Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, March 09, 2009

Jews "storm" their own holy site

Dozens of Jewish settlers entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound from the Moroccan Gate (Bab Al-Maghariba) Monday afternoon, according to the Al-Aqsa foundation for Waqf and Heritage.

The foundation said in a statement that Israeli police guarded settlers who were led by a Rabbi. The group toured the compound starting from the southern mosque to the Marwani mosque in the east. Then they went to the Bab Ar-Rahma (Compassion Gate) in the north, then they headed west then to the (Chain Gate) near the Dome of the Rock staircase. Several settlers tried to enter the Dome of the Rock, but were prevented by the guards.

During the tour, settlers performed prayers and rituals, and a heated argument was observed when Muslim worshippers tried to prevent the settlers from performing some of the rites on the holy Islamic area. Israeli police intervened in the altercation and prevented it from escalating.

The Arabic version is a bit more strident:

Dozens of members of Jewish groups stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque via the Moroccan Gate and held prayers before noon on Monday.

Notice that the Arabic version doesn't use the word "settlers", since the intended audience is offended by any Jews who decide they want to go to the holiest spot on the planet. The English-speaking readers of Ma'an wouldn't see the big problem with Jews in the Temple Mount, so Ma'an needs to refer to them as "settlers."

Islamic Jihad's mouthpiece Palestine Today is even more upset:

Dozens of members of extremist Jewish groups on Monday afternoon after prayers, 9-3-2009, broke into the Al-Aqsa Mosque through the gate, under the custody of the Israeli police, and led by one of the "rabbis" of Jews.

During the raid, the members of these groups began to perform religious rituals in several places, and when some of the (Muslim) congregation tried to prevent the settlers from carrying out this ritual, Israeli police intervened in favor of the extremists and the Jewish groups completed their rituals under strict protection.

It is almost as if they pretend not to know what was on the Temple Mount way before the Quran was written.

Roger Cohen: Hamas wants peace, Israel doesn't

Roger Cohen, heady from all his newfound publicity and trying very hard to supplant Thomas Friedman as the NYT's wise man of the Middle East, decides that Hamas and Hezbollah need to be legitimized by the West:

The 1988 Hamas Charter is vile, but I think it’s wrong to get hung up on the prior recognition of Israel issue. Perhaps Hamas is sincere in its calls for Israel’s disappearance — although it has offered a decades-long truce — but then it’s also possible that Israel in reality has no desire to see a Palestinian state.

This paragraph is the perfect example of anti-Israel bias.

Hamas says explicitly, in many ways and at many times, that its goal is to destroy Israel. Israel, for better or worse, has explicitly accepted the idea of a Palestinian state for the past sixteen years.

Yet Cohen is willing to overlook Hamas' position - in fact, its entire raison d'etre - and assume that Hamas really wants to live in peace with Israel. His assumption, not borne out by even a wisp of a fact, is his basis for accepting Hamas.

But Israel really wanting peace? No, no, that's crazy! When Israelis says they want peace, they are lying! You can't trust those Israelis! They are much worse warmongers than Hamas terrorists are! As Cohen helpfully adds:

The Gaza war was a travesty; I have never previously felt so shamed by Israel’s actions.

Cohen, in a single paragraph, bends over backwards to exonerate Hamas for terror and implacable hate while at the same time accusing Israel of worse terror and implacable hate.

When Cohen calls for negotiations, he is asking for a process to begin where people's words have meaning; where the representatives of each side are assumed to be telling the truth and are putting their positions forth in good faith. Negotiations without the ability to trust the words of one of the sides is worthless. Cohen, however, calls Hamas leaders liars for saying they want to destroy Israel and calls Israeli leaders liars for saying they want to live in peace with Palestinian Arabs.

And he wants both sets of liars to negotiate!

This must be an example of that nuance that we keep hearing about from enlightened liberals - it means that they can read minds and extract the real, deeper truth that is at odds with all facts and explicit statements.

There's lots more to find disgusting about this piece; see Soccer Dad.

Galloway ties himself up in his own "logic"

Moonbat George Galloway explains why all that "desperately needed aid" for Gaza has strings attached:

The problem is that the authorities are insisting that some of the vehicles, led by the big red Manchester fire engine and the truck carrying a generator, should cross through an Israeli checkpoint, rather than this one.
Egypt is extremely sensitive to Israeli demands, no doubt with US leverage as well. But our attitude is that we've come all this way together and we're not going to be split now. All for one, one for all.

Now, there's an attitude that "starving Gazans" can understand: a quote from The Three Musketeers!

Perhaps sensing that this reason might not fly, Galloway offers another:

To give in to this would be to admit to Israeli command and control, which we can't do.

And yet, he just admitted that Egypt controls the border, by allowing some of the vehicles to cross through Rafah. So Galloway needs to offer yet a third reason to keep those Gaza residents waiting for their aid:

But we can't accept a special favour from Israel which, for almost two years, has sealed the borders and starved the Palestinian people, a communal punishment which is illegal under the Geneva Conventions.

So the ambulances, generator, food and medicine is less important than Galloway's pride at accepting a "special favour" from Israel, which during the course of his trip from England has delivered 47,000 tons of aid and millions of liters of fuel.

Not only that, but much of the aid that Israel sent through its crossings came from Jordan and Dubai - whose interest in helping Gazans is more important to them than the fact that Israel is the conduit. Is Galloway more pro-Gazan than the Arabs who send aid through Israel?

Or is his own ego more important than Gazans getting aid? After all, he happily reports being greeted by sheep and goats:

It's frustrating, but we wait. A game of football has started between Brits and Libyan drivers who have joined our convoy. Earlier, a massive cheering crowd of thousands of local people, as well as hundreds of goats and sheep, greeted us when we arrived.

He pointedly didn't mention the Egyptians who pelted his convoy with stones and sprayed anti-Hamas slogans on the trucks. As is often the case with moonbats, their own sense of self-importance trumps the needs of the people they pretend to want to help.

More proof of Galloway's ego taking precedence over the aid:

This has been an amazing journey. The only slight blemish has been the neglect of it in the press back home, with some notable exceptions.
The Guardian even unearthed a Trotskyist in Egypt - the only one, surely - to pour ordure on me. I bet it wouldn't have happened to Bono.

And I bet Bono would have happily sent aid through Israel.

The intifada against Galloway's convoy

It is amazing how one's perspective on stone-throwers can change when you are the target:

A British convoy led by MP George Galloway with medical relief for Gaza was pelted with stones and vandalised in the Egyptian town El-Arish on Sunday, an organiser said.
The convoy, which set out from London last month carrying relief supplies valued at one million pounds (1.4 million dollars), arrived in El-Arish, about 45 kilometres (28 miles) from the Rafah passage to Gaza, on Saturday.
"It's an absolute disgrace," convoy organiser Yvonne Ridley told AFP. "The power was cut. During cover of darkness members of our convoy were attacked with stones.
"Vandals also wrote dirty words and anti-Hamas slogans," she said. "Several people in the convoy were injured in the attack."
A security official told AFP that during a power cut, which is a frequent occurrence in the town, children had pelted the convoy with stones.

How can Ridley call children throwing stones a "disgrace?" Isn't that what she and her fellow moonbats tell each other is how the proud Palestinian Arab "resistance" brings Israel to its knees?

(Iran's PressTV is reporting that the stone-throwers were associated with Fatah, which hardly seems likely.)

Egypt is telling the convoy that medicines can go through Rafah but food needs to go through the Israeli crossing at Kerem Shalom. And here is where the moonbats let the world know that Gazans really don't need food that much.

Apparently, ordinary Egyptians are not so enamored of Hamas' beliefs and methods as the Europeans are. The closer you are to Hamas, it appears, the less you like Hamas..

In the shameless pursuit of gratuitous page hits, I once again present Rule 5 Sunday, where I follow The Other McCain's Rule 5 and find interesting pictures of women that I can somehow pretend belong on this blog.

Today's entry comes from a Lebanese fashion show, shown in Al Quds newspaper.

Apparently, one of Al Quds' readers associated such filth with...Jews. Here's the auto-translated comment, which I must confess I don't quite understand:

The Jews only Msoat including the gain back on your hands

No wonder why the punishment inflicted on you ... . Box of sex work.

Cryptic, yes, but I think we might be getting the gist of it.

Speaking of fashion, Hamas members have now introduced a new type of mask. Much more comfortable than the standard ski mask, it appears to be made out of...panty hose?

This rally was in solidarity with Sudan's President al-Bashir. Because Darfur is nothing compared to Israeli "crimes."

Galloway's group starts fight with Egyptian police

From DPA:

Multi-national activists belonging to British MP George Galloway's "Viva Palestina" humanitarian aid convoy clashed on Sunday with Egyptian security forces in the north Sinai town of al-Arish, close to the border with Gaza. Clashes erupted after the convoy was refused entry to the crossing point at the town of Rafah, which is bisected by the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Egyptian authorities on Sunday said they would allow Galloway and members of the convoy to enter Gaza through Rafah, but that entry of the convoy itself would have to be coordinated with Israel. As members of the convoy refused to follow orders, they returned back to al-Arish where a row erupted with security police that led to the injury of two activists.

Peace activists sure like to start fights, don't they?

And once again we are left to ponder: if they are trying to bring aid to Gaza, why not coordinate with Israel? One must conclude that they don't give a damn about Gazans getting that aid, but only about their own political posturing against Israel.

Convergence of idiots at Rafah

Today, three separate groups have descended on Rafah in Egypt, trying to get into Gaza to call attention to how evil Israel is, and to give some token humanitarian aid to Gaza:

American and European delegations attempting to enter Gaza via the Rafah border crossing remained at the gate Friday after being consistently denied passage.
The 10 members of the American delegation, titled the Gaza Medical/Mental Delegation, camped in front of the Rafah gate Thursday night but their efforts to pass through into Gaza have been repeatedly thwarted by authorities at the crossing.
“The answer is always no,” American activist from the delegation Inaya Khalil told Daily News Egypt in a telephone interview.
Besides the 10 Americans, there are 19 Italians, 14 British, two French and one Swiss national also at the crossing not being permitted entry into Gaza. The delegations are made up of doctors, social workers and filmmakers.
Despite the lack of success in their fourth attempt in four days to enter Gaza, Khalil indicated that the delegation had no intention of leaving and would remain at the crossing.
“Egyptian authorities are telling us that they have enough medical relief inside Gaza but that’s not what I’ve heard,” Bryant said. “This is a typical thing that the US and Israel have done in several areas, it’s ethnic cleansing. What’s a wall for? It’s collective punishment.”
Another 60-strong American delegation arrived at the gate Friday night, spearheaded by the Code Pink foundation, a grassroots women’s initiative, carrying with it 2,000 gift baskets for the people of Gaza. The delegation is traveling at the invitation of the UN Relief and Works Agency for its Gaza Gender Initiative. [This is the one that Rachel Corrie's parents are a part of - EoZ]
Another delegation headed by British Respect MP George Galloway entered Egypt from Libya Thursday and is expected at the crossing on Sunday.

Concerning the Galloway convoy, some interesting details from Al Arabiya:

“A lifeline from Britain to Gaza,” is the motto of Viva Palestina, which started out with 110 trucks from London but was doubled in Libya after the Gaddafi Foundation for Charity and Development donated 100 trucks laden with aid.
Yvonne Ridley, award winning journalist who accompanied the convoy, reported that Israel pressured Egypt to divert the convoy to go through Israeli borders.

"Israel is putting huge pressure on Egypt to force the convoy which is now doubled in size, a British-Libyan venture, through Israeli territory," she said at the conference.
Meanwhile, four Viva Palestina convoy volunteers were reportedly refused entry into Egypt for security reasons.

Stephen Gray, Richard Burton, Shams Suppin Razaq and Azam Hussein left to Tripoli, in Libya from where they will fly to the UK via Amsterdam Sunday.

Ridley, by the way, is there as a correspondent for - Iran's Press TV.

Today may be interesting as we see exactly what Egypt does with these terror-cheering moonbats.

Today's PalArab media roundup (3-8-09)

Another man died from a tunnel collapse a month ago.

The Corrie family is in Egypt en route to Gaza to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Rachel Corrie's death at the house she was "defending."

George Galloway's aid convoy has made it to Rafah after its incredibly long journey from England.

Hamas is said to have had a meeting with Islamic Jihad to clarify their policy of firing rockets at Israel.

Hamas is denying that there are any secret prisons in Gaza, inviting human rights agencies to visit - the non secret prisons.

Morocco severed diplomatic relations with Iran, based on Tehran's territorial ambitions towards Bahrain as well as Shi'ite proselytizing in Morocco.

The 2009 PalArab self-death count is now at 50.

The perfect Purim costume - Mohammed

Yerushalimey sends me an interesting entry from a calendar of local Jerusalem events today:

From: McLean Eliyahu

Hello friends, Come join us on at 8PM for a special evening to honour the convergence of 2 holy days, the Jewish Holiday of Purim and the Muslim Holiday of Mawlid al-Nabi, the birthday of the profit Muhammad. In a time when politics tends to divide our peoples, the convergence of the holy days can perhaps can serve as a bridge. Come and share insights about these traditions and celebrations. There will also be teaching about these holy days by special Jewish and Muslim teachers. Also joining will be a special guest, David Heinemann - Author of Sufi Therapy of the Heart. Please bring: a kosher vegetarian dish to share, as this will be the last meal before the Fast of Esther. You are welcome to bring musical instruments in the sprit of celebration for this time of joy for the Abrahamic family.

Yes indeed, today is Mawlid, supposedly Mohammed's birthday (although I see it is also supposed to be the anniversary of his death, perhaps a final Islamic borrowing borrowing of a Jewish tradition about Moses.) According to Sunnis, Mohammed was born/died on the 12th of Rabi'-ul-Awwal, according to Shi'ites, on the 17th.

Notice that in Jerusalem, some Jews try to actually bridge the gap between Islam and Judaism, as misguided as they might be. As Yerushalimey points out, "I wonder how many Muslims thought to make a similar joint celebration..." After all, we are supposedly both "divine religions," right?

(Speaking of, I have finally heard a Jew refer to Judaism as a "divine religion." He was none other than "rabbi" Ahron Cohen of Neturei Karta, speaking in Iran at an anti-Zionist conference last week.)

Purim, for some reason, is called "Eid al-Msakr" in auto-translated Arabic. I couldn't figure out what word that might really be ( المساخر ) , although I would like to believe that it is meant to come from the word "masquerade."

The upshot of all this is that, just like wearing green on Purim is an interesting tradition when it coincides with St. Patrick's Day, wearing a Mohammed costume should be appropriate this Purim.

60 years ago: You can't always believe the experts

From the Palestine Post, March 7, 1949:

Dr. Solomon Zeitlin, considered the pre-eminent authority on the Second Jewish Commonwealth, dismissed a set of Hebrew writings found in Israel as "not an important discovery, and possibly a hoax."

Of course, these were the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Today's PalArab news (3-7-09)

In a move that may indicate that a combined Hamas/Fatah unity terror government is closer to reality, PA prime minister Salam Fayyad has resigned. He is the only Palestinian Arab leader in history to not have been tainted by obvious associations with terror, and under his government the PA received billions in Western aid, and took concrete steps to show responsibilty for security. His reign was far from perfect - the PA continued to payroll Hamas and shield terrorists from responsibility for their actions, they continued to praise terror and even pay terrorists in Israeli jails - but the past few months showed the fruits of Fayyad's labors, as Israel loosened restrictions on West Bank Arabs and their economy started to bounce back after the disaster of the intifada. People will look back at the past two years as being the best chance that Palestinian Arabs ever had for some sort of autonomy, as they will now slide back towards the terrorism that is part of their historical DNA.

