Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Economist thinks Jews building is as deadly as Arabs killing

A sickening cartoon in The Economist, that was published on March 17 - after the Itamar massacre:

Yes, it is trendy for oh-so-sophisticated British to say that Jews building homes - within their existing communities - as being as deadly to peace as wantonly killing demonstrators.

Years of Arabs repeating the mantra that "settlements are the obstacle to peace" easily gets into the heads of credulous leftists who are already looking for reasons to hate Jews.

(h/t Gabriel)

Fatah spokesman emphasizes that terrorism is "legitimate right"

Palestine Press Agency and Ma'an News (Arabic) report:

Look how moderate he is!

Fatah spokesman Osama Qawasmi said "resistance is a legitimate right of the Palestinian people for liberation from Israeli occupation for and achieving their goal of independence and the establishment of a Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem."

He said in a press statement issued by the Office of Information and Culture: 'Resistance and means to achieve the objectives of a comprehensive national goal is subject to its weapons and methods for a clear vision of strategic objectives and progress according to a unitary national and political goals agreed upon by the Palestinian people."

He goes on to say that Hamas' use of weapons has not been strategic and has hurt the goal of achieving a state, but in general there is a place and time for using terror against Israel.

I do not know if the "Office of Information and Culture" is a Fatah or PA organization.

The British media is failing to report the attacks upon Israel, and only reporting Israeli responses, thus creating the entirely false impression that Israel is the aggressor. Thus in turn creating the kind of hatred of Israel in the world which is leading to mass murder.

(h/t Joel)

My question for Bibi

Binyomin Netanyahu will be on YouTube answering the most popular questions submitted by people around the world. Although I am asking my question a bit late, here's what I would like to hear him address:

What is the Government of Israel's official stance on the legal status of the territories? Are they occupied, disputed, or something else?

Israel used to be adamant that they were "disputed" (except for Jerusalem which was annexed) but the recent governments seem to have gone away from that formulation. I would simply like a clear answer.

If you like my question, go to the Vote page, somehow find my question (I don't see a search function but I put it under "Peace Process"), and vote for it.

Video: Syrian demonstrations Friday; people attack Assad statue

This is supposedly a video taken in Daraa on Friday, showing people trying to topple a statue of Hafez al-Assad and hearing the sounds of shots by the regime.

It doesn't look like they succeeded in toppling the statue, and I am not sure what the photo of Saddam Hussein for the last minute of the video is meant to signify.

From Palestine Press Agency.

Report: Argentina dropping probe in bombings to appease Iran

From YNet:

During secret talks with Iran, the Argentinean government offered to "forget" the bombings of the Israeli embassy and the Jewish community center in the capital Buenos Aires in the 1990s in exchange for improved ties between the two countries.

The Argentine weekly Perfil reported Saturday that the negotiations were aimed at increasing the trade volume between Argentina and the Islamic Republic, which is currently estimated at $1.2 billion a year.

According to the report, Cristina Kirchner's government offered to suspend the investigation of the bombings, which are believed to have been orchestrated by Iran.

It was further reported that a memo sent by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated that "Argentina is no longer interested in solving the mystery of these two attacks and would rather improve its economic relations with Iran."

Perfil said Argentinean Foreign Minister Hector Timerman asked Syrian President Bashar Assad and Foreign Minister Walid Moallem to relay the offer to Tehran. The three met at the Syrian city of Haleb on January 23, the weekly said.

In the 1992 embassy bombing, 29 people were killed and 242 were injured. In the bombing at the AMIA Jewish community center in 1994, 85 people were killed and more than 300 were injured. No one has been indicted despite the fact that Israel and the US have been assisting in the investigation.

Iran's Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi is wanted by Interpol for the attack on the Jewish center, as are four other Iranians.

The Prefil report is here.

Abbas visit to Gaza dropped after threat from Qassam Brigades

From Ha'aretz:

Senior members of Hamas' military wing told aides of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that it would not guarantee the Fatah leader's safety if he visited the Gaza Strip, Haaretz has learned.

PA officials interpreted these statements as a threat to Abbas. As of last night, an Abbas trip to Gaza for reconciliation talks with Hamas has been dropped from the agenda.

Some Palestinian commentators attributed the increase in hostilities with Israel to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's proposal that Abbas visit Gaza for reconciliation talks.

PalestinianArabs had been keenly interested in Abbas' planned visit so it will be interesting to see the reaction.

