Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, March 29, 2013

Hanan Ashrawi's Miftah NGO also praises female terrorists

As my readers look a little deeper into Miftah, which published an outrageous piece of anti-semitic hate only two days ago, Yenta Press found this piece written by Miftah's Johara Baker:

Fighting Back

Palestinian women have also participated in the resistance. As the conflict grew more intense and young men were recruited to carry out military operations against Israeli targets, several young women also decided to join the ranks of the resistance movement. In January 2002, 28-year-old nurse Wafa Idrees, detonated a bomb in Jerusalem’s Jaffa Street, killing one Israeli and injuring 150 others. She was also killed in the blast.

This marked the beginning of a string of Palestinian women dedicated to sacrificing their lives for the cause. Over the next two years, seven other women carried out similar operations, the most deadly of which was carried out by Hanadi Jaradat, a 29-year-old attorney from Jenin. Hanadi detonated explosives strapped to her body in a busy Haifa restaurant, killing 19 Israelis and injuring 50 others.

Not a word of condemnation. On the contrary, this article shows a clear romanticism in describing unspeakable acts of terror aimed squarely at innocent civilians - what it calls "resistance."

And this is in English!

In Arabic, I found this piece that says that if Hamas decides to respond to international sanctions with terrorism, then the responsibility for the deaths belongs to the US.

To be fair, Miftah officially claims that it is against some terrorism. It did condemn a couple of attacks on Israeli civilians many years ago. But its funders must be aware that the same organization that sometimes claims that terrorism is immoral cannot turn around and lionize the bravery and dedication of female terrorists.

One gets the impression that Miftah's condemnations are perfunctory while the praise for the terrorists themselves reflects more of how they really think. For example, they regard Dalal Mughrabi as a heroine.

If Miftah wants to be hypocritical, that is no big deal. The question is whether the European and American NGOs that fund it want to be part of that hypocrisy.

Ma'an acts as mouthpiece for Jew-hating Al Aqsa Foundation

Ma'an, which strives to appear like it maintains good journalistic standards in English, has an Arabic article today that shows again that it reports things differently to different audiences.

The artiicle is about the Birkat Kohanim event at the Western Wall Plaza (Kotel), that attracts tens of thousands of Jews every year. Ma'an's headline? "Tens of thousands of religious Jews storm into the vicinity of Al-Aqsa."

The article itself is simply a reproduction of a press release by the virulently anti-semitic Al Aqsa Foundation that denies any Jewish connection to Jerusalem. It says that the Kotel is really the "Buraq Wall" and is a Muslim holy site, notwithstanding that even the few Muslims that had heard of that site before the twentieth century identified it to be a distance away from the Kotel.

Uncritically quoting the Al Aqsa Foundation, the Ma'an article says

Tens of thousands of religious Jews desecrated the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque during the day and night on Thursday, and performed Talmudic rites, including what is called the "priestly blessing" - on the occasion of "Passover", at the Wailing Wall and its courtyard throughout the day and night, through loudspeakers, with the participation of "senior rabbis" whose voices could be heard inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which sparked great disquiet among worshipers during prayers. The "Aqsa Foundation" said that violations of the occupation of the area of the Buraq will continue throughout the Passover festival days which ends the middle of next week. The "Aqsa Foundation" confirmed that the Wailing Wall is a precious part of the Al Aqsa Mosque, and is purely Islamic, and that Square Buraq is also purely Islamic, they constitute the Moroccan Quarter, which was destroyed by the occupation in 1967, and turned it into a yard for "prayer of the Jews." and "Aqsa Foundation" showed that every occupation practice in the Buraq is illegitimate and really part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Talmudic stories about them are false.

The supposedly liberal Ma'an can't even be bothered to mention that Jews say that they have historic ties to Jerusalem. No, it can only reproduce the ahistoric rantings of the Islamists as fact.

Email addresses of NGOs that support Miftah

Here is a list of email addresses of some of the organizations that financially support Miftah, which published a blatantly anti-semitic article on Wednesday. So far, they have not responded to numerous tweets, so here is a chance for you to do something that can make a difference.

Representative Office of Norway repram@mfa.no
The Anna Lindh Foundation info@euromedalex.org Facebook
Oxfam UK enquiries@oxfam.org.uk Facebook
National Endownment for Democracy info@ned.org Facebook
Secretariat for Consulate of Italy in Jerusalem segreteria.gerusalemme@esteri.it
Heinrich Böll Foundation info@boell.de Facebook Arab Middle East FB
Austrian Development Agency oeza.info@ada.gv.at
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ireland contact page List of Twitter contacts
Konrad Adenauer Foundation - Palestinian Territories Info.Ramallah@kas.de
International Republican Institute webpage contact
UNESCO - English media editor r.amelan@unesco.org

I have emailed all of the organizations listed here and am waiting to hear back.

If you receive any response, please let me know.

Palestinian Arabs keep getting killed in Syria, and no one cares

I noted that the death toll of Syrian Palestinians had gone over 1000 last month. Things have, if anything, accelerated since then.

On Sunday and Monday, six more were killed.

On Tuesday, nine were killed - including five members of one family.

On Wednesday, seven were killed.

UNRWA noted the deaths of five children earlier this month:

On 15 March, Mohammad Al-Khateeb (aged 14) was killed by a bullet as he was returning home on foot after buying bread from a bakery in his neighbourhood in Dera'a. On 19 March, Hisham Mahmoud (aged 10) and Farhat Mubarak (aged 11), were killed at the crossroad of Yazour and Safad Streets in Yarmouk, Damascus. They were returning home from classes at a community-run learning centre when an explosive shell detonated nearby, killing them instantly. In a separate incident on the same day, two brothers, Ali Mijel (aged 14) and Abdullah Mijel (aged 15), were killed along with their aunt and cousin when an explosive shell hit their home on Hittin Street in Sbeineh Camp.

We must have missed the stories about these in Mondoweiss and Electronic Intifada, who pretend to care so much about Palestinian Arabs.

Israeli commando raid to save Jewish objects from Syrian synagogue?

A couple of weeks ago there was news that the ancient synagogue in the Jobar neighborhood of Damascus, known as the Eliyahu HaNavi synagogue, had been bombed, apparently by Syrian regime forces.

Syrian TV is reporting that it is the Free Syrian Army that is looting the synagogue:

The latest rumor, which may be coming from Israel, is that Israeli commandos have taken valuable Jewish objects from the synagogue.

Syria Truth, which has not been a fan of the Assad regime, writes:

Informed sources in Tel Aviv revealed this evening that Israeli intelligence succeeded in recent days in a raid the synagogue in the suburb of Jobar in the east of Damascus, and to transfer its contents out of Syria across the Turkish and Jordanian borders in collaboration with "Banner of Islam" group, which controls the region.

A source close to Syrian Rabbi Abraham Hamra, the leader of Jews who came from Syria to Israel in 1994, said that a commando group was composed of about 15 people belonging to the "Jewish Black Panthers" unit went to Jobar early this week in collaboration with Jordanian and Turkish security agencies and "Banner of Islam", which controls the area, and rescued the contents of the Temple of priceless manuscripts and precious collectibles, including a copy of the Torah is one of the oldest in the world, before being transferred through "Banner of Islam" out of Syria through different ways, revealing that the commando team split on the way back to more than five groups, each consisting of two or more people, carrying with them a part of the manuscripts to prevent the loss of all of them if caught by the Syrian army. According to the source, the commandos were mostly Iraqis, Moroccan and Lebanese Jews of who disguised themselves as "Mujahideen Islamists"...

According to sources for Syria Truth, the decision-making process started about three weeks ago when the temple was exposed to mortar fire that destroyed portions of the outer walls and internal rooms and almost destroyed the synagogue totally. Then the Israeli authorities initiated contacts with third-party Turkish and Jordanians to help save the contents of the temple through the channels established by the two countries with the "Free Syrian Army".

I didn't see this in Israeli media, but given the Syrian news story about how the Free Syrian Army looted the synagogue, this actually might have some truth behind it.

Let's hope so.

Why the Miftah antisemitism story is so important

On Thursday, I reported exclusively that Miftah, an NGO that was founded by Palestinian Arab media darling Hanan Ashrawi, had published as pure an anti-semitic screed as is imaginable - resurrecting the reprehensible blood libel that Jews ritually slaughter Christian children and consume their blood on Passover.

Miftah is an organization that is ostensibly dedicated to promoting Western, liberal idea like democracy and equal rights for women. At least, that's what they tell their donors, which in 2011 included Oxfam, the Anna Lindh Foundation, Norway, Ireland, UNESCO and the US-based National Endowment for Democracy:

Miftah presents itself as a transparent NGO dedicated to its ideals and principles.

Yet, within hours of my publicizing the disgusting article on its website, Miftah simply deleted it - no explanation, no apologies, no excuses. It simply pretended that the hugely offensive piece never existed, hoping that no one would notice their cover-up.

This is not how a transparent organization should act.

Here we see what happens when a supposedly liberal Arab organization is faced with the exposure of bigotry and hate in its midst: it sweeps it under the rug. And, so far, the NGOs that fund Miftah have been complicit in this silence, hoping that the controversy will go away.

And this is the problem.

While these same liberal organizations would be the first ones to complain when they see an example of anti-blackracism, Arab antisemitism is not regarded as nearly as toxic an issue. They know, as all observers of the Middle East know, that Arab antisemitism is endemic. It is the rule, not the exception.

Instead of demanding accountability and the eradication of hate among organizations funded by these Western NGOs and governments, Arab antisemitism is tacitly accepted as "one of those things," or justified as a side effect of Israeli policies.

However, this example of naked hate has no excuse. The classic blood libel has nothing to do with Zionism, nothing to do with modern Israel. It is a pure throwback to the Christian antisemitism of the Middle Ages. And it exists, today, in the Arab world.

Just like the scourge of Christian Jew-hatred has been largely marginalized by modernity, by exposure and by shaming the haters, this is what must happen to today's Muslim anti-semitism. It is not acceptable, it is not something to be hidden away when it gets exposed. It must be confronted and, most importantly, the people who practice it must be shamed. Shame is the West's biggest weapon to fight Arab hate and it is one that too often is ignored because of a mistaken, cowardly idea that there is nothing to be gained by shaming people who are easily enraged.

The offensive article was not written by a marginal figure or a loose cannon. Nawaf al-Zaru has written other articles for Miftah, and similarly his blood libel article is still visible on major Arab media, today. Not only that, but al-Zaru is regarded as an Arab expert on Israel and Hebrew. He has written numerous articles and books, and was the editor of at least two Jordanian newspapers. Indeed, he had written a more expansive version of the blood libel article in 2009, in response to an earlier Passover seder at the White House.

His viewpoints aren't an aberration. They are mainstream. I see the same kinds of writings nearly every day in the Arab media, although not always as explicit.

By ignoring the hate, the funders of Miftah are tacitly endorsing it. And people like Hanan Ashrawi will not be called to account for overseeing a publication and website in which such hate can be published, past all the editors and webmasters and other gatekeepers whose salaries are being paid by these NGOs.

The NGOs themselves should be falling over themselves to distance themselves from Miftah. The Anna Lindh Foundation says "Our purpose is to bring people together from across the Mediterranean to improve mutual respect between cultures." How exactly can that purpose fit in with Miftah's encouragement of hate of Jews? Shouldn't people be tweeting them about this?

Oxfam says "We strive to do what we say we will do. Read about our core values and operating principles against which we measure ourselves." One of these is that "Unjust policies and practices, nationally and internationally, must be challenged and people’s rights must be respected." Should Oxfam be measured by their own words? They are on Twitter as well.

Part of UNESCO's mission is "to contribute to the building of a culture of peace." How can Arab Jew-hatred contribute to peace? Shouldn't people tweet to them as well?

The National Endowment for Democracy is a US-based NGO that also supports Miftah. They say that "NED provides hundreds of grants each year to non-governmental groups working abroad in the areas of human rights, independent media, the rule of law, civic education and the development of civil society in general." How does Miftah's hate and cover-ups fit in with that vision? You can tweet them and ask.

Miftah is not the problem - it is a small symptom of the real problem. But to fix things we must start somewhere. And you, right now, can directly ask all of these NGOs and governments that fund Miftah what they are doing to uphold their own standards and distance themselves from the naked hate that Miftah apparently feels is acceptable discourse in the Arab world.

Some tunnels are not meant for smuggling

From Ma'an:

A member of Hamas' armed wing died Thursday during a mission in eastern Gaza, medical officials and witnesses said.

Mohammad Ahmad al-Sarhi, 20, from the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City, was killed in a tunnel collapse, and three other people were wounded, health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said.

Witnesses in the area confirmed to Ma'an that a group of Al-Qassam members were operating in a tunnel east of Zaytoun when the tunnel collapsed suddenly.

This tunnel was nowhere near the Egyptian border.

Which means it was either an underground bunker to stockpile weapons, or it was a tunnel to kidnap Israelis.

Hamas' Al Qassam website called it a "resistance tunnel."

A little context is a useful thing.

(h/t PTWatch)

Thursday Links Part 2

From Ian:

Pro-Gay and Anti-Israel? ‘Pinkwashing’ to the Rescue

Given the reaction that a Jewish state has elicited in the region, one can only imagine how a “queer state” would be received. Yet Elia and her fellow travelers prefer a fictional “queer state” to an actual country where gays are welcomed—a sure sign that, for them, bigotry trumps reality.

Flotilla 3.0: International 'activists' work with Hamas affiliates to sail OUT of Gaza

A new propaganda initiative designed to test the resolve of the Israeli blockade on Hamas in Gaza is seeking to highlight how trade from Gaza has been affected by Israel.
The focus of the 'Gaza Ark' is the fact that while goods do indeed enter the Hamas-run, Palestinian enclave, goods are said to rarely ever leave. The premise of the trip is that Gaza wants to trade with the world, rather than receive aid. Critics have called the trip "intentionally misleading", pointing to the fact that on a weekly basis, dozens of trucks export products from Gaza.

Scottish Government Funds Pro-Terror Group

The Daily Express revealed last week that Islamic Relief Worldwide, a British charity accused of links to terrorism, was presented with £398,000 of the taxpayers' money by the Scottish Government last year, as part of its £9 million International Development Fund.

British-Palestinian town twinning plans collapse

The twinning of a norther English borough and a West Bank town has fallen through, with public support for the motion considered too low

Daphne Anson: Anti-Israel Fanatics Petition Morgan Freeman

Celebrated African-American screen actor Morgan Freeman is due to be honoured by the Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University at a ceremony in Toronto on 6 May.
Predictably, Israel-haters including the usual BDSers are up in arms, and a furious campaign on social media has been launched in order to bring pressure on Mr Freeman to refuse the honour.

"This is Islamic Apartheid": New AFDI ad campaign to launch in NYC to counter blood libel by American Muslims

Troubling Times for Once Mighty Hezbollah

Writing on February 6 for the Washington Institute, Matt Levitt, taking into account the EU position and Hizballah’s support of the Syrian regime, came to the following conclusion:
“The ‘Party of God’ has turned its ‘weapons of resistance’ not on Israel, but on fellow Muslims. This, more so than the UN indictment of four of its members for the murder of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, and more so than the exposure of Hizballah operations in places like Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Thailand, and Turkey, is what now threatens Hizballah’s standing as a Lebanese political party and social movement.”

Bulgaria to present new evidence in Burgas bombing

Move may increase pressure on European Union to label Hezbollah a terrorist group

The Shining Is About What?
Room 237 uses Talmudic exegesis to uncover whether Kubrick’s film is about Indians, the Holocaust, or bears

Even people who haven’t seen it know that The Shining, Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of the Stephen King novel, is the scarific tale of a stir-crazy caretaker—Jack Nicholson, no less—driven mad by the ghosts haunting an isolated, off-season hotel to murder his wife, played by Shelley Duvall, and their small son, who happens to be psychic. But, was this contribution to the horror cycle of the late Carter era also Kubrick’s meditation on the Holocaust?

Kubrick’s Lost Holocaust Film
America’s greatest Jewish director was haunted by the Nazi horror—too much to address it directly in film

Nearly all of Kubrick’s films are told from the perpetrator’s point of view, and references to Nazi Germany populate his work, most often as signifiers for characters who are growing mad with power: Dr. Strangelove’s proposal for a “final solution” and his exclamation, “Mein Führer, I can walk!”; the Leni Riefenstahl imagery shown to Alex during his Ludovico treatment in A Clockwork Orange; Jack’s German Adler typewriter on which he chronicles his descent into insanity in The Shining.

Israel Daily Picture: More on the Jewish Legion in Palestine, 1917 - 1919,

In our last posting on the Jewish Legion we published this photo of the "Jewish Legion entering a Jewish village in the Land of Israel." We have subsequently discovered more information about the photograph.
The picture shows Colonel Eliezer "Lazar" Margolin riding into Ben Shemen. Margolin, a Russian-Palestinian-Australian, was a decorated officer who succeeded John H. Patterson as the commander of the Jewish Legion.
Margolin was born in Russia in 1874 and moved to a small farm in Rechovot Palestine with his parents when he was 17. He was proficient in Hebrew, Arabic, marksmanship and riding. Years later he was known as a figure who "rides his horse like a Bedouin, and shoots like an Englishman."

Video of those Hebron kids "arrested on the way to school"

On March 20, the Huffington Post wrote:

As U.S. president Barack Obama arrived in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, the Israeli military reportedly detained a group of children on their way to school in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Independent Catholic News:

Twenty-seven Palestinian children, age seven to 15, were arrested while on their way to school in the West Bank city of Hebron, Christian Peacemaker Teams reported on 24 March.

B'Tselem:

Soldiers detained or arrested over twenty minors on their way to school.

Now, the video:

Isn't it interesting that the many media outlets that showed video of the children's arrests didn't bother to show what was happening immediately beforehand?

(h/t Omri)

Obama's AIPAC/Illuminati shape-shifting reptilian secret service alien

From The Jewish Press:

Somebody got a hold of the video of President Obama’s March 4 speech to the “Zionist cabal,” also known as AIPAC, and noticed – how could they not – that one of President Obama’s shape-shifting body guards, a lizard-humanoid, let go of his human shape for a brief moment, exposing to the world his truly hideous alien form.

The text-to-speech program narrator tells you all about it with the certainty of a GPS program plowing away minutes after your car has gone into the lake.

The bald-headed secret service agent acts strangely, looking to his right and to his left incessantly and almost mechanically, then totally shape-shifts into a reptile. Or not. How many shape-shifters have you seen to compare with this one?

The video was shot by JN1, a Jewish news service, which probably hadn’t been told by the Jewish cabal to keep their lenses off the alien shape-shifters.

Anyway, the video has gone seriously viral, with close to 3 million views.

The original video link is gone, but here is a copy - and it is hilarious.

(h/t Ian)

Thursday Links Part 1

From Ian:

Obama, Einstein, and Jerusalem

Einstein wanted a nuclear weapon-free world, but when he saw what Hitler was doing, he helped America develop an atomic bomb. Einstein knew the difference between imagination and pretense. He could imagine a bomb-free world, but did not pretend that just talking to Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan would stop the war.
Like President Obama, Professor Einstein wanted peace, but when faced with unrelenting war, Einstein wanted to win. Just talking to dictators would not stop them.

Stephen Walt and the Islamist Lobby

Now Stephen Walt has taken another step to confirm this conclusion. He has been featured as the March 2013 Guest Writer for the Middle East Monitor (MEMO), a website whose self-described mission is promoting “the Palestinian cause” by reaching out “to opinion makers and decision makers in a deliberate, organized and sustained manner.”
However, as far as MEMO is concerned, the “Palestinian cause” is really the cause of Hamas. It is therefore no coincidence that, together with their esteemed guest writer Stephen Walt, MEMO also featured a “New strategic document” by Hamas leader Khalid Mishaal (also spelled Mashal or Meshaal).

Bernard-Henri Levy: Have I Become an Undesirable in Libya? by Bernard-Henri Lévy

Bernard-Henri Lévy fought tirelessly for Libya’s liberation. So why does he suddenly feel unwelcome in the country he loves—all because of his religion?

Europe: The Submission That Dare Not Speak Its Name

The French Jewish community is the largest in Western Europe. Its existence dates back to the early Middle Ages. A decade ago, it had approximately 500,000 members. Last year, its number fell to 400,000, and continues to fall. If the trend does not stop, the Jewish presence in France will, in the medium term, come to an end.
As long as what happens in France also happens in other European countries, what is taking shape could be a shift towards the end of the Jewish presence in Europe. It is impossible to assess the consequences that such an event could have, but one would have to be blind to underestimate its significance.

French soldier, two others held in terror probe

French police have detained three people, including a soldier, in southern France as part of an investigation into last year’s deadly terror attacks in Toulouse that targeted Jews and paratroopers, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The Cult Of Mohamed Merah

"This newsclip (in French) shows how Mohamed Merah has become an object of veneration to the Muslims of France. Flowers are regularly left at his grave. The grave attendant says they should have buried him somewhere more obscure to make it more difficult for his worshippers to leave flowers.

Critically wounded Syrians treated in Israel; one dies

The IDF said the injured Syrians were met at the border by Golani Brigade soldiers and were secretly transferred to Israel under heavy security for fear that - if identified - they would be harmed upon their return to Syria. All of the wounded are residents of the Syrian-controlled central Golan Heights region.

Trapped: The Plight of Palestinian Refugees From Syria

Families seeking asylum in neighboring Jordan are being turned away at the border because they lack Syrian identification.

Syrian rebels claim Iranian plane shot down

Opposition source in Damascus says the craft carried a weapons shipment for President Bashar Assad’s army

Russian lawmaker quits over reports of Israeli citizenship

Opposition blogger targets Vitaly Malkin of Putin’s United Russia party for dual nationality, undeclared foreign assets

Swiss gov't employee fired for praising death of Jews

The construction department of the St. Gallen canton in Switzerland dismissed a managerial construction employee because he sent an email to the Israeli Embassy in which he praised the deaths of Jews in a terrorist attack.
Candrian wrote in his email about the attack on Israeli tourists in Burgas in July 2012, “That is a good day in my life. I am proud of the heroes who killed Jews.”

France: Jewish minister ‘doesn’t think in French’

Leader of far left denies comment was connected to religion of Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici

Russia’s new Middle East energy game

While we have consistently made out a strong case that the (Iranian-Syrian) Shia v Sunni (Saudi and much of the rest of the ME) divide would, despite the rhetoric, means not a single ME government would come to Iran’s aid in the event of an attack, we can also state precisely what Russia won’t do.
Moscow won’t jeopardize its new deeply strategic energy partnership with its Israeli-Greek Cypriot ‘Western’ partners – in particular, its burgeoning relationship with the Middle East’s coming energy superpower, Israel.

Israeli director gets attacked by Arabs at France film festival

From Mako:

Yariv Horowitz, who directed the film "Rock the Casbah" is currently being featured at a film festival in France, was attacked by a group of Arab youths while winning the best film award.

Horowitz, who represents Israel and directed the film festival "Aoviin" held European country, was attacked immediately after the screening of the film in place by a group of Arab youths. The director lost consciousness, was treated there and after recovering from the blows he received, he returned to the festival area in good condition.

After the violent incident, which apparently was racially motivated, Horowitz's film won the Special Prize of the Jury for Best Picture.

The film "Rock the Casbah" follows the story of young soldiers in the first intifada in Gaza, wh0 are stationed on the roof of a Palestinian family whose son is involved in the murder of one of their battalion.

Here is the trailer to the film:

The film is apparently critical of the IDF but it is not one-sided. Horowitz told Ha'aretz recently:

"It happened there, on the roof, when I was a 19-year-old child in a combat helmet and protective vest," Horowitz says. He starting thinking about the enormous amount of restraint it took for the soldiers to cope with the spitting and the cursing, the rocks and the concrete. "What you want most at that moment is to bash them in the face with your rifle butt," he says. "But in most cases the soldiers didn't do that, at least not near me, perhaps in part because I was holding a camera."

"I went up on the roof and I said to myself, it's absurd, this story must be told from the inside. It cannot be the case that 19-year-olds are being asked to make split-second decisions that the Supreme Court could take months to decide ... whether or not to shoot, to shove, to use 'moderate physical force' or immoderate force. If a child throws a concrete block on them, for example, and flees into some home, they have to decide quickly whether or not they're allowed to force open the door or not, whether it's legal or not. I saw some [soldiers] who broke in without thinking, but others who held themselves back and didn't. These are difficult ethical decisions that can stay with them for years to come."

(h/t Kramerica)

Cardboard Chanukiah cutout causes consternation among Muslims

Multiple Muslim and Arab sources are reporting about a cardboard cut-out found on the Temple Mount:

A closer look:

The Al Aqsa Foundation condemned the cut-out, saying "This incident is a serious incident and has its symbolism, and such practices indicate that the Israeli occupation is involved in the implementation of schemes aimed at al-Aqsa mosque, and is trying to impose a fait accompli by placing multiple pictures in the al-Aqsa mosque." It also mentioned the "Talmudic rituals" that "settlers" often engage in.

Notice that this part of the Mount is strewn with debris from previous Waqf destruction of structures there. I documented some of that in my video tour of the area. The part pictured here seems to be from about the 14 minute mark of the tour.

The cut-out doesn't even depict the Temple Menorah, which had seven branches, but rather a Chanukah menorah, which has nine.

Maariv reports that Israel has established a field hospital at the Syrian border in the Golan to treat people
injured in the Syrian civil war who ask for help.

As of last month, at least eleven Syrians have been treated by Israel; eight have returned to Syria. A couple of others could not be saved.

Israeli authorities anticipate an increase in injured Syrians seeking help in coming months.

(h/t Avi Mayer, who wrote an article that addressed Israel's desire to help people no matter who they are.)

Passover blood libel in Hanan Ashrawi's "Miftah" website (UPDATE)

Miftah describes itself this way:

Established in Jerusalem in December 1998, with Hanan Ashrawi as its Secretary-General, MIFTAH seeks to promote the principles of democracy and good governance within various components of Palestinian society; it further seeks to engage local and international public opinion and official circles on the Palestinian cause. To that end, MIFTAH adopts the mechanisms of an active and in-depth dialogue, the free flow of information and ideas, as well as local and international networking.

Hanan Ashrawi, a darling in the Western media, remains the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Miftah.

In Miftah's Arabic edition there is an article railing against President Obama's speech to Israeli students. But one part of the speech particularly raised the ire of the author, Nawaf al-Zaru.

Obama said:

I also know that I come to Israel on the eve of a sacred holiday – the celebration of Passover. And that is where I would like to begin today. Just a few days from now, Jews here in Israel and around the world will sit with family and friends at the Seder table, and celebrate with songs, wine and symbolic foods. After enjoying Seders with family and friends in Chicago and on the campaign trail, I’m proud to have brought this tradition into the White House. I did so because I wanted my daughters to experience the Haggadah, and the story at the center of Passover that makes this time of year so powerful.

It is a story of centuries of slavery, and years of wandering in the desert; a story of perseverance amidst persecution, and faith in God and the Torah. It is a story about finding freedom in your own land. For the Jewish people, this story is central to who you have become.

Al-Zaru asks:

Does Obama in fact know the relationship, for example, between "Passover" and "Christian blood" ..?!
Or "Passover" and "Jewish blood rituals..?!
Much of the chatter and gossip about historical Jewish blood rituals in Europe are real and not fake as they claim; the Jews used the blood of Christians in the Jewish Passover ...

He then quotes a 2007 Haaretz article on a book by a Bar-Ilan University professor that bizarrely claimed that a few blood libels could have had a basis in fact, without noting that the same professor recanted those claims a year later.

The upshot is that a journal run by "moderate" Hanan Ashrawi is pushing the Passover blood libel, and you will be hard pressed to find a "moderate" Arab condemning this article. I couldn't.

Unfortunately, CNN won't think to ask her about this the next time they trot her out on TV.

UPDATE: NGO Monitor has this about Miftah:

Funding: Donors include the Anna Lindh Foundation (funding from the EU), Ford Foundation, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Austria, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, Heinrich Boell Stiftung, UNFPA, Konard Adenauer Stiftung. In 2009, Miftah’s budget was $891,685.

The financial support from Anna Lindh and Ford Foundation, as well as previous funding from the EU, is for a joint project with Israeli NGO “Keshev,” “which aims to improve media discourse in both Palestinian and Israeli media through monitoring, research, advocacy and lobbying activities.”

UPDATE 2: The article has been taken down.

Of course, I have screenshots of both the original Arabic and the English auto-translation. Click to enlarge.

UPDATE 3: I have an update here.

UPDATE 4 :MEMRI translated the article, which was published elsewhere. If anything, it is even worse than what I wrote.

Latest Pallywood

Aussie Dave at Israellycool caught this egregious example of Palestinian Arab child play-acting a few days ago:

At the beginning of the video, a few kids are walking normally. Then at 0:05, one complains about his leg. A few seconds later, and the three kids are standing around, seemingly quite relaxed. Then the previously complaining kid – standing on the right - points to his right leg. At 0:14 he slides to the ground, sobbing.

Fast forward to 1:03, where the middle kid, who has been fine until now, seemingly starts to cry. Then at 1:45, the kid who complained about his leg seems to be walking normally. But at 1:48 – presto! He’s limping. Then at 1:54 he’s lying on the ground. Thirty seconds later in the ambulance, he’s getting his right arm (not leg) - seemingly fine until now – bandaged.

Notice also how the video description claims the kids were beaten, but this is never shown on the video.

Based on previous experiences with Pallywood, I strongly suspect that is what we see in the video. The kid seem fine and then seem to be hamming it up for the camera, only to forget himself when he is walking. In the ambulance, the medic, perhaps unaware of what ailment the kid was pretending to be suffering – goes for the photo opportunity and bandages his arm!

All the world might not be a stage, but Palestinian Arab territories sure seem to be.

Bahrain declares Hezbollah a terror group

While the EU can't quite figure it out....

Bahraini lawmakers voted on Tuesday to label Hezbollah a terrorist organization, the Lebanese news outlet Now Lebanon reported.

The parliament in Manama voted unanimously to pass the bill, which had been presented by 30 MPs. It now moves to the Bahraini cabinet for a vote.

“It is time we join the world in outlawing this group, which has terrorized the region enough and has been instrumental in spreading evil among us,” said lawmaker Shaikh Jassim Al Saeedi, who has been one of those at the forefront of the legislation, Bahrain’s Gulf Daily News website said on Wednesday.

The Bahraini daily Akhbar Al Khaleej stated that the bill cites Hezbollah as having sought to destabilize Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, and accuses it of murdering innocent civilians in Syria in order to support the regime of the beleaguered Bashar Assad.

Then again....

Bahrain blacklisted Hezbollah on Tuesday; for the wrong reasons.

MP Khaled Abdul Aal summed it up very well on CNN: “It is because Hezbollah is Shiite, despite being a resistance against Israel.”

No wonder. The Arab Spring also awakened the Shiite majority of Bahrain. Rallies have been held across the tiny Gulf Island asking for a transitional government and the prime minister, who has been running the small country since 1974, to step down.

Human rights organizations reported that police regularly use violence against protesters and even the medical personnel who treat the wounded. More than 80 people have died since the pro-democracy protests erupted in February 2011.

Wednesday Links

From Ian:

IDF Soldiers Wish You A Happy Passover!

Palestinians Impose Severe Restrictions on Foreign Media by Khaled Abu Toameh

It's official: the Palestinian Authority does not want foreign journalists to work in territories under its control in the West Bank unless they receive permission in advance from the Palestinian Ministry of Information.
The decision was taken earlier this week by the Palestinian Ministry of Information and the Palestinian Journalist's Syndicate -- a body controlled by Fatah-affiliated journalists.

Another 'Pallywood' propaganda fail as boy with hurt leg gets arm bandaged

Regardless of that, the ending of the video is somewhat bemusing. A boy who has been complaining about his leg and his stomach for the entire video somehow ends up in an arm sling in an ambulance. Very odd - and reminds us of the epic Pallywood propaganda fail in November last year.

Palestinian 'journalist' calls Obama 'Uncle Tom'

Imagine the furore if anyone else had attacked a black president with such a heinous racial slur...

Caroline Glick: The Meaning and Consequences of Israel’s Apology to Turkey

On Saturday, the Arab League convened in Doha, Qatar and discussed Israel’s apology to Turkey and its ramifications for pan-Arab policy. The Arab League member states considered the prospect of demanding similar apologies for its military operations in Lebanon, Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

Ankara billboard thanks Erdogan for Netanyahu apology

Turkish authorities have been quick to design and post billboards thanking their prime minister for the "pride" experienced after Israel's apology

Erdogan: Homosexuality ‘contrary to Islam’

Speaking in the Netherlands, Turkish PM fiercely objected to Dutch lesbian couple adopting a nine-year-old Turkish boy.

Morsi issues ominous warning to Egypt opposition

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi threatened on Sunday to take unspecified steps to "protect this nation" after violent demonstrations against his Muslim Brotherhood, using vague but severe language that the opposition said heralded a crackdown.

Settlers give pre-Passover bread to nearby Palestinians

3rd year of symbolic goodwill program; ‘why burn good bread when you can distribute it to your neighbors?’ asks Yaki Fried from the settlement of Ofra

Egyptian Jews record more recent ‘second Exodus’

Fearing new Islamist leaders are trying to blot out their history, authors of a new book compile their own story

Imagine a land where even one Jew is one Jew too many

There will be no Passover Seder in Libya tonight.

IDF Blog: A 21st Century Exodus: Dina’s Journey From Alexandria to Jerusalem

PASSOVER INTERVIEW: Dina Ovadia has come a long way from her childhood in an Arab country, with no knowledge of her Jewish heritage. Today, she serves in the IDF. There are Cinderella stories and there’s the Passover Haggadah – but Dina’s story is a bit of both.

Chag sameach!

I wish all of my readers a wonderful and meaningful Passover holiday!

I will not be blogging until at least Wednesday night.

Some historic Haggadah maror trivia

The Seforim Blog had a fascinating article last year about the illustrations in old Haggadahs.

One is that the maror, or bitter herb, was identified as an artichoke in some ancient illuminated Haggadahs:

Sarajevo Haggadah

Brother to the Rylands Haggadah

But this part is mind-blowing. Quote:

Setting aside the issue of what marror is, another custom related to marror can be found in both printed and manuscript haggadot. In the Prague, 1526, the first illustrated printed haggadah, there is a picture of a man pointing at his wife with the legend, “there is a custom that a man points to his wife when mentioning marror based upon the verse Ecclesiastes 7:26 “Now I find woman more bitter than death.”

A.Y. Hyman the scholar of Jewish liturgy was appalled when he came across this. In his autobiography, he claims that there is no basis whatsoever for this “custom.” Hyman is wrong.[5] If you look at the Brother to the Rylands Haggadah you can see that it shows this custom. As does the Washington Haggadah.

Likewise, the Rothschild Miscellany shows the same custom.

It’s worth noting that the Rothschild Miscellany shows another custom at the time, mid-14th century, that of mixed dancing.

The mixed dancing is that of couples, husband and wives dancing with each other, and not that of unmarried men and women dancing[6] In Italy, where this manuscript was composed, mixed dancing was apparently common during this period.[7]

Returning to the gesturing at one’s wife at marror, in the Hiluq and Biluq Haggadah this custom takes on a somewhat more humorous dialogue with the wife no longer passive but instead returns the compliment. In that haggadah it includes speech balloons and they record the following: The husband states “touching marror I must recall that this one, too is bitter [as gall].” To which the wife replies, “It is you [my husband] is one of the causes of bitterness as well.” After which, we have a play on the 13 attributes of Rabbi Yishmael and the haggadah provides that “the third comes between them [perhaps the marror itself] and makes a stink” - or in Hebrew ve-yavo ha-shlishei ve-yakhriach benehem.[8]