Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, April 11, 2011

Accidental Islamic education in Australia

From the Herald Sun, quoting The Australian (I cannot find the original):

A MOSQUE in western Sydney was selling copies of the inflammatory anti-Semitic book The Protocols of the Elders of Zion on the same weekend it opened its doors to the wider community to dispel some of the myths surrounding Islam.

The bookstall on the ground floor of the Lakemba Mosque had in stock about 15 bright-pink paperback editions of The Protocols for sale for $8.

The Protocols is a hoax document first published in Russia in 1903 that purports to be an account of a meeting of Jewish leaders discussing plans for economic world domination. The books were for sale in a small makeshift bookshop lined with ornate copies of the Koran in a room off a car park underneath the mosque.

On a large table in the middle of the room was a jumble sale of books ranging from early childhood education to cookbooks, including a couple of stacks of The Protocols among the piles of Islamic literature.

When asked by The Australian why the mosque was selling The Protocols, the bookshop volunteer hurriedly grabbed the books and said he would take them off the table. ``We’re not racist. I don’t want any trouble,’’ he said. ``I can’t read, I don’t read the books, I don’t know what’s in them. I don’t decide what books are chosen."

I'm not sure, but it might have dispelled one myth about Islam - the Muslims have no problem with Jews.

Egyptian Salafis attack Copts, Sufis; hundreds of Copts fleeing Egypt

Remember how optimistic everyone was about Egypt in February? Apparently, not all Egyptians are quite as sanguine.

From Al Masry al-Youm:

Since the toppling of Hosni Mubarak in February, many Coptic Christians have begun making plans to leave the country, fearing instability and the rising power of Islamist political groups.

Lawyers who specialize in working with Coptic Egyptians, who account for around 10 per cent of the country’s 80 million citizens, say that in the past few weeks they have received hundreds of calls from Copts wanting to leave Egypt.

Naguib Gabriel, a prominent Coptic lawyer and head of the Egyptian Federation of Human Rights, said his office had been receiving at least 70 calls per week from people wanting to know how they can emigrate.

“Every day people come to me and ask how they can get to the American or Canadian embassies. They are insisting on leaving Egypt because the risks of staying here are too great," Gabriel said.

“We’re at a crossroads,” he added. “Many Christians are afraid of the future because of the fanatics in the mosques.”

At least 15 people, Christians and Muslims, were killed last month in a chain of violence which erupted because of a relationship between a Coptic man and Muslim woman in a village south of Cairo. At least 10 people were killed in similar clashes in the Cairo neighborhood of Moqattam in March.

In recent days there have also been clashes involving the Salafi movement -- a hard-line, literalist Islamic sect that has recently been flexing its political muscle throughout Egypt.

According to recent reports, a Coptic service center in Cairo was closed down last month after being picketed by Salafis, while fights broke out in the Fayoum Governorate south of the capital after the sect tried to force the closure of a shop selling alcohol.

It all seems a far cry from the days when demonstrators in Tahrir Square were declaring, “Muslims and Christians are one hand."

Sam Fanous, who runs a company helping Egyptians emigrate and settle in Canada, said that over the past month his office had been “bombarded” with requests from Copts who wanted help in leaving the country.

“I have people coming to my Cairo office until midnight. Often I tell my assistant to shut down the phones because we have so many people calling,” he said. “The majority of people want to emigrate. Some ask about asylum, but I explain they cannot get refugee status from Egypt.”

Fanous said most of the people coming to him were well-off professionals.

“Some want to go and not come back. Some want to take their families and then come back until it becomes time to leave," he said.

Some details:

In the last two weeks three attacks on churches were undertaken by Salafis or Islamic Fundamentalists in Egypt. The Salafis demanded churches move to locations outside communities and be forbidden from making repairs, "even if they are so dilapidated that the roofs will collapse over the heads of the congregation," says Father Estephanos Shehata of Samalut Coptic Diocese.
...
On Sunday March 27 nearly 500 Salafis, armed with swords, batons and knives, stood in front of St. Mary's church in the Bashtil district of Imbaba, Giza demanding its closure because "this is a Muslim area and no church should be allowed here." They closed the church door and held a number of the parishioners inside, including children. The terrorized Copts called the army to get them out, especially the children, who were traumatized. The military police arrived, freed the congregation and dispersed the Muslim mob, who lurked nearby "to see if they need to attack again in case the Copts returned to the church," said a Coptic witness.

St. George's Church in Beni Ahmad, 7 KM south of Minya was also subjected to Muslim intimidation. The 100 year-old church received three years ago an official permit from Minya governorate allowing for the expansion of its eastern side as well as the erection of a social services center within a small plot of land belonging to the church. Three Salafis together with a large crowd of village Muslims visited the church on Wednesday, March 23 and ordered the church officials to stop construction immediately and undo what they had completed, otherwise they would demolish the church after Friday prayers. They also demanded the church priest, Father Georgy Thabet, leave the village with his family.

...The Diocese stepped-in and contacted the authorities who in turn asked them to contact the military governor. A meeting was held between representatives from the church, the Salafis, the army and security in Minya. The Salafis requested the demolition of what was built and the departure of the priest and his family. In the end the military told the Copts they cannot interfere in this case. "In other words the authorities have sold the Copts to the Salafis, to do what they like with them and the church," commented local Coptic activist Mariam Ragy.

Catholic Online adds:

People are anxious to know where this wild ride will end. They are anxious because what happens to the Copts will signal the fate of many others. The Copts are the largest religious minority in the region, and Egypt holds a certain preeminence in the region. Consequently, if it does not end well for the Copts, it is not likely to go well for other Christians throughout the region. Unfortunately, at this point all we know for certain is that life for the Copts in Egypt after Mubarak hangs in the balance.

The Salafis are also attacking Sufi mosques:

16 historic mosques in Alexandria belonging to Sufi orders have been marked for destruction by Salafis. The newspaper notes that Alexandria has 40 mosques associated with Sufis, and is the headquarters for 36 Sufi groups. Half a million Sufis live in the city, out of a municipal total of four million people.

Aggression against the Sufis in Egypt has included a raid on Alexandria's most distinguished mosque, named for, and housing, the tomb of the 13th century Sufi, al-Mursi Abu'l Abbas. Born in the then-Muslim city of Murcia in southeastern Spain, al-Mursi emigrated to Alexandria. He was a disciple of and successor to the Sufi sheikh Abu'l Hassan al-Shadhili, founder of the powerful Shadhili Sufi order, which remains influential throughout north Africa, south Asia, the Muslim communities of the Indian Ocean, and Indonesia.

Salafis have alleged that Sufis are agents of the west as well as heretics. The extremists want to take control of Sufi mosques, after they destroy shrines within their precincts. One object of their manoeuvres is the Qaed Ibrahim mosque in Alexandria, which was the site of mass protests, involving thousands of people, co-ordinated with those in Cairo's Tahrir Square, during the movement against ex-president Hosni Mubarak.

The Alexandrian Sufi leader sheikh Gaber Kasem al-Kholy has said: "Coptic Christians are a main target for those extremists, but we need to speak out about the suffering of the Sufi people. We have a considerable number of followers, and we are willing and able to protect Egypt's legacy."

Insane anti-Israel quote of the day

From our old pal Ken O'Keefe, who is so crazy that even the Free Gaza movement has distanced themselves from him, talking about an Israeli attack on a suspected weapons factory in March:

What is taking place in Gaza is as bad as anything in history.

"Wall of Lies"

The David Horowitz Freedom Center has been publishing a full page ad in various college newspapers called "The Palestinian Wall of Lies" and has a companion website that highlight many lies that are constantly told about Israel and Jews. It has caused some controversy but it is worth looking at.

An EoZ fan, taking my Hasbara advice, took each of the points in the ad and turned it into a simple video. This is a great example of how to move information from one medium to another, and help find a new audience for it. It is something that needs to be done much more often.

