Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, June 06, 2011

Italy refusing to secure Israel exhibit in face of Arab threats

Italian police have refused to handle security for an Israeli exhibit at a central Milan square next week due to threats of violence by Palestinian activists, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday.

The exhibit, set to take place at Piazza Duomo, has been planned in honor of 'Israel Week' in the city. It includes 15 towers showcasing Israeli culture, technology, agriculture, economics, and art "to present the unfamiliar Israel".

But pro-Palestinian organizations are threatening to target the exhibit. Over the past few days the groups have been urging internet users to sign a petition to cancel the exhibit.

Web posters issued by the groups threaten to "ignite the city" and say, "No to Israeli occupation of Milano".

The exhibit has received all necessary permits from Milan's municipality, but political turmoil surrounding the election process in the city have apparently short-circuited communications between the municipality and police, who say officers stationed at the open-air plaza will have difficulty securing the area in the event violence breaks out.

On Monday the municipality was preparing to hold a conference that could end with orders to move the exhibit to a closed space.

The definition of terrorism is "the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims." This is a textbook example, and here is proof that it works.

It must be great for Arab terrorists to know that they only need to make a poster or two threatening to "ignite the city" to force municipal officials to bend to their will.

The subtext is that behind the threat is a real chance for violence. Which is why any similar threat by a Zionist or Jewish group would not result in the city of Milan bending over backwards to accommodate the people behind the threat - it would simply not be credible.

Decades of Arab and Islamic terror has conditioned the world to accept it as a given, and therefore to submit to it.

Terrorism works, because we allow it to.

Zahar: Fatah is stalling on "unity government" until September

From Palestine News Network:

Mahmoud Al Zahar the top Hamas leader in the Gaza strip admitted that there is internal dispute between him and the head of the polit-bureau in Damascus, Khalid Machan.

Al-Zahar hinted during his interview with the BBC of the possibility of pressure being implemented to delay forming the new Palestinian government.

Al-zahar added that Fatah officials have asked to postpone the formation of the new government, until after September to avoid obstacles in front of the negotiations and the French initiative.

Which is exactly what I have been saying since this "unity" deal was announced. This so called "agreement" was always a sham meant to put out a face of a united front for the PA's September diplomatic push, with no intent of following through and actually creating a true unity government - which is nearly impossible given the differing positions of Fatah and Hamas, and Hamas' desire to stay in power in Gaza.

(I couldn't find the interview on the BBC site.)

Report: Shalit family goes to Paris court for Shalit

The Hebrew press is reporting that Noam and Aviva Shalit are going to a Paris court to ask for an investigation as to who is responsible for their son Gilad Shalit's kidnapping, and for an international arrest warrant against them.

Gilad Shalit is a French citizen, and French law allows anyone be prosecuted anywhere in the world if they perform a serious felony against a French citizen.

Shalit's father said, "We appeal to the French legal system as a neutral and independent entity. We cannot do this in Israel. We asked the court to investigate crimes and to investigate the people who kidnapped my son, holding him hostage for five years in solitary confinement, without any basic human rights. "

"We had to go to court because my son's kidnappers ignored for years any international calls to release him on humanitarian grounds," said Shalit, "including the European Parliament's calls for a majority vote, Congress in Washington in two houses, the German Bundestag, the French president Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the United States Obama, and German Chancellor Merkel. " Shalit added that the kidnappers refuse to accept compromise proposals offered by the generous German mediator, the German government envoy, and that they refuse to allow any access to Gilad by the International Red Cross, or any other humanitarian body.

Hamas admits that they hold Shalit, so I'm not sure why it is important for the legal action to identify who is responsible for the kidnapping and why the Shalits cannot call for an arrest warrant against all Hamas leaders.

How to fight the Scottish boycott of Israeli books

From CiFWatch:

In 2009, the West Dumbartonshire Council passed a motion boycotting Israel. The motion reads in relevant part:

"Officers should immediately cease the purchase of any goods we currently source, which were made or grown in Israel. Officers should also ensure we procure no new goods or produce from Israel until this boycott is formally lifted by WDC."

Publicity of the boycott recently came to light after the Daily Express reported that Scottish National Party led West Dunbartonshire Council ordered that its libraries ban any new volumes by Israeli authors, printed or published in the Jewish state. In a failed attempt to deflect criticism, West Dunbartonshire Council claimed the ban didn't apply to all Israeli books just those printed in Israel and transported to the UK while maintaining that a boycott of Israeli products is in effect.

As media attention to this grew, activists began complaining to the council members over the boycott and a number of the council members responded exposing the bigotry underlying the boycott. In a series of emails, as reported by Ynet, CiF Watch exposed that Councillor Jim Bollan, the proposer of the motion, wrote that he viewedHamas as "freedom fighters". With pressure mounting, Councillor Jonathan McColl has been at the forefront of defending the boycott and even posted a rambling videoblog which was a display of rank ignorance and victim playing unbecoming of a political figure.

Since then, the Jewish Chronicle has reported that West Dunbartonshire Council library recently purchased a copy of the antisemitic forgery, Protocols of the Elder of Ziyon [sic - LOL], a decision that the council defended in the interest of freedom of speech.

With West Dunbartonshire having the dubious honor of being the top unemployment blackspot in the UK, the motivation behind singling out Israel, and only Israel, for boycott out of all nations of the world is clear. In Australia similar moves to boycott Israel by a local Sydney councilended up in failure after mass publicity of the planned boycott.

Together with your help, we can reverse the motion and send a message to other Scottish councils that are considering the same that such moves are immoral and racist.

CiFWatch gives all the details needed to email, tweet or otherwise get the message across to the council that their actions are not acceptable.

Lebanese protester admits Hezbollah paid him to get shot by the IDF

How did The Guardian allow this nugget of truth to pass through their eagle-eyed editors? Agreed, it is published four weeks too late, but still...

The village of Maroun al-Ras was the scene of widespread violence on 15 May when up to 10 demonstrators were shot dead as they rallied near the fence that separates Lebanon and Israel. Up to 1,000 demonstrators arrived at the area in buses to mark "Nakba day", the Palestinian name for the day Israel was formed in 1948.

One demonstrator who was wounded that day told the Guardian the Lebanese militia Hezbollah had given him $50 to turn up at the border and $900 to have his gunshot wounds treated by physicians. He said he had been planning to return to Maroun al-Ras yesterday until the rally was cancelled.

Why has the media been so reluctant to report on the theatre behind these demonstrations, and the incentive given by Arab leaders to injure or kill demonstrators that they hand-picked? Today's Syrian border demonstration was broadcast, live, on multiple Israeli TV channels, and the inflated and fake casualties were obvious to all - except, apparently, every single non-Israeli reporter in the area.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

Murderer "proud" of slaughtering the Fogel family

From YNet:

"I'm proud of what I did," so declared Amjad Mahmad Awad, 19, on Sunday just moments before an indictment against him and his partner Hakim Awad was filed before the Judea and Samaria Sector Military Court, over the murders of five members of the Fogel family two and a half months ago.

"I don't regret what I did, even if it means I'm sentenced to death," Amjad said ahead of the indictment hearing.

Five members of the Fogel family were butchered in the March 11 terror attack in Itamar. Husband and wife Udi and Ruthie Fogel and three of their children: Yoav (11) Elad (4) and baby Hadas (four months).

I wonder if the Mondoweiss people still think that some Thai workers, or Jewish neighbors, murdered the family? They sure seem silent on the arrests and confessions - except to talk about how awful Israel treated the people of Awarta who protected the murderers.

Syrian "news" agency now claiming 14 killed (UPDATE x3: Now 22!)

SANA is now reporting that 14 "youths" were killed at 225 injured at the Syrian border today.

They claim that all of them were shot.

They also claim that the IDF fired directly at ambulances.

Furthermore, they are claiming that the IDF fired "phosphorus bombs."

Needless to say, the story does not show a single picture of a "martyr", of bullet holes in an ambulance, or of any life-threatening injuries.

All of this is highly suspect, but watch to see Western news agencies starting to quote it as if it is true, without qualifications. Or, more likely, the wire services will quote the "death toll" without mentioning the more outrageous claims that make the death count look suspect.

YNet adds:

IDF sources said that some four landmines exploded inside Syrian territory, several hundred meters from the border. The blasts near the Quneitra crossing were caused after protestors hurled Molotov cocktails which started a fire. The fire detonated the landmines and left some protestors wounded.

UPDATE:

From the Reform Party of Syria:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington DC, June 5, 2011. The Reform Party of Syria has learned today, from intelligence sources close to the Assad regime in Lebanon, that Syrians storming through the Golan Height next to the Quneitra crossing are Syrian farmers who have migrated in recent years from the drought-stricken northeast Syria to the south. Estimates put the number at 250,000 impoverished migrants.

Information received cite the regime has paid hundreds of these farmers $1,000 each to show-up and $10,000 to their families should any of them succumb to Israeli fire. In Syria, an average salary is about $200 a month and to these impoverished farmers, such a one-time sum can keep them economically afloat for six months.

Such tactic was used in the past by another defunct Ba'ath Party in Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, to pay Intifada-driven Palestinians the sum of $25,000 to their next-of-kin should they die throwing stones. That measure had a worldwide impact and it seems the Assad regime is using the same play from a twin playbook.

It is obvious, with this action, Assad wants to divert the attention of the world away from his own massacres and brutality that resulted in some 70 deaths yesterday and about 30 today in Jisr al-Shoghour. RPS expects, on the basis of today's success, for these operations of incursions to multiply in scope in the near future for two reasons: 1) Divert the attention away from Assad's barbarism and savageries, and 2) Stand tall again in the eyes of the regime's supporters whose morale has taken quite a beating the last 3 months because of the violence perpetrated by Assad against unarmed civilians.

On this day of Naksa, RPS strongly believes in ownership and title of its Golan Heights. But unlike a regime bred on the use of violence, the Syrian people, demonstrating how peaceful they are as they endure one massacre after another, believe in peaceful negotiations to repatriate our lands. If Assad really wanted the Golan Heights, he would walk the same peaceful path Anwar Sadat walked long before him. But then, if he does, how can he justify his own existence as the "Commandant de la Résistance". For Assad, winning through peace means also losing the war against his own people.

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar and Silke)

Update x2: Need I note that there are squads of reporters at that spot, on both sides, and none have yet corroborated a single death?

UPDATE x3: Now Syria is claiming 22 dead. They even have photos now!

Oh, and they also are saying that Israel hurled grenades towards them.

The Western media is eating up the death figures and ignoring the other parts that are obviously nonsense. Yet they choose to believe part of the same nonsense.

Cartoon shows the purpose of "right of return"

Sometimes, a picture really is worth a thousand words.

From Palestine Times:

Arab League remains silent on Syria

From Now Lebanon:

As people in the Arab world continue to voice opposition to dictatorial regimes, their leaders remain mostly silent. Though formerly quiet members of the international community have spoken out against the violence in Syria, the latest country to witness a significant anti-regime uprising and subsequent security crackdown, the Arab League has remained silent.

Turkey is positioning itself as a mediator between the Syrian government and the protesters, hosting opposition activists for The Conference for Change in Syria this week, and the EU and US have passed sanctions against the Syrian leadership. Many however, are left wondering why the Arab states, which condemned the government crackdown against dissenters in Libya and kicked the country out of the Arab League, are keeping mum on the Assad regime.

According to Dr. Hilal Khashan, professor of Political Studies at the American University of Beirut, the Arab League is not an autonomous entity, and thus never acts on its own. “It intervened on Libya because of Western pressure, because NATO and the US needed to legitimatize their intervention against [Colonel Muammar] Qaddafi,” he said. But the West doesn’t seem very keen on repeating the action, he added, especially not in Syria.

To Egyptian activist and executive director of Cairo-based Arab Forum for Alternatives Mohammad Agati, the question isn’t about Arab silence, but rather its intervention in Libya in the first place. “A typical Arab League does not take any stances,” he said. “If anything, they usually bolster regimes.”

Most experts NOW Lebanon spoke with confirmed that view. Because the majority of the region’s regimes are autocracies, few leaders want to see any of their counterparts get toppled.

“In addition to [their fear of a] domino effect, Syria is regarded as an anchor state and microcosm of the entire Arab East,” explained Khashan. “An authoritarian leadership, a business class, a divisive society, as well as religious and ethnic divisions; if Syria goes down, the entire region will be affected… No one in the Arab League is willing to see Assad go,” he said. When asked whether the Arab states are hoping the Assad regime will tame the protests, no matter how many people are killed, he said, “I hate to agree, but that is the case.”

Actually, the Arab League was pretty early in its condemnation of Libya, before NATO airstrikes. I think it was that at the time, right after Egypt and Tunisia, it appeared that by choosing the Libyan protesters they felt they were backing the strong horse.

In Syria, since it is not clear at all that the protesters will win, the Arab League doesn't want to get involved without making itself look even more irrelevant.

Rafah border closed - first by Egypt and then by Hamas

From Ma'an:

Palestinian officials closed the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on Sunday, the terminal's director Ayyoub Abu Sha'ar said.

Abu Sha'ar said the crossing was closed because the Egyptian authority's mechanism at the terminal was unclear, and because Egypt closed the crossing on Saturday without coordinating with Palestinian officials.

Egypt opened the terminal several hours later than scheduled Saturday without informing Palestinian officials. Several buses of Palestinians were left waiting at the Egyptian gate, and dozens of Palestinians tried to storm the border.

Abu Sha'ar said consultations were ongoing between Gaza's foreign ministry and the Egyptian government to resolve technical and administrative problems at the terminal. He said the crossing would reopen as soon as the issues were fixed.

Al Arabiya reported that the Egyptian action came after Egyptian security forces found weapons in a car driven by Palestinian Arabs in Alexandria.

Gruesome video of Syrian soldiers mocking dead Syrian civilians

From Now Lebanon:

WARNING (Viewer discretion advised): Extremely graphic video shows members of the Syrian army surrounding bodies of civilian protestors they killed, allegedly on top of the Karak Mosque in Daraa. The soldiers are seen equipping the bodies with weapons and ammunition to make it look like the protestors were armed. They are also laughing at the dead men and calling some of them “dogs” and “despicable.”

Unconfirmed reports of Syrians killed in state-sponsored "Naksa" protests (updated x3)

From YNet:

Despite reports suggesting the mass rallies planned in Syria and Lebanon to mark "Naksa Day" – the 44th anniversary of the Arab "downfall" in the Six Day War – were cancelled, some 500 people gathered Sunday on the Syrian side of the northern border.

According to reports, around 12pm, about 150 protesters made their way to the international border fence, began stoning IDF troops and attempted to cut through the fence.

IDF forces called on the demonstrators to cease their progress, before firing warning shots in mid-air. Once those were ignored as well, the troops fired at the lower extremities of several major dissidents inflaming the crowds.

Unconfirmed reports by Syrian media suggest three people were killed and 10 others injured, allegedly from IDF sniper fire. Red Cross Ambulances evacuated the injured.

The IDF has not confirmed any information about casualties.

Reuters confirms that the Syrians stoned soldiers and that the IDF warned them against approaching.

Syrian TV is now saying 4 were killed, a number not confirmed by any independent observers.

Even though there were reports on Saturday that Syria would stop any protesters from approaching the border, the Syrian SANA news agency reported yesterday of one group that was preparing to go - and from the article, it is obvious that this was a Syrian-sponsored incursion:

Popular Commission for the Liberation of Golan on Saturday stressed determination to return and continue the liberation process.

In a statement marking the 44th anniversary of "al-Naksa Day", the Commission added "the conspiracy against Syria targets undermining its stability and security in an attempt to separate Syria from the Arab resistance through preoccupying with an internal affair."

The statement indicated to the Zionist entity and its inhuman practices of forcing the people of Golan to leave their lands and destroying towns and farms which stress Israel's racism and inhumanity.

The Commission stressed the Golan people's support to the reform program under the leadership of President Bahar al-Assad, expressing faith in Syria's resistant policy and the certainty of victory.

The statement pointed out that the Naksa Day anniversary should be a motive for exerting more effort to continue the struggle to end the Zionist project and return to Golan.

The Commission saluted people in the Occupied Golan and the captives in the occupation jails.

Notice that this group is not calling for "return" of Palestinian Arabs to Israel, but of Syria re-occupying the Golan. In fact, this press release is exactly congruent with Syrian government propaganda, which shows that this group that approached the border was only acting under the orders - and assistance - of the Syrian government itself.

I am not believing any reports of fatalities, since the Syrian regime has so much to gain by lying, and no one will be able to verify or contradict any Syria reports of deaths.

UPDATE: I see at least as many Syrian flags than Palestinian Arab flags on the live Israeli TV coverage of the Syrian border:

Also a PFLP flag is there.

UPDATE 2: Watching the Channel 2 coverage shows periodic, and obviously staged, shows of people in stretchers being taken away from the fence. Accompanied by lots of people who want to be in the wire-service photos.

UPDATE 3: Syria's "news" agency says that the IDF set fires along the border - when the TV shows clearly that it was the Arabs who set the fires along the Syrian side of the border. Which makes their claims of casualties seem all the more nebulous.

Iran's supreme leader calls for ethnically cleansing Jews from "Palestine"

From AFP:

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday that Iran backs "the undivided country of Palestine which belongs to the Palestinians," adding that "Palestine will return to the arms of Islam, without any doubt."

"We believe that the country of Palestine belongs in its entirety to the Palestinians."

As usual, it loses something in the translation.

From Palestine Today:

Ayatollah Khamenei reiterated that the only solution to settle the Palestinian issue is "to allow Palestinians to decide for themselves their next government through a referendum" and "to allow this government to decide what to do Zionists who came from abroad."

This of course means any Israeli Jew whose ancestors lived anywhere else before 1917, or 1880, would be force to leave their homes.

Why does the Western media downplay the racist statements of Iranian leaders?

PalArabs happy about Obama's Jerusalem decision

From JPost:

The Palestinian Authority on Saturday welcomed as “encouraging” US President Barack Obama’s decision not to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Obama on Friday invoked US national security interests to notify Congress that he will not move the embassy to Jerusalem.

Obama’s notification did not include a commitment to moving the embassy at some point in the future, unlike his predecessors, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who did suggest that this may be a possibility.

Nabil Abu Rudaineh, spokesman for the PA, said that Obama’s decision affirms that the world and the US don’t recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Abu Rudaineh added that the decision indicates that the world recognizes that east Jerusalem has been occupied since 1967 and that the city would be the capital of Palestine “in the context of a two-state solution.”

Indeed, by breaking with the (symbolic, but still important) declarations of previous presidents, Obama is in fact giving the message that Jerusalem will be a capital of only one state - and that state is not Israel.

Are you anti-semitic?

From Talking Squid:

(h/t Eamonn via Facebook)

Anti-semitic comic book: "Foreskin Man" (updated)

This is un-freaking-believable - a comic book where the villain is a bloodthirsty rabbi called Monster Mohel who wants to circumcise boys, and is stopped by the heroic Foreskin Man. Here are a few panels:

Yes, the heroes kidnap the baby so he can be brought up in the correct, non-Jewish way.

Which just goes to show that many of the"anti-circ" fanatic are motivated by good old fashioned Jew-hatred, and not out of any concern about innocent babies.

(I'm not posting the link here, but it is easy enough to find.)

(h/t Levi)

UPDATE: The Jewish Journal talks about it in today's issue.

The backers of a ballot initiative in San Francisco aiming to ban circumcision in that city have consistently maintained that their efforts are not anti-Semitic.

But the “Foreskin Man” comic book, which was written and edited in 2010 by the founder of a San Diego group supporting efforts to ban circumcision in San Francisco and Santa Monica, gives further credence to the accusation that so-called intactivists are in fact motivated by anti-Semitism.

“The imagery in ‘Foreskin Man’ is functionally Anti-Semitic,” Abby Michelson Porth, associate director of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), said. “The motives of the proponents of this ban are questionable given their direct connection with “Foreskin Man.”

The story told in the second issue of “Foreskin Man,” which is available on its website, centers on the story of Sarah and Jethro Glick and their newborn son. Sarah thought that she and her husband had agreed not to circumcise their son, but Jethro had other plans. He secretly invited the villain, “Monster Mohel,” to circumcise “little Glick.”

On the website foreskinman.com, Monster Mohel, a bearded man with a black hat on his head and a tallis around his neck, is described this way: “Nothing excites Monster Mohel more than cutting into the penile flesh of an eight-day-old infant boy.”

(h/t DWM)

Hezbollah: Solving Mideast problems is predicated on destroying Israel

From Now Lebanon:

Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said on Friday that “there cannot be any solutions [in the Middle East] before resolving the problem of Israel’s existence.”

“We are convinced that unless we resolve the problem of Israel’s existence in the region, there cannot be any solutions,” Qassem said according to a statement issued by Hezbollah.

He said that “the Resistance cannot back down,” adding that “those who are calling to abolish it are calling for abolishing Lebanon.”

He also said that Israel “is the enemy of the Arabs and the Muslims…and is the source of every crisis in the region and in our country.”

Qassem added that the “oppressive rulers” in the Middle East “are the creation of Israel.”

Doesn't Hezbollah sound a lot like those Arab dictators everyone is now against who blame all their problems on Israel?

IDF video of 2010 flotilla timeline

The IDF put this out a couple of weeks ago:

From the YouTube description:

The film, based on findings by the Eiland Team of Experts, breaks down the events of the flotilla using a timeline that alternates between 3D models and footage captured throughout the incident.

The events leading up to and throughout the flotilla incident are recounted in the video, as presented by the team of experts led by Maj. Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland in the IDF's internal inquiry.

The first phase of the operation: The IDF relayed the message that the flotilla ships were in an area of a maritime closure, and offered the ships to transfer their cargo from the Ashdod Port to the Gaza Strip. The Sofia ship did not respond at all, while the other ships responded with refusal and/or profanity.

The IDF forces were divided and each group boarded a different ship. The soldiers arrived at the Mavi Marmara at 4:28 AM, but could not board the ship due to metal objects being thrown at them. After an unsuccessful attempt to board the ship by smaller boats, a helicopter arrived at 4:30 AM with 15 IDF soldiers. The first rope dropped by the helicopters was tied by the demonstrators to the deck of the ship in order to prevent the soldiers' descent.

Soldiers that descended down the second rope were met by 2-4 demonstrators each who wielded knives, axes, and metal poles. The second soldier to descend was shot in the stomach by a demonstrator. The soldiers who were in danger of their lives were forced to use their live weapons. Five soldiers were injured by stabbing, blows and live fire by the demonstrators. Within seconds of boarding the ships, three soldiers were thrown off the deck by demonstrators. The injured were dragged to the hull of the ship.

A reinforcement of soldiers arrived from a second helicopter, which was also attacked by demonstrators, and the soldiers are met with violence when they attempt to access the lower deck of the ship.

At 4:46 AM a third helicopter arrives to the Mavi Marmara, and the two groups of soldiers combine forces on the ship roof and descend to the other parts of the ship, where they are also met with lethal violence, and thus respond with live fire.

Many of the demonstrators enter inside of the ship as the smaller boats arrive at the side of the ship, however some still violently attack the incoming boats and the soldiers respond with live fire.

The Commander of the Special Navy Forces boards the ship, and while evaluating the forces, it is discovered that three soldiers are missing. The missing and injured soldiers are discovered to have been abducted by a number of violent demonstrators, who abandon the soldiers and run back into the ship when fired at.

Two of the injured soldiers jump off the ship so that they can be picked up by the IDF boats. The third injured soldier is on the bow of the boat and slipping out of consciousness. IDF soldiers remaining on the boat come to his aid.

At 5:17 AM the situation is evaluated and some of the findings: live fire was used by demonstrators towards IDF soldiers who were on the ship, including one soldier who descended down the rope and was shot in the abdomen. Live fire by the demonstrators was also aimed at the soldiers on the small Israeli Navy boats next to the Marmara. The first occurence of live fire was that used by the demonstrators. In addition, a gun with emptied magazines was found in the hull of the ship.

IDF forces had boarded the other ships without incident. Treatment and evacuation was carried out for the injured soldiers and demonstrators alike. 38 injured were airlifted, 7 of them soldiers.

The three soldiers who had been attempted to be kidnapped and were taken to the hull of the ship were witness to an argument between the violent demonstrators, and other passengers of the Marmara who asked the violent demonstrators to cease their violent activity.

24 of the injured passengers were diagnosed at the Ashdod Port and treated in hospitals in Israel.

After the operation ended, the ships arrived at the Ashdod Port accompanied by Israeli Naval forces. An intelligence investigation following the flotilla incident found that 40 of the IHH activists previously boarded the Marmara ship from Istanbul before joining the others.

The 8 of the 9 demonstrators killed were members of the IHH or other allied groups. Around half of those killed had declared in front of their families their aspiration to die as martyrs ("shahids"). Footage on the Marmara shows that the violence had been prepared: metal poles and chains were prepared, slingshots, buzzsaws, gas masks, tear gas, bulletproof vests, knives, and more. A briefing had taken place before the IDF had boarded the ship, with the leader of the violent demonstrators telling the group to attack the IDF soldiers at any cost.

The exchange of messages between the IDF and the Mavi Marmara starting at around 7:00 is especially illuminating, as the "peace activists" reply back with "Shut the f**k up", "Go back to Auschwitz" and "We're helping Arabs go against the US; don't forget 9/11, guys."

A "spontaneous" rally in Iran

For humor, it's really hard to beat the Iranian FARS news agency.

Here's a short article from today:

Scores of Iranian students staged a rally in front of the UN office in Tehran to protest at the massacre of peaceful protestors in Bahrain and Yemen other Islamic countries in the region.

The students chanted various slogans such as 'Allaho Akbar', 'Down with the USA', 'Down with the Zionist regime' to voice their support for people in Bahrain and other Islamic countries.

The protesting students asked UN and the international community to take legal measures against the ongoing crimes in Bahrain and other Islamic countries.

Iranians from all walks of life have staged numerous rallies during the last few weeks to shout their support for the popular uprisings in the Middle-East and North Africa and to condemn suppression of peaceful protests by dictatorial regimes in the region.

How exactly does chanting "Down with the USA" and "Down with the Zionist regime" show support for Bahrainis?

And why, one wonders, are there no rallies in Iran to support the Syrians against their oppressive regime that is killing them by the hundreds?

Lebanese "Naksa" rallies canceled

From AP:

Palestinian organizers in Lebanon who had planned a march to the border with Israel early next week say they have canceled it.

The organizers say that Sunday's planned march marking the 1967 Arab-Israeli war's anniversary would be replaced by strikes across all 12 of Lebanon's Palestinian refugee camps.

Now Lebanon adds:

On Friday, the event was cancelled because the army had yet to grant protesters permission to approach the border, possibly as a result of the violence at last month’s rally there.

I had reported that this seemed likely yesterday.

Meanwhile....strikes in Lebanon to protest Israel?

Works for me. They can do that every day. I'm sure it will help the Lebanese to love their Palestinian Arab "guests" even more than they already do.

Idiotic analogy of the day

From Bob Burnett in the HuffPo:

Since 1948, when the United States recognized the state of Israel, twelve US presidents have shaken the hands of Israeli leaders and pledged "for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part." Sadly, this once happy marriage is in trouble. It's time for the US to reconsider its commitment to Israel.

During the last week of May, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington, making visible the cracks in the US-Israel marriage that had long been apparent to diplomatic observers.

The analogy is ridiculous - unless you are dying to see a "divorce."

Israel and the US have common interests and goals. They have more in common, in fact, than the US has with most countries. That's what makes them allies!

Allies are not "married" to each other. The US does not always agree with its other allies in Europe and North America, and has serious disagreements with its putative Arab and Islamic allies in the Middle East.

If Israel is "married" to the US, then are Canada and Great Britain jilted lovers?

By framing the straw man argument in such a fashion, Burnett sets up his "solution" - divorce.

The US is in the position of a husband who, after a long relationship, finds that he and his wife have grown apart. Is it better to separate and face lives of painful isolation or should the couple stay together for "appearances"? That's the dilemma America faces. Our marriage with Israel no longer works. The policies of the current Israeli government are detrimental to the best interests of the United States.

Of course, Burnett came up with his "solution" before he came up with any of his "evidence" - tedious, tendentious arguments that note that Israel and the US sometimes disagree. As if that never happened before: US/Israeli relations were much worse in 1956 and in 1981.

There is another illuminative angle to this article. If you actually accept Burnett's stupid analogy, it tells us a lot about Burnett.

From Burnett's perspective, he must believe that the US would be better served by "marrying" someone else. Who might that be? People who openly insult the US all the time? An Arab world whose alliance with America is based on backing the strong horse rather than any shared values?

We also learn that Burnett's concept of marriage is very skewed. If one is to believe Burnett's analogy, then the wife in the marriage must always do what the husband wants, or else he will divorce her.

This is not marriage - it is slavery.

If Burnett's real-life marriage is anything like his published ideas about marriage, I feel very sorry for his wife.

Reports: 67 more killed in Hama, Syria today (UPDATE: 130 killed)

Al Arabiya reports that at least 67 demonstrators were killed in Syria today when Syrian security forces opened fire on crowds of protesters in Hama.

There were many protests throughout Syria today, but the Hama rally was much larger than usual: more than 50,000 people were there.

There were reports of protesters being killed in other sections of Syria as well: 8 in Al Joura, several in Aleppo, one in Homs. The rallies also reportedly reached Damascus.

UPDATE: New reports say 130 killed, 350 injured in Hama - the site where some 20,000 people were wiped out in 1982.

Latest Latma (6/3/11)

A little Palestinian Arab history lesson....

Intra-Hamas split seems to widen

Palestine Press Agency quotes London-based Al Hayat that the much reported split between the Gaza leaders of Hamas and the Damascus political leadership continues to widen.

The latest salvo, according to the report, comes from Khaled Meshal, who heard that his Gaza rival Mahmoud al-Zahar was going to meet with a Swiss group. Meshal told the Swiss that Zahar does not represent Hamas, but only the Damascus leadership does.

Meshal then went on to deny that there was any split in Hamas.

If Hamas can't even gets its own act together, how real can the "unification" with Fatah be?

Michael Totten in Hebron

Earlier this week Michael Totten wrote a nice article about the Jews of Hebron, from a perspective that one rarely sees in the general media. Here's a part:

Last summer I visited Hebron, one of the darkest and most hate-stricken cities in the West Bank, a place most tourists visiting the Holy Land for a sun-drenched Levantine holiday would not dream of setting foot. Six years ago I took my mother to Beirut and even down to Beaufort Castle overlooking Hezbollahland and the Israeli border area, but I would not take her to Hebron. This is a city where a few hundred Jewish “settlers” make their home at the bottom of valley surrounded by Palestinians who have been trying, sometimes violently, to drive them out for a very long time.

Eve Harow drove me there. She works as a professional tour guide and knows the area well.

“Hebron’s a tough place,” she said. “I could never live there.” She agreed, however, to take me in her car.

Eve is a tough lady, but Hebron is tougher. She, too, lives in a settlement in the West Bank, not in Hebron, but in a “mainstream” one, Efrat, a small California-style town in the Gush Etzion bloc that functions more or less as a suburb of Jerusalem. You can drive from one to the other in just a few minutes.

‘What do you think of Hebron?” I said to Eve as we headed south out of Jerusalem. Like so much of the Middle East, it’s a problem without a solution that makes me want to throw my hands in the air and give up.

“It’s a microcosm of the Middle East,” she said. “It really is. There are a few Jews and a lot of Arabs. If Jews are not allowed to live there because they were once driven out, then that validates the ethnic cleansing of 1948. Ethnic cleansing is wrong no matter who is the focus. We didn’t throw the Arabs out when we came back in 1967 even though they thought we would.”

Most communication between humans is non-verbal. It’s conveyed through body language and is the same across cultures. I wasn’t imagining the hatred directed at me from some of the Palestinian men on that road. It was obvious.

I am not paranoid around Arabs, not after having lived in an Arab country. Nor am I paranoid around Palestinians. I’ve met too many to count in Israel and was never once stared at in a hostile manner in Ramallah, perhaps because it was obvious, at least to some, that I was American and not Israeli, at least while I was walking around and talking to people. On my way into Hebron, however, no one could have known that I was American. Thanks to the plates on Eve’s car and the glass between me and them, they naturally assumed I was Israeli. And I felt their hatred as though it were heat.

Just a few weeks after I left, several Israeli civilians in a car much like Eve’s—including a pregnant woman—were shot to death on that very road by Palestinian gunmen.

he introduced me to David Wilder, a spokesperson for Hebron’s Jewish community. He grew up in New Jersey, but has lived in Israel for 35 years. He first visited during a one-year program in college and said it changed his life, so he came back after he graduated and has been there ever since.

“When we came back in 1967,” he said, “we had reasonable relations between Jews and Arabs again. There were business relationships, personal relationships. We could walk around the city unarmed and there were no problems. Things weren’t all lovey-dovey, but people got along. Things started to change in a bad way during the first Intifada in the late 1980s. The PLO began rounding up Arabs who were seen talking to Jews and accusing them of being collaborators, so pretty soon the Arabs stopped talking to us.”

While it’s not true that the first Intifada consisted entirely of civil disobedience and rock throwing, the second Intifada was nevertheless much worse than the first. The second consisted almost entirely of suicide bombings and rifle attacks. The road from Jerusalem to Gush Etzion was ferociously dangerous, but Hebron degenerated into a war zone.

“They shot at us for two and a half years from the hills around us,” David said.

“What did they use?” I said. “Sniper rifles? Regular rifles?”

“They shot at us with both,” he said. “A sniper shot and killed a baby in the head right on this street. They shot into my apartment a number of times. We warned during the Oslo Accords that if Arafat was given control of the hills around us that we would be shot at. People said we were panicking, that we were hysterical, but we were right.”

Totten received complaints about this piece, especially about not mentioning Baruch Goldstein's massacre in Hebron and not demonizing the Jewish "settlers" he interviewed. So he wrote a follow-up where he regrets the omission of Goldstein, but he puts it in the correct context:

Jewish terrorism doesn’t take up a large space in my consciousness for a reason that I trust is obvious—it’s rare. Goldstein shocked and appalled almost every Jew in the world when he murdered those people. One of their own became a full-blown no-way-to-whitewash-it mass-murdering terrorist. He was killed when some of his would-be victims beat him to death, but had he survived, the Israelis would have thrown him in a cage and left him there for the rest of his days.

All cultures produce murderers, all cultures produce political extremists, and all cultures produce individuals who combine the two into deadly concoctions. Israeli society, though, does a pretty good job policing these people and ensuring that their following is both miniscule and marginalized. So I’m not particularly concerned about the moral health of Israeli society, and I’m entirely unconvinced that the defective people it does produce are numerous or dangerous enough to prevent peace in the Middle East.

Palestinian society produces far more violent extremists, and they hold a massive amount of power in Palestinian politics. There is no getting around this. Hamas rules the entire Gaza Strip with an iron fist and is now part of a “national unity government” with Fatah, a party founded by Yasser Arafat that has no shortage of terrorists among its own ranks.

The Sunni and Shia militias that engaged in murderous sectarian “cleansing” operations against each other in Iraq were more or less equivalent morally, so I described them as such when I filed reports from Baghdad. The violent Israeli settlers in Hebron—and there are some—in no way compare to the Palestinian terrorist organizations that waged such massive and relentless campaigns of mass murder that it took the powerful Israeli army years to put them down.

There’s a serious asymmetry between the two sides, and that’s why I don’t place an equal amount of emphasis on the amount of criminal violence each side commits. Jews and Israelis everywhere recoil in horror from the likes of Baruch Goldstein, but public squares in Palestinian cities are named after suicide bombers and other killers of innocents.

I am well aware of the caricature of Israeli settlers as bigoted thugs, and I’m likewise aware that some of them fit that description. Some have attacked not only their Palestinian neighbors, but also Israeli soldiers.

The two Israelis I interviewed, though, don’t fit that description. I hardly know David Wilder, but we talked for an hour on tape and he didn’t say anything racist or brutal. I’m courteous enough not to libel him as a bigot just because he’s a spokesperson for Jews living in Hebron. I may not have gone to journalism school, but I’m pretty sure the demands of my profession don’t require me to do such a thing.

And I personally know Eve Harow well enough that I can say with confidence that she’s not a bigoted thug. I can’t very well denounce her as one just because that’s a fashionable stereotype I’m obligated to feed.

Read both of the articles to see what the mainstream media doesn't dare to touch.

Syrian children talk about the massacres

A very emotional video that was uploaded by a Syrian dissident whose Twitter handle is 3ayeef, translated into English:

The very last quote, even if it is from a child, is most interesting.

Is Israel enforcing a de facto no-fly zone over Syria?

(h/t IsraelMuse)

Who's lying - Ban Ki Moon or the PLO? (Or both?)

JPost reports:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday voiced his support for the establishment of a Palestinian state, but said that the matter is in the hands of the UN General Assembly, Palestinian Authority officials quoted him as saying.

The officials said that the secretary-general, who met with PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Rome, also expressed hope that members of the UN would show understanding for the Palestinian statehood bid.

The UN website says:

The Secretary-General met today with H.E. Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority.

The Secretary-General expressed his concern at the lack of progress in the Middle East peace process, but said that he had been encouraged by the vision laid out in U.S. President Obama's recent speech on the Middle East.

President Abbas briefed the Secretary-General on efforts to form a new Palestinian Government. The Secretary-General noted that Palestinian reconciliation should be based on PLO commitments and Quartet principles. He said the reconciliation effort should be given a chance.

The Secretary-General said achieving the goal of an independent, viable Palestinian state was long overdue. The Secretary-General thanked President Abbas for outlining Palestinian thoughts and plans on working toward statehood and on what was required for a return to negotiations.

The Secretary-General stressed that now, more than ever, it was important that the Palestinians and Israel engage in real, genuine and meaningful negotiations. The Secretary-General said he knew it was the Palestinian National Authority's priority to return to negotiating table.

So did Ban Ki-Moon say that "the matter was in the hands of the UN General Assembly"? The UNGA cannot establish a state and it seems unlikely that Ki-Moon would say otherwise. The UN press release certainly says nothing of the sort.

On the other hand, Ki-Moon is clearly lying when he says that it is "the Palestinian National Authority's priority to return to negotiating table." This entire UN exercise is their attempt to avoid going to the negotiating table.

Furthermore, the UN press release implies that the PNA has been doing negotiations, when in fact it is the PLO that has been - the PNA is strictly limited to domestic governing, not foreign affairs. When Abbas meets with internationals, it is as a representative of the PLO, not the president of the PA.

So to answer the question - both of them are liars.

(h/t Mike)

The best one-state solution (Andrew Klavan)

Give the entire Middle East to Israel!

Funny - and yet true:

If this goes viral, Arabs will believe that this is a real plan. Should be fun.

(h/t guy)

Links

Slate: The Persistence of Hate

Video: The rabbi and the paratroopers (taking care of soldiers during the Lebanon war)

Lots of blogs have been following the ban on Israeli books in the Scottish town of West Dunbartonshire. Israellycool has had a bunch of posts, The Muqata is organizing a counter-boycott of Scotch whiskey, and the idiotic comments of one of the council members made it into YNet.

Spengler on the upcoming Arab economic meltdown.

A long and depressing article in Commentary by Daniel Gordis on how young rabbis are being "even-handed." When the supposed leaders of a people cannot see the difference between their own people and the enemy, we are in serious trouble.

Hamas' leader again makes some comments that are hardly peaceful. But, then again, Fatah isn't much different.

The IDF holds races. The real, running kind.

After lots of criticism, an LGBT center in New York decides not to host any groups who deal with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

(h/t Cheryl and lots of people whose names I didn't save, sorry)

"Peace" protesters proud to call themselves "warriors"

The month-long saga of the Malaysian "aid" ship to Gaza is finally winding down...but not without one more illuminating fact.

Although the Perdana Global Peace Foundation (PGPF) Malaysia failed in its mission to send humanitarian aid right to the people of Gaza, it is proud of having broken Israel's illegal seige of Gazan waters.

PGPF chairman Tan Sri Norian Mai said this success was meaningful for PGPF, apart from the spirit and courage of those onboard the cargo ship MV Finch carrying the humanitarian aid, regarding them as warriors.

"Although this mission cannot be said to be 100 per cent successful, it managed to break Israel's illegal seige as the ship managed to enter the Gazan waters before being stopped by the Israeli navy," he told reporters at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, here, Wednesday.

Dr Siti Hasmah said her husband, former premier and PGPF president Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, was proud of all the mission volunteers and thanked them for their sacrifice.

"Dr Mahathir is unable to be present here to welcome home the heroes today, but he wishes to congratulate and thank them for their sacrifice....he's very proud of these warriors.

"Peace" activists proudly calling themselves "warriors"?

It's also funny how no matter what happens, these anti-Israel agitators will pretend to have won. If Israel had stopped the ship further out to sea, they would claim "piracy." When done closer in, they claim "victory."

(h/t Mike)

Egyptian town wants to stop Jewish pilgrimage to rabbi's grave

From The Egyptian Gazette:

Residents of el-Behira Governorate in the Nile Delta vowed Thursday to prevent thousands of Jews, who arrive en masse at the tiny village of Demito near Damanhour City, 50 km southeast of Alexandria, every year during the last week of each December to attend the birthday celebrations of Abu Hasira, a Moroccan Jewish holy man, who was buried there some 150 years ago.

"After the January 25 revolution, which toppled over the Hosni Mubarak regime, the Jews will not be allowed to enter Demito any more and endanger the public morals and hurt the feelings of its 5,000 residents," Moustafa Rasslan, a lawyer, said.

He called on the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which has been ruling the country since February 11, to enforce a 2001 court ruling that compelled the Culture Ministry, responsible for the site where the annual gathering takes place in late December and early January, to cancel the Abu Hasira celebrations all together.

"If the SCAF does not enforce the ruling, Damito residents will not allow the Jews come to their village to attend the week-long Abu Hasira Mulid (festival), where they used to behave in a way that contradicts Islamic traditions and public morals under the very nose of security officials of the ousted regime," he said.

Although Damityoo residents insist that they have nothing against Jews , they insist that the Jews and Israelis should feel ashamed of themselves to visit their village while they are oppressing the Palestinians.

A female residents said that the Jews drink alcohol, which is forbidden in Islam, to be blessed as part of their veneration of the rabbi.

"The Jewish visitors usually get drunk and engage in obscene dancing during the celebrations," the woman, who asked not to be identified, said, demanding that the Abu Hasira festival should be cancelled after the revolution and the deposing of Mubarak, whom she dismissed as Israel's friend.

Damito dwellers, led by lawyer Rasslan, have officially requested the SCAF to stop the festival because of their discontent about the Jews' misconduct.

They have also demanded that the Essam Sharf Government to move Abu Hasira's remains to Israel and change the name of their village from Damito to Mohamed el-Dura, the Palestinian young boy whom Israeli forces shot to death in cold blood during the second Intifada eleven years ago.

It's not like they don't like Jews, Allah forbid. They just to ban them from their town. You can't call that anti-semitism!

Here's a video of the "drunken" revelry and "obscene dancing" that they are complaining about, that was embedded on Arab sites last January:

And then, as an afterthought, the article says:

Recently, there has been an unconfirmed report that the secret Egyptian security agents have foiled a bid by some anti-Israel activists from vandalizing the Abu Hasira Shrine.

No security official was immediately available to confirm or deny this report.

In fact, Shorouk News reported two weeks ago:

Hundreds of students from the University of Damanhur and a coalition of youth on Saturday held a peaceful march to the tomb of Abu Hatezira to denounce the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, and to show solidarity with the third Palestinian Intifada, and the rejection of the establishment of the alleged birth of Abuhetzeira in Damanhour.

The march began in front of the college at the University of Damanhur and then walked around the streets, and stopped at the bridge leading to the Abu Rish Dmitoh village is located the tomb of Abu Hatzeira, and afterwards security forces prevented them from entering the village.

The students burned the Israeli flag, and carried a sign saying "The Zionists will not enter," in reference to repeated visits by Israeli tourists each year to the shrine of Abuhatzeira. The students chanted slogans condemning the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and calls for halt attacks on the Gaza Strip, and unify the Arab countries to restore the occupied Arab territories, and stop the various forms of normalization with Israel including natural gas, and the expulsion of its ambassador from Egypt.

So Egyptians decide to protestagainst Israel's existence at a shrine that has nothing to do with Israel and only has religious significance. A shrine that they want to remove from their midst.

But don't say they hate Jews!

(h/t Vicious Babushka)

Watch out for those "artificial quakes"!

From Iran's FARS "news" agency:

A prominent Palestinian activist cautioned on Wednesday that the Zionist regime of Israel is likely to attempt to destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque through an artificial earthquake, and urged all Islamic countries to show an immediate and strong reaction to the Israeli plans against the first Muslim Keble.

"The Zionist regime authorities may find control over the Al Aqsa Mosque or issue the order for its destruction through an artificial quake which now seems to be the case, given the Zionists' continued diggings and excavation operations under the Al Aqsa Mosque," Khater noted.

You would think that they could come up with something more original. Aftrall, the "artificial quake" threat has been around for years.

In 2009, an "expert on Israeli affairs" said that Israel was going to create an earthquake in the Negev or the Red Sea in order to destroy Al Aqsa.

And a Hamas MP made the same accusation in 2007.

Come on, Arabs, come up with something more imaginative!

Maybe the Egyptian sharks can grow legs from Israeli genetic engineering and strap on bomb belts when they come to visit the mosque disguised as tourists? Or Israel might release Zionist gophers to eat away at the foundations of the mosque. Maybe some super-secret Joo-Rays are being shot, right now, at the Dome of the Rock with the intent to burn a six-pointed star into the dome which will turn it into a synagogue!

Recycling the old 'artificial earthquake" story? I'm deeply disappointed.

A thorough explanation of UCU's latest attempt to legitimize Israel bashing

The British University and College Union (UCU) last week voted to reject the European Union Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia definition of anti-semitism.

The EUMC working definition includes specific ways that criticism of Israel is in fact anti-semitic.

Working definition: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

In addition, such manifestations could also target the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity....

Examples of the ways in which antisemitism manifests itself with regard to the State of Israel taking into account the overall context could include:

Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.

Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.

Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.

Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.

Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.

However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.

The virulently anti-Zionist UCU rejects this definition:

Congress notes with concern that the so-called 'EUMC working definition of antisemitism', while not adopted by the EU or the UK government and having no official status, is being used by bodies such as the NUS and local student unions in relation to activities on campus.

Congress believes that the EUMC definition confuses criticism of Israeli government policy and actions with genuine antisemitism, and is being used to silence debate about Israel and Palestine on campus.

Congress resolves:

that UCU will make no use of the EUMC definition (e.g. in educating members or dealing with internal complaints)

that UCU will dissociate itself from the EUMC definition in any public discussion on the matter in which UCU is involved

that UCU will campaign for open debate on campus concerning Israel's past history and current policy, while continuing to combat all forms of racial or religious discrimination.

Even though the EUCM was careful to distinguish between legitimate criticism of Israel and anti-semitic criticism of Israel, the UCU rejects that distinction - it claims that all criticism of Israel is in fact legitimate, no matter the context.

Ben Gidley at Dissent Magazine goes into great depth on why unions needs to define concepts like racism and anti-semitism - and why the UCU is completely wrong (and disingenuous) in its attempt to pretend that it is impossible for criticism of Israel to be anti-semitic.

The entire article is worth reading. Its conclusion:

For the union to disassociate itself from the working definition in any public discussion of anti-Semitism is beyond ridiculous. It means insisting that all of the organizations that do take the working definition seriously—the Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors anti-Semitism in the United Kingdom; the NUS; the Union of Jewish Students; the Fundamental Rights Agency; the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe—are dismissed in advance. It undermines their work on anti-Semitism, and it undermines their vital work on anti-Roma racism, Islamophobia, and other racisms.

In the workplace, as the CST’s director writes, this “will serve to (even) further alienate Jews from the union; and it will make it (even) harder for anti-Semitism to be raised there as a matter of concern....[I]t carries the implication that people who complain about anti-Semitism in any Israel-related context are likely to be a bunch of liars, dancing to a pre-ordained tune.”

As an academic who studies racism, I find it bizarre that my union cannot accept that there is even the faintest possibility that institutional racism might exist in our own ranks, even after a series of clearly documented incidents and a shocking number of resignations by Jewish members who perceive it as such. This motion, if passed, [it was passed - EoZ] will in fact legitimate racism in the union and stop any allegation of anti-Semitism—in debates or in the workplace—from being taken seriously. That the motion will be tabled in a session entitled “Campaigning for equality” is ironic, but the irony tastes bitter indeed.

(h/t Adam and Zach N. via Facebook)

A great loss for the JBlogosphere

Yaacov Lozowick is retiring from blogging, as he is about to start a new job as Israel's State Archivist.

Yaacov is a brilliant blogger - insightful, thought-provoking, original - and an excellent writer as well.

At least he will continue to put up some notes for all of us to see at a new site.

I wish him good luck in his new - and very impressive! - position, but the Zionist blogosphere will be much poorer without him.

"Naksa Day" - Will the Lebanese army stop the protests?

From Ya Libnan:

Fatah leader in Lebanon Munir Maqdah said on Wednesday that all Palestinians including Fatah and Hamas groups will take part in the Naksa Day rally scheduled for June 5.

“All Palestinian factions will participate in the event, including institutions from Lebanon’s civil society,” he told the Central News Agency.

“The May 15 clashes are a ball of fire that will keep on growing until it burns the occupier until the Palestinians are granted their right to return to their homeland,” he added.

Palestinian sources told the news agency that the demonstrators are planning on marching to the Lebanese-Israeli border on June 5, where they will set up tents at Maroun al-Ras and at the Khiyam prison.

They added that preparations and contacts are underway with Lebanese authorities, Hezbollah, and other parties in order to stage Sunday’s rally.

Security sources told Kuwaiti newspaper al Anbaa that the Lebanese army won’t allow a repeat of the al Nakba day protests that took place in Maroun al Rass. The sources stressed that the army will not allow Israel any more excuses for more killings

One source told the daily that the army recently succeeded in foiling an attempt to fire a rocket towards Israel … the person was detained just before firing the rocket.

For some reason, even though everyone knows that the Lebanese army fired at demonstrators on May 15, everyone says that all of the dead were killed by Israel.

Ethiopian Jew sings Arabic song on Israeli TV talent show

An amazing performance on Israel's "A Star is Born" talent show by Hagit Yasou, a 21-year old from Sderot. She is singing in Arabic.

Those racist Israelis!

(h/t SA)

Reports: Syrians kill 43, destroy mosques, dump bodies at sea (UPDATED)

From CNN:

Dozens of people have died in clashes with troops in western Syria, where government forces reportedly shelled homes in one town, protest organizers and a human rights official said Thursday.

At least 43 people have been killed since Sunday when government forces entered Homs province to end protests against government rule, said Rami Abdel Rahman, president of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

A witness in Rastan, who identified himself as a protest organizer named Abu Abdullah, said there was heavy artillery fire and that shelling had destroyed about 20 homes and several mosques.
Abdullah said the fighting has been nonstop since troops cut off the town on Sunday.

Abdullah said he carried the body of a 16-year-old boy killed in the attack on the city.
"He was just walking in the street when he was shot," he said.

I bet that the mosques has quite a few Korans that were destroyed, too.

Meanwhile:

Belgian newspaper “Die Presse” has reportedly confirmed on its website that the Syrian intelligence services has resorted to a new and innovative way to get rid of the bodies of the protesters that were killed by packing them into well locked metal containers and dumping them into the sea making sure they don’t float and expose the crime.

The decision of dumping into the sea was reportedly taken in the wake of the scandal over the mass graves that were discovered not long ago and embarrassed the regime.

The paper quoted unnamed observers as saying that the number of bodies that were dumped so far into the sea are at least two hundred and some of them were killed under torture.

UPDATE: There is a video that appears to show the dead bodies in a refrigerated truck. (h/t Joel)

UN resolution proves Gaza not occupied (JPost)

An op-ed in the Jerusalem Post shows that even the UN agrees that Gaza is not occupied by Israel! Well, it would if it applied a consistent standard to the definition of "occupation."

The argument for occupation has been that since Israel maintains “absolute authority over Gaza’s airspace and territorial sea [it is] manifestly exercising governmental authority in these areas,” in the words of Prof. Iain Scobbie. Others claim that border control amounts to “effective control” of the interior. But prior blockades, like that of Cuba by president John F. Kennedy, were never considered occupations. Moreover, border controls are typical along every international frontier, even among the friendliest of nations.

...The recent UN Security Council resolution authorizing force against Libya provides an excellent experiment in whether the legal arguments widely made about Israel are also applied in parallel cases. In March, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1973 in response to Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s violent crackdown on anti-government rebels. The resolution authorized military action, delineated a no-fly zone across all of Libya, froze Libyan assets, and authorized the extensive use of force against Libyan troops.

Yet Resolution 1793 specifically rules out any “occupation” of Libyan territory. This was not stray language. The prohibition of occupation has helped secure the support of several skeptical nations.

At the Council meeting, Lebanon’s delegate stressed that the resolution would not result in the occupation of “even an inch” of Libyan territory.

SO we now have confirmation from the Council that a broad embargo, no-fly zone and months of constant aerial bombardment do not constitute an “occupation.” Certainly these activities have considerable effect on Libya, and “control” much of what happens there. Obviously Israel’s much less comprehensive and invasive measures against Gaza do not constitute an occupation by this standard.

Of course, the Libya resolution proves nothing new; the arguments that Gaza remained occupied after 2005 were always quite surprising.

The obviousness of the above principles when applied anywhere but to Israel should give pause to those who think that even a full withdrawal to pre-1967 lines will lead to Israel’s international legitimacy, or preclude the fabrication of new pretextual claims.

(h/t Greg, Menachem)

Iranian media can't decide who controls whom: US or Israel?

A couple of days ago, Iran's FARS "news" agency reported "Zionist Lobbies Thwart Improvement of US Ties with Iran."

On Wednesday, however, Ahmadinejad said that

These elements (Zionists), which have … formed a government in occupied Palestine today, are marionettes that are playing their parts on stage while the actual politics and actual stage is in the control of the United States.

So who controls whom?

The answer, of course, is that we Elders control the leaders of the US who in turn control the Israeli marionette government.

But we also control Iran, mostly through our Shi'ite division.

And Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood answers to our Sunni wing.

And the banks, of course, have always been controlled by us.

And the media, especially the FARS News Agency.

And professional bowling. (Well, Elders have to start somewhere!)

Afternoon links

Another good video for Jerusalem Day:

JPost has a video and story of a soldier returning to the Wall 44 years after an iconic photo was taken of him there.

Ben Dror Yemini takes apart Abbas' lies in his NYT op-ed.

Anti-semitism keeps increasing in Venezuela.

Melanie Phillips - The Floating Theatre of Jihad

Sultan Knish - The great error of Israeli normalization

The last surviving "righteous gentile" who saved Austrian Jews during the Holocaust

Having money problems? Jihad is the answer! Just kidnap people and ransom them - it is a wonderful Islamic money making machine!

(h/t Menachem, T34, Jed, Cheryl, Jack, Silke)