Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Don't Strip! (updated)

Yisrael Medad suggested a poster series to me, and how could I resist?

UPDATE: Wow, controversy! I'm getting emails as well as comments from people who are offended by these as well as those who love them.

I don't view the posters as tremendously sexist, although I see many women do. From my perspective they are using images that are quite tame nowadays to allude to an earlier era (hence my choice of fonts - although I think that the top one is Jane Russell from the 1940s, and she wasn't a stripper.) Yisrael chose the images and text, I did the layout.

Controversy is good in general when you want to get a message out, and that is what the aim is; I prefer messages that are more direct but there is a place for this approach (as in PETA's campaigns.) I have my doubts as to the effectiveness of the message, to be honest, as it is not obvious how to draw the line from the photo to the message. Maybe putting a leftist's head on a photo instead:

PA accuses Israel of stealing organs from terrorists

Palestine Today reports that PA Minister of Prisoners' Affairs, Issa Qaraqe, said that Israel is the largest global hub for trafficking in human organs, and is harvesting organs of "martyrs."

He said Israel is holding the bodies of the terrorists to "avenge" them and their families, as well as to hide the "crimes" Israel did to their bodies.

It is unlikely that anyone will denounce these outrageous and libelous claims.

In June, Israel refused to hand over the bodies of some 84 terrorists after initial reports to the contrary, instead keeping them as a bargaining chip in helping to get Gilad Shalit released.

The PA news agency scrubs a lie

From Ma'an on Friday:

Honduras has recognized the State of Palestine, the official Palestinian Authority news agency reported Friday.

The announcement came in a letter to President Mahmoud Abbas that Honduras recognized the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders and would back efforts to seek membership in the UN, WAFA reported.

The original WAFA announcement on Friday did say that Honduras recognized the mythical "1967 borders."

Here's the image of the autotranslated Arabic announcement:

However, the actual announcement from the Honduras did not mention any borders.

And WAFA has since removed that reference from its website. Here's the scrubbed version, again from the Arabic - with the exact same timestamp of 18:53:

It is a little unusual that WAFA scrubbed its original announcement, which may indicate some displeasure from the Honduran government on that point. It is more interesting that they tried to hide the change, which is not something that any legitimate news agency should do.

(h/t George Hale for helping find the cached Arabic announcement.)

Fatah/Hamas "unity" update: They can't agree on what time it is

From Ma'an:

For the first time in history, Palestinians in the West Bank and in Gaza will live in different time zones.

Clocks were pushed back an hour at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on August 1 in the West Bank and Gaza.

The Palestinian Authority cabinet decided Tuesday to revert to summer time (+3 hours GMT) at the end of Ramadan. The cabinet announced that the Eid Al-Fitr holiday which marks the end of Ramadan would begin Tuesday.

But the Hamas government's civil services bureau in Gaza announced Saturday that the government would continue to work on winter time (+2 hours GMT) after Eid Al-Fitr.

Unity!

BDS Fail in Brisbane

From Menzie's House:

Danielle Keys reports on the counter-protest against the Socialist Alliance anti-Semites:

On Saturday the 27th of August at 1pm, the Socialist Alliance and "Justice for Palestine" met at Merivale Street, Brisbane to march down to Southbank to bully and intimidate the customers and staff of popular chocolatier 'Max Brenner'.

I, Danielle Keys, organised the counter-protest movement a month ago after seeing the Socialist Alternative at UQ handing out flyers about their protest. The flyers said to boycott Max Brenner as an agent of apartheid Israel. I thought it was so disgusting that I organised a facebook event just to see if some friends were interested in counter-protesting.

Little did I know that in a matter of weeks I would have many different groups approaching me to help support the cause, over 90 facebook friends attending and be in contact with the corporate management of Max Brenner. Little did I truly foresee that I would be speaking to almost every single newspaper I can think of as well as television and radio opportunities. I would have been happy to stand alone but I am really glad I didn't have to! The reason that people stand behind counter-protest movements I think is because as just individual people we get bullied by the disgraceful agendas of the loudest most empty vessels of humanity - the Socialist Alliance. They are the unwashed aggressors who exist off the fringes of society prepared to violently demonise anyone who disagrees with them. I really had enough of it and I'm glad to see I was not the only one!

I guess the only way to properly describe the events of yesterday is like this...

THE COUNTER-PROTEST WAS AWESOME!!!

When the Socialist Alliance marched down to Southbank they were not counting on being outnumbered by ordinary Australians telling them to go home and that their intolerance was not welcome. They quite seriously didn't bank on it and were very upset about it (ha-ha!)....

Anyone who was there would have seen how much fun it was. Everyone there was laughing, chanting, getting stuck into the SA, drinking hot chocolates and dancing around. The Socialist Alliance eventually walked away. Shamed into oblivion. They went and stood in a park somewhere continuing their little rant, where no one could hear them and no one could call them to account. This is unsurprising and indicative of their cowardice.

All fun and exciting times aside, there was a really powerful and beautiful element to this counter-protest movement. I was really humbled and overwhelmed by people from the Jewish community voicing their thanks for the support. It sounds insane but I never really thought of the Brisbane Jewish community when it came to organising this. I was so busy thinking of the political and ideological principles that I didn't properly see how personally vilified and offended the Jewish community felt over this. They came out in force to stand up for Max Brenner and say no to Socialist Alliance abuses. I met so many wonderful Jewish people and I felt so touched when they said how surprised and happy they were to see non-Jewish people standing by them in an event like this.

Here's one video of the protest/counter protest.

(h/t Ian)

Syria "news" agency caught lying with photos again

Sometimes, you can't trust your own eyes.

From Syria's SANA agency:

SANA reporters on Saturday denied existence of any gatherings or demonstrations at al-Abbasiyyin, Umayyad and Kefr Souseh Squares contrary to what some provocative satellite channels have aired this morning.

Notice the photo they use to prove that things were normal at that town square on Saturday morning?

Here's that same photo - in a SANA article from April:

In fact, that photo is all over the Internet.

Now, why did they use an old photo to prove that things were normal in the square today?

Gilad Shalit's Birthday Wish (video)

Sunday is Gilad Shalit's birthday.

The Hurricane Irene open thread

Don't know if I'll be able to blog at all during the hurricane and possible power outages, as I'm pretty much in the path of the storm.

Meanwhile, here's an open thread!

Now I have to sue Hezbollah

First Hamas rips me off, and now this!

Lebanon's Hezbollah scouts parade as they carry a Star of David symbol with a spider on it during a rally marking "Quds (Jerusalem) Day'' in Nabatieh town, southern Lebanon, August 25, 2011.

This looks suspiciously like the logo of the International Zionist Web, my nefarious organization created in 2006!

I gotta find a Lebanese lawyer.

