Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

EoZ's Psychological History of Palestinian Arabs (2007)

In 2007, I embarked on writing a history of Palestinian Arabs for the blog. I never finished it, but what I did write I am pretty proud of (although some of the links don't work anymore.)

I just posted it as its own page. It is quite long for a blog post - 19,000 words, about a third of the size of many books.

Since I have many more readers today than I did in 2007, I hope that you enjoy it and learn something.

Check it out!

IDF taking DNA samples from 'Awarta in Fogel case

From Ma'an:

The deputy mayor of Awarta and two of his brothers were detained along with dozens of others Tuesday morning by Israeli forces. Officials say the detained men are being given DNA tests and questioned by soldiers.

The detentions come as the investigation into the murders of five Israeli settlers - including two children and an infant - enters its third week. More than 40 have been detained from the village in the course of the investigation, and foreign workers in the settlement were said to have been questioned.

Awarta, the closest Palestinian village to the illegal Israeli settlement of Itamar, where the murders occurred, has been the center of the investigation, and was placed under military curfew twice, the first time for five days.

As my interview with the mayor of Itamar showed:

The IDF saw muddy footprints leading from the massacre scene to 'Awarta.
The IDF found a bulletproof vest stolen from the first, empty home the terrorists entered - in 'Awarta.
It appears that the knife used to slaughter the family was found in the home.
Unlike Ma'an's insinuations that are now all over the Internet, there are no foreign workers in Itamar so there is no doubt that the murderers came from the direction of 'Awarta.

(Ma'an's editor tweeted me that he would run a story that there were no foreign workers in Itamar if I could get an official statement. I immediately got one from a settler leader, over a week ago, but he never published the article as far as I can tell.)

German police take two people displaying Israeli flag into custody

A German blog reports (translation paraphrased):

Once again it has happened. At a demonstration in front of the Berlin Hauptbahnhof on 27 March 2011, that called for a boycott against Israel, police took two men into custody because they refused to cease their peaceful expression of solidarity with Israel by displaying an Israeli flag.

On March 27 2011 there was a demonstration at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof exhibition. The State of Israel was accused of apartheid (an almost racist comparison) and a boycott of Israeli products was demanded. The brutal terrorist acts against Israel, however, have been omitted, downplayed or justified.

At some point two people at the exhibition held up an Israeli flag. That's all they did! They did not interfere, they didn't scream, nor did they riot. Neither did they chant anti-Palestinian slogans, nor did they display any signs with anti-Palestinian views. They only peacefully showed the Israeli flag, to ensure that Israel is not looked upon as the devil, as the Palestinian Hamas claimed, but a lovely country with good and bad sides.

They were thus not so pro-Israel, because to display a flag purely shows that the country has a right to exist, can not really proven to be sign as a special affection. There is no special sign of affection, To say that defense of Israel's right to exist is "pro-Israeli" is as absurd as to assert that one is pro-Jewish by being against Auschwitz and the extermination of Jews. The condemnation of the Holocaust is, of course, not pro-Jewish, but simply pro-human, like the condemnation of the desire for the destruction of Israel nor pro-Israeli but simply is pro-human.

This humanity, however, provoked the pro-Palestinian demonstrators. They went off to the two people. The mere existence of the Israeli flag was already a thorn in their eye,as with Hamas, the mere existence of the State of Israel and Jews is a problem to be solved at all.

When the demonstrators turned to the police, the police did not defend right of two people to hold the flag of a peaceful democratic country, but instead they took down the flag of Israel and took the two people in custody.

The entire post is worth reading, even in autotranslation, as the author is indignant with the direction that Germany is going.

(indirect h/t to Serious Black)

Obama: Call Abbas' bluff; cut off all aid (updated)

From JPost:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is willing to give up hundreds of millions of dollars of US aid if that is what is necessary to forge a reconciliation deal with Hamas, the Associated Press quoted his adviser as saying on Monday.

Azzam Ahmed stated that "the Palestinians need American money, but if they use it as a way of pressuring us, we are ready to relinquish that aid."

What Ahmed is saying is that the Palestinian Authority would not be pretending to be moderate if it wasn't for American money - they would happily go publicly closer towards Hamas' extremism in the interests of "unity."

Abbas' condemnations of terror - as Arafat's before him - have never been sincere. They are part of the deal, the facade they must maintain in order to continue to get US and EU aid. If they were left to their own devices, the PA would cheer today's terrorist attacks in exactly the same way they cheer yesterday's attacks, naming institutions in honor of bloodthirsty murderers. Is there any moral difference between Samir Kuntar's bashing in the skull of a four year old girl and the vicious stabbing of the Fogel children? Yet Kuntar is a hero, a person that Abbas specifically went out of his way to meet in Lebanon.

If the PLO and PA need to be bribed to act like peaceful human beings, then what more do you need to realize that any peace agreement with them would be a sham? Perhaps one can argue that an artificial peace meant to pacify the West is better than none, but it is not a peace that Israel should be forced to give tangible concessions for.

In other words, a sham peace by the PLO must be reciprocated with a similar peace from Israel: a detente where there is no shooting but where Israel does not give anything permanent upin exchange for mere words.

So President Obama should call Abbas' bluff. Cut off the funds and see how peaceful he acts. If he immediately goes to Iran via Hamas to make up his budget shortfall, then the US will know exactly how pro-West the PA really is. And the true obstacle to peace will be revealed to the world.

(h/t David G)

UPDATE: See also Khaled Abu Toameh on a similar theme.

PA leadership considering formally abandoning Oslo in September

A member of the PLO Executive Committee, Hanna Amira, has told Al Quds Al Arabi Monday that the Palestinian leadership is considering throwing out their agreements with Israel, according to the Oslo accords, in September.

"There are proposals on the table for discussion, including the abandonment of the PLO of its obligations under the agreements signed and implemented", he said, stressing that the situation will not remain as it is now, and said, "things after September will be as they were before."

The PLO has been planning to declare itself a state in September.

He also said that the PLO is planning to hold meetings in Arab capitals to prepare for September.

The Palestinian Authority reports to the PLO, and the PLO is in charge of all non-domestic issues.

Of course, this means that Israel can start building settlements outside the boundaries of existing communities as it has been for years, and can ignore the Areas A, B and C that have been created during the Oslo process. The IDF should be prepared to re-enter Ramallah and Nablus in September. After all, if one party abrogates an agreement, then the other is not bound by it either - that's what an agreement means.

Israel should make that clear today, and the Quartet should tell the PLO that unilateral actions on their part that destroy the existing agreements with Israel will not be rewarded.

Not that the Quartet ever had strong words for the PLO and its already existing violations of Oslo.

Let's talk about Israeli - and Palestinian Arab - music

A disturbing story from TheJC:

Israel boycotters have declared a "victory" after organisers of an Israeli music conference assured them that the event would have no Israeli government funding.

Campaigners from British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP), Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods (J-BIG) and the Boycott Israel Network (BIN) threatened to picket "Arts Music of Israel" which is being organised by the Jewish Music Institute at SOAS next week.

Organisers turned down a grant from the British Israeli Arts Training Scheme, after deciding they did not want political connections with the conference. JMI director Geraldine Auerbach said no money had been received from the Israeli government, and a £1,500 grant from BI-ARTS had been turned down.

This week, BRICUP published the correspondence it had with Ms Auerbach, which said: "I confirm that there is no funding directly or indirectly from the Israeli government or institutions." BRICUP also claim Ms Auerbach told them that the event would no longer be promoted via the Israeli embassy.

A trustee of the Jewish Music Institute has expressed his anger and frustration that the organisation turned down Israeli funding for a conference under pressure from boycotters.

David Mencer, a former director of the Labour Friends of Israel, attacked the "appalling lack of judgment and moral character in [the JMI's] distancing itself from Israel."

He said the trustees had not been consulted by JMI director Geraldine Auerbach over the decision. Mr Mencer said he believed the organization had "submitted to blackmail and given the Israel boycotters and Israel haters an unnecessary victory.

"JMI have refused to accept a donation from the representatives of the democratically elected government of the State of Israel for an event about the music of Israel.

"We have made it even more difficult for other organisations trying hard to promote UK - Israel ties by setting this precedent.

"I am sure that I am not alone in wanting to distance myself from this decision. Perhaps most importantly of all, this decision will also have mortally damaged any future attempt to fundraise from the Jewish community, thus jeopardising the future of the organisation."

In this case, it is a big victory for the BDSers. They forced weak-willed British Jews to distance themselves from Israel, as if taking money from Israel would impugn an Israeli music conference.

But did this pacify the Israel-haters? Of course not!

Campaigners say they still plan to hand out leaflets outside the conference, claiming it would be "impossible" to hold a conference on Palestinian music.

Because of that statement, I did a little research into "Palestinian" music and came up with an unconsciously illuminating article, a book review of "Palestinian Arab Music: A Maqam Tradition in Practice".

For a musicology researcher, the book is a treasure trove. The appendices alone (about one-quarter of the large book) contain transcripts and classifications of 28 songs, representing the repertoire of the region, including musical notation, Arabic text, transliteration and translation. For fans of the mathematical analysis of maqam tetrachords, this is a must-read. Discussed genres include shruqi, zajal, mijana, ‘ataba, mu’anna, haddadi, dabke and mhorabe. The authors have beautifully catalogued rhythmic and modal organizations. Famous documented performers include Hikmat Shaheen (father of Arab-American composer Simon Shaheen), Muhammad Abd al-Qader and Yousef Majadeli. When available, the authors even added an update of where the artists had settled decades after the initial research was conducted.

So there does exist at least one, comprehensive, scholarly book on Palestinian Arab music that could certainly be the basis of a conference.

The Arab book reviewer mentions an interesting fact, as an aside:

The book’s stated objective is to document the vocal music of a specific, defined group – the Palestinian Arabs in Israel. Although a worthy dissertation topic, the research was conducted at a time when the target group was still the first generation and had not developed as a defined group or even considered themselves as such. They had lived under the Ottoman Empire and a brief British Mandate during which they traveled, traded and exchanged culture with their fellow Arabs in Greater Syria and Egypt. It was not until a few decades later that there was a group defined by political isolation from its brethren.

Notice the bolded parts. The Arab book reviewer is stating what is obvious to even the Arab world: there was no Palestinian people until recently, and they were defined by the "political isolation" from their "brethren." In other words, they are essentially an artificial construct that was created by the Arab world, not an inherently cohesive and historic group.

And, by the way, who wrote this definitive book on Palestinian Arab music theory?

Dalia Cohen and Ruth Katz, two researchers at Hebrew University.

Wednesday is Buy Israeli Goods Day (updated)

Wednesday, March 30, is Buy Israeli Goods day, a day set aside to counter an annual BDS day of action for that same date.

There is a webpage set up to help you find where in your area you might be able to find Israeli items.

Make sure to let the store-owners know that you are looking for, and willing to pay for, Israeli products!

You can read more about the campaign at StandWithUs.

UPDATE: Here's an incredibly cheesy video to promote BIG:

More on Korean Talmud studies - not quite as it was reported

As a follow-up to this post, I just spent a bit of time puzzling out Korean auto-translations from Google, and I have discovered that in no way are Koreans "studying" the Talmud.

When they say they are studying it, they mean that they have taken a small number of proverbs and Rabbinic stories that have been translated and they are reading and discussing just those stories. .

The Korean Talmud webpages I have seen treat the Talmud the same way one treats Aesop's Fables, as a shorthand way to gain insights into morality and how to live as well as plain entertainment. The bulk of the Talmud - as a basis for an all-encompassing legal system - is not mentioned.

I cannot find any indication of any real Talmud study. I can't find any translations of Talmud into Korean, nor any indication of scholarly study of the Aramaic/Hebrew original by Korean students. And in no way are the Koreans taking advantage of the parts of the Talmud that have sharpened the minds of Jews for centuries - the intricate pilpul, the careful reading of texts for legal ramifications, the hours it takes to reconcile two seemingly opposing source-texts.

As far as I can tell, the Koreans think that the brief snippets of translation they have access to is the Talmud. They do not seem to understand what the Talmud really is, hence the confusion about so many Korean people think they own copies of the Talmud.

So while it is still a fascinating topic, YNet seems to have overblown it a bit.

Request for help

The main issue with making good posters is finding the best pictures.

One of the best sites for hasbara is Israel21c.org where they have a large archive of stories that tell the good news about Israel. I contacted them to see if they have higher resolution photographs of their stories, and they responded that they often do, and which stories am I interested in?

Here's where I need your help. There are hundreds of stories at that site. If you could go through it in some random order and comment here with the URL of the stories you think would make good posters, a brief description of the story, and whether there was a good photo in the story itself, I would appreciate it!

And you won't regret spending the time at that site, either. You will learn a lot.

Thanks!

Update: "Resistance is a legitimate right" is on official Fatah website

I reported yesterday that

Fatah spokesman Osama Qawasmi said "resistance is a legitimate right of the Palestinian people for liberation from Israeli occupation for and achieving their goal of independence and the establishment of a Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem."

I wasn't sure if this was a PA or Fatah statement, but now I found it on the official Fatah Media website.

The site says the same words pretty explicitly elsewhere, for example it has a history of Fatah that says:

Fatah is characterized by its flexibility and pragmatism, adopting armed struggle when needed, and political action when necessary.

That same document sure makes it sound like the goal is still to destroy Israel, although I'll need a native Arabic reader to confirm that to me. (For example, it seems to have a problem with Jews settling in - the Negev.)

Some links

Hamas is beating women reporters. Ho-hum.

Roger Simon points to an Iranian-produced movie about the Last Mahdi, and has some very good comments on it.

Just Journalism shows us a Turkish hypocrite.

Yaacov Lozowick on Jeffrey Goldberg on J-Street.

My Tenth Intifada Facebook page is still out there - join in the fun!

