Monday, February 12, 2007

  • Monday, February 12, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Reuters:
'That cursed Israel is trying to destroy al-Aqsa mosque,' Mohamed el-Katatny of President Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party (NDP) told a heated parliament session held to discuss the Israeli digging.

'Nothing will work with Israel except for a nuclear bomb that wipes it out of existence,' he said.
Is there any clearer indicator of Arab intentions towards Israel?

Is there any clearer indicator of how little importance the "Noble Sanctuary" has in Arab thought, to say that it is preferable for it to be blown to bits than to have Jews have any control over it?
  • Monday, February 12, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
Two Arab alleged "collaborators" were murdered today near Ramallah - including a man who murdered his own brother.

Our counts of Palestinian Arabs violently murdered by other PalArabs has now risen to 318 killed since Operation Summer Rains and 113 killed just this year.

UPDATE: A corpse was found in a Gaza cemetery, shot dead. 319 and 114.

UPDATE 2: The brother of the general whose house was torched by Hamas in January has died from his wounds in that attack. 320 and 115.

UPDATE 3: A man near Jericho tried to kill his pregnant wife in an apparent honor killing and stabbed his 14-month old daughter to death. 321 and 116.
  • Monday, February 12, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
GAZA, February 12, 2007 (WAFA) - Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) condemned Monday the diggings near Al-Aqsa mosque, warning of the ramifications of agitating Muslims' feelings.

In a press release, GCMHP expressed its full condemnation for this dangerous act that harms holy places and highly inflames Muslims feelings.

"The diggings and destruction to the Mosque is considered a clear provocation to Muslims worldwide and a blatant violation of the principles of the international law, particularly, the fourth Geneva Convention that prohibits the destruction of civilian properties - especially holy places," according to the press release.

"Such acts bring memories back to what Al-Aqsa was previously exposed to of incidents that violated its sacredness and led to eruption of violence in the region."

GCMHP stressed that Al-Aqsa Mosque represents a significant part of Palestinian and all Muslims' identity all over the world. As a result, says GCMHP, any damage to the mosque is considered a direct harm to the identity of all Muslims, which may result in eruption of instability in many parts of the world.

GCMHP added it views this provocative act, politically supported and covered by the Israeli government yesterday, as a way of igniting feelings of anger and congestion of all Muslims, and lead to reactions that may convert the whole region and the international community into a vicious cycle of violence and counter-violence and clashes between religions and civilizations in a manner that endangers the world peace and stability.

It called upon the world governments, the UN agencies, and legal and cultural organizations to take their legal and humanitarian responsibilities and immediately intervene to stop such dangerous practices, warning of the negative repercussions of the continuation of exposure to the holy places.
There you have it. The pre-eminent mental health professionals in Gaza have said that Muslims worldwide have no ability to control themselves; that it is quite natural that they would react violently to any preceived slight, no matter what the reality is; and that Israel decided to do the construction purely to inflame Muslims' delicate and sensitive feelings.

The psychosis that says that Muslims are not responsible for their actions is apparently officially regarded as normal by this organization, and if any Muslim acts violently it is Israel's fault.

To put it another way: the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme cannot see any psychological distinction between Muslims and animals.

Looking at the GCMHP website one can see that they consistently condemn intra-Palestinian Arab violence as well as any attacks on European interests in Gaza. Not once can I find a condemnation of any attacks on Israeli civilians. Apparently, Israeli civilians are legitimate targets.

To their credit, they do recommend "non-violent" methods of protest. On the downside, they regard stone throwing as "non-violent" in the same way that Gandhi and MLK were non-violent. Their description of the first intifada reveals volumes about the mental health of these mental health "professionals:
Nonviolence has proven throughout history that it can achieve liberation against occupation, apartheid, and colonization. The first Palestinian Intifada is a good example in changing stereotypical images of Palestinian people from being terrorists to victims of occupation and suppression. It opened the eyes of the world that Palestinians are struggling for their basic human rights and freedom for their country in a peaceful manner. The images of children confronting Israeli soldiers and being killed won the hearts of the international community and justice loving world.

In the end, even the most liberal Palestinian Arab supporters cheer when their own children die. And that is the biggest psychosis of all.
  • Monday, February 12, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
It has been over a month since Olmert said that he was modifying the unilateral cease-fire in Gaza to allow shooting at Qassam rocket crews as they are setting up. Since then, as far as I can tell, Israel has not fired on anybody launching Qassam rockets, and the only attack I can recall in Gaza was towards a tunnel in late January. At that time, in the wake of the suicide attack in Eilat, Olmert said that he is still "upholding the truce."

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Arabs continue their rocket fire:
4 rockets this morning
At least one Sunday
At least one Friday
10 on Thursday
4 on Wednesday
6 on Tuesday

Multiple, daily attacks almost every day.

It appears that Olmert has pretty much conceded that the southern and western Negev will be under attack for at least a couple of years, until Israel manages to deploy an anti-missile system. True to form, he has no plan to defend his people, no clue on how he would if he wanted to, and he seems to believe that it is acceptable for residents of Sderot and other communities to be bombarded daily.

His incompetence seems to be increasing with time.
There are a number of parallels between the Danish cartoon riots and the Mughrabi Gate riots. Perhaps the most important one, and the one with the most relevance, is that the Muslim world seems completely incapable of distinguishing truth from lies and fact from opinion.

In both cases, in the topsy-turvy world of Islam, a completely unfounded and unsupportable opinion becomes the driving force behind irrational actions. In both cases, a paranoid worldview where the West is hellbent on destroying Islam is the only accepted "fact" and any shreds of "evidence" that support this absurd viewpoint are promoted beyond all rational belief.

Conversely, the 99% of things the West does that explicitly support Islam as a religion and its adherents as being worthy of respect and equal rights is given no weight whatsoever.

It is a world where, simply stated, paranoia is the basis for all actions and reactions, and facts are utterly ignored.

When viewed in this light, anything the West does to dissipate the paranoia is doomed. Israel can broadcast the Mughrabi Gate dig in high-def from 20 different angles and not one Arab or Muslim leader will be swayed to admit that their assertions of long-standing Jewish plans to destroy Al-Aqsa are inaccurate.

What causes such extreme paranoia among mainstream Muslims?

The answer can be summed up as Elder's First Rule of Muslim Projection: Muslims will project their own crimes and worldviews on everyone else.

It cannot be denied that Islam, along with many other religions, holds a supremacist worldview. This is natural - everyone believes that their belief system is superior to others. But what is little discussed in the West is how extreme Islam's brand of supremacy truly is.

I cannot claim to be an Islamic scholar but it is very hard to find Islamic leaders saying that they do not subscribe to the idea that Islam is meant to literally rule the world, by any means possible - by proselytizing, by demography, by war. The thinking is simple and explicit: dhimmis live as second-class citizens, infidels do not live.

When one grows up with this viewpoint, one assumes that his enemies also grow up with their own versions of the same viewpoint. So for Muslims to say that non-Muslims are determined to destroy Islam is a natural and foregone conclusion, and that is where fantasy becomes Muslim reality.

In other words, Muslims view the West - and Jews in particular - as if they think like Muslims do. Just as Jordan destroyed every synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City in a matter of days after gaining control in 1948, and this was considered natural, the Muslims assume that Jews have been planning the destruction of all mosques in Jerusalem since 1967 (the oft-repeated "Judaizing" meme.)


Every fact that supports their predetermined "truth" is promoted incessantly as evidence, every fact to the contrary is ignored or dismissed as being part of some much larger, nefarious Zionist plot to achieve the same goal. So you will find Muslim websites that prominently highlight and embellish supposed Zionist aggression against Al-Aqsa and none that mention that Israel itself voluntarily gave the Muslim Waqf control over the entire Temple Mount in 1967, nor that Israel has had the ability to destroy the mosque thousands of times over the past 30 years and has scrupulously protected the rights of Muslims to worship there as well as in many other Muslim sites that were themselves built on top of ancient Jewish holy places.

The next question then becomes, how can Israel or the West as a whole negotiate with a people who cannot distinguish between reality and their own paranoia?

UPDATE: Shrinkwrapped links here and has a much more detailed and frightening description of paranoia and projection.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

  • Saturday, February 10, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
Here's what the new peaceful unified Palestinian Arab factions are up to in the past 24 hours:
And, in case this isn't enough,

Friday, February 09, 2007

  • Friday, February 09, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
One would think that when a Nobel Peace Prize winner gets assaulted in a hotel that it would generate some headlines. Especially when someone brags about the attack on a Holocaust denying website.

But right now, it is only a local item in a San Francisco newspaper.

And it happened over a week ago.
  • Friday, February 09, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
One of the key sticking points in the Fatah/Hamas agreement was that Abbas wanted Hamas to "adhere to international resolutions and the agreements signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization" but Hamas only wanted to say that they "respect international resolutions and the agreements" signed by the PLO.

Hamas won.

Which means that the new PA government, which will be formed under Hamas' leadership, is not obligated to recognize Israel nor to keep any agreements made from Oslo through now. The word "respect" is legally meaningless and open to interpretation.

But that word does accomplish exactly what it was meant to accomplish. It allows idiotic world leaders to do what they've always wanted to do - resume funding the Hamas-led PA, talk to Hamas and allow the new PA to negotiate Israel's destruction with the fig leaf of this obvious but ignorable deception.

And it has already started:
In Paris, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said inclusion of the term "respect" in reference to Israel "is a step in the right direction toward full adherence to the demands of the international community that we hold dear, including in particular the recognition of Israel."
This is, of course, from the AP, which deceptively makes it sound like the document says that Hamas "respects" Israel. In fact, the document doesn't mention Israel explicitly or implicitly.

And Douste-Blazy, by mentioning the word "respect," clearly knows that the words "adhere to" were rejected by Hamas - and yet he says "it is a step in the right direction toward full adherence" to the EU's demands. No, it's not: it is a clear rejection of international demands but it is ambiguous enough to allow EUdiots like Douste-Blazy to pretend that something meaningful and peaceful actually occurred.

In the end, Hamas seems to have won this battle without diluting its hate and terror goals one iota. And now it will have the EU on its side, as the aid to the PalArabs (which already is at record levels and increased by 10% in 2006 over 2005, even with the boycott) will snowball into yet more money that will be converted into Qassams, RPGs, Katyushas and bomb belts.
  • Friday, February 09, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
Why are the Arabs rioting against the Israel's shoring up the ramp to the Mughrabi gate?

From reading the wire service articles, one would conclude that the Arabs are worried about damage to the foundations of the Al-Aqsa mosque:
Israeli excavations near Jerusalem's most sensitive shrine have sparked fury among Muslims who fear such works endanger its foundations, but officials involved say they will not damage the holy site.

Yet the Arabs have been quite forthcoming about why they are upset, and worries about the foundations are clearly not what is uppermost in their minds. Look at the letter from the PA to the UN condemning the repair work:
Excellency,

In follow-up to our letter dated 24 January 2007, Israel, the occupying Power, has stepped up its illegal actions, especially in Occupied East Jerusalem, which aim to intensify expansionist policy for the colonization and Judaization of Arab Jerusalem, with the support of fanatic Jewish settler groups.

Israel, the occupying Power, is continuing its campaign to Judaize the city of Jerusalem and create a new demographic composition in the occupied city. Such actions demonstrate clearly the intransigence of the Israeli Government and its persistence in defying the will of the international community and in violating international law and United Nations resolutions. In this context, it is imperative for the international community to take measures in order to confront these Israeli policies and actions, to ensure respect for international law and to prevent further escalation of the situation in the region.

In line with this unchecked intransigence, Israeli occupying authorities have gone ahead with the condemnable plan to step up its aggression against Islamic Waqf sites in Occupied East Jerusalem. Most notably, Israeli occupying authorities have begun demolishing a historic road connecting Bab Al-Maghariba with the Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound in addition to two rooms adjacent to the Western Wall, thus exposing the Holy Compound and making it more vulnerable yet to future acts of aggression. Additionally, Israeli occupying authorities continue to carry out excavation works below the Holy Al-Aqsa Compound, undermining its foundations and threatening with its collapse.

There are also concerning reports that Israel, the occupying Power, plans to construct a tourist site below the Holy Al-Aqsa Compound, further raising fears about serious threats facing the Holy Compound. Additionally, Israeli occupying authorities have banned Palestinians below the age of 45 from entering the Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound in grave contravention of their basic right to access their holy sites and clear violation of Israel's obligations, as an occupying Power, to ensure and protect that right.
Even this letter does not say that the ramp work is excavating below the compound, but it says that there are other digs doing that (without specifying any details.)

Any look at the Arab press shows that "Judaization" is the real concern, not any pretense of worry about Al-Aqsa's integrity:
  • The statement also reaffirmed that the Islamic and western world will not simply watch what is happening to Jerusalem taking no action against the Israeli continual excavation, which aims to change the characteristic of Jerusalem and Judaization it as well as to obliterate its Arab, Islamic and Christianity landmark. (Petra - Jordan)
  • The Israeli government is continuing a large-scale demolition project of ancient Islam in East Jerusalem's Old City. Al Aqsa Mosque is under grave danger of destruction in the face of Israeli Judaization of Jerusalem. (Palestine News Network)
  • KUWAIT, Feb 7 (KUNA) -- Acting Speaker of the Kuwaiti National Assembly Mohammad Al-Busiry asserted Wednesday the necessity of Islamic unity to face the Israeli hostile designs against the holy Aqsa mosque and other Islamic sanctities in the occupied Palestine.

    "Concerted efforts must be made to put an end to the Jewish designs targeting judaization of Jerusalem and the removal of Islamic landmarks there, " Al-Busiry told reporters here.
Now, why would the media downplay the real reason that Arabs are upset?

Could it be that doing that would portray Arabs are being bigoted and intolerant, and that this dosn't fit the playbook that the MSM wants us to believe about them?

It is much easier to say that the Arabs are trying to defend their holy site than to say that they do not want any vestiges of Jewishness to remain in the entire city.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

  • Thursday, February 08, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
Some interesting images from Maan News, the first three with identical hilarious captions:




Masked Palestinian militants from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades ask a shop keeper to close his store as part of a general strike to protest against Israeli excavations near the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in the West Bank city of Hebron February 7, 2007.

Masked Palestinian militants of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades enforce a general strike to protest against Israeli excavations near the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in the West Bank city of Hebron February 7, 2007.

So the terrorist thugs from Fatah "ask" shopkeepers to close their stores.

At gunpoint.

A few points are worth highlighting, even if they are obvious:
  • The only people being hurt by the forced strike are the PalArabs themselves.
  • Fatah is Mahmoud Abbas' party, and in the past many of the tens of thousands of PA policemen also moonlighted as masked "militants."
  • This is not in Gaza, but in the West Bank, showing that every Palestinian Arab area is at the mercy of armed terrorists rather than the benevolent PA security forces that the world insists is responsible for police work.
Hamas and Fatah can sign all the agreements they want, but in the end their people are so steeped in a culture of violence that no numbers of handshakes will make these areas civilized under Palestinian Arab rule.
The Arabs think that Israel is acting aggressively against the Al-Aqsa Mosque. They want Israel to stop.

The obvious solution is for them to tell the Waqf to give a part of the Temple Mount to Israel. Israel will appreciate this move so much that it will stop any digs for a while as a goodwill gesture. And to ensure the largest amount of goodwill, the Waqf should give the entire Temple Mount to the Jews.

I call this plan "land for peace."

Since the entire world from Israel's political center through the Europeans, US and Arabs know that "land for peace" is the only formula for real lasting peace in the region, it should work splendidly.
Irshad Manji: Modern Israel is a far cry from old South Africa It's absurd to apply the term apartheid to one of the most progressive states in the world, maintains Irshad Manji

 

IN the past year, a stream of thinkers across the West - from Australian writer Antony Loewenstein to US academics John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt - has punctured the usual parameters of debate about Israel. I, for one, welcome any effort to prevent ideas from calcifying into ideologies. As a Muslim refusenik, that's what I do by defying the conventional prejudices of my fellow Muslims. Why would I resent refuseniks of a different kind? It's precisely because I embrace intellectual pluralism that I respectfully challenge Jimmy Carter's recent critique of Israel as an apartheid state. To be sure, I've long admired the former US president. In my book The Trouble with Islam Today I cite him as an example of how religion can be invoked to tap the best of humanity. In no small measure, it was Carter's appreciation of spiritual values that brought together Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, compelling these former foes to clasp hands over a peace deal. Which is why Carter's new book disappoints so many of us who champion co-existence. Entitled Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, the book argues that Israel's conduct towards Palestinians mimics South Africa's long-time demonisation of blacks. Of course, certain Israeli politicians have spewed venom at Palestinians, as have some Arab leaders towards Jews, but Israel is far more complex - and diverse - than slogans about the occupation would suggest. In a state practising apartheid, would Arab Muslim legislators wield veto power over anything? At only 20per cent of the population, would Arabs even be eligible for election if they squirmed under the thumb of apartheid? Would an apartheid state extend voting rights to women and thepoor in local elections, which Israel didfor the first time in the history of Palestinian Arabs? Would the vast majority of Arab Israeli citizens turn out to vote in national elections, as they've usually done? Would an apartheid state have several Arab political parties, as Israel does? In recent Israeli elections, two Arab parties found themselves disqualified for expressly supporting terrorism against the Jewish state. However, Israel's Supreme Court, exercising its independence, overturned both disqualifications. Under any system of apartheid, would the judiciary be free of political interference? Would an apartheid state award its top literary prize to an Arab? Israel honoured Emile Habibi in 1986, before the intifada might have made such a choice politically shrewd. Would an apartheid state encourage Hebrew-speaking schoolchildren to learn Arabic? Would road signs throughout the land appear in both languages? Even my country, the proudly bilingual Canada, doesn't meet that standard. Would an apartheid state be home to universities where Arabs and Jews mingle at will, or apartment blocks where they live side by side? Would an apartheid state bestow benefits and legal protections on Palestinians who live outside of Israel but work inside its borders? Would human rights organisations operate openly in an apartheid state? They do in Israel. For that matter, military officials go public with their criticisms of government policies. In October 2003, the Israel Defence Forces' chief of staff told the press that road closures in the West Bank and Gaza were feeding Palestinian anger. Two weeks later, four former heads of the Shin Bet security service blasted the occupation and called on Ariel Sharon to withdraw troops unilaterally, which later happened in Gaza. Would an apartheid state stomach so much dissent from those mandated to protect the state? Above all, would media debate the most basic building blocks of the nation? Would a Hebrew newspaper in an apartheid state run an article by an Arab Israeli about why the Zionist adventure has been a total failure? Would it run that article on Israel's independence day? Would an apartheid state ensure conditions for the freest Arabic press in the Middle East, a press so free that it can demonstrably abuse its liberties and keep on rolling? To this day, the East Jerusalem daily Al-Quds hasn't retracted an anti-Israel letter supposedly penned by Nelson Mandela but proven to have been written by an Arab living in The Netherlands. Even the eminence grise of Palestinian nationalism, the late Edward Said, stated flat out that "Israel is not South Africa". How could it be when an Israeli publisher translated Said's seminal work, Orientalism, into Hebrew? I'll cap this point with a question that Said himself asked of Arabs: "Why don't we fight harder for freedom of opinions in our own societies, a freedom, no one needs to be told, that scarcely exists?" I disagree: some people still need to be told that Arab "freedoms" don't compare to those of Israel. The people who need reminding are those who now push the South Africa analogy a step further by equating Israel with Nazi Germany. To them, Zionists are committing hate crimes under the totalitarian nightmare that they dub "Zio-Nazism" (like neo-Nazism). When it comes to granting citizenship, Israel discriminates in the same way as an affirmative action policy, giving the edge to a specific minority that has faced genocidal injustice. Does this amount to Nazism? Spare me. As a Muslim, I could become a citizen of Israel without having to convert. After all, Israel was one of the few countries anywhere to grant shelter, then citizenship, to the Vietnamese boatpeople who sought political asylum in the late 1970s. I don't have to wonder how Syria compares on that score. Now for the ultimate proof of Israel's flimsy credentials as a bunker of Hitlerian hate: It's the only country in the Middle East to which Arab Christians are voluntarily migrating. And they are also thriving there, notching much higher university attendance rates than the Arab Muslim citizens of Israel, and enjoying better overall health than Jews. The Holy Land is gut-wrenching and complicated. As much as I applaud Israel's efforts to foster pluralism, I condemn its illegal Jewish settlements and less visible crimes such as the diversion of water away from Palestinian towns. These contradictions of the Israeli state should be exposed, discussed, even pilloried. And they are: openly as well as often. So there's little point in deciding whose camp is the paragon of vice or virtue. The better question might be: who's willing to hear what they don't want to hear? That's the test of whether a country is more than black or white.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Seeing Israel's "defense minister" kowtow to the Muslim world in relation to the Temple Mount is just the latest time that Israel has given ammunition to the Arab world to destroy any Jewish claims to the site, and to change the status quo on the Har HaBayit.

The single dumbest thing Israel ever did was to give the Waqf complete control over the area in 1967.

Muslims do not hesitate to say, explicitly, that the Temple Mount is an exclusively Muslim area and that they do not want any non-Muslims to ever step foot upon it. The world's media accepts this is completely true and normal.

The Jewish narrative, which is far more accurate and far stronger, gets ignored.

The fact is that the Temple Mount is the single holiest spot on the planet according to Judaism. It was the site of both Temples and the Jewish claim predates the Muslim religion by some 1500 years.

Every single day, Judaism's holiest place gets desecrated by Muslims there.

I visited the Hulda Gates on the south side of the Temple Mount a couple of weeks ago:

Here was the site where countless Jews would enter and ascend to the Temple over 2000 years ago. Excavated Jewish ritual baths dot the surrounding area. One can go up to the now-blocked gate and recite Tehillim (Psalms) - only to be interrupted by the Muslim prayers that are amplified inside in the mosques that now occupy he southern Mount area, as they desecrate this undeniably Jewish sacred site.

If you are offended by my characterization of the Temple Mount as an exclusively Jewish site that is being desecrated and destroyed by Muslims, ask yourself why you are not offended by the routine descriptions of the area as being exclusively Muslim where Jews are not allowed to pray. Even without even going into the Muslim fantasy that Mohammed went to Jerusalem, it is obvious that the Jewish nature of the site is far stronger and far older than any Muslim claim.

It has been my experience that, without exception, every crime that Muslims routinely accuse Jews of perpetrating is a crime that the Muslims routinely do themselves in far greater degrees.

This is a classic example.
  • Wednesday, February 07, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
Iran's big-cheese ayatollah makes another statement that is completely and utterly wrong:
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the spiritual leader of Iran, said Monday that the "Zionist regime" is the factor preventing Muslim unity. Khamenei said that Israel was established by “arrogant forces, which sought to create conflict between the Muslim peoples.”
This is Iranian comedy at its best. The only thing that unites Shiites and Sunnis, Hamas and Fatah, Jordanian and Syrian and Pakistani and British and Malaysian Muslims is their hatred for everything Zionist. Whenever there is a major rift in the 'ummah, one can count on some Muslim leader or another to denounce Zionism in an attempt to find common ground (or, if they are fighting, to accuse the other side of being a Zionist.)
  • Wednesday, February 07, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
A Saudi-funded Muslim school in Britain was found to have textbooks calling Jews "apes" and Christians "pigs," as well as calling Judaism "repugnant" and calling Judaism and Christianity "worthless."

The school's reaction is a textbook case of how Muslims often lie, deny, and claim victimhood when confronted with evidence such as this. First the lies:
King Fahad Academy director Dr Sumaya Aluyusuf ...admitted the textbooks - translated for BBC Two's Newsnight programme by two independent scholars - were kept at the school.

But the translations were "taken out of context" and had "lost some of their meaning", she said.

She said the controversy had arisen from the misinterpretation of the material which was based on the Koran.
Since the Koran itself makes the statements comparing Jews to apes and pigs, there is very little room for misinterpretation.

Then the denial:
"I would like to make it clear that the controversial pages within the books are not taught within the academy," she said.

"However, in view of the public interest I have decided to remove those chapters from the books.

"The school is currently moving towards an international curriculum and new books are being developed for that curriculum."
Will anyone follow up to see if they actually went through scores of books and ripped out the offensive passages? Will anyone check in a year or so the "international curriculum?" Would any teacher currently employed there admit if he or she had taught from these sections?

And finally, the victimhood:
She said pupils and parents had suffered discrimination and intimidation as a result of the controversy.

One local shop had put up a sign saying pupils from the school were not welcome and a passer-by had shouted abuse at a parent waiting outside the school gate.

"The local MP called me and said he was very concerned about the safety of the children and asked if we would like him to send extra police around the area.
Was any of this corroborated by the British media?

This is the classic response to untold numbers of similar cases over they years, and the Muslim reactions are so predictable that one can imagine that they have their own textbook on how to deflect criticism.
There have been a number of stories in the news lately about how the PalArabs are upset that Jews are digging near the Temple Mount. The stories are silly for a number of reasons:
  • The purpose is to repair a ramp that leads up to the Temple Mount, not to touch the Mount itself.
  • The dig is open for everyone to see.
  • Every dig in Israel for any purpose is overseen by the Israel Antiquities Authority to make sure that nothing of historic interest gets damaged.
  • The Palestinian Arabs bring up scare stories about Jews trying to destroy Al Aqsa Mosque every few days. This is not an exaggeration; I see new accusations in the Arabic press literally every few days.
  • The Palestinian Arabs are especially pouncing on this story as a way to deflect world focus away from their internal civil war.
  • The Muslims have historically and systematically tried to destroy thousands of non-Muslim artifacts in holy sites - for them to complain about Jews doing the same thing is utterly hypocritical
  • What the Muslims are scared of is not that anything of theirs is going to be damaged - their real fear is that Jerusalem, the ancient holy city of Jews that predates Islam by many centuries, is going to be "Judaized:"
    Gaza - Ma'an - The Al Aqsa Brigades have threatened to target Israeli synagogues if the Israeli authorities continue the Judaization of the holy city of Jerusalem and the demolition of the Al Aqsa Mosque.

    In a statement issued on Wednesday, the brigades confirmed that all the synagogues will be targets for the brigades and are not more holy than the mosque of Al Aqsa.

    The statement called on Palestinian people in and out Palestine, to go into the streets in protest against Israeli actions in the holy city.

Let's look at where the Israelis are repairing the ramp that leads up to the Temple Mount and where the Al Aqsa mosque is, to see who it telling the truth.

Here is a panorama shot of the southern half of the western wall of the Temple Mount that I took last week (click on it to see it enlarged):

The golden dome on the left is the Dome of the Rock. The smaller grey dome on the right next to the trees is the Al Aqsa Mosque. The blue-tarped ramp in the middle is the temporary wooden bridge that is being repaired that is causing such a pretense of anguish. As you can see, it is pretty far away from the mosque. In fact, the Al Aqsa mosque is on the southern wall of the Mount as this view of the southwest corner shows (click on image for more detail):


The Israel Antiquities Authority website has details on exactly what they are doing and why.

It is not hard for news services to be able to provide context in their sensationalistic stories of the protests.

But it is hard to find any news articles that bother to try.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

  • Tuesday, February 06, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
  • Tuesday, February 06, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
Between Thursday night and Friday night, 21 more have been killed, including a 7 year old boy and a 38 year old woman. This is of course of no concern to Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International or the UN (although the UN did come out with a statement against the violence, noting that its own workers were in danger, but no condemnation.)

I'm doing the best I can not to double-count anyone, but as of now, my counts are at 305 Palestinian Arabs violently killed by each other since Summer Rains, and 100 killed this year.

UPDATE: It looks like two more were added to the count (Maan said yesterday that 25 were killed over the weekend, now it says 27) so the counts are now at 307 and 102.

UPDATE 2: PCHR counts 29.
Maan News Arabic mentions Hamas killing a Fatah member Tuesday.
The counts are now at 310 and 105.

UPDATE 3:The PCHR numbers were as of Sunday, and on Monday it was announced that three more died from wounds received on Friday.
The counts are now 313 and 108.

UPDATE 4: An 8-year old succumbed to wounds from last Thursday. 314 and 109.

UPDATE 5:
I mistranslated a Tuesday article as saying a Fatah member was killed, it was in fact a Hamas member, and one of those injured died as well. 315 and 110.

UPDATE 6:
A 20-year old man was found dead in Ramallah on Thursday. 316 and 111.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

  • Sunday, February 04, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
Ya gotta love Iran's "news" agency:
Member of Parliament from Tehran, Mehdi Kouchekzadeh, Sunday criticized authorization of CNN correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, for her activities in Iran.

"Authorizing those representing the countries which are obviously hostile to the Islamic Republic of Iran to enter Iran has no justification from viewpoint of the Iranian nation," he added.

The MP said that Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance as well as Foreign Ministry should be answerable to the nation about allowing an agent acting under the guise of the sacred profession of journalism to enter the country to release conspiratorial reports aiming to sow seeds of discord.

"We have all witnessed that over the past years, she released the worst reports to the people of the world, which contradicted the facts about Iranian society," he added.

Kouchekzadeh criticized the officials for inviting the Zionist media and their affiliates to the country to prove their support for democracy and freedom of speech.

"In addition to government organizations, people from all walks of life are bound to protect their environment from impurities," said the MP.

He said that reporters in Iran should have reacted to the presence of Amanpour in Iran.
Hmmm...how should they have reacted? Is Amanpour due for an "honor killing"?
  • Sunday, February 04, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
Interesting article at Haaretz, quoting the Stratfor.com site:
A senior nuclear physicist involved in Iran's nuclear program who died under mysterious circumstances two weeks ago was killed by the Mossad, according to a report released in a U.S. website this weekend.

The website - Stratfor.com - features intelligence and security analysis by former U.S. intelligence agents.

Professor Ardashir Hosseinpour, a world authority on electromagnetism, was until recently working on uranium enrichment at the facility in Isfahan, one of the central processing sites in Iran's nuclear program.

The physicist died January 18, but news of his death only emerged six days later in two Iranian media outlets.

A report released this weekend in Stratfor.com stated that the Mossad was behind Hosseinpour's death.

The report said the physicist died from "radioactive poisoning" as part of a Mossad effort to halt the Iranian nuclear program through "secret operations."

The site indicates that in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Mossad was involved in the deaths of scientists involved with the Iraqi nuclear program. At least three scientists were killed in those operations.

A website of expatriate Iranian communists said that several other scientists were killed or injured in the operation to kill Hosseinpour at Isfahan, and given treatment at nearby hospitals.

The site says Iranian physicians are trying to determine the circumstances of the deaths, and believe they may have to deal with similar incidents in the future.

News of Hosseinpour's death appeared in the Al-Quds daily, published in Tehran, and in a release by the Iranian Students' News Agency.

Both news items said Hosseinpour died from "poison gas."

Radio Farda - a Persian-language station operated by the U.S. government - said several days ago that the scientist died of "smoke inhalation."

The Radio Farda report said Hosseinpour, 45, was considered an expert in the field of electromagnetism and formerly taught in the physics department at Shiraz University. He also published widely in international publications.

Hosseinpour was also recently employed by Isfahan's Malik Ashtar University of Technology. Several departments of that institution have been implicated as being involved in Iran's secret nuclear program, believed to be conducted in parallel with its official, disclosed program.
If so....bravo!
  • Sunday, February 04, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
The Jerusalem Post has an article about how disappointed Palestinian Arabs are in the civil war:
Hafez Barghouti, editor of the PA-funded daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, said he was concerned that the fighting would tarnish the image of the Palestinians. "Tens of millions of people now look at us as worthless gangsters with no values," he complained.

Addressing both Hamas and Fatah, he added: "Take Gaza and turn it into a state of the Muslim Brotherhood. Take the West Bank and establish a state of your own there with all the Abu's. Your people no longer want a state. We no longer like our killers and executioners."

Columnist Mahmoud Habbash also acknowledged that the fighting had caused grave damage to the Palestinians on the international arena. The internal fighting, he said, has distorted the image of the Palestinians in the eyes of the world.

"The world is watching how the Palestinians are destroying their institutions and achievements with their own hands. They see how we are mercilessly slaughtering innocent people. We are losing the sympathy of the world. I'm afraid the world will now view us differently."
Notice how according to these average, intelligent Palestinian Arabs, the recent infighting is making them all look bad.

But the implication is that the decades of terror that they have supported against Israel, as well as the world, did not do any damage to their reputations. They see terrorism against Jews as not only natural, but accepted by the world, and they perceive that that the world has no problem with them slaughtering Jews - the clear message is that they believe that terrorism against Israel is not counterproductive in the least for their pretense of wanting a Palestinian Arab state.

And the unfortunate thing is that they are right. No matter how much terror has been unleashed against Jews, the world is still supporting roadmaps and other silly initiatives as if every new act of war is somehow an opportunity for Israel to give up more and bring a PalArab state closer.

Unreal.
  • Sunday, February 04, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
The news last week was that Israel has been secretly negotiating with Syria over the Golan Heights. Already the MSM is starting to push for such an agreement.

This is idiocy beyond imagination.

The strategic value of the Golan cannot be undersetimated. It is not just "high ground," it is a mountain range:


The Golan not only dominates the land below, but also Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee):


Between 1948 and 1967, the Jews who lived on the shores of the Kinneret were shelled constantly from Syria, forcing them to spend every night in bomb shelters. Look at the Ein Gev resort:

Beautiful yes, but also extremely vulnerable.

Not only were the villages shelled, but so were the fishermen on the lake.

Some may argue that the Syria of today is not the same Syria as then. This is crazy - Syria is the conduit for 100% of Hezbollah's rockets, last summer as well as today. Syria hosts Hamas ans other major terror groups.

To pin hope on Syria's antipathy towards Islamist extremism is naive beyond belief - when has any Arab country publicly sided with Israel over any Muslim extremists?

Furthermore, the Golan is as much a part of ancient Israel as any other part of Israel. The major town on the Golan today, Katzrin, was a seat of Torah learning during Talmudic times, with the remains of synagogues still visible. Here is one originally built during Hashmonean times and later rebuilt during Byzantine rule:



Look at the top of the columns: a stylized Torah and etrog:

And on one of the walls, a menorah:


Also, the Golan was the site of a major Jewish stronghold during the Jewish Revolt against Rome with a suicidal outcome that predated Masada by a few years, at Gamla.

There is no question that the Golan is strategically and historically of supreme importance to Israel. The entire reason that Israel does not have a direct threat from Syria is because Israel controls the Golan today. So which is better: an illusory "peace" like the one with Egypt where a single bullet can turn Sinai into a forward position against Israel again, or a time-tested detente against Syria where Israel controls the high ground and from where Syria doesn't dare make a move?

The thought of giving it up to a nation that still actively supports terror is utter insanity.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

  • Thursday, February 01, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
Like a bizarre game of telephone, the Iranian FARS "news" agency has picked up on the "poison balloon" story, added a few more lies, and presents the following:
FNA dispatches from Beirut said that the Israeli planes have so far dropped thousands of these balloons all across the woods and coastal areas in southern Lebanon.

The balloons which come in bright and child attractive colors have been observed specially in Nabatieh, Sour and the surrounding villages and, of course, in Beirut.

The balloons read such phrases as 'Happy Birthday' or 'Happy Night' in English and Hebrew.

Anyone touching or inhaling the gas escaping from the balloons will be poisoned immediately. So far a number of 9 citizens have been poisoned, some of whom are in critical conditions.

The Lebanese army has started wide investigations in this regard, while the international peace-keeping troops deployed in southern Lebanon have also voiced preparedness to examine the poisonous gas and materials contained in and on the surface of the balloons.
Delusions are but one symptom of psychosis.
  • Thursday, February 01, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
Six more killed today in the Fatah/Hamas clashes.

Also, I had missed a few earlier murders from January:

A woman was killed in a family dispute January 22.
A woman from Gaza City was killed from a gunshot January 21, not sure who did it.
A 33-year old man from Rafah was shot and killed by those famous "unknown assailants" on the 23rd.

So our updated counts are:
284 Palestinian Arabs killed by each other since Operation Summer Rains,
73 killed in January 2007, and
79 killed so far this year.

Even Maan News, in English no less, noticed that PalArab self-deaths vastly outnumbered those claimed to be killed by Israel in January (they count 50 dead from internal fighting and ignore other murders.)

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

  • Wednesday, January 31, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
In the latest case of mass Arab hysteria, an Israeli newspaper's promotion involving releasing many balloons into the air has been interpreted by Arab sources as an attempt to poison the Lebanese.

Here are what the balloons look like:


Here is how Hezbollah reports on them:

In Beirut's southern suburbs, poisonous balloons with Hebrew markings, similar to the ones found in the south, have been discovered. Security forces are currently investigating the issue.


Here is what Al-Jazeera said:
Media reports and security sources revealed on Sunday that Israeli planes dumped 10 suspicious green balloons over the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre on Saturday.

Sources also said that at least eight people, who attempted to touch the “suspicious green balloons,” are suffering from nausea and dizziness and were taken to the hospital.

The coast of Tyre had been sealed off to prevent people from touching the 'suspicious balloons', believed so far to be poisonous.

The Lebanese National News Agency reported that among those who were rushed to hospital were a Lebanese staff sergeant, a recruit and An Nahar reporter Rana Jouni.

Officials at a hospital in Nabatiyeh confirmed that similar green balloons were dropped over the market-town of Nabatiyeh, 54 kilometres south of the capital.
In the original Hezbollah story, they said that one of the people hurt by these balloons was a reporter from a Lebanese newspaper!

Which goes to show the veracity and gullibility of the Arab press.
PCHR counts a total of 33 killed in the Fatah/Hamas clashes since last Thursday, and one more today, so our count of Palestinian Arabs killed by each other increases to 275 killed since Summer Rains started and 70 killed so far in 2007.
  • Wednesday, January 31, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
Today I visited the burial place of Shmuel HaNavi (Samuel) outside Jerusalem. The site was recognized by the Byzantines also as a holy site, with ruins outside showing where Samuel himself walked as well as a massive Byzantine church that once covered the area.

Last Friday night, the Jewish synagogue that houses the actual tomb-area was vandalized by Arabs, with much damage to both property and to holy books, and at least one Torah was apparently stolen.

The only place I saw mention of this incident was here.

Here is a picture of the damage:


The men who were there today described it to me as a "pogrom."

So we have an amazing situation where an unquestionably Jewish holy site and holy objects were desecrated and the incident barely made even the Israeli newspapers.

A single Koran can be torn and it becomes worldwide news, but a major Jewish site being vandalized is literally not worth mentioning.

One must start to wonder why this is. Is it because it is a "dog-bites-man" story? Is it because admitting that Jews have an historic claim to all of Israel is unfashionable or considered impolite?

Swastikas in American synagogues done by teenagers on a lark get much more press than than the systematic destruction of Jewish holy sites by Muslims in Israel. And I'm not only blaming the liberal press, but even Arutz Sheva barely considered this a story.

There is something very seriously wrong with this picture.
Today I had the opportunity to visit the Kotel Katan, a small part of the Western Wall that can be reached only by walking through the labyrith of streets in the Muslim Quarter. At no point did I feel unsafe walking there with my family.

There were two bored Israeli guards watching the area, and absolutely no one else was there. Since it appears that the Kotel Katan is even closer to the Kodesh K'dashim (Holy of Holies) than the main Kotel, this was surprising and puzzling to me.

Here are two shots of the Kotel Ha-Katan:



Right nearby is a small gate that leads to the Temple Mount itself, also guarded by the same guards to not allow Jews to enter. I did manage to snap a shot through the open door:

Sunday, January 28, 2007

  • Sunday, January 28, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
A very revealing insight in an op-ed in Arabic Maan News (autotranslated):
The words of the need Umm Khalil are identical to the words of journalist Ashraf the Marsh, Group in the newspaper "Jerusalem Arabi", which emphasized that what is happening now is a real tragedy and a national disaster, "not because there is internecine killings, between brothers, but because that constitutes a real threat to the Palestinian issue, whilst Israel is free to persists in the Judaization of the city of Jerusalem and building synagogues and driving local Arab citizens and is now building settlements, and exercise all forms of hooliganism and of assassination operations, and the incursions into Palestinian cities, in the time that the factions of which he of committing massacres and to engage in combat against innocent civilians who do not misdeed them in all that is happening."
There is an amazing psyche at work that regards civil war as only a secondary concern, but because Jews still manage to want to live in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria where they have lived almost continuously for millenia - that is the real problem!

Normal people would call this idea barbaric and bigoted. Normal people would be aghast at how unconcerned Palestinian Arab intelligentsia is at the fact that their own people are murdering each others by the dozens in the streets. A normal nation or tribe would place solving a civil war at the very top of their priority lists because of the value of human life.

But the world remains blind.
  • Sunday, January 28, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
I haven't been able to blog much, but as the headlines show, the PalArabs are back to their normal state of killing each other.

Given the JPost's numbers of 25 killed since Thursday, plus one killed Sunday in Beit Hanoun, our counts of PalArabs violently killed by each other has soared to 267 since Summer Rains and an astonishing 62 since the beginning of this year.

One of my dumber commenters accused me of celebrating whenever PalArabs are killed in this way. While this is categorically false, and I am not the least bit happy when innocents get killed in the crossfire or by false accusations or by gunshots at weddings and the like, I do admit to being quite satisfied when people who belong to terror groups are killing each other. So on the whole, with the exception of people like the 2-year old Bader Abu Qaraya who was killed by the bloodthirsty savages of Hamas (and is therefore called a "martyr" by Fatah), this has been a good weekend.

Friday, January 26, 2007

  • Friday, January 26, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
After a couple of weeks of barely controlled violence between them, Hamas and Fatah have gone back to their normal ways of killing each other.
Gaza - Ma'an - Renewed clashes between the rival Fatah and Hamas movements broke out in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday morning. In the last 24 hours, three Palestinians have been killed in internal fighting (one from Fatah and two from Hamas), seven injured - including two children - and fourteen Palestinians have been abducted (nine from Hamas and five from Fatah) in tit-for-tat kidnappings.

Fatah has accused the Hamas movement and its Executive Force of besieging the house of Nabil Al Jarir, an Al-Aqsa Brigades member, which is the main military wing of Fatah, in Jabalia, in the north of the Gaza. Fatah say that Executive Force members shot at him, killing him, and in addition, they abducted his aide.

This came after an explosion targeted the car of an Executive Force member last night, killing one member, Husam Abu Mteir, and injuring another five force members in the car.

The Executive Force spokesman, Islam Shahwan, told Ma'an that the explosion targeted an Executive Force patrol. He told Ma'an on Thursday night, "the explosive device was planned to target an Executive Force patrol and resulted in the serious injury of two members. At the same time, a number of bystanders including two children were also injured."

In another development, fire was shot at a car belonging to 'Ad Dawa' radio station, which is affiliated to Hamas, and two people were injured. One of the injured, Ra'ed Subuh, 22, later died.
So while I haven't been able to research all the deaths as much as normal the past few days, my PalArab violent self-death counts are now at 244 since Operation Summer Rains and 39 since the beginning of the year.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Palestinian Arabs have so far been guilty, as far as I can tell, of 100% of the crimes that they routinely falsely accuse Jews of committing. This is what is known as "projection" and it happens a lot.

The latest example is that the Palestinian Muslims are stealing Palestinian Christians' land. (Sorry, Jonathan Cook, you have been proven a moron yet again.)
A number of Christian families have finally decided to break their silence and talk openly about what they describe as Muslim persecution of the Christian minority in this city.

The move comes as a result of increased attacks on Christians by Muslims over the past few months. The families said they wrote letters to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the Vatican, Church leaders and European governments complaining about the attacks, but their appeals have fallen on deaf ears.

According to the families, many Christians have long been afraid to complain in public about the campaign of "intimidation" for fear of retaliation by their Muslim neighbors and being branded "collaborators" with Israel.

But following an increase in attacks on Christian-owned property in the city over the past few months, some Christians are no longer afraid to talk about the ultra-sensitive issue. And they are talking openly about leaving the city.

"The situation is very dangerous," said Samir Qumsiyeh, owner of the Beit Sahur-based private Al-Mahd (Nativity) TV station. "I believe that 15 years from now there will be no Christians left in Bethlehem. Then you will need a torch to find a Christian here. This is a very sad situation."

Qumsiyeh, one of the few Christians willing to speak about the harsh conditions of their community, has been the subject of numerous death threats. His house was recently attacked with fire-bombs, but no one was hurt.

Qumsiyeh said he has documented more than 160 incidents of attacks on Christians in the area in recent years.

He said a monk was recently roughed up for trying to prevent a group of Muslim men from seizing lands owned by Christians in Beit Sahur. Thieves have targeted the homes of many Christian families and a "land mafia" has succeeded in laying its hands on vast areas of land belonging to Christians, he added.

Fuad and Georgette Lama woke up one morning last September to discover that Muslims from a nearby village had fenced off their family's six-dunam plot in the Karkafa suburb south of Bethlehem. "A lawyer and an official with the Palestinian Authority just came and took our land," said 69-year-old Georgette Lama.

The couple was later approached by senior PA security officers who offered to help them kick out the intruders from the land. "We paid them $1,000 so they could help us regain our land," she said, almost in tears. "Instead of giving us back our land, they simply decided to keep it for themselves. They even destroyed all the olive trees and divided the land into small plots, apparently so that they could offer each for sale." When her 72-year-old husband, Fuad, went to the land to ask the intruders to leave, he was severely beaten and threatened with guns.

"My husband is after heart surgery and they still beat him," Georgette Lama said. "These people have no heart. We're afraid to go to our land because they will shoot at us. Ever since the beating, my husband is in a state of trauma and has difficulties talking."

The Lamas have since knocked on the doors of scores of PA officials in Bethlehem seeking their intervention, but to no avail. At one stage, they sent a letter to Abbas, who promised to launch an investigation.

"We heard that President Mahmoud Abbas is taking our case very seriously," said Georgette Lama. "But until now he hasn't done anything to help us get our land back. We are very concerned because we're not the only ones suffering from this phenomenon. Most Christians are afraid to speak, but I don't care because we have nothing more to lose."

A Christian businessman who asked not to be identified said the conditions of Christians in Bethlehem and its surroundings had deteriorated ever since the area was handed over to the PA in 1995.

"Every day we hear of another Christian family that has immigrated to the US, Canada or Latin America," he said.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

  • Wednesday, January 24, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
I've mentioned Arabs who saved Jews from the Holocaust before. Now Yad Vashem is set to honor one of them:
An Arab who saved the lives of two dozen Jews during the Holocaust is about to receive an unprecedented honour from Israel. Khaled Abdelwahhab, a wealthy Tunisian landowner, is poised to become the first Arab to be celebrated as a Righteous Gentile.

The award, presented by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust remembrance authority, is granted to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust in which six million died.

More than 21,000 people have been granted the title of Righteous Among the Nations since it was established in 1963, with Oskar Schindler probably the best known. But, in spite of stories of heroism and friendship recorded by members of North Africa’s once-large Jewish community, no candidate has emerged from the Arab Muslim world.

The story of Khaled Abdelwahhab was uncovered by an American Jewish expert on Arab and Islamic politics who was researching for a book.

A survivor told Robert Satloff that Abdelwahhab had rescued 23 Jews, including her family, as they sheltered in an olive oil factory after being thrown out of their homes by German soldiers. He feared that the women were going to be put to work in a brothel and gave them sanctuary for the remaining six months of the German occupation.

Interviewed at her home in Los Angeles a few weeks before her death, Anny Boukris said that Abdelwahhab had discovered that German officers were planning to take her mother, Odette, to work in the brothel they had set up in Mahdia, on the east coast of Tunisia.

Abdelwahhab’s father was a good friend of the Boukris family, so he drove straight to the olive oil factory and told all the Jews sheltering there that their lives were in danger and that they must go with him immediately.

He settled them all at his family farm in the village of Tlelsa, 20 miles from Mahdia, and they remained there until British troops ended the German occupation in April 1943.
...
Estee Yaari, of Yad Vashem, told The Times that a file on Abdelwahhab had been opened and would be considered by a commission of experts led by a supreme court judge. “It looks as if there is enough material to move this forward and he would be the first Arab to become a Righteous Among the Nations,” she said.

Dr Satloff, executive director of the Institute for Near East studies in Washington, uncovered the story of Abdelwahhab’s heroism while working on a book that he hoped would break “the conspiracy of silence” in the Arab world surrounding the rescue of Jews during the Holocaust.

Dr Satloff, who flew to Israel to meet Yad Vashem officials yesterday, said: “These stories are only coming to light now because we haven’t looked too hard before at the Holocaust experience in Arab countries. But another reason is that Arabs who did save Jews didn’t want to be found. They are reluctant to admit that they saved Jews.
As I wrote in October: "As with the Europeans, there were evil Arabs, indifferent Arabs and a small amount of heroic Arabs. We must not forget the good ones just as we must not forget the evil ones."
  • Wednesday, January 24, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
One of the truisms about the PalArab media is that if there is the slightest chance that Israel was involved in the death of an Arab, Israel will be blamed immediately and without any second thought.

But if there is no way to blame Israel, then the person will have died under "mysterious circumstances."

Here's a good example, where a man arrested by Hamas three days ago somehow died. Hamas says it was a heart attack.

Contrast this with this report of a PalArab girl that was said to have been shot by Israel (not only by Maan but by Western news agencies as well).

Now, who really killed her?

For the purposes of my death count, the first example is pretty clear-cut to me so I will include it, the second one is still unclear (although she was not shot) so I will not assume for now that she was a self-death. Which brings the counts up to 241 and 36.

Meanwhile, terror rocket fire continues unabated from Gaza to Israel (well, Jimmy Carter doesn't consider bombs raining from the air randomly in residential neighborhoods to be terror) with five rockets over the past day. As Maan says:
The two brigades assured in separate statements that these operations came in response to Israel's continuous aggression against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. They also vowed their continued resistance and jihad.

I wonder if the word "jihad" in this statement is the inner kind?
  • Wednesday, January 24, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
Sorry, but given a choice of blogging or touring the Holy Land, I gotta go with the Eretz Option.

The Elders are staying in the beautiful Jerusalem neighborhood of Bakah, which isn't touristy at all but is very charming, if a bit out of the way. So I won't have time for too much over the next couple of weeks.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

  • Tuesday, January 23, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
The Socialist Party in Norway announced a boycott of Israel last year.

Since then, imports have increased by 15%.

This sort of thing seems to happen a lot.
  • Tuesday, January 23, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
It appears that an Israeli company is selling vodka with a picture of Jerusalem on it.

And in the picture of Jerusalem one of the buildings has a large dome.

This seems to be a problem, according to Maan News Arabic (autotranslated):
The Aqsa Institution for Reconstructing Islamic sanctities strongly condemned an Israeli firm marketing wine bottles bearing the image of the Dome of the Rock mosque and the city of Jerusalem and is considered a violation of the sanctity of Al Aqsa Mosque and violation of sacrosanct, and disregard for the feelings of millions of Muslims and their sanctities.

(A man saw it while visiting Rehovot and reacted...)

"As soon as my vision for the pictures on bottles of wine I Petkserha and kept one of Publish and circulate it, asking all the officials to act to stop this violation which shook the depths of my feelings."

The Foundation Far Jeroboam, which carries the picture of the Dome of the Rock of the type of vodka bearing the symbol "Afraizrkia" and the name of an Israeli company, "Pouloina of import and export in 2000. Z ", based in the city of Ashdod water, while shows on the back of the bottle being manufactured in the city Vzelia in the State of Ukraine," and that the highest religious body which Jewish rabbis "Rabanut major" has licensed the marketing in addition to Jewish religious schools in Britain.

Commenting on the case lawyer said Zahi Ngidat spokesman for the Islamic movement : "This is a horrendous act of demons company, and that this del, it shows that the craftiness of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa is as a result of Israeli institutional and popular."

For its part, the Aqsa Foundation stated: "It has become clear that the Zionist alliance crazier sinned development agenda in the daily work of the violation of the sanctity of al-Aqsa mosque Quds Fund and its Waqf all buildings and there is no doubt that the marketing of wine bottles carrying posters of the image of the Dome of the Rock and the city of Jerusalem is a violation of the sanctity of Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock mosque, which is one of the holiest Islamic sanctities of Muslims, and that he found and disregard for the feelings of one and a half billion Muslims."
I suppose that one solution would be to move that building elsewhere where it wouldn't pollute the photographs and artwork depicting Jerusalem, so that a half-billion Muslims wouldn't be so offended whenever something like this happens.

After all, this isn't the first time:

Palestinians denounce putting photo of Jerusalem mosque on Israeli wine bottles
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 9/29/1999

The Palestinian Ministry of Information denounced the procedure taken by an Israeli company putting a photo of Jerusalem's Al Aqsa mosque on wine bottles named "Jerusalem 2000," saying, "Starting such a procedure hurts the Moslems' feelings in Jerusalem, Palestine and the whole world."

Amazingly, in the 1999 case the Israeli company caved in:
An Israeli wine maker has agreed to change the design of one of its labels which depicted holy Islamic shrines on the label.

Al-Aqsa Mosque and the adjacent Dome of the Rock - both prominent features of the Jerusalem skyline - appeared on the label of the "Jerusalem 2000" brand produced to mark the coming millennium.

The association between alcohol, which is forbidden in Islam, and religious sites has proved highly offensive to Muslims around the world.

The owner of Baron Wine Cellars, Yonathan Tishbi, said his company had never intended the label to offend anyone, but it has been changed in response to complaints.

Officials at the winery said new labels would come out next week, but would not say what they will look like. Bottles already distributed will not be recalled.

Protests were led by the Secretary General of the Arab League, Esmat Abdel-Meguid, who said the issue illustrated Israeli disdain for Muslim feelings.

As well as religous sensibilities, the label touched on the ultra-sensitive question of the future of Jerusalem, whose future status is due to be discussed by Palestinians and Israelis in the coming months.

"This insolence is consistent with Israeli policies of Judaizing Jerusalem," Yasser Arafat's Palestinain Authority said.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry called for a strong response from the Islamic world to confront what it saw as ridicule.

The action "once again proved that (Israel) will not miss any opportunity to affront and insult the cultural heritage of the Islamic civilization," a spokesman in Tehran said.
(People interested in media bias should not miss the last paragraph of the 1999 BBC story linked here.)

Monday, January 22, 2007

  • Monday, January 22, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
I started reading "Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present" by Michael Oren. It will be a while before I finish it and review it completely, but so far it seems to be an incredible book, meticulously researched, describing America's involvement in the Middle East.

From an early article about this book I was inspired to look up George Bush, an early proto-Zionist, professor of Hebrew and Christian scholar, to see which of his writings I could find on-line. I found a number of scholarly commentaries on the Old Testament as well as a biography of Mohammed that he wrote, but I wasn't able to find the book Oren refers to about the "restoration of the Jews" to Zion (and their conversion.)

Today I did, as a part of a much larger book of Christian pamphlets:

From skimming through it one can see his undeniable scholarship, as he takes apart Ezekiel in English, Hebrew and Greek and spins it towards his thesis.

While I can't tell how influential Bush was compared to the other proto-Zionists I discovered in that same era, I am very much looking forward to reading the rest of Oren's book.
  • Monday, January 22, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
Israel's defense minister Amir Peretz said two interesting, and utterly embarrassing, things at the Herzliya conference:
"Every Palestinian contact that recognizes Israel, I see as a partner in negotiations - even if we're speaking of Hamas."
The naivete and wishful thinking that is revealed in this statement is overwhelming.

The idea of "recognition" is becoming as popular as the idea of a "peace process," a castle in the clouds. Just because Abbas nominally "recognizes" Israel doesn't mean that he does not want to see it destroyed as soon as possible by Palestinian Arab arms.

And Hamas, by ideology, cannot possibly recognize Israel in any meaningful way and still remain Hamas, so to think that if they mouth the words "recognize" that some magic will occur and they can be dealt with as negotiating partners is too stupid for words.
"In spite of the mistakes, there were important achievements during the war. In the end, we changed the reality in southern Lebanon. We proved that the threats of rockets, the kidnappings, and the terror are not capable of leaving us paralyzed and helpless - and furthermore, we exposed the plans of Iran and Syria."
So, how has the reality in Southern Lebanon changed? Apparently not very much, as the border is now filled with Hezbollah flags again and Hezbollah has already replenished all that it had lost. And if it took a war to expose the plans of Iran and Syria vis a vis Hezbollah, then something is seriously wrong with Israel's ability to tell its side of the story, as everybody knew about Iran's involvement with Hezbollah before the war.
  • Monday, January 22, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Ha'aretz:
Some 45 Jews of Sa'ada county in Yemen left their homes after being threatened by radical Muslims, the Saudi daily Al Wattan reported on Monday.

According to the report, the extremists told the Jews to leave their homes within ten days, after which time they will be exposed to abductions and looting.

The Jews moved into a hotel in the town of Sa'ada, north of the Yemenite capital Sana. A formal complaint was submitted to the Yemenite President Abdullah Salah, the report said.

The threat message - attributed to disciples of Shiite-inclined religious leader Hossein Bader a-Din al-Khouty - said that the Jews are acting in a manner that "primarily serves global Zionism, which is acting persistently to disseminate decay amongst the people and to cut them off from their principles, values, their morals and religion."

The message also said that the threats are based on surveillance conducted on the Jews, and that "Islam calls upon us to fight against the disseminators of decay."

Israel Radio on Monday interviewed a recently-arrived immigrant from Yemen, who identified himself only as Masoud, who managed to contact one of the women forced out of their homes.

The man was told that the Jewish community received letters last Friday, saying "whoever remains at his home, will be killed or his children will be taken away."

According to Masoud, the Jews who fled their homes told him "their condition has worsened, they are staying in a hotel, and they are scared." He said that the members of the Jewish community are not interested in immigrating to Israel, and wish to keep living in Yemen.

They blame their strife on the oblivious Yemenite government, which refuses to offer them assistance. The Jewish community, say its members, does not have efficient communication channels with the regime that would allow it to influence its actions.

The Jews under threat contacted local authorities and demanded fair treatment as ordinary Yemenite citizens. They told the authorities among other things that Islam imposes taxes on Jews in return for protection and security.

The Al Watan report said also that last week four masked men approached Yehie Moussa Merhavi, member of the Jewish community, to emphasize the will act on their threats. Merhavi said he was told that if the Jews do not leave their homes in two days, "they will only have themselves to blame" for the consequences, which will include abductions and looting.

Following the incident, the community was forced to evacuate the homes in which they lived for generations, and leave their home town under the protection of tolerant local sheikhs.

"We have been taken out of our homes, our money is lost, we cannot provide for our children. We came to the county's capital (Sada) to plea before the president and the government to treat us fairly, because we are Yemenites," Merhavi told Al Watan.

The Jewish community in Yemen consists of several hundred members, who are not interested in leaving it. The Jews maintain a community life, including a cheder for children's torah instruction and regularly pray.
The original al-Watan autotranslated article is here.

The last paragraph of the al-Watan article says:
A complaint filed by Jews to the Governor of the province, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh appealed for Muslims to protect them from the threat of massacre, especially as they *mion, imposed by the tributes to Islam and give them the right to protection and security, in addition to the pocket of the rights guaranteed to them by the constitution and the law like all other citizens.

Evidently the Jizya poll-tax on Jews that are meant to protect them isn't quite as effective as Muslims may have you think.

To its credit, al-Watan seems to be on the Jews' side, and includes a couple of pictures of the community:


More on the remaining Yemenite Jewish community can be found in the Jewish Virtual Library.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

  • Sunday, January 21, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
At the El-Bashiti wedding in Khan Younis, Gaza last Thursday, one of the happy celebrants lost control of his assault rifle. He killed the groom's brother and injured three others, including one of those ubiqitous "security officers" and two teenage boys.

This is of course not unusual in the peaceful land of Palestan: I have documented a few other wedding manslaughters. But it is no big deal - because these people weren't killed by Israelis, no one really cares.

Meanwhile, on Friday a 51-year old was also assassinated in Khan Younis by gunfire from a car as he was going to the mosque, so our counts of Palestinian Arabs violently killed by Palestinian Arabs are now at 238 since Summer Rains and 33 so far in 2007.

UPDATE: Dead body found in Hebron, evidently "criminal activity." 239 and 34.

UPDATE 2: Man in his 30's shot and killed in the Bureij camp in a clan clash. 240 and 35.
  • Sunday, January 21, 2007
  • Elder of Ziyon
The 103rd Haveil Havalim is out.

As they say in the old country: mamesh brilliant.

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