Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, July 15, 2011

Roughing it at Gaza's Carino's restaurant

It's really a shame that the flotilettantes didn't have a chance to see the humanitarian horrors in this miserable little corner of Gaza City. I would have looked forward to their dispatches about this place.

How can people live this way?

PalArabs reject two state solution, except as a stage to full conquest

This poll disproves everything you read about the Middle East in the mainstream media.

From JPost:

Only one in three Palestinians (34 percent) accepts two states for two peoples as the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to an intensive, face-to-face survey in Arabic of 1,010 Palestinian adults in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip completed this week by American pollster Stanley Greenberg.

The poll, which has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, was conducted in partnership with the Beit Sahour-based Palestinian Center for Public Opinion and sponsored by the Israel Project, an international nonprofit organization that provides journalists and leaders with information about the Middle East.

Respondents were asked about US President Barack Obama’s statement that “there should be two states: Palestine as the homeland for the Palestinian people and Israel as the homeland for the Jewish people.”

Just 34% said they accepted that concept, while 61% rejected it.

Sixty-six percent said the Palestinians’ real goal should be to start with a two-state solution but then move to it all being one Palestinian state.

Asked about the fate of Jerusalem, 92% said it should be the capital of Palestine, 1% said the capital of Israel, 3% the capital of both, and 4% a neutral international city.

Seventy-two percent backed denying the thousands of years of Jewish history in Jerusalem, 62% supported kidnapping IDF soldiers and holding them hostage, and 53% were in favor or teaching songs about hating Jews in Palestinian schools.

When given a quote from the Hamas Charter about the need for battalions from the Arab and Islamic world to defeat the Jews, 80% agreed. Seventy-three percent agreed with a quote from the charter (and a hadith, or tradition ascribed to the prophet Muhammad) about the need to kill Jews hiding behind stones and trees.

But only 45% said they believed in the charter’s statement that the only solution to the Palestinian problem was jihad.

The survey’s more positive findings included that only 22% supported firing rockets at Israeli cities and citizens and that two-thirds preferred diplomatic engagement over violent “resistance.”

Among Palestinians in general 65% preferred talks and 20% violence. In the West Bank it was 69-28%, and in Gaza, 59- 32%.

This poll is completely at odds with the world's assumptions of a Palestinian Arab people who desire peace with Israel - assumptions that are shaped by media that reports what journalists want to be true rather than what actually is.

If Western leaders understood this survey, they would know that the unilateral declaration of a state planned for September is anything but a peaceful move. They would know that real peace is literally impossible and that "compromise" is not in the Palestinian Arab vocabulary. They would know that any move at the UN makes war more likely, not less.

They would know that those right-wing Israeli extremists were exactly right.

The "two state solution" that other polls seem to find PalArab support for is a Trojan horse. Yet any Zionist who points that out is marginalized as an extremist in the media, while journalists fawn over those who have rosier, and ultimately false, interpretations. Only rarely do polls frame the questions in ways that expose the true feelings of the Palestinian Arab public.

Ha'aretz, one of the worst offenders of the myth that Palestinian Arabs want peaceful coexistence, buried the poll findings at the very end of an article about how little the Palestinian Arabs want a new intifada, and spun it appropriately:

In another measure of the Palestinian mood, an opinion poll commissioned by the group The Israel Project, which dispenses information to journalists and others about Israel and the Middle East, showed that about 65 percent of Palestinians polled said they thought now was the time for diplomatic contacts, while 30 percent saw the current period as the time for violent resistance. On the other hand, only 34 percent favored a two-state solution involving a Palestinian state alongside a Jewish state. Furthermore, 66 percent favored a two-state solution as only a first step to be followed by a Palestinian state replacing Israel.

Most of the media won't bother to spin this very important poll the way Ha'aretz does. They'll just ignore it altogether. After all, it is embarrassing to admit that your entire worldview is horribly wrong, and if there is a choice of avoiding embarrassment or telling the truth, the mainstream media does not have a good track record of doing the latter.

Don't expect to see a Thomas Friedman column about this story. After all, he personally spends time with handpicked Palestinian Arabs who speak perfect English when he visits the Middle East a couple of times a year. He knows the pulse of PalArab society better than any silly old Zionist-backed survey. Which is a better story - an interview with people you choose who might be in the minority but who you already know agree with your viewpoints, or boring numbers?

(h/t Zach N)

Exports of potatoes from Gaza starting next week

Next week, Israel will allow ten trucks of potatoes a day to be exported from Gaza to sell in Jordan.

A total of 25,000 tons is expected to be exported during the current season.

One reason that this has not happened sooner is because of Israeli fears that the crops might carry plant diseases, especially if they were planted with seeds from Egypt. As part of the agreement, the crops will be shipped out sealed in plastic bags.

There are also plans for tomatoes to be exported as well.

Adopt your own Palestinian pet monkey!

Today in Jerusalem, Israelis and Arabs are planning to march along the route where Jerusalem was divided for 19 anomalous years, in support of the Palestinian Arab statehood bid.

Who are the organizers?

As with virtually every similar protest, it isn't the Arab residents of the area who came up with the idea. Practically every one of these events are wholly conceived, planned and led by Westerners.

Why are the flotillas and flytillas and other demonstrations almost always led by Westerners? One would think that the leftists are more interested in a state than the proposed subjects of that state themselves.

This is just another manifestation of the bigotry of the so-called "pro-Palestinian activists." To them, the real lives of Palestinian Arabs are not of any real interest except for how they can be manipulated and used to pressure Israel.

Read their literature, and mentally substitute "pet monkey" for "Palestinian."

Look how proud they are of their pet monkeys! These precocious monkeys actually welcome them into their homes and act friendly - they don't always flinging poo at them! The monkeys can be taught to march against Israel with the leftists - almost as if they were human themselves! They even have families, just like real people!

And when they do act in vaguely human way, we are so proud of them! They help each other out! They can figure out how to build tunnels and rockets, all by themselves!

Palestinian Arab monkeys are very useful to have around as well, After all, if you are planning a protest on their behalf, you have to trot your pets out to perform for the cameras.

Admittedly, sometimes they do act like animals. Sure, they only think about themselves, and they will often lapse into the "law of the jungle." Animals can't be taught empathy or compromise, which are higher-level concepts that only humans can exhibit.

They'll attack their enemies and even their zookeepers sometimes, but that must be swept under the carpet. It is unrealistic to expect even trained pet monkeys to always act exactly like real humans act. I mean, as human-like as they appear, it is vaguely racist to expect them to completely shed their animal nature. When they lapse into violence, it is after all part of their culture and completely justifiable. Some pet owners even say that their animal-like instincts are superior to human ways. Who are we to say otherwise?

But make no mistake - the owners love their monkeys, almost as if the simians were human themselves. They are bursting with pride at how much they have taught them already about monkey rights, and how monkey rights are the most important issue in the world today. The monkeys have learned that lesson well.

Muslim Brotherhood warns of more Zionists in Tahrir Square

From Al Masry al Youm:

The Muslim Brotherhood’s official news outlet, Ikhwan Online, is reporting that “the remnants of the dissolved National Democratic Party, the state security apparatus and their Zionist allies” are trying to destabilize Egypt by infiltrating an ongoing sit-in protest in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

The website reported on 11 July that at the 8 July protest, protesters in Tahrir Square caught three “thugs” carrying knives and foreign currencies. According to the website, the three men had a tattoo of the Star of David, a Jewish symbol, which also appears on the Israeli flag. Tattoos are forbidden under Jewish law.

"The remnants of the dissolved National Democratic Party, the State Security apparatus and their Zionist allies still attempt to use thugs and spies to suppress the revolt of the Egyptian people that have damaged the interests of the beneficiaries of the ousted regime in Egypt, and tipped the balance in the Middle East,” the Brotherhood outlet said.

While the Brotherhood lent its official support to the 8 July protest that started the sit-in, they decided not to participate in continuing protests.

According to Ikhwan Online, bombs and tear gas marked with the Star of David were also allegedly found in possession of a satellite television reporter who was inciting protesters against the police and encouraging demonstrators to storm the Ministry of Interior.

The website’s investigation of these incidents raised questions about the supposed coincidences.

Major General Hamdy Bakhit, a military expert, told Ikhwan Online that it is not unlikely there will be cooperation between the remnants of Mubarak's regime and Egypt’s enemies abroad after revolutionaries raised questions about Egypt’s controversial natural gas export deal with Israel.

"The Western countries, including the United States and Israel, want to derail the revolution because Arab revolutions limit Western influence in the region, thwart attempts to control the Middle East and deplete its resources," Ikhwan Online quoted Major General Mohammed Abdul Lateef Tolba, a security expert, as saying.

Tolba told the website that Tahrir Square, where demonstrations are entering their sixth day, is full of spies from different nationalities, led by the Zionists, the first enemy of the Arabs and Egyptians.

So whats the difference between a corrupt regime that associates everything they don't like with Zionists and a corrupt, crazy political party that associates everything they don't like with Zionists?

Hamas summer camp, 2011

Some photos from this year's camp, where Hamas teaches kids teamwork, pride and how to kill Jews:

(h/t Khaled Abu Toameh via FB)

The Palestinian Arabs who like to keep their people in misery

Ma'an publishes an op-ed by Maath Musleh, "a Palestinian from Jerusalem and an activist in the Palestinian youth movement."

It is the usual drivel where he claims that the anti-Israel anarchists are the only real Jews, and he tries to fend off criticism within Palestinian Arab society that cooperating with these Jews is a form of normalization (which is, by their definition, a horrid crime.)

We have to be open about the subject now more than ever. We have to set the standards for our co-resistance. Yes we do co-operate with the Jewish citizens of the State of Israel. But the standards of this co-operation are clear. We work together with every Israeli that opposes Zionism and fully recognizes the Palestinian rights, freedom, equality, and the right of the return.

...As Zionism is also the enemy of the Jews, those Israelis have the right to resist it. Those activists are not only there for solidarity. It’s also their war. The Palestinians who try to portray the co-resistance as normalization have to first go down to the front line and resist. We have nothing to hide. Our work of co-resistance is under the sun. It’s not underground. And we oppose co-operating with the leftist Zionists who take part in demonstrations or call themselves peace activists.

This is not such an unusual viewpoint in the PalArab world, but it is one that gets hushed up in the Western media because they want to portray all non-Islamist Palestinian Arabs as being peace-loving and willing to compromise. As this essay shows, that is far from the truth. This extremist is not writing this piece to justify his position as going too far - it is to defend his position from people who are even less tolerant than he is!

I commented:

So, to be clear, you don't want to live in peace with Israel, but you want it destroyed.

And until then, you want to keep Palestinian Arabs in a stateless limbo, where hundreds of thousands will stay in camps and without the simple human right of becoming citizens in the countries they were born in and will die in.

Since Israel is not going anywhere, you would prefer to keep your fellow Palestinians in misery - forever.

Wow, you must really love your people!

Funny Syrian news fauxtography

From The Envoy:

Syria's beleaguered president Bashar al-Assad last week fired the governor of the restive city of Hama, reportedly over concerns the governor was too accommodating to anti-regime demonstrators staging peaceful protests in the city.
So on Monday, SANA informs us, Assad—ever the dutiful strongman—purported to swear in his new choice to rule Hama, Anas Abdul-Razzaq Na-em, providing this notably odd photo of the two leaders:

Enterprising journalists and bloggers soon spotted key discrepancies--such as the telltale way that the table between the two men appears to cast an improbably glossy shadow on the surface of an oriental rug, and eerie way that Na-em casts no shadow in his surroundings whatsoever. The UK Guardian solicited an opinion from its "imaging expert" Drew McCoy, who noted further that "two pictures may have been merged to make it seem like the men are in the same room, with the one on the right positioned fractionally higher than the one on the left. This becomes clearer when you look closely at the floor, which is distorted. The right hand side of the picture has been stretched downwards into place to line up with the left side (which is not distorted)."
The Washington Post noted further that one of Assad's shoes "appears to be sticking out in front of the table leg," even though the rest of his body is position behind the table leg. And McCoy's counterpart at the Post, Dan Murano, seconds McCoy's judgment that a closer examination of both figures shows few of the signature traces that actual humans display when actually captured on film--such as stray hairs. Instead, the figures of both men have perfectly unruffled outlines. The photo, Murano concluded, "looks as if someone selected the the bodies and heads with the lasso tool and then adjusted the contrast and brightness, leaving a black outline at the tool's selection boundary."

(h/t Mike)

Bollywood looking to film in Israel?

From TheJC:

The next Indian blockbuster may have Jewish characters and scenes filmed in Israel, if new plans to bring Bollywood to Israel pan out.

Eight leaders of the Indian film industry spent this week in Israel, scouting out locations and speaking to local counterparts about ideas for films with storylines that bring characters to Israel. They attended the Jerusalem Film Festival, where one of the producers, Vinod Kumar, previewed his new film, Gangor.

"It has been a revelation of sorts," said Mr Kumar, Secretary General of the Film Foundation of India and head of three major Indian film companies. "We had heard that Israel was very small but every kilometre is different from the next, which is amazing for a filmmaker."

Another delegate, Bobby Bedi, managing director of Kaleidoscope Entertainment and producer of the internationally acclaimed 1994 film Bandit Queen, said after a tour of Jerusalem that he would find it "absolutely fascinating" to film in the Old City.

Indians would greet films involving Israel with enthusiasm, he predicted. "India is still a poor country and most people can't travel, and film are a way of 'taking' people overseas," he said.

OK, I admit I posted this just to give an excuse to again show this video from Israeli defense contractor Rafael trying to sell "indigenous air systems" to India in 2009:

Dinga dinga dee!

Not that the cross-culturalization only goes one way. Here's a classic video of Hava Nagila, Indian-style:

Muslim Brotherhood leader is a crazy, raving lunatic

In 2008, The Forward published an op-ed by Essam el-Arian, a leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, laying out why it should be allowed to field candidates in Egypt's then-upcoming elections. You might disagree with what he had to say but the piece was lucid and organized.

Earlier this year The Guardian interviewed the same Essam el-Arian as part of an article about the MB's goals. He sounded much like any politician does in a news interview.

In May, the Washington Post interviewed him. Large parts of the interview were published, and again there was little that was exceptional in that interview. The questions were softball, and the answers published include a few suspicious ellipses (. . .) within the text, but he still sounds like a sane man.

Today, we see a Michael Totten interview with him - no editing, and the questions are a bit more pointed (as well as Totten doing followups.)

The guy is a complete nutcase.

He refuses to answer anything, he pushes bizarre conspiracy theories, and some of the stuff he says would not be out of place if the interview was with a mental patient.

Here's a small part:

Esam El-Erian: The media and think tanks play a very important role. You created a ghost, a monster, this terrorism. You magnify terrorism, and we face its vengeance. You in the media link every Arab, every Muslim, to terrorists. We were pushed to take off our shoes in your airports.

MJT: I have to take off my shoes, too.

Esam El-Erian: Why?

MJT: I don’t like it either.

Esam El-Erian: You make people live in terror.

MJT: Who does?

Esam El-Erian: You do. The media.

MJT: Who is living in terror?

Esam El-Erian: Your politicians. Your media. Your media.

MJT: We don’t live in terror. I don’t know a single person in the media who lives in terror.

Esam El-Erian: Can you answer one question? Why don’t we hear about trials for September 11?

MJT: Because the people who did it are dead. They killed themselves in the towers.

Esam El-Erian: Four thousand innocent people were killed, and there has been no trial.

MJT: That’s because the people who did it are dead.

Esam El-Erian: Nobody was put in a cage to face a trial.

MJT: They were on the planes. They blew themselves up in the towers.

Esam El-Erian: No. Who was behind it?

MJT: Osama bin Laden. And we just killed him, too.

Esam El-Erian: We know you have about 600 people in Guantanamo Bay. None of them have faced trials. Why? This is a very big mystery.

MJT: Well, what do you think happened? What’s your theory?

Esam El-Erian: And another 4,000 Americans were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. You have almost 10,000 innocent Americans killed. Never mind the millions killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. You never put anyone on trial. Who is behind all this? Who made the conspiracy? Is Osama bin Laden alone? Who is behind Osama bin Laden?

Armin Rosen: Who do you think is behind Osama bin Laden?

Esam El-Erian: I want to know!

MJT: What’s your theory?

Esam El-Erian: You have the documents now that Osama bin Laden is dead.

MJT: What’s your theory?

Esam El-Erian: I don’t know.

MJT: You have a theory.

Esam El-Erian: I want to know. That is the question.

MJT: Everybody has a theory. What’s yours?

Esam El-Erian: Why 10,000 Americans killed? Why? Without any investigation.

MJT: Why does it have to be a conspiracy? It really isn’t that complicated.

Esam El-Erian: Is Osama bin Laden alone, or is somebody with him?

MJT: Why does anyone have to be behind Osama bin Laden?

Esam El-Erian: This must be investigated in America! There is this case in the U.K. about hacked telephones. 160 news people were fired.

MJT: [Laughs.] That has nothing to do with Osama bin Laden.

Esam El-Erian: A very old newspaper was closed. There was no drop of blood. If 10,000 Americans don’t expect to have a full investigation about the killings in New York, Iraq, and Afghanistan, we want to know.

MJT: Look, it really isn’t that complicated. Osama bin Laden had some support in Saudi Arabia and from Pakistan’s ISI.

Esam El-Erian: Look, sir. It is not enough that Osama bin Laden admitted in public that he did it. Osama bin Laden can’t do it alone.

MJT: He had some support in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

Esam El-Erian: If you’re saying Saddam Hussein supported him, it’s a lie. Colin Powell said Saddam Hussein had biological weapons, but this was a lie. Colin Powell now regrets this.

We want to know.

MJT: What is it that you don’t know?

Esam El-Erian: You tell me.

MJT: This isn’t complicated.

Esam El-Erian: Yes, it’s complicated. I agree!

MJT: No. It’s not complicated.

