The intra-Hamas split gets more obvious

On Friday, reports emerged of Hamas officially severing ties with the Assad regime:

Hamas has thrown its political clout behind an uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Palestinian Islamist group's longtime patron and host, a shift that cracks a formidable alliance and further widens the Middle East's sectarian divide.

Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, told worshipers at Cairo's Al Azhar mosque during Friday prayers that the political party and militia was supporting the uprising against Mr. Assad, calling the revolutionaries "heroic," according to the Associated Press.

What reporters didn't notice was how unusual it was that Ismail Haniyeh, and not Khaled Meshal, was making this statement.

After all, Meshal is Hamas' political leader. Haniyeh is supposed to only be the leader of Hamas in Gaza.

Yet Haniyeh has gone on three trips outside Gaza in the last couple of months, acting each time more and more like he is truly the leader of Hamas and that Meshal is a figurehead, not the other way around.

Meshal is the one whose headquarters, at least nominally, was in Syria, even though he has avoided his Damascus office for months now. Haniyeh's populist speech in Cairo, with the Muslim Brotherhood, seems to have been calculated to pull the rug out from under Meshal's careful balancing act between his Damascus sponsors and the Arab world that supports the opposition.

Yesterday, Meshal's deputy confirmed the split:

The Hamas leadership has left its longtime base in Syria because of the regime's crackdown on opponents there, the No. 2 in the Islamic militant movement said in an interview Sunday at his new home on the outskirts of Cairo.

Still, Hamas officials long played down reports of the movement's exodus from Syria.

Abu Marzouk noted Sunday that Hamas still has offices in Syria, but acknowledged that "practically, we are no longer in Syria because we couldn't practice our duties there."

Abu Marzouk has moved to a cottage on the outskirts of Cairo where he uses the second floor as an office. Previously, under the Israeli and Egyptian embargo on the Gaza Strip, only those with Gaza residency could live there, and many top Hamas leaders lived outside of the small, coastal enclave.

He said Mashaal and his aides have moved to Doha. Another Hamas official said this week that Mashaal twice turned down recent requests to meet with Assad and eventually decided to leave Syria.

"Our position on Syria is that we are not with the regime in its security solution, and we respect the will of the people," Abu Marouk said.

This doesn't sound like the fire-and-brimstone opposition to Assad that Haniyeh called for. This sounds more like an attempt by the political wing of Hamas to avoid the appearance of a split and to salvage Meshal's leadership while not quite burning bridges with Damascus.

This weekend, Ismail Haniyeh has catapulted himself into becoming Hamas' recognized leader even in the international political arena. The "Doha Declaration" between Abbas and Meshal is all but meaningless in the face of Haniyeh's (and Mahmoud Zahar's) opposition and Meshal's increasing irrelevance.

A similar analysis was done by Ehud Yaari in The Times of Israel with lots of good detail:

Hamas’s no longer undisputed leader Khaled Mashaal is now in deep trouble. ...

Abandoning their secure base in Damascus without being able to obtain an alternative safe haven, the “External Leadership” of Hamas is fast losing ground in its ongoing rivalry with the “Internal Leadership” centered in the Gaza Strip. Mashaal is no longer in sole control of the movement’s purse strings, since contributions from Tehran were reduced. He no longer enjoys the recognition of Syria, Iran and Hezbollah in his supremacy within Hamas.

...And so, earlier this month, Mashaal resorted to a sudden dramatic exercise: On February 6 in Doha he signed — under the auspices (and financial incentives) of the Emir of Qatar — an agreement with the Palestinian Authority’s Mahmoud Abbas to form a “temporary” technocrats’ Unity Government, with Abu Mazen himself as prime minister.They also agreed to postpone general elections without fixing a specific date.

This was a bombshell! Mashaal has agreed, at least implicitly, to make a major concession: to dismantle Hamas’ s own government in Gaza, which has ruled the Strip for the last five years, and to allow the PA administration (and security services?) to resume control over the different ministries. He seemed to be sacrificing Hamas’s autonomous enclave in the hope that, at an unspecified date, Hamas might win in the ballot boxes.

Furthermore, Mashaal made a few statements recommending “popular struggle” — which is the code for unarmed confrontation — against Israel. This was perceived as meaning he was willing to suspend use of bullets and rockets, contrary to Hamas’s traditional devotion to the concept of “armed resistance.” He also expressed acceptance of a Palestinian state within 1967 boundaries, although he stressed that there would be no peace or recognition of The Zionist Entity and the goal will remain the destruction of Israel. To many in Hamas, Mashaal sounded as if he was diverting to a dangerous course in an effort to adjust to the Arab Spring, handing their Fatah rivals an easy victory.

A chorus of protests by the Gaza leaders — not to mention by the West Bankers — immediately erupted. Mashaal was accused of acting behind the back of the Hamas institutions and deviating from the adopted policies. Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar, an old foe of Mashaal’s, took the lead in public, but many joined him during the closed doors sessions of Hamas meetings in Khartoum and then in Cairo.The plan to appoint Abbas as prime minister was described as “unconstitutional.”

Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister of the Hamas government in Gaza, embarked on a tour of several Arab countries avoiding any hint of support for the Doha Agreement. Then he ignored warnings by the Gulf states and the Moslem Brotherhood and paid a widely publicized visit to Iran, kissing and hugging Supreme Leader Khamenei, and asking for direct financial assistance to Gaza. On his return to Cairo, incidentally, the crowd at al-Azhar mosque Friday prayer cheered him by shouting “Down with Iran, Down with Hezbullah!”…..

And so, right now, the ever-negotiated reconciliation process between Hamas and Fatah is again bogged down. Abbas insists on the implementation of the deal cut with Mashaal. The majority of Hamas leaders demand “amendments” to the Doha Agreement. Maintaining exclusive security control over the Strip is definitely a Hamas condition now, as is a demand for veto power over the appointment of all ministers.

The two parties keep conferring in Cairo but so far cannot agree on a visit of Abbas in Gaza. The internal debate within Hamas has been brought to the surface.

The movement has lost the pretense of cohesion. The battle over command and direction is on.

(h/t EBoZ)

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Abbas makes another threat. Yawn.

From Ma'an:

The Palestinian Authority is planning to reconsider its security, political and economic agreements with Israel in the coming days, a PLO official said on Sunday.

After exploratory talks with Israel ended without agreement, the PLO Executive Committee has agreed to take a number of measures to jolt the current stalemate.

In an interview with Egyptian channel CBC on Friday, President Mahmoud Abbas said the PA was planning a "major decision" in no more than 10 days, in response to the talks' failure.

Now, where have we heard this before?

A few months ago, I noted:

Palestinian Arab media are buzzing about a dark hint that Mahmoud Abbas gave in an interview with an Egyptian newspaper that he will reveal something "important and dangerous" that is happening soon.


There is some speculation that when the UN Security Council bid for statehood is defeated, and because of the inability of Fatah to successfully negotiate any elections with Hamas, together with Abbas' repeated promises not to run in any new elections for president of the PA, that Abbas may dissolve the PA altogether.


In fact, Saeb Erekat hinted at this yesterday, telling Palestine Radio "Either there is power to the movement of Palestinians from occupation to independence, or Netanyahu has to assume [Israel's] responsibilities seriously from the river to the sea."

Before that, in 2010:

A senior Palestinian official warned the Palestinians may break their agreements with Israel if it continues with its current policies.

The senior adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas warned Palestinians cannot "remain committed to agreements that were signed with Israel forever."

It used to be that Abbas would threaten to resign, which he did repeatedly, when things didn't go his way.

He's still there.

This is the PLO version of politics: try to get a frightened West to put pressure on Israel by pushing empty threats.

If the PLO would decide to abrogate existing agreements, then the autonomy they have achieved would be gone. The situation that Abbas characterized in 2009 as "in the West Bank we have a good reality...the people are living a normal life" - would disappear.

Now, we have seen only in recent weeks that Hamas is willing to gamble with the well-being of the people under their control in order to make a political move - in that case, to pressure Egypt to provide power to Gaza - but Hamas' hold on power is unassailable. Abbas and his Fatah movement are not going to throw away their power - especially their security forces.

