Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

02/17 Link Pt1: Why the Palestinians Say Never; Nasrallah Threatens Haifa Chemical Facility

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinian Leaders: Who Are They Fooling?

For Abbas and the Palestinian leadership, the death of more than 170 Palestinians and 26 Israelis in the past five months occurred in the context of a "popular and peaceful uprising." One can only imagine what the uprising would have looked like had it not been "peaceful."
Abbas assured his people that those who die defending their holy sites would go straight to heaven. "Every drop of blood that is spilled in Jerusalem is pure blood," he stressed.
According to the Palestinian Authority, these youths are acting out of despair -- over settlements, checkpoints and lack of progress in the peace process. The attackers are in fact targeting Jews because they have been incited and brainwashed by the same leaders who are now denouncing Israel for protecting itself.
Not a single senior Palestinian official has condemned the targeting of innocent civilians in this "peaceful" uprising. They are too busy glorifying the assailants and naming streets after them.
The blood of the Palestinians who are being shot and killed while attacking Jews is on the hands of Abbas and his senior officials.

Why the Palestinians Say Never

While the PA has at times spoken of being willing to make peace but its leader Mahmoud Abbas has always made it clear that he will never recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish state no matter where its borders are drawn. Moreover, the PA is locked in a deadly competition with Hamas, which is more open about its true intentions. Hamas regards all of Israel as “occupied territory” that must be liberated. As studies have illustrated, that is more in line with the opinions of the overwhelming majority of Palestinians. Most Palestinians share Hamas’s belief that the Jews have no right to a single inch of the country and believe all acts of terror against Jews — even the most heinous crimes against helpless innocents — are praiseworthy. For over 100 years, Palestinian nationalism has been inextricably linked to conflict with the Jews and, until a critical mass of them adopts some other approach to identity, peace isn’t possible.
What this adds up to is a situation that puts Abbas and any potential successor (he is currently serving the 11th year of the four-year-term to which he was elected in 2005) in the same boat that his predecessor Arafat claimed to be in Camp David in 2000. Neither Arafat nor Abbas believed they could ever sell a peace deal to their people — let alone their Hamas foes — if it meant ending the century-long war against Zionism.
So while the Palestinians say they will “never” go back to negotiations because they believe they can’t get a good deal, their real reason is just the opposite. If, as happened in 2000, 2001 and 2008, they engage in talks, their greatest fear is getting a very good deal that will give them statehood and independence. Their goal is to avoid negotiating because getting to yes with Israel would actually mean peace. And that is something they cannot do until a sea change in their political culture happens. Though when most people say the word never, they mean something very different, in this case, the Palestinian never may very well mean never.

Defiant Israeli Owner of Ohio Restaurant Attacked by Machete-Wielding Assailant Says He Will Now Wear Star of David

The owner of the Columbus, Ohio restaurant in which four people were wounded in a machete attack last week said he will not let the incident deter his support for Israel, The Washington Post reported.
Hany Baransi, a Christian Arab from Haifa, displays an Israeli flag in the window of his restaurant, Nazareth Mediterranean Cuisine, which has been open for 27 years. When asked if he would consider removing the flag as a precaution, Baransi rejected the idea.
“Actually I have another flag, and I am going to get a bigger flag, and I am going to get a Star of David necklace and put it on my chest, and I am going to get a tattoo,” he said. “Honest to God, I am not kidding. They don’t scare me. We are Israelis. We are Israelis. We are resilient, we fight back.”
Though authorities initially said they believed that the attacker, Somali immigrant Mohamed Barry, terrorized the restaurant randomly, new information has surfaced making it seem likely that it was targeted because of Baransi’s being Israeli, according to The Washington Post.
Baransi said that half an hour before the attack, the assailant asked a waiter where the owner was from, and she told him he was from Israel. The attacker, 30, then left the eatery after learning that Baransi was not on the premises. He returned 30 minutes later wielding a machete and slashing diners.

Google Knowledge Graph says Israeli journalist born in "State of Palestine"

A few years ago, Google started putting automated summary responses to queries on the margin of the search page, so for example autobiographical details of the person being searched for would appear without an additional click. Google calls these "Knowledge Graphs."

Google relies a lot on Wikipedia and similar sources to generate these Knowledge Graphs. But it looks like someone is gaming the system.

Look at the Google result for Israeli TV personality Yonit Levi:

Even if you believe that there is a "State of Palestine," and even if you believe that the French Hill neighborhood is part of it - which is absurd - there is no way you can say that she was born in the "State of Palestine" in 1977!

But her Wikipedia entry does not say this. None of the web pages about her refer to the "State of Palestine." So how did Google's algorithms decide this?

Either someone in Google is politicizing the results of search queries, or anti-Israel activists had a secret campaign to click on the "feedback" button and issue a fake "correction."

It appears that Google can be less reliable than Wikipedia itself in providing facts for researchers.

(h/t Russell)

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PA foreign ministry calls on the world to ban Jews from Temple Mount

The hate rhetoric continues, as the PA's foreign ministry has called on the international community and Arab world to go beyond condemnations and work to ban Jews from the Temple Mount.

In a statement released by the ministry, it says that "The foreign ministry condemns in the strongest terms incursions by Jewish extremists to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

"It is required more than ever for an Arab, Islamic and international position beyond condemnation and denunciation to establish a real and effective international protection for the Palestinian people and their sanctities, and included in their rights to freedom of movement and access to places of worship."

Which means the complete denial of Jewish rights to access places of worship in Jerusalem. Banning Jews from visiting the site, the PA says, is mandatory under "international law, international humanitarian law, and the Geneva Conventions."

Of course, not too many international "human rights" organizations are defending the right of Jews to worship on the Temple Mount.

Every day there are news articles in Arabic complaining about Jews visiting the holy site. On Sunday, as most days, Jews were accused of performing those famous "Talmudic rituals".

Here is the video of that horror:

Richard Landes has an interesting post tying the relatively new Muslim obsession with the Temple Mount with Bart Simpson using this 1954 photo of the weed-strewn site.

