Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, January 07, 2011

The day in tear gas

In the past day or so, tear gas was deployed in:

Algeria
Telangana, India
Jordan
Greece
Turkey
and Tanzania.

Let's see how many of these incidents capture the imagination of the human rights community.

Son of an imam who is a critic of Islam gets death threats

From Translating Jihad:

Hamad 'Abd-al-Samad: I Consider Islam Part of the Problem in the Islamic World

masrawy.com, 6 Jan 2011, (link to Arabic)

What would the world lose if the Islamic nations disappeared from the map? Almost nothing, says Hamad 'Abd-al-Samad, and he adds that the Islamic world has stopped innovating, and become a burden on the civilized nations. Indeed it has become a breeding ground for intolerance and violence. The researcher at the University of Munich says in his book, which was published in German and Arabic under the title "The Fall of the Islamic World," that the Muslims are fixed on the past, and are unable to answer the difficult questions of the future. Therefore they flee to the successes of a glorious past."

The book has caused serious controversy since its release in Germany, between those who accuse 'Abd-al-Samad of disseminating and establishing stereotypes, and those who consider him a "brave writer" who has placed his finger on the problem for many people, calling on Muslims to take charge of the reform of their own societies. In this book, 'Abd-al-Samad considers Islam a part of the problem in the Islamic world, and he looks at the Qur'an as a stumbling block in the way of Muslim development, due to the enormous influence the text of the Qur'an has over Muslims. The author has received a number of death threats, and also received accusations that he--the son of an imam of a mosque in the Egyptian countryside--is swimming in the current of hostility to Islam and Muslims. [...]

In another article, possibly based on the same interview which seems to have been done by Deutsche Welle, he says "that the Islamic world will collapse, and is expected to fall during the decades after the oil runs out and the desertification of parts of it occur due to climate change."

Enough links to last the weekend

Hamas leader Mahmoud al Zahar told a rally in Gaza that the Holocaust was a Zionist lie. Surprised?

The Economist has a good article about Israel's economic promise, and potential problems. (h/t Yaakov Lozowick)

Israellycool, inspired by my series, makes his own poster.

Speaking of, a Polish site put my posters together in a narrative!

Zach at Facebook notices that a couple of people were killed in a protest in Tanzania, a story that will disappear immediately without a trace because no one can blame the Jews.

Yesterday the PA released a number of prisoners who were involved in major terror attacks - including the massacre of four people near Hebron in August. Palestine Today has smiling photos of them. (Israel arrested them, accidentally killing a man during the search.)

Palestine Today also reports that Israel is looking for a type of gum to keep soldiers alert and awake. I figure, if Israelis are so good at making sex gum, how hard can it be?

Swiss bank UBS has banned money transfers to certain anti-Israel (called "pro-Palestinian") organizations. The major one is Collectif Urgence Palestine, whose webpage says that their objectives are to end occupation, release prisoners and allow the right to return as a first step. Hmm..wonder what Step 2 might be? (It is possible the UBS made the decision after lawsuits from Israeli victims of terror claiming that UBS money transfers funded the attacks.)

Folderol sent a link to some new information indicating that Jews used Greek translations of the Torah in synagogues much later than had been thought. Some of the Greek is written in Hebrew characters.

Richard Millett notices an advertisement for tourism to "Palestine" that seems to imply that Israel doesn't exist. Will the UK advertising board ASA object?

Alan Dershowitz and Yaacov Lozowick respond to the ridiculous Letty Cottin Pogrebin column in the Forward that I skewered last week.

Yaacov also has a nice perspective on Abu Rahma.

I had missed this great story from last month: BDS protesters tried to intimidate a Montreal shoe store owner into dropping a brand of high-end Israeli women's shoes called BeautiFeel. He refused, and the Montreal Jewish community has more than made up for any losses from the weekly protests. (One woman bought $3000 worth of shoes to distribute to the homeless!) (from Gil Troy blog)

The dog who drove Nazis crazy

From JPost:

Germany's Nazi government was so angry about a dog trained to imitate Hitler that it started an obsessive campaign against its Finnish owner, according to newly discovered documents.

In the middle of World War II, the Foreign Office in Berlin commanded its diplomats in the Nazi-friendly Nordic country to gather evidence on the dog, and even came up with plans to destroy the pharmaceutical wholesale company of the dog's owner.

The dog, Jackie, was a mutt owned by Tor Borg, a businessman from the Finnish city of Tampere. Borg's wife Josefine, a German citizen known for her anti-Nazi sentiments, dubbed the dog Hitler because of the strange way it raised its paw high in the air like Germans greeting the Fuehrer with a cry of "Heil Hitler!"

On January 29, 1941, German Vice Consul Willy Erkelenz in Helsinki wrote that "a witness, who does not want to be named, said ... he saw and heard how Borg's dog reacted to the command 'Hitler' by raising its paw."

Borg was ordered to the German embassy in Helsinki and questioned about his dog's unusual greeting habits.

He denied ever calling the dog by the German dictator's name, but admitted that his wife called the dog Hitler. He tried to play down the accusations, saying the paw-raising had only happened a few times in 1933 — shortly after Hitler came to power.

The Finnish merchant ensured the Nazi diplomats that he never did anything "that could be seen as an insult against the German Reich."

The zealous diplomats in Helsinki did not believe him and wrote back to Berlin that "Borg, even though he claims otherwise, is not telling the truth."

The different ministries that were involved in the dog scandal — the Foreign Office, the Economy Ministry and even Hitler's Chancellory — meticulously reported all their findings about the canine.

The economy ministry announced that the German chemical conglomerate IG Farben, which had supplied Borg's wholesale trade with pharmaceuticals, offered to eliminate his company by ending their cooperation with him.

Based on all this support, the Foreign Office was already looking for ways to bring Borg to trial for insulting Hitler, but in the end, none of the potential witnesses were willing to repeat their accusations in front of a judge.

Although the episode is funny, there is a very important lesson to be learned:

Totalitarians have no sense of humor, and hate being made fun of.

Satire, humor and put-downs are important weapons against Islamists, Islamic terrorists and Islamist dictators. The entire purpose of terror, after all, is to feel important and relevant, to feel that you can make superpowers quake with fear. Every statement coming out of Iran is designed to make that state look like a superpower whose decisions must be taken seriously. If the reaction is instead belittling and humorous scorn that shows that they are like mere mosquitoes who need to be slapped down, they lose much of their incentive and power.