Abbas is good at threats. That's about all he is good at. He sure isn't interested in building a real state and making hard decisions.

(h/t CHA)

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Tempest in a Wikipot: Did Israel destroy Iran's nuclear program?

From The Times of Israel, also reported elsewhere:

Israeli agents collaborating with Kurdish operatives destroyed Iran’s nuclear infrastructure last year, according to an unnamed Israeli intelligence source cited in communiques between intelligence analysts uncovered by Wikileaks on Monday.

The leaked emails also contain assessments that Europeans want a military strike against Tehran to divert attention from the euro crisis and that Henry Kissinger believes a panicking Israel will indeed attack the Islamic regime.

On November 7, 2011, a Stratfor analyst reported on a conversation he had with an Israeli intelligence agent. The analyst, Benjamin Preisler, said that the source — whose reliability the company was “still testing” — was asked what he thought of reports that Israel was planning a military strike on Iran.

“I think this is a diversion,” the source said, according to Preisler’s email. “The Israelis already destroyed all the Iranian nuclear infrastructure on the ground weeks ago. The current ‘let’s bomb Iran’ campaign was ordered by the EU leaders to divert the public attention from their at home financial problems.”

Replying to Preisler’s email, several senior analysts at Stratfor expressed doubt about that scenario.

“Would anyone actually accept that this could let the Europeans forget about the Euro crisis, something they have been experiencing every day for over a year?!” wrote Sydney-based Chris Farnham.

Two days later, Farnham sent another email, saying that the Israeli agent’s information “seems like quite a stretch however it has been put out there for some reason or another and is now playing in to what we are seeing.”

According to Farnham, the Israeli agent was asked to clarify what he meant when he said that Israel destroyed the Iranian nuclear infrastructure.

The agent answered: “Israeli commandos in collaboration with Kurd forces destroyed few underground facilities mainly used for the Iranian defense and nuclear research projects.”

Farnham further writes that if a direct military confrontation erupts between Jerusalem and Tehran, an Israeli attack on Iran would last “only 48 hours but will be so destructive that Iran will be unable to retaliate or recover and the government will fall. It is hard to believe that Hamas or Hezbollah will try to get involved in this conflict.”

He added, “Even if the Israelis have the capabilities and are ready to attack by air, sea and land, there is no need to attack the nuclear program at this point after the commandos destroyed a significant part of it.”

This is a non-story.

When you actually look at the email threads that have been leaked, you see that this is just a bunch of analysts, of varying skill levels, bouncing scenarios and ideas off each other. And to be honest, they don't sound all that well-informed.

In this case, one person heard what can only be described as an unsubstantiated rumor from an untested Israeli source. The others are skeptical but they consider what it might mean if it is true.

To give an informal email thread like this credence is exactly as stupid as to trust a blogger who claims to have inside information from his own unnamed and unknown Israeli security source.

Stratfor does some good analysis, but there is a reason why it is good - because their experts sift through the garbage to find things that are hidden. But whether you are a private intelligence enterprise, a reporter or a blogger, before you publicize things you build a case from multiple sources. A scenario like this one requires some corroboration. And none was given, which is why the story was ever not released by Stratfor.

Put it this way: Imagine how much more money Stratfor could have made had this panned out and they were the first to publicize it! They would have clients willing to pay millions for such great insider information.

But Stratfor apparently looked at this single factoid, tossed it around, and properly dropped it as not reliable. Which is something that the news media should make clear as well.

This entire episode is, to put it mildly, stupid. An unsourced, unverified claim is no more credible when it is leaked from an email chain from Stratfor or when it is reported on Facebook. It should be treated with an equal amount of skepticism.

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Morning links

There are now some 80,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan, a much higher number than previously admitted.

From Facebook to the Arab League in four days

An incredible chain of events has recently played out in the Middle East, demonstrating the lengths to which opinion-shapers and politicians in the Arab world will go to demonize Israel.

The IRS distinguishes between New Israeli Shekels, and those remarkably similar shekels used in Jerusalem. There is a serious money-making opportunity there for foreign exchange traders!

Trying to give respectability to the one-state solution at Harvard, by Richard Cravatts (Times of Israel)

Palestinian Hunger Striker Khader Adnan Is No Hero, by David Keyes (Daily Beast)

The American Zionist Movement is holding a conference that looks interesting in Manhattan next month.

(h/t Shlomedic, Challah Hu Akbar, Yoel)

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Hamas issues arrest warrant to rights activist

His crime? Correctly blaming the fuel crisis on Hamas!

The director of a Gaza-based human rights organization said Sunday that he received an arrest warrant from the Hamas government, after he criticized the state-run energy authority.

Al-Dameer director Khalil Abu Shamala, who is also a member of the public freedoms committee, said the arrest warrant included accusations from the Hamas-run energy authority that he had blamed them for the current energy crisis in Gaza.

It also said that he had created a rift amongst citizens, as well as threatening the security of the authority.

Here is the major reason why the media has been reluctant to point out Hamas' hypocrisy in refusing to accept fuel coming through Kerem Shalom, something that was routine until a year ago.

They don't want Hamas to attack their employees.

Hey, Hamas intimidation works. That's why they do it.

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Media bias: AP awards Palestinian Arabs their state

Some bias in the middle of an AP article by Mohammed Daraghmeh:

It appears unlikely Israel's government would permit campaigning in east Jerusalem, one of three war-won territories that, along with the West Bank and Gaza, is to make up a Palestinian state.

Forget negotiations! AP has declared that everything beyond the Green Line is going to be part of the Palestinian state, no matter what. If they insist on it, they must get it all.

Is it any wonder why newspapers are going down the drain?

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Jews are Judaizing Jerusalem?

From AFP:

Qatar urged the United Nations on Sunday to investigate Jewish settlement expansion in annexed Arab east Jerusalem, warning that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories was unacceptable.

“We must act quickly to stop the Judaization of Jerusalem,” said Qatar’s emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, in his opening remarks at the International Conference on Jerusalem in Doha.

In his remarks, Sheikh Hamad called on the U.N. to “investigate the measures Israel has taken to Judaize Jerusalem since its occupation in 1967.”

He said such an investigation would constitute the first step towards “forcing Israel to reverse those measures.”

One cannot Judaize Jerusalem any more than one can wet water.  Jerusalem is Jewish through and through. Every stone is infused with holiness because of its Jewish past. Its sacredness to other religions is but a weak echo of the holiness it has been given by Jewish kings and prophets, prayers and tears.

The Muslim claim to the city, by comparison, is a poor attempt at a joke. There are no historic Muslim poems, songs, or prayers that extol the beauty or exhibit love for Jerusalem. The Muslim attitude towards Jerusalem is entirely derivative; it is not love but jealousy of the undeniable Jewish character of the city - a character that even today Muslims try desperately to erase, and miserably fail.

The centrality of Jerusalem to the Jewish nation was known to all before Mohammed was born, and it will remain past the time that Islam has been reduced to dust.

Compared to centuries of tradition, generations of veneration, and the yearnings of millions, the depraved braying of a Qatari ass is utterly inconsequential.

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The professor who pushes anti-Israel propaganda (Algemeiner)

My latest piece for The Algemeiner is online:

[Professor Amy] Kaplan accepts the premise of the question, that it is desirable to try to insert anti-Israel material into every class, but she notes that some courses (like biology or calculus, perhaps) do not lend themselves to such blatant propagandizing. However, she goes on, there is nothing to stop an intrepid teacher from not only injecting anti-Israel content into courses about literature and culture, but dedicated anti-Israel activist/teachers can actually create courses with that purpose in mind.

Read the whole thing.

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Hamas starts campaign for female students to wear veils

The Hamas Ministry of Education in cooperation with the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Islamic Bloc student arm of Hamas has launched a campaign to encourage young women to wear veils.

The campaign was launched at the Ramla Girls' School east of Gaza City.

