Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Italian "peace activist" kidnapped in Gaza (updated x3)

From JPost:

An Italian human rights activist was kidnapped in the Gaza Strip by the al-Qaida-linked radical terrorist group Tawhid wal-Jihad, the group announced on Thursday.

From Sky News

The radical Islamist terror organization Tawhid wal-Jihad announced on Thursday that it has kidnapped an Italian human rights activist in the Gaza Strip, Israel Radio reported.

According to sources in the Strip, Victorio Larginoni arrived on one of the first flotillas to Gaza several years ago and has been living there since, according to the report.

In a video released by the group, the captive can be seen blindfolded with his hands tied. Tawhid made an ultimatum to Hamas that if it doesn't release one of its senior members by 5 p.m. Friday, that it will execute the Italian national, Israel Radio reported.

The ISM admitted that he is one of theirs.

His name is spelled Vittorio Arrigoni, and his anti-Israel articles are all over the Internet, mostly in Italian.

UPDATE: Here's the video (h/t Israellycool)

UPDATE 2: Here's a blog post where our prisoner complains that the French Foreign Minister expressed solidarity with Gilad Shalit. You know, the other person being held prisoner in Gaza, one that Vittorio did not have much sympathy for.

He signs off that post with "Stay human and angry!"

It sounds like his kidnappers are taking the second half of that statement quite seriously.

His Facebook page has lots of vile anti-Israel photos.

UPDATE 3: He was found dead.

An Arab land, occupied

There is a land that has been populated by Arabs since the Muslim conquest.

In the 20th century, it was occupied and annexed by non-Arabs.

Now its Arab inhabitants are discriminated against. They have few political rights and their services and infrastructure are substandard. They suffer poverty and their children are malnourished. Water from the area is being diverted to the occupiers, causing severe shortages.

Not only that, but land has been confiscated from the Arab inhabitants, and some have been forced to move out of their homeland. The occupiers are building industries in this land that are meant to take away its own natural resources. Moreover, the occupying power has moved its own citizens into this traditionally Arab land as well.

Protesters against this discrimination and injustice have been beaten and killed. Hundreds have been arrested. Collective punishment has been meted against entire communities for the actions of some demonstrators.

Where are these violations of humanitarian law taking place?

In Al Ahwaz, in Iran:

The historic claim of the Ahwazi Arabs to their Arab homeland is solid. Al Ahwaz was once a thriving province of Mesopotamia known for its Muslim scholars, poets and artists. From the mid-7th century until the mid 13th century, its people were ruled variously by Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs, their numbers swelled by Arab tribes from the Arabian Peninsula. A Mongol-invasion devastated most of Al Ahwaz that was later occupied by the founder of the Timurid Empire Tamerlane and his successors until the early 16th century when it fell to the Persian Safavid Dynasty.

Al Ahwaz came to be known as the semi-autonomous region of ‘Arabistan' towards the end of the 16th century when it received an influx of Arab tribes from southern Iraq as well as a clan of the powerful Bani Ka'ab with origins in Central Arabia.

... On the cusp of 20th century, oil was discovered around Mohammerah when the British founded the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and entered into an oil exploration treaty with Shaikh Jabir's son Khaz'al. The UK guaranteed Arabistan's security and agreed payments to both Shaikh Khaz'al and the Shah of Iran.

What should have been a blessing for the Ahwaz Arabs was a curse. When Shaikh Khaz'al realised that Reza Shah's ambitions extended to Arabistan's oil wealth, he asked the British to defend the Ahwazi people and back their homeland's independence as an Arab state. Forced to choose, Britain reneged on its treaty with Khaz'al and supported the Shah.

Betrayed by the UK, in 1924, Khaz'al put his case before the League of Nations, but it was rejected.

With Britain's help, Reza Shah gained absolute control over the territory when he changed its name to Khuzistan.

...Tehran has discriminated against the Arabs of Al Ahwaz since their homeland's occupation and annexation by the Shah; they are being treated as third-class citizens, abandoned to primitive living standards and without even the basic political rights.

The Director of the Ahwaz Education and Human Rights Foundation, Karim Abdian, highlighted the Ahwazi plight in the UN. He explained that the Ahwazi population suffers from a shortage of drinking water, electricity, plumbing, telephone and sewage. Fifty per cent live in absolute poverty, while some 80 per cent of children are malnourished.

The dispossessed Ahwazi Arabs are under-represented in parliament and accuse the Iranian government of racially-based political and economic prejudice, which is why some groups are calling for Al Ahwaz to be liberated and recognised as an independent Arab state. However, the government is attempting to manipulate demographics by setting-up self-contained farming settlements and bringing in Persians to work there.

It is believed that the government is also trying to eradicate the Ahwazi culture. Iranian authorities will not register birth certificates to Arab new-borns unless they assume Persian names. Schools in Al Ahwaz are barred from teaching Arabic, which is also banned from parliament and ministries. Arabic media is forbidden in the territory. Journalists who write against this cultural barbarism are routinely imprisoned.

In 2007, six Ahwazi Arabs were subjected to kangaroo courts and put on death row on charges of converting to Sunni Islam, giving their children Sunni names, flying the all-white Ahwazi Arab flag, and as "enemies of God". Those and similar rigged trials have been condemned by the European Union, the UN and numerous human rights organisations.

Amnesty International says:

Land expropriation by the Iranian authorities is reportedly so widespread that it appears to amount to a policy aimed at dispossessing Arabs of their traditional lands. This is apparently part of a strategy aimed at the forcible relocation of Arabs to other areas while facilitating the transfer of non-Arabs into Khuzestan and is linked to economic policies such as zero interest loans which are not available to local Arabs.

In October 2005, a letter came to light, dated 9 July 2005, in which the Arvand Free Trade Zone Organization outlined plans for the confiscation of 155 km², including Arab land and villages, to provide for the establishment of the Arvand Free Trade Zone between Abadan and the Iraqi border.(9) All those living within this area will have their land confiscated. Under Iranian law, no challenge can be made to the confiscation, only to the amount of compensation offered, which in other schemes is reported to have been as little as one fortieth of the market value.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing said in an interview(10)following his visit to Iran in July 2005:

…when you visit Ahwaz…there are thousands of people living with open sewers, no sanitation, no regular access to water, electricity and no gas connections… why is that? Why have certain groups not benefited? ... Again in Khuzestan, …we drove outside the city about 20 km and we visited the areas where large development projects are coming up - sugar cane plantations and other projects along the river - and the estimate we received is that between 200,000 - 250,000 Arab people are being displaced from their villages because of these projects. And the question that comes up in my mind is, why is it that these projects are placed directly on the lands that have been homes for these people for generations? I asked the officials, I asked the people we were with. And there is other land in Khuzestan where projects could have been placed which would have minimised the displacement.

