Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, July 11, 2011

Comparing Pollard's crime with Arab intelligence leaks (Zahran)

A very interesting perspective from Mudar Zahran in Hudson-NY:

As a Palestinian, I never thought I would ever end up writing in Jonathan Pollard's defense, especially as, when he was convicted of espionage in 1987, I was 13 years old.

It seems Pollard will remain in jail for his crime against US national security -- while at the same time US national security and intelligence are being compromised by American's Arab allies.

How does this add up?

...In weighing the damage Pollard has caused, it might be good to compare his passing of classified information to Israel to what has been taking place in recent years, and the way the US has been handling its security operations with "trusted" allies.

The United States has been vigorously cooperating with the intelligence entities of several Arab and Muslim countries, including the Jordanian General Intelligence Department, better known as the GID. The strong cooperation between the US and Jordan has been directed at fighting terrorism; nevertheless, in 2009, a trusted Jordanian Bedouin intelligence officer, Hammam Al-Balawi, who had been recruited by the GID and implanted inside Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, blew himself up, killing seven senior CIA officers along with the King of Jordan's cousin, who was his case officer. Shortly after, Al-Qaeda released a propaganda tape in which Al-Balawi detailed how both the GID and CIA did intelligence work with him, and declaring that he hope he had provided a guideline of operations to other terrorists. . In his tape, Al-Balawi describes the GID as "stupid" and "ignorant" for "fulfilling his dream by taking him to Afghanistan by themselves," even after he had been arrested for supporting Al-Qaeda. Has Pollard's damage come anywhere close to the damage Al-Balawi might have done? What Al-Balawi did could be light years ahead of Pollard's crime in compromising the security of the US and its NATO allies in and out of Afghanistan, all because the CIA had probably vested too much confidence in its Jordanian allies

In January, when Hosni Mubarak of Egypt was toppled by public unrest, protestors stormed countless Egyptian State Security centers, pored through classified documents and presented some of them to the media. The State Security (Amin El-Dawlah, in Arabic), Egypt's main intelligence body, is known for its close cooperation with the US intelligence bodies on a major scale. No one yet has an exact idea of what documents have found their way to the public -- or terrorists or enemy governments -- yet this breach of security must have seriously compromised US intelligence secrecy and operations. Perhaps the US intelligence community should estimate such risks when working with the intelligence agencies of dictatorships, especially as the "Arab Spring" has shown that dictatorships can be toppled, regardless of how stable they might seem.

...The US national security and intelligence operations have been significantly compromised by none other than the US "allies" themselves, which brings us to the main subject: Pollard. Although he acted illegally and betrayed the national trust vested in him, he gave the information to an ally, Israel; and there seems to be no proof whatever that his acts resulted in harm to any of his fellow Americans.

The question remains: why do so many out there seem obsessed with opposing Pollard's release while they willfully ignore more serious threats taking place on the ground?

Confiscated Iranian weapons explode in Cyprus

From AFP:

Huge blasts in a seized Iranian arms cache at a Greek Cypriot naval base in southern Cyprus killed at least 12 people on Monday, triggering power and water outages at the height of the summer.

In what Commerce Minister Antonis Paschalides called a "tragedy of Biblical dimensions" for the small Mediterranean island, the explosions devastated the adjacent Vassiliko power station.
The plant accounts for almost 60 percent of supply.

The blasts also caused massive damage to homes in the nearby village of Mari, forcing the evacuation of its population of 150 people, its mukhtar or headman, Nikos Asprou, told AFP.
Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said 62 people were injured, two of them seriously, announcing three days of official mourning with flags on state buildings to be flown at half-mast.

Defence Minister Costas Papacostas and Greek Cypriot National Guard commander Petros Tsaliklides resigned over the blasts at an emergency cabinet meeting, Stefanou said.

The defence ministry had held talks last week about the storage conditions after National Guard chiefs reportedly expressed concerns about them being kept in the open as temperatures touched 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

"Decisions were taken on protecting the material but unfortunately this was not possible as time ran out," Stefanou said, promising a "thorough investigation".

Here's the story behind the weapons, from Wikipedia:

The Monchegorsk (Мончегорск) was a Russian multipurpose cargo ship built in 1983 by Wärtsilä as the 10th ship of the SA-15 class Arctic freighters. The ship, named after the Russian town of Monchegorsk, was owned and operated by the Murmansk Shipping Company.

In early 2009 it became the centre of an international incident involving Iran, Russia, the US, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Cyprus. The ship was apprehended in the Red Sea by U.S. warships in Task Force 151 having left Iran. [4] Following an on board search suspicious military material was reported and the ship was escorted to Limassol Port on 29 January 2009.

The ship, registered with the Cyprus Merchant Marine was then subject to an international diplomacy struggle as to the fate of its cargo. The US and Israel maintained that the cargo was in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1747 which sanctions Iranian arms exports.[5] Israel claimed that the intended destination of the cargo was Palestinian organizations in the Gaza strip,[6] a claim that Iran denied. [7]

Cypriot authorities proceeded to a limited search of on board containers, the result of which was referred to the security council for clarification. Once the breach was confirmed the cargo was confiscated and unloaded onto the island where it was stored in warehouses of the Cypriot National Guard. [8][9] The details of the contents from the 98 confiscated containers were not released to the public.

Hadassah Hospital and the IDF: How REAL humanitarians act, part 2

From the IDF:

Last month, a group of Palestinian children from the West Bank along with their parents traveled to the Jerusalem Zoo for a day. Their trip was organized by the Civil Administration and Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. Many of the children had previously underwent open heart surgery at Hadassah, a procedure which was paid for by the hospital itself and the A Heart for Peace organization. The trip was designed to provide relaxation, learning, enjoyment and a positive experience for the children who cope with health difficulties.

Ms. Dalia Bassa, the Health and Welfare Coordinator for the Civil Administration, played an instrumental role coordinating the children’s treatment at Hadassah and during their leisure trip to Jerusalem.

The Civil Administration, a unit under the IDF and the Israeli Ministry of Defense, is responsible for administering and coordinating civilian needs in the West Bank, and is comprised of various staff offices working alongside the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian population, IDF and Israeli authorities, as well as with international organizations and NGOs to fulfill these needs.

I would love to see a philanthropist offer a 200% match for any donations to Hadassah Hospital - earmarked for programs like this - that are paid by any of the "humanitarians" on Israel's no-fly list.

(h/t Silke)

Syrian pro-Assad protesters breaking into US, French embassies (updated)

From Fox News:

President Bashar Assad's loyalists broke into the U.S. Embassy compound Monday in the Syrian capital Damascus, Reuters reports.

A witness in Syria's capital says security guards at the French Embassy have fired into the air to drive back protesters taking part in two-pronged demonstrations outside the French and American embassies in Damascus.

The protests Monday come days after the U.S. and French ambassadors visited the opposition stronghold of Hama in central Syria. The witness says crowds were not allowed to get near the U.S. Embassy.

The witness, Hiam al-Hassan, says about 300 people had gathered outside the French Embassy. Hundreds others were at the American diplomatic compound.

The protests coincide with government-organized talks in Damascus on possible political reforms after four months of unrest against the regime of President Assad.

AP adds:

The witnesses said the protesters smashed windows and raised a Syrian flag on the [US} compound on Monday. They also wrote anti-U.S. graffiti referring to the U.S. ambassador as a "dog," the witnesses said.

A spontaneous outpouring of democratic feeling, no doubt.

UPDATE: I just saw this laughable interview with Haldun el Kassam, a Ba'ath Party deputy and Assad loyalist in Turkey, where he discusses the Syrian regime's viewpoint on the protests:

According to Kassam, armed terrorists came to Syria under the guidance of the US and devastated towns and villages. A total of 370 Syrian soldiers died and 1,700 people were injured. To express support for Bashar al-Assad, 11.8 million people -- 2.7 million in Damascus, 1.8 million in Aleppo, 1.2 in Latakia and 1 million in Haseke -- rallied in Syria. The Ba'ath Party in Syria has 3.5 million members. The alliance of opposition parties in parliament has 600,000 members. It follows that President Assad has electoral support behind him. If the opposition seeks to get rid of the ruling party, it must do this through democratic methods. In Syria, only religious or sectarian parties are forbidden. Assad does not discriminate between Alawis and Sunnis, or practitioners of any other religion or faith. His wife is Sunni and his children are attending a Christian school.

Well, there you go.

Worst. Genocide. Ever.

According to the Hamas government, in the first half of the year there was an average of 140 babies born in Gaza every day.

During that same time period, there was an average of only 12 deaths a day.

It appears that the "slow genocide" that Israel is supposedly perpetrating on Gaza is so slow, it is going backwards.

IsraAID: How REAL humanitarians act

Helping the new nation of South Sudan.

From JPost:

IsraAid, an umbrella group of Israeli and Jewish humanitarian aid organizations, is preparing to send a consignment of humanitarian aid to the newly formed nation of South Sudan, the group said in a statement on Sunday.

The aid package worth $100,000 will include food, clean water, medical supplies and other non-food items.

In addition, IsraAid teams have also begun to plan for a long-term project, aimed at providing assistance to vulnerable women and children living on the streets and in refugee camps around the capital city of Juba. The group, whose full name is the Israel Forum for International Humanitarian Aid, hopes to raise $1.5 million for the initiative.

“As a small and relatively new-born country, Israel has gained experience in various factors of water, agriculture, post-traumatic stress disorder, education, migration and others that would be valuable to the people of South Sudan who are now building their country,” said Shachar Zahavi, founding director of IsraAID. It is our mission and Jewish commitment to reach out to our new friends in any way we can.”

IsraAid is working in conjunction with Operation Blessing, a Christian humanitarian aid organization based in Virginia Beach, Virginia, which is providing support on the ground for IsraAid’s efforts.

Yesterday, George Galloway said that "Israel takes money, it doesn't give it." Oh well, another lie from the Ziophobes, another drop in the ocean.

Zvi comments:

The anti-Israel drones squander an insane amount of effort and money to symbolically hurt Israelis, when there are REAL humanitarian causes out there that would benefit very much from that kind of effort and money. The hysterical anti-Israel drones have succumbed to the temptation to let their hatred overcome their humanity, warp their perspective and destroy their souls.

If every last one of them were to vanish from the world tomorrow, the world would not notice the difference, except that the volume of shouting would decrease a bit.

In contrast, if IsraAID were to vanish from the world tomorrow, lives would end in many poor countries.

And that says just about all that needs to be said.

Flotilla fools: "It was never about aid." Yup, it was about hate for Israel.

From Nadia Hijab in the HuffPo:

It was never about aid.

Freedom Flotilla II is, like its assaulted predecessor of a year ago, a political act. The passengers came together in shared determination to challenge Israel's five-year siege of Gaza and to exercise their right to travel through international waters to Palestinian shores and, by so doing, support the Palestinian right to freedom.

Many have misrepresented this political act as being about aid.

Even though this has been what the anti-Israel activists have been saying in private for years, even in this current floptilla they made a point of telling the media that they were bringing 3000 tons of aid - cement, ambulances, medicine. As recently as yesterday, Reuters parroted the line that their primary purpose was aid. Their tweets regularly refer to themselves as a "humanitarian mission" and not as primarily political.

As usual, they are trying to have it both ways, depending on the audience and convenience.

If you ask Hijab, honestly, whether Hamas has the right to import Iranian rockets to target Israeli schoolchildren, she would answer "Absolutely." Because this is her definition of freedom and human rights - human rights for everyone in the Middle East except for Jews seeking self determination and the right to live in peace and security.

In fact, Israel's sealing of Gaza from the outside world began before Hamas was elected. It began as far back as 1988 -- almost before Hamas existed -- when Israel imposed a "permit system" in Gaza.

I love handpicked history lessons.

Gaza, under Egyptian control, really was a prison. Gazans couldn't easily travel to Egypt, they couldn't get jobs, they couldn't get citizenship, they were herded into camps, Egypt ignored their needs for infrastructure, their life expectancy was absurdly low. The only time that Gazans had freedom of movement was when Israel controlled the area - and until the first Intifada when Palestinian Arabs started to kill Jews by the score. Of course, as we have seen, Nadia Hijab cares not one whit for Jewish human rights.

Israel often complains that it is singled out for criticism when there are other worse human rights violators. Why not set a flotilla against China or Russia? Because Israel is the only country claiming to be a Western-style democracy whose gross human rights violations are supported economically and politically by major world powers.

Here is a neat sleight-of-hand. Up until now, Hijab has claimed that her concern was for Palestinian Arabs and their rights. The obvious hypocrisy is that she doesn't care about Syrian Arabs, Egyptian Arabs or any other Arabs who are truly fighting for real rights. So in order to shield herself from that charge, she changes the equation with a tortured explanation that somehow Israel's western status is what offends her - it isn't the victims at all that concerns her, but the perpetrators!

Of course, this proves what Israel has been saying all along - it is not a pro-Palestinian movement, but an anti-Israel movement! Nadia's pretense at caring about Gazans' "freedom" has now morphed into something else, that is much closer to the truth.

Of course, Israel's actions in Gaza are no less moral that the Western actions in Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq, and I don't see her sending any flotillas there, so even here she remains a hypocrite.

And then comes the coup de grace:

Beyond drawing the world's attention to the obscenity that is the siege of Gaza, the Flotilla has shown the peoples of the Arab world, engaged in their own quest for dignity and rights, that there are two kinds of Americans and two kinds of Jews. Not just those in power in the U.S. and Israel who are widely seen to subvert human rights throughout the region, but also those determined to uphold human rights. By so doing, the Flotilla has contributed to an eventual era of mutual respect between Arabs, Americans, and Jews.

You see, Israel contributes to worldwide anti-semitism, and the flotilla helps combat that image! Arabs appreciate the moonbats who come to Gaza to meet with Haniyeh and receive medals and honorary citizenship from him, and that helps fight anti-Americanism and anti-semitism!

Has any NGO ever had a workshop to combat anti-Western and anti-semitic attitudes among Arabs? No, they believe that by their shining examples they are leading by example. Of course, that didn't save the lives of Vittorio Arrigoni or Juliano Mer Khamis.

I wonder what she has to say about the Western "peace activists" who have been sexually harassed and raped by their most appreciative Arabs. Only the Westerners, mind you, not the honorable Arab women.

The entire article is claptrap, an exercise in misdirection and obfuscation meant to justify the real motivation that the flotilla activists have - a seething hatred for the Jewish State, and only for the Jewish State.

Today's photos from Open Air Prison Gaza

A Palestinian youth jumps with a horse during an equestrian show in Gaza City on July 8, 2011.

Palestinian girls ride horses during an equestrian show in Gaza City on July 8, 2011.

I hope the two remaining flotilla boats are bringing food. For the horses.

Official PA newspaper again says that the Temples never existed

Once again, the official WAFA "news" agency has stated that there was no Temple in Jerusalem:

The Israeli authorities are working on establishing a Talmudic garden in Tantur Faron, an area south of Al-Aqsa mosque, which is considered an Archaeological area that extends back thousands of years, it said.

It said that in Ein Em Edorg, an area in Silwan, diggings reached a depth of more than 20 meters under the ground, and there are diggings in Al-Ain Mosque, the oldest mosque in Silwan, in the area of Ain Silwan, in addition to the digging of tunnels.

It said the diggings in Wadi al-Rababa, aim to establish more of the Talmudic gardens, change its historical and Archaeological character, and to build additional fake Jewish graves, in an attempt to give it a Talmudic historical character associated with the myth of the alleged temple.

Last year the PA Ministry of Information (a truly Orwellian title) published a paper saying that the Kotel was never a Jewish site. When American outrage caused them to delete the article, it surfaced a couple of weeks later in...WAFA.

It is worth recalling that the Waqf themselves published a pamphlet in 1925 that described "Al Haram al-Sharif" as the place where Solomon built the first Temple, saying this was "beyond dispute."

(h/t Yaacov Lozowick)

Karsh slams Morris as a "chameleon"

Efraim Karsh again takes aim at fellow historian Benny Morris at The American Thinker:

Humility was never one of Morris's trademarks. In a manner that would put Woody Allen's human chameleon to shame, Morris made an art of portraying his ideological acrobatics as moral decisions exacting a heavy personal and professional price. For years, he cast himself as a victim of Israel's political and academic establishments, which allegedly denied him a tenured position at a local university. This patent fabrication -- the respective faculties in Israel's universities have long been dominated by Morris's ideological fellow travelers -- won him international sympathy (and besmirched Israel's reputation for its supposed encroachment on academic freedoms), so much so that then-president Ezer Weizmann personally intervened to arrange Morris a tenured post. Now that he has changed his colors, Morris is supposedly victimized by Islamists and anti-Semites of all hues for his heroic defense of Israel.

As before, this false pretence has had its fair share of takers. Only now it is Israel's supporters who are willfully turning a blind eye to Morris's past antics, and their lingering damage to the Jewish state's international reputation, in the desperate hope of scoring a point in the rearguard action against the country's growing de-legitimization. Yet they shouldn't be holding their breath, for there are clear indications that Israel's human chameleon is laying the groundwork for another dramatic flip flop.

That Morris has been able to engage in this intricate game of doublespeak for so long, without paying any professional or personal price, is a sad testament to the shortness of public memory and the utter ruthlessness of the Arab-Israeli propaganda war. And while one can only speculate about Morris's next somersault, it is clear that this human chameleon will have no problem in finding the "facts" to back up whatever his political convictions demand at that time-and the useful idiots to applaud them.

This may be a tad unfair, as Morris has not changed his view of history unless new documents were uncovered, and his writings on history should be critiqued without reference to his ever-changing political views. But Karsh is right when he says that Zionists should not embrace Morris' political views because his pendulum happened to have swung in their general direction for a couple of years. That pendulum is already on its way back....

UPDATE: ...according to Karsh.

Egyptian security keeps Ilan Grapel for another 15 days

From Ha'aretz:

Egyptian authorities have extended the detention of Israeli-American Ilan Grapel, who is being held on allegations of spying for Israel.

Grapel will spend 15 more days in detention.

The Egyptian attorney general's office explained that more time was needed in order to continue its investigation into Grapel's activities.

Grapel was arrested in Cairo in June. He has not been indicted.

According to reports in the Arab media, the U.S. has been in contact with Egypt, seeking Grapel's release and departure from Egypt.

An indictment would transfer the case to the court system and start a lengthy legal process. Therefore, efforts are being made for Grapel to be released before he is indicted.

Grapel's story has fallen from the headlines in Egypt as it has become evident that he is probably not the serious spy that he was described as by the Egyptian press when he was arrested.

That last paragraph is questionable, as Egypt's major daily, Al Ahram, continues to push the lie that Grapel is a spy - without bothering with any infidel Western modifiers like "alleged" or "accused."

Its latest article on him, indeed a headline, says categorically that he is a Mossad spy who was "fanning the conflict of the youth revolution and inciting subversion against the police and the army."

Two ships still trying to reach Gaza

From Reuters:

Notice how Reuters still pushes the lie that the purpose of the ships is to deliver aid to Gaza, and secondarily to "raise awareness of Israel's naval blockade." Um, no. Even the activists admit their goal is to create an unfettered sea route to Gaza that would include weapons for Hamas.

Ha'aretz says that there is one other ship that remains in the flotilla, the Giuliano.

Joseph Dana's dishonesty (updated)

Here is a tweet from anti-Israel activist/self styled "journalist" Joseph Dana, referring to a video of a protest this morning in Nabi Saleh:

Minute 5:00, soldiers physically attack a female Israeli protester. Welcome to the wasteland of democracy

However, if you look a few seconds beforehand, you see a female protester pushing an IDF soldier first.

Then there is an edit.

In fact, there are dozens and dozens of edits in this video, no doubt an attempt to whitewash the violence of the "non-violent" protesters. Many of the edits clearly excise only a few seconds of video at a time, right in the middle of the action. Why?

The answer is simple: The entire video is theatre, a lie to give the impression that IDF soldiers initiate violence against peaceful demonstrators. Of course, Dana swallows the video whole, because its edits conform with his existing vicious biases.

Let's see the unedited version! That's what a real journalist would demand. Dana no doubt knows the videographer - lets see if he ever asks for the raw footage to see what really happened.

UPDATE: Dana insisted that there was no shove, so I looked again full screen at the moment at 4:57 where I thought I saw it. It is possible that she was shaking off her friend. Even so, the video is a textbook example of how editing is used in videos like these - notice that every single example of IDF "aggression" is preceded by an edit so we cannot see what happened immediately prior. In other words, it is still theatre, and Dana has no clue what specific event may have precipitated the "wasteland of democracy" outrage..

Slate: Gaza rocket terrorists are "rock stars"

Slate 's Sharon Weinberger writes a flattering article about Gaza rocket terrorists:

Abu Saif, a rocket maker for the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, is a fan of Google Earth. One recent evening in Gaza City, I sat next to him as he showed me how he used the popular satellite mapping program to target sites within Israel.

"The technology is always improving," he told me. "Our struggle started with the Kalashnikov, and then it moved to the suicide bomb, then the locally made rocket, and now the Grad rocket," he said.

And that's where Google Earth comes in. The satellite mapping tool that was created with help from the CIA's venture capital arm has now become a favored tool for rocket makers, who use it to help aim their artillery. Maps are quickly outdated, and don't provide, as Google Earth imagery does, the precise locations of buildings, roads, and other potential targets.

Like schools, perhaps? No, Weinberger doesn't bother to ask that.

Rocket makers enjoy an air of mystery, and to meet Abu Saif (a nom de guerre, meaning the "father of Saif"), I was instructed to drive down a specific street in central Gaza City, where a young man jumped into the car and guided us to the meeting point.

You can almost feel her excitement at meeting such a mysterious, almost romantic, figure.

It was a rather domesticated setting for a meeting with one of the rocket makers, who over the last several years have become the rock stars of Gaza, or at least its reality stars. In some ways, rocket making has almost become an extreme form of reality television, with the militants understanding that playing to the cameras is as important as, or perhaps more important than, actually launching rockets. Groups like the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades regularly film semiscripted home videos, complete with dramatic editing and cheap sets.

Indeed, Abu Saif was surrounded by a small gaggle of young men who, like members of a celebrity entourage, seemed to have little purpose other than to enhance the importance of their star.

...Indeed, Israel may be improving its defenses, but the militants have been improving their rockets. They have, over the years, become more adept at aiming them, with help from Google Earth. Particularly since the unilateral withdrawal of Israeli settlements from Gaza in 2005, the rocket attacks, to be effective, have had to go longer distances.

Was it harder to target Israeli positions before the advent of Google Earth in 2005? I asked Abu Saif. "No, it was easier," he replied, smiling. "Because the settlements then were inside Gaza."

Yet lately it appears things may have evolved even beyond the unguided Grad. In April, militants launched into Israel what was reported to be a laser-guided missile, which struck a school bus. When asked if the militant groups were indeed on the cusp of employing a new technology, Abu Saif was coy, saying only that when the right time came, they would make an announcement.

"At some point in the future," he said, "the Grad will be a thing of the past."

Weinberger didn't even mention that a child was murdered in the schoolbus attack. She didn't mention that the targets have been purely civilian. She refrains from using the word "terrorism" - which is what these rockets are, in the purest sense. She doesn't even ask whether these "rock stars" are planning to work with the paper unity government or against it. She doesn't ask whether Hamas has been encouraging or discouraging recent rocket attacks. She doesn't mention - and probably isn't even aware - that many Palestinian Arabs have been killed by these romantically crude rockets that fell short.

Is it coincidental that the day after this report was published, three rockets were shot into Israel, the biggest attack in months?

No, Weinberger was so happy to play the part of the adventurous journalist that she happily allowed herself to be used by (what appear to be) Islamic Jihad terrorists to further their own agenda - on the pages of Slate - without asking a single hard question, and without admitting that she was being used as a tool of the terrorists.

(h/t Dan)

Someone tried to burn down the office of the Ma'an news network in Gaza this morning.

A Molotov cocktail was thrown against the Ma'an office door, burning it, but the fire did not make it inside the office.

Palestinian Arab media condemned the attack, noting that Ma'an is one of the very few media outlets to manage to report both from PA-controlled areas and Gaza, and saying that such an attack makes it look like Palestinian Arabs act against against freedom of expression.

Hamas has a history of doing exactly that, and so far it has not commented on the incident.

The "Palestinian Spring" has been outsourced

If there is one word that can describe Palestinian Arabs throughout their brief history, it has to be "pawns."

Rarely have they shown authentic initiative. With some exceptions, they have been manipulated by their so-called leaders and by other Arab leaders. Ironically, each of their successive puppetmasters have invariably claimed that they were doing it out of love.

Their first leader, the infamous mufti of Jerusalem, manipulated them for his own hateful purposes which included his own personal enrichment and his severe Jew-hatred. After that the Arab leaders stepped into his role, each of them promising to defeat the Jews and give them land that they planned to annex themselves anyway. During the 1950s, self-appointed leaders collaborated with Arab leaders to stymie their desire to become naturalized citizens of their host countries, a practice that continues to this day.

While the first intifada had some actual homegrown leadership, the second intifada was a pre-planned disaster meant to pressure Israel and that resulted in thousands of people killed because of Arafat's intransigence in peace negotiations.

This year we have seen real, grassroots revolutions throughout the Arab world, from Tunisia to Yemen. Many pundits and anti-Israel activists have been predicting - or even actively desiring - a similar uprising from Palestinian Arabs against Israel. Gideon Levy in Ha'aretz lamented on behalf of the residents of Jenin in February, saying "This week, Jenin's wonderland was to be found in Egypt. Residents of the refugee camp closely followed events in the land of the Nile, in a mood of melancholy jealousy. Each night they crowded into homes to watch television and see what was going on in Cairo. But no winds of change are blowing in the West Bank. No solidarity demonstration was staged; not a single poster of support was to be seen on the streets."

Thomas Friedman even sketched out a scenario that he hoped would come to pass:

"May I suggest a Tahrir Square alternative? Announce that every Friday from today forward will be “Peace Day,” and have thousands of West Bank Palestinians march nonviolently to Jerusalem, carrying two things — an olive branch in one hand and a sign in Hebrew and Arabic in the other. The sign should say: “Two states for two peoples. We, the Palestinian people, offer the Jewish people a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders — with mutually agreed adjustments — including Jerusalem, where the Arabs will control their neighborhoods and the Jews theirs.”

Friedman's desire for a revolution is another example of Westerners trying to pretend that their wishes are in consonance with those of the people they want to "help."

For a brief moment, the outsiders who were burning to see a genuine third intifada break out thought they found it, on May 15th, when there was a violent protest in Qalandia on "Nakba Day." But that faded quickly, and no one talks about it any more.

In fact there was only one genuine, grassroots expression of Palestinian Arab frustration in recent months, and that was not against Israel - but against their leaders. The "March 15th" movement was a Facebook-organized, coordinated protest that scared Hamas and Fatah into signing a worthless but symbolic statement of unity.

Outside of that, almost every single major protest on behalf of Palestinian Arabs has been orchestrated not by their own people but by outsiders, using their cause as an excuse to bash Israel.

The Syrian border incidents on May 15th and June 5th were both orchestrated by Bashir Assad, and did not even involve Palestinian Arabs for the most part but hand-picked Syrian loyalists who were bused in. The Lebanese border protests were similarly organized by Hezbollah, not Palestinian Arabs.

The flotilla and flytilla last week were largely the creations of Western anti-Israel activists, who tried to recruit some symbolic people of Palestinian descent to join in. Palestinian Arabs showed little interest in these events, as they recognized that they were simply publicity stunts that would not help them one bit.

The "air flotilla" leaders even tried to use the Twitter hashtag "#Palspring" to make it appear that this was a manifestation of Palestinian Arab nonviolent resistance, instead of a Western-created and organized event designed to create more heat than light.

The weekly protests in Bil'in and elsewhere are dominated and led by Western and Israeli anti-Israel activists.

The much wished for "Palestinian Spring" has been taken over by outsiders.

Palestinian Arabs, used to being manipulated by corrupt Arab leaders, now find themselves being manipulated and used by Western leftists and anti-Israel activists as well. Just as in the past, people who claim to be acting on behalf of the "Palestinian people" are actually acting in their own self-interest and using the PalArabs as pawns. They are just as politically corrupt as their forebears, and their interest in Palestinian Arab well-being is just as much a mirage as it was when the Egyptians, Syrians and Jordanians claimed to be acting in their best interests.

The irony is that this is all happening at the exact same time that we see genuine acts of self-sacrifice by Arabs in Syria, Egypt, Jordan and elsewhere. The drama of legitimate struggle for freedom is being lost in the glare of self-righteous Western Israel-haters getting out-sized media attention for their own ineffective and futile stunts. And real Palestinian Arabs are hardly to be found in any of these media events.

There is simply no comparison between Palestinian Arabs, who are already living under self-rule and with a large degree of autonomy, and the citizens of Arab countries who chafe under real oppression and hardship. Their reaction to the Western meddling as been largely one of indifference, or at most, a usual variation of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

This aphorism helps them as little today as it helped them in the past.

The question is, do they even realize that they are being used yet again? That those who express such solidarity with them are pushing a political agenda that will keep them stateless for decades more? Do they understand that Israel isn't going anywhere, and if they want to gain politically they must work with Israel and not against it?

The answer to these questions will help decide whether real peace is achievable.

Friday links

Volokh: Leader of "flytilla" is an anti-semite

Mugwump details British academic hypocrisy on Israel. Nicely done.

Dershowitz: How the hard left encouraged Arab despotism

Evelyn Gordon: Israel Finally Reasserts Willingness to Defend its Borders

Alana Goodman sums up the Richard Falk meltdown

Khaled Abu Toameh on the PA budget crisis and Arab indifference

Kareem Abdul Jabbar's father didn't really save Rabbi Lau, as YNet had reported (and I quoted).

Evidence of Hezbollah - in Mexico.

(h/t Yishai, Folderol, Cheryl, jzaik)

UN Flotilla report delayed as Israel and Turkey negotiate

From Hurriyet Daily News:

A U.N. panel inquiry’s report on Israel’s attack last year on a Turkish-flagged Gaza-bound aid flotilla has been delayed because the countries have not yet reached a consensus on the matter, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official has said.

In the run-up to the U.N. report’s release, Israeli and Turkish representatives have been holding talks in New York since Tuesday in order to find a compromise on the wording of a statement regarding the May 31, 2010, Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara ship, which resulted in the death of eight Turks and one Turkish-American.

The parties have been seeking reconciliation on a statement before the release of the report, which was to be released Thursday.

Asked if the parties had reached a consensus on the statement, the Turkish official told the Hürriyet Daily News that “we are not there yet.”

Ankara has repeated its demand that Israel offer an apology and compensation for the families of those killed and wounded in Israel’s attack on the ship, Turkey’s foreign minister said.

“We have been saying the same thing since last year. Israel must apologize and pay compensation. This is our principal stance on the issue,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu told reporters on Wednesday.

However, Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman restated his opposition to Israel offering an apology to Turkey over the incident on Wednesday.

“An apology is not a compromise, it is a humiliation and it is an abandonment of IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] soldiers,” he was quoted as saying by the Jerusalem Post at a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. “We regret the loss of life of people from any nation. There are things we can discuss and things we cannot. We cannot discuss things that will harm Israel. National honor has a real significance. We expect flexibility from the Turkish side as well.”

Davutoğlu confirmed that Turkish and Israeli officials were holding talks on normalizing relations. It was natural for Turkish and Israeli authorities to hold talks to meet Turkey’s demands and such talks should not be viewed as an extraordinary development, the minister stated.

Meanwhile, Israel and Turkey have not yet agreed on the report of the U.N. panel, which Ankara, on legal grounds, insists should not contradict with the findings of a previously released U.N. Human Rights Council report.

Davutoğlu highlighted that the report of the U.N. panel led by Geoffrey Palmer must be in compliance with “criteria of international law.”

“An attitude contradicting with the U.N. Human Rights Council is unacceptable,” he added. “We hope Israel will meet our rightful demands on this issue.”

The U.N. Human Rights Council said in 2010 that Israel’s military broke international laws during the raid. The report said Israel used excessive force, but implied Israel used “its legal right to impose a naval blockade against the Gaza Strip,” a finding which could pave the way for further interventions by Israel in the Mediterranean Sea, Turkish officials said.

This makes it sound like the sides are very far apart.

I admit I do not quite understand why a UN report that deals with the conduct of nations needs to have those nations' approval to be released. This certainly wasn't the case with any anti-Israel reports the UN has issued.

How can Turkey insist that a legal expert change his opinion on a legal issue?

Perhaps the delay is because the UN believes that a rapprochement between Turkey and Israel is a higher goal, but to change the report based on that still seems very strange, and calls into question the legitimacy and objectivity of every UN report.

But here's how the UN explains it:

U.N. spokesperson Martin Nesirky told reporters on Tuesday that more time was needed.

“I don’t think we are yet at the point where the report would be handed over,” he said.

Nesirky responded to some allegations that the language of the report could be toned down.

“What I would say is what we said at the time; and that is that there is clearly a need for the parties concerned to find consensus on the report, and the wording of the report. And that’s why more time was given,” he said.

The reported issues that divide the two seem to be more than just language, though.

Ami Isseroff z"l

I just found out that Ami Isseroff had died last week.

While he was an anti-religious and very liberal Zionist, he was, above all, a Zionist. He literally wrote an on-line encyclopedia about every major event and concept in Israel's modern history. He practically single-handedly ran two major websites: MideastWeb, on the Middle East altogether,and Zionism-Israel, which has a plethora of information as well. The latter site, besides having lots of information, also housed his blog.

I always hoped that he would organize the sites better, because they should be read by everyone who wants to learn about Israel.

I'm going back to a couple of his pieces I've linked to over the years, and I am again amazed at his knowledge and erudition. The best on-line resource on Arab land ownership in Palestine before 1948 is on his site. Not too many people can take on Benny Morris on specific facts in his books. But he was similarly impressive as a blogger - and as a satirist.

Here is a eulogy written by his brother.

May his family be comforted and may his memory be a blessing. And I suggest helping keep his memory alive by browsing the thousands of articles he has written on his sites.

Latest Latma

Including the song posted yesterday, "Guns Guns Guns."

CNN goes to Shiloh

A pretty reasonable piece:

(h/t My Right Word)

List of accomplishments of flotilla/flytilla drones this week

Here is a list of everything that anti-Israel activists managed to accomplish this week:

Cause the already cash-strapped Greek government to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on coast guard and security
Lose their cement
Start a riot at a French airport
Whine about every obstacle stopping them from doing illegal activities
Upset airlines who lose money for every empty seat
A hunger strike that accomplished nothing
Tick off passengers trying to travel
Turn sympathetic Dutch reporters against them
Insult Greek authorities, airlines, airports, European and American leaders
Continuously lie to the media, pretending that the very media attention they are getting is a victory
Get every major Western nation to publicly side with Israel
Fail to help a single Palestinian Arab in any way

All in all, they accomplished about the same amount they did last week and the week before.

Syrian singer slaughtered after writing, leading anti-Bashar song

From Now Lebanon:

A graphic video posted on YouTube Wednesday claims to show the body of Syrian activist Ibrahim Kashoush after having his throat slashed by security forces in Hama. His body was reportedly found dumped in the Assi River on Wednesday morning.

Kashoush’s song “Yalla Erhal Ya Bashar” (It’s time to leave, Bashar) gained recognition in recent weeks as the spirited anthem for peaceful demonstrators demanding an end to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

He reportedly joined crowds in Hama for massive street demonstrations that took place [last] Friday, where as many as 500,000 protesters gathered in protest, according to activists who spoke with AFP.

In the video below, Kashoush can be heard screaming the lyrics to a large group of people as they repeat the refrain with vibrant enthusiasm.

“To die but not be humiliated,” he sings in an eerily prophetic, but touching moment toward the end.

Here are the lyrics:

"Yalla Erhal Ya Bashar" -- It's time to leave, Bashar!!

Bashar, you’re a germ, your statements don't make sense, your news is that of an owl, and its time you leave Bashar!!

It's time you leave Bashar!!

Bashar, Maher and Rami are thieves, they've stolen from my brothers and uncles, Bashar it's time you leave!!

Bashar, screw you, and screw any who salute you, it's time you leave Bashar!!

Bashar, stop going in circles, your blood in Hama "mahdour" (killing you as a form of retribution is acceptable), your crimes here have not been forgiven.

It's time you leave Bashar!!

Bashar, you're an agent, screw you and the Baath party. It's time you leave Bashar.

Bashar, you're a liar, screw you and your speech. Freedom is near. It's time you leave Bashar!!

Bashar, you're damned, you believe you have words over us, we will not forgo our martyr's blood. It's time you leave Bashar!!

It's written on our flag: Bashar is a traitor to our nation.

To die but not to be humiliated.

The people want to bring down the regime!!

Noam Chomsky proves it isn't about pro-"Palestine" but anti-Israel

Noam Chomsky wrote an article, being distributed by the New York Times syndicate although I do not know where it was originally published, called "In Israel, a tsunami warning." The article is mostly about how Israel is concerned over the planned statehood bid by the PLO.

Chomsky, whom the Guardian calls a "respected American academic" and who embraces Hezbollah, subconsciously proves in this article that he doesn't give a damn about "Palestine" - by making a really stupid mistake:

The U.N. would presumably recognize Palestine in the internationally accepted borders, including the Golan Heights, West Bank and Gaza. The heights were annexed by Israel in December 1981, in violation of U.N. Security Council orders.

Chomsky thinks that the Golan Heights are occupied Palestinian Arab territory? I am not so sure that Syria would appreciate that opinion!

And this is from a supposed expert, a man who gets regularly invited to give speeches on the topic because of his gravitas and knowledge!

But this proves that, for Chomsky and most of the other people who couch their vitriol in humanitarian and democratic pro-Palestinian Arab terms, it is really all about Israel and not at all about "Palestine." Chomsky cannot even be bothered to understand the difference between the WB, Gaza and the Golan, because to him they symbolize Israeli Jewish crimes, and have nothing to do with PalArab self-determination.

How ironic that a linguist is so careless with his words.

(h/t Kramerica)

Flytilla fumbles, fizzles and flops

From YNet:

Two American activists, who arrived in Israel from Athens overnight as part of the fly-in, were refused entry by Ben Gurion Airport authorities.

The two women arrived at Israel's gates dressed in Gaza flotilla shirts. Border control officers who interviewed them, as they do every individual entering Israel through the airport, determined that "their expressed purpose was to disrupt public order and cause provocation."

They did not resist the proceeding and are set to be deported later Friday. Six people have been deported so far.

JPost adds:

Around 200 pro-Palestinian activists were denied entry to Israel or were prevented from boarding flights to the country as part of an "air flotilla," Israel Radio said on Friday.

Let's do the math.

The activists predicted 500-600 people coming to Israel today. Israel's list of people to be denied entry is 200. So we should have expected 300-400 people who were not on the list to make it through, right?

So where were they?

Even funnier is this latest tweet from the flytilla fumblers:

Sit-in happening at CDG airport, Paris as some airlines are not issuing refunds. #palspring.

All of a sudden, they have turned into capitalists, protesting for money!

This one too:

Israeli activists are thinking of canceling their demo in the airport today because "arrest is definite' #palspring

Since when do such idealists cancel protests because they would be arrested? I thought they thrived on that!

Idiots in the Twittersphere

Over in the twittersphere, the Israel haters are fun to watch. One will tweet something and then an entire army of drones will mindlessly retweet it without thinking. One great example from Thursday night:

@YousefMunayyer Years ago, a student from #Gaza told an American audience "If you can not visit me in my home, you too are occupied" #airflotilla #palspring

Doesn't that sound profound?

I guess this means that if I cannot visit a friend who lives in Mecca due to the fact that I am Jewish, or I cannot visit Jordan overnight because I would be barred from bringing along a pair of tefillin, then I am occupied too!

By the absurd logic of this tweet, the entire world is occupied because there happen to always be restrictions on where people can go.

Yet this drivel gets retweeted ad nauseum by idiot moonbats who think that this sounds so, like, true, man. It was retweeted 79 times!

Video of French flytidiots being stopped from boarding plane in Paris

Here is a video taken on July 7 of anti-Israel activists in Paris being stopped from boarding planes to Tel Aviv.

They are shown holding a copy of the letter that Israel sent the airlines:

The text reads, in part:

Due to statements of pro-Palestinian radicals to arrive on commercial flights from abroad to disrupt the order and confront security forces at friction points, it was decided to refuse their entry in accordance with our authority according to the Law of Entry to Israel 1952.

Attached is a list of passengers that will be refused entry to Israel.

...In light of the above-mentioned, you are required not to board them on your flights to Israel.

Failure to comply with this directive would result in a delay on the flight and their return on the same flight.

For some reason, the airlines gave the activists the entire list.

The letter also states that the list might have more names added at any time.

New Latma Beach Boys song parody: "Guns, Guns Guns." And a modest EoZ effort.

Doesn't quite hit the spot for me, though.

I would have chosen Van Morrison's "Gloria" instead:

Like to tell you 'bout my Gaza
Their people believe in their god,
You've never seen such hospitality,
The guys in Islamic Jihad,
They like to shoot their Qassams,
Just about midnight,
They make me feel so welcome,
They make me feel so right,

And we're coming on F-L-O-T-I ---
FLOTILLA (Flo-tilla!)
FLOTILLA (Flo-tilla!)
I'm going to sail every night
I'm going to tweet every day
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah.

Hamas cleans the streets,
Of every infidel,
If their women don't cover up,
They'll all go to hell,
They cannot admit,
Every war they lose,
That's why I love them,
And because they hate Jews.

FLOTILLA (Flo-tilla!)
FLOTILLA (Flo-tilla!)
Press conferences every night,
Hunger strikes every day,
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah.

Eh, maybe I need to think a few more minutes.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

Israel-haters in the UN freaking out over upcoming flotilla report

From AFP:

A UN rapporteur Thursday slammed a highly anticipated UN report set to back a 2010 Israeli commando raid on an aid flotilla aiming to break Israel's blockade of Gaza which left nine people dead.

"The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Prof. Olivier De Schutter, has received a draft of this report and he firmly opposes its conclusions," De Schutter's office said in a statement.

He was preparing "a statement where he denounces the conclusions" of the report by a UN commission which the UN chief is expected to release on Friday, it said, adding such a move would be "exceptional" within the UN.

"Tomorrow, the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon will release a statement supporting the legality of the Israeli intervention against the 2010 'Gaza Freedom Flotilla,'" the statement said.

"According to Olivier De Schutter, the blockade and the Israeli intervention clearly violate international law and the human right to food," it added.

A UN rapporteur denouncing a UN report before it is even released?

And his name isn't Richard Falk?

The Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food is an expert in maritime law?

The institutionalized anti-Zionists at the UN will find their heads exploding at a UN report that is actually semi-fair to the Jewish state.

By the way, I still have not found a single person who starved to death in Gaza. I hear that they have some very expensive specialty chocolates available there, however.

(h/t Mike Tan)

Tony Karon's latest attempt to push a lie

Time Magazine's Tony Karon is at it again, creating a straw man argument about Israel as he loves to do:

There's nothing new about those hoping for a game-changing U.S. intervention groaning at the news of Ross -- the personification of two decades of "process" without end -- being put in charge. But one paragraph stood out in the exasperated Israeli's [Akiva Eldar] column:

"Now Ross, the former chairman of the Jewish People Policy Institute, is trying to convince the Palestinians to give up on bringing Palestinian independence for a vote in the United Nations in September and recognize the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people - in other words, as his country, though he was born in San Francisco, more than that of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was born in Safed."
The institute to which Eldar refers is a Jerusalem-based think-tank established by the Jewish Agency, a government-backed institution promoting Jewish immigration to Israel. Ross headed it up for a period between his service to the Clinton and Obama Administrations. Now, Eldar accuses him of using the bully pulpit of American power to cajole the Palestinians into heeding Netanyahu's demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a "Jewish state" and as "the national home of the Jewish people."

Skeptics view this demand as simply the latest red herring tossed out by an Israeli prime minister who has built his political career on opposing the Oslo peace process. It has been introduced very late in the game, and its' purpose is largely to preempt any negotiation over the right of return for Palestinian refugees who lost their homes and land to the nascent State of Israel in 1948. After all, it's not recognition of a Jewish theocracy that Netanyahu is demanding; rather, he insists that the state's ethnic composition will remain predominantly Jewish.

Because of the refugees -- and also because of the implications for the status of the 1 million Muslim and Christian Palestinians who are Israeli citizens -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas demurs. The PLO has long ago recognized Israel in keeping with all the requirements of international law, he counters, and Israel's definition of itself is a matter for its citizens to decide.

It's hard to know how far Ross and the Obama Administration are pressing Abbas to go in accommodating this new Israeli demand, but Eldar's observation is worth unpacking: Should the Palestinians be required to recognize Israel as Dennis Ross' "national home"?

He then goes on to quote lots of doom and gloom statistics that indicate that Jews, Israelis, young people and Israeli expatriates all do not seem to regard Israel as the "Jewish national home" and therefore it is ridiculous for Netanyahu to demand the same from Abbas.

There is only one problem: Netanyahu never made that demand.

He only demands that Abbas recognize Israel as a Jewish state - which is much, much different. For one thing, it is possible to have more than one Jewish state - look at how many Muslim and Arab states there are.

To Zionists, of course, Israel is the national home of the Jewish people, by definition. It makes no sense to demand that Abbas accept that definition. However, it makes a great deal of sense to demand that Abbas recognize that Israel will remain a Jewish state - in order to finally make the Palestinian Arabs realize that they have no choice but to integrate into their current countries of residence, or move to countries that would welcome them. Their dream of destroying Israel demographically must finally be put to rest - if they are ever to get out of their 63 year limbo. There is no doubt that if their ancestors were asked in 1949 whether they would prefer that their descendants be stateless living outside of "Palestine" or full citizens of other countries, they would choose the latter. That same question can, and should, be asked today.

However, Karon's entire screed is based on a premise that doesn't exist. It is a real issue for Zionists and Jews as to how Israel has lost its centrality in Jewish thought. That issue has nothing to do with the politics of the peace process, and Karon's attempt to conflate the two is simply another method of Israel-bashing under the patina of deep thought.

If you need more proof that Karon is engaging in histrionics rather than analysis, it is worth noting that it was not Netanyahu who introduced the idea of a "Jewish state" being part of the negotiations as Karon says. It was Olmert, and it was enthusiastically defended by Tzipi Livni. Karon is trying to position this as a fringe right-wing Israeli issue, using Akiva Eldar as his basis for what Israelis think.

Left wing columnists, especially Jewish ones, love to pretend that Akiva Eldar and Gideon Levy represent Israeli public opinion - because they desperately want Israel to reflect their own beliefs. They will never admit what every Israeli knows: Eldar and his ilk are the ones who are on the fringe of Israeli society. The mainstream Israeli public fully supports the demand that the PA accept Israel as a Jewish state. They also overwhelmingly support defensible borders for Israel, and they support Israel keeping Jerusalem and its Jewish suburbs. You will never find writers like Karon admitting this in their columns, though. They prefer to push the lie that average Israelis hate their government and think the way Western leftists do.

And that deep desire makes them write idiotic lies like we see here.

(Karon made fundamentally the same points last year, in the friendlier waters of the UAE's National newspaper, where he makes it clear that he himself is the one who is so uncomfortable with the idea that Israel could be considered his home.)

Afternoon links

Sadat assassination plotter remains unrepentant (MSNBC)

Christian Aid's one-sided Palestinian "refugee" report (NGO Monitor)

UN Watch exposes Richard Falk's anti-semitic cartoon; Falk tries to hide the evidence

Does Iran’s Latest Military Exercise Signal a New Defense Doctrine? (JCPA Blog)

The Gaza Flotilla up the river Thames (Richard Millett)

How the Media Fosters the Myth Palestinians Want Peace (Evelyn Gordon, Commentary - a type of post I would make!)

There was a brouhaha last week on the news that the US had put Israel on a terror watch list. The Homeland Security Department now says it was a mistake.

Prospects and Implications of UN Recognition of Palestinian Statehood (Washington Institute)

Canadian on FBI terror list accused of seeking to set bomb in Israel

(h/t Zach N, Silke, CHA)

US judge decides to help out PLO terrorists

From Suits and Sentences:

The Palestinian Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority will get an unusual second chance to challenge a very expensive lawsuit that had previously been ignored.

This is something you don't see every day. In April 2005, after the defendants essentially stopped responding, a federal court issued a default judgment in favor of the victims of a February 2002 suicide bombing in the West Bank village of Karnei Shomron. Two American teenagers died in the bombing of the pizza parlor, and many others were injured.

The victims and family members sued Syria as well as the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority and others. By defaulting, the Palestinian organizations faced a judgment potentially exceeding $300 million. Now, though, they want a chance to contest the lawsuit.

In a decision made public Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said that though "the default was wilfull at the time, (the Palestinian organizations) clearly demonstrated their commitment to engaging in this litigation." Moreover, Leon noted, imposing a massive liability "on a struggling government, even if that government is not a recognized state, is not something this court takes lightly."

And so the case is back on.

It sounds like the judge decided to allow the PLO to reopen the case because, gosh darn it, it would hurt their struggling government too much if the previous decision for them to pay up would be enforced.

All we are saying, is give terrorists a chance.

(h/t Lenny)

Even the HuffPo declares flotilla a failure. Plus - an origami contest!

You know that they failed when the Huffington Post says they failed!

The loose-knit network behind the stranded aid flotilla that has garnered international attention has little to tie it together except a cause, and now it is dispersing after at least two weeks in Greece. Many American activists flew home on Wednesday, and a peaceful sit-in by Spanish protesters at their embassy in Athens was dwindling in size.

Members of this genial Tower of Babel, including veterans of leftist politics, gave formal news conferences in casual attire in the past week to drum up publicity, one of the few tools at their disposal in the face of government pressure blocking their flotilla.

The movement included Dror Feiler, an Israel-born musician who moved to Sweden decades ago; Vangelis Pissias, a professor at the Technical University of Athens; and Jane Hirschmann, a psychotherapist from New York City and member of a group called "Jews Say No!"

There was also a Swedish crime writer, an Irish rugby player and a former indigenous chief from Canada.

"We are people that normally never communicate with each other," said activist Mattias Gardell, a Swedish academic who has studied religious extremism in the United States. "We disagree heavily on other subjects."

But we all really, really hate Israel!

As options dwindled, organizers declared victory anyway, citing the attention they drew to their cause.

"Maybe if we're here a bit longer, we will learn the Greek language," joked Raef El-Ghamri, a native Egyptian who now lives in Germany and helped prepare an ambulance with medicine and a wheelchair for delivery to Gaza's population. He said a cargo vessel that is supposed to carry the equipment had not been loaded, another sign of how far the flotilla was from achieving its goals.

...On the surface at least, many adhere to a Woodstock-era message of harmony that verges on simplistic at times. It would be hard to imagine a number of them engaging in lethal combat.

"Exist to Resist," is one snappy slogan. "Stay human, brother," is a rallying cry.

Some flotilla news conferences resembled religious revival meetings, with activists chanting and holding "Free Gaza" signs. On the podium, French organizer Thomas Sommer-Houdeville drew applause when he said:

"We are not terrorists, we are victims of love!"

Canadian activists, whose boat is called "Tahrir" after the square in Cairo that became a symbol of the Egyptian uprising, urged people back home to put a boat symbol in their office or home windows. They posted instructions on how to make an origami boat on their website.

An origami flotilla! That's such a great idea!

So here's the contest: Create a moonbat origami boat, decorated appropriately, and email me a photo. I'll choose the best ones to post here.

For instructions to make an origami boat, check here, here here, here or here.

Five star hotel to open in Gaza

Palestine Today discusses Gaza's first five-star hotel, due to open in the coming weeks.

The $45 million hotel features 225 rooms, a spa and swimming pools.

Israellycool managed to snag some photos of the hotel from a Facebook page that is no longer available:

Slate noticed this as well, although it contextualizes it as a hotel that will not have any guests.

Inside, at least, the hotel lives up to its five-star claim: It features a top-floor "royal suite," which comes with its own reception area and multiple security rooms (enclosed rooms near the entrance to the suite where guards can monitor and screen anyone entering), and in the basement, workers were finishing an ornate Turkish bath and sauna. Outside on the patio, smartly uniformed waiters serve colorful milkshakes in sugar-rimmed glasses, and a group of women in fashionably tight jeans and spiked heels smoke shisha.

...In some respects, Hamas-controlled Gaza is buzzing with construction, and the seaside area of Gaza City is lined with new restaurants. Over the last year, Israel has eased the blockade, allowing some building materials to get through, and the rest come through the tunnels, albeit at a premium. Gaza—or at least Gaza City—shows signs of basic economic improvement. Consumer products are flowing in, and the Gazan equivalent of a dollar store (a 2.5-shekel shop, which is actually equivalent to about 73 cents), sells everything from women's underwear to cooking whisks. For better or for worse, the Al-Mashtal is just one sign of Gaza's slow recovery. In Gaza City, once-pockmarked streets are being rebuilt with attractive brick pavement. Ziad al-Za Za, a former economic minister for Hamas, rattled off a laundry list of projects in progress, ranging from street construction to rebuilding residential housing.

...Indeed, the Al-Mashtal illustrates a fundamental dilemma of Gaza's economy: Gaza is now open enough that it can get the materials necessary to build projects like a five-star hotel, but it lacks the economy to support it.

The reporter is forgetting about the bustling NGO industry in Gaza that will always ensure lots of Westerners with expense accounts will not put up with less than the best. Or does she think that Gaza businessmen are so stupid as to invest millions in a luxury hotel that would remain empty?

(h/t T34 for the Slate article)

What happened to the Jordanian ship?

Since the Flotilla Flop started, we have not heard much from the Jordanian ship that was supposed to participate.

The Jordanian vessel was the most worrisome one, as it would have been filled with Arabs whose idea of "non-violent resistance" includes Molotov cocktails, iron bars and chains.

The "Jordan Lifeline" committee started off with high hopes. Its never completed webpage says that, in their original press conference in February, they hoped to get 200 participants, each paying some 4000 dinars ($5600) for the privilege.

In April, they announced 140 participants.

On June 26th, they announced that they provided a 10% down payment on a boat in Greece, and was trying to get the Jordanian unions to pay for the other 90%. At that point they said they had 70 Arabs who would be on board, 35 of them Jordanian.

A later story seems to imply that the funds were found, but the source is far from reliable.

So what happened? Did they get the boat? (And would Jordanian trade unions really put out $800,000 from their own funds to purchase a boat that would, at best, be symbolic?)

Or is this just another of the many examples of flotilla fools talking big and failing even bigger?

UN flotilla report finds Gaza blockade is legal (Ha'aretz)

From Ha'aretz:

The UN committee investigating the events of last May's Gaza flotilla, headed by former Prime Minister of New Zealand Geoffrey Palmer, convened Wednesday in New York to conclude the report.

According to a political source in Jerusalem, the final findings of the Palmer Report show that the Israeli naval blockade on Gaza is legal and is in accordance with international law.
The report also sharply criticizes the Turkish government's behavior in its dealings with the committee. Palmer, an expert on international maritime law, added in the report that Israel’s Turkel commission that investigated the events was professional, independent and unbiased.

His findings on the Turkish committee were less favorable, with Palmer concluding that the Turkish investigation was politically influenced and its work was not professional or independent.

On Thursday, the Palmer Committee will present its findings to UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon, yet it remains unclear if it will be made public. Turkey is pressuring the UN to delay that release of the investigation's findings, but the report is likely to be made public in the coming days.

The Palmer Committee also criticizes the IHH organization that organized the Gaza flotilla as well as its ties to the Turkish government, suggesting Turkey did not do enough to stop the flotilla.

Israel does not come out of the report unscathed, with the committee concluding that based on testimony given by passengers, the Israeli naval commandos used excessive force. Israel claimed the soldiers acted out of self defense, thereby justifying the use of force.

According to the final draft of the probe, Israel is not asked to apologize to Turkey, but the report does recommend it expresses regret over the casualties. The Palmer Report also doesn't ask Israel to pay compensation, but proposes Israel transfer money to a specially-created humanitarian fund.

Palmer says that although international law permits the interception of ships outside territorial waters, Israel should have taken control of the flotilla when the ships were closer to the limit of the naval blockade – 20 miles off the coast. Israel responded by saying that its interception of the flotilla so far from the coast was due to military and tactical considerations, following the organizers' refusal to stop.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has been quoted - even by the BBC - as saying that the blockade is illegal. However, that is not true - they said that the closure of Gaza was illegal where Israel limited the types of goods allowed in before last summer. The word "blockade" in a legal sense refers specifically to the naval blockade by Israel of an enemy territory. The Red Cross was very careful not to use the word "blockade."

Amnesty and a host of other NGOs were not as careful, as they - without citing any evidence or legal reasoning - referred to the blockade as "illegal" in a report issued last year.

The UNHRC, in its laughable flotilla report, actually tried to find legal reasonings why the blockade is illegal:

In evaluating the evidence submitted to the Mission, including by OCHA oPt, confirming the severe humanitarian situation in Gaza, the destruction of the economy and the prevention of reconstruction (as detailed above), the Mission is satisfied that the blockade was inflicting disproportionate damage upon the civilian population in the Gaza strip and that as such the interception could not be justified and therefore has to be considered illegal.

Given that Gaza has no ports to import goods, it is absurd to say that the naval blockade is disproportionately punishing Gazans!

Wikipedia summarizes the governing laws of a blockade:

According to the San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea, 12 June 1994,[10] a blockade is a legal method of warfare at sea, but is governed by rules. The blockading nation must publish a list of contraband. The manual describes what can never be contraband. Outside this list, the blockading nation is free to select anything as contraband. The blockading nation typically establish a blockaded area of water, but any ship can be inspected as soon as it is established that it is attempting to break the blockade. This inspection can occur inside the blockaded area or in international waters, but never inside the territorial waters of a neutral nation. A neutral ship must obey a request to stop for inspection from the blockading nation. If the situation so demands, the blockading nation can request that the ship divert to a known place or harbour for inspection. If the ship does not stop, then the ship is subject to capture. If people aboard the ship are resisting capture, they can be attacked. It is still not allowed to sink the ship, unless provision is made for rescueing the crew. Leaving the crew in liferafts / lifeboats does not constitute rescue. If a neutral ship is captured, any member of the crew, resisting capture can be treated as prisoners-of-war, while the remainder of the crew should be released. A neutral nation may choose to send a convoy accompanied by warships. The warship can provide guarantees that the convoy does not contain contraband. in which case, the blockading nation does not have any right of inspection.

Israel has fastidiously adhered to all of these requirements.

It is nice to see that the UN has the ability to tell the truth once in a while. It remains to be seen if this report will ever see the light of day.

"Small but high-quality flotilla" (updated, corrected)

From YNet:

The Gaza-bound Juliano ship left Greece Wednesday afternoon, after suffering huge delays due in part to a ban set by Athens on the departure of flotilla ships from its ports.

On board the ship are 20 activists. Last week flotilla organizers claimed that Israel had sabotaged the ship in an attempt to prevent it from sailing.

"We are at sea," former Israeli Dror Feiler, one of the organizers, told Ynet. "All roads lead to Gaza. It will be a small but high-quality flotilla."

Greta Berlin, a spokeswoman for the Free Gaza movement, told Ynet that the Juliano will rendezvous, in international waters, with a French boat already at sea before heading towards the Strip. She gave no details on the location of the meeting.

Dror Feiler came equipped for the trip - with his saxophone:

I'm 100% certain that Gaza terrorists will like his music better than European audiences.

Because here's what Feiler was up to in 2008:

A German orchestra has dropped a composition from its programme after its members claimed the music was so loud that it gave them ear problems and headaches.

The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BR) said it had little choice but to drop the world premiere of Swedish-Israeli composer Dror Feiler's Halat Hisar (State of Siege), from a concert because it was "adverse to the health" of its musicians.

Members of the 100-strong orchestra said they could only contemplate playing the piece wearing headphones, after several suffered buzzing in the ears for hours after rehearsals. The 20-minute composition starts with the rattle of machine-gun fire and gets louder.

"I had to protect the orchestra," its manager, Trygve Nordwall, said. "I can't just say we'll play it anyway, for it to then cause health problems. The piece starts with machine-gun shots ... and that's the quietest part of it."

A music piece that starts with machine gun fire? That's music that Hamas could really love!

Unfortunately, the planned rendezvous with the French boat Dignite - because the Greeks have intercepted that latter boat and are holding it at least overnight.

And in case you were wondering what a "high quality flotilla" looks like, here's a photo of the Juliano:

Did he say "quality" or "comedy"?

(h/t dibbuk)

UPDATE: The Juliano didn't make it out of Greek waters. (h/t CHA). And the second photo was not the Juliano, I misread a photo caption (h/t Raymond)