The campaign "seeks to instill virtuous Islamic values in the hearts of students, to feed their minds and souls and spirit with Islamic morality and ideas."

The Ministry of Religious Affairs is sending preachers to hold a number of seminars and religious lectures for the success of the campaign, praising the efforts of the girls of the Islamic bloc.

Here's the logo for the campaign:

How long until this "campaign" turns into law?

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Hamas prisoners in PA prisons started a hunger strike

In the wake of what is widely  perceived as Israel caving to Islamic Jihad terrorist Khader Adnan's hunger strike, four Hamas members started their own hunger strike in Junaid Prison, Nablus - against the PA.

They claim they were supposed to be released by now.

Two of them were apparently arrested for political reasons last September.

It will be interesting to see if the international community will show the same outrage against the PA as it did towards Israel for Islamic Jihad terrorist leader Khader Adnan's detention.

In related news, Ahlam Tamimi - the Sbarro's bomber who was among those released for Gilad Shalit - said in Amman yesterday that hunger strikes were a tactical move that will continue for at least two months, until April 17th, which is "Palestinian Prisoners' Day," for the purpose of reinstating prisoner privileges that had allegedly been denied since last year.

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Islamic Jihad releases a book on how to fight Israel

Islamic Jihad's Al Quds Brigades' Media Division has just published an e-book on how to fight Israel.

It is titled, simply, "Fight."

It supposedly documents how the Zionist mind works and how to defeat it.

A spokesman said "The book increases the awareness of all the jihadist Mujahideen on the land of Palestine, led by the Mujahideen of Al-Quds Brigades, in order to prepare the psychological and logistical support based on sound science to confront and defeat the Zionist army." Thousands of copies were distributed to all members of Islamic Jihad.

You can download it here.

It is hard to use translation tools on the PDF file (the text is reversed) but the book seems to be heavy on coming up with ways to destroy Israel's morale.

Remember that Islamic Jihad has courted recently by Fatah as part of "unity" talks.

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The return of the "apartheid week" cult (National Post)

From Jonathan Kay at the National Post (Canada):

In Syria, the Assad regime continues to rain artillery on rebel positions in the city of Homs, killing journalists and innocent civilians alike. Iran’s mullahs are set to execute a Canadian citizen for the crime of operating a web site they don’t like. The new Libyan regime is torturing Gaddafi loyalists. And Egypt’s rulers are prosecuting NGO leaders on trumped-up charges. And so next week, Canadian left-wing activists will congregate in Toronto to express their hatred of … you guessed it: Israel.

The events of March 5-9 will take place as part of the 8th annual Israel Apartheid Week (IAW), and will feature presentations such as “Cutting the Ties to Israeli Apartheid: Cultural and Academic Boycott,” and “Rhymes Of Resistance And The Sounds Of Existence — with poets Remi Kanazi, Red Slam and Chand-nee.” The IAW website is full of the usual rhetoric about Israel’s “criminal” actions. There is not a word of acknowledgement about how utterly ridiculous it is to run a week-long event vilifying Israel when right next door in Syria, the government has just exterminated more Arabs than were killed in both Intifidas, the 2008 Gaza conflict, and the 2006 Lebanon war combined.

The timing of IAW this year truly does represent something of a farce. The eyes of the entire world are focused on Syria and the Strait of Hormuz. Even West Bank Palestinians themselves now seem more concerned with building up their economy than with grand international gestures aimed at the Jewish state. And in the “occupied” Golan Heights, Druze Muslims have been stirring — not against Israel, but against the Assad regime that many once looked to for “liberation.” In the streets of Cairo, Sana’a and Tunis, no one is talking about Israel — only about when they will get the democracy they were promised. Only among cultish, single-minded anti-Israel activists has the news of the Arab Spring failed to circulate.

The word “cultish” is used here advisedly — because even some veteran anti-Israel activists are getting tired of the false mantras that circulate at IAW events. This includes no less an anti-Zionist than Norman Finkelstein (who has called Israel a “vandal state” that “relentlessly and brutally and inhumanly keeps these vicious, murderous wars”). Speaking to an interviewer earlier this month, he attacked the animating philosophy behind IAW — the movement for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel (BDS) — as a “cult,” and an unsuccessful one at that.

National Post editorial writers have attended BDS events here in Toronto, and they all contain the same rousing assurances that the BDS movement will bring Israel to its knees. The self-consciously enforced spirit of viva la revolución solidarity that permeates these rallies reminds one of communist rallies in the days before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Year after year, we hear the same clichés about how the BDS movement is on the cusp of victory. Yet the Israeli economy continues to prosper, and the only groups that have fallen into line with the boycott call are scattered NGOs and low-tier universities. “All [the BDS] claims about ‘victories’ [against Israel]: These 10 fingers more than suffice to count their victories,” Mr. Finkelstein said this month. “It’s a cult. The guru says: ‘We have all these victories,’ and everyone nods their head.”...

IAW and BDS are not what they seem: As some of Israel’s own fiercest critics themselves now admit, these are dishonest cults meant to enlist ill-informed activists in a campaign to destroy the Jewish state.

Don't forget if you are involved in any IAW counter-protests that you may use my posters freely (photos appreciated!)



(h/t Ian)

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Video of stoning attacks on Israeli cars

Here is video of the vicious stone attacks on Zehava Weiss and others' cars in Beit Ummar last week:



Apparently, because AP And AFP uncharacteristically released good photos of the incident, prompting Israeli media to cover the story, Channel 10 in Israel managed to find an actual videotape (since many reporters were there waiting for cars with Israeli plates to be stoned, some with video.) I don't know which service took this video.

Chances are that the tape would never have been released if it wasn't for the publicity. It isn't newsworthy on its own.

Yesterday, the uber-moderate PA prime minister Salam Fayyad described incidents such as these as "non-violent."

(h/t Israellycool)

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Abbas inciting Arabs in Doha with bald-faced lies about Jerusalem

There is a conference in Doha this weekend called the "International Conference on Jerusalem." Participants include some of the most extreme Israel-haters on the planet, including Knesset members Haneen Zoabi, Ibrahim Sarsur, Jamal Zahalka, and members of Neturei Karta. Also there are representatives from UNRWA and other UN agencies as well as many prominent Arabs.

One keynote speech was given this morning by Mahmoud Abbas, and it proves yet again what a liar and inciter he really is.

Among his statements:

The Israeli occupation authorities, using the ugliest and most dangerous methods, are accelerating in an unprecedented way the implementation of plans ...to erase and remove the Arab-Islamic and the Christian character of East Jerusalem.

The occupying power is attempting to change the parameters and the structure of the Maqdisi scene the smallest details, believing they can wipe from the memory of the world and consciousness that are immediately evoked by the name of Jerusalem the image of the shimmering golden dome Dome of the Rock, the remarkable image of the juxtaposition of the brotherhood of the minarets of mosques and the domes of the churches, in the shadow of the city walls that are witness to the history and memories and facts, and the illusion that they are able to replace them, and bring a different scene serving illusions of superstition and arrogance of power, and they are by virtue of brute force that are able to invent history and install their allegations, and the abolition of facts, religious and historical.

Hurva before its destruction in 1948

Abbas here is not claiming that the Jews are trying to destroy the Dome of the Rock. He is referring to the building of synagogues in the Old City, specifically the Hurva. When the Hurva was rebuilt and dedicated, on the exact spot that it had been destroyed by Jordanian troops along with some fifty other Jerusalem synagogues in 1948, the major objection by Palestinian Arabs was that - given that the Jewish Quarter is on a hill - the Hurva's dome is taller than that of the Dome of the Rock. (Islamic law says that the tallest structure in a city must be a mosque.)

So now photos of the skyline of the Old City prominently show a synagogue, just as they did before 1948. This is what Abbas is objecting to, as he hypocritically is claiming that Israel is fabricating history of the city. And he himself is now claiming that Jerusalem historically only had churches and mosques - but no synagogues. In other words, the liar Abbas is trying to destroy the Jewish character of Jerusalem, today, while he falsely claims that Israel is destroying its Christian and Muslim character.

