Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Vowing revenge for Bin Laden in Jerusalem, Gaza (videos)

Here is a video of a preacher at Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem calling for the death of Obama and Bush for killing Bin Laden:

(original uncut video was uploaded by the preacher himself on Monday. YNet story here.)

Here is Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh condemning the assassination and calling Bin Laden a holy warrior.

He is now part of the Palestinian Arab government.

(h/t Joel)

Text of Hamas/Fatah agreement: Vagueness defined (updated)

I had mentioned that the draft text of the Hamas/Fatah unity agreement was extremely vague so as to ensure that any substantive decisions are pushed off as long as possible, probably until at least September.

Here it is in its entirely, in English, so you can see how Hamas and Fatah studiously avoided agreeing on anything real:

1. Elections

A. Election Committee:

Both Fatah and Hamas agree to identify the names of the members of the Central Election Commission in agreement with the Palestinian factions. This list will then be submitted to the Palestinian President who will issue a decree of the reformation of the committee.

B. Electoral Court:

Both Fatah and Hamas agree on the nomination of no more than twelve judges to be members of the Electoral Court. This list will then be submitted to the Palestinian President in order to take the necessary legal actions to form the Electoral Court in agreement with the Palestinian factions.

C. Timing of Elections:

The Legislative, Presidential, and the Palestinian National Council elections will be conducted at the same time exactly one year after the signing of the Palestinian National Reconciliation Agreement.
2. Palestine Liberation Organization

The political parties of both Fatah and Hamas agree that the tasks and decisions of the provisional interim leadership cannot be hindered or obstructed, but in a manner that is not conflicting with the authorities of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

3. Security

It was emphasized that the formation of the Higher Security Committee which will be formed by a decree of the Palestinian President and will consist of professional officers in consensus.

4.Government

A. Formation of the Government:

Both Fatah and Hamas agree to form a Palestinian government and to appoint the Prime Minister and Ministers in consensus between them.

B. Functions of the Government:

1. Preparation of necessary condition for the conduction of Presidential, Legislative and the Palestinian National Council elections.
2. Supervising and addressing the prevalent issues regarding the internal Palestinian reconciliation resulting from the state of division.
3. Follow-up of the reconstruction operations in the Gaza Strip and the efforts to end the siege and blockade that is imposed on it.
4. Continuation of the implementation of the provisions of the Palestinian National Accord.
5. To resolve the civil and administrative problems that resulted from the division.
6. Unification of the Palestinian National Authority institutions in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem.
7. To fix the status of the associations, Non-Governmental Organizations and charities.
5. Legislative Council:

Both Fatah and Hamas agree to reactivate the Palestinian Legislative Council in accordance to the Basic Law.

It took three years for Egypt to convince Hamas to sign this wishy-washy document.

Not only that, but some of the smaller factions that signed the document did it with reservations on some of its contents.

The entire exercise in "unity" is a scam meant to fool the West long enough to get the issue of statehood in front of the UN.

Paragraph 2 is part of the scam. It is meant to placate the West by saying that the PLO, which runs the PA, is not bound by any Hamas decisions not to recognize Israel. However, as I have pointed out, as soon as "Palestine" is declared, the PLO will disappear and Hamas can fully participate in foreign affairs.

Security is the main sticking point between the parties, as they derive their power from their security forces. Yet only one sentence talks about this topic, and that sentence is pretty much "to be defined later."

As anyone can see, there's no "there" there. This unity government legitimizes terror but keeps its intentions fuzzy so that the US, UN and EU won't notice it.

The Arabs are counting on one basic fact, one that has rarely let them down:

Western leaders tend to be eternally optimistic, they have short memories, and they are mesmerized by such nice sounding words as "unity."

(h/t Zach, source: Rafah Today.)

UPDATE: Here is the list of groups that signed the agreement:

— Fatah
— Hamas
— Islamic Jihad
— Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
— Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
— Palestinian People’s Party
— Palestinian Popular Struggle Front
— Palestinian Liberation Front
— Arab Liberation Front
— Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command
— Dzb Baath Arab Socialist Party (Syria)
— Palestinian Arab Front
— Popular Resistance Committees
— Palestinian Democratic Union (FIDA)

(h/t George Hale)

The Palestinian Arab terror convention in Cairo

Right now, in Cairo, pretty much every Palestinian Arab terror group is meeting to sign the short unification document between Hamas and Fatah.

There are lots of Hamas leaders from both Gaza and elsewhere, including Khaled Meshaa, Mahmoud Zahar, Khalil al-Hayya, Izzat al-Rishq, Mohamed Nasr, Osama Hamdan, and Abu Marzook.

But also leaders of Islamic Jihad (Ramadan Shallah), the PFLP-GC (Ahmad Jibril), the DFLP (Khaled Atta), the Popular Front (Khaled Atta,) the Palestine People's Party, the Palestine Popular Struggle Front, and several more.

In addition, other political leaders like Mustafa Barghouti and Munib al-Masri are there.

And the Fatah delegation just arrived as well, including Mahmoud Abbas.

Every group listed here has a history of involvement with terror. Some 13 groups signed the reconciliation letter, I cannot find a comprehensive list.

Many people in the room mourned the death of Bin Laden.

Early reports are saying that Catherine Ashton and Ban Ki Moon might attend the ceremony tomorrow.

These observers are apparently celebrating the biggest gathering of Palestinian Arab terrorists in years.

There is one person who is notably absent, however. The only semi-moderate Palestinian Arab leader in history, the only one who has had no involvement in terrorism, Salam Fayyad is in Ramallah.

The terrorist crowd, however, intends to gain recognition for their fake state from France, the UK, the rest of the EU and the entire world. Their refusal to negotiate with Israel and their refusal to compromise is being rewarded in spades.

And the world seems to be buying into the idea that such a state is a good thing.

The state that these people support would have a single purpose: to eliminate the Jewish state. It will not accept millions of "refugees." It will not negotiate with Israel over water or Gilad Shalit. It will throw away every agreement ever made.

How can such a state make the world a better place? What problems will it solve? Who will be better off after it is created? Why, in any universe, is a state run by these people the least bit desirable?

And why is there zero criticism of this insane, hateful, terrorist initiative from any Western countries?

Max Blumenthal trots out a lie (NewsRealBlog)

My latest post at NewsRealBlog, written by request:

Max Blumenthal uses the assassination of Osama Bin Laden as an excuse to push the ridiculous claim, advanced by Israel-haters for years, that Binyamin Netanyahu was overjoyed at the events of 9/11.

Blumenthal says that Netanyahu called the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon “very good.” But what he glosses over is the question he was answering....

The question was specifically about US-Israeli relations, not about what he thought of the terror attacks. Netanyahu answered accurately and then immediately realized that this obvious truth could be twisted by people with an agenda–like Blumenthal–so he clarified what he meant.

Blumenthal, like all Israel-bashers who suffer from terminal intellectual dishonesty, ignored the context of the comment.

Yet the truth is undeniable–9/11 did make Americans wake up and realize what Israel has gone through for decades. It caused previously complacent Americans to realize that there was a global threat from Islamist terror groups. It woke up the government to be less sanguine about what national security means in an era of jihadists deliberately targeting civilians.

Not only that, but the US has used Israel as the model on how to fight terror. We went on the offensive, forcing the enemy to fight trained soldiers rather than have the luxury of planning attacks on innocent civilians on our shores. We used unmanned armed drones, sophisticated electronics intelligence, and beefed up our more traditional human intelligence, just like Israel. We adopted Israel’s methods on how to fight in urban areas while minimizing casualties of civilians. We used Israeli technology and methodology to help treat battlefield injuries and to help defeat threats from IEDs and missiles.

Even at home, city police forces and hospitals took lessons from Israeli experts on how to deal with local threats.

Bibi was correct in that 9/11 helped US-Israeli relations, on many levels.

To say that he therefore is happy about 9/11 is, however, pure slander. It would be similar to saying that CNN was considers 9/11 “very good” because its ratings soared as the only 24-hour news channel at the time, or that the head of the Department of Homeland Security is thrilled that 3,000 Americans died because their deaths gave him a high-profile job and budget. In short, Blumenthal’s charge that Netanyahu–and, by implication, all Zionists–are happy when Americans die is nothing short of obscene. It is a sick, transparent attempt on his part to drive a wedge between America and Israel.

To him and his friends on the far Left, the strong relationship between the US and Israel is the real evil that must be fought, not radical Islamists who want to see Blumenthal dead just as much as they want to kill all Jews and Americans.

Read the whole thing.

Meanwhile, in Syria... (video)

This video is supposed to show Syrian police shooting at demonstrators in Barza al-Balad, near Damascus:

This one allegedly shows a man who was shot (and said to be killed) in Homs on Saturday:

Iran: "Bin Laden a Zionist stooge"

From Iran's always-entertaining PressTV:

A senior Iranian lawmaker says Osama bin Laden's death clearly shows that the al-Qaeda leader had an expiry date and the US was obliged to kill him.

“Bin Laden, whom all Muslim nations despised, was simply a stooge in the hands of the Zionist regime [of Israel] to show a violent image of Islam following the 9/11 attacks,” Deputy Head of Iran's Majlis Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy Esmail Kowsari told Mehr News Agency on Monday.

“The death of Osama Bin Laden reflected the removal of a one-time US pawn, and marked the end of an era and the start of another in US' subversive policies in the region,” he added.

I guess, by that logic, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is also a Zionist stooge because he makes Iranian politicians (like this guy) look like complete idiots, thus helping Israel's image in the international community.

In fact, PressTV might be Israel's best weapon!

Egypt rejects USAID money

Al Masry al Youm reported last month:

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced that its annual assitance program in Egypt, sheduled to be implemented in mid 2011, should satisfy the direct needs of Egypt in the fields of employment, economic development and combating poverty.

USAID allocated a significant portion of its assistance over the past years to bolstering democracy in Egypt.

In a statement, USAID said the program will be implemented with the help of NGOs, Egyptian, American or international, and the private sector.

USAID also said it is seeking to respond to the needs specified by the Egyptian community in the field of democratic development.

Indeed, the USAID Egypt site says:

The U.S. Government through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has made significant contributions over the past 30 years to help improve the quality of life of all Egyptians. Nationwide programs in health, education, trade facilitation, small and micro-enterprise, tourism, and infrastructure development have benefited Egyptians acrosscountry, especially those in under-served areas. US economic assistance to Egypt through the United States Agency for International Development has totaled more than $28.6 billion since 1975.

The Egyptian government has formally rejected this aid - saying that it included too many conditions.

From Ikhwanweb (there are a number of Egyptian newspapers in Arabic reporting the same thing):

Egypt has officially rejected conditional US aid worth USD 150 million in light of US economic support to Egypt, helping it overcome its economic woes and support the process of democratization in the post-January 25 revolution.

The US embassy in Cairo has received a formal letter from the Egyptian Foreign Minister that the Egyptian government rejects US conditions on aid and unilateral coercive economic measures by the US Agency for International Development.

Egyptian minister of planning and international cooperation Fayza Aboulnaga and Finance Minister Samir Radwan visited Washington last month, asking the US to cancel a debt amounting to about $3.6 billion to help the country's new government restore growth and create jobs for young people, but Washington refused.

The cabinet says the US aid is unnecessary and rejects US unilateral resolutions with regard to the US direct funding assistance mainly to the Egyptian private sector, Civil Society Organizations (CSO) and NGOs, arguing social justice is one of the more prominent roles that the country and businessmen should be committed to.

So far, no word from USAID about this.

AFP downplays Muslim Brotherhood statement on Bin Laden

From AFP:

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said on Monday that Osama bin Laden, who was killed by US forces in Pakistan, did not represent Islam and said the United States should pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Islam is not Bin Laden," Mahmud Ezzat, the Brotherhood's number two, told AFP.

"After September 11, there had been a lot of confusion. Terrorism was mixed up with Islam," he said. "In the coming phase, everyone will be looking to the West for just behaviour."

Indeed, the Muslim Brotherhood said this. But AFP left out what else they said.

From the Ikhwanweb website, in Arabic:

While Islam denounces violence and terrorism it believes it was not necessary to resort to assassination stressing a fair trial of any criminal whatever the crime would have sufficed.

It is on this note that the MB calls on the Western world, its people and governments to not link Islam with terrorism, and to correct the erroneous image which has been created in this regard.

The MB however confirms its belief that there is a difference between combat and resistance stressing that combating violence is necessary however each country has its right as stipulated in international conventions guaranteed by divine laws to defend itself against oppression against innocent people as is the case of the Palestinian people and Israel's Zionists.

Ending its statement the group cites that so long as occupation remains resistance is legitimate and it calls on the United States, NATO and the EU to end the occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq, and recognize the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

Furthermore the MB calls on the US to end its intelligence operations and to cease from interfering in the internal affairs of any Arab or Muslim country.

The Muslim Brotherhood statement, rather than denouncing Al Qaeda as AFP implies, actually condones Al Qaeda actions against allied troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as Palestinian Arab terrorism.

Not quite as peaceful as some like to pretend.

(h/t Dan for last link)

Israel to give tax revenue to Jihadist Palestinian Authority

From UPI:

Israel, following the intervention of U.S. officials, will transfer about $89 million in tax revenue to the Palestinian Authority, Israeli officials said.

The unnamed officials said the funds would be transferred next week, Haaretz reported Monday.

On Sunday, senior U.S. officials sought clarification of Israel's plans to temporarily suspend the transfer of funds to the P.A.

The officials sought the clarification after Army Radio reported Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz had decided to halt the transfer of the tax revenues to the P.A. in response to the Fatah-Hamas unity, the newspaper said.

The American officials met with members of the Treasury Department and the prime minister's office to discuss the issue and demanded a meeting between Israeli and Palestinian officials to arrange the transfer, Haaretz said.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office denied a decision had been made to stop the transfer of funds, the newspaper said.

Israel should absolutely freeze handing money over to an entity that includes Hamas in its government, just as it did in the past.

It is more than troubling that the US is pressuring Israel to do otherwise.

In 2006, when Israel imposed a similar freeze, it was with the full knowledge and cooperation of the US (and probably the Quartet.) So what has changed?

A tweet from Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt exposes, in this case, how insanely anti-Israel some European diplomats are:

Worried by reports that Israel government will steal tax money from Palestinian Authority. Unacceptable.

He is calling a freeze on the funds, where they will not be touched, "stealing." One would expect that a diplomat would be more circumspect in his language, but sometimes hate trumps acting like an adult.

(h/t Marcus)

"Moderate" Fatah, Jerusalem Arabs honor Bin Laden

From YNet:

Dozens of Arab residents held a rally in support of assassinated al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in east Jerusalem's Silwan neighborhood Monday evening.

Some of the participants at the site hurled stones at Israel Police forces deployed in the area. Police officers responded with crowd dispersal means.

I haven't yet seen a statement by Mahmoud Abbas on the assassination. But he is a peace-seeking moderate, as we are constantly told, so no doubt this is merely an oversight. He's probably been too busy to issue a statement. Let's just assume that he is really happy and not ask him to actually commit to saying it.

After all, it might upset his natural constituency - members of the Fatah organization he leads.

Ma'an reports:

The Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Brigades mourned Tuesday the death of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, following his assassination Sunday by American troops in Pakistan.

His death, a statement said, "won't stop our Jihad mission against injustice and occupation," adding doubt over the veracity of claims that the fundamentalist had indeed been killed.

In a statement received by Ma'an the brigades said: "The Islamic nation was shocked with the news that bin Laden had been killed by the non-believers."

He left a generation who follows the education he gave in Jihad, the statement continued.

"The fighters in Palestine and around the world who have lost their leaders did not stop their mission and will continue in the tutelage of their masters."

Concluding, the statement said "we tell the Israeli and the American occupiers that we have leaders who have changed history with their Jihad and their steadfastness. We are ready to sacrifice our lives to bring back peace."

See? They want peace!

So the scorecard is: Some Fatah members are on the record as supporting Bin Laden, Hamas and Islamic Jihad concur, Abbas refuses to denounce him, and the only person who said anything positive about the assassination is Salam Fayyad who is probably on his way out in the new unity government.

And the world overwhelmingly demands that this group of terror supporters and enablers should have their own independent state.

(h/t Joel)

UPDATE: A different Al Aqsa spokesman denies the remarks above.

Egypt: "No comment" on Bin Laden's death

From Al Moslim, translated by Translating Jihad:

The Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil 'Arabi said that he "had no comment" on the killing of al-Qa'ida leader Osama bin Laden at the hands of American forces in Pakistan. He sufficed himself with stressing that his country was opposed to "all forms of violence."

Al-'Arabi said to reporters right after meeting with his British counterpart William Hague in Cairo: "Concerning the announcement of the death of bin Laden, Egypt is against all forms of violence, and the Egyptian government has no comment." ...

Being an "ally" ain't what it used to be.

(h/t Silke)

Real satellite image of Bin Laden's compound

It turns out that the satellite image that some thought yesterday was OBL's compound was wrong. Here it is: (Google Maps link):

And here is its proximity to the Pakistan Military Academy:

JSSNews notes something interesting about the shape of the compound: it resembles British Mandate Palestine, with the headquarters where Jerusalem would be!

It's is of course a coincidence: here is what the area looked like in 2001 (via Google Earth.) The outline was already there. But it is a little eerie!

Palestinian Arabs are Al Qaeda's most loyal supporters

From Pew Global Research:

In the months leading up to Osama bin Laden’s death, a survey of Muslim publics around the world found little support for the al Qaeda leader. Among the six predominantly Muslim nations recently surveyed by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, bin Laden received his highest level of support among Muslims in the Palestinian territories – although even there only 34% said they had confidence in the terrorist leader to do the right thing in world affairs. Minorities of Muslims in Indonesia (26%), Egypt (22%) and Jordan (13%) expressed confidence in bin Laden, while he has almost no support among Turkish (3%) or Lebanese Muslims (1%).

Al Qaeda also received largely negative ratings among Muslim publics in the 2011 survey. Only 2% of Muslims in Lebanon and 5% in Turkey expressed favorable views of al Qaeda. In Jordan, 15% had a positive opinion of al Qaeda, while about one-in-five in Indonesia (22%) and Egypt (21%) shared this view. Palestinian Muslims offered somewhat more positive opinions (28% favorable), but about two-thirds (68%) viewed bin Laden’s organization unfavorably.

It is true that Bin Laden's popularity has waned dramatically in the Arab world, and among the Palestinian Arabs as well. But you will be hard pressed to find a Western media outlet pointing out that over a quarter of Palestinian Arabs still view Al Qaeda favorably or that over one third had confidence that Osama Bin Laden was a good Arab leader.

I know - let's reward Bin Laden's biggest fans with a state - one that is ethnically cleansed of Jews!

(h/t Ha'aretz)

Must See Iraqi TV (MEMRI)

Now, that's entertainment!

I think Jerry Springer might be able to resurrect his career in Iraq!

(h/t John Podhoretz - and Ian)

Will Abu Amr replace Fayyad as PA prime minister?

Al Manar is reporting that Dr. Ziad Abu Amr, who lives in Gaza, is a frontrunner to replace Salam Fayyad in the new "unified" PA government.

Abu Amr is a former foreign minister for the PA. He is said to have good relations with both Hamas and Fatah as well as other terror groups. In fact, he wrote a book called "Islamic fundamentalism in the West Bank and Gaza: Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic Jihad" which looks, at first glance, to be fairly well done.

He received his masters' degree and doctorate from Georgetown.

Abbas never responded to Olmert's peace offer in 2008

An important document analyzes the Palestine Papers and shows, once again, that the Palestinian Authority has never had any serious interest in peace.

Here's the executive summary:

Earlier this year Al Jazeera released the “Palestine Papers” -- nearly 1,700 files of documents authored by Palestinian negotiators and advisors, memorializing a decade of Israeli/Palestinian peace talks. Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East has carefully reviewed the Palestine Papers,including those documents concerning the comprehensive peace offer Israeli Prime Minister (“PM”)Ehud Olmert made in 2008.

There has been a good deal of “hype” and sensationalism surrounding the media coverage of the Palestine Papers. Therefore, it is important for the public to read the documents for themselves when making any assessment of the course of the actual negotiations.

Some news reports and articles about the Palestine Papers have “fail[ed] to differentiate between official positions and explorations or polemical rhetoric during the course of negotiations . . .” as former chief Palestinian negotiator Dr. Saeb Erekat wrote in a recent article. In the words of Dr. Erekat, the “‘Palestine papers’ have not revealed a single official agreement or document that offers concessions.” (Id.) We agree.

In spite of claims by some commentators that there were “far reaching proposals” on each side, the Palestine Papers indicate that Palestinian Authority (“P.A.”) President Mahmoud Abbas did not make a counter-offer to Olmert’s “package offer” and so ultimately the possibility of a final status agreement in 2008 was allowed to die.

(h/t Noah)

Islamists in Jordan handing out sweets for OBL's "martyrdom"

Jordan's Ammon News reports that Jordan's Islamists are celebrating "the martyrdom of Sheikh Osama Bin Laden," saying that he left the world the way he wanted to.

Salafi jihadist Abu Qutaybah Majali recalled that Bin Laden was "anathema to the Americans and Jews and their allies."

Majali accompanied Bin Laden in Afghanistan from 1986 to 1991.

He vowed to "continue the jihad until the Day of Resurrection."

Salafists in Maan, an Islamist stronghold 250 km south of Amman, handed out sweets to celebrate his "martyrdom." That is usually done there where relatives of community members get killed in Iraq.

A town west of Amman had some shops close and raise black flags in a sign of mourning.

A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, Jamil Abu Bakr told Al Jazeera "Osama bin Laden, may God have mercy on him, chose this path knowing the cost of confrontation and resistance to America and its allies the dictators in the region."

He continued, "Although we disagree with bin Laden in his approach, he stuck to his principles until the last moment, and stood in the face of the most powerful global force for ten years and did not appear in any waiver of his beliefs."

"We believe that as long as there is injustice and aggression, there will be resistance with multiple approaches to this resistance."

Political analyst and expert on Islamic groups, Dr. Muhammad Abu Rumman, said Osama bin Laden is more popular in the Jordanian street than his second in command, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is from Jordan.

He told Al Jazeera that polls showed bin Laden's popularity even after the Amman bombings claimed by al-Zarqawi in 2005 and stated that this is because Bin laden didn't criticize Jordan and his focus was instead on Americans and Jews and the Western powers.

Terrorist convention in Cairo this week

It is not only Hamas and Fatah delegations traveling to Cairo to sign their latest temporary "unification" agreement.

They are being joined by some equally illustrious partners who will participate in this great event (although they are not signing anything):

A Gaza Strip-based delegation with members of the Fatah party, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Islamic Jihad sit on a bus at the Rafah border terminal in the southern Gaza Strip on May 02, 2011 before crossing to Egypt, as Palestinian factions will ink a reconciliation deal in Cairo intended to repair ties between Hamas and Fatah and end a bitter divide between the West Bank and Gaza.

How wonderful that all the terrorist groups, including Fatah, are acting so inclusively with each other! (The Hamas leadership traveled last night.)

Video of interior of Bin Laden's compound

From ABC News via Weasel Zippers:

(h/t jzaik)

The Auschwitz photo album

From Yad Vashem:

The Auschwitz Album is the only surviving visual evidence of the process of mass murder at Auschwitz-Birkenau. It is a unique document and was donated to Yad Vashem by Lilly Jacob-Zelmanovic Meier.

The photos were taken at the end of May or beginning of June 1944, either by Ernst Hofmann or by Bernhard Walter, two SS men whose task was to take ID photos and fingerprints of the inmates (not of the Jews who were sent directly to the gas chambers). The photos show the arrival of Hungarian Jews from Carpatho-Ruthenia. Many of them came from the Berehovo Ghetto, which itself was a collecting point for Jews from several other small towns.

Early summer 1944 was the apex of the deportation of Hungarian Jewry. For this purpose a special rail line was extended from the railway station outside the camp to a ramp inside Auschwitz. Many of the photos in the album were taken on the ramp. The Jews then went through a selection process, carried out by SS doctors and wardens. Those considered fit for work were sent into the camp, where they were registered, deloused and distributed to the barracks. The rest were sent to the gas chambers. They were gassed under the guise of a harmless shower, their bodies were cremated and the ashes were strewn in a nearby swamp. The Nazis not only ruthlessly exploited the labor of those they did not kill immediately, they also looted the belongings the Jews brought with them. Even gold fillings were extracted from the mouths of the dead by a special detachment of inmates. The personal effects the Jews brought with them were sorted by inmates and stored in an area referred to by the inmates as "Canada": the ultimate land of plenty.

The photos in the album show the entire process except for the killing itself

Women and children being taken to Crematoria IV and V by way of the BII sector of the camp. The elderly and the young children were almost always sent immediately to the gas chambers as they were deemed "unfit for work".

Jews "unfit for work" and selected for death, shortly before being sent to the gas chambers.

(h/t Daily Alert)

Arab American welcomes Bin Laden death - because he was a Zionist!

"Killing Osama Bin Laden is the right thing. Period." is the title of a piece in Palestine Note written by PalArab American Sami Jamil Jadallah.

It starts off this way:

I celebrate and congratulate the American Special Operation unit that killed Osama Bin Laden. I congratulate both America and the Muslim world for this great success. No man and no organization in recent memory, perhaps in the last 500 years had done more damage to Islam and the Arabs than Osama and his Islamist Jihadists including Alqaeda, Taliban’s and other small fringe group of killers and murderers.

But don't be fooled into thinking that Jadallah, who says he is a US Army veteran, hated Bin Laden because he was against America. On the contrary:

To most people in the Arab and Muslim world, they tend to forget that Osama Bin Laden was the creation and invention of the American CIA and the American Zionist NeoCons, and he was their partner not only in Afghanistan when he was fighting the Soviet Union, but I believe he was their partner and ally during the September 11th attack on America. No one can convince me or hundreds of millions like me in the US and around the world that a group of 18 people can do what they did without key assistance from the inside.

Osama Bin Laden was a bonanza, a windfall for the world Zionists and NeoCons, and the September 11th attack was what was needed by these Zionist NeoCons to have their new world order and to take charge of both US domestic and foreign policy and to have their imprint on US “anti-terrorism” agenda. An agenda that has created animosity for America around the world not only in the Muslim world, and is driving America to the verge of bankruptcy while creating a windfall for Israel as the primary beneficiary of US war on terror. The war on terror has served Israel very well, it served it agenda in the American Knesset, and it served Israel well with its industry and intelligence services and the ability to have its Fifth Column in the US by invitation.

Another moderate Arab American that we hear so much about.

Some real world Arab reaction to OBL death

Found on the comments section of Palestine Press Agency:

From Afghanistan:
Bin Laden is alive and will shortly appear on a YouTube video. And bin Laden will appear and talk about the latest news of Libya, will talk about the death of Qaddafi's son Seif al-Arab so as not to say that the video was done beforehand.

From Gaza:
Revenge from Al Qaeda of the people of monkeys and pigs!

From Gaza:
It is a Jihad Jihad, victory or martyrdomGod bless Sheikh Mujahid Osama bin Laden ....Oh God, bring him into His paradise, O Lord of the Worlds ....We as Muslims, we say a response is coming, God willing, the Almighty

From Gaza:
The doctrine of jihad and martyrdom has the love of the afterlife of eternal life and not a fake mortal life.Thus are men like Osama bin Laden.

From Gaza:
There will be reprisal for the spirit of the martyr Sheikh Osama bin; we will not forget you for what Sheikh sacrificed for the people, but you, O our sheikh and we will take revenge for you, O our sheikh

From Mesopatamia:
So long, master of martyrs.

What makes this especially interesting is that Palestine Press Agency is a pro-Fatah newspaper. This doesn't mean the readers are all Fatah supporters, of course, but it is interesting that not one Fatah supporter has commented that Bin Laden was anything but a saint.

Hamas leader calls on the PLO to withdraw recognition of Israel, increase terror

Hamas' al Qassam website reports that Hamas "prime minister" Ismail Haniyeh is calling on the PLO to withdraw its recognition of "the Zionist entity" and to emphasize terrorism ("resistance.")

Again I quote Jimmy Carter from last Friday:

The Carter Center commends the representatives of Fatah and Hamas for having the vision to begin the process of reunifying the Palestinian people. Mediated by the Government of Egypt, the agreement provides a framework for resolving long-standing issues regarding reform of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Palestinian governance, elections, human rights abuses, and the security sector. ...

President Carter said, "This agreement, and the promise of elections in the next twelve months, has the potential to arrest the spiral of intra-Palestinian human rights violations and preserve Palestinian democracy. It can also lead to a leadership representing all Palestinians capable of negotiating peace with Israel. Based on my years of contacts with Fatah and Hamas, I am confident that, if handled creatively and flexibly by the international community, Hamas' return to unified Palestinian governance can increase the likelihood of a two-state solution and a peaceful outcome. I encourage the international community to respect this decision by the Palestinian leadership and to view it as part of the larger democratic trend sweeping the region."

Probable satellite image of Osama Bin Laden compound (updated)

It appears that this is it: (UPDATE: No, it isn't - here it is)

Zentelligence is pretty sure about this, and already people are putting up dozens of funny reviews of that compound in Google Maps.

Here you can see how close OBL's hideout was to the Pakistan Military Academy:

Muslim Brotherhood condemns killing of Bin Laden

From Hamas' Palestine Times newspaper. See how many contradictions you can find.

The Muslim Brotherhood described Osama bin Laden as a 'Sheikh' and condemned the method of his assassination. In an official statement, it called on the Western world, peoples and governments to stop linking Islam with terrorism and to correct this erroneous image which has already been deliberately promoted for several years.

The statement stressed that the legitimate resistance against foreign occupation to any country is a legitimate right guaranteed by divine laws and international conventions, and to confuse between legitimate resistance and violence against innocent people was intended by the Zionist enemy in particular.

The Brotherhood called for the United States and NATO and the European Union to quickly declare an end the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and recognize the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and it called on the United States to cease its intelligence operations against the violators, and to desist from interfering in the internal affairs of any Arab or Muslim country.

The Brotherhood said in a statement: "The Muslims especially suffered from a fierce media campaign conflating Islam with terrorism and violence by Muslims, by attributing the 11 September attacks to al Qaeda". The Muslim Brotherhood announced they are against the use of violence in general and against the methods of assassinations and there should be a fair trial for anyone accused of any crime whatsoever.

Misleading Hamas statement on EUBAM

After I wrote an article yesterday about whether EUBAM will return to Rafah, JPost/Media Line reported:

Hamas doesn’t object to the reinstatement of European Union observers at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, a Hamas official told The Media Line.

"We don’t mind if the Europeans are involved as long as the Egyptian side agrees to this," Ahmad Yousef, a political adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, told The Media Line on Sunday. "The only objection we have is to Israeli involvement. This is an agreement between Palestinians and the Egyptians," he added.

This is purposefully misleading.

The agreement that brought EUBAM to Rafah was between the PA, Israel and the EU. Egypt was not a signatory. The entire point was that the PA would be responsible for the border, the EU would observe and Israel would observe remotely via cameras.

Details here.

This is the agreement. If the PA acquiesces to Hamas demands, then the PA will be violating a signed agreement. Allowing Europeans to observe without allowing them any responsibility is a smokescreen.

(h/t T34)

Hamas condemns US for killing Bin Laden (updated)

From AP:

The leader of the Palestinian militant Hamas government in Gaza has condemned the United States for killing al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh says the operation is "the continuation of the American oppression and shedding of blood of Muslims and Arabs."

Haniyeh told reporters in Gaza on Monday that although Hamas had its differences with al-Qaida, his group condemns the assassination of "a Muslim and Arabic warrior" and prays that bin Laden's "soul rests in peace."

(Update: In Arabic he called Bin laden a "mujahid" - a holy warrior.)

This is the group that Jimmy Carter believes is the key to peace.

Based on my years of contacts with Fatah and Hamas, I am confident that, if handled creatively and flexibly by the international community, Hamas' return to unified Palestinian governance can increase the likelihood of a two-state solution and a peaceful outcome.

Jimmy believes that a group that considers Bin Laden a warrior and hero, and that shoots guided missiles at schoolbuses, is going to make peace. What a tool.

Meanwhile, Islamic Jihad's Palestine Today's headline on Osama Bin Laden's death reads "Martyrdom of "the leader of al Qaeda" bin Laden through a precise operation, and the United States has his body."

Islamic Jihad, it will be recalled, hosted a reconciliation meeting between Hamas and Fatah last week. So they must be a great group by Carter's standards as well, since they also encourage the PA to include radical Islamist terror groups into its government.

Someone should really ask "The Elders" what their official position on the assassination of Bin Laden is. Since their entire shtick is that they are so old that they can speak their minds without any political pressure (sort of like Helen Thomas), it would be most enlightening to see if Carter condemns it as an extrajudicial killing in another country and an illegal act.

Galloway calls killing Bin Laden "illegitimate" (UPDATE: it was a hoax)

Last night I jokingly tweeted if Human Rights Watch would denounce the US killing Bin Laden because he was a civilian (he didn't wear fatigues, did he?)

I guess I got the human rights issue wrong.

Pro-Palestinian campaigner George Galloway has denounced the killing of the world's most wanted man as "illegitimate".

Speaking hours after President Barack Obama announced that Osama bin Laden had been captured and killed in a US operation in Pakistan, the former Respect MP said it was always illegitimate to somebody in somebody else's country.

He added: "No state which carries out [extra judicial killings] can remotely be described as democratic."

President Obama said in his address that bin Laden had been responsible for thousands of deaths, but Mr Galloway denied this was justification for the US' actions.

He said: "We can't allow our foreign power to send out death squads to assassinate whoever they see fit. That must be illegitimate.

"They could have kidnapped him and taken him for trial, couldn't they. To murder someone in somebody else's country has to be...an absolutely illegal series of acts."

It will be interesting to see if other far left terror supporters start taking up this line of reasoning.

UPDATE: I had originally gotten this from TheJC (forgot to include the link) but they have corrected the story:

A hoax video has been posted on YouTube claiming that George Galloway described the death of Osama bin Laden as illegitimate.

The video, based on old footage about a different matter, was posted this morning and circulated around the internet and on Twitter.

A spokesman for the former MP said they were urgently contacting YouTube to have it removed and that the issue was in the hands of Mr Gallowayâ€™s lawyers.

Clashes reported as Hamas stops Gazans from leaving

Palestine Today reports that Hamas has stopped hundreds of people from leaving Gaza to visit Egypt, causing the travelers to clash with Hamas police.

Police arrested some of them.

According to the article, Hamas severely limits the number of people allowed to exit Gaza every day.

Maybe Gaza is a big prison...and the warden is Hamas.

Officials downplay anti-semitic attack in Rochester

From WHEC, Rochester NY:

Brighton police are calling it a young person's prank in poor taste.

Officers say two young men soaked toilet paper in gasoline and lit it on fire in the middle of the street--in the shape of a swastika.

It happened just after 11 o’clock Saturday night in front of 30 Edgemere Drive. That's in between Southern Parkway and Eastland Avenue.

Police are not calling this a hate crime, but say two 17-year-old boys were apprehended last night and charged with aggravated harassment and arson. Their names are not being released at this time, as police believe they will be charged as youthful offenders. We do know that one young man is from Rochester, the other from Rush.

Investigators do not think the crime was directly targeting any person in the area.

Brighton residents we spoke to today commented on the timing of the crime occurring on the day of Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Brighton Police say that based on their investigation, they have no information that makes them believe the crime was committed because of today's commemoration.

Callie (h/t) tells me that this was in a mostly Orthodox Jewish neighborhood and across from a synagogue.

But I'm sure that this was just a coincidence that the "prank" occurred in a religious Jewish neighborhood.

ABC News: Osama Bin Laden killed

No real details yet, but...

Osama bin Laden, hunted as the mastermind behind the worst-ever terrorist attack on U.S. soil, has been killed, sources told ABC News.

His death brings to an end a tumultuous life that saw bin Laden go from being the carefree son of a Saudi billionaire, to terrorist leader and the most wanted man in the world.

Bin Laden created and funded the al Qaeda terror network, which was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The Saudi exile had been a man on the run since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan overthrew the ruling Taliban regime, which harbored bin Laden.

In a video filmed two months after the Sept. 11 attacks, bin Laden gloated about the attack, saying it had exceeded even his "optimistic" calculations.

"Our terrorism is against America. Our terrorism is a blessed terrorism to prevent the unjust person from committing injustice and to stop American support for Israel, which kills our sons," he said in the video.

President Obama is supposed to announce it any minute...

Reuters:

Al Qaeda's elusive leader Osama bin Laden is dead and his body has been recovered by U.S. authorities, CNN reported on Sunday night.

Different rumors as to whether he was killed in Afghanistan or Pakistan.

ABC is verifying it was a ground attack.

Obama says OBL was "deep in Pakistan."

Roger Cohen just can't help blaming Israel

Another classic case of Cohen craziness:

So Qaddafi always thought this could happen, even 42 years into his rule. He feared someone might slice away the myths — Arab nationalist, African unifier, all-powerful non-president — and leave him, disrobed, a little man in a vast vault with nowhere left to go. In the twisted mind of the despot now derided here as “the man with the big hair,” his own demise was the tousle-coiffed specter that would not go away.

Strange, then, that the United States and Europe never thought this could happen — not to Qaddafi, or Mubarak, or Ben Ali, or any of the other murderous plunderers, some now gone, others slaughtering their own people, here in Libya, or in Syria, or Yemen. Policy was based on the mistaken belief that these leaders would last forever.

They were paranoid about their fates. We were convinced of their permanence.

Of course it was not just a conviction about their inevitability that drove U.S. policy toward these dictators. It was a cynical decision to place counterterrorism and security at the top of the agenda and human rights — in this case Arab rights — at the bottom. It was about Big Oil interests. And, to some degree, it was about the perception of what served the security of America’s closest regional ally, Israel.

I just looked through decades of Roger Cohen's columns, and he seems to have missed that Qaddafi might be in danger one day as well. How could he have missed it? Strange, then, that he never thought this could happen!

Equally strange is that he is not predicting that the same thing could happen to Mahmoud Abbas, or the Saudi royals, or Turkey's leadership, or Iran's. No, Cohen can blame the US for bowing to Zionist perceptions in their blindness, but his brilliance - where he can confidently predict what the US and Europe are too stupid and shortsighted to see - is still being obscured.

Come on, Roger - tell us who's next!

And why didn't you sound the alarm in, say, 2008? Wasn't it all so obvious to pundits who don't have the Zionist and counter-terrorist smoke in their eyes?

Key question: will the PA take over the Rafah crossing?

The agreement signed by Hamas and Fatah to so much fanfare has very little in terms of details.

Here is everything it says about security forces:

[The two parties] emphasized the formation of the Higher Security Committee, which will report to the Palestinian President and be composed of professional officers to be determined by consensus.

Does this mean that the Hamas security forces will be subsumed by a joint security force? It doesn't look like it. It looks more like the days of Arafat where there were as many as seven competing security forces, each one playing against the other.

If there is to be a joint security force, then the PA will have to become involved in the Rafah crossing again. According to a 2005 agreement between the PA, EU and Israel, the EU would act as a third party to monitor all people and items that cross at Rafah.

Now that Egypt has indicated that it will open Rafah permanently, this means that it is more important than ever to have a third party presence there.

EUBAM issued a mild statement seemingly in the wake of Hamas/Fatah unity news:

On 26 April 2010, the Council reaffirmed the political importance of EUBAM Rafah and its continued support for the mission. It welcomed in particular the maintenance of the mission's operational capability as well as its reactivation plan, which would ensure a rapid resumption of its full activities in case of re-opening of the Rafah Crossing Point.

Rafah is the key test as to whether the Fatah/Hamas deal is anything more than a scam meant to fool the world ahead of the UN initiative for statehood in September. If they are serious, then the PA must adhere to its commitment with the EU to monitor Rafah in cooperation with Israel.

So far, the indications are quite the opposite. From the Guardian on Friday:

The Islamist organisation [Hamas] also said it would keep control of the Gaza Strip under the accord, which is expected to be formally signed by leaders of the two factions in Cairo next week.

If Hamas maintains its own separate security control of Gaza, this is just more proof that the "unity" agreement is a sham.

Salam Fayyad or Palestinian Arab "unity:" Pick one.

One of the many reasons that the pending Hamas/Fatah agreement is not going to be viewed positively by Western nations is that it will almost certainly get rid of the West's darling prime minister, Salam Fayyad.

Fayyad was never elected to his post and he is not a member of either Hamas or Fatah. However, it is because of Fayyad that West has been enamored with the idea that Palestinian Arab statehood is possible over the past couple of years.

Fayyad has no terrorist history. He has a Western education and outlook. He has largely corrected the more egregious abuses and corruption that was endemic under Arafat.

And (for those very reasons!) he is hugely unpopular in both Hamas and Fatah circles.

The remarkably small and vague agreement signed by Hamas and Fatah includes this section:

Fatah and Hamas Agree to form a Palestinian government and appoint a [caretaker] prime minister and [government] ministers before the elections.

Which means that Hamas has veto power over Fayyad.

And Hamas is insisting that they do not want him as PM:

Hamas has insisted on the departure of Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister favoured by Israel and the west, under a deal agreed with its rival faction Fatah for a unity government, according to sources in Gaza.

The existing Fatah dominated PA is trying to deny the story, but since the two groups have not yet started to negotiate anything concrete it is pretty clear that absent huge external pressure, Fayyad will be gone. (And if they keep him it would only be until the minute they don't need him anymore, likely in September.)

Western nations that have been encouraged by Fayyad's actions need to understand that he will not be part of any "Palestine" and that the theoretical state would be dominated by corruption and terror.

Would the World Bank have written their fawning report on Palestinian Arab statehood had Fayyad not been running the PA's internal affairs?

Morning links

JPost: Israel suspends tax money to PA in wake of unity deal

TheJC: Palestinian Arab unions against trade boycott with Israel

JPost: Dutch government places IHH on terror list

TNR: Meet the anti-Israel demagogue who will likely be Egypt’s next president

JPost: German left party equates Israel with Third Reich

I*Consult: A relevant 1991 editorial cartoon

(h/t Israel Matzav, My Right Word)

Egypt releases two Hezbollah terrorists

Last year, Egypt convicted 26 members of Hezbollah for espionage and planning terror attacks.

Earlier this year, many of these Hezbollah members managed to escape during Egypt's uprising.

Now, Egypt has released two of the remaining Hezbollah prisoners. One, Mohamad Ramadan, went back to his home - in Gaza.

After all, why should Egypt be concerned about a cell that planned to attack tourists? Chances are they will only go after the "Zionists" anyway.

Fatah and Hamas terrorists meet at PIJ terrorist HQ

From Ma'an:

Fatah and Hamas met with factions on Saturday in Gaza on Saturday to discuss the reconciliation agreement reached in Cairo to reunite the Palestinian territories.

Islamic Jihad invited the parties to its Gaza City offices to review the details of the surprise agreement. It was the first meeting between Hamas and Fatah since the deal was announced in Cairo on Wednesday.

Isn't it wonderful to know that unrepentant terrorist group Islamic Jihad is so supportive of Hamas/Fatah unity, and how the two sides happily accept that venue?

Moderation just ain't what it used to be.

So there is a Jewish satellite channel!

And its name is...Al Jazeera!

From Ya Libnan:

About 100 supporters of Syria’s president, Assad, gathered in front of the Damascus offices of Al Jazeera TV. The crowd accused the satellite TV station of supporting the opposition movement in Syria.

The Qatar network, according to Assad loyalists, broadcasts “lies” and “exaggerates” the nature and the volume of the anti-regime protests.

“Al-Jazeera, Jewish satellite TV”, was written on several banners, while others incited the, “people of Qatar, rebel against the Emir” of Qatar al Khalifa, where the network has its headquarters. .

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar tweet)

Moroccan journalist arrested

A respected Moroccan journalist named Rachid Nini, who also runs the AlMassae newspaper, has been arrested by Moroccan authorities who were evidently unhappy with how he was exposing corruption.

The charge was "compromising the safety and security of the homeland and citizens."

Ahmadinejad in political trouble? (UPDATED)

From Al Arabiya:

Iran’s president was missing from a cabinet meeting on Wednesday for the second consecutive time adding to speculation that the rift with the country’s supreme leader was widening on Wednesday, agencies reported.

The rift is over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s decision to dismiss Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi last week, a decision that was revoked by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Mr. Moslehi was present on Tuesday at a meeting of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, the body that regulates educational and cultural issues, and which he chairs, Agence-France Press reported.

Mr. Ahmadinejad’s absence in that meeting was particularly noted, as he is known for never missing any opportunity to appear in the media and delivery fiery speeches, AFP said.

No reason was given for his absence by the state’s media.

Earlier on Saturday, in a speech that aired on state TV, Mr. Khamenei said he would intervene in government’s affairs “whenever necessary”—a rebuke to the president for challenging his all-encompassing authority.

The power struggle between the two leaders could be indicative of a serious political crisis in the making—especially ahead of legislative elections scheduled for March 2012. The presidential election will take place in 2013.

Analysts told The Associated Press that Mr. Ahmadinejad is looking to control the intelligence ministry in a bid to influence the next parliament as well as to determine the next president.

However, Mr. Khamenei is also seen as intent on helping shape a new political team, free of Ahmadinejad loyalists, to lead the next government.

It looks like the ayatollah is flexing his muscles to remind Mad Mahmoud exactly what "supreme leader" means.

UPDATE: After I wrote this, AP wrote this up about the topic:

A hard-line cleric warned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Friday to end an escalating power struggle with Iran's supreme leader, calling it a religious obligation to do so and accusing the country's enemies of trying to sow rifts among its leadership.

The split threatens to destabilize Iran at a time of tension with the West over Tehran's disputed nuclear program and appears to center on a battle for influence between the two men over next year's parliamentary election and a presidential election in 2013.

"Obedience to the supreme leader is a religious obligation as well as a legal obligation, without any doubt," said Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami. He did not mention Ahmadinejad by name, but it was clear he was referring to the president.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has the final word on all matters of state in Iran, and hard-liners consider him above the law and answerable only to God.

As David G wrote in the comments, "'Obedience?!' What does he think Ahmadinejad is? A woman?"

A hundred corpses in Daraa. Where's Jimmy Carter? (updated)

From Now Lebanon:

Al-Jazeera television on Friday reported that more than 100 corpses were seen on the streets of Daraa.

“In Daraa, more than 100 bodies have been seen on the roads and more than 150 [people] are missing,” an eyewitness told the TV station.

“Electricity is still cut and there is lack of water supplies and baby milk,” he added.

The eyewitness called on humanitarian organizations to save the people of Daraa.

“People from the villages around Daraa came to support the city but they were shot at by security forces.”

Syria has imposed a siege on Daraa, stopping all travel, communication and humanitarian aid.

The last time Jimmy Carter was in Syria, he eerily predicted this crisis by saying "The blockade is one of the most serious human rights violations on Earth."

Oh, sorry, he was talking about another blockade, one that didn't involve any civilians being targeted. He hasn't said a word about what is going on in Syria for the past month.

In fact, the Carter Center website is curiously silent about all the things happening in the Arab world nowadays. Nothing on Bahrain, Syria, or Yemen, and the only recent mention of Egypt was to congratulate them on helping bring a terrorist group into the Palestinian Authority government.

Could it be because the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has given over a million dollars to the Carter Center?

And so has the Saudi BinLadin Group?

And the The Saudi Fund for Development?

And the Government of The United Arab Emirates?

And the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development?

And the Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation?

And the The OPEC Fund for International Development?

And the The Sultanate of Oman?

And His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said also of Oman?

No, perish the thought. No doubt Jimmy Carter is not swayed at all in his important humanitarian work by such considerations.

It is more likely that he would never have said a bad word about Arab repression anyway, and this is the reason that he gets so many Arab donors, rather than the other way around.

UPDATE:

In 2009, Jimmy wrote an article on behalf of his team of old busybodies called "The Elders' view of the Middle East." In it he says

During the past 16 months I have visited the Middle East four times and met with leaders in Israel, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza.

Yet the entire article only talks about "Palestine." Apparently the Elders couldn't imagine that their gracious Arab hosts were anything but wonderful to their own people as well.

Latest Latma (4/29/11)

A bedtime story about moral purity.

10,000 Muslim clerics: "Arab uprisings might be a Zionist plot"

From Arab News:

KOTTAKKAL, Kerala: The ulema conference organized by the Samastha Kerala Jam’iyathul Ulema, a body of Islamic scholars, has warned against the possibility of the uprisings in Muslim nations into the hands of Zionists.

“The Zionists and colonialists are doing everything at creating cracks in the unity of Ummah on the ethnic and nationalist lines. The Muslims should be cautious about this trap,” a resolution adopted by the three-day conference attended by more than 10,000 scholars said.

It's difficult to find the pattern of Zionist plots, but I think I cracked the code:

Anything going on in the world that you, personally, are uncomfortable with, is a Zionist plot.

Don't thank me, I'm glad to help.

Palestinian Arab leaders disclose their strategy (NewsRealBlog)

My latest post at NewsRealBlog:

The entire impetus for the Fatah-Hamas “unity” agreement is the September attempt to get “Palestine” to be internationally recognized at the UN.

And today Fatah freely admits it:

Senior Fatah official Tawfiq Tirawi said Thursday that the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation will promote Palestinian interests ahead of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ planned statehood bid in September, making it “more important than peace with Israel.”

“We want this reconciliation to arrive at the UN General Assembly united. Appealing to the United Nations will be done with the support of all Palestinian factions and all the nations that have recognized a Palestinian state until now.”

Fatah and Hamas hate each other and have no desire to cede their respective power. They will keep things together just long enough for September and their hoped-for international recognition. This is exactly what they have done in the past.

And here is how the PA is planning to incorporate Hamas while pretending that “Palestine” accepts Israel’s right to exist:

T

irawi dismissed concerns voiced over the possibility that a future Palestinian government with Hamas in it will refuse to negotiate with Israel, saying that the Palestinian government will have “no say” in such peace talks, since “the only body allowed to negotiate with Israel on behalf of the Palestinian people is the PLO.”

So this is the game:

The PLO is the party that negotiates with Israel, and the party that officially recognizes Israel.

The PA is only responsible for governing the Arabs in the territories, not with any foreign relations.

The PA, despite claims of being democratic, reports to the PLO.

The fake Hamas/Fatah reconciliation is meant to only address the PA, not the PLO. They won’t hold any elections until after September, if ever.

So the PLO will claim to still recognize Israel and be peaceful, as it will claim that from its perspective nothing has changed.

The instant that Palestine is declared a state that is recognized by the world, in part because of these assurances that it is a peaceful state that recognizes Israel, Hamas and Fatah (and all the other terrorist parties that decide to join the government) will immediately take over the PLO’s foreign affairs, as that is what nations do. The PLO’s foreign affairs role will be superseded by “Palestine.”

Which means that the very minute that Palestine is recognized as a state, it will be by definition a terror state that no longer recognizes Israel! And indeed it will not need to. The entire peace process since Oslo has been a sham in order to gain territory, with peace being a tactic, not a strategy.

Hamas will insist that “Palestine”‘s foreign policy adhere to minimal Hamas demands, which is pretty much to insist that all of Israel is occupied territory–a position that the PA and PLO wholly agree with even if they will not say it in English. Their maps and logos show it to be true.

So instead of helping peace, this “unity” agreement is a recipe for prolonging and accelerating a six-decade war between the Arab world and Israel. A new “Palestine” would not help solve any of the real issues–like Jerusalem, “refugees,” water, Gilad Shalit, incitement to terror, actual terrorism. Hamas’ inclusion ensures that it will not be a peaceful state.

Will the West wake up in time to stop this recipe for disaster?

Photos of Arabs setting fires outside Joseph's Tomb last Sunday

Wire services actually published pictures of Arabs from Shechem (Nablus) setting fires at Joseph's Tomb last Sunday - a Jewish holy place that they, unbelievably, say is holy for them as well.

Is this how you treat a holy place?

Getty Images

Reuters

And here they are vandalizing the Tomb:

Reuters

Palestinian rioters set fire and break facilities in Joseph's Tomb in the West Bank city of Nablus April 24, 2011

Video can be seen here. And here's an article about the world's silence on the murder of a Jewish worshipper.

(h/t Yerushalimey, Vandoren)

Morning links (updated)

Hot Air: Syria gloats over US failure at UN

Guardian: Syria funding St. Andrews University causes embarrassment

--Is anyone embarrassed over this much larger 2008 gift to Edinburgh and Cambridge Universities from Saudi Arabia?

Toameh at Hudson-NY: The New Middle East

J-Wire: The Israel Embassy perspective on Hamas/Fatah reconciliation

Der Spiegel: Security breach at UNESCO exposes thousands of records

Ha'aretz: A previous royal wedding (I had to find an angle to mention this story, didn't I?)
---
The Guardian uses Sri Lanka's secret mass murders to bash...Israel.

(h/t Ian, Silke)

The Gaza "siege" is over. Where are the celebrations?

From Ma'an:

Egypt will permanently open the Rafah border crossing as part of its plans to ease the blockade on Gaza, Foreign Minister Nabil Al-Arabi said in an interview with Al-Jazeera Friday.

Arabi said his country would take "important steps to help ease the blockade on Gaza in the few days to come," according to the Arabic-language satellite channel.

He said Egypt would no longer accept that the Rafah border -- Gaza's only crossing that bypasses Israel -- remain blocked, describing his country's decision to seal it off as "shameful."

Egypt has largely kept Rafah closed, opening it exceptionally for humanitarian cases from the besieged Gaza Strip.

The thing is, Rafah has been open since last June, allowing people and supplies through.

No matter. What's important is that the cruel Israeli blockade has been smashed once and for all, and now all those "humanitarian aid" organizations can easily coordinate with their Egyptian friends to send much needed supplies to Gaza and ease the humanitarian crisis there.

But for some unexplainable reason, this news is not on the Free Gaza website. They are not celebrating, nor can I find any plans to send flotillas to El Arish so the massive amounts of aid they like to bring can come to the Gazans unhindered.

One would think that an organization that says it cares about Gazans would be ecstatic at this news!

Could it be that they really don't care about Gazans, and want to destroy Israel instead?

Nah, that's crazy talk.

Video: How Arabs Repress the Press (HonestReporting Canada)

An important video:

One of the best parts of Michael Totten's book was where he described exactly how Hezbollah tries to intimidate and threaten reporters - and how reporters are reluctant to report this story.

There are two reasons for this, Totten says. One is that the intimidation often works. The other, simpler reason is that editors will not allow journalists to be part of the story. (p. 157)

Even though readers need to know the context of how a journalist obtained his or her information, so we can evaluate how accurate it is likely to be, it is the rare journalist like Totten who actually explains the situation. So we see a very skewed view of the world in closed societies.