The Islamic terror supporters are good at insults but they are awful at being the butts of jokes. A few well-placed YouTube videos can make even other Arabs laugh at them. And it is something that anyone can do.

IDF: new information proves Abu Rahma died of other causes

YNet reports:

Israel Defense Forces officials said Friday that the army was about to reach an agreement with official Palestinian sources that the death of Jawaher Abu-Rahma in the West Bank village of Bilin last week was not caused by tear gas fired during an anti-fence rally in the area.

"Our assumptions were verified this week after we received additional documents from the Palestinians," said Judea and Samaria Division Commander Brigadier-General Nitzan Alon.

He added that "the documents and data we received strengthened the understanding that her death was caused by the method of the medical treatment and other medical aspects."

The division commander said some details remained to be examined on the matter, but that further talks would be held with the Palestinians in a bid to reach a final understanding.

"We now understand that she herself was not at the protest, but in a more distant place, where remains of the tear gas may have reached her. But this was not the cause of her death. She died from other illnesses and medical care."

This is on the record, so chances are that the IDF has some specific new information that will show the truth about Abu Rahma's death. My sources say that we will be learning more on Sunday.

"Completely Peaceful" - New EoZ video

An email correspondent suggested this idea...

Wikileaks: "PA money going to Hamas"

From Aftenposten's Wikileaks collection, a cable dated December 4, 2008:

Econoff called Udi Levi, Counterterrorism Finance Bureau Director at the [Israeli] National Security Council (NSC) and a senior intelligence officer on December 2 to press for release of NIS 250 million to the Gaza banking system, as requested by the Palestinian Monetary Authority. Levi said continued rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza, stalemate in negotions on release of Hamas-held Israeli Defense Force soldier Gilad Shalit, and new information on Hamas access to the Palestinian Authority salary payments funded by the requested transfer all made it unlikely that the GOI would honor the request.

Levi did say that the GOI is considering a policy to permit about NIS 40 million in new liquidity to enter the Gaza Strip banks on a monthly basis. The exact amount is still under discussion, said Levi, but the Israeli security services have agreed that monthly transfers of some amount of shekels to Gaza are necessary to avoid collapse of the banking system there.

However, Levi noted GOI intelligence has indications that Gaza banks are being forced by Hamas to underreport their true reserve holdings, so it is difficult for the GOI to assess the current state of the banking system in Gaza. He said that the banks have had no choice but to follow Hamas instructions and conduct business as if they were operating on insufficient reserves. He posited that the present pre-Eid crisis might be an attempt by Hamas to further consolidate its power in Gaza though he was vague on how the crisis would forward the Hamas agenda. Regarding the PA,s payroll, Levi told econoff that it included Hamas members and many other questionable individuals that the GOI did not believe to be working as civil servants for the Fatah-controlled PA. He offered to share all GOI information on the topicin a meeting with relevant USG officials at their earliest convenience. We will take him up on that offer and report septel.

A cable from November gives some background:

The PA contends that Hamas, ability to pay its workers, salaries each month combined with the inability of the PA to do so causes further deterioration in support for PA/Fatah relative to Hamas (reftel &I8). The GOI, on the other hand, believes that many of the estimated 77,000 wage earners on the PAs payroll may actually be Hamas members or affiliates. Israeli security analysts argue that a considerable portion of the civil service salaries that the PA attempts to pay each month to its Gazan employees actually find their way to Hamas or Hamas supporters (see reftel "D"). They have therefore determined that full coverage of the payroll is contrary to Israel,s security interests, even if Hamas gains some political advantage from being able to pay its salaries in full.

Furthermore, GOI officials, while often praising the credentials of PA technocrats, doubt the effectiveness and authority of the Palestinian Monetary Authority (PMA) to regulate and police Palestinian, and especially Gazan banks.

A new congressman who gets it

Great speech by Florida's new congressman Allen West:

(h/t Barry Rubin via email)

Islamic leader who is anti-semitic? No way!

Prominent Sunni Islamic sheikh Yusuf Al Qaradawi, who has millions of foillowers, has written the introduction to a biography of Yahya Ayyash, Hamas' chief bomb-maker known as "the Englineer," who was killed by Israel in 1996.

Qaradawi, who is an enthusiastic supporter of terrorism, wrote in the introduction that Ayyash "infuriated the Jews in his life and his blood will remain a curse on them after his death."

Ayyash himself was not reluctant to say that his hatred was against the Jews. He is quoted in the Al Qassam site on the anniversary of his death as saying "the war against the Zionist entity will not be over until there are no Jews in the land of Palestine" as well as other sayings.

A minor correction on a previous tear gas posting

In my update to my posting about Physicians for Human Rights and tear gas, I wrote:

Some blogs are saying "The U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine warns that at a concentration of 2mg per cubic meter, CS gas 'is immediately dangerous to life [and health]…'

The document does say that - and it is a typo.

It turns out it was not a typo - but it doesn't mean what it sounds like.

The phrase "immediately dangerous to life and health," IDLH, is a specific technical term that is defined by OSHA as "an atmosphere that poses an immediate threat to life, would cause irreversible adverse health effects, or would impair an individual's ability to escape from a dangerous atmosphere." The word "impair" is the key word here, meaning it makes it more difficult to leave but does not prevent the individual from doing so.

For those keeping score, there are three important acronyms when dealing with tear gas: IDLH, as defined above, ICt50, which is the concentration that is intolerable to 50% of the exposed population for 1 minute, and LCt50, which is the concentration that is lethal to 50% of the exposed population for one minute.

For CS tear gas, the numbers are

Odor threshold value - 0.004 mg/m3 (concentration that can be smelled)
IDLH - 2 mg/m3
ICt50 - 3.6 mg/m3 (depending on which study; some humans can learn to tolerate up to 6.6 mg/m3)
LCt50 - 61,000 mg/m3

So while it seems counterintuitive that IDLH would be lower than ICt50, the OSHA definition makes it make sense.

The huge difference between ICt50 and LCt50 is what makes CS such a perfect tool for crowd control. The amount needed to get someone to run away is far, far less than the amount necessary to kill someone.

Lying about tear gas deaths: Lisa Goldman and Joseph Dana (updated)

I stumbled across a tweet from self-described journalist Lisa Goldman, where she says "Amnesty Int'l documented 40 deaths in one year from the tear gas that killed Jawaher Abu Rahmah."

