaurant in the coastal city of al-Aqaba, 370 kilometers off the capital Amman.

Barghouti represents all the Jordanian people in their rejection of the Zionist state, said Maysara Malas, head of the Higher Executive Committee for Anti-Normalization.

“Many Jordanians take similar actions, yet nobody knows about them because the media doesn’t know what they do,” he added.

News of Barghouti’s stance spread all over Jordan and shortly after, she made headlines and several media outlets vied for posting her statements.

“I heard customers entering the restaurants speak Hebrew,” she told the press. “I felt extremely angry and remembered all the crimes Israel is committing against Palestinians, so I asked them to leave.”

Barghouti said she does not approve of the strong attention that was given to her action by the media.

“I am against dealing with Zionists in any possible way and I see this as very normal.”

The Israeli tourists who were kicked out, Barghouti added, filed a complaint against her and she was summoned by state security.

“They asked me to sign a document pledging not to mistreat tourists or kick them out of my restaurant again, but I refused.”

Barghouti insisted on her stance and stressed that she will act in the same way if a similar situation takes places.

“My position will never change and I will never allow Israelis into my restaurant,” she concluded.

She told one newspaper that the way to identify Israeli tourists is if they have jewelry with a Star of David, or if they are wearing some type of head covering (translated as "hood.")

She was praised by a Jordanian committee against normalization with the Zionist enemy.

Latest nefarious Zionist plot to "storm" the Temple Mount

Palestine Today quotes Arutz-7 about the latest insidious Zionist plan to "storm the Al Aqsa Mosque."

On Chanukah, Jews plan to peacefully go to the Temple Mount and study where the various parts of the Second Temple were.

They quote an organizer of this plot as saying that the Islamic Movement in Israel brings hundreds of people there to teach them about the history of Al Aqsa Mosque, so this would be roughly the same thing, since both of those activities are educational.

Horrors!