Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Hamas starts arresting male hairdressers

From the BBC:

The Hamas government in Gaza has begun enforcing a law introduced last year banning men from cutting women's hair.

Until now, the law had not been enforced, but this week at least one male hairdresser in Gaza was arrested.

Male hairdressers for women are regarded by many Muslims as against Islamic tradition.

The move is seen as an attempt to bolster Hamas's Islamic credentials against critics who say it has become too moderate.

The reality is in Gaza - with its huge Muslim majority - most women do not want to have their hair cut by men.

Nevertheless a few salons have clung on, where male hairdressers work.

This week they are sitting idle outside their shops, fearful of arrest if they step inside.

Adnan Barakat, a hairdresser with 27 years experience, said: "Without work, I am like a dead man, because I am without work. The salon cannot work without me. This is my work since 1984. I haven't another work. What can I do?"

Others, like Mr Barakat, complain they are being watched by undercover police.

Hamas argues it is only enforcing a law that the majority of people here want.

I guess it is hard to get your hair styled when you are wearing a burqa.

It's a real shame that the flotilla imploded. Because you just know that those champions of human rights would have spent a day protesting and singing songs of solidarity with the hairdressers.

(h/t Folderol)

Hamas believes a stupid rumor about UNRWA

I mentioned last month that there were protests in Lebanese camps against UNRWA, partially because of a rumor that UNRWA was changing its name as a precursor to reducing its services in a new mandate that would encourage resettlement of Palestinian Arabs outside Israel.

I could not find any verification of any name change or change in UNRWA's mandate.

But that didn't stop Hamas from pouncing on that same rumor. On Tuesday, the Hamas Department of Refugees echoed the same rumor, accusing UNRWA of plotting to actually solve the problem of stateless Palestinian Arabs rather than prolonging it the way it has done so well, and the way that every Arab leader wants it to continue. At Hamas' urging, there were protests outside UNRWA headquarters in Gaza.

UNRWA finally released a statement today denying any change in its name or mandate.

Now millions of "refugees," many in camps with UNRWA services, can rest easy, knowing that they will never become normal citizens in the Arab countries that they were born in and will likely die in. They will remain second-class citizens, derided and discriminated against, subject to the whim of the leaders of the countries they live in.

Victory!

American Flotidiots admit defeat, declare victory

You can't make stuff like this up.

From the USTOGAZA website that was home to the "Audacity of Hope" boat:

The presence of the U.S. Boat to Gaza in Athens is winding down. For more than 2 weeks the 37 passengers (someone was added at the last moment), 4 crew members and about 12 people in the support team there worked hard to make sure our boat – The Audacity of Hope – could sail as part of the international Freedom Flotilla 2 to Gaza. The Greek government’s willingness to serve as the enforcer of Israeli’s naval blockade of Gaza made it impossible for this journey to happen.

But the creative and determined spirit of this team of committed activists could not be stopped or silenced. They worked tirelessly to make the point in countless ways: they attempted to set sail knowing it might lead to a confrontation with the Greek authorities, they stood by the boat’s captain when he was arrested and jailed for several days, several people held a hunger strike for a few days, everyone marched and rallied with other flotilla activists and with the people of Athens in their own struggle for economic justice, and incredible energy went into getting the word out to people throughout this country and around the world as the work with the media continued through it all.

Last night our group’s activities in Athens ended and here’s a description from one of our people there: “We all went to Syntagma Square... We unfurled to drum beats 22 flags sewn together representing the countries participating in the Flotilla. Our black and white signs were in Greek, Arabic and English. It was a beautiful sight. Then we marched to the Spanish Embassy where our Spanish partners were occupying its embassy demanding the release of their boat. We arrived at about 9 pm with drummers leading the way. They came out on balconies and we sang to each other. It was quite the sight.”

Now our folks are beginning the journey home – some will arrive today, some tomorrow and others in the days ahead. Everyone is tired, but their energy is strong! They will share their stories and talk about their experiences in communities everywhere. And they will use this incredible time they shared in Athens as a spring board for further activism and organizing.

I wonder if they'll refer to themselves as "survivors" the way that the 2010 Terror Flotilla moonbats did.

I'd love to see videos of their singing, as well as how they describe their wonderful trip to Greece to their sycophants back home. "We went to break the blockade, and didn't make it out of port. But we got some news outlets to get us a little attention and sang lots of songs. Give us more money!"

Mondoweiss is fundraising

From the rabidly anti-Israel site Mondoweiss:

The urgency of this fund-drive is that we need reader support to institutionalize our website or it will begin to stagger (and ultimately disappear).

We've always said that we would be happy to be put out of business in an eye-blink if the American mainstream media would cover our issues fairly. But they won't. They are afraid.

Donate to Mondoweiss.net now to keep open the free flow of information about the Middle East

For five years we've run this site as a labor of love, and Adam Horowitz and I were able to sustain that commitment. But we often put in seven days a week, and we're both burning out.

We've raised over $10,000 in the first week of the drive, and we can't tell you how much we appreciate it! Right now, we will be trying to find foundations to help us, and wealthy individuals, but it is readers' support has been vital, and we're very grateful. If you haven’t yet -- please donate to ensure the life of the site.

It's funny, because the American mainstream media also doesn't fairly cover the issues I cover. I also support the free flow of information about the Middle East - not the news media memes. I also run this site as a labor of love, 6 days a week, for nearly seven years. (I would argue that theirs is more a labor of seething hate.)

I write here largely by myself, part time, while Mondoweiss has about 14 different writers listed in just the past couple of days' worth of articles. And yet I manage to compete pretty well with the number of Mondoweiss readers, at times even surpassing it (according to Alexa.)

If the pro-Israel narrative is so dominant, then why is an anti-Israel blog getting over $12,000 in ten days of fundraising?

When it comes down to it, the Israel haters are the ones with the deep pockets. I bet that all the pro-Israel blogs combined didn't raise anything close to $12,000 over the past year. And there are certainly no foundations, no EU-funded NGOs, no Israeli government groups and no rich Zionist Jews who are throwing money towards grassroots hasbara blogs.

The problem is that the pro-Israel new media community is not nearly as well organized as the haters are. We need to do something about that.

(And I won't object to any rich Zionists who want to throw a few thousand dollars my way, using the donation button. I might even use it to revamp the site and get off of the very limited Blogger platform. Maybe if I make the site as attractive as Mondoweiss, I'll double their audience!)

Buy Max Brenner Chocolates

From The Australian, July 1:

POLICE officers were injured and protesters arrested during an anti-Israel rally outside a chocolate store in inner Melbourne.

Police say the rally turned violent when the group of more than 100 protesters refused to move from outside the Max Brenner store about 7pm (AEST) today.

Nineteen protesters from the Students for Palestine group were charged with offences including trespassing, besetting a premises and assaulting police.