Firas Press reports on a video going around Israel that claims that Israeli rabbis killed Gamal Nasser with Kabbalh-based "black magic."

Israel has been flooding mobile phones in Gaza with offers of $10 million for information on the whereabouts of Gilad Shalit.

Hamas found and dismantled a bomb placed in front of Al Jazeera's Gaza offices.

The Martian invasion

"Mr. President?"

President Mitchell slowly turned away from the Oval Office window, to see his Chief of Staff, Bill Rojas. Rojas was clearly agitated, but these days, who wasn't?

"Bill, don't be so formal. Come in, sit down. Maybe Laura can get you a coffee."

"No, thanks, Rob. It's just that the Martians..."

"Yes, I know. They are almost here. Richmond just disappeared."

Rojas exhaled. "And Norfolk. And Raleigh-Durham."

President Robert Mitchell paled slightly, but quickly regained his composure. "They aren't invincible, you know. We just have to find out their weakness. And I think I know what we can do to stop them."

"Really, Rob? What is it?"

"Give them Minnesota."

The room was silent for a moment.

"Give them....."

"Yes, Minnesota. Look, they clearly want land, right? They aren't conquering us for fun. The Martians have legitimate grievances against us, and it is time we treat them like human beings. We have been disrespectful to them, you know, calling them "bug-eyed" and shooting rockets at their warships - warships which are legal under international law, by the way."

"But Rob..." Bill sputtered. "How do you know they would be happy with Minnesota?"

"Bill, Bill. You've known me for years. I didn't become President because I did things unilaterally. I understand people, Bill! I have crafted compromises in the State Senate, in the US Congress, and I am sure I can compromise with the Martians as well! They aren't that different from you and me, after all. They have two eyes, just like us. They like to eat, just like us...."

"Rob, they eat people!"

"Come on, Bill, have you never heard of cannibals? Or those people from the plane crash who were stuck in the Andes? Seriously, you have to stop being so judgmental."

"But, Mr. President - how do you know they would be happy with Minnesota?"

Robert Mitchell sighed. "It is a nice place - lots of lakes, healthy people to eat, and cold, just like their planet. Besides, Minnesota didn't vote for me," he added with a chuckle. "Seriously, Martians didn't build interplanetary spaceships because they are stupid. If they are that advanced, of course they will compromise with us. Minnesota is just a beginning position to bargain with. Maybe they'll want North Dakota, too...but we'll never know until we start a dialogue with them. And negotiation means compromise, so we have have to offer something in our opening stance."

Bill Rojas, hesitantly, asked, "And if we give them Minnesota - they'll leave us alone?"

President Mitchell straightened up to his full 6'2" height. He never looked so presidential.

"I am sure about it, Bill. They are an advanced people; they will negotiate with us and take only what's fair. They aren't savages, and they have their pride. Everything can be discussed between adults of good will.

"We, as a people, desperately want the fighting to stop. We will have to make painful compromises for peace. But the peace, when it comes, will last forever."

Meshugene Men (Mad Men Purim parody)

I don't know who has the money to do such great videos, but this is fantastic:

Jewish students assaulted in U. Toronto "Apartheid Week"

From Then There Was Light, quoting an eyewitness:

Tonight at the U of T [Israeli Apartheid Week] event, two Jewish students were assaulted by the Palestinian “Security” team for being “disruptive” (asking a legitimate question “does Israel have a right to exist”) The Palestinian “security” smacked a student in the head and grabbed him by his neck, while another “security” officer told a second Jewish student to “Shut the F**ck up or he’ll saw his head off”…All of this was done in a crowded lecture room with over 100 witnesses!!

I was there, there are no pictures, filming and taking pictures was prohibited (they seem to have a problem with the general public hearing what they say) it was reported to the police who chose (as usual) to do NOTHING…

And here is what the student who was assaulted wrote:

I attended the Israel Apartheid Week event with a few friends and was prepared to ask a couple questions. The girl sitting next to me asked a question to one of the speakers about the problems with Hamas’s Charter. The speaker answered the question by discussing occupation and Israel’s “racist” policies, etc, instead of actually addressing the issue of Hamas’s Charter and denial of Israel’s right to exist. A couple people in the crowd, including myself, shouted out to the speaker “answer the question!” (It is generally fair game at these events where there are more activists present than observers to request that the speaker focus on the question asked). At this point, one of the (probably unlicensed) private security guards hired by SAIA approached me from behind. When I turned around in my seat to look at him, he grabbed and squeezed the back of my neck and growled at me from about 10 inches in front of my face “you shut the fuck up! shut the fuck up!” At this point I kept my cool moved back and I was like “get away from me bro, don’t touch me!” One of the event organizers called for someone to ask the police standing outside in the hallway to come in to remove me for “causing a disruption” at which point I encouraged the police to come in to record the name and identity of the individual who assaulted me. I left the room promptly and reported the incident to the police. I will be filing a formal report later today with Metro Police.

I personally believe in freedom of speech and that students should be allowed to book lecture halls to present speakers who express radical, even extreme views. The presence, however, of (probably) unlicensed, private security gaurds wearing bullet proof vests and leather jackets who physicaly assault people who speak up against those radical, extreme views, must be confronted. SAIA must not be allowed to bring hired goons onto campus to intimidate people who oppose their views. I feel ashamed as a UofT alumnus.

Freedom of speech!
(h/t Israellycool)

Today's PalArab media roundup

Hamas police made a drug bust of methamphetamines and hashish smuggled in Gaza tunnels.

A Russian analyst is quoted in Palestine Today as saying that by 2011, the United States would break up into six separate nations and that a new world currency will emerge to replace the dollar as Russia and China will be the new superpowers. All media, not just Arab, like to quote "experts" that confirm their own wishful thinking no matter how nutty. (Here's the original article from Russia in English. The Arabs believe it more than the Russians themselves do.)

PalToday also has a photo essay from the funeral of the Islamic Jihad terrorist turned to worm food by the IDF.

A new English-language publication is supposed to start in Gaza any day now. Called the Palestine Telegraph, the Free Gaza people are already salivating over it.

The Palestine Telegraph editing team seeks the following types of articles:

1- Articles that tackle daring ideas and are controversial or unconventional; as long as they are supported by factual and logical evidence and do not violate general Arab cultural norms or common decency.

2- Articles that present unprecedented ideas.

3- Articles on current events and an analytical perspective that transcends the obvious and rises above superficial reasoning.

4- Dramatic or satirical articles with an interesting and entertaining style.

Hey, maybe I'll submit things to it when/if it appears! Oh, wait - I think my articles might violate general Arab cultural norms, because I do not support terrorism.

By the way, the "professional" who is starting this is a 23-year old Gazan with a bachelor's degree in English. If that doesn't scream "professional," I don't know what does.

Terrorist supporters offended by Israeli cartoon

Ahmed and Salim is a funny, South Park-type cartoon made by two Israelis that make wicked fun of Arab terrorists. Naturally, this offends...the terrorists.

This article from the Islamic Jihad mouthpiece Palestine Today tells the ummah about this scourge, and is almost as funny as the cartoon itself:

The cartoon series "Ahmed and Salim" shows that the Israelis are determined to use the media machine to further tarnish the image of the Arabs. The series creators are from the young Israeli generation, adopting modern means of communication to promote racism: Tom Trager and Or Paz are authors of a series which show every week on YouTube.

"Ahmed and Salim" is a comedy that portrays Arabs as "terrorists" who want to kill Israelis and Americans for kicks. But these «terrorists» are always just plain wrong, turning the fire of terrorism on themselves because they always fail to target the Israelis and the Americans! The series, which has four episodes so far; the first had a record half-million views on «YouTube». However, the remaining three episodes were much more serious, as it confirmed its determination of the creators to deliver the the message that the Arabs are just «stupid», will not be able to convince anyone of the legitimacy of their cause, and that the resistance would only lead to a dead end.

