Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Hamas celebrates 10th anniversary of Netanya Passover massacre

Hamas' Palestine Times website has a glowing tribute to the Hamas terrorist who detonated the suitcase bomb at the Park Hotel in Netanya ten years ago.

Wikipedia describes the attack:

During the Jewish holiday of Passover in 2002, Park Hotel in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya held its traditional annual Passover seder (festive religious meal) for its 250 guests, in the hotel dining room located at the ground floor of the hotel. During this holiday the hotel consisted many elderly Jews who didn't have family and relatives in Israel.

In the evening of 27 March 2002, a Palestinian suicide bomber disguised as a woman approached the hotel carrying a suitcase which contained powerful explosives. The suicide bomber managed to pass the security guard at the entrance to a hotel, then he walked through the lobby passing the reception desk and entered the hotel's crowded dining room. At 19:30 pm (GMT+2) the suicide bomber detonated the explosive device he was carrying. The force of the explosion instantly killed 28 civilians and injured about 140 people, of whom 20 were injured severely. Two of the injured later died from their wounds. Some of the victims were Holocaust survivors. Most of the victims were senior citizens (70 and over). The oldest victim was 90 and the youngest was 20 years old. A number of married couples were killed, as well as a father together with his daughter. One of the victims was a Jewish tourist from Sweden who was visiting Israel for Passover.

Hamas for some reason doesn't note that 20 of the 30 victims were over 70 years old.

Shula Abramovitch, 63, of Holon

David Anichovitch, 70, of Netanya

Alter Britvich, 88, of Netanya

Frieda Britvich, 86, of Netanya

Andre Fried, 47, of Netanya

Idit Fried, 47, of Netanya

Dvora Karim, 73, of Netanya

Michael Karim, 78, of Netanya

Eliezer Korman, 74, of Ramat Hasharon

Yehudit Korman, 70, of Ramat Hasharon

St.-Sgt. Sivan Vider, 20, of Bekaot

Ze'ev Vider, 50, of Moshav Bekaot

Ernest Weiss, 80, of Petah Tikva

Eva Weiss, 75, of Petah Tikva

Anna Yakobovitch, 78, of Holon

George Yakobovitch, 76, of Holon

Sgt.-Maj. Avraham Beckerman, 25, of Ashdod

Shimon Ben-Aroya, 42, of Netanya

Miriam Gutenzgan, 82, Ramat Gan

Amiram Hamami, 44, of Netanya

Perla Hermele, 79, of Stockholm, Sweden

Marianne Myriam Lehmann Zaoui, 77, of Netanya

Lola Levkovitch, 70, of Jerusalem

Sarah Levy-Hoffman, 89, of Tel-Aviv

Furuk Na'imi, 62, of Netanya

Eliahu Nakash, 85, of Tel-Aviv

Chanah Rogan, 90, of Netanya

Irit Rashel, 45, of Moshav Herev La'et

Clara Rosenberger, 77, of Jerusalem

Yulia Talmi, 87, of Tel-Aviv

Maybe I missed it, but I don't recall seeing any Arabs protesting against this attack, or writing anguished op-eds about how a fellow Muslim could have done such a thing. No Arab groups popped up on college campuses calling for solidarity with Jews against terror. There were no UN resolutions condemning the massacre.

But there was a PA-sponsored soccer tournament in Tulkarem named after the suicide bomber.

Hamas' jihad against Gaza taxi drivers

When you already control the press, the schools, the mosques, the trade unions, and every public gathering, what is here left to do to stop any vestige of freedom of expression?

Why, the taxi drivers!

Police in Hamas-ruled Gaza have detained some 120 taxi drivers for allegedly spreading "rumors" about the Strip's worst power crisis in years.

Gaza's attorney general confirmed that the drivers have been taken into custody.

Residents in Gaza told the Associated Press that there is "growing talk" suggesting that the Islamic militant Hamas is keeping separate supplies of fuel for its loyalists.

The detentions began over the weekend and signaled that Gaza’s Hamas rulers are increasingly concerned about the political backlash over the crippling shortages of fuel and electricity.

Hamas' Palestine Times site has two separate articles about the dangers of loose-lipped taxi drivers.

In one, police spokesman Maj. Ayman Batniji confirmed that the police arrested dozens of taxi driver "rumor mongers," saying "We launched a campaign through the media to warn drivers against circulating rumors about the crisis of electricity and fuel....These drivers triggered rumors among the passengers in an attempt to destabilize the home front in the Gaza Strip." He insinuated that many of the drivers were Fatah members, and he said that the police released those drivers after receiving personal pledges not to return to promoting "rumors," they also suspended their licenses for six months.

In the other article, a Hamas reporter enters a taxi and engages in conversation with the driver, and discovers that the driver engages in conversation about any topic! As the reporter said, he felt that he had a human version of Google and Wikipedia, but some of what the driver said was not true (according to Hamas, of course.)

Iran and Hamas agreeing to cooperate in case of war

Al Mustaqbal of Lebanon reports that the recent visit by Hamas' Mahmoud al Zahar to Iran was meant to strengthen ties between Hamas and Iran and to talk about specific tasks for Hamas in case Israel attacks Iran's nuclear program.

According to sources familiar with the details of the visits, there were meetings between the highest level Iranian political and security officials with leaders of Hamas. Zahar's visit to Tehran involved the following objectives:

1. Determine the role of Hamas in Gaza if Israel attacked Iran.
2. The introduction of missiles into the Gaza Strip to strengthen the Hamas arsenal that would be ready for any confrontation that could erupt between Israel and Iran. It is assumed that Gaza is one of the arenas of battle.
3. Increased financial support for Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Iran gave Ismail Haniyeh $33 million that was distributed immediately after his return to the sector to the staff of Hamas.
4. To thwart reconciliation efforts between Hamas and Fatah in order to keep the Gaza Strip a reliable tool of Iranian influence.

The article goes on to say that Iran is encouraging al-Zahar's influence against Khaled Meshal within Hamas.

EoZ gets results! Turkish agency pulls Hitler shampoo ad (updated)

The sickening Turkish commercial for shampoo that included actual footage of Adolf Hitler has been pulled, after days of complaints worldwide triggered by my post about it last week.

Millyet reports that the cosmetics company Biomen announced "taking into consideration the sensitivity of the Jewish community, as of today, we stopped broadcasting the ad."

My YouTube video of the commercial has over 128,000 views, and the issue was reported in all major media including Reuters, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, the Daily Mail and hundreds of other newspapers and media outlets.

(h/t Simonebilman)

UPDATE: Indeed, the advertising agency M.A.R.K.A. has removed the video from their site as well.

Al Jazeera has Merah murder video (updated)

From AFP:

The Al-Jazeera news network said Tuesday it was considering broadcasting videos shot by an Islamist extremist killer during a shooting spree in southern France that shocked the country.

French police said Monday they had copies of the videos, shot by Mohamed Merah during a series of killings that left seven dead, that had been sent on a USB memory stick to Al-Jazeera's office in Paris.

Merah, a 23-year-old Frenchman of Algerian descent, had previously boasted of filming his killings and witnesses had told police that he appeared to be wearing a video camera in a chest harness.

"We are not a sensationalist network. We are not looking to broadcast images without measuring the risks and consequences," Al-Jazeera's Paris bureau chief, Zied Tarrouche, told French news network BFM-TV.