Students for Palestine claims the company supplies chocolates for the ration packs of Israeli soldiers.

Here's a video of the obnoxious protesters in Melbourne.

Which means it is time to buy products from Max Brenner.

Here are their online shopping sites in Australia , Israel and the US.

Their chocolates have kosher supervision, but their stores (outside Israel) are not.

I cannot say I ever had any Max Brenner chocolates but the reviews are very good.

(h/t jzaik)

Israel preparing for the "flightilla"

Note: This post is from 2011.

From Israel Hayom:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich and Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino toured Ben Gurion International Airport Wednesday morning as part of preparations for the expected arrival of a pro-Palestinian aerial flotilla on Friday.

Following its intensive, and largely successful efforts to stop a flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists from breaking the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip, Israel is now actively working to thwart a provocative aerial flotilla - or "flightilla" - of hundreds of activists from across Europe who plan to land at Ben Gurion International airport on Friday.

"Every country has the right to prevent the entry of provocateurs and trouble-makers into its territory," Netanyahu said Wednesday, adding, "That is how all countries behave and that is how Israel will act. We must prevent the disruption of normal life for Israeli citizens."

Police believe the activists plan to disrupt the airport's operations. Army Radio reported Wednesday that ensuring normal functioning of the airport will be the primary objective of security forces deployed there on Friday.

"Any hooligans who attempt to break the law and disrupt public order will not be allowed to enter Israel, and will be returned to their countries of origin," Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich said on Tuesday.

At a ceremony in Nazareth marking the division of the police's Northern District into two new districts, Aharonovich, who has been placed in charge of dealing with the "flightilla" said, "I have ordered the Chief of Police to prepare to foil any illegal activity. My message [to the activists] is sharp and clear: know that your plan will not succeed, and that you would do well to avoid coming to Israel. We would be happy to host you as tourists, so that you can get to know the wonderful landscapes and people of Israel, but not as hooligans and not as law-breakers."

The government is preparing to prevent pro-Palestinian activists from boarding planes headed to Israel as part of the "flightilla." According to information attained by Israel Hayom, Israeli authorities possess lists with the names of activists planning to fly into the country, and have requested foreign airlines not to allow these passengers to board, since they are not in possession of entry visas.

Those activists who manage to deceive the airlines and are identified upon their arrival in Israel will be arrested and taken to detention facilities at the airport and in Israeli jails, and expulsion procedures against them will be initiated. Activists suspected of harboring intentions to create provocations will be loaded back onto their flights and deported.

A senior police commander said Tuesday that activists are expected on flights from Germany, Belgium and France. "We have no intention of giving them the pleasure of arriving here and driving us crazy," he told Israel Hayom.

Hundreds of police, uniformed and undercover, will be deployed throughout Ben Gurion International Airport to foil the planned "flightilla." Minister Aharonovitch summed up by saying that Ben Gurion Airport would "continue to function normally, and anyone found disturbing the peace will be dealt with accordingly."

The flytidiots have already started. From Ha'aretz:

Israeli police have deported five pro-Palestinian activists in the past two days. The activists were sent back to their home countries, France and Belgium.

Between 600 and 1,200 activists are expected to arrive at Ben-Gurion Airport on Thursday night and Friday, on flights from Moscow and New York.

Israeli far-left group "Anarchists Against the Wall" has a Facebook page for their members to greet the anti-Israel activists at the airport.

An email correspondent called up EasyJet and asked them their policies if someone is not allowed into a country:

If you're denied entry to Israel (or any other country) you must either book a new single fare ticket home or if you're holding a return you can change the date subject to their normal re-booking fees and the payment of any fare difference between the flight you hold and the next flight that you are obliged to travel home on.

Short answer: get denied entry by a country and you have to pay a full fare flight home.

The anti-Israel activists who think that they are getting bargain fares from Europe better be packing extra cash for their immediate trips back!

Water Wars: a war we can all enjoy

Every year in Tel Aviv there is a massive water fight, called Water Wars, with lots of Israeli women in bikinis getting wet. Here is a great video of this year's event - with a nice soundtrack from Israeli band The Carsitters.

(h/t I Googled Israel)

Amnesty calls out Syrian "crimes against humanity"

From Amnesty:

The brutal methods used in a devastating Syrian security operation in the western town of Tell Kalakh may constitute crimes against humanity, Amnesty International said today in a new report.

Crackdown in Syria: Terror in Tell Kalakh documents deaths in custody, torture and arbitrary detention that took place in May when Syrian army and security forces mounted a broad security sweep, lasting less than a week, against residents of the town near the Lebanese border.

“The accounts we have heard from witnesses to events in Tell Kalakh paint a deeply disturbing picture of systematic, targeted abuses to crush dissent,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director.

...Twenty year-old “Mahmoud”, who was arrested on 16 May and released after nearly a month in detention, was held for around five days at the Military Security detention facility in Homs:
“Each day [was] the same story. They tied me up in the shabah position and applied electricity to my body and testicles. Sometimes I screamed very loudly and begged the interrogator to stop. He didn’t care.”

At least nine people died in custody after being arrested during the security operation in Tell Kalakh, according to witnesses. Eight of these men – some of whom had been active in demonstrations – were shot at and wounded as they were ordered out of a house, and were then taken away by soldiers.

It was only around two weeks later that relatives were told to go to a military hospital to identify the bodies of the eight men. Witnesses said the bodies had marks on them which suggested torture, including cuts to the chest, long vertical slashes on the thighs and what seemed to be gunshot wounds on the back of the legs.

A forensic pathologist analysed a photograph of one of the men, Abd al-Rahman Abu Libdeh, for Amnesty International and concluded that he seemed to have sustained violent injuries to the face, shoulders and neck while still alive.

Some of the family members who went to identify the bodies of their sons said they were forced to sign a document stating that their sons were killed by armed gangs.

This is just the story in just one town.

The report notes that "The security operation prompted thousands of people to flee to Lebanon, some of whom were shot at as they fled. "

(h/t Yoel)

Palestine Press Agency quotes Secretary of the Executive Committee of the PLO Yasser Abed Rabbo as saying that the PA's current financial crisis is "unprecedented."

He said that never before have the Arab nations been so delinquent in paying their pledges to the PA, echoing what PA prime minister Salam Fayyad said earlier this week.

Rabbo said that the financial crisis is "unprecedented and never at any time has the failure of previous Arab brothers for their obligations [been as serious] as is happening at the moment, and this is a surprise to us."

Like Fayyad, though, he said that the fact that the PA can't even stay afloat is not a reason that it shouldn't put in a bid for statehood in the US this September.

Because, we all know, the world needs another failed state.

Flotilla follies update

One French yacht, the Dignite, did manage to go out to sea. The flotilla activists are crowing about how they evaded the Greek Coast Guard, but, as usual, they are lying.

Here are the exciting details of how they managed to get out:

The French vessel escaped Greece on a technicality, as a pleasure craft, the Dignity is not confined by the regulations being used to block the larger Flotilla participants.

One of the passengers is tweeting in French. The passengers include Olivier Besancenot, a far left French politician.

The other flotidiots are still stuck in Greece, and being uncharacteristically quiet. Perhaps they are placing their bets on the flytilla instead.

Meanwhile, a company that had sold cement to the Swedish floatards has returned their money saying they want nothing to do with this stunt.

In a letter it sent to the Gaza flotilla organizers, the Swedish [Swiss?] company said that it had to cancel the deal due to "force majeure", and attributed the move to the Greek government's ban on Gaza-bound ships as well as to a letter by UN chief Ban Ki-moon discouraging Mediterranean countries from supporting the departure of the Gaza flotilla from their ports.

When Jewish leaders fall for the Arab "all or nothing" fallacy

Robert K. Lifton, former president of the American Jewish Congress, wrote an article in the Huffington Post that shows that even committed Zionists can find themselves believing the "all or nothing" fallacy that the Palestinian Arabs try to push.

He describes the fallacy well, without realizing it:

The alliance of aggressive nationalists and religious expansionists is endangering the dream of Zionism as conceived of by Theodore Herzl and shared by millions of Jews. Through their overzealous efforts toward expansion, in which they seek to extend Israel's jurisdiction over the biblical "whole land of Israel" -- the Territories gained in the 1967 Six-Day War -- they are endangering the Zionist foundations of that land.

For many years, I have been concerned that Israel not put at risk its Zionist purpose in an effort to expand its reach into the Territories. During my tenure as President of the American Jewish Congress, starting in 1988, we argued that in view of the demographics of Palestinian and Israeli population growth, among other factors, Israel would not be able to continue as both a Jewish and a democratic state if it attempted to annex the Territories as part of the state of Israel.

And also without realizing it, he describes why it is a fallacy:

It is in the hands of Mr. Netanyahu and his government to take the actions that save Zionism. He has said that he supports a two-state solution. His nationalist and religious coalition will be difficult to carry along to a two-state solution that is within the range of acceptability to the Palestinians.

Here is the crux of the issue. Because of years of the world accepting Palestinian Arab intransigence as a given, the former head of an unabashedly Zionist organization has accepted that a Palestinian Arab state must be within the parameters that the Arabs insist - and Israeli Jews are the ones who must do all the compromising.

Lifton uses the straw man that Thomas Friedman, Jeffrey Goldberg and others use: that the only choice is between Israel annexing the entire West Bank and Israel giving up the entire West Bank (with minor land swaps.) Yet this is not even close to true.

The concept of a Palestinian Arab state is not identical to the demand that Israel withdraw from all the crucial lands needed for defensible borders and to to maintain a Jewish presense in historically and religiously significant areas.

When Palestinian Arabs insist that the two are congruent, the Western reaction should be that, in that case, the demand for an independent state must not be all that important to the Palestinian Arabs.

A people that cry for independence and the dignity that comes with it are not usually in a position to make demands on the parameters of that solution. A people who acquired land in a defensive war are not usually the ones who are desperate to get rid of that land. This fun-house mirror situation exists only because of the combination of Arabs who refuse to compromise - and Westerners (including clueless Jews) who are frightened of words like "apartheid."

Because of the misguided policies of previous Israeli governments and the US, the Palestinian Arabs now feel they have nothing to lose - and therefore, no incentive to negotiate. That is the reason they have refused to hold talks - because they already have a functioning government, land under their control, billions of dollars of aid coming in to prop it up, full support by the West of their negotiating position, plenty of Jews willing to do their arguing for them - and no threat of losing their gains. Only when they are frightened will they finally start to take negotiations seriously.

Netanyahu's idea of a Palestinian Arab state that takes up less than 100% of the equivalent of the West Bank and Gaza should not be considered outlandish. On the contrary, it would completely destroy the "demographic threat" that so frightens Jews like Lifton. Palestinian Arabs who pretend to want a state so much should realize that they have something to lose by not compromising. By telling the Palestinian Arabs that they are in the right and Israel must be the only party to compromise, Lifton and his cohorts in the "peace camp" are feeding the intransigence of the enemy - and making peace that much more remote.

Lifton is also claiming to represent a large swath of American Jews. While it is unclear why American Jewry's opinions are more important than that of Israeli Jews in making decisions that only affect the lives of the latter, Lifton may want to revisit the results of a recent poll of American Jews - one that was done by his former group, the American Jewish Congress, only last autumn.

In the framework of a permanent peace with the Palestinians, should Israel be willing to compromise on the status of Jerusalem as a united city under Israeli jurisdiction?
Yes 35
No 60
Not sure 5

As part of a permanent settlement with the Palestinians, should Israel be willing to dismantle all, some, or none of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank?
All 6
Some 56
None 37
Not sure 2

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? “The goal of the Arabs is not the return of occupied territories but rather the destruction of Israel.”
Agree 76
Disagree 20
Not sure 4

Should the Palestinians be required or not be required to recognize Israel as a Jewish state in a final peace agreement?

Required 95
Not required 3
Not sure 2

It sounds like Lifton is not speaking for as many American Jews as he is pretending to.

Afternoon linkdump

Adam Holland exposes some hypocrisy courtesy of Mondoweiss and Jonathan Cook.

A moderate summer camp and moderate college class named by the moderate PA after a moderate terrorist.

Spanish moonbats protesting for the release of the Flotiloonbats by chaining themselves to some poles.

Jew-hatred in the book shop of the American Colony Hotel, Jerusalem.

What will the PA do after September? A sobering analysis.

(h/t Nick, T34)

A brief history of weapons smuggling to Gaza

From the IDF:

May 7th, 2001: Santorini
The Santorini was intercepted on its way from Lebanon to the Gaza Strip. It contained a large shipment of 40 tons of weapons including Strela anti-aircraft missiles—the same kind that terrorists fired at and narrowly missed an Arkia Israeli passenger jet taking off from Mombassa, Kenya in November 2002. The shipment also included mortars, rifles and guns, grenades, mines and explosive material, anti-tank RPG-7 missile-launchers, and artillery rockets.

Three crew members aboard the Santorini were convicted for trying to smuggle weapons from Lebanon to the Gaza Strip—the captain, a professional weapons smuggler and two of his relatives aboard the ships had been involved in three previous smuggling attempts backed by Hezbollah and the PFLP-GC.

The Santorini ship was acquired by the PFLP-GC in a small island off Syria, and registered as Syrian. During previous smuggling attempts by the crew, arms were packed in Syria and transferred to Lebanon by a Syrian bus. Part of the anti-tank weaponry originated from Iran.

January 3rd, 2002: Karin-A
The Karin-A was intercepted in the Red Sea, heading towards the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip. It carried 80 submersible containers containing 50 tons of weapons, including: RPG-7 rockets, RPG-18 anti-tank rocket launchers, Iranian-made anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, 2200 kilograms of high explosive demolition blocks, Sagger anti-tank launchers and missiles, as well as rifles, machine guns, AK-47s, 735 hand grenades, 700,000 rounds of small ammunition, and diving equipment. The submergible containers were to be dropped into the sea and then washed ashore to the Gaza Strip or picked up by a smaller vessel and delivered to the Strip.

The Palestinian Authority was heavily involved in the smuggling attempt, especially Yasser Arafat’s former Chief Financial Officer and confidante at the time, Fuad Shubaki. The crew of the Karin-A also included senior members of the P.A . , indicating Arafat’s direct involvement. The ship was purchased in Lebanon and sailed to Sudan and Yemen to pick up civilian goods (watermelon seeds, sesame seeds, rice, toys, and clothes) to disguise the weapons aboard.

June 8th, 2002
Two Palestinians were found swimming along the northern Gaza Strip shore armed with four grenades, an AK-47, and four ammunition magazines in an attempt to infiltrate an Israeli community.

August 4th, 2002
IDF naval forces identified an armed Palestinian wearing a oxygenated scuba diving suit and carrying an AK-47, 8 grenades, 4 ammunition magazines, who was on his way towards an Israeli community from the Gaza coast.

November 23rd, 2002
After many attempts to communicate with an unknown Palestinian fishing boat heading from the Gaza Strip towards the direction of Israel, the bomb-laden boat exploded near an Israeli security patrol boat, moderately injuring three and lightly injuring one.

January 7th, 2003
A suspicious life raft found floating along the northern Gaza Strip coast was found to be booby-trapped with explosives.

May 21st, 2003: Abu Hasan
The “Abu Hasan”, intercepted in waters west of Haifa, was sailing from Lebanon to Egypt carrying a Hezbollah operative specializing in explosives bound for the Gaza Strip. The boat itself was a fishing boat, used purposefully to disguise its intentions. Cargo contained: a radio-activation system to detonate bombs remotely, CDs of directives on how to carry out suicide bomb terror attacks, five boxes with rocket fuses, and 25 Katyusha rocket detonators. The masterminds of the arms smuggling attempt were connected to Arafat’s Palestinian Authority and Hezbollah.

May 9th, 2006
Early in the morning of Israel’s Independence Day, the Israeli Navy spotted a suspicious vessel crossing from Egypt into the southern Gaza Strip. After ignoring repeated warnings issued by the Navy, the Navy opened fire towards the vessel, whose crew then steered the boat to hide behind a Palestinian civilian boat. The crew was then spotted to be tossing large sacks off the vessel into the water. The Navy ceased fire out of concern that the Palestinian civilian boat would be hit, and the suspicious vessel escaped. The large sacks tossed overboard were later found by an underwater robot to contain over 500 kilograms of explosives.

May 14th, 2006
The Israeli Navy spotted a suspicious Palestinian vessel off the coast of the southern Gaza Strip and issued warnings ordering the crew to stop the vessel. Upon receiving the warnings, the crew began to toss large bags off the ship into the water. The Navy apprehended the vessel and detained the crew for questioning. The bags were later found to contain several hundred kilograms of explosives.

There's lots more.

The ISM and Mahmoud Abbas agree: Stunts are meant to undermine Israel itself

Here is a video of Adam Shapiro, of the ISM and Free Gaza movement, speaking at Rutgers last year. In his speech he says explicitly that the flotilla is a tactic in a larger war there the goal is to undermine Israel altogether, where he wants to change the conflict from Israel versus the Palestinian Arabs into Israel versus the world -to internationalize the conflict:

Funny, because here was what Mahmoud Abbas said in the New York Times last month:

Palestine’s admission to the United Nations would pave the way for the internationalization of the conflict as a legal matter, not only a political one. It would also pave the way for us to pursue claims against Israel at the United Nations, human rights treaty bodies and the International Court of Justice.

Shapiro puts the flotilla as just one tactic among many: protests within Israel, protests against the security fence, BDS and so forth. It is a stunt meant purely to pressure and delegitimize Israel.

Similarly, Abbas is saying that going to the UN is a stunt that is also meant to internationalize the conflict, to place the entire world against Israel. He says it a bit more cleverly but it is the same thing.

(h/t Akiva and CHA)

Hamas declares the siege of Gaza is over!

From Safa:

The head of the Palestinian government in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, said that the Gaza Strip isopen for those who want to invest, and said, "We will cooperate with him, including availability of our resources."

Haniyeh suggested during a [ceremony marking] the opening of a series of projects in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday night that the sector is now post-siege. He said: "We have turned around the five years of the siege, and what we are doing now is a challenge to the blockade."

He pointed out that there were thousands of tons of building materials filling the cities of Gaza, and those who want to invest will find the means.

Examples of building projects include a park and playground in Nusseirat, the Central Market, the Maghazi Youth Club, and the Palestinian Social Centre in Deir el-Balah.

He praised such projects, they reflect the steadfastness of the Palestinian people.

Haniyeh stressed that this human effort all over Gaza set up many projects of all levels, to demonstrate that Gaza had defeated the plots and triumphed over the blockade.

The flotilla drones can celebrate! Their job is done!

AP joins the "Gaza isn't so bad but it is really bad" meme

Last week I mentioned how the New York Times resurrected the meme that started last year, saying that while Gaza is not in such bad shape it is still a really horrible place.

And then, like an obedient son, Reuters followed suit.

Today, little brother AP joins the party:

Maher Khoudari boasts that his Gaza grocery has a wide assortment of chocolates for sale — even some you couldn't find in the cosmopolitan Israeli city of Tel Aviv. The problem is, there is no one to buy them.

So AP actually believes that Gaza shopkeepers are so ignorant of basic economics that they import rare and expensive chocolates that no one in their market could buy???

Israel eased its blockade of the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory a year ago and now allows virtually all consumer goods in, meaning there are no longer acute shortages of foods or basic household items. Tiny construction projects have begun sprouting up, and Gaza is awash in big ticket items such as cars and refrigerators.

But deep troubles remain....

"Israel has made much of the fact that there is no starvation in Gaza," said Gaza economist Omar Shaban. "But the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is not about food," he added. "The humanitarian crisis is about education, it's about development, about imprisonment."

Funny...everyone in Gaza gets a free education.

Amjad Shawwa, a development worker and anti-blockade activist, says the blockade has deprived nearly 7,000 Gaza fishermen of a living, and water, sanitation, electricity and road projects remain stalled.

"You probably won't find hungry people, but the feeling of injustice and frustration is pervasive in all homes," Shawwa said.

Of course, neither AP nor the other media have the imagination to go across the border to Rafah or El Arish and ask average Egyptians there what their lives are like - whether fancy chocolates and expensive cars are for sale there, whether they are getting free education and medical care, and whether they feel "frustrated." Because, apparently "frustration" is now the scourge that must be eradicated from people's lives.

Or is that only from some people's lives?

Thomas Friedman, trusting dead men (David G)

From David G:

At the Aspen Ideas Festival, Thomas Friedman was quoted:

"...Every one of the Arab leaders is a dead man walking. It’s about dignity.”

Friedman's belief is that eventually technology will bring about the downfall of all current Arab despots (even, apparently, the benevolent ones.)

Nearly ten years ago Friedman had a different view of Arab leaders.

One Friedman's most famous columns, An Intriguing signal from a Saudi Prince began:

Earlier this month, I wrote a column suggesting that the 22 members of the Arab League, at their summit in Beirut on March 27 and 28, make a simple, clear-cut proposal to Israel to break the Israeli-Palestinian impasse: In return for a total withdrawal by Israel to the June 4, 1967, lines, and the establishment of a Palestinian state, the 22 members of the Arab League would offer Israel full diplomatic relations, normalized trade and security guarantees. Full withdrawal, in accord with U.N. Resolution 242, for full peace between Israel and the entire Arab world. Why not?

This is interesting on a number of levels:
a) These leaders, most of whom are still in power, are now dismissed by Friedman as yesterday's news, are precisely the ones he was telling Israel to trust and make peace with.

b) In a recent column Friedman wrote:

For the last 30 years, Israel enjoyed peace with Egypt wholesale — by having peace with just one man, Hosni Mubarak. That sale is over. Today, post-Mubarak, to sustain the peace treaty with Egypt in any kind of stable manner, Israel is going to have to pay retail. It is going to have to make peace with 85 million Egyptians.

That same "logic" would have applied with every single other Arab regime; if the people of the newly free regimes opposed peace with Israel, Israel would have to adjust its expectations.

c) Though right now Friedman poses as a supporter of freedom and democracy, in 2002 he didn't care how Arab regimes treated their citizens. If they made (an insincere) offer of peace to Israel, he would let them off easy.

How the Dutch flotilla backfired and gained Israel sympathy

From Yochanan Visser at Pajamas Media:

A Dutch ship was organized as part of the Gaza flotilla in order to help Hamas, portray that effort as humanitarian, and create anti-Israel sentiment. The story of how this effort backfired is a fascinating tale of contemporary political warfare. Indeed, the end result has been to make the Dutch debate more pro-Israel and anti-Islamist.

Many articles — often with Dutch Internet media taking the lead — exposed alliances between Dutch far leftists and local Islamists who, together with some Christian groups, formed the organization Nederland-Gaza organizing Dutch participation in the second Gaza flotilla. The result has been a serious public debate and an actual increase in pro-Israel activity and support in the country.

The Dutch blog KeesjeMaduraatje was one of the first to publish material about extremist elements in the second Gaza flotilla, revealing that Free Gaza Holland’s chairman, Rob Groenhuizen, was a convicted communist extremist who used to be a member of Dutch groups affiliated with the German terrorist Rote Armee Fraktion.

Groenhuizen’s group also had ties with the Palestinian terrorist organization PLFP and members participated in a terrorist training camp in Yemen in 1976.

In an e-mail exchange, Groenhuizen’s wrote about the second flotilla’s real goal:

This game about humanitarian aid is part of a tremendous plot — something that Israel tries to postpone as long as possible — but with every uprising in the Arab world and each mistake Israel makes, the end is coming nearer. … Everybody knows Israel is not sustainable.

Other Internet media reports about ties between Dutch NGOs and extremist Palestinian groups caused the Dutch government to change the guidelines on government subsidies for NGOs that fund anti-Israel groups. There is now a debate in the country over cutting back sharply on such funding.

While these developments have exposed the Gaza flotilla as an operation of Hamas and radical left groups seeking to delegitimize and discredit Israel, they also have much broader significance. What has happened in Holland is a case study showing how Internet publications and research on the hidden radicalism and extremist ties of purportedly humanitarian and moderate groups can change government policy, media attitudes, and public opinion.

Read the whole thing.

Speaking of the Dutch, here is an update on the amazing disappearing Dutch flotidiots from Radio Netherlands:

The Netherlands-Gaza Foundation www.nederland-gaza.nl had reserved 32 places on board the Stefano Chiarani. Prominent Dutch citizens had been invited. In the end, 15 people expressed an interest. Now there are only seven people left, and one or two might still jump ship before the boat actually sets sail. All the Dutch journalists, including myself, withdrew last week after we lost confidence in the organisation.

The floatards think that they are winning, though:

Another day has passed. And yet another delay. One of the latest press releases from the Netherlands-Gaza Foundation quotes 19-year-old Chris Verweij, the youngest of the Dutch participants: "Whatever happens with our flotilla, Israel will not stop us. We might not sail today or tomorrow or next week or next month. As Mahatma Gandhi said: first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

He has it exactly backwards: Last year they fought, now the world is laughing at them, and next year they will be ignored.

Israeli group launches "counter-flotilla"

From Ma'ariv:

Right-wing group Im Tirtzu has in the past few hours participated in an act of protest at the port of Piraeus in Greece against the flotilla ships trying to leave to Gaza.

Im Tirtzu leaders Erez Tadmor and Ronen Shoval accompanied by four other activists arrived at the shores of Greece, where they hired a yacht to pass by the ships of the pro-Palestinian flotilla protesterss the ships of the pro-Palestinians in the port of Piraeus. Activists sailed between the ships with their yachts covered in posters with the picture of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. Activists also distributed information materials in English, which states that "freedom flotilla" of leftist activists "must sail towards the oppressed cities in Syria - and not Gaza." In light of the extraordinary act of right-wingers, there was much media interest among the journalists who came to Greece to cover the international flotilla.

(h/t Joel)

Latest setbacks for flotidiots (updated)

From AFP:

A small French pleasure craft with eight protesters on board left Greek waters overnight and set off for Gaza in an attempt to break an Israeli naval blockade, organisers said Tuesday.

The "Dignite al Karama" is so far the only boat in a planned flotilla organised by pro-Palestinian activists to set sail from Greece, after the authorities there blocked other vessels from taking part in the protest.

The 19-metre (63-foot) motor cruiser is carrying, among others, the former French far-left presidential candidate Olivier Besancenot, Green Party Euro-MP Nicole Kiil-Nielsen and trade unionist Annick Coupe.

They expect to be off Gaza within an day or two, the group told AFP.

But the latest tweet from the floatard camp seems to indicate otherwise:

I am getting reports that the French boat in #freedomflotilla2 that left from corseca and has been in intl waters is turning back

(UPDATE: Confirmed.)

Another tweet indicates that the "Stefano Chiarini" boat, which is registered in Togo, is being de-registered by that country - causing much consternation among the anti-Israel flotidiots:

Togo threatening to deregister our boat (Togo flagged) due to pressure from Israel. #flotilla2

Our vessel the Stefano Chiarini is registered in Lome togo. Togo now wants to de-register our ship. #freedomflotilla2

Oh Togo! Now you're controlled by Israel too?! You've lost your mind, Togo... Please God, they're lost..

It's like watching a slow-motion train wreck, without the fear of any injuries outside the very sensitive feelings of the hypocritical anti-Israel flotilosers.

UPDATE: New tweets say that Togo did not de-register the boat.

Hamas using flotilla to incite against Mahmoud Abbas

That fabled Palestinian Arab "unity" continues to unravel, as Hamas activists are trying to characterize Mahmoud Abbas as being an Israeli stooge in the flotilla follies.

Dutch Hamas leader - and leader of the flotillas in 2010 and 2011 - Amin Abou Rashed's Facebook page quotes a story in Safa.ps and picked up elsewhere, claiming that the Greek offer to transfer flotilla aid to Gaza was not negotiated by Israel, but by Mahmoud Abbas together with Greece's foreign minister.

The source for this rumor seems to be simply the flotilla fools themselves, who are now calling it a "stab in the back" by Abbas who had in 2008 characterized such actions as a "silly game."

Who knew that the flotilla flop would be yet another wedge issue between Hamas and Fatah?

Flotilla Follies keep on going. Comedy gold!

From AFP:

Thirty pro-Palestinian activists on a Canadian boat bound for Gaza that was stopped out of a Greek port Monday for breaking a ban, defied authorities by claiming they had all captained the ship.

Greek coastguards halted the Canadian vessel Tahrir about 10 minutes after it left port on the island of Crete Monday afternoon with some 40 people on board, organisers said.

"We have been boarded by about 15 armed special forces," David Heap of the Canadian Boat to Gaza organization said by phone from the vessel.

"I'm being blocked by a man with a machine gun," he said over the noise of shouting from passengers he said were being pushed around. "We are not using force back," he added.

The Tahrir, which was carrying activists from Canada, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland and Turkey, was forced to turn back to Aghios Nikolaos port in Crete, as Heap and others shouted, "We have to go to Gaza. Let us pass!"

It had sailed without a captain in the hope of avoiding a severe legal repercussions.

Passenger Joseph Dube, a former Belgium senator with an expired captain's licence, had sailed the ship and agreed to take full legal responsibility, according to the Tahrir's spokesperson Huwaida Arraf.

When authorities boarded the boat and demanded to speak to the captain, some 30 passengers "claimed they were the captain," she said.

"Everyone took part in manning the boat in one way or another -- they all had a go at sailing it. The idea is that it will be difficult to arrest 30 people," she said.

It is not yet clear what will happen to the passengers on the Tahrir.

"We left as a volunteer crew. It was legal for us to do so under international law, they had no right to stop us," Heap said, adding: "Our destination is still Gaza."

Earlier on Monday, French activists had been joined by their American counterparts to stage a "symbolic departure," on the Louise Michel boat in defiance of the Greek ban.

"And we're off!" shouted the passengers, cheering and waving as the captain of the Louise Michele unfurled the sails and wildly beeped the boat's horn, chanting "One, two, three four, Occupation No More!"

Activists from the impounded Audacity had begun a hunger-strike in front of the US embassy on Sunday to protest against the arrest of their captain, who was allegedly being held in "shocking conditions".

They were quickly moved on by police.

French Captain Alain Connan said he had decided not to set sail because he risked being slapped with a long prison sentence.

Head of the Palestinian National Initiative (PNI) Moustafa Barghouti said the demonstration was an "exciting moment" and that people in Gaza had "already called to say how grateful they are for such a devoted show of solidarity".

Standing out on deck wrapped in a Palestinian flag, he said the protest was helping "expose not only Israel's blockade and occupation but also the complicity of the European and American governments".

Fatah-oriented Palestinian Arab media are pretty much ignoring the entire flotilla story. Hamas prime minister Haniyeh saluted the would-be seafarers.

The US Boat to Gaza website adds:

Two boats from France – a cargo ship and a smaller passenger boat – are in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea. (They did not set sail from Greece.) We are not sure what they are planning on doing.

The Irish boat was sabotaged beyond repair last week and the Greek boat was also sabotaged but we do not have an update on their status.

Free Gaza called for a protest today in front of the Greek embassy in London.

I couldn't find any footage of this massive London protest - for some reason none was uploaded to the Free Gaza site - so we will have to make due with footage of the Dublin protest, where a huge crowd of eight people or so got to listen to other people shouting unintelligible slogans with bullhorns:

Montreal managed to scrounge about a dozen lethargic protesters in support of the floptilla:

The flotidiot's tweets are also hilarious, as they compare the Greeks stopping them from sailing to Nazis "following orders." Their smug sense of self-righteousness - where they are now "fasting" for their flotilla - is classic. You can get a taste of their holier-than-thou attitudes in this report from Euronews:

Of course, Israel is the source for all evil, and now the Greeks are guilty by proxy.

And here are the poor, starving children that they are trying to help so badly:

Grapel still in custody

Last week Yediot Aharonot published a rumor that Ilan Grapel would be released in by the weekend.

Obviously, that didn't happen.

Palestine Today says that Egypt rejected a US plea to release Grapel, saying it is a matter for the Egyptian judiciary.

"Freedom Flotilla" - look closer

Doesn't "freedom" sound wonderful?

Unfortunately, sometimes people use that word but they mean something completely different - or even the opposite. In those cases, you have to look closer.

Click to enlarge.

Boat people (Hitchens)

From Christopher Hitchens in Slate:

The tale of the Gaza "flotilla" seems set to become a regular summer feature, bobbing along happily on the inside pages with an occasional update....

However, given the luxury of time, might it not be possible to ask the "activists" on board just a few questions? (Activist is a good neutral word, isn't it, with largely positive connotations?) Most of the speculation so far has been to do with methods and intentions, allowing for many avowals about peaceful tactics and so forth, but this is soft-centered coverage. I would like to know a little more about the political ambitions and implications of the enterprise.

Only a few weeks ago, the Hamas regime in Gaza became the only governing authority in the world—by my count—to express outrage and sympathy at the death of Osama Bin Laden. As the wavelets lap in the Greek harbors, and the sunshine beats down, doesn't any journalist want to know whether the "activists" have discussed this element in their partners' world outlook? Does Alice Walker seriously have no comment?

Hamas is listed by various governments and international organizations as a terrorist group. I don't mind conceding that that particular word has been used in arbitrary ways in the past. But what concerns me much more is the official programmatic adoption, by Hamas, of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. This disgusting fabrication is a key foundational document of 20th-century racism and totalitarianism, indelibly linked to the Hitler regime in theory and practice. It seems extraordinary to me that any "activist" claiming allegiance to human rights could cooperate at any level with the propagation of such evil material. But I have never seen any of them invited to comment on this matter, either.

The little boats cannot make much difference to the welfare of Gaza either way, since the materials being shipped are in such negligible quantity. The chief significance of the enterprise is therefore symbolic. And the symbolism, when examined even cursorily, doesn't seem too adorable. The intended beneficiary of the stunt is a ruling group with close ties to two of the most retrograde dictatorships in the Middle East, each of which has recently been up to its elbows in the blood of its own civilians. The same group also manages to maintain warm relations with, or at the very least to make cordial remarks about, both Hezbollah and al-Qaida. Meanwhile, a document that was once accurately described as a "warrant for genocide" forms part of the declared political platform of the aforesaid group. There is something about this that fails to pass a smell test. I wonder if any reporter on the scene will now take me up on this.

Read the whole thing.

(h/t D)

Hello Rafah, hello Gaza (video)

Don't know who made this, but it is pretty good.

And since this gives me a reason to post it again, here was my version of that song from a couple of years ago:

(h/t Omri)

Did Abbas retract his Holocaust denial?

In an interview with Dutch media, PA president Mahmoud Abbas was asked about his views of the Holocaust:

Is it true that you deny the extent of the Holocaust in which six million Jews were killed?

"No, I do not deny the Holocaust. I know that the Holocaust took place during WWII. I have studied and written a book about. I believe that many Jews were murdered and that other peoples of other nationalities were murdered . So I agree, I admit there were pogroms, that genocide was committed during the war against the Jews by the Nazi regime. "

How many Jews were killed according to you?

"I've heard from the Israelis that there were six million. I can accept that."

So are you yourself convinced of that number?

"I accept what they say. If they say six million, six million I say. It is up to them to decide, because they know better than e."

In Abbas' doctoral thesis, he wrote, "the Zionist fantasy, the fantastic lie that six million Jews were killed." In the book he wrote based on the thesis, he wrote, "It seems that the interest of the Zionist movement, however, is to inflate this figure [of Holocaust deaths] so that their gains will be greater. This led them to emphasize this figure [six million] in order to gain the solidarity of international public opinion with Zionism. Many scholars have debated the figure of six million and reached stunning conclusions — fixing the number of Jewish victims at only a few hundred thousand...Following the war, word was spread that six million Jews were amongst the victims and that a war of extermination was aimed primarily at the Jews . . . The truth is that no one can either confirm or deny this figure. In other words, it is possible that the number of Jewish victims reached six million, but at the same time it is possible that the figure is much smaller, below one million."

He also claimed that the Jews who were killed were victims of a Zionist-Nazi plot.

So how can we reconcile Abbas from 1983 and Abbas today? Simple - he is a liar.

When Israeli media asked him about his thesis and book, Abbas told Maariv, "When I wrote `The Other Side,' we were at war with Israel. Today I would not have made such remarks."

Which means that he is willing to lie about his beliefs if the lies are politically expedient.

So which is more likely - that he lied about his beliefs in a doctoral thesis and subsequent book that took hundreds of hours to write, or that he is lying now because he does not want to appear to be a Holocaust denier to the Europeans and Americans?

(h/t jzaik)

First person video of Syrian sniper shooting cameraman

From Ha'aretz:

Syrian opposition released footage Sunday that it says was filmed in the restive city of Homs, in which a civilian cameraman is fired upon by troops dispatched by President Bashar Assad.

In the video, the photographer documents the security forces firing indiscriminately at citizens and homes in the Karm a-Shami neighborhood. As the photographer narrates what is happening around him, the camera focuses on a uniformed man hiding near a house below.

After a few seconds the soldier is seen pointing his gun at the photographer and firing, apparently hitting him as the camera drops. Media outlets outside of Syria have yet to verify the events documented.

No idea if the cameraman survived.

Three million hits

On Sunday, EoZ registered its 3,000,000th hit since the blog started.

So that's why I've been hearing so many fireworks outside!

Other shoe to drop from Special Tribunal for Lebanon?

From Ya Libnan:

The day the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) team delivered the indictment to Lebanon , several reports from Beirut indicated that the delegation will head to Syria to deliver the Syrian portion of the indictment in the 2005 assassination of Lebanon’s former PM Rafik Hariri .
An STL delegation met June 30 with Lebanon’s state prosecutor Said Mirza and handed him a copy of the Lebanon portion of the indictment and the arrest warrants. Two of the suspects Mustafa Badreddine and Salim Ayyash are reportedly senior members of the Iranian and Syrian-backed Hezbollah while the other two Hassan Aneissy, also known as Hassan Issa, and Assad Sabra played a supporting role in the execution of the assassination.

According to a report by Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot handing the indictment to Damascus was postponed due to the Syrian unrest.

According to the paper at least two prominent members of President Bashar Assad’s family will be on the list, his younger brother Maher (Assad ) who has been commanding the crackdown against the protesters and his brother-in-law Assef Shawkat ( married to Assad’s sister Bushra) , former head of Military Intelligence and current deputy chief-of-staff of the armed forces.”

Der Spiegel magazine which was the first to leak details ( May2009) about Hezbollah’s involvement in Hariri murder has reportedly leaked that “new indictments in the STL will include Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian suspects.”

Things might get very interesting if the STL hands down indictments for Assad's family. And the existence of Palestinian Arab complicity is intriguing as well.

Meanwhile, if anyone had the slightest idea that Hezbollah worked for Lebanese interests instead of its Iranian masters, this reaction from Iran should show otherwise:

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani ( right) rejected the indictments against Hezbollah members in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.

“We know that the United States was opposed to the establishment of a government led by Najib Mikati, but they failed due to the vigilance of Lebanon’s leaders. Now they created the tribunal, which they use as a tool to express their dissatisfaction with the new government,” Larijani said during an official visit to Azerbaijan.

“The Americans feel they have been slapped in the face and they are seeking to make up a story” by indicting Hezbollah members, Larijani added.

According to observers Larijani’s reaction was expected because if Hezbollah did in fact execute the murder , it could not have done so without the knowledge of the top Iranian leadership. When Hariri was assassinated Larijani was the security adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s ultimate authority. Larijani also is a former member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the group that created Hezbollah in 1982.

PA facing financial crisis. But insists it is ready for statehood!

From Bloomberg:

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said his government has only enough money to pay half of salaries this month and appealed to “donors and our Arab brothers” to fulfill their pledges for funding.

“Today is a day of crisis,” Fayyad said at a press conference today in the West Bank city of Ramallah. He said the Palestinian Authority had a deficit of $585 million and had reached the limit of its bank borrowing.

Fayyad said the financial crisis “shouldn’t mean anything for the readiness for a Palestinian state.” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has said he plans to ask the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state in September.

The World Bank said in an April report that the Palestinian Authority had increased bank borrowing to fund development projects for which designated aid hadn’t been received and that arrears were accumulating at an unsustainable rate. At the end of 2010 total domestic debt was about $840 million, “which may be close to the PA’s borrowing limits,” the report said.

Donor countries have paid only $330 million of the $971 million pledged this year, Fayyad said. Roughly one-quarter of the authority’s $3.7 billion budget comes from foreign aid.

Oman, Algeria and the United Arab Emirates are the only Arab countries that have so far paid funds that they pledged for this year, Fayyad said, adding that the U.S. and European Union have been making regular contributions.

It's been nearly a year since Fayyad declared that the PA would be "financially independent" by the end of 2013. I'm sure this is all going according to plan.

The World Bank report from earlier this year warned about this crisis, but the report buried this information on page 12 in its overly rosy view of the future of the PA and how ready it was for statehood.

Notice also how it is always the Arabs who don't pay their commitments to the PA. But don't be to hard on them - they are very good at shipping burial shrouds to Gaza.

(h/t NormanF)

Newest Free Gaza publicity stunt

As the flotilla gets shakier by the day, the Free Gaza/ISM and sister movements are planning a new stunt: having activists fly to Israel and protest at Ben Gurion Airport.

Here's a video of Paul Larudee, from Free Gaza, describing the plan:

I particularly like what he says around the 4 minute mark.

While he wants the trip to be taken by the usual D-list celebrities and token self-hating Jews, he particularly wants Palestinian Arabs who can trace their families to within the Green Line, and who now live in the West, to participate in this "return" - but he warns that only people who really don't want to return should join, because Israel is likely to ban them from future trips.

Apparently, the action is planned for this coming Friday.

While a couple of prominent activists say they will go, I'm certain that the number will be much smaller than the hundreds they are pretending will go. And almost certainly the number of Palestinian Arabs who now have citizenship in Western countries that go will be minuscule.

Last year, Free Gaza announced an initiative of flying to Gaza with a private plane. That intended stunt went exactly nowhere. Chances are, so will this one, and a few dozen people will have wasted hundred of dollars apiece on - nothing.

(h/t Israel Matzav, Daled Amos and others)

Bibi answers the first YouTube question

But I thought that Netanyahu was just like Mubarak! Isn't that what Thomas Friedman said?

PINGO!: A Flotidiot Bingo/drinking game

Jake sent me this wonder variation of Bingo he created that can be played by everyone!

It can be played like traditional Bingo. In this case, when you read an anti-Israel argument (for the purposes of this game, let's limit them to those published on the Web since June 15), highlight it here and hyperlink it to the URL. The first to get five in a row wins, as does the first to fill out the entire board.

Or it can be a drinking game - take a shot whenever a Flotidiot makes one of these arguments.

Either way, it looks like a fun summer!

P	I	N	G	O
You're using the anti-Semitism card to silence my legitimate criticism of the devious, Christ-killing Jewish financiers who run all the governments with their Israel lobbies!	The UN doesn't spend enough time criticising Israel... This is because the USA, which is run by Zionists, controls it!	Checkpoints are a violation of human rights! How would you feel if, say, you had to go through a metal detector before boarding a flight? Humiliated!	Hamas want peace. Their charter is just an outdated relic they don't really believe in. All those rockets are just really sophisticated fireworks celebrating the fact that they have such lovely Jewish neighbours.	Ilan Pappe is a serious, credible historian, whereas Benny Morris is just a racist. (Karsh? Who's Karsh?)
Sometimes I can't help but feel that the American Empire is the real threat to the world and Israel is just a distraction. Ahmedinejad talks a lot of sense.	Israel was created on the backs of imperialist settlers and violence. No other state was created through violence!	Jewish settlements are the real threat to peace. Imagine how Palestinians feel having to live next to Jews! If they get their own state, Jews should be forced to leave.	Israel are just like the Nazis. In fact they're worse! Except for the death toll, the lebensraum policy, the systematic genocide and the desire to control the world, Israel is essentially the Fourth Reich.	Boycotting Israel is a great idea! Let me just bin my computer, my camera phone, my Kindle, a great deal of my medicine, my solar panels and my cherry tomatoes, to name a few.
Israel purposefully targets civilians and schools. Totally nothing to do with Hamas using schools as launching pads.	The IDF want to decimate Gaza. It's amazing that an army as powerful and as eeevil as Israel hasn't done it yet...	Calling Israel an apartheid state is an insult to South African apartheid. (If you believe otherwise then the Israeli government must be paying you to say so.)	Secular? How can a secular democracy have a religious symbol on its flag?	Turkey is a secular democracy.
Zionists use outdated Biblical fantasies to justify Israel's existence, but Israel shouldn't exist because according to the Torah we have to wait for the Messiah!!! Nurny nur nur!	Arabs can't buy land in Israel. Forget the fact that most land is government-owned and leased out, and that Jews are also forbidden from buying land... let's just focus on the Arabs.	The Law of Return is racist. No other countries (apart from most European countries and a lot of other ones – most countries, in fact) use the racist jus sanguinis policy.	Jews are a race when we're calling them racial supremacists. They're a nation when we're highlighting how they're different to us. But they're not distinctive at all when they start claiming the right to a country of their own.	Real Jews oppose Israel. Real Jews, like Chomsky, don't think Holocaust denial is wrong at all. In fact, real Jews stand up for Holocaust deniers. Real Jews... real Jews... real Jews... real Jews...
The Palestinians had nothing to do with the Holocaust. Not one Palestinian supported Hitler... Nope, still can't think of any. You're just exploiting the Holocaust.	How dare you suggest the Palestinians could go to other Arab countries! They deserve one of their own.	Couldn't the persecuted Jews just have gone to New York/Europe instead of Palestine?	Hamas has legitimacy because they were democratically elected. All Israeli governments, however, have no legitimacy at all. How dare you even compare the Palestinian democracy with Israel's military dictatorship?!	I happen to think that Arabs are incapable of knowing freedom, therefore Israel is just an insult to them and should be destroyed. -or- The Arab Spring will inevitably spread to Israel, destroying it.

Holiday weekend open thread

I am on a mini-vacation so posting will be light for the next couple of days. Comment with the latest from the never ending Flotilla Comedy Cavalcade!