The article goes on to mention that the UAE version of YouTube banned the cartoon and then goes on to give a synopsis of every episode.

It is hilarious that so many Arabs are offended by a cartoon that is clearly mocking only terrorists. It's almost as if they identify with Ahmed and Salim's hapless terrorist father...

Here's Episode 3:

More on non-Muslims using the word "Allah"

Yesterday, I reported on a controversy in Malaysia as to whether non-Muslims can use the word "Allah" in their writings. An interesting detail came out today:

A former grand imam of the National Mosque told the Dewan Rakyat today that the word "Allah" based on the belief of Muslims, cannot be used by the non-Muslims.

Taib Azamudden Mat Taib who is Pas representative for Baling, said this was because the meaning of Allah to other religions was different from the meaning of Allah to Islam.

I had never before heard a Muslim say that Allah was not the same as the God of Judaism or Christianity.

Either way, I would be remiss in not apologizing to the Muslims of Malaysia for using the word Allah in inappropriate, infidel ways. For example, these lyrics to the famous TV show "Allah in the Family":

Boy the way Mohammed prayed,
Dhimmi bodies getting flayed,
Nine year old brides getting laid,
Allah today!

Really tasteless, and I should be beheaded for writing such things.

UAE cleric: Women can become Muftis

Occasionally, a fatwa can be surprising in a pleasant way:

The Grand Mufti of Dubai, the leading Islamic legal scholar, has ruled that women can hold the position of mufti and issue religious rulings relevant to both men and women on every aspect of life.
Dr. Ahmed al-Haddad, Director of the Dubai Fatwa Department, issued a fatwa stating women can apply alongside men for the position of mufti.

"If a woman reaches the level of education that enables her to issue fatwas, then she has the right to work as a mufti and issue fatwas on all possible issues," Haddad said in his ruling.
Since issuing fatwas means informing people of the laws of God, anyone who has the required knowledge has the right to do so, said Haddad, citing a verse from the Quran that requires those who know about God's laws never to withhold the knowledge they have.

"These instructions from the Quran include everyone, male or female" Haddad said.

Islamic scholars define the position of "mufti" as someone who is qualified to apply the laws of God and the teachings of the prophet to contemporary issues, and Haddad underscored that such an ability is not confined solely to men.

Of course, any woman that actually tries to do this will be placing her life in her hands.

One more tunnel death

An 18-year old's body was recovered from a tunnel collapse a week ago.

The 2009 PalArab self-death count rises to 47.

UPDATE: Another body recovered plus one I had missed; 49.

John Kerry trusts dictators

A couple of days ago, Syrian state-run media published this press release:

Iranian President , Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , has underlined the deep strong standing relations between Iran and Syria, and the necessity for boosting them to meet the national interest of both and for reinforcing their steadfastness in the face of the various challenges.

During his meeting with Prime Minister , Mohammed Naji Otri today, Ahmadinejad expressed appreciation of Syria's stances under the leadership of President, Bashar al-Assad , and of Syria's pivotal and important role on all regional and international levels.

He indicated that the developments in the region and in the world have proven the correct stances of the two countries , as well as their righteous joint vision regarding these developments.

Ahmadinejad was briefed by Otri and by Iranian First Vice President , Parviz Davoodi , on the outcome of the meetings of the Syrian-Iranian Higher Committee , which falls in the service of the joint issues of cooperation in various domains.

Does this sound like a country that is eager to join the West against Iran?

Well, John Kerry thinks so:

Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, who recently returned from a Middle East trip that included stops in Damascus and Gaza, called yesterday for loosening sanctions on Syria, which he praised for opening a stock market and sending an ambassador to Iraq.
In his speech, Kerry urged the Obama administration to play a role in mediating ongoing peace talks between Syria and Israel - a move he said Syrian President Bashar Assad would welcome.
The Bush administration shunned Syria for more than four years, accusing the regime of fostering the insurgency in Iraq, meddling in Lebanon's affairs by assassinating its elected leaders, and supporting anti-Israeli militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.
But the Obama administration has signaled a thaw in relations in an attempt to encourage Syria to make peace with Israel and to pry the regime away from its close alliance with Iran.

If the Assad family knows anything, it is how to play boths sides against the middle while avoiding any concrete changes in its own regime.

The reason that strategy has been so successful for so long is because of credulous dopes like John Kerry.

Illegal Arab construction in Jerusalem

Last week, the PA called on Arabs to strike to protest alleged plans by Israel to demolish Arab homes in East Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Municipality released a statement showing that the rumors were lies, and that the demolition orders were in a different area that had been zoned and used as public space since Ottoman times. Not only that, but this illegal Arab construction in the King's Garden brought with it a huge amount of destruction to priceless antiquities.

Usually, "human rights" advocates and Palestinian Arabs claim that Arabs are at a disadvantage as the vast majority of houses ordered demolished in Jerusalem are Arab and that it is next to impossible for Arab Jerusalemites to get legal permits. It turns out that this is a lie. From JCPA:

In the Jewish neighborhoods, illegal construction typically takes the form of additions to existing legal structures - such as closing a balcony or hollowing out under a building to create an extra room. In the Arab sector, however, illegal construction often takes the form of entire multi-floor buildings with 4 to 25 living units, built with the financial assistance of the Palestinian Authority on land that is not owned by the builder.

Illegal construction has reached epidemic proportions. A senior Palestinian official boasted that they have built 6,000 homes without permits during the last 4 years, of which less than 200 were demolished by the city.
This frantic pace of illegal construction continues despite the fact that the city has authorized more than 36,000 permits for new housing units in the Arab sector, more than enough to meet the needs of Arab residents through legal construction until 2020.
Arab residents who wish to build legally may consult urban plans translated into Arabic for their convenience and receive individual assistance from Arabic-speaking city employees.
Both Arabs and Jews typically wait 4-6 weeks for permit approval, enjoy a similar rate of application approvals, and pay an identical fee ($3,600) for water and sewage hook-ups on the same size living unit.
The same procedures for administrative demolition orders apply to both Jews and Arabs in all parts of the city, as a final backstop to remove structures built illegally on roadbeds or land designated for schools, clinics, and the like.
The Palestinian Authority and Arab governments have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in an intentional campaign to subsidize and encourage massive illegal construction in the Arab sector, seeing this as part of their "demographic war" against Israel.
Many large, multi-story, luxury structures have been built by criminals on land they do not own, frequently land belonging to Palestinian Christians living abroad.
This epidemic of illegal construction is similar to illegal building that troubles cities in scores of countries worldwide and where the authorities utilize the law to demolish the structures.
More than any single factor, the 35-year-long boycott of municipal politics by the Palestinian leadership has resulted in the continued imbalance in municipal services in Arab neighborhoods vis-a-vis Jewish neighborhoods.
Despite frequent accusations that the city's planning policy seeks to "Judaize" Jerusalem, the Arab population of the city has increased since 1967 from 27% to 32%. Moreover, since 1967 new Arab construction has outpaced Jewish construction.

(h/t Daily Alert)

Iran unmasks the Elders

Iran's PressTV writes:

Zion elders wanted Muslims 'under thumb'

Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani says that the creation of Israel was aimed at placing Islamic states under Zionist influence.

In a speech delivered at the international conference in support of Palestinians in Tehran on Wednesday, Larijani said frequent tensions in the Middle East clearly show that the elders of Zion planned to preoccupy Islamic countries with daily struggles.

Larijani gave a prime example of exactly how we Elders are confusing Muslims every day, without his even realizing what an unwitting Zionist puppet he has become:

"The Palestinian crisis is a serious one with almost no precedent. Imprisoning millions of people in Israeli jails and turning millions of others into refugees over the past 60 years is but a portion of Israel's atrocities in Palestine," Larijani added.

Yes, the Elders have messed with Larijani's ability to understand simple numbers, and we have convinced him that we have huge prisons that hold millions of Arabs. As speaker of Parliament, he knows that the logistics involved in such an enterprise are extremely difficult, thus he is forced to fear the Zionists even more with our little trick of misdirection.

Not only that, Larijani helps prove that Iran itself is deeply under Zionist control, as at least half of Iran's public statements are fixated on Zionists! Our broad influence on Iran has distracted them from working on their own problems and building their own society, as they scramble to come up with new adjectives to sputter about how evil Zionists are - and conferences to use their latest insults. We even got him to think that Iran's "daily struggles" - like inflation and unemployment - are mere Zionist distractions that must be ignored.

The brilliance of the Elder plan (updated last week on a napkin in my dining room) is that his vitriol proves our plan's success. He's dancing to our tune, and he doesn't even know it!

(h/t Judeopundit)

Another brief demolition of Roger Cohen

If the examples I have given weren't enough, here's a letter to the New York Times concerning Cohen's belief that Iranian Jews are patriotic and free:

To the Editor:
As a Persian Jew whose family was sentenced to death by the Islamic Republic of Iran as “corrupters on earth” and “agents of Zionism,” I was amused by Roger Cohen’s vision of Iranian treatment of its Jewish population.
Perhaps Mr. Cohen should have interviewed the Persian Jews living in exile in Los Angeles, who would have told him not to assume that the Jews left in Iran can honestly complain about their status. If Iran is such a haven, why has the Jewish population of Iran only declined from the Safavid period, to 100,000 at the time of the Islamic Revolution to only 25,000 today?
Mr. Cohen could have asked my dad why Jews were called “ritually unclean” (a comment also reserved for stray dogs). He could talk to my grandfather about the pogroms that took place in Tehran and other cities when Jews walked on the same side of the street as a Muslim, or talk to the Jews of the city of Mashad who had to remain hidden as Jews for decades after being forced to convert to Islam.
Just because the Persians were not as efficient in killing or exiling their Jews as others were or just because there are a few synagogues left in Iran doesn’t mean that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad does not mean it when he says that Israel should be wiped off the map, or that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei didn’t mean it when he said that Israel is a “cancerous tumor of a state” that “should be removed from the region.”
David Simantob
Los Angeles, March 2, 2009

In Iran, as in all Muslim states, the tolerance of other religions only extends to the point at which they are perceived to be slightly threatening. There are a few Jews left over in Egypt and Syria and Yemen, and as in Iran their governments like to point to them as proof of their tolerance. But they will only tolerate those who toe the line, who publicly agree with their totalitarian masters and who submit to second-class citizen status.

Proof that this is anti-semitism and not only anti-Zionism could be seen from a simple thought experiment:

Imagine how these tolerant governments would react if a Jewish community wanted to build a single synagogue that is taller than the surrounding mosques.

Elders of Zion to retire, sources say

As you can tell, my postings have been more sporadic lately. Now the Forward has spilled the beans on exactly why: (h/t EBoZ):

The Elders of Zion, the venerable and shadowy Jewish organization that controls the international banking industry, news media and Hollywood, has announced that it is disbanding so that members can retire to Florida and live out their golden years on the golf course.
“We had a good run,” said one senior Elder, reminiscing over old photographs of world leaders in his musty, wood-paneled office at an undisclosed location. “Maybe we ran the world for just a little too long. Anyway, now it’s Obama’s problem.”

After a humiliating year left most of its financial holdings, as well as the entire civilized world, on the verge of collapse, the organization has re-defined its mission in terms of bridge games and making it to restaurants for the Early Bird Special.

The announcement comes after a year in which many of the Elders’ most prized institutions suffered disheartening failures. The vaunted global banking system, which lay at the heart of Jewish world domination for almost two centuries, collapsed with astonishing rapidity, requiring trillions of dollars in bailout funds. The newspaper industry, through which the Elders have controlled world opinion, is in shambles, with prominent papers declaring bankruptcy and forcing millions of readers to form their own opinions. And, in the unkindest cut, Hollywood suffered the humiliation of losing the Oscar for Best Picture to Indian film “Slumdog Millionaire.”

The organization’s reputation for financial probity had also taken a hit amidst rumors of billions in losses in private Kalooki games against Sheikh Hamad bin ‘Isa of Bahrain. According to inside sources, the organization also lost close to $1 trillion with disgraced investor Bernard Madoff.

Even before this past year, though, the Elders were facing hard times as they struggled to stay relevant and attract young members. The organization has tried to project a more youthful image, setting up a Facebook page and founding a new “Hipsters of Zion” youth division, which has sponsored a number of singles nights. But youngsters haven’t been interested.

“World domination just doesn’t resonate with the younger generation of Jews,” said Marvin Tobman, a professor of non-profit management at San Diego State University and expert on Jewish communal life. “They want the fun of fixing the world, not the responsibility of running it.”

These recent troubles have worried even some of the Elders’ sharpest critics.

“I always used to complain that Jews ran the world,” said Reginald Weber, author of “Zionists and Zookeepers: The Unholy Alliance.” “But now I’m starting to worry that nobody’s in charge.”

This is, of course, misinformation for the gullible goyim (and the types of Jews who read the Forward.)

The truth is a bit more complex.

I cannot divulge it all, but a hint can be seen in this video:

"I Refuse to Acknowledge Any Jew as a Human Being"

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from a debate between Lebanese intellectuals Yasser Qechlaq and 'Uqab Saqr, which aired on ANB TV on February 16, 2009.
Yasser Qechlaq, owner of dp-news.com: "We are facing a society that believes in nothing but force, violence, crimes, and the killing of our children and women."
'Uqab Saqr: "They also believe in rationality."
Yasser Qechlaq: "Hold on. I refuse to acknowledge any Jew, whoever he may be. I do not acknowledge his holy books or holy places, nor do I acknowledge this Jew as a human being. I acknowledge just one thing: That he is an abject, filthy, and usurping terrorist, and I curse him..."
'Uqab Saqr: "This serves Israel..."
Yasser Qechlaq: "No, no..."

'Uqab Saqr: "This kind of talk serves Israel. There are Jews who defend the Palestinian cause more than some Palestinians."
Yasser Qechlaq: "I refuse to acknowledge any Jew in the world, because he refuses to acknowledge my existence as a Palestinian."
'Uqab Saqr: "Neturei Karta is the most important Jewish group and they do not recognize Israel."
Yasser Qechlaq: "Give me a break. Just because some Jewish activists do not recognize Israel, you want to convince me that there is a moderate camp to make peace with?"
'Uqab Saqr: "All I ask is that you draw a distinction between the Jews and the Israelis."

Yasser Qechlaq: "I do not acknowledge the Jewish religion. I am a Palestinian extremist. I am an extremist for my land."
'Uqab Saqr: "The Koran respects the monotheistic religions."
Yasser Qechlaq: "Nevertheless, I do not acknowledge [them]."
'Uqab Saqr: "You are doing Israel a service without realizing it.
"When it’s a case of Muslims against Jews, the Jews win Western public opinion, whereas when it’s a case if Palestinians and Israelis, the West supports the Palestinians."
Yasser Qechlaq: 'You tell me that we should embarrass Israel. Do you think Israel can be embarrassed in the West? Israel humiliates France, the EU, and America. Israel is a European-American project which was planted in my region. This cancer must be uprooted.
..."If you go to America and defend Al-Qaeda, even though it is a Jewish organization with Jewish roots and culture... If you defend it, you will go to jail."

If you would take the words of the "moderate" "intellectual" Saqr alone, without comparing them to the Jew-hating nutcase, you would see that he is also an ignorant, hateful fool. But here, he seems positively brilliant and liberal next to the rabid Qechlaq.

Don't Say "Allah"

From The Star (Malaysia):

PAS spiritual adviser Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat says the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims is allowed.
He, however, added that it was up to the Federal Government to define the scope in which the word could be used, reported Bernama.

“I don’t want to interfere in this matter. Let the Federal Government decide,” he said in response to the weekly Catholic Herald’s use of the word “Allah” in its Bahasa Malaysia publication.

In Kota Kinabalu, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the Government’s decision to ban the use of the word “Allah” was not restricted to the Herald but applied to all non-Muslim publications.

But Mr. Nik Mat's allowance of non-Muslims using the word "Allah" was not welcomed by all:

The statement by Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat that non-Muslims can use the word Allah is very confusing for Muslims, said the religious advisor to the prime minister, Datuk Dr Abdullah Md Zin.

He said this could cause disunity among Muslims as it touched on the sanctity of Islam.

So I apologize for using the word "Allah" here. And Allah knows best.

Do Israel's Arab citizens suffer from disadvantage? You better believe it. Do African Americans 10 minutes from the Berkeley campus suffer from disadvantage - you better believe it, too. So should we launch a Berkeley Apartheid Week, or should we seek real ways to better our societies and make opportunity more available?

When it comes to doling out the money, UNRWA and Hamas - both of whom seem to be more focused on empty rhetoric rather than working towards a peaceful Palestinian civil society - should be bypassed.

The most extreme manifestation of Freeman's realist ideology came out in a leaked e-mail he sent to a foreign policy Internet mailing list. Freeman wrote that his only problem with what most of us call "the Tiananmen Square Massacre" was an excess of restraint:

"[T]he truly unforgivable mistake of the Chinese authorities was the failure to intervene on a timely basis to nip the demonstrations in the bud, rather than -- as would have been both wise and efficacious -- to intervene with force when all other measures had failed to restore domestic tranquility to Beijing and other major urban centers in China. In this optic, the Politburo's response to the mob scene at 'Tian'anmen' stands as a monument to overly cautious behavior on the part of the leadership, not as an example of rash action. . . .

The last thing the international community needs to do is to fund yet another Palestinian media outlet that promotes hatred, violence and anti-Western sentiments. The new Fatah TV station is not going to be much different than the other Fatah-run media organizations. If anything, it will help raise another regeneration of Palestinians on hatred and glorification of suicide bombers.

So, under the cheery banner of building, in Clinton’s words, “a comprehensive peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors,” donor states are not only defying Israel to protect itself from rocket fire but they are funneling matériel to Hamas.

Is this ignorance or mendacity? I suspect the latter; no one is that dumb.

Quickies

Sorry, but lately I have not had time to research or post as much as I would like; and it might remain that way for a short while at least. Also I am having problems using Google Translate from home; apparently I left some auto-refresh Arabic pages on my browser for days and Google thought it was being attacked by a bot, so I have to use more indirect and slower ways to find Arabic articles, and cannot provide links to the translated versions.

Here's some stuff for today:

The British Medical Journal wrote an article accusing the dreaded Israel Lobby of an orchestrated campaign against it. So the dreaded Israel Lobby (actually, Honest Reporting) actually did an analysis of the bias that the BMJ shows in its articles relative to the real medical importance of the conflicts it is supposedly objectively covering:

Some of the humanitarian aid to Gaza ended up poisoning 80 schoolgirls.

An alternative "donor conference" in Tehran for Gazans has begun. Predictably, the Islamic Jihad Secretary General Shallah said that the PA should stop negotiating and start fighting, while Ayatollah Khamanei said that terror (i.e., "resistance") is the only way to save Palestine (two articles in Firas Press).

Israel allowed materials for a desalination plant into Gaza. (Firas)

George Galloway's convoy of aid for Gaza has entered Egypt, and it is due to arrive in Gaza on Sunday after a three week journey. It is being greeted with flowers. It includes 110 trucks of aid. Coincidentally, that is the number of trucks of that Israel sent in today alone which included supplies of pasta that thw world has been clamoring for Palestinian Arabs to have. (Two more Firas Press articles)

Guests of honor at a child-killer's wedding

Samir Kuntar, the despicable piece of subhuman garbage who smashed the skull of a four-year old girl after forcing her to witness his killing of her father and who was released by Israel to become a hero in the Arab world, just got married.

His wedding in Lebanon was attended by all sorts of celebrities, according to Palestine Today.

They included former Lebanese president Emile Lahoud (a Christian,) a delegation sent by Hassan Nasrallah, Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Reza Shibani, the director of Al Jazeera in Beirut, a mayor and a prominent artist.

Einat Haran, whose brain was literally smashed by Kuntar's rifle butt, would have been 34 years old this year.

Gaza attacked Israeli civilians 29 out of the past 35 days

While Hillary Clinton is fixated on Israel opening borders to Gaza and while billions of dollars are pledged to ease Hamas' burden of taking care of the area it conquered by force (I believe that would accurately be called "occupation,") Israel has gotten love letters in the shapes of Qassam rockets and mortars for 29 out of the past 35 days.

How many of the donors mentioned, as an aside, that perhaps if Hamas stopped the shooting at schools in Ashkelon and Sderot, that just maybe there would be a chance that Israel wouldn't bomb any buildings in Gaza?

As far as I can tell, none.

Oh, when Hillary went to Jerusalem, she managed to say "There is no doubt that any nation, including Israel, cannot stand idly by while its territory and people are subjected to rocket attacks." And even this watered down statement was immediately slammed by those darlings of the progressive thinkers, Hamas:

Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum asserted on Tuesday that comments by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton represented an obvious call for the continuation of violence against the Palestinian people.

Barhoum described the comment as a direct incitement by the US against the Hamas movement as well as the Gaza Strip 's population.

Given the short track record so far of this administration, it seems that fear of such criticism, and of not being loved, drives policy as much as anything else.

The simple fact is that daily rocket attacks against Israel is considered fully acceptable by the world today. Even the ritual condemnations have stopped. The big problem is that the Gazans are not getting enough pasta, not that hundreds of thousands of Israeli civilians are forced to rely on miracles each day to stay alive.

Nobody in the world community is considering any possible way to discourage Hamas from shooting rockets. Hillary's statement of "support" is a joke because while it is easy to say that Israel cannot stand idly by, it is much more difficult to say that Israel can do anything about it with the wholehearted support of the US. The rules are that Israel can react - just as long as it makes sure it doesn't damage any buildings, crops, unarmed terrorists, and provides a terror-cheering population with all their needs forever. Not one of Israel's critics has ever answered the simple question - what can Israel do to defend itself that would make you happy?

The rockets continue, and they will continue, because the world hates when Israel defends itself.

In an interactive map on religious freedom in the Islamic world, Newsweek illustrates "Palestinian territories" with a picture of pre-1967 Israel.

(h/t DMartyr at Snapped Shot)

Interestingly, their picture of Egypt is also pre-1967 - it includes Gaza.

The most charitable explanation I can come up with is abject ignorance.

Perhaps we could clear all of this up if they had a report of Jordan's religious freedom, so we could check out whether the West Bank is considered Jordanian territory, thus proving that Israel really doesn't exist. But I guess they consider that Judenrein kingdom to be as liberal as Norway.

UPDATE: Newsweek fixed it.

The Gaza money immediately goes to terrorists

Yesterday's "donor's conference" may have been a bonanza for Hamas, but it was also a win for the Palestinian Authority.

A percentage of the $4.4 billion raised - it is unclear exactly how much - is not going directly towards Gaza at all, but to help prop up the PA. $600m of the American pledge of $900m is going to the PA to help its own budget woes as well as for new West Bank projects.

Did the PA rush to announce the building of new hospitals, or schools? Perhaps a new R&D facility or industrial park?

Not quite. The first press release following the donors conference announced that the PLO will give an extra bonus of to known terrorists:

Nablus – Ma’an – An extra 800 shekels (190 US dollars) will be added to the stipend’s given to Palestinians in Israeli prisons this month, Head of Palestinian Prisoner Society in Nablus Ra’ed Amer confirmed on Tuesday.