"This is why management will decide today during a meeting in Qatar whether to broadcast this video or not," he said. "We should know in a few hours."

Tarrouche said the videos showed the attacks in chronological order and had been edited into a montage.

"There was a mixture of religious music and chants, lectures, and recitals of verses from the Koran," he said, adding that a letter was included with the USB key that claimed the attacks in the name of al-Qaida.

BBC adds:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has urged TV stations not to air video of the attacks by gunman Mohamed Merah as al-Jazeera discusses showing footage.

AP adds:

[Al Jazeera's] Tarrouche said the images appeared to have been taken from the point of view of the killer, perhaps from a camera hung around his neck. He said they were a bit shaky but of a high technical quality.

The video had clearly been manipulated after the fact, according to Tarrouche, with religious songs and recitations of Quranic verses laid over the footage.

"You can hear gunshots at the moment of the killings. You can hear the voice of this person who has committed these assassinations. You can hear also the cries of the victims, and the voices were distorted," Tarrouche said.

DPA adds:

The postage date on the parcel was March 21, according to France Info - the day on which the police siege of Merah's Toulouse apartment began. He was killed a day later in a shootout with police.

So French police need to figure out whether Merah or an accomplice mailed this video (as well as who edited it.)

AFP continues with Merah's father's threat to sue France:

French officials reacted with fury on Tuesday to threats from his father, Mohamed Benalel Merah, to sue France over his son's death.

"If I were the father of such a monster, I would shut my mouth in shame," Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told Radio Classique.

A senior adviser to President Nicolas Sarkozy, Henri Guaino, also lashed out at the lawsuit threat.

"It is his right, but only one word comes to mind: indecent," he told France Culture radio. "This guy was a monster who killed in cold blood."

Mohamed Benalel Merah told AFP on Monday he planned to sue French authorities for having shot his son instead of taking him alive.

"France is a big country that had the means to take my son alive. They could have knocked him out with gas and taken him in," he said. "They preferred to kill him.

"I will hire the biggest named lawyers and work for the rest of my life to pay their costs. I will sue France for having killing my son."

UPDATE: Al Jazeera decided not to release the video.

Anti-Israel idiots disrupt Brandeis event (video)

From "Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine:"

On Monday, March 26th 2012, members of Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine (BSJP), together with Waltham and Boston area Palestine solidarity activists, disrupted a Town Hall Meeting with 5 members of the Israeli Knesset (MKs) at Temple Emanuel in Newton, Massachusetts. The event, whose sponsors included Brandeis University, the Ruderman Foundation, and a number of Boston-area Zionist organizations, was aimed at strengthening relations between Israeli political leaders and the American Jewish community. The activists mic-checked the panel, protesting the undemocratic nature of the Israeli apartheid state and notified the offending officials that until their government ceased its discriminatory policies they were not welcome by students at Brandeis University community events. The activists were pushed outside the hall by police officers and private security guards. One Brandeis student was arrested and another was injured while being thrown to the floor by a police officer.

The panel included Knesset members Ofir Akunis (Likud), Lia Shemtov (Yisrael Beitenu) and Faina Kirshenbaum (Yisrael Beitenu).....

The activists wore blue T-shirts with the word “apartheid” written in Hebrew across the chest. They stood up before MK Ofir Akunis began speaking at the event and shouted:

Israel is an apartheid state and the Knesset is an apartheid parliament!

We will not welcome Israeli officials to any Brandeis University event until apartheid ends!

Notice that the BSJP press release (which seems to have been the source of the JPost coverage of the event) only mentions the names of 3 of the 5 MKs who visited.

The reason?

Because one of the others was Ilan Gilon, from the far left Meretz party.

And the other was Raleb Majadele, of Labor - who is an Arab!

Yes, the hypocritical protesters were yelling "Knesset is an apartheid parliament" in front of an Arab member of Knesset! (UPDATE: After I posted this, BSJP added the other two names.)

If you want to protest the Jewish state, just check your brain at the door.

It is to Brandeis' credit that they sponsored this event, and my understanding is that BJSP is a tiny fringe group that no one at Brandeis pays any attention to. Which is probably why they feel they must resort to hysterics like this. In the end, they just want to feel like they aren't irrelevant crybabies.

Here's a shaky video that BJSP proudly put up, showing the brilliant ability of a few college students to disrupt a roomful of mostly older Jews at a synagogue. It is the audio equivalent of graffiti. I'm sure their parents are so proud.

(h/t Benjamin)

The bad news and the good news

The bad news:

ABC (Australia) decided to publish the incredibly offensive and sickening Tariq Ramadan article I noted before that effectively justified and excused Mohammed Merah's murderous spree as being really the fault of French society. The very idea that his words are worthy enough to be copied in a major media outlet is almost worse than the drivel he wrote to begin with, and it shows how sick the mainstream media often is in its pursuit of a far left agenda.

The good news:

Practically every commenter at the ABC site rips the article apart.

Ordinary people are sometimes quite a bit brighter than the self-declared intellectuals.

(h/t @ActForAustralia)

Why peace is impossible, reason #9243 (updated)

Ma'an reports:

Organizations supporting Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are calling on the Arab League to include refugee rights in the agenda of Thursday's Arab League summit.

The petition to Secretary-General of the Arab League Nabil al-Arabi and other heads of state warns "the area will not have peace and quiet unless the Palestinian refugees’ right of return is implemented."

It is signed by 111 non governmental organizations supporting Palestinians in Lebanon.

"This issue threatens seven million Palestinian refugees and their right to go back to their homes from which they were uprooted forcefully in 1948," says a copy of the communique seen by Ma'an.

"It also has risks for Arab countries hosting Palestinian refugee populations due to immigration and residency issues," it continues.

The communication stresses that no Arab or Palestinian negotiator has the right to negotiate away refugees’ right of return.

These NGOs, many of which are probably no more than a post office box but some of whom probably include organizations like Norwegian People's Aid and Badil, are telling the world that there will be no peace without "return". They know that "return" means no more Israel, so they are really saying there will be no peace as long as Israel continues to exist.

To underscore the point that these NGOs are more interested in destroying Israel than in helping Palestinian Arabs, they explicitly say that they are against naturalization of Palestinian Arabs in their host countries. Anyone who cares about Palestinian Arabs would hold the opposite position and would do everything they could to ensure that Palestinians who desire to become citizens have that right. Their refusal to do so reveals their ugly goal.

Beyond that, they say that even if the issue is solved in peace negotiations between Israel and her Arab neighbors, they will never accept anything less than the total destruction of Israel.

So as J-Street issues speech after speech in Washington today about how much they want peace, perhaps they should tackle the issue of how peace is possible with people who say as explicitly as they can that there will never be peace while a Jewish state exists in the Middle East.

UPDATE: Commenter L. King adds:

Every often I like to see how a story would be reported if it spun like the media spins stories on Israel:

LEBANESE NGOS VOTE TO EXPEL PALESTINIAN REFUGEES

Proving that Lebanon is a racist apartheid state, representatives of over 100 NGO groups agreed that Palestinians were unfit to live anywhere in their country. Taking issue with the possibility of even residency in Lebanon, let alone immigration, spokemen noted that ethnic Palestinians posed "risks for Arab countries" and should they remain no peace would be possible.

The only possibility for hope would be if the model of a democratic and free Israel were followed, noting that Israel was a pluralistic society that had integrated a diverse population, including Jews and Arabs.