Her source? The rabidly anti-Israel lobby group, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. In 1992 they wrote:

Amnesty International has reported 40 deaths from CS tear gas inhalation alone from December 1987 to June 1988.

Notice this: Lisa did not try to look for the original Amnesty International report that supposedly says this. She linked to WRMEA; uncritically believing that they were quoting Amnesty. This is not how a journalist is supposed to act.

This piece of information of the supposed 40 deaths in seven months has now been rocketing around the Twittersphere and blogosphere and even some left wing websites. But no one has tried to find the actual report. Except for one person: Joseph Dana, of the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee - who may have started this rumor - says that Amnesty wrote it in their report "Israel and the Occupied Territories: Amnesty International’s concerns in 1988."

Amnesty's 1988 report is not online. But their response to Israel's criticisms regarding that report is. And here is how they defend their methodology:

The manufacturers of CS tear-gas used by Israeli forces stress that such agent can be lethal if misused -- for example, by using it in confined spaces from which vulnerable individuals cannot readily exit. It is particularly dangerous when used in massive quantities in heavily built-up and populated areas, as has been the case with the refugee camps in the Occupied Territories, or when launched directly into homes or other buildings. Infants and elderly people or others who cannot rapidly move away, as well as people with respiratory problems, are particularly vulnerable.

Amnesty International finds such background sufficient to warrant the reporting of deaths following alleged misuse of tear-gas, and to call for adequate investigation of this issue, even in the absence of conclusive medical evidence to prove or disprove the extent to which these deaths were caused by tear-gas inhalation. In June 1988 it issued a report outlining its concerns on the matter.

These paragraphs prove that Amnesty either didn't explicitly charge that the deaths came from tear gas in the 1988 report, or they backtracked from that assertion. It also proves that Amnesty was only talking about misuse of tear gas in confined areas - which the IDF admits had happened on occasion during the first intifada. And Amnesty notes that Israel has changed its guidelines for tear gas use in 1988 to stop using it in confined spaces.

In other words, the Amnesty report repeating assertions from Arabs in 1988 - admittedly without proof - that 40 of them were killed by misuse of tear gas has absolutely no relevance to the death of a single supposedly healthy person in 2010 who died, outdoors, quite a distance from any tear gas.

To compare the two is similar to saying that Jawaher Abu Rahma had died of an overdose of saccharine because she had two packets of artificial sweetener earlier that day. After all, there are scientific studies that a huge quantity of saccharine can kill humans if ingested very quickly!

The facts are clear. No one can find a single documented case in scientific literature of anyone dying from CS tear gas outdoors, ever. (I've been looking.)There are very, very few documented cases of CS tear gas killing people even indoors, at concentrations and over time periods that are hundreds of times more potent than any possible outdoor scenario.

Anyone bringing studies of isolated tear gas-related deaths of people were stuck indoors with high concentrations for long time periods as some type of proof that Abu Rahma was killed by tear gas in fresh air is, knowingly, lying.

UPDATE: Balfour St. finds that Goldman makes mistakes in her article on the subject, misreading a BMJ article on tear gas to falsely claim that CS is more dangerous than CN (it is less dangerous) and mistakenly claiming that CS is banned in the UK (it isn't.) The BMJ article also does not mention any cases of CS killing anyone outdoors. Even its mentioning that CS might have killed some of the Branch Davidians in Waco in 1993 is far from definitive: this report on the matter says that the only way they could have died is if they were unable to leave the rooms with the CS.

This is what is called "news" in Gaza

I mentioned earlier today that Western news agencies are ignoring Hamas' daily abuses against Arabs in Gaza.

So what are all of those reporters, photographers and stringers doing there?

Here's a clue:

Cameramen and photographers surround two Palestinians participating in a reenactment of an Israeli strike during a performance organized by Hamas, marking the second anniversary of theIsrael-Gaza war, in Jebaliya, northern Gaza strip, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2010.

Snapped Shot counted 21 photographers in this photo that is literally staged by Hamas.

There is no doubt that a great number of so-called "journalists" in Gaza are simply shills for Hamas, ready to jump and photograph anything Hamas asks and happy to avoid all areas that Hamas tells them to stay away from (a very common occurrence, especially after "unexplained" explosions.)

The web infrastructure of the PA government is a joke

Even though PA prime minister Salam Fayyad has been telling every Western reporter that he is building the infrastructure for a state in the Palestinian Authority, a look at the websites of the PA government shows a mess that might reflect the reality more than any official statements.

The sites are filled with broken links, incomplete pages, and many have not been updated in years. The quality of the websites looks more like how the web looked in 1996 than 2011.

Here is a survey of the PA web pages I could find:

The State Information Service page, which is supposed to be the main portal, is not even up. This made it a bit difficult to find the other pages.

The Ministry of Planning homepage returns an error code.

The Ministry of Education site is a bit better, last updated in May of 2010. It includes, of course, a section on how "occupation" is affecting education.

The Prime Minister's Office site isn't terrible and is reasonably up to date, although it points to a webmail page that does not have a trusted certificate for its encryption.

The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs site has not been updated since 2001.

The Ministry of Finance page is only a couple of weeks out of date. For some reason it includes a collection of "Nakba" photos, as well as photos of places like Haifa.

The Ministry of the National Economy (English) is a horrendous site , barely updated ever (some news items from 2004 and 2009), filled with broken links. Its Arabic site is a little better, and has been updated more recently, but has the same broken links.

The National Plan of Action for Palestinian Children still refers to President Yasir Arafat. It is pretty much a shell of a site, set up once a long time ago and long forgotten.

The Palestinian Legislative Council's homepage is filled with photos of their meetings - in the same conference room, around the same table, from the same camera angle. Wow.

The Commission of Human Rights page has not been updated since 2004.

The Ministry of Environmental Affairs starts with an awful Flash animation, and then shows pretty much nothing. It does not appear to have been updated since 2001. Not surprisingly, two of its three publications blame Israel for every environmental issue.

Perhaps the most symbolic of the broken pages is the government website dedicated to a European/Mediterranean Information Society initiative, to connect the PA to other countries in a large network. That page has not been updated since 2001.

This entire mess seems to be the responsibility of the Government Computer Center, which sets up websites for other government organizations.