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"The Truth the Palestinians are Afraid to Tell You" (video) plus Bassam Eid speech (update)

This remarkable video was released by an organization called "Palestine Informer."

Here is how this organization describes itself on Facebook:

Our mission is to bring you accurate and uncensored information about the Palestinian Authority. Due to the suppression of freedom of expression in Palestine, which is frequently enforced by police brutality and summary executions, most Palestinians are reticent to talk about the truth. The painful truth is that the Palestinian leaders who are purporting to represent that interests of the Palestinian people, many times act with ulterior motives. We offer a forum whereby anyone can submit articles, video clips and news feeds, with complete anonymity for the protection of their lives and wellbeing. Our hope is that the freedom of expression guarantied on this site will ensure that accurate information reaches supporters of the Palestinian people both inside and outside of Palestine, until truth and justice prevails on their behalf.

They also have a website with very interesting articles about women's rights and torture under PA and Hamas controlled areas.

Human rights activist Bassem Eid was asked via email about whether they are legitimate, and he said that it rings true although it doesn't seem that he had heard of them before.

(UPDATE: A number of readers pointed out that the photo of the person on the right is Yahya Hassan, who is not likely to have been involved in this project. I don't know if the photo was meant to be illustrative or if this is a little less than honest.)

A speech by Eid with similar points was synopsized in Times of Israel yesterday. Excerpts:

We Palestinians still deserve a state through a two-state solution, but it now looks as if the Palestinians are demanding a three-state solution for two peoples. Hamas is fighting for its own Islamic Emirate in the Gaza Strip, and Fatah, including President Mahmoud Abbas, is fighting for its own empire in the West Bank. The Israelis and the Palestinian people are upset about the status quo, but the Palestinian leaders seem satisfied.

I do not believe that Fatah or Hamas really want reconciliation or unity. Disunity keeps Palestinian society weak in the face of any future peace talks or peace initiatives. If Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu met Abbas tomorrow, the first question from Netanyahu would be, “Whom are you representing Mr. President? The Gaza Strip? The West Bank? The Palestinian diaspora?” In my opinion, Abbas right now represents only his two sons and his wife.

Palestinians do not support Abbas’ fight at the UN or at the International Criminal Court. If you ask ordinary Palestinians, “What are the three priorities you are seeking?” they would say, “a job to survive, an education system, and a health system for my children”. Nobody mentions the settlements, the security fence, or even the Palestinian State.

Most Palestinians are seeking dignity rather than identity. I have no problem with my identity, wherever I go, I say I am a Palestinian, and people understand that. But if I say I come from Abu Dhabi, people ask, “Is it far away from Turkey? Is that where the President is killing his people? Is it in Asia or in Africa?” Nobody knows where Abu Dhabi is, but everybody knows what it means to be Palestinian. So I do not have a problem with my identity. I have a problem with dignity.

Palestinians are anxious about their future. In my opinion, dignity can come only via economic prosperity. The international community should put aside political issues and peace negotiations. Ordinary Palestinians are fed up with that. It is time to start focussing much more on economic prosperity in the drive towards peace.

Economic prosperity can pave the way towards a lasting resolution for Israelis and Palestinians. Economic prosperity should not involve only Israelis and Palestinians. I would love to see Jordanians, Egyptians, and Saudis involved. They should all be involved in joint projects with the Palestinians and the Israelis. This could help us Palestinians reach a resolution with Israel within a few years.

..Both the international community and the Palestinians know that the Palestinian leadership is corrupt. Abbas is the Robert Mugabe of the Middle East. This is my fight right now. The Palestinians do not want an exit from the occupation. What they want is to get rid of their own leadership.

When I say to my fellow Palestinians, imagine that tomorrow morning you woke up and the IDF had left the West Bank, what would happen? People say, “Oh, my God, we would starve.” No one wants that.

Palestinians feel that they are alone. Nobody supports them. There is no benefit for Palestinians in a boycott of Israel. There are 92,000 Palestinian workers in the West Bank who carry Israeli work permits. Every day, in the early morning, they cross the checkpoints, going to work inside Israel. So when I see the 92,000 Palestinian workers entering Israel every day, it is clear why there is no Palestinian boycott of Israel. In the markets of Palestinian towns, the thousands of boxes and cartons of vegetables and fruits come from Israel.

Palestinian people want to survive. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS movement) benefits from the suffering of the Palestinians. Who authorised the BDS movement to speak on my behalf? I want to know. These people are trying to kill our economy.

(h/t Elchanan, Richard)

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Hasby Awards 2016 - Best Own Goal

The winner for Best Own Goal Hasby Award goes to...

02/16 Links Pt2: The Middle East's Conflicts Are About Religion; BDS is a moral failure

From Ian:

Vic Rosenthal: A world without Jews (2012)

Thanks to Facebook’s ‘memories’ feature, I was reminded of this post from four years ago. I liked it so much I am re-running it. No need to change a word.
Thought experiment time:
Perhaps one day, the Jews of the world will finally become fed up. Maybe they will build an enormous spaceship and take their arguments to another planet (we know Jews are smart, so they could do this).
What would happen on that planet might be interesting, but I won’t speculate, although it’s tempting to wonder what a Jewish planet would be like. Like Israel without the foreign workers, terrorism and reserve duty?
I’m more interested in what the Earth would be like. Imagine a Middle East without Jews (the Iranian regime does this all the time). Pity the ‘Palestinians’, whose culture would suddenly lose its raison d’être. After a few days of enjoying the nice cars and buildings the Jews left behind, they would have to create a real identity for themselves.
Suddenly there would be very little interest in supporting the ‘refugees’. Who would care about them? Not the Arab countries, who treat them like garbage now. I expect there would be fighting between various factions, some Islamist and some secular. Hizballah would take control of the North, Hamas the South, and Fatah the East. The UN would feed them, at least for a while. Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, etc. would each supply its favored faction with weapons, and they would fight until most of the land was swallowed up by its neighbors or under control of various militias.

Anti-Israel activists hating on Bernie Sanders

Bernie must know about this potential problem on his far-left flank. From the get-go, Bernie has been targeted by far-left wing and anti-Zionist websites. In early May 2015, the anti-Zionist Mondoweiss website wrote:
Sanders is also getting points for opposing the Iraq War, which Hillary Clinton supported, and he supports the Iran deal. But I’ve seen no one apart from Juan Cole, in this excellent summary of Sanders’s Middle East views, point out his yeoman defense of Israel during its assault on Gaza last summer. In July Sanders formed part of the “unanimous consent” to a resolution to support Israel in its attack, a resolution Salon’s David Palumbo-Liu said at the time “does more than confirm U.S. Senate support for Israel. It pushes that statement beyond any rational or ethical or moral framework imaginable.”
In a famous encounter at a town hall meeting in Vermont near the end of the onslaught– video below–, Sanders got so angry at pro-Palestinian constituents who were obviously deeply upset by an assault that had killed 500 Palestinian children that he told them to “shut up.”
Similarly, recently a write at the anti-Israel Middle East Monitor framed the left-wing objection to Sanders as progressivism being incompatible with Zionism, Is Bernie Sanders a civil rights campaigner or a loyal supporter of Israel?
But it hasn’t only attacks from authors. Remember the woman who, in early August 2015, took over the stage at a Bernie rally in Seattle, then shouted at the top of her lungs just inches from the face of the person introducing Bernie?
It was a defining moment in the campaign, and it signaled the aggressive tactics that Black Lives Matter protesters would take at other events. While Hillary Clinton and some Republican candidates faced hecklers or mild disruption, that initial Bernie event was the most aggressive.
The woman who yelled at Bernie and took over the stage was anti-Israel Block The Boat activist Mara Willaford [who claims to be a palestinian and black].

Britain to prevent publicly funded bodies from boycotting Israeli goods

Publicly funded authorities in Britain will be prevented from boycotting Israeli goods under new government procurement guidelines.
The new regulations will be announced by Cabinet Office minister Matthew Hancock during an upcoming visit to Israel, the Guardian reported Monday.
According to the guidelines, such boycotts are considered by the government ministers to be “inappropriate, outside where formal legal sanctions, embargoes and restrictions have been put in place by the government,” the Guardian reported.
Plans for the guidelines were first announced in October.
“We need to challenge and prevent these divisive town hall boycotts,” Hancock said, adding that the guidelines “will help prevent damaging and counterproductive local foreign policies undermining our national security.”
A spokesman for Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn told the Jewish Chronicle that the guideline plan is “an attack on local democracy.”

From the uber-left Channel 4: BDS: councils could face penalties over Israeli boycotts

NY Times compares Israel's brief detention of reporter with Iranian abduction

This morning, a Washington Post reporter was briefly detained in Jerusalem.

Times of Israel reports:

Booth and his cameraman were interviewing locals near the Damascus Gate next to the Old City of Jerusalem. An Arab woman told him that she could get some of the bystanders to demonstrate against the police if he paid them, police spokesperson Asi Aharoni tells The Times of Israel.

Someone who saw the scene unfolding contacted nearby Border Police officers. The officers approached Booth and his photographer and asked that they come with them, Aharoni says.

They were taken to a nearby police station to be briefly questioned and have already been released, the spokesperson says.

Here is how the original report about the incident was reported in the New York Times in the first minutes when reporters were tweeting that Booth was "arrested" (it has since changed):

The Israeli authorities briefly detained The Washington Post’s Jerusalem bureau chief, William Booth, on Tuesday while he was conducting interviews near the Damascus Gate, one of the entrances to the Old City, the newspaper Haaretz reported.

Mr. Booth and an employee of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel were reportedly accused of “incitement,” according to Haaretz, but were released after a brief detention.

Mr. Booth is a veteran correspondent for The Post, having served as a bureau chief in Mexico, Miami and Los Angeles, as a pop culture correspondent, and as a reporter covering conflicts on several continents.

Last month, The Post’s Tehran bureau chief, Jason Rezaian, was freed after being detained for nearly 18 months by the Iranian authorities.

Mr. Rezaian and three other Americans of Iranian ancestry were freed as part of a delicately negotiated swap with the United States, which released seven Iranians who had been held for sanctions violations.

What exactly is the relationship between a misunderstanding where a reporter is briefly detained and an 18 month abduction on trumped-up charges?

Four American journalists were arrested in Bahrain this past weekend. No one compared them to Jason Rezaian - certainly not the New York Times. Or the Washington Post.

A reporter was arrested in Turkey for alleged terror activities. No one compared him to Jason Rezaian.

Reporters have been arrested in Yemen in the past month. Again, no comparisons in the media to Rezaian.

So what relevance does Iran's abduction of a Jason Rezaian have to this story?

The NYT wants its readers to associate what Israeli police did with what Iranian dictators did. And that is not news that is fit to print.

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I've happened to stumble across an account of a public meeting that took place in Dundee (George Galloway's old stomping ground) in March 1893, deploring the persecution of the Jews of Tsarist Russia. Addressing the meeting, R. Scott Moncrieff, described as Commissioner of the Society for the Relief of Persecuted Jews, made some remarks regarding a visit he made to Ottoman Palestine in August 1891 that might be of interest :

"The question was often asked how many Jews there were in Palestine, and that question he had endeavoured to find an answer to. In Palestine he found after much inquiry ̶ although he had considerable difficulty in getting reliable facts ̶ that there were at least 75,000 Jews, young and old. The great bulk ̶ much more than half ̶ of the Jews were in Jerusalem. After inquiring at different Rabbis and at Christian residenters [sic; Scots for 'residents'], he was led to conclude that there must be at least 45,000 Jews in and around Jerusalem." (Dundee Advertiser, 31 March 1893.)

Later in 1893 an Arab Christian visited Britain to give a series of public lectures on the condition of Ottoman Palestine. Described a few years earlier, when he had made a similar visit, as "the Bible illustrator from the East" and "son of the sheikh of Ramallah' (Morpeth Herald, 12 January, 30 March 1889), he was Yusuf Audi, described in the South Wales Daily News (31 October 1893) as having "recently succeeded his father as chief of the Dahr Awad tribe" and as follows in the Western Mail (3 November 1893): 'The Arab sheikh, Joseph Audi, who is lecturing this week at Cardiff and Abercarn, is a lineal descendant of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, spoken of in the thirty-fifth chapter of Jeremiah. The largest section of his tribe still "dwell in tents and drink wine," as there recorded. '

Two days earlier the Western Mail carried an interview with him, headed "An Arab Chief in Cardiff":

'Mr Audi, the Arab chief who on Monday delivered the first of a course of lectures dealing with life in Palestine, was interviewed on Tuesday evening by a Western Mail reporter.

"This is your first visit to this country, is it not,?" said our representative, after introducing himself.

"Oh, no; I was in England about four years ago, and I have been already five months lecturing in London."

"Then you like England and the English?"

"Yes, I think it a grand place, and the people have always been most kind to me."

"What characteristics of the people have you been most impressed with?"

"Well, I can hardly say, but perhaps what has struck me more than anything is your inventive genius. The English are never content. That is the great difference between my own nation and yours. The Arabs are contented. Although they are taxed and oppressed by the Sultan, yet they do not complain, and are content to live and die as their fathers did, knowing little, but being peaceful and happy."

"What is their chief employment?"

"The cultivation of their land and the cultivation of their vines and olive trees. They have no manufactures whatever,"

"Are the people well-educated?"

"No; hardly anyone is able to read or write. Each tribe has a man, called a Gothern. who is specially employed in reading any letters which the people of the village may receive and writing answers for them. There are no newspapers. "

"No newspapers! However do you get on without them?"

"At different times of the year messengers are sent out from each tribe to Jaffa, Shechem, Jerusalem, and other large towns to collect all the news. On their return all the tribes assemble to hear them recount what they have heard."

"What religion do the majority of natives follow?"

"The Jews, who number 35,000, are in a majority, and all the remainder are either Mohammedans or Christians, there being about 20,000 of each."

"I suppose that the Arabs have not yet learned to play our English games?"

"No. Football would hardly suit the peaceful mind of an Arab," answered Mr Audi, with a smile, "but they amuse themselves by playing a game very similar to draughts. Shooting is also a favourite pastime among the Arabs, there being pheasants and gazelles in abundance. No, the English recreations have not spread to Palestine yet, but I remember once seeing a man upon a bicycle in Jerusalem."

"What a joke!"

"It wasn't for the man on the machine, for the people took him for a devil, and he had to seek refuge in a mosque."

Mr Audi, in conclusion, said that at the beginning of next week he would go to London to fulfil an engagement which will last till Christmas. Next year he hopes to visit Cardiff again, and also make a tour of South Wales."

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02/16 Links Pt1: Zoabi in Newsweek: Israelis Not Entitled to Self-Defense; Palestinian “Sign Language”

From Ian:

JCPA: Interpreting Palestinian “Sign Language”

The attempted terror attack at Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate on February 14, 2016 signifies that the effort to turn the “popular intifada” into armed terror does not only stem from Hamas, which opposed the popular struggle approach from the beginning, but also from the Fatah movement in the West Bank. It now appears that apart from the desire to strike at Israel, there are those in Fatah who also seek to thwart the policy of the organization’s leader, Mahmoud Abbas. Especially worrisome is the fact that Palestinian Authority security personnel have taken part in Fatah’s attempt to turn the popular struggle into an armed conflict.
The graphics of Fatah sites devoted to the intifada (or the “habba” or buzz) provide clues to the direction the winds are blowing.

First, the graphic (above) from the al-Aqsa – Jerusalem – Intifada site shows a young demonstrator with the Palestinian national flag waving behind him, indicating a Fatah, rather than Hamas, affiliation. The dominant color is black, suggesting identification with the radical ISIS or al-Nusra. The kuffiya is replaced by a cap in the form of the Dome of the Rock, colored in the black of radical Islam and the yellow of Fatah. A black crescent ornaments the top of the dome or cap. The image of the slingshot still connotes a connection with the popular intifada rather than the armed one.
The message of this graphic is that Fatah still follows the rules of the popular intifada as represented by a slingshot, but in the future this could change in the direction of black-colored Islamic terror. The site too – Intifada rather than Habba – indicates unwillingness to being confined to the “minimal” form of struggle. The struggle is also known as the Al-Quds [Jerusalem] Intifada, apparently coming from the same Fatah elements. At this stage, these appear to be rogue elements who are mounting a challenge to official Fatah leadership, while seeking to turn Jerusalem into the location where the intifada will move from the “popular, spontaneous” stage to real terror.

The Illegal-Settlements Myth

This left open the question of the sovereign authority over the West Bank. The legal vacuum in which Israel operated in the West Bank after 1967 was exacerbated by Jordan’s subsequent stubborn refusal to engage in talks about the future of these territories. King Hussein was initially deterred from dealing with the issue by the three “no’s” of Khartoum. Soon enough, he was taught a real-world lesson by the Palestine Liberation Organization, which fomented a bloody civil war against him and his regime in 1970. With the open support of Israel, Hussein survived that threat to his throne, but his desire to reduce rather than enlarge the Palestinian population in his kingdom ultimately led him to disavow any further claim to the lands he had lost in 1967. Eventually, this stance was formalized on July 31, 1988.
Thus, if the charge that Israel’s hold on the territories is illegal is based on the charge of theft from its previous owners, Jordan’s own illegitimacy on matters of legal title and its subsequent withdrawal from the fray makes that legal case a losing one. Well before Jordan’s renunciation, Eugene Rostow, former dean of Yale Law School and undersecretary of state for political affairs in 1967 during the Six-Day War, argued that the West Bank should be considered “unallocated territory,” once part of the Ottoman Empire. From this perspective, Israel, rather than simply “a belligerent occupant,” had the status of a “claimant to the territory.”
To Rostow, “Jews have a right to settle in it under the Mandate,” a right he declared to be “unchallengeable as a matter of law.” In accord with these views, Israel has historically characterized the West Bank as “disputed territory” (although some senior government officials have more recently begun to use the term “occupied territory”).
Because neither Great Britain, as the former trustee under the League of Nations mandate, nor the since deceased Ottoman Empire—the former sovereigns prior to the Jordanians—is desirous or capable of standing up as the injured party to put Israel in the dock, we must therefore ask: On what points of law does the case against Israel stand? (h/t Dave4321)

Yisrael Medad: Just One Short Statement That Demolishes

I learned that The Palestinian Museum is set to open on…May 15, 2016. Yes, the day when Israel was created, proclaimed as state in accordance with the original intent of the League of Nations decision to reconstitute a Jewish national Home and the United Nations decision to recommend a Jewish state and in accordance with the British decision to leave the country.
For the Museum
The decision to open the Museum on the 15th of May is designed to underline the enduring importance of the Nakba to the Museum’s work.”
Nakba, of course, means the rollback of any Zionist-Jewish achievement. It is not about 1967 but 1948. The Museum is
dedicated to preserving and celebrating the culture, society and history of Palestine over the past two centuries.
Two centuries only?
What happened to all that ancient history, a la Saeb Erekat? Here:
“I am the son of Jericho. I am 10,000 years old … I am the proud son of the Netufians and the Canaanites. I’ve been there for 5,500 years before Joshua Bin Nun came and burned my hometown Jericho. I’m not going to change my narrative”

Number of attacks in Israel steadily decreasing, but they are turning deadlier

Shin Bet published this graph in their latest monthly report:

Most of the attacks remain firebombs.

However, as we have seen in recent weeks, there has been an uptick in shooting incidents as opposed to stabbings and car rammings.

The number of people killed also went up in January - 5 murdered, versus 3 in December.

This is still better than the 10 murdered in November and 11 in October.

For those wondering, Shin Bet also counts extremist Jewish terror attacks: 4 in October, none in November, one in December (an attack on a house in Ramallah) and one in January (setting an Arab owned car wash on fire.)

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So why aren't Palestinians stabbing Lebanese?

From Now Lebanon:

Death by a thousand cuts
Behind recent Palestinian protests is a profound despair that has pushed thousands to risk the maritime “journey of death”

In a barbershop near Burj al-Barajneh’s Furqan Mosque, NOW met camp residents who had participated in the recent demonstrations.

“Of course we’ll continue our protests,” said Abu Ammar, a father in his early thirties, telling NOW the issue had united the camp’s often feuding factions as well as youth activist networks. There were cases, he said, of people being asked to fork out as much as $30,000 for medical operations. Three refugees had already died, he claimed, as a result of their inability to make the necessary payments

The more Abu Ammar spoke, however, the more apparent it became that the healthcare changes were merely the latest in an accumulating series of setbacks for Palestinians in Lebanon, especially those, such as himself, who were previously based in Syria until fleeing the war.

“Last summer, we lost our monthly accommodation stipend of $100 per family,” he said – a stipend that UNRWA’s Lebanon Director Matthias Schmale described at the time as forming “the main source of income for over 95 per cent” of refugees, along with a monthly food allowance of $27 per person (which is still provided). On top of healthcare and accommodation expenses, Abu Ammar complained of the annual residence permit cost of $200, payable to the Lebanese government. How refugees largely barred from employment are expected to come up with such sums has never been clear.

Of all the statistics Abu Ammar and his friend, Abu Shadi, cited to demonstrate how much harder life in the camps has become, one alone perhaps conveyed more than all others combined: from a peak of as many as 60,000 in 2013, the number of Palestinian refugees from Syria in Lebanon has since plummeted to 20,000, they said. What accounts for the dramatic difference? A mass exodus from the country via the now-notorious smuggling boats to Europe.

Hijra (“emigration”), indeed, is the new buzzword in the camp, mentioned repeatedly by every resident to which NOW spoke. Though fully aware of the enormous risks involved in what they themselves dub “the journey of death,” many describe it as their only remaining hope for a better life.

“If I had the money, I would do it tomorrow,” said Abu Ammar, explaining the total cost came to around $6,000.

“If I could pack myself into a tiny box and be put on one of the boats, I would,” said Nasir. “We see no other solution: emigration, or nothing.”

By any yardstick, Palestinians in Lebanon have it worse than Arabs in the West Bank. And as this article makes clear, they certainly have more despair and frustration than those who live in Hebron or Ramallah.

But we have been told incessantly by Western experts that the impetus for the stabbing, shooting and car ramming attacks is frustration.

So why aren't Lebanese being murdered by these frustrated victims? This is how oppressed Palestinians are expected to act! Even the UN Secretary General expects oppressed people to act violently - it is human nature! The mainstream media says every day that Palestinians are stabbing and shooting Jews because of frustration.

Yet instead of stoning, stabbing and shooting Lebanese leaders, Palestinians are silent - and save their protests for UNRWA. Instead of a Lebanese intifada, they dream of emigrating to Europe (which tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, have already done.)

Perhaps the reason is that they know that the Lebanese government would expel them in a minute if they caused trouble. Perhaps they know that if they stabbed random Lebanese, then Lebanese militias would invade their government-enforced ghettos and start slaughtering them.

Which is not really a worry under that horrible "occupation."

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Aminat Naseer is a professor of religion and philosophy and former dean of the Faculty of Humanities of Al-Azhar University in Alexandria, Egypt. She is also a member of the Committee of Religious Affairs in Egypt's House of Representatives. She has been an outspoken opponent of allowing female students to wear the niqab that covers their faces.

On the other hand, she is a staunch defender of Islam, combating those who claim it is a religion of violence and misogyny.

Naseer gets interviewed from time to time about the niqab, and since she is so against the idea of veiling women, she must explain how the practice has become so widespread in Islam. After all, she notes correctly, women in Mohammed's time did not cover their faces.

So what is the source of the veil? Jews!

Recently, Cairo University banned the use of niqab for women, and Naseer praised the decision. She said that the veil is not Islamic at all, but came from Jewish tribes in the Arabian peninsula.

Moreover, she said that the great rabbi Maimonides ruled that Jewish women should never show their faces, even when they go into their own backyards.

This is not the first time that Naseer blamed Jews for the niqab.

The professor of religion is speaking nonsense; Maimonides said no such thing.

But when Muslims don't like something, it is easiest to get their point across when they associate the object of their hate with Judaism.

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EoZTV: Apes and pigs and Jews, oh my!

The latest episode of EoZTV talks about the widespread Muslim belief that Jews are the descendants of apes. (Pigs too, but not nearly as much as apes.)

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02/15 Links Pt2: Ten years since Ilan Halimi's murder; Vassar students sell Leila Khaled T-shirts

From Ian:

MEMRI: Article In Radical Islamist Pro-AKP Turkish Daily: Gorillas, Chimps Are Cursed, Mutated Jews

In his January 31, 2016 column in the pro-AKP government, radical Islamist daily Vahdet, journalist Seyfi Sahin wrote that the evolutionary theory of "the Jew" Darwin contradicts Allah's word in the Koran. Claiming to be a physician, Sahin argued that humans did not evolve from monkeys, but rather that monkeys evolved from perverted Jews whom Allah cursed and punished. The column was widely criticized by Turkey's independent opposition media.
Following are excerpts from Sahin's article, titled "Monkeys Evolved from Humans."
"Chromosomal Anomalies" In Monkeys "Have Never Led To The Birth Of Human Beings Or Of Monkeys Resembling Human Beings"
"Monkeys are animals that look like humans. Humans have 46 chromosomes and monkeys have 48. Since these chromosomes are similar in structure, these species can transfer from one to the other. When we, physicians, examine anomalies in chromosomes, we find that human chromosomal anomalies lead to the birth of humans similar to monkeys, as in cases of microcephaly, in which newborns resemble monkeys in form, intelligence, behavior, and social life. Such [deformed humans] must be kept under strict control. The numbers of such cases is not negligible.
"In monkeys too there are chromosomal anomalies, but these have never led to the birth of human beings or of monkeys resembling human beings. We understand from this that humans are not derived from monkeys, but that monkeys come from humans. There are many factors in the creation of such anomalies, among them divine, environmental, and chemical."

Ryan Bellerose: Unassailable

The reason Jewish identity is so integral to this struggle is simple – the other side is claiming that Israelis are not indigenous, that they are “white colonisers” who stole “Arab ancestral lands”. Now this claim is patently ridiculous to anyone with a 3rd grade education and a commensurate reading level, but sadly often the Jewish people’s own actions and reactions suggest that they themselves are not quite decolonized enough to claim their birthright and heritage. Many of them still see their identity through a white European lens, rather than a Middle Eastern lens, and this leads not only to massive confusion but lost opportunities such as the Temple Mount and now in Judea and Samaria.
I have documented Jewish indigenous status beyond any reasonable doubt. I have given you the language and hopefully the knowledge to defend the position, but YOU must internalize your identity. YOU must decide to decolonize and then YOU must decide what that means to YOU and your people.
Its really simple – you are Jews, your culture is ancient, your traditions date back three thousand years and your spirituality is intertwined with both. Only you can decide what you should be keeping and what you need to lose, but ask yourself, what would my ancestors say? Would they say “You needed those things in diaspora, but now you are home again and it’s time to evolve and become who you are meant to be” or would they say “Stay as the diaspora made you out of necessity”? I believe you are meant to be a Light unto the Nations, to show us the way that indigenous people are supposed to evolve while maintaining the core of your identity. You have fought so hard to stay Jewish – literally hundreds of generations have lived and died to bring you to this point. Your ancestors fought, bled and died for you to remain Jews and even more recently for you to be able to go home as Jews to your ancestral lands. They didn’t do that so that you could be the end of it. They did it so that you could be the beginning, the beginning of a brave new world, one that is unassailable.
Now be invulnerable in your identity, then be invincible.
THAT is your birthright.
Unassailable.

Palestinian Envoy to the UNHRC Suggests that Jews Should Return to Their Countries of Origin

An older cartoon

Cairo Portal has an article that pretends to be anti-Zionist, but the cover is blown with sections like this (after assertions of Israeli desires to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates):

Zionist ideology includes direct incitement to murder and bloodshed, with no distinction between men, women and children. Killing Muslims and Christians is a religious duty sacred to Jews, to gain the blessing and enter heaven.

There's lots of stuff there, like "The crimes of Mossad against Palestinians includes the killing of insurgents and wiping them out and tracking them to wipe them out in all countries of the world and killing everyone who carries the banner of resistance. Do not forget the killing of Sheikh-ul-Mujahideen martyr Ahmed Yassin as he left the mosque after the performance of dawn prayers and finally they killed President Yasser Arafat poisoned with radioactive polonium.

Felesteen has an article that says that Zionism is a virus, far worse than Zika.

The settlement virus in Palestine is more important to get rid of it, to rid mankind of this virus that has been rampant for years. The duty of the international institutions is to do their part to combat the racist policies of the Zionists completely, just as they are also working on the "Zika" virus. "Zika "could disappear if there are intensified efforts to counter it, but the Zionist virus needs an international effort to confront and uproot it, first and foremost with Arab and Islamic support, it is more important than the alliances that form between now and then, and forget about everything else. The Zionist virus is an important cause of what is happening in the region. Palestine is the mother of Arab issues and it is central, if we can eradicate this cancerous virus in the region then the [Middle East] will be an upright region without the need for wars or alliances to confront the system here or groups there. The Palestinians are continuing their resistance to fight the virus, the third intifada is the way towards that, and we will not wait for a lot of international institutions and other alliances to get rid of the occupation.

Gee, you think that they mean the West Bank and Gaza when they say "occupation"?

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Hasby Award - Best Humor/Satire

The winner for the Best Humor/Satire site Hasby award is....

02/15 Links Pt1: No neo-colonialism for Gaza Strip; Damascus Gate shooter was PA policeman

From Ian:

No neo-colonialism for Gaza Strip

The received wisdom about Gaza and Hamas is always a fascinating tour of illogic.
Why do the people who want to “help” Gaza have so little interest in the input from the people there? In the old days they relied on the “strongman” Dahlan, even as they claimed Hamas benefited electorally from allegations that Fatah was corrupt. The one thing you will never hear from a Gaza “saver” is the concept that perhaps Gazans supported Hamas because of its religious and extremist chauvinist militarist appeal. It’s always because it was “progressive” and “built hospitals” and was part of the global Left, or even because it was supposedly founded and supported by Israel. If it was founded by Israel and it is part of the global Left, then isn’t Israel part of the global left too? No, of course not.
People want to rewrite history so that Israel “gave” Gaza to Hamas. No one wants to remember the war between Hamas and Fatah, the people thrown off buildings, or dragged to death behind motorcycles.
The answer to Gaza’s problems are always some sort of ill-conceived colonization of the place, as if Israel hasn’t done enough for the Strip in that regard.
The fact is Gaza cannot be saved. Its people cannot be turned into something they are not. Hamas is not a progressive movement, it is an extremist, right-wing fundamentalist religious movement. The Strip is caught in a brutal cycle of war with Israel, and Hamas’ relations with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has isolated it further. All of this is a tragedy for civilian life in Gaza.
Why aren’t Gaza’s friends in the Gulf suggesting the Strip look more like their societies? Because they want to use it against Israel? Good-natured “saving” of the Strip won’t help, it has to be confronted as an adult, not an object, and a way must be found to present it with alternatives for the future. Involving Turkey or the Gulf in that discussion would be good. But pretending it’s run by the socialist party and needs re-colonization is not a path forward. It’s not Singapore. It’s Gaza. Get used to it.

Ben-Dror Yemini: The new Palestinian people

MK Anat Berko says there is no such thing as a Palestinian people, and MK Azmi Bishara calls Palestinian nationality 'a colonial invention'. It may be historically true that there once was no such thing as a Palestinian people, but that doesn't mean there isn't one now.
Needless to say, a Palestinian state was not established. Why? There was no occupation. King Hussein of Jordan made it clear during those years that “Jordan is Palestine and Palestine is Jordan," and that “Jordan in its two parts is the homeland of all the Palestinians."
Actually, the Six Day War and the Israeli conquest were the biggest catalysts for the development of a separate Palestinian national identity. The fact that there was no Palestinian people in the past does not mean that there is no Palestinian people today. Indeed, it is not clear what the difference is between Jordanians, Palestinians and the Syrians themselves. They have same language, religion, culture, and often shared tribal or familial kinship. But identity is a flexible matter sometimes. In any case, it is self-defined.
Logic says there is no need for a separate Palestinian state. Jordan already exists. And the one-state solution is unworthy of Jews and Palestinians. It is worthy of both banks of the Jordan River, east and west. Palestinian leaders, even the last two decades, have made every effort to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. So Berko is right about the past. At present there is no need to deny Palestinian nationalism, because whoever denies it now will find themselves in a binational state in the future.

PMW: How to properly beat your wife, according to the PA Mufti in Gaza

During a weekly Palestinian Authority TV program on social issues, the Mufti of Gaza Hassan Al-Laham discussed divorce in Islam. He explained that Allah directed men to take four steps to resolve conflicts with one's wife before resorting to divorce:
"Allah said: Warn them [the wives], and separate from them, and hit them, and bring an arbitrator from his family and an arbitrator from her family." [Official PA TV, Feb. 8, 2016]
His essential message is that while "she became your wife, and she is under your command," nonetheless, hitting is to be used only after warning her and separating from her "in the bedroom" has failed to achieve the desired result. And then, when hitting is being used at the proper time, it should not be a severe beating:
"Not hitting that will bring the police, and break her hand and cause bleeding, or hitting that makes the face ugly."
Indeed, the hitting should "be like a joke," even reinforcing "the love and friendship" between the couple:
"This hitting is a kind of reminder that the love and friendship that Allah commanded, is still found between us (i.e., the couple)."

PA Mufti of Gaza explains how to hit your wife: "Not hitting that will bring the police

The Palestinian leadership just said that there will be no negotiations with Israel. And no one will castigate them.

In a striking rejection of relentless international efforts to broker new talks, Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said Monday that the Palestinians will “never” return to direct negotiations with Israel.

Peace talks collapsed in April 2014 and since then, the situation has deteriorated, with the prospects of fresh dialogue appearing more remote than ever. But Malki said that one-on-one talks with Israel were out of the question.

“We will never go back and sit again in a direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations,” Malki told a press conference. He is visiting Japan with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was due to meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later Monday.

Malki stressed that a multilateral framework to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is needed and he praised an initiative discussed late last month by France to revive plans for an international conference to end the conflict.

Just imagine the international reaction if an Israeli official says that they have no intention to negotiate again, ever, with Palestinians. And compare it with the utter silence that this assertion gets.

Thanks to years of coddling, the Palestinians now insist that the world impose a solution where they do not have to make any concessions. They just keep saying "no" - and launch a violent uprising every decade or so - because that strategy has helped them reach a better political position than actual pesky negotiations that involve a give and take.

But in case the world needs more of a push, Malki adds a little threat:

And he warned that without international involvement, a vacuum will be left that may end up being filled by the Islamic State jihadist group.

“If Daesh take advantage of lack of any brokers… then of course, they might come and try to fill it,” he said, referring to Islamic State.

“This is very dangerous,” he added.

“If the Americans are giving up and the Europeans don’t have the courage to do anything and Arabs are really worried about their own problems, what do you expect? Extremists around might take over.”

If anyone takes the time to actually think about this threat that a lack of brokers will lead to a takeover of the territories by ISIL, they would realize that this is the best argument to maintain Israel's military presence in those areas!

Malki is also admitting that his people are susceptible to radicalization, meaning that the school curricula and official PA media is doing nothing to combat radical Islam. In fact, they are instrumental in encouraging extremism, because in Arabic the message is all about Al Aqsa and fire and blood.

But clueless reporters and politicians will not think too hard about this and simply accept that Arabs become radical Islamists naturally.

Malki then moves onto the other myth that the media has been feeding:

Malki said the new surge in violence has its roots in the Palestinians’ humiliation and desperation after decades of occupation.

I've debunked this before. In Arabic, there have been only two reasons given for the violence: Jews on the Temple Mount and Jews killing those who try to kill them. That's it. The "humiliation" and "frustration" excuses are only given to gullible Westerners.

Malki pointed to the ongoing Israeli control of the West Bank, which began in 1967, saying Palestinians born under it have seen nothing “but humiliation, soldiers’ check-points, deaths and killing.”

And the establishment of 14 universities, where none existed before 1967.

And a life expectancy rate being raised from 48 to 72.

And the adult literacy rate going up from 88% to 94%, with the youth literacy rate at nearly 100%.

And an infant mortality rate plummeting from 60/1000 to about 15/1000.

And virtually everyone joining the electrical grid.

And the establishment of a "state" recognized by most countries.

And an independent police force.

And an Olympic team.

And international awards for films and art.

But for the purposes of speaking to the Western media, they have had nothing since 1967 besides death and humiliation.

These guys will keep lying and threatening and trying to blackmail the West as long as the West doesn't push back and call them out to be liars. Which will never happen, because you never know how violently they would react when they really are humiliated.

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Last night I met someone who met Josef Mengele

Last night my wife and and I went to a wedding and we took an elderly lady with us who needed a ride. I'll call her Edna.

On the way home she told me a story.

There is a special prayer said on the Sabbath before a new moon, asking for health and peace for the upcoming month. Edna's father (she reflexively says "alav hashalom," may he rest in peace after mentioning him) always told his family that it was very important to go to shul on the last Sabbath of the month in order to make this blessing, saying that the blessing protects them for the coming month. If the prayer is not said, no one knows what will happen.

Hungarian Jews arriving in Auschwitz three days after this story

In May 1944, when Edna was 14, the Jews of her town in Hungary were rounded up and placed in a temporary ghetto. On Saturday, May 20, they were herded out to the courtyard of the synagogue. There were no prayers that day. Instead, they were chased from that courtyard to cattle cars.

Edna said that of course there were no seat in the cattle cars, everyone had to lie on the floor. There were two holes to use as toilets but no privacy.

Three days later they arrived at Auschwitz.

First the males were separated from the females, and then there was the "selection." Edna and her younger sister were holding their mother's hand.

Mengele

Edna says an SS officer, a good looking blonde man, told her to go one way while her mother would go the other. She said she didn't want to leave her mother, and the man - Josef Mengele - used his baton to hit her hand that she was using to hold her mother's hand, and she was forced to let go out of pain. Then she was separated from her mother and sister (her older sister had already been separated.)

That was the last that Edna saw of her mother. Both her parents were murdered on May 23, 1944, the first day of the new month of Sivan.

Edna still associates their deaths with not being able to pray to God for a safe new month the Sabbath beforehand when she was herded from the ghetto.

Edna is one one the few people left alive who had seen pure evil, face to face.

(Edna only told me that her parents were killed on Rosh Chodesh Sivan. I looked up the dates based on that and the history of the deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz. Mengele was known to use a baton to signal which prisoners would be put to death and which would get a reprieve, as described in Elie Wiesel's Night.)

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It is well known that most international reporters in Israel do not understand Hebrew or Arabic, and as a result most of them lazily copy stories from their favorite English-language local news sources - mostly Haaretz from the Israeli side and Ma'an from the Palestinian side.

Ma'an has a story in both English and Arabic about how Egypt opened up the Rafah border crossings over the weekend.

The English story mostly mirrors the Arabic one which was written first, although it adds some color:

Egyptian Authorities will extended the opening of Rafah crossing for a third day on Monday, the department of borders and crossings in Gaza Strip said.

Egyptian authorities exceptionally opened the crossing Saturday, after 70 consecutive days of closure.

This is the first time Egyptian authorities opened the crossing this year, a rare move given that Egypt has upheld an for the majority of the past three years an Israeli military blockade on the Gaza Strip.

On Sunday, Gaza’s Ministry of Interior spokesman Iyad al-Bazam urged Egypt to extend the opening of the Rafah crossing for a few more days to ease the crisis in Gaza, where more than 25,000 people with urgent needs -- including around 3,500 medical cases -- are registered and waiting to cross.

The ministry said that more than 700 Palestinians were allowed to go through the Rafah crossing on Saturday, and more than 700 others were allowed to come in from Egypt, after being stuck in the country for more than 70 days since the last time the crossing was opened.

Ma'an English added the highlighted part above, tying the Egyptian closure to Gaza with Israel, even though Israel has nothing to do with it.

And it then adds, again in English:

The nine-year Israeli blockade has plunged the Gaza Strip’s more than 1.8 million Palestinians into poverty. The destruction from three Israeli offensives over the past six years and slow reconstruction due to the blockade led the UN in September to warn that Gaza could be “uninhabitable” by 2020.

Ma'an knows that its audience is Westerners, and especially Western reporters. So in English it makes sure to somehow tie Egypt's decision to severely limit Gazan travel and trade to Israel.

Gazans know the truth and they rgularly and bitterly complain about Egypt's treatment of them. But that is muted in English reporting because the meme of Israeli "occupation" and control of Gaza is paramount, and must be emphasized every time Egypt and Gaza are mentioned.

And this propaganda method happens to work quite well. Sure enough, UPI's story about the Rafah crossings adds this:

Gaza is home to about 1.8 million Palestinians blocked from leaving the region due to strict blockades by Israel.

The implication is what the Arabs want the world to believe: that Israel makes the decision and Egypt implements it. Yet it is Egypt that controls that border and Egypt that is blocking Gazans from leaving the region.

There was one other fact about this weekend's opening of Rafah that the Western media didn't mention because it also contradicts the meme of Israeli control. Al Ahram, which is an Egyptian site and therefore not monitored by Western reporters in Israel, mentions "Twenty-four trucks transporting 2,265 tonnes of cement needed for Gaza’s reconstruction crossed the border from Egypt on Saturday."

Really? So Egypt can be a source of construction material for Gaza as well? Is Israel somehow responsible for aid coming from Egypt too? Why won't the Western media say that Egypt can provide building materials to Gaza - and decides not to except for these exceptional and symbolic occasions?

But Western media would have to upend their meme about pure Israeli control of Gaza.. Ma'an won't mention it, so why should Reuters or AP?

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