Since the occupation authorities to remove the Mughrabi neighborhood after the 1967 war in the Old City of Jerusalem, they still continue to demolish houses that carry symbolic importance, such as historic generosity of the Mufti and others, and build settlements in more than one site on land confiscated from the citizens of the holy city.

Israel demolished the area in front of the Kotel in 1967 in order for Jews to be able to worship there, as the Arab homes there would have made that impossible. Here is how Israel's UN representative described the area at the time in response to similar complaints by Jordan:

The Jordanian Government deliberately profaned the sacred character of the Wall by erecting adjacent to it structures of secular services, warehouses and toilets, and converting its immediate precincts into a slum. It accordingly became essential to remove these installations and restore the dignity and the sanctity of the Holy Place as a very first step after the battles in Jerusalem had ceased. Moreover, archaeological excavations are being conducted in order to remove part of the earth and refuse that have accumulated at the Western Wall in the course of time and which cover its lower layers. This is a proper archaeological operation, and it is being conducted in a way that assures that nothing will damage the Wall or jeopardize its character as a Holy Place or impair in any way the Haram esh-Sharif area situated beyond the Wall.
It is to be noted that the Western Wall is a recognized antiquity and was treated as such also by the Mandatory Government, which also assumed responsibility for its maintenance and upkeep.

...The contention in the letter of the Permanent Representative of Jordan that "the Wailing Wall and the entire adjacent area are an integral part of Al-Haram esh-Sharif" is a wilful attempt to confuse the issue. The Mughrabi Quarter, consisting of a group of dwelling houses, to which the letter of the Permanent Representative of Jordan makes particular reference, is not a holy site. It faces the Wall but is also entirely separate from it. Its status is no different from that of secular property, whether or not owned by religious institutions as a source of income, in any other city in the world.

No modern civilized Government or municipal administration would have tolerated the slum conditions which the Jordanian Government created in this Quarter. One of the first things which the Government of Israel had to do was to embark on a programme of urban improvement, which included resettling the unfortunate inhabitants of this Quarter in respectable conditions.

The Mufti reference is to the Shepherd Hotel, an eyesore that was purchased legally by a Jew and whose only historic importance is the fact that is was once owned by an unabashed anti-semite.

Abbas goes on:

[The occupation wants to] carry out continued excavations that threaten to undermine Al-Aqsa Mosque, in order to extract evidence that supports the Israeli version of Judaism. They failed miserably, but that did not prevent her from implementation of all that would create a Jewish character to the city, ... the preparation of models of what they call the Temple in order to build on the ruins of Al Aqsa, to the establishment of a so-called biblical garden at the expense of the lands and houses of Jerusalem.

Here Abbas is stating as fact that Israel plans to destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque, a lie designed to incite Muslims to rise up against Jews.

He is also lying in saying that Israeli archaeological work has not found any evidence of Jewish history in Jerusalem. In fact, the most important findings in recent years came not from Israeli digs - but from sifting the discarded remains of the disgusting wanton destruction of priceless artifacts by the Waqf on the Temple Mount, in the news again today. Beyond that there have been exciting findings nearly every week that prove beyond all doubt the ancient Jewish character of the city - as if that is even in dispute by anyone.

The occupation authorities carried out ethnic cleansing, with all that entails, against the Palestinian citizens, to make them at best a minority in their city, their resident status only for strengthening the Jewish presence to build more settlements.

Of course, Jews have formed the majority of Jerusalem's population since the mid-1800s. And there is no "ethnic cleansing" - there are more Arabs in Jerusalem now than at any time in history.

The occupation authorities work through the impoverishment of the holy city and the destruction of its infrastructure and hit its economy, which has always been in all ages the booming center and head of economic activity and tourism, medical, educational, and an incubator for cultural, intellectual and artistic endeavors in Palestine.

In 1967, the eastern part of Jerusalem was essentially a neglected slum. There was even a UNRWA refugee camp called Mascar in the old Jewish quarter that UNRWA closed - in 1965! - because conditions there were so horrendous and unsanitary.

Between 1948 and 1967, Jerusalem was a neglected backwater of the Arab world. There were essentially no Muslim pilgrims going there. And while thousands of Christians would indeed visit Jerusalem every Easter, that number increased dramatically after Israel regained possession of the holy city.

Abbas is pushing lies and incitement, and his speech is filled with hypocrisy about things like freedom of worship when he would ban (or, at best, severely restrict) Jews from ever visiting their holy sites in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron and elsewhere if given half a chance.

This speech reveals the ugly face of Mahmoud Abbas and how he is not interested in peace or co-existence at all, let alone the truth.

(h/t Alex for link to program)

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Gazans fight over - Farmville

According to Palestine Press Agency, a Gazan man walked into a police station complaining that a neighbor had stolen a sheep on his farm. The police took down all the information and went to question his friend, who denied the theft.

It took a few minutes for the police to realize that the theft happened in cyberspace, within the popular Facebook game, either Farmville  or a variant (in Arabic, "Happy Farm," which is the name of a popular Chinese version.)

In another incident, a fight broke out between two brothers in Gaza over the same game, causing injuries, and neighbors had to separate them.

Naturally, the story has to include the obligatory section saying that the reasons Palestinian Arabs are so addicted to Farmville is because of the crippling Israeli "occupation."

If that is true, then why are tens of millions of others hooked on these games as well? Has Israel managed to occupy the world?

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Hamas still holding Gaza hostage by refusing fuel shipments

From Ma'an:

The Gaza Strip has not received enough fuel to resume normal electricity levels, a Gaza energy official told Ma'an on Saturday.

The deal as described by al-Nunu includes longer-term measures to increase the capacity of the power plant and link Gaza's electricity grid to Egyptian infrastructure. The shorter-term requirement is the delivery of fuel into Gaza, but a disagreement on the route of the fuel still appeared to be pending agreement.

Egypt wants to stop the use of underground tunnels for delivery of Egyptian fuel purchased by Palestinian authorities, and has severely reduced supply through the tunnel network, prompting the current crisis.

The Gaza government is pressing for the Rafah terminal between the countries to be equipped for fuel transfer, and is reluctant to accept fuel to be delivered via the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing.

The government fears Israel will use control of supplies to squeeze the coastal strip.

However, Rafah currently is only fitted for passengers, and its development is restricted by an agreement between Egypt, Israel and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.

"We are still waiting for the Egyptian agreement to let fuel enter Gaza officially and legally," Abu al-Amreen told Ma'an.

As I have noted several times, Israel never restricted the flow if fuel to Gaza except for logistical reasons, and was regularly supplying all of Gaza's power plant needs until January 2011 when Hamas refused the shipments.

So when you cut out all the double-talk, Hamas is less interested in helping Gazans than it is in refusing to get fuel through Kerem Shalom. Hamas is using the crisis as an excuse to gain politically - and Gazans are the ones suffering because of it. Hamas knows that if the fuel goes through Kerem Shalom, there would be no political pressure on Egypt to prioritize other delivery methods, so Hamas prefers to keep Gaza in the dark - endangering  the electric supply to hospitals, water treatment plants and other infrastructure - to get its message across.

The entire crisis is an exercise in cynicism and disregard for the lives of Gazans, and yet the world is still fooled by Hamas' subterfuge.

Do you think that "pro-Palestinian" activists would ever say a word against Hamas? Have they ever?

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The anti-Palestinian Arab nations (Algemeiner)

Continuing my experiment on writing things for others, here is an article I wrote for The Algemeiner.

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Haniyeh incites Egyptians against Israel at Al Azhar

Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh gave a speech to 3000 chanting Egyptians in the Al Azhar mosque in Cairo today.

Haniyeh said that the Egyptian revolution and the Arab spring "is the beginning of the liberation of Palestine" adding that "Palestine will be liberated through Egypt."

Haniyeh said that Hamas and the Palestinian government in Gaza are subjected to strong pressure to recognize the state of Israel, saying, "We will never recognize Israel and the resistance will continue as long as the occupation continues."

