Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

11/11 Links Pt2: Dershowitz: How Amnesty International suppresses free speech

From Ian:

Alan Dershowitz: How Amnesty International suppresses free speech

Last month the Columbia chapter of Amnesty International invited me to deliver a talk on human rights in the Middle East. I accepted the invitation, anxious to present a balanced view on human rights, focusing on the Israeli-Arab-Palestinian issue. As a supporter of the two state solution and an opponent of many of Israel’s settlement decisions, I regard myself as a moderate on these issues. That was apparently too much for the national office of Amnesty International to tolerate. They demanded that the Columbia chapter of Amnesty International disinvite me. They did not want their members to hear my perspective on human rights.
The excuse they provided were two old and out of context quotes suggesting that I favored torture and collective punishment. The truth is that I am adamantly opposed to both. I have written nuanced academic articles on the subject of torture warrants as a way of minimizing the evils of torture, and I have written vehemently against the use of collective punishment of innocent people—whether it be by means of the boycott movement against all Israelis or the use of collective punishment against Palestinians. I do favor holding those who facilitate terrorism responsible for their own actions.
The real reasons Amnesty International tried to censor my speech to its members is that I am a Zionist who supports Israel’s right to exist as the nation-state of the Jewish people. As such, I have been somewhat critical of Amnesty International’s one-sided approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For example, I wrote an article criticizing Amnesty International’s report on honor killings in the West Bank. An honor killing occurs when a woman has been raped and her family then kills her because of the shame her victimization has brought. Despite massive evidence to the contrary, Amnesty International mendaciously claimed that honor killings had increased in the West Bank since the Israeli occupation and that the fault for this increase in Arab men killing Arab women, lies with Israel. The reality is that there are far fewer honor killings in the West Bank than there are in adjoining Jordan, which is not under Israeli occupation, and that the number of honor killings in the West Bank has been reduced dramatically during the Israeli occupation. But facts mean little to Amnesty International when Israel is involved.

Dershowitz: Obama Must Fire Official Who Insulted Netanyahu

Renowned Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz made it clear that the case must not be closed regarding the Obama Administration officials who personally attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with various epithets. The insults were widely reported in the international press after having been first reported in the New Yorker.
Speaking with Newsmax TV this past Thursday, Prof. Dershowitz said that President Obama "must get to the bottom of this, find out who the two people are who made those statements, expose them, and fire them."
Dershowitz, who endorsed Obama in both of the last two Presidential elections, hinted that Congress should get involved in the matter. "Congress can have hearings to determine who those two senior White House officials are who used those terrible words about PM Netanyahu," he said.

Kristallnacht fundraiser for Gaza riles Danish Jews

A leader of Denmark’s Jewish community criticized local politicians who raised money for Gaza at a Holocaust memorial event.
Donations raised at Sunday’s event in Copenhagen’s Norrebro district - commemorating the victims of Austria and Germany’s 1938 Kristallnacht pogroms against Jews - would go toward buying ambulances in Gaza, organizers from the Red-Green Alliance party said.
“When the profits from the Norrebro event go to Gaza, whose government is at war with Israel, I think that there is inappropriate confusion,” Dan Rosenberg Asmussen, president of the Jewish community in Copenhagen, told the Kristelig Dagblad newspaper.

The accusations and counter-accusations between Hamas and Fatah continue, with Mahmoud Abbas directly charging that Hamas set off several bombs last Friday against Fatah leaders - and the stage meant for a Arafat anniversary rally.

Today, the Fatah Facebook page says that students in the Jabalya camp in Gaza tried to organize a march to commemorate Arafat's death anniversary, and that Hamas came in and beat them up.

True? Who knows? It is pretty clear that the "unity" government is no more unified than it was before.

Some pro-terror Facebook entries of UNRWA teachers

Here are some more examples of the peaceful, non-political nature of UNRWA teachers based on their Facebook photos.

From a teacher in Jordan named Kifah Khamis Abd Alfattah:

A self-portrait of a teacher in Lebanon, Abo Adam:

A female teacher in Jordan, Samah Hindi:

A female teacher in Lebanon named Sarah Qasim:

Same person:

"Our silence is preparation. Tomorrow Tel-Aviv will mourn"

Do you think that these teachers are teaching their kids about peace and coexistence?

The Facebook page of the Hitler admirer I posted about yesterday is now gone. I'm certain that he taught his class today just as he did yesterday.

Amazing how UNRWA puts so much effort in hiding its serious problems rather than, you know, fixing them.

More tomorrow!

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

11/11 Links Pt1: What they didn’t tell you about Dahlia; IDF: Hamas Is Planning a Very Large Attack

From Ian:

Gush Etzion terror attack victim Dalia Lamkus laid to rest in Tekoa

The victim killed in Monday's terror attack in Gush Etzion was laid to rest in Tekoa on Tuesday.
Dalia Lamkus, 26, was stabbed to death on Monday evening, a short distance away from where she survived a similar attack almost nine years earlier.
At the time, in February 2006, she described her experience in a talkback published on the NRG website.
“On February 28, 2006, I stood at the Gush Etzion junction, when suddenly a terrorist appeared and started stabbing people who stood at the hitch-hiking post. I was one of two people, who were stabbed. It was a miracle that I was not seriously wounded. The other victim is recovering, with God’s help,” she wrote.

'The Terrorist Will Not Break Us,' Vows Terror Victim's Father

The funeral of Dalia Lemkos, 26, was held Tuesday morning in Tekoa, in the Etzion Bloc (Gush Etzion), a day after she was murdered by a knife-wielding Islamist at a bus stop outside the town of Alon Shvut.
Her father, Nahum Lemkos, eulogized her and said: “The terrorist murdered her because she was Jewish, because she is carrying on the tradition of the nation of Israel. The terrorist did not understand that through the murder, he will not succeed in breaking us and our bond to the Land of Israel.
"With your radiant face, your beauty and kindness of heart, you followed the path of Sarah the Matriarch. You helped us and the entire nation of Israel. You have merited to die for the sanctity of G-d and for the sanctity of the land. Beloved Dalia, you join our holy foremothers. May you sit in the shadow of the Shechina (God's Spirit).”

At funeral of slain woman, sister urges hitchhikers not to stop

Hundreds of people gathered Tuesday to pay their last respects to terror victim Dalia Lemkus as the 26-year-old was laid to rest in her hometown of Tekoa, a settlement in the West Bank.
Speaking at the funeral, Lemkus’s sister Michal urged Israelis to continue hitchhiking undeterred in defiance of terror.
“I want to scream at everyone, at my nation, and mostly at myself: Don’t stop hitchhiking. Don’t stop driving on the roads. Don’t give them the satisfaction, the satisfaction that they managed to stop and prevent us from living our lives.”
Dalia Lemkus, the daughter of immigrants from South Africa, was stabbed to death by a Palestinian assailant Monday evening while hitchhiking from a bus stop outside the settlement of Alon Shvut, south of Jerusalem.

What they didn’t tell you about Dahlia

Funny how none of the articles about the murder of Dahlia Lemkus who was stabbed near Alon Shvut last night speak about Dahlia or her family, how no reporter had the curiosity to find out about her. She was killed in the afternoon so the reporters had all evening to question their contacts in Tekoa.
Instead, they practice a kind of obscurantism, restricting our knowledge of the victim. (Curious that the word obscurantism is derived from a dispute between intellectuals and the German monks who wanted to burn Jewish books, like the Talmud, in the 16th century to obscure Jewish culture and learning.) In the New York Times, the reporter tells you about the terrorist who is from Hebron, how he was in an Israeli jail for five years for a firebombing. The reporter quotes his Facebook page: “I’ll be a thorn in the gullet of the Zionist project to Judaize Jerusalem.” We learn nothing about 26 year old Dahlia, who was just getting started in life after finishing college, studying occupational therapy so that she could have a job where she could help people who were sick or infirm or disabled to live in a fuller way.
They don’t tell you how she loved to bake with her mother, the two of them bringing rich, luscious cakes to parties and the way she spoke English with an accent — but not a Hebrew accent — a South African accent because her parents made aliyah from there thirty years ago. They don’t tell you how she went to synagogue every Sabbath and smiled at the people in her row before she prayed. And they don’t tell you how she had to hitchhike to get to her job working with children in Kiryat Gat or that she was the main volunteer at Yad Sarah in Tekoa which lends medical equipment like wheelchairs to those who are sick or injured. They don’t tell you how she liked to help brides look beautiful by doing their makeup for them before their weddings.

Soldier Murdered in Tel Aviv 'Was a True God-Fearer'

First Sergeant Almog Shiloni hy”d, who was murdered Monday by a terrorist in Tel Aviv, had always wanted to be a combat soldier.
In an interview for the IAF website upon his induction to the military, Shiloni said: “I always wanted to be a fighter. I trained ahead of the enlistment, and ran for fitness. I prepared for it a lot.”
Shiloni is a graduate of the first Platoon Commanders' Course of the Nahal Hareidi battalion and served in the Negev Defenders' section.
Almog's twin brother, Sahar, said Monday that his brother “only wanted to return to his base and was simply stabbed and wounded. This simply cannot go on. There are soldiers and people who are injured, who are stabbed in the street, you can't walk alone in this country, you can't walk quietly. This is our country, we fought for it, my twin brother fought for it.”

"Palestine's Nelson Mandela" calls for all-out war against Israel's Jews

Earlier this year, The Guardian published a CiF article saying that Marwan Barghouti must be released from Israeli prison, calling him "Palestine's Nelson Mandela":

[I]f peace is ever to come, Israel will have to acknowledge that Barghouti was a political and not a military leader, that he never carried arms and that he always opposed actions targeting Israeli civilians, even while defending the right of Palestinians to resist.

Today, Barghouti called on Palestinian Arabs to start an armed uprising against Israel.

Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouthi urged the Palestinian leadership to give its backing to "armed resistance" against Israel in a letter published Tuesday as a wave of violence surged.

In a letter to mark 10 years since the death of veteran leader Yasser Arafat, Barghouthi said that "choosing global and armed resistance" was being "faithful to Arafat's legacy, to his ideas, and his principles for which tens of thousands died as martyrs."

"It is imperative to reconsider our choice of resistance as a way of defeating the occupier," he wrote.

With religious tensions also surging at the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, a site holy to both Muslims and Jews, Barghouthi urged the Palestinian leadership to take action and make good on threats to end security cooperation with Israel.

"The Palestinian Authority must review its priorities and its mission ... and put an immediate end to security cooperation which is only strengthening the occupier," he said.

He also remarked on the circumstances of Arafat's death, saying his "assassination" was the result of "an official Israeli-American decision."

Which pretty much means he is calling for another terror spree such as the second intifada in which he was so instrumental.

Expect to see the supposed supporters of "non-violent resistance" against Israel to start to parrot Barghouti's words in the upcoming weeks.

Abbas praises Neturei Karta at Arafat memorial

Mahmoud Abbas praised the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta organization during his speech commemorating the anniversary of Yasir Arafat's death.

Abbas said that Neturei Karta is made up of "Jews who stand with our people,"and he used them as proof that Palestinian Arabs do not differentiate between religions, "and this is evidence that we can live in brotherhood and all go to the mosque or the church."

NK members were at the memorial service with anti-Israel banners.

It is unclear if Abbas would welcome Neturei Karta members to visit the Temple Mount.

What he didn't say is that Neturei Karta was, and possibly still is, on the PLO's payroll. Arafat paid their leader tens of thousands of dollars, and even after Arafat's death he was appointed the PLO's "Minister of Jewish Affairs."

In short, the PLO helps prop up Neturei Karta so they can they claim that they are not antisemitic, even as they publicly admit that they want to cleanse their "state" of all Jews. If NK didn't exist, the PLO would create them.

Neturei Karta members are often seen attending anti-Israel rallies on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath. Here's one where they are seen during a Saturday rally in Toronto while the speaker calls to murder all the Jews in Jerusalem (except, maybe, members of NK): "We say get out or you’re dead! We give them two minutes and then we start shooting! And that’s the only way they will understand.”

In this 2011 video from a Saturday demo in London, NK members admit on camera that they are not allowed to talk on the camera on the Sabbath!

Neturei Karta members who happily met with Iranian Holocaust deniers have no problem invoking the Holocaust to slam Israel:

It seems appropriate for the biggest Jewish hypocrites to be aligned with the biggest Arab hypocrites.

Notably, in 2012 Jordanians beat a group of Neturei Karta members attempting to attend an anti-Israel rally.

I guess the Arabs they are not quite as tolerant of Jews as Mahmoud Abbas pretends they are.

When Yasser Met Osama

Today is the tenth anniversary of Yasir Arafat's death.

In April 1991, Arafat attended the First Popular Arab and Islamic Congress, held in Khartoum and hosted by Hassan al-Turabi, a Sudanese Islamist leader.

PAIC I was meant to unify the Muslim terrorist world after the Soviets left Afghanistan and to strategize next steps to unify the Islamic 'umma.

As J. Millard Burr writes in his extraordinary account of this and subsequent PAIC conferences:

The first PAIC general assembly was, in fact and deed, a seminal moment in the development of both the modern Islamist revolution and the post-Soviet New World Order. Fusing his omnificent view of a modern and evolutionary Islam to that of the narrower revolutionary vision which had recently emerged in Shiite Iran, Turabi managed to square the circle and surmount a millennium of intra-Islamic factionalism. By the strength of his personality Turabi used the PAIC to forge a single, cohesive and unified Islamic movement uniting the Islamist umma from West Africa to Indonesia. It was an organization created to fill a void in the Muslim World and satisfy two primary needs: as a forum essential to the development of the Islamist revolutionary base, and as a unique meeting site where jihad could be discussed openly. The West could be openly reviled, and Turabi could expound at length on the West and its various nations where everything was permitted and nothing was sacred.

The conference was attended by a who's who of the terrorist world, including Osama Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Imad Mughniyah, and a large Palestinian contingent including Arafat, Nayif Hawatma (DFLP), George Habash (founder of PFLP), Ibrahim Ghousha (Popular Struggle Front), Fathi al-Shiqaqi (founder of Palestine Islamic Jihad,) Jabbar Amar (Islamic Jihad,) Munir Said and Khaled Meshaal (Hamas.)

Most of the action in the conference went on behind the scenes, but some details have emerged, including Arafat's role:

PAIC I opened shortly after the Muslims world-wide commemoration of the "Day of Palestine" celebrated on 11 April 1991. The event had brought together leaders of a number of Palestinian movements -- Sunni and Shiite, secular and Islamist. Among those present were prominent Arab leftist and nationalist figures including Georges Habash, the Christian head of the radical secular Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Jabbar Amar who lived in Sudan and represented Palestine Islamic Jihad, a small movement increasingly dependent on Iran. Incredibly, at PAIC I observers saw Yasser Arafat in conversation with representatives of HAMAS, and members of the secular (and Marxist) Palestine movements circulated freely and "planned their next move."(16) Arafat -- who like Turabi teethed as a Muslim Brother and was thus well aware of the emerging "predominance of the Islamist trend" -- was reported to have played "a leading role" in Turabi's conclave. However, as was his custom, Arafat used the assembly to overplay his hand and confidently announced that, "Khartoum will become the springboard for the liberation of Jerusalem."

The conference, in retrospect, was in many ways the springboard for the resurgence of violent Islamism:

Ironically, many of the mujahideen who attended the PAIC, many of whom were battle hardened in such places as Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kashmir, were not as devoted to the issue of Palestine as most people would think. If Jerusalem was to be liberated they would help, but in the end the task would have to be left to Palestinians. And while all PAIC members were devoted to the elimination of Israel, there had already been a plethora of useless conferences called to address that issue over the previous decade. For the Islamists who dominated the PAIC, issues such as the condition of the Muslim community at large, and the status of Islam in the world itself were of much greater importance than Palestine. Indeed, the conference theme was chosen with care and was one that all could agree on: The battle against Western hegemony. Just how (or if) the PAIC would be used to attack the West and its institutions was not really clarified. Although not as virulently anti-American as the Iranian revolution of the Ayatollah Khomeini, the PAIC still rejected the morals and mores of a "neo-Crusader" invasion that could drown Islamic culture. Thus, under Turabi's tutelage the PAIC broadcast the seeds of an epistemology that urged Muslims to turn away from the secular, hedonistic, and selfish proclivities that dominated the West. And it was reported that Turabi was cheered when he characterized the West as an unchecked tyrannical superpower, the incarnation of a "force materielle absolue et tyrannique," and even though Islam yet remained a "prisoner" of the West, it was and would remain "la conscience du monde."

Turabi attempted to unify the PLO and Hamas in 1993, but failed, as Hamas insisted on being treated as an equal partner in any unity, something Arafat opposed strenuously.

The book also notes how Turabi managed to present a moderate, intellectual face of Islamism to the West while scheming to destroy the West at the same time. He was even the subject of fawning magazine articles:

Educated in the United Kingdom and France, and wonderfully aware of how to manipulate the Western journalist's ego, Turabi evolved as the beau ideal of Muslim fundamentalists. And despite the growing Iranian arrangement, he received a decent press from some Western sources; a Christian Science Monitor article of March 1993 noted that "Sudan's image as a harsh Islamic dictatorship, imposed by fanatical mullahs in consort with Iran, does not exactly fit." The Monitor argued that Turabi was no Ayatollah Khomeini, and unlike the more fanatic Islamists, he was urbane, charming, and immensely well-read. Ostensibly, he presented a kinder, gentler, avuncular face of "Islamic fundamentalism" -- a movement that he himself preferred to label the Islamic renaissance. Indeed, the Sudan tried to project an image of a polity moving toward the idealized Islamic state.

1993 saw both the first World Trade Center attack as well as Arafat signing the Oslo Accords. Yet barely a month after being hailed as a "peacemaker," Arafat made an appearance at the second PAIC conference, as did Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah, Osama Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, members of the Taliban and many other prominent Islamists.

The West was mostly clueless to the rise of radical Islam that these conferences heralded, and it remains clueless as to how "secular" revolutionaries were working hand in hand with the Islamists, and Shia with Sunnis, in what was meant to be a pan-Arab and pan-Islamic challenge to the West that would culminate with the 9/11 attacks - and, for Arafat, with the second Intifada. Of course, pan-Arab and pan-Muslim unity never occurred as Turabi hoped, but there has been a lot more cross-pollination between various movements than most realize, and PAIC was a seminal event in the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. And Arafat was an enthusiastic part of it.

There is a lot to read in this book.

(h/t David T)

Ron Prosor again tells the UN that they are hypocrites

Israel's ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, on Monday afternoon:

Ladies and gentlemen,

I have asked you here today to address the direct effects of ignoring the daily incitement by the Palestinian Authority coupled with statements calling for the destruction of the State of Israel by Iran, a so-called reformed regime.

I will be perfectly clear - ignoring incitement and terrorism is similar to supporting terrorism.

In two and half weeks, Israel has seen 5 terror attacks, 5 people killed, and dozens of others have been seriously injured.

Just hours ago, a young soldier was stabbed in Tel Aviv and a young woman was stabbed just south of Jerusalem.

Every day Israelis are coming under attack. Every day the crowds of violent Palestinian rioters grow larger. And yet, this institution has not uttered a word to denounce attacks against Israelis.

Unsurprisingly, we have also not heard anything constructive from some of my European colleagues. To them, I say:

Yes, continue to cosponsor one-sided resolutions.

Yes, continue to encourage unilateral actions.

And yes, by all means, prematurely recognize a Palestinian State.

This has clearly been a resounding success that has brought us that much closer to peace.

And what about the Palestinian leadership? They can head the academy for arsonists because they add fuel to the fire on a daily basis.

A person doesn’t just wake up one day and decide to stab someone or ram his car into a crowd of people. These attacks are the results of years of anti-Israel indoctrination and the glorification of so-called martyrs.

The incitement is everywhere. In schools, mosques and media, the Palestinian Authority is glorifying terrorists and celebrating attacks on Jews and Israelis.

And where is the Palestinian delegate? Has he found the time to condemn these attacks?

Of course not. You see he has a very important function to attend this evening – a fashion show taking place in this institution to recognize the UN’s international year of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Now let me understand this. Solidarity with the Palestinian people? Solidarity with incitement? Solidarity with terror and extremism?

But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the Palestinian delegation is off to a fashion show. After all, they are experts in dressing up and disguising the truth.

And the truth is, ladies and gentlemen:

Israel is on the frontline fighting terrorism and radical extremism. We have no other choice but to stand up and defend our people in the only democracy in a region plagued by tyranny and terror.

I call on every responsible member of this institution to stand united with us in this fight. Stand with us as we fight terrorism. Stand with us as we fight incitement. And stand with us as we fight for the values that we all hold dear.

Those right-wing medieval Christian Latin scholars kept saying "Judea and Samaria"

Sunday night I tweeted this:

Who knew that 16th century Latin scholars were really using the language of right wing Jewish settlers? pic.twitter.com/42dUPrbYrW
— ElderOfZiyon (@elderofziyon) November 10, 2014

Bill Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, replied:

.@elderofziyon Jen Psaki @statedeptspox preparing a statement denouncing the author of De Epiphania Domini as a "chicken----."
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) November 10, 2014

At any rate, the use of the terminology Judea and Samaria are prevalent throughout the entire history of printed books.

Here:

Here:

And hundreds of others.

Perhaps that terminology should be recognized as the "status quo" that must be respected? Or does the "status quo" only go in one direction - towards any time period, no matter how short, that Arabs tried to erase all traces of Jewish history from certain areas?

11/10 Links Pt2: Kosher Restaurant in Paris Firebombed; Why was the Myth of al-Aqsa Created?

From Ian:

Firebomb on Kosher Eatery in Paris

A firebomb was thrown at a kosher Jewish restaurant in the 17th district of Paris at week's end.
Several minutes earlier, some young Muslims who walked by the restaurant threatened the diners inside and called them “dirty Jews.” The diners did not react.
A few minutes passed, and a loud smash was heard when a firebomb hit the restaurant's door. The diners managed to see a group of Muslims running away as the firebomb ignited, starting a fire, which the restaurant's employees succeeded in putting out. None of the restaurant-goers was hurt.
The restaurant door was reportedly made of tempered glass, a factor which may have saved the clients inside the eatery from harm.

Jewish teen attacked in Paris after arson attempt at kosher eatery

The assault happened Thursday in the 3rd arrondissement, or district, 500 yards north of Bastille, in front of the private high school Progress, which has a large number of Jewish students.
The victim, who was wearing a kippah, was standing in front of the school with some friends when a group of approximately 15 youths of African descent ages 16-19 assaulted him, according to a report of the incident by the National Bureau for Vigilance against Anti-Semitism, or BNVCA.
They beat the victim, who was not named, with their fists and elbows before fleeing the scene. He received medical attention and was given two days sick leave to recover from the assault, BNVCA reported.

Mordechai Kedar: Why and When was the Myth of al-Aqsa Created?

Arafat, himself a secular person (ask the Hamas!), did exactly what the Caliphs of the Umayyad dynasty did 1300 years ago: he marshaled the holiness of Jerusalem to serve his political ends. He could not give control of Jerusalem over to the Jews since according to Islam they are impure and the wrath of Allah is upon them ("al-maghdhoub 'alayhim"; Koran 1,7, see al-Jalalayn and other commentaries; note that verse numbers may differ slightly in the various editions of the Koran). The Jews are the sons of monkeys and pigs (5,60). (For the idea that Jews are related to pigs and monkeys see, for instance, Musnad al-Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, (Beirut 1969) vol. 3, p. 241. See also pages 348, 395, 397, 421, and vol. 6, p. 135.) The Jews are those who distorted the holy writings which were revealed to them (2,73; 3,72) and denied God's signs (3,63). Since they violated the covenant with their God (4,154), He cursed them (5,16) and they are forever the inheritors of hell (3,112). So how could Arafat abandon Jerusalem to the Jews?
The Palestinian Arab media these days are full of messages of Jihad, calling to broaden the national-political war between Israel and the Palestinians into a religious-Islamic war between the Jews and the Muslims. READ THEIR LIPS: for them Christianity is no better than Judaism, since both "forfeited" their right to rule over Jerusalem. Only Islam - Din al-Haqq ("the Religion of Truth") - has this right, and forever. This was and still is the leitmotiv in Friday sermons in Palestinian mosques and official media. (Note: photo acccompanying this article is a keffiya showing the hoped-for taking Jerusalem from Israel and the destruction of Israel on the scarf. On the right side it says "Jerusalem is ours" and the left: "Palestine" with no Israel on the map.)
Since the holiness of Jerusalem to Islam has always been, and still is no more than a politically motivated holiness, any Palestinian Arab politician would be putting his political head on the block should he give it up. Must Judaism and Christianity defer to myths related in Islamic texts or allegedly envisioned in Muhammad's dreams, long after Jerusalem was established as the ancient, real center of these two religions which preceded Islam?
Should the world reshape the Middle East map just because Muslims decided to recycle the political problems of the Umayyads 1250 years after the curtain came down on their role in history?

The Economist is against civil rights for Jews (if Arabs object violently) UPDATE

The Economist describes why Jews should not be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount:

Rabbis and activists have been preparing for the restoration of the temple and challenging the ban on Jews praying on the esplanade on top of the mount, the Haram al-Sharif, site of two venerable Muslim shrines, the golden Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa mosque.

This would be esoteric if it were not so dangerous. A minority obsession with the temple is entering the mainstream and creating a vicious cycle. More temple activists, among them politicians and ministers, are visiting the Haram to demand the right to pray. To some, this is the first step to sweeping away the mosques. In turn, Palestinian rioters vow to “defend al-Aqsa”, the third-holiest site in Islam. The attempted murder of a prominent temple activist, Yehuda Glick, on October 29th has redoubled calls for Jewish prayers and more restrictions on Muslims. As Palestinians adopt a new tactic of driving into Jewish pedestrians, there is talk of a new uprising, even of war.

Here was my response:

The right for Jews to pray on the Temple Mount is enshrined in numerous UN resolutions like the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief. It is a basic civil and human right for Jews to be allowed to peacefully visit and pray on their holiest spot.

It is curious that The Economist is coming out against civil rights for Jews.

Why is that? Because the Muslims there threaten violence - and now they are murdering Jews in the name of Islam!

Civil rights are not dependent on the veto power of extremists to threaten violence. There are numerous videos of Jews visiting the Temple Mount, and not one of them shows any of them doing anything the least bit provocative. On the other hand, their quiet strolls are greeted with screams, threats and occasional violence.

Yet The Economist seems determined to label the Jews who want equal rights as the agitators and the Muslim rioters as the victims of Israeli aggression.

The Economist's idea of the "status quo" is completely wrong. Before 2000, Jews were able to visit the Mount and no one objected if visitors quietly prayed. Before 1967, of course, Jews were forbidden altogether. Perhaps that is the "status quo" that The Economist prefers to see.

Modern liberals are supposed to defend civil rights, to stand up for those being threatened by bigots. One must wonder why The Economist believes that in this case those making the threats are in the right and civil rights for Jews are not important.

When you pick and choose which human rights you are in favor of, you can no longer call yourself an advocate for human rights.

(h/t Ron)

UPDATE: After my comment was up on the site for several hours and received over 50 "recommends," The Economist removed it.

Their comments policy is here. I didn't violate it, except possibly if they are claiming that I am impersonating the "real" Elders of Zion.'

Apparently, The Economist's interest in freedom of expression is exactly as strong as its support for human rights.

UNRWA student counselor defends Hitler (UPDATE)

Meet "Storm." (He doesn't use his real name on Facebook.)

He is a happy fellow, comfortable in a Hebrew T-shirt.

He's equally comfortable with a gun:

He likes posting photos of children with weapons, too.

He posted that Hitler was innocent; "no Jews were burned in the Holocaust and Hitler is being libeled by them, when the real Holocaust is in Gaza."

Here's his picture of his hero.

"Storm" is a school counselor for UNRWA.

I wonder what he "counsels" the kids in his school?

UPDATE: By sheer coincidence, I'm sure, his page has been taken down.

11/10 Links Pt1: Two Stabbed to Death in Separate Knife Attacks; Israeli group sues Abbas at ICC for rockets

From Ian:

Young woman killed in West Bank stabbing attack

A young woman was killed and two people were injured in a stabbing attack at the West Bank settlement of Alon Shvut Monday afternoon, in the second terrorist attack of its kind in a day.
Police said the attack occurred at a bus stop at the entrance to the settlement, in the Etzion bloc south of Jerusalem.
The victim was stabbed in her neck, and declared dead at the site. Media gave conflicting reports about her age, ranging from 14 to 25 years old.
A 26-year-old man suffered light-moderate injuries, and a man in his 50s was lightly hurt.

Man stabbed in Tel Aviv in possible terror attack

An IDF soldier, about 20 years of age, was critically wounded after being stabbed multiple times in a terror attack at Tel Aviv’s Hahagana train station on Monday afternoon.
Police confirmed the attack was a politically motivated terrorist attack.
A 50-year-old man who confronted the terrorist was lightly injured in the scuffle, and received medical treatment at the scene, Channel 2 reported.
The attacker was in police custody, Israel Radio reported. Initial reports identified the suspect as an 18-year-old Palestinian man from Nablus who had illegally entered Israeli territory. Channel 2 named the stabber as Nur al-Din Abu Hashiyeh.
Police were interrogating the man and had forwarded his identity to the Shin Bet security agency.

Israeli group sues Abbas at ICC for Fatah rocket fire

An Israeli legal group filed suit against Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the International Criminal Court on Monday, arguing that the Fatah head was responsible for rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip on Israeli cities during the summer conflict which were claimed by members of his faction.
While neither Israel nor the PA are members of the international body and therefore do not fall under its jurisdiction, the Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center maintained that “Abbas is a Jordanian citizen and Jordan is a current member of the ICC. The ICC is empowered to exercise its jurisdiction over all acts committed by the citizen of a member, wherever those acts are committed.”
The lawsuit maintains that Abbas should be tried for the various rocket attacks on Israel claimed by Fatah during the 50-day conflict in Gaza — on July 10, 25 and 27, and August 8 — as “he is their responsible superior exercising effective command and control of them.” Rocket fire on civilians is a war crime under international law, it notes.
“Abbas should be immediately investigated and prosecuted for these rocket attacks against Israel,” Shurat HaDin chairwoman Nitsana Darshan-Leitner said in a statement.
“Shurat HaDin will not allow Fatah to carry out rocket attacks on Israeli population centers, while hypocritically advocating Palestinian membership in the ICC. Abbas falsely believes that alleged crimes against Arabs are the only ones that should be prosecuted,” she wrote.

Al Quds University makes an exhibit praising shooting and running over Jews

The Shehab News Agency has this photo of a new exhibit set up by the Islamic bloc at Al Quds University dramatizing the shooting of Yehuda Glick as well as the recent car terror attacks and praise for the murderers and terrorists:

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

Arab sneaks into Tel Aviv to kill while Israel-haters call for dismantling security barrier (update)

From TOI:

An IDF soldier, about 20 years of age, was critically wounded after being stabbed multiple times in a terror attack at Tel Aviv’s Hahagana train station on Monday afternoon.

Police confirmed the attack was a politically motivated terrorist attack.

A 50-year-old man who confronted the terrorist was lightly injured in the scuffle, and received medical treatment at the scene, Channel 2 reported.

The attacker was in police custody, Israel Radio reported. Initial reports identified the suspect as an 18-year-old Palestinian man from Nablus who had illegally entered Israeli territory. Channel 2 named the stabber as Nur al-Din Abu Khashiyeh.

Meanwhile, the pro-terror ISM says:

Yesterday, to mark the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall today, a direct action took place in Beit Hanina, a neighbourhood in Jerusalem. ISM and international volunteers supported the Palestinian-led action, which involved demolishing a section of the Apartheid wall using a sledge hammer and a pick-axe.

The comparison between a barrier that is meant to save lives and the Berlin Wall is, of course, odious.

But the real purpose of wanting to demolish the security barrier can be seen by complete absence of denouncing terror attacks by the ISM and their ideological cousins. The Israel haters cheer terror attacks like those of today, while they pretend to maintain "liberal" standards.

(h/t Joel)

UPDATE: It seems unlikely that the ISM photos were really of the security barrier; they are probably an acoustic wall adjacent to a highway. The barrier in Beit Hanina that has bricks has barbed wire on top, this other angle of the ISM action does not seem to show that. (h/t Ian)

Video of rock attack on car in Jerusalem (update)

This video surfaced last week, I don't know if it happened during the current riots in Jerusalem or not. It is chilling nonetheless to see how Jews are targeted in the holy city.

UPDATE: The video is from 2008 (h/t Miguel)

Yasir Arafat's legacy of terror

On Sunday, at a memorial for the tenth anniversary of Yasir Arafat's timely death at his shrine in Ramallah, Mahmoud Abbas said that the tomb is only in a temporary location, and it will be relocated as soon as possible to Jerusalem.

I cannot imagine any Israeli leader ever allowing the master mass-murdering terrorist to be buried in the city of David and Solomon.

Arafat was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilians in dozens of terror attacks - even after he signed the Oslo accords.

If you want to talk about desecrating the holy city, burying him there would be the ultimate desecration.

Here is a list, prepared by CAMERA 10 years ago, detailing the major terrorist activities of Yasir Arafat.

– Aug 4, 1929: Born in Cairo. Arafat, then named Muhammad Abdel Rahman Abdel Rauf al-Qudwa al-Husseini, is fifth child of prosperous merchant, Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini.

– 1933: Arafat's mother dies. He and his infant brother are sent to live with uncle in Jerusalem.

– Late 1950's: Arafat co-founds Fatah, the “Movement for the National Liberation of Palestine.”

– Jan. 1, 1965: Fatah fails in its first attempted attack within Israel — the bombing of the National Water Carrier.

– July 5, 1965: A Fatah cell plants explosives at Mitzpe Massua, near Beit Guvrin; and on the railroad tracks to Jerusalem near Kafr Battir.

– 1965-1967: Numerous Fatah bomb attacks target Israeli villages, water pipes, railroads. Homes are destroyed and Israelis are killed.

– July 1968: Fatah joins and becomes the dominant member of the PLO, an umbrella organization of Palestinian terrorist groups.

– Feb. 4, 1969: Arafat is appointed Chairman of the Executive Committee of the PLO

– Feb. 21, 1970: SwissAir flight 330, bound for Tel Aviv, is bombed in mid-flight by PFLP, a PLO member group. 47 people are killed.

– May 8, 1970: PLO terrorists attack an Israeli schoolbus with bazooka fire, killing nine pupils and three teachers from Moshav Avivim

– Sept. 6, 1970: TWA, Pan-Am, and BOAC airplanes are hijacked by PLO terrorists.

– September 1970: Jordanian forces battle the PLO terrorist organization, driving its members out of Jordan after the group's violent activity threatens to destabilize the kingdom. The terrorists flee to Lebanon. This period in PLO history is called “Black September.”

– May 1972: PFLP, part of the PLO, dispatches members of the Japanese Red Army to attack Lod Airport in Tel Aviv, killing 27 people.

– Sept. 5, 1972: Munich Massacre —11 Israeli athletes are murdered at the Munich Olympics by a group calling themselves “Black September,”said to be an arm of Fatah, operating under Arafat's direct command.

– March 1, 1973: Palestinian terrorists take over Saudi embassy in Khartoum. The next day, two Americans, including United States ambassador to Sudan Cleo Noel, and a Belgian were shot and killed. James J. Welsh, an analyst for the National Security Agency from 1969 through 1974, charged Arafat with direct complicity in these murders.

– April 11, 1974: 11 people are killed by Palestinian terrorists who attack apartment building in Kiryat Shmona.

– May 15, 1974: PLO terrorists infiltrating from Lebanon hold children hostage in Ma'alot school. 26 people, 21 of them children, are killed.

– June 9, 1974: Palestinian National Council adopts “Phased Plan,” which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state on any territory evacuated by Israel, to be used as a base of operations for destroying the whole of Israel. The PLO reaffirms its rejection of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, which calls for a “just and lasting peace” and the “right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force.”

– November 1974: PLO takes responsibility for the PDFLP's Beit She'an murders in which 4 Israelis are killed.

– Nov. 13, 1974: Arafat, wearing a holster (he had to leave his gun at the entrance), addresses the U.N. General Assembly.

– March 1975: Members of Fatah attack the Tel Aviv seafront and take hostages in the Savoy hotel. Three soldiers, three civilians and seven terrorists are killed.

– March 1978: Coastal Road Massacre —Fatah terrorists take over a bus on the Haifa-Tel Aviv highway and kill 21 Israelis.

– 1982: Having created a terrorist mini-state in Lebanon destabilizing that nation, PLO is expelled as a result of Israel's response to incessant PLO missile attacks against northern Israeli communities. Arafat relocates to Tunis.

– Oct. 7, 1985: Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro is hijacked by Palestinian terrorists. Wheelchair-bound elderly man, Leon Klinghoffer, was shot and thrown overboard. Intelligence reports note that instructions originated from Arafat's headquarters in Tunis.

– Dec. 12, 1988: Arafat claims to accept Israel's right to exist.

– September 1993: Arafat shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Rabin, inaugurating the Oslo Accords. Arafat pledges to stop incitement and terror, and to foster co-existence with Israel, but fails to comply. Throughout the years of negotiations, aside from passing, token efforts, Arafat does nothing to stop Hamas, PFLP, and Islamic Jihad from carrying out thousands of terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians. With Arafat's encouragement and financial support, groups directly under Arafat's command, such as the Tanzim and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, also carry out terror attacks.

– Oct. 21, 1996: Speaking at a rally near Bethlehem, Arafat said "We know only one word - jihad. jihad, jihad, jihad. Whoever does not like it can drink from the Dead Sea or from the Sea of Gaza." (Yediot Ahronot, October 23, 1996)

– April 16, 1998: In a statement published in the official Palestinian Authority newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, Arafat is quoted: "O my dear ones on the occupied lands, relatives and friends throughout Palestine and the diaspora, my colleagues in struggle and in arms, my colleagues in struggle and in jihad...Intensify the revolution and the blessed intifada...We must burn the ground under the feet of the invaders."

– July 2000: Arafat rejects peace settlement offered by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, which would have led to a Palestinian state.

– September 2000: New "intifada" is launched. Arafat continues to incite, support and fund terrorism.

– Jan. 3, 2002: Israelis intercept the Karine-A, a ship loaded with 50 tons of mortars, rocket launchers, anti-tank mines and other weapons intended for the Palestinian war against the Israelis. The captain admits he was under the command of the Palestinian Authority.

– September 2003: IMF report titled "Economic Performance and Reforms under Conflict Conditions," states that Arafat has diverted $900 million of public PA funds into his own accounts from 1995 - 2000.

Below are some of the attacks since Sept 2000 perpetrated by groups under Arafat's command:

– May 29, 2001: Gilad Zar, an Itamar resident, was shot dead in a terrorist ambush by Fatah Tanzim.

– May 29, 2001: Sara Blaustein, 53, and Esther Alvan, 20, of Efrat, were killed in a drive-by shooting south of Jerusalem. The Fatah Tanzim claimed responsibility for the attack.

– June 18, 2001: Doron Zisserman, 38, shot and killed in his car by Fatah sniper fire.

– Aug 26, 2001: Dov Rosman, 58, killed in a shooting attack by Fatah terrorist.

– Sept 6, 2001: Erez Merhavi, 23, killed in a Fatah Tanzim ambush shooting near Hadera while driving to a wedding.

– Sept 20, 2001: Sarit Amrani, 26, killed by Fatah terrorist snipers as she was traveling in a car with her husband and 3 children.

– Oct 4, 2001: 3 killed, 13 wounded, when a Fatah terrorist, dressed as an Israeli paratrooper, opened fire on Israeli civilians waiting at the central bus station in Afula.

– Nov 27, 2001 - 2 killed 50 injured when two Palestinian terrorists opened fire with Kalashnikov assault rifles on a crowd of people near the central bus station in Afula. Fatah and the Islamic Jihad claimed joint responsibility.

– Nov 29, 2001: 3 killed and 9 wounded in a suicide bombing on an Egged 823 bus en route from Nazereth to Tel Aviv near the city of Hadera. The Islamic Jihad and Fatah claimed responsibility for the attack.

– Dec 12, 2001 - 11 killed and 30 wounded when three terrorists attacked a bus and several passenger cars with a roadside bomb, anti-tank grenades, and light arms fire near the entrance to Emmanuel in Samaria . Both Fatah and Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

– Jan 15, 2002: Avi Boaz, 71, an American citizen, was kidnapped at a PA security checkpoint in Beit Jala. His bullet-riddled body was found in a car near Bethlehem. The Fatah's Al-Aksa Brigade claimed responsibility for the murder.

– Jan 15, 2002: Yoela Chen, 45, was shot dead by an Al Aqsa Brigade terrorist

– Jan 17, 2002: 6 killed, 35 wounded when a Fatah terrorist burst into a bat mitzva reception in a banquet hall in Hadera opening fire with an M-16 assault rifle.

– Jan 22, 2002: 2 killed, 40 injured when a Fatah terrorist opened fire with an M-16 assault rifle near a bus stop in downtown Jerusalem.

– Jan. 27, 2002: One person was killed and more than 150 were wounded by a female Fatah suicide bomber in the center of Jerusalem.

– Feb 6, 2002 - A mother and her 11 year old daughter were murdered in their home by a Palestinian terrorist disguised in an IDF uniform. Both Fatah and Hamas claimed responsibility.

– Feb 18, 2002 : - Ahuva Amergi, 30, was killed and a 60-year old man was injured when a Palestinian terrorist opened fire on her car. Maj. Mor Elraz, 25, and St.-Sgt. Amir Mansouri, 21, who came to their assistance, were killed while trying to intercept the terrorist. The terrorist was killed when the explosives he was carrying were detonated. The Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.

– Feb 22, 2002: Valery Ahmir, 59, was killed by terrorists in a Fatah drive-by shooting north of Jerusalem as he returned home from work.

– Feb 25, 2002: Avraham Fish, 65, and Aharon Gorov, 46, were killed in a Fatah terrorist shooting attack south of Bethlehem. Fish's daughter, 9 months pregnant, was seriously injured but delivered a baby girl.

– Feb 25, 2002: Police officer 1st Sgt. Galit Arbiv, 21, died after being fatally shot, when a Fatah terrorist opened fire at a bus stop in the Neve Ya'akov residential neighbhorhood in northern Jerusalem. Eight others were injured.

– Feb 27, 2002: Gad Rejwan, 34, of Jerusalem, was shot and killed by one of his Palestinian employees in a factory north of Jerusalem. Two Fatah groups issued a joint statement taking responsibility for the murder.

– March 2, 2002: A suicide bombing by Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Jerusalem killed 11 people and injured more than 50.

– Mar 5, 2002: 3 were killed and over 30 people were wounded in Tel-Aviv when a Fatah terrorist opened fire on two adjacent restaurants shortly after 2:00 AM.

– Mar 5, 2002: Devorah Friedman, 45, of Efrat, was killed and her husband injured in a Fatah shooting attack on the Bethlehem bypass "tunnel road", south of Jerusalem.

– Mar 9, 2002: Avia Malka, 9 months, and Israel Yihye, 27, were killed and about 50 people were injured when two Fatah terrorists opened fire and threw grenades at cars and pedestrians in the coastal city of Netanya on Saturday evening, close to the city's boardwalk and hotels.

–March 21, 2002: An Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade suicide bomber exploded himself in a crowd of shoppers in Jerusalem, killing 3 and injuring 86.

– March 29, 2002: Two killed and 28 injured when a female Fatah suicide bomber blew herself up in a Jerusalem supermarket.

– March 30, 2002: One killed and 30 injured in an Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

– April 12, 2002: Six killed and 104 wounded when a female Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade suicide bomber blew herself up at a bus stop on Jaffa road at the entrance to Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda open-air market.

– May 27, 2002: Ruth Peled, 56, of Herzliya and her infant granddaughter, aged 14 months, were killed and 37 people were injured when a Fatah suicide bomber detonated himself near an ice cream parlor outside a shopping mall in Petah Tikva.

– May 28, 2002 - Albert Maloul, 50, of Jerusalem, was killed when shots were fired by Fatah terrorists at the car in which he was traveling south on the Ramallah bypass road.

– May 28, 2002 - Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade terrorists killed Netanel Riachi, 17, Gilad Stiglitz, 14, and Avraham Siton, 17, three yeshiva high school students playing basketball.

– June 19, 2002: Seven people were killed and 37 injured when a Fatah suicide bomber blew himself up at a crowded bus stop and hitchhiking post in the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem.

– June 20, 2002: Rachel Shabo, 40, and three of her sons - Neria, 16, Zvika, 12, and Avishai, 5 - as well as a neighbor, Yosef Twito, 31, who came to their aid, were murdered when a terrorist entered their home in Itamar, south of Nablus, and opened fire. Two other children were injured, as well as two soldiers. The PFLP and the Fatah Al Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.

– July 25, 2002: Rabbi Elimelech Shapira, 43, was killed in a Fatah shooting attack near the West Bank community of Alei Zahav.

– July 26, 2002: St.-Sgt. Elazar Lebovitch, 21, of Hebron; Rabbi Yosef Dikstein, 45, of Psagot, his wife Hannah, 42, and their 9-year-old son Shuv'el Zion were killed in a Fatah Al Aqsa Brigade shooting attack south of Hebron. Two other of their children were injured. – July 30, 2002: Shlomo Odesser, 60, and his brother Mordechai, 52, both of Tapuach in Samaria, were shot and killed when their truck came under Fatah fire in the West Bank village of Jama'in.

– Aug 4, 2002: 2 killed and 17 wounded when a Fatah terrorist opened fire with a pistol near the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem's Old City.

– Aug 5, 2002: Avi Wolanski (29) and his wife Avital (27), of Eli, were killed and one of their children, aged 3, was injured when terrorists opened fire on their car as they were traveling on the Ramallah-Nablus road in Samaria. The Martyrs of the Palestinian Popular Army, a splinter group associated with Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the attack.

– Aug 10, 2002: Yafit Herenstein, 31, of Moshav Mechora in the Jordan Valley, was killed and her husband, Arno, seriously wounded when a Fatah terrorist infiltrated the moshav and opened fire outside their home.

– Sept 18, 2002: Yosef Ajami, 36, was killed when Fatah terrorists opened fire on his car near Mevo Dotan, north of Jenin in the West Bank.

– Oct 29, 2002: Three people, including 2 fourteen year olds, were shot to death by a Fatah terrorist.

-- Nov 10, 2002: Revital Ohayon, 34, and her two sons, Matan, 5, and Noam, 4, as well as Yitzhak Dori, 44 - all of Kibbutz Metzer - and Tirza Damari, 42, were killed when a Fatah terrorist infiltrated the kibbutz, located east of Hadera near the Green Line, and opened fire.

– Nov 28, 2002: 5 killed and 40 wounded when two Fatah terrorists opened fire and threw grenades at the Likud polling station in Beit She'an, near the central bus station, where party members were casting their votes in the Likud primary.

– Apr 24, 2003 - 1 was killed and 13 were wounded in a suicide bombing outside the train station in Kfar Sava. Groups related to the Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the PFLP clamied joint responsibility for the attack.

– May 5, 2003 - Gideon Lichterman, 27, was killed and two other passengers, his six-year-old daughter Moriah and a reserve soldier, were seriously wounded when Fatah terrorists fired shots at their vehicle in Samaria.

– May 19, 2003: 3 were killed and 70 were wounded in a suicide bombing at the entrance to the Amakim Mall in Afula. The Islamic Jihad and the Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades both claimed responsibility for the attack.

– Aug 29, 2003: Shalom Har-Melekh, 25, was killed in a Fatah shooting attack while driving northeast of Ramallah. His wife, Limor, who was seven months pregnant, sustained moderate injuries, and gave birth to a baby girl by Caesarean section.

– Jan 29, 2004: 11 people were killed and over 50 wounded in a suicide bombing of an Egged bus no. 19 at the corner of Gaza and Arlozorov streets in Jerusalem. Both the Fatah-related Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

– Mar 14, 2004: 10 were killed and 16 wounded in a double suicide bombing at Ashdod Port. Hamas and Fatah claimed responsibility for the attack.

– May 2, 2004: Tali Hatuel, 34, and her daughters - Hila, 11, Hadar, 9, Roni, 7, and Merav, 2 - of Katif in the Gaza Strip were killed when two Palestinian terrorists fired on an Israeli car at the entrance to the Gaza Strip settlement bloc of Gush Katif. Fatah and Islamic Jihad claimed joint responsibility for the attack.

But there is more. Because Arafat also coordinated attacks with Hamas and Islamic Jihad since at least 1997:

During March 9-13, 1997 (and perhaps earlier), Arafat met personally in Gaza with the leaders of Hamas and other militant groups, and gave them the "green light" to resume terrorist attacks. Following those meetings, Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Amnon Lipkin-Shahak told Israel Radio on March 23, 1997: "Organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad have an understanding from the Palestinian Authority to carry out attacks." After the outbreak of the violence in September 2000, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah coordinated together under the umbrella of the "Nationalist and Islamic Forces," led by Fatah.

In a memorandum captured in Operation Defensive Shield, the Secretary-General of the Fatah office in Tulkarm requested that Arafat provide $2,000 to each of 15 specifically named "Fighting Brethren" of the Tanzim military wing of Fatah. According to Israeli military sources, each of the "fighters" was involved in the planning or execution of suicide attacks. With his own signature in Arabic, Arafat authorized the payment of $800 to each of the "fighters" on April 5, 2001.

On September 19, 2001, Arafat personally approved a request for payment of $600 to three people including Ra'ad Karmi, commander of the Tanzim in Tulkarm, who was personally involved in at least 25 shooting attacks against Israelis. Arafat funded Karmi even though Israel had placed Karmi on its "most-wanted" list just three months earlier.5 On the same day, Arafat approved payment to Amar Qadan, a member of his own Force-17 "Presidential Guard," who was involved in terrorist operations.

A second request was faxed to Arafat to fund 12 more terrorists. According to Colonel Miri Eisin of the IDF Intelligence Branch, "Every single one of them was on our wanted list...these are Tanzim members, which is Arafat's own party."6 Arafat knew well that these individuals were involved in terrorism. Nevertheless, on January 7, 2002, "Arafat himself - in his handwriting, with his signature...agreed to pay the money."

On January 17, 2002, two and a half weeks later, a Palestinian killed six Israelis and wounded twenty-six at a bat-mitzvah party in Hadera, initiated and planned by one of those on Arafat's list Mansur Saleh Sharim, who was already responsible for the deaths of at least three Israelis. Senior Fatah figures in Israeli custody, like Marwan Barghouti, admitted subsequently that Arafat approved funding for Fatah operatives with the knowledge that it would be used to finance terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians.

Arafat is the architect of modern terror. The fact that there is no one within Palestinian Arab society willing to call him a terrorist is in itself proof that Israel has no peace partner.

Some details on how Gaza terrorists get weapons, training from Iran

The pro-Hezbollah Al Akhbar published on October 30 a detailed article on how Islamic Jihad terrorists get their weapons and training from Iran. Much of the article rings true.

Excerpts:

Before 2012, when resistance fighters used to travel via Syria, the authorities in Damascus allocated special conduits for Gazan resistance fighters.

Cars would wait for them on the tarmac and then take them to the factions to which they were affiliated. A prominent Palestinian leader says, “If their trips were scheduled on the same day, they would change planes without being asked about visas or passports.”

In Tehran, the resistance fighters attended intensive training sessions. Over the many months they spent there, they gained invaluable skills, starting with on-hands application of theories, to testing weapons and tactics in environments simulating the geography in Gaza. For instance, they were taken on board Iranian HESA Shahed helicopters to inspect the sites where the rockets fell, to examine their accuracy and effectiveness, according to Abu Jihad.

The resistance fighters transferred their experience to Gaza, where they helped manufacture and develop rockets, and provide training on how to emplace and camouflage them to avoid the occupation’s eyes in the sky and on the ground. Yet the training did not come only from Iran, as fighters also underwent the same kind of training in Syria. There were also the occasional incidents. In one such incident, during training on hitting targets in the Syrian Desert, a rocket fell near a dormitory and wounded a number of soldiers.

...Since 2005, following the withdrawal of the Israeli enemy from the Philadelphia Corridor, the resistance breathed a sigh of relief. The southern border with Egypt was now open to the resistance fighters, creating better conditions for smuggling in weapons and raw materials through tunnels to manufacture rockets. Since that year and until 2012, Iran and Hezbollah sought to help develop the rockets of the Palestinian resistance to reach longer ranges. A new stage began in which fighters from Gaza flocked to Lebanon, and collaborated with the resistance there to bring in more weapons and military equipment.

The common belief that boats snuck to the shore is inaccurate. Rather, weapons would be dropped in certain points in the sea very far from the shore. Water currents washed them off on the shore, to be retrieved by divers at night. Another notable smuggling route went through Sudan, Egypt, the Sinai, and then Gaza via tunnels, according to one prominent Hamas official.

...After the war in 2012, the enemy learned the smuggling routes into Gaza, and targeted weapons convoys and rocket caches. In late 2012, the Israeli air force bombed a weapons convoy in Sudan, said to be on its way to Gaza. At that point, the Iranians realized that the best option to supply rockets to the Palestinian resistance was to help manufacture them locally instead of smuggling them.

...In the recent war, the Palestinian resistance continued to manufacture rockets, but the problem it faced was how to transport them from the plants to their launching platforms. Resistance sources in Gaza said, “The location of the rocket manufacturing plants is unknown to most fighters. Some factions even bar the manufacturers of the rockets themselves to know the location of the places they work in.”

Despite the local manufacturing of rockets, smuggling has not come to a complete halt. What is successfully smuggled, whether via the sea or the Sinai desert, is not usually disclosed. Sources in Islamic Jihad say that currently, the reliance is on local manufacturing, “thanks to the presence of excellent raw materials at a good price in the markets.”

Certainly, the recent war is being assessed carefully by Iran, Hezbollah, and even Syria to learn what needs to be done, amid a large influx of financial support for the armed wings of the resistance after the war.

We see that:

The Assad regime's existence has been instrumental in allowing Iran to arm terrorists in Gaza
The Sisi closure of Gaza has had a major effect in forcing terror groups to change tactics
There is still smuggling going on from the sea to Gaza (the idea that they rely only on currents to bring the weapons ashore seem far fetched, though - they are using boats from Egypt)
Iran is proud of training and arming terrorists

Which means that Iran's Supreme Leader's latest social media campaign is worth taking seriously:

If he says it, chances are he is already working on doing it.

(h/t Bob K)

"Pro-Palestinian" website says WW2 a Jewish plot

It continues to amaze me how Westerners refuse to believe that Palestinian Arabs are antisemitic, and claim that they are only anti-Zionist.

A website called "Intifada-Palestine" has an article by loony far-left writer Brandon Martinez which includes these gems:

Brandon Martinez, a shining scholar for the "Palestinian cause"

Like Americans and Britons, most Canadians believe that World War I and II were quintessential “good wars” fought to secure “freedom and democracy” and other such flimsy fantasies. Most people reared in Canada’s degraded education system foolishly believe that this country’s participation in WWI and WWII was “the right thing to do” and that the outbreak of such wars was “inevitable.” Without doing one scintilla of actual research, the gullible masses can tell you why these fratricidal wars that caused the deaths of untold millions of people were “necessary” and “just.”

Do any of these ignorant zombies stop for a moment to think about what they are promoting? The “necessity” of an enormous bloodbath that plunged much of the world into pandemonium? Following WWII, Canadian society has evidently devolved into a brain-damaged loony-bin filled to the brim with parrots and yes-men incapable of independent thought or critical analysis.

...The brainwashed masses will say that “Nazism” was a grave and pressing danger and had to be stopped. But only if one is viewing the world through British or Jewish spectacles does that suggestion have any merit. As far as much of the global East and South were concerned, British imperialism was a far greater threat than anything posed by Hitler’s regional ambitions. From the perspective of the Arabs of Palestine and the Middle East, Jewish Zionism and its British imperial patrons was a worse adversary than Hitler’s Germany by a long shot.

... Neither WWI nor WWII were “good” or “just” wars by any stretch of the imagination. On the contrary, they were both catastrophic blunders that set the whole of Europe and Asia as well as parts of the Middle East and North Africa ablaze. The Second World War in particular delivered the world into the hands of the Anglo-American-Zionist Empire, thereby sealing the eternal fate of humanity as drone-like economic cogs and geopolitical cannon fodder for American, British and Jewish interests.

As long as people write against Israel and Jews, their lunatic writings can be featured in slick "pro-Palestinian" publications.

Not surprisingly, other authors that happily contribute to this website that features such antisemitism include Ali Abunimah, Ramzy Baroud, Jonathan Cook, Juan Cole, Richard Falk and Ben White,