Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Murdered 13th c. Jewish family found in a well in England

From BBC:

The remains of 17 bodies found at the bottom of a medieval well in England could have been victims of persecution, new evidence has suggested.

The most likely explanation is that those down the well were Jewish and were probably murdered or forced to commit suicide, according to scientists who used a combination of DNA analysis, carbon dating and bone chemical studies in their investigation.

The skeletons date back to the 12th or 13th Centuries at a time when Jewish people were facing persecution throughout Europe.

They were discovered in 2004 during an excavation of a site in the centre of Norwich, ahead of construction of the Chapelfield Shopping Centre. The remains were put into storage and have only recently been the subject of investigation.

Seven skeletons were successfully tested and five of them had a DNA sequence suggesting they were likely to be members of a single Jewish family.

DNA expert Dr Ian Barnes, who carried out the tests, said: "This is a really unusual situation for us. This is a unique set of data that we have been able to get for these individuals.

"I am not aware that this has been done before - that we have been able to pin them down to this level of specificity of the ethnic group that they seem to come from."

Eleven of the 17 skeletons were those of children aged between two and 15. The remaining six were adult men and women.

Pictures taken at the time of excavation suggested the bodies were thrown down the well together, head first.

A close examination of the adult bones showed fractures caused by the impact of hitting the bottom of the well. But the same damage was not seen on the children's bones, suggesting they were thrown in after the adults who cushioned the fall of their bodies.

(h/t T34)

Another reason the "demographic threat" is meaningless

Once again, a top US official has warned about the supposed demographic threat facing Israel:

Chief Middle East Adviser Dennis Ross said at the President’s Conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday that the greatest risk at a time of sweeping change in the Middle East was to think that this was the time to sit still and “do nothing.”

Ross said that while he understood the impulse to “stand pat” and avoid taking risks, certain realities – such as demographic trends that will present Israel with the dilemma of being either a Jewish or a democratic state – could not be “wished away.”

Ross’s comments seemed a gentle criticism of voices in the Israeli government saying that at a time when everything is changing in the Middle East, this is not the time for Israel to take far-reaching risks, not knowing what will be tomorrow in countries such as Syria, Egypt and even Jordan.

Obama, in his speech on the Middle East at the State Department last month, made a very similar statement.

The argument is not new; it has been around for a long time. Simply put, the "demographic threat" argument is that if Israel does not give the territories to the Palestinian Arabs, then Israel will be faced with a majority of the people living in the area of the Palestine Mandate being Arab in a few years.

Others, notably Yoram Ettinger, have spent a lot of time debunking the basic argument that demographics are so much in the Arabs' favor.

But there is another more subtle issue with the "demographic threat" argument. It is based on a very flawed assumption. The people who make this argument may not entirely realize the logical flaws in their assertions.

Their assumption is that a Palestinian Arab state must be based on the 1949 armistice lines.

However, even if a much smaller Palestinian Arab state is created, one that takes into account Israel's security requirements, then the demographic issue disappears as well.

Over 95% (perhaps as many as 98.5%) of Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank live in Areas A or B.

If there is going to be a Palestinian Arab state, it will include all of Areas A and B.

In other words, over 95% of the Palestinian Arabs in Judea and Samaria already live in areas that would become part of a Palestinian Arab state under any Israeli peace offer, right or left wing.

To put it bluntly: if Mahmoud Abbas declared a Palestinian Arab state in Areas A and B (and Gaza) today, even though they take up less than half of the West Bank, the demographic issue disappears.

So the "demographic threat" is a fantasy. If the Palestinian Arabs would accept any of Israel's peace offers, their state - no matter what size - would eliminate this threat.

The viewpoint that Israeli intransigence is creating a demographic threat is exactly backwards. It is Palestinian Arab refusal to compromise with Israel - and bring freedom to their people - that is artificially creating and aggravating this issue.

In fact, this threat is part of a Palestinian Arab strategy to pressure Israel to make concessions, because Palestinian Arabs have insisted on an "all or nothing" approach to peace with Israel. The slightest compromise on their part would create a Palestinian Arab state that would take away this so-called threat completely.

The world has swallowed this "all or nothing" thinking, believing that Palestinian Arab insistence on its maximal demands cannot be modified. So the world tends to conflate the "demographic threat" with "1967 lines."

If President Obama and Dennis Ross and J-Street and Americans for Peace Now and Walt and Mearsheimer and Thomas Friedman and Roger Cohen and Jeffrey Goldberg and a host of other pundits and politicians are so concerned over this supposed threat, the only logical thing for them to do is to pressure the Palestinian Arabs to accept a compromise that would give them a state as soon as possible, and to dismiss their maximal demands that they have made since Oslo. It is PalArab stubbornness that has kept this threat in the forefront of the conversation. Even the smallest state would ensure that this threat disappears.

Because the demographic threat is not a result of Israeli intransigence - it is directly because of the Palestinian Arab refusal to compromise.

Links!

Flotilla commentary:

Major news media to be on flotilla - at Commentary and YNet

Gaza boat sails into fantasy world of desirable despots at National Post

Flotilla should go to Syria, not Gaza at the Irish Examiner

Flotilla fools are scamming you, from Sydney Morning Herald

A site where you can volunteer to help combat news bias when the flotilla finally sails from 5 Minutes for Israel

And in other news:

Burqa battle in Australia - Herald Sun and Fox

Greek anti-semitism

More on Interpal at Harry's Place

And here's one of those British Palestinian Arab moderates we hear so much about.

BBC's Big Question asks the wrong question at Raymond Cook

The story of a happily married couple who were on the Kindertransport

And a nice cartoon from Hezbollah:

(h/t jzaik, Israel Muse, Ian, T34, sshender, Challah Hu Akbar)

Bil'in wall being moved - plus an outrageous phrase at CNN

From CNN:

Four years after an Israeli high court initially ruled that the path of the barrier separating Israelis from Palestinians around the West Bank village of Bilin needed to be rerouted, the Israeli military Wednesday began to dismantle parts of the controversial fence.

Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Israeli central command, told CNN that "We are in advance preparations for removing the old fence so there (are) some elements that are being removed." He acknowledged that the action was being taken in adherence to a subsequent 2008 Israeli court ruling which found sections of the fence had been built illegally on Palestinian land.

"We are implementing the court ruling to the letter," he said. "We negotiated with those that appealed to the high court and sat down with them and basically drew out the new contours for the security fence."

The barrier in Bilin has become the focus of a weekly protest that has been going on for over six years, pitting Palestinians and international activists against Israeli soldiers. Hundreds have been injured in the protests and a number of demonstrators have been killed.

So will the weekly Bil'in protests end when the wall is rebuilt, since they accomplished their putative goal?

Only if you believe that their goal is really to protest the fence, and not to protest Israel's very existence. And if you do believe that, prepare to be disappointed.

CNN ends the story with this sickening paragraph:

Many Palestinians refer to the barrier as the "apartheid wall" and view it as nothing more than a land grab by Israel to help support and expand settlements in the West Bank. The Israeli government chooses to refer to it as the "security fence," necessary to protect its citizens from what it views as terrorist attacks.

"What it views as terrorist attacks"? CNN was already making clear that it was writing that sentence from the point of view of Israel, so that extra Reuters-style disclaimer to imply that people blowing themselves up in restaurants might not really be terrorism is beyond disgusting.

Note also that there are plenty of Jewish communities, with tens of thousands of people, beyond the fence. How exactly does the fence help "support and expand" those settlements?