The DHFC itself made its own much more elaborate video to back up the facts mentioned in the Wall of Lies.

Write a message to Gilad Shalit!

A new initiative called MeetGilad has been launched to send messages to Gilad Shalit.

I joined the initiative as an organization, so you can write your message to Gilad Shalit here. I am aiming to get 250 messages from readers of this blog.

After you write your message you can write to the Red Cross, UN, EU , PA and various NGOs to pressure the Gaza government to allow messages to be sent to Shalit. You can also write to Shalit's family with words of support.

Go write to Gilad Shalit now!

More information on who is behind it.

Israeli Arab MK defends Gaza rockets

Firas Press quotes Maariv as reporting that Israeli MK Haneen Zoabi said that Gaza armed groups have a right to fire rockets at Israel - her country.

She said, "Those who live under siege and hardship will do everything for their freedom and Israel understands that."

Zoabi was on the flotilla that included the Mavi Marmara last summer.

Would any democracy in the world tolerate a member of their parliament publicly supporting war against their own country?

Wikileaks: US confirms Syrian nuclear weapons site

From a new Wikileaks cable, dated April 25, 2008:

- You will recall reports that the Israeli air force conducted a mission over Syria on September 6, 2007.

- I want to inform you that the purpose of that Israeli mission was to destroy a clandestine nuclear reactor that Syria was constructing in its eastern desert near a place we call al-Kibar.

- The Israeli mission was successful - the reactor was damaged beyond repair. Syria has completed efforts to clean up the site and destroy evidence of what was really there, constructing a new building on the old site.

- We have delayed sharing this information with you, because our first concern was to prevent conflict.

- We believe - based on strong evidence - that North Korea assisted Syria with the reactor at al-Kibar.
...
- Our intelligence experts are confident that the facility the Israelis targeted was in fact a nuclear reactor of the same type North Korea built indigenously at its Yongbyon nuclear facility. The U.S. intelligence community conducted an intensive, months- long effort to confirm and corroborate the information Israel provided us on the reactor and to gather more
details from our own sources and methods.

- We have good reason to believe this reactor was not intended for peaceful purposes.

- First, we assess this reactor was configured to produce plutonium: it was not configured for power production, was isolated from any civilian population, and was ill-suited for research.

- Second, Syria went to great pains to keep this secret by taking very careful steps to conceal the true nature of the site.

- Third, by maintaining secrecy and not declaring the site to the IAEA and providing design information, as Syria's NPT-mandated IAEA safeguards agreement requires, Syria undermined the very purpose of IAEA safeguards - to provide the international community with the necessary assurance/verification that the reactor was part of a peaceful program.

- Finally, Syria's concealment and lies about what happened for months now after the Israeli air strike is compelling proof that it has something to hide. In fact, after the attack on the site, Syria went to great lengths to clean up the site and destroy evidence of what was really there. If there were nothing to hide, Syria presumably would have invited IAEA inspectors, other experts, and the news media to the site to prove that.

...- The existence of this reactor was dangerous and destabilizing for the region, and we judged that it could have been only weeks away from becoming operational at the time it was destroyed by the Israeli air force.

- Specifically, we assessed that once the pumphouse and pipe system were complete in early August, the reactor could begin operation at any time. Once operations began, certainly a military option would have been much more problematic with radioactive material present.

...
- We discussed policy options with the Israelis, but in the end Israel made its own decision to destroy the reactor. This decision was made by Israel alone - they did not seek our consent. Nonetheless, we understand Israel's decision.

- <> saw this reactor, and what Syria may have intended to do with it, as an existential threat that required it to act to defend itself.

- Syria's secret construction of this nuclear reactor is the latest in a series of unacceptable actions by the Asad regime.

- Syria is a state that supports terrorism, destabilizes Lebanon, and is the largest conduit for foreign fighters and suicide bombers entering Iraq to kill Iraqis, Americans, and Coalition forces.

- The Syrian Government supports terrorist groups such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hizballah, and others, including by playing host to leaders of some of these groups.

- Syria is a proliferator in every sense - of terrorism, of instability to its neighbors, including Lebanon, and now as a recipient and developer of dangerous nuclear technology.

- The Syrian regime, in going down this path, has shown a disregard for the security of the region and of its own people.

- We call upon the Syrian regime to reveal the full extent of its nuclear activities, as it is required to do under the NPT and its safeguards agreement, and verify that its covert nuclear-related activities have stopped.

- For better relations with the international community, in addition to full disclosure and
cooperation regarding its covert nuclear program, Syria needs to end support for insurgents and foreign fighters in Iraq, support for Palestinian terrorists, and interference in Lebanon. If willing to do so, Syria can expect to be welcomed by the international community.

I wonder what happened between 2008 and 2009 that prompted the US to ignore all this known information about the country and reward it with a new ambassador.

Or, as David Shenker notes in TNR,

Support for the regime goes beyond the standard “devil you know” rationale. To wit, one commentator in The National Interest recently opined that “Washington knows [Syrian President] Bashar well and it knows how rational and predictable he is in foreign affairs.” No doubt, Assad hasn’t killed millions like Stalin. But he has spent his first decade in power recklessly dedicated to undermining stability—and U.S. interests—in the Middle East.

Here’s the devil we know: Since 2006 alone, Assad’s Syria has exponentially increased the capabilities of the Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah, providing the organization with advanced anti-ship and highly accurate M-600 missiles, top of the line anti-tank weapons, and has allowed the organization to establish a SCUD base on Syrian soil. At the same time, Assad continues to meddle (and murder) in Lebanon, harbor and support Hamas, and subvert Iraq. Damascus remains a strategic ally of otherwise isolated Tehran. And in 2007, it was revealed that Assad’s Syria was progressing toward building a nuclear weapon. Given the pernicious effect of Assad’s policies on U.S. interests and the region, it’s difficult to imagine that a successor or replacement regime could be worse.

Anyone can get a Grad rocket!

An interesting item from Ma'an:

A group calling itself the Marwan Haddad division of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, a new Palestinian military group in Gaza, said its fighters had launched a homemade projectile toward Israel late Sunday night.

"Israel is not safe from the resistance," a statement from the group said, adding that the projectile was aimed at the Ashkelon power plant.

The group said it would not accept truce conditions with Israel, and announced the launch less than an hour before a ceasefire deal was set.

On Sunday morning, the group issued its first statement, saying fighters had fired a Grad-style missile at the Israeli city of Ashkelon and two homemade projectiles at the Zikim military base.

A little-known group in Gaza can get their hands on a Grad rocket?

This means that either this tiny group is:

Lying.
In contact with arms dealers from Egypt and likely Sudan in order to smuggle Grad rockets through the Rafah tunnels.
Purchasing or stealing extra Grads from Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
Working with existing terror groups in Gaza like Hamas to be able to shoot rockets into Israel while giving the larger groups plausible deniability when they announce "cease fires."

I would guess the chances of each are 20%, 0%, 20% and 60%, respectively.

Does this mean that France is more Islamophobic than Israel?

From AFP:

France, home to Europe's biggest Muslim population, on Monday officially banned women from wearing full-face veils in public places.

Other European countries have drawn up bans on the burqa and the niqab but France is the first to risk stirring social tensions by putting one into practice.

Police on Saturday said they arrested 59 people, including 19 veiled women, who turned up for a banned protest in Paris over the ban, while two more were detained as they attempted to travel to the rally from Britain and Belgium.

Of course, Israel has no ban on burqas. Or minarets. Or muezzin's amplified public calls to prayer.

Europe is making Israel look like a model of tolerance for Islam!

World Bank calls health of PalArab children "outstanding" (updated)

From the BBC, 2009:

The Lancet medical journal report highlights how 10% of Palestinian children now have stunted growth.

An Israeli government spokesperson said the Lancet had failed to seek its view, and said many Palestinians had accessed medical care in the country.

Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli government, called the report one-sided.
He said: "This is propaganda in the guise of a medical report."

"Mortality rates among infants and under-fives haven't declined much. This is unusual when compared with other Arab countries that used to have similar rates but have managed to bring them down.

"The trend for stunting among children is increasing, and the concern is about the long-term effects. It is caused by chronic malnutrition, and affects cognitive development and physical health.

"There are pockets in northern Gaza where the level of stunted growth reaches 30%.

"It's very important that women and children have access to quality care."

The New York Times quoted a Harvard researcher who slammed the Israeli reaction:

The Israeli government’s dismissal of the report as “propaganda in the guise of a medical report” is disheartening. Measuring stunted growth among children represents objective health data collection. Regardless of partisan persuasions, the percentage of Palestinian children who now suffer from stunted growth remains ten percent. Dismissing the report as one-sided does not change the medical facts on the ground, which clearly indicate that the Palestinian population in Gaza is facing a dangerous and worsening health situation, one that certainly has implications on any future prospects for peace.

The Lancet (and, to an extent, the BBC and NYT) were pushing the idea that a 10% stunting rate in children is horrible.

Naturally, Israel was blamed as part of the problem.

Yet the World Bank report just came out with a report designed called "Building the Palestinian State: Sustaining Growth, Institutions, and Service Delivery." The point of this report is to say that the Palestinian Arab territories are ready for statehood.

Look how they report roughly the same statistics:

In terms of indicators of early childhood nutrition, WB&G is an outstanding performer. Among children under the age of 5, only 11.5 percent suffer from stunting (low height for age) and a mere 1.4 percent from wasting (low weight for height). In the average middle income country, 3 out of 10 children are stunted, i.e. more than three times the figure for WB&G. Performance in terms of wasting incidence is even more compelling: one in 10 children in a middle income country suffers from wasting, i.e. the rate is 7 times lower in WB&G. Thus, judged by anthropometric outcomes, WB&G performs better than most other countries in the world, irrespective of income. ...It is important to note that the pool of countries in the sample includes a variety of middle income countries from the region, such as Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, and Morocco -- and WB&G fares better than these in terms of early childhood nutrition indicators. In addition, overall incidence rates of stunting and wasting have been relatively stable over time.

How is a 10% stunting rate considered terrible in 2009 and 11.5% considered outstanding in 2011? It depends on what propaganda goal you have in what you are writing. When you want to demonize Israel, you cherry pick numbers to make the health situation look bad; when you want to make the PA look good and ready for a state you do the exact opposite. That "objective data" mentioned in the NYT is now seen to have been presented in the most subjective manner possible - by not comparing it to similar territories worldwide.

And by the way, both those numbers seemed to have been taken from studies made in 2006. Did things worsen?

Well, the Lancet followed up in 2010, and reported on a newer 2008 Bir Zeit study:

6% of 1883 children who were assessed were stunted (8% of 930 boys vs 3% of 950 girls, p=0·01), less than 1% had wasting, 2% were underweight, 11% were anaemic (7% of boys vs 14% of girls), and 15% were overweight and obese (11% of boys vs 20% of girls; 11% were overweight, and 4% were obese).

Between 2006 and 2008 - when Israel already had the blockade in Gaza - children in the territories got a lot fatter, and stunting went down seemingly dramatically, from 11.5% to only 6%! (The sample ages may have been different in the two studies; the second study was for schoolchildren. Yet the study implied that young children were in better nutrition programs than older schoolchildren.)

It is hard to come up with a better example of lies, damned lies and statistics.

(h/t Zach N)

UPDATE: Here are the stunting statistics for various Arab countries, according to UNICEF:

Qatar 8%
Palestinian Territories- 10%
Algeria - 15
Lebanon - 11
Jordan - 12
Oman - 13
UAE - 17
Saudi Arabia - 20
Libya - 21
Morocco - 23
Kuwait - 24
Iraq - 26
Syria - 28
Egypt - 29
Yemen – 58

(h/t Dusty)

New IDF video of Iron Dome

YNet got hold of a video put out by the Defense Ministry, seemingly done with a night-vision camera, showing Iron Dome intercept and destroy Qassam rockets on April 7:

Nice!

(So why doesn't YNet just put it on YouTube directly instead of making bloggers like me jump through hoops to be able to capture it and put it on YouTube ourselves?)

Yemen kicks Al Jazeera out of the country; Syria stops photographs

From Bloomberg:

Yemen has closed the office of Al Jazeera television and withdrawn the Doha, Qatar-based network’s license to report from the country, state-run Saba news agency reported, citing an unidentified official.

The decision to permanently close the news bureau followed what the report called a "sabotage scheme aimed at inciting strife."

Yemen recalled its ambassador to Qatar for consultation following remarks by Qatar’s prime minister about political tensions in the Arabian Peninsula country, Saba reported yesterday.

Al Jazeera has an interesting blog entry about how Syria's secret police are stopping journalists from taking pictures - so they acted like tourists:

We wanted to get a better view - and perhaps some other pictures - so we walked all the way around the mosque to the other side of the protest. As soon as we got to the other side, I took out my camera. Before I could even lift it to my face, three pairs of hands grabbed it, and myself, saying: “No, no pictures.”

They tried to wrestle the camera from my hands but I managed to pull it back, saying I was a tourist, that I was sorry for the trouble.

“No trouble,” they said. “But no pictures here.”

“You go now please," they said. So we walked towards the protest and I jammed the camera back in my bag. We walked the perimeter of the protest and I standed there looking at Afaf, the mosque, Afaf, the mosque ... trying to get the police to lose interest in us.

It was at that point when a colleague from another network (which will remain nameless for their safety) came up to us. A few quick jokes were exchanged at which point he noted the situation was getting "a bit dodgy”. We agreed. He said he had a car stashed down one of the back alleys and off we went.

Back to the hotel in one piece. They’re not tremendous photos but what can you expect in Syria? Even when you have permission to film, this is a place where you’re better off acting like a tourist.

I hope to finish Michael Totten's excellent new book this coming weekend so I can review it here, but he talks a lot about how Hezbollah tries to limit what can be filmed, photographed or reported from the parts of Lebanon they control. That story, of how jurnalists are limited in their ability to report, needs to be part of all reporting from any area.

Muslims upset over religion-themed professional sports promotions

From USA Today:

The issue of religious freedom vs. separation of church and state is always dicey and sports is not immune.

But a national Muslim advocacy group doesn't think it's appropriate for teams to mix religion and sports. If sports teams are going do it, then the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) wants equal time for other religions.

"The ultimate test of this kind of policy would be to have a Muslim Family Day — and gauge the public reaction to it," says CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper. "Given the heightened state of anti-Muslim sentiment in our society, I have a feeling there would be some objections to that."

The Oakland A's, for example, will hold their first Jewish Heritage Night against the Los Angels May 17. Attendees get an A's yarmulke and a seat in the plaza infield section for $26.
Other baseball teams are involved:

The Florida Marlins will hold their first Inspirational Forum after a game, with outfielder Chris Coghlan discussing his devotion to his faith.

The Kansas City Royals will hold their third Faith & Family Day.

The Colorado Rockies will hold their fifth Faith Day for all faiths this season

And the Philadelphia Phillies stage their fourth Jewish Heritage Night.

A number of points need to be made.

First, there is provably far more anti-semitism in America than "Islamophobia," so Hooper's statement is once again an attempt to inflate a phenomenon that is virtually nonexistent.

Another point is this one, from the first article:

Steve Fanelli of the A's says pro sports teams are offering religious-themed nights to move group ticket sales and because religious groups in their community approach them.

"Beyond religion it's the same philosophy for any theme day: give fans a chance to enjoy baseball with their group and get together in an environment they may not otherwise choose to," Fanelli says.

The theme days are simply a way to make extra money, and the religious groups themselves request it. If CAIR tells the Detroit Pistons that an "Islamic Day" would bring in 3000 extra ticket sales, they would hold one.

So why aren't there any Muslim Family days at baseball parks and basketball arenas? The answer is indirectly given by the atheist quoted in the second quoted article:

Teams have pushed ethnic heritage days for years. But religion? That's problematic, answers Blair Scott, spokesman for American Atheists. It's not illegal, but Scott believes it's unethical.

"They're out to make a buck. They're taking advantage of people's religiosity to make that buck."

Scott doubts he'll ever see "Atheist Day" at stadiums.

"When you have a Super Bowl party in the atheist community, two people show up. We don't tend to be big sports fans."

If there is enough interest in Muslim community for a theme night, it will happen. Are Muslims great sports fans? I know that even religious Jews in the US are huge sports fans, enough that many major stadiums offer kosher food to accommodate them.

Lastly, and most importantly, when Jewish or other groups have theme nights in the stadiums, they are done from the perspective of having a positive, fun night out. It is not a "demand" for equal time with other ethnic or specialized theme nights; it is simply a chance to get groups to come out and have a good time. No one requires that the stadiums accommodate any religious requirements.

Now, would any Muslim group support an official visit to a sports event where there are, for example, cheerleaders? Or would they try to say that there should be no cheerleaders for Muslim Family Night? I don't know the answer.

If Hooper wants equal time, let him organize a Muslim night in areas where there are large Muslim communities. No one will stop him - unless he starts demanding that the stadiums provide places for prayer or ritual washing or that they stop selling pork products on that night.

(h/t jzaik)

New "Miral" ad reveals its goals

I still haven't seen Miral, and based on how awful the reviews were, I am not likely to waste the time. But apparently the reviews have been so bad, and the box-office results so poor, that the distributor is now placing ads to attract the core anti-semitic audience to view this turgid film:

What a tasteful use of the Star of David! Very artistic!

You can rest assured that any movie ad that quotes reviews by two actors and one director, without a single quote from a movie reviewer, is a stinker.

(h/t Ian)

Hamas now claims school bus was "military"

On Saturday, the al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas held a press conference where they now claim that the school bus they destroyed with an anti-tank missile was a military target:

At a news conference Saturday afternoon in Gaza, [Hamas spokesman] Abu Obeida denied allegations by the occupation that the bus targeted by al-Qassam Brigades near the so-called Kfar Saad, east of Gaza, was civilian. He confirmed that it is a bus shuttling between military sites and traveling on the military road that is a security belt for the movement of tanks, which fired missiles against our people.

Well, there you have it.

Black student leaders slam "apartheid" claims

From JPost:

African-American student leaders from a variety of historically black colleges and universities took out full page ads in numerous American college newspapers Thursday, displaying an “Open Letter to Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP),” to convey that they were offended by SJP’s use of the term “apartheid” at recent Israel Apartheid Week events at campuses across the country.

The 16 signatories to the letter are students and alumni from historically black colleges and universities who are members of the Vanguard Leadership Group, a leadership development academy and honor society for top students. The letter ran or is slated to run in student newspapers at Brown University, University of California- Los Angeles, University of Maryland and Columbia University over the next few days.

“The Students for Justice in Palestine’s labeling of Israel, an extremely diverse and vibrant country, as an apartheid state is not only false, but offensive,” Vanguard President Michael Hayes told The Jerusalem Post. “Additionally, this rhetoric does absolutely nothing to help Israel-Palestine negotiations or relations. We feel this type of action serves to hinder the peace process domestically and abroad, and have made it our priority to take a stand to shift the tide of understanding.”

Here's the actual ad:

Video of Hamas setting up a rocket launch - from a cemetery

From the IDF:

(h/t Greg)

Overnight open thread

I was way for Shabbat and came back to way too many emails, let alone news stories. So I'm not going to even bother looking at more until Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, post anything interesting here.

Egypt's Defense Minister implicitly threatens Israel's air force

On Friday, Egypt's defense minister Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi wrote on his Facebook page that he has instructed his army to immediately shoot down any military aircraft that crosses the Egyptian border.

أصدرت التعليمات بمهاجمة كل طائرة حربية تخترق الحدود المصرية والإسقاط الفورى لها

He of course wrote this while Israel was operating against rocket launchers and terrorists next door in Gaza.

(h/t אורי פלג)

Iron Dome in action (video)

On Saturday, Iron Dome intercepted several rockets aimed at Ashkelon, and people have been videotaping it. Here's one video (the flash is when the Grad gets intercepted):

A number of Israelis have posted YouTube videos showing Iron Dome intercepting rockets. This link should take you to the most recent videos.

Hamas in 2007: "There is no justification for targeting civilians."

In light of Hamas' bragging that it shot a laser-guided anti-tank missile at a marked, yellow school bus, that had been filled with children minutes earlier, it is worth looking at this statement made by their English-language spokesman, Abu Obaida, in December 2007:

There is no justification for targeting civilians. It is against Islam to deliberately kill unarmed civilians during jihad. In addition, our doctrine is to target the enemies army, security services, and support apparatus. But it is known that Zionist society is a militarized society. Service in the army is mandatory; and reserve duty continues past the age of 40. Our determined stance is that unarmed persons on both sides of the conflict should be left out of the fighting. However, we will not accept giving the enemy a free hand against our civilians.

And their response to the Goldstone report included this howler:

The Hamas government wrote that it "regrets any harm that may have befallen any Israeli civilian."

Isn't that special?

Israel haters at Columbia call my posters "racist"

An article in the Columbia Spectator references Columbia Hillel's response to "Israel Apartheid Week" - and the anti-Israel authors take aim to two of my posters that Hillel apparently displayed:

Last month, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (C-SJP) sponsored Israeli Apartheid Week. In response, Hillel groups organized a campaign titled “Separating Fact From Apartheid.” To achieve this end, Hillel employed racist tactics to put a convivial face to Israel’s military and colonial occupation of Palestinian land....

To illustrate Israel’s “diversity,” Hillel set up a display of large poster boards of Israel’s token successful minorities.

The authors are deliberately misrepresenting Hillel's point. It isn't that Israel is diverse - which it is - but that Israel is not an apartheid state, as the authors contend. There is a big difference between the existence of discrimination, which happens everywhere, and the disgusting charge of apartheid, as the haters who wrote this piece are espousing.

The first board featured Rana Raslan, who in 1999 became the first Arab to win a Miss Israel contest. Three years later, Raslan was quoted as saying, “Till today, I am treated like trash at the airport. I haven’t visited Israel for three months because of what I had gone through during security checks. I was asked questions in a vulgar manner, held for hours. They also searched me; I have no problem being treated like any other civilian, but there is a way to do so, with delicacy.”

The point, of course, is that these racist Israelis had no problem choosing one of those supposedly despised Arabs to represent their country to the world. Obviously if she is being treated badly at airports there is a problem, but it is not apartheid!

Another poster featured Salim Joubran, a lawyer born in Haifa, who was elected in 2004 to become the first Arab to hold a permanent appointment as a Supreme Court Justice. A piece published in Spectator by LionPAC’s director of public relations, Jonathan Huberman, claimed that having a Palestinian-Israeli on Israel’s Supreme Court is evidence that Israel is “a democratic, multi-ethnic country that upholds equal rights for all of its citizens.” Huberman believes that the appointment of the first and only permanent Palestinian Israeli judge to Israel’s Supreme Court in its 56 years of existence is evidence of its “equal rights” and “democratic” nature. According to Sikkuy’s data, at the end of 2008 only 42 of 589 judges in Israel were Arabs—seven percent of the judiciary. A 2008 report about fair representation of the Arab population in the civil service, which was published by the Civil Service Commission in June of this year, indicates that of 3,763 employees in the courts administration, only 119 are Arabs—3.16 percent of all employees. Palestinian citizens of Israel constitute nearly 20 percent of the overall population.

So the authors are trying to argue that somehow Israel is an apartheid state because Arabs are not yet represented proportionately as judges. By that standard, the Palestinian Authority (and every government on the planet) are demonstrably sexist because women do not take up 50% of their governmental positions. I think short people are also underrepresented in democracies. And South Africa is still an apartheid state because the number of black graduates of university are far less than their proportional numbers.

If Israel is an apartheid state, name one state that isn't. If you cannot do that, then your label of "apartheid" is merely a smear meant to slander an entire nation. It also brings up the obvious question of why Israel is being singled out when its record on inclusiveness is demonstrably better than even many European countries. There isn't a ban on minarets in Israel!

It is always fun to see graduate students engage in such puerile arguments. But that is what happens when hate trumps intelligence.

I added a comment to the piece:

Thanks for a great laugh. I didn't know until now that pointing out that Israel has Arabs in respected positions in the army, judiciary, entertainment and politics is "racist." Columbia must be proud that two of its students are so adept at newspeak.

Thank you also for mentioning two of the "Apartheid?" posters that I created. For those who want to see more of my supposedly racist posters, they are here.)

(h/t Jim)

Muslim Brotherhood has already won

Reports in the Arabic press are quoting Al Hayat as saying that Mahmoud Abbas will meet with the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, today in Egypt.

Whether MB wins the next Egyptian elections or not, they have already gained the perception of being the most important political player in Cairo, and that very perception is likely to have long-term consequences.

Fatah is anxious to come to terms with Hamas in a unification deal, because if they remain divided in September then the much-heralded attempt to get the UN to recognize "Palestine" would be much more difficult.

Hamas is in the driver's seat. Not only does Fatah need unification more than Hamas, but Hamas no longer feels as politically isolated as before Egypt's revolution. First of all, political parties across the board in Egypt are publicly declaring their support for Gaza and implicit support of Hamas. More importantly, though, is that the MB and Hamas are cousins if not brothers, and Hamas' stock has risen just by association with the Egyptian Islamists.

Abbas' reported visit with the Brotherhood must be seen in this context. They will now be a major player in Palestinian Arab politics, while they were marginal before.

The Egyptian uprising therefore is causing Fatah to harden its positions with respect to negotiating with Israel and espousing a peaceful solution. Whether it likes it or not, Fatah is more dependent on Islamists than ever before in order to continue on as the supposed leader of Palestinian Arabs.

While there are indications that the MB is politically fractured, all of its factions are uncompromising towards Israel and do not support Camp David, let alone Oslo. Moreover, the gulf between Sunni and Shi'a is not as huge as some believe, and Tehran is salivating at the prospect of more Islamist influence in Egypt - and Hamas may serve as the bridge to help push that along.

The full ramifications of the rise of the MB are hard to predict. Probably they will start to strategize with their offshoots in other Arab countries, using lessons learned in Egypt to maximize the chances of success elsewhere. Jordan and Syria are key countries not only because of their already existing MB branches but also because if they fall, Israel would be surrounded by enemies who are not only politically but also ideologically and religiously opposed to Israel's existence. Fatah doesn't stand a chance of remaining nominally pro-Western, and Iran's influence will explode throughout the region. Conversely, Iran's political isolation will disappear.

Without seeing any organized, viable, liberal alternative to the MB in the Muslim world, things are looking bleak indeed for the West, and very good for Iran.

Media cuts NATO slack for killing wrong people

For the third time, NATO bombed the wrong side in Libya yesterday, killing rebels.

Yet the media is bending over backwards to minimize NATO's blame. We are seeing stories that would never be printed when Israel makes much less deadly mistakes, under much more difficult circumstances, against an enemy that is aiming at them.

From the Washington Post last Saturday:

The strike, which killed 13 rebels and injured seven, illustrated the hazards of conducting an aerial bombing campaign against a fluid and fast moving front line. Several cars and an ambulance were also incinerated, and opposition leaders said rebels may have been responsible for the bombing because they had fired their guns into the air in celebration.

Does that explain why an ambulance was destroyed?

From The Daily Mail, today:

Libyan rebels turned their fury on Nato yesterday after at least 13 fighters were killed and dozens wounded in an airstrike.

Rebel commanders said tanks and military hardware captured from Colonel Gaddafi’s forces had been attacked in daylight with missiles despite being marked on the top in yellow as requested by Nato.

Four missiles hit the 30-vehicle convoy, which included a bus packed with fighters, on the outskirts of the eastern oil port of Brega, according to one rebel commander.

An ambulance was one of the vehicles hit and three volunteer medical students were among the dead. Doctors said many rebels suffered terrible burns in the attack.

‘Why is Nato dropping bombs east of Brega when Gaddafi’s forces are to the west?’ asked Omar Mohammed.

Despite the presence of forward air controllers guiding missiles to their targets with lasers and pinpoint technology, the apparent blunder illustrated the difficulties Nato forces face.

Again, clearly marked vehicles - including ambulances - yet the media says that this merely illustrates how difficult war is. But when Israel is doing the shooting - immediately after rocket fire on Israeli civilians, towards enemies who are mere meters away from civliians - no one cuts them any slack.

Even worse:

The deputy commander of NATO operations in Libya acknowledged Friday that NATO warplanes may have mistakenly bombed rebel forces Thursday near Brega, killing at least five people and generating angry complaints from rebel leaders.

But Rear Adm. Russell Harding, in a briefing from his Naples headquarters, declined to apologize for the lethal mistake. Instead, he sought to shift the blame to rebel commanders, who he said had deployed captured Libyan army tanks for the first time, unbeknown to NATO pilots flying bombing raids high over the area.

“I’m not apologizing,” Harding said in remarks streamed over the Internet by NATO. “The situation on the ground, as I said, was very confused and remains very confused. And up to yesterday, we had no information that the [rebel] forces were using tanks.”

NATO is not even apologizing - and they are blaming the victims?

War is difficult. I am not blaming NATO for mistakes made (well, not too much - I still don't understand the ambulances and yellow-topped vehicles.) However, I am pointing out that these mistakes are being soft-pedaled by the same media that will never do the same for Israel. Nor will the media point out that the IDF's job is far, far more difficult than NATO's.

HRW's and Amnesty's reports should be interesting. So far, nothing from them, not even on Amnesty's blog.

One other story in the Palestinian Arabic press is worth citing, although I don't know how accurate it is:

According to Palestinian sources, on Thursday evening, a Palestinian and his wife were killed in bombing by coalition forces on the international area of Benghazi in Libya.

The Jarghoun family in Khan Younis said that that a family member named Issam Moussa Jarghoun (26) and his wife, Rim (25) were killed following the bombing by the international coalition forces of convoys of Arab citizens who are trying to leave Libya towards Egypt to return to their places of origin.

The Western media is not mentioning any civilian casualties in the convoys. But now that a Palestinian Arab is killed, surely the Arab world will show their anger.

Or is that only when they are killed by a very specific group?

Was a truck filled with weapons also struck in Sudan?

From the Sudan Tribune:

Sudan denied that any foreigner was in the car and said that the names of the two people killed were Eissa Ahmed Hadab from Al-Amrar tribe and his personal driver Ahmed Gibreel. The foreign ministry said the Hyundai Sonata car was recently purchased by Hadab from another Sudanese citizen living in Khartoum.

Jibril was a businessmen from an Egyptian-Sudanese tribe in Red Sea state who had lived in Egypt for many years before returning to Sudan in 2009, a political activist in the region told Agence France Presse (AFP). Hadab, the car’s driver, was a fisherman and also from eastern Sudan, the activist added.

Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to comment on the allegations by Sudan but he complained nevertheless that the Jewish state unfairly gets the blame for many incidents that occur around the world.

“Some see Israel’s hand in anything that happens, and it is not always true,” Netanyahu said during a press conference in Berlin, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

However, Israeli intelligence sources told AFP on Thursday that a truck carrying weapons, which was being escorted by the car, had been hit in the strike. Photos from the scene only showed the car and no mention was made of a separate truck.

Hmmm.

CNN idiots: "It was not immediately known if the bus was targeted"

CNN's story on yesterday's terror attack on a school bus seems to go out of its way to downplay the seriousness of the episode.

Written already after Hamas accepted responsibility, it says:

The school bus was traveling in southern Israel near the Gaza border when it was hit by a type of anti-tank missile known as a Kornet, said Israeli military spokesman Capt. Barak Raz. The Kornet is a Russian-made anti-tank guided missile system that is thought to have a maximum range of 5 1/2 kilometers (3 1/2 miles).

...

It was not immediately known if the bus was targeted, but [IDF spokesperson] Leibovitch said it looked like "a direct hit."

The Kornet is a laser-guided anti-missile system. It is not a Qassam. The people operating it know precisely what they are aiming at. The Hamas website admits that they targeted the "Zionist bus." It was clearly marked as a school bus. It was colored the distinct yellow of all Israeli school buses. Undoubtedly Hamas was hoping that the bus was filed with schoolchildren, and a few minutes beforehand, it was.

Hamas was deliberately targeting scores of children with a laser-guided missile that simply would not miss. But CNN feels it important to say that "it was not immediately known if the bus was targeted." Yes, it is absolutely known at the time CNN filed the story. The entire purpose of that sentence is to cast doubt on Hamas' bloodlust.

And CNN even quotes an IDF source as saying that Hamas wanted to target the rescuers as well:

There was an attempt to fire a second missile after emergency personnel had responded to the scene, the official said. For reasons unknown to the IDF, the second launch failed.

This is a major escalation on the part of Hamas - a well-planned and deliberate attempt at mass murder. You would have to read CNN's story twice before even beginning to understand what should have been made clear in the first paragraph.

Nice shooting!

From JPost:

Friday morning, two Palestinians were killed as a result of an Israeli air-strike on a terrorist cell in the Gazan village Haza'ae, near Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian sources reported. According to their claims, an Israeli aircraft struck a group of civilians, killing two Hamas members.

Wow, the IDF is even better than I thought, to be able to kill only two Hamas members in a crowd of "civilians"!

In case you are wondering on the identity of the two dead terrorists, the Al Qassam website identifies them as Abdullah Qarra and Moataz Abu Jamea.

Oh, and they admit that they were in a "group of resistance fighters." Just in case you had any lingering doubts about how easily Gaza officials lie.

Here they are, ladies: The Domes of the Rock

The Daily Show on Wednesday had a hilarious bit about women creating their own country - and religion - in the Middle East.

In light of the Muslim world being upset over the photo of two British women in front of the Temple Mount, I bring you the women's holy place:

The entire, politically incorrect sketch:

The Daily Show - Libya Majora
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Latest stupid PalArab/leftist rumor: "Operation Scorching Summer"

Over the past few hours, lots of Palestinian and leftist sites have been repeating a rumor that looks like this:

Israel have just announced that "Operation Scorching Summer" will resume tonight. The UN have evacuted all their staff, and 1.5 million people are preparing for another massacre.

It seems to have started on a Facebook page called "Breaking News Gaza" and it got copied all over the place. The most prominent website behind it seems to be "Occupied Palestine", claiming it was on Israel's Channel 2.

Of course, this is completely ridiculous.

If you actually need proof that it is not true, meaning if you actually believe that the IDF announces its attacks on TV a day ahead of time, just look at the website that is dedicated to the safety of NGOs in Gaza. If the UN was evacuating, they would be telling all their people.

Of course, they are not.

But just for fun, Google it or search Twitter. See how unbelievably gullible the Israel haters are, and how easily rumors can spread among the idiots who hate Israel. Not to mention how litte regard they have for the truth to begin with.

Or, if you want, make up a scary graphic so they can make themselves look even dumber when they start spreading it:

(h/t Cesar)

Egyptians mull stopping US aid

Today on Radio Ahram, the subject was whether Egypt should stop accepting the $2 billion it received annually from the US. That aid had been meant to keep Egypt friendly to the US and to keep its part of the peace agreement with Israel.

The comments on the web are generally in favor of stopping the aid, and stopping agreements with Israel such as the natural gas deal.

One commenter says, not unreasonably, that if Egypt recovers the money that was stolen by the Mubarak regime every year, that could offset US aid. Of course, this presupposes that the new regime in Egypt won't be as corrupt as the last one.

Now, the better question is should Israel wean itself from US aid, and therefore US pressure?

Hamas takes credit for bombing schoolbus

Hamas' Al Qassam Brigades English webpage says:

Gaza-Ezzedeen Al Qassam Briades (E.Q.B) the military wing of the Islamic resistance movement Hamas declared in a military communiqué released on Thursday April 7, 201l the full responsibility for the operation of targeting Israeli bus traveling in the nearby Israeli settlement of Kfar Sa’ad east of Gaza Strip.

The operation left two Israeli settlers injured, one of them was in a critical condition and evacuated by the Israeli medical crews to Soroka hospital.

They include a few photos of the bombed bus.

Unlike previous communiques, Hamas is not even claiming that this was a military target.

The Arabic version of the communique said they attacked "infidel Zionist usurpers."

Hamas brags that it targets civilians. Which means, according to the bizarre logic of "human rights groups," there is no need to write reports and issue lots of press releases condemning them.

Western media doesn't mention Rio terrorist was a Muslim (updated)

From AP, a story that you can find all over in English:

A gunman opened fire at a public elementary school in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday and killed at least 11 students before killing himself.

Earlier, police said at least 13 people died in the shooting, but Rio state Health Secretary Sergio Cortes said 10 girls and one boy were killed, along with the gunman. The ages of the children were not immediately known.

Officials said the 23-year-old gunman was a former student at the Tasso da Silveira school, located in a working-class neighborhood in western Rio. A motive was not immediately known, but authorities said the man left a rambling and mostly incoherent letter at the scene indicating he wanted to kill himself.

I had to go to Al Arabiya to find out that he was a convert to Islam, that the letter said that Islam was the true religion and that the letter glorified terrorism and suicide bombings.

Brazilian media is frightened of a growing Islamist movement associated with Al Qaeda that is operation in South America, according to Al Arabiya.

Whether Islam had anything to do with his actions remains to be seen. It seems, though, that the English-language media has already decided that his fascination with Islamist terror is not an important detail to mention in the thousands of stories already published on the incident.

UPDATE: Serjew comments:

I´ve just seen a part of the letter left by the murderer, and it´s not clear from it that he was muslim. Though that part mentions his desire of a burial with some islamic traits, it later says he expects to be resurrected by the coming of Jesus.

So, till now, it just seems he was a religious fundamentalist nut, maybe evangelical, maybe not.

Al Arabiya is pretty clear that he was a convert, but he might not have quite gotten the concept....

UPDATE 2: Renguinho adds:

I'm Brazilian and I've been following this story the whole day (though not quite closely). It seems the bits of info that the shooter was HIV-positive and Muslim were rumours (the first was said by a politician, a "vice-mayor"). I've read the whole letter and it doesn't mention anything Islamic. (The obsession with cleaning and purity etc. cannot be attributed to Islamism on his part, since he mentions Jesus later on).

However, ..his sister told the media that he was "obsessed with Muslim things" (that was what the media was reporting, that she said that). If he was "obsessed" or something like that with some religion, no common person would say, out of the blue, that it was with Muslim religion if that person didn't hear/see for certain that it was Muslim - they'd say "church", "evangelical" etc. (in Brazil). I mean, that is very specific and the general common Brazilian person don't even know what "Muslim" or Islam is. And she said, together with that mention of Islam, that he'd grown a long beard the last time she saw him.

Beats me.

Explosion near Chabad House in Santa Monica (updated)

From LA Times blog:

A device believed to be a pipe bomb exploded about 6:45 a.m. Thursday in the parking lot of a Jewish temple in Santa Monica, authorities said.

No details were available regarding injuries or damage.

The incident occurred at a synagogue near 17th Street and Broadway in Santa Monica. Police evacuated a four-block area and were investigating the possibility of a hate crime.

[Updated at 9:50 a.m.: Multiple sources familiar with the investigation said the device exploded just north of the temple. Authorities were trying to determine whether the temple in the 1400 block of 17th Street, Chabad House of Santa Monica, was specifically targeted.

There were no reports of injuries.

The FBI, Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad and Santa Monica Police were all on scene.]

UPDATE:

An explosion that sent an object hurtling onto the roof of a home near a Jewish school and prayer house on Thursday was an accident — not a bomb, police said.

Sgt. Jay Trisler said a mechanical failure caused a pressure buildup resulting in the blast at about 6:45 a.m. Thursday.

(h/t Dusty)

UPDATE: It was a bomb, and it looks like it was set off by a Jew. More at YWN.

US embassy convoy attacked in southern Lebanon

From iLoubnan:

US embassy officials visiting south Lebanon Thursday were attacked, but unhurt, by residents accusing them of being "Israeli conspirators," in the second such incident in a week, an AFP correspondent said.

Around 60 supporters of leftist groups gathered outside a government office in the port city of Sidon and pelted an embassy convoy with stones as it drove by, with some shouting "Americans, Israeli conspirators, in our government offices."

On Saturday, Lebanese youths threw stones and bottles at a US embassy group that was visiting Sidon.

Lebanese security forces accompanying the Americans intervened, but stones continued to be thrown, breaking car windows. The army then arrived and arrested three of the attackers. Again, there were no injuries.

South Lebanon is the heartland of the country's Shiite Hezbollah militia, and saw heavy fighting in the short but sharp summer war of 2006 between the group and Israeli forces.

On Monday, the United States warned its citizens against traveling to Lebanon "due to current safety and security concerns."

Report: Syria grants citizenship to Kurds

From Now Lebanon:

President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday granted citizenship to Syria's Kurds, the majority in the northeast who have been denied nationality for nearly half a century, said SANA state news agency.

"President Assad issued a decree granting Arab Syrian citizenship to people registered as foreigners in the [governorate of Hassake]," said the news agency.

The measure, which would benefit about 300,000 Kurds, comes a week after Assad tasked a committee with "resolving the problem of the 1962 census in the governorate of Hassake."

Kurds in Syria’s northeast took to the streets last Friday for the first time since pro-reform protests erupted in mid-March, calling for the right to citizenship and "freedom as well," Kurdish rights activist Radif Mustafa told AFP.

This is interesting, as apparently Assad really doesn't want to have the Kurds pressuring him on top of the other protesters.

Of course, Palestinians in Syria have no chance of becoming citizens, and if they start protesting Assad will happily, but quietly, slaughter them.

Israel deploys Iron Dome for Ashkelon

Various tweets and reports are coming in saying that Iron Dome successfully intercepted two Grad missiles aimed at Ashkelon.

Tweets say that this is being reported by Fox News and Reuters. JPost here.

Full Ha'aretz report.

As many as 50 rockets have been shot from Gaza to Israel today.

"Obscene pictures with Al Aqsa in the background"

The Al Aqsa Heritage Foundation has found a new thing to seethe over: Two British women.

Trinny and Susannah were two of the stars of the British TV show, "What Not to Wear." Since then they have been working on other TV projects, and they are now touring Israel, presumably to help people who have little fashion sense.

Israel's Channel 10 is carrying their Israeli adventures, and after they did a Tel Aviv episode they are ready to do one in Jerusalem.

The Al Aqsa Foundation is very upset over their Channel 10 advertisement, saying it is an obscene picture with Al Aqsa as the backdrop.

Here's their ad:

They are offended that the holy site is being used for fashion, and demanded that the media stop publishing such ads.

They emphasized that the ads offend a billion and a half Muslims. They also reminded the Arab world that previously, Israel has placed similar pictures on sugar packets and wine bottles.

This might put a crimp in my marketing plans for Elder of Ziyon Beer:

Egyptian hypocrites pretend to care about Gazan human rights

Palestine Times reports that Egyptian foreign minister Nabil el-Arabi stated that Egypt considers Gaza to be one of its biggest priorities.

El-Arabi was speaking at a press conference with his Austrian counterpart, Michael Spindelegger.

He said, "We consider the situation in Gaza is a priority for Egypt, especially because what was happening is not acceptable from a human rights perspective."

Here's an idea: Egypt can allow Gazans to freely choose to become Egyptian citizens! After all, we know that many Gazans want to become Egyptian citizens, but Egyptian law discriminates against Palestinian Arabs from among all Arabs in its naturalization laws. Egypt has other laws that discriminate specifically against Palestinians as well.

If Egypt is so concerned with the human rights of Gazans, why not allow their brethren who want to move to Egypt to do so freely? Why not eliminate the discriminatory laws in effect in Egypt today?

Why not stop being such hypocrites?

Gaza terrorists fire anti-tank missile at school bus, teen critically injured (update)

From JPost:

An anti-tank missile shot from the Gaza Strip exploded near a school bus outside Kibbutz Sa'ad in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council on Thursday, injuring two people.

The bus driver was listed in moderate condition, and one 16-year-old passenger was critically injured. They were the only people on the bus.

Magen David Adom paramedics were fighting for the 16-year-old's life as he was being transported to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.

Police sealed off roads in the area due to the threat of additional projectile fire. Civilians in the area were asked to remain in their homes.

The flip side of Israel's successful deployment of anti-tank missile defenses: now Gaza terrorists have all these wonderful anti-tank missiles that can no longer hurt tanks.

So, naturally, they change their targets to school buses.

UPDATE: 16 rockets and mortars were fired at southern Israel. And it was later revealed that the injured boy was 13 years old.

He suffered head injuries and is in surgery.

So was a Hamas biggie killed in Sudan?

Ma'an writes:

Palestinian security officials said that target in what has been alleged to be an Israeli strike on Sudan was the successor to assassinated Hamas official Mahmoud Mabhouh.

Abdul-Latif Ashkar, one of two men killed in a strike on a car in Sudan, is said to have taken over the role of weapons gathering formerly carried out by Mabhouh, who was assassinated by Israeli intelligence officials in a Dubai hotel room last year.

Hamas Deputy Politburo Chief Moussa Abu Marzouq, however, told the Jerusalem daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper that the two "were not Palestinian and had no connection to Hamas."

While Sudanese media said both victims were nationals of the country, daily London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Arabiya said one of the victims was a national of an Arab country, and said the man was involved in arms smuggling for Hamas.

YNet says that Hamas relatives are denying that Ashkar was killed:

Member of the Palestinian legislative council from Hamas Ismail Ashkar announced Thursday that his nephew Abdul Latif Ashkar survived the Port Sudan strike on Tuesday. Al-Arabiya reported earlier that Abdul Latif, who is considered Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's heir, was one of the victims.

The legislator stressed that his nephew is doing well. "God saved him," he said. Ashkar described Abdul Latif as a prominent leader in Hamas's military wing who had escaped several attempts on his life.

Either way, this means that Hamas is pretty much admitting that it is smuggling arms in from Sudan. Why else would Ashkar be there to begin with?

Morning links

Ray Cook has a great analysis of Goldstone's op-ed.

The Volokh Conspiracy shows how deceptive HRW and Amnesty are in claiming that they never said Israel intentionally targeted civilians.

Joshuapundit notes that the new head of the Democratic National Congress is a J-Street groupie.

Is Spain the most anti-semitic country in Europe?

Concerns about an Islamic chair at Huron College

The Muqata looks at Shimon Peres' goal of giving away the strategically important Golan - for what?

A Russian Jewish billionaire wants to create a pro-Israel news channel. Hire me!

J'lem pipe bomb attack was Hamas operation

From YNet:

Police and Shin Bet forces arrested five residents of the Sur Baher village in east Jerusalem for suspected involvement in Hamas operations. One man is suspected of placing a trash bag containing a pipe bomb in a Jerusalem road which caused a municipal worker to lose his hand in early March.

The Shin Bet claims that Muhammad Dwiyat confessed to preparing a pipe bomb meant to detonate at a hitchhiker's station in Gilo which serves Gush Etzion and Mount Hebron residents. The Shin Bet said that Dwiyat eventually decided to throw the explosives insie a bush in the Hebron Road in Jerusalem.

The pipe bomb was found by a Jerusalem Municipality sanitation worker who was hit after the bomb exploded. One of his hands was partially amputated.

A lot of people have assumed that the deadly bus bombing in Jerusalem was related to this earlier pipe bomb attack. The fact that he intended to explode the device at a hitchhiker's station seems to lend credence to this idea.

"If the price is right"

Ha'aretz thinks it has a scoop:

Danny Dayan, the chairman of the Yesha Council of West Bank settlements, told U.S. officials that some settlers would be willing to move to Israel proper in exchange for financial compensation, according to confidential State Department cables obtained by WikiLeaks.

His statements, which were made in closed-door meetings with U.S. diplomats in Israel in recent years, came in response to questions about a potential evacuation-compensation bill in the Knesset. When asked about the issue, Dayan replied: "I'm an economist, and I know that some people will take it if the price is right."

Guess what?

Some people who write for Ha'aretz would move to "occupied" Ariel if the price was right as well!

In both cases, the price would have to be steep to get people to move out of their homes and move elsewhere. This is not a big revelation, if you are being honest with yourself - which is something that Dayan is doing with his statement.

The difference is that a very significant percentage of Jews in Judea and Samaria do live there for ideological reasons, and they aren't going anywhere for any price. Look at how few Jews from Gaza took the money initially - and Gaza does not have nearly the importance to Judaism that the heart of the Land of Israel does.

Ha'aretz does not link to the actual cable, showing its lack of journalistic standards again, as other newspapers who received the cables generally had no problem showing the full text in context so people can make up their own minds. The cable is not at any of the Wikileaks sites I can find - I cannot find any new releases since March 25. The article claims that Dayan was inconsistent with his messages between American leaders and Jews in Judea and Samaria concerning illegal outposts, and that settler leaders are against vigilantes attacking Arabs at random.

More at Israel Matzav

UPDATE: Dayan tells Arutz-7:

"The main thing I said [at the meeting with American officials cited by Wikileaks] and on many other occasions," Dayan said today, "is that even if they offer bribes up to the sky, the number of people who will agree to accept it will be negligible – but that, Haaretz didn't say."

So maybe that's why Ha'aretz isn't releasing the actual memos! Al Jazeera and the Guardian assumed that no one would read them and show they were lying in their Wikileaks articles, but Ha'aretz evidently doesn't want to open up that possibility.

Israeli winery wins international competition

From AFP:

A young Israeli winemaker stood out among a pool of more than a thousand competitors to take the Wine ‘World Cup' in Italy.

Golan Heights Winery, founded in 1983 in Katzrin, Israel, beat thousands of winemakers over the weekend to take the top spot as the best wine producer in the world at the International Wine Competition. The award was announced just ahead of the 45th annual Vinitaly conference in Verona, Italy, an international wine show that attracts 47,000 visitors every year.

The award is presented to the producer who achieves the best overall results at the show, calculated as the sum of the highest scores for two wines which take medals in different categories. A panel of 105 oenologists and wine journalists participated in the judging.

The 3720 wines submitted came from 30 countries including Australia, Austria, Canada, Chile, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Venezuela.

Though the Israeli winemaker has won awards at Vinitaly in the past -- Grand Gold Medals in 2004 and 2006 -- this year's win marks the first time the Gran Vinitaly Special Award was bestowed to an Israeli wine-maker.

The chief winemaker for Golan Heights Winery is Victor Schoenfeld, a graduate of the University of California at Davis, who works alongside professional winemakers educated in California, Burgundy and Bordeaux. The wines are produced under three labels -- Yarden, Gamla and Golan --and are aged in oak barrels.

So now you now the types of wine to find for your Seder table.

Unlikely ice hockey champions - from Israel

I had missed this story last month:

An Israeli hockey team of children ages 11 to 13 took first place in an international tournament recently, beating 91 other teams – all without ever stepping on the ice prior to competition.

The kids, mostly from Bat Yam and Rishon Lezion, dreamed of practicing their hockey moves at a real hockey rink with real ice. Unfortunately the only hockey rink in the entire State of Israel is located up north in Metula, so the inventive team decided to play street hockey instead using rollerblades.

The team, consisting of 17 Israelis, recently competed in a Canadian tournament. They call themselves "The Bat Yam Club" despite the fact that the group members also come from Rishon Lezion as well as two other children from Ma'alot who regularly play ice hockey on real ice.

Many of the teams which took part in the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament 2011 came from countries where ice hockey is very popular and played by tens of thousands of kids, including: Canada, the United States, Finland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and more.

Israel was considered to be an underdog in the competition due to the fact that Israeli kids, unlike most of the children participating, only practice their hockey moves on dry ground using rollerblades instead of hockey skates. The Israeli team gets to play at the ice rink in Metula only a few times a year.

"We had five tournament matches, including the final match, and we won them all. The tournament organizers couldn't believe these kids, who barely even know what real ice hockey looks like," said Aaron Aharonovich, chairman of the Rishon Lezion hockey club.

That old black magic is in danger in Saudi Arabia

From Arab News, a story that never gets old:

A total of 30 officials of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia) have been trained on how to deal with cases of black magic.

The three-day training program was held in the Eastern Province city of Al-Ahsa.

The commission has achieved remarkable successes in combating black magic in various parts of the country. It has set up nine specialized centers in the main cities to deal with black magicians.

The majority of people arrested for practicing black magic in the Kingdom are Africans and Indonesians.

According to a report received by Arab News, a single specialized center had dealt with 586 cases involving black magic, showing the enormity of the problem.

About 50 cases were reported in Jeddah alone in the first half of 2009. Gurayat and Qunfuda also reported high rates of black magic cases during that year.

The Riyadh governorate last year launched a campaign against black magicians and those who illegally treat people by reading from the Qur’an.

Only qualified Saudis are allowed to practice Qur’anic treatment methods. Expatriates practicing such treatments would be caught and deported.

I've seen plenty of articles about how the Commission is fighting black magic, but I hadn't heard that there are certified Quranic witch doctors before!

Thanks to Allah, I found a webpage that could explain this to me more fully. The author says "I graduated from the US, from where I obtained MA degree in clinical psychology. (Spiritually Oriented Psychotherapy), too, I am qualified, since I have memorized the Holy Qur’an."

That site tells you all you need to know about how the Quran can heal you, but how black magic is evil. In fact, the entire reason the Jews did not follow the Prophet is because of a black magic spell! (More on the Jews here.)

I need to study it more fully so I can properly appreciate the role the Quran can play in curing various mental and physical problems. (This is not to be confused with camel urine, which cures other physical ailments.)

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar)