Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, June 13, 2011

Video of Iranians caught fighting against Syrian opposition

Al Arabiya reports that two men from Iran, who speak Arabic, were caught in the Syrian city of Hama by the Syrian opposition. They seem to have admitted working for the Syrian dictatorship..

There have been a number of reports of both Hezbollah and Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Syria acting on behalf of the Assad regime, but this seems to be the first confirmation.

Here is a video of the two:

Galloway finally says it explicitly: He wants Israel to be destroyed

As far as I can tell, up until now, George Galloway has, to Western audiences, made a pretense of saying he supports peace between Arabs and Israel - as long as there is a "right to return." Listen, for example, to his radio show aired in late 2008 where he disingenuously claims that Hamas supports the Arab peace plan.

Now, he is explicit that his idea of "peace" means that Israel no longer exists and that "Palestine" takes over all the land from the Mediterranean to the Jordan:

Transcript from MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from an interview with former British MP George Galloway, which aired on Palestine Today TV on May 24, 2011:

George Galloway: When President Obama is talking about a smaller and smaller Palestine, we have to insist that Palestine is one, from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea.

[…]

Our next land convoy, which will arrive, God willing, in Gaza on the 27th of December this year, will be called "The Return Convoy," because we insist that Palestine is not only Gaza, the West Bank, and what they call "East Jerusalem." Palestine is the whole country and the whole people.

[…]

Interviewer: The largest insurance company in the world, Lloyd's, refused to insure the ships of the second Freedom Flotilla. How will you deal with this matter, which may hinder your progress?

George Galloway: Well, we will have no insurance, but God is great and we are doing God's work. We are not afraid of Israel. We are afraid only of God.

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar)

Report: PA breaks up prisoner demo, attacked journalists

Palestine Today reports that there was a demonstration in Nablus today to protest the PA's holding of prisoners, presumably members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terror groups.

According to the story, Palestinian Authority police broke up the demonstration, beat up PA MP Mona Mansour who led the rally and attacked journalists covering the rally. The PA confiscated cameras and videotape.

Just another unreported story from the Palestinian Arab territories that we will not be seeing in the media...

Palestinian Arabs claim Israel is stealing their natural gas

From Globes:

Minister of National infrastructures Dr. Uzi Landau has instructed Noble Energy to develop the Noa North gas reserve in the Noa license. Sources inform "Globes" that the final decision to develop the field came after operator Noble Energy convinced Ministry of National Infrastructures experts that he field did not spill over into other parts of the reserve, which is partly under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority in the economic zone of the Gaza Strip.

Up to now, Landau has refrained from ordering development of the Noa field, fearing that this would lead to diplomatic problems vis-à-vis the Palestinian Authority. "Globes" reported in the past that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the matter with President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas.

Of course, Palestinian Arabs are saying that the field is all definitely theirs. Palestine Press Agency headlined the story this way: "Israeli Infrastructure Ministry issued a license to steal gas from Gaza." A Fatah member was quoted as saying this is"an act of aggression, added to the new attacks on the capabilities of our people and their rights."

Needless to say, they do not report that Israel's infrastructures ministry has been working hard to avoid any possible legal issues in the field.

I could not find a map of the Noa gas field. Here are the maps I was able to find of Israel's offshore gas reserves. If Noa is the same as Mari-B, then Israel seems to have the bulk of that field.

Fisking Hamas' spokesman to the West

The Globe and Mail has a Q&A with Ahmed Yousef, Hamas spokesman for the West.

Question: Do you believe that there exists a Jewish people with roots in the Holy Land? Shouldn’t they be allowed a state?

-- Mark Surchin of Toronto, Eric Beckerman, Jon Kerner

Answer: Historically speaking, the Holy Land has been inhabited by members of the three Abrahamic faiths (Islam, Christianity and Judaism). However, the Zionist project usurped this land in order to establish a Jewish state. The indigenous people who were living on the land were forcibly removed from their homes in 1948 and they remain as refugees waiting to return as set out by UN resolution 194. We as Palestinians cannot comprehend why Israel insists that there must be a Jewish state when the land has been home to all three religions over the long course of history.

Yousef is saying here that there is no such thing as a Jewish people, and that they are merely members of a religious group. As such they don't have the right to have a state, and by implication "Palestine" should not be exclusive to one religion.

Yet the Hamas charter states the exact opposite in the relationship between Islam and nationalism:

Hamas regards Nationalism (Wataniyya) as part and parcel of the religious faith. Nothing is loftier or deeper in Nationalism than waging Jihad against the enemy and confronting him when he sets foot on the land of the Muslims. And this becomes an individual duty binding on every Muslim man and woman; a woman must go out and fight the enemy even without her husband’s authorization, and a slave without his masters’ permission. This [principle] does not exist under any other regime, and it is a truth not to be questioned. While other nationalisms consist of material, human and territorial considerations, the nationality of Hamas also carries, in addition to all those, the all important divine factors which lend to it its spirit and life; so much so that it connects with the origin of the spirit and the source of life and raises in the skies of the Homeland the Banner of the Lord, thus inexorably connecting earth with Heaven.

Of course, he is also lying when he says that all Palestinian Arabs were forcibly removed, and that UNGC 194 offers the unlimited right to return.

So Yousef is a liar.

Q: Why doesn’t Hamas reject violence? Do you really think you can win by fighting?

-- Yves Crepeaum, Sackville, N.B., Laurence Knight

A: The Palestinians have been forced into engaging with a legitimate struggle due to the current occupation. The Palestinians must continue in their struggle to liberate their land from the occupying force. The UN resolutions have protected the right for those who lose their homes and land to defend their rights.

Palestinian Arab violence against Israel pre-dates "occupation." It even pre-dates Israel.

The Hamas military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Martyrs Brigades, is named after an Arab terrorist from the 1930s who fought against Jews living in Palestine. Yousef has nothign bad to say about him - if he did, he would probably not live out the week.

So Yousef is a liar.

Q: Why does your Covenant advocate killing Jews, and your text books teach children to hate?

-- Jillian York, Ran Ukashi of Winnipeg, Christopher Slatter, Jonathan Lampert

A: The Covenant does not advocate the murder of Jews, but for the Palestinians to defend themselves against the continuing occupation. This is a direct reaction to the aggressive, expansionist Zionist project and the growing displacement of Palestinians from their homes. Children are not taught to hate. If anything teaches our children to hate, it is the daily events of the occupation. Sanctions, occupation and the siege have impacted on our children's thinking.

Here is every mention of the word "Jew" in the Hamas Charter:

For our struggle against the Jews is extremely wide-ranging and grave, so much so that it will need all the loyal efforts we can wield, to be followed by further steps and reinforced by successive battalions from the multifarious Arab and Islamic world, until the enemies are defeated and Allah’s victory prevails.

The prophet, prayer and peace be upon him, said: The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him! This will not apply to the Gharqad, which is a Jewish tree (cited by Bukhari and Muslim).

[Peace] conferences are no more than a means to appoint the nonbelievers as arbitrators in the lands of Islam. Since when did the Unbelievers do justice to the Believers? “And the Jews will not be pleased with thee, nor will the Christians, till thou follow their creed. Say: Lo! the guidance of Allah [himself] is the Guidance. And if you should follow their desires after the knowledge which has come unto thee, then you would have from Allah no protecting friend nor helper.” Sura 2 (the Cow), verse 120. There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by Jihad.

When our enemies usurp some Islamic lands, Jihad becomes a duty binding on all Muslims. In order to face the usurpation of Palestine by the Jews, we have no escape from raising the banner of Jihad.

The Nazism of the Jews does not skip women and children, it scares everyone. They make war against people’s livelihood, plunder their moneys and threaten their honor. In their horrible actions they mistreat people like the most horrendous war criminals. Exiling people from their country is another way of killing them.