"No Palestinian or Arab has the right to negotiate" indicating the rigidly enforced group think of the Ummah, where individual rights and freedoms are regularly curtailed.

Single Saudi men not welcome at malls

Who says that only women are discriminated against in Saudi Arabia?

Men are too...because so many of them harass women!

Single men in Saudi Arabia claim they are still being barred from entering malls despite a recent directive from Riyadh Gov. Prince Sattam to ease the restrictions which were meant to prevent possible harassment of women shoppers.

According to reports in the local media on Thursday, Prince Sattam has approved a decision to lift the ban on single men visiting shopping malls in the city during peak hours, especially on weekends. The decision was made by a committee made up of local officials and representatives of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

Previously, single men were only allowed into shopping centers at lunch time on weekdays, a move the authorities said was aimed at harassment of women.

Mohammed, 21, said security guards still bar him from going in.

“It is an issue of trust and the managements of some malls still feel it is their right to prevent us from visiting the malls,” he said.

Families were divided on the governor’s directive. Some said it could lead to trouble in malls and girls might be harassed. Other families said it would not be a problem because there are security guards and officers from the Haia to deal with any possible trouble.

A manager at one of the large malls in Riyadh, who spoke on condition of anonymity, claimed he and his colleagues have never been given clear directives regarding the policy concerning the entry of single men.

“Our management wanted to keep the mall a safe place for families and ensure it was harassment free,” said the source, admitting he personally found it unrealistic and unfair to prevent singles from entering malls. He also claimed single men always tried to sneak in because of this policy.

Sara, a young woman, admitted she had helped young single men enter malls by pretending she was related to them.

“The truth is, although there have been reports that girls are paid to do this, I wasn’t. I just did it because I felt sorry for them. They stand there like beggars and all they want is to shop or go to food courts,” she added.

Apparently, a girl in a tank top and shorts has a lower chance of being harassed at a mall in the West than a woman wearing a full burqa in Saudi Arabia.

The solution is obvious. The burqa is clearly too sexy, and must be banned.

Ammiel Hirsch's response to Beinart (video/text)

Here is the video and text of Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch's sermon last Shabbat at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, discussing Peter Beinart's NYT op-ed last week I had written about, as sent to me by the synagogue.

Peter Beinart’s Offense Against Liberalism

By: Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, Senior Rabbi, Stephen Wise Free Synagogue

Peter Beinart’s op-ed in The New York Times (March 19, 2012), entitled “To Save Israel, Boycott the Settlements,” crossed a red line. More than that: it is an offense against liberalism, itself.

1. Boycott

The call to boycott Israel – even the lame effort to distinguish between boycotting Israel within the Green Line and boycotting Israel beyond the Green Line – is troubling, in and of itself.

It is also hopelessly naïve. How one would actually mount such a boycott; how one could limit it to products beyond the Green Line; how it would end at the Green Line and not become a boycott of Israel – these are interesting questions for an academic thesis. It is hardly a serious political proposal.

But it is even worse than that: It is immoral because it gives aid and comfort to Israel’s worst enemies – those who seek to destroy the Jewish state. By using the word “boycott” Beinart has granted legitimacy to the delegitimizers of Israel. “Boycott” is the language of Israel’s enemies. “Boycott” means to most people: destroy Israel through international diplomacy and economic strangulation. It is an extreme position.

While thousands are being butchered by the Syrian dictator as the world stands by impotently; at a time when Americans should be devoting as much attention as possible to ensuring a democratic Egypt; at a time when Iran is rapidly developing nuclear capability; and at a time when the Palestinian national movement shows no interest or desire to engage in peace talks, and they are hopelessly divided amongst themselves – now – at this moment - American liberal Jews should be devoting our financial and political resources to boycotting democratic Israel? Really?!

Peter Beinart wrote in his op-ed: “It is time for a counter-offensive…and that counter-offensive must begin with language.” And his solution is to use the language of the BDS (Boycott, Divesment, Sanctions) crowd – a group of extremists, Israel-bashers (and some anti-Semites) who spend their lives trying to persuade the world to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel?!

I much prefer George Orwell’s view on language to Peter Beinart’s. Orwell wrote: “If thought corrupts language, language also corrupts thought. Political language…is designed to make lies sound truthful…and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”

2. Settlements

Beinart is right to point out the risks to both Israeli democracy as well as its national security as long as the Israel-Palestinian dispute remains unresolved. But there are two grievous offenses in Beinart’s blanket “boycott-all-the-settlements” proposal:

First: What he calls a settlement – any Jewish apartment beyond the 1967 borders – is not understood as such by practically every Israeli and most fair-minded international observers. Many so-called settlements are considered neighborhoods of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Most of the people who live beyond the Green Line live in proximity to the Green Line, and all two-state solutions that have been discussed assume that these areas will be within the new borders of Israel proper.

Second: There is not one word in Beinart’s piece about the role and responsibility of the Palestinians. Many Israeli settlements are still there because the Palestinians have still not demonstrated a politically-realistic willingness for peace.

Even if you were to concede that Israel has made mistakes, surely it is not Israel’s fault alone that there is no peace. After all, it takes at least two to make peace. You cannot make peace only with yourself. Often people talk about how Israel should do this and Israel should do that as if it is in Israel’s power alone to shape events.

Most Israelis are desperate for peace. Is it that Israelis like sending their children to fight and die in wars? Surely, there is some fault on the other side as well, no? Are the Palestinians potted plants – mere decoration – as the Jews argue amongst ourselves how we should entice the Palestinians to do what we believe is in their national interest?

Maybe they don’t believe it. Half of the Palestinian national movement makes no effort to hide the fact that they don’t believe it. They say they want to destroy Israel. The other half has rejected three Israeli peace proposals in the past twelve years, and, at present, refuses even to sit down with Israeli negotiators.

The West Bank is the West Bank. It is not, as Beinart describes, “non-democratic Israel.” It is not Palestine. It is disputed territory. In the past four decades Jordan, Egypt (Gaza), Israel and the Palestinian national movement have all claimed parts of it. If anything, during the past two decades, Israel has relinquished control over ever-larger tracts of the West Bank. If peace can be achieved, many of the settlements will be absorbed into democratic Israel; the rest will be dismantled.

3. Liberalism

I am a liberal. I worry about liberals. Some in our camp have become unhinged when it comes to Israel. I worry about Reform rabbis too. And I worry about our rabbinical students who represent the future leadership of much of American Jewry.

It is fashionable in some liberal quarters today to bash Israel as the latest litmus test of liberalism. We see it on campus as well. “We’ll let you into the club but show us your anti-Israel credentials first.”

It is actually the opposite: Israel is the ultimate test of liberalism; the testing grounds of theory and practice. Can we develop a liberalism that relates to the world as it is, not as we would want it to be? Do we offer a compelling vision of the future or just stale liberation theories? Are we prepared to make hard moral choices or shall we be satisfied with easy moralizing slogans?

In our new world, where democracies engage insurgents who hide among civilian populations and use them as shields; where terrorists store weapons in, and fire from, hospitals, houses of worship, ambulances and universities – can we develop a liberalism that fights injustice justly? That is the question.

Peter Beinart was once at the vanguard of this school of liberalism that is so desperately needed today. But observing his dash to the extremes of liberal theory over the last decade, I worry about us. If, in less than a decade, Peter Beinart moved from centrist liberalism to calling for a boycott of Israelis, what does that portend for so many others in our camp? And what does that say about the future of liberalism in the United States and in the Jewish community?

Peter Beinart’s counter-offensive is morally offensive. Israel is a noisy, argumentative, thrillingly pluralistic society, an oasis of liberty within the unrelenting desert of Middle East oppression. It is not a perfect democracy. There are many fissures and unresolved constitutional questions that need to be addressed. But Israel is a thriving democracy, conceived and developing under the most adversarial conditions of war.

Have we become so befuddled in liberal circles that of all the authoritarian regimes and brutally anti-democratic groups operating in the Middle East, we should single out the one Western democracy - Israel - as a target of economic boycott?

I am reminded of the poem of Natan Alterman, one of Israel’s greatest poets, who was troubled by our propensity for excessive self-criticism of Israel. He wrote:

Then Satan said: How can I subdue him?
For he has the courage and the ability,
The weapons, the resourcefulness and the wisdom.
And he said: I will not weaken him,
Nor curb nor bridle him,
Nor inspire fear in him,
Nor soften him as in days gone by.
I will only do this:
I will dull his mind,
And he will forget that his is the just cause.

Also worth reading is this review of Beinart's book, The Crisis of Zionism, at Tablet Magazine:

Beinart’s habit of what is either inexplicable sloppiness or extreme interpretative elasticity turns out to be one of the defining characteristics of The Crisis of Zionism. In fact, one of the challenges of reviewing the book is that it practically demands a typology. Consider a few examples:

Elasticity of attribution:

Describing the effects of Israel’s policy toward Gaza after Hamas’s election in 2006, Beinart writes that “the blockade shattered [Gaza’s] economy. By 2008, 90 percent of Gaza’s industrial complex had closed.” The source of this claim is a study conducted by the IMF—in 2003.

Of omission:

Beinart quotes former Israeli foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami telling Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman that “If I were a Palestinian, I would have rejected Camp David as well.” Yet Ben-Ami said in the same interview that Yasser Arafat “was morally, psychologically, physically incapable of accepting the moral legitimacy of a Jewish state, regardless of its borders or whatever.” This goes unquoted. I suspect that’s because Beinart found it in The Israel Lobby by political scientists John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, which also quotes the first part of Ben-Ami’s statement but not the second.

Of consistency:

Beinart acknowledges that “the populism sweeping the Middle East has unleashed frightening hostility against the Jewish state.” Yet in the same paragraph he writes: “The Egyptian leaders who have emerged in Hosni Mubarak’s wake are not calling for Israel’s destruction, let alone promising to take up arms in the cause.” Maybe Beinart should acquaint himself with the Muslim Brotherhood’s Essam El-Erian, currently head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Egyptian Parliament. “The earthquake of the Arab Spring will mark the end of the Zionist entity,” El-Erian said recently.

Of fact:

Returning to the subject of Gaza, Beinart writes that the Strip “remains a place of brutal suffering.” This, he adds, is the case even after Israel eased its blockade following the Turkish flotilla business in 2010.

Really? Here’s what New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof (whose politics track Beinart’s, but who also visits the places he writes about) had to say on that score in a July 2010 column: “Visiting Gaza persuaded me, to my surprise, that Israel is correct when it denies that there is any full-fledged humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The tunnels have so undermined the Israeli blockade that shops are filled and daily life is considerably easier than when I last visited here two years.”

There’s more of this. Much more. In fact, the errors in Beinart’s book pile up at such a rate that they become almost impossible to track.

Still, the deeper problem isn’t that there’s so much in Beinart’s book that is untrue, but rather so much that is half-true: the accurate quote used in a misleading way; the treatment of highly partisan sources as objective and unobjectionable; the settlement of ferocious debates among historians in a single, dismissive sentence; the one-sided giving—and withholding—of the benefit of the doubt; the “to be sure” and “of course” clauses that do more to erase balance than introduce it. It’s a cheap kind of slipperiness that’s hard to detect but leaves its stain on nearly every page.

Gaza youth call for strike, protests Thursday

Palestine Press Agency reports that a Facebook initiative has been launched to hold a general strike and protest in Gaza against the electricity and fuel shortages this Thursday. While it is not explicitly against Hamas, it is clear that Hamas is the target.

One can never know in advance if these things will snowball, as in Egypt, or quietly go bust.

The group that called the strike has 1600 members but so far only 60 have accepted the invitation. Then again, I'm sure many would not want Hamas to know who they are.

Palestine Press Agency is notoriously anti-Hamas so they will push even half-baked anti-Hamas initiatives. But from recent events we see that Hamas is very sensitive to any protest, so this bears watching.

Tunisia rally: "Fight the Jews, enter Paradise"

From At Tounissia and other Arabic media:

Tunisian youth should "train" to "Fight the Jews" and enter "paradise".

This call came during a demonstration in downtown Tunis called for by Islamists who want Islamic Sharia to be "the main source of legislation" in the Constitution of Tunisia.

Thousands of supporters of different Islamic groups participated in the demonstration.

Speeches were led by bearded young men with hundreds of loudspeaker, saying: "Prepare yourselves ... train yourselves in fighting the Jews, fighting for the sake of Allah ... paradise .. paradise.... paradise ... paradise. " The young people responded to the Salafi leader by singing "God is great."

A video clip with the sermon by the Salafi leader has been viewed widely in Facebook.

The activists said on Facebook: "This is the first time in Tunisia there was incitement to kill Jews in the street in broad daylight."

Russia Today (Arabic) adds that Hizb ut-Tahrir was one of the groups at the rally.

Watan reports that Roger Bismuth, leader of the 2000 member Tunisian Jewish community, denounced the incitement and called on Tunisian authorities to respond.

Memorial vigil held for Toulouse murderer; "F**k the Kippa" graffiti

From Paris Match:

The initiative is as astounding as it is wretched. Thirty young people, mostly girls, gathered Saturday in the district of Toulouse, where Mohamed Merah came from, to honor the memory of the killer of seven people shot dead by police Thursday, comparing their suffering to the families of the victims. One hundred members of security forces surrounded this event during which a woman wearing a full veil exhorted the group.

"What we ask today is that we stop demonizing Mohamed, that's it, he died," she said. "We share the pain and suffering of the families because it is the same pain for us here," said the girl, who declined to give her name. "I think what influenced him is what he has seen in his many travels. He could not manage all that. It was still a teenager in his head, despite his 23 years. "

The police had detected other calls to demonstrate in Toulouse Saturday morning and prevented the group from joining another. The demonstration was dispersed in the late afternoon without incident. This is not the first tribute to the author of the murders of three soldiers and four of the Jewish faith, including three children. Just hours after the death of Mohammed Merah, several Facebook pages have been created in his honor. Graffiti saying "Viva Merah", "Vengeance" and "Fuck the kippa" were also identified and cleaned up.

This article was distributed by Reuters, but can only be found in one English-language news source, from Italy. The idea that Muslims are supporting Merah is political dynamite that news editors prefer not to touch.

And earlier from Europe1:

Just hours the after the death of Mohammed Merah, several Facebook pages created to honor Him. It one of them, the creator had written this message on the wall of the page: "400 Police officers for one person ... long live France. "

Within hours, a little less than 500 people had time to "Like" the page. While some users lamented the establishment of the page, others clearly showed their support for Mohamed Merah and radical Islam.

Quickly, the Central Office of the Fight Against Crime connected with information technology and communication asked Facebook Europe to close the page, titled "Homage to Mohamed Merah (Toulouse)." It took the involvement of the Ministry of Interior for the page to be permanently removed.

Some 36 Jewish graves were also desecrated in a cemetery in Nice.

(h/t Samson)

Tens of thousands protest Israeli stepping foot in Morocco

I noted on Friday that many Arabs were upset at the presence of an Israeli at the Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly in Rabat, Morocco this past weekend.

That is an understatement.

From YNet:

Several days prior to the Global March to Jerusalem, thousands of Moroccans took part in a mass rally in Rabat "in support of Jerusalem." Israeli diplomat David Saranga, who was in the city for a conference, was taken out of the building through a side door as demonstrators protested his presence there, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday. Palestinian flags were flown and Israeli flags were burned during the march.

A Moroccan Islamic organization that organized the march claimed that 100,000 participated in the rally. "The people want to free al-Aqsa," the protesters chanted. "A million martyrs are going to Jerusalem."

Arab media reported Sunday that Saranga's participation in a Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EUROMED) meeting at Morocco's parliament stirred uproar among citizens and legislators. The country's ruling party [PJD] boycotted the meeting.

At the end of the session, thousands of Moroccans stormed the building and it was feared Saranga would be attacked, Yedioth Ahronoth reported. He was therefore taken out through a side door and taken to the airport under heavy security.

At the session itself:

Israel is a member of the UFM, so the Knesset was therefore represented in Rabat by one of its members, a presence that sparked the ire of the PJD parliamentarians, headed by Abdelaziz Amari, chairman of the parliamentary group of the PJD in the room representatives:

"Our position is clear and unwavering vis-à-vis any normalization of relations with the Zionist entity ... I will ask the government to clarify the exact circumstances of the arrival on the national territory of that individual Israeli."

Tariq Ramadan sees no anti-semitism in Mohammed Merah

If one was to try to parody the most bizarre rantings of the Left, one would not be able to come up with this. By Tariq Ramadan, Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University; Research Fellow of St Antony's College:

Twenty-three year-old Mohamed Merah was a familiar face in and beyond his neighborhood. People describe him as quiet, easy-going, nothing at all like an “extremist jihadi Salafist” ready to kill for a religious or political cause. His lawyer, who had previously defended him in offenses ranging from petty theft to armed robbery, had never detected even a hint of religious leanings, let alone of the Salafi stripe. He had just been tried and sentenced for theft and driving without a permit. Two weeks before the shooting, witnesses said he spent an evening in a nightclub in a very festive mood. In 2010 and 2011 he traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and earlier attempted to join the French army, which was unsuccessful , because of his criminal record. Mohamed Merah stands before us like an overgrown adolescent, unemployed, at loose ends, soft-hearted but at the same time disturbed and incoherent, as illustrated by his long hours of conversation with the police as they surrounded his apartment. An unbalanced, provocative, conscious, non-suicidal killer, are we told, who wanted, as he put it, to “teach France a lesson.”

Religion was not Mohamed Merah’s problem ; nor is politics. A French citizen frustrated at being unable to find his place, to give his life dignity and meaning in his own country, he would find two political causes through which he could articulate his distress : Afghanistan and Palestine. He attacks symbols : the army, and kills Jews, Christians and Muslims without distinction. His political thought is that of a young man adrift, imbued neither with the values of Islam, or driven by racism and anti-Semitism. Young, disoriented, he shoots at targets whose prominence and meaning seem to have been chosen based on little more than their visibility. A pathetic young man, guilty and condemnable beyond the shadow of a doubt, even though he himself was the victim of a social order that had already doomed him, and millions of others like him, to a marginal existence, and to the non-recognition of his status as a citizen equal in rights and opportunities.

Mohamed—how typical the name is !—was a French citizen of immigrant background before becoming a terrorist of immigrant origin. Early on his destiny became tied to the surrounding perceptions of that origin. Now, in a final act of provocation, he has come full circle, has vanished into this constructed and distorted image to become the definitive “other.” For the French of France, there is no longer anything French about Mohamed the Muslim Arab.

That cannot, of course, excuse his actions. But let us at least hope that France can learn the lesson that Mohamed Merah had neither the intention nor the means to teach : he was French, as are all his victims (in the name of what strange logic are they differentiated and categorized by religion ?), but he felt himself constantly reduced to both his origin by his skin color, and his religion by his name. The overwhelming majority of the Mohameds, the Fatimas or the Ahmeds of the suburbs and the banlieues are French ; what they seek is equality, dignity, security, a decent job and a place to live. They are culturally and religiously integrated ; their problem is overwhelmingly a socio-economic one. The story of Mohamed Merah today holds up to France a mirror in which it sees its face : he ends up a Jihadi without real conviction, after having been a citizen deprived of true dignity.

See? Merah was a victim! His second-class upbringing forced him to go to Afghanistan to be trained by the Taliban! He could have chosen any school in France, and it is sheer coincidence he chose a Jewish school! Videotaping his murder of a little girl? Any one of millions of Ahmeds or Fatimas could have done the same!

Allah forbid that he is responsible for his crimes, or that he was the least bit anti-semitic or hateful. Of course not. He smiled! Let's hope that France learns its lesson that this is entirely the fault of the French!

Maybe Ramadan should start a fan club for Merah on Facebook.

(h/t Harry's Place via Michael)

UNRWA still taking credit for 200,000 phantom Lebanon refugees

From the UNRWA Lebanon webpage:

Around 455,000 refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with many living in the country’s 12 refugee camps.

Palestine refugees make up an estimated ten per cent of Lebanon, a small country which is now densely populated.

Figures as of 31 December 2010

A comprehensive UNRWA/American University of Beirut report released on that same date, December 31, 2010, shows this number to be a lie:

At present there are in excess of 425,640 Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA in Lebanon [as of January 2010 - EoZ]. However, according to our survey figures, it is estimated that only between 260,000 and 280,000 are residents in the country, with a margin of error of ±5%. 62% of refugees live in the 12 camps across Lebanon, and the remaining 38% live in gatherings mostly in the vicinity of these camps. Resident refugees are mostly concentrated in the South (55% in Saida and Tyre), then in the Central Lebanon Area (22%), followed by the North (19%) and the Bekaa (4%). Some refugees were “naturalized” and have been granted Lebanese citizenship. Some 200,000 Palestinian refugees have left Lebanon, many to Europe, particularly the Scandinavian countries and Germany (Dorai 2003), especially after the 1982 Israeli invasion and the “War of the Camps,” fleeing the conflict but also rampant social exclusion in more recent years.

Yet as of January 1, 2012, UNRWA is still publicly claiming over 465,798 "Registered Persons in Lebanon" eligible to receive UNRWA services, when in fact about 200,000 of them are simply not there. The research report's results have not impacted the fabricated UNRWA claims in the least, even after a full year.

Why is UNRWA still telling the world that there are 200,000 more Palestinian Arabs in Lebanon than there really are? Even if they have no way to know how many of the "refugees" are illusory, and if there are "officially" 465,000 people receiving services, shouldn't UNRWA at least acknowledge the discrepancy so that donors have a clearer idea of what they are funding?

