Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Lawsuit against Egyptian soccer star for "normalization"

From Al Arabiya (Arabic) (h/t for initial translation Ali)

Famous Egyptian lawyer, Nabih Al Wahsh, filed a lawsuit demanding that Egyptian soccer player Emad Moteab be stripped of his citizenship because of "normalization."

Moteab joined Belgian soccer club Standard Liège, whose squad includes Rami Gershon, an Israeli soccer player. Moteab signed the contract without any reservation over the fact that there is an Israeli, which created an "unprecedented situation."

The lawyer goes on to argue that Motaeb knowingly joined the Belgian team despite Egyptian hatred for Israel.

Motaeb is very popular in Egypt, having scored a last-minute goal against Algeria to bring Egypt close to World Cup competition last November.

Al Arabiya quotes a prominent Egyptian scholar Gamma al-Banna (brother of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, but considered much more liberal) who said that there is nothing wrong with Motaeb being on the same team as Gershon, as long as he doesn't become friends with him. Hatred for Israel is a given, he says, but asking him to not be on a team with an Israeli is going a little bit too far.

The newspaper does bring up the question of whether the Egyptian should refrain from hugging the Israeli when a goal is scored.

It's summer camp time in Gaza!

It's time for summer camp - that time of year when Hamas and Islamic Jihad can inculcate young men in the ways of murder and jihad!

Palestine Today writes that Islamic Jihad summer camps will enroll some 10,000 youngsters between the ages of 12 and 16 this year.

Hamas camps will have far more than that amount. Hamas claims that they have over 5000 campers in Gaza City alone, and they are expecting 100,000 campers altogether in 600 camps.A report about Hamas camps from two years ago can be seen here.

And how can I talk about summer camps in Gaza without showing my video, "Hello Martyr, Hello Fatah"?

Who's preparing the Second Flotilla?

The main donor of the two Second Flotilla ships, "Free journalists ship" (dubbed as the Naji Al-Ali ship) and the Mariam-ship, is no-one else than PalArab businessman Yasser Qashlaq, who recently bragged that the Second Flotilla will include more than fifty ships.

Who is Yasser Qashlaq? (also more in this video on Samar Hajj and general Mustafa Hamdan (although I could not find out what his role would be in this second flotilla event):)

And I found another video on the martyrdom wish of some of the Flotilla passengers in May (the first scenes you might have seen already):

Today's anti-semitism is brought to you by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

MEMRI quotes Ahmadinejad in a speech he gave on Wednesday:

The Jews Are "the Filthiest and Greatest of Criminals, Who [Only] Appear to Be Human"

"...Sixty years ago, they [i.e. the West] gathered the filthiest and greatest of criminals, who [only] appear to be human [i.e. the Jews] from all the corners of the earth, organized and armed them – on artificial and false pretexts, fabricating information and inventing stories [hinting at the Holocaust]. They gave [the Jews] propaganda and military backing so that they would occupy the lands of Palestine and uproot the Palestinian nation..."

Oh, he also spoke about Iran's plans for world domination and his desire to bring down the US government.

Back in 2005 and early 2006, I warned about Iran's objective and plans for literally taking over the world, not only becoming a rival superpower to the US, but of supplanting it. Those old posts hold up pretty well. I underestimated the Arab antipathy towards Ahmadinejad but if he gets the bomb, they would change sides very quickly.

Ahmadinejad has been remarkably consistent in his words and actions, and the West has simply not been able to put together an effective and unified answer. Little has changed since 2005, and that is our fault - because Iran has made its strategy plain for years.

Scenes from a Gaza supermarket, toy shop

These are screenshots from a new Al Jazeera English report on the "Gaza siege."

Truly heartbreaking.

(h/t Jed)

Girl on Syrian TV: "Allah, turn Jews into apes and pigs!"

Syria Truth reports that a Syrian TV program, called "Men of the Sun," showed a girl of no more than six years old calling on Allah to turn all Jews into apes and pigs.

The weekly program is aimed at Arab residents of the Golan Heights.

According to the article, a young girl first spoke about solidarity with Arabs in Gaza and the Golan. Then the child launched a diatribe, asking Allah to once again transform Jews into apes and pigs.

I won the weekly WoW award (updated)

For the third time in four years, I have won the weekly Watcher of Weasels award for best non-Council post of the week.

My winning post, Gaza: The “Staggering quality of the very ordinary”, was tied with Pajamas Media's I’ve Become an Enemy of the People for Speaking the Truth About Islam. The Watcher himself broke the tie in my favor. (The Council winner, also decided by tiebreaker, was Mere Rhetoric's takedown of NYT flotilla coverage, NYT: “Angry Israeli Commandos” Turned “Ship Of Protesters Into Bloodbath”.)

My previous winners are:
"Archaeological Temple Artifacts Drive PalArabs Crazy" (2006)
" Islamist strategy vs. Western tactics" (2008)

Other nominated posts over the years included:
Abbas Is Now the 'Political Wing' of Hamas
Very Interesting Arabic Editorial in Falasteen
The Perfect Weapon
Grim Milestone
The Extremism and Bigotry of PA 'Moderates'
November 1947 and Annapolis déjà vu
Rachel Corrie , the video

Thanks to Soccer Dad for the nomination and tiebreaker!

UPDATE: While on trivial topics, this blog passed the 8000 post mark recently.

UAE to deport hundreds of Palestinian Arabs

The UAE is planning to deport hundreds of Palestinian Arab teachers, to replace then with local teachers.

Some of these teachers have lived there since the 1970s.

Abu Dhabi is claiming that the reason is because of security, pointing to some ties that some teachers have with Hamas. Critics of the move dispute that accusation.

This is not the first time this has happened; last year another 350 teachers were forced to leave.

The UAE employs thousands of Palestinian Arabs, although none of them are eligible for citizenship, no matter how many years they or their children reside in the country.

Wisdom from Breath of the Beast

From Breath of the Beast:

It is a classic human tragedy, the injustice of “splitting the difference”. The Israelis are asking only for their half of the loaf- only that to which they are entitled. The Arabs are asking for the whole loaf- the destruction of Israel. To the orthodox peace-seeker who is both intimidated by violence and morally compromised by progressive ideologies such as the political realism I discussed in my last post, it seems “only fair” to split the difference and give the Arabs three quarters of the loaf. By insisting only on mere survival, the desire for peaceful coexistence and the right to protect her people while her enemies have been calling officially and working diligently for her destruction and elimination, Israel has allowed the prevailing sentiment in this debate to be pushed inexorably toward the side of her enemies.

This is the reason that Israel is the only country in the world whose “right to exist” is always in the debate. Friends constantly assert it as if it needed to be said and enemies often get away with behaving as if she doesn’t. While most people claim to believe that Israel has the right to exist and protect her citizens, more and more of them howl in protest at every attempt she makes to do so. More and more people around the world find it possible to rationalize each anti-Israel murder and terror attack as an expression of Arab passion and dedication while the bland logic and humble honesty of the Israelis are, increasingly, seen as stubbornness, bigotry and troublemaking.

Read it all.

And read the posting before it as well.

Easing the blockade does not make much a difference.

An interesting article on the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip was published today in Commentary Magazine:

Preventing Hamas from importing missiles and other sophisticated weaponry from Syria and Iran is the blockade’s primary function. There’s a secondary goal, as well, and it’s this one that has drawn the most criticism from the United Nations and Western activists. Israeli blockade-enforcement authorities have not only blocked construction materials such as cement, they’ve also been prohibiting seemingly random items like coriander, nutmeg, and musical instruments, while allowing in cinnamon, frozen meat, and medical supplies.

Critics describe the Israeli blockade as “collective punishment” against Gaza’s entire population, and it does look that way when perusing the list of prohibited items, but the items on that list aren’t outright banned. Aid organizations can import all the cement and coriander they want for reconstruction and food distribution. The restrictions only apply to private-sector importers, and even then, only “luxury” items and construction materials that can be used for military purposes are blocked.

“Humanitarian products are delivered on a daily bases to the Strip,” said the spokesman for COGAT, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. “Food products are delivered almost without restriction—with the exception of luxury goods, which the average Gazan cannot afford, but which are purchased by the wealthy and corrupt leaders of Hamas.”

“Why would we want to transfer items that only Hamas members could afford?” said an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson I contacted. “International aid organizations basically get to bring in whatever they want. So if there are certain luxury food items that we wouldn’t transfer to the private sector in Gaza, the aid organizations will get them. The same applies for construction materials, which we won’t let in unless it is going to aid organizations, since we are able to know where they end up (for building houses rather than bunkers, kassams, etc.) with a higher likelihood than if they were sent in privately.”

Michael J. Totten concludes:

As most Palestinians in Gaza are dependent on aid organizations for their basic needs, they are not adversely affected by the blockade. So easing the blockade won’t help much, if it will help them at all.

UPDATE: the link to the Commentary Magazine was incorrect and directed you to an also interesting article by Evely Gordon: New Poll Shatters Myths on Gaza Blockade and Settlement Freeze. I fixed the link and it will now direct you to the right article by Michael Totten.

IHH leader tells members to throw soldiers overboard, plus more (VIDEOS)

A new video of IHH leaders exhorting members to throw the Jews into the sea: (Suzanne beat me by minutes, but graciously deleted her post when she saw mine.)

Peaceful humanitarians!

Here is another new video, taken from Israel's ITIC website, showing IHH preparations for battle, including their cutting the metal bars with specialized tools smuggled on board the ship and dividing members into teams.

Remember, the equally peaceful humanitarians from Hezbollah are planning to send ships to Gaza in the next couple of days as well.

A handy-dandy list of banned "settlement" goods

The Palestinian Authority, through a group called Karama, has a webpage that lists all known products that they are boycotting because they are supposedly manufactured by Jews on the "wrong" side of the Green Line.

The PA regularly stages public burnings of these products.

The irony, of course, is that the same factories that create these products employ thousands of Palestinian Arabs. The Barkan Industrial Area, for example, employs some 2500 Palestinian Arabs alone. (It also explodes the myth of settlers all being religious fanatics from Brooklyn: the Barkan settlement was founded and is run by secular Israelis, and it is only 25 km from Tel Aviv.)

If you want to support the right of Jews to live with full rights in their historic homeland, you should purchase these items - and we should thank the boycotters for making it easier for us to find these products.

Karama's page of banned goods is here. An English list of products, including where you can buy them in Europe, is here, courtesy of a Shiite website.

And now that Israel is adding items that can be sent to Gaza, there's a whole new market for many of these goods!

Hezbollah rejects singer's desire to join women's Gaza ship

As we mentioned yesterday, a ship of women is scheduled to go from Lebanon towards Gaza in the next couple of days, supposedly to bring aid to Gazans.

The person behind the ship denies any Hezbollah connection but, frankly, she is lying.

If you need any more proof of that, a Kuwaiti newspaper is reporting that hugely popular Lebanese singer and actress Haifa Wehbe heard about this ship and wanted to join. She would be a very high-profile passenger and the sort of person that Free Gaza would kill to have on board one of their ships.

Her request was rejected, though - by Hezbollah.

It seems that she does not always dress modestly enough for Hezbollah standards, and they do not want a sex symbol like Wehbe to be on board. Hezbollah said that it doesn't want anyone known for her "nudity" and "degrading appearance" to be associated with the ship as it would detract from what they want to accomplish.

Which is possibly to provoke a massacre against the women.

Flotilla fallout (Neville Teller)

A British author and blogger, Neville Teller, does a very nice job updating the last few days of flotilla news in one nice package, including some things I was not aware of. For example, after detailing a large number of announced new flotillas this coming summer, he writes:

It seems as though the Mediterranean will be crowded with flotillas this summer, though one Israeli official is reported as saying: “We don’t know how much of the threats are real and how much are bravado.”

One factor apparently overlooked or discounted by all these enthusiastic potential blockade busters is that Gaza’s port is not large enough to accommodate cargo ships. Even before Israel imposed a naval blockade on Gaza, no cargo ships sailed there. Historically, all goods that entered the Gaza Strip in bulk did so by land.

The head of the Palestinian Federation of Industry in Gaza, Amr Hamad, is reported as saying that the business sector has separately proposed a plan by which, should the shipping lanes be opened, ferry boats would meet the cargo ships close to the shore, and bring the cargo into the port. He said that such a plan was discussed this week with Quartet special envoy Tony Blair, who was in the region.

He stressed that the business community in Gaza at present preferred the goods to head first to Ashdod, so as to maintain a relationship with Israeli customs. The business sector in Gaza, he added, is not ready to break its economic ties with Israel.

Definitely worth reading.

Latma presents: The Three Terrors

Latest from Latma:

(h/t Bubbe and The Jawa Report)

I'm nominated again

Once again I am honored to be nominated for the weekly Watcher of Weasels award for best (non-Council) blog post.

I was nominated by The Watcher himself, the mysterious character who changes his or her appearance every couple of years, not unlike Doctor Who. At the moment, he closely resembles Soccer Dad.

The nominated post actually has a shot, I think: "The Staggering Quality of the Very Ordinary." It was one of my better posts of the week, although I was proud of a few.

By the way, for those who are wondering how well my foray into the money-making side of blogging goes, I am now up to having earned $4.37. If you are in the mood to order a book right now and let me have a cut, just do the Amazon search here:

Books ordered through this webpage include A Clockwork Orange, The Picture of Dorian Grey, Six Days of War, and someone who found an amazing bargain and ordered 10 copies of Myths, Illusions, and Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East.

I guess this is now an open thread....

"Moderate" Arab News says Helen Thomas was "ambushed"

When the Saudi Arabian-based Arab News wants to publish a bizarre conspiracy theory, they are careful not to use Arabs in the byline. They find one of the many nutty conspiracy theorist Westerners who write for far-left blogs and simply republish their rants, to make Arab conspiracy theorists look a bit less nutty.

A case in point: this bizarre, paranoid, anti-semitic rant by James Rockefeller:

Zionist operatives ambushed veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas, a friend and a great American. When they won, America lost.

When reviewing the unedited video of her “interview,” what you see is a rabbi rephrasing her answers to a question about Israel. Her response: “They should get the hell out of Palestine.“ The United Nations long ago endorsed that stance.

It was not Thomas but the rabbi that offended the Jewish community. Language cited as “anti-Semitic” came not from her but from responses that the rabbi restated as leading questions. She simply spoke the truth: Jewish settlers should leave the occupied territories and, as she rightly said: “go home.”

The rabbi, an operative for the Anti-Defamation League, knew what he was doing when he ensnared this frail and distinguished 89-year-old journalist. The ADL and other Zionist strategists have long sought her removal from this influential position.

This operation was carried out as part of Jewish Heritage Week, a first in White House history. Nothing was said about the perils to which America has long been subjected due to its entangled alliance with the Jewish state.

The campaign to force Thomas’ removal was led by former Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer. Recall that Fleischer is the Zionist insider who repeatedly insisted that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

How did those seeking recognition for their “Jewishness” repay the trust of a nation and its people? Zionist operatives targeted the only reporter who challenged Israel’s nuclear weapons program. By bushwhacking her on the White House lawn, Zionists reconfirmed that they are, in fact, in control.

No one dared mention how Zionist Heritage has ravaged America from within. Or how Zionism was aided by a series of pathetic presidents and advisers offering their unflinching support for an increasingly unstable Israeli leadership.

....[Thomas] was the last mainstream American journalist who dared question a US president about Israel’s nuclear weapons. That’s why she was ambushed. [I reversed these last two sentences to make the excerpt clearer - EoZ]

Had Zionists not removed her, they knew she would have asked President Obama: “When is the US going to pressure its ally to give up a nuclear arsenal estimated to be in excess 200 nuclear warheads?”

Zionists won this round. No remaining White House correspondent is likely to ask the hard questions about Israel’s impact on America’s national security interests. ADL operatives, acting on behalf of a foreign government, made sure of it.

Meanwhile, Obama’s love fest with the Jewish state continues while Zionist policies persist in undermining America’s credibility and endangering US troops abroad.

Yes, Rabbi Nesenoff took his Flip camera to Jewish Heritage Week knowing that Helen Thomas would be hanging around so he could "ambush" her, and knowing that she would answer his open-ended question "Any comment on Israel" with a bigoted, ignorant and hateful rant.

Rockefeller probably thinks that Monica Lewinsky was a Mossad agent, too.

Children: When we die as martyrs

Palestinian children sing about their future: "When we get martyred we will go to Paradise" and "I am willing to sacrifice my blood for my country."

This martyrdom indoctrination song with its catchy melody was also shown on Hamas' Al Aqsa TV during the children's show 'The Pioneers of Tomorrow', April 2, 2010.

Nassur the Teddy Bear: "Dear children, when we grow up, we will become martyrs, God willing. [...]
"Yes, Saraa, the pioneers of tomorrow will liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The children, the pioneers of tomorrow, and not only in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, but all over the world, my dear Saraa and dear children." [...]
"Go ahead, the audience is waiting..."
Caller: "I'm from Holland."
Nassur: "From Holland. Wow!"
Child host Saraa: "Welcome. "
Nassur: "Where in Holland, my dear?"
Saraa: "Greetings to our people in Holland. [...]
"What would you like to sing for us?"
Caller: "When We Become Martyrs."
Nassur: "Go ahead. Come on, cheer her on. Clap your hands."
Saraa: "Come on."
Nassur: "Come on."
Caller (singing): "When we get martyred we will go to Paradise.
"When we get martyred we will go to Paradise.
"No, don’t say we are too small. This life has made us grown-ups.
"Without Palestine our childhood means nothing.
"Without Palestine our childhood means nothing.
"Even if they gave us all the money in the world, it won't make us forget.
"I am willing to sacrifice my blood for my country.
"Without Palestine our childhood means nothing.
"Without Palestine our childhood means nothing."
Saraa: "Thank you very much."
Nassur: "Warm applause."

UPDATE: Reader Happy and Proud informs us that there are many versions of this song on YouTube and other sites and that this song is extremely popular in the Arab world. The Investigative Project reported on it:

This is not a song from Hamas television in Gaza, nor is it a Hizballah anthem. "When We Seek Martyrdom" is the latest hit from a production house called Birds of Paradise. It is racking up millions of hits on Arabic and worldwide websites. Birds of Paradise, which appears to be based in Jordan, is quickly becoming one of the most popular children's groups in the Arab world.

Referring to the version which you can watch above the Investigative Project explains:

"Birds of Paradise" represents a new wave in Jihadist youth indoctrination. It is far more professional, better edited, and presented in a much more kid-friendly style than previous Jihadist children's programming. The themes are easily digestible even for toddlers. Child actors portray Israeli soldiers, all wearing yarmulkes, who ruthlessly gun down other children shown playing and dancing. Minutes later, the kids exact revenge and kill the soldiers.
"When We Seek Martyrdom" encourages children not simply to throw rocks, but to carry out militant attacks and to ambush Jews. It even broadcasts clips of the children carrying out practice attacks. Violence is not only the answer for children, but it is framed in a cute, kid-friendly way.

This material has not gone unnoticed in the Arab world, where despite its popularity it is beginning to sound alarms. Saudi writer Fawzia Nasir al-Naeem expressed her concerns about the video:

"It encourages the use of arms, killing, explosives, shedding blood and terrorism with all its synonyms. Our children parrot what they hear, and it enters their minds. This data is filed away, and over time it ripens into beliefs and principles which they believe in whenever the intensity is strong, so that when the dream is achieved, an explosive belt is put on, and he begins to proclaim the Jihad, which Allah revealed as his mandate…So, mother, open your half closed eyes to the bitter reality. Look at those who share with you in educating your children, and divert them from the right path. Lose the "Birds of Paradise" and other birds you and your sons are the 'firewood of hell.'"

Muslims lobbying Google for a Ramadan doodle

Muslims have launched a Facebook campaign to convince Google to create a doodle for Ramadan this year, something that Google has not done as of yet. Here is one of their proposed doodles:

According to Al Quds al Arabi, they aim to have ten million members of the Facebook group. There are thousands on this group now.

What is ironic is that they are using Facebook to build the campaign - because only a couple of months ago Muslims were talking about boycotting Facebook for hosting the "Draw a Mohammed Day" group.

In fact, Pakistan created its own Facebook ripoff, called MillatFacebook, which immediately drew hundreds of thousands of Muslim members. Its interface was an exact copy of Facebook's, and when I joined it a month ago it was horribly slow.

I just returned to it and saw that MillatFacebook was down - and they are, of course, blaming the Zionists (including the obviously Zionist founder of Facebook with that "Zionist" name,) as well as infidels and Crusaders, for combining to defeat the Muslim version of Facebook:

USA Hosts- They are causing trouble, they everytime get under pressure of FB and technically block our bandwidth and services without any legal reason.

We have decided to move to any Islamic Country , If they provide us reliable hosting, otherwise we will move to Russia or China to get rid of FB cheap tactics of pressurizing our service providers.

FB's attempts to stop MiLLat FB

Ø Constant DDOS Attacks on Millat including from Israeli and CIA owned IP’s (YES ……… We have them logged and the proofs)

Ø Subversion Attacks on Millat

Ø Personal Threats to the Millat Administration

Ø Partnership with Yahoo resulting in YAHOO refusing to deliver any emails containing MILLATFACEBOOK.COM (YAHOO and FB recently entered in a business deal and this explains YAHOO’s actions to help FB)

Ø Yahoo Mail is BLOCKING MFB emails ....................... Yahoo is blocking our emails stating that "your website contain offensive content" They think uniting Muslims is offensive, this is their double standards. Pray that we succeed against these evil enemies and unite our Ummah as One Millat and show them "Yes We Can"

Ø This is very strange that Mark’s Facebook which allow and supports RIDICULE of Holy Prophet (SAWW) is not objectionable but Millatfacebook.com which prohibits the ridicule of any faith and offers a very decent environment is” Objectionable” ………….

Ø “Objectionable” …………. Because www.millatfacebook.com is by Muslims and is uniting them on one platform????????

But Alhamdurlillah they have been constantly DEFEATED successfully.
All this has been phenomenal and miraculous. It is no ordinary feat and cannot
be explained just by any traditional logics.

All this is Allah’s blessings and YOUR support. So our heartily and deepest gratitude and CONGRATS goes to YOU.

AND NOW THE ENEMY HAS GONE DESPARATE

Mark’s FB has gone to further lows by putting pressure on our service provider
BUT
WE HAVE ALREADY MADE ARRANGEMENTS WHERE THEY HAVE NO INFLUENCE AND WILL CONTINUE OUR MISSION OF UNITING MUSLIMS….INSHALLAH.

TOGETHER ……. WE WILL AGAIN DEFEAT THEM LIKE WE HAD CONSTANTLY.

LET US ALL STAY UNITED AND DEFEAT THIS LAST DITCH DESPARATE ATTEMPT BY THE PATHETIC FB ADMINISTRATION.

We will show them that we are united and together we CAN and we WILL WIN (InshAllah)

Sorry, but I find paranoia amusing. I can just imagine that joint Mossad/CIA operation meant to bring down this Facebook clone.

Arabs renege on Jerusalem pledges to PA

Once again, Arab nations have promised much to their Palestinian Arab brethren - and delivered nothing.

Last March, the Arab League very publicly pledged to give a half billion dollars to the Palestinian Authority to combat the "Judaization" of Jerusalem.

It was always unclear exactly what the money would do, exactly. Chances are the PA would have used it for whatever it wanted to. However, a Jerusalem PA official says that $50 million is needed monthly to effectively combat this "Judaization."

That is a moot point, however = because yesterday's Al Quds al Arabi (quoted by Firas) reported that exactly zero has been distributed to the PA so far by the members of the Arab League.

As usual, the supposed Arab love of Jerusalem doesn't extend beyond the anti-Israel slogan stage.

Israel blamed for jamming Arabic World Cup matches

Arabs are still upset over the problems with the Al Jazeera broadcast of the opening day of the World Cup, especially over Egypt's Nilesat satellite network, as well as continued problems during a Tuesday match.

Some Egyptians and Palestinian Arabs are accusing Israel, of course, for jamming the signal. From the Al Quds al Arabi article it appears that there is no evidence whatsoever for this charge, except for the conviction that they have that Israel wants to drive a wedge between different Arab countries and, apparently, jamming the World Cup would get Egypt and Qatar upset at each other.

While most officials are making these accusations by saying "we cannot rule out the possibility that Israel is behind the jamming, " Egyptian MP Mohsen Radi, who is also a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, made the accusation against Israel jamming the broadcasts explicitly.

Out of sheer spite, apparently.

"Don't send medicine to Gaza"

A letter written by a Gazan to PA prime minister Fayyad was reproduced in Firas Press.

The anonymous citizen asks Fayyad to stop sending truckloads of medicines to Gaza. According to him, Hamas takes these medicines that are meant to be freely available to Gazans who go to hospitals and clinics and instead redirects them to Hamas-owned pharmacies where they charge exorbitant prices.

The letter-writer also charges individual members of Hamas of taking the medicines and selling them privately.

He ends off begging Fayyad to stop sending the medicines, which have only increased theft and corruption in Gaza.

Egypt quietly and severely restricting travel from Gaza

Hamas' interior minister is complaining that while Egypt claimed to open the Rafah crossings, it is only allowing a limited number of people (medical cases, students) to cross. People, even if they have valid papers, are not being allowed to go into Egypt.

Hamas is requesting clarification from Egypt as to the reasons for the new restrictions.

Lebanese parliament debates giving PalArabs basic rights

MEMRI quotes Arab newspapers Al-Hayat and Al-Safir:

A stormy argument broke out yesterday, June 15, in the Lebanese parliament over several bills calling for expanding the civil rights of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. One bill concerned the refugees’ right to purchase property in Lebanon.

The dispute was between Muslim MPs, who supported the bill, and Christian MPs – from both the opposition and the coalition – who vehemently opposed it, claiming that it would promote the naturalization of the refugees in Lebanon.

During the meeting, Lebanese Prime Minister Sa'd Al-Hariri, who supported the bill, called the issue a humanitarian one.

Al-Hariri warned that the day would come when the entire world would come to Lebanon to remove the siege on the Palestinians in Lebanon,just as today they are sending flotillas aimed at removing the siege on Gaza.

In the end, it was decided to postpone the vote for a month.

In fact, the Lebanese treat Palestinian Arabs far worse than Israel ever did. The Lebanese literally keep the Palestinian Arabs in camps, they allow paramilitary groups to rule over the PalArabs there, they severely restrict their civil liberties and rights, and they steadfastly refuse to allow generations of Arabs born on Arab soil to become citizens of the only country they have ever been in.

In Lebanon, however, party politics are incredibly complex, and the people who vote for or against rights for PalArabs could easily switch sides in an instant based on other alliances and considerations. Chances are, in this case, that the Christians are most concerned over the possibility of hundreds of thousands of new Muslim citizens further diluting the balance of power in Lebanon between different religious groups more towards Sunnis.

All Lebanese political parties agree that naturalizing Palestinian Arabs is anathema to the country, but some seem to be realizing that one day the West will wake up to their institutionalized bigotry. Right now they use Israel as a misdirection to keep the heat off, but all the world needs to do is ask a very simple question: Why do the Lebanese treat their Palestinian Arab brethren worse than Israel does? Exposing that hypocrisy is one of the many dangers to Lebanon.

(h/t Islamo-nazism blog)

A dubious Dutch politician

You might have read about the Dutch parliamentary elections which were held this month. Many newspapers focussed on the Netherlands shifting to the right and the politician Wilders.

One of the parties participating in these elections and winning some seats in the parliament (10 out of 150) was the progressive, left-winged party GroenLinks (GreenLeft). Personally I deeply appreciate its party leader, Femke Halsema, whom I trust to be seriously progressive and left-winged. E.g., concerning the Islamic headscarf she said:

(...) When I come to my children’s school it’s difficult for me – I really come straight out of the feminist movement – that I then sit among all types of veiled women. I will not attack their rights in there. But I can’t wait for the moment when they’ll freely fling off their headscarf. I prefer each woman in the Netherlands to be headscarf-less. And completely free. I don’t believe that any God has clothing requirements too. It was the men who expounded faith.
You don’t coerce women’s emancipation from the top. It must come from the woman herself. I have said that police agents should be able to wear headscarves. I have quarreled with Ciska Dresselhuys [a well-known feminist, Suz.], who did not want to accept any woman with a headscarf for Opzij magazine. That that doesn’t alter the fact that I have difficulties with the headscarf.
I notice it in my neighborhood: Naturally Islam is a problem. Indeed, especially Islam in combination with illiteracy. It is: having few opinions of your own about the good life. Not having much foothold in education and work, fearing our society and thereby being very receptive to what the imam thinks. Who is often very conservative.

Currently the biggest parties (liberal (VVD), Christian (CDA) and the party of Wilders (PVV)) are trying to form a coalition so that they can govern the country. If that fails however, it might be that there will be a more left-winged coalition which might mean that the GreenLeft party will be in the government as well.

As a concerned Dutch citizen, I believe it's my duty to unveil some background information on one of the new members of the Dutch parliament connected to this sympathetic small GreenLeft party: Arjan el Fassed.

Arjan el Fassed was born in the Netherlands to a Dutch mother and a PalArab father (Walid el Fassed). He had lived for a while in ar-Ram and in Nablus (The boring truth, Jerusalem Post, Aug 21, 1998). He is best known for his book "Niet iedereen kan stenen gooien" (Not everyone can throw stones) and being an editor for and co-founder of the Electronic Intifada. He worked as a program manager for Oxfam Novib, an organization which he himself considers not impartial.

El Fassed is not in favor of a two state solution, contrary to what GreenLeft stands for!

Arjan el Fassed is the one behind the Mandela-Hoax. He, himself, made up that Mandela had said the following:

“Apartheid is a crime against humanity. Israel has deprived millions of Palestinians of their liberty and property. It has perpetuated a system of gross racial discrimination and inequality. It has systematically incarcerated and tortured thousands of Palestinians, contrary to the rules of international law. It has, in particular, waged a war against a civilian population, in particular children.”

Jimmy Carter even cited the letter. But Mandela never said, wrote or endorsed those words. Nevertheless, this quote started to live an own life and Israel-haters continue to use this fabricated Mandela-quote. Thanks to Mr. el Fassed.

Arjan el Fassed is connected to the organization al-Awda (The Palestinian Right to Return Coalition). That Mandela-memo he published on al-Awdas mailing list.

A "lovely" organization which talks about "Israel" rather than Israel:

Al-Awda's 2004 convention adopted by an overwhelming consensus a number of "points of unity", among which were included Al-Awda's vision, objectives and strategies. The "points of unity", which were later adopted by Al-Awda, advocated, first, the establishment "of an independent, democratic state for all its citizens in all of Palestine ... which encompasses present-day 'Israel', the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

And last, but definitely not least. Arjan el Fassed worked for LAW: the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights, the PLO legal advocacy lobby:

Ascherman identified the LAW organization, the PLO legal advocacy lobby. Yet a call to LAW revealed that LAW does not deal with the question of uprooting of trees. The LAW spokesman, Arjan El Fassed explained, that while LAW is not a humanitarian organization per se. He mentioned that monies that they receive from the Rabbis for Human Rights go to the families of the "martyrs" who have been killed over the past ten months. Asked to define what he means by "martyrs", El Fassed described the various attacks in which Palestinians have died in attacks on Israelis. In other words, the Rabbis for Human Rights have been providing funds for the families of Suicide Bombers.

Hezbollah, Iran behind this weekend's "aid" ships. Is a bloodbath planned?

Ya Libnan reports on the women's "aid" ship that is supposed to sail from Lebanon to Gaza this weekend:

An aid ship transporting medical supplies to Gaza will leave Lebanon in the coming days with dozens of women activists on board, one of the organisers told AFP on Tuesday.

“We are all independent women who believe in breaking the siege on Gaza and are committed to the enmity of the Zionist entity,” said Samar Hajj, who is coordinating the trip.

She stressed the women were not affiliated with the militant group Hezbollah, or any other political organisation.

“This has nothing to do with Hezbollah even though it is an honour for us to be supporters of the resistance,” said Hajj, whose husband Ali Hajj was one of four generals detained for nearly four years in connection with the 2005 car bombing that killed then Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri and 22 others.

Ali Hajj, who was domestic security chief, was released from prison in April last year after a UN-backed tribunal said there was insufficient evidence against the generals.

As I reported yesterday, the Palestinian Arabic media was reporting that Hezbollah was behind the ship. For for more direct proof, just go to the Syria Truth website.

In one article, written back on June 6th, it describes how Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah publicly said he will be supporting many ships to be sent to Gaza, and hinting that Turkey was coordinating its efforts to break the blockade by coordinating with Hezbollah, saying that "the red flag is making decisions based on the yellow flag."

That article also quoted sources saying that Nasrallah was planning to hide Hezbollah's actions by pretending that the ships are being sent by NGOs - some pre-existing and some to be invented by Hezbollah. For example, one of the weekend's ships is sponsored by "Reporters Without Limits" but it is not, as some reported, Reporters Without Borders, rather an organization completely made up by Hezbollah and employing Hezbollah reporters!

These deceptions are being made, according to that article, "in full coordination with Damascus and Tehran," in order to embarrass Israel.

More worryingly, the article says that Hezbollah was dismissive of the Free Gaza organizers of the "Rachel Corrie" ship, saying they were naive and silly for giving up meekly without a fight. This gave Israel a propaganda victory by contrasting their actions against those of IHH. The implication is that Hezbollah and its Iranian sponsors plan to provoke another Mavi Marmara response.

A later Syria Truth article states that Samar Hajj, the spokeswoman of the women's ship, came up with the idea for that ship after hearing Nasrallah speak at a rally for the victims of the flotilla raid saying that he wanted to send ships from Lebanon. She contacted Hezbollah leaders who quickly coordinated the logistics of what she referred to as a ship of "Women's Resistors" - something that an individual could not possibly do in such a short time period (it takes Free Gaza months to arrange even a single boat.)

As we saw from the "freedom flotilla' incident, while Free Gaza and others offer de facto support for armed "resistance," they had no intention to start a fight with the IDF - it was the IHH, in almost certain coordination with Turkey, that planned a violent confrontation. Hezbollah is no less violent that IHH. Given the fact that Hezbollah views these ships as military, with the sole goal to provoke another Mavi Marmara incident, a women's ship may be the perfect way to accomplish that. We already see that the media even today refers to the flotilla as an "aid" flotilla when even its own organizers admit that the aid is a ruse to gain a political victory.

Nothing would make Israel's enemies happier than to see women being killed aboard this ship. I don't know how they might try to provoke the IDF into violence - maybe explosive booby traps on some areas of the ship that the women will lead the soldiers to. Or maybe equipping the "humanitarians" with paintball guns or toy guns that look real to provoke a deadly response.

The "reporter" ship might be an even bigger problem, with Hezbollah fighters and members masquerading as reporters secure in the knowledge that the media will be naturally sympathetic to their own people. The people on that ship must be identified and exposed immediately.

Hezbollah already has a history of trying to imitate and outdo other successful operations against Israel. Their kidnapping of Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, provoking the 2006 war, came only weeks after Gilad Shalit was kidnapped in Gaza - a major embarrassment for Israel at the time. The first Syria Today article indicates that Hezbollah has the same itch again.

Let's hope that the cameras are rolling from many different angles when the ships are intercepted.

UPDATE: YNet Hebrew reveals the ties between the "Free Palestine" movement that is organizing the weekend's ships and Hezbollah - and publishes a picture of Samar Hajj with Hassan Nasrallah:

UPDATE 2:

Added paintball scenario above.

Who is the biggest danger to world peace?

From MEMRI TV:

Following are excerpts from a Friday sermon delivered by a Hamas-affiliated preacher from Jabalya, Gaza, on June 11, 2010, and aired on Al-Aqsa TV.
Preacher: Whoever believes that our battle with the Jews and the Crusaders has subsided or is dormant is living in delusions. Do you know why, oh distinguished people? Do you know why the conflict continues and will continue until the Day of Judgment? Because the Communist East and the Capitalist West fear nothing as much as they fear the proclamation that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His messenger. They fear nothing as much as they fear the words “Allah Akbar.”
[...]
The Jews are convinced that their annihilation and the destruction of their state will never be accomplished by secular, reactionary, pan-Arab, or Ba’thist regimes. Their annihilation and the destruction of their state will only be achieved through Islam, by those who bow before Allah.

This is what I mean when I say that political Islam is truly evil.

And the political dimension as an integral part of Islamic belief. That will never change. Even so, I believe that the West can fight Islam as a political philosophy while not fighting it as a personal belief system.

In this case, the sheikh is not acting as a religious figure in the modern Western sense; rather he is a political activist inciting against Jews, Christians, Israel and the entire Western world. He is engaging in hate speech and he is inciting to genocide. He shows no more love for Western leftists than he does for Jewish Zionists - they are all the same enemy to him.

Supposedly, a mere 7% of Muslims worldwide are considered "extremist" even by Islam's biggest fans - which comes out to over 100 million people. The same poll found that 300,000,000 Muslims consider 9/11 "mostly or fully" justified.

Who is more dangerous to world peace - 6 million Jews in Israel who hold every possible political and religious opinion, or 300 million Muslims who fully agree with this preacher?

Islamic leaders about to pass "Islamophobia" resolution at the UN

From Al Arabiya:

Muslim states said on Wednesday that what they call "islamophobia" is sweeping the West and its media and demanded that the United Nations take tougher action against it.

Delegates from Islamic countries, including Pakistan and Egypt, told the United Nations Human Rights Council that treatment of Muslims in Western countries amounted to racism and discrimination and must be fought.

"People of Arab origin face new forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance and experience discrimination and marginalization," an Egyptian delegate said, according to a U.N. summary.

And Pakistan, speaking for the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said the council's special investigator into religious freedom should look into such racism "especially in Western societies".

Acting for the OIC, Pakistan has tabled a resolution at the council instructing its special investigator on religious freedom "to work closely with mass media organizations to ensure that they create and promote an atmosphere of respect and tolerance for religious and cultural diversity".

The OIC -- and its allies in the 47-nation council including Russia, China and Cuba -- dub criticism of Muslim practices and linking of terrorism waged under the proclaimed banner of Islamism as "islamophobia" that pillories all Muslims.

Diplomats say the resolution, which also tells the investigator to make recommendations to the Human Rights Council on how its strictures might be implemented, is bound to pass given the majority the OIC and its allies have in the body.

The UN Human Rights Council, already a cesspool of hypocrisy, is now turning into a rubber-stamp body for the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

And, as usual, they are accusing the West of crimes that they are far more guilty of.

Hamas makes "collaborator" accusations against Gaza NGOs

From the Palestinian Center for Human Rights:

In its issue no. 1096, published on 10 June 2010, Palestine Daily quoted the Mr. Al-Ghussein, spokesman of the Ministry of Interior in a press conference on Wednesday, 9 June 2010 as saying: "Influential figures in non-governmental organizations gave up to security services in response to the deadline specified by the Palestinian government in the context of efforts of the national campaign against collaboration with the occupation." Mr. Al-Ghussein added: "We were surprised as a number of these figures assume leadership and important positions in non-governmental and civil society organizations." "A number of veteran collaborators who were not suspected gave up to security services."

PCHR is incensed at the implication that its members might be people who actually help save Jewish lives and fight terrorism. They indignantly demand:

[The PCHR}:

Strongly rejects these unprofessional statements, especially the ambiguous generalization adopted by the Ministry of Interior, which characterize non-governmental and human rights organizations as sanctuary for collaborators. These statements are completely unacceptable and must be withdrawn. PCHR demands the Ministry of Interior publish the available data regarding the identity of persons alleged to collaborate with the Israeli occupation forces in accordance with the applicable legal standards and to bring those persons to justice. PCHR further stresses that it rejects and condemns the generalized accusations practically and legally;

Renews its firm position regarding the duty of the Palestinian Authority to prosecute collaborators, bring them to justice and hold them accountable in accordance with the provisions of the law. Collaborators are an integral part of the occupation and one of its most dangerous tools implanted in the body of the Palestinian people.

PCHR never, ever condemns terrorist acts - even between Palestinian Arabs - in such strong terms.

This Hamas accusation comes in the context of Hamas' recent closing of at least a half-dozen NGOs and charities in Gaza, something that most Western media never really got around to reporting.

Administrivia open thread

Things are starting to calm down a little from the craziness last week, but it is still a very busy time here at EoZ.

This has already been my second-busiest month ever, with 76,000 hits. And there are still two weeks to go! (January 2009, during Cast Lead, was the busiest, at 83K.)

I need to apologize to anyone who sent me an email that I didn't respond to, or that I responded to tersely. I very much appreciate feedback and links and acknowledge the ones that I can, but I know I didn't reply to everyone (and I just noticed that some ended up in my spam folder.) It is just that with the little free time I have, I would rather communicate with thousands of people than with one. Nonetheless, many of the best posts of the past couple of weeks have been from links that people sent in email. (I am biased towards links I have not seen on other blogs, and links to stories that are from that same day's news.)

I also have to occasionally do my day job. And, oh yes, sleep.

Suzanne has been a great help in that regard, posting great stuff.

I also added the "Share" button at the end of every post. If you like something posted here, and you have an account on one of the social networking sites listed (Twitter, Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, or any of the hundreds of others listed there,) please just spend the few seconds it takes to click on the appropriate icon and forward it on. You never know which post will go viral or hit a nerve, but many good posts (IMHO) don't get the publicity they deserve because they never hit that elusive critical mass. If you want to help out the blog, that's the single best thing you can do.

Anyway, here's an open thread....

Israeli music video about world reaction to the raid

Lyrics:

Chorus x 2:
When the world's gone lost
We're gonna help you find the way
Too much drama in my eyes that I can't hide
When the world's gone lost
I don't plan to fall with it

Verse 1 - Ruff:
I'm on the wrong side of the map, activists with knifes got me trapped
Surrounded by hostility, trying not to react
Flotillas of hatred, ‫we're‬ caught in the matrix
I'm trying to survive, they're pulling the same tricks
This international hypocrisy won't get us far
One-sided media puts us behind bars
Nations with no minorities, judging ‫with no‬ authority
They're gonna tell me how to deal with what's in front of me
What about Sudan and North Korea? Could they care less?!
They wanna boycott us, they're gonna share less
We're lying on the fence for the rest of the world
Provide a buffer zone ‫while‬ overseas they get us sold
I know my people can be divided at times
Got too many opinions with too much shit on our minds
You can hate us now, we ain't gonna fight it
You're only making us stronger and more united

Chorus:
When the world's gone lost
We're gonna help you find the way
Too much drama in my eyes that I can't hide
When the world's gone lost
I don't plan to fall with it

Verse 2 - SHI 360:
‏But I‪'‬m already home and the media distorts your vision
‏Got blind followers here in full submission
‏Provocateurs,‬ they just wanna instigate
‏And create the image you love to hate
‏You can talk about humanitarian aid
‏Politically affiliated IHH
‏Guess who's more popular? Erodgan
‏Fuck left and right‪,‬ we should all stand as one
‏You really thought we were gonna let ‪'e‬m in?
‏When yesterday they tried to bring Karine
‏A - was that aid or to arm Jihad?
‏Wanna talk about aid‪?‬ What about Gilad‪?‬
‏Because the horse is trojan, doors not open
‏I gotta do whatever to protect my home and
‏I‪'‬m a peace dealer, my flow killa
‏But no peace came at me on the flotilla

Chorus x 2:
When the world's gone lost
We're gonna help you find the way
Too much drama in my eyes that I can't hide
When the world's gone lost
I don't plan to fall with it

עם ישראל חי

(h/t Yerushalimey)

An offensive comment - with a tiny grain of truth

Viiit comments on my posting on the fundamental problem with Israel's PR:

Actually there is a solution, especially in regard to the third group, the leftists.

Their need is to dress their hate in acceptable, "revolutionary", "progressive" dress.

Their hatred can and must be re-directed towards Arabs and Muslims.

Their psychological need is to hate, and they don't necessarily need to hate Jews.
Speaking openly about how disgusting Arabs and Muslims are, will shift their hatred.
I am speaking from my personal experience. I have converted several leftist by teaching them about Islam:

Muhammad the pedophile, mass-murderer, etc. Is the best point. Additionally Arab and Muslims oppression of women. Beating of wives as commanded by Koran, FGM, "honor" killings etc.

Let's defer to the master of propaganda, Goebbels: Chose just a few points and repeat them endlessly.
1. Arabs and Muslims are liars.
2. Muhammad was as subhuman liar, pedophile and mass-murderer.
3. Muslims sexually abuse their boys and girls in huge numbers and this is the basis of their personality.

Zvi correctly responded:

Creating hatred is NEVER the right answer.

However, there is a tiny grain of truth in viiit's comments, distasteful as they are.

Negative propaganda will always get more press, more publicity, and greater receptivity than positive counter-propaganda. It's just the nature of humanity. Tabloid headlines rarely celebrate good news.

While disparaging Islam as a religion is not a desirable nor effective tactic, we should not be shy about denouncing as loudly as possible the human rights abuses endemic in Arab and Muslim countries. The perception that Israel is uniquely evil, when it is surrounded by countries who are infinitely worse by every possible metric, can only be changed by educating people about that reality.It wouldn't directly counter anti-Israel rhetoric but it would dilute it greatly - as well as expose the hypocrisy of the haters.

More importantly, we need to speak forthrightly about political Islam - and make a clear distinction between that and the personal choice to practice Islam.

Islam as a religion may be offensive to some, but as long as its adherents are not forced to practice it (i.e., the religious police in Saudi Arabia who arrest retailers whose shops are open during prayer times, Iran kicking women off of planes for not being "properly dressed," Dubai authorities jailing couples who kiss) there is nothing wrong.

But Islam is not merely a personal belief system; it is a political movement as well - one as dangerous as Communism or Nazism. People, especially on the left, are skittish to recognize this fact because they don't want to give the appearance of impinging on religious freedom or of disparaging Islam, but the fact is that global Islam is political and not religious in the Western sense.

And political Islam is truly evil.

Political Islam as a philosophy is expansionist, colonialist, oppressive, racist, intolerant, supremacist - and murderous. It openly advocates violence against those who do not submit to its superiority. It is thoroughly against everything that liberals hold dear.

Moreover, political Islam is a threat not only to Israel but to the entire world. While Western-backed "moderate" Muslim governments carefully and soberly denounced 9/11, the fact is that their people cheered - and they reflect the reality of what political Islam has taught them for generations. Heroes in the Arab and Muslim world are not those who pretend to follow a Western-style liberal program but rather those who stand up to the West. There is no comparison between the popularity of a Mubarak and a Nasser. The World Trade Center terrorists were a product of "moderate" Saudi Arabia.

If people want to call Islam a "religion of peace," let them. But it is also a political philosophy of never-ending war between Dar al Islam and Dar al Harb - between Muslim countries and everyone else. That fact must not be swept under the rug because of fears of being labeled an "Islamophobe."

These are the facts that must be repeated over and over again. Not coincidentally, they mirror almost exactly Muslim lies about Judaism and Israel. In other words, institutionalized Muslim anti-Zionism and anti-semitism is, in no small way, a massive redirection to keep Westerners from noticing the hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy of the accusers to begin with.

It is well past time to remediate this.

Israeli PR redux (Zvi)

Zvi, commenting on my post on how the hasbara problem is more fundamental, writes:

Israel (and Israel supporters) also need to learn that

1. Israeli PR must not only address those who already understand the conflict, but also those who do not; for all that there is heavy news coverage of Israel, it is, in much of the world, short on facts and long on libels and deliberately mind-narrowing boilerplate. Israeli PR often assumes that you understand the lingo and that you already identify Hamas as a terrorist organization. But if you're talking to a young, moderate left-leaner from the UK or Norway or Spain, it's unlikely that this person "gets" the references made by Israel or that anyone has been telling them the truth about Hamas.

2. The Israeli government's PR team (I'm not talking about unaffiliated supporters of Israel) needs to mobilize quickly. PR battles are typically won within the first 24 hours of the news cycle, and Israel almost always loses them during that period.

3. Israel, nevertheless, needs to remain scrupulously truthful.

4. Israel's PR team needs to take the initiative rather than being mostly reactive. One of the reasons for #2 is that Israel is far too reluctant to take the initiative. And by "take the initiative," I do NOT mean putting up paper ads in the UK tube system so that they can be torn down or removed via lawfare. Israel's detractors and enemies publish a constant stream of anti-Israel fluff & libel, complete with multimedia, reports, ads, etc. that are treated as objective reports and hard news by media around the world. They are funded by Israel's enemies and so-called friends. Israel's enemies manufacture a lot of imaginary humanitarian crises. Israel's enemies spend a lot of time in the media creating and repeating shameless lies. Israel spends a lot of time reacting to this stuff. And it should. But it also needs to spend a lot of time communicating the reality of Israel, and it is not doing that.

If you were going to design PR for Israel, what are some of the things that you might include in a PR campaign? How about some short stuff that would actually break the mold, that would actually inform people? Here are a few thoughts, none of which are likely to be particularly original.

* the true story of an Iraqi or Yemenite or Iraqi Jewish family living in Israel. Also, maybe people who lived in the refugee camps near Sderot

* I can also imagine ads featuring a variety of ordinary Israelis talking about ordinary, daily-life things, also about aspirations. Voiceover at the end providing context, possibly surprising context.

* life in Sderot - rockets = hundreds of thousands of military hand grenades (Michael Yon)

* This week, Israel delivered X amount of aid to Gaza. Why do so many news services deny that this is happening?

* use metaphors, starting with cops trying to stop gunmen and only afterward identifying the cop and gunman with the middle east: if a cop trying to stop a gunman from shooting at civilians hits another person by accident, after trying hard to avoid this, it's a tragedy. The gunman was the criminal (and the cop may be crying over the civilian death without being a war criminal). Hamas fighters are the gunman, Israeli soldiers the cop. I can imagine this as a TV or print ad as well as an online video. Break out of the prejudices of the middle east conflict and the crazed lies that accompany it in order to allow people to be openminded before coming back to it. Israel's position is the rational one here.

* Creation of a professional quality web site, with interesting and constantly refreshed content, including youtube videos, integration with social networking, etc. This needs to provide content that the media, bloggers, etc. can use. It needs to be a go-to site for information and it needs to provide content if Israel's cynical enemies get that content banned on youtube (at which point the youtube video should be replaced with a video of a person who tells viewers where to go to find the video, plus a clickable link for those who have half of a clue). I'm sorry, but the MFA web site doesn't cut it. This one requires a serious ongoing commitment.

* One thing on that site (while I generally favor proactivity) should be a set of SIMPLE, CONCISE myth/fact pages, clearly laid out by native English speakers. Better yet, myth/fact/recommended action. I'm talking about 2 PowerPoint slide's worth of content or 1 minute of video. People who want more info can be directed to more detailed info, but the 2 slides or video need to be clear, concise & professional. The Israel/apartheid thing can be exploded very concisely, and aid to gaza or rockets falling on sderot can have some short briefs too.

* Video: Israel's invitation to Iran to abandon a completely pointless conflict. To Turks, with whom there should literally be no conflict of interest and with whom there has been friendship. Whatever. Israel's position is rational and sane, but it gets mischaracterized and filtered through distorting channels. Bibi is quite capable of acting as Israel's spokesperson for public statements like this. Invitation to the Pals, though there is no chance that Abbas will accept it, or to the Arabs, particularly if Netanyahu thinks that he can provide an Israeli Peace Plan (an even more critical area where Israel has ceded the initiative to others).

And I know that Israel is a small country, with small budgets, but it's got a big problem and it needs to address that problem with speed, creativity, clarity and wisdom.

A counter-review of "Palestine Betrayed" (Aaron)

I asked one of my non-Zionist commenters, Aaron Carine, who is critical of Israel but very well-read about Israel's history, to write up a review of the Ephraim Karsh book "Palestine Betrayed" that I reviewed and excerpted last month. Here is Aaron's review and my comments:

Karsh presents a wealth of new information on Zionist-Arab-British geopolitics,as well as what was going on among Palestinians in 1948. But his boast of having refuted the New Historians is premature.

Take his account of 1948. Karsh offers nothing to support his claim that there were only a few expulsions--and it needs support,considering that over a hundred expulsions are recorded in Israeli archives. He deals with Arab and Jewish terrorism,but leaves out most of the massacres of Arabs by Israeli infantry,and even expresses skepticism about the Deir Yassin massacre. He records the Israeli offers at Lausanne,but omits the initiatives by Egypt and Syria(first uncovered, I think, by Simha Flapan). He also makes it sound as though Ben-Gurion's offer to take back 100,000 refugees was unconditional,which it wasn't.

Karsh's insistence that there was no conflict between Zionism and Arab interests strikes me as naive. He constantly quotes Zionist statements about coexistence,but doesn't see the inconsistency between this and a Palestine "as Jewish as England is English". The statements of Herzl, Ben-Gurion and others about transfer are left out, as is the eviction of Arab peasants and shepherds.

There are little errors, such as his claim that the Zionists accepted the Peel partition plan---the World Zionist Congress rejected it(cf. Christopher Sykes, Crossroads to Israel). Sometimes,when he differs with a New Historian they both cite contemporary sources, so we have no basis,beyond our prejudices, for choosing.

The quote of Palestine as "Jewish as England is English" was from Chaim Weizmann, testifying before the Peel Commission in November 1936. Here is the Palestine Post article that mentions it:

In that same testimony, however, Weizmann emphasizes both his hopes for Arab-Jewish cooperation as well as the frustrations Jews had in being discriminated against by the Arabs and his feelings that the Arabs were treated badly - by Great Britain! (click to enlarge)

From my own readings of contemporaneous Jewish Palestinian sources, it is clear to me that the quotes about "transfer" and other quotes that indicate bigotry against Arabs by the Jewish leadership have been taken out of context (not to mention the many that are wholly fiction.) Here is just one example - Weizmann spoke about Arabs at length to the Commission, yet only one sentence makes it into the "New Historians' " books. Karsh contextualizes it more accurately while the "New Historians" emphasize only the anti-Arab sounding statements and ignore the far more numerous ones that indicate sympathy and the desire for cooperation. Whether Karsh goes to far in the other direction is an open question, but his viewpoint is clearly ignored by the revisionists.

As far as how the Jews responded to the Peel Commission recommendations, it appears that the Zionist Executive of the WZO accepted it in theory but rejected the specific borders and they were charged with further negotiations concerning the matter. The absolute Arab rejection made that point moot.

A small indication of Iran's obsession with Israel

The Iranian Al-Alam satellite channel is aimed mostly at the worldwide Arabic audience. On its webpage, the top navigation menu includes these items in the Farsi edition:

Home
Top News
Iran
World Reports
Private Chat
Israel
Regional developments
Links
Articles

Their Arabic edition has a similar menu:

Home
All News
Policy
Reports and analysis
Hebrew newspapers
Economy
Sport
Science and Technology
Entertainment
Headlines

Their English edition, however, is missing the top-level Israel menu item.

Pro-Israel aid ship "Gilad Shalit" from the Netherlands?

The Kuwait News Agency reports:

Pro-Israeli bodies in the Netherlands are organizing a ship that is to head to Israel, carrying humanitarian aid destined for Sderot and Gaza Strip, Radio Israel reported.

This comes as an effort to counter the anti-Israeli Freedom Flotilla campaign trying to break the siege on Gaza and to strike and weaken international solidarity with the strip.

The ship is carrying the name of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured by Hamas in Gaza,"with the participation of a number of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim peace activists, politicians, and people in media," the radio added.

This campaign is organized by members of a pro-Israeli Christian society, and members of the Jewish community in the Netherlands, besides Dutch intellectuals.

The organizers informed the Israeli Embassy in the Netherlands of their planned journey to Israel.

I see nothing about this except in the Arab media.