Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

UNRWA keeps lying

UNRWA's Chris Gunness tries to defend the indefensible in a YNet op-ed:

All refugee communities, whether those under the care of UNRWA or UNHCR, have their refugee status passed through the generations while their plight remains unresolved. Refugees in Kenya administered by UNHCR are a good example. In this regard, the accusation that UNRWA uniquely perpetuates the Palestine refugee problem is ignorant of international refugee law and practice.

I cannot find any UNHCR documentation on the status of children born to real refugees, so I cannot address that specifically. However, UNRWA's definition of refugee is far removed from the definition that the UN established and uses today for all other cases.

The UN defines a refugee as someone who

owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his [or her] nationality and is unable, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail him [or her]self of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his [or her] former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.

UNRWA's definition is completely different:

...any person whose "normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948 and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict."

Palestine refugees are persons who fulfil the above definition and descendants of fathers fulfilling the definition.

There is nothing in the UN definition that explicitly includes children the way UNRWA does, even if in some limited circumstances they do so.

But there is a much more important difference. The 1951 Convention on Refugees has exacting and specific criteria on how someone can end his or her refugee status:

(1) He [or she] has voluntarily re-availed himself of the protection of the country of his [or her] nationality;
(2) Having lost his nationality, he [or she] has voluntarily reacquired it; or
(3) He [or she] has acquired a new nationality, and enjoys the protection of the country of his [or her] new nationality; or
(4) He [or she] has voluntarily re-established himself in the country which he [or she] left or outside which he [or she] remained owing to fear of persecution.”

UNRWA has no definition on how a person can lose their "refugee" status. If they leave the areas of UNRWA operations, they cannot avail themselves of UNRWA services, but they still define them as refugees forever.

By any definition, including the UN's, Palestinian Arabs who received Jordanian citizenship should no longer be considered refugees, and the camps in Jordan should have been demolished long ago.

By any definition, Palestinian Arabs who live in the territories are not refugees. They are in what was Palestine! The worst you can say is that they are displaced persons, which again makes no sense for anyone born after 1948.

There is an additional difference. UNHCR works diligently to resettle or repatriate refugees so they no longer require UN services. UNRWA, on the other hand, works diligently to prolong people's refugee status so UNRWA can stay in business.

This is why UNHCR has reduced the numbers of refugees in its purview most years of its existence, and UNRWA's refugee rolls have ballooned.

Gunness writes:

On the question of resettling refugees, all internationally accepted paradigms for resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict envisage the refugee question being resolved in the context of a just and durable solution, based on UN resolutions and international law, agreed by the parties and in consultation with the refugees. It is the failure of the parties to reach such an agreement that is perpetuating the refugee crisis.

Yet in the earliest UNRWA reports, the organization - and the UN - actively desired to resettle or repatriate refugees:

65. The General Assembly at its fifth session, recognizing that direct relief could not be terminated as envisaged in its resolution 302 (IV), authorized the Agency, by resolution 393 (V), to continue to furnish such relief for the period 1 July 1951 to 30 June 1952, and considered that "the reintegration of the refugees into the economic life of the Near East, either by repatriation or resettlement, is essential for the time when international assistance is no longer available and for the realization of conditions of peace and stability in in the area".

Gunness gets it exactly backwards. Gunness is saying that a resolution of the refugee problem depends on the peace process. His forebears in the UN, however, correctly noted that peace depends on solving the refugee problem!

This was the UN's original mandate for UNRWA, albeit implicit. And this shows how UNRWA has turned from a pro-active agency dedicated to truly reducing the number of refugees into a huge bureaucracy dedicated to maintaining the status quo - and making it worse.

There is only one country where the number of UNRWA refugees - tens of thousands of them - was successfully reduced, and in fact eliminated. That country is Israel, and the refugees have been equal citizens for six decades.

A neutral UN human development and humanitarian agency whose work promotes universal values in the Middle East cannot be blamed.

Oh, yes it can be. UNRWA used to try to work with Arab countries to integrate refugees into their societies. It used to create works programs with the aim of making the refugees self-sufficient. Now it does nothing to reduce the descendants of the refugees' dependency on aid.

If UNRWA wanted to do something positive, it would immediately leave the Jordanian camps and tell the government of Jordan that they are responsible for their own citizens' well-being. (There is the exception of the Jerash Gaza camp, where the residents should be allowed to move back to their homes in Gaza!)

The UNRWA should also transfer all of its budget for Gaza and the West Bank to the PA, and tell Mahmoud Abbas that he is responsible for the welfare of his own citizens.

And in Lebanon, UNRWA can keep its neutrality while insisting that Palestinian Arabs there be treated with equal rights, publicly pressuring Lebanon to ease its onerous restrictions that they place uniquely on Palestinian Arabs. As it is, UNRWA's supposed "neutrality" allows it to blame Israel for numerous perceived injustices but it does not have a negative word towards any Arab regime, even as Jordan strips citizenship from its Palestinian population.

Gunness is a hypocrite and a liar, and UNRWA as it exists today must be dismantled to bring it more in line with how a refugee aid organization is supposed to work.

Israeli singer to perform in Marrickville, epicenter of Australian BDS!

This is so great:

Marrickville mayor Fiona Byrne has a prior engagement and will not be attending tonight's concert by the award-winning Israeli singer Efrat Gosh at the Camelot Lounge in Marrickville Road.

Gosh, named Israeli female artist of the year last year, was originally going to perform just a single gig in Sydney last weekend.

However, the Israeli embassy in Canberra and the Zionist Federation of Australia decided to promote a second show as a direct consequence of the council's controversial "boycott Israel" proposal earlier this year.

Led by Byrne and her fellow Greens with the support of Labor councillors, the council planned to join the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel.

It earned condemnation from the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd and NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell, as well as messages of support from polemicist John Pilger and human rights lawyer Julian Burnside.

A more recent pat on the shoulder came from Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

The move was eventually scuppered after a vocal three-hour council meeting in April.

"We wanted to bring Israeli culture specifically to Marrickville to show another colour of Israel," said the Israeli embassy spokeswoman, Einat Weiss.

"We realised that a lot of people who live in Marrickville didn't know anything about the real Israel."

Update: More here. (h/t Israel Muse)

UNDOF: Syrian army allowed "Nakba Day" protesters to go to border

Further proof that of official Syrian complicity in the May 15 and June 5 protests:

Syrian armed forces allowed Palestinian demonstrators to cross the Israel-Syrian border in the Golan Heights during Nakba and Naksa Day protests, a United Nations report released on Wednesday said, AFP reported.

The report on the UN Disengagement Force (UNDOF), which monitors the ceasefire between Syria and Israel did not accuse Syrians of organizing the demonstrations, but said that Syrian armed forces were near the locations of the protests on May 15 and June 5.

This supports the Telegraph story showing a May 14th memo where the Syrian government is shown to have organized the protests, as well as my earlier supposition that this would explain the absence of amateur video of the protests from the Syrian side.

A possibly different UN report apparently also confirmed Israel's contention that some Syrian casualties were from mines that exploded from fires, although it blamed Israeli smoke grenades and tear gas for igniting those fires. Video at the scene showed tires set afire by the rioters.

This still doesn't adequately explain why UNDOF disappeared on those days instead of trying to perform its duties. UNDOF is claiming that since April, Syria has stopped them from accessing some villages near the border, "ostensibly for reasons of safety and security of the military observers" as anti-government protests have allegedly spread to the area.

At any rate, the protests gave cover for the UN to extend UNDOF's mandate.

(h/t Joel)

Latest Zionist plot: Sending prostitutes with AIDS to infect PalArabs

From Iran's German-language radio website:

The Zionist regime wants to spread the HIV virus among Palestinian workers to force the Palestinian nation to its knees through fornication. Schahed Saad, secretary general of the Palestinian workers' union, said the Zionist regime imported 150 HIV-infected prostitutes from Russia within the 1948 occupied territories to be introduced to Palestinian workers, who are there, to infect them with AIDS.

According to the report to the HIV-infected prostitutes arrive in occupied Palestine and visit the areas where Palestinian workers are employed, where they seduce and infect them.

Poisoning the wells with bubonic plague is so 14th century. If you are an evil Jewish stereotype, you have got to get modern, and what can be more trendy than infecting your enemies with AIDS?

One might think that the transmission mechanism seems a bit slow to achieve full genocide. However, you must remember - these are money-grubbing Jews we're talking about. They need to extract cash from horny Palestinian Arab men while infecting them. It's just so perfect!

Now, the only question remaining is why the Iranian media did not seem to want to publish this in English, but instead chose German.

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar)

Yet more photos of abject horror from Gaza

Small children are being forced to play in massive amounts of dihydrogen monoxide because of repressive Zionist policies! You can even see their eyes watering....

Here is a new water and amusement park in Khan Younis. The photos were taken yesterday.

(h/t Terror Watch via Joel)

UPDATE: Israellycool has new photos of the equally squalid Movenpick Hotel in Gaza. Sounds like the NGOs are flush with cash to burn!

Transparency in journalism

From Jonathan Tobin in Commentary:

There was a time not so very long ago when blogging and journalism were two completely different things. Many, if not most bloggers did not publish under their own names and mainstream journalists sniffed their disapproval. But as most journalists now write as much if not far more for the Internet than print, the idea that blogging is somehow antithetical to journalism is a distinctly antique notion.

It is in this context of a journalistic world in which constant online news updates and accompanying commentary is a given that we must view the revelation this weekend that a popular Middle East blog was a hoax. The blog, which went under the name “Gay Girl in Damascus,” purported to be the musings of a Syrian-American lesbian who was a critic of the Assad regime. Interest in the blog went up in recent months as unrest in Syria made the commentary from this seemingly fearless writer all the more fascinating.

But, as we learned this weekend, it was all a hoax. The “gay girl” turned out to be one Tom MacMaster, a 40-year-old American graduate student living in Scotland who was known in Palestinian and anti-Israel activist circles. ....

This incident makes it all the more important for consumers of news and opinion on the web to know more about the sites they are reading. In the end, there is no substitute for transparency. Blogs and websites that operate without it are a standing invitation to fraud of one sort or another.

While this is true, Tobin is implying that somehow news sites are more transparent, and therefore more reliable, in their reporting than blogs are. While there are some checks and balances in the news media that do not exist in cyberspace, this is not the same thing as transparency.

One only has to go back a month to see The New York Times state confidently that Khaled Meshal of Hamas accepts a two state solution. And he said no such thing.

This was indeed a failing of the New York Times' fact checking, but it was also one out of thousands of examples of a lack of journalistic transparency. In fact, most newspapers online do not contain links to external sources in their stories where an interested reader can check out information first hand.

This topic strikes close to home for me. My blog is anonymous. Not only that, but my blog is biased. I am a Zionist and I am not going to pretend otherwise. So how can I convince anyone to listen to me?

The answer is transparency. I try to make sure that when I write something I will link back to the original source, when possible. I encourage and expect my readers to check my sources and call me on it if I am wrong.

This applies to polls, government reports, transcripts of important speeches, Arabic newspapers, historical documents, even public domain books. If I can find an original source, I will link back.

When my team and I went painstakingly through Arabic media to determine which "civilians" in Gaza were in fact terrorists, I made sure that every discussion on the topic was in the comments system so that anyone could double-check our work. (Unfortunately, the old comment system is no longer here.)

Newspaper websites usually do not do this. If they quote a poll or a report or a speech, they will not link back to the source unless it is on their own site.

Since newspapers occasionally interview people, to my mind their responsibility is to make the entire raw interview available online so readers can make up their own minds as to the context of the statements that the news media choose to highlight. What exactly did Meshal say to Bronner? Exactly at what point did he depart from Meshal's words and into his own interpretation of what he said? Was there a mistranslation or just sloppy reporting? Did Bronner ask leading questions to get the answers he wanted? All of this is important information.

Transparency would allow good reporters - and bloggers - to be valued, and sloppy ones to be exposed.

So this is not a blog vs. newspaper issue. It is simply an issue of how transparent the news media is in reporting its stories. It is making clear to the world what the raw facts are and what the interpretations and assumptions behind them are. It would expose the memes that lazy journalists use (hawkish Likud, moderate Abbas.)

And it is not likely that we will see the news media become truly transparent any time soon. They consciously nurture the myth that they are somehow special, that their opinions are more informed than those of non-journalists, that they do not suffer from bias. Opening up their methodology is something that many reporters will fight hard against, because deep down they know when they take shortcuts and make assumptions in their stories.

But transparency is the only way to know that what you are reading is the truth.

(By the way, it wouldn't be such a bad idea if professional journalists admitted where they found their stories to begin with. Youknow, hat tips. It would be nice to see how much of their work is being done by us bloggers.)

Further illustrations of what flotilla humanitarians look like

People might be confused when they hear the words "peace activists" or "humanitarian workers" when referring to those who choose to sail to Gaza in flotillas. So, in a continuation of this morning's post on the topic, I can illustrate exactly what they mean when they use those magic words.

Handcuffed, blindfolded protesters beaten by Syrian soldiers (video)

This was said to have been taken in Daraa on June 9:

(h/t IsraelMuse via email)

Study: Correlation between Shari'a and violent materials in US mosques

Middle East Quarterly has a fascinating, and seemingly scientifically sound, study by Mordechai Kedar and David Yerushalmi that finds a correlation between violent extremism in literature found in mosques with the level of adherence to Shari'a law in the same mosques in the US.

Abstract:

A random survey of 100 representative mosques in the U.S. was conducted to measure the correlation between Sharia adherence and dogma calling for violence against non-believers. Of the 100 mosques surveyed, 51% had texts on site rated as severely advocating violence; 30% had texts rated as moderately advocating violence; and 19% had no violent texts at all. Mosques that presented as Sharia adherent were more likely to feature violence-positive texts on site than were their non-Sharia-adherent counterparts. In 84.5% of the mosques, the imam recommended studying violence-positive texts. The leadership at Sharia-adherent mosques was more likely to recommend that a worshipper study violence-positive texts than leadership at non-Sharia-adherent mosques. Fifty-eight percent of the mosques invited guest imams known to promote violent jihad. The leadership of mosques that featured violence-positive literature was more likely to invite guest imams who were known to promote violent jihad than was the leadership of mosques that did not feature violence-positive literature on mosque premises.

PREFACE
The debate over the connection between Islam and its legal doctrine and system known as Sharia on the one hand and terrorism committed in the name of Islam on the other rages on among counter terrorism professionals, academics, policy experts, theologians, and politicians. Much of this debate centers on the evidence that the perpetrators of violence in the name of Islam source the moral, theological, and legal motivations and justifications for their actions in Sharia. Much of the opposition to this focus on Sharia centers on the argument that Sharia is and has been historically malleable and exploited for good and bad causes.

This study seeks to enter this fray but at a more empirical level. Since we know that mosques are in fact a situs of recruitment and “radicalization” for terrorism committed in the name of Islam, this study seeks to enter into that domain to determine if there is an empirical correlation between actual, manifest Sharia-related behaviors and the presence of violent and jihad-based literature, and further, the promotion of that literature. While the presence of violent and jihad-based literature alone does not necessarily suggest the worshippers at such a mosque adopt the violent literature’s approach to the use of violence, if the imams at such mosques also promote the literature, and if those mosques are more likely to invite guest imams and speakers who are known to promote violent jihad, the presence of these factors together would be strongly suggestive of an environment prone to jihad recruitment. Thus, this study also seeks to determine if the spiritual leadership in these mosques is supportive of this genre of literature.

The study website, Mapping Sharia, gives more details, such as the types of incitement to violence in the texts in these mosques. For example:

al-Misri: Umdat al-Salik (Reliance of the Traveller)
"If someone does this [prevents others from accepting Islam], then it is the duty of Islam to fight him until either he is killed or until he declares his submission."

Saabiq: Fiqh-us-Sunnah (The Book on Acts of Worship)
“The truth of the matter is that he [who] becomes an unbeliever... is to be killed for his unbelief."

Qutb: Ma’alim fi-l-Tariq (Milestones)
"If someone [prevents others from accepting Islam], then it is the duty of Islam to fight him until either he is killed or until he declares his submission."

This is an important study and needs to be widely publicized.

Gazans "treated like animals" at Egyptian border

Writer and editor Ramzy Baroud is hardly reliable, but this article in his Palestine Chronicle is interesting:

Governed by political and cultural sensitivities, most Palestinian officials and public figures refrain from criticising the way Palestinians are treated at the Rafah border.

However there is really no diplomatic language to describe the relationship between desperate Palestinians - some literally fighting for their lives - and Egyptian officials at the crossing which separates Gaza from Egypt.

"Gazans are treated like animals at the border," a friend of mine told me.

Having crossed the border myself just a few days ago, I could not disagree with her statement.

The latest "permanent" reopening has come with its own conditions and limitations, involving such factors as gender, age, purpose of visit and so on.

I was one of the very first Palestinians who stood at Rafah following the announcement of a "permanent" opening.

Our bus waited at the gate for a long time.

I watched a father repeatedly try to reassure his crying six-year-old child, who displayed obvious signs of a terrible bone disease.

I'm not sure how obvious a bone disease can be from the outside, but anyway....

"Get the children out or they will die," shouted an older passenger as he gasped for air.

The heat in the bus, combined with the smell of trapped sweat was unbearable.

Passengers took it upon themselves to leave the bus and stand outside, enduring disapproving looks from the Egyptian officials.

Disapproving looks. This is terrible!

Our next task was finding clean water and a shady spot in the arid zone separating the Egypt and Palestinian sides.

There were no toilets.

A tangible feeling of despair and humiliation could be read on the faces of the Gaza passengers.

So far this sounds just like passengers around the world on airplanes that are delayed on the tarmac.

No-one seemed to be in the mood to speak of the Egyptian revolution, a favourite topic of conversation among most Palestinians.

All Palestinians are treated very poorly at the Rafah crossing and they continue to suffer even after the toppling of Mubarak, his family and the dismissal of the corrupt security apparatus.

The Egyptian revolution has yet to reach Gaza.

When the bus was finally allowed to enter about five hours later, Palestinians dashed into the gate, desperately hoping to be among the lucky ones allowed to go in.

The anxiety of the travellers usually makes them vulnerable to workers at the border who promise them help in exchange for negotiated amounts of money.

Notice what he doesn't say - whether these workers are Egyptian or Palestinian. Since he hasn't yet crossed the border, it sounds like the latter.

All of this is actually a con, as the decision is made by a single man, referred to as al-Mukhabarat, the "intelligence."

Some are sent back while others are allowed entry.

Everyone is forced to wait for many hours - sometimes even days - with no clear explanation as to what they are waiting for or why they are being sent back.

The very ill six-year-old held onto his dad's jacket as they walked about, frantically trying to fulfil all the requirements.

Both seemed like they were about to collapse.

The Mukhabarat determined that three Gaza students on their way to their universities in Russia were to be sent back.

They had jumped through many hoops already to make it so far.

Their hearts sank when they heard the verdict.

I protested on their behalf and the decision was as arbitrarily reversed as it was originally made.

Our hero!

Those who are sent back to Gaza are escorted by unsympathetic officers to the same open spot to wait for the same decrepit bus.

Some of those who are allowed entry are escorted by security personnel across the Sinai desert, all the way to Cairo International Airport to be "deported" to their final destinations. They are all treated like common criminals.

The Israeli siege has choked Gaza to the point of near complete strangulation. Egypt is Gaza's only hope.

"I beg you to open the crossing... You brothers of Egypt have humiliated us for so long. Isn't it time we had our dignity back?" said Naziha al-Sebakhi, 63, one of the many distressed faces at the Rafah border.

As they crossed into Egypt, some of the passengers seemed euphoric.

The three Russian students and I shared a taxi to Cairo.

Despite everything, the young men seemed to hold no resentment towards Egypt.

"I just love Egypt. I don't know why," said Majid pensively, before falling asleep from sheer exhaustion.

People having to wait at an international crossing and being subjected to the laws and procedures of the land as to whether they can enter another country. Awful!

(h/t Israel Muse)

"Unity": Hamas turns up the rhetoric against Fatah and the PA

Hamas media and politicians have been fairly low key about criticizing the PA since the "unity" agreement was struck, but that has been changing lately.

Besides the public spats over who is going to be the "unity" prime minister, we are seeing:

The Hamas MP, Mona Mansour, who was engaged in a protest in Nablus yesterday is now accusing PA police of stripping her and her daughter of their hijabs while they were being arrested. She also says that journalists were attacked.

Hamas is saying that the latest visit by Jews to the Tomb of Joseph is being "protected by Fatah security" who is keeping people away.

A deputy to the president of Hamas' legislative council now says that there can be no reconciliation as long as Fatah continues to arrest Hamas members in the West Bank.

Sounds like "unity" is fraying badly, but they will try their hardest to ensure that this does not escape into the English-language media before....September. Then all hell will break loose.

Handy-dandy guide to flotilla human rights terminology (poster)

In the coming weeks we will be seeing more and more "humanitarian activists" saying that Israeli soldiers attacked peaceful aid workers a year ago.

Here is a helpful glossary to understand the terminology that they will be using, so you can better understand the language of "Flotilla-ese." (Click to enlarge.)

Egyptian newspaper covers "spy" story differently in Arabic and English

From Al Masry al Youm, English:

The announcement of the arrest of an Israeli man, Ilan Grapel, on charges of spying in Egypt has been met with skepticism in some quarters, especially as accounts emerge of a man who, if he were a spy, could only be described as "bumbling".

According to a Reuters report, Grapel was posting openly on his Facebook page about his presence and activities in Egypt – hardly the remit of a super spy.

Meanwhile, the evidence presented by Egypt's own spooks seems less than convincing. Again according to Reuters, photographs of Gapel offered by the prosecution as incriminating evidence were in fact taken from the Facebook page of a pro-Israeli group.

And for some analysts, the notion of sending such a spy – bumbling or otherwise – to Egypt right now makes no sense anyway.

Mohamed al-Gawady, a historian from the Arab Social Science Council, said that there seemed to be no tangible benefit to Israel from Grapel’s presence in Egypt, especially in the post-uprising era, when an exposé like this could severely harm the relationship between the two countries.

Activist and blogger Hossam al-Hamalawy also cast doubt on the story, writing on his blog that protesters in Egypt have been accused of being directed by Israel since the student riots of 1968.

“Seriously, what a soap opera,” he wrote.

However, in Arabic, the same newspaper is pushing the ridiculous spy narrative for all it is worth. In a long article it claims:

* Grapel entered Egypt on January 28, the "Day of Anger"
* The Mossad asked him to investigate the Muslim Brotherhood, Coptic Christians, the army and the protesters
* He held Egyptian flags during protests to gain the confidence of the Egyptians
* He pretended to be a freelance journalist, or a freelance photographer, or a reporter for a wire service.
* He asked questions about the presidential candidates.
* He spoke with journalists and intellectuals in cafes.
* He visited mosques and churches.
* He met with Salafis the day before the slaughter at a Coptic church and they told him that what they planned to do. So he came back the next day to video the riot.
* He tried to drive a wedge between the youth and the army.
* He had emails on his laptop to the Mossad.

Most of these are absurd - or normal. Why wouldn't a visiting aspiring Arabist meet with intellectuals in Cairo cafes, or visit mosques, or speak to Copts and Salafis?

Anyway, it is instructive that the English edition of Al Masry al Youm pretends to be sophisticated and skeptical while the Arabic edition is conspiracy-minded and accusatory.

Just a little old fashioned Jew-hatred from Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood

From The Investigative Project on Terrorism:

Anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism go hand-in-hand in the Muslim Brotherhood's ideology, as demonstrated in a recent speech by the group's leader Mohamed Badie. To Badie, the current problems in the Middle East have historical roots in a Jewish conspiracy, coupled with Masonic and American/Western elements.
"Allah has warned us the tricks of the Jews, and their role in igniting the fire of wars," Badie said in a speech posted to the Brotherhood's Arabic-language website on June 2 and translated by the Investigative Project on Terrorism. "The Almighty said: 'Every time they light the fires of war, Allah extinguishes them; and they labor hard to spread corruption on earth: and Allah does not love the spreaders of corruption."
According to Badie, "such was their [the Jewish] plot by night and by day to divide the Muslims, old and new." Their intentions could be traced from Napoleon to the founder of Zionism, Theodor Herzl, and on to the strife in Arab nations like Sudan. "We will only gain their land by feeding the fire of animosity between them, to facilitate their destruction by our hands," Badie claimed that Herzl said at a 1903 Masonic Conference.
As a part of this conspiracy, Badie argues that the West is in collaboration with the Jews. "O Muslims: I do not think that the West wants well for Muslims good," Badie said. "I do not imagine the Americo-Zionist alliance wants our blessed revolution to reach its objectives, in the forefront of which are: that we enjoy freedom in our land, that we be independent in our decision and that we have sovereignty over our homelands."
The speech underlines assertions that the Brotherhood has not reformed its ideology, despite public pronouncements on their website and in English-language comments to the media. The organization recently generated controversy by condemning the killing of Osama bin Laden, and for its support for terrorism and a shaky commitment to democratic principles.
d-to

And it is all there on the Muslim Brotherhood website.

Proof that Syria staged "Nakba Day" protests

Nice reporting from The Telegraph's Michael Weiss:

I have just been forward what appear to be Syrian state documents leaked by the governor of al-Qunaitera, in south-west Syria, which suggest that the regime fully orchestrated the “Nakba Day” raids of Palestinian refugees into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on May 15.

The document (below) which bears the Syrian Republic emblem, is dated May 14, 2011 and describes an “urgent meeting” of Major General Asef Shawkat, the Deputy Chief of Staff for the Armed Forces, and the chiefs of security and military intelligence branches in the province in Al-Qunaitera, which is located at the Syrian-Israeli border. The memorandum outlines how the regime ordered the dispatching of 20 buses, each one with a passenger capacity of 47, to cross the border into Majdal-Shamms in the Golan Heights in order to precipitate a confrontation between Palestinian refugees and Israeli soldiers and UN peacekeeping forces, thereby distracting international attention from the Syrian revolution.

I quote the entire document, attributed to the “Office of the Mayor” in Al-Qunaitera province:

After an urgent meeting convened by the security committee on Saturday in the presence of the Mayor of al-Qunaitera, Major General Asef Shawkat -Deputy Chief of Staff for the Armed Forces-, and chiefs of security and military (intelligence) branches in the province, the following was decided:

All security, military, and contingent units in the province, Ain-el-Tina and the old al-Qunaitera are hereby ordered to grant permission of passage to all twenty vehicles (47 passenger capacity) with the attached plate numbers that are scheduled to arrive at ten in the morning on Sunday May 15, 2011 without being questioned or stopped until it reaches or frontier defense locations.

Permission is hereby granted allowing approaching crowds to cross the cease fire line (with Israel) towards the occupied Majdal-Shamms, and to further allow them to engage physically with each other in front of United Nations agents and offices. Furthermore, there is no objection if a few shots are fired in the air.

Captain Samer Shahin from the military intelligence division is hereby appointed to the leadership of the group assigned to break-in and infiltrate deep into the occupied Syrian Golan Heights with a specified pathway to avoid land mines.

It is essential to ensure that no one carries military identification or a weapon as they enter with a strict emphasis on the peaceful and spontaneous nature of the protest.

The provincial security committee meeting is considered in constant deliberation in coordination with the Center.

May you be the source of prosperity for the nation and the party

(signature)
Dr. Khalil Mash-hadiya
Mayor of Al-Qunaitera

...This document – which I have good reason to believe is absolutely genuine – appears to represent the first piece of regime-created evidence that Assad has cynically tried to manipulate Western and Arabic media during three-month Syrian uprising.

Cynical, indeed.

Yet how many Western media outlets uncritically referred to all the rioters as "Palestinian refugees"?

(h/t Folderol)

Arab countries haven't paid the PA a dime this year

From MEMRI:

Palestinian Authority Accountant General Yousef Al-Zumor said that the PA is having difficulties paying its employees because Arab countries are not transferring the financial aid they promised.

He claimed that in 2011, no aid had been received, and in 2010, the PA had received $280 million out of the promised $960 million that had been promised.

In 2010, he said, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar all transferred much smaller sums than they had in previous years, and added that Qatar had transferred no aid at all in 2008-2009.

Source: Wafa (Palestinian Authority), June 12, 2011

I don't know how to jive this with Fayyad's recent statement that the PA was receivingsome $52 million a month from Arab countries. At the time, I thought it might have been a mistranslation - and this article seems to bear that out.

So when the Arabs don't come through for their Palestinian brethren, who is left holding the bag? The West always pays up whenever these "emergencies" come up!

Good news: Israel exhibit starts today in Milan despite threats

Last week I posted a YNet article:

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".

It seems that the problems have been solved, and the ten day festival is staring today. From Time, translating an article at La Stampa:

"Unexpected Israel," an exhibition celebrating Israel, will go ahead as planned in Milan's central Duomo piazza, despite protests from pro-Palestinian activists. Milan authorities have confirmed the location of the biggest Israeli cultural event ever organized abroad, set to take place June 13-23.

Pro-Palestinian activists have posted an online plea against the event, and have threatened to organize a rally against it on June 18. "We do not want Milan to become the stage for Zionist imperialism's propaganda," they wrote.

Renzo Gattegna, president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, and Roberto Jarach, president of the Milan Jewish community, responded in a joint statement: "Giving up under threat would be a political victory for those who bring prejudice and hate."

After meeting a representative of the mayor, the pro-Palestinian activists said in a statement that they claim their right "to peacefully question and expose this whitewashing operation of Israeli politics."  Opening next Monday, Unexpected Israel will exhibit an installation consisting of 15 columns and 15 monitors, which will be placed in Duomo's vast square to illustrate Israel's diverse realities. On June 14, there will be an Italo-Israeli business-forum. On June 15, writer Davis Grossman will talk in the Teatro Nuovo, while the singer Noa will perform in concert. The main exhibitions will be hosted in a 900-square-meter pavilion.

[Mayor] Pisapia, who just came into office as the city's first center-left mayor in 20 years, had the last word. "Milan is an open and hospital city for everyone. It cannot be the place to reproduce a fight that for too long has not been solved peacefully," he said. "Milan is a sister city of Tel Aviv and Bethlehem, and it must continue being a meeting point for cultures and peoples."

Israel's story in maps

I just got this link and decided to put it up on Scribd.

Israel's Story in Maps

It is also available in Hebrew.

(h/t Akiva)

Video of Iranians caught fighting against Syrian opposition

Al Arabiya reports that two men from Iran, who speak Arabic, were caught in the Syrian city of Hama by the Syrian opposition. They seem to have admitted working for the Syrian dictatorship..

There have been a number of reports of both Hezbollah and Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Syria acting on behalf of the Assad regime, but this seems to be the first confirmation.

Here is a video of the two:

Galloway finally says it explicitly: He wants Israel to be destroyed

As far as I can tell, up until now, George Galloway has, to Western audiences, made a pretense of saying he supports peace between Arabs and Israel - as long as there is a "right to return." Listen, for example, to his radio show aired in late 2008 where he disingenuously claims that Hamas supports the Arab peace plan.

Now, he is explicit that his idea of "peace" means that Israel no longer exists and that "Palestine" takes over all the land from the Mediterranean to the Jordan:

Transcript from MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from an interview with former British MP George Galloway, which aired on Palestine Today TV on May 24, 2011:

George Galloway: When President Obama is talking about a smaller and smaller Palestine, we have to insist that Palestine is one, from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea.

[…]

Our next land convoy, which will arrive, God willing, in Gaza on the 27th of December this year, will be called "The Return Convoy," because we insist that Palestine is not only Gaza, the West Bank, and what they call "East Jerusalem." Palestine is the whole country and the whole people.

[…]

Interviewer: The largest insurance company in the world, Lloyd's, refused to insure the ships of the second Freedom Flotilla. How will you deal with this matter, which may hinder your progress?

George Galloway: Well, we will have no insurance, but God is great and we are doing God's work. We are not afraid of Israel. We are afraid only of God.

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar)

Report: PA breaks up prisoner demo, attacked journalists

Palestine Today reports that there was a demonstration in Nablus today to protest the PA's holding of prisoners, presumably members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terror groups.

According to the story, Palestinian Authority police broke up the demonstration, beat up PA MP Mona Mansour who led the rally and attacked journalists covering the rally. The PA confiscated cameras and videotape.

Just another unreported story from the Palestinian Arab territories that we will not be seeing in the media...

Palestinian Arabs claim Israel is stealing their natural gas

From Globes:

Minister of National infrastructures Dr. Uzi Landau has instructed Noble Energy to develop the Noa North gas reserve in the Noa license. Sources inform "Globes" that the final decision to develop the field came after operator Noble Energy convinced Ministry of National Infrastructures experts that he field did not spill over into other parts of the reserve, which is partly under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority in the economic zone of the Gaza Strip.

Up to now, Landau has refrained from ordering development of the Noa field, fearing that this would lead to diplomatic problems vis-à-vis the Palestinian Authority. "Globes" reported in the past that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the matter with President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas.

Of course, Palestinian Arabs are saying that the field is all definitely theirs. Palestine Press Agency headlined the story this way: "Israeli Infrastructure Ministry issued a license to steal gas from Gaza." A Fatah member was quoted as saying this is"an act of aggression, added to the new attacks on the capabilities of our people and their rights."

Needless to say, they do not report that Israel's infrastructures ministry has been working hard to avoid any possible legal issues in the field.

I could not find a map of the Noa gas field. Here are the maps I was able to find of Israel's offshore gas reserves. If Noa is the same as Mari-B, then Israel seems to have the bulk of that field.

Fisking Hamas' spokesman to the West

The Globe and Mail has a Q&A with Ahmed Yousef, Hamas spokesman for the West.

Question: Do you believe that there exists a Jewish people with roots in the Holy Land? Shouldn’t they be allowed a state?

-- Mark Surchin of Toronto, Eric Beckerman, Jon Kerner

Answer: Historically speaking, the Holy Land has been inhabited by members of the three Abrahamic faiths (Islam, Christianity and Judaism). However, the Zionist project usurped this land in order to establish a Jewish state. The indigenous people who were living on the land were forcibly removed from their homes in 1948 and they remain as refugees waiting to return as set out by UN resolution 194. We as Palestinians cannot comprehend why Israel insists that there must be a Jewish state when the land has been home to all three religions over the long course of history.

Yousef is saying here that there is no such thing as a Jewish people, and that they are merely members of a religious group. As such they don't have the right to have a state, and by implication "Palestine" should not be exclusive to one religion.

Yet the Hamas charter states the exact opposite in the relationship between Islam and nationalism:

Hamas regards Nationalism (Wataniyya) as part and parcel of the religious faith. Nothing is loftier or deeper in Nationalism than waging Jihad against the enemy and confronting him when he sets foot on the land of the Muslims. And this becomes an individual duty binding on every Muslim man and woman; a woman must go out and fight the enemy even without her husband’s authorization, and a slave without his masters’ permission. This [principle] does not exist under any other regime, and it is a truth not to be questioned. While other nationalisms consist of material, human and territorial considerations, the nationality of Hamas also carries, in addition to all those, the all important divine factors which lend to it its spirit and life; so much so that it connects with the origin of the spirit and the source of life and raises in the skies of the Homeland the Banner of the Lord, thus inexorably connecting earth with Heaven.

Of course, he is also lying when he says that all Palestinian Arabs were forcibly removed, and that UNGC 194 offers the unlimited right to return.

So Yousef is a liar.

Q: Why doesn’t Hamas reject violence? Do you really think you can win by fighting?

-- Yves Crepeaum, Sackville, N.B., Laurence Knight

A: The Palestinians have been forced into engaging with a legitimate struggle due to the current occupation. The Palestinians must continue in their struggle to liberate their land from the occupying force. The UN resolutions have protected the right for those who lose their homes and land to defend their rights.

Palestinian Arab violence against Israel pre-dates "occupation." It even pre-dates Israel.

The Hamas military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Martyrs Brigades, is named after an Arab terrorist from the 1930s who fought against Jews living in Palestine. Yousef has nothign bad to say about him - if he did, he would probably not live out the week.

So Yousef is a liar.

Q: Why does your Covenant advocate killing Jews, and your text books teach children to hate?

-- Jillian York, Ran Ukashi of Winnipeg, Christopher Slatter, Jonathan Lampert

A: The Covenant does not advocate the murder of Jews, but for the Palestinians to defend themselves against the continuing occupation. This is a direct reaction to the aggressive, expansionist Zionist project and the growing displacement of Palestinians from their homes. Children are not taught to hate. If anything teaches our children to hate, it is the daily events of the occupation. Sanctions, occupation and the siege have impacted on our children's thinking.

Here is every mention of the word "Jew" in the Hamas Charter:

For our struggle against the Jews is extremely wide-ranging and grave, so much so that it will need all the loyal efforts we can wield, to be followed by further steps and reinforced by successive battalions from the multifarious Arab and Islamic world, until the enemies are defeated and Allah’s victory prevails.

The prophet, prayer and peace be upon him, said: The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him! This will not apply to the Gharqad, which is a Jewish tree (cited by Bukhari and Muslim).

[Peace] conferences are no more than a means to appoint the nonbelievers as arbitrators in the lands of Islam. Since when did the Unbelievers do justice to the Believers? “And the Jews will not be pleased with thee, nor will the Christians, till thou follow their creed. Say: Lo! the guidance of Allah [himself] is the Guidance. And if you should follow their desires after the knowledge which has come unto thee, then you would have from Allah no protecting friend nor helper.” Sura 2 (the Cow), verse 120. There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by Jihad.

When our enemies usurp some Islamic lands, Jihad becomes a duty binding on all Muslims. In order to face the usurpation of Palestine by the Jews, we have no escape from raising the banner of Jihad.

The Nazism of the Jews does not skip women and children, it scares everyone. They make war against people’s livelihood, plunder their moneys and threaten their honor. In their horrible actions they mistreat people like the most horrendous war criminals. Exiling people from their country is another way of killing them.

We cannot fail to remind every Muslim that when the Jews occupied Holy Jerusalem in 1967 and stood at the doorstep of the Blessed Aqsa Mosque, they shouted with joy: “Muhammad is dead, he left daughters behind.” Israel, by virtue of its being Jewish and of having a Jewish population, defies Islam and the Muslims.

Within the circle of the conflict with world Zionism, the Hamas regards itself the spearhead and the avant-garde. It joins its efforts to all those who are active on the Palestinian scene, but more steps need to be taken by the Arab and Islamic peoples and Islamic associations throughout the Arab and Islamic world in order to make possible the next round with the Jews, the merchants of war. “We have cast among them enmity and hatred till the day of Resurrection. As often as they light a fire for war, Allah extinguishes it. Their effort is for corruption in the land, and Allah loves not corrupters.” Sura V (Al-Ma’idah—the Table spread), verse 64.

Of course, Hamas TV has encouraged children to murder Jews on many occasions. Here's just one.

So Yousef is a liar.

Tomorrow they will print more of Hamas' lies in the form of answers to readers' questions. But why bother - we already know that his answers are lies.

Lebanese university protests planned speech by a man of peace (David G)

From David G via email:

Donating $500,000 to the Palestinians isn't enough

James Wolfensohn,the former President of the World Bank, raised $14 million - including his own $500,000 - from American Jews to buy the greenhouses left by Israelis leaving Gaza in 2005. In short order after the disengagement from Gaza, Palestinians looted the greenhouses.

Apparently though, his efforts at helping the Palestinians isn't much appreciated in the Arab world.

What has been coined the "Arab Spring" has gained momentum, this time in the region's most well-reputed and prestigious university, the American University of Beirut. The campus has been a scene of protests ever since the university decided to grant Sir John Wolfensohn, former president of the World Bank and member of the advisory council for the Israeli Democracy Institute, an honorary degree during this year's graduation ceremony. Ninety-five faculty members and hundreds of students have signed a petition in opposition to the university's plans to ask Wolfensohn to deliver the keynote speech to the graduating class of 2011 later this month.

The signatories stated that honoring Wolfensohn "symbolically undermines AUB’s legacy in the struggle for social justice and its historical connection to Beirut, to Palestine and beyond."

In response to the petition, Wolfenson informed the AUB community on Saturday of his intention to skip the ceremony “out of concern that his presence would distract from the celebratory nature of the event."

Wolfensohn's crimes?

The petition tied its objections to Wolfensohn’s work as president of the World Bank from 1995 to 2005, his membership in the International Advisory Council of the Israel Democracy Institute, which according to its website, "acts to promote the values and norms appropriate for Israel as a Jewish and democratic state," and his investment in Better Place, a company that according to the petition, "intends to build infrastructure to serve Israeli settlers in the West Bank."

Moshe Kaplinsky, chief executive of Better Place Israel, previously served as commander of the Sayeret Golani, Golani and Galilee Brigades in the Israel Defense Force. During his tenure, he was promoted to the prestigious rank of major general and appointed military secretary to the prime minister in 2001. In 2005 Kaplinsky served as deputy chief of the general staff.

Lebanon technically remains in a state of war with Israel.

So an institution in decreasingly democratic Lebanon gets to pass judgment on the nature of Israeli democracy.

What's astonishing is that Wolfensohn also used his position at the as an envoy to the Middle East to pressure Israel to ease up on restrictions on the Palestinians. But neither the money not the hectoring of Israel has protected Wolfensohn from the hatred of Israel.

We shouldn't surprised but this disinvitation hasn't evoked any outrage.

More details on Ilan Grapel, "spy"

Reuters fills in some pieces about Ilan Grapel, who was absurdly arrested as a spy by Egypt.

An alleged Israeli spy arrested in Egypt is an American immigrant to Israel who once wrote that he hoped to promote Israeli policies in the Arab world, according to information he and others provided on websites.

The man, detained on Sunday in a development that could strain Israel’s relations with Egypt’s new leaders, was identified by the Egyptian MENA news agency as Ilan Chaim Grabel, a misspelling of his family name, Grapel.

The Israeli ambassador to Cairo said on Monday that Israel was looking into the case. The US embassy in the Egyptian capital said it was working to confirm Grapel’s identity and citizenship.

In his Facebook page, Grapel made no secret of his presence in Egypt, writing that he was “preaching at Al Azhar,” an Islamic university in Cairo, and that he had studied at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. The reference to Al Azhar later disappeared from the page.

A judiciary source in Egypt said the arrested man had been active in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the revolt against Hosni Mubarak, after the former president stepped down.

A statement issued by Egypt’s public prosecutor said the suspect, ordered held for 15 days, had been sent to Egypt to recruit agents “trying to gather information and data and to monitor the events of the January 25 revolution.”

Photographs of Grapel on the Facebook page, on the website of the Israel Project, a pro-Israel group where he trained in media relations in 2008, and in the on-line newsletter of an organization that raises funds for Israeli soldiers, matched those in a video clip of the suspect released by Egypt.

Articles about Grapel’s military service in Israel appeared in the New York Daily News and Israel’s Haaretz newspaper in 2006. They said he had been wounded in the Lebanon war that year while serving as an Israeli paratrooper and had immigrated to Israel in 2005 from Queens, New York, at the age of 22.

“He is a very special guy. He’s an Arabist,” Tsiki Ood, who said he was a friend of Grapel’s, told Israel Radio, describing him as an American immigrant. “He’s very intelligent ... He spoke Arabic. I hope he gets out of this trouble.”

After the war, Grapel spoke in the United States at fundraisers for wounded Israeli soldiers, according to the Internet newsletter of the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces organization, which also cited his injury in Lebanon.

It showed him in his paratroops uniform standing next to US fundraisers and Israeli diplomats at functions in Chicago and Houston in 2006.

Two years later, Grapel took part in the Israel Project’s media fellows program in Jerusalem on “educating top young leaders in how to educate the press on Israel and Iran.”

In a comment that appears on the Israel Project’s web page about the program, Grapel said he had been impressed by an Israeli Foreign Ministry’s official's briefing on conveying Israel's positions to the Arab world.

“It would be very rewarding for me if I were to be able to communicate as effectively (as the official) in such anti-Israel environments,” Grapel wrote.

In other words, Grapel didn't hide his viewpoints in the least - pretty strange for a "spy."

By the way, I originally read this in Al Arabiya, where they changed the Reuters dateline from "Jerusalem" to "occupied Jerusalem."

This week is the final round of the Pro-Israel Blog-Off at Israellycool.

EoZ is in the finals, up against Israel Muse.

I submitted a post containing the audio of the lecture I gave a couple of weeks ago on "How to be a media-savvy advocate of Israel." There is a lot of information there, and I think it is important for people who care about Israel to hear.

So now is the time to vote!

Thanks again to Israellycool and Honest Reporting for sponsoring what has been a really fun competition. And be sure to check out all of the great blogs that entered - there is a lot of good stuff out there.

Comic website here.

Egypt claims to catch Israeli "spy." Um...not quite. (UPDATED)

From CNN:

A former Israeli military officer was questioned by Egyptian authorities Sunday and detained for 15 days on suspicion of spying for Israel, according to a spokesman for Egypt's general prosecutor.

Elan Chaim participated in the Lebanon war of 2006, and was relieved of field combat duties after being injured, spokesman Adel Saeed said Sunday. He was apprehended in a five-star hotel in downtown Cairo, Saeed said. Investigators had kept a close eye on his activities for months, and suspect he is involved in espionage, the spokesman said.

Chaim allegedly was sent to Egypt by the Israeli government, tasked with taking advantage of the security vacuum in the country following the January 25 revolution and instructed to recruit others to acquire military and political information, Saeed said. The revolution forced former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from power; he stepped down February 11.

Chaim was present at most of the protests, Saeed alleged, and encouraged demonstrators to engage in violence against the military. His aim, according to Egyptian authorities, was allegedly to help cause chaos between the Egyptian people and the military, Saeed said.

Chaim was questioned by the supreme state security prosecutor and will be temporarily detained, Saeed said. The general prosecutor will announce the results of the investigation when it is complete.

The Jerusalem Post quoted an unnamed Israeli Foreign Ministry official as saying the ministry was "totally and completely unfamiliar with the story" and that it would be investigated.

Al Masry al Youm has a video showing this "spy" doing what looks like normal tourism in Egypt and trying to be a part of history in Tahrir Square. The video also shows images of him in Israeli army uniform with forboding music that is meant to make him look like a scheming, slimy enemy spy.

JPost has his name as Ilan Chaim Grabel. His real name is Ilan Grapel, and here is his Facebook page. Most of the photos in the video come straight from there.

A little digging there shows that Grapel is no spy. While he does seem to be an Arabophile, he makes no attempt to hide his ties to Israel nor his time in the IDF. He clearly has made Arab friends, and even flirts in Arabic with Arab girls (who have no problem with him being Israeli.) He went to Johns Hopkins University.

This is a ridiculous accusation. Grapel makes no secret of all the activities he was doing in Cairo. It is a sad comment on the state of the news nowadays that the media cannot even figure out how to find his Facebook page to check out the facts.

UPDATE: He is also an American citizen.

The humanitarian crisis of Gaza's Palm Village Resort. The horror!

You may think you've seen deprivation in Gaza. You might think you have seen the depths of the humanitarian crisis there. But I must warn you....it gets even worse than you could ever imagine.

Warning: the following pictures may shock and sicken you.

I bring you Gaza's Palm Village Resort.

Most of the photos from this thread.

I hope that the planned flotilla members manage to find their way to this incredible example of how Gazans are suffering under blockade.

I honestly thought I was seeing photos taken in the Congo.

(h/t Vandoren)

The Flotilla meets Gilligan

OK, I admit I LOL'ed.

(h/t Jawa Report via Huffwatcher)

PalArab protesters narrowly avoid getting Jew-cooties

From the IDF Spokesperson website:

The following video is of a protest which took place yesterday in Umm Salamuna, southeast of Bethlehem in the West Bank. Every Friday afternoon, protesters gather in the town to demonstrate against the security fence, which has dramatically decreased suicide bombings and other terror attacks inside Israel for over 6 years. Protests in Umm Salamuna often turn violent, with rocks being hurled at IDF and other security forces by rioters who also damage the security fence.

In the video, the deputy battalion commander of the Kfir Brigade offers water to the protesters due to the extremely high temperature mid-afternoon that day. The Palestinian protest leader tells his supporters, “Don’t drink the water!” following which a woman dumps out a cup of water offered to her by the commander.

Whew, that was close! Who knows what the IDF spiked the water with - poison, sex hormones, anti-sex hormones, tiny bacteria that eat out your spleen - the mind reels at how much damage could have resulted if Arab protesters would accept a simple gift of water from a soldier.

They might have even started to regard Israelis as human beings, and that would be the worst possible outcome.

Far more anti-semitism in Norway schools than "Islamophobia"

And Muslims downplay the anti-semitism.

From The Foreigner (Norway):

Oslo Jewish Community leaders allege an Islamic organisation is glossing over anti-Semitism in Norwegian schools by focusing more on Muslim harassment.

The current row started on Tuesday, after Oslo municipality presented a report charting racist and anti-Semitic attitudes amongst 7,212 pupils in 48 secondary schools.

Results show 33.3 percent of Jews experience harassment between two and three times per month, compared with 5.3 percent of Muslims.

According to Vårt Land, Ervin Kohn of Oslo’s Jewish Community (DMT) was discouraged by the report. Despite the high figures, however, Secretary General of umbrella organisation Islamsk Råd Norway (IRN), Mehtab Afsar, claims, “it’s really the Muslims that are given a hard time, and charting Muslim harassment is well overdue.”

The day after the report came out, pro-integration network LIM (Likestilling, Integrering, Mangfold) said it encourages all actors to fight against what it views as increasing anti-Semitism in Norway. At the same time, it was openly critical to Mr Afsar’s statements.

“Unfortunately, it seems as though IRN neither intends to recognize or take the problem of anti-Semitism seriously. Secretary General Afsar would rather focus more upon intimidation of Muslims.”

In a further development in what was becoming a growing rift between two ethnic minorities IRN issued a press statement yesterday, also censuring its own Secretary General, saying, “We wish to state once and for all that we clearly distance ourselves from all types of bullying and harassment, including anti-Semitism.

IRN apologises that some individuals have tried to turn a general societal problem into a particularly Muslim one,” it continues.

“I cannot see that IRN takes anti-Semitism seriously when reading this press release,” says Mr Ervin Kohn.

(h/t Callie)

Free Gaza is nervous about latest flotilla, so they rev up their lies

I just got this email from Free Gaza:

As we get ready to sail in two weeks, Israel has stepped up the threats, threatening to sue the Canadians who are going, threatening to sue the satellite phone company if they provide us with service, threatening to kill and maim us if we don't stop, then saying, "I told you so...we said we would kill you."

This behavior has got to stop. Israel is behaving like the schoolyard bully who parents and teachers fear, because his parents are rich and have contributed to the school. It's time for us to put our foot down.

Start calling your member of parliament/congress now. Start writing letters to the editor. Start a civil movement on social networks of outrage against Israel's attacks on civilians. Distribute this statement below and post on your websites.

We CAN stop Israeli attacks against us if we work together. Greta [Berlin]

Here is the statement they want everyone to distribute:

ANNOUNCEMENT
June 12, 2011

Regarding statements of government officials in Israel (echoed by officials in other countries) about diplomatic initiatives to impede the “Freedom Flotilla II- Stay Human” mission to Gaza, Palestine, we say:

Proper diplomacy does not exclude humanitarian action; Instead of seeking to prevent an international community of concerned citizens from taking nonviolent action in defense of liberty and human rights, diplomacy must pursue such actions and encourage them.

It is, therefore, a provocation to label the humanitarian action taken by movements supporting human rights to sail to Gaza a “provocation.”

It is a provocation that powerful states and international organizations, such as the US, Israel, the EU and the UN, are asking people to be silent and not react to violations of law and the disdain for universal values.

It is a provocation that international diplomacy is demanding that solidarity action from "people to people" be stopped.

Isn't it precious that the Free Gaza people are asking their drones to send in letters that claim that they are bringing "humanitarian aid" to Gaza and that their actions are "people-to-people?"

Especially since Free Gaza admits, explicitly, on their website, that these flotillas are political, not humanitarian, and that they are not an aid group. Beyond that, they are against humanitarian aid to Gaza going through legal channels, via Israel and Egypt!

Invariably, when it is convenient to them, they claim to the media that they are a humanitarian organization. But in reality their actions are purely political - and, therefore, by definition, a provocation!

As usual, Free Gaza will happily lie to hide their agenda.

(I'd also love to know where Israel threatened to "maim or kill" the flotilla fools assuming that they don't start attacking IDF soldiers with knives and clubs.)

Call Amnesty! Israel humiliates Palestinian Arabs in public!

Israel's women's basketball team defeated the Palestinian Arab team late last month at an International Friendship Games match.

The final score was 70-4.

But Israel's women's team was not happy only humiliating the Palestinian Arabs, but they went on to defeat Jordan 47-7.

This clearly was another case of Israelis purposefully humiliating Arabs, in public, and as such these can be considered war crimes under the Arab interpretation of international law.

Incidentally, the Palestinian Arab team requested not to be interviewed by the Israeli media - even before their match.

(h/t Joel)