It may not be a coincidence that the most up-to-date sites - the Prime Minister, Economy and Finance - are all sites that are of special interest to Prime Minister Fayyad. While this is hardly evidence, it gives the impression that the entire PA infrastructure is a shell, intended to fool the West into thinking that there is something solid there when it is completely rotten underneath. What journalist is going to bother to spend the half hour it takes to find this mess?

Keep in mind that there are literally billions of dollars being poured into building an infrastructure for the PA. Most Palestinian Arabs do have connections to the Internet so there is a possibility for a lot of value - and money savings - in an effective Web presence. There is no evidence that any effort is being put into the cyber-infrastructure of the PA.

If the state-building that is supposedly being done in the Palestinian Authority is being reflected in their websites, then there won't be a Palestinian Arab state for a very, very long time.

Some child abuse, discovered by Palestinian Media Watch:

A glimpse of the world of education in Sur Baher in East Jerusalem was recently made available by Hamas TV. A broadcast showed how the Jerusalem children in the Islamic Riyad (Gardens of) Al-Aqsa School were taught to sing about desiring death: "May our blood be shed."

They also sang the following in front of the cameras:
"How strong is the army of Al-Aqsa.
I am a soldier, defending its protected area.
How precious is the land of Al-Aqsa.
I shall give up my life for its sake."

"Zionists broadcast pornography to child prisoners"

Palestinian Arabs are accusing Israel of showing pornography to its Arab prisoners under the age of 18.

Palestine Today reports that Mohammed Khalaf was recently released from the children's section of the Megiddo prison. He is quoted as saying that "the prison administration is running several channels of pornography in the section for those who are under 18 years old."

This is an outrage! My cable company charges extra for adult films, and Israel's prisons provide several channels for free?

This ridiculous story is already spreading quickly throughout the online Arabic media sites.

Pro-Israel Blog-Off contest (updated)

Israellycool is sponsoring the first annual Pro Israel Blog-off Contest. The details are:

Bloggers are invited to submit one ”pro-Israel” entry, whether it be a blog post, podcast, or video no older than 1 month. Then each week, I will pit submissions against each other. The winner, decided by a combination of reader votes and panel-determined score, moves to the next round, where they will submit a new entry to compete against another first round winner.

The process continues until we get to two finalists competing for an Apple iPad.

I have around 300 blog posts in the last month, and if I want to enter, I have to choose one.

I have no idea.

One of my posters? One of my ElderToons? Or simply one of my regular posts?

I'm thinking perhaps my "Enemies" poster, my Christmas poster, my Abbas intransigence ElderToon, my Apartheid ElderToon, or my Abu Rahma ElderToon. Or my video version of Nothing's Changed. Or my post on How to Defame Israel, NPR Edition. Or

Any suggestions or votes would be appreciated!

UPDATE: I made an executive decision, to submit my Apartheid ElderToon. I figure that Yaakov Kirschen, the cartoonist behind Dry Bones and one of the judges, might lean towards that, and no one else is likely to submit a cartoon so it makes my entry stand out.

Morning links

Elliot Abrams now has a blog that might be interesting.

Excellent Michael Young post on Syria: " What we see is Syria simultaneously being an arsonist and a fireman." (h/t Silke)

Rob Miller on why Israel is losing the information war, and Israel Matzav's comments.

Michael Totten on Arab conspiracy theories. (h/t Silke)

On a related note, the Heplev blog brings us this:

UPDATE: One more, from last month, on Jordanian oppression of Palestinian Arabs.

You need Arab media to find out the truth in Gaza

It is ironic that the Western media is not as critical of Hamas as some of the Arabic media are.

The latest example is an article in Dar Al Hayat (London), quoted in Palestine Press Agency and many other places in Arabic.

On Saturday, a Beit Lahiya resident named Ghassan Abu Nasr asked Hamas police why they were arresting his neighbor, Shadi Diab.

Because of that, the police took Abu Nasr and his neighbor, drove them to an empty area, beat them with a baton, then brought them to Hamas police station where they continued to beat them with rifle butts and batons.

Abu Nasr's knee and right hand were broken. Abu Diab fell into a coma and is now being hospitalized.

Al Hayat goes on to report that Gaza citizens are afraid of the endemic abuses of Gaza police. Even though Hamas claims that they are working to improve the situation, with training police on how to act and punishing those who abuse people, it is not working and Gazans still live in fear. There are many similar stories, including against journalists.

This article has been reproduced widely in the Arab media. Yet Western media remains silent.

Why are Arabs more critical of Hamas than the media of the free world?

Poster for counterprotests - 10

I think I'm addicted to doing these....

(Photo h/t CiFWatch via Jed)

Spoofing the pro-Hamas rally poster (9th in the series)

The anti-Israel rally that is scheduled to take place in New York on Sunday is being co-sponsored by Al Awda, an organization that is rather explicit in its support of terror and desire to destroy Israel.

Here is their flyer:

So I spent a good 15 minutes to come up with this:

If anyone in New York wants to attend the counter-protest this Sunday where you can have fun plastering my posters all over Herald Square, let me know and I'll hook you up with the organizer.

UPDATE: Information on the Stand With Us counter-protest here. But it appears they are only going to be at the destination of the march, not dealing with the march itself.

A little wordy for my tastes, but the quote is so great...

Iran buying land from Lebanese Christians

From Al Arabiya:

The recent rise in Iranian purchases of property owned by Christians stirred controversy in Lebanon as the Islamic republic is accused of dividing the country along sectarian lines and embarking on a Shiite infiltration scheme.

The Shiite purchase of Christian land in Lebanon drove Lebanese Labor Minister Botros Harb to submit to the cabinet a draft law that prohibits the sale of land across religions.
Harb’s proposal mirror Lebanese fears of a scheme that enables Iran of exercising growing economic influence in Lebanon through Shiite businessmen who buy lands and houses owned by Christians and take advantage of Lebanon’s free market economy.

According to the draft [law], those who violate this law whether by sale, purchase, or mediation will face five to 10 years in jail and fined double the price of the sold property.

The main purpose of the draft law is sounding alarm bells over an organized scheme of appropriating Christian land, said Labor Minister Botros Harb.

“These purchases aim at undermining Lebanon’s religious diversity and national unity,” he told AlArabiya.net.

Although Iran is reportedly the “foreign party” behind those purchases, Harb refused to name the parties or countries involved.

According to Lebanese economic expert Dr. Ghazi Wazni,..."“The possibility of approving this law or putting it on the cabinet’s agenda is zero percent.”

Isn't that interesting?

Reaching out to Arabs in Hebron. But where's the other side?

From Israel21C:

I cannot bring myself to be as ecstatic about these sorts of initiatives as the well-meaning organizers are. All I can think is - where are the people creating similar initiatives on the Arab side? Why are all of these types of programs created by Israeli Jews?

A few other things bother me about this video.

For the past 10 years, it has been officially forbidden for Israeli citizens to visit the Palestinian West Bank city of Hebron.

Really? I saw the houses of a few hundred Israeli citizens in Hebron, and their friends in Kiryat Arba visit them all the time!

You can refer to it as a "majority Arab city" or whatever, but calling it a "Palestinian city" is an insult to those who believe that Hebron is Jewish, and it was Jewish way before any Arabs were around.

Also, note that even the organizer himself is afraid to walk around the Arab section of Hebron with a yarmulka on his head. Are Arabs afraid to walk around Israel with keffiyehs?

Moreover, note that Jew cannot visit the Muslim part of the Tomb of the Patriarchs. However, I witnessed Arabs visiting the Jewish side when I was there.

And mentioning only that it is the burial ground for Abraham, while ignoring the five or more prominent Biblical figures who are there as well, plays to the Muslim narrative of the second-holiest place in Judaism.

Altogether, I like Israel21C, but their desire to be politically correct in this case ends up insulting Jews more than they intended.

Abu Rahma Lawfare

Palestine Today says that the Abu Rahma family is planning to sue the IDF for the death of Jawaher, which they claim was caused by tear gas.

Her brother Ahmed narrates a tale of her death that seems at odds with what her cousins told Ha'aretz. He describes what happened when she collapsed as if he was there, but her cousins say that he came later with the ambulance.

He also said that she had attended many protests and had never been affected by the tear gas before.

The entire family seems to be heavily involved in the weekly Bil'in riots. Besides her brother Samir who is the ringleader, we see that Ahmed also protests, and three weeks ago the IDF released a Bil'in rioter from prison named Adeeb Abu Rahma, possibly a cousin. And who provided the photos to the ISM in that article? Hamde Abu Rahma, the same person who claimed on Facebook that she was at her home.

So when the family of agitators, rioters and liars (remember, Samir went on TV saying that the soldiers shot "phosphorus") says they want to sue, it is not for justice - it is for politics.

And in the end, they won't, because that would reveal facts about the case that they would rather not have publicized.

According to rioters, Abu Rahma was 150-180 meters away

Ha'aretz published a map of the (one of many) Palestinian Arab version of events in Bil'in. I received a horrible fax copy of it (click to enlarge - h/t Joel for color Hebrew version)

According to this version, Jawaher Abu Rahma was standing 150-180 meters away from the kids throwing stones who were hit with tear gas.

This is nearly two football fields away.

As we saw yesterday from the Physicians for Human Rights paper on tear gas, the immediate cloud produced is some 6-9 meters in diameter and even in the center of the cloud the concentrations of the agent are 3%-10% of the amount usually needed to be breathed in for a full minute to kill the average healthy person.

I can't find any studies on dissipation of CS gas outdoors but simple watching of videos of these demonstrations shows that the gas cloud dissipates within seconds (although the canister emits gas for maybe 10 seconds so if one was right next to the canister one could be exposed at the highest outdoor levels for perhaps 15 seconds.)

While I have no doubt that someone can smell tear gas from a greater distance and even that their eyes can tear from a whiff, the idea that tear gas is toxic from 150 meters is absurd. The entire town of Bil'in would have been wiped out years ago.

(h/t Yisrael Medad and SoccerDad)

Poster for counterprotests - 7

Continuing the series....

Morning links

Some stuff to tide you over (not sure how much I'll be able to post today):

Jeffrey Goldberg on the plight of Middle East Christians (except for Israel, of course.)

Globalising Hatred: The New Antisemitism - book review at JCPA.

Roots of Muslim anti-semitism at CJN

Why isn't Obama pressuring the Palestinians? at FP

Free Jonathan Pollard (video)

(h/t V)

Islamist "cookbook" for Alexandria church bombing - plus a prophecy

From MSNBC:

In the weeks before the New Year's Day suicide bombing of an Egyptian church, al-Qaida-linked websites carried a how-to manual on "destroying the cross," complete with videos on how to build a bomb and the locations of churches to target — including the one that was attacked.

They may have found a receptive audience in Alexandria, where increasingly radicalized Islamic hard-liners have been holding weekly anti-Christian demonstrations, filled with venomous slogans against the minority community.

Only two or three days before Saturday's bombing, police arrested several Salafis spreading fliers in Alexandria calling for violence against Christians, a security official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

According to authorities, the strong belief among investigators is that local extremists who knew the area and the nature of their target were behind the blast. The Egyptian weekly Al-Youm Al-Saba said police were examining photos of the Salafis' weekly protests for suspects.

In the weeks before the attack, al-Qaida militants on the Web spewing calls for "jihad," or holy war, on Egypt's Christians laid out everything anyone would need to carry out a bombing.

One widely circulated posting includes a so-called "Jihadi Encyclopedia for the Destruction of the Cross," with a series of 10 videos describing how to build a bomb.

In the videos, an unidentified militant in a white lab coat and a black mask is shown listing the ingredients to make TNT and mixing up the chemicals in beakers.

The site lists Coptic Christian churches in Egypt, along with phone numbers and addresses — including Alexandria's Saints Church. "Blow up the churches while they are celebrating Christmas or any other time when the churches are packed," it says.

But I thought that "it goes without saying that no Muslim, whatever their political leanings may be, will ever commit such an inhumane act."

I'm shocked. Shocked!

(h/t Callie)
------------------
After I wrote this, I saw an amazing letter by a Christian who essentially predicted the fatal attack on Egyptian Copts on December 24th:

Egypt is another place in the Middle East where Christians are in peril. They are more numerous in Egypt than they are in Iraq, but they are targets of a similar strain of hostility. In January of 2010, six Christians were murdered outside the church where they were celebrating Christmas mass. (Christians in Egypt are Coptic Orthodox Christians who celebrate Christmas in January.)

This was only one of several attacks that took place in Egypt during the past year and given the level of hostility, it's likely more acts of violence will take place in the next few weeks. Imams have appeared on television accusing Coptic Christians in Egypt of storing weapons in their churches and of being in league with Zionist Jews from Israel. In Muslim majority Egypt, these are lethal charges. When prominent religious and political leaders make accusations like this, it's a signal to others that personal attacks on Christians will be tolerated and condoned.

Female terrorists in Gaza (video and poster)

From CNN:

With faces covered and guns loaded, Palestinian militants are training among the sand dunes of Gaza.

Shouts of "Allahu Akbar" -- God is great -- are followed by intense target practice. These militants are preparing to fight their sworn enemy, the state of Israel. But there is a difference -- they are women.

Training alongside men, they say they are ready to go into battle and are calling on more Palestinian women to join what they call the resistance against Israel.

CNN was given rare access to some of these women inside Gaza. The militant group insisted the location was kept secret, so we were blindfolded in the back of a car and driven to a house.

Five women are sitting in the back garden, all from the Salah ad-Din Brigades -- one of several militant groups in Gaza -- all veiled and armed. Only their eyes are uncovered.

Sitting beside a table of guns, rocket-propelled grenades and land mines, the scene is carefully choreographed for our camera and the message is clear.

One woman tells me: "I am trained and ready to be a suicide bomber against Israeli soldiers."

Which inspired me to make a new poster:

(h/t Clark)

PA GDP proportional to percentage working for Israelis

From Ma'an:

Of every 100 Palestinian workers, 11 work in Israel and the settlements compared to 10 in 2009, a new survey from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics found.

The increase helped push up the Palestinian GDP per capita, in what was counted as a year of growth across the region.

Palestine's Gross Domestic Product increased by about 9 percent during the first three quarters of 2010 compared with the same period of 2009.

Released on Monday, the survey said growth was concentrated in economic activities with largest share in construction with a growth rate of 36 percent, followed by agriculture and fishing, wholesale and retail trade, transport, storage and communications, services, and public administration.

GDP per capita for Palestinian areas increased by 5 percent during the third quarter of 2010 compared with the same quarter of 2009, spurred mostly by an increase of three percent in the number of workers in construction, industry and the service sector.

Which means that since the settlement freeze ended, with Arabs working to build houses in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, the Palestinian Arab GDP for the fourth quarter should go even higher.

So once again the people who say they want "peace" also want to hurt ordinary Palestinian Arabs trying to raise their families in dignity.

It is also interesting to see that the GDP increase is almost directly proportional - 9-10% - to the increase of workers in Israel and the Israeli towns across the green line. Foreign aid might not be so much a factor - jobs and cooperation with Israel is.

By the way, these statistics include Gaza, where no one works for Israelis, so that means that the percentage of West Bank Arabs who work for Israelis is probably closer to 15%. Boycotting Israel would throw the Palestinian Arab economy into a tailspin, and it would raise the West Bank unemployment rate to about the same as Gaza's is now - from around 17% to around 32%.

Posters for counterprotests - 5 and 6

Continuing the series...

I couldn't think of a sarcastic tagline that would be better than just showing the photos straight (with URLs so people can see for themselves.)

"Jews are Judaizing the Samuel's Tomb!"

The Al Aqsa Foundation (the same one that just freaked out over the iKotel iPhone app) is upset that Israel is spending "millions of dollars" to Judaize the site of Samuel's Tomb which, they say, is a mosque.

Just FYI: Samuel is not mentioned once in the Quran (although he is implied in 2:247-8.)

Long-time readers may remember my visit to the site four years ago - right after it was vandalized, and holy objects stolen, by Arabs. So let's hope that part of this money will go towards security.

But I suppose they weren't trying to vandalize it - just to "de-Judaize" it.

Qaradawi attacks the PLO

Prominent sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, one of the most popular religious figures in Sunni Islam, has issued a scathing attack the PLO for not being radical enough.

He criticized them for cooperating with the Zionist entity, and demanded that they return to "resistance" (i.e., terrorism, since they already claim to be doing non-violent resistance.)

He stressed that security coordination with Israel implies that Jews have a right to at least some of Palestine, which is completely unacceptable.

Qaradawi, who has some 40 million people viewing his al Jazeera TV show, also said these words that show in yet another way why the peace process could never work:

"Palestine does not belong to the Palestinians to do as they like but for [it belongs to] the entire Arab and Islamic nation."

Which means that even if Abbas and his henchmen manage to compromise and come to terms with Israel, the Arab world has effective veto power - certainly those who follow Qaradawi.

Poster for counterprotests - 4

4th in a series....

Physicians for Human Rights can't figure how tear gas could kill people outdoors

Physicians for Human Rights wrote a paper in 1989 to try to make tear gas sound as dangerous as possible. Here's the main point of the paper concerning CS, which is the type used by the IDF and Israeli police.

After discussing how CS could be potentially lethal if used indoors, the paper says:

The respiratory concentration of CS that would be lethal for 50% of healthy adults has been estimated to be 25,000 to 150,000 mg/m 3 per minute, based on animal studies (15). When detonated outside, a CS grenade generates a cloud 6 to 9 m in diameter, at the center of which a concentration of 2,000 to 5,000 mg/m 3 can be produced, with concentrations rapidly tapering off at the periphery. (16)

So for it to be lethal for a normal adult, there would have to be exposure for a full minute at concentrations that are ten to thirty times higher than is physically possible outdoors. I don't know how long CS takes to disperse, but certainly the highest concentrations of up to 5000 mg/m3 would not last for more than a few seconds.

The studies done of people who have been seriously injured from CS all show that they were indoors at the time, and had prolonged exposure - far more than a few seconds - and they could not leave the room.

I cannot find any case of someone succumbing quickly (within a day) to any level of exposure to CS.

In 1989, some human rights groups charged that Israeli use of tear gas - the more dangerous CN gas at the time - was responsible for increases in miscarriages and even 400 deaths. A US government GAO study found the claims to be baseless.

So this is nothing new.

UPDATE: Some blogs are saying "The U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine warns that at a concentration of 2mg per cubic meter, CS gas “is immediately dangerous to life…”

The document does say that - and it is a typo.

The document cached here says that for CS,

LCt50 = 61,000 mg-min/m3

which means that the median lethal dose of CS is 61,000 mg per cubic meter for a full minute - well within the range described by PHR and way, way higher than is possible outdoors. There is simply no way that it is dangerous to life at 1/30,500 of the median lethal dose, if the words "median lethal dose" have any meaning.

Not to mention that if the dose of 2 mg/m3 is immediately dangerous to life, then Bil'in protesters would all have been dead for years. A minor point.

Poster for counterprotests - 3

Third in a series...

Poster for counterprotests - 2

Second in a series....

Poster for counterprotests - 1

A friend wrote to tell me that there was an anti-Israel protest (called "Gaza Massacre Remembrance") in New York's Herald Square on Sunday.

So, for any counter-protesters, I'm going to make some quick posters that they can plaster all over the place. Of course, anyone can use them for any similar purpose.

Here's the first:

Muslims freak out over Kotel iPhone app

Recently, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation released iKotel, an iPhone app that lets you see a live camera view of the Western Wall and also allows you to send notes to be placed between the stones. It also helps point the user towards the Temple Mount for prayers.

Muslims aren't happy.

The Al Aqsa Foundation put out a press release, quoted by Ma'an, saying that the Jews - through this app - are attempting to get the younger generation to forge a closer connection to what they falsely call the "Al Buraq Wall."

Palestine News Network quoted them:

The "Al-Aqsa Foundation" said that the Wailing Wall is an integral part of the Al Aqsa Mosque, and it is exclusively Islamic, linked ideologically and religiously fully with the incident of [al-Buraq] with the Prophet Mohammed - peace be upon him - and non-Muslims have no right to it, even to the dust of the Wailing Wall, it is the right of Muslims and will remain so, even though it came under the control of Israeli occupation.

Next week the Al Aqsa Foundation will probably come out with a press release slamming the 1695 Amsterdam Haggadah, which depicts the Second Temple in Jerusalem:

Also, the official WAFA news agency of the Palestinian Authority quotes the Al Aqsa press release with obvious approval of the contents. The PA had previously published a paper claiming that there is no Jewish connection to the Temple Mount.

Is there any daylight between the rantings of the "extremists" of the Al Aqsa foundation and the "moderate" Palestinian Authority?

Morning links

Jonathan Halevi at JCPA has a monograph on Hamas' continuing genocidal intent - even while people continue to call for Israel to talk to Hamas.

Michael Horesh has a nice posting about European investment in the PA.

Fatah says that Hamas arrested over 3000 of its loyalists in 2010 in Gaza.

Charles Jacobs writes an important piece on "Jewish malware:Why is World Jewry So Bad at Defending Itself?"

Jews may be susceptible to a particular type of rhetorical virus, so devastating that once implanted it prevents them from acting in their own self-defense and turns otherwise eloquent people into stuttering blockheads. The worm is simple, and ancient. It’s called “accusation.”

Accuse the Jews. Accuse them unfairly and with such disproportionate frequency that anyone who wishes to can see there’s an agenda at work that has little to do with the actual charges raised. Accuse the Jews and they instinctively, like moths fly to candles, start believing they can cleverly explain themselves, and convince their accusers of their innocence and their goodness.

I mentioned the Jewish and Zionist frontman for the heavy metal band Disturbed. There is an Israeli heavy-metal band that is gaining Arab fans too.

And for those who think that I shouldn't only highlight Latma's brand of right-wing humor, here is a funny piece from Israeli comedy program Eretz Nehederet that skewers the Right:

(h/t Yerushalimey and Gidon)

Spy vulture story reaches Israeli media

Last week I wrote about a large bird being caught in Saudi Arabia, with markings indicating "Tel Aviv University," and the Saudi suspicions that it is part of an Israeli espionage plot. (It was, of course, part of a research program.)

The Hebrew media finally caught up to the story, nearly a week later.

The bird is evidently a vulture.

An English version of the story is here.

(h/t Joel)

Al Azhar University wants 15-year sentence for Quran errors

From President Obama's 2009 speech in Cairo:

As a student of history, I also know civilization's debt to Islam. It was Islam -- at places like Al-Azhar -- that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe's Renaissance and Enlightenment.

From Al Masry al-Youm:

Al-Azhar's Islamic Research Academy on Thursday proposed a new law mandating 15-year jail terms for printing and publishing houses found guilty of making copy mistakes in published versions of the Quran.

Under the proposed law, the transgression would be classified as a felony rather than a misdemeanor, while offending printing or publishing houses would be forced to close.

According to Academy Secretary-General Sheikh Ali Abdel Baqi, a committee composed of academy members, Al-Azhar scholars and legal experts would draft the proposed legislation before referring it to the Shura Council (the consultative house of Egypt's parliament) for discussion.

Enlightened!

How Arab media describes Jewish pilgrimage to Abuhatzeira grave

The Egyptian media is linking to a YouTube video showing mostly Mizrahi Jews - men and women - at the gravesite of Yaakov Abuhatzeira.

They are praying, chanting and one person blows a shofar:

However, at least one Arabic article, even after linking to the video, describes a much different - and quite unlikely - scene:

Among the rituals of the ceremony, to be held at the tomb, are practices to drink alcohol [or spilled over the cemetery and licked after that - not sure what that means - EoZ] , and the slaughter of sacrifices are often sheep or pigs, and dance hysterically to some Jewish tunes and say prayers and entreaties to cry bitterly in front of the grave, and hit heads in the Wailing Wall for the blessing.

Yeah, let's slaughter and sacrifice pigs at a famous rabbi's tomb!

There is also a group of Egyptian bloggers who are very much against the annual visit.

Israel again ranks high in world university survey (Zvi)

From Zvi:

Here's how Israeli research universities fared in the 2010 "Academic Rankings of World Universities" subject rankings.

Israel was one of only 8 countries to have universities that received top-20 "subject" rankings (US, which dominated, followed by the UK, France, Japan, Israel, Switzerland, Canada and Germany, in that order).

Subject Rankings:

Computer Science:
#12 in the world: Weizmann Institute (#1 outside of North America and of course #1 in Eurasia)
#15: Technion (#2 outside of North America and of course #2 in Eurasia)
#21: Hebrew U. of Jerusalem (#4 outside of North America, #3 in Asia)
#31: Tel Aviv University (#9 outside of North America, #7 in Asia)

Israel is the only country other than the United States that has more than 3 universities in the top 50.

No other middle eastern country has even one university that made it into the top 100.

Mathematics:
#26: Tel Aviv University (#6 outside of the US, #1 in Asia)
51-76: Technion
51-76: Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Only 10 countries made it into the top 50: the dominant US, followed in order of appearance by the UK, France, Russia, Israel, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Canada and Italy. Other than Switzerland, all of these countries have much larger populations than Israel.

No other middle eastern country has even one university that made it into the top 100.

Economy/Business:
#44: Hebrew University of Jerusalem (#5 outside of North America, #1 in Asia)
78-100. Tel Aviv University

Only 6 countries made it into the top 50; listed in order of first appearance, these are the US, which dominated, the UK, Canada, Israel, France and China (Hong Kong). All of the other top countries have much greater populations than Israel.

No other middle eastern country has even one university that made it into the top 100.

Physics:
51-75. Hebrew University of Jerusalem
51-75. Weizmann Institute of Science
76-100. Tel Aviv University

Only 12 countries made it into the top 75. All but Switzerland have much greater populations than Israel.

No other middle eastern country has even one university that made it into the top 100.

Chemistry:
51-75. Technion
51-75. Weizmann

Only 14 countries made it into the top 75. All but Switzerland and Sweden have much greater populations than Israel.

No other middle eastern country has even one university that made it into in the top 100.

Algerian soccer team ES Setif's Italian coach left the team a couple of weeks ago, and the club was on the verge of hiring his replacement: French coach Victor Zvunka.

But at the last minute, the team withdrew their offer to hire Zvunka.

The official reason is that Zvunka was not interested in the job.

But Al Arabiya (Arabic) reports:

Negotiations broke down for fear of reactions to unpleasant consequences after it emerged that [Zvunka] has "Jewish roots."

It goes on to say that management will try to avoid the embarrassment from the issue.

This is a corrected cartoon, my original one said that she was not at the riot but in fact there is evidence she was.

"Tear gas death" was a hoax (updated)

I was part of a conference call with an Israeli security source who prefers to be unnamed at this time, but the upshot is this:

All evidence points to the fact that Jawaher Abu Rahma was not killed by tear gas.

The number of inconsistencies and the amount of evidence of lies by Palestinian Arab spokespeople is incontrovertible. Here are some of the facts that the security sources mentioned:

* Abu Rahma arrived at the hospital at 15:20 on Friday - but her lab report is dated/timed 14:45, 35 minutes earlier!

* There is no emergency room report for her arrival.

* The reason for death given was "Inhaling gas from Israeli soldiers according to family."

10 days prior to her death she was in that hospital, taking medication for leukemia. There is evidence that she was in the hospital in the weeks prior as well, which indicates that she had a chronic disease.

Never has anyone died from tear gas in five years of riots in Bil'in.

There is no evidence that Abu Rahma even attended the riot. Her brother is the ringleader of the weekly Bil'in riots and yet there are no photos of her next to him, or anywhere else, on Friday (and possibly ever.)

The tear gas that the IDF used on Friday is exactly the same concentration and type that they have always used, and the same as used by Western countries for years.

The IDF always receives reports of injuries during the demonstrations. On Friday, they received word of two lightly wounded people, both of whom were quickly released from the hospital.

And in order to die from tear gas, you pretty much have to be in an enclosed room with the canister exploding next to you. Outdoors, it is pretty much inconceivable (although there may be some isolated cases.)

(The spokesperson also said that there is no better method to deal with rioters, and keep innocent civilians safe, than tear gas. In addition, Israel's High Court has already decided to re-route the security barrier around Bil'in yet they protesters still show up. Why?)

Interestingly, this may be the second time that Palestinian Arabs have falsely claimed that someone was killed by tear gas. In September, they claimed that a 18-month old baby was killed from tear gas in a Jerusalem riot. There were inconsistencies then as well - the death was never officially reported. But it was instantly believed by Palestinian "human rights" groups.

You can read more coverage from other bloggers on the same call, Israel Matzav and The Muqata, and My Right Word had the initial Israeli news reports.

UPDATE: There is evidence that Jawaher was at the protest. Jewish Voice for Peace tweeted that she had been injured during the rally and was taken to the hospital, at 14:36. There is still no evidence that tear gas was a cause of death, and that remarkable claim needs at least some real evidence besides her brother's say-so. (h/t Jeremiah Haber)

UPDATE 2: Ha'aretz fills in some gaps:

Following repeated requests from Israel's defense establishment, the Palestinian Authority on Monday turned over the medical report on Abu Rahma's death. IDF officials say the medical report contradicts the family's version of events.

According to information obtained by Haaretz from Palestinian medical sources, in the weeks before Abu Rahmah's death she was taking drugs prescribed for a medical condition. It is not known whether these drugs, combined with the tear gas and the "skunk bombs" used by the soldiers, could have caused her death.

Her family says Abu Rahmah's death was caused by the Israel Defense Forces' use of a particularly lethal type of tear gas, but they cannot explain why other demonstrators affected by the tear gas did not need medical care.

The IDF only used standard tear gas - so this is a lie.

Eyewitnesses told Haaretz that the tear gas had an immediate and dramatic effect on Abu Rahmah, who within a few minutes after exposure went into convulsions, began foaming at the mouth and lost consciousness.

Abu Rahmah's brother Samir said that for several weeks his sister had complained of bad headaches, mainly near one ear. He said she also had dizzy spells and problems keeping her balance and had unusual marks on her skin.

He had denied any medical problems only a couple of days ago.<

On December 21, Abu Rahmah saw Dr. Khaled Badwan, head of the ear, nose and throat department of Jerusalem's Augusta Victoria Hospital. He refused to be interviewed for this report.

According to a document obtained by Haaretz, Badwan prescribed a common remedy for dizziness and instructed her to bathe her ear in hot water. Samir said Badwan thought the problem was caused by water trapped in the middle ear, but nevertheless ordered a CT brain scan.

Physicians consulted for this article said Badwan probably suspected another condition.

Another lie by Samir - again, the only "proof" of her being killed by the tear gas comes from him and his family, who have lied twice in this article.

After receiving normal results from the December 27 brain scan, Abu Rahmah saw Dr. Nasser al-Mualem at the Ramallah hospital, who according to Samir said her problem was common and told her to return in one month.

The medical documents seem to support Samir's claim that with the exception of the headaches and dizziness, his sister was in generally good health. None of the doctors consulted for this article could think of a condition or symptoms that could be fatal in the presence of tear gas.

Of course, Ha'aretz didn't ask any of the doctors whether the tear gas itself could have been in any way a contributing factor to her death. Tear gas is designed specifically to be non-lethal - that's why it is used.