Freedom Tower, now

It's been a while since I posted a photo of Lower Manhattan. Last time (I think) was two years ago, when the new World Trade Center was under construction.

Previously, as in 2008, I had done entire panoramas of the area.

Here is what the new World Trade Center looked like last week.You can see a number of new buildings built since 2008, making it a completely different skyline to what it was.

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Daughter of SA activist talks about demonization of Israel

Esther Meshoe, daughter of conservative South African parliamentarian, Dr. Kenneth Meshoe, refutes false allegations of apartheid on the part of Israel.




((h/t IsraDocuMentalist)

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El Al plane turns around for 11-year old cancer patient who lost passport

From The Daily Mail:

An Israeli airline – with the support of everyone on-board – turned around a plane to pick up an 11-year-old cancer patient.

All set to fly to New York August 7 to attend a camp for paediatric cancer patients, Inbar Chomsky, was taken off an El-Al Airlines flight after her passport went missing. Despite a frantic search by airline staff, passengers and the group Chomsky was travelling with, her passport was gone, flight attendants had no choice but to remove the sick girl.

Tears in their eyes, everyone said good bye to the devastated young girl after a half hour search aided by airline staff and passengers failed to turn up the girl’s passport, according to Haaretz.

‘El Al sadly called her mother to tell her that Inbar’s passport was lost and that the girl, who had been fighting illness so valiantly, would not be able to fly to Camp Simcha’ Rabbi Yaakov Pinsky, director of of the Israeli branch of Chai Lifeline wrote in Yeshiva World News. ‘What a horrible experience for an 11 year old girl.’

Minutes after the doors closed and the plane taxied away from the gate, a fellow camper looking through another girl’s backpack found Chomsky’s passport and told flight attendants, according to Haaretz.

What happened next is virtually unheard of, especially post-9/11.

The plane’s pilots immediately stopped the plane, according to Haaretz, and after about 45 minutes were able to convince air traffic control to let them return to the gate to pick Chomsky up, Pinsky wrote.

Still overcoming her disappointment while at the gate with Elad Maimon, program director of the Israeli branch of Chai Lifeline, Chomsky and others watched in disbelief as the plane turned around, said Haaretz. 'The flight attendants could not believe their eyes,' Maimon told the paper. 'They told me they had never seen such a thing.'

‘Planes rarely return to the gate after departing, read an El Al statement, continuing that ‘after consulting with El Al crew on the plane and El Al staff at the airport the decision was made and the plane returned to pick up Inbar.’

Passengers cheered and cried, wrote Pinsky, saying they shared ‘Inbar’s happiness and excitement,’ and calling it ‘one of the greatest moments’ he has ever witnessed.

Located in the Catskill Mountains roughly two hours north of New York City, an area long-popular with Jewish tourists, Camp Simcha is a summer camp meant to uplift the spirits of children living with cancer and other similar medical problems, according to its website. Campers are medically supervised and take part in sports, carnivals, talent shows, helicopter rides and other activities.

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Bayard Rustin and black civil rights leaders' support for Israel in the 1970s

As the US gets ready to mark the 50th anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous March on Washington, it is a good time to remember one of the organizers of the march, one of King's colleagues, and an indefatigable supporter of civil rights, Bayard Rustin, who will be posthumously honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Rustin was not only a famous supporter of civil rights, but he also supported gay rights, was an outspoken opponent of antisemitism, and a staunch supporter of Israel. As the book "Bayard Rustin and the Civil Rights Movement" notes:

Rustin always wrote and spoke against anti-Semitism. In the summer of 1967, the SNCC Newsletter published a pro-Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), anti-Israel article, which Rustin was quick to denounce....

Rustin was a strong supporter of Israel. As in the SNCC Newsletter, black anti-Semitism often took the form of opposing Israel and supporting the PLO as representing victims of imperialistic "Zionism." Rustin, in contrast, saw the Jewish state as a social democratic island surrounded by theocratic dictatorships. In supporting Israel, he was supporting a cause important to most Jews and, by implication, showing that the much publicized anti-Semitic statements of black militants did not represent a broad black viewpoint. In June 1970, the A. Philip Randolph Institute ran a full-page ad in the New York Times, "An Appeal by Black Americans for United States Support to Israel." The ad expressed support for "the most democratic country in the Middle East." It was sympathetic to the plight of Arab refugees but argued that continued conflict did them more harm than good. In its last line, the text urged that the United States provide Israel "with the full number of jet aircraft it has requested."

This was an astonishing statement for someone who had once been a pacifist.

In his column, Rustin frequently spoke out for Israel. Here is his column about the Yom Kippur War:

Rustin was also the director of BASIC, the Black Americans to Support Israel Committee, which published this remarkable full page ad in the New York Times when the UN was about to vote on the infamous "Zionism is Racism" resolution. Here is the entire ad, with the notable African Americans who signed it (including Hank Aaron, Harry Belafonte, Vernon Jordan and others)  formatted to you can read it here:

See also Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers and Gil Troy.

(h/t Faith M.)

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8/18 Links: PA Radio - "One day" no Israel, Coptic Tragedy in Egypt, Sherlock in Jerusalem

From Ian:

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Obama clogged up in the ‘heart of the Arab world’

In June 2009, President Barack Obama made a landmark speech setting out a new US policy toward the Middle East — and the world. To deliver it, the newly elected president traveled to Egypt, which his then-press secretary Robert Gibbs described as “a country that in many ways represents the heart of the Arab world.”
Four years later, the Cairo streets through which Obama traveled are burning. The past week’s violence in Egypt may finally push the US toward a conclusive decision — propping up or cutting off Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s military-controlled interim government.

Merkel: Anti-Semitism a threat to democracy in Europe

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said anti-Semitism and racism remain a threat to democracy in Europe almost 70 years after the end of World War II.
Merkel cited the ongoing trial of five alleged neo-Nazis over the killing of 10 people between 2000 and 2007, and the fact that Jewish schools and synagogues still require police protection, as evidence of the problem in Germany.

George Mason U. Student: “Jews had their golden age under Muslim rule”

With such iconic conservative luminaries like Walter E. Williams associated with George Mason University, one assumes students are generally well-informed and reasoned in their opinions.
So this video of one of its scholars from the school’s Students Against Israeli Apartheid group may be shocking:

College students shout down Israeli speaker then claim their free speech was violated

This is what we’ve come to.
A group of anti-Israel students showed up at a talk from an Israeli speaker, heckled and shouted him down, then claimed that their free speech rights were violated when the school disciplined them.
No wonder Florida Atlantic University ranks dead last for college life.

Anti-Semitic Slurs by Morsi Protesters on the Temple Mount (VIDEO)

Another group chanted and accused Abdel Fattah el-Sisi guilty of treason and they questioned, "Are you a Jew or what?"
The pro-Morsi Muslims carried banners that said, "Sisi: hypocrite, traitor, working for the Jews," as well as, "Murderer, agent, traitor, criminal, butcher."
There were others in the crowd who compared Sisi to Adolf Hitler. Under the pictures of Hitler was written: "I killed the Jews for my people and for my flock." Under the picture of el-Sisi was written: "I killed the children of my people and my flock for the Jews."