One possible reason is that exact reason: if UNRWA would be more forthcoming about the discrepancy then it may lose funding which is based on the number of people under UNRWA care.

But there is another political dimension to the issue. Right now, the biggest obstacle to having Lebanese Palestinians become citizens is the fear of a huge influx of Sunni Muslims upsetting the (mostly mythical nowadays) balance between Sunnis, Shiites and Christians in Lebanon.

Lebanon's population is estimated at about 4.2 million. The idea of 465,000 additional Sunnis - which would represent 11% of Lebanon's current population - is anathema to the Christians and Shiites. But if there are in reality as few as 260,000 Palestinian Lebanese who become naturalized, that would mean that only about 6% of the resultant Lebanese would be Palestinian - a far more manageable number that it is more possible that Lebanese could imagine absorbing without much trouble.

In other words, it is in the interests of Palestinian Arab leaders to inflate the numbers to increase their apparent power. It is in UNRWA's interest to inflate the numbers in order to receive more funding and keep the refugee situation alive. It is in the Lebanese Christian and Shiite leadership's interest to inflate the numbers in order to create fear among their ranks against "tawteen", or Palestinian Arab naturalization. As the BAU report notes:

Tawteen is the scarecrow that has been used within sections of Lebanese society to generate public phobia against according civil rights to Palestinians. Indeed through editorials in key Lebanese newspapers (al-Nahar, al-Akhbar, al-Safir, and L’Orient-Le Jour), Lebanese political groups accuse each other of promoting Tawteen, an act tantamount to treason. For instance, the front-page headline of the Lebanese daily al-Akhbar, read on 2 July 2007 “The program of al-Barid Camp reconstruction is the beginning of Tawteen”. Others (including religious authorities) consider the mere talk of the Palestinians’ right to work as being the first step towards Tawteen. Any debate about civil and economic rights starts by affirming that the objective should not be Tawteen...

So because of this confluence of factors, the truth is being buried.

And the people being hurt are, as always, the real Lebanese Palestinians, who would love to become full citizens of the state that they were born in but which stlll considers them "foreigners" - for their own good, of course. Yet no one ever asked them what they would prefer.

It is unconscionable that they should continue to be used as pawns by their own leadership, by the Lebanese leaders and seemingly by UNRWA itself - the agency created to help them - in order to keep them stateless and helpless.

In the early 1960s, it was discovered that over 100,000 Jordanian refugees receiving aid were also non-existent. The United States insisted that UNRWA take them off of their rolls, but UNRWA was not successful because the corruption that caused the problem was so widespread.

If there are 200,000 nonexistent "refugees" on UNRWA rolls in Lebanon alone, today, who knows how many more there are in Jordan, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza?

Hamas lies about baby's death

I mentioned yesterday that Hamas TV had reported that a baby died because of the fuel shortage, noting that it appeared that Hamas was trying to make Gazans angry at Egypt.

Surprise, surprise: The baby died weeks ago, and the entire story was manipulated by Hamas for sympathy and to try to pressure Egypt.

From AP:

The Associated Press has withdrawn its story about a 5-month-old baby who was said to have died Friday after the generator powering his respirator ran out of fuel, the first known death linked to the territory's energy crisis. The timing and reason for the death were confirmed to the AP by a man identified as the baby's father and a Gaza health official, but the report has been called into question after it was learned that a local newspaper carried news of the baby's death on March 4.
A substitute story will be filed shortly reflecting the new information.

The follow-up story:

A Gaza man said Sunday his 5-month-old baby died two days ago after the generator powering his respirator ran out of fuel, but the report was called into question after it emerged that the timing of the baby's death was misrepresented.

The baby's death -- which was confirmed to The Associated Press by a man identified as the father and a Gaza hospital official -- would have been the first linked to the territory's energy crisis, and the report appeared to be an attempt by Gaza's Hamas rulers to use it to gain sympathy.

However, the AP later learned that news of Mohammed Helou's death first appeared March 4 in the local Arabic-language newspaper Al-Quds, in an article written by a relative of the bereaved family.

The baby's father, Abdul-Halim Helou, said Mohammed was born with a lymphatic disorder and had only a few months to live. He said they miscalculated how much fuel a new generator needed to remove fluids that accumulated in his respiratory system.

"If we were living in a normal country with electricity, I think his chances of living (longer) would have been better," Helou said.

The Al-Quds article contained the same details as the one recounted by the Helou family on Sunday, saying Mohammed died from choking on his own phlegm. The story quoted that father as saying their generator ran out of fuel, causing their son's respirator to stop working and ultimately causing the baby to choke to death.

The fuel crisis was relevant in early March as well, but Hamas apparently missed the report in Al-Quds -- a publication considered loyal to its rival, Fatah -- and Hamas was now trying to recycle the story to capitalize on the family's tragedy.

Confronted by the AP with the newspaper story, the family and Hamas Gaza health official Bassem al-Qadri continued to insist the baby arrived dead at a Gaza City hospital on Friday night.

I cannot count the number of times we have seen Gaza officials, Palestinian Arab "human rights" organizations, and even "eyewitnesses" lying to the media. The most recent was less than two weeks ago. And here, even when faced with evidence, they continue to lie to the reporter's face!

Yet the mainstream media still continue to report the statements of Gaza officials and "eyewitnesses" without the least bit of skepticism, until someone proves that they are lying.

(h/t Tamand CAMERA)

Interpol issues "red notices" for 4 Iranian suspects in embassy bombing

From Interpol:

INTERPOL, acting on a request from India's Central Bureau of Investigation, has issued Red Notices for four suspects wanted in connection with the 13 February bomb attack on an Israeli diplomat’s car in New Delhi.

Details of the suspects Mohammadreza Abolghashemi, Houshang Afshar Irani, Seyed Ali Mahdiansadr and Masoud Sedaghatzadeh who are all wanted for terrorism related offences including criminal conspiracy and attempted murder, have been transmitted to INTERPOL’s 190 member countries.

The attack left a 42-year-old female diplomat with serious injuries and also wounded her driver and two bystanders.

INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said India’s request for the Red Notices would make it extremely difficult for the suspects to travel internationally in an attempt to evade capture.

“Through requesting INTERPOL Red Notices, India has ensured that law enforcement officials around the globe are alerted to the wanted status of these fugitives, and therefore reduces their options for international travel,” said Mr Noble.

"Honor killing" in Gaza

From PCHR:

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 21:00 on Thursday, 22 March 2012, K. K., 22, from Khan Yunis refugee camp, was admitted into Nasser Hospital in a very critical condition because of having had a poisonous material, allegedly when she attempted suicide. She was placed in the intensive care unit and her condition relatively improved. At approximately 01:30 on Friday, 23 March 2012, a relative of her arrived at the intensive care unit. The doctor on duty informed him that her condition improved. The relative pointed a pistol attempting to kill her. When the doctor and a nurse attempted to stop him, he threatened to shoot them. Soon after, he shot the woman in the head, and she immediately died. The murderer turned himself in to the police.

According to police sources, the suspect and one of the victim’s brothers, have been detained, and investigations are ongoing.

There is a backstory here, but chances are no one will ever find out what it is.

US Jews' donations to Israel double in 12 years

From Ha'aretz:

Donations by U.S. Jews to Israeli nonprofits have doubled during the past 12 years, according to a first-of-its-kind study conducted by professors at Brandeis University.

The study, scheduled to be completed in late April, disproves the widely held view by many Israelis that philanthropic donations from the United States have dropped over time due to economic and political reasons. In fact, the study - previewed last week during a hearing by the Knesset Subcommittee for the Relations of Israel with World Jewish Communities - suggests quite the opposite.

In 2007, various Israeli organizations received $2.1 billion from U.S. donors through the Jewish Agency and various "friendship" associations, according to findings by professors Theodore Sasson and Eric Fleisch, of the Cohen Center of Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. This is double what U.S. donors contributed 12 years earlier, when only $1.08 billion was raised in the United States for Israeli organizations.

"Most of the income of the leading organizations in Israel increased also when adjusted for inflation," Professor Sasson said in an interview with Haaretz. There has also been an increase in the number of U.S. organizations supporting Israel, he said, with the emergence of some 150 new pro-Israel groups in the United States in the 1990s, and some 280 emerging during the past decade.

While the research indicates that there was a 10-25 percent drop in donations during 2008 and 2009 - during the period of severe economic crisis in the United States - it suggests there was a substantial rise in donations in 2010, when the crisis began to subside.

Because of a drop in contributions to the Jewish Agency in recent years, "It was thought that Jews care less about Israel, but the situation suggests that U.S. Jewry is deeply committed to Israel," he said.

One of Peter Beinart's major points is that US Jews are not as engaged with Israel as they used to be, especially young people. The proliferation of pro-Israel groups in America suggests the opposite.

Incongruously, Ha'aretz writes:

Sasson says the main reason for the increase in contributions is not necessarily linked with a rise in Zionism, but to the increase in the number of donor collectors and their improved professionalism over the years.

You can almost imagine how the Ha'aretz reporter asked that question in order to elicit that answer. While it is possible that professionalism increased the amount of donations, all charities in the US have become more professional at the same time. Unless one can prove that the amount given in donations doubled across the board, it is hard to interpret this in any way besides saying that American Jews are more engaged with, and emotionally connected with, Israel than they were in the past - the exact opposite of the conventional wisdom.

Egyptian Salafist presidential candidate "to use Israel as an example"

From Al Arabiya:

Salafist candidate for Egypt’s presidential election, Sheikh Hazim Salah Abu Ismail, has spoken against the practice of taking taxes from casinos and night clubs and shown his support for art and cinema at a time when fears loom of Islamists suppressing the arts if they come to power.

“Israel has banned taxing gambling because it is against Judaism, while Egypt makes money from belly dancers entertaining drunk men,” Abu Ismail told Al Arabiya.

Ismail said if he wins the presidency, he will make economic leaps without resorting to such tactics, adding that he will use Israel as an example.

“I have seen cities in the United States where its people try to raise money to buy casinos which they convert to other businesses in a bid to keep their cities gambling-free and to make Las Vegas as the only American city for such activities to occur,” he said, adding “conservative Americans do not accept such activities in their cities.”

“If we want to just go after money, then we should allow prostitution, right?” he said. “We should honor Egyptians’ dignity… no Egyptian should be humiliated, and this won’t make the country poor but it will increase its income, and God is above all.”

Tourism in Egypt in considered to be one of the most important sectors to the country’s economy. The sector also employs about 12 percent of Egypt’s workforce.

Early indications show that Ismail is a serious contender for the upcoming elections which has over 100 people vying for the presidency.

Israel has no casinos, although there are four casino cruise ships based in Eilat. I don't know their tax status.

And, of course, there are many places in America that one can legally gamble, not just Las Vegas.

Given that there are so many presidential candidates in Egypt, a Salafist candidate can easily win if the other parties split their votes across several candidates. And Ismail has appealed to Copts and others for being relatively moderate, for an Islamist.

Details on recent Gaza fighting show disregard for civilian lives

GANSO released its report for the first half of the month, which includes most of the rocket fire and Israeli airstrikes from earlier this month. Here are some highlights:

16 of the Qassams fell short or exploded prematurely.
4 rockets from Gaza fell on and damaged homes in Gaza. 2 were injured.
There was an increase in rockets being fired from urban, civilian areas compared to previous flare-ups.
The increased number of Grads means that they can be fired from areas of Gaza that had not seen rocket launches before.
They counted 105 Grads, 152 Qassam-type rockets, and 42 mortars being shot from Gaza. They also counted 50 Israeli airstrikes.
"A number of the Grads were fired from in and around Gaza City itself, including the Rimal and beachfront areas, where many NGOs have offices and residences."
"3 civilians were killed, including 1 child, as a result of bullets fired during funeral processions."

Are any "human rights" organizations commenting on how Gaza terror groups are putting the lives of civilians in danger?

Arabs freak over poster in Beirut university that mentions Tel Aviv

From Iran's ABNA:

"Tel Aviv in the Heart of Beirut Arab University (BAU)"; this is how a "saiddatv.tv report" commenced. The report added that the news is not a joke, but it "gives BAU students an opportunity to work in the Zionist entity's capital Tel Aviv."

On this level, the video report indicated that "by the university principal's office, and on all floors of all faculties, a colorful poster is hung, listing the names of many capitals including Prague, New York, Geneva, Singapore, Moscow, and Tel Aviv."

This poster calls on students to apply for jobs in the Zionist entity, which was established on the ruins of Palestine and the displacements of its people, the report added.

"The university's students resented the poster, saying that their university was established by former Egyptian Leader Jamal Abdel Nasser, who refused to negotiate, hold peace, or acknowledge [the existence of] "Israel"," the saidatv.tv report asserted.

Also, the report iterated that the BAU violated the law to boycott "Israel", although it was one of the victims of the "Israeli" invasion of Beirut in 1982.

"However, has the BAU become a center for normalization in light of the political tremors in Egypt?" the report further wondered.

Here's the video, from Lebanese Saida TV, complete with footage of Israeli jets attacking Lebanon during wartime:

You can see that this poster is for the Bloomberg Assessment Test, a standardized test meant to measure students' knowledge and aptitude in finance. Here's the full poster:

It is obviously not calling on students to work in Tel Aviv; it is recommending that they take the BAT and therefore have all their options open because employers presumably will value a high test score.

But mere facts won't stop idiotic anti-Israel bigotry.

So all we can do is laugh at it.

Gaza power plant shuts down, yet again

This morning the power plant in Gaza shut down after the Friday fuel shipment from Israel ran out. THere seem to be no plans to ask Israel to keep shipping the fuel, even though the IDF expedited the shipment on Friday, a day that Kerem Shalom is normally closed.

The PA sent a delegation to Egypt to help solve the crisis, but Hamas reportedly boycotted the meeting.

For its part, Hamas says that Egypt has plenty of fuel and is not suffering a shortage, and its media quotes an Egyptian official as claiming that someone is spilling fuel into the desert to create an artificial crisis to overthrow the state.

An agreement has apparently been made to have Egypt ship natural gas to Gaza to power the electric plant, a scheme that would take six months.

OCHA published a map of the electricity situation in Gaza. I didn't realize that Israel is supplying electricity to the area over 12 separate feeders distributed throughout the sector.

Dueling accounts of shooting in Samaria

Which sounds more likely?

From Ma'an:

A Palestinian man was shot and injured Saturday during clashes with Israeli settlers who attacked his village in the central West Bank, medical officials said.

Hassan Muatan, 40, was shot in the abdomen after armed settlers stormed the Burqa village east of Ramallah and attempted to vandalize property, witnesses said.