This is not just a politician who is trying to avoid answering; this is just a loony who is not used to anyone asking him something beyond the norm.

Read the whole thing. The craziness starts immediately as he answers questions that were never asked from the get-go.

And it makes one wonder - did the other Western media outlets that interviewed El-Erian edit his responses so he doesn't sound like he is in a psychiatric hospital? Do other major political figures of any stripe say equally crazy things, and if they do, are they also being sanitized before being presented to Western audiences?

The part of the interview about Palestinian Arabs was interesting as well:

Esam El-Erian: Can you imagine a democratic Syria or a democratic Jordan assimilating Palestinians in their lands? They cannot. It is a matter of time. Those people must go back [to Israel]. You prevent Mexicans by force from secret immigration.

MJT: Only illegal immigrants, not legal immigrants.

Esam El-Erian: This is illegal. We cannot have non-citizens in our lands. They take our jobs.

MJT: Palestinian refugees have been living in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan for more than 60 years.

Esam El-Erian: No! Even if they’ve been there for 200 years, they must go back [to Israel].

The Muslim Brotherhood, representing mainstream Islamist politics, is saying that the reason that the Palestinian Arabs they claim to love cannot be naturalized as Arab citizens of other countries is because "they take our jobs." And the Arab nations cannot have their Palestinian brothers in their lands.

So it isn't that they want the Palestinian Arabs to "return" to Israel because they love them. They just want them the hell out of their lands because they hate them!

NGO Monitor's list of BDSers being funded by governments

NGO Monitor came out with a very important piece of research showing a list of organizations that support boycotting and sanctions against Israel - and the countries that fund them:

NGOs involved in BDS and their funders (partial list):

NGO	Primary Funders	Funding Amount	Central Involvement
Addameer	Sweden	€207,000 (2009)	Signatory to 2005 BDS call (http://www.bdsmovement.net/)
Addameer	NDC*	$127,000 (2010-12)	Signatory to 2005 BDS call (http://www.bdsmovement.net/)
Al Haq	Holland	$426,201 (funding ceased in 2008)	Signatory to 2005 BDS call (http://www.bdsmovement.net/)
	Ireland Norway	$88,928 (2009) $156,163 (2009, funding ceased)
	Ford Foundation Diakonia NDC*	$600,000 (2009-10) $120,490 (2009) $134,000 (2010-12)
Al Mezan	Sweden	€105,000 (2007-9)	Signatory to 2005 BDS call (http://www.bdsmovement.net/)
	NDC*	$425,000 (2010-12)
	Norway, EU	funding not transparent
Alternative Information Center	Belgium ICCO Sweden (via Diakonia) Spain and the Basque gov't (via MUNDUBAT) Catalan gov't (via Sodepau)	funding not transparent 434,024NIS (2009) 164,225NIS (2009) 711,182NIS (2009) 173,271NIS (2009)	"Yes to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Against Israel "
Alternatives (Montreal)	Canada	$2,000,000CAN (2008-10) (unclear if ceased)	Signatory to 2005 BDS call (http://www.bdsmovement.net/)
Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (PA)	EU	€374,174 (2009-11)	Signatory to 2005 BDS call (http://www.bdsmovement.net/)
	Spain	€98,347 (2009)
	Switzerland	funding not transparent
Badil (PA)	NDC*	$575,000 (2010-12)	Leader of BDS movement
Christian Aid	Ireland, EU	24,521,692£ (2009-10)	"Partner supporting" calling for BDS and "pursuing parastata Zionist orgs"
Coalition of Women for Peace	EU	€247,954 (2005-7)	Runs "Who profits?" website, which is central in the Norwegian BDS campaign
Coalition of Women for Peace	NIF	$294,129 (2006-9)(funding ceased 2011)
Defence of Children International -Palestine Section	Sweden (via Save the Children) European Union	459,000SEK (2009-11) 600,000€ (2009-12)	Signatory to 2005 BDS call (http://www.bdsmovement.net/)
Defence of Children International -Palestine Section	NDC* England	$639,000 (2010-12) £12,500	Signatory to 2005 BDS call (http://www.bdsmovement.net/)
Diakonia	Sweden	$52.7 million (2009)	Advocates for divestment strategy against Israel, lobbies against EU-Israel upgrade
Diakonia	EU	10,500,000SEK
Human Rights Watch	Soros' Open Society Institute	$2,353,895 (2007-8) $100,000,000 (2010-20)	Supported Caterpillar boycott,Call for cuts in U.S. foreign aid to Israel
	Ford Foundation	$445,000 (2009-11)
	Netherlands via Oxfam-NOVIB	$987,818 (2007-8)
Israel Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)	Spain	€105,000 (2009)	Leader in BDS activism
Israel Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)	NDC* EU	$76,000 (2010-12) €169,661 (2010-12)	Leader in BDS activism
KAIROS	Canada - funding washalted in 2009	$1,575,966 (2008)	Main supporter of church divestment campaign
Machsom Watch	EU	€251,650 (2007-2010)	Norwegian Pension Fund divestment campaign
Machsom Watch	NIF	$204,698(2006-9)	Norwegian Pension Fund divestment campaign
Miftah	EU	$79,906 (2010)	Signatory to 2005 BDS call (http://www.bdsmovement.net/)
	Denmark	$28,077 (2010)
	Austria NDC*	$60,624 (2010) $110,000 (2010-12)
Mossawa	NIF	$517,642 (2006-8)	Norwegian Pension Fund divestment campaign
	EU	€298,660 (2006-8)
	UK	funding not transparent
Norwegian Association of NGOs for Palestine (incl. Norwegian People's Aid)	Norway	€57,000 (2008)	Coordinates Norwegian Boycott Israel Campaign
	USA	€8,000 (2008)
	Sweden, Netherlands	funding not transparent
Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO)	NDC*	$130,000	Leader of BDS movement
Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO)	Received France's Human Rights Prize		Leader of BDS movement
Sabeel	Sweden	€76,000 (2006-8)	Leader of global church divestment movement
Trocaire	Ireland	€23,499,837 (2008)	Supports BDS movement, lobbies against EU-Israel upgrade, calls for review of arms export licenses
	UK	€640,682 (2008)
	EU	€1,698,692 (2008)
War on Want	UK	€256,000 (2008)	Advocates for sanctions, including arms boycott
	Ireland	€77,000 (2008)
	EU	€266,000 (2008)
Palestinian Center for Human Rights (Gaza)	NDC* EU, Holland, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden	$425,000 (2010-12) funding not transparent	Leader of BDS movement

*The NDC mechanism is funded by Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands; 2008-9

I wonder if anyone ever put together a list of which regions/countries receive the most international NGO help? It would be interesting to see if money spent has any relationship to money needed.

Hezbollah having cash flow problems?

From Der Spiegel:

In recent months, Hezbollah has become involved in disastrous investments, losing almost €1 billion ($1.4 billion). The Iranians, who are now feeling the brunt of the UN sanctions imposed as a result of their nuclear activities, have made it clear that they cannot provide Hezbollah with additional funding at this time. This is embarrassing for Hezbollah, whose image in Lebanon depends in large part on its generous social services. It is now falling behind in the rebuilding of homes it had promised to Hezbollah's Shiite followers after the destructive 2006 bomb attacks. Israel began massive bombing strikes in Lebanon that year after Hezbollah abducted two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.

Western intelligence agencies believe that they have identified a new Hezbollah income source: the drug trade. Iranian weapons shipments to the Lebanese were reportedly "enriched" with large quantities of heroin and cocaine. The drugs were then allegedly shipped to their final destination, Western Europe, through the Turkish Cypriot port of Famagusta. The Iranian representative of the Revolutionary Guard in Beirut, Hassan Mahdavi, allegedly mentioned, in a telephone conversation, a "drug tsunami" that could flush millions into Hezbollah's coffers.

I'm a little surprised that Spiegel doesn't mention the large amounts of evidence that Hezbollah has been in Mexico and South America for years working the drug trade; for example this information hacked from Arizona police recently by lulzsec.

But the article gives me an idea - send pump and dump penny stock schemes to Hezbollah email addresses! You can get rich while Hezbollah loses more money!

Or a good pyramid scheme - Shahid Investments, LLC.

Bernie Madoff is in prison, but maybe he can help us set this up? Might as well use his skills for something good...

(h/t Daily Alert)

MK Zoabi gets ejected from Knesset, pushes guard (video)

Fun times in the Knesset yesterday! From Arutz-7:

MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) flew into an uncontrollable rage Wednesday during a Knesset speech by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu was answering Opposition members regarding a bill that regulates housing issues.

He noted that many leading members of Kadima had signed on to the original law before the party reversed itself on this issue. He also said that he expected Opposition parties to protest regarding other issues – such as the participation by MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) in the violent Gaza flotilla in 2010.

The remark threw Zoabi into a rage. While most of what she said was not sufficiently clear for the microphones to pick up, she was visibly distraught and pushed a Knesset guard who was escorting her out (2:27 on video).

She approached a microphone and said to the Prime Minister: “Stand me against a wall and have the soldiers from the flotilla shoot me!”

YNet notes:

The Knesset's employee committee sent a letter of complaint to Knesset Director-General Dan Landau demanding that MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) apologize for her behavior Wednesday. Zoabi had clashed with a security guard during the prime minister's plenum speech, which she disrupted.

The employees' committee representing the security guard says that it will consider countermeasures against Zoabi if she does not apologize.

An Arabic site has a different version of the video.

(h/t Israel Muse)

Egypt pushes off elections

From Bikya Masr:

The country’s ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces on Wednesday announced it was moving back elections that had been scheduled for September until October or possibly November. The move was met with widespread skepticism and frustration.

“It has been decided to hold elections for the People’s Assembly and the Shura Council next October or November,” the state-run MENA news agency quoted a military official as saying on Wednesday, in reference to the lower and upper houses of parliament.

Despite the delay, the military rulers who took power after 18 days of street protests ousted President Hosni Mubarak on February 11, stated their continued support for democracy and a transition to civilian rule.

The same official added that the military “is committed to its previous announcement that the electoral process would start six months from the constitutional declaration” of March.

“This means that the electoral process for the People’s Assembly and the Shura Council would start before the end of September,” the official said.

After the announcement by the military, debate ensued. Many felt it was too little too late and the interim government and the military were not doing enough to meet the protesters demands.

The ministry of interior, however, hoped that its concurrent announcement would also bring about a change in perception among the protesters. It announced that they would fire some 600 police officers accused of participating in the attacks on civilians in January and February during the uprising.

Still, it didn’t appear to be enough for the few hundred protesters maintaining their sit-in in central Cairo.

“We want an end to the old guard, former ruling party members and we want to see the trials of Mubarak and Adly and others for what they have done to us and this country,” 31-year-old Ahmed Gabr told Bikya Masr. He has been in Tahrir daily since July 8, when the sit-in began with a massive gathering activists hoped would push the country forward on the right path.

Not all Egyptians are throwing their weight behind the sit-in, however, with a growing section of Egyptian society beginning to wane in their support for public action that has brought downtown Cairo to a near standstill and saw the country’s main administrative building forced closed for three days this week.

“They are not us. They don’t speak for us. What is our life right now? It is the same and we are losing jobs and money, but they don’t seem to care,” said Goma’a Mohamed, a Cairo electrician.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Crazy Water Park attacked, and other unreported Gaza news

The Gaza NGO Safety Office has come out with their biweekly report for June 20-July 3, and it includes news (or details of news items) that did not seem to make it into any media.

Here are some of them::

On June 29, an experimental rocket was fired by Hamas towards the sea.

On 24 June, masked gunmen opened fire and threw a hand grenade targeting the Crazy Water Park tourist resort in Sheikh Ejlen area, S-W of Gaza City. People panicked and fled the area; however, there were no reports of injuries or damage. The de facto police opened an investigation. The Park has been targeted before, when on 19 September 2010 the Park’s buildings and restaurants were set fire by unknown masked gunmen.

The next day, an explosive device was detonated at 2322hrs next to the perimeter wall of the United Nations Special Coordinator (UNSCO) compound causing damage to the wall. Having left a 30cm crater in the ground, the device is thought to have had an explosive force equivalent to 200 grams of TNT. The force from the blast shattered the windowpanes of both a mosque, which is located 15 meters further down the road, and of an INGO office. As a result of the shattering glass, 1 Palestinian passerby was injured. The fact that the explosion took place late in the evening, and that the explosive device did not contain any shrapnel, suggests that the intention was to shock and convey a message, rather than to do actual harm.

On 26 June, 50 people affiliated to the Fatah Youth Organisation (Shabibah) organised a sit-in in front of the house of a prominent Fatah leader, west of Gaza City, to protest against the decision to dismiss Mohammed Dahlan from the Fatah movement. Shots were fired, which resulted in 1 injury.

On 28 June, a Palestinian man was shot three times by 2 masked gunmen on a motorcycle in Al Bureij Camp.

Another man, allegedly a 50-year old drug dealer, was found dead in Nuseirat Camp. It was reported that he died as a result of an interrogation by the de facto police.

Understanding UN bias against Israel (video)

A very effective word-graphic video:

It appears that this was created for the Jerusalem Institute of Justice.

Two rock star FAILS for BDSers

From Moby's website:

if you go to america does that mean you support american foreign and domestic policy? does a visit to america mean that you support guantanamo?
if you visit italy does that mean you support berlusconi?
if you visit the uk does that mean you're a happy supporter of david cameron?

i'm guessing the answer is: no.

a visit to a country isn't a condemnation or an endorsement of the domestic or foreign policies of that nations current government.

when i tour i visit countries that are universally loved (canada), as well as countries for which people have more complicated feelings (israel).

but when i tour i'm going to countries to play music for people.
my presence in a country is not an endorsement or a condemnation of that countries policies.
my presence in a country is an effort to connect with people through playing music.

almost every country on the planet has some aspect of their foreign or domestic policy that is questionable(i mean, i live in the united states, and many aspects of our foreign and domestic policy are seriously questionable...but yet i continue to live there and do what i can to effect positive change).

i have opinions about the policies of the countries i visit, of course, but i think its incredibly dangerous to form opinions of a place without actually spending time there.

the situation within a country is oftentimes considerably more complicated when experienced from within rather than when seen from thousands of miles away or through the sensationalistic and often simplifying and reductionist lens of the media.

i'm sorry if my decisions to visit certain countries are troubling to some people.

Moby played in Tel Aviv yesterday.

And from Richard Millett's blog:

Take That are currently touring the UK and during a recent concert at Wembley national treasure Robbie Williams approached a group of screaming teenage girls who were sporting cheesy Israeli head-wear and took away one of their Israeli flags, promptly kissed it and then took it on to the stage with him (see clip below).

You could call it sticking two fingers (or even one finger, if you wish) up at the vicious anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which desires to kill off the Jewish state for good.

If you listen carefully, you can hear BDSers heads exploding.

(h/t Israel Muse)

Ancient Shabbat marker found in the Galilee

From JPost:

An ancient rock inscription of the word “Shabbat” was uncovered near Lake Kinneret this week – the first and only discovery of a stone Shabbat boundary in Hebrew.

The etching in the Lower Galilee community of Timrat appears to date from the Roman or Byzantine period.

News of the inscription, discovered by chance Sunday by a visitor strolling the community grounds, quickly reached Mordechai Aviam, head of the Institute for Galilean Archeology at Kinneret College.

“This is the first time we’ve found a Shabbat boundary inscription in Hebrew,” he said. “The letters are so clear that there is no doubt that the word is ‘Shabbat.’”

Aviam said Jews living in the area in the Roman or Byzantine era (1st-7th centuries CE) likely used the stone to denote bounds within which Jews could travel on Shabbat. The Lower Galilee of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages had a Jewish majority – many of the Talmudic sages bore toponyms indicative of Galilee communities.

The engraving uncovered in Timrat is the first and only Shabbat boundary marker yet discovered in Hebrew – a similar inscription was found in the vicinity of the ancient Western Galilee village of Usha, but its text was written in Greek.

One of the very cool things about Israel is that an ordinary person, walking his dog, can stumble upon an archaeological treasure like this - which is what happened.

Biblewalks also tries to figure out which town this was the marker for:

We speculate that the marker in Timrat is related an ancient town, located approximately 1kmto the south-east of the marker. This Jewish Roman town was called “Mahalul”, and flourished from the commercially strategic location during the Roman/Byzantine times (Mishna and Talmud). It is mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud (Megila page 2 , 2 1:1, Hebrew): “Nahalal is Mahalul”, and listed among the walled cities from the period of Joshua. The distance from the Roman village to the Timrat Sabbath stone fits the exact range of the perimeter as defined by the Jewish tradition.

Another candidate for the town related to the marker is Simonia, located around the nearby Tell Shimron. This was another Jewish town during the Roman and Byzantine periods. It is also located about 1.5KM from the marker, on the south-west side.

(h/t Yoel)

Gaddafi sent delegation to Israel!

I had missed this one from JPost:

A delegation from Libya sent by leader Muammar Gaddafi recently visited Israel and met with opposition leader Tzipi Livni and other officials, Channel 2 reported on Sunday.

According to the report, the delegation of four senior Libyan officials received visas from the Israeli embassy in Paris after gaining approval from Israeli security services. Once in Israel, the delegation immediately asked to meet with Livni.

Upon receiving the invitation for a meeting, Livni immediately turned to security officials, who gave their approval for the opposition leader to meet with the Gaddafi delegation.

In the four-day visit, the senior Libyan officials reportedly met with other Israeli officials in addition to the opposition leader.

Earlier this year, a leader of a Jewish group told The Jerusalem Post that Libya secretly offered to give Israelis of Libyan descent an undisclosed sum of money if they agreed to form a "Libyan political party."

Michael Totten comments:

I can’t help but wonder: does Qaddafi take the myth of overwhelming Jewish power so seriously that he thinks Israel can pull the plug on NATO’s campaign against him?

Ah, the positive part of anti-semitism!

(h/t Silke)