New attempt to bomb Egyptian gas pipeline to Israel fails

From Al Ahram:

Unknown attackers attempted on Sunday to blow up an Egyptian gas pipeline to Israel and Jordan, but the explosives failed to detonate, a security official said.

Six armed men stormed the gas terminal in the northern Sinai town of Al-Sabeel at dawn on Sunday and placed explosive devices there, the official said.

"They failed to detonate the bombs and fled the scene. Even the security guard was missing when police arrived," he said, adding police officers managed to remove the explosives.

Last month attackers used explosives against the pipeline, cutting off gas supply to Jordan and Israel for more than a month.

Norwegian far left coalition partner calls for world to bomb Israel

From Norway, Israel and the Jews blog (h/t Tundra Tabloids)

The SV annual convention goes to vote. The deranged junior partner in the current government coalition will among other proposals vote on a motion to use armed force against Israel should it attack Gaza.
The motion is the blood money required to pay off SV card carrying members who find it hard to accept that they have taken the nation to war, again. Last time it did so was back in 1999, when the party backed the NATO bombing of Serbia. As a result, we got ourselves involved in a war crimes probe because of high number of civilian casualties and bombing illegal targets.
Therefore, the only way it can be palatable to bomb Libya for these morally deranged people is if Israel can be bombed too.
Here is the less than lucid reasoning behind the motion:
- The credibility of the world community in its confrontation with the Gadafi regime is undermined when there is no reaction against other states in the region who commit injustices against civil population. The greater world community must therefore also react against Israeli air attacks on the Gaza strip.

Wow, a declaration of war from the governments very junior partner! And not to mention that thus Israel has become the only country in the world who will be denied the right to defend itself in the face of constant terrorism, rocket attacks against its own population. With a stroke of the pen, the entire body of international Law must be changed to accommodate for this perverse view, and taken to its logical conclusion, Norway would be unable to defend itself from attacks. Or maybe, we ought to bomb ourselves for bombing the Libyans?
But at least now we don’t have to deal with the lies and hypocrisy of this lunatic fringe group, at least they have come clean and admit that they hate the guts of every living Jew to the extent that they would gladly help to blow the country to pieces.
Roll over Ahmadinejad, even your antics look comical in comparison.
I wonder if this kind of extreme agitation and war mongering is even legal?
Please somebody, come and help us, we are in the hands of very evil people.
Prof. M. McGonagall

The good news is that the comments to an Aftenblodet article about this shows universal derision for the SV party.

Still, I've seen some people mention that the coalition decision to bomb Libya would lead to absurd ideas like this, and it appears that they are right.These so-called pacifists turn into warmongers when it comes to the idea of Jews defending themselves.

(See also here for the latest in Norwegian anti-Zionism and anti-semitism.)

Exclusive: Interview with Itamar's mayor about Fogel massacre

On Saturday night, I had the opportunity to interview the mayor of Itamar, Moshe Goldsmith, and his wife Leah, as they were fundraising for additional security and infrastructure for their community. I asked them a little about the community, their lives and the latest information about the horrific terrorist massacre of the Fogel family.

The Goldsmiths say without any reservation that Ma'an's story of Thai workers is a lie - they haven't had any foreign workers at all in months - and that the actual terrorists were traced back to the Arab village of Awarta, where at least one item that was taken from Itamar was found.

If you want to donate to help Itamar, you can go to their website at friendsofitamar.org.

UPDATE: For those who are coming from an anti-Israel website thinking that they can find holes in the mayor's story, this new article from YNet corroborates pretty much everything he said, ten days later. Sorry that your bizarre pet theories of Thai workers and monetary disputes with others in town are proven wrong. The murderers did jump the fence, all evidence shows they came from the direction of Awarta, and there was a blind spot and a poor security response to the alarms. And, hate to tell you, the only people who are happy about the terror attack are...Arabs. The truth blows up your little conspiracy theories, but keep on spinning them anyway, if they make you feel good.

Maariv notices that the Guardian and Al Jazeera lied on Palestine Papers

Ben-Dror Yemini at Maariv (Hebrew only) takes a look at the Palestine Papers and discovers that the Guardian and Al Jazeera have been misrepresenting what they say.

If he would have read my blog, he could have saved a lot of time.

Abbas adds a new condition for "peace": Release all terrorists!

