Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, February 15, 2007

The media's love affair with Arab dictators

Diane Sawyer's obsequious interviews with the Syria's dictator and Iran's madman are hardly the first times that the Western media tried to turn terror-supporting Muslim leaders into heroes.

Read, if you can, this fawning 1955 cover story from Time magazine on Gamal Abdel Nasser. Here are some excerpts:

Gamal Abdel Nasser, a handsome, dedicated soldier of only 37, is the one man in Egypt who could give such an order and have it obeyed. Last week, further curbing some of his impatient lieutenants and the Moslem hotheads who would like to provoke a full-scale war with Israel, he endorsed United Nations efforts to create a buffer zone or stretch a barrier along the border dividing Israel and Egypt at the hypersensitive Gaza strip. There is an intimate connection between Nasser and The Strip. It was there that the fuse was lit to Egypt's 1952 revolution, and it was Gamal Nasser who struck the match.

Seven years ago, Egypt, a power in the Moslem world, had come sweeping across the Sinai Peninsula to throttle the infant Israel at its U.N. birth. But decades of corruption in palace and government paid off disastrously in lack of ammunition, inferior arms and cowardly officering. Captain Nasser's unit was surrounded at Faluja, a few miles from Gaza. He saw his commanding officer wringing his hands and crying: "The soldiers are dying! The soldiers are dying!"

Dug in under Israeli fire, Nasser, as he later wrote, reflected: "Here we are in these foxholes, surrounded, in danger, thrust treacherously into a battle we were not ready for our lives the playthings of greed, conspiracy and lust which have left us here weaponless under fire." Said a comrade, "Gamal, the front is not here, it is in Cairo." Nasser turned to the front, plotted a revolution, toppled a king and rose to be ruler of Egypt's 22,500,000, the most powerful, most energetic and potentially most promising leader among the long divided, long misled Moslems of the Middle East.
...
The shortcomings and setbacks have disappointed those—both inside and outside Egypt—who began to talk of a new Ataturk when the dashing young soldier sprang up from obscurity and took charge. Yet in Western capitals, Nasser is still looked upon as Egypt's best hope for decent government, a moderate among the hotheaded many who would fight Israel even at the cost of suicide, a man who perhaps some day can grow into the dominant Middle Eastern leader he aspires to be. Even in Israel, officials say privately that they would be sorry to see Nasser fall from power. "Without Nasser," says a British Foreign Office diplomat, "Egypt will be one unholy mess, another Syria."
...
Nasser does not look like a man with a chip on his shoulder. He carries 200 Ibs. with the lithe grace of a big, handsome All-America fullback. His wiry, close-cropped hair is greying at the temples and thinning just above the forehead, where there is a faint scar made by a police club. He has a big, slightly hooked nose and a close-trimmed black mustache, a row of regular, white teeth and a brilliant, easy smile. His eyes are piercing and brown, and he talks quietly, gently, and has never been known to raise his voice or lose his temper. Beneath his apparent softness, there is a streak of rough, tough ruthlessness. Last week in his Cairo office, he talked quietly, but he let the toughness come through.

"We have no hostile attitude towards America," he said. "I have always tried to build up friendly relations, only keeping in mind that these relations must not take us toward any sort of domination. But gradually, I have realized that there is always some obstacle between us, and that obstacle is Israel. America helps Israel with money and moral support, and they use the money to buy equipment to be used against us. But when we ask America to supply us with arms for defense, nothing is done."
...
While he expands his personal power, Nasser is coming closer to the day next January when he has promised to transform his military rule into representative government and give Egyptians a parliament. Not even Gamal Nasser himself seems certain that he will keep that promise. "Throughout my life," he confesses, "I have had faith in militarism." The army is the only sector of power he so far has found it possible to trust, and even there he fears that unless he can provide more equipment, morale will fall and officers will weaken to subversion from the Communist left or the passion-inflaming Moslem extremists.
...
If earnestness were enough—which it is not—Nasser and Egypt would be making fast progress toward that goal. The Premier himself lives with remarkable austerity in a five-room, sand-colored house inside the army compound in Cairo's Abbasiya military district. He allows himself almost none of the personal privileges now within his means. "I did not go there before," he once explained to an associate who wondered why the Premier refused to go inside the fashionable Semiramis Hotel. In the first days of power he liked to wear a military bush tunic, open at the neck, with a couple of rows of ribbons and the insignia of a lieutenant colonel, but now he prefers a plain grey suit.
...
It is easy to read a plot into some of Nasser's recent moves. Cairo's Voice of the Arabs radio pours a stream of anti-French propaganda into Morocco, and Nasser gives warm asylum to old Riff Rebel Abd el Krim, a key North African troublemaker, as well as to Jerusalem's Jew-hating Mufti. In the Gaza strip he allows, if he does not approve, the arming and training of the Al Fedayeen commandos, teams of Palestine Arab refugees which periodically cross the border to raid Israel.
...

"I don't think I am a dictator," says Premier Nasser quietly. "I don't have the character for it. I am sentimental, like all our people. But I am going on with the revolution—until I meet a better assassin."

Wow...Time's reporters really had a great knack for getting to know someone, didn't they?

Arabs destroy Tu B'Shevat trees

Tu B'Shevat, on the Hebrew calendar, marks the New Year for trees. Although this has various Jewish legal ramifications, in modern Israel it means that this was the traditional time to plant new trees.

From Arutz Sheva:

An American-born leftist and liberal rabbi led Arabs and foreign activists in an effort to prevent thousands of school children in the B'nai Akiva movement from planting trees in honor of Tu B'Shevat, the Jewish New Year for Trees.

The children this past week began to hike up a hill at the industrial area of the southern Hevron Hills, between Be'er Sheva and Hevron, in order to plant more than 5,000 pine and cedar trees.

Liberal rabbi Arik Ascherman, a few other left wing activists and several Arabs, stood in their path.

The police, fearing a confrontation, told the children not to continue until authorities from the Civil Lands Administration arrived and showed Ascherman documents and permits proving that the land belongs to the regional council. Regional council official Akiva London said permits were obtained for the event.

As Ascherman left the area, children overheard him say, "There is day and there is night." Two nights later, vandals uprooted approximately half of the 5,000 cedar and pine trees that the children had planted. Footprints leading to nearby Arab shacks indicated the source of the damage.

"How do you explain to children that Arabs uprooted trees they planted with their own hands?" asked Akiva London, an official of the southern Hevron Hills.

...The regional council is carrying out re-planting of the trees that survived the vandalism and plans to build a fence and install a surveillance camera in the area to prevent future more uprootings.

This is another great opportunity to point out Elder's First Rule of Arab (and Muslim) Projection: Arabs will project their own crimes and worldviews on everyone else. In this case, Arabs are far more guilty of destroying Jewish-owned trees than Jews are of Arab-owned trees. Yet you will never see the mainstream media mention that fact.

Saudi price to build hotel - in Tel Aviv

From YNet:

Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is in negotiations to build a hotel on Tel Aviv's coastline.

Two architects have already started working on the project. The one is Bin Talal's private architect, who had worked with him on oriental hotels across the world, Basel al-Beiti. The other is former Tel Aviv Chief City Engineer, Yisrael Gudovich.

The planned project is a joint venture with the Abulafya family, which owns a structure on a 1-acre plot on Herbert Samuel Street.

According to the blueprints submitted to the Tel Aviv Municipality, an eight-story, 150-room hotel is planned to be built on the site.

Bin Talal is the nephew of the late Saudi King Faisal, and is believed to be worth $26.4 billion.

Mughrabi Gate webcam up and running

It can be seen here at the Israel Antiquities Authority website. (The site works best with Internet Explorer.)

There are no further digs until Sunday morning. It looks like it is raining in Jerusalem at the moment.

Already some amazing things have been found, like a Byzantine mosaic.

Will the webcam convince any nutty Muslims who are just itching to riot that Israel has no intentions of harming the Al Aqsa mosque? Of course not, but at least Western liberals who still have half a brain will be able to see that Israel has nothing to hide.

UPDATE: AP confirms my suspicions:

However, angry Muslims said they were not satisfied with the cameras.
"This procedure is not enough," said Ismail Radwan, a spokesman for the militant Palestinian group Hamas. "The Zionist enemy is engaging in trickery and continuing its digging. We don't trust these procedures."

Public domain English Talmud translations

Just messing around in Google Books, and I discovered:

Rodkinson's translation of Rosh Hashanah (Rabbi J. Leonard Levy, 1895)
Rodkinson's translation of Shabbath (Rodkinson and Isaac Wise, 1896)
Rodkinson's Shekalim and Rosh Hashanah (1901)
A Christian translation of Chagigah (Annesley William Streane, 1891)

Rodkinson usually only translated an abridged form of each mesechta, ignoring aggadata and what he considered irrelevant segues.

I didn't look too closely at the Streane Chagigah but just its existence is interesting. There were a number of Christian books about the Talmud in the late 19th century, all seemingly in the wake of a book about the Talmud written by Emanuel Deutsch in 1874. One interesting one was "The Criminal Code of the Jews: According to the Talmud Massecheth Synhedrin" by one Philip Berger Benny, who originally wrote it as a series of columns for a British newspaper!

But if you are really interested in such things, look at the English Hebraica blog.

Another horrible example of Israeli apartheid

Since this is Israeli Apartheid Week, I would be remiss not to contribute a small example from the Palestinian Arab Ma'an News (English):

Bethlehem - Ma'an - Issa Al-Zananiri, 25, is an engineering graduate of Birzeit University near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Originally from the Jerusalem suburb of Beit Hanina, Al-Zananiri applied after completing his undergraduate degree to study a Masters in Engineering at the Israeli 'Technion' Institute of Technology in Haifa.

At Technion, Al-Zananiri found himself under the supervision of a professor who had lost his father in an armed operation against an Israeli bus in Egypt in 1990. Issa only discovered the truth about the supervisor, Yoram Shifton, while preparing for his interview for acceptance on Tecnhion's higher education program.

Issa told the Israeli newspaper 'Yedioth Ahranoth', "I arrived at the interview with many fears interacting inside me but I only found in my supervisor cooperation and help, far from any aggressive atmosphere."

When Zananiri arrived at the "Technion" institute, he did not know Hebrew and so he began studying it from home, making use of dictionaries, the internet and television.

As Zananiri's family home is on the West Bank side of the wall that runs through the suburb of Beit Hanina, Issa also greatly relied on the help of his supervisor to obtain the necessary permit to enter Israel for his Masters. Shifton stood by him until he graduated and then helped him obtain a job in the company "BGL1", which specializes in public transportation planning and is responsible for the planning of the proposed light railway in Tel Aviv in Israel.

Issa said, "They accepted me to work with them without hesitation because of the recommendation of my higher studies' supervising professor".

Issa describes himself as a Palestinian who, during his studies at Birzeit University, opposed the bombing operations and even the throwing of stones at Israeli cars. He said that he is grateful for being absorbed into the Israeli community. He currently lives in an apartment with his brother in Haifa and works in Tel Aviv in the planning team of the city's trains.

So the terrible apartheid state of Israel allows a Palestinian Arab who opposes terror to work on its public transportation system that has been attacked and bombed numerous times by other Palestinian Arabs.

A professor whose father was murdered by other Arabs is his main champion.

Yup - this sounds exactly like the Israel that is being described by the idiots behind "Israel Apartheid Week."

Bonus question: where is it safer for Zananiri to live, among the racist Jews in Haifa or among the patriotic PalArabs of Beit Hanina, especially after this interview where he stated that he was against "even" stone-throwing at Israeli cars?

Guess who Iran blames for the Lebanon bus bombings?

The question is rhetorical.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini on Tuesday condemned bombings in Bikfaya in Lebonan.

"These explosions are suspicious activities which are in the service of the Zionist regime," he said in a statement.

Hosseini also said the bombings were carried out "to target Lebanese people and their solidarity and resistance against the plots of the Zionist regime".

Aid to PA skyrockets: rich get richer, poor get poorer, Hamas gets more powerful

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics just released an interesting report:

The president of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), Luay Shabaneh, has revealed that the rich in the occupied Palestinian territories became richer and the poor became poorer over 2006, in spite of the international community aid which amounted to some US $816 million in 2006, compared with $ 352 million in 2005.

Speaking in a forum organized by the ministry of information in Nablus in the north of the occupied West Bank, Shabaneh added that the rich and the poor accounted for 10 percent each of the national income in 2005, but in 2006 the rich people accounted for 36 percent of the national income and the poor were only accounting for 3 percent.

I've seen other numbers showing how aid has increased to the PalArabs under the "boycott":

The European Union in 2006 gave 27 percent more aid to the Palestinians than in 2005, about €700 million, or $910 million, through a mechanism designed to aid individuals but formally bypass the Hamas-led government.

Even according to the PCBS, the amount of international aid skyrocketed in 2006 despite the "international boycott." This aid was meant specifically for the poorest of the PalArabs and supposedly bypassed the Hamas-run PA. Yet somehow, the rich Palestinian Arabs managed to get much richer and the poor seem to have received very little of this aid, all under the watchful eyes of the non-corrupt Hamas-led PA. (The report itself is not yet available on their webpage.)

The corruption in the PA is endemic, widespread and staggering.

Yet international aid organizations are ready to blame everyone but the Palestinian Arabs themselves. Oxfam just came out with a report showing that millions of euros are wasted in bank charges and therefore recommends giving money directly to the terrorists again - but completely ignores that even with this waste, Palestinian Arabs are getting far more aid than the previous year.

Interestingly, the EU aid mechanism and the US and Olmert's attempts to bypass Hamas and support Abbas has ended up supporting Hamas itself, by relieving the pressure on Hamas to provide basic services. As a Palestinian Arab wrote in the Yemen Observer last week:

The US, European countries, and Fatah leaders pledged that Hamas would not stay in power for more than three of four months due to Palestinian public pressure after discovering that Hamas will not be able to run a government isolated politically and financially. But observers see that Hamas will not make any concessions or leave governance without a pressure from the Palestinian street. With a Palestinian people taking salaries and grants from international community and Israel via Abbas, there is no need to change the Hamas Government.

It is ironic, but not surprising, that the methods meant to bolster the "moderate" PalArab terrorists have ended up strengthening the "extreme" PalArab terrorists.

Time for some good news

The Tel Aviv stock exchange hit record highs today.

Investors are rarely philanthropic. They are out to make money, and as such, a stock market is usually a pretty good indicator of the thinking of the smartest financial minds in the world (there are exceptions, of course, when a herd mentality or fad takes over.)

It is remarkable that - even with the threats facing Israel every day - it is considered a very good place to invest.

Who's afraid of the truth?

As I've mentioned before, the major problem that Arabs have with any digs in Jerusalem has nothing to do with mosques, holy places or weakening foundations. Their major concern is that they don't want anything Jewish to be found by archaeologists, because they want to keep their myths alive that Jerusalem has no Jewish history.

Another proof that the issue is "Judaizing" and not anything else comes from the Palestine Center for Human Rights press release concerning the digs, with the headline "As the International Community Remains Silent, Israeli Occupation Authorities Continue the Judaization of Occupied Arab Jerusalem."

Again applying Elder's First Rule of Arab Projection, let's look at the Palestinian National Commission for Education, Culture and Science webpage and specifically its page about Jerusalem.

Almost nothing is mentioned about any Jewish rule or influence in Jerusalem's history. No David, no Solomon, and the Second Temple is only mentioned as possibly existing for less than a century. Here's the only section (out of 30) that acknowledges any Jewish claims on the area, and interestingly it is the only section that does not include a picture:

23. Al-Buraq (The Western Wall, Wailing Wall)

One of the Islamic holy places, this wall is part of the western wall of the Haram al-Sharif. It is named after al-Buraq (the elevation) that carried the prophet Mohammad (Peace be upon him) on his journey from Mecca to Jerusalem. Moslems believe that it was tied up at this site.

The Jews called it the Wailing Wall. They claim it as part of the wall around their Temple that was built by Herod the Great in 18 BC and was destroyed by Titus in 70 AD. It is a holy place for them and they used to weep whenever they visited it, thence the name Wailing Wall.

The site is an endowment of the Algerian family Abu Midain. In the reign of Muhammad Ali Basha Jews used to obtain permits to visit the site in return for 300 pounds a year. During the British Mandate some Jews broke the “status quo” by bringing seats, lamps and curtains and claiming it as their property. The result was a revolt, called the al-Buraq revolt, of August 1929. More than 116 martyrs fell, 232 people were injured, 1000 were imprisoned and three were executed, namely Ata al-Zear, Muhammad Jamjaum and Fu’ad Hijazi.

The decision was taken in 1930 that the Moslems are the sole owners of the wall, but Jews were given the right to pray there under the conditions stipulated by the committee.

The simple fact is that Jews, by digging in Jerusalem, are not afraid of what will be found. Jerusalem archaeology is replete with finds from not only Jewish periods of history but also Byzantine, Roman, Islamic and Jebusite. This is not considered a threat, as the truth is not something to be feared.

But even a cursory look at this one entry in the Palestinian Arab "educational" site shows that the truth is the furthest thing from the minds of those who create the PalArab educational curriculum - it is nothing short of brainwashing. To mention the 1929 riots purely in terms of numbers of Arabs killed (by the British, not Jews) and to ignore the massacres against Jews in Hebron, Tzfat and Jerusalem is astonishing.

And this aversion to truth, and stubborn adherence to clear lies, is endemic even among the Arab intelligentsia. Look at this article that has been spread widely among Arab and far left website in the past day by "journalist" Nicola Nasser:

The eye of the present storm is Bab al-Magharibah, located in the southern section of al-Haram al-Sharif's western wall, which connects Al Aqsa Mosque compound with Jerusalem's southern neighborhoods; it was used by the residents of the Magharibah Quarter which was demolished by Israeli bulldozers in June 1967 to build the “Jewish Quarter” in its place. On 28 September, 2000, the comatose former Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, used Bab al- Magharibah as his entry point to “visit” the Haram al-Sharif, igniting a firestorm of protest and sparking the Al Aqsa Intifada (uprising), which brought the peace process to a deadlock until now. In August of 1929, the same site sparked an uprising known in Palestinian political literature as the “Al-Buraq Revolt.”

Al-buraq is the Arab-Islamic name of Al Aqsa compound’s western wall, which the Jews called the “Wailing Wall” before changing it to the “Western Wall (of the Temple Mount, a widely-spread knowledge that has yet to be vindicated by historical fact or archeological findings) after the creation of Israel in 1948. The Israeli Occupying power after its overwhelming victory in 1967 confiscated by force the keys to Bab al-Magharibah from the Islamic Waqf to make them ever since Israel’s “Achilles’ heel” or “Joha's nail” to claim its imposed “partnership” on the Haram al-Sharif, later using that self-proclaimed “partnership” at the Camp David negotiations in 2000 to demand joint sovereignty over the mosque area.

How many lies can you find in this article? But these lies are the currency of discourse among Arabs, and their greatest fear is the existence of hundreds of Jewish buildings, ritual baths, coins, pottery shards, Hebrew inscriptions and other evidence of how Jerusalem has been the center of the Jewish universe since King David.

Finding this evidence - uncovering the truth - is the greatest fear of the Arabs.

It's time again to play: Who's Telling the Truth?

Palestinian Arab news:

Gaza – Ma'an - Palestinian security sources said that 20 year old, Mohammad Shakir Sa'eedi, a member of the Al Aqsa Brigades, the main military wing of Fatah, was killed by Israeli forces, east of Gaza City on Tuesday morning.

Medical sources said that an ambulance that was transporting two injured Palestinians, including Sa'eedi, was targeted by the Israeli forces, Sa'eedi died and the other sustained serious wounds.