Hamas considers all of Israel to be "occupied."

The congregants in the mosque and its courtyard started chanting, saying, "the commander Ismail said he will not recognize Israel" and "We go to Al Quds, martyrs in the millions."

Haniyeh continued, saying,"Our hope is not only the independence of Palestine, but the independence of the Islamic nation [where we will] put an end to the current situation of political wilderness, cultural and foreign interference and encroachment of the Zionists."

He said that there was a Zionist plot for the Judaization of Jerusalem which wrested it from the Arab and Muslim world it belongs to, calling on Muslims to support Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem.

Hundreds of congregants chanted in response, saying, 'Khaybar Khaybar oh Jews, the army of Mohammed will return," and "We, sons of Hassan al-Banna .. Islam! Islam!" (Hassan al-Banna was the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood.)

No doubt, MEMRI will have a better translation sometime next week.

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Lebanon whines to the UN

Everything is an international incident:

Lebanon filed a complaint with the U.N. against Israel for erecting a barbed wire near the U.N.-drawn Blue Line in the town of Adaisseh, the foreign ministry announced on Friday.

The ministry said in a statement that the incident took place on Feb. 8 when Israeli forces “erected a 40-meter concertina wire near the Blue Line in the town of Adaisseh to block the road leading to the Blue Line and that crosses into a minefield.”

The complaint, which was submitted to the world body through the Lebanese mission in New York, described the Israeli move as “an infringement on Lebanese territories as well as a violation of Lebanese sovereignty, Security Council Resolution 1701, international law and the Charter of the U.N.”

It also said that the erection of the barbed wire “threatens international peace and security.”

Lebanon asked U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to take the necessary measures to end the Israeli violation, the statement added.

I cannot tell from this description that the Israeli fence is on the Lebanese side of the Blue Line.

It appears that it was built to stop people from accidentally going into a minefield.

Everything Israel does on the border is painstakingly coordinated with UNIFIL.

This complaint isn't to UNIFIL, but to the UN Secretary General.

By the way, Adaisseh is a Potemkin village.

It sounds like Lebanon is now simply making stuff up in order to complain about to feel important.

(h/t Dan)

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Admiral General Aladeen (Sacha Baron Cohen) responds to Oscar snub

From UPI yesterday:

Sacha Baron Cohen is not allowed to attend the Oscars in Los Angeles dressed as a character from his film "The Dictator," organizers said.

The British comedian and actor, known for his outrageous publicity stunts, is a cast member of Best Picture Oscar contender "Hugo," Martin Scorsese's first family flick.

The Hollywood Reporter said this week Cohen plans to attend the film industry's biggest night, dressed and acting like the bearded, Middle Eastern totalitarian ruler he plays in his upcoming comedy "The Dictator."

The academy subsequently reached out to Cohen's representatives and Paramount, the studio behind both "Hugo" and "Dictator," asking if Cohen really intends to walk the Oscar red carpet in character.

"We don't think it's appropriate," an academy spokesman told The Hollywood Reporter.

Later, it turned out that he was requested not to wear the costume from The Dictator by the Academy on the red carpet.

So Cohen released this statement, naturally in character, to respond to the "Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Zionists:"

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Jordan very nervous about Syria

Ammon News of Jordan has a couple of articles about Jordan's uneasiness with the Syrian situation.

The idea of Islamists taking over Syria is a major concern. Right now Syria is Jordan's major trading partner and many Jordanians in the north are related to Syrians. An Islamist takeover would strengthen the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, and the MB would try to unite with Jordan being between their centers of power in Syria and Egypt. It also has the potential of wrecking Jordan's already shaky economy. Syria is Jordan's gateway to Lebanon, Turkey and Eastern European markets. This is one reason why Jordan does not support economic sanctions against Syria.

On the other hand, the massacres of civilians in Syria bother most Jordanians and the government as well. King Abdullah was among the first to call for Assad to step down.

Their close ties make it inconceivable that Jordan would withdraw its ambassador, though.

Another complicating factor is that there are thousands, and perhaps tens of thousands, of Syrian refugees in Jordan now.

King Abdullah reportedly does not believe that Syria is going to fall in the short term, but another major concern is that when it does, it will become another sectarian-torn mess like Libya and Iraq.

Any way you look at it, Jordan will be in a worse situation in a couple of years than it is now - and it is not in great shape now by any means.

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Salafists terrorize Tunisian town

From Reuters:

Police in a Tunisian town used tear gas on Thursday to break up a crowd of about 200 hardline Islamists, armed with sticks, swords and petrol bombs, who set fire to a police station, witnesses told Reuters.

“The security forces are chasing about 200 Salafists armed with swords and sticks after an exchange of petrol bombs and tear gas,” resident Omar Inoubli told Reuters by telephone from Jandouba, about 160 km (99 miles) west of the capital.

“These groups set fire to a police station .... (They) are broadcasting recordings through the loudspeakers of mosques calling for jihad (holy war).”

Residents said the clashes broke out when police arrested a Salafist but tensions had been brewing between authorities and the conservative Islamists who have become more active since last year’s revolution.

“The situation has become serious in the city, which has been living in a state of terror and fear because of Salafist groups seeking to impose a strict way of life,” another witness, a woman who did not want to be named, told Reuters.

One resident said the Salafis had threatened people drinking alcohol and slapped women wearing trousers or skirts.

The Salafists, who represent a small minority of Tunisians, have profited from the new freedoms. They have attacked brothels, bars and cinemas showing films they consider to be morally suspect, and staged protests to demand an end to mixed-gender classes at universities.

While many renounce violence, some have been linked to al-Qaeda’s north African branch.

The Salafists represent an awkward problem for Tunisia's Islamist-led government.

Ennahda does not share their hardline views but if it cracks down on them, it risks alienating some of its more conservative supporters. As a result, it has been accused by secularist opponents of being too soft on the group.

"Moderate" Islamists in power, who push for a Sharia-based legal system, embolden the "radical" Islamists to throw their weight around and make people's lives hell. Who could have guessed?

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70th Anniversary of the Struma disaster

A must-read from Sarah Honig:

Exactly 70 years ago – on February 24, 1942 – 19-year-old David Stoliar terrifyingly clung to bobbing debris in the Black Sea. At first he heard screams in the frigid waters but the voices died down. It eventually emerged that Stoliar was the sole survivor of the Struma, an un-seaworthy vessel chuck-full of frantic Jewish refugees.

World War II was already in fever pitch. Against the enormity of the then-unfolding Holocaust, the loss at sea of 768 Jewish lives (103 of them babies and children) was at most blithely overlooked as a marginal annotation.

Moreover, although these Jews fled the Nazis, in the pedantic literal sense they weren’t executed by Third Reich henchmen.

This atrocity was the coldblooded handiwork of Great Britain (committed while it combated the Germans but remarkably without compassion for their Jewish victims), supposedly neutral Turkey (whose so-called nonalignment didn’t extend to outcast Jewish refugees), by the Arabs (who were openly and unreservedly Nazism’s avid collaborators and who pressured London into denying endangered Jews asylum in the Jewish homeland) and, finally, by the Russians (who targeted the immobilized sardine can that carried Jews to whom nobody would allow a toehold on terra firma).

The entire world seemed united in signaling Jews how utterly unwanted they were anywhere.
...

What sets the Struma apart and imbues it with extraordinary significance is that from December 16, 1941, until the afternoon of February 23, 1942, its ordeal was played out before the entire watching but unfeeling world. No country could deny awareness of the impending calamity and yet all countries let it happen in full view.

The Struma, then a 115-year-old Danube cattle barge, was a pitiful peanut-shell of a boat packed with nearly 800 refugees from Romania. Bound for the Land of Israel, they desperately fled Hitler’s hell and the horrors of Bucharest’s fascist regime. Pogroms and ghastly atrocities had already sullied cities like Iasi, where thousands of Jews were assembled in the market square and mowed down with machine guns. Venerable old rabbis and Jewish community leaders were impaled on meat hooks in town centers.