Mahmoud Abbas, that intransigent leader that the world considers "moderate," had added another condition for "peace" with Israel:

Abbas now demands that Israel release every single Palestinian Arab prisoner.

This includes, of course, the most heinous terrorists - those that have murdered and slaughtered Israelis - that have been captured by Israel. Abbas is not distinguishing between prisoners with "blood on their hands" and those who merely planned or facilitated terror attacks.

Abbas is saying that peace depends on Israel releasing murderers. Not only that, he is implicitly threatening to support terrorism against Israel until every last of those prisoners are released.

Yet this Orwellian doublethink, that Israel must reward murderers and release terrorists in order to gain "peace," will not register as anomalous at all in the world's media.

Palestinian Arab leaders have learned that no matter how outrageous their demands, they will be treated with deference and respect.

ElderToons: J-Street discovers a new settlement

From Sol Stern in Pajamas Media:

Ben-Ami’s paternal grandparents were, indeed, Zionist heroes. At great personal risk they moved from Czarist Russia to the Land of Israel as part of the First Aliyah (wave of immigration) of the late nineteenth century. They were among 66 Palestinian Jewish families who defied the warnings of their own community’s leaders and purchased a large plot of land from Arab effendis in 1909 on the sand dunes south of Jaffa. The families then conducted a lottery on the beach to distribute the plots on which they would build their individual homes — thus laying the foundation for Tel Aviv, the “first Hebrew city.” Two years ago Tel Aviv’s municipality celebrated the centennial of the city’s founding. Ben-Ami and his children took part in a ceremony reenacting the 1909 lottery on the beach along with other descendants of the original Jewish families.

Writing about the event in the New York Times, Ben-Ami hailed his grandparents’ generation of Zionist settlers who created Tel Aviv as a center of Jewish learning, culture, and commerce. But he then contrasted that noble achievement with the allegedly atavistic attitudes toward the Palestinian Arabs of the “Netanyahu/Lieberman government.”

Jews building cities on empty land that they legally bought were heroes when they were a certain kind of Jews doing it in the last century on the west side of an imaginary line that wasn't to exist for another 40 years.

Now they are evil.

Makes perfect sense.

The Thin Jew Line (Daily Show)

An eruv battle in the Hamptons. Very funny stuff.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

The Thin Jew Line

www.thedailyshow.com

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Political Humor & Satire Blog

The Daily Show on Facebook

(h/t Beryl via FB)

How Muslims think about Israel, in a nutshell (NewsRealBlog)

My latest article in NewsRealBlog is up. Here's a part:

OnIslam, which is a breakaway website from Islam Online, has a fatwa section where someone recently asked this:

Can you answer the question why the Palestinians and the Israelis have been fighting for so long? What is it all about? Why do they seem to hate each other so much? Is it related to the Catholic/Protestant faith, Judaism and Islam?

The answer given is very illuminating.

It illustrates why real peace is impossible: because the other side doesn’t even know the basic facts about Judaism, Zionism and Israel. It is simply not possible to reach an agreement when one side’s entire conception of the others is, simply, filled with lies.

Read the whole thing.

"Apartheid?" poster sighting - on Roger Waters' FB Wall (updated x2)

I love the idea that someone is posting my "Apartheid" posters on the page of anti-Israel ignoramus, BDS advocate and former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters.

All in all they're just more posts on his "Wall"....

(thanks to Mitchell Rubin, h/t אורי פלג)

UPDATE: That bastion of liberal free speech is censoring all pro-Israel posts on his Wall.

Because,of course, he don't need no education.

I just posted a completely non-offensive pro-Israel poster (about the Israeli Wildlife Hospital) , we'll see if it stays up.

UPDATE 2: Yup, it got taken down and I can't post more. How open-minded Waters is!

Morning links

Just clearing out my many open browser windows...

Krauthammer on Obama and Libya

Rubin on Obama and Syria

Toameh on the Future of Syria.

Rubin again on why Israel/Hamas war is inevitable

JPost on new car sales, and other indications of an economic boom, in the PA territories

Sol Stern on how Jeremy Ben Ami is no Zionist hero

(h/t David G, Zvi, Challah)

Report: Two planeloads of Basij militia arrived in Syria on Saturday

The Beirut Observer last week reported that two planes filled with Iran's Basij militia were flown from Iran to Damascus last Saturday. (The story was picked up by Kol Israel Arabic.)

The purpose was to protect the Assad regime from continuing protests throughout the country.