We cannot fail to remind every Muslim that when the Jews occupied Holy Jerusalem in 1967 and stood at the doorstep of the Blessed Aqsa Mosque, they shouted with joy: “Muhammad is dead, he left daughters behind.” Israel, by virtue of its being Jewish and of having a Jewish population, defies Islam and the Muslims.

Within the circle of the conflict with world Zionism, the Hamas regards itself the spearhead and the avant-garde. It joins its efforts to all those who are active on the Palestinian scene, but more steps need to be taken by the Arab and Islamic peoples and Islamic associations throughout the Arab and Islamic world in order to make possible the next round with the Jews, the merchants of war. “We have cast among them enmity and hatred till the day of Resurrection. As often as they light a fire for war, Allah extinguishes it. Their effort is for corruption in the land, and Allah loves not corrupters.” Sura V (Al-Ma’idah—the Table spread), verse 64.

Of course, Hamas TV has encouraged children to murder Jews on many occasions. Here's just one.

So Yousef is a liar.

Tomorrow they will print more of Hamas' lies in the form of answers to readers' questions. But why bother - we already know that his answers are lies.

Lebanese university protests planned speech by a man of peace (David G)

From David G via email:

Donating $500,000 to the Palestinians isn't enough

James Wolfensohn,the former President of the World Bank, raised $14 million - including his own $500,000 - from American Jews to buy the greenhouses left by Israelis leaving Gaza in 2005. In short order after the disengagement from Gaza, Palestinians looted the greenhouses.

Apparently though, his efforts at helping the Palestinians isn't much appreciated in the Arab world.

What has been coined the "Arab Spring" has gained momentum, this time in the region's most well-reputed and prestigious university, the American University of Beirut. The campus has been a scene of protests ever since the university decided to grant Sir John Wolfensohn, former president of the World Bank and member of the advisory council for the Israeli Democracy Institute, an honorary degree during this year's graduation ceremony. Ninety-five faculty members and hundreds of students have signed a petition in opposition to the university's plans to ask Wolfensohn to deliver the keynote speech to the graduating class of 2011 later this month.

The signatories stated that honoring Wolfensohn "symbolically undermines AUB’s legacy in the struggle for social justice and its historical connection to Beirut, to Palestine and beyond."

In response to the petition, Wolfenson informed the AUB community on Saturday of his intention to skip the ceremony “out of concern that his presence would distract from the celebratory nature of the event."

Wolfensohn's crimes?

The petition tied its objections to Wolfensohn’s work as president of the World Bank from 1995 to 2005, his membership in the International Advisory Council of the Israel Democracy Institute, which according to its website, "acts to promote the values and norms appropriate for Israel as a Jewish and democratic state," and his investment in Better Place, a company that according to the petition, "intends to build infrastructure to serve Israeli settlers in the West Bank."

Moshe Kaplinsky, chief executive of Better Place Israel, previously served as commander of the Sayeret Golani, Golani and Galilee Brigades in the Israel Defense Force. During his tenure, he was promoted to the prestigious rank of major general and appointed military secretary to the prime minister in 2001. In 2005 Kaplinsky served as deputy chief of the general staff.

Lebanon technically remains in a state of war with Israel.

So an institution in decreasingly democratic Lebanon gets to pass judgment on the nature of Israeli democracy.

What's astonishing is that Wolfensohn also used his position at the as an envoy to the Middle East to pressure Israel to ease up on restrictions on the Palestinians. But neither the money not the hectoring of Israel has protected Wolfensohn from the hatred of Israel.

We shouldn't surprised but this disinvitation hasn't evoked any outrage.

More details on Ilan Grapel, "spy"

Reuters fills in some pieces about Ilan Grapel, who was absurdly arrested as a spy by Egypt.

An alleged Israeli spy arrested in Egypt is an American immigrant to Israel who once wrote that he hoped to promote Israeli policies in the Arab world, according to information he and others provided on websites.

The man, detained on Sunday in a development that could strain Israel’s relations with Egypt’s new leaders, was identified by the Egyptian MENA news agency as Ilan Chaim Grabel, a misspelling of his family name, Grapel.

The Israeli ambassador to Cairo said on Monday that Israel was looking into the case. The US embassy in the Egyptian capital said it was working to confirm Grapel’s identity and citizenship.

In his Facebook page, Grapel made no secret of his presence in Egypt, writing that he was “preaching at Al Azhar,” an Islamic university in Cairo, and that he had studied at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. The reference to Al Azhar later disappeared from the page.

A judiciary source in Egypt said the arrested man had been active in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the revolt against Hosni Mubarak, after the former president stepped down.

A statement issued by Egypt’s public prosecutor said the suspect, ordered held for 15 days, had been sent to Egypt to recruit agents “trying to gather information and data and to monitor the events of the January 25 revolution.”

Photographs of Grapel on the Facebook page, on the website of the Israel Project, a pro-Israel group where he trained in media relations in 2008, and in the on-line newsletter of an organization that raises funds for Israeli soldiers, matched those in a video clip of the suspect released by Egypt.

Articles about Grapel’s military service in Israel appeared in the New York Daily News and Israel’s Haaretz newspaper in 2006. They said he had been wounded in the Lebanon war that year while serving as an Israeli paratrooper and had immigrated to Israel in 2005 from Queens, New York, at the age of 22.

“He is a very special guy. He’s an Arabist,” Tsiki Ood, who said he was a friend of Grapel’s, told Israel Radio, describing him as an American immigrant. “He’s very intelligent ... He spoke Arabic. I hope he gets out of this trouble.”

After the war, Grapel spoke in the United States at fundraisers for wounded Israeli soldiers, according to the Internet newsletter of the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces organization, which also cited his injury in Lebanon.

It showed him in his paratroops uniform standing next to US fundraisers and Israeli diplomats at functions in Chicago and Houston in 2006.

Two years later, Grapel took part in the Israel Project’s media fellows program in Jerusalem on “educating top young leaders in how to educate the press on Israel and Iran.”

In a comment that appears on the Israel Project’s web page about the program, Grapel said he had been impressed by an Israeli Foreign Ministry’s official's briefing on conveying Israel's positions to the Arab world.

“It would be very rewarding for me if I were to be able to communicate as effectively (as the official) in such anti-Israel environments,” Grapel wrote.

In other words, Grapel didn't hide his viewpoints in the least - pretty strange for a "spy."

By the way, I originally read this in Al Arabiya, where they changed the Reuters dateline from "Jerusalem" to "occupied Jerusalem."

This week is the final round of the Pro-Israel Blog-Off at Israellycool.

EoZ is in the finals, up against Israel Muse.

I submitted a post containing the audio of the lecture I gave a couple of weeks ago on "How to be a media-savvy advocate of Israel." There is a lot of information there, and I think it is important for people who care about Israel to hear.

So now is the time to vote!

Thanks again to Israellycool and Honest Reporting for sponsoring what has been a really fun competition. And be sure to check out all of the great blogs that entered - there is a lot of good stuff out there.

Comic website here.

Egypt claims to catch Israeli "spy." Um...not quite. (UPDATED)

From CNN:

A former Israeli military officer was questioned by Egyptian authorities Sunday and detained for 15 days on suspicion of spying for Israel, according to a spokesman for Egypt's general prosecutor.

Elan Chaim participated in the Lebanon war of 2006, and was relieved of field combat duties after being injured, spokesman Adel Saeed said Sunday. He was apprehended in a five-star hotel in downtown Cairo, Saeed said. Investigators had kept a close eye on his activities for months, and suspect he is involved in espionage, the spokesman said.

Chaim allegedly was sent to Egypt by the Israeli government, tasked with taking advantage of the security vacuum in the country following the January 25 revolution and instructed to recruit others to acquire military and political information, Saeed said. The revolution forced former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from power; he stepped down February 11.

Chaim was present at most of the protests, Saeed alleged, and encouraged demonstrators to engage in violence against the military. His aim, according to Egyptian authorities, was allegedly to help cause chaos between the Egyptian people and the military, Saeed said.

Chaim was questioned by the supreme state security prosecutor and will be temporarily detained, Saeed said. The general prosecutor will announce the results of the investigation when it is complete.

The Jerusalem Post quoted an unnamed Israeli Foreign Ministry official as saying the ministry was "totally and completely unfamiliar with the story" and that it would be investigated.

Al Masry al Youm has a video showing this "spy" doing what looks like normal tourism in Egypt and trying to be a part of history in Tahrir Square. The video also shows images of him in Israeli army uniform with forboding music that is meant to make him look like a scheming, slimy enemy spy.

JPost has his name as Ilan Chaim Grabel. His real name is Ilan Grapel, and here is his Facebook page. Most of the photos in the video come straight from there.

A little digging there shows that Grapel is no spy. While he does seem to be an Arabophile, he makes no attempt to hide his ties to Israel nor his time in the IDF. He clearly has made Arab friends, and even flirts in Arabic with Arab girls (who have no problem with him being Israeli.) He went to Johns Hopkins University.

This is a ridiculous accusation. Grapel makes no secret of all the activities he was doing in Cairo. It is a sad comment on the state of the news nowadays that the media cannot even figure out how to find his Facebook page to check out the facts.

UPDATE: He is also an American citizen.

The humanitarian crisis of Gaza's Palm Village Resort. The horror!

You may think you've seen deprivation in Gaza. You might think you have seen the depths of the humanitarian crisis there. But I must warn you....it gets even worse than you could ever imagine.

Warning: the following pictures may shock and sicken you.

I bring you Gaza's Palm Village Resort.

Most of the photos from this thread.

I hope that the planned flotilla members manage to find their way to this incredible example of how Gazans are suffering under blockade.

I honestly thought I was seeing photos taken in the Congo.

(h/t Vandoren)

The Flotilla meets Gilligan

OK, I admit I LOL'ed.

(h/t Jawa Report via Huffwatcher)

PalArab protesters narrowly avoid getting Jew-cooties

From the IDF Spokesperson website:

The following video is of a protest which took place yesterday in Umm Salamuna, southeast of Bethlehem in the West Bank. Every Friday afternoon, protesters gather in the town to demonstrate against the security fence, which has dramatically decreased suicide bombings and other terror attacks inside Israel for over 6 years. Protests in Umm Salamuna often turn violent, with rocks being hurled at IDF and other security forces by rioters who also damage the security fence.

In the video, the deputy battalion commander of the Kfir Brigade offers water to the protesters due to the extremely high temperature mid-afternoon that day. The Palestinian protest leader tells his supporters, “Don’t drink the water!” following which a woman dumps out a cup of water offered to her by the commander.

Whew, that was close! Who knows what the IDF spiked the water with - poison, sex hormones, anti-sex hormones, tiny bacteria that eat out your spleen - the mind reels at how much damage could have resulted if Arab protesters would accept a simple gift of water from a soldier.

They might have even started to regard Israelis as human beings, and that would be the worst possible outcome.

Far more anti-semitism in Norway schools than "Islamophobia"

And Muslims downplay the anti-semitism.

From The Foreigner (Norway):

Oslo Jewish Community leaders allege an Islamic organisation is glossing over anti-Semitism in Norwegian schools by focusing more on Muslim harassment.

The current row started on Tuesday, after Oslo municipality presented a report charting racist and anti-Semitic attitudes amongst 7,212 pupils in 48 secondary schools.

Results show 33.3 percent of Jews experience harassment between two and three times per month, compared with 5.3 percent of Muslims.

According to Vårt Land, Ervin Kohn of Oslo’s Jewish Community (DMT) was discouraged by the report. Despite the high figures, however, Secretary General of umbrella organisation Islamsk Råd Norway (IRN), Mehtab Afsar, claims, “it’s really the Muslims that are given a hard time, and charting Muslim harassment is well overdue.”

The day after the report came out, pro-integration network LIM (Likestilling, Integrering, Mangfold) said it encourages all actors to fight against what it views as increasing anti-Semitism in Norway. At the same time, it was openly critical to Mr Afsar’s statements.

“Unfortunately, it seems as though IRN neither intends to recognize or take the problem of anti-Semitism seriously. Secretary General Afsar would rather focus more upon intimidation of Muslims.”

In a further development in what was becoming a growing rift between two ethnic minorities IRN issued a press statement yesterday, also censuring its own Secretary General, saying, “We wish to state once and for all that we clearly distance ourselves from all types of bullying and harassment, including anti-Semitism.

IRN apologises that some individuals have tried to turn a general societal problem into a particularly Muslim one,” it continues.

“I cannot see that IRN takes anti-Semitism seriously when reading this press release,” says Mr Ervin Kohn.

(h/t Callie)

Free Gaza is nervous about latest flotilla, so they rev up their lies

I just got this email from Free Gaza:

As we get ready to sail in two weeks, Israel has stepped up the threats, threatening to sue the Canadians who are going, threatening to sue the satellite phone company if they provide us with service, threatening to kill and maim us if we don't stop, then saying, "I told you so...we said we would kill you."

This behavior has got to stop. Israel is behaving like the schoolyard bully who parents and teachers fear, because his parents are rich and have contributed to the school. It's time for us to put our foot down.

Start calling your member of parliament/congress now. Start writing letters to the editor. Start a civil movement on social networks of outrage against Israel's attacks on civilians. Distribute this statement below and post on your websites.

We CAN stop Israeli attacks against us if we work together. Greta [Berlin]

Here is the statement they want everyone to distribute:

ANNOUNCEMENT
June 12, 2011

Regarding statements of government officials in Israel (echoed by officials in other countries) about diplomatic initiatives to impede the “Freedom Flotilla II- Stay Human” mission to Gaza, Palestine, we say:

Proper diplomacy does not exclude humanitarian action; Instead of seeking to prevent an international community of concerned citizens from taking nonviolent action in defense of liberty and human rights, diplomacy must pursue such actions and encourage them.

It is, therefore, a provocation to label the humanitarian action taken by movements supporting human rights to sail to Gaza a “provocation.”

It is a provocation that powerful states and international organizations, such as the US, Israel, the EU and the UN, are asking people to be silent and not react to violations of law and the disdain for universal values.

It is a provocation that international diplomacy is demanding that solidarity action from "people to people" be stopped.

Isn't it precious that the Free Gaza people are asking their drones to send in letters that claim that they are bringing "humanitarian aid" to Gaza and that their actions are "people-to-people?"

Especially since Free Gaza admits, explicitly, on their website, that these flotillas are political, not humanitarian, and that they are not an aid group. Beyond that, they are against humanitarian aid to Gaza going through legal channels, via Israel and Egypt!

Invariably, when it is convenient to them, they claim to the media that they are a humanitarian organization. But in reality their actions are purely political - and, therefore, by definition, a provocation!

As usual, Free Gaza will happily lie to hide their agenda.

(I'd also love to know where Israel threatened to "maim or kill" the flotilla fools assuming that they don't start attacking IDF soldiers with knives and clubs.)

Call Amnesty! Israel humiliates Palestinian Arabs in public!

Israel's women's basketball team defeated the Palestinian Arab team late last month at an International Friendship Games match.

The final score was 70-4.

But Israel's women's team was not happy only humiliating the Palestinian Arabs, but they went on to defeat Jordan 47-7.

This clearly was another case of Israelis purposefully humiliating Arabs, in public, and as such these can be considered war crimes under the Arab interpretation of international law.

Incidentally, the Palestinian Arab team requested not to be interviewed by the Israeli media - even before their match.

(h/t Joel)

Maybe the flotillas should bring cars into Gaza

Hamas recently added a 25% tariff on cars and spare parts brought into Gaza through Israel.

Some 4000 cars have gone into the supposedly besieged sector from Israel since last year. This is not counting the recent flood of cars being smuggled in from Libya.

As a result of Hamas' new car tax, Gaza car dealers refused the latest shipments of automobiles that were supposed to come in through Kerem Shalom. None of the cars scheduled to come in since last Thirsday have been delivered.

Sounds like the "humanitarians" have their work cut out for them. Gazans need more cars without the unconscionable tax being placed on them by their, uh, occupiers!

New medicine shortage in Gaza. Sorry, can't blame the Jews. (UPDATED)

From Ma'an:

Hospitals in the Gaza Strip are suffering a critical shortage of medicine and medical supplies, Hamas Health Minister Bassem Naem said Saturday.

The crisis was unprecedented even during Israel's massive offensive on Gaza in December 2008, Naem said, adding that the situation was worsening by the day.

Speaking at a conference in Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Naem said 180 types of medicine and 200 medical items had run out in Gaza, including alcohol and needles.

Sources in the Gaza Health Ministry said Palestinian Authority official Nabil Shaath had promised to send medicine to Gaza from Ramallah, but that the supplies never arrived.

There are no Israeli restrictions on medicines entering Gaza. The only party at fault is...the Palestinian Authority!

Will the UN convene a session to condemn them?

UPDATE: Silly me. Of course you can still blame the Jews. (h/t T34)

Reporter sneaks into Syria; deserters tell of rapes

From CBS:

Martin Fletcher, of The Times of London, posed a tourist to sneak into Syria, where foreign journalists are banned. He traveled for 6 days before being caught before being caught in the city of Homs, a focal point of the uprising.

Meanwhile, some Syrian army deserters are speaking out about the horrors they participated in:

Syrian army deserters who fled to Turkey have told of atrocities committed by soldiers in suppressing anti-government protests, under threat of execution if they disobeyed orders.

Four conscripts interviewed by AFP recounted instances of rape and wanton murder as President Bashar al-Assad's forces combat demonstrations against his regime across the country.

With a blank stare in his eyes, Tahal al-Lush said the "cleansing" in Ar-Rastan, a town of 50 000 residents in the Syrian province of Homs, prompted him to desert.

"We were told that people were armed there. But when we arrived, we saw that they were ordinary civilians. We were ordered to shoot them," said Lush, who showed his military passbook and other papers as proof of his identity.

"When we entered the houses, we opened fire on everyone, the young, the old... Women were raped in front of their husbands and children," he said, giving the number of deaths as some 700, difficult to verify as journalists are not allowed to circulate freely in Syria.

(h/t Israel Muse)

OT: Parasha question

A bit off topic...

This has been bugging me today so I was wondering if anyone had a good answer.

In next week's parasha (Bamidbar/Numbers 13:1), the list of the meraglim includes:

ד וְאֵלֶּה, שְׁמוֹתָם: לְמַטֵּה רְאוּבֵן, שַׁמּוּעַ בֶּן-זַכּוּר.	4 And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur.

ח לְמַטֵּה אֶפְרָיִם, הוֹשֵׁעַ בִּן-נוּן.	8 Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun.
יא לְמַטֵּה יוֹסֵף, לְמַטֵּה מְנַשֶּׁה--גַּדִּי, בֶּן-סוּסִי.	11 Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.

Why wasn't mateh (tribe of) Ephraim placed under mateh Yosef (Joseph)? And why was there a separation of 2 verses between them?

I didn't see any answers in the meforshim I had available. It seems fairly glaring so I figured someone must have commented on it, perhaps in the context of the entire order listed.

Any ideas?