(h/t Yasher-El)

A peek into the Bizarro world of Hezbollah

Here is most of a fairly typical article in Al Manar (Hezbollah/Lebanon) that highlights the difference between the worldviews of Hezbollah, and those of normal people:

Member of the Baath parliamentary bloc in Lebanon MP Assem Qanso said that the conspiracy against Syria has failed in achieving its goals. He expressed belief that the campaign against Syria was not new, and put it in the framework of the economic, military and political blockade on the resistance path against the American-Zionist scheme.

The Lebanese lawmaker told Al-Manar Website that the recent developments in Syria come in the framework of the international political, economic and military blockade against the resistant country. He explained that Syria, like Iran as well as the Resistance in Lebanon and Palestine, was targeted by the so-called international community because it belongs to the resistant anti-American and Zionist scheme path. He admitted that the latest battle was the strongest, but kept it in the same context of the American-Zionist scheme.

Qanso said that the immunity of the national and Arab Syrian people was enough to put an end to the crisis. In this context, he also pointed out Syria’s history with Arabism since the days of Sultan Basha Atrash. “The Syrians are the most immune people at the patriotic level,” he said.

While noting that Americans and Europeans failed in breaking the patriotism of the Syrian people, Qanso noted that “unlike the case in Yemen, Libya and other places, they also failed to break the Syrian ideological army.” He emphasized that “the Syrian army remained united and faced, with full determination, the Salafist groups that were militarily and financially supported by Lebanon, Turkey and Iran.”

The Baath Party MP expressed belief that the conspiracy has failed in achieving its goals, adding that the crisis was reaching its end. Meanwhile, he praised the Russian and Chinese role that prevented the United Nations from imposing sanctions against Syria through the Security Council (UNSC). Qanso said that “this great stance consolidated Syria’s national stance and thwarted all attempts to overthrow its resistant regime.”

Answering a question, Qanso said that “all the symbols of resistance against the American-Zionist plot will be targeted by the so-called international community that will always attempt to break their steadfastness. He expressed belief that these attempts would have no limits at all, but added that the Resistance has proven that it was able to change the balances everywhere.

Asked whether the conspiracy against Syria has ended, Qanso said: “It was a difficult experience, but we’re the victorious ones, God willing, thanks to our resistance and steadfastness.”

Turning to the local developments, Qanso was asked whether he would give the government a vote of no-confidence at the parliament as he was quoted as saying last week. He said that he would follow the recommendations of Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah. “Everything will proceed according to the recommendations of Sayyed Nasrallah,” he explained. “We will remain behind Sayyed Hasan until death,” he pointed out.

Qanso also said that the new majority would overcome all the difficulties and challenges. “We will also triumph the US and Israeli agents in Lebanon, i.e. the March 14 forces,” he added. He said that he would not give these forces any value or consideration from now on.

Qanso warned against some groups seeking sabotage in the country, in reference to Hizb Ut-Tahrir which is holding anti-Syria demonstrations in the north. “Those people have been prepared since a while for such incidents. They are worse than Takfiris and Salafis,” he said. “They are extremists. I know them since 1956. They have links with the English intelligence and work for the Americans.”

So now we know that Syrian protesters are Zionist and American stooges, and that the Lebanese March 14th opposition is filled with Zionist and American stooges and spies.

More interestingly, the socialist Baath party in Lebanon has been magically transformed into a Shiite group that slavishly follows whatever Nasrallah says.

Iranian nuclear bomb letter reported as a hoax (updated x2)

I had quoted MEMRI last week about an article at an Iranian Revolutionary Guards website that seemed to say that Iran was actively working on nuclear weapons.

Now there are reports that it was a hoax.

From YNet:

An Iranian blogger revealed on Tuesday that the controversial article published on a Revolutionary Guard website in April, describing a hypothetical nuclear experiment by the Islamic Republic, was nothing but a figment of his imagination.

The essay caused an international stir as it was not inline with the official Iranian claim that its nuclear program is being developed for civilian purposes only.

Seyed Ali Pourtabatbaiee, a 30-year-old journalist from the central Iranian city of Qom, first published his essay on his blog, Kheyzaranonline, which is dedicated to Shiite messianism.

"I wrote that blog out of anger that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon," Pourtabatbaiee said in an interview with British newspaper The Guardian. "I think sanctions will just continue until the end of days, and they make us so angry.

"We don't need nuclear weapons otherwise, but if we are going to have these sanctions, we should do a nuclear test to bring them to an end," he added.

Pourtabatbaiee said that his article was arbitrarily linked to Gerdab, a site run by the Revolutionary Guard's cyber security wing and often features links "to what it thinks is good content."

"There was a university student I know working for Gerdab and he read my blog and liked it and put in a link to it," he explained. "He has to put up five links a day to get paid in his job. I don't think Gerdab management knew anything about it."

I remember that I could not find the original article in Gerdab, but I got my information from MEMRI.

So was the article on the Gerdab site, or just a link to it?

I emailed MEMRI, hopefully will get a clarification soon. It would be most disappointing if MEMRI did not translate the article directly from the website.

Incidentally, this brings up my only complaint about MEMRI, which is a fantastic organization and provides invaluable services. Why don't they publish the actual links to the original web articles they translate?

UPDATE: Challah Hu Akbar did have a link to the original on Gerdab. I cannot find any indication that the article is linked to from somewhere else. But if I am reading the Persian date correctly, it does appear that the blog post was a day earlier than the Gerdab post.

Here's the blogger's explanation of what happened in English.

UPDATE 2: MEMRI stands by the story (via email.)

MEMRI's piece was a translation from Gerdab , which is an official IRGC site. Ynet does not (and can not) negate any of the facts. they just buy into a possible Iranian attempt to clean themselves off the problems this article may have created for them once it got translated and distributed in the west. No fact was challenged. It was an article on Gerdab. calling it a hoax does not make it one.

"Failed State Index" - pseudo-science?

Foreign Policy and The Fund for Peace have come out with their Failed State Index 2011.

According to their criteria, Israel is a "borderline" state, ranked 53rd worst, slightly better than Egypt and worse than Zambia.

The question is: what are their criteria?

They seem to include the West Bank with Israel, but it is unclear if they include Gaza.

Given that, here are their stated criteria:

Demographic Pressures, Refugees/IDPs, Group Grievance, Human Flight, Uneven Development, Economic Decline, Delegitimization of the State, Public Services, Human Rights, Security Apparatus, Factionalized Elites, and External Intervention

And how do they score each of these criteria?

Full-text data are electronically gathered from a range of publicly available print, radio, television and Internet sources from all over the world, including international and local media reports, essays, interviews, polling and survey data, government documents, independent studies from think tanks, NGOs and universities, and even corporate financial filings. The software determines the salience of the 12 indicators as well as hundreds of sub-indicators by calculating the number of "hits" as a proportion of the sample for a given time period. Quantitative data is also included, when available. Subject-matter experts then review each score for every country and indicator, as well as consult the original documents, when necessary, to ensure accuracy.

...The raw data are from millions of news articles and reports. As a practical matter, it is not readily transferable without the methodology and the software.

Essentially there is a black box where data from the media, interviews, essays, NGOs and so forth are magically converted into numbers. But exactly how this is done, so others can critique the methods, is hidden. And then they have "experts" ready to massage the numbers if they seem out of whack!

To even call this a "methodology" seems a stretch. I could do just as well by Googling country names and keywords, graphing how often the pairs are found in web searches, and then modifying the results to make sure that they don't look too outrageous.

Does the index consider the UNRWA definition of "refugee" to be operative when it applies to no other region? How exactly does a news report get converted into data - is it number of stories? Which NGOs are considered reliable and which are not?

Moreover, including the territories with Israel here means that they are combining data from two (or three) governments, each with different agendas and priorities. But guess how the results will be reported? No question, it will be looked upon as if Israel is responsible for the government of the PA and Hamas.

Science, by definition, must allow independent researchers to reproduce the results. By putting a numeric ranking next to each country, this index fools the casual reader into believing that these are all measured objectively. It takes some digging to find out that it is literally impossible for this index to be objective. Other people looking at the identical data could easily come up with different conclusions.

Which is what makes these exercises into quantifying the world's problems often worse than useless.
(h/t Ron)

A fake "even-handed" tour of Israel

From the anti-Zionist 972 magazine:

Six months ago, nineteen Jews broke the usual partisan norms when it comes to visiting the “Holy Land” by choosing to hear not only the Israeli Zionist narrative—with which most of them are already familiar—but also pushing themselves to learn and experience the Palestinian narrative on their synagogue’s trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories. They chose to shatter the classical stereotype of tourists who come to Israel to experience the luxurious hotels and touchstone religious sites but that prevent them from experiencing the “other” important local culture.

Tourism packages excel in keeping tourists in a bubble. The guests visit restaurants, hotels, and venues that are designed to give them the illusion of having a local experience, without having to step outside their comfort zone. Tourism in Israel and Palestine is largely dependent on “religious” pilgrimage trips where tourists are rushed from one archeological site to another without fulfilling the spiritual aspect of the trip they had aspired to experience.

This kind of tourism doesn’t characterize all visitors to the Holy Land, however, because there is emerging lately an alternative kind of tourism. There are people who have interests that go beyond the usual religious sites. They understand religious pilgrimage to mean creating a connection with the land, the people and the culture. Such special people choose to come for an educational and practical experience. This not to say they avoid typical sites, nor do they fail to indulge in relaxing and luxurious experiences, but they refuse to ignore the full potential of a Holy Land trip.

In December of 2010, I had the privilege of coordinating a tour for the nineteen Jews from Chicago led by their rabbi. Contrary to normal tours, ours was led equally by two tour guides for the entire trip, a Palestinian and an Israeli. The purpose was to provide the tourists with a context of the Israel/Palestine conflict and allow them to learn the different narratives that exist in the region. They visited many religious sites in Jerusalem, Hebron and Bethlehem. Everywhere they visited, locals welcomed them and spoke to them about a vast variety of issues. They learned about the life, challenges and aspirations of both the people of Palestine and of Israel.

While the article did not mention the rabbi's name or the group he is a part of, luckily he commented so we can see exactly how even-handed this tour was.

The rabbi who led the trip is a Reconstructionist rabbi named Brant Rosen. He blogged the entire trip, so we could see exactly how much the of itinerary was dedicated to the "Zionist narrative."

It turns out...essentially none.

The Israeli tour guide is supposedly a former Kach member and settler who turned into a "peace activist" and co-founded Breaking the Silence. And the Palestinian Arab guide, who authored the +972 article, isn't any more Zionist than the Israeli!

On the first day, they visited Jewish, christian and Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, and then met with the Imam of Al Aqsa - and, for balance, a member of "Rabbis for Human Rights."

This was the theme of the entire tour: meeting with Palestinian Arabs, sleeping in their homes, and then with extreme israeli leftists who agree with the Palestinian Arab narrative in toto.

Not a single visit with a religious Jew. Not a single talk with a Jewish resident of the areas they visited in Judea and Samaria. No visits with government spokespeople, or IDF representatives, or anyone who could remotely be associated with the Israeli center or right. No talks with victims of Arab terror. No visit to Sderot or any scenes of intifada bombings.

Even worse, Rabbi Brand makes no secret of his own skewed feelings. Look how he describes his visit with a leading Christian anti-Zionist:

Our Wednesday began with a visit with Reverend Naim Ateek (above), founder and head of Sabeel, a well-known institute that advocates Palestinian Chrisitian Liberation Theology. As readers of my blog might know, I’ve long been an admirer of Reverend Ateek’s theological writings. In particular, his work has informed and challenged my own thinking about the Jewish conception of the land and the dangers inherent in wedding religion to power. It was a great pleasure to finally meet Reverend Ateek personally and to introduce him to members of my congregation.

To my dismay, Ateek has been unfairly and relentlessly attacked by the American Jewish establishment – largely, I believe, because he does not shrink from illuminating the problems that come with the land-centric nature of Zionist ideology. For myself, I’ve learned much from Ateek’s suggestion that Zionism represents a kind of “Constantinian Judaism” – i.e., a fusing of Judaism with Empire.

So this tour was led by a non-religious rabbi who believes that Zionism is inherently a form of colonialism. And who seems to admire the theological writings of a Christian anti-Zionist more than any Jewish theologian.

And now Palestinian Arabs, represented by the author of the +972 article, are bragging how open-minded they are in allowing nominally Jewish anti-Zionist Jews to enter their homes to be fed propaganda.

It is worthwhile to mention that the self-congratulatory Palestinian Arab author of the article doesn't seem to find the Jews he led around human enough to mention their names, or even the name of the group they were with. But he "loves" them - because they are exactly the types of useful idiots that Palestinian Arabs rely on to push their fake narrative.

It is ironic that the Palestinian Arab who is so upset that Jewish tours of the Holy Land are in a "bubble" led the exact same type of tour - and has the audacity to pretend that it presented both sides of the story.

Even the many skewed political brainwashing tours of Israel pretend to be even handed by giving an hour or so to a "settler" after a week of propaganda. Rabbi Rosen didn't even do that.

Auto-translation of the day

A 25-year old member of Hamas' terrorist Qassam Brigades died today, supposedly of a heart attack.

The auto-translation of his eulogy at the al-Qassam website says:

"...with all the verses of faith in God and worth, and dignity of believers trusting in Allah's victory and his private parts...."

They must be huge!

Split in the Muslim Brotherhood?

From Al Masry al-Youm:

A group of young Muslim Brotherhood members announced the formation of their own political party on Tuesday, separate from the Brotherhood’s recently created Freedom and Justice Party, in a defiant act that is expected to deepen the generational rift within the 83-year-old organization.

The party “stresses the main Egyptian current that the great majority of Egyptians belong to. The party is distinguished by its civil and democratic nature. It takes pride in its idenity. It is open to the other. Morals, values and religious principles play a role in regulating its perfomance,” read a statement posted by one of the founders on Facebook.

Unlike most other Islamist parties, the manifesto of Hizb Al-Tayyar Al-Masry (meaning Egyptian Current Party) does not mention Islamic sharia as its frame of reference; it only refers to the Arab Islamic civilization. “We cannot refer to the Islamic sharia because this is not an Islamist party, and it is not a party for the Muslim Brotherhood youth,” said Mohamed Shams, a 24-year-old co-founder of the party. “Not all founders belong to the Muslim Brotherhood.”

The statement also envisions a larger role for young people. “We want the party to express the spirit of the revolution, which means we want most of its leaders to be young,” said Mohamed Affan, a 30-year-old brother and a co-founder of the party.

Affan is one of many young Muslim Brothers who have become outspoken recently in their criticism of the group’s leadership. They have, on several occasions, expressed disenchantment with their generation’s marginalization inside the Brotherhood’s highest power structures.

They have also expressed vehement opposition to the group’s official party, arguing that it failed to ensure a full separation between the Muslim Brotherhood’s proselytizing and political activities.

It is not clear that this new party has any real political power, but it does highlight rifts within the MB.

The entire article is worth reading.

Latest "unity" news

Salam Fayyad did not announce that he would refuse the position of prime minister as some Arabic media sources had claimed. Instead, he just said "I shall support to the best of my abilities any candidate Palestinian parties agree upon." Not quite the same thing.

Meanwhile, even though the planned meeting between Abbas and Meshal in Cairo was canceled, they might be meeting "secretly" in Turkey. Abbas was already in Ankara and Meshal just made a "surprise" visit to Istanbul.

Meanwhile, the argument between Hamas and Fatah over whether Abbas can appoint a PM continues, as a Popular Struggle Front spokesman who was in Cairo stated that part of the original "unity" agreement indeed gave Abbas that power.

Congrats to Israel Muse, Pro-Israel Blog-Off winner!

The Pro-Israel Blog-Off is over, and (after waiting a couple of nail-biting days for the judges' scores) Israel Muse is the winner, beating EoZ in the final round.

Congratulations to Israel Muse for a job well done!

Thanks so much to Israellycool for hosting the contest, as well as to Honest Reporting for sponsoring it. Thanks also to the judges who spent hours in their decisions.

It was a fun contest and I hope that it made many people more aware of the many excellent pro-Israel blogs out there.

Of course, I also must thank those who voted for me and supported me throughout the Blog-Off!

Freedom of the press, Jordanian style

From Ma'an/AFP:

Jordan's Information Minister Taher Adwan said on Tuesday he has resigned because of laws he deemed "restrictive for freedom of expression."

"I submitted my resignation today to Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit in protest at a government decision" to debate new press and publication laws in parliament that he opposed, Adwan told AFP.

"In addition, MPs will debate proposed anti-corruption and penal laws. I consider these laws restrictive for freedom of expression."

King Abdullah II on Monday ordered parliament to convene in an extraordinary session from Wednesday to discuss a series of temporary laws.

Describing the proposed legislation as a "blow to the reform drive" and "martial laws," Adwan, who joined the government in February, condemned "the repeated attacks on journalists who are doing their professional duties."

"Such attacks completely contradict political reform efforts, which cannot be achieved without a democratic climate of press freedom," Adwan said in a statement to AFP.

Adwan has condemned an attack on AFP in which 10 men broke into its Amman offices on Wednesday and destroyed furniture and equipment, after the news agency was among several foreign media to report that part of the king's motorcade had been stoned during a visit to a southern city.

The reports were vigorously denied by the palace, government officials and MPs from the city.

"Violence against journalists and their offices cannot be justified, under the pretext of loyalty and nationalism," said Adwan, a veteran journalist who was the editor of Al-Arab Al-Yawm independent daily.

Here are details on last week's attack:

Ten men broke into AFP's offices in Jordan's capital on Wednesday and destroyed furniture, two days after the news agency was among several foreign media to report King Abdullah II's motorcade had been stoned.

"Ten men armed with sticks broke into the office and started to destroy everything in their way, the furniture and the equipment," said AFP journalist Kamal Taha who was alone in the office when the attack took place.

He said he managed to escape through a back door, before neighbours called the police who arrived after the attackers fled.

The attack came a few hours after AFP bureau chief Randa Habib received a threatening telephone call saying: "I will make you pay dearly," and accusing her of "undermining the security of Jordan."

You mean, in Jordan, government thugs threaten journalists and break into media offices and destroy stuff when they don't like the news stories?

No way! This is moderate Jordan we are talking about here!

Afternoon linkdump

NGOs are just as corrupt in Cambodia as in the Palestinian Arab territories.

Video of Syria shooting villagers trying to flee to Turkey.

Germany's Left party facing charges of anti-semitism

"Third Intifada" iPad app

Robin Shepherd on a theme I explored earlier today

Reports that extremist groups in Lebanon are planning Katyusha attacks on Israel to drag Lebanon into a war now that there is a new Hezbollah government.

The Love Boat from Iran

Ingrid and Jorgen go to Gaza

CiFWatch: Flotilla, staying pointless

O/T: Graffiti from Pompeii

Daniel Pipes on the JNF

Inciting in plain sight in Bethlehem

Israel approves building materials for 2 housing projects in southern Gaza

(h/t Zach N., Joel, Silke, Honest Reporting, Israel Matzav, Iowahawk, CHA)

Koran saves 10-year old Saudi girl from rape

From Arab News:

The latest victim of a serial rapist said reciting the Qur’an stopped her attacker from sexually assaulting her, Al-Madinah newspaper reported Monday.

The 10-year-old told the newspaper that she was able to protect herself against his evil deeds by reciting five chapters of the holy book that she had learned by heart.

“Every time he came closer to me, I started reciting Qur'an and he would withdraw,” she said.

The girl, identified by her initials M.M.S., said the rapist would ask her to stop reciting the Qur'an but when she refused to listen to him, he hit her hard on the face. “Because of my recitations, he was reluctant to touch me,” she said.

This is the best use of the Koran I've ever seen.

Saudi Arabia only last week arrested a schoolteacher accused of raping 13 girls in Jeddah. This girl lives in Jeddah as well, so either they have the wrong guy or there is a copycat.

The first Hebrew Bible concordance, in Google Books

I could spend all day browsing around Google Books.

Today I came upon a 1581 edition of the very first Hebrew concordance, Meir Netiv, written by Yitzchak Natan (Isaac Nathan) ben Kalonymous in 1447.

It is interesting because of why he wrote it.

He was heavily involved in arguing against Christian missionaries to the Jews and Jewish apostates. They would quote chapter and verse for their arguments, but Jews couldn't easily answer them - because the division into chapters and verses were a Christian innovation!

Isaac Nathan therefore wrote the first Hebrew concordance of Tanach to aid Jews in arguing back (and exposing fake quotes that Christians at the time would use.) This was one of the first Jewish publications that used the Christian chapter and verse system.

Another innovation was that this concordance alphabetized the Hebrew words by their root word, so it was easier to find a specific word.

If you want to find all Torah commentaries in Google Books written before 1600, click here.

Early synagogues discovered in Israel

From Biblical Archaeology Review:

It seems like almost everywhere archaeologists dig in the eastern Galilee these days, they are coming up with ancient synagogues.

In 2007, a third–fourth-century C.E. synagogue with beautifully decorated mosaic floors depicting Biblical episodes was discovered at the site of Khirbet Wadi Hamam outside Tiberias; just last summer, European archaeologists digging only 4 miles away, at Horvat Kur, announced that they, too, had found a synagogue, probably dating at least a century later.

Perhaps the most exciting recent synagogue discovery in Israel was in Magdala, reputedly the home of Mary Magdalene. (Was this the synagogue she regularly attended?) On the shore of the Sea of Galilee, the newly discovered Magdala synagogue, excavated by archaeologists with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), is one of only seven uncovered in Israel that was in use during the first century C.E., when the Jerusalem Temple still stood. The others include Masada, Herodium and Gamla, with which BAR readers are familiar. Other possible examples have been excavated at Herodian Jericho, Qiryat Sefer and Modi’in.

The Magdala synagogue from this time is richly decorated with frescoes of colored panels. Mosaics with geometric designs covered the floor. Impressive columns supported the roof. And a strange, nearly 3-foot-long stone block found in the center of the synagogue is elaborately carved on the side and the flat top. Among other reliefs, it features one of the earliest depictions of a seven-branched menorah.

Dina Avshalom-Gorni, the Israeli archaeologist who excavated the site for the IAA, believes the artist who carved the menorah may have modeled his depiction after the actual seven-branched menorah that stood in the Temple, making it a rare representation of the candelabra before the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E. Flanking the menorah is a pair of large, long-handled amphorae, as well as a pair of what appear to be fluted columns. Decorating the top of the stone are various heart-shaped and floral motifs, as well as two palm trees that flank a large rosette with a circumscribed petal design. Although the precise function of the stone remains uncertain, it may have been used as a table on which Torah scrolls were rolled out and read or it may have been a stand for an actual menorah used during the service.

There's lots more. Read the whole thing.

(h/t My Right Word)

Time to re-open investigation against Interpal charity?

The "Miles of Smiles" convoy that entered Gaza yesterday (which I compared favorably to the flotillas) includes a large contingent from a British charity called Interpal, or the Palestinian Relief and Development Fund.

This Wikipedia page lists a number of separate allegations over the past 15 years that Interpal has ties to, and raised funds for, Hamas. The page claims that none of the allegations have been proven.

However, the Hamas-leaning newspaper Palestine Times shows images of (unnamed) members of the convoy meeting with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza.

I don't know if any Interpal members are in these photos but it is worth looking further into.

There are two other things that indicate that Interpal is not quite apolitical as it claims.

One is that its logo includes a map of all of Israel:

And another is that on its webpage, for no apparent reason, they have a section about the "Al Aqsa Mosque" that claims that it is not a building but the entire Temple Mount, seemingly including the Western Wall.

Egyptians like Osama more than Obama

From Al Masry al-Youm:

An opinion poll has shown that Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri’s popularity almost equals that of President Barack Obama among Egyptians.

The poll, which came a few months before scheduled presidential and parliamentary elections in Egypt, was conducted by the New York-based Institute for International Peace.

It looked at the popularity of various leaders and found presidential hopeful Amr Moussa to be the most popular among respondents. Prime Minister Essam Sharaf came in second and Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, chief of Egypt’s ruling military council, came in third.

According to the poll, Obama is viewed favorably among 12 percent of Egyptians, whereas Zawahiri is viewed favorably by 11 percent. Zawahiri, who is Egyptian, was appointed head of Al-Qaeda last week.

This article doesn't mention that the poll, conducted in early June, also shows that 21% of Egyptians have a favorable impression of bin Laden - far more than Obama.

But the news isn't all bad for the President. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's popularity lags behind even Obama's at 5%. (In 2008, Ahmadinejad's popularity was at 21%, compared to 25% for Obama.)

The poll also shows that the most popular presidential candidates are Essam Sharaf, Amr Moussa and Mohammed Tantawi, in that order, although interestingly more would vote today for Moussa than Sharaf.

Rumor: One of Hezbollah's "Israeli spies" helped kill Mugniyeh

From Now Lebanon:

One of the Hezbollah members reportedly arrested for collaborating with Israel might be involved in the 2008 assassination of Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh, an unidentified source told NOW Lebanon.

An unnamed Hezbollah source told NOW Lebanon on Saturday that a “group of Hezbollah members were detained in the past few days for collaborating with Israel.”

Although this story has zero corroboration, it is being picked up in the Arabic media.

(h/t Joel)

Hamas, Fatah still arguing over prime minister

Here's the latest in the Hamas/Fatah soap opera on forming a "unity" government:

From Ma'an on Monday:

Disagreement over who should be the next Palestinian premier is holding up the creation of a unity government agreed last month between old rivals Fatah and Hamas, Palestinian officials said on Monday.

A meeting in Cairo on Tuesday between President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads Fatah, and Hamas chief Khalid Mash'al has been postponed due to Hamas opposition to the reappointment of Western-backed economist Salam Fayyad, they said.

"The real reason for the delay in the forming and convening of the government is disagreement over Fayyad," an official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"President Abbas insists on nominating Salam Fayyad, whose appointment Hamas categorically rejects," he added. "That has led the two sides to postpone the meeting rather than announce the collapse of the reconciliation."

"Fayyad is not wanted because his name is linked to Palestinian division, the debt-ridden Palestinian economy and operations by the [Palestinian Authority] security services against the resistance," Gaza Hamas leader Ismail Radwan said, referring to the group's armed campaign against Israel.

Ma'an also quoted "sources" as saying Fayyad would refuse the post if offered in the interests of unity, but that is unclear. We'll see later today as Palestine Today reports that Fayyad will officially withdraw his name from consideration as PM.

Last night, Mahmoud Abbas gave a speech where he said that he is the president of the PA and as president he can choose whomever he wants to be PM - and he chooses Fayyad.

A Hamas spokesman rejected Abbas' words and said that his statement was harmful to national reconciliation.

Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar also commented saying that "It is a government of national consensus and not the government of Abu Mazen, therefore, the name of head of government must be agreed upon by the two movements."

The planned meeting this week in Cairo has been postponed indefinitely. Zahar claims that this is due to pressure from Western governments on Abbas not to follow through on reconciliation with Hamas.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Arabs prefer Fayyad to remain as PM, according to a new poll.

Palestinian Arab family killed - by NATO. Where are the condemnations?

From Ma'an:

A Palestinian family of four was killed in a NATO airstrike Monday on the Libyan capital of Tripoli, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The ministry explained in a statement published Tuesday on the government news agency Wafa, that the International Red Crescent Association had relayed the news.

The family, according to Wafa’s report, had lived in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, before moving to Tripoli.

Palestinian ambassador to Libya Atif Udah told Ma'an radio the family was in a three-story building targeted by a NATO air attack. He identified the victims as Abdullah Muhammad Ash-Shihab, his wife Karima and his 6-month-old twins Khalid and Jumanah.

Some 19 civilians were claimed to have been killed in that airstrike, which came only a day after another errant airstrike from NATO killed 9 civilians.

NATO insists that they hit a military target on Monday.

While the increasing number of civilian deaths at the hands of NATO in both Libya and Afghanistan does get some news coverage, the amount and emotional content of that coverage pales next to news coverage of Palestinian Arab deaths from Israeli actions - and the vitriol that accompanies Israeli actions is virtually nonexistent when discussing Western killings of civilians.

It is telling that NATO didn't manage to kill its target in the Monday strike.

There is simply no comparison between the sanitized news coverage and lack of world reaction of these NATO attacks with that of Israel's attack in July 2002 that killed Hamas master terrorist Salah Shehadeh - and some 14 civilians who were in the same building.

No wailing relatives in Libya. No Arab leaders calling it a "horrible act." No condemnation by the White House and UN. No statements from Sweden calling it a war crime and calling into question NATO's democratic values.

Why the double standard?

Charlotte Bloomberg, 102

From JPost:

Charlotte R. Bloomberg, mother of NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg – and a strong Israel advocate – died at the age of 102 on Sunday in Massachusetts.

A staunch Zionist, her son and her daughter, Marjorie Tiven, have previously honored her and their father, William, with two major health-related projects in Jerusalem.

“Mrs. Bloomberg was a remarkable woman, dedicated to Israel and devoted to Hadassah,” said Hadassah Medical Organization Director- General Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, who was present at her son’s dedication of the two-story Charlotte R. Bloomberg Mother and Child Center at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem in 2003. Charlotte Bloomberg had flown to Israel with her family for the ceremony.

“Her connection to Hadassah goes back to her early days in Young Judaea, and culminated in our Mother and Child Center bearing her name. We are honored and proud of the Bloomberg family’s commitment to Hadassah and send our deep condolences to Mayor Bloomberg and the entire family,” Mor-Yosef said.

“The center is a living testament to this great woman for generations to come.”

Baruch Dayan ha-Emet. May her memory be a blessing.

Linkdump, part 3

The myth of the Stoned Dog; see also Honest Reporting's take

What if the Jews had followed the Palestinian path? at WSJ

Meet with Israel? PalArabs can't meet with themselves! by Jonathan Tobin

The Syrian Occupation at Sky News

Anti-semitism at U. of Toronto at The Forward

Jonathan Pollard could not attend the funeral of his father

Bashir Assad's speech didn't seem to make Syrian protesters too happy

Barry Rubin on the power of the mass media to distort reality

Jennifer Rubin on American Jewish leaders who shill for Obama

Also, check out the "Elder of Ziyon Daily" newspaper that is auto-generated once a day by Paper.li from articles here as well as from people I follow on Twitter. It is a nice paper with stories I would have missed, in a pretty attractive format. Wish I could edit it, though!

(h/t Israel Muse, David F)

Linkdump, part 2

Understanding Hamas by Barry Rubin

The Palestinians of 1967 by Michael Totten

Amnesty International is losing its way (NGO Monitor/JPost)

PalArabs starting to consider Oslo as bad as 1948 and 1967 (PMW)

New blog: Moving Up to the East Side, with "EU Doesn't Oppose Palestinian Statehood"

Why is Obama tougher on Israel than on Syria? by Jackson Diehl, WaPo

Will Israel recognize the Armenia genocide?

Is Jordan's king losing control of the Bedouin? by Mudar Zahran

The Moroccan king seems to have figured out how not to be a victim of the Arab uprisings

Palestine Sucks!

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar, Joel, Simi, Israellycool, Israel Muse)

Linkdump, part 1

Ghosts of a Jewish past in Libya

Fayyad was no savior (Foreign Policy)

85% of Israelis want to keep Jerusalem undivided under Israeli sovreignty within the framework of a peace agreement; 77% against 1949 armistice lines even if Arab states declared an end to the conflict, 84% wantto keep Jordan Valley in any peace agreement, and more (Hebrew - JCPA)

"Moderate" Malaysia loves Hamas

Why don't liberals discuss Arab anti-semitism? (CiFWatch)

Syrian detainees forced to praise Assad in order to get water

Stuxnet: Anatomy of a computer virus

(h/t Sophie, Noah David Simon, T34, Joel, jzaik, Lesley)

The Arab Spring Nakba

Ha'aretz has an op-ed by an Arab:

[I]n Syria, another Arab Nakba is taking place before our eyes. This Nakba is the lot of the Syrian people. But this time, those behind the Nakba are not Zionists. They aren't Jews or French or godless British or Americans. Neither the Little Zionist Satan nor the Great American Satan is behind this Nakba. This time, the Satan is Arab, flesh of our flesh.

When thousands of Arab citizens - men, women and children - are massacred, when many others flee an Arab country because they fear an Arab regime with pretensions to waving the flag of Arab nationalism, then this so-called nationalism becomes dubious and ought to raise questions.

This is all the more the case when non-Arab Turkey is the country to which people are fleeing. Yes, the same Turkey that is regularly mentioned in Arab national discourse as the height of defilement and the source of all Arab ills. And all because of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled over the Arabs for hundreds of years and to which Arab nationalists have long attributed all the falterings of the Arab world.

A mirror "Nakba" is taking place in North Africa. From Newsweek:

No one knows how many people have died trying to make it from North Africa to Europe. Human traffickers don’t keep passenger lists, and authorities can only guess at the numbers of migrants based on the size of the capsized ships. But this much is clear: this is one of the deadliest years on record. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that in the past two months alone at least 1,600 people have died at sea as they fled their countries for European shores.

Lampedusa’s coastline is marred by the carcasses of capsized boats; the port is filled with shipwrecks, some with blankets, children’s toys, and jackets still on board. Deaths in these Mediterranean waters are now so common that fishermen routinely snag corpses in their nets. But to avoid the lengthy bureaucracy that goes with reporting the morbid catch, they often throw the bodies back in the water. “I can’t afford to have my boat sequestered for the season,” says one fisherman who didn’t want to give his name. “They won’t get any better burial on land if we bring them in.”

...When NATO bombardments against Libya began, Gaddafi vowed to “unleash an unprecedented wave of illegal immigration” on Europe. And the ships have been arriving from Libya since.

In the first five months of 2011, more than 45,000 people made their way to Lampedusa—more than 10 times the total number of last year. Thousands of others have arrived on nearby Pelagian islands, as well as Sicily and Sardinia. One boatload of Tunisians made it all the way to the Italian mainland, docking about 50 kilometers south of Rome. If the war in Libya continues, hundreds of thousands more are expected to make the perilous journey in the coming months.

Some refugees come for economic opportunity, having made it to Libya from other poor North African countries or sub-Saharan Africa. Others are fleeing war and unrest in Libya and beyond. But perhaps most disturbingly, human-rights groups report that soldiers loyal to Gaddafi are rounding up people and forcing them onto boats at gunpoint.

Thousands killed, tens of thousands becoming refugees. Yet it is only considered a real Nakba if it fulfills these two conditions:

1) You can blame Jews for causing the mass flight.
2) The flight is to Arab countries who don't want to help the refugees, even though they are fellow Arabs.

Since the two conditions don't apply, this is merely standard operating procedure.

Fear of Islamists: Belly-dance festival canceled in Egypt

An oriental dance festival (belly dancing) that has been held for the past ten years in Egypt has been canceled, reportedly out of fear of Islamist reaction.

Some 1200 dancers were expected to arrive, and it was estimated that the festival would boost the Egyptian economy by some $3 million.

A majority of commenters at Al Wafd support the ban on this immoral activity, but some are protesting how the Islamists are curtailing their lives.

Innovative lawfare: US man sues to take possession of flotilla

From JPost:

Dr. Alan Bauer, an American- Israeli victim of a Palestinian terrorist attack, on Thursday filed a first of its kind lawsuit in an effort to seize ships to be used by Islamic and anti-Israel organizations to try to breach the blockade of the Gaza Strip later this month.

The suit, Bauer v. The Mavi Marmara, was filed in Manhattan federal court, seeking to confiscate 14 ships, which are scheduled to participate in the upcoming flotilla and which were outfitted with funds Bauer says were unlawfully raised in the United States by anti-Israel groups, including The Free Gaza Movement. Over the weekend, however, the Turkish IHH organization said the Mavi Marmara was still too damaged to sail for Gaza.

The plaintiff, a biologist from the Chicago area, and his son Jonathan, then aged seven, were seriously wounded when Palestinian suicide bomber detonated a bomb, packed with metal spikes and nails, in the center of a crowd of shoppers on King George Street in Jerusalem on March 21, 2002.

Three people were killed and 85 other people were also wounded.

Bauer alleges that The Free Gaza Movement and other American-based anti-Israel organizations have raised funds in the United States to outfit the Gaza flotilla ships. The lawsuit contends that furnishing and outfitting the ships, which are being used for hostilities against a US ally, violates American law.

The plaintiff rests his claim upon the rarely used 18th-century “informant” statute (18 USC Section 962) that allows a plaintiff (called an “informer”) to privately seize ships outfitted in the United States for use against a US ally.

The stature states: “Whoever, within the United States, furnishes, fits out, arms, or attempts to furnish, fit out or arm, any vessel, with intent that such vessel shall be employed in the service of any foreign prince, or state, or of any colony, district, or people, to cruise, or commit hostilities against the subjects, citizens, or property of any foreign prince or state, or of any colony, district, or people with whom the United States is at peace; or Whoever issues or delivers a commission within the United State for any vessel, to the intent that she may be so employed – Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

“Every such vessel, her tackle, apparel, and furniture, together with all materials, arms, ammunition, and stores which may have been procured for the building and equipment thereof, shall be forfeited, one half to the use of the informer and the other half to the use of the United States.”

The plaintiff is represented by attorneys Robert J. Tolchin of New York, and by Nitsana Darshan- Leitner of Israel, founder of Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center.

This is the first lawsuit brought to seize the Gaza Flotilla ships.

“We intend to seize the Gaza flotilla ships and turn them over to a victim of Palestinian terrorism.

You can see an interview with Nitsana Darshan-Leitner of Shurat HaDin about this lawsuit and other flotilla news on PJTV.

A copy of the lawsuit can be seen here.

Gaza says they'll allow Fatah members to return. But they might arrest them.

In 2007, some 70 Fatah members fled Gaza in the wake of the violent Hamas takeover of the sector, and they went to Egypt.

Egypt is now planning to ship them back, and Hamas interior minister says that whoever wants to return to Gaza is welcome to do so.

But, of course, if Hamas determines that they were involved in any criminal activities, they'll be put into prison, he added.

Interestingly, he didn't say that Hamas would welcome back the residents of Jordan's Jerash "Gaza" camp, who actually lived in Gaza and would love to return.

Cooking gas shortage in Egypt - because it is all being smuggled to Gaza

Palestine Press Agency reports that there is a severe shortage of cooking gas in El Arish and the Sinai - because smugglers are sending the gas over to Gaza for a profit.

Bakeries are having trouble staying open because of the shortages.

Meanwhile, residents of the Sinai are also alarmed at the huge amount of smuggling of other items into Gaza, including building materials that are being taken from their area. Residents report seeing many trucks filled with gravel and other materials going to Rafah to be smuggled into Gaza, and last week some 150 Libyan cars were smuggled into Gaza in one shot through a Rafah tunnel.

Tens of thousands of Gazans applying to become Egyptian citizens

A few months ago, a group of Egyptian women who are married to Palestinian Arabs protested in Tahrir Square to allow their children to be considered Egyptian citizens.

A 2004 Egyptian law allowed children of Egyptian mothers to become citizens, with the exception of those married to Palestinians.

In 2006, an Egyptian court ruled that the law must apply to Palestinian Arabs as well, but the ruling was ignored by the Mubarak regime.

After the protest, Egypt started enforcing this ruling, and now children of Egyptian mothers and Palestinian Arab fathers can become Egyptian citizens.

And now the floodgates have opened.

Tens of thousands of Gazans are now applying to become Egyptian citizens.

Sharif Rafik Fares, who owns a shoe store in Gaza, said that such nationality is as valuable as gold.

The original goal of stopping Palestinian Arabs from gaining citizenship in other countries was pushed by none other than Yasir Arafat.

Dr. Mohamed Shihab, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, told Al Arabiya, "in the wake of the Nakba and the Naqsa and what happened from the diaspora and oppression of the Palestinian people, there was an Arab resolution adopted by the Arab League, and supported by the Palestine Liberation Organization [to disallow citizenship for Palestinian Arabs in other countries.] But the passage of time and the continued suffering of the Palestinian people, proved that such decisions was a noble goal, but it came at the expense of many segments of the Palestinian people and increased their suffering in the diaspora, which exacerbated their suffering. "

The Arab League decision pushed by the PLO not to give the Palestinians living in Arab countries citizenship was to prevent melting of the Palestinian people in the Arab world, and thus to forget their cause, as well as to keep the Palestinian refugee camps in the Diaspora, as a political symbol to remind all of that the Nakba and the displacement, and these camps remained undeveloped.

Political writer Mohammad Hafiz Abdullah is against this move .He said: 'Although there are conditions of oppression and siege against the Palestinians, there is no reason to have thousands of Palestinians accept the other nationalities, so they can at any moment decide to migrate to different countries'.

Abdullah says that granting citizenship to Palestinians is not in the supreme national interest. He said, 'This is an abandonment of the state of the national struggle in which the Palestinians have sacrificed with their blood and their lives over the decades of occupation for their independence."

The hypocrisy of the Palestinian Arab leadership is once again laid bare. For decades, they have insisted that their people do not want citizenship, and the got UNRWA and even Human Rights Watch to support their decision to perpetuate misery among Palestinian Arabs. However, no one actually asked the Palestinian Arabs what they wanted, and every time they had a chance to become naturalized elsewhere they jumped at the opportunity, first in Jordan, then in Lebanon and now in Egypt.

"Miles of Smiles" exposes the lies of the flotilla

From Bikya Masr (Egypt):

An aid convoy heading to the Gaza Strip was allowed to cross into the embattled Mediterranean enclave on Sunday evening, Palestinian officials confirmed on Monday morning to Bikya Masr.

The vessel, Miles of Smiles, is carrying aid and some 60 activists, most Europeans, a few South Africans, Tunisian and Lebanese nationals, had docked at the northern Sinai town of al-Arish on Saturday before making the 45 kilometer journey to the Gaza border.

The activists are also carrying ambulances, medicine and medical equipment for the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, which has been suffering from an Israeli-Egyptian led blockade on the area.

To summarize:

Miles of Smiles	Flotilla
Brings real aid, including ambulances	Pretends to bring aid, but the aid it brings is useless
Works modestly without huge publicity; doesn't even have a website	Publicity whores
Has not acted violently	Justifies violent actions of IHH in May 2010 flotilla; supports terrorism
Adheres to international law	Violates international law in trying to break legal blockade
Brings aid through Egypt	Has come out publicly against humanitarian aid delivered legally
Doesn't lie to the media	Always lies to the media

Report: Hezbollah shocked at level of Israeli spies there

From Ya Libnan:

The Kuwait newspaper al Rai published a report on Sunday in which it stated that the intelligence war between Hezbollah and Israel has revealed shocking discoveries for the party’s leadership. The big shock for Hezbollah was the number and the quality of those spying for Israel within its ranks.

According to the report more than ten spies were discovered and some are from the front ranks of the party.

Some of those discoveries couldn’t be imagined al Rai said pointing out that Hezbollah discovered the Israeli spying cell within its ranks three months ago when it intentionally sent very crucial information to Israelis and put the suspects under tight surveillance.

NOW Lebanon reported that an unnamed Hezbollah source told its correspondent on Saturday that a “group of Hezbollah members were detained in the past few days for collaborating with Israel.” The source who spoke on condition of anonymity declined to disclose the number of those detained or their position in the party but revealed that that one of the collaborators is related to a prominent Hezbollah official and another is a “religious figure.”

Al Rai also said that Jnoubiyeh website confirmed the arrests of the Hezbollah members over spying for Israel.

According to al Rai one high ranking Hezbollah official that was discovered spying for Israel is Mohammad Atwi from the Nabatiyeh district in south Lebanon, who was responsible for organizing security within the party and coordinated activities with Iran and Syria.

Al Rai has not always been the most accurate at reporting things from Lebanon, but this story seems to be corroborated at least a bit.

If nothing else, adding to Hezbollah's paranoia can only be a good thing.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

It isn't only "Who Started?" - it is "Who wanted to live in peace?"

Last week, Shlomo Avineri wrote a nice essay in Ha'aretz called "The truth should be taught about the 1948 war." Excerpts:

In recent debates about the Palestinian "Nakba," the claim has been made that there are two "narratives," an Israeli one and a Palestinian one, and we should pay attention to both of them. That, of course, is true: Alongside the Israeli-Zionist claims regarding the Jewish people's connection to its historic homeland and the Jews' miserable situation, there are Palestinian claims that regard the Jews as a religious group only and Zionism as an imperialist movement.

But above and beyond these claims is the simple fact - and it is a fact, not a "narrative" - that in 1947, the Zionist movement accepted the United Nations partition plan, whereas the Arab side rejected it and went to war against it. A decision to go to war has consequences, just as it did in 1939 or 1941.

The importance of this distinction becomes clear upon perusing the op-ed that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas recently published in The New York Times. Abbas mentioned the partition decision in his article, but said not one single word about the facts - who accepted it and who rejected it. He merely wrote that "Shortly thereafter, Zionist forces expelled Palestinian Arabs."

That is like those Germans who talk about the horrors of the expulsion of 12 million ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe after 1945, but fail to mention the Nazi attack on Poland, or the Japanese who talk about Hiroshima, but fail to mention their attack on Pearl Harbor. That is not a "narrative," it is simply not telling the truth. Effects cannot be divorced from causes.

The pain of the other should be understood and respected, and attempts to prevent Palestinians from mentioning the Nakba are foolish and immoral: Nobody prevents the descendants of the German refugees from Eastern Europe from communing with their suffering.

But just as nobody, even in German schools, would dream of teaching the German "narrative" regarding World War II, the 1948 war should also not be taught as a battle between narratives. In the final analysis, there is a historical truth. And without ignoring the suffering of the other, that is how such sensitive issues must be taught.

Dimi Reider in the anti-Zionist +972 magazine, takes issue with Avineri:

The problem with Avineri’s answer to the question of “who’s to blame for the beginning of the war in 1948″ is that politically speaking, the question itself is no longer relevant.

...But what caused the war isn’t and has never been the true challenge of the Nakba. The true challenge is what happened after the war was caused. Even if we accept Avineri’s argument that “they started”, it’s still unclear why Israel had to expel neighborhoods, towns and villages; and if, somehow, we accepted that, it’s very unclear why this had to be accompanied by massacres; and even if we accept (heaven forbids) that massacres and expulsions happen in wars, no amount of “they started” can excuse the still-standing ban on the refugees and survivors to return.

Since this is a little discussed aspect of Israel's War of Independence, and since Israel's detractors like to hold up "The Nakba" as one of the biggest single tragedies of the twentieth century, it is worthwhile to answer this.

While this is a much bigger topic than can be dealt with adequately in a blog post, I would like to republish a Palestine Post article by Dorothy Bar-Adon from August 17th, 1948, where she describes exactly why the Arab residents of Zer'in - her neighbors, who she knew by name and was on friendly terms with - should not be allowed back.

The reason is simple. The Arabs that she thought were her friends happily and lustily took up arms against the Jews. Their women encouraged them with war cries that the Jews in the valley below could clearly hear. The idea of allowing a hostile population back where they could again menace their Jewish neighbors was out of the question.

Read this article, and you can see that the Jews who didn't let their Arab neighbors back were not monsters, but were acting out of real fear and a very definite sense of self-preservation. This account is obviously not written by someone trying to rewrite history and fit it into 21st century ideas of morality; it was written by a real human being who had real feelings for the Arabs of the village.

The anecdote about the paralyzed Arab woman whose family deserted her when they fled, and who was taken care of by Jewish troops, says more than any number of history books about the 1948 war.

(This article originally mentioned on this blog in 2006.)

Correction: I had originally attributed the +972 article to Joseph Dana.)

Last minute chance to vote in the Blog-Off!

If you are a procrastinator, waiting to the very last minute to vote (hopefully for me) at the Israellycool Pro-Israel Blog Off Finals, your time is almost up.

Just imagine how much more I'd be able to blog with a brand new iPad! :)

I'm hoping to make the vote closer than it is.

Click on this link now and vote!

(If it doesn't work, try it with a different browser; people have been having problems all week.)

And...Happy Father's Day!

1960's style video of Mavi Marmara "peace activists"

Something to link to every time an Israel-hater says that "Israel killed nine peace activists in cold blood" on the Mavi Marmara.

Peace and love, baby.

Stunning IMAX aerial video footage of Israel

Jerusalem | Filmed in Imax 3D from JerusalemGiantScreen on Vimeo.

It looks good here, but click on the HD button and watch it, full screen, on Vimeo. Really, really beautiful.

A full-length version is going to be released as an IMAX 3-D movie in 2013.

(h/t Y. Medad)

80% of PalArab "refugees" have citizenship!

On the eve of World Refugee Day, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics released some interesting numbers. From Wafa:

According to UNRWA records, registered Palestinian refugees totaled 4.8 million in 2010: 41.6% in Jordan, 23.2% in the Gaza Strip, 16.4% in the West Bank, 9.9% in Syria and 8.9% in Lebanon.

In the Palestinian Territory, refugees represent 43.4% of the total population in 2011, with 29.7% of them in the West Bank and 67.3% in the Gaza Strip.

The vast majority of "refugees" living in Jordan have had Jordanian citizenship since 1950, meaning that they cannot be considered refugees in any sense of the word - except for UNRWA's tortured definition.

But even more bizarre is the characterization of "Palestinian refugees" living in...Palestine! How can people be considered refugees if they live in their own purported country? The most they can claim to be are "displaced persons" which is a completely different thing.

If you add together the Jordanian "refugees" with citizenship and the Palestinian "refugees" who also are citizens of the Palestinian Authority, you see that about 80% of all so-called "Palestinian refugees" are nothing of the sort. You cannot be a citizen of a country and a refugee at the same time.

If UNRWA and the Palestinian Arab leadership and Jordan were interested in solving the so-called refugee problem, they would acknowledge these simple facts and work to mainstream those who still live in camps and depend on UNRWA services into their respective Jordanian and Palestinian Arab societies. Their refusal to do so shows, more than anything else, that the "refugee" problem is an artificial construct, a fake issue that is being exacerbated and prolonged by the very people who pretend that it is their primary concern.

The facts are clear. 80% of the so-called refugees, aren't. And the only reason they are still called refugees is to use them - some four million people, if you believe UNRWA's numbers - as pawns to help destroy the Jewish state.

If the US and EU truly want to see peace in the region, this issue must be dealt with head-on. The truth must be exposed, and these "refugees" must be properly categorized and their issues solved within the context of Jordan and the PA. Otherwise, all the calls for negotiations and Israeli concessions are a large shell game to conceal the truth of how the Arabs (and the UN) have been cynically using millions of people as political pawns.

Hamas not happy with "prisoner Facebook" story

Here's a funny item from Hamas mouthpiece Palestine Info:

The Gaza prisoner affairs ministry has called on local media not to reproduce Israeli media hype that Palestinian prisoners communicate with the outside world using social networking sites on the internet.

Israel tries to convince the world that the Palestinians enjoy all their rights while Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was captured in Gaza, is denied visits and access to family, the ministry’s media director Riyadh al-Ashqar said in a statement on Saturday.

Ashqar added that Israel also uses such rumors to justify the prison authority’s frequent violent raids on prisoners’ cells in search of mobile phones.

Ashqar expressed surprise that Palestinian news outlets would reproduce such reports despite the ulterior motives behind them.

Note that Ashqar doesn't deny that Palestinian Arab prisoners are on Facebook, just that he wants to censor Arab media from mentioning it.

The good part? The story was not broken by Ma'ariv (which published it on Wednesday) - but by Al-Arabiya, which printed it last Monday!

So it was Arab reporters who came up with this Zionist propaganda to begin with!

(h/t Gaia K)

Poster: How can you make peace with those...

...who treat each other like this?

(from an idea by Y. Medad, h/t to Adam L. for better wording)

UNRWA summer camps shut down, Hamas camps in full swing

I reported on Friday that some Gazans, upset that UNRWA has not rebuilt their homes, have been blocking UNRWA from performing its services - and threatened to block UNRWA's Summer Games program.

On Saturday, the protesters made good on their threat:

Homeless families in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday shut down UNRWA summer camps in protest over the agency's failure to reconstruct homes destroyed during the Second Intifada.

Gaza residents also closed UNRWA's emergency department, social services office and ration stores, said Atiyya Radwan, who heads a committee of families whose homes have been destroyed.

Now as bad and counterproductive as UNRWA is, alternate providers of services are worse.

And, right on cue, Hamas is moving in to fill the vacuum.

Hamas announced Saturday that its own summer camp program, which they use as a breeding ground for terrorists, is in full swing and so far has 50,000 campers.

Hamas camps have been known for paramilitary activities as well as routinely teaching kids to hate.

For some reason, the protesters are not complaining against Hamas building mosques instead of houses on otherwise empty land.