At least Iranians admit their "Qods Day" rallies are anti-Israel

It is refreshing to see that Iran makes it very clear that their annual Qods Day demonstrations are not meant to show support for Jerusalem or support for Palestinian Arabs nearly as much as they are to show unbridled hate towards Israel. Such a difference from Western "pro-Palestinian" rallies that are anti-Israel hatefests.

Here's the description of the Iranian rally from FARS News Agency:

Iranians across the country alongside other people around the world held massive anti-Israel rallies on the last Friday of Ramadan in opposition to the continued occupation of Palestinian land by Israel.

In Tehran, millions of people gathered for the march, chanting 'Death to Israel' and holding anti-Israeli and anti-American signs.

The International Quds Day was started by the late Founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, in 1979 as a way of expressing solidarity with the Palestinians and underscoring importance of the holy Quds to Muslims.

International Quds Day is an annual event opposing Israel's occupation of Beitul-Muqaddas. Anti-Zionist rallies and demonstrations are held on the last Friday of Ramadan in Muslim and Arab countries around the world, and especially in Iran.

Protesters unanimously condemned Zionists' crimes in the Palestinian occupied lands.

The fasting people carrying placards chanted 'Down with the US' and 'Down with the Israel' and other anti-Zionist slogans.

But in one way the Iranian and Western haters of Israel do have one thing in common in their fake love for Palstinian Arabs:

Many demonstrators were also wearing Palestinian keffiyehs, a symbol of Palestinian nationalism, to show their solidarity with the people of Palestine.

Erekat: "Palestine" would still be subsidiary to the PLO

PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat says that a declaration of a Palestinian Arab state would not affect the status of the PLO as "the sole legitimate representative for the Palestinian people."

He says that the PLO is the only party that can negotiate for "Palestine" - even after "Palestine" is established.

According to Erekat, the statehood demand next month will be submitted by Mahmoud Abbas to the Security Council in his capacity as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization as well as President of the State of Palestine, but the PLO will remain the mandate-holder in the final negotiations, including all final-status issues like "refugees," water, land and Jerusalem.

It is far from clear that he is saying that the PLO would be dissolved after negotiations.

So any Palestinian Arab state that would be declared next month would be perhaps the first state ever recognized that was run by a private organization.

Clueless anti-Israel protesters exposed (video)

Someone with a camera challenges anti-Israel protesters, including some Jews, in Harvard Square earlier this week.

The first person being asked questions is Nancy Murray who is a Director of Education at ACLU-Massachusetts.

(h/t Anna)

Report that Hamas is more serious about this truce. Rocket fired anyway.

From Palestine Press Agency:

Palestinian sources revealed on Friday instructions issued by the political echelon in the Hamas movement which controls the Gaza Strip to prevent other factions from firing rockets at Israel in response to the military escalation in the Gaza Strip.

The sources said that Hamas had given strict instructions to prevent any resistive elements from trying to launch rockets at Israel.

The sources noted that the forces of Hamas have begun to spread in the streets of the Gaza Strip, especially in the border areas, to prevent resistance fighters from firing rockets, saying that the orders issued by both the political and the military was to prevent rocket fire by force.

I did not see any reports of Hamas actively enforcing the Sunday night truce, which never really took effect.

This truce was announced for 1 AM. It held for about 14 hours, before a Grad was fired south of Ashkelon.

Derfner apologizes - but what does he really think?

Larry Derfner, columnist for the Jerusalem Post, has come under a lot of criticism for the vile article he wrote on his blog recently justifying Palestinian Arab terror and saying it was a "right."

He has now apologized in what is clearly an attempt for him to keep his job:

I have an apology to make for “The awful, necessary truth about Palestinian terror,” which I posted here and on Facebook on Sunday. I didn’t mean to say anything “good” about Palestinian terror against Israelis – I see nothing good in it whatsoever, and I thought I made that clear, but I see now that I didn’t.

I wrote that because of the occupation, Palestinians are “justified” in attacking, even killing Israelis, that they have the “right” to do so. Later on I stressed that I didn’t want them to kill my countrymen, and that I would do anything necessary to stop it. I meant those two points to show that I wasn’t “for” terrorism, that while I thought the occupation justified it, that didn’t mean I supported it. But I see now that the distance from “justified” to “support” is way, way too short – and I am as far away as anybody can be from supporting attacks on Israel and Israelis.

Writing that the killing of Israelis was justified and a matter of right took a vile image and attached words of seeming approval to it. This, I’m afraid, produced an “obscene” effect, as one critic wrote. I don’t want to write obscenity about Israel. I didn’t mean to, and I deeply regret it.

These three paragraphs are emphasizing that he does not approve of terrorism. But he did make that clear in his original disgusting article. The offensive part was that he said very clearly that terrorism was a "right" and it was "justified" - even if he personally disapproves.

Then he backtracks completely:

My intention was to shock people into recognition, but I ended up shocking many of them into revulsion, and twisting what I wanted to say into something I didn’t and don’t mean at all.

What I mean is this: The occupation does not justify Palestinian terror. It does, however, provoke it. Palestinians do not have the right to attack or kill Israelis. They, do, however, have the incentive to, and part, though not all, of that incentive is provided them by the occupation.

This is the exact opposite of what he wrote before:

If those who oppose the occupation acknowledged publicly that it justifies Palestinian terrorism, then those who support the occupation would have to explain why it doesn’t.

Palestinians have the right to resist [the occupation] – to use violence against Israelis, even to kill Israelis....But while I think the Palestinians have the right to use terrorism against us, I don’t want them to use it....Whoever the Palestinians were who killed the eight Israelis near Eilat last week, however vile their ideology was, they were justified to attack.

His attempt to reconcile the two makes it clear that his apology might be sincere in that he didn't mean to upset people so much, but he has not really changed his opinion. He's just suppressing it.

And one day in a couple of years he'll write an article complaining about how the horrible Israeli system forces people to self-censor their true feelings.

One can be sure that his compatriots in the anti-Zionist Left will not look at this apology critically at all. In fact, they are breathing a sigh of relief at being off the hook from having to publicly say whether they agreed with his original article or not.

(I'm not even going to bother to expand on the racist assumption that Palestinian Arabs have no free will to decide whether to attack Jewish civilians or not, that somehow Israeli actions "force" them to murder. Well, a small percentage of them. For some unexplained reason 100% of PalArabs aren't attacking Jews every day, as racists like Derfner expect them to.)

(h/t Noah Pollak)

"Egyptians plan to destroy all Gaza tunnels"

From Palestine Press Agency:

Egyptian sources in El Arish report that in the coming days we will witness a huge Egyptian military campaign for the destruction of all smuggling tunnels in the border area with Gaza.

Major-General Mohamed Farid Khamis, Hejazi, commander of the Second Field Army, said during a meeting with sheikhs and tribal leaders in northern Sinai that the Egyptian armed forces have taken an irreversible decision to destroy all tunnels.

The move aims to prevent the infiltration of extremist groups through the tunnels to Sinai to carry out terrorist operations.