Each prisoner receives 1000 shekels (238 US dollars) per month, plus an extra 300 shekels (71 US dollars) if they are married, and an extra 50 shekels (12 US dollars) for each child. The stipend is paid by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) each month.

There are currently 4,500 men and women registered as prisoners in Israeli prisons. The increase will be applied to February’s payment, set to go through banks this week.

Amer explained that the increase was made following the instructions of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Yes, every terrorist in an Israeli jail - people who drove suicide bombers to blow up women and children, people who ordered "martyrdom operations," people who attacked any Jew they could find - gets thousands of dollars annually from the cash-strapped PA, which of course gets its money from successful donors conferences like yesterday's. Every year they get about $16 million, assuming an average of $300 per prisoner per month. And in February alone, they get an additional $855,000.

This is money only for living terrorists. It does not count the stipend that the families of suicide bombers and other "martyrs" get in perpetuity, which together with the prisoner money was estimated in 2005 at being up to $100 million annually.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia pledged $1 billion. In the past, Gulf nations have been big on pledges for their Palestinian Arab brethren and very bad at actually paying up. They don't trust the PA to spend the money wisely. If they trust Hamas more, they cannot quite say that out loud. In this case, the Saudis want to spend the money however they see fit:

Prince Saud said “Saudi Arabia has set up a mechanism to submit its share via the Saudi Development Fund in cooperation with the Islamic Development Bank and Gaza-based international organizations, to send the required materials, and to choose the projects which will be implemented.”

On Sunday, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, which pledged a total of $1.6 billion on Sunday, decided to set up an office in Gaza to carry out reconstruction over five years, by deciding on and implementing projects.

“In this context, we hope that the GCC-launched Gaza reconstruction program would contribute to coordination and follow-up of execution by its funded projects,” Prince Saud said.

Will this money go directly towards terror groups? Well, one hint comes from the one guarantee that the Saudis seek before giving the money:

The foreign minister called upon the international community to guarantee the reconstruction effort by making Israel “bear the legal and financial consequences of any aggression, and not to view the situation with double standards.”

In other words, if Hamas shoots a few thousand more rockets at Israel, Saudi Arabia is demanding that Israel cannot defend itself - period. Hamas, however, has no limitations on its own behavior - they get the money for free.

And what do the residents of Sderot get from the international community for damage to their town and millions of cumulative sleepless nights? So far, one very generous donation of - Legos.

Puzzled in Gaza (Yvonne Green, JPost)

Amazing:

I'm a poet, an English Jew and a frequent visitor to Israel. Deeply disturbed by the reports of wanton slaughter and destruction during Operation Cast Lead, I felt I had to see for myself. I flew to Tel Aviv and on Wednesday, January 28, using my press card to cross the Erez checkpoint, I walked across the border into Gaza where I was met by my guide, a Palestinian journalist. He asked if I wanted to meet with Hamas officials. I explained that I'd come to bear witness to the damage and civilian suffering, not to talk politics.
What I saw was that there had been precision attacks made on all of Hamas' infrastructure. Does UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon criticize the surgical destruction of the explosives cache in the Imad Akhel Mosque, of the National Forces compound, of the Shi Jaya police station, of the Ministry of Prisoners? The Gazans I met weren't mourning the police state. Neither were they radicalized. As Hamas blackshirts menaced the street corners, I witnessed how passersby ignored them.
THERE WERE empty beds at Shifa Hospital and a threatening atmosphere. Hamas is reduced to wielding its unchallengeable authority from extensive air raid shelters which, together with the hospital, were built by Israel 30 years ago. Terrorized Gazans used doublespeak when they told me most of the alleged 5,500 wounded were being treated in Egypt and Jordan. They want it known that the figure is a lie, and showed me that the wounded weren't in Gaza. No evidence exists of their presence in foreign hospitals, or of how they might have gotten there.
From the mansions of the Abu Ayida family at Jebala Rayes to Tallel Howa (Gaza City's densest residential area), Gazans contradicted allegations that Israel had murderously attacked civilians. They told me again and again that both civilians and Hamas fighters had evacuated safely from areas of Hamas activity in response to Israeli telephone calls, leaflets and megaphone warnings.
Seeing Al-Fakhora made it impossible to understand how UN and press reports could ever have alleged that the UNWRA school had been hit by Israeli shells....
...
THE GAZA I saw was societally intact. There were no homeless, walking wounded, hungry or underdressed people. The streets were busy, shops were hung with embroidered dresses and gigantic cooking pots, the markets were full of fresh meat and beautiful produce - the red radishes were bigger than grapefruits. Mothers accompanied by a 13-year-old boy told me they were bored of leaving home to sit on rubble all day to tell the press how they'd survived. Women graduates I met in Shijaya spoke of education as power as old men watched over them.
No one praised their government as they showed me the sites of tunnels where fighters had melted away. No one declared Hamas victorious for creating a forced civilian front line as they showed me the remains of booby trapped homes and schools.
From what I saw and was told in Gaza, Operation Cast Lead pinpointed a totalitarian regime's power bases and largely neutralized Hamas's plans to make Israel its tool for the sacrifice of civilian life.
Corroboration of my account may be found in tardy and piecemeal retractions of claims concerning the UNWRA school at Al-Fakhora; an isolated acknowledgment that Gaza is substantially intact by The New York Times; Internet media watch corrections; and the unresolved discrepancy between the alleged wounded and their unreported whereabouts.

And the nations of the world was so taken in by the staged testimonies and photos of Gaza that they have just pledged many more billions of dollars to help Hamas build their next generations of weapons and kidnapping tunnels. It is indirect aid to terrorists, but any way you look at it, Hamas is the winner.

A brief demolition of Roger Cohen

by Michael Rubin in NRO:

I came across this column by the New York Times's Roger Cohen entitled "What Iran's Jews Say" and his defense of it, here. What to say? I'm familiar with the synagogue and attended it when I lived in Isfahan. I chatted with some of the university-aged students who had taken shelter in an attached guesthouse because, as Jews, they were beat up in the university dormitories. Men and women both referred to the Jews' representative in the Parliament as a flunky for the regime, and would not discuss problems or issues when he was around. Several would say one thing in the synagogue, but when we went to parks on took walks through the city, they would bend over backwards to make clear that they cannot talk freely in the synagogue since the walls have ears. The same sentiment was expressed at synagogues in Tehran and Shiraz. Cohen, however, talks to him as the authority and takes his word that he is not a quisling. True, Jews are better of in Iran than in many neighboring countries, but there is a reason why their number has dropped by 80% over the last three decades. Cohen simply appears on a propaganda tour; parachuting in, an eager receptacle for his regime minders. It should not surprise that his column now graces the pages of the regime's mouth piece, The Tehran Times.

As others have noted, this is a lot like Walter Duranty, Herbert Matthews and Mike Wallace credulously believing the words of dictators and their quislings.