PA radio: "One day" there will be no Israel

Radio announcer: "Greetings to all our listeners and happy holiday to you, our people in occupied Palestine (i.e., Israel), 1948 Palestine, the 1948 territories (i.e., Israel, created in 1948)... Greetings to our people in Acre, Nazareth, Tiberias, Haifa and Jaffa (all Israeli cities)... May your Palestinian identity be rooted in your hearts and minds. Allah willing, one day Palestine will be Palestine again!"
[Voice of Palestine (official PA radio), Aug. 8, 2013]

Hussein Aboubakr: Coptic tragedy in Egypt

There once lived a great Jewish community in Egypt that has been lost forever. Just as 80,000 Egyptian Jews were abused and fled, today Coptic Christians are facing similar religious persecution, yet they don’t have any other home country to turn to. Today, the world is preoccupied with the current political turmoil in Egypt, while ignoring the ongoing catastrophe faced by an indigenous Middle Eastern Coptic Christians. One of the churches burned by Muslim Brotherhood supporters, was the Prince Tadros Church in Al Minya – a 4th century church which contained ancient manuscripts on Orthodox theology. Is the West ready to accept such a loss? Are power and money more important than human life and history?

Egypt's Christians Attack Western Media Coverage

The Egyptian Coptic church has released a statement backing the country's military-backed government, and slamming the western media for its coverage of the violence in Egypt, which has killed more than 600 people.
Referring to perceived sympathy for the Muslim Brotherhood by western media outlets, the statement, translated by Al Arabiya, called on the West to "read objectively the facts of events, and not give international and political cover to these terrorists and bloody groups."

Tamarod movement calls on Egyptian government to cancel Camp David peace treaty

The Tamarod ("Rebellion") movement in Egypt has joined a campaign calling to stop US aid to Egypt, and to cancel the 1979 Camp David peace treaty with Israel, Daily News Egypt reported on Saturday.
The campaign is in response to "unacceptable" US interference in Egyptian political affairs, after US President Barack Obama decided to cancel a joint drill with the Egyptian military in response to the outbreak of violence in the country earlier this week.

Report: Israel Assured Egypt that U.S. Aid Won't be Cut

Israel has been pressuring the United States not to stop the military aid that it provides to Egypt, fearing the fate of the peace between the countries, the New York Times reported Saturday, citing diplomatic sources.
According to the report, Israel and Egyptian Defense Minister General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi have been in close contact throughout the latest crisis in Egypt. The diplomats told the New York Times that Israel assured Egypt it did not have to worry about the U.S. threat to cut its enormous aid package to that country.

American al-Qaida militant calls for attacks on US diplomats

Adam Gadahn, a California-born convert to Islam with a $1 million US price on his head, appealed to wealthy Muslims to offer militants rewards to kill ambassadors in the region, citing bounty set for killing the US ambassador to Yemen, Washington-based SITE monitoring group said.

IDF retaliates after mortars fired from Golan Heights

The IDF fired a Tamuz missile at a Syrian military post in the Golan Heights after several mortars were fired from the Syrian side of the border into Israel earlier Saturday.
According to the IDF, the missile destroyed a Syrian cannon which had fired artillery at Israel.

Iranian nuke chief says country’s nuclear program has 18,000 centrifuges

Tehran has a total of 18,000 centrifuges for uranium enrichment, Iran’s outgoing nuclear chief said Saturday. The number is higher by a third than is publicly known.
Uranium enrichment is a process that can be a pathway to making nuclear weapons.

Toronto marks anniversary of anti-Jewish violence

It was August 16, 1933, less than seven months after Hitler’s rise to power in Germany, and a Protestant youth team from St. Peter’s Church was playing against Harbord Collegiate, a mostly Jewish squad that included some players of Italian background.
Toronto, at that time, was dominated by its white, Protestant majority, and both Jews and Italian immigrants faced discrimination by the establishment. Like their American and European counterparts, Canadian Jews were restricted from certain professions and social clubs, and faced quotas at academic institutions. Signs in store windows and in the city’s Beaches neighborhood read “No Dogs or Jews Allowed,” and a “swastika club,” inspired by the new regime in Germany, was even parading its hatred on the shores of Lake Ontario, proudly bearing the symbol of Hitler’s aggressive new Reich.

Menachem Begin: His legacy, a century after his birth

Menachem Begin, Israel’s sixth prime minister, was born 100 years ago today. A century after his birth, and more than two decades after his death, it behooves us all, regardless of our political stripes, to take a moment and reflect on the profundity of his contribution to the Jewish people.
That claim will undoubtedly strike many as strange, since more than half a century after he helped rid Palestine of the British, Begin is still disparaged by many of the very same Jews who see in the American revolution a cause for genuine pride.

2,700 year old Hebrew inscription uncovered in City of David

Thousands of fragments of pottery, candles, ceramics and figurines dating to the end of the First Temple were discovered during archaeological excavations in the City of David in Jerusalem, located on a narrow spur south of the Temple Mount, surrounded on all sides by valleys, near the Gihon Spring and the Arab village of the Silwan.
The findings were discovered during excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority, the most important of which being a ceramic bowl with a partially-preserved Hebrew inscription, possibly containing the name of a Biblical figure.

Spaniards to Play Jewish Slaves in Upcoming Film 'Exodus'

Thousands of Spaniards in the depressed southern region of Andalusia lined up on Friday morning to play the role of slaves in film-maker Ridley Scott's Biblical epic "Exodus", hoping for a way out of unemployment, AFP reported.
In a region with unemployment at 35 percent, the prospect of work as an extra with a daily wage of 80 euros ($107) has sparked a rush in Almeria where casting is being held for the story of Moses and the Jewish exodus from Egypt to the promised land.

Benedict Cumberbatch voices new documentary on Jerusalem

He might be instantly recognizable as Sherlock Holmes in the critically acclaimed BBC remake about the famous London detective, but Benedict Cumberbatch has doffed his deerstalker to narrate a new documentary about Jerusalem.
The 45-minute film traces the history of the city, following three of its young residents - a Jew, a Christian and Muslim.

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Nasrallah says he'll go to Syria to fight if necessary. Let's hope so!

Hizballah's leader Sayyed Nasrallah made another of his ramblling Friday speeches where he spouted about Israel, America, "Takfiris" and other groups that he is upset at this week, all the while pretending that he is defedning his beloved people of Lebanon that he is dragging into the Syrian war.

In reference to the massive car bomb in the Hezbollah-controlled section of Beirut last week, he said:

One of our responses to such explosions is: If we had 1000 fighters in Syria, they will become 2000, and if we had 5000, they will become 10 000, and if the battle with those terrorists required that I go with all Hezbollah to Syria, we will all go for the sake of Syria and its people, Lebanon and its people, Palestine and Al-Quds, and the central cause.

We put an end to the battle, and we set a time for this battle to end, and as we triumphed in all our wars with Israel, if you wanted us to enter a fierce battle with you, I assure to everyone that we will triumph against Takfiri terror. The cost of the battle will be high, but the least cost is being slaughtered like ewes and waiting for the murderers to come into our house.

Throughout the speech, as in this section, he tries to pretend that he is fighting Israel and defending Lebanon against Israel, claiming that all of the attacks against Hizballah are controlled by the "Zionists."

Meanwhile, Lebanese politicians are increasingly critical of Hizballah's adventurism:

Former Prime Minister and Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri blasted on Saturday Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s recent speech and said it threatened to further involve Lebanon in the Syria war.

“Nasrallah’s speech did not contribute to defusing tension in Lebanon on the contrary it served as an escalation of Lebanon’s involvement in the Syrian fire.” Hariri said adding: “Sedition is the essence of terrorism, and the most dangerous kind.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said Hezbollah’s participation in the Syrian war is not part of his agreement with the militant group and stressed that he is against any intervention outside the Lebanese territory.