The Struma wasn’t struck suddenly. It was slowly tortured, accentuating with demonic deliberation how disposable Jews were, just when genocide’s monstrous machinery was switched into high gear. This 75-day shipboard melodrama underscored the total helplessness and humiliation of Jews without power.

...Oblivion is perhaps the greatest sin against the Struma but also against ourselves. If we forget the Struma, we forget why this country exists, why we struggle for its survival. We forget the justice of our cause.

Dimmed memory and self-destructive perverse morality hinder our ability to protect ourselves from the offspring and torchbearers of the very Arabs who doomed the Struma. They haven’t amended their hostile agenda. We just don’t care to be reminded.

The state the Jews created is threatened with destruction and its population with obliteration. Yet there’s negligible sympathy for Israel and even less practical support to avert tragedy. The Struma’s story is seminal in understanding why the Holocaust was possible and why a second Holocaust cannot be ruled out. More than anything, the Struma powerfully illustrates what happens when Jews rely on others’ goodwill.

Read the whole thing.

The New York Times story about the ship being blown up was buried on page 7 on February 25, 1942.

(h/t Norman)

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Extremist Muslims get their wish; riots on Temple Mount

From YNet:

Friday prayers at Jerusalem's Temple Mount turned into a scene of major riots as protesters hurled stones at security forces who in turn broke into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Hundreds of Muslim worshippers at the Mughrabi Gate hurled stones at police and Border Guard forces who raided the compound to evacuate them. No injuries or arrests were reported as of yet. Dozens are currently refusing to leave the mosque itself.

Islamist extremists have been calling for Muslims to "defend" Al Aqsa for the past couple of weeks because some Jews publicized that they would peacefully visit among the hundreds of thousands of non-Jewish visitors who visit every year.

Here is video from earlier this week as Muslims broke chairs and tables to find projectiles to hurl at Israeli police outside who were escorting peaceful visitors:



Here is the view from the outside as pieces of wood are hurled at the police from within, with the Muslims clearly starting the violence (starting around 1:15, also around 2:20). At the end you can see all the tables and chairs broken to be used as weapons.



In watching dozens of Muslim videos on the Temple Mount showing Jews "storming" the area, I have not once seen any actions by the Jewish visitors that was the least bit provocative. Invariably, they walk around quietly. But I've seen plenty of videos of Muslims hurling objects and screaming at the Jews.

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Israel building a wall along Blue Line with Lebanon

From The Daily Star (Lebanon):

Israel Thursday officially confirmed plans to construct a wall to replace the existing technical fence along the Blue Line separating Lebanon’s Kfar Kila village and the Israeli settlement of Metula.

“The IDF presented their plan to construct a wall to replace the existing Israeli technical fence. The wall will be on the line where the technical fence is at present,” UNIFIL commander Maj. Gen. Paolo Serra said following a tripartite meeting with the Lebanese and Israeli armies at the Ras al-Naqoura crossing.

Media reports emerged in early January that Israel was planning to replace the technical fence with a 5-meter-high, 1-kilometer-long security wall equipped with surveillance and alarm systems. The area has been a source of tension in the past.

Serra added that the Lebanese Army had been informed of the technical details of Israel’s plans, and that UNIFIL would now work to ensure sufficient security measures were in place during the construction process.

“UNIFIL achieved full understanding both with the LAF as well as with the IDF on the scope and technical details of the works that are to be carried out,” he said. “UNIFIL’s primary endeavor will be now to enable necessary security during the works and to ensure that there is no violation of the Blue Line in the process.”

The Muslim News (UK) adds:

Residents of the southern Lebanese towns voiced different opinions about the construction of the wall.

A restaurant owner near Fatima Gate objected to its building, saying it will “detrimentally affect tourism since many people come to the restaurant to see the occupied lands and the Israeli soldiers up close.”

A woman, whose house is a narrow road away from where the wall will be erected, hailed the project as good for her and her neighbors.

She said the wall would protect her three children from the Israeli army who might “attack at any moment” and will keep away the road dust kicked up by speeding Israeli military vehicles.

The woman's 60-year-old neighbor agreed with her, saying “it will relieve us from looking at them and their provocative behavior.”

Who knew that IDF soldiers are a Lebanese tourist attraction?

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Latest Latma

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PRC claims they shot a Grad to Urim

From Palestine Press Agency:

The Nasser Saladin Brigades, military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, on Thursday evening launched a Grad rocket towards Urim in the occupied Palestinian territories for the first time in the history of Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

A statement of the PRC was distributed to the media 'that the activists fired a Grad missile at ten o'clock in the evening towards Urim' in a campaign launched by the name of "Here we are Al Aqsa."

I'm not sure if it was the first time they attacked Urim or the first time the PRC used a Grad rocket.

The Israeli press only reported on Qassams on Thursday night.

Urim is about as far from Gaza as Ashkelon is, but to the east of Gaza. Note how they call it "occupied."

If the PRC has Grads, then Hamas allowed them to have them. The PRC is not smuggling Grad rockets without Hamas' knowledge. Chances are Hamas allowed the PRC to fire them as well.

On the more positive side:

The IDF targeted a terror cell Thursday night attempting to fire a rocket at Israel, the IDF Spokesman's Unit said.

Israel air craft struck targets in the northern Gaza Strip, thwarting the terrorists' attempts to attack Israel.

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More Hamas/Fatah "unity" woes

From AFP:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his rival Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal on Thursday postponed talks on forming a unified government, a Fatah official said, in a further delay to ending an almost five-year rift.

The official with the Abbas-led party said the talks were postponed “because Hamas continues to prevent the election committee from registering voters in Gaza,” the Islamist-ruled Palestinian territory.

He added that Hamas, which has been split internally on agreeing the unity government with the secular Fatah, has “not yet informed Abbas of its formal approval to end internal disputes on forming the government.”

Reuters reports it this way:

Hamas has set new terms for implementing a reconciliation deal with President Mahmoud Abbas's rival Fatah group, an official said on Thursday.

Abbas and Khalid Mashaal, Hamas's political chief in exile, agreed in Qatar earlier this month to form a unity government led by the Western-backed president.

But in a rift with the Islamist group's leadership outside the Gaza Strip, officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave swiftly criticized the accord, particularly its call for Abbas to serve as prime minister as well as president.

At an internal meeting chaired by Mashaal in Cairo on Wednesday, Hamas officials united behind new demands, said a Palestinian official involved in the talks. The terms seemed certain to be rejected by Abbas.

"Hamas demanded to keep the key ministries in the new government, including the ministry of interior," said the official. "It also demanded no change in the structure of security services in the Gaza Strip."

The interior ministry oversees the Hamas-run security services, and Palestinian political analyst Samir Awad said the new terms proved the group "was not prepared to abandon control of Gaza", territory it seized from Fatah in fighting in 2007.

Abbas has been seeking a unity government staffed by independents and technocrats to ensure it would not be boycotted by the West, which donates essential funds to his Palestinian Authority and refuses to deal with Hamas.

Other demands that emerged from the Cairo meeting included naming a Gaza-based deputy to Abbas and making his appointment as prime minister conditional on a vote of confidence in the Palestinian parliament.

Meanwhile, Hamas is again accusing Fatah of arresting its members in the West Bank - the one basic issue that was supposed to be resolved since May.

They are also squabbling over the Gaza power plant issue, as Hamas has bypassed the PA in order to try to secure a deal with Egypt to get a supply of cheap diesel, with Haniyeh effectively acting as if he is the head of government - after supposedly agreeing to Abbas being prime minister.

They agree on one thing, though: stopping any chance of a "Palestinian spring" against their respective leaders. They'll plan meeting after meeting and photo-ops galore for the next decade to try to fool their people that they actually care about them rather than their own hold on power, which is what prompted this whole "unity" farce to begin with.

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Lebanese columnist says Judaism is a fairy tale

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Lebanese columnist Jihad Al-Khazen, which aired on CBC TV on January 1, 2012:

Jihad Al-Khazen: In Jerusalem, there are no archeological remains of the Jews or any of their prophets. They have no history. People forget that during Yitzhak Rabin's first term in government, in the early 1980's [sic]… I was in America at the time, studying history at Georgetown University. Rabin excavated under the Haram Al-Sharif, and uncovered the remains of an Umayyad palace. There are no [Jewish] archeological remains. There is no Solomon's Temple or any other temple.

They did not enter our countries, nor did they leave them. They were never in Egypt or in the Sinai. Ask Dr. Zahi Hawwas if he has found any Jewish archeological remains in Egypt or in the Sinai. Modern historians, including some Jews, call these "Torah fairy tales."

The Islamic religion was delivered in the light of history. Divine inspiration would come to the Prophet Muhammad, and he would put it on record that same day. The Christian religion was recorded by Jesus' disciples 40 or 50 years later. They were all still alive. The Jewish religion was recorded after 1,000 years. It's like you and me discussing family tales about the Crusades. The Crusades took place 800 years ago, not 1,000 years.

This religion is a fairy tale. We must sever Islam's times with [the Jews]. Their Prophets are not the prophets of the Muslims. Islamic scholars must have the courage to show that these people are frauds. That religion cannot possibly be true.

Al-Khazen has been saying stuff like this for years. But he is a major columist for London-based pan-Arab daily Dar al-Hayat.

(h/t O)

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A poster of a hypocrite

I had already made a poster of Omar Barghouti, but he is speaking at the University of Maryland this Friday and I thought that any counter-protesters might like to give a more direct message:

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Why are London's Jews skittish about a Munich Olympics plaque?

From TheJC:

A plaque is to be unveiled in London before the start of the Olympics in memory of the 11 Israeli athletes murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the Munich Games 40 years ago.

The memorial is the initiative of two campaigners: Linda Kelly, a Conservative Jewish councillor in Hackney – one of the designated Olympic boroughs – and Martin Sugarman, chairman of the Hackney Anglo-Israel Friendship Association.

"We thought it was a travesty that none of the Olympic cities since Munich, as far as we know, had erected a plaque to commemorate the event," Mr Sugarman said.

He said that after lobbying, without success, the London Jewish Forum and other groups to take up the idea, he and Councillor Kelly decided to pursue it themselves.

"We found someone with a building who is willing to donate a plaque there," Mr Sugarman said.

The location is in Hackney but is otherwise being kept under wraps until shortly before the unveiling on July 22, the Sunday before the start of the Olympics. "We were told by the appropriate authorities we shouldn't reveal it before," he said.

The bolded sentence bothered me, so I contacted Mr. Sugarman and asked him about why the location is being kept a secret. He said that his group was keeping it under wraps, because in the UK it is obvious that such a plaque - memorializing Jews who were butchered by Palestinian Arab terrorists - would inevitably attract people who would try to disrupt the unveiling. He has an elaborate system to tell people about the ceremony at the last minute to avoid  the ceremony itself being targeted

In fact, he noted, that a Holocaust memorial in Hyde Park has been vandalized several times, and something like that is to be expected with anything that can be construed as sympathetic to Israelis or Jews. The Jews in Great Britain simply clean up the damage and move on. It is normal. He fully expects that this Munich Olympics memorial will be targeted as well in coming weeks and months, until the haters get bored.

It was astonishing to me to see how even dedicated pro-Israel and Jewish activists in England simply accept that this is the way it is. Their synagogues are fortresses and their memorials are targets.

That's life for Jews and Zionists in the bastion of liberalism and tolerance known as Great Britain.

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Israel saving the world again (well, not exactly)

Presenting AshPoopie!

AshPoopie, the brainchild of renowned biotech inventor Prof. Oded Shoseyov of the Hebrew University, is a pooper-scooper with a critical difference: After it gathers dog droppings, it turns them into odorless, sterile ash within seconds. All the dog-walker has to do is push a button to release an activation capsule from the cartridge inside the unit.

With about 75 million registered dogs in the United States and the same number in Europe, it's no surprise that some of the biggest pet product manufacturers and retailers are interested in partnerships, licensing agreements, joint ventures and sole marketing rights from the manufacturer, Ramat Gan-based Paulee CleanTec. The product will be on the market this year.

While it may not be as amazing as the many life-saving technologies that Israelis regularly dream up, this is not such a crappy idea.

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Video: Mughniya's 3-year old grandson encouraged to join resistance

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from an interview with 'Imad Mughniya, grandson of slain Hizbullah operations mastermind 'Imad Mughniya, which aired on Al-Manar TV on February 16, 2012:

Interviewer: Leaders do not die because their path lives on forever. With us in the studio is little 'Imad Mughniya, grandson of the martyr 'Imad. Good morning, 'Imad. How are you?

Grandmother: Say: "Good morning."

'Imad Mughniya: Good morning.

Interviewer: Good morning. Don't play with the microphone, 'Imad. What would you like to say to your grandpa, 'Imad?

'Imad Mughniya: I love you.

Interviewer: What's your name?

'Imad Mughniya: 'Imad Mughniya.

Interviewer: Who are you named after?

'Imad Mughniya: After grandpa.

Interviewer: What are you wearing, 'Imad?

'Imad Mughniya: Military fatigues.

Interviewer: What do you want to be when you grow up? What do you want to be when you grow up?

Family members: He will be in the resistance.

'Imad Mughniya: I will be in the resistance.

Interviewer: Like who?

Father: Say: "like grandpa."

'Imad Mughniya: Like grandpa.

Grandmother: Whose gun is this?

'Imad Mughniya: Grandpa's.

Grandmother: That's right. Who wants to hold the gun?

Interviewer: Hajj 'Imad entrusted little 'Imad with this.

Grandmother: Little 'Imad is taking the big gun. Go on.

[Lets 'Imad Mughniya play with the gun]

Interviewer: That is what Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah said, [Mughniya] left behind thousands upon thousands of soldiers… We would like to think little 'Imad.

Grandmother: Clever little 'Imad is now going to mama.

['Imad gets up and leaves the studio]

Hezbollah: Death cult.

(h/t O)

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Driver's description of the brick-throwing incident

From My Right Word, a description of the brick-throwing incident I blogged about last night by the victim:

What Happened to Me on Tuesday Last

This past Tuesday, 28 Shvat - February 21, I was returning home to Karmei Tzur from Efrat where I work.

At the Gush Etzion Junction I collected a female hitchhiker who got into a back seat since the front passenger seat was where our infant seat was affixed. What luck. While traveling between El-Aroub and Bet-Omar on the ascent I noticed a car approaching from the opposite direction with a damaged front window from a rock that must have previously landed. I naively presumed that that was the result of an old incident that hadn't yet been fixed.

When I came close to the gas station at Bet-Omar (a location that usually requires a driver's attention due to wrongly parked taxis, bypassing and pulling out into the highway in a careless manner), I observed a man running across the road from right to left. I first thought that this was a soldier with a rifle and I slowed down to grasp what was happening. I then noticed dozens of people, old, young and teenagers, congregating on my right. It then became apparent that the "soldier with a rifle" was actually a photographer with a camera. He was seeking a better picture angle to snap away at what was about to happen. On my left were at least two other photographers, waiting for the action. I should emphasize that I was not the first victim and other cars had already been stoned and so these press photographers were well aware what was happening and was about to happen to me. None of them, it seems, thought to call for assistance from the police or IDF none of whom were present.

Knowing I had no choice but to continue and surely not stop for otherwise, if I had slowed down, I would have been trapped and blocked off, the only thing in my mind was to proceed home and not get caught at that crossing. It was difficult to pass through as the rocks came from a distance of just a few feet from the car, 'zero-range' as we say. The rioters clearly could see that the car contained two young females, defenceless. We were struck by many rocks, my view was blocked by the cracked glass and I simply concentrated on getting out of there as quickly as I could. At the time, as well as at this moment of writing, I did not fully grasp the danger of our situation.

It was only when I arrived home that I realized the entire front of the car was covered with shattered glass particles including me, the infant seat, the back seat, everything. There was also damage caused to the sides of the car. At least eight large rocks and blocks had hit my car. I learned the rock-throwing continued for a good few minutes afterwards with the resulting damage to other vehicles as well as psychological damage to the drivers and passengers.

Then I had to tell my children what happened in a normal, non-hysterical fashion so as to prepare them for further conversations that they would hear from grownups talking about the incident.

This is the first time I experienced such a serious and difficult incident as this and pray it is the last. And we have been living in Karmei Tzur for the past eight years. But now I know from first-hand experience with surety that rockthrowings occur all the time, especially on Highway 60 between the Gush Etzion junction and Halhoul. My first-grade son's transportation has also been stoned.

Another point: these terrorists had no qualms about not covering their faces during their attempt at murder.

We try to overcome the fear and to live our everyday life. We are believing people, with faith. After an incident like this we will pronounce the benediction "Blessed is He who Who bestows good things on those unworthy, and has bestowed on me every goodness". We believe in goodness, and that it will overcome evil. We only pray and hope that people in Israel and around the world will finally recognize the truth, that our enemies, the Arabs who fight us wish for evil, they want destruction, while we wish for good and want peace, even with our neighbors. We wish for life.

Zehava Weiss, Karmei Tzur

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Palestinian Arab hysteria increases as Jews visit Temple Mount

The amount of incitement (and bigotry) in Palestinian Arab media about Jews visiting the Temple Mount has reached new heights in recent days.

Today, Rosh Chodesh Adar, a group of Jews peacefully went up to the Mount to visit. It was described in Palestine Today this way:

Zionist extremist groups on Thursday morning stormed the courtyards of Al Aqsa Mosque from the Mughrabi Gate, with the occupation forces protecting them.

Our correspondent in Jerusalem said that the first batch of 12 extremists stormed the mosque, under police protection of the occupation, as occupation forces arrested four young men and took guard Samer Abu Qwaider out of the Haram al Sharif courtyard.

Also another group of settlers entered into the courtyards of Haram, 9 women and 8 men, as their numbers rose to 36. The "Israel" police restricted [Muslim] worshipers entering to be 45 years old or older.

Our correspondent reports that groups of settlers are walking around in the Old City of Jerusalem and in the vicinity of the Haram, joyfully singing to bring in the Hebrew month.

Palestine Times has photos of the "usurpers" walking around:

Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh charged Israel with calling on Jews to "storm" the Mount with the goal of Judaizing Judaism's holiest site and performing religious rituals there. For some reason he also mentioned that Zionist women were allowed there; apparently this is an especially grievous sin.

What does that moderate Mahmoud Abbas, who supposedly supports full access to holy sites by everyone, have to say? Why, he implicitly threatened violence, like always!

The President condemned intrusions ongoing Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said in a press statement on Thursday, "This is a serious escalation and provocation, and completes a series of attacks by extremists on the sanctuaries of the mosques and churches, and will have serious and ominous consequences '.

Abu Rdainah said Israelis are responsible for this escalation, and demanded that the international community intervene to force the Israeli authorities to stop such provocative actions that affect the freedom of worship.

Well, the freedom for Jews to worship there is still pretty much zero.

Is today's group visit a huge provocation on the part of Israel?

Not at all.

Makor Rishon reported some statistics. In January, 1,119 Jews visited the Temple Mount. In 2011, some 9,000 Jews visited, among 370,000 tourists.

In other words, if thirty Jews visited today, that is pretty much the average number of Jews who visited every day for the past year (excluding Shabbat.)

This is a manufactured hysteria that is meant to incite Muslim Arabs against Jews and to try to pressure Israel to ban Jews from their holiest spot.

Thankfully, the Israeli police allowed Jews to visit anyway despite the rhetoric and threats.

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PLO celebrates the wedding of a murderer

Marwan Abu Rumaila, 41, is one of the murderers released during the Shalit deal. He was serving two life sentences for murder and attempted murder.

Walid Aqel, 49, is another released murderer. He was serving 16 life sentences for his part in fatal terror attacks.

Aqel and Rumalia, were deported to Turkey, along with a few other of the worst terrorists.

Rumalia just married Aqel's niece in Ankara.

Here is the wedding invitation, taken from Rumaila's Facebook page.

The wedding was a must-attend event for everyone who loves terror and terrorists.

Among the attendees was the PLO ambassador to Turkey, along with community leaders and officials.

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A popular resistance brick harmlessly hurled at evil Zionist woman

From YNet:

A teacher was on her way home to the West Bank settlement of Karmei Tzur on Tuesday when she found herself the target of a rock salvo that smashed her windshield.

Zehava Weiss, the driver, came out unscathed from an incident that has become a daily experience for residents in the region. An AFP photographer who was standing nearby captured the instance when a Palestinian boy hurled a boulder at her car.

Weiss told Ynet that she saw the car in front of her getting hit, but did not think the salvo would continue. She had no choice but to continue driving into Beit Ummar, a Palestinian town, even after she bcame the target.

"I saw crowds on my left and on my right," Weiss recalled. "I knew that something was happening, but I had to continue driving because I didn't see any cops of soldiers in the area."

Luckily, Weiss said, her car is armored, but even so "the windshield was shattered and the exterior was dented in several places. They were throwing bricks, not stones."

This wasn't Weiss' first time in an incident of this kind.

"The Palestinians love to throw stones near that spot, and at two other sites near the village," she said. "I have lived in Karmei Tzur for eight years and I can tell you that they hurl stones almost every day.

This is what Mahmoud Abbas calls "non-violent, popular resistance."

Here's my guess at the ways that the usual gang of anti-Israel idiots will use to justify or deflect from this attempted murder, if forced to comment on it at all:

1. She's a settler, so she deserves it. She's probably from Brooklyn.
2. If she wouldn't live on stolen land, she wouldn't have to worry about being attacked every day. (At least not for a couple of years, until the next phase.)
3. It's only a stone. That's nothing compared to Israeli F-15s.
4. It's only a stone. That's nothing compared to the suicide bombings that Palestinians used to do. Would you prefer those? You should be thanking the stone thrower.
5. A Jew threw the stone and the photographer was a Zionist, trying to make Palestinians look bad.
6. The occupation drives people to do something like this. End the occupation and things will be peaceful, just like they were before 1967.
7. Come on, millions of Palestinians are treated worse every day!
8. She was dressed provocatively.
9. Boys will be boys.
10. Look how settlers drive through Arab villages with bullet-proof cars, like they are better than the residents.
11. She was on her way to defile the Al Aqsa mosque.
12. This is the traditional way that Palestinians celebrate the end of hunger strikes.
13. If Palestinian Sesame Street was still being produced, kids would learn not to throw stones.
14. The UN didn't condemn it, proving this is not a big deal.
15. Of course he had to throw a brick. Her car is armored!
16. Headline: "Israeli occupation forces arrest Palestinians in Beit Ummar for no reason"
17. She deserved it. She was out alone.*
18. She deserved it. She was driving!* (Without her guardian!)

*(h/t Jewess)

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Eeeek! A Zionist! Beirut billboard bothers bozos

From The Algemeiner:

A 50 foot billboard of Academy Award winning actress Natalie Portman marketing Dior cosmetics has gone up in Lebanon’s capital city of Beirut, and anti-Israel Lebanese bloggers are not thrilled.

Portman, who is a dual American and Israeli citizen, was born in Jerusalem and grew up in New York.

“Since each contact or with an Israeli occupation in Lebanon is considered a crime, you do not think hanging a poster size of 15 meters with the Zionist Jerusalem is illegal?,” wrote one Lebanese blogger.

“Portman, who was born in Jerusalem and whose real last name is Hershlag, has spoken at length about her love for her home country and how she wants to move back there once there is peace. She is very active in Zionist groups, though she is also a human rights activist—as long as those humans aren’t Palestinians,” wrote another.

See how ugly her face becomes once you know that she is one of those - *spit* - Zionists?

The original blog post at Now Lebanon has been taken down. Pity.

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Crossing the Line: The Intifada Comes to Campus (Video)

This is a very good video, by Step Up for Israel:

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