Someone noticed a double standard

From Comment Is Free, Elizabeth Jay:

You could be forgiven for thinking that Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party came in first, rather than third, and that it garnered 90% of the Israeli public's vote, rather than 12%. You could also be forgiven for thinking that the prospect of a Likud-led coalition ought to be as feared as the prospect of Armageddon. After all, Israel's Likud party, combined with Yisrael Beiteinu, is surely a recipe for the most extreme political force ever to emerge in that liberal haven that is the Middle East.
In any case, the outcome got a unanimous thumbs-down, with the Guardian even claiming that it threatened to ruin Obama's entire foreign policy in the Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. This caused me to cast my mind back to another election altogether – the Palestinian parliamentary election in January 2006. Hamas won a decisive victory over Fatah in Gaza, leaving the international community to ponder how it was going to sit around the table with a party whose signature policy is indiscriminate suicide bombing in public places.
How did the media respond back then? Did editorials predict the end of all things good and bemoan the state of Palestinian politics? Not really. The Guardian, while somewhat apprehensive, said that the Hamas victory "may bring new opportunities to the immense task of building peace between two peoples who have been fighting for far too long in the same small country". The Independent was adamant that "The democratic voice of the Palestinian people has been heard. And now we must deal with the new reality." The Daily Telegraph's editorial was titled, "The west and Hamas must talk to each other" and opined, "there is much to be said for engaging with Hamas." Only the Times exhibited extreme caution, claiming that the outcome was, "a huge blow to the peace process".
So, when radicals come third in Israel, it puts everything in jeopardy and Israeli society 'has to take a hard look at itself" (Jonathan Freedland). But when extremists win by a landslide in Gaza, then there are still signs of hope; besides, the Palestinian people have spoken loud and clear and who are we in the west to question them?
I also noticed that journalists covering the Israeli election have seemed very concerned about Lieberman and his party being "fascist" and "racist". But this is not terminology I recall them applying three years ago to Hamas, which, unquestionably, has its fair share of fascists and racists. A case of such a journalist in point is Ali Abunimah: in his response to the Israeli election, he lambasted the "proto-fascist Yisrael Beiteinu" and its "racist" leader. And yet, if you scour his article from three years ago about Hamas' electoral victory, you won't find a single word critical of the group, let alone accusations of fascism or racism. The mainstream media followed a similar pattern, labelling Hamas merely as "hard line" (The Independent) and even "increasingly pragmatic" (Financial Times, January 27) in 2006.

This is excellent, but I also want to note that even this writer, attuned to how language is used differently when referring to Israelis and Arabs, suffers from the same problem herself.

She considers someone who wants all Israeli citizens, Jew and Arab, to take a "loyalty oath," and who has publicly advocated a Palestinian Arab state that includes part of what is within Green Line Israel, to be "radical."

(h/t Just Journalism mailing list)

The back door to "Palestinian unity"

Even if the Hamas/PA negotiations are successful, and even if Hamas agrees in some symbolic way to avoid explicit support for terror attacks, and even if they manage to convince the EU and the UN that the combined entity is willing to adhere to existing PA commitments...

...there is still an easy way for terrorists to continue to attack Israel with impunity.

Today, Islamic Jihad announced that they will not take part in any potential "national unity" government. Similarly we have supposedly new organizations like Palestinian Hizbollah Brigades whose entire stated purpose is to continue terror when the more mainstream groups have public truces.

We have seen in the past that members freely go between the terror groups and that attacks are often jointly executed. Similarly, we have seen Palestinian Arab leaders pretend to be helpless when these "rogue" groups continue their attacks, as they aim to gain Western sympathy and aid while they can clandestinely support the all-important "resistance." Hamas might have had little patience for the Al Aqsa Brigades after their Gaza coup, but they are quite happy to allow Islamic Jihad to control many dunams of land in the densely-populated Strip purely for terror training.

It is an old playbook, and it is one we can expect to see again and again as long as gullible Westerners continue to believe their own wishful thinking more than the ugly facts.

Would you call this...disproportionate?

Representatives of dozens of countries are meeting in Egypt to donate billions of dollars to rebuild Gaza.

At exactly the same time, none of them seem to have a problem with the fact that rockets continue to be shot from Gaza every day, and it is only a matter of time before these billions of dollars get destroyed in a new Israeli operation.

One would think that perhaps they would notice that billions of dollars would be better spent on disarming Hamas, or relocating Gazans to other Arab countries, or pressuring Egypt to annex Gaza and paying them to take care of Hamas, or any other solution that would:

a) Be permanent
b) Actually help people for longer than a few months

Yet somehow they are fixated on the idea that Hamas' existence as an entity singlemindedly dedicated to Israel's destruction is only a minor problem that can be papered over with cash.

Stealth Conflicts has a neat graphic representing the relative death tolls of recent conflicts in the world. I modified it to show three conflicts at once: (h/t Backspin)

Yet if a similar graphic would be shown on how much money the world has spent on these three conflicts, you could probably just swap the Israel-Palestine and DRC labels and it would still be pretty accurate.

In the case of Palestinian Arabs, history shows that throwing money at the issue is the best way to perpetuate it. Right now in Gaza all the parties are jockeying for position to control the huge influx that is forthcoming from well-meaning and ultimately stupid Westerners.

One thing is certain: all that money will not help a single Gazan for more than a short period of time, but it will help the Gaza terror groups hold onto their power.

Evil Zionist Settler Pigs - part 5

Ma'an breathlessly reports:

Dozens of pigs belonging to Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian young man from the village of An-Nasarieyah, north of the West Bank city of Nablus, on Sunday.

Palestinian medical sources said that Ayman Ibrahim Hamdan, 25, was transferred to Rafidia Hospital in the city after being bitten by one of the pigs.

Hamadan told Ma’an that dozens of pigs unleashed by the Israeli settlers of the illegal settlement of Al-Hamra adjacent to the village had attacked him while he was in his farm in the village.

Once again, the diabolical and fanatically Jewish settlers have been shown to raise and domesticate wild pigs for one reason and one reason only - to attack Palestinian Arabs. Apparently, their hatred for Arabs is so all-consuming that they will spend years breeding animals that have no value whatsoever in a Jewish state, just to have them cause slight damage to Arab crops every few months.

Now, that's dedication!

We have previously seen these highly intelligent and trained pigs selectively attack Arab tomatoes, farmers, and garbagemen. We have also seen that the Jews managed to herd the pigs onto the Arab side of the West Bank fence.

Stop Lindsay Lohan's Conversion!

No!!!!

Lindsay Lohan is converting to Judaism in a bid to prove her devotion to Jewish girlfriend Samantha Ronson.
Although raised a Catholic, the 22-year-old star announced she was planning to change her faith on her Facebook page.
After jetting into London last week, Lindsay joined girlfriend Samantha at the Bar Mitzvah of the DJ's half-brother Joshua Ronson at the Westminster Synagogue on Saturday.
Showing her seriousness about converting, Lindsay had also visited the synagogue the day before with Samantha and her designer sister Charlotte.
Entering the synagogue, a photographer asked Lindsay if she was switching religions, to which she replied: 'I'm trying.'
Updating her Facebook status this week, Lindsay wrote 'I'm converting'.

No. G-d Almighty, no. On behalf of all right-thinking Jews everywhere, we must do everything necessary to stop this spoiled, bubbleheaded, moronic bimbo from becoming anything like what a Martian could accidentally and fleetingly think was close to something vaguely similar to a religion barely resembling Judaism.

In the name of all that is holy, this must be stopped.

We don't want her. We don't want to see any newspaper articles that mention "Lohan" and "Jewish" in the same paragraph. Hell, we don't want those terms mentioned in the same encyclopedia. Jews don't need to see the inevitable 2010 article saying "The hard-partying 'Freaky Friday' star who recently converted to Judaism was arrested for reckless driving, disorderly conduct and cocaine possession."

It is time to act.

I am hereby announcing the formation of the Please Stay a Shiksa fund.

I am kicking off a fundraiser to pay any cleric from any other religion a significant amount of money if you can convince Lohan to join your religion instead of Judaism. That's right - you make her a Confucian or a Rastafarian, and you can get big bucks.

Bonuses if you can take all the shallow, airhead Hollywood Kabbalists along with her. Once one goes, the rest should be pretty easy, as their capacity for independent thought was never too high to begin with.

I'm seeding the Please Stay a Shiksa fund with my own pledge of $250.

For those who agree, I implore you to contribute what you can to this vital cause.

UPDATE: From LGF:
Iron Bill:

As the self appointed spokesman for sane Catholics, I would like to convey the following message to my Jewish brothers and sisters: You are welcome to take her.

(As we speak the Vatican is appropriating money from the "Take The Shiksa Fund." This fund was previously used to direct Madonna towards Kabbalah)

EoZ: