Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, October 04, 2009

Daily Goldstone

A press conference by Israel's Foreign Affairs ministry a few days ago did a nice job encapsulating the problems with the Goldstone report. The entire thing is worth reading, but here is the core part by Deputy Legal Adviser Daniel Taub:

There are at least a dozen reports that I'm aware of that have been prepared about events in Gaza at the beginning of this year, and yet, of all the reports, it's this report, the Goldstone Report, that has generated the strongest response amongst the Israeli public, amongst the Israeli leadership and amongst supporters of Israel. And I think if we ask ourselves why that is, there are three main reasons.

The first one is the narrative that lies at the heart of this report. This is a report which says that Israel's operation in Gaza had nothing to do with 12,000 Hamas missiles on Sderot, it had nothing to do with self-defense, it had nothing to do with the smuggling of weaponry under the Egypt-Gaza border into Gaza. In fact, in the 500-plus pages of the report, there is not a single mention of the right of self-defense or the smuggling of weapons. It is a report that says that Israel's operation in Gaza was a deliberate disproportionate massive attack directed against civilians. And that is something that no one who knows Israel can really countenance.

This morning I read an article by the head of Betzelem who was saying that this is a conclusion which is simply not supported by the evidence in the Goldstone Report. And it's true; in order to come to this conclusion the report really does have to play fast and loose with the evidence. First, there's a tremendous amount of selectivity in choosing the incidents that it actually investigates. So, for example, the report admits that there have been allegations that Hamas placed its headquarters or one of its headquarters in the bases of the Shifa Hospital, but we can't address these because that wasn't one of the incidents that we chose to investigate. Or we can't confirm or deny allegations that Hamas used mosques for terrorist activity, because they only investigated one case that had to do with a mosque and found no evidence in that particular case. In fact, in parentheses I say "in that particular case, according to Palestinian websites," five of the people that were killed were actually terrorist activists, members of the Al-Qassam Brigades.

They play fast and loose with their sources, relying on almost every conceivable source that supports evidence against Israel and rejecting almost any evidence that is supportive of Israel or is detrimental to Hamas. And sometimes actually the same source is regarded as being reliable as far as its accusations against Israel is concerned but regarded as being unreliable when it points to, for example, Israel's humanitarian efforts or Hamas abuse of civilians, and so on.

And we have prepared an initial response to the report, some 20 pages, which highlights some of the most obvious legal and factual errors: There's reliance on Israeli laws that have been off the books for years; there's misquotations of United Nations Security Council Resolutions, and so on.

The reason that this narrative is so troubling is that it really leaves no room for genuine debate about how to engage in a conflict of this nature. You know, we generally don't think and the military doesn't think that we have all the right answers. But we are, by and large, asking the right questions. And asking ourselves whether an attack or an operation could have been more humane, more effective, is a genuine debate that we need to engage in with the international community as well. But with a body that says that your fundamental goal was to cause massive punishment on the civilian population, there is no room for any debate of that nature.

So that's the first reason. The second reason why I think this report has generated such a strong response is that it represents a full frontal attack on the Israeli legal system. And this is something that should worry not just Israel but also most Western and democratic countries that have very, very similar systems for actually investigating and checking their conduct in the course of military operations.

Israel, as I'm sure you know, has a multi-layered system for investigating allegations of wrongdoing; that consists of field investigations, criminal investigations, supervision by the Military Advocate General, upon that, supervision of our Supreme Court, and so on. In this particular case, in additional to all of those systems, following the operation, five large-scale command investigations were opened into general questions of principle arising in the conflict, things like incidents in which there was injury caused to medical facilities, caused to UN facilities when there are large numbers of civilians casualties, and so on.

In the course of those five command investigations, there were 30 specific incidents that came under investigation, and they're currently on the desk of the Military Advocate General who has to decide whether to open criminal investigations. And because of the sensitivity, the Attorney General has said that he will also review the decision of the Military Advocate General.

In addition to those command investigations and the specific investigations that came out of them, there are an additional 70 to 80 specific investigations that were opened up as a result of complaints received by human rights organizations, like Betzelem and Addala, direct complaints by individuals to the Military Advocate General or to the Attorney General.

Out of all of those complaints so far, 23 criminal investigations have already been opened and are in various stages. From the information that I received this morning, at least 11 of them have already proceeded to the stage of taking evidence from the Palestinian complainants and the others are at various stages.
Correlating those with the 36 incidents that the Goldstone Report chose to investigate, 12 of the incidents in the Goldstone Report are at various stages, either already of criminal investigations or investigations that may lead to criminal investigations.

I should mention that 12 of the incidents that are referred to out of the 36 incidents in the Goldstone Report were not known to the Israeli authorities until the publication of the report. Those are mainly dealing with damage to property and so on. And that means that no complaint had been received by the Israeli authorities. They were raised for the first time in the Goldstone Report, and those have been referred to the authorities for examination and investigation at the moment.

I'll just finish the legal aspect by saying that obviously all of the decisions along the way, whether it's the decision of the Military Advocate General or the Attorney General whether to open criminal proceedings or not open criminal proceedings, are all subject to review by our Supreme Court, which, as you know, can be petitioned for judicial review by Israelis, Palestinians, human rights organizations.

So, really, the dismissive attitude of the report for this entire system is very, very troubling, very troubling for Israel, very troubling for other countries that have similar systems, and troubling for other countries that often rely on the jurisprudence of our Supreme Court. I actually just received through my e-mail today, a decision of a Canadian Court, a Superior Court in Montreal, which last week relied on the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court. And so the attack on the legitimacy of this report is troubling from a legal point of view.

And, finally, I think the third reason why it's such a troubling report is its recommendations. Its recommendations, I think, are unprecedented, both in terms of their scope and in terms of their one-sidedness. There is an attempt in the recommendations of this report to harness not just the Human Rights Council but the Security Council, the General Assembly, the International Criminal Court, the domestic legal systems of almost every country – every country in the world, in fact – as part of a political campaign against Israel, and in a really blatantly one-sided manner.

We're talking about a recommendation that there be a moratorium on the use of certain weapons by Israel, but no restriction on the use of weapons by Hamas. We're talking about the establishment of an escrow fund it's called, a fund for supporting victims, but the victims are all Palestinians, and the only party required to pay into this fund, of course, is Israel. We're talking about the use of what's called universal jurisdiction, putting Israelis on trial abroad. But it's clear from the report the intention is only to put Israelis on trial abroad and not to put any other violators of human rights and so on. So, very, very damaging, very one-sided, very non-credible recommendations.

So I think those are the three main reasons why there's been such a strong response to the report. And I'll just finish with one final personal comment as a legal advisor within the government, within the system. And I think the role of any legal advisor, governmental or military legal advisor, is to be two-faced. Maybe all lawyers are two-faced, but by "two-faced" I mean spending part of our time being advocates of governmental policies to the world, but also turning round and doing the other half of our job, which is to be advocates of compliance of international law within the system, to our political leaders and to the military.

And a report of this nature, a report which pretends to represent international law but really perverts international law, really undermines the advocates of international law within the system because it really says that there is no lawful response to the charges of terrorism. And that's simply not true. It's not a workable proposition, and ultimately it's going to undermine respect for international law both in our region and probably elsewhere across the world. Thank you.

Also check out this piece by Soccer Dad.

People really are trafficking Arab organs

But since they are Arabs, it barely makes the news.

From AFP, via Daily News Egypt:

Eleven Jordanians were charged on Wednesday with trafficking human organs and selling them illegally in Egypt, police said.
"Three other suspects are being interrogated, while seven more people are still on the run. We have been following on the issue with the Egyptian authorities for several months," he said.
The suspects, who were extradited from Egypt on Monday, are part of a group preying on poor people in the kingdom, a police spokesman told AFP.
In some cases, people were paid to donate organs while still alive, while in others organs were being removed from people who had died and sold on the black market, the official said.
"The group sold rich Arabs kidneys for up to $30,000 each. If convicted, they face 10 years in prison with hard labor," the source added.
In 2007, Jordan created a National Commission to Promote Organ Donation in a drive to crack down on illegal trafficking and also to encourage Jordanians to donate their organs after death.
That came after authorities uncovered more than 80 cases of trafficking that year.
Organ trafficking is banned in the kingdom, with jail penalties and up to 20,000 dinars ($28,000) in fines. –AFP

Chag Sameach! !חג שמח

Another week, another holiday. Wishing all my Jewish readers a happy Sukkot, nice weather, and no bees.

I will not be blogging until Sunday night or Monday.

My interview with The Forward

On Wednesday, a Forward reporter did an email interview with me for a story that he planned on writing about the substance of the Goldstone report. He indicated that he was working on the story for the rest of the week. I don't see it published yet, and it was driving me crazy not to blog about it, and since the holiday starts tonight I couldn't hold off any longer. Here is the interview:

--Do you think there is any merit to Goldstone’s findings? If so, where do you think he got things right?
The entire process was flawed, from the time of the formation of the Commission up through the release of the report. Although I do believe that Goldstone consciously tried to extend the mandate in order to look at both sides of the story, and I do not ascribe any maliciousness to him, the framework of the Commission was faulty from the start. This is the central problem. The very framing of the report adheres to the Palestinian narrative - just looking at the table of contents, we see that he chooses to start the "military operations" section with the "blockade," not with the rocket fire that preceded it by years. Similarly, he chooses December 27th - the day Israel attacked - as the start of "military operations" and ignores Hamas' declaration of war three days beforehand altogether. It could have been framed that Israel was counterattacking, but that does not fit the narrative that Goldstone adheres to.
These are just two examples of how the framework one chooses will inevitably color the results. In these two cases, Israel is assumed to be the aggressor and the initiator. The framework does not allow any other viewpoints to be seriously considered, as they are basic assumptions from which the rest of the report flows. There are other dimensions to the flawed framework he uses, for example he chose to highlight specific heart-wrenching stories to illustrate alleged Israeli war crimes rather than look at the full context of the operation (or to mention equally heart-wrenching stories from Sderot.)

--Having looked at the report thoroughly, if you had to boil down the main methodological errors that led to his findings being lopsided what would they be?
Besides the reliance on suspect "eyewitnesses," I would say that it is his inability to imagine or believe alternate Israeli explanations for various events. The report consistently shows more skepticism for Israel's viewpoint than for the viewpoints of the Palestinian side. It is difficult to accept "even-handedness" between a democracy that has every interest in (and history of) investigating and correcting its mistakes and an organization that has every interest in twisting facts for its own gain. It is even more problematic to see how Hamas statements are treated as more reliable than Israel's. (See here.)

--Other people I’ve spoken to point to the report’s reliance on Palestinian eyewitness testimony as its central problem? Do you agree? If so, why? Is there something inherently untrustworthy about Palestinian witnesses?
At the risk of breaking rules of political correctness, the answer has to be (in general) "yes." There is a script that Palestinian Arabs are conditioned to use, and when they speak to the press for the record they almost always adhere to it. I have a number of examples here, and in context of the Gaza operation the most telling are this story from an embedded YNet reporter and this story where an anonymous farmer tells another reporter that, yes, there were actually rockets from the area that every "eyewitness" claimed had none.

--Is there any way Goldstone could have carried out his reporting differently? What steps could he have avoided to keep him from ending up with the conclusions he reached?
One can argue as to whether Israel should have cooperated with Goldstone (I think they were correct in not doing so) but Goldstone penalized Israel for its non-cooperation. If he was after the truth, he should not weight the testimony of Palestinian civilians higher than Israeli claims; on the contrary, he should have worked extra to see Israel's perspective despite its official non-cooperation. He simply did not give Israel the benefit of the doubt, while he was rarely skeptical about Palestinian Arab claims.

Self-death count update

I haven't been blogging all the PalArab murders and deaths from tunnel collapses lately, but I have been keeping track.

A few recent items include a mother who strangled her 16-year old daughter with a scarf while she was sleeping (don't know yet if it was an "honor" killing,) a 65-year old man murdered in a family dispute (both in Hebron), and a body found today in a garbage dump in Gaza City.

My count of violent deaths in PalArab territories this year is up to 198, roughly the same pace as last year.

Who says that Fatah cannot compromise?

Ma'an reports:

Success of the peace process requires a halt to settlement construction including in East Jerusalem, Secretary General of the Palestinian President’s Office At-Tayeb Abed Ar-Rahman said on behalf of President Mahmoud Abbas Thursday.

While Abbas was earlier reported to have caved to American demands that he drop the “precondition” that Israeli settlement construction must be stopped as a gesture toward the seriousness of the new government before he would sit for talks, a demand by the Fatah party that negotiations not continue until settlements stop seems to have re-activated the demand.

Just because the Fatah-dominated PA has added a precondition to talks that it never had with previous Israeli governments doesn't mean that it is inflexible or incapable of compromise. Why, it is bending over backwards in another set of negotiations - with Hamas terrorists:

Member of Fatah central committee Jamal Muheisen revealed an agreement amidst his party Thursday to accept holding legislative elections based on 80% proportionate and 20% constituent, and noted Hamas had confirmed its acceptance a 70/30 split. “This means we are not only 10% off from each other now,” he said.

Muheisen added in an interview with Palestine Radio the decision was in the interests of reaching a unity agreement. He noted disagreement on the pass percentage remains, but that Egypt is currently working on a plan to resolve the difference. Fatah requested parties get at least 2% of the vote before they gain a seat in the Palestinian Legislative Council, while Hamas wants at least three.

Who can doubt that the PA wants peace when they are so willing to unify with a terrorist organization?

The IDF's supermodel

YNet has an article about Israeli model Esti Ginzburg, who proudly serves in the IDF unlike the more famous Bar Rafaeli.

As opposed to other models and actresses her age, Private Esti Ginzburg had no hesitations at all about serving in the Israel Defense Forces. In fact, Ginzburg believes in military service so much, that as part of her role at the IDF reception base she explains to young recruits why it is so important to join the army.

"In order to contribute and help, in order to be part of the State," Ginzburg said, "enlisting is a duty, not a choice. There are a million of things I don't feel like doing, but I do them because I have to. Military service is part of the things I believe in, the values I was raised on."

Naturally, I had to painstakingly plow through hundreds of photographs of her to properly illustrate this important story for this blog. Lucky for me, I hit the jackpot here.

This is a picture of her from last spring's Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, where Ginzburg subtly signals to her fellow Jews that she is also a proud member of the worldwide Zionist conspiracy, leaving the gentiles none the wiser.

Goldstone report inaccuracies part 18

Part Two, Section A of the Goldstone Report is dedicated to "Military Operations." Goldstone decides to begin this section with a description of the blockade:

311. The military operations of 28 December to 19 January 2009 and their impact cannot be fully evaluated without taking account of the context and the prevailing living conditions at the time they began. In material respects, the military hostilities were a culmination of the long process of economic and political isolation imposed on the Gaza Strip by Israel, which is generally described as a blockade.

Why exactly does Goldstone choose the blockade as the beginning point of the narrative? It would be at least as valid to choose the beginning of the Qassam rocket fire on Israelis several years beforehand, or perhaps the violent Hamas coup against the PA, or perhaps the rocket fire that came after Israel's disengagement from Gaza, or any of a number of other seminal events each of which helped shape the circumstances of the fighting.

By choosing the blockade as his starting point for the military operations, Goldstone specifically chooses an event that makes Israel appear to have initiated the conflict. (He repeats the same pattern in choosing December 27th as the beginning of actual hostilities, and ignoring Hamas' effective declaration of war on December 24th, accompanied by a huge rocket barrage. )

Is it not strange to ignore the role that thousands of Qassam rocket attacks had in setting this fighting into motion, and that they are not considered a seminal event by Goldstone?

The blockade section of the report blames only Israel. It does not note that the Quartet participated in the blockade (except for an elliptical statement "This was also accompanied by the withholding of financial support for the Gaza Strip by some donor countries and actions of other countries that amounted to open or tacit support of the Israeli blockade.)

Goldstone also does not saythat Egypt has any part to do with the blockade. In fact, in paragraph 278, the report says:

Israel controls the border crossings (including to a significant degree the Rafah crossing to Egypt, under the terms of the Agreement on Movement and Access 163) and decides what and who gets in or out of the Gaza Strip.

However, the link he provides to this Agreement shows no such thing.

In reality, Egypt was not a signatory to the Rafah Agreement - it was between Israel, the PA and the EU. Israel could veto specific people from going into Gaza, and it could watch the crossing via closed-circuit TV, but the Rafah Agreement provided for EU observers to be the main gatekeepers and for the Palestinian Authority to be the party responsible on the Gaza side. After the Hamas coup, the Rafah crossing was closed because the EU observers could no longer travel there safely and because the PA was no longer in charge, as per the agreement. Israel's influence over Egyptian behavior at Rafah has nothing to do with this agreement, that was in any case effectively abrogated by Hamas' coup.

Egypt has opened up the Rafah border on a number of occasions, for humanitarian aid and for people to cross (often for pilgrimages to Mecca or medical reasons.) There is nothing in the Rafah Agreement that precludes Egypt from fully opening up Rafah. There are obvious reasons why it doesn't do so, and they have little to do with Israel.

In other words, Goldstone blames Israel exclusively for the blockade, even on the Egyptian side, using a link to a UN document that shows nothing of the sort.

(At times, Hamas also limits movement out of Gaza as well, another salient fact that Goldstone ignores. Hamas stopped Fatah members from attending the Bethlehem conference and it stopped Gazans from leaving when Egypt opened the border in May.)

In the blockade section of the report, Goldstone mentions (para. 320)

The tunnels built under the Gaza-Egypt border have become a lifeline for the Gaza economy and the people. Increasing amounts of fuel (benzine and diesel) come through those tunnels as well as consumables.

Yet he doesn't mention other major imports through the tunnels - explosives, rockets and weapons. Egypt has confiscated many tons of weapons before they reached Rafah. Goldstone elsewhere mentions that some of Hamas arsenal are "thought to be smuggled" and "allegedly smuggled" without saying exactly how (para. 1621 and 1622.)

Since Goldstone ignores the smuggling of weapons to Hamas through the tunnels in context of the blockade, it doesn't even address the concerns that Israel has about allowing construction materials or infrastructure materials like metal pipes into Gaza. It ignores the fact that Hamas has confiscated metal pipes meant for sewage treatment in order to manufacture rockets.

More generally, Goldstone doesn't address other pertinent facts about the reasons for the blockade. Hamas takes all of the available materials that Israel allows into Gaza first, and then hands over the leftovers to the rest of the territory. It ensures that it has all the fuel it needs before it allows the rest to go to ordinary Gazans. Hamas has also stolen ambulances donated by other countries and converted them for military use. All these are ignored by Goldstone as he assails Israel alone for the blockade.

Hamas' apparent policy is that any imports to Gaza are primarily used for military purposes and only secondarily to help Gazans themselves. If that policy would change, in a transparent manner, all indications are that Israel would allow far more goods through to Gazans. One only needs to see the differences between how Israel treats Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank and those in Gaza to see that the driving factor for Israeli behavior is not to punish the people but to protect Israeli citizens.

Goldstone sees no such nuance. He flatly states that the blockade "amounts to collective punishment intentionally inflicted by the Government of Israel on the people of the Gaza Strip" (para. 1878).

One can argue whether the blockade is effective, and one could argue whether the specific goods Israel disallows into Gaza can be used against Israel. But if Goldstone is being fair he should at least mention Hamas abuses with the goods that are brought into Gaza as a possible reason for Israel's reticence to provide it with such goods.

Similarly, he fails to point any blame at Hamas for Israel's reluctance to provide Gaza with materials that Hamas would immediately use against Israelis.

Goldstone report inaccuracies part 17

Goldstone looks for Israeli corroboration for a series of incidents that he details of alleged IDF point-blank shooting of civilians. He heavily relies on the published anonymous "testimony" of soldiers speaking at the Rabin Academy as well as for the organization Breaking the Silence.

In paragraph 805 of the final version of the Goldstone Report, he does not find corroboration for any specific incident he details but he finds something he considers relevant:

In one incident highly relevant to the cases investigated by the Mission because of factual similarities, a soldier recounted an event he witnessed.(448) A family is ordered to leave their house. For reasons that remain unclear, probably a misunderstanding, the mother and two children turn left instead of right after having walked between 100 and 200 metres from their house. They thereby cross a “red line” established by the Israeli unit (of whose existence the mother and children could have no knowledge). An Israeli marksman on the roof of the house they had just left opens fire on the woman and her two children, killing them. As the soldier speaking at the Rabin Academy’s “Fighters’ Talk” a month later observes, “from our perspective, he [the marksman] did his job according to the orders he was given”.

Footnote 448 notes " Testimony of 'Ram' in the Rabin Academy Fighters’ Talk, pp. 6-7. The Mission notes that “Ram” clearly states that he was an eyewitness to the incident."

So, although Goldstone did not find any direct corroboration for the terrible stories he tells of heartless IDF soldiers consistently picking out and shooting women and children from close range, he felt that "Ram"'s supposed testimony to the Rabin Academy acts as a reasonable proof of the Palestinian Arab testimony.

The problem is that after Ha'aretz published the Rabin Academy talks, the other Israeli newspapers went to great lengths to find out whether the stories told were true. This specific incident was especially heinous and one of the soldiers that recounted the incident was tracked down by Israel's Channel Two, and he told the reporter that he did not witness the incident and in fact was not even in Gaza!

In addition, the IDF investigated the alleged incidents mentioned. From the Jerusalem Post:

"All of the soldiers who were involved in the conference were questioned - not as a punishment - but in order to understand whether they had witnessed these things. From all of the testimonies we collected, we can safely conclude that the soldiers who made the claims did not witness the events they describe," the source said.
"All of it was based on rumors. In the incident of the alleged shooting of the mother and her children, what really happened was that a marksman fired a warning shot to let them know that they were entering a no-entry zone. The shot was not even fired in their general direction," the source said.
"The marksman's commander ran up the stairs of a Palestinian home, got up on the roof, and asked the marksman why he shot at the civilians. The marksman said he did not fire on the civilians. But the soldiers on the first floor of that house heard the commander's question being shouted. And from that point, the rumor began to spread," the source added.
"We can say with absolute certainty that the marksman did not fire on the woman and her children. Later, the company commander spoke with the marksman and his commander. We know with certainty that this incident never took place," he said.

From Ma'ariv (translated by CAMERA):

Two central incidents that came up in the testimony, which Danny Zamir, the head of the Rabin pre-military academy presented to Chief of Staff Gaby Ashkenazi, focus on one infantry brigade. The brigade’s commander today will present to Brigadier General Eyal Eisenberg, commander of the Gaza division, the findings of his personal investigation about the matter which he undertook in the last few days, and after approval, he will present his findings to the head of the Southern Command, Major General Yoav Gallant.

Regarding the incident in which it was claimed that a sniper fired at a Palestinian woman and her two daughters, the brigade commander’s investigation cites the sniper: “I saw the woman and her daughters and I shot warning shots. The section commander came up to the roof and shouted at me, 'Why did you shoot at them?’ I explained that I did not shoot at them, but I fired warning shots.”

Officers from the brigade surmise that fighters that stayed in the bottom floor of the Palestinian house thought that he hit them, and from here the rumor that a sniper killed a mother and her two daughters spread.

The New York Times also followed up and mentioned that the investigation found this incident to be "an urban myth."

Even if Goldstone believes the unsourced "testimony" of "Ram" above the IDF investigation, he should have mentioned that there is a dispute about Ram's "eyewitness" testimony. He could hardly have been unaware of the firestorm that erupted in Israel as a result of the Ha'aretz article. His failure to do so, when the followup information was so widely disseminated, is significant and troubling.

In short, Goldstone uses an apparent Israeli urban myth to corroborate separate Palestinian Arab narratives of different incidents - which means he has no corroboration at all.

It is hard to escape the conclusion that Goldstone wanted to believe the Palestinian Arab stories of being shot so badly (he states multiple times that they are "credible and reliable witnesses") that he purposefully cherry picked very dubious Israeli "testimony" to back it up, rather than look at the facts impartially - or even to mention in passing that the IDF claims to have discredited "Ram." Since he accuses the IDF a fortiori of not being able to credibly investigate its own soldiers, he doesn't even mention any questions about "Ram."

It is also interesting that none of the 53 anonymous interviews in "Breaking the Silence" mentioned any first-hand knowledge of wanton killing of civilians. They mentioned that the rules of engagement could end up with soldiers making decisions that would weight Gaza civilian lives less than the lives of the soldiers themselves - something Goldstone highlights - but as far as I can tell, every interaction of the soldiers and civilians mentioned there does not come anywhere close to the horrors narrated by the Palestinian Arabs. This absence of corroboration from Israeli soldiers who were upset at the Gaza operation is noteworthy - if they had seen anything like what Goldstone reports, they would have mentioned it.

Palestinian Arabs continue incitement over Temple Mount

Ma'an reports:

Israeli police interrogated Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, chief of the Islamic Supreme Committee, and preacher of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday afternoon over possible charges of incitement and disturbing public order.

The interrogation came after Israeli police clashed with Palestinian protesters at the Al-Aqsa Compound on Sunday after Israeli settlers were reported entering the sensitive holy site.

Sheikh Sabri said that he was interrogated at the Russian Compound prison in Jerusalem from 4pm to 7pm on Tuesday. “They falsely accused me of inciting Palestinian youths to hurl stone at Israeli police officers. They also questioned why I called Palestinian citizens to head to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

Sheikh Sabri accused Israeli police of allowing extremist settlers to access the Al-Aqsa compound, and then protecting them while inside. He said the intrusion was a violation of the mosque’s sanctity. He said that to protect the settlers, Israeli police fired rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at worshippers.

Keep in mind that even now, none of the outraged Arabs have even claimed that the visitors to the Temple Mount did anything the least bit threatening or disruptive. Arab reports themselves say that the devout worshippers started throwing stones, chairs and shoes at the presumed "extremists" whose "crime" was to walk around like any tourist while under the influence of Judaism. The police protected the visitors and did not initiate any violent actions. It seems likely that had the police not been there, the Arabs would have happily massacred the Jews.

But that doesn't stop other extremist Islamic clerics from inciting their people with the latest lie that it is the Jews who are threatening a massacre at Al Aqsa. From Palestine Today (Arabic):

Dr. Sheikh Tayseer Rajab Tamimi, Chief Justice of Palestine and chairman of the Christian-Muslim organization in support for Jerusalem and the holy sites, warned today of a potential massacre inside the Al Aqsa Mosque.

The Chief Judge's warning came after extremist Jewish groups called on supporters to collectively storm Al-Aqsa on the occasion of the so-called 'Eid throne' [Sukkot holiday] to the Jews, beginning on Sunday, 4/10/2009 until Thursday 9/10/2009.

Sheikh Al-Tamimi renewed his call for the masses of our people in all positions, especially the residents of Jerusalem and the territories of 1948, to continue mobilizing the armed forces [I believe that this translation is correct -EoZ] and the intensification of attendance at the Al Aqsa Mosque, to protect, defend and oppose attempts to breach it, as of next Sunday, to thwart Israeli plots to prejudice its sacredness and to undermine and destroy it.

He said that anyone who has access to Jerusalem and fails to do so is a sinner.

He called to consider this Friday a day of angry protests and marches in every Arab and Muslim town after Friday prayers in support of Al-Aqsa mosque to condemn the actions of the occupation. He also called preachers of mosques throughout the Islamic world to customize their Friday sermons to the issue of Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque, and expose the schemes and the Israeli occupation practices against it.

Dr Tamimi said there is a deliberate intention by the occupation authorities and the extremist Jewish groups to commit a massacre in Al-Aqsa Mosque, especially after the statements by occupation police chief Aharon Franco[?] in Jerusalem, who said that 'Jews have the right to arrive safely and enter the mosque, like the Muslims who performed their religious rites during the month of Ramadan on the Temple Mount without interference.'

He added that the Israeli government is secretly seeking the division of Al-Aqsa Mosque, as they did in the Ibrahimi Mosque [Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron] after the acts of terrorist Baruch Goldstein who had the support of the Israeli occupation forces for the massacre of worshipers, to impose their control upon establishment of the alleged temple on its ruins.

Tamimi is fabricating a clear series of lies and incitement to violence. Based on what happened last week, this incitement is likely to have very dire results.

Not a single Arab spokesman has yet condemned the throwing of stones and chairs at a group of peaceful visitors to the Temple Mount. On the contrary, even the most moderate of them have praised the "defense" of the "sanctity" of Al Aqsa done by the masked stone-throwers.

I scoop CBS News - by a month

From CBS:

Al Qaeda has developed a new tactic that allows suicide bombers to breach even the tightest security, as CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar reports.

Inside a Saudi palace, the scene was the bloody aftermath of an al Qaeda attack in August aimed at killing Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef, head of Saudi Arabia's counter terrorism operations.

To get his bomb into this room, Abdullah Asieri, one of Saudi Arabia's most wanted men, avoided detection by two sets of airport security including metal detectors and palace security. He spent 30 hours in the close company of the prince's own secret service agents - all without anyone suspecting a thing.

How did he do it?

Taking a trick from the narcotics trade - which has long smuggled drugs in body cavities - Asieri had a pound of high explosives, plus a detonator inserted in his rectum.

This was a meticulously planned operation with al Qaeda once again producing something new: this time, the Trojan bomber.

The blast left the prince lightly wounded - a failure as an assassination, but as an exercise in defeating security, it was perfect.

The bomber persuaded the prince he wanted to leave al Qaeda, setting a trap.

Al Qaeda has an animated movie showing the meeting between the bomber and the prince. Asieri says more senior al Qaeda figures want to surrender and convinces the prince to talk to them on a cell phone.

In the conversation recorded by al Qaeda, you hear a beep in the middle of two identical phrases that are repeated by the bomber and his handler.

Explosives experts tell CBS News that beep was likely a text message activating the bomb concealed inside Asieri.

The Trojan bomber hands the phone to Prince Mohammed. He's standing next to him, and 14 seconds later, he detonates.

"This is the nightmare scenario," said Chris Yates, an aviation security consultant.

On a plane at altitude, the effects of such a bomb could be catastrophic. And there is no current security system that could stop it.

"Absolutely nothing other than to require people to strip naked at the airport," said Yates.

And al Qaeda says it will share its new technique via the Internet very soon. There is nothing that can stop that either.

Al-Arabiya in Arabic says that the weapon has been termed the "Ass Bomb".

Which is what I called it - in August.

CNN says that the Saudis now claim that he his the bomb in his underwear.

The airplane scenario is real and frightening, though.

Ahmadinejad spurned Neturei Karta?

Vos iz Neias, a Brooklyn-based Orthodox Jewish website, reports:

VIN News has learned from high-ranking Iranian officials that a New York meeting between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and members of the radical anti-Zionist Neturei Karta group was canceled at-the behest of Ahmadinejad himself.

Neturei Karta members reportedly were scrambling to secure a meeting with Ahmadinejad himself during his recent visit to New York for the U.N. meeting. Hope seemed "lost" until the group actually succeeded in arranging for a face-to-face with the firebrand head of state-only to have that meeting suddenly canceled, by no less than Ahmadinejad himself.

According to VIN's sources, it is said that the Iranian president has lost total interest in the Neturai Karta, and views them as zealots with no serious following within the Jewish community.

Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss of Neturei Karta confirmed to VIN News that their group did not meet last week with Ahmadinejad, but declined to provide a reason.
Two years ago, members of the group scored international headlines, and a fierce firestorm to match, when they appeared at a Holocaust-denial conference in Teheran to publicly and literally embrace Ahmadinejad. The group has also met Ahmadinejad in 2007 while visiting New York.

Meanwhile nowadays, famous Austrian Rabbi Moishe Arye Friedman, the formerly high-ranking official who facilitated that infamous event, has done teshuvah [repentance ]. As described in an exclusive interview with VIN, the activist no longer agrees with the NK's philosophy, and believes what most said about it for decades: that it is a dangerously foolhardy calculation for a handful of extremists to claim international Torah Jewish representation, especially on such a critical issue as the safety and security of fellow Jews-not to mention a humiliating chilul Hashem [desecration of God's name.]
Rabbi Friedman is reputedly using his connections and influence in high ranks of the International Community places to now thwart, not facilitate, publicity-heavy meetings between members of the group.

I have no idea if it is true but it sounds semi-plausible. The reason given is a little strange; what does Ahmadinejad care if NK is considered fringe or not? They serve his purposes either way as Jewish cover for his desire to destroy Israel.

Anyway, this story does show that religious Jews can't stand the anti-Israel NK as a whole and that they represent essentially no one in the Orthodox Jewish community.

I am reminded of an old posting of mine, where an avowed "anti-Zionist" idiot wrote an article against Neturei Karta because they were just too Jewy for him.

(h/t Andre)

Casualties of Truth - the website

PTWatch, after much exhausting work, has put together a database-driven website that shows all the results of our team's research into PCHR's casualty list from Operation Cast Lead.

Much better than the posting I've been updating, the site lists alternate names of the militants, points to the URLs that prove their terrorist ties and even includes screenshots of the sites.

This is now the definitive reference site for Cast Lead casualties. I hope that the other researchers that have been doing similar work can help update it with their own raw results.

Thanks again to PTWatch, t34zakat and Suzanne for the many, many hours of research that resulted in this!

September rocket calendar

Q=Qassam (may include Katyusha-style rockets)
QS=Qassam landing short in Gaza
M=Mortar
(G)=Grad (included in Qassam count, not consistent yet)

MS=Mortar landing short
P - unnamed "projectiles"
(Paren) indicates unconfirmed Palestinian claims

K=Katyushas from Lebanon

September 2009

Palestinian Arab leaders calling for new intifada

Palestinian Arabs love to romanticize their worst decisions.

During the 1936-39 riots and strikes they ended up killing far more of their own people than anyone else. Their leadership was forced out of the area and they were left a disorganized mess, which historians blame for their poor performance in 1948. Yet they nostalgically refer to that time period as "The Great Revolt," mostly because they did manage to scare the British into severely limiting Jewish immigration and therefore many tens of thousands (maybe hundreds of thousands) of Jews ended up in ovens instead of Palestine. Apparently, to the Palestinian Arabs, this made it all worthwhile.

The same logic is happening now. The second intifada, by any sane measure, was a terrible setback for supposed Palestinian Arab hopes for an independent homeland. Thousands were killed, their economy was ruined, and the possibility of nationhood became more remote. Just as in the 1930s, they ended up fighting each other, killing hundreds more. Yet they regard it today with nostalgia - because they were successful in killing over a thousand Jews and the wave of suicide bombings made them feel important and relevant as they enjoyed being on the world stage - even if it was for terrorism.

Today, Palestinian Arab leaders across the spectrum are calling for a new intifada, and leveraging the threat of one to gain the prestige that they associate with terror.

Several political figures from across the Palestinian spectrum have suggested this week that a new uprising is on its way in the wake of the violent clashes with Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday.

The Hamas movement urged Palestinians throughout the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel to take to the streets and begin a new uprising against Israel in reaction to clashes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on Sunday.

Muhammad Dahlan, a member of Fatah's Central Committee, warned on Sunday a third intifada could arise in light of "Israel's contempt for the feelings of Muslims."

Other officials, like Saeb Erekat and others from the PLO, are more indirect in their calls to violence by characterizing peaceful Jewish visits to the Temple Mount as "attack[s] on ordinary civilians and worshippers at Al-Aqsa." These lies are simply incitement to terror.

These threats of violence are perceived as something that gives them relevance, and relevance is synonymous with honor. This perceived "honor," in turn, is more important than compromise, peace and normal lives for PalArabs.

If anyone is provoking violence, it is the Palestinian Arab side. But this is not surprising because these are the people who name public squares and children's camps after the most vile terrorists, who almost universally support attacks on Israeli civilians, and who celebrate when Jews are murdered.

Is it any wonder that Palestinian Arabs are calling to relaunch a new terrorism campaign? The prestige that it gives them in the Arab world is worth far more to them than the lives that are disrupted and lost when they choose war.

Latest insane Arab rumor

From Ma'an:

Israel plans to allow Jewish worshipers to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on a regular basis, dividing prayer time between Muslims and Jews, officials at the Islamic Christian Society in Support of Jerusalem said Monday.

Currently Israeli citizens are not permitted to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the Haram Ash-Sharif. On Sunday, however, clashes broke out inside the sanctuary when extremist Jews - reports dispute whether or not the culprits were Israeli citizens - entered the area along with Israeli soldiers. The compound was locked down during the clashes and 13 were injured. Israeli forces also raided Palestinian Jerusalem and detained dozens military sources say were involved in the clashes.

According to the society, there will be 50 Jewish holidays on which Jews will have exclusive access to the compound for worship. The religious calendars of the Muslim and Jewish faith often overlap, with the Jewish Rosh Hashana holiday coinciding with the final Friday of the Muslim Ramadan. The society calls the decision “unacceptable.”

Officials, including Sheikh Taisir At-Tamimi, Archbishop Atallah Hanna, Dr. Hasan Khater, Sheikh Ibrahim Sarsour and Father Manuel Musallam from the society spoke at a news conference Monday in Ramallah. They warned that such a policy was dangerous, and “went beyond the red line.”

The religious leaders then appealed to Palestinian leaders to seek a national agreement so they could prevent Israel from taking over the site, which Jews believe is the place where the Second Temple stood. Plans from extremist and even moderate right wing groups to raze Al-Aqsa and build a Third Temple have been repeatedly uncovered.

The leaders called the plan a war crime, noting there were attacks on Al-Aqsa from “above and below,” referring to the contentious excavation work Israel is carrying out on tunnels beneath the compound.

The officials called all the Muslims to fast on Thursday and all the Christians to pray on Sunday as an expression of solidarity with Jerusalem and all the holy places in the city.

Sheikh Taisir At-Tamimi urged Palestinians to attend worship ceremonies in the Old City of Jerusalem and at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in particular, in order to stave off encroaching Israeli presence in the area.

The Archbishop Atallah Hanna asked all Christians to join their fellow Muslims in prayer on Sunday to be in solidarity with Al-Aqsa mosque. He stressed that targeting Al-Aqsa is only the beginning of targeting the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

50 Jewish holidays every year? Jews coveting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre? Rosh Hashanah always coinciding with Eid?

What is really happening is that these extremist religious leaders saw that their rioting on Sunday was, from their twisted perspective, a complete success. People like Tamimi come out with Jewish conspiracy theories every week, all published in the Arabic media, about how Jews are digging tunnels underneath the Temple Mount or planning to destroy it or whatever. But last week, he got "lucky" by predicting that Jews would go to the Temple Mount on Sunday (even though Jews, and even Israeli Jews, go there often) and he had riled up his acolytes to riot.

The riots resulted in the Jews leaving their holiest area, so once again Arabs proved that the threat of violence is far more effective than anything else in getting their agendas done.

So now they need to extend their good luck. They make up crazy rumors. Major clerics announce these so-called Jewish plans without the tiniest shred of evidence, but that doesn't matter - as long as they can credibly get their idiot followers to believe them, they are golden. Their goal is to ensure that Jews are never allowed to set foot on the Temple Mount, and the way to do that is to repeat the circumstances of the 2000 intifada - something they consider a wonderful victory. For years, the holiest Jewish shrine was Judenrein, and these sheikhs and clerics were happy even as their people were getting killed and their economy went down the tubes.

How sweet would it be, though, if the Jewish state would actually take over the Temple Mount from the corrupt Waqf and give permanent access to Jews?

The IDF's miracle weapons!

From Palestine Think Tank:

Malformed Babies Resulting From Israeli Banned Weapons

Since the end of criminal Israeli operation "Cast Lead" in Gaza Strip last January, more than five cases of birth have been registered which show babies who have a deformed and not fully formed heart. These births came as an effect of the use of internationally banned weapons of phosphor and uranium by the Israeli occupation in the middle of populated areas.

I did see these accusations in Arabic as well.

So, at least five Gaza children were born with birth defects in the past nine months? Let's do some math.

According to CIA World Factbook figures, we can estimate some 43,000 children were born in Gaza since January. It appears that in general, 2% of all babies born in Western nations have severe birth defects.

Let's pretend that the normal rate of severe birth defects in Gaza is much lower, say 0.5%. That means that in a normal 9 month period, one could expect 215 babies in Gaza to have severe birth defects. (The real number is probably around 900.)

Since only 6 or 7 babies born in Gaza are claimed to have had these ill-effects, this means that the illegal Israeli chemical and radiological weapons that were unleashed on Gaza ended up reducing the number of deformed babies by an astonishing 97%!

Clearly, the IDF has come up with some miracle weapons that eliminate nearly all severe birth defects!

Quick - call the March of Dimes!

UNHRC meeting members accuse Israel of genocide

The UN Human Rights Council continues its farcical actions as today it considered the Goldstone Report.

In the synopsis of the morning session, two people used the report to accuse Israel of genocide. One was Israel's erstwhile "peace partner." (Notice how the UNHRC already regards "Palestine" as a country:)

Palestine, speaking as a concerned country, said that the report was a professional, unbiased report, and related to facts that could not be denied. This was not a political instrument that supported Palestine or Israel. This report was important because, for the first time, there was monitoring and documentation of the massacres the Palestinian peoples had suffered, indeed were suffering from genocide.

The other was Venezuela:

GERMAN MUNDARAIN HERNANDEZ (Venezuela) thanked the Fact-Finding Mission for the presentation of their report and for the work they had carried out. At the ninth Special Session, Venezuela had already stated its profound indignation over the violations of international humanitarian law that had been carried out by the Israeli army against the civilian population in Gaza. Venezuela believed that the report was a document with scientific rigour and that it was historic. The Mission had shown, once again, the Israeli crimes over the years using Palestinian civilians as military targets. This was genocide.

By the way, if Israel killed 50,000 Gazans a year, their population would still be increasing. Perhaps these esteemed diplomats have no idea of what "genocide" means or, more likely, they just take great pleasure in hurling such accusations at Israel.

The Islamization of Lebanon

From the Lebanon Daily Star:

Christians are tempted to flee Lebanon as the country becomes increasingly “Islamized,” according to the founder of the Center for Arab Christian Research and Documentation (CEDRAC). One-third of the nation’s Christian population has left since the beginning of the 1975-90 Civil War, and a recent surge in emigration means Christians now make up just 34 percent of Lebanon’s population, Father Samir Khalil, a Jesuit teacher at Beirut’s St. Joseph University’s CEDRAC department, told Vatican Radio last week.

“Christians used to make up 50 percent of the nation’s population; now experts think the Christians are probably not exceeding 34 percent, which is worrying,” Khalil said in the radio interview during a visit to The Holy See.

The Beirut-based researcher expressed concern that Christians in the Arab world are moving abroad to places with higher Christian populations, such as America, Europe and Australia, which is increasing the Muslim majority in countries like Lebanon.

“The same is happening [all over] the Middle East, and this is certainly a very tragic situation, and it will have great consequences in the future,” Father Khalil warned last week on the Vatican Radio station, adding that Christians must stay in the Middle East to keep numbers up.

Large numbers of Lebanese Christians are leaving as they feel their traditional influence in their country is weakening, while an increasing number of crucial political positions are going to Muslims.

In reference to Islamic extremism, Khalil claimed the power of the influential Christian minority to counterbalance it was waning, saying: “Lebanon has always been a bastion of religious tolerance, but now it is moving toward the model of Islamization seen in Iraq and Egypt.”

Something to keep in mind as Muslims keep pointing to the Arab Christians as proof of their "tolerance."

"Honor killing" in Jordan

From AFP:

Three Jordanian men were charged on Tuesday with premeditated murder after allegedly stabbing to death their divorced sister as well as burning her body and house over her "bad reputation," police said.

"The three brothers all under 30, agreed to kill their 40-year-old sister on Sunday because she allegedly had a bad reputation," in Abu Alanda, in southeast Amman, a police spokesman told AFP.

"She was stabbed 15 times. One of the three told police that the mother of five had a love affair with a man and that he found pictures of the woman sitting with her alleged lover."

The spokesperson said the suspects "burned the victim's body and set ablaze her house to cover the crime."

Murder is punishable by the death penalty in Jordan but in the case of so-called "honour killings" a court usually commutes or reduces sentences, particularly if the victim's family urges leniency.

Israel to import lulavs from Gaza

From Arutz-7:

Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved Tuesday the importation of lulavs (date palm fronds) from Gaza, after Minister of Religious Services Yakov Mergi asked him to do so. The lulavs are one of the four species used in the morning prayer services during the upcoming Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
The request comes as a result of a shortage in lulavs and concern over a possible cartel by dealers, resulting in a price hike.

The story appeared in Palestine Today in Arabic as well.

I don't understand why palm branches aren't available from anywhere else. If anything, importing them from PA-controlled areas of the West Bank would be preferable.

"Death penalty for women who fake virginity"

I've mentioned a number of times about how some women in the Arab world are forced to go through hymen-restoration surgery before marriage in order to ensure that they won't get murdered by their new loving husbands upon the discovery that their hymens are not intact. Most recently, a Saudi fatwa seemed to allow such surgery, although hundreds of Jordanian women are forced to have their "virginity" examined before marriage by prospective in-laws.

Now, Chinese technology has upped the ante.

From the BBC (h/t Soccer Dad via email):

A leading Egyptian scholar has demanded that people caught importing a female virginity-faking device into the country should face the death penalty.
Abdul Mouti Bayoumi said supplying the item was akin to spreading vice in society, a crime punishable by death in Islamic Sharia law.
The device is said to release liquid imitating blood, allowing a female to feign virginity on her wedding night.
There is a stigma about pre-marital sex in conservative Arab societies.
The contraption is seen as a cheap and simple alternative to hymen repair surgery, which is carried out in secret by some clinics in the Middle East.
It is produced in China and has already become available in other parts of the Arab world.
The device is reported to be on sale in Syria for $15.
Professor Bayoumi, a scholar at the prestigious al-Azhar University, said it undermined the moral deterrent of fornication, which he described as a crime and one of the cardinal sins in Islam.
Members of parliament in Egypt have also called for banning import of the item.

At Al Azhar, a women's virginity is apparently valued higher than their very lives.

Egyptian editor in trouble for talking to Israeli

More from that model of Israel-Arab peace:

The board of state-owned Al-Ahram Organization referred Al-Ahram’s Democracy Review editor-in-chief Hala Mustafa to the legal affairs department to be questioned over inviting Israeli ambassador Shalhom Cohen to her office.
This comes after the Journalists’ Syndicate also opened an investigation into the same incident, which is seen as violating the general assembly’s ban on any form of cooperation with Israel.
Nearly two weeks ago, Cohen paid a visit to Al-Ahram headquarters, leaving security officials confused since they were not given prior notice.
The ambassador allegedly wanted to discuss a proposal to hold lectures organized by Mustafa’s periodical.
Mustafa hosted him in her office, triggering controversy within the state-owned foundation, with calls to fire her from Al-Ahram and expel her from the syndicate.
Al-Ahram’s board issued four decrees during their last meeting; referring Mustafa to legal affairs, banning any Israeli from entering the organization’s premises, banning any joint studies, meetings and conferences with researchers with Zionist ideas, and distancing Abdel Moneim Saeed’s personal political views from his position as chairman of Al-Ahram’s board.
Saeed is known for being an advocate of normalization with Israel, meeting with officials and traveled to the country, according to Ahmed El-Naggar, member of Al-Ahram’s board of directors.

An Al-Quds article relates Al-Ahram's ban on Israelis as a direct reaction by Egypt blaming Zionists and Jews for Farouk Hosny's failure to become UNESCO's director.

"Moderate" PA praises those who attack Jews

Yesterday, Ma'an described the event on the Temple Mount like this (the story has since been radically changed online:)

Confrontations erupted after groups of Israelis broke into the compound, reportedly under the guard of Israeli police. Palestinians hurled stones, chairs, and shoes at the Israelis, while police tried to disperse the Palestinians by force, injuring nine people right away, and four more throughout the morning.

The newer version of the story says this:

According to witnesses, clashes broke out after a group of about 150 Israeli settlers entered the Al-Aqsa compound on Sunday morning, reportedly under the guard of local authorities who also escorted the group away from the area when worshipers began to protest.

By all accounts, the Jews (or perhaps French tourists) who toured the Mount did nothing provocative. They didn't interrupt prayers, they didn't shout, they didn't riot, they didn't cause any disruptions at all by their actions. And when the worshippers protested the fact that they were doing nothing, they even left without a fuss.

All they did was walk around, something tourists do every day.

Since they were presumably Jews, however, the Arabs freaked out and started doing what they do best - rioting. They threw rocks and chairs at the people they identified as being guilty of the crime of being Jewish.

Today, the PA - those moderate darlings of progressive peace-pushers worldwide - praised the rioters:

The Fatah-backed Palestinian Authority in Ramallah has condemned Sunday’s Israeli infringement on the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound in Jerusalem and hailed Palestinians who rushed to defend the holy site.

In a statement issued on Monday evening, the cabinet of caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad also urged Arab and Muslim countries to mobilize in defense of Al-Aqsa.

The government “congratulated the Palestinian masses when they rushed to defend Al-Aqsa Mosque and foiled the attempt of settlers and extremists to storm the Mosque.”

This isn't even Abbas - this is the uber-Western friendly prime minister Salim Fayyad praising rioters.

Of course, from their perspective, the "settlers" were being "provocative." Reacting to the provocation of "existing" with rocks and thrown chairs, as well as more rioting that carried over into today, is apparently a praiseworthy action according to the peaceful and moderate Palestinian Authority.

UPDATE: Here are some pictures of the poor provoked "worshippers," courtesy of Palestine Today:

Praiseworthy!

Goldstone Report inaccuracies, part 16

The Goldstone Report includes these pieces of information:

397. While it appears that all the policemen killed in this location were taking part in a training course, there is conflicting information on the details. Most reports by NGOs are to the effect that these were police “cadets” in the midst of a graduation ceremony. The Gaza police spokesperson, however, told the Mission that they were serving policemen, who had been taking a three-week course and who were, at the time of the strike, doing “morning sport exercise”.255

400. A second police training course targeted was reportedly attended by around 50
policemen. Twenty-eight of them were killed in the strike. According to the police spokesperson, the training course was designed to instruct police officers on how to deal with police officers who abused their power as well as on cultural and economic issues relevant to police work.258

414. On 1 January 2009, during the Israeli military operations in Gaza, the police spokesperson, Mr. Islam Shahwan, informed the media that the police commanders had managed to hold three meetings at secret locations since the beginning of the armed operations. He added that “an action plan has been put forward, and we have conducted an assessment of the situation and a general alert has been declared by the police and among the security forces in case of any emergency or a ground invasion. Police officers received clear orders from the leadership to face the enemy, if the Gaza Strip were to be invaded.”278 Confirming to the Mission that he had been correctly quoted, Mr. Shahwan stated that the instructions given at that meeting were to the effect that in the event of a ground invasion, and particularly if the Israeli armed forces were to enter urban settlements in Gaza, the police was to continue its work of ensuring that basic food stuffs reached the population, of directing the population to safe places, and of upholding public order in the face of the invasion. Mr. Shahwan further stated that not a single policeman had been killed in combat during the armed operations, proving that the instructions had been strictly obeyed by the policemen.

All three paragraphs have something in common - they all rely on the testimony of Gaza police spokesman Islam Shahwan. There is no indication of any skepticism in Shahwan's testimony to the Goldstone Commission.

But this past summer, right around the same time that Shahwan was being listened to by the sober representatives of the United Nations Human Rights Council, he was making headlines for another reason: he was accusing Israel of distributing chewing gum that increases one's sex drive:

A Hamas police spokesman in the Gaza Strip Islam Shahwan claimed Monday that Israeli intelligence operatives are attempting to "destroy" the young generation by distributing such materials in the coastal enclave.

Shahwan said that the police got their hands on gum that increases sexual desire that, according to him, reaches merchants in the Strip by way of the border crossings. According to him, a Palestinian drug dealer admitted that he sold products that increase sex drive. The dealer said that he received the materials from Israeli sources by way of the Karni crossing.

A number of suspects have been arrested.

The affair was exposed when a Palestinian filed a complaint that his daughter chewed the aforementioned gum and experienced the dubious side effects.

Shahwan even claimed that Israeli intelligence operatives encourage dealers in Gaza to distribute the gum for free.

"The Israelis seek to destroy the Palestinians' social infrastructure with these products and to hurt the young generation by distributing drugs and sex stimulants," said Shahwan.

Now, there's a reliable witness!
(h/t Shira)

G'mar chatima tovah 5770 - גמר חתימה טובה

I would like to take this opportunity to ask forgiveness from anyone who I may have wronged this year; even if I use a pseudonym the feelings I may have hurt are no less real. I unconditionally forgive anyone who may have wronged me.

For those who read Hebrew, here's something I wasn't aware of - a comparison between the text of Avinu Malkeinu and the weekday Shmoneh Esrei, from here:

הקבלה לשמונה עשרה
אבינו מלכנו מקביל לשמונה עשרה ברכות העמידה ביום חול:
"אבינו מלכנו חננו ועננו" כנגד "חונן הדעת";
"אבינו מלכנו החזירנו בתשובה" כנגד "הרוצה בתשובה";
"אבינו מלכנו סלח ומחל" כנגד "סלח לנו";
"אבינו מלכנו כתבנו בספר גאולה" כנגד "גואל ישראל";
"אבינו מלכנו שלח רפואה" כנגד "רפאנו";
"אבינו מלכנו חודש עלינו שנה טובה" כנגד "ברך עלינו";
"אבינו מלכנו הרם קרן ישראל" כנגד "תקע בשופר";
"אבינו מלכנו בטל מעלינו" כנגד "השיבה שופטנו וכו' והסר ממנו יגון ואנחה":
"אבינו מלכנו כלה כל צר" כנגד "ולמלשינים וכו' שובר אויבים";
"אבינו מלכנו מחוק ברחמיך הרבים" כנגד "על הצדיקים וכו' יהמו נא רחמיך";
"אבינו מלכנו הרם קרן משיחך" כנגד "את צמח דוד וכו' וקרנו תרים";
"אבינו מלכנו הצמח לנו ישועה" כנגד "מצמיח קרן ישועה";
"אבינו מלכנו שמע קולנו" כנגד "שמע קולנו וכו' "שומע תפילה";
(מנהגי מהר"י טירנא, ראש השנה; לבוש סי' תקפ"ד א).

I would like to wish my Jewish readers an easy fast, and may we all be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life. May this be a year of peace and prosperity.

Hamas KidTV: "Slaughter the Jews"

Nassur the Bear, the latest mascot from the Hamas kiddie TV show "Pioneers of Tomorrow," here calls for the slaughter of all Jews in Israel:

Nassur: “There won't be any Jews or Zionists, if Allah wills. They'll be erased.”
Saraa: “Chased away.”
Nassur: “And just like we will visit the Qaaba [in Mecca]... everyone will visit Jerusalem.”
[Seven-year old Palestinian child on phone tells how his father, a member of the Hamas Al-Qassam Brigades, “died as a Shahid (Martyr).”]
Nassur to child on phone: “What do you want to do to the Jews who shot your father?”
Child on phone: “I want to kill them.”
Saraa: “We don't want to do anything to them, just expel them from our land.”
Nassur: “We want to slaughter (Nidbah-hom) them, so they will be expelled from our land, right?”
Saraa: “Yes. That's right. We will expel them from our land using all means.”
Nassur: “And if they don't want [to go] peacefully, by words or talking, we’ll have to [do it] by slaughter.

The Nassur death watch continues. Any new ideas on how he will kick the bucket? I'm thinking he'll get attacked by Zionist pigs.

Jordanian father defends Dallas terrorist

From the Jordan Times:

Maher Smadi accused the FBI of “entrapping” his son, provoking him to follow through on actions he would not have taken without the encouragement of the undercover agents.

“Instead of encouraging my son to become a terrorist, the FBI should have focused on changing his thoughts and putting him on the right track again. All they did was to add a new name to the list of terrorists,” he said.

Entrapping a man to want to kill hundreds of people? It's not exactly the same as prostitution...

Let's read the younger Smadi's words that indicate how much the FBI made him want to kill innocent people (from Scribd, h/t Jihad Watch for the transcription)

"I truly say it that my dream is to be among God's soldiers, first for the support of Islam and my beloved Sheik Usama, may God give him long life. I don't know what is in me, but I love him as I love my father. I don't want to add to this.

Now, my brother, the point is that thousands of Muslims have been killed at the hand of Jews -- the dogs -- and the silent disloyal backsliders. Those are the Arab kings and, God willing, their end will be the hanging rope and hell.

Their silence and fight against the Sheik mean that they are backsiders along with the enemy in a world plan to destroy Islam, Muslims, and to seize their lands for the benefit of the Jews and for the love of infidelity.

By God who created me, there will not be a retreat at all, even if they take me to Guantanamo for the rest of my life. I will never forget Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, or any land where the call of, 'there is no God but God, Muhammad is God's Messenger' is raised.

Who will assist the brothers, the infants, the women who became widows and their orphan children? Who would return these lands before religion and blessing disappear? Who would cause these tyrants to fall?

In the name of God, the Gracious and Merciful, this is my vow to you, my brother, that I am ready. And if you were a lover of Jihad as I am, then, by God, I am ready for the Jihadi life. What you will see of me will please you and your commander.

The reign is only for the living and powerful God. I ask Him that he would be our Caliph and Ruler."

[...]

"My brother in God, God and His angels are with us. With the permission of the Almighty Lord of the Worlds, we will have victory and allies from God Almighty. He is the powerful and helpful. Victory is coming, is coming to defeat the Romans [i.e., Christians] and for the destruction of the Jews. God is Most Great. We shall attack them in their very homes. Brother, by God, we shall attack them in a manner that hurts, an attack that shakes the world. Oh Brother, let the backsliders know that the time for their destruction has come."

PalArabs use peaceful stones against violent meditators

Ha'aretz reports:

Four people were wounded in clashes between police and Palestinian protesters early Sunday at the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said some 150 Palestinians threw stones at a group of Jews visiting the site. Police dispersed the rioters using stun grenades, and two policemen were lightly wounded.

In other words, Palestinian Arabs decided to turn their "third holiest site" into a place for rioting and attacking peaceful Jews.

But look how the Arab media reports it:

At least 13 Palestinians were injured as fierce clahes broke out at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem on Sunday morning after Israeli police permitted settlers to break into the area, witnesses said.

Two of the injured Palestinians reportedly sustained serious injuries to the eye and head. Israeli police said two officers were also hurt.

On Thursday, the Al-Aqsa Foundation had warned of an impending incursion. Officials in Jerusalem said extremists were preparing to break into the holy Muslim area, and accurately predicted that the break-in would occur on Sunday under the pretext of celebrating a religious holiday.

Confrontations erupted after groups of Israelis broke into the compound, reportedly under the guard of Israeli police. Palestinians hurled stones, chairs, and shoes at the Israelis, while police tried to disperse the Palestinians by force, injuring nine people right away, and four more throughout the morning.

They have an interesting definition of "breaking in." Yet even the Arabs cannot find anything that the so-called "settlers" did to upset the sanctity of the holy site - besides the obvious crime of being Jewish.

Even the Arab press admits that the only people who started the rioting were Muslims and that there was no provocation, as Jews have been quietly and respectfully visiting the Temple Mount for years. (And the only reason the police needed to accompany them is because of Thursday's threats made by the peaceful Muslims against Jews visiting the area.)

"Goldstone" on Latma

Very funny and very politically incorrect humor from an Israeli comedy show.

Other Goldstone reactions

There have been a number of excellent rejoinders to Goldstone. Here are a couple of recent ones:

Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ma'ariv's Ben-Dror Yemini

(h/t t34zakat)