(h/t Folderol)

Tallit chic?

Remember a year or two ago when keffiyehs were considered chic?

Well, H&M seems to think that tallitot (Jewish prayer shawls) are the next big thing. Check this out:

Commenter Kramerica wonders if this is H&M's sly way to get back at BDS advocates who were upset that H&M is opening stores in Israel.

IDF captain on Al Jazeera on Hamas rockets (video)

Captain Avichai Adra'i is not only impressive in what he says, but in how he says it. He knows that his audience - the entire Arab world - respects forceful speech more than the namby-pamby words given to Western reporters and diplomats.

And he lets them have it:

(h/t Alex)

UPDATE: Challah Hu Akbar points out that this is from 2009.

Lebanese political parties really hated Hezbollah during 2006 war

The Lebanese al Akhbar newspaper has been revealing a large number of Wikileaks cables from the 2006 Lebanon war, and they seem to show one overriding theme: Lebanese political parties really didn't support Hezbollah's kidnapping of Israeli soldiers and its subsequent war.

NowLebanon has an analysis:

Indeed, several of the cables, written by the former US ambassador to Lebanon, Jeffrey Feltman, show not Hezbollah’s enemies, but its allies expressing discomfort, or displeasure, with the party. They include two parliamentarians from Michel Aoun’s bloc, Farid el-Khazen and Ibrahim Kanaan, and the former health minister, Muhammad Jawad Khalifeh, who is close to the parliament speaker, Nabih Berri (and who described Berri’s anger with Hezbollah)

The links to the cables, and excerpts, can be seen here:

06BEIRUT2390 (July 14, 2006) |Subject: HIZBALLAH’S RECKLESSNESS SPLITS AOUN’S ADVISORS

“Aounist advisor MP Ibrahim Kanaan expressed frustration and deep concern over the present course of events in Lebanon and said he has advised his party leader General Michel Aoun to put distance between himself and Hassan Nasrallah. Kanaan is convinced that Hizballah, with “its extreme overconfidence,” will soon lose control over the rapidly escalating hostilities. In his view, the resulting loss of life and stability will produce a severe backlash in Christian, and possibly Sunni, communities that could destroy Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, since it is currently viewed as a Hizballah ally. Kanaan suggested, however, that the current crisis may offer an opportunity for Aoun and PM Siniora to form a pro-reform “partnership.” Senior Aoun advisor Gebran Bassil, on the other hand, defended Hizballah’s actions and said Siniora’s government was merely reaping the whirlwind created by its passivity and refusal to share power. Moderate Aounist MP Farid el-Khazen, meanwhile, split the difference: strongly criticizing Hizballah’s duplicity and recklessness, while recommending aloofness from the star-crossed Siniora government.”

“In a July 13 discussion with poloff, MP Ibrahim Kanaan, who is frequently used as an intermediary and spokesperson by Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader Michel Aoun, said that FPM’s association with Hizballah has been a mistake. Declaring that Michel Aoun did not have the slightest idea that Hizballah was planning such a provocative act, Kanaan professed deep concern that Hizballah was now effectively steering the ship of state. When asked if he thought Hassan Nasrallah was acting like a Minister of Defense, Kanaan retorted, “no, no, much more than that.”

“Kanaan half-heartedly defended the troublesome February 6 compact between the FPM and Hizballah, saying it originally held the promise of bringing Hizballah into Lebanon’s political mainstream. But he conceded that the previous day’s “reckless” ambush in Israeli territory is threatening to completely undo Lebanon’s struggling democracy and threatens to deliver the country back into the tender mercies of Syria.”

06BEIRUT2403 (July 17, 2006) | Subject: LARSEN TO PROPOSE HANDOVER OF ISRAELI SOLIDIERS TO GOL…

“Mid-way through the meeting three visitors arrived at Larsen’s room unannounced. Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, Minister of Telecommunications Marwan Hamadeh, and Minister of Information Ghazi Aridi entered the room in good humor and indulged in generous orders to room service with the others present. The three Lebanese politicians reacted positively to Larsen’s proposal to call for a transfer of the Israeli soldiers to the GOL…”

“Over a glass of red wine, a large bottle of vodka (the quality of which sparked a long exchange between Jumblatt and the startled room service waiter), and three bottles of Corona beer, Jumblatt gave a briefing on the thinking of the March 14 coalition which had met that evening. Jumblatt noted the heavy destruction of Lebanese infrastructure but bemoaned the irony that Hizballah’s military infrastructure had not been seriously touched. Jumblatt explained that although March 14 must call for a cease-fire in public, it is hoping that Israel continues its military operations until it destroys Hizballah’s military capabilities.”

“Responding to Jumblatt’s complain that Israel is hitting targets that hurt the GOL while leaving Hizballah strategically strong, the Ambassador asked Jumblatt what Israel should do to cause serious damage to Hizballah. Jumblatt replied that Israel is still in the mindset of fighting classic battles with Arab armies. “You can’t win this kind of war with zero dead,” he said. Jumblatt finally said what he meant; Israel will have to invade southern Lebanon. Israel must be careful to avoid massacres, but it should clear Hizballah out of southern Lebanon. Then the LAF can replace the IDF once a cease-fire is reached. A defeat of Hizballah by Israel would be a defeat of Syrian and Iranian influence in Lebanon, Hamadeh added. For emphasis, Jumblatt said that the only two outcomes are total defeat or total success for Hizballah.”

06BEIRUT2443 (July 23, 2006) | Subject: AMINE GEMAYEL SAYS CEASE-FIRE SHOULD SECURE BORDER FIRST…

“Gemayel said Aoun had cooperated with Mossad through the duration of Lebanon’s civil war, and said he allied himself with Syria and Hizballah now because he believed they offered him the best chance at winning his long coveted seat in Baabda Palace.”

06BEIRUT2513 (August 1, 2006) | Subject: MP BOUTROS HARB: NASRALLAH CANNOT BECOME REGION’S RAMBO
Quote: “[Harb] recommended that a strong Israeli advance that completely controls the Hizballah strongholds of Maroun El Ras and Bint Jbeil would provide a chance for the U.S. impose a ceasefire while showing that Hizballah has been overpowered… He also stressed that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a reluctant Hizballah ally, will become the political victim of Hizballah.”

Lebanese support for Hezbollah today seems to be more because it is the "strong horse" and not because anyone is particularly supportive of the group. .

Iranians demand Czech hotel remove Israeli flag - hotel refuses

From YNet:

On Wednesday the Iranian embassy in Prague organized an event at a well-known hotel in the Czech capital. Prior to the event, a senior embassy official was shocked to see an Israeli flag flying high at the head of a line of flags situated near the entrance to the hotel.

The diplomat spoke to the hotel manager and demanded that the Israeli flag be taken down, but the manager, an Arab-Israeli from Nazareth, rejected the request.

"The (Israeli) flag will remain at the front of the hotel always," the manager told the Iranian official. "If you don’t like it, you are welcome to hold the event at another hotel."

The angry Iranian diplomat had no choice but to accept the hotel's position, and the event was held as scheduled.

According to a Czech site, the Iranians were celebrating Nouroz, the Persian new year, on the spring equinox.

Hamas getting cozy with new Egyptian leaders

Palestine Today (Islamic Jihad) reports that Hamas officials are optimistic that Egypt will re-open their embassy in Gaza.

The embassy was closed after the Hamas coup in Gaza.

Embassy to Cairo in the Gaza Strip.

Dr. Mohamed Awad, Hamas minister of foreign affairs said Hamas had applied to the Egyptian government to reopen its embassy in the Gaza Strip, saying that "the government is waiting for the Egyptian response to the request" and saying that there are "positive signs" in that direction.

He said that Egyptian-Palestinian relations "has improved markedly and were better than in the past".

In a related story, Hamas leader Mahmoud al Zahar was scheduled to meet with Egyptian intelligence head Murad Muwafi and Assistant Foreign Minister Nabil Arabi on Sunday, marking the first time Hamas officials have met officially with the new Egyptian government.

Looks like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood are getting quite cozy in this new Egyptian "spring" and that Hamas is trying to be recognized as the official Palestinian Arab government to Egypt.

It also means that the Egyptian revolution may have destroyed the "peace process." Egypt was an important intermediary between Israel and the PA, and that seems to be gone now. Not only that, but by strengthening Hamas politically, it puts the idea of unity between the PA and Hamas that much further away, and any unity government would be much more extremist making peace with Israel even less likely.

Not that you will find any Western media noticing that. Because how can they admit that two things they wanted so badly are incompatible with each other?

Rumors: Syria targeting Latakia to kick out Palestinians

Over the weekend, Syrian riots have spread to the coastal town of Latakia. From BBC:

Syrian troops have deployed in force in the northern city of Latakia, where at least 12 people have died in a wave of unrest that has shaken the regime.

Officials blamed foreign forces for the violence, but residents said pro-government gangs started the clashes.

Syrian troops are now in control of Latakia, 350km (220 miles) north-west of the capital Damascus, our correspondent says.

The government says 12 people were killed during clashes on Friday and Saturday, but residents say the number could be higher.

The streets of Latakia, home to 450,000 people, were completely deserted on Sunday and all shops remained closed.

AP adds:

A Latakia resident says the streets are mostly deserted on Monday after unidentified men carrying sticks and hunting rifles pulled over cars and asked for IDs on Sunday and through the night. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

I had mentioned that Syria had earlier blamed "Palestinian extremists" for the unrest when it was just starting, and an advisor to President Assad has made the same accusation about Palestinian Arabs who live in the unofficial Latakia "refugee" camp.

Now a new conspiracy theory is making the rounds.

According to Palestine Press Agency, the person behind the Latakia escalation is Assad's cousin Rami Makhlouf. For two years, Makhlouf has been trying to move the entire Latakia Palestinian Arab camp elsewhere - because they are on valuable beach property and he wants to turn that area into a resort.

A crackdown in Latakia that blames Palestinian Arabs could be the excuse he needs to set up his cream project.

Makhlouf is reportedly a billionaire and one of the most powerful men in Syria.

His name seems to be coming up in many demonstrations as a symbol of Syrian corruption.

The Latakia camp is not an official UNRWA camp but was set up in 1955. Its residents are said to mostly have originated in Jaffa.

Palestinian Arab leaders in Syria have been trying very hard to distance themselves from the demonstrators.

EoZ is up against 7 Agorot in the first round of the quarter-finals of the Pro-Israel Blog-Off.

I was really busy when asked to submit an article and pretty much picked an article I had written that day which didn't even get that much traction here, but which I thought was important.

Last time I took a chance and submitted a cartoon, and while I lost the popular vote (35% of the total score) the judges liked mine the best and my post won.

So go to Israellycool, read both articles, and vote for which you think is best.

Koreans love studying Talmud!

From The Muqata, translated from YNet:

Close to 50 million people live in South Korea, and everyone learns Gemara (Talmud) in school. "We tried to understand why the Jews are geniuses, and we came to the conclusion that it is because they study Talmud," said the Korean ambassador to Israel. And this is how "Rav Papa" became a more well known scholar in Korea than in Israel.

It is doubtful if the Amoraic scholars, Abbaye and Rava imagined their discussions of Jewish law in the Beit Midrash in Babylon would be taught hundreds of years later in East Asia. Yet it turns out that the laws of an "egg born on a holiday" ("ביצה שנולדה ביום טוב") is actually very interesting to the South Koreans who have required that Talmud study be part of their compulsory school curriculum.

Almost every home in South Korea now contains a Korean-translated Talmud. But unlike in Israel, the Korean mothers teach the Talmud to their children. In a country of close to 49 million people who believe in Buddhism and Christianity, there are more people who read the Talmud - or at least own their own copy at home - more than in the Jewish state. Much more.

"So we too will become geniuses"

"We were very curious about the high academic achievements of the Jews," explains Israel's ambassador to South Korea, Young Sam Mah, that was a host on the program "culture today."

"Jews have a high percentage of Nobel laureates in all fields: literature, science and economics. This is a remarkable achievement. We tried to understand what is the secret of the Jewish people? How they - more than other people - are able to reach those impressive accomplishments? Why are Jews so intelligent? The conclusion we arrived at is that one of your secrets is that you study the Talmud."

"Jews study the Talmud at a young age, and it helps them, in our opinion, to develop mental capabilities. This understanding led us to teach our children as well. We believe that if we teach our children Talmud, they will also become geniuses. This is what stands behind the rationale of introducing Talmud Study to our school curriculum."

Young says that he himself studied the Talmud at a very young age: "It is considered very significant study," he emphasized. The result is that more Koreans have Talmud sets in their homes than Jews in Israel.

"I, for example, have two sets of the Talmud: the one my wife bought me, and the second was a gift from my mother."

Koreans don't only like the Talmud because they see it as promoting genius, but because they found values that are close to their hearts.

"In the Jewish tradition, family values are important," explains the South Korean Ambassador.

"You see it even today, your practice of the Friday evening family meal. In my country we also focus on family values. The respect for adults, respect and appreciation for the elderly parallels the high esteem in my country for the elderly."

Another very significant issue is the respect for education. In the Jewish tradition parents have a duty to teach their children, and they devote to it lots of attention. For Korean parents, their children's education is a top priority. (YNET)

I thought this was a Purim joke...but it's not.

Here's an article in the Korean Herald about a rabbi who teaches Talmud in Korea.

Here's a message board posting from 2005 in a Christian forum where a visitor to Korea is trying to figure out why all Korean kids are learning Talmud.

Here's a Korean website filled with Talmudic sayings and stories.

And, most convincing to me...pictured here is a Korean children's book called "Splash Into the World of Talmud". I found other books filled with Talmudic stories for kids.

If only Jewish parents would be as interested in teaching Judaism to their kids as Koreans are!

UPDATE: The story is not exactly what it seems.

Elder poster sighting in NYC

I was sent this (the person in the photo wanted to remain anonymous):

The rally was called "We Stand With Israel Against Islamic Terror" held at noon on Sunday.

An "Apartheid?" thumbnail ad

An EoZ fan offered to pay to publish a newspaper ad with a selection of "Apartheid?" posters, so here's what I put together for him:

Economist thinks Jews building is as deadly as Arabs killing

A sickening cartoon in The Economist, that was published on March 17 - after the Itamar massacre:

Yes, it is trendy for oh-so-sophisticated British to say that Jews building homes - within their existing communities - as being as deadly to peace as wantonly killing demonstrators.

Years of Arabs repeating the mantra that "settlements are the obstacle to peace" easily gets into the heads of credulous leftists who are already looking for reasons to hate Jews.

(h/t Gabriel)

Fatah spokesman emphasizes that terrorism is "legitimate right"

Palestine Press Agency and Ma'an News (Arabic) report:

Look how moderate he is!

Fatah spokesman Osama Qawasmi said "resistance is a legitimate right of the Palestinian people for liberation from Israeli occupation for and achieving their goal of independence and the establishment of a Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem."

He said in a press statement issued by the Office of Information and Culture: 'Resistance and means to achieve the objectives of a comprehensive national goal is subject to its weapons and methods for a clear vision of strategic objectives and progress according to a unitary national and political goals agreed upon by the Palestinian people."

He goes on to say that Hamas' use of weapons has not been strategic and has hurt the goal of achieving a state, but in general there is a place and time for using terror against Israel.

I do not know if the "Office of Information and Culture" is a Fatah or PA organization.

The British media is failing to report the attacks upon Israel, and only reporting Israeli responses, thus creating the entirely false impression that Israel is the aggressor. Thus in turn creating the kind of hatred of Israel in the world which is leading to mass murder.

(h/t Joel)

My question for Bibi

Binyomin Netanyahu will be on YouTube answering the most popular questions submitted by people around the world. Although I am asking my question a bit late, here's what I would like to hear him address:

What is the Government of Israel's official stance on the legal status of the territories? Are they occupied, disputed, or something else?

Israel used to be adamant that they were "disputed" (except for Jerusalem which was annexed) but the recent governments seem to have gone away from that formulation. I would simply like a clear answer.

If you like my question, go to the Vote page, somehow find my question (I don't see a search function but I put it under "Peace Process"), and vote for it.

Video: Syrian demonstrations Friday; people attack Assad statue

This is supposedly a video taken in Daraa on Friday, showing people trying to topple a statue of Hafez al-Assad and hearing the sounds of shots by the regime.

It doesn't look like they succeeded in toppling the statue, and I am not sure what the photo of Saddam Hussein for the last minute of the video is meant to signify.

From Palestine Press Agency.

Report: Argentina dropping probe in bombings to appease Iran

From YNet:

During secret talks with Iran, the Argentinean government offered to "forget" the bombings of the Israeli embassy and the Jewish community center in the capital Buenos Aires in the 1990s in exchange for improved ties between the two countries.

The Argentine weekly Perfil reported Saturday that the negotiations were aimed at increasing the trade volume between Argentina and the Islamic Republic, which is currently estimated at $1.2 billion a year.

According to the report, Cristina Kirchner's government offered to suspend the investigation of the bombings, which are believed to have been orchestrated by Iran.

It was further reported that a memo sent by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated that "Argentina is no longer interested in solving the mystery of these two attacks and would rather improve its economic relations with Iran."

Perfil said Argentinean Foreign Minister Hector Timerman asked Syrian President Bashar Assad and Foreign Minister Walid Moallem to relay the offer to Tehran. The three met at the Syrian city of Haleb on January 23, the weekly said.

In the 1992 embassy bombing, 29 people were killed and 242 were injured. In the bombing at the AMIA Jewish community center in 1994, 85 people were killed and more than 300 were injured. No one has been indicted despite the fact that Israel and the US have been assisting in the investigation.

Iran's Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi is wanted by Interpol for the attack on the Jewish center, as are four other Iranians.

The Prefil report is here.

Abbas visit to Gaza dropped after threat from Qassam Brigades

From Ha'aretz:

Senior members of Hamas' military wing told aides of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that it would not guarantee the Fatah leader's safety if he visited the Gaza Strip, Haaretz has learned.

PA officials interpreted these statements as a threat to Abbas. As of last night, an Abbas trip to Gaza for reconciliation talks with Hamas has been dropped from the agenda.

Some Palestinian commentators attributed the increase in hostilities with Israel to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's proposal that Abbas visit Gaza for reconciliation talks.

PalestinianArabs had been keenly interested in Abbas' planned visit so it will be interesting to see the reaction.

New attempt to bomb Egyptian gas pipeline to Israel fails

From Al Ahram:

Unknown attackers attempted on Sunday to blow up an Egyptian gas pipeline to Israel and Jordan, but the explosives failed to detonate, a security official said.

Six armed men stormed the gas terminal in the northern Sinai town of Al-Sabeel at dawn on Sunday and placed explosive devices there, the official said.

"They failed to detonate the bombs and fled the scene. Even the security guard was missing when police arrived," he said, adding police officers managed to remove the explosives.

Last month attackers used explosives against the pipeline, cutting off gas supply to Jordan and Israel for more than a month.

Norwegian far left coalition partner calls for world to bomb Israel

From Norway, Israel and the Jews blog (h/t Tundra Tabloids)

The SV annual convention goes to vote. The deranged junior partner in the current government coalition will among other proposals vote on a motion to use armed force against Israel should it attack Gaza.
The motion is the blood money required to pay off SV card carrying members who find it hard to accept that they have taken the nation to war, again. Last time it did so was back in 1999, when the party backed the NATO bombing of Serbia. As a result, we got ourselves involved in a war crimes probe because of high number of civilian casualties and bombing illegal targets.
Therefore, the only way it can be palatable to bomb Libya for these morally deranged people is if Israel can be bombed too.
Here is the less than lucid reasoning behind the motion:
- The credibility of the world community in its confrontation with the Gadafi regime is undermined when there is no reaction against other states in the region who commit injustices against civil population. The greater world community must therefore also react against Israeli air attacks on the Gaza strip.

Wow, a declaration of war from the governments very junior partner! And not to mention that thus Israel has become the only country in the world who will be denied the right to defend itself in the face of constant terrorism, rocket attacks against its own population. With a stroke of the pen, the entire body of international Law must be changed to accommodate for this perverse view, and taken to its logical conclusion, Norway would be unable to defend itself from attacks. Or maybe, we ought to bomb ourselves for bombing the Libyans?
But at least now we don’t have to deal with the lies and hypocrisy of this lunatic fringe group, at least they have come clean and admit that they hate the guts of every living Jew to the extent that they would gladly help to blow the country to pieces.
Roll over Ahmadinejad, even your antics look comical in comparison.
I wonder if this kind of extreme agitation and war mongering is even legal?
Please somebody, come and help us, we are in the hands of very evil people.
Prof. M. McGonagall

The good news is that the comments to an Aftenblodet article about this shows universal derision for the SV party.

Still, I've seen some people mention that the coalition decision to bomb Libya would lead to absurd ideas like this, and it appears that they are right.These so-called pacifists turn into warmongers when it comes to the idea of Jews defending themselves.

(See also here for the latest in Norwegian anti-Zionism and anti-semitism.)

Exclusive: Interview with Itamar's mayor about Fogel massacre

On Saturday night, I had the opportunity to interview the mayor of Itamar, Moshe Goldsmith, and his wife Leah, as they were fundraising for additional security and infrastructure for their community. I asked them a little about the community, their lives and the latest information about the horrific terrorist massacre of the Fogel family.

The Goldsmiths say without any reservation that Ma'an's story of Thai workers is a lie - they haven't had any foreign workers at all in months - and that the actual terrorists were traced back to the Arab village of Awarta, where at least one item that was taken from Itamar was found.

If you want to donate to help Itamar, you can go to their website at friendsofitamar.org.

UPDATE: For those who are coming from an anti-Israel website thinking that they can find holes in the mayor's story, this new article from YNet corroborates pretty much everything he said, ten days later. Sorry that your bizarre pet theories of Thai workers and monetary disputes with others in town are proven wrong. The murderers did jump the fence, all evidence shows they came from the direction of Awarta, and there was a blind spot and a poor security response to the alarms. And, hate to tell you, the only people who are happy about the terror attack are...Arabs. The truth blows up your little conspiracy theories, but keep on spinning them anyway, if they make you feel good.

Maariv notices that the Guardian and Al Jazeera lied on Palestine Papers

Ben-Dror Yemini at Maariv (Hebrew only) takes a look at the Palestine Papers and discovers that the Guardian and Al Jazeera have been misrepresenting what they say.

If he would have read my blog, he could have saved a lot of time.

Abbas adds a new condition for "peace": Release all terrorists!

Mahmoud Abbas, that intransigent leader that the world considers "moderate," had added another condition for "peace" with Israel:

Abbas now demands that Israel release every single Palestinian Arab prisoner.

This includes, of course, the most heinous terrorists - those that have murdered and slaughtered Israelis - that have been captured by Israel. Abbas is not distinguishing between prisoners with "blood on their hands" and those who merely planned or facilitated terror attacks.

Abbas is saying that peace depends on Israel releasing murderers. Not only that, he is implicitly threatening to support terrorism against Israel until every last of those prisoners are released.

Yet this Orwellian doublethink, that Israel must reward murderers and release terrorists in order to gain "peace," will not register as anomalous at all in the world's media.

Palestinian Arab leaders have learned that no matter how outrageous their demands, they will be treated with deference and respect.

ElderToons: J-Street discovers a new settlement

From Sol Stern in Pajamas Media:

Ben-Ami’s paternal grandparents were, indeed, Zionist heroes. At great personal risk they moved from Czarist Russia to the Land of Israel as part of the First Aliyah (wave of immigration) of the late nineteenth century. They were among 66 Palestinian Jewish families who defied the warnings of their own community’s leaders and purchased a large plot of land from Arab effendis in 1909 on the sand dunes south of Jaffa. The families then conducted a lottery on the beach to distribute the plots on which they would build their individual homes — thus laying the foundation for Tel Aviv, the “first Hebrew city.” Two years ago Tel Aviv’s municipality celebrated the centennial of the city’s founding. Ben-Ami and his children took part in a ceremony reenacting the 1909 lottery on the beach along with other descendants of the original Jewish families.

Writing about the event in the New York Times, Ben-Ami hailed his grandparents’ generation of Zionist settlers who created Tel Aviv as a center of Jewish learning, culture, and commerce. But he then contrasted that noble achievement with the allegedly atavistic attitudes toward the Palestinian Arabs of the “Netanyahu/Lieberman government.”

Jews building cities on empty land that they legally bought were heroes when they were a certain kind of Jews doing it in the last century on the west side of an imaginary line that wasn't to exist for another 40 years.

Now they are evil.

Makes perfect sense.

The Thin Jew Line (Daily Show)

An eruv battle in the Hamptons. Very funny stuff.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

The Thin Jew Line

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

The Daily Show on Facebook

(h/t Beryl via FB)

How Muslims think about Israel, in a nutshell (NewsRealBlog)

My latest article in NewsRealBlog is up. Here's a part:

OnIslam, which is a breakaway website from Islam Online, has a fatwa section where someone recently asked this:

Can you answer the question why the Palestinians and the Israelis have been fighting for so long? What is it all about? Why do they seem to hate each other so much? Is it related to the Catholic/Protestant faith, Judaism and Islam?

The answer given is very illuminating.

It illustrates why real peace is impossible: because the other side doesn’t even know the basic facts about Judaism, Zionism and Israel. It is simply not possible to reach an agreement when one side’s entire conception of the others is, simply, filled with lies.

Read the whole thing.

"Apartheid?" poster sighting - on Roger Waters' FB Wall (updated x2)

I love the idea that someone is posting my "Apartheid" posters on the page of anti-Israel ignoramus, BDS advocate and former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters.

All in all they're just more posts on his "Wall"....

(thanks to Mitchell Rubin, h/t אורי פלג)

UPDATE: That bastion of liberal free speech is censoring all pro-Israel posts on his Wall.

Because,of course, he don't need no education.

I just posted a completely non-offensive pro-Israel poster (about the Israeli Wildlife Hospital) , we'll see if it stays up.

UPDATE 2: Yup, it got taken down and I can't post more. How open-minded Waters is!

Morning links

Just clearing out my many open browser windows...

Krauthammer on Obama and Libya

Rubin on Obama and Syria

Toameh on the Future of Syria.

Rubin again on why Israel/Hamas war is inevitable

JPost on new car sales, and other indications of an economic boom, in the PA territories

Sol Stern on how Jeremy Ben Ami is no Zionist hero

(h/t David G, Zvi, Challah)

Report: Two planeloads of Basij militia arrived in Syria on Saturday

The Beirut Observer last week reported that two planes filled with Iran's Basij militia were flown from Iran to Damascus last Saturday. (The story was picked up by Kol Israel Arabic.)

The purpose was to protect the Assad regime from continuing protests throughout the country.

Arabic news sites also mentioned a YouTube video showing a funeral for one of the people killed in Daraa this week, with the protesters chanting "Neither Iran nor Hezbollah ... only to be a Muslim who is afraid of God."

100 Syrians protested in front of the Syrian embassy in Dubai yesterday, saying that "Israel is more merciful than the Syrian regime, she [Israel] did not do what he [Assad] has done to us" and they accused Syria of importing Hezbollah fighters as well to quash demonstrations, also chanting "Neither Iran nor Hezbollah..."

Surprise! Muslim Brotherhood is practically running Egypt!

I am shocked that the Western experts were so wrong. Again.

In post-revolutionary Egypt, where hope and confusion collide in the daily struggle to build a new nation, religion has emerged as a powerful political force, following an uprising that was based on secular ideals. The Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group once banned by the state, is at the forefront, transformed into a tacit partner with the military government that many fear will thwart fundamental changes.

It is also clear that the young, educated secular activists who initially propelled the nonideological revolution are no longer the driving political force — at least not at the moment.

As the best organized and most extensive opposition movement in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood was expected to have an edge in the contest for influence. But what surprises many is its link to a military that vilified it.

“There is evidence the Brotherhood struck some kind of a deal with the military early on,” said Elijah Zarwan, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group. “It makes sense if you are the military — you want stability and people off the street. The Brotherhood is one address where you can go to get 100,000 people off the street.”

“We are all worried,” said Amr Koura, 55, a television producer, reflecting the opinions of the secular minority. “The young people have no control of the revolution anymore. It was evident in the last few weeks when you saw a lot of bearded people taking charge. The youth are gone.”

In the early stages of the revolution, the Brotherhood was reluctant to join the call for demonstrations. It jumped in only after it was clear that the protest movement had gained traction. Throughout, the Brotherhood kept a low profile, part of a survival instinct honed during decades of repression by the state.

The question at the time was whether the Brotherhood would move to take charge with its superior organizational structure.

It now appears that it has.
But the more secular forces say that what they need is time.

“I worry about going too fast towards elections, that the parties are still weak,” said Nabil Ahmed Helmy, former dean of the Zagazig law school and a member of the National Council for Human Rights.

As I said, I am shocked. Only last month the NYT's own Nicholas Kristof waxed lyrical about the courage of the Facebook youth of Egypt and said we should be ashamed to even think that they would not be taking Egypt in a new, liberal, democratic direction.

And I, an anonymous blogger who does not have the prestige or experience of Nick Kristof and who has never even visited Egypt, had the audacity to respond:

Kristof is making a major mistake. He is confusing bravery for political maturity.

No one doubts the protesters' bravery. No one doubts their integrity, or their desire for change, or even their desire for democracy.

But there are serious doubts at their ability to translate the raw desire for freedom into a functional, liberal, democratic government.

It is hard work to create the institutions necessary. More importantly, it takes time - and time is not on the side of the protesters.

It is now fashionable to pooh-pooh the dangers of the Muslim Brotherhood in Kristof's liberal circles, but no one can doubt that the Islamists are better organized and much more politically mature than the Facebookers of Tahrir Square. It takes time to set up an organization, to define a clear agenda, to build a fundraising mechanism, to attract volunteers, to build a means to communicate with all the people - including in rural areas, and to do all the myriad details from physical buildings to a phone system to a mailing list.

True freedom cannot flourish until Egyptians have been exposed to a wide range of ideas on a level playing field. The existing Islamist groups are running circles around the "Egyptian youth" we hear so much about. Kristof is so caught up in the emotions of the moment that he cannot think outside Tahrir Square, to the 99% of the country that is not as emotionally invested in who their leaders would be. To them, the nice people with beards who build a free Islamic school for their kids are the only game in town.

Enthusiasm does not ensure effective state building and true freedoms. Kristof, instead of spouting straw-man arguments, should be advocating ways for his jeans-wearing heroes to channel their sparks of enthusiasm and bravery into the hard, thankless and often boring work necessary to build a new Egypt from scratch.

How dare I disagree with such an outstanding pundit and accurately predict nearly everything in this article written by his employer a month later? How could I have the chutzpah to mention that the New York Times is paying someone to spout wishful-thinking nonsense while I, and many others, could see what was to happen from thousands of miles away?

(I didn't see a partnership with the army, I admit...that is actually stunning and far more worrisome than what I had written.)

Latest Latma (3/25/11)

I thought the NATO spoof was weak, but I liked the "optical illusion."

Who killed Mary Gardner in J'lem? Herald-Scotland doesn't know

An unbelievable article in the Herald (Scotland) about the victim of the Jerusalem terror attack makes it sound like anyone could have planted the bomb:

A SCOTS Christian campaigner from Scotland who worked in the Third World has been killed in a bomb blast in Jerusalem.

Mary Gardner, 59, who previously taught in Orkney, was the only fatality. She was caught up in the explosion caused by a bomb placed in a phone booth as she stood at a bus station in the Israeli city.

She died in hospital from her injuries despite desperate efforts by paramedics following Wednesday’s terror attack.

The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Ms Gardner was killed by the blast across the street from the Jerusalem Convention Centre near the central bus station.

A spokesman said: “[Ms Gardner] was critically wounded as a result of the bombing, and rescue services transferred her to hospital, where doctors fought for her life for about an hour and ultimately were forced to declare her dead.”

Beautiful Jerusalem, where bombs just appear and explode spontaneously.

(h/t Tony H.)

Red Cross sheltering Hamas terrorists?

From CBN:

Hamas officials are praising Wednesday's deadly bombing of a bus station in Jerusalem -- a city they've vowed to conquer.

Jerusalem is also a place where wanted Hamas members have found safe haven from Israeli authorities -- and they're getting help from one of the world's leading humanitarian organizations.

Although Hamas's main headquarters can be found in Gaza and Damascus, over the past several months, three officials from the terror group have also set up shop at the International Red Cross office in East Jerusalem.

Israel suspects these three Hamas legislators had a role in the 2006 kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. It ordered them to be deported from Jerusalem last summer.

Instead, the three found refuge at the Red Cross, where they've set up a tent and held court on a daily basis, with no protest from their hosts.

The three Hamas officials have been living there since July. During that time, they've held a number of press conferences and met with foreign dignitaries, including former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Every Friday, dozens of East Jerusalem residents gather at the Red Cross to hold prayers as a show of support.

Red Cross spokesperson Cecilia Goin told CBN News that hosting the wanted Hamas officials is in line with the organization's humanitarian mission -- despite Hamas' long track record of terrorism.

"Under international humanitarian law, East Jerusalem is considered occupied territory," Goin said. "So the Palestinians living in East Jerusalem are considered protected people."

Goin, who refers to Israel as an "occupying power" in East Jerusalem, said politics are not involved in the Red Cross's decision.

Even if part of Jerusalem is considered occupied (and it clearly isn't,) that doesn't mean that the 'occupying power' has no right to arrest known terrorists in the territory. In fact, they have an obligation to.

From a monograph called "US Army Doctrine and Belligerent Occupation" that interprets international law for occupation:

The first essential task is to restore public order and safety. ...

The third implied task is to review the local laws in order to enforce, suspend or repeal them and enact new laws in their place as needed. ...Although not commonly done, the
occupying power may also enact their own laws in the occupied country, as both Germany and Allied forces did during World War II. Clearly, certain procedures must be adhered to ensure any new laws are both effective and obeyed. Such procedures would include giving notice to the populace in their native language(s), publishing the laws in writing, and ensuring that new laws are not applied in an ex post facto fashion.

The fourth implied task to the restoration of public order and safety is supervision of courts, jails, and prisons. The Geneva Convention provides, “[t]he necessity of ensuring effective administration of justice, the tribunals of the occupied territory shall continue to function in respect to all offenses covered by the said laws.” The occupying power has considerable latitude to use a variety of courts, tribunals, and local government systems to adequately enforce and administer the law.

If I am reading this correctly, the Red Cross is unlawfully interfering with Israel's obligations and allowances to create and enforce laws, under international law.

Moreover, while civilian occupants are considered protected people, Hamas is by any definition at war with Israel. It is less clear that these Hamas members have the status of combatants, but an argument can be made that Hamas does not distinguish between their own military and civilian infrastructures and that these three people are de facto militants.

So if the CBN article is accurate, and it appears to be, the Red Cross is helping to violate international law of the rights of the occupier, by its own definition of Israel as an occupier.

(Usual disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV.)

Here come the Quran riots

Parts of the Muslim world are upset over Terry Jones' buring of a Quran last Sunday. So guess who they blame?

From The International, Pakistan:

The Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam announced on Thursday a province-wide protest on Friday (today) against the desecration of the Holy Quran in Florida by a US pastor.

Hundreds of demonstrators of the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Pakistan and of the Jamaat Ahle Sunnat blocked the road off the KPC and burnt the effigy of the pastor and a US flag.

JUP activists, led by their leader, Qazi Ahmed Noorani, held banners inscribed with anti-US slogans and demanding death sentence to Jones.

Noorani, speaking on the occasion, said that the Zionist forces had hatched a conspiracy against Muslims to incite their religious feelings. He said that Islam never allowed harming of sentiments of people from other religions, but Jones and people like him had always hurt the sentiments of Muslims.

Another version of the story from Pakistan:

Condemning the sacrilegious burning of a copy of the Holy Quran by devilish American pastor Terry Jones, Jamaat-ud-Dawa ameer Hafiz Muhammad Saeed on Monday called it a conspiracy of the zionists and the crusaders working in collusion to disrupt peace and order in the world.

Separately, addressing a Jihad Conference in Jamia Masjid, Qadisiya Town, the Dawa chief said America, India and Israel are scared of Jihad. The Muslim must understand that Jihad is the key to their survival.

Oh, and here's how some Muslims in the area are reacting:

Tension continues to spread in eastern Punjab province where police struggled to control a mob attempting to raid a Full Gospel Assembly church in Lahore.

Two separate mobs headed to the Christian slum on March 22 after different mosques announced that the “church members deliberately burnt the Qur’an transcript in garbage on a US pattern.”

Most of the 250 Christian families in the slum have sent their daughters to relatives for fear of further violence.

Well, it's Friday, and that holy day of prayer is usually the day that we see the most violence. Funny, that.

"Palestinian traditions and morals" (video)

(h/t Joel)

New record/ Begathon/ Open thread

This month I have gotten 120,000 page views, making this the best month for EoZ ever - beating out July 2010, the Mavi Marmara month.

And there is still a week to go.

The posters I have been featuring - Apartheid?, Real Liberals Love Israel and now The Face of a Terrorist - have been very popular, and seem to have given me lots of new readers, as my daily averages keep going up and up.

The "Apartheid" posters in particular are now all over the place. It has been printed in newspapers (more coming, I am told.), hundreds have recommended it in Facebook and people are forwarding them in email chain letters.

I'm getting more emails than usual, which also take time to answer (please forgive me if I didn't answer you). And lots of the emails are of the type "why don't you make a poster of X?" Hey, I'm fast, but it still takes time to find the right photos and how to make it look nice! But thanks for the emails, even if I don't answer.

I also have an article about hasbara in the upcoming Passover issue of Young Israel Viewpoint, under my nom de plume Eldad Tzioni.

Also some relatively well-known people in the hasbara community have been contacting me to see if we can work together, which is really cool. Nothing to report yet, but it is still fun talking to people who have been behind some very well-known initiatives.

Like movies.

Not bad for a month when I was so busy in real life as well!

Yesterday I received a very generous donation from a remarkable woman who, I later found out, has over the years helped literally thousands of disadvantaged people go to college in Israel. She's really amazing. When I thanked her, she responded, "It is a pleasure to know that people like you exist."

Now, that's a nice compliment!

It is great to see that as I continue to take my own advice from my Hasbara lecture, it is paying dividends for the blog and, hopefully, for the pro-Israel community.

Since spring has officially started, it is a good time for me to ask that if you enjoy the blog and the hard work I do, to please consider a donation.

You can make a one time donation in the upper right corner of this page, or sign up for a monthly donation. If you prefer, you can also choose to buy something from the Elder Store, or pay the $5 to watch my Hasbara 2.0 lecture.

A big thank you to all those who have donated to EoZ! It really does help, and I do deeply appreciate any and all donations. (So does the long-suffering Mrs. Elder.)

Now...open thread time!

Miral - the posters (updated)

The pro-Palestinian Arab movie "Miral" is being released after a gala premiere at the UN. The New York Times has run a couple of stories on it already.

I have not been following the controversy about the movie that closely, and I do not know if the movie is as anti-Israel as some claim it is.

But I am offended by the movie's poster:

The implication of the poster is that the nice young woman portraying the protagonist (who is actually an Indian actress, by the way) could not possibly be a terrorist because of her innocent looking face. To me, it also implies that Israel, or perhaps the West, unjustly considers all Palestinian Arabs to be terrorists.

Unfortunately, a friendly face does not exclude the possibility of a young woman being a terrorist:

(h/t Jon Y)

UPDATE: Yisrael Medad had a special request:

Egyptian army forces women protesters to take "virginity tests"

Ain't Arab democracy wonderful?

From Amnesty International:

Amnesty International has today called on the Egyptian authorities to investigate serious allegations of torture, including forced ‘virginity tests’, inflicted by the army on women protesters arrested in Tahrir Square earlier this month.

After army officers violently cleared the square of protesters on 9 March, at least 18 women were held in military detention. Amnesty International has been told by women protesters that they were beaten, given electric shocks, subjected to strip searches while being photographed by male soldiers, then forced to submit to ‘virginity checks’ and threatened with prostitution charges.

‘Virginity tests’ are a form of torture when they are forced or coerced.

"Forcing women to have ‘virginity tests’ is utterly unacceptable. Its purpose is to degrade women because they are women," said Amnesty International. "All members of the medical profession must refuse to take part in such so-called 'tests'."

20-year-old Salwa Hosseini told Amnesty International that after she was arrested and taken to a military prison in Heikstep, she was made, with the other women, to take off all her clothes to be searched by a female prison guard, in a room with two open doors and a window. During the strip search, Salwa Hosseini said male soldiers were looking into the room and taking pictures of the naked women.

The women were then subjected to ‘virginity tests’ in a different room by a man in a white coat. They were threatened that “those not found to be virgins” would be charged with prostitution.

According to information received by Amnesty International, one woman who said she was a virgin but whose test supposedly proved otherwise was beaten and given electric shocks.

(h/t Silke)