Arabic news sites also mentioned a YouTube video showing a funeral for one of the people killed in Daraa this week, with the protesters chanting "Neither Iran nor Hezbollah ... only to be a Muslim who is afraid of God."

100 Syrians protested in front of the Syrian embassy in Dubai yesterday, saying that "Israel is more merciful than the Syrian regime, she [Israel] did not do what he [Assad] has done to us" and they accused Syria of importing Hezbollah fighters as well to quash demonstrations, also chanting "Neither Iran nor Hezbollah..."

Surprise! Muslim Brotherhood is practically running Egypt!

I am shocked that the Western experts were so wrong. Again.

In post-revolutionary Egypt, where hope and confusion collide in the daily struggle to build a new nation, religion has emerged as a powerful political force, following an uprising that was based on secular ideals. The Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group once banned by the state, is at the forefront, transformed into a tacit partner with the military government that many fear will thwart fundamental changes.

It is also clear that the young, educated secular activists who initially propelled the nonideological revolution are no longer the driving political force — at least not at the moment.

As the best organized and most extensive opposition movement in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood was expected to have an edge in the contest for influence. But what surprises many is its link to a military that vilified it.

“There is evidence the Brotherhood struck some kind of a deal with the military early on,” said Elijah Zarwan, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group. “It makes sense if you are the military — you want stability and people off the street. The Brotherhood is one address where you can go to get 100,000 people off the street.”

“We are all worried,” said Amr Koura, 55, a television producer, reflecting the opinions of the secular minority. “The young people have no control of the revolution anymore. It was evident in the last few weeks when you saw a lot of bearded people taking charge. The youth are gone.”

In the early stages of the revolution, the Brotherhood was reluctant to join the call for demonstrations. It jumped in only after it was clear that the protest movement had gained traction. Throughout, the Brotherhood kept a low profile, part of a survival instinct honed during decades of repression by the state.

The question at the time was whether the Brotherhood would move to take charge with its superior organizational structure.

It now appears that it has.
But the more secular forces say that what they need is time.

“I worry about going too fast towards elections, that the parties are still weak,” said Nabil Ahmed Helmy, former dean of the Zagazig law school and a member of the National Council for Human Rights.

As I said, I am shocked. Only last month the NYT's own Nicholas Kristof waxed lyrical about the courage of the Facebook youth of Egypt and said we should be ashamed to even think that they would not be taking Egypt in a new, liberal, democratic direction.

And I, an anonymous blogger who does not have the prestige or experience of Nick Kristof and who has never even visited Egypt, had the audacity to respond:

Kristof is making a major mistake. He is confusing bravery for political maturity.

No one doubts the protesters' bravery. No one doubts their integrity, or their desire for change, or even their desire for democracy.

But there are serious doubts at their ability to translate the raw desire for freedom into a functional, liberal, democratic government.

It is hard work to create the institutions necessary. More importantly, it takes time - and time is not on the side of the protesters.

It is now fashionable to pooh-pooh the dangers of the Muslim Brotherhood in Kristof's liberal circles, but no one can doubt that the Islamists are better organized and much more politically mature than the Facebookers of Tahrir Square. It takes time to set up an organization, to define a clear agenda, to build a fundraising mechanism, to attract volunteers, to build a means to communicate with all the people - including in rural areas, and to do all the myriad details from physical buildings to a phone system to a mailing list.

True freedom cannot flourish until Egyptians have been exposed to a wide range of ideas on a level playing field. The existing Islamist groups are running circles around the "Egyptian youth" we hear so much about. Kristof is so caught up in the emotions of the moment that he cannot think outside Tahrir Square, to the 99% of the country that is not as emotionally invested in who their leaders would be. To them, the nice people with beards who build a free Islamic school for their kids are the only game in town.

Enthusiasm does not ensure effective state building and true freedoms. Kristof, instead of spouting straw-man arguments, should be advocating ways for his jeans-wearing heroes to channel their sparks of enthusiasm and bravery into the hard, thankless and often boring work necessary to build a new Egypt from scratch.

How dare I disagree with such an outstanding pundit and accurately predict nearly everything in this article written by his employer a month later? How could I have the chutzpah to mention that the New York Times is paying someone to spout wishful-thinking nonsense while I, and many others, could see what was to happen from thousands of miles away?

(I didn't see a partnership with the army, I admit...that is actually stunning and far more worrisome than what I had written.)