Eyewitnesses said that Sa'eedi was injured along with another man in an armed clash with the Israeli forces, near the border fence east of the Gaza Strip, medical sources confirmed the injury of two Palestinians on Tuesday morning, and told Ma'an that the Israeli forces shot at the ambulance while transporting the two men at 8 am.

Israeli news:

A Palestinian man was killed during a gun battle between an armed cell belonging to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Fatah, and IDF forces near the Karni crossing in northern Gaza.

The cell was carrying an explosive device, which detonated during the exchange of fire, killing one of the gunmen.

The Karni goods crossing has been a frequent target of attacks in the past. (Hanan Greenberg and Ali Waked).

Which one passes the smell test?

Wafa and IMEMC Palestinian Arab sources don't mention a thing about them being in an ambulance.

UPDATE: YNet adds much more detail now:

A Palestinian was killed Tuesday morning in exchanges of fire which erupted near the Karni crossing between Israel Defense Forces soldiers and gunmen of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Fatah's military wing.

During the exchanges of fire, an explosive device belonging to the gunmen exploded, killing one of them. Kalashnikov rifles were found in the area.

Shortly before 9 a.m., IDF soldiers spotted two gunmen attempting to plant an explosive device on the border fence near the Karni crossing. Soldiers from the Givati Brigade arrived at the area and exchanges of fire erupted between the troops and the gunmen.

During the exchanges of fire, the gunmen's explosive device exploded, killing one of them. The soldiers searched for the other gunman.

IDF officials estimated that the two planned to carry out a terror attack, as rifles and weapons were found in the area.

Palestinian sources reported that the man killed in the incident was Muhammad Saidi, 20, a member of the al-Aqsa Brigades.

Egyptian MP would rather see Al-Aqsa destroyed than Israeli dig

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?

PalArab self-death count update

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.

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.

Qassam rocket fire continues. Has Olmert given up?

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.

Where are the Muslims who can distinguish facts from fiction?

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.

Peaceful unity government scorecard

Here's what the new peaceful unified Palestinian Arab factions are up to in the past 24 hours:

A bus carrying Canadian tourists in east Jerusalem was pelted with stones Saturday in what police described as an organized protest spurred by Hamas.
The Al Aqsa Brigades and the Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades announced responsibility for the launching of three mortars "at an Israeli military post" near the Gaza Strip on Friday.
A Palestinian Arab was injured in an explosion in his home in Khan Younis, in what appears to be a "work accident" as he was building a bomb.
A jewelry shop owned by a Hamas supporter in Nablus was shot up.
A Fatah offshoot called "Yasir Arafat's Group" shot two missiles at Sderot.
Israel arrested thirty stone throwers near Rachel's Tomb.
An explosion in the Gaza Strip injure 6 PalArabs - Israel says a Qassam blew up prematurely, the PalArabs say that Israel shot at them as they tried to plant an explosive device.
The IDF discovered two bombs that a PalArab tried to smuggle in through the Hawara checkpoint and destroyed them in a controlled explosion.

And, in case this isn't enough,

A Hamas leader called on PalArabs to end their "truce" with Israel.

Elie Wiesel attacked by Holocaust denier, media yawns

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.

Terror wins again

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.

Media ignores Arab racism in Jerusalem

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.

Polite requests from Fatah

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.

How to solve the Temple Mount problem

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.

Temple Mount clarity

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.

Zionism promotes Muslim unity

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.)

Textbook case

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.

A little context on Temple Mount digs

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.

Exclusive Elder video!

More Arab terrorists kill each other. Yawn.

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.

Christiane Amanpour, Zionist Spy

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"?

Mossad killing Iranian nuke scientists?

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!

An interesting subtext

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.

The insanity of negotiating the Golan

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.

"Poison balloons" redux

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.

Another death count update

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.)

Watch out for those lethal balloons!

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.

Self-death count update

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.

Jewish shrine vandalized by Arabs. Does anyone care?

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.

Ha-Kotel Ha-Katan (updated)

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:

Civil war isn't what bothers PalArabs.

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.

I'm sure it's all the Joooooz fault

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.

Hamas/Fatah resume killing each other

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.