“This is a private initiative for Hezbollah, there is no agreement between us and them in that matter. We are against any intervention outside the Lebanese territory,” Aoun said in an interview with Al-Hayat newspaper which was published on Saturday.

Hezbollah has been widely criticized by Lebanese and Arab leaders for supporting the Alawite-dominated Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad against the mostly Sunni Syrian rebels who are trying to overthrow the 40 year old dictatorship.

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BBC will take out gratuitous reference to "Israeli apartheid" at Proms broadcast

From Al Arabiya:

The BBC is due to cut comments made by violinist Nigel Kennedy about “apartheid” in Israel when it broadcasts his concert, performed with Palestinian artists as part of the Proms musical festival, on British television channels next week.

The concert, held at London’s Royal Albert Hall last week, featured 17 musicians from the Palestine Strings, the troupe performed Vivaldi’s Four Seasons alongside Kennedy.
Kennedy likened the situation in Israel to apartheid in South Africa.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it’s a bit facile to say it but we all know from experiencing this night of music tonight that giving equality and getting rid of apartheid means there's a chance for amazing things to happen," said Kennedy.

The decision to cut Kennedy’s comment was made due to “editorial reasons,” they removed because of “the way it fitted in with the program, ” a BBC spokesperson told Al Arabiya English.

“Nigel’s comment to the audience at his late-night prom on August 8 will not be included in the deferred BBC 4 broadcast on August 23 because it does not fall within the editorial remit of the proms as a classical music festival.”

Kennedy dedicated his performance at the Proms to Palestinians, according to his introduction.

“The concert tonight is very emotional, because I am performing for people who are imprisoned, to give them two hours of fun and show them that the world has not forgotten about them,” he said.

Dressed in popular Palestinian garments, the players from the Palestinian orchestra played a specially-curated fusion of classical work with Arab and folk music alongside the celebrated violinist.

Al Arabiya's headline calls this "censorship."

You can hear Kennedy's comment about "apartheid" starting at about 1:05, and it causes a 30 second ovation from the British audience:



The snippet of the video released so far by the BBC sounds like it was an interesting concert despite Kennedy's hate, as their version of Vivaldi's Four Seasons added some "Eastern" influence.



To my untrained ear, the violin that is meant to sound Arabic sounds surprisingly like Eastern European Jewish music as well.

Remember that two years ago, Israelis performing at the Proms were interrupted by protesters and the BBC broadcast was stopped.

As far as I can tell, no one called to boycott these young Palestinian Arab musicians, there were no heckles or yelling interrupting their performances, and there were no crowds outside yelling at attendees for supporting a group that represents those who celebrate murderers of Jews.

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US State Dept. upset at Israel releasing murderer of an American

From Eli Lake at The Daily Beast:

For decades, the United States has urged foreign governments not to free prisoners who have killed Americans. But a man who murdered an American was freed this week by Israel in a prisoner-release deal encouraged by Secretary of State John Kerry.

Among those released Tuesday as an inducement to the Palestinian Authority to return to peace negotiations was Al-Haaj Othman Amar Mustafa, a Palestinian convicted in 1991 of killing Frederick Steven Rosenfeld, who the Philadelphia Inquirer at the time of his death reported was a former U.S. Marine and U.S. citizen.

Mustafa was sentenced by an Israeli military court to life after he and two other assailants murdered Rosenfeld in 1989, 21 years after the former Marine emigrated to Israel. According to an Associated Press account of Mustafa’s trial before a military court, Mustafa and two others met Rosenfeld as he was hiking near the settlement where he lived in Ariel. At first, the three men befriended Rosenfeld and even posed for a photo. “Minutes after the picture was taken, the three stabbed Rosenfeld and left him for dead, according to their confession,” the AP dispatch said.

Today Mustafa is a free man, one of 26 Palestinians released from Israeli jails on Tuesday, the first group of a total of 104 prisoners Israel has promised to free in exchange for Palestinian participation in a new peace process. The list of prisoners was negotiated with the Palestinian Authority, at the urging of Secretary Kerry.

Marie Harf, deputy spokesperson for the State Department, told The Daily Beast Thursday, “The State Department conveyed the administration’s concerns regarding the release of this prisoner to the government of Israel, while recognizing the victim was a dual national of Israel and the United States.”

Harf said the Israeli side “acknowledged our views, but it was ultimately their decision to determine which prisoners to release. This is a very difficult situation for all involved, and further highlights the importance of making these negotiations successful.”

Hold on.

The US Secretary of State pressured Israel into releasing 104 terrorists, the first batch of which contained only murderers and accomplices to murder. The position of the State Department's leader is clearly that releasing murderers is essential to the peace process (against all logic.)

But now that one of the victims is found to be American, this thought process is suddenly flawed?

“As I understand the facts, there are only two possibilities,” said Elliott Abrams, a deputy national security adviser in the George W. Bush administration and a scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations. “It was a very bad screwup by the State Department not to demand that he remain incarcerated or it is a silent change of policy. I believe the policy has always been that we oppose the release of anyone who has committed terrorism against Americans.”

Abrams pointed to U.S. public statements in 2005 after Germany freed Mohammed Ali Hammadi, a member of Hezbollah who participated in the murder of U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem during the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847. When Hammadi was released in 2005, a State Department spokesman said, “We’re going to make every effort to see that he stands trial in the United States for what he did and face justice.”

It isn't a change of policy - it was a mistake.

There is only one possible explanation.

The position of the State Department is that murderers of Americans must never be released, but murderers of Israelis must be released.

The US must never negotiate with terrorists, but Israel must.

The US must track down and attempt to arrest any terrorists who murdered Americans who do get released from prison, but Israel must promise not to do that.

In short, US policy is "Do as I say, even if it is the polar opposite of how I act."

You see, because it is for  "peace."

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PA TV praises translator of the "Protocols"

From Palestinian Media Watch:



Ajaj Nuwahid was born in Lebanon in 1897, then moved to Syria. After the French took over Syria he decided to move to Jerusalem to fight against the British rule over Palestine and the Zionist movement. He was friends with the antisemitic Mufti of Jerusalem. He also had a role in having Jordan occupy and illegally annex the West Bank, because Palestinian Arab nationalism wasn't really what he was interested in after all. He then moved to Amman and then back to Lebanon in 1959.

Since he lived in British Mandate Palestine in 1948, he was considered a "Palestinian refugee." However, since he moved back to his hometown, he might have successfully appealed to regain his Lebanese citizenship, as a number of "Palestinian refugees" managed to do in the 1950s.

His book about the Protocols of the Elders of Zion seems to have been more than just a translation, but indeed a full anti-semitic screed written in 1967 and expanding on the themes of the Russian forgery to apply them to modern Zionism. It has been through at least four editions.

The PA is praising, and claiming as one of their own, a full blown Jew-hater and inciter.

(h/t Ian)

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8/17 Links: Netanyahu - key issue is Recognition of Jewish state, Totten - the Truth About Egypt

From Ian:

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Israel Hayom poll: 80% of Jewish Israelis skeptical on peace talks

Some 79.7% of respondents said the talks would not end with a permanent peace accord that would resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Just 6.2% said such an agreement would be reached, and 14.1% said they had no opinion.
In a similar poll in July, 73.1% said negotiations would not lead to a peace agreement, while only 5.3% said the talks would conclude with a deal, and 21.6% had no opinion.
On the question of whether Israel should have agreed to release prisoners as a goodwill gesture alongside the talks, 77.5% said they opposed the move, while 14.2% said they supported the gesture and 8.3% had no opinion.

Netanyahu: Recognition of Jewish state is key issue in peace talks

Netanyahu made the comments during a press conference at the start of a meeting with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is visiting the country to support recently restarted peace talks.
“We have to get to the root cause of the problem and the root cause was and remains the persistent refusal to recognize the Jewish State in any boundary,” Netanyahu said, speaking in English. “It doesn’t have to do with the settlements – that’s an issue that has to be resolved, but this is not the reason that we have a continual conflict.”

Jewish Virtual Library: Myths and Facts 34: "If Israel Ends the Occupation There Will Be Peace"

PA Foreign Min. Wants EU to 'Protect' Negotiations With Israel

"If you want to go with good faith into the resumption of talks... you do not go and announce publicly that you insist on building further illegal settlement units in the Palestinian occupied territories," Maliki said.
PA officials and their supporters have expressed anger at the plans, despite having been made aware of them prior to the start of talks, and despite the fact that the planned construction is to take place in areas which the PA has previously agreed would remain "part of Israel" in the "Two State Solution" they claim to support.

Israel faces bias at UN, Ban acknowledges

“Unfortunately, because of the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict, Israel’s been weighed down by criticism and suffered from bias — and sometimes even discrimination,” Ban told the group, YNet reported. He was responding to a student who claimed Israelis felt their country was discriminated against at the UN.
“It’s an unfortunate situation,” Ban said, adding that Israel should be treated equal to all the other 192 member states.

Ban in Ramallah: Happy to Visit 'Palestine'

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who arrived in Ramallah on Thursday to meet PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, was quoted by AFP as having said upon his arrival that he was pleased "to visit the state of Palestine."

Will Norway help Palestinian NGO destroy ICC?

...recent developments, through the efforts of a group known as the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), whose activities are funded by Norway, may lead the new ICC prosecutor to capitulate on this complex issue. In April 2013, PCHR issued a public statement demanding that the Palestinian leadership join the ICC for no reason other than to prosecute Israeli officials.
If the ICC bows to this pressure and begins proceedings against Israelis based on double standards and false claims, this will end its moral mission and turn this body into yet another political battleground.

Manhattan Jewish Community Center Official Advocates Boycott of Israel

In a blog post published Thursday an official at the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan wrote that “the importance of the use of boycott” to pressure “Israel to end the occupation is unquestionable”— as long as it’s not his film festival being boycotted.

CiF Watch prompts correction to false BDS victory claim by Irish Times

Despite this victory, the Irish Times article in question is still an atrocious example of ideologically driven activist journalism, and we intend to continue monitoring the paper and holding them accountable when they engage in similarly false or misleading allegations.

Gaza jihadists call for 'jihad' against Egypt's el Sisi

Abu Hafs al Maqdisi, the leader of the Gaza-based Jaish al Ummah (Army of the Nation), today called on Egyptians to wage "jihad" against Egyptian army commander General Abdul Fattah el Sisi. Al Maqdisi, who was released from a Hamas prison in December, also called on Egyptians to overthrow "the tyrant" (el Sisi) and establish an Islamic state. In addition, al Maqdisi said he hoped that one of el Sisi's bodyguards would kill him.

Egyptian authorities arrest Sinai al-Qaeda chief

Egyptian authorities have arrested the brother of al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri, a security official said Saturday.
He said Mohammed al-Zawahri, leader of the ultraconservative jihadi Salafist group, was detained at a checkpoint in Giza, the city across the Nile from Cairo.

Michael Totten: The Truth About Egypt

I recently interviewed Eric Trager, a scholar at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He’s a real expert on Egypt and has been more consistently right than just about anyone. He called out the Muslim Brotherhood as an inherently authoritarian organization while scores of other supposed “experts” falsely pimped it as moderate. And contrary to claims from the opposing camp, that the army “restored” democracy with its coup, he saw the recent bloody unpleasantness coming well in advance.
I spoke to him before this week’s massacre happened, but it’s clear from his remarks that he suspected something like it was coming.

Egypt considers disbanding Muslim Brotherhood

Spokesman Sherif Shawki said Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi assigned Ministry of Social Solidarity to study the legal possibilities of dissolving the group. He didn’t elaborate.

Muslim Brotherhood says leader’s son killed in clashes

The group’s political arm, the Freedom and Justice party, said on its official website that Mohammed Badie’s son Ammar,38, was killed Friday. That’s when the Muslim Brotherhood took to the streets in a “Day of Rage” — ignited by anger at security forces over clearing two sit-in camps protesting the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, leaving hundreds dead.

Ashton Asks EU to Agree on 'Measures' Against Egypt

Ashton said responsibility for the "tragedy" taking place in Egypt in the last days "weighs heavily on the interim government, as well as on the wider political leadership in the country."

Venezuelan president: Israel, US behind Morsi ouster

Venezuela’s president accused Israel and the United States of conspiring to oust former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi and stirring unrest in Syria, the AFP news agency reported on Saturday.

Hezbollah chief says he’s ready to fight in Syria himself

“If the battle with these terrorist Takfiris requires for me personally and all of Hezbollah to go to Syria, we will go to Syria,” he said, drawing thunderous applause from thousands of supporters gathered in a village in south Lebanon bordering Israel. The crowd watched him speak on a large screen via satellite link.

‘Hitler was right,’ reads graffiti at Madrid bullfight

According to Spanish media reports on Thursday, the words “Adolf Hitler was right,” accompanied by a large red swastika and the Nazi leader’s date of birth and death, were plastered across a section of the barrier surrounding the bullring.

Argentina urged to remove anti-Israel official

The Simon Wiesenthal Center called for the removal of an Argentinian government official for participating in an Al Quds Day ceremony.
The center wrote to the Argentinian minister of agriculture, Norberto Yauhar, seeking the ouster of acting Undersecretary of Family Agriculture Emilio Persico for attending the Aug. 2 ceremony at the At-Tawhid Mosque in Buenos Aires.

ADL likens persecution of Russian gays, Soviet Jews

The Anti-Defamation League called for a new version of the Jackson-Vanik amendment to pressure Russia to improve its treatment of gays.
Jackson-Vanik was a provision of the 1974 Trade Act that denied favored status to nations that restricted emigration. The amendment was used to pressure the Soviet Union to loosen its restrictive emigration policies.

Across the Jerusalem divide, a life saved

Haim Attias, a resident of the Mitzpe Yericho settlement and volunteer at the “Hatzalah” emergency medical organization, and Haitham Azloni, an Arab resident of East Jerusalem, met Thursday for the first time since Attias saved Azloni’s life last week.
Azloni was somehow electrocuted while sitting next to a stall in the Arab bazaar near the Old City’s Damascus Gate. His heart had stopped beating and “he was dead,” a local Arab man who witnessed the scene recalled. “I couldn’t bear to look. I walked away.”

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Hamas: "Hitler killed Jews for his people; Sisi killed his people for Jews" (UPDATE: photo)

Arab media is reporting that there was a Hamas rally on the Temple Mount on Friday.

Hamas led the rally, which was against the current Egyptian government.

One of the banners that they were carrying included a slogan that is spreading through Facebook and other media.

"Hitler killed the Jews for his people, al-Sisi kills his people for the Jews."

So in one tiny slice of time, we have Arab justification of the Holocaust, antisemitic conspiracy theories, and a desecration of the Jews' holiest place with people who want to ethnically cleanse all Jews from the region.

In other words, it is barely worth reporting in the media.


UPDATE: Photo:

(h/t Sara)

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Economist editorial, filled with lies, says Israel releasing ONLY 26 murderers is an insult

This Economist editorial is completely bat-sh*t crazy anti-Israel.

AS A measure of the seriousness of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, the number of Palestinian prisoners released on the eve of talks, say pessimists, is a gloomy barometer. When the two sides sat down to negotiate two decades ago, after signing the Oslo accords in 1993, Israel freed 2,000 Palestinians in a single year. For the next couple of years it released, on average, around 1,000 a year. In later years that number slumped to a few hundred. Now, to coincide with the fresh round of talks that started in Jerusalem on August 14th, Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has freed just 26.

26 murderers! 

By the way, I am not certain about these numbers. In the wake of Oslo, Israel released many prisoners, but Israel also released 900  in 2005, 400 in 2007,  and several hundred more in 2008 to entice Abbas to make peace; nothing positive resulted from those "goodwill" prisoner releases.

Why doesn't the Economist mention those more recent gestures - and their lack of response?

Even this has provoked an outcry in Israel. Many of the 26 were convicted of crimes of violence, including murder, against Israeli civilians. Relations of the victims have carried black banners, accusing Mr Netanyahu of truckling to terrorists.

No. Every single one was found guilty of either murdering someone or was complicit in murdering someone. Every single one.

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president who is leading negotiations for his side, has had an even rougher time trying to persuade his people that the Israelis earnestly seek a peace deal.

The Economist couldn't be bothered to mention that Abbas has been the one torpedoing peace talks for the past five years. Despite previous releases of thousands of prisoners to help him burnish his image.

Indeed, many Palestinians deride Mr Abbas for winning freedom for so tiny a share of the 5,071 Palestinians said to be behind bars for politically motivated acts of violence or subversion.

I haven't seen any such criticism in the Arab press. Not saying it doesn't exist, but from the tone of the article, this seems to be The Economist's opinion, not the average Palestinian Arab's.

Few issues stir Palestinian emotions as fiercely as the fate of prisoners. Almost every Palestinian has a relative in jail—or has been there himself. Human-rights groups estimate that 750,000 Palestinians have passed through Israeli prisons since the West Bank and Gaza were conquered in 1967.

This 750,000 statistic is a risible lie, obvious to anyone who knows basic arithmetic. The Economist believes these ridiculous statistics (from Addameer and others).

But as we have seen, fact checking doesn't exist when the writer is predisposed to believe the lies.

Some 2,300 Palestinians were detained in the first six months of this year alone.

I have no idea where this statistic comes from. I can say that PCHR tracks every arrest and lists the names of those arrested. The average has been about 40 arrests a week from some quick sampling, less than a thousand arrests in 7 1/2 months. And most of those do not go to prison, as B'Tselem's statistics on prisoners this year have been holding steady at about 4700 almost every month through June.

But catching The Economist lying- despite its pretense of objectivity above all - is old news here.

What Palestinians want as a sign of good intent, is the release of thousands, not scores, of their compatriots. The Israelis hint that they will see how the talks proceed—and let more prisoners trickle out if things go well.

Israel has said (against all logic) that they will release 104 prisoners, and these 26 were just phase 1. The Economist is implying here that Israel is not going to release them if the talks go nowhere. I would be happy if that was the case, but it isn't - they are as good as released, their names have been published, the US has put the pressure on, and the cabinet voted on it. The Economist knows this and pretends otherwise.

So this is just another heavily biased, chockful of lies, anti-Israel tirade in The Economist.

(h/t Elliott)

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8/16 Links Part 2: Falafel Furore at CIF, Fatah threatens Hamas,Egypt's siege of Gaza continues

From Ian:

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CIF Watch: ‘Comment is Free’ contributor: Israel sparks fury with its postcards of falafel.

While questions remain as to where precisely in the Middle East the deep-fried round patties (made from ground chickpeas, fava beans or both) originated, as Shabi surely knows, nearly half of Israeli Jews are Mizrachi – descendants from Jewish communities in the Middle East. So, to suggest that Israelis are ‘colonizing’ the ubiquitous street food is not only petty, but ahistorical.
Oh, and if you think I’m reading too much into Shabi’s passage about Israeli ‘culinary incitement’, you should note that this isn’t a one-off for the CiF contributor when it comes to complaints about such Zionist theft:

IsraellyCool: Sweet Irony! Safer To Be An Islamist In Tel Aviv Than In Cairo

So in the evil, hated Zionist Entity, Islamists are free to protest in Tel Aviv, and you better believe that not a single one of them fears any kind of violent reaction from Israeli security or police personnel.
Personally, I think the irony here is almost too delicious to believe, my friends.

Fatah threatens ‘painful decisions’ against Hamas

Emboldened by the military coup in Egypt, a senior Fatah official is threatening “painful decisions” against Hamas in a bid to end the political divide that has separated Gaza from the West Bank since 2007.
Azzam Al-Ahmad, head of the Fatah delegation to reconciliation talks with Hamas, told Palestinian radio station Mawtini on Thursday that his movement “will not remain captive to Hamas” and has begun discussing “clear and painful moves” against the Islamist group, which he would not specify.

20,000 Palestinians working in settlements, survey finds

The survey also showed an increase in the number of Palestinians working in Israel and settlements.
The survey showed that the unemployment rate in the Gaza Strip was 27.9 percent compared with 16.8% in the West Bank in the second quarter of 2013.
In both areas, the unemployment rate for women was 33.6% and 17.6% for men, the survey showed.
The public sector employed 22.5% of those in employment: 36.2% in the Gaza Strip and 16.4% in the West Bank.

Palestinians want FIFA to ban Israel over travel dispute

Palestinian sports supremo Jibril Rajoub has threatened to call for Israel's expulsion from world soccer's governing body after it denied a number of officials entry to the West Bank for a youth tournament on security grounds.
"At the next FIFA Congress, the Palestinian FA is planning to ask for Israel's expulsion in response to its violations against Palestinian sport," Rajoub said on Thursday before the planned start of an international youth tournament.

Hamas Uses Social Media to Crackdown on Dissent Amid Fears of Egypt Chaos Spillover

Hamas’s fears are not without precedent. On March 15, 2011, youth activists used social media to organize large rallies denouncing the rift between Hamas in Gaza and rival political party Fatah based in the West Bank.
The targets of the crackdown go beyond pro-active citizens and have included journalists who cover Hamas. Journalist Emad Drimly, the office director of the Chinese news agency Xinhua in Gaza, told Al-Monitor that he received a death threat after publishing what was perceived to be a message in support of deposing Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi to his Facebook account.

Gaza-Sinai Border Crossing Closed Indefinitely Following Unrest in Egypt

Mahir Abu Sabha, director of border crossings for the Hamas-run government in Gaza, said in a statement that the Rafah crossing would be closed heading in both directions “due to bad security conditions in North Sinai district,” according to the Ma’an report.

Suppose the German military had crushed the Nazi Party in 1936

Suppose the German military had overthrown the democratically-elected leader of Germany and massacred his loyal followers, say, in 1936? The world, presumably, would have condemned the blatant use of force against an elected leader even if, hypothetically, a third of the German population already had taken to the streets to demand Hitler’s ouster. The Muslim Brothera are Nazis bearing a crescent rather than a swastika.

Islamists march against military rule in tense Cairo

Tens of thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters took to the streets Friday in several Cairo neighborhoods and other towns across Egypt in defiance of a military-imposed state of emergency following the country’s bloodshed earlier this week.
The protesters poured out of mosques after traditional mid-day prayers, responding to the Muslim Brotherhood’s call for a “Day of Rage” as armored military vehicles sealed off main squares in the Egyptian capital and troops with machineguns stood at the ready on key junctions.

Egypt: Obama remarks ‘strengthen’ armed groups

The Egyptian Presidency’s office issued a statement late Thursday in response to US President Barack Obama’s earlier remarks on the crisis, saying that the country was fighting “terrorist acts” and that Obama’s comments are not based “on the truth of matters” and could be seen as “strengthening the armed violent groups and encouraging them in their path.”
The response, issued by the office of interim President Adly Mansour, said that while Egypt “appreciates the American concern of the developing events, it would like things to be put in their correct context and the real facts of the situation on the ground to be understood.”

US issues travel warning to Egypt, scraps military drills

President Barack Obama scrapped plans for joint American-Egyptian military exercises Thursday, announcing the first concrete US reaction to the spiraling violence in and around Cairo but stopping well short of withholding $1.3 billion in annual American military aid.
The US State Department also updated its travel warning for Americans in Egypt, telling US citizens to defer travel there and urging Americans living in Egypt to depart. The travel warning stated that the political unrest stemming from the “change of government” showed little sign of abating.

Middle East countries split on Egypt support

Saudi Arabia, UAE maintain support for Egyptian army while Turkey, Iran and Qatar back Islamist protesters; Turkey's Erdogan calls on western countries to get involved, stand up for democracy.

Egypt Violence Is Not ‘Worse Than the Holocaust’

A quick way to turn public opinion against a valid and deeply troubling issue (in this case, the military’s violent crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt) is to widely exaggerate the death tolls. Another way is to invoke the Holocaust without credibility. Today, a Muslim Brotherhood official did both, at least, according to the Daily Caller.

Egypt's UK envoy says protesters 'got what they wanted'

Egypt's ambassador to Britain said a crackdown on supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi was not excessive and that protesters had portrayed themselves as victims and had shot one another dead in some cases.

Sunni Group Issues Warning to 'Pig Nasrallah'

Shortly after news of the attack broke, an online video surfaced showing three masked men, two of them holding rifles, in front of a white flag inscribed with the Islamic profession of faith, reported AFP.
"You, the pig Hassan Nasrallah, we send you our second powerful message because you haven't understood yet," said one member of the group, which called itself the Company of Aisha Umm al-Muminin, the Prophet Mohammed's favorite wife.
Arab affairs expert Dalit Halevi said that the group also accused the Hezbollah chief of being “an agent of Iran and Israel."

Nasrallah not looking quite so smart now

It’s fair to assume that on Thursday night, too, Nasrallah was internalizing the scale of the mistake he made when he caved in to Iranian pressure and agreed to send his forces to fight alongside Assad’s in Syria. Thursday’s car bombing was only the beginning for those terror groups associated with al-Qaeda who see the Shi’ites — no less than the Jews and Christians — as their enemy.
Nasrallah may even be starting to realize that he is now at odds with the only people in the Middle East whose mindset may be even more pernicious than his own.

Insight: Iran's Arab minority drawn into Middle East unrest

Arab insurgents blew up a gas pipeline in Iran last week and dedicated the attack to their brothers in arms in Syria, highlighting how the Syrian civil war is spreading into a region-wide proxy conflict that could blow back onto Iran.
The blast, two days after new President Hassan Rohani took office, hit a pipeline feeding a petrochemicals plant in the city of Mahshahr in Iran's southwest, home to most of its oil reserves and to a population of ethnic Arabs, known as Ahwazis for the main town in the area.

French advocate for Nazi and terrorists dies at 88

A French publishing house says Jacques Verges, called the “Devil’s advocate” for his flamboyant courtroom defense of the likes of former Nazi Klaus Barbie and Carlos the Jackal, has died.

Anti-Israel Author Disinvited from University Event

The University of Michigan has disinvited author Alice Walker from giving a speech at the anniversary celebration for the university’s Center for the Education of Women.
According to Walker, the invitation was rescinded due to pressure from donors offended by her virulently anti-Israel views.

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28% of PA Arabs' wages come from Israeli employers. What would happen if that went away?

The latest Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics labor report just came out, and it includes some interesting numbers.

Between Q1 and Q2, the number of West Bank Arabs employed by Israelis (in Israel and the settlements) went up from 93,000 to 96,000.

The average daily wage for WB Arabs working for Israelis increased from 167.6 NIS to 172.1 NIS, which would be an annualized rate of over 10%. The average daily wage in the WB for these workers is 88.6 shekels, almost half less than what the Israelis pay.

When you account for the fact that Arabs work fewer days for Israelis than for other Arabs, it means that the amount of wages for Arabs in the West Bank every month is almost 1.5 billion shekels - and Israeli employers are paying over 28% of those wages.

Now, imagine two states with an international border between them, and no settlements to employ Arabs. Imagine the PA with a loss of 28% of revenue. Imagine the number of unemployed increasing from roughly 140,000 to 235,000, with the PA responsible to keep basic welfare services operating for them.  (I'm not even  including the influx of "refugees" that would want to move to a future PalArab state.)

Apparently, no one is thinking about how any Palestinian Arab state could stay above water without increased billions from the West propping it up. And the hundreds of thousands of unemployed, disgruntled Arabs that would result. And the self-immolations and violent protests against the government that would follow. And the Islamist groups that would try to take advantage of the resulting chaos. And what follows that.

Welcome to a successful peace process.

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Qaradawi: "Even the Jews never did a massacre like the Egyptians"

Sheikh Yusuf Al Qaradawi, the antisemitic, terror supporting TV preacher who is allied with the Muslim Brotherhood, decided to use the J-bomb in his criticism of the Egyptian crackdown on Islamists.

In a phone interview on Al Jazeera, he said that he never saw such a "massacre" such as the army in Egypt performed with the help of the police, "even from the Jews."

He claimed that they killed and burned thousands of demonstrators.

Qaradawi demanded that Egyptians go out "to defend the gains of the January revolution and the defense of the innocent martyrs."

Even worse than the Jews? How can such a thing be?

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8/16 Links Part 1: Hobson’s choice, Pollard Speaks, Palestinian Heroes, Would Norway Release Breivik?

From Ian:

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Sarah Honig Hobson’s choice – the Obama variation

The buzz about Obama’s alleged variation on Hobson’s choice might be altogether unfounded. In that case all we’d supposedly gain from going to the gallows is the hope that we can at the last moment avoid execution but in the meanwhile diminish our excruciating delegitimization abroad.
Our delegitimization, though, is inextricably bound with Obama’s perception that there’s no conflict with Islam and that peace on earth and goodwill to all men would be at hand… if Israel weren’t in the way.
With that in mind, can anyone seriously count on Obama to fight Israel’s fight? He hasn’t exactly been eager to fight America’s own fight. Hence the panicky evacuation of US embassies. Hence the preposterous resort to the YouTube pretext and the workplace violence charade.

Jonathan Pollard: Restoring Israel to greatness

The Land of Israel is eternal and the State of Israel has temporal stewardship over the land. The corrosive moral ambiguity that has brought us to this dreadful day is relentlessly eating away at the legitimacy of the state’s continued role as legal guardian of the land. The prognosis is dire.
Only a reawakening of national resolve and a rebirth of ethical politics rooted in national selfrespect, moral rectitude and courage of conviction can guarantee the future. No political process devoid of these fundamental values will ever end the agony or the fear for the State of Israel.
It is clearly time for an historic restoration.

Irwin Cotler: Israel and the United Nations

While Ban cannot control the actions of member states, he does have the power to give moral leadership and direction. Words matter.
In his public speeches on Friday, he should condemn the systematic bias perpetrated against the Jewish state by numerous UN agencies, in gross violation of the UN Charter’s guarantee of equal treatment to all nations large and small.
Mr. Ban should acknowledge that the UN Human Rights Council, meant to embody the organization’s highest principles, is a case study of such bigotry. Examples abound.

Netanyahu protests anti-Israel incitement at UNRWA camps

At a meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to present proof of anti-Israel incitement in summer camps run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian children in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip.
Videos show counselors at a UNRWA camp telling campers that the Israeli cities of Acre and Haifa will soon return to Arab hands and that all means of fighting Israel are legitimate, including jihad.

JPost Editorial: PA incitement

A documentary broadcast twice on official PA TV declared that the PA plans to destroy Western Wall Plaza, Judaism’s ultra-scared prayer site frequented by millions of Jews, and replace it with assorted edifices. The documentary stated that Jews worshiping at the Western Wall were “sin and filth.” No foreign statesmen or journalists were bothered in the least.
There is more here than an unspeakable double standard.
Ceaseless indoctrination of young, impressionable minds is an antithesis to peace. Its effects are lasting and pernicious. The PA has promised repeatedly to clean up its act but in reality has done the opposite with absolute impunity. Clearly in the eyes of the international community, Ramallah’s rulers are unassailable, which in itself constitutes a huge disincentive to compromise.

WSJ Editorial: Palestinian Heroes
Releasing murderers will not advance the peace process.

The Israeli decision to release the prisoners was shortly followed by the approval of additional construction permits for housing in East Jerusalem and West Bank settlements. The move elicited howls of condemnation from the usual suspects, as if building houses is more objectionable than murdering people in cold blood. Perhaps the larger question is why anyone should expect that a peace process that begins by setting murderers free is likely to result in peace.

Israeli envoy panned for comparing Palestinian and Norwegian terrorists

Israel’s ambassador to Sweden is drawing fire in Scandinavia after comparing Palestinian prisoners released earlier this week to a Norwegian terrorist who killed 77 people in 2011.
Isaac Buchman told Swedish Radio on Tuesday that Israel’s freeing of 26 Palestinian prisoners as part of an agreement to launch peace talks was akin to Norway freeing Anders Breivik, a far-right activist who set off a bomb in Oslo and shot up a summer camp on a nearby island in one of the worst terror attacks in the Continent’s history.

Too Good to Last By David Pryce-Jones

Time to pay our respects to what was, and for European Jews to move elsewhere?
The European Union perceives nationalism itself as the cause of war, and seeks to deconstruct altogether the concept of the nation-state. Israel is the embodiment of the sense of proud nationhood that runs counter to EU ideology. With a logic all their own, EU policy makers oppose Israel while doing whatever they can to build a nation-state of Palestine. Jewish communities are unsettled to observe large-scale EU subsidies ending up in the hands of Palestinian Arab terrorists, or measures like the boycott recently imposed on products, goods, and personnel coming from Jewish settlements beyond the pre-June 1967 borders.
If Jews do indeed abandon Europe, it will be to escape a situation in which their very identity is increasingly treated as a matter of suspicion and political contention. Should an emigration en masse come to be a reality, Gurfinkiel concludes, it would constitute “a profound blow to the collective psyche of the Jewish people” as well as a shattering judgment on the “so-called European idea.” In the absence of living Jews, Europeans will have nothing but Holocaust museums and memorials on which to base the moral reckoning of their past.

Add Brussels to the List of Where Jews Need to Hide. Again.

For years there have been reports of Jews being warned not to wear items that identify them as Jewish in places where there are large or numbers are particularly aggressive anti-Semites.
People are told it is best not to wear Magen David necklaces outside their clothing, or kippot on their heads when visiting certain neighborhoods in France, in England, certainly throughout much of the Arab Middle East or in parts of North Africa.
But now a Jewish school in Belgium has issued an edict to its schoolchildren: do not wear kippot near the school until you are safely inside the steel-paneled fortified building.

'Israeli scientific research does not depend on Europe'

Professor Yisrael Aumann, Nobel laureate in economics, sits down with Israel Hayom to discuss peace talks, European boycotts and the Arab Spring: "Israel should say that it needs no favors, and make up the science budget in place of the Europeans."
The conflict between Israel and Europe has new manifestations and episodes. Quite a few powers are stirring the political pot; some of them hope for a buildup of European pressure to the point of a general boycott that will force Israel to give up the country's heartland. As one of the world's foremost experts on game theory, Aumann has a position on the issue both in terms of his behavior during these conflicts and as a high-ranking member of the scientific community in Israel and worldwide. Not surprisingly, his stance is different from the voices we've been hearing this week.

Visit to Joseph's Tomb in Shechem Interrupted by Stone Throwing

A riot broke out early Thursday morning as Arab men burned tires and threw stones at Israeli worshippers gathered at Joseph’s tomb in Shechem, reported Ma’an, a news agency based in the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Israeli forces escorted buses loaded with Jewish worshippers to the site at midnight and continued to provide security for them until prayers concluded early this morning.

Israel is model for world dairy industries

The Volcani Center is a government-run research institute that investigates everything related to the agriculture industry, including dairy cattle. Miron showed ISRAEL21c his cowshed laboratory, a high-tech outdoor facility that waters, protects, feeds and milks 230 milking cows in the village of Beit Dagan, about 20 minutes south of Tel Aviv.
He shows us how 120,000 cows at Israel’s 1,000 dairies each produce about 11,500 liters of milk per year in an ecologically sound way mandated by law, says Miron.
Delegations from far and wide come to see the Israeli closed-loop cowshed ecosystem. In a typical month, you might see delegations of dairy farmers from Thailand, France, or Russia coming to the Israeli research center, which looks like a big farm.

Israel Tourism to Break Records in August; El Al Surges to Q2 Profit, Orders 6 New 737s

More than 70,000 passengers passed through Ben Gurion International Airport on Friday, August 9, 2013, an all-time high in passenger flow, Globes said. The passenger traffic record is expected to be broken again on Thursday, with Ben Gurion now on track to record the highest monthly passenger traffic numbers in its history for the current month of August.

Animation- Another Way to Tell the Story of the Holocaust

In the 70 years since the Holocaust happened, animation is now able to fill in pictures and videos of Holocaust related material and stand in place of words.
“It’s the first time that this subject, that used to be very heavy and sensitive, comes true in animation. Animators tried to reflect this trauma through the use of animation,” said artist and director Nissim Hezkiyahu.
He continued to stress that animation should not only serve as entertainment, but should also cater to serious topics like the Holocaust.

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Gaza could get lots more goods through Israel, but they choose not to

This week I had an email conversation with the COGAT Gaza spokeswoman about the precise process of how goods get transferred into Gaza.

Here is how it works. (These are mostly COGAT's words, I edited them from multiple emails):

When a Gaza businessman wants to order goods from Israel privately, his first stop would be at the PA offices. There, there's a committee that is in charge of integrating all the requests and putting them in order, the Civil Committee of the PA, according to the format that is familiar to both sides. After that, it is that committee's job to pass a list of trucks that are to cross the next day. The head of the civil committee is in direct contact with the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) and they work with him closely every day, through phone calls and meetings, in order to make the work process efficient. The PA committee is the CLA's POC, but it is not the one ordering the goods.

When the lists are received at the Gaza CLA, they get to the approval process, and once they are approved they are passed to the CLA's representatives at Kerem Shalom, who are the first to receive the truck drivers the next morning.

As of today, the capacity of Kerem Shalom is 400 trucks per day. Due to the number of requests from the PA Civil Committee the number of trucks crossing per day never reaches 400. It can go up to 300 trucks on a good day.

Of course, if the Palestinian side would like to add more trucks to cross at Kerem Shalom, they're free to do so. The Israeli side will make its arrangements to meet the demands.

Unfortunately, many trucks are a no show at the crossing, for Palestinian personal matters. The trucks are coordinated, and are on the list, but every day the CLA sees a large number of blank forms for trucks that never crossed. That depends almost entirely on the Palestinians. Should they decide to cancel a truck for whatever reason, the CLA only knows about it at the end of the day, when they sum up the merchandise that went through. (It appears possible that the Israeli seller might renege sometimes as well, but that doesn't appear to be the normal case.)

The Palestinian businessmen do their coordination with Israeli private companies on their own. They only interact with COGAT (through the PA) when it comes to making sure the goods actually cross.

My comments:

While Kerem Shalom can handle 400 trucks a day, and perhaps 300 actually are hired typically, often dozens of the expected trucks never make it, for whatever logistical reasons that the Gazans canceled the delivery at the last minute. Last week about 10% of the expected trucks did not arrive.

The upshot is that Kerem Shalom is not being run at capacity - not even close. If Israel's "siege" was so painful, one would expect that the crossing would be over capacity and that there would be pressure to expand it. But even now that Egypt has cracked down on smuggling, Kerem Shalom is not close to its limit. It has increased transfers markedly, from 4700 in February to 6600 in July, but it can handle far more.

It seems apparent that Hamas prefers goods to be sent through Rafah than from Israel, for a number of reasons. One is that the PA is not involved in Rafah tunnels. Another is that Hamas can tax tunnel goods at will. Yet another is that fuel and some other smuggled goods are cheap because Egypt subsidizes them, so Hamas can buy things like construction material and diesel at a discount. And the fourth is that Israel happily ships goods to businessmen and to NGOs, but not to Hamas. (Also, dual-use materials are still restricted so Hamas has no choice but to smuggle those.)

People and businesses in Gaza don't need that many imports from Egypt - but Hamas does.

The simple fact is that if Gaza was suffering from a "crushing siege," Kerem Shalom would be operating at capacity. It isn't.

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Hizballah revealing an alleged military drone today

Arab media are reporting that Hizballah will unveil today the "Mersad-1" aircraft, on the occasion of the seventh anniversary of the 2006 Lebanon war. I'm not sure if they are saying that this is a new aircrapft or revealing that it was used in 2006, as Hassan Nasrallah said this week he will reveal secrets about that war.

Ababil UAV, circa 2004

According to the reports, The aircraft - which Hizballah claims to have manufactured itself - has the "ability to execute multiple tasks, including reconnaissance, and hitting targets with high accuracy, and stealth capabilities, and the ability to fly higher than 5,000 meters above sea level, and it is also able carry warheads of up to 30 kg."

This Lebanese website mentions the Mersad-1 in 2010, saying it is an Iranian UAV known as Ababil. Wikipedia has an article about it, saying it is probably the Iranian Mohajer 4.

Israel shot down 3 of the Ababils during the 2006 war.

All of this seems well known, so it is unclear what is being announced today. In fact, as early as 2004, Nasrallah mentioned the UAV, claiming then that it could hold 40 or 50 kg.

Sounds like Nasrallah is trying to misdirect the Arab world from his own problems much closer to home.

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Swedish royalty get conned to pose with anti-Israel keffiyeh

From YNet:

During a tour of Sweden to celebrate 40 years of the reigning royals, King Carl Gustaf and his wife, Queen Sylvia, visited the neighboring area of the city of Sundsvall. There they were approached by a man who identified himself as an Iraqi refugee, and who gifted them with hand made keffiyehs, the traditional Arab scarf, as a thank you for allowing him to start a new life in Sweden. He then asked them to pose for the camera with the scarves.

Unbeknownst to the royal couple, however, the keffiyehs were adorned with an anti-Israeli inscription: "Al Aqsa is ours and is not their temple." This fact that came to light only after the photo was published, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

The pictures caused ripples of reaction throughout Sweden. Pro-Palestinian organizations expressed satisfaction with the support the royal couple showed with regards to the Palestinian right over Jerusalem, while others riled at the fact that the King and Queen—even unwittingly—served as a part of Palestinian propaganda.

"On their visits to various parts of the land, the royal couple meets many people," said Bertil Ternert, spokesperson of the Swedish royal house, to Yedioth Ahronoth. "In this case, the man placed the keffiyehs on the King and Queen so quickly, that there was no possibility to take the scarves off before the couple posed for the camera. Shortly after the photo opportunity the King and Queen took off the keffiyehs. We want to stress that the acceptance of this gift holds no political statement of any kind."

Here is an example of how clueless the EU intelligentsia are.

A Swedish newssite that reported this story can't figure out if the statement "Al Aqsa is ours and is not their temple." They even make it sound like the idea that of a Jewish temple is what is controversial:

Michael Schulz, Associate Professor of Peace and Development Studies at the University of Gothenburg says that there is often strife in the area.

- "Jewish religious nationalists are trying to establish a Jewish temple there, 1990, an offensive that resulted in gunfire and bloodshed," he says.

Even Michael Schulz believes that the text of the shawls is a political / religious slogan.

- It's hard to tell if the message is anti-Jewish or anti-Israeli. Most likely it is a mark against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

Of course. Because the only problems any Muslims have with Jews is "occupation." That's the breadth of understanding of a professor of "peace and development studies."

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Dozens of churches, Christian businesses torched in Egypt

From CNN:

For 67 years, the Virgin Mary Church has been a peaceful refuge for Shenouda El Sayeh, much like the Giza province village of Hafr Hakim where it rests and where he has lived all those years.

But, as he swept its floors on Thursday, it was painfully obvious things had changed.

The night before, a mob -- chanting against Coptic Christians such as El Sayeh and calling for Egypt to become an "Islamic state" -- had torched and looted the Virgin Mary Church.

"I didn't expect this to happen," El Sayeh said.

He's not alone. Christians all around Egypt are cleaning up in the aftermath of a spate of attacks, which not coincidentally came on the county's deadliest day since the 2011 revolution that overthrew longtime President Hosni Mubarak.

Bishop Angaelos, the Cairo-born head of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom, said he was told by colleagues in Egypt that 52 churches were attacked in a 24-hour span that started Wednesday, as well as numerous Christians' homes and businesses.

Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, told CNN he had confirmed attacks on at least 30 churches so far, in addition to the targeting of church-related facilities, including schools and cultural centers.

Those churches reportedly set ablaze Wednesday included St. George Church in Sohag, a city south of Cairo on the Nile River.

And the new day brought new attacks. Prince Tadros Church in Fayoum, which is southwest of Cairo, was stormed and burned Thursday night, according to the official Middle East News Agency.

CNN is trying to avoid blaming any group for the torchings, but Al Ahram explains who did it:

Incensed by the bloody crackdown that has claimed more than 500 lives, Morsi loyalists orchestrated nationwide assaults on Christian targets, wreaking havoc on churches, homes, and Christian-owned businesses throughout the country.

The Muslim expression "First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people" is coming true in Egypt.
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