Egypt has been very concerned over Gaza groups' influence on fomenting terror in the Sinai. I have my doubts over what percentage of tunnels they will actually find and shut down, but even destroying 50% would have an impact.

The amount of goods and people that can cross through the official Rafah crossing is still quite small. Inevitably, this will affect the amount of goods available in Gaza, especially construction materials.

How will the Egyptian government spin this action in a way that doesn't make them look like Zionist stooges?

Will they demonize the Gaza terror groups and describe them as enemies of Egypt? Will Hamas react angrily and start insulting the "new" Egypt? Which side will Egyptian media support?

Things might get very interesting.

Israeli ambassador to US holds Ramadan Iftar meal

From CNN:

The Israeli ambassador to the United States is hosting a dinner celebrating the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Thursday, marking the first time an ambassador from the Jewish state has hosted such a dinner in the United States, the embassy said.

Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren is hosting the dinner at his residence, with about 60 guests expected, including imams, rabbis and officials from the White House, Congress and the State Department, according to Israeli Embassy spokesman Lior Weintraub.

Oren told CNN that the unusual dinner is fitting at a time when the future of the Middle East is uncertain, as the Arab Spring has unseated regimes in Tunisia and Egypt and as Libya appears poised on the brink of a revolution.

“We’re in the middle of a huge transition in the Middle East and we see risks, but we also see opportunities there,” he said. “We want to be able to tell people in the Middle East what those opportunities are.”

“There’s a lot of misinformation about Israel and we want to show we’re open to dialogue and reconciliation,” he said. “We can begin to build bridges on an interpersonal level.”

Thursday’s Ramadan dinner, called an Iftar, will feature a call to prayer, during which the dining room at the ambassador’s residence will be turned into a Muslim prayer space, the embassy said.

All food served at the meal will be halal, meaning it has been prepared according to certain Muslim customs. The meal was prepared under the direction of a Muslim chef, the embassy said.

Oren said he hopes the meal at the Israeli ambassador’s residence becomes an annual tradition.

“Israel has a very large and vibrant Muslim population, with Muslim members of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) and in science and academics and I’m their ambassador as well,” Oren said. “This is very much a state function for us, not just about reaching out.”

This is a great idea, and it should have happened long ago.

(I hope that the food is kosher as well!)

More from HuffPo:

The evening's 65 guests include prominent Muslims and Jews, such as Akbar Ahmed, chair of Islamic Studies at American University; Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and the founding rabbi of the Hampton Synagogue in Westhampton Beach, N.Y., and the New York Synagogue in Manhattan; and Abdullah Antepli, the Muslim chaplain at Duke University. A representative from the ambassador's office said it would release a full list of attendees after the dinner.

"My job is to reach out to different communities, including communities that have been connected with Israel and those who have not," Oren said in an interview Thursday. "Israel is a country with a large and respected Muslim minority. I just got back from Jerusalem two days ago and it's all decorated for Ramadan. They're an important part of our society."

The ambassdor, who has a Ph.D. in near eastern studies from Princeton University, also said he has a "personal interest" in Islam and the religion's traditions.

"I have a large background in Islamic philosophy and theology. I spent an entire year reading the Quran in Arabic," he said, adding that there is "a lot of disinformation" about the religion in the United States and Europe today, such as "when people talk about Shariah," or Islamic law, or about women who wear veils.

"Israel doesn't have mineret bans, doesn't have veil bans, doesn't have burka bans. We have Muslim members of the Knesset. They are an integral part of our society," Oren said.

Egyptian media: Israel ambassador fled home in fear of riots

Egypt's El Fagr newspaper reports that Israel's ambassador to Egypt, Yitzchak Levanon, has gone into hiding in fear of tomorrows demonstrations that might have been planned outside his home.

What the paper didn't mention was that there was a fatwa issued to kill every Israeli in Egypt, which might contribute to his fear if this is true.

Within the past week there has been a violent demonstration outside the Israel embassy, and the Muslim Brotherhood has demanded that Ambassador Levanon be expelled from Egypt.

Blogoversary open thread

I completely missed my seventh blogoversary on August 15th.

Some stats:

1.4 million page loads in the past year (1.1 million in 2011 already)
1 million unique visits in the past year
Nearly 3000 posts in the past year (!); approaching 12,000 total posts
Alexa rank at about 125,000 - about 50,000 higher than last year
Technorati ranking #7 in World Politics, #56 in Politics for all blogs worldwide

Most popular post: EoZ Posters for Apartheid Week, 17,000 hits

I have never been good at marketing myself, so the following numbers are all pretty much from word of mouth:

1866 RSS subscribers
478 e-mail subscribers
9721 Tweets
1445 Twitter followers
95th percentile in Twitter influence

In the past year I started putting in ads. Every time you see a post you like, consider clicking on the any ads you are interested in! It's like micropayments where you don't have to pay, and some ad clicks are worth up to a dollar.

So here's an open blogoversary thread!

Pure terrorism

Sometimes, one will see reports in the Israeli and Western media that large numbers of Palestinian Arabs are suffering from psychological issues due to Israeli actions. The point of these articles is to gain sympathy for innocents caught up in a war situation.

But when similar articles are published in the Arabic media, the intent is quite different.

Saraya.ps, the website of Islamic Jihad, has an article today quoting a magazine saying that hundreds of "Zionists" within rocket range are seeking psychological help due to the Grads and Qassams, including many parents seeking to help their children. The tone of the article is anything but concerned - it is celebratory.

This is not the first time that Arabic media publishes such information. The terrorists and their supporters crave the idea that their actions cause fear. They love to publish pictures of Israeli funerals, damage to Israeli vehicles and buildings, and Israelis running to rocket shelters.

The terrorists and their supporters are interested in terrorizing Israelis - the purest form of terror. Killing civilians something to be celebrated as well, of course, but what makes them feel powerful and relevant is that they have the ability to cause fear in hundreds of thousands of people.

That is the definition of terrorism.

Finally, a course to teach how to fight black magic!

From Minivan News (Maldives):

The Islamic Foundation of the Maldives (IFM) has said that it will commence a certificate level course on incantations, teaching the participants “spiritual healing” and how to cure diseases using “incantation”.

“Incantations consist of words said or written in the form of dud or Dhikr for the purpose of protection or cure. It is sometimes accompanied by other actions, such as blowing or wiping over the thing to which it is applied,’’ the Foundation explained on its website.

President of the Islamic Foundation, Ibrahim Fauzee, told Minivan News that the main reason why the organisation had decided to conduct courses on spiritual healing was that many people in the islands had become victims of black magic performed by their enemies.

“Sometimes people have lost their lives [to black magic], and sometimes people perform the black arts to ruin the life or family of others. Many do not know how to cure this,’’ Fauzee said.

“Many people have requested that we teach them this, so we decided to open a course for the public and we are receiving huge support for it.’’

The one month course, beginning September 15, costs Rf 350 (US$23). Fauzee said seats for the class had been limited to 30 students, and it had already sold out.

During the course, students will learn incantations, ayahs, “extracted from the Quran which were taught by the Prophet (PBUH) during the old days, which people have always delivered to the next generation.”

Practitioners of black arts, he explained, spoke with djinns and used them to harm others.

“The Prophet’s (PBUH) Sunnah as well as the Quran reveals many things about the existence of djinns,” Fauzee said.

“Djinns often cause trouble and disturbances to humans, so we know that they are there. The Quran and the Prophet (PBUH) has taught us ways to cure [these disturbances],’’ he said.

Fauzee said the course would teach participants basic cures, and would involve both theoretical and practical work.

The Islamic Foundation explained that the practical component would involve the students accompanying tutors to treat people victimised by djinns, during which they would be taught how to use incantations.

This shows how more enlightened the Maldives is compared to Saudi Arabia. In the Kingdom, only professionals from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice can counter the wizards, witches and warlocks. Those skills need to be democratized!

Full destruction of Israel is "the only red line"

A cartoon in the official PA daily newspaper Al Hayat al Jadida:

As PMW writes:

The Palestinian Authority is telling its people that peace with Israel is not a goal. Instead, the PA says that all of Israel is "Palestine," and that no compromise is acceptable because this principle is "the only red line." This message was expressed by the regular cartoonist, Muhammad Sabaaneh, in the official PA daily.

Nothing gets printed in Al Hayat al Jadida if it is not approved by the PLO and its subsidiary the Palestinian Authority. And the PLO logo has a very similar map:

Which gives an indication of what they mean when they say they want "peace."

Iran again calls to destroy Israel

And the world yawns:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran was determined to eradicate Israel, ISNA news agency reported Thursday.

'Iran believes that whoever is for humanity should also be for eradicating the Zionist regime [Israel] as symbol of suppression and discrimination,' Ahmadinejad said in an interview with a Lebanese television network, carried by ISNA.

'Iran follows this issue [the eradication of Israel] with determination and decisiveness and will never ever withdraw from this standpoint and policy,' the Iranian president added in the interview with the Al-Manar network.

The remarks by Ahmadinejad came one day before the annual anti-Israeli rallies named Qods (Jerusalem) Day, which are held nationwide in Iran on the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Ahmadinejad on Monday said that Iranians and Muslim nations worldwide should hold Qods rallies and show their willingness to dispose of this 'infectious tumour and this regime full of rascality.'

Along similar lines:

The Commander of the Iranian "Basij" Resistance Force Mohammad Reza Naghdi expressed hope that the Olympic Games 2020 will take place in liberated Palestine, İRNA state news agency reports.

"We hope that the celebration of the liberation of Palestine will coincide with a grand event such as the Olympic Games in this country," said Naghdi.

Also, the foreign ministry said that the US is the biggest sponsor of terror in the world.

More purposeful dishonesty from the anti-Zionist Left

Twitter can be a waste of time, but it can also expose the incredible dishonesty of the anti-Israel Left as they are not as careful with their tweets as they might be with their written and edited pieces.

One example comes from +972 writer (and United Arab Emirates National newspaper contributor) Joseph Dana, who tweeted about a new Wikileaks memo:

SUBJECT: RIGHT-WING LIEBERMAN UNABASHEDLY ADVOCATES TRANSFER OF ISRAELI ARABS

The 2006 memo he links to says this:

Right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman told the Ambassador January 31 that separation of Israeli Jews from Israeli Arabs is necessary in order to promote Israeli security and maintain Israel's Jewish identity. To accomplish this, Lieberman proposes that Israel redraw its border with the West Bank through negotiations to place some Israeli-Arab population centers that are close to the Green Line within Palestinian territory, and to include some Israeli settlement blocs within Israel.

...In response to the Ambassador's query, Lieberman said that the actual border would be the result of negotiations with Egypt, Jordan, and the PA. He said that the plan would also require the endorsement of the U.S. and at least one other member of the Quartet. His proposal would "not be a unilateral move," but one negotiated with "several partners." He added that Egypt should also be a part of the solution by providing some of its territory to Gaza, which Lieberman described as too densely populated.

The word "transfer" evokes a unilateral uprooting of Arabs from their homes and expelling them to another country. Lieberman was saying to negotiate with the PA and others to draw the borders between Israel and a Palestinian Arab state so that some of the Arabs who already identify as "Palestinian" can become citizens. That is quite different, and Dana knows it.

In fact, The Guardian made the same accusation about Tzipi Livni by purposefully misreading The Palestine Papers earlier this year, when she floated the idea of taking towns now divided by the Line and choosing to put them entirely in one state or the other.

The dishonesty was pointed out to Dana and, rather than correcting himself, he ignored it. Which is par for the course as well. (He later tweeted that he was quoting the State Department title for the report.)

A similar case comes from The Electronic Intifada's founder Ali Abuminah, a well respected figure among the Israeli far left, who wrote that Israel killed a 13-year old boy in Gaza. The link he used was to a PCHR report. Yet if one reads that report, there is no mention of any 13-year old boy. And no wonder - he was killed by a Grad rocket. This is a pure lie, and Abuminah is secure in the knowledge that his fans will not bother to read the report he links to which exposes him as a liar. (The same report shows that the other two civilians he mentions were being used as human shields.)

This was pointed out to him, and he also ignored the correction and refused to edit the piece.

Dana and Abuminah style themselves as journalists, but they show no desire to adhere to even the most basic journalistic standards. To them, the overriding imperative of demonizing Israel is much more important than mere formalities like telling the truth.

An incident in Silwan (Kfar HaShiloach)

Firas Press reports that the Israeli police came to the Arab part of Silwan and arrested a young man. As they tried to arrest him, the residents rioted and threw firebombs.

They give no reason why the man would have been arrested.

Maybe it has something to do with what happened the day before in that neighborhood. An Israeli couple, Gedi and Sarah Haimov, with their young daughter accidentally found themselves in Silwan as they were on their way to pray at the Kotel. The Arab youths there noticed the Jews and started throwing firecrackers at their car, almost hitting the child. Gedi stopped the car to yell at them, and they pushed him to the ground, kicking him.

Sarah, not able to see her husband anymore and afraid he was kidnapped, jumped into the drivers' seat and tried to speed away to save her child. She estimated that there were some 70 rioters at that point.

Gedi, meanwhile, tried to reach his gun but it fell to the ground in the fight. While he was being pummeled he managed to find the gun under the car. He grabbed it and waved it, and his attackers fled.

Miraculously, he was not badly injured even though he was beaten throughout his body.

That miracle is the reason why this story was not translated into English. Arabs attacking Jews - even in Jerusalem - is not news, unless they successfully kill them.

Because people don't know about how Silwan youths tried to lynch a Jewish family, the Arabic media can imply that Israeli forces are capriciously arresting Arab youths in Silwan.

(h/t Kramerica)

Muslims attempting to create "Islamic emirates" in European cities

From Hudson-NY:

Islamic extremists are stepping up the creation of "no-go" areas in European cities that are off-limits to non-Muslims.

Many of the "no-go" zones function as microstates governed by Islamic Sharia law. Host-country authorities effectively have lost control in these areas and in many instances are unable to provide even basic public aid such as police, fire fighting and ambulance services.

The "no-go" areas are the by-product of decades of multicultural policies that have encouraged Muslim immigrants to create parallel societies and remain segregated rather than become integrated into their European host nations.

In Britain, for example, a Muslim group called Muslims Against the Crusades has launched a campaign to turn twelve British cities – including what it calls "Londonistan" – into independent Islamic states. The so-called Islamic Emirates would function as autonomous enclaves ruled by Islamic Sharia law and operate entirely outside British jurisprudence.

The Islamic Emirates Project names the British cities of Birmingham, Bradford, Derby, Dewsbury, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Luton, Manchester, Sheffield, as well as Waltham Forest in northeast London and Tower Hamlets in East London as territories to be targeted for blanket Sharia rule.

In the Tower Hamlets area of East London (also known as the Islamic Republic of Tower Hamlets), for example, extremist Muslim preachers, called the Tower Hamlets Taliban, regularly issue death threats to women who refuse to wear Islamic veils. Neighborhood streets have been plastered with posters declaring "You are entering a Sharia controlled zone: Islamic rules enforced." And street advertising deemed offensive to Muslims is regularly vandalized or blacked out with spray paint.

In the Bury Park area of Luton, Muslims have been accused of "ethnic cleansing" by harassing non-Muslims to the point that many of them move out of Muslim neighborhoods. In the West Midlands, two Christian preachers have been accused of "hate crimes" for handing out gospel leaflets in a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham. In Leytonstone in east London, the Muslim extremist Abu Izzadeen heckled the former Home Secretary John Reid by saying: "How dare you come to a Muslim area."

In France, large swaths of Muslim neighborhoods are now considered "no-go" zones by French police. At last count, there are 751 Sensitive Urban Zones (Zones Urbaines Sensibles, ZUS), as they are euphemistically called. A complete list of the ZUS can be found on a French government website, complete with satellite maps and precise street demarcations. An estimated 5 million Muslims live in the ZUS, parts of France over which the French state has lost control.

Muslim immigrants are taking control of other parts of France too. In Paris and other French cities with high Muslim populations, such as Lyons, Marseilles and Toulouse, thousands of Muslims are closing off streets and sidewalks (and by extension, are closing down local businesses and trapping non-Muslim residents in their homes and offices) to accommodate overflowing crowds for Friday prayers. Some mosques have also begun broadcasting sermons and chants of "Allahu Akbar" via loudspeakers into the streets.

The weekly spectacles, which have been documented by dozens of videos posted on Youtube.com (here, here,here, here, here, here, here, here and here), and which have been denounced as an "occupation without tanks or soldiers," have provoked anger and disbelief. But despite many public complaints, local authorities have declined to intervene because they are afraid of sparking riots.

It gets worse. Read the whole thing.

But, hey, it's multiculturalism! Some British seem to have no problem with increasing Islam in daily life. Here's what The Guardian publishes every day during Ramadan, provided by The Muslim Council of Britain:

Do you think they publish Friday night Jewish candle-lighting times as well?

(h/t jzaik)

Israeli leftist says killing Israeli Jews is a "right"

The Left has come to this: justifying terrorism against Israelis in the name of human rights.

From the Jerusalem Post columnist Larry Derfner, in a blog called Israel Reconsidered:

I think a lot of people who realize that the occupation is wrong also realize that the Palestinians have the right to resist it – to use violence against Israelis, even to kill Israelis, especially when Israel is showing zero willingness to end the occupation, which has been the case since the Netanyahu government took over (among other times in the past).

But people don’t want to say this, especially right after a terror attack like this last one that killed eight Israelis near Eilat. And there are lots of good reasons for this reticence, such as: You don’t want to further upset your own countrymen when they are grieving, you don’t want to say or write anything that could be picked up by Israel’s enemies and used as justification for killing more of us. (These are good reasons; fear of being called a traitor, for instance, is a bad reason.)

But I think it’s time to overcome this reticence, even at the cost of enflaming the already enflamed sensitivities of the Israeli public, because this unwillingness to say outright that Palestinians have the right to fight the occupation, especially now, inadvertently helps keep the occupation going.

... Whoever the Palestinians were who killed the eight Israelis near Eilat last week, however vile their ideology was, they were justified to attack. They had the same right to fight for their freedom as any other unfree nation in history ever had. And just like every harsh, unjust government in history bears the blame for the deaths of its own people at the hands of rebels, so Israel, which rules the Palestinians harshly and unjustly, is to blame for those eight Israeli deaths – as well as for every other Israeli death that occurred when this country was offering the Palestinians no other way to freedom.

Writing this is not treason. It is an attempt at patriotism.

Derfner, who no doubt would describe himself as liberal, cannot find a single ethical problem with Palestinian Arab terror. Like Mahmoud Abbas and every other Palestinian Arab leader, he merely says:

I also think Palestinian terrorism backfires, it turns people away from them and generates sympathy for Israel and the occupation, so I’m against terrorism on a practical level, too, but that’s besides the point.

As to his "logic" - this is it:

If those who oppose the occupation acknowledged publicly that it justifies Palestinian terrorism, then those who support the occupation would have to explain why it doesn’t. And that’s not easy for a nation that sanctifies the right to self-defense; a nation that elected Irgun leader Menachem Begin and Lehi leader Yitzhak Shamir as prime minister.

It isn't easy to distinguish between targeting civilians for death and regretting when civilians die while trying to defend your people? It isn't easy to find that all deliberate killing of peaceful civilians is morally bankrupt - including those done by The Stern Gang in the 1940s?

Moreover - does Derfner, in his wildest dreams, believe that attacking two couples on vacation in Eilat can be construed as self-defense?

This is a breathtakingly sick article, one that is incitement to terrorism. It shows that it is now fashionable among some leftists to twist the language of "rights" into justifying horrors.

And you can be sure that the more "mainstream" Leftists, those who claim to be against all attacks on civilians, will not unequivocally condemn this example of how the murder of Israeli Jews is now considered necessary and just among some of their own.

(h/t Jameel)

Standing up for Israel on Massachusetts college campuses (video)

From The David Project:

(h/t JW)

Iranian "admits" he's a Mossad spy, spins absurd story

From Al Arabiya:

Iranian kick boxer Majid Jamali Fashi admitted Tuesday to the murder of nuclear scientist Masoud Mohammadi on the orders of the Israeli intelligence while the opposition expressed doubt over his claims, saying they seemed fabricated by the authorities.

The 26-year-old athlete, who took part in several championships both inside and outside the country, admitted in court that the bomb attack that targeted Mohammadi on January 12 was part of a plan by the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad to assassinate five other nuclear scientists. Fashi said he got $120,000 in return for all operations.

The Iranian opposition website Rooz Online dismissed the story as fabricated by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and National Security. According to the website, Fashi’s testimony contains several loopholes.

“Fashi said in his televised confessions that he traveled to Israel three times. How could he have done that without arousing the suspicions of the Iranian authorities?” said the Rooz Online statement.

The statement mocked the details about the tools Fashi allegedly used to facilitate the operations he was to carry out like a communication belt, bullet-proof clothes, mobile phone with infra-red camera, and a motorcycle that connects digitally to Tel Aviv.

“This [information] is taken from one of those American action movies.”

I would have believed that the Mossad was behind this until I saw the details of the accusations.

Sounds more like Batman to me.

Hamas takes responsibility for latest mortars

Hamas had been careful to distance itself from Gaza rocket fire over the past week, even denying rocket fire after they had initially taken responsibility.

But now Hamas' Al Qassam Brigades are bragging that they shot 3 mortars towards what they claim was the IDF entering Gaza.

Ooooh! A briefing book!

MJ Rosenberg on Twitter is all excited to have uncovered an AIPAC Briefing Book to the current members of Congress. It was discovered, apparently after much painstaking research, on AIPAC's own website.

Now, that's great journalism! Who would have thought to look there?

His acolytes are combing through it to find evidence that the evil Zionist Jews own Congress. A couple of hours later - they haven't found much, but they are "sick to their stomachs" anyway.

So, in about two minutes, I found the Americans for Peace Now briefing book to Congress. Yes, it looks like AIPAC is not the only lobby that writes these things! Who knew? This must be exposed!

Here are the highlights of APN's supposedly pro-Israel message to Congress, with each of the bullet points as little Stars of David:

Americans for Peace Now (APN) urges Congress to:

Reject legislative initiatives-letters, resolutions, etc.- that unhelpfully heap blame on only one side.

Demand expanded accountability regarding Israel’s expenditures on settlements, including reporting from the State Department on the amount of funds Israel is spending annually across the Green Line to support and expand Israeli residential development.

Reject efforts to add gratuitous new conditions, restrictions, and oversight requirements to Palestinian assistance.

Embrace a smart approach to U.S.-Syria relations, founded on a commitment to resolute engagement and diplomacy.

Support continued U.S. assistance to Lebanon.

Oppose Israeli settlement activities in East Jerusalem, support a negotiated solution on the future of Jerusalem, and refrain from statements or actions that could delay, harm or hinder such negotiations.

Reject efforts to force an immediate transfer of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

Reject efforts to use the legitimate claims of Jewish refugees as a pretext for blocking an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

Reject efforts to undermine or de-legitimize UNRWA.

Reject any efforts to further tie the Administration’s hands with respect to U.S. policy toward a future Palestinian power-sharing arrangement that may include Hamas.

Reject efforts to use this issue [two state solution] as a pretext for imposing additional conditions/sanctions on the Palestinians.

Recogniz[e] that the PA is engaged in a serious effort to fight incitement.

This is a lobby that expends most of its efforts on pushing issues that are identical to those desired by Israel's enemies.

Now, that's what I call pro-Israel!

Syria roundup (Zvi)

From Zvi:

* UN says protest deaths exceed 2200, including 350 since the start of Ramadan. I notice that the lady in the video was not complaining about people stocking Syrian products. Funny, that.

* 7 more civilians were killed in Syria today, including 3 women killed in raids in the al-Ghab region.

* US Ambassador Ford visited town of Jasem, apparently violating a regime ban on leaving the capital. Citizens gathered around and chanted slogans in support of international efforts [against the regime].

* Switzerland withdrew its ambassador.

* EU introduced UNSC draft resolution calling for embargo on Syria and freezing assets of 24 top officials (but not the regime's financiers).

* China National Petroleum Corp.'s Great Wall Drilling Co. shut down 6 major projects in Syria, Libya, Niger and Algeria.

* South Korea banned citizens from traveling to Syria due to instability. Syria joins Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Iraq and Yemen on the short list.

* Syria creates the "Syria is fine" campaign: “With the participation of 250 academic, political, media, art and parliamentary figures from 18 countries in response to the invitation of an independent Syrian youth group, 'Syria is Fine' campaign started its activities on Sunday,”

* UNHRC approved a resolution calling for investigation of human rights violations by Syrian security forces.
- Voted against the resolution: China, Cuba, Ecuador, Russia. Russia claimed to have voted against it because - I'm not making this up - it ignored the positive steps taken by the Syrian regime, willingness for dialog, etc. China's excuses were its usual; since Tiananmen, China has always used the sovereignty argument to defend dictators. Cuba's excuse is a bunch of BS from a bygone era. Ecuador silently followed Cuba's lead.
- Abstained: Angola, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Djibouti, India, Malaysia, Mauritania, Philippines, and Uganda. India's excuse was pure hypocrisy, given its willingness to support UNHRC attacks on Israel.
- Voted in favor of the resolution: Austria, Belgium, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Chile, Congo, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Guatemala, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Mauritius, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Poland, Qatar, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United States of America, and Uruguay.

* London-listed Gulfsands Petroleum pays a share of its Syrian production profits to Rami Makhlouf, pays more than $1 million to Ramak, the Makhlouf family holding company, and is 5.7% owned by an investment fund controlled by Rami Makhlouf. Boycotts or sanctions, anyone? No? I didn't think so. Now, if Makhlouf were Jewish, it would be a different story, wouldn't it... ?

8 Gaza men, women and children injured by Qassams

From PCHR:

In the past five days, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) documented the injuries of eight persons, including two children and three women, due to the explosions of home-made rockets in populated areas across the Gaza Strip. The injury of one of the women was described as serious.

The latest incident took place at approximately 01:40 on Monday, 22 August 2011, when a home-made rocket landed onto the roof of a 3-storey house belonging to Sobhi Ibrahim Shakhsa, 53, where three families live, in al-Tawaheen area in al-Shuja'ya neighborhood in the east of Gaza City. As the result of the rocket's explosion, three sons of Shakhsa were shocked and were transported to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Besides, the rocket made a hole in the roof, falling part of the southern wall of the house and damaging the water network and doors. In his testimony to a PCHR field worker, Shakhsa said that the Explosives Police arrived at the scene and collected the rocket's shrapnel, but the civil police did not come to investigate the incident.

Earlier, at approximately 20:00 on Sunday, 21 August 2011, another home-made rocket hit the western side of the house of Mas'oud Ibrahim al-Sheikh, 53, near Dar al-Arqam School in al-Toffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City. As a result, his son Ra'ed Mas'oud al-Sheikh, 8, was moderately wounded by shrapnel to the head, and his daughter Samar Mas'oud al-Sheikh, 28, was seriously wounded by shrapnel to the pelvis and back, and consequently, was admitted into the intensive care unit at Shifa Hospital.