He also referred to attempts by the government to transfer non-Arabs into the area, as in the case of Shirinshah, a new town mainly populated by non-Arab inhabitants from Yazd province, and highlighted the discrepancy between the wealth generated from the oil resources of Khuzestan and the very deprived Arab neighbourhoods he saw.

According to Al Arabiya, Iran has stepped up its war against Khuzestan separatists in recent days, and hundreds are missing.

Where are the human rights protesters, the boycotters, the op-eds, the enraged college activists so concerned over the human rights of millions of Arabs? Where are the dozens of organizations dedicated to fighting injustice? Where are the UN agencies dedicated to the cause of Al Ahwaz? Where are the calls by the White House and the EU for an independent Arabistan/Al Ahwaz?

Why can I not find a single mention of Khuzestan, or Arabistan, or Al Ahwaz in any of the thousands of Wikileaks State Department documents so far released?

Most importantly, where are the Arab nations who are turning their backs on their own people being persecuted? Why isn't this issue being brought up at every meeting with Western leaders?

Why indeed?

Peres Center supports US imposing solution on Israel

From Israel Behind The News, by David Bedein:

At the J Street conference, Dr. Ron Pundak, director of the Peres Centre for Peace addressed the J-Street Conference, and viewed as the representative of Israeli President Shimon Peres, referred to PA President Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad as a “dream ticket,” saying that Israel “will not find better leaders working for peace.”

Pundak indicated that he believed that Israel should arrive at an agreement with this “dream ticket,” - without delay - but that “unfortunately we do not have on our side a similar dream team”. President Peres indeed dispatched a letter of greeting, to J Street, dated February 26, 2011.
...
Pundak added that “The Peres Center very much supports the activities of J-Street”, confirming that the Peres Center is one of the “participating organizations” at the conference.

Pundak went on to say that the Peres Center would join the J Street effort to favor an Obama initiative to impose a solution.

Pundak criticized “the person in the White house” for “doing nothing” to make a two state solution to become reality. He also said that Obama should take action in the very near future. When asked why he was calling on Obama to impose a solution on the parties, rather than getting out on the streets and working to convince Israelis of his position and cause his government to fall, Pundak replied: “But, how do we do it?"

Pundak added that, ‘This is also an international interest not only our interest. We don’t have a government which is willing to move forward so we need to impose something.”

So the organization that represents the President of Israel officially believes that Israelis do not know what is best for them, and that outside parties must force the country to do what a minority believes is best.

(h/t Mike)

Isabel Kershner continues to claim that Hamas fighters were civilian

From I-Consult, a follow-up of this story I had linked to yesterday:

Yesterday's posting raised the question of the number of Gaza civilians killed in the latest round of the Hamas-Israel war. The Times claimed "about half" of the 18 dead were civilians. In response, and after researching the background of each casualty, this blog concluded that only five were civilians (and at least four of them were in close proximity to rocket launches). The other 13 were fighters.

In response, the New York Times correspondent, Isabel Kershner, emailed today:

"You appear to base your assertion that four of them were Qassam fighters on a report from the Maan news agency. Our Gaza correspondent reported at the time that three of them were in fact non-combatants, but civilians collecting gravel from the old airport. There were two incidents of Israeli fire in the area that afternoon, one which killed a Hamas fighter, and another that killed the other three men."
"Our Gaza correspondent has re-checked his information and says that the three are widely regarded in Gaza as having been non-combatants. No militant group has claimed them as members, which would be highly unusual if they indeed belonged to one. I personally have checked the Iz al-Din al-Qassam Arabic website, where fallen 'resistance fighters,' or Mujahadin, are honored. Only one is honored as having been killed on April 7 -- Saleh al-Tarabin."

PCHR reported the incident this way:

According to primary information made available to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), at approximately 16:00 on Thursday, 07 April 2011, Israeli forces targeted areas surrounding Gaza International Airport; Israeli forces positioned along the border fired approximately 10 artillery shells, while Apache helicopters opened machine gun fire. The Airport is located in the far southeast of Rafah city, in the southern Gaza Strip. A number of the artillery shells landed near three Palestinian civilians who were sitting near the Airport. Two of them were killed immediately and the third civilian died of his wounds on the evening of the same day. The dead are:

1. Mohammed Eyada Eid al-Mahmoum, 25;
2. Khaled Ismail Hamdan al-Dabari; 17;
3. Saleh Jarmi Ateya al-Tarabin, 38, who died of his wounds in Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis city.

We already know, and Kershner admits, that Tarabin was a Hamas Al Qassam member. We know from PCHR that all three of them were together.

We also know that Hamas does not create martyr pages immediately after people are killed. Sometimes they wait years.

Now, let's look at the Hamas-affiliated Palestine Times newspaper's reporting of an Al Qassam member who died of his wounds this morning - from the same attack at Rafah.

The death of Mahdi Abu Mujahid Qassam Athra was announced on Thursday 14/04/2011.He died from injuries he suffered in the Zionist bombing targeted a group of fighters east of Rafah a week ago.

Abu Athra was wounded on Thursday 07/04/2011 from a Zionist artillery bombardment that targeted a group of insurgents in the "Fork" district east of Rafah, resulting in the immediate death of 3 members of the Qassam Brigades, and Abu Athra was critically injured, so his death was announced today.

Here is a Hamas website that is agreeing with Ma'an in saying that the entire group of people targeted were fighters, and now we know that two of the four killed were claimed as "martyrs" by Hamas. The thought that the other two were civilians, hanging out with Hamas members at the airport, is untenable, especially in light of the Palestine Times and Ma'an reports.

Kershner's source is not reliable, and the PCHR is proven again to lie about civilian casualties.

Report: Hamas stopping rockets

The (anti-Hamas) Palestine Press Agency reports that Hamas has been actively stopping rocket fire from Gaza.

Starting yesterday, plainclothes Hamas members have been seeking out and stopping other parties from firing rockets, arresting them and placing them into "secret detention centers." They have been stopping and inspecting vehicles along the border, according to the report, all to enforce the current "truce."

The pro-Fatah PalPress is generally accurate, although it has to rely on unofficial sources in Gaza. But it also tries to portray Hamas as colluding with the Zionist enemy, a charge that Hamas regularly hurls at Fatah.

Work accident! Plus more good news!

From Ma'an:

The armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine said one of the group's fighters was killed Thursday morning, when an explosive device detonated while the young man was on a "jihad mission," a statement said.

It is the second accidental death of a Gaza resistance fighter reported in as many days, following the death of an Al-Qassam brigadesman in Khan Younis on Wednesday.

A DFLP statement said National Resistance Brigades fighter Khader Abu Elbeh, 22, was seriously wounded during an operation west of the Jabaliya area in the northern Gaza Strip and later died of his injuries.

Palestine Times had reported that Elbeh mishandled a hand grenade and it exploded. But unless there is a public announcement that he was on a "jihad mission," he might miss out on his 70 virgins.

The dead Al Qassam member, on the other hand, had the misfortune to die in a traffic accident.

In other good news, one of the Hamas terrorists injured by an Israeli airstrike last week in Rafah has joined the virgins as well. PalTimes says that he was among a group of fighters.

But PCHR claimed that every air strike in Rafah last week was against "civilians."

Suburb of Sydney boycotts Israel; cost to taxpayers: $3.7 million

From The Australian:

A MOVE by a Greens-controlled council in Sydney's inner west to boycott goods and services from Israel will cost ratepayers at least $3.7 million and force the council to abandon Holden cars and Hewlett-Packard computers, among many other disruptions.

The stark warning on the cost of the council's decision to support the global boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign earlier this year is contained in a paper by the council's manager of services, Gary Moore, which is due for discussion next week and has been obtained by The Australian.

Marrickville, the only council in Australia that has approved an Israel boycott, has been a hotbed of political controversy since its Greens Mayor Fiona Byrne said she would push for a statewide version of the Israel boycott if elected to the NSW lower house at last month's election.

Mr Moore's paper details goods and services the council would have to forgo in order to comply with its directive, such as Hewlett Packard computers, Holden and Volvo cars, telephones and other equipment from Motorola and concrete from Fulton Hogan.

These companies, according to the council's original motion to join the global BDS movement, "support or profit from the Israeli military occupation of Palestine".

The report estimates the cost of replacing certain IT assets at $3.5m, and the annual cost of using a different concrete supplier at $250,000. It does not attempt to estimate the cost of replacing vehicles, and says changing waste-disposal service providers may not even be possible.

Mr Moore's paper admits staff have been unable to fully research ties between companies providing goods to the council and Israel and have largely relied on www.whoprofits.org - an anti-Israel website.

Independent councillor Victor Macri described the boycott plan as ludicrous. "We weren't elected to do this; we were elected to look after the streets and trees and pick up garbage," Mr Macri said.

"People vote federally to direct foreign policy. A boycott of Israel will hurt Marrickville ratepayers far more than it will Israel."

Rarely have BDSers had the opportunity to look so stupid in front of so many.

(h/t Faith)

Gaza accuses IDF of deliberately shooting a shell INTO a water tank

From Middle East Monitor:

The Municipality of Gaza has criticized the Israeli occupation forces for targeting drinking water sources in the Gaza Strip as part of a deliberate policy. The municipality mentioned specifically the fact that Israeli forces attacked Al Mintar water tank and polluted its contents.

"Israeli tanks targeted Al Mintar water tank in Qibah, which supplies the eastern parts of the Shujaiyah neighbourhood," said a spokesperson in a press release. An artillery shell landed in the 12-metre long reservoir; this not only contaminated the water but also forced the municipality to stop pumping water from the tank, causing a water crisis in the district. Water is now being pumped from another tank in an effort to ease the crisis but the municipality said that there is still a severe water shortage.

Such an attack, claims the municipality, amounts to a "crime against humanity". It called on the international community to take on the responsibility of curbing Israeli aggression against Gaza.

Sounds like a difficult shot to get an artillery shell to land inside a tank. Wouldn't it be easier just to bomb the thing? But those Jews are crafty, knowing that contaminating the water with an artillery shell will bring just the perfect amount of suffering to innocent Palestinian Arabs - no more, no less.

I tried to find this tank on Google Maps. This is the only round structure I could find in the Quba (Qibah) neighborhood:

It also happens to be one of the closest points to the Israeli border that has trees which could cover people shooting mortars or rockets. Here is how far the (possible) tank is from Nahal Oz in Israel (click to enlarge):

While the Gaza press statement and other reports didn't detail the date that the water tank was hit, just saying it happened over the weekend, Islamic Jihad announced that it shot six mortars directly at Nahal Oz on Friday night, 7:18 PM. Two more groups announced they shot mortars or rockets towards Nahal Oz on Sunday. The area around that structure is the perfect launch area.

But while Israel is under attack, no doubt the IDF is aiming its weapons to contaminate water inside a water tank, not at people shooting rockets. After all, it has to be guilty of "crimes against humanity," right?

(h/t Cesar)

A 250 year old Haggadah's wine stain

I just found this 1765 Haggadah on Google Books.

Note that the person using it in some long-ago seder put his cup of red wine on the bottom of this page, where it left a stain that remains there forever::

Iranian MPs want to ban dogs for being "unclean"

From Al Arabiya:

Dogs are “unclean” and should be banned from society. That is what 39 Iranian legislators have proposed to the country’s 290-member parliament, known as the Majlis.

Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that the parliamentarians suggesting the ban on dogs and other pets deemed as “unclean” want the proposed statute to be part the country’s general Islamic law.

If the law passes, dog owners will be banned from taking their pets out into public spaces and into vehicles. First-time offenders will be fined five million riyals (approximately $4800); they will be given 10 days to get rid of the dog. If they fail to do so, health authorities will be called in to take the dog away from its owner. It is unclear what would be done to the dog.

The health ministry has been asked to enforce the rules, as have city councils around the Islamic republic as well as the parliament’s culture committee, according to IRNA.

The 39 MPs say that other than canines being “unclean,” keeping dogs as pets goes against Iranian values. The practice, they said indicated the influence of Western culture.

Which of these creatures looks cleaner?

UPDATE: Challah Hu Akbar points us to this relevant photo:

"Palestine": The pyramid-scheme state

The recent report from the World Bank on how the PA is supposedly ready to become a state is an object lesson in wishful thinking replacing sober analysis. In fact, from all the data I can find, all of the wonderful economic indicators that are being tossed around are simply paper gains.

The PA has very little underlying economy outside of the money that is coming in by the billions from donors.

The World Bank report says this explicitly:

The economic growth observed in WB&G is arguably donor-driven, and sustainable growth remains hampered by Israeli restrictions on access to land, water, a range of raw materials, and export markets, to name a few. WB&G has experienced growth for the third year in a row, including a recent reduction in unemployment. It must be kept in mind, however, that the economy is rebounding from a low base, particularly in Gaza. In addition, the growth is mostly confined to the non-tradable sector and reflects the importance of donor aid in driving the Palestinian economy – though recent easing of restrictions by the Government of Israel has probably had a positive impact as well. Sustainable growth will require the unleashing of the private sector’s potential, including its ability to trade. And while unemployment has declined recently, it remains very high, especially for the youth – a fact inexorably tied with the stifled private sector.

The Palestinian Arabs aren't actually producing anything. And what little they produce is mostly going to Israel.

Thus, growth is mostly confined to the non-tradable sector and probably reflects the importance of donor aid in driving the Palestinian economy. Israel remains WB&G’s largest trading partner, yet in the first three quarters of 2010, exports of goods and services to Israel were only about US$480 million in nominal terms. This is only 6 percent higher than in the same period in 2009 and nearly 22 percent lower than in 2008. Since Gaza has been closed since mid-2007, these figures are not affected by the situation there. Consequently, the fact that growth has taken place recently despite the slowdown in exports to Israel probably reflects the importance of aid in driving growth.

The budget deficit is over a billion dollars a year, which has been made up by - donors.

More:

Because of the need to fund development projects for which designated aid was not received, the PA was forced to increase bank borrowing and accumulate arrears at an unsustainable rate. Net domestic bank financing increased by about US$84 million, with gross borrowing of US$200 million, so that at the end of 2010, total domestic debt stood at about US$840 million, which may be close to the PA’s borrowing limits. In 2010, the PA paid close to US$23 million in arrears in net lending, but it accumulated another US$144 million in new arrears. While most of this was to the pension system, about US$50 million was in non-wage and development spending. This suggests that some private providers of goods and services to the PA may be facing delayed payments.

The only good news has been an increase in tax revenues - not because there is a particularly larger tax base, but because the PA is now doing a better job at collecting taxes.

In the end, all of the promising indicators - the decrease in unemployment, decrease in poverty and similar - are directly because of donor aid, and to a smaller extent to Israeli policies.

But what about the future? What sort of a private-sector economy will the nascent state of "Palestine" have?

As a small open economy, the future Palestinian state will depend upon increasing trade, especially the export of high value added goods and services that exploit its comparative advantage arising from a relatively low wage but well educated workforce. Increasing trade and integration into the international markets will provide consumers access to a wider range of products at lower prices, while producers will benefit from higher prices found on the world market. The Palestinian market’s small size means that, without access to the world market, Palestinian producers will not be able to achieve minimum efficient scale. In addition, becoming competitive on the export market will force Palestinian producers to improve their productivity, thereby increasing employment, raising wages, and lowering poverty. Since 1967, trade in WB&G has been overwhelmingly oriented towards Israel. As of 2008, Israel accounted for nearly 89 percent of WB&G’s exports and 81 percent of imports. The majority of exports were for low value added goods that required a minimal level of processing. In order to achieve sustainable growth, the WB&G economy must increase overall trade, expand trade beyond the Israeli market, and increase the value added in exports. To do this, an appropriate trade policy regime must be in place, including the necessary institutional, regulatory, and physical infrastructure that will facilitate trade.

In other words, the Palestinian Arab economy has not adapted to survival in the real world. The World Bank says what must happen - but shows no indication that any of this is even on the drawing board.

What countries will buy the mythical Palestinian Arab goods? The obvious candidates would be the rest of the Arab world - but their own unskilled labor is cheaper than that of the PA. So what would the PA export to Europe or the Americas? What value added will the "well educated workforce" give to goods and services needed worldwide? Is there a serious initiative to build software companies, or R&D facilities? Because if the PA economy is dependent on selling tomatoes and olive oil, it will never be viable.

The World Bank glosses over these problems, instead insisting that a transparent monetary policy and an improving judicial system are somehow the only pre-requisites for a functioning state.

PA prime minister Salam Fayyad, who last year said that the PA could be financially independent by the end of 2013, just asked for another $5 billion over the next three years "to launch a Palestinian state."

The entire PA economy is a shell game, where donor money pays for basic needs but nothing is being done to actually build a functioning, independent state. It is wonderful that all the government is apparently not as corrupt as it was a few years ago, but that doesn't mean that the donor money is doing anything forward-looking. Fayyad's latest demand makes the PA economy a pyramid scheme as well, as the money coming tomorrow will keep propping up the untenable situation today. Meanwhile, there is no real economy, where people are actually building and growing and discovering and creating products that the world needs.

And these are just the economic problems with "Palestine." This doesn't even touch the much worse problems that it has.

UNRWA workers in Gaza on strike

UNRWA workers belonging to the "Union of Arab Employees" in Gaza re now on strike.

Schools, clinics and medical facilities are shut down.

Ma'an reports:

An estimated 11,500 employees of UNRWA's Gaza Strip sub-offices went on strike Wednesday morning, protesting the dismissal of a group of workers, and demanding permanent contracts for staff.

Certain employees of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, currently renew a one-year contract annually, and when a group of workers lost their jobs at the end of their contract, union officials threatened to strike.

The union called the strike for Wednesday, pulling teachers, doctors, maintenance staff, and security personnel from their posts, and keeping an estimated 220,000 students out of class.

Firas Press adds that the issues also include lack of respect for the "Palestinian judiciary" (this must mean Hamas courts, as the strike is in Gaza) and - if I am reading it right - workers being upset over the possibility of teaching about the Holocaust in UNRWA schools.

Another dopey Jewish college student opines on Israel

I wonder if you would look back at college newspaper articles written by today's political leaders, were they just as stupid as this sophomore named Jonathan Rich at the University of Georgia?

Zionist actions only spread anti-Semitism

In 1948, the state of Israel was declared in the land of Palestine.

Unfortunately, the indigenous population living in Palestine presented a problem for the Zionist desire for Jewish separatism.

As a result, 725,000 Palestinians were forcibly removed from their homes and sent into exile, according to Israeli historian Ilan Pappé.

Isn’t it ironic that Jews, who were exiled from Egypt in ancient times, were the ones doing the ethnic cleansing?

How dare those Egyptians exile their Jewish slaves! To the desert, no less!

I also love the imagery of Jewish soldiers dragging 725,000 people out of their homes. Amazing they found the time to defeat five Arab armies at the same time. But, hey, it is sourced by a "historian" who admits that he doesn't care about the truth, so it must be true!

Our esteemed editorialist, who says he is Jewish to buttress his credentials, goes on to flaunt his keen understanding of the subject:

If Israel accepted Palestinian refugees as equal citizens, it would force Jews to live and interact with gentiles. And Zionists will not allow that.

Yep, Israel has no gentiles. Certainly no Arabs, no Muslims, no Christians, no Baha'i, no Druze. it is an ethnically pure state, because Zionists will not allow any non-Jews to live there. Of course, they don't want to interact with those filthy goyim who happen to walk the same streets, shop the same stores, and act in the same TV shows.

After all, a Jew who doesn't even know the basic story of Passover says so!

You would think that a college student would be slightly embarrassed to display such sheer ignorance in public.

Well, looking at him...maybe not.

"Train Station" banners in German, Spanish, French

Thanks to Silke, Suso and Jean, here are the "train station" posters translated into German and Spanish. Click to enlarge.

After I did these, I saw that DO commented that he has translated these and a number of ElderToons into German himself.

Amnesty official threatens Zionist at anti-Israel event in London

You have to read this post on Richard Millett's blog. Excerpts:

Last night I went to Amnesty International for an event called Deliberate Discrimination Deliberate Deprivation: The Denial of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories chaired by Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty’s Campaign Manager.

There were five speakers who each gave a ten minute cameo talk on how Israel had stolen Palestinian land, had destroyed and stolen Palestinian water resources, had destroyed Palestinian health care, had destroyed the Palestinian education system and had destroyed Palestinian cultural and political life.

...[They displayed a photo that] was taken in 2003 and shows a Palestinian boy with a Magen David cut into his forearm. The caption reads:

“The soldier, checking student’s ability to bear pain, took a piece of glass and broke it and taking Qasem’s arm, cut into it a Star of David (April 30th 2003)”

After the event I wanted to discuss the provenance of this photo with Ala Abu Dheer. He shook my hand and invited me to visit Palestinian towns with him to show me how the Palestinians were living and promised to email me details of the case of the Palestinian boy.

He asked me what I would do about it and I told him I would try to get Israel to investigate. However, I said that if an Israeli had done this surely we would have seen the photo by now. I asked him what he would do about Hamas’ crimes.

Then events took a surreal turn. An Amnesty official went to get Kristyan Benedict who proceeded to tell Mr Abu Dheer that there was no point in talking to me as I was a war crimes denier. On the way out Kristyan proceeded to tell me, inter alia, that he would “smack me in my little bald head”. As you can hear he also suggested that I put it on my blog, so here it is:

And you can hear the audio of an Amnesty official threatening violence against someone whose views he disagrees with.

Will Amnesty apologize? Will Benedict be reprimanded or fired?

Or is the crime of being a supporter of Israel so heinous that peaceful proponents of human rights just can't help themselves?

So how many civilians were killed recently in Gaza?

Some great research by Lenny Ben-David at I-Consult:

There in the middle of a silly article about Justin Bieber's visit to Israel, The New York Times' Isabel Kershner goldstones Israel.
"Last Thursday, a 16-year-old Israeli boy was critically wounded by an antitank missile fired by Hamas militants at a school bus in [SIC] Gaza. That triggered days of intense exchanges of fire, during which 18 Palestinians, about half of them civilians, were killed."
So how much is "about half" of 18? How many dead civilians? Eight? Nine? Ten?

Actually, the real number of civilians killed is five. It's relatively easy to find out just by looking at Arab sources in English.  And according to Arab sources, four were in close proximity to terrorists firing missiles at Israel.

A list of the 18 dead can be found below and on the site of Muslim News. Next to the names, I identified them as "fighters" or "civilians."  That determination is based on linked articles in the Muslim News, the Palestinian Maan News Agency or Human Rights Watch.

1. Mahmoud Al Manasra, 50, Al Shijaeyya. Civilian
2. Mohammad Al Mahmoum, 25, Rafah.  Fighter
3. Mosab Al Sufi, 18, Rafah.  Fighter
4. Saleh Al Tarabeen, 38, Rafah.  Fighter
5. Khaled Ad-Dabary, 23, Rafah.  Fighter
6. Mo’taz Abu Jame’, Khan Younis.  Fighter
7. Abdullah Al Qarra, Khan Younis.  Fighter
8. Nidal Qdeih, 21, Khan Younis.  Civilian
9. Najah Qdeih, 48, Khan Younis.  Civilian
10. Talal Abu Taha, 55, Khan Younis.  Civilian
11. Raed Shihada, 27, northern Gaza.  Fighter
12. Bilal Al ‘Ar’ir, 23, Al Shijaeyya.  Fighter
13. Mahmoud Al Jaro, 10, Al Shijaeyya.  Civilian
14. Ahmad Ghorab, northern Gaza.  Fighter
15. Mohammad Awaja, Rafah.  Fighter
16. Taiseer Abu Sneima, Rafah.  Fighter
17. Ahmad Al Zeitouniyya, northern Gaza.  Fighter
18. Zuheir Al Bir, Al Zeitoun neighborhood – Gaza.  Fighter

Isabel Kershner promises to research it further, but I can tell you where she got her information from: PCHR.

The same PCHR that determined that so many known militants were "civilians" in Cast Lead seems to be doing the same for those killed now.

PCHR writes:

A number of the artillery shells landed near three Palestinian civilians who were sitting near the Airport. Two of them were killed immediately and the third civilian died of his wounds on the evening of the same day. The dead are:

1. Mohammed Eyada Eid al-Mahmoum, 25;
2. Khaled Ismail Hamdan al-Dabari; 17;
3. Saleh Jarmi Ateya al-Tarabin, 38, who died of his wounds in Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis city.

We see immediately that all three were fighters according to Ma'an, and I quickly found and linked to the Hamas Al Qassam obituary page for one of them, al-Tarabin. (So far I found 7 obituaries from those two days, but Hamas does not always post them all immediately; some obituaries are posted years after they are killed.)

PCHR is again trying to inflate the number of "civilians" killed.

Posters for European train stations

From YNet:

A Swiss court has ordered the state's national train service, the SBB, to allow a pro-Palestinian group to hang anti-Israeli posters in Zurich's central train station, the Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger reported on Tuesday.

The posters appeared to argue against Israel's right to exist. "Sixty-one years of Israel, 61 years of injustice," the sign read.

"A country without a people did not exist in the Middle East for the people without a country," it claimed. "Israel was established with violence on Palestinian land. The injustice demands resistance!"

From what I can tell, these aren't even paid ads - just banners that Israel haters put up.

Here it is (h/t Dicker):

So why can't the Zionists in Switzerland - and elsewhere in Europe - put up some banners that tell the truth? (I'll be happy to translate them to other languages if someone gives me the text.)

How Israel must respond to the threat of a unilateral "Palestine"

From NYT:

The United Nations praised Palestinian Authority efforts at strengthening its institutions in a report on Tuesday, describing aspects of its governance as sufficient for an independent state.

In the six areas where the United Nations is most engaged — governance, rule of law and human rights; livelihoods; education and culture; health; social protection; and infrastructure and water — it said that the authority’s “functions are now sufficient for a functioning government of state.”

The report said that the Palestinian economy was helped by Israeli measures to facilitate movement and access, but that further steps were needed.

“I believe Israel needs to roll back measures of occupation to match the PA’s achievements,” Robert Serry, the United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said in a statement. “I also stress the urgent need for Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations on a two-state solution to resume, if the state-building and political tracks are to come together by September.”

The report itself also says:

[T]he institutional achievements of the Palestinian statebuilding agenda are approaching their limits within the political and physical space currently available, precisely at the time that it is approaching its target date for completion.

Notice that Serry's formulation is not that Israel should reward the PA for acting against incitement, or for negotiating in good faith, or for acting to ensure Israel's security needs are met. No, the UN holds that Israel should unilaterally give more and more to the PA so that they can screw Israel and hundreds of thousands of Israelis by unilaterally declaring a state.

Let's look at what Israel has done over the past year to help the PA.

In a report released today (available at the moment here, I received a copy via email,) the Government of Israel says in part:

In 2010, the Palestinian economy continued to grow at a quick pace, with economic growth reaching 9.3%, due to a very quick recovery of the Gaza economy (15%), accompanied by continued growth of the West Bank economy (8% 1). The PA's GDP in 2010 amounted to USD 5,728 million, and the GDP per capita increased by 6.1%, in comparison to the previous year.2 Israeli policy in the West Bank and Gaza contributed significantly to this growth. Increased Palestinian sales to Israel, a higher volume of commercial goods shipped from the West Bank via the land crossings to Israel and abroad, growing numbers of tourists visiting the West Bank, and increased construction, are all additional indications of the growth of the Palestinian economy.

Israel wishes to resume peace negotiations with the PA, with the aim of reaching a bilateral agreement for a two-state solution. Israel lent its support to efforts led by the international community to implement projects and build capacity and institutions in various fields.

...In 2010, Palestinian employment in Israel increased, and the average daily salary increased, due to an expansion of Palestinian employment by Israeli employers (legal employment only). In 2010, there was a 5.4% increase in the number of Palestinians employed by Israeli employers, compared to 2009.

...There have been intensive efforts to upgrade the facilities of the commercial crossings between Israel and the West Bank: in the framework of the biennial budget for 2011-2012, the GoI increased its investment in the Crossings Authority by NIS 120 million over two years. The budget of the Crossings Authority will stand at NIS 230 million in 2011 and a projected NIS 232 million in 2012, compared to NIS 167 million in 2009 22 . At present, the capacity of all .
commercial crossings is greater than actual demand, while the passage time through the crossings has been cut dramatically. No fees are charged for the passage of commercial goods, vehicles or passengers.23

...In 2010, movement in the West Bank became smoother and quicker, due to further Israeli measures in this area:

98 roadblocks have been removed throughout the West Bank.

Roads have been opened, including a number of roads in the Hebron and Ramallah districts.

The 443 Highway was opened to Palestinian traffic.

The hours of operation at the land crossings and checkpoints were extended and infrastructure at the land crossings was upgraded.

A pilot to extend working hours at the Allenby Bridge was made permanent in 2010, contributing for an increased volume of traffic.

There are 16 checkpoints, most of them operating under "normally open" status.

Permits were issued in 2010 to facilitate movement between Israel and the West Bank, including:

651,734 permits were issued for entry into Israel, a 42% increase compared to 2009. This, in addition to extension of the permits' validity.

200 VIP certificates were allocated to the PA in 2010.

More than 46,000 commercial permits were issued to merchants for entry into Israel.

511 cards were issued to ease the movement of public officials in the West Bank.

Approximately 23,000 foreign nationals who were in the West Bank illegally received authorization to remain in the West Bank, for humanitarian reasons.

It goes on and on, over 40 pages of specific things Israel has done to support a the autonomy of an eventual Palestinian Arab state. It details cooperation on electricity, water, telecommunications, private sector growth, agriculture, tax revenues and more.

Israel has been criminally silent on how much it has done to prop up the Palestinian Authority.

Now, the UN report doesn't discuss on the possibility that the PA might make unilateral moves to declare a state in September, as they have been threatening. Even though that goes against the entire peace process, the UN does not seem to be too concerned. Based on Serry's words, it appears almost as if the UN is supporting such a unilateral move by the PLO.

Israel's path is clear.

Israel must say that all of the concrete actions detailed above that have been done out of good faith in order to help the PA's economy and institution building will end immediately, until the PA goes back to the negotiating table. It is beyond belief that the PA can wantonly threaten to declare a unilateral state at Israel's expense at the exact same time that Israel is doing so much for the PA (despite Robert Serry's implications that Israel isn't doing nearly enough.)

Israel must stress that it continued to support Palestinian Arab state building even as the PA/PLO refused for well over a year to engage in any significant negotiations. That support must end, now, absent any indication of compromise on the PalArabs' part. If Israel doesn't cooperate with the PA, there will be no chance for a viable Palestinian Arab state no matter how much the world says they support it. Until the threat to declare a state in September is withdrawn, Israel cannot continue to do so much to facilitate a move that would cost Israel so much monetarily, defensively - and spiritually.

The PA economy is dependent on two external factors: billions of dollars in aid from the West and continued cooperation with Israel on jobs and trade. Israel can cut the strings without affecting her economy unduly, but the effect on the PA would be immediate and devastating. Unemployment would soar, its GDP would plummet and the EU and US would not be keen on picking up the slack.

If the PLO can act unilaterally, then they are forcing Israel to do the same.

If the UN complains, hey, Israel can just quote Robert Serry's own words that the existing efforts were not considered to be all that significant anyway.

(h/t David G)

Passover: A celebration of nationhood

The upcoming Passover holiday is, in essence, a celebration of Jewish nationhood. It is the anniversary of the creation of Jewish national consciousness. Its annual commemoration is proof positive that the Jewish people do not merely share a faith, but that we are all part of the historic Jewish nation.

Today's Arabs and their ideological partners have been espousing the myth that there is no such thing as a Jewish nation. Their desire to create a modern Palestinian Arab nationalism, which has no historic basis at all, forces them to deny the obvious: the nationhood of the Jewish people and their millennia-old, deep emotional attachment to the Land of Israel. There is no Arab or Muslim phrase comparable to "Next year in Jerusalem!", and there never will be, despite their fake newfound attachment to a city and a region that Arabs and Muslims roundly ignored and never recognized as distinct for hundreds of years.

The nationhood of the Jews, on the other hand, was well known to even the most dispassionate observer. One of thousands of examples can be seen in this New York Times article on Passover, April 9, 1855, which may be the first description of the holiday in that newspaper. It is a surprisingly good description of the holiday for that time. Highlighted are the parts that show how Passover and Jewish nationhood are intertwined.

Israel hasn't allowed items into Gaza for a week

From Ma'an:

For the sixth day in a row crossings into the Gaza Strip were closed by Israeli forces maintaining a blockade on the coastal enclave, who told Palestinian liaison officers that the closure was for "security reasons."

Closures began on Tuesday, two days ahead of spike in border violence which saw 18 killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza -- including at least six civilians -- and two injured in Israel. The closure continues despite an announced ceasefire deal that went into place before midnight on Sunday.

Perhaps the continued closure is related to this small story out of the Islamic Jihad Saraya website:

At 6 o'clock Sunday morning 4/10/2011, the artillery unit of the Al-Quds Brigades shot 4 80 mm mortar shells toward the site "Karm Abu Salem," [Kerem Shalom] located east of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where shells hit their targets precisely, leading to the interruption of electricity to most parts of the site and spreading a state of confusion the soldiers present inside.

Kerem Shalom is one of the major goods crossings into Gaza, and Islamic Jihad was bragging about targeting it.

Iranian news questions why Bahrain's US ambassador is Jewish

From Iran's Fars News:

The Zionist regime's spy agency (Mossad) is teaching the worst torturing techniques and methods to the Bahraini security forces to help Manama suppress protests in the Persian Gulf country, a Bahraini activist revealed on Tuesday.

"Mossad agents have been teaching torturing methods to the forces of the Al-Khalifa regime," Sadeq al-Jamari told FNA on Tuesday, adding that all torturing methods used by the Mossad agents against the Palestinians are practiced by the Bahraini security forces on arrested protestors and kidnapped citizens.

He underscored the close relations between the Al-Khalifa regime and Israel, reminding that al-Khalifa has signed several security pacts with the Zionist regime.

Reiterating the Al-Khalifa regime's close and rather intimate ties with Tel Aviv, the activist pointed out that Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa meets Israeli rabbis and officials on a regular basis, and asked why Manama's ambassador to Washington is a Jewish woman.

UK's list of "countries of concern" for human rights includes Israel

The United Kingdom Foreign & Commonwealth Office came out with its Human Rights and Democracy:
The 2010 Foreign & Commonwealth Office Report, where they list what the UK is doing to promote human rights worldwide.

It includes a detailed breakdown of the human rights situation in 26 "countries of concern."

And what are these countries?

Afghanistan
Belarus
Burma
Chad
China
Colombia
Congo
Cuba
Eritea
Iran
Iraq
Israel and the territories
Libya
North Korea
Pakistan
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Somalia
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Syria
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Yemen
Zimbabwe

They explain their criteria:

[These are the] 26 countries where we have some of the most serious wide-ranging human rights concerns. When deciding on which countries to include, we also considered whether the country had been the target of a high level of UK engagement on human rights in 2010, and whether it would be likely to effect positive change in the wider region if its human rights record improved.

I don't need to go into why including Israel in this rogue's gallery of states is ridiculous and insulting. Israel compares quite well to Western Europe in its dedication to human rights, and the methods that the report uses to make Israel look bad could be used to make any nation look equally bad or worse. (It does give some lip service to looking at abuses by the PA and Hamas.)

It is worth pointing out that, in the few months since 2010 ended, we have seen uprisings and major protests regarding human rights in Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Kuwait - but none of these are on the list. Neither is Turkey, that bastion of human rights, with its institutionalized discrimination against non-Muslims. Nigeria doesn't make the list either.

But hey, seriously. How could the UK even consider a list of human rights abusers without including Israel? There could have been riots!

(h/t Emet)

Hamas playing Arafat's game (Toameh)

From Khaled Abu Toameh:

Although Hamas has been in full control of the Gaza Strip since 2007 -- and its security forces and militias have been employing an iron fist against any individual or group that defies the Islamist movement's authority -- lately Hamas has lately been trying to avoid responsibility for rocket and mortar attacks on Israel by claiming that other groups in the Gaza Strip were responsible.

By holding others responsible for the anti-Israel attacks, Hamas is signaling to the world that it has learned a thing or two from Arafat and Abbas. But if in the past Arafat and Abbas were allowed to get away with it, there is no reason why Hamas should be absolved of any responsibility for what is happening in the Gaza Strip.

If Hamas is now saying that it does not have control over other groups that are firing the rockets and mortars at Israel, then its leaders should resign and pave the way for a new regime

On a number of occasions, Hamas's armed wing, Izaddin al-Kassam, did take credit for firing some of the rockets and mortars. However, Hamas spokesmen continue to maintain that smaller and more radical groups like the Islamic Jihad were behind most of the recent attacks.

Hamas's line of defense -- "It's not us, it's someone else" -- is not unfamiliar to those who have been closely watching the situation in the Palestinian territories over the past two decades.

For many years, Yasser Arafat used the same argument to explain why the territories under his control were being used as launching pads for anyone who wanted to attack Israel.

Ar first, Arafat said he was unable to stop terror attacks against Israel because they were being carried out by Hamas and Islamic Jihad on instructions from Tehran and Damascus.

Then he said he was unable to take action against the terrorists because of Israel's military response, which also targeted Arafat's security forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

So, first Arafat tried to evade responsibility by blaming other Palestinians for the terror attacks on Israel. Then, when the Israel Defense Forces took the initiative to halt terror assaults emanating from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Arafat put the blame on Israel for "escalating tensions" and foiling his efforts to stop the attacks.

Arafat's successor, Mahmoud Abbas, appears to have endorsed the same policy of putting the blame on others.

Abbas did too little, if anything, to stop the rocket and mortar attacks on Israel after he came to power in January 2005, although he had more than 35,000 armed policemen -- trained and paid for by the US amd Europe -- at his disposal in the Gaza Strip.

He too defended his failure to tackle the problem by first saying it was not his men who were firing the rockets and mortars and, second, blaming Israel whenever the IDF took action to stop the attacks.

In keeping with this policy, Abbas was quick last week to issue a statement condemning Israeli "aggression" after a rocket that was fired from the Gaza Strip hit a school bus, critically injuring an Israeli teenager. Instead of directly and clearly condemning the attack on the bus, Abbas urged Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip "not to give Israel an excuse" to step up its military strikes.

Actually, in Arabic the Al Qassam website takes credit for lots of rockets, and even has videos of them shooting rockets - from among buildings in a city:

Just another war crime of putting civilians at risk. No big deal.

"Mossad is on Facebook inciting against Egypt's army"

Egyptian media are reporting that Egyptian security services are monitoring Facebook and are saying that calls for youths to rise up against the government are really from the Mossad, trying to instigate a revolution against the army.

They warn the youth of Egypt not to believe everything they read on Facebook - because it might just be a dastardly Israeli plot.

Meet the new boss...same as the old boss.

Just another Arab attempt to murder Jews. Hardly worth mentioning.

Palestine Press Agency quotes Israeli sources as saying that there was a shooting at a car "belonging to one of the settlers" near the village of Azzam, probably near Ma'aleh Shomron.

There were no injuries, so what is essentially an everyday attempt at murder goes largely unreported.

The army is sweeping the area looking for the shooter.

No doubt the army's actions in trying to find a would-be murderer are disproportionate.

Report: Egypt refuses Hamas request for consulate in Gaza

The (anti-Hamas) Palestine Press Agency reports:

Informed sources said the Hamas delegation to Cairo were told of the absolute rejection of the request made by the Hamas to opening a representation office for the Arab Republic of Egypt in the Gaza Strip.

The sources said the shock hit a delegation of Hamas after the rejection, as they expected the approval...

The sources said that the Egyptian side emphasized that they would not help foster the continued division [between the PA and Hamas].

It appears that while the new Egypt is more conciliatory towards Hamas, they are not willing to throw the PA under a bus as Hamas expected.

E-Book: "Arab Theologians on Jews and Israel"

This full e-book, just released on the Web, contains a excerpts of the official English translation of the Fourth Conference of the Academy of Islamic Research, September 1968, at Al Azhar University in Egypt.

It is essentially a treatise on why all Muslims should hate Jews and (of course) Israel.

Here is just one of countless examples from the "scholarly" papers in this book:

As the introduction states:

Arab spokesmen contend that they differentiate meticulously between Zionism and Judaism and that they are against Zionism and not against Judaism. There cannot be a more trenchant disproof of this allegation than the arguments used at the Fourth Conference of the Academy of Islamic Research, at least as regards it participants. The odium of Zionism is described as emanating from the perversity of Judaism. Zionism and Jews are treated synonymously.

Arab Theologians on Jews and Israel 4th Edition

Thanks to Brian of London who emailed this around, and to David Littman who is one of the co-editors (along with the late Professor Yehoshafat Harkabi) and who decided to release this on the Web. (The name D. F. Green is a pseudonym for the two.)

BDSers: Hating Israel trumps helping Africa

From TheJC:

Pro-Palestinian campaigners have launched a campaign to stop Bob Geldof from visiting Israel next month on the basis that going there would damage the singer's "credibility as a defender of the rights of the dispossessed".

The former Boomtown Rats singer is to make his first trip to the country to accept an honorary degree from Ben Gurion University (BGU) in recognition of his anti-poverty work.

But Raymond Deane, the cultural and academic boycott officer for the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Camp (IPSC) has demanded that the star reject it and also pull out of a conference the same week on Israel's humanitarian aid work in Africa.

He also said Mr Geldof should consider whether it was "appropriate" to attend the IsraAid conference because "the criminal actions of the Israeli state have resulted in the Palestinians being more dependent on humanitarian aid than any people on earth".

Mr Deane went on to add that if his appeal was ignored, the singer "may well stand accused of placing the oppressor's flattery above the victim's plea for solidarity."

He wrote: "You will have lent yourself heedlessly to exploitation by a rogue state that has mastered the art of propaganda and whitewash".

So not only are the BDSers trying to convince people to boycott Israeli products, but also to boycott Israeli charitable organizations that help thousands of people worldwide!

IsraAid coordinates Israeli charity responses to disasters and other needs around the world. Part of its mission statement is:

To provide humanitarian assistance to people in need, regardless of religion, race, gender, nationality, age, disabilities.

To provide aid with full respect to culture and custom of the beneficiaries, while building on local capacities and involving program beneficiaries in the process.

The conference that Geldof will attend is about how to most effectively help people in Africa in need.

BDS advocates hate Israel so much that they would rather hurt thousands of people in need worldwide than allow Israel to help them! They would rather see Africans starve than have them accept any aid from those awful ~~Jews~~ Zionists.

BDSers don't give a damn about helping people. Their entire purpose is simply to slander a single state as the worst human rights violator on the planet. A state that, by sheer coincidence, just happens to be the only nation that is meant to support the human rights of Jews to self-determination.

How's that Egyptian democracy going?

From the NYT:

An Egyptian blogger was sentenced Monday to three years in prison for criticizing the military in what human rights advocates called one of the more alarming violations of freedom of expression since a popular uprising led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak two months ago.

The blogger, Maikel Nabil, 26, had assailed the Egyptian armed forces for what he called its continuation of the corruption and anti-democratic practices of Mr. Mubarak. Mr. Nabil often quoted from reports by established human rights groups.

The charges against Mr. Nabil included insulting the military establishment and spreading false information about the armed forces. The tribunal charged him with spreading information previously published by human rights organizations like Amnesty International on the army’s use of violence against protesters, the torture of those detained inside the Egyptian Museum and the use of forced pelvic exams, known as “virginity tests,” against detained female protesters.

The main evidence against Mr. Nabil, who blogged under the name “Son of Ra,” was a CD containing 73 screen shots of entries on his blog and his personal Facebook page, according to Heba Morayef, a researcher in Egypt for Human Rights Watch, which is based in New York.

Mr. Nabil has the unusual political position in Egypt of being a pacifist as well as a champion of Israel, often praising its democracy, educational standards and innovations.

Mona Seif, a rights advocate, said Mr. Nabil may have been singled out as an easy target partly because of previous run-ins with the military and partly because of his pro-Israel views.

Apparently, the Egyptian military figures that most Egyptians won't get too worked up about a Zionist being arrested.

Here is Nabil's blog post, in Arabic, describing why he is pro-Israel.

(h/t Silke)