Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, March 28, 2011

Hamas getting cozy with new Egyptian leaders

Palestine Today (Islamic Jihad) reports that Hamas officials are optimistic that Egypt will re-open their embassy in Gaza.

The embassy was closed after the Hamas coup in Gaza.

Embassy to Cairo in the Gaza Strip.

Dr. Mohamed Awad, Hamas minister of foreign affairs said Hamas had applied to the Egyptian government to reopen its embassy in the Gaza Strip, saying that "the government is waiting for the Egyptian response to the request" and saying that there are "positive signs" in that direction.

He said that Egyptian-Palestinian relations "has improved markedly and were better than in the past".

In a related story, Hamas leader Mahmoud al Zahar was scheduled to meet with Egyptian intelligence head Murad Muwafi and Assistant Foreign Minister Nabil Arabi on Sunday, marking the first time Hamas officials have met officially with the new Egyptian government.

Looks like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood are getting quite cozy in this new Egyptian "spring" and that Hamas is trying to be recognized as the official Palestinian Arab government to Egypt.

It also means that the Egyptian revolution may have destroyed the "peace process." Egypt was an important intermediary between Israel and the PA, and that seems to be gone now. Not only that, but by strengthening Hamas politically, it puts the idea of unity between the PA and Hamas that much further away, and any unity government would be much more extremist making peace with Israel even less likely.

Not that you will find any Western media noticing that. Because how can they admit that two things they wanted so badly are incompatible with each other?

Rumors: Syria targeting Latakia to kick out Palestinians

Over the weekend, Syrian riots have spread to the coastal town of Latakia. From BBC:

Syrian troops have deployed in force in the northern city of Latakia, where at least 12 people have died in a wave of unrest that has shaken the regime.

Officials blamed foreign forces for the violence, but residents said pro-government gangs started the clashes.

Syrian troops are now in control of Latakia, 350km (220 miles) north-west of the capital Damascus, our correspondent says.

The government says 12 people were killed during clashes on Friday and Saturday, but residents say the number could be higher.

The streets of Latakia, home to 450,000 people, were completely deserted on Sunday and all shops remained closed.

AP adds:

A Latakia resident says the streets are mostly deserted on Monday after unidentified men carrying sticks and hunting rifles pulled over cars and asked for IDs on Sunday and through the night. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

I had mentioned that Syria had earlier blamed "Palestinian extremists" for the unrest when it was just starting, and an advisor to President Assad has made the same accusation about Palestinian Arabs who live in the unofficial Latakia "refugee" camp.

Now a new conspiracy theory is making the rounds.

According to Palestine Press Agency, the person behind the Latakia escalation is Assad's cousin Rami Makhlouf. For two years, Makhlouf has been trying to move the entire Latakia Palestinian Arab camp elsewhere - because they are on valuable beach property and he wants to turn that area into a resort.

A crackdown in Latakia that blames Palestinian Arabs could be the excuse he needs to set up his cream project.

Makhlouf is reportedly a billionaire and one of the most powerful men in Syria.

His name seems to be coming up in many demonstrations as a symbol of Syrian corruption.

The Latakia camp is not an official UNRWA camp but was set up in 1955. Its residents are said to mostly have originated in Jaffa.

Palestinian Arab leaders in Syria have been trying very hard to distance themselves from the demonstrators.

EoZ is up against 7 Agorot in the first round of the quarter-finals of the Pro-Israel Blog-Off.

I was really busy when asked to submit an article and pretty much picked an article I had written that day which didn't even get that much traction here, but which I thought was important.

Last time I took a chance and submitted a cartoon, and while I lost the popular vote (35% of the total score) the judges liked mine the best and my post won.

So go to Israellycool, read both articles, and vote for which you think is best.

Koreans love studying Talmud!

From The Muqata, translated from YNet:

Close to 50 million people live in South Korea, and everyone learns Gemara (Talmud) in school. "We tried to understand why the Jews are geniuses, and we came to the conclusion that it is because they study Talmud," said the Korean ambassador to Israel. And this is how "Rav Papa" became a more well known scholar in Korea than in Israel.

It is doubtful if the Amoraic scholars, Abbaye and Rava imagined their discussions of Jewish law in the Beit Midrash in Babylon would be taught hundreds of years later in East Asia. Yet it turns out that the laws of an "egg born on a holiday" ("ביצה שנולדה ביום טוב") is actually very interesting to the South Koreans who have required that Talmud study be part of their compulsory school curriculum.

Almost every home in South Korea now contains a Korean-translated Talmud. But unlike in Israel, the Korean mothers teach the Talmud to their children. In a country of close to 49 million people who believe in Buddhism and Christianity, there are more people who read the Talmud - or at least own their own copy at home - more than in the Jewish state. Much more.

"So we too will become geniuses"

"We were very curious about the high academic achievements of the Jews," explains Israel's ambassador to South Korea, Young Sam Mah, that was a host on the program "culture today."

"Jews have a high percentage of Nobel laureates in all fields: literature, science and economics. This is a remarkable achievement. We tried to understand what is the secret of the Jewish people? How they - more than other people - are able to reach those impressive accomplishments? Why are Jews so intelligent? The conclusion we arrived at is that one of your secrets is that you study the Talmud."

"Jews study the Talmud at a young age, and it helps them, in our opinion, to develop mental capabilities. This understanding led us to teach our children as well. We believe that if we teach our children Talmud, they will also become geniuses. This is what stands behind the rationale of introducing Talmud Study to our school curriculum."

Young says that he himself studied the Talmud at a very young age: "It is considered very significant study," he emphasized. The result is that more Koreans have Talmud sets in their homes than Jews in Israel.

"I, for example, have two sets of the Talmud: the one my wife bought me, and the second was a gift from my mother."

Koreans don't only like the Talmud because they see it as promoting genius, but because they found values that are close to their hearts.

"In the Jewish tradition, family values are important," explains the South Korean Ambassador.

"You see it even today, your practice of the Friday evening family meal. In my country we also focus on family values. The respect for adults, respect and appreciation for the elderly parallels the high esteem in my country for the elderly."

Another very significant issue is the respect for education. In the Jewish tradition parents have a duty to teach their children, and they devote to it lots of attention. For Korean parents, their children's education is a top priority. (YNET)

I thought this was a Purim joke...but it's not.

Here's an article in the Korean Herald about a rabbi who teaches Talmud in Korea.

Here's a message board posting from 2005 in a Christian forum where a visitor to Korea is trying to figure out why all Korean kids are learning Talmud.

Here's a Korean website filled with Talmudic sayings and stories.

And, most convincing to me...pictured here is a Korean children's book called "Splash Into the World of Talmud". I found other books filled with Talmudic stories for kids.

If only Jewish parents would be as interested in teaching Judaism to their kids as Koreans are!

UPDATE: The story is not exactly what it seems.

Elder poster sighting in NYC

I was sent this (the person in the photo wanted to remain anonymous):

The rally was called "We Stand With Israel Against Islamic Terror" held at noon on Sunday.

An "Apartheid?" thumbnail ad

An EoZ fan offered to pay to publish a newspaper ad with a selection of "Apartheid?" posters, so here's what I put together for him:

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.