At approximately 20:45 on Saturday, 20 August 2011, Sa'd Bakr al-Salhi, 16, from Deir al-Balah town in the central Gaza Strip and Naheda Hashem Salem, 53, were evacuated to Shifa Hospital, as the former was wounded by shrapnel to the right hand and the latter was wounded by shrapnel throughout the body. Medical sources described their wounds between light to moderate. The two persons were wounded due to the explosion of a home-made rocket while exiting from Sa'eed Murad Mosque near al-Helou Hall, southeast of Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip.

At approximately 03:00 on Friday, 19 August 2011, Mohammed Yusef al-Najjar Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah received Abdul Sattar Selmi Abu Snaima, 21, from al-Shouka village, east of Rafah, as he was wounded by shrapnel throughout the body. Medical sources described his wound as moderate. According to Palestinian police sources, Abu Snaima had been wounded when a home-made rocket landed in front of his house, which is located near al-Shouka clinic.

Interestingly, PCHR does not mention the death of the 13 year old boy who the UN said was killed by a Grad rocket. Perhaps because the Grads are not "home-made."

An inside look at the Syrian army

Now Lebanon has an incredible interview with a high ranking Syrian army defector:

Why did you defect, and what do you plan to do next?

Officer: I remained in my position in the beginning of the uprising to support it from the inside; I would organize, prepare and do what I could to see that the demonstrations succeed. When I felt that my cover was going to be blown, I left, but remained in contact with others like myself inside the army. Today I’m part of the Syrian Free Army and am coordinating with the different brigades.

Some of us announce defecting, like you see on television, and some don’t to be able to play a better role in the success of the revolution. So technically, the number of those defecting is far greater than what has been announced.

What happened to soldiers who defected and were caught?

Officer: Death. Death is the fate of those defecting or those who refuse to obey orders to shoot at protesters. Most of the executions are happening at military prisons in Tedmor and Saadnaya, where officers are being shot every Monday. Also, some who refuse to shoot at protesters are shot on the spot during the demonstrations. The aim is to set an example for others and to make it look like demonstrators are armed.

Who is the party cracking down on the protesters?

Officer: It’s a combination of army officers, police officers, security officers and the shabiha. Out of the army, the Fourth Brigade, which is one of the biggest brigades, is taking the most part. This brigade is loyal to Maher al-Assad, President Bashar’s brother.

The security forces come from the different security branches under the Ministry of Defense, but mainly the officers are from the Military Security Branch and the Air Force Intelligence, what people refer to as the jawiyah.

The shabiha take a big part in the crackdown because they are vicious. They are mafia and they are smugglers who trade in drugs, cigarettes, weapons, people, body parts. Most were initially wanted by the state or were in prison, but they were released to fight against the demonstrators.

Is it true that there are Iranian forces and Hezbollah members assisting regime forces in the crackdown?

Officer: Yes it is true. Hezbollah members are mainly used in the streets; they are well acquainted with battle techniques, while the Syrians are not. Many Syrian officers were left free to grow beards so that the Hezbollah members don’t stand out, but they still do; they are built differently.

At the beginning Iranians were mainly used as snipers, but later on they were taken down to the streets and Syrians took their places on the rooftops.

It was always hard for the Iranians to tell who to shoot at; sometimes there are instigators among the demonstrators planted there by the regime to create strife, and the Iranians don’t know who to shoot.

In places where confrontation is expected, and there’s a risk of them being injured, the Iranians are used to detain protesters and torture them in prisons because if they get hurt, they could be captured by the opposition and shown on TV.

What happened to the 61st Army Brigade in Daraa after it defected? Is it true that everyone was killed?

Officer: The head of the 5th squad, which the 61st Brigade is part of, was General Rifaii, who was ordered to crack down on the demonstrations and refused, and he had the support of the officers with him. President Assad himself negotiated with him, but he stuck to his position, saying that he refused to shoot at unarmed men.

They planted a trap for him. An order was then given to him to spread his troops in Daraa but not to shoot at protesters, as he wished, but then his forces were attacked by forces from the Fourth Brigade and they massacred them.

Read the whole thing.

HRW notices Hamas is not exactly acting democratically

Two statements about Hamas by HRW! It's a miracle!

A Palestinian human rights official is urging the leadership in Gaza to reverse a decision blocking eight students from traveling to the United States for university.

Rawyeh Ash-Shawwa, member of the legislative council and head of the Independent Commission for Human Rights, ... found it dumbfounding that Palestinians have battled Israel for permission to leave Gaza but remain stuck due to Hamas.

The 16-year-old students had been granted Amideast scholarships to study in the US. They will lose their scholarships if the decision is not reversed. The students have asked not to be named.

On Monday, Human Rights Watch urged Hamas to overturn the decision.

“Hamas should be encouraging young people to seek educational opportunities, not arbitrarily blocking them from traveling abroad to study,” said Joe Stork, Human Rights Watch's deputy Mideast director.

And:

Authorities in Gaza should halt interrogations, detentions, and harassment apparently aimed at intimidating civil society activists, Human Rights Watch said Monday.

"Hamas should respect their rights to freedom of expression and assembly," the group said in a report noting the arrest of youth activist Abu Yazan, who campaigned for Palestinian unity in March.

“If Hamas expects to be treated as a responsible governing authority, it should stop persecuting peaceful critics in Gaza,” said Joe Stork, deputy Mideast director at the New York-based rights group.

Of course, unlike when they want to criticize Israel, HRW waited a week or two after these stories were originally reported before making any statements.

Turkey kills 100 in Iraq. Yawn.

From The Independent:

Up to 100 Kurdish rebels have been killed in six days of air strikes on northern Iraq, Turkey's military said yesterday.

The raids are the first by Turkey in the mountains of northern Iraq in more than a year and are in retaliation for an escalation of guerrilla attacks following the collapse of efforts to negotiate a settlement to the 27-year-old conflict.

In the town of Rania, in Iraq's northern Kurdish region, relatives of seven Iraqis, including children, killed in an air strike on Sunday – the first civilian casualties since the raids began last Wednesday – questioned the Turkish tactics.

The attacks have angered residents of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, a relatively safe haven in war-torn Iraq where Turkish investors have flocked in recent years to build homes, offices and shopping malls.

"They were just farmers. They didn't cause problems for anyone. I want to ask why they were killed," said one local, Yaqub Mustafa.

As the Honest Reporting blog notes,

Now imagine if Israel had also crossed over the territory of a sovereign state and killed 100 people, including a number of civilians.

Cue front page news, expressions of outrage, calls for a Goldstone-style UN inquiry. You get the picture.

But then, Israel is held to a different standard to other nations.

It's actually worse, because Iran has shelled civilian sections of Kurdistan as well.

Wikileaks: Child marriage in Israel (updated)

Last night, Wikileaks released some 35,000 new cables.

Most of them are incredibly boring, very few are classified or secret.

Here's an unclassified 2005 cable that is interesting, though:

The Executive Director of the NCC described early marriage as "not a significant problem in the general Israeli population," but "significant" among minority groups such as Muslims, certain ultra-Orthodox Jewish sects, and new immigrants from Ethiopia and the Islamic states in the FSU.

According to the Government's Central Bureau of statistics, 47 boys 17 years of age or younger married in 2002, 30 from the Jewish sector and 17 from the Muslim sector. ... During the same year, there was a total of 196 "child brides" under the age of 17, with 29 from the Jewish sector, 165 from the Muslim sector, and one from the Christian sector. The Central Bureau of Statistics highlighted that the ratio of girls in the Muslim sector who married under the age of 17 increased from 1.3 girls per 1,000 in 1995, to 6 girls per 1,000 in 2001. The ratio for girls in the Jewish sector who married under the age of 17 remained stable at 0.3 girls per 1,000. In the view of the NCC, child marriage has an adverse effect in that it influences the child's ability to continue his or her education and impedes the child's proper development. Ivri was not aware of any specific government office that is working on this issue.

No U.S.-funded initiatives exist in Israel to reduce the incidence or address the negative affects of child marriage. The NCC endorses implementation of new educational programs that target the specific at-risk populations cited above.

The highlighted statistic is incredible - a fourfold increase in Muslim child brides in only six years?

Could it be that after Oslo there was a rush to marry girls between those living in Israel and the territories so the latter could gain Israeli citizenship? I cannot imagine that this huge jump was not related to political issues as (at the time) a Palestinian Arab state seemed increasingly likely.

UPDATE: Commenter akibigman notes that during Oslo, some 130,000 Palestinian Arabs received Israeli citizenship by marrying Israeli Arabs, so my supposition makes sense.

Palestinian Arabs might lose "right to return" in UN September stunt

Fascinating:

The Palestinian team responsible for preparing the United Nations initiative in September has been given an independent legal opinion that reveals a high risk involved with its plan to join the UN.

An initiative to transfer the Palestinians' representation from the PLO to a state will terminate the legal status held by the PLO in the UN since 1975 that it is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, according to the document.

Crucially, there will no longer be an institution that can represent the inalienable rights of the entire Palestinian people in the UN and related international institutions, according to the brief.

Representation for the right to self-determination will be gravely affected, as it is a right of all Palestinians, both inside and outside the homeland, the legal opinion says. This change in status will severely disenfranchise the right of refugees to return to their homes and properties from which they were displaced.

The seven-page legal opinion, obtained by Ma'an, was submitted to the Palestinian side by Guy Goodwin-Gill, a professor of public international law at Oxford University and a member of the team that won the 2004 non-binding judgement by the International Court of Justice that the route of Israel's wall was illegal.

The Palestinian team, headed by Saeb Erekat, has been preparing an initiative that involves the replacement of the PLO at the UN, substituting it with the State of Palestine as the representative of the Palestinian people.

...Particularly crucial is the scholar's conclusions about the implications of the plan to substitute PLO representation in the UN with the Palestinian state for the Palestinians in the Diaspora. The majority of the Palestinian people are refugees, and all of them are represented by the PLO through Palestinian National Council.

"They constitute more than half of the people of Palestine, and if they are 'disenfranchised' and lose their representation in the UN, it will not only prejudice their entitlement to equal representation, contrary to the will of the General Assembly, but also their ability to vocalise their views, to participate in matters of national governance, including the formation and political identity of the State, and to exercise the right of return," the legal briefing says.

Which means that the September stunt will have to either be modified so that the PLO remains the "sole representative of the Palestinian people" - making the declaration of a state even more meaningless than it is - or the fake state will further erode the rights of the Palestinian Arabs who live outside the land.

The part that is left unsaid: The PLO, led by Mahmoud Abbas and previously by Yasir Arafat, has done literally nothing to advance the rights of Palestinian Arabs living in Arab nations. In fact, they have acted to further disenfranchise them in order to use them as pawns to pressure Israel. The idea that the PLO actually represents average Palestinian Arabs, many of whom want to move on with their lives with dignity in their host countries, is a joke.

The legal opinion and the lawyer that Ma'an quotes afterwards know quite well that their goal is to destroy Israel demographically, and this stunt can make that less likely in their minds.

That's their real concern, not the "rights" of the Palestinian Arabs who have been stepped on in the name of "Palestinian unity" for decades.

(h/t T34)

Egypt to crack down on terrorists infiltrating from Gaza

Media Line reports on the burgeoning trade in smuggling people from Gaza to Egypt:

The much anticipated opening of the Rafah terminal – the single crossing point for people between Gaza and the outside world - whet their taste for travel without sating it. As a result, demand to get people over the border into Egypt and back has swelled. Tunnel operators say business is strong again, giving them the incentive to keep their underground passages open and maybe even expand them.

“Tunnels that smuggle people weren’t popular before and there were only one or two of them.

But since there’s no point in sending goods through them, many of us are thinking about switching to smuggling people,” [tunnel operator Abu]Ola told The Media Line. “We don’t even need to smuggle cars anymore, because Israel is letting cars enter Gaza. Rafah is messed up, so many people are resorting to tunnels to get in and out of here.”

That’s good news for tunnel entrepreneurs like Ola as well as the many Gazans with legitimate reasons to travel, whether they are family members seeking to be reunited or someone in need of urgent medical care. But it’s bad news for Israel, which believes the attack on its border with Egypt last week that left eight dead was the work of terrorists smuggled out of Gaza through one of the underground passages.

The thriving tunnel business, together with the growing lawlessness in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula adjacent to Israel and Gaza, has made it easier than ever for gunmen to cross the border with weapons and supplies. Israeli officials say that last week’s attacks, which occurred some 180 kilometers (110 miles) from the Gaza Strip, could have only succeeded if the perpetrators travelled from Gaza through Egypt to the Israeli border.

As a result, Arabic media is reporting that Egypt plans to map all the tunnels in Rafah in preparation of their closure:

Security has been tightened in the city of Rafah, at the main entrance of the crossing and nearby areas, as well as intense inspections for those in transit to and from the crossing, as part of the security crackdown carried out by the Egyptian army on vital installations in the northern Sinai.

Egypt had coordinated with the government of Hamas in the Gaza Strip to prevent the infiltration of individuals from both sides, while in pursuit of those who may be involved or participated in acts of sabotage in the Sinai.

A statement issued by a number of tribal elders in Sinai called on Hamas to prevent the infiltration of people from Gaza, and said that any Palestinian infiltrators will be handed over to Egyptian security authorities.

Honor killing in Gaza

From Ma'an:

A man in the northern Gaza Strip fatally shot his daughter on Wednesday morning, police said.

Locals said the girl was shot inside the family home in Jabalia, adding that her father was recently released from prison in Gaza.