Muatan was evacuated to the Palestine Medical Compound. His wounds were described as moderate.

According to residents of the village, locals confronted the settlers who then opened fire. Security forces also intervened and themselves fired at the villagers, they said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said the army was aware of the incident but uninvolved.

From Arutz-7:

A Palestinian Authority attack on Samaria Jews ended with a PA man’s injury on the Sabbath. The incident took place between the Jewish village of Givat Assaf and the PA town of Kfar Burqa, both in the Binyamin region.

A group of Jews from Givat Assaf were walking in the hills near their town when they were attacked by PA Arabs from Burqa. The PA group lobbed heavy stones at the Jewish hikers.

One of the men from Givat Assaf responded by pulling out his gun and shooting an attacker. The man later told police that he had felt his life was in danger.

The PA man he hit was lightly wounded. He was treated in a PA hospital in Ramallah.

Police and IDF soldiers arrived at the scene and separated the two groups. The incident is under investigation.

Given that religious Jews are unlikely to go out of their way to vandalize property on the Sabbath, the very small possibility that the IDF would open fire in a situation like that, and the notorious unreliability of Palestinian "eyewitnesses," the Arutz-7 version of the story seems to be closer to the truth.

Walla seems to confirm the Arutz-7 version of the story - nothing about vandalism, nothing about the IDF shooting, both of which seem highly unlikely. But it says that the shooter, a 19 year old, was detained by police.

Lebanon says it is BFF with Syria

From Ya Libnan quoting SANA:

Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour stressed that Lebanon distances itself from decisions taken by the Arab league against Syria because they pose a threat to its stability and security. He said “the relationship between Lebanon and Syria is very special and unmatchable in the world and we can’t take any hostile or biased attitude [towards Syria]“.

The Lebanese Minister said in an interview with Lebanese As-Safir Newspaper published on Saturday that the Syrian crisis will not be solved through the military solution or violence, pointing out to “the importance of abstaining from imposing economic sanctions if we want to help Syria implement reforms because such sanctions cause sufferings to the Syrians”, he added.

The Lebanese FM stressed that Lebanon will never participate in the so-called “Friends of Syria” conference which is to be held in Istanbul next month, highlighting that Lebanon will not recognize this council. It recognizes of the Syrian state and Lebanon is tied with the Syrian state through distinguished historical relations, being a brotherly state, adding “we do not abandon the brotherly country and we should help it get out of the crisis.”

In other Lebanon news, a safe has been discovered that some people think belonged to Arafat:

A safe believed to belong to late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was found in southern Lebanon on Saturday, a Lebanese TV channel reported.

The locked container was discovered by a Lebanese man near the site of a former Fatah military base when Arafat lived in the country, Al-Jadeed TV said.

The one-meter wide, 2-meter long safe weighs seven and a half tons, and was transferred from the site in Al-Raml Al-Ali for inspection by a security committee with representatives from Hizbullah and Amal movements, the TV report said.

Spokesman of the Palestinian embassy in Beirut Hassan Ashanina told Ma'an the discovery was not near Arafat's former residence, and questioned the media linking the safe to the late leader and president.

Lebanese authorities will issue a statement on Monday regarding the safe, he added.

Gazans know Hamas is responsible for fuel crisis

Ma'an reports;

People in the Gaza Strip mostly blame the Hamas government for the ongoing fuel crisis in the coastal enclave, according to a poll released on Saturday.

In Gaza, 48 percent hold Hamas responsible for the cutoff in fuel supplies that plunged the strip into widespread blackouts, the study by the Arab World for Research & Development said.

Just 21 percent charge Israel with responsibility, the PA at 12 percent, and the government of Egypt at 10 percent, according to the poll.

The poll was taken two weeks ago, so the numbers of Gazans who blame Hamas probably have gone up significantly since then.

Hamas is meanwhile rejects the idea of fuel being pumped from Israel, which started on Friday with PA help. They say that the reason is because they are protecting Gaza consumers from paying too much for fuel. No news on the black-market price of fuel in Gaza today.

YNet has something interesting:

Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip have instructed gas station owners to stop selling petrol and diesel fuel in order to enrage the local Palestinians and encourage them to riot against the Egyptian government. The terror organization wishes to pressure Egypt to supply Gaza with fuel without preconditions, reported Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper on Saturday.

Hamas officials, such as Mahmoud Askoul, Palestinian Authority's Secretary General, and Yossef Raska, advisor to Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh, have publically criticized Egypt for besieging the Gaza Strip and intentionally preventing the transfer of fuel and diesel oil, in order to bring Hamas' leadership to its knees.

Sources stated that Hamas' long-term goal is to solely relay on fuel and commodities from Egypt. The same sources claimed Egypt recently informed Hamas' leaders and the Palestinian Energy Authority that Israel has denied any intent to hinder its fuel supply to Gaza. The Egyptians have made it clear that any fuel shipments will only pass though Israel's crossings, but Hamas insists on receiving their supplies only through Rafah crossing.

Egyptian officials have tried time and time again to convince the Hamas government that Israel is obligated by international law to supply Gaza with fuel, but the terror group keeps insisting on dismissing Israel from such commitments.

Some 450,000 liters of diesel fuel was transferred on Friday from Israel to Gaza. The fuel which was purchased from Dor Alon and which is designated for Gaza's private sector was ordered by private companies in Gaza.

I don't know if I believe Al Ahram in the first paragraph; it is close to Egypt's government and it seems to be more of a pushback for Hamas' very real attempts to pressure Egypt - for example, organizing rallies on Friday to protest Egypt's not sending fuel to Gaza directly.

Egypt is hardly in a position to freely provide Hamas with cheap fuel:

Egypt is asking for assistance from certain Arab countries to help ease the fuel crisis it has been facing for over three months now, MENA reported on Saturday.

The state-run news service quoted a high-level military official as saying that Egypt thought of seeking help from Arab countries when the fuel crisis started.

The nationwide gas and fuel crisis has continued in Cairo and other governorates this month, with demand increasing as buyers fear further shortages.

Protesters demanded that the government take action in various governorates, and cars queued for several kilometers outside petrol stations in some regions.

The Islamist-dominated parliament blamed the government for failing to respond to the crisis, saying that such a failure is a reason to remove the cabinet.

It looks like Hamas has badly miscalculated in its creation of, and handling of, the fuel crisis in Gaza. Egypt is not bending on its insistence on fuel coming through Israel and Gazans aren't believing Hamas' lies. Even so, Hamas TV announced that a child died in a hospital when its ventilator shut down, apparently still gambling that Gazans will be angry at Egypt.

(h/t @challahhuakbar)

Hitler shampoo commercial being talked about all over

The story I broke (thanks to a tip from Gurhan) of a Turkish cosmetics company using video of Hitler to sell shampoo has gotten serious press. It is in The Times of Israel, the Jewish Chronicle, MEMRI, the ADL, YNet Hebrew, Israel's Channel 2 and all over the Turkish press.

The latest from Digital Journal:

In keeping with the adage that there's no such thing as a bad advertisement, an Istanbul ad agency created a truly striking shampoo commercial with the "endorsement" of an historical figure: Adolf Hitler, who was cast as a symbol of virility.

Reaction over the use of an Adolf Hitler speech in a Turkish shampoo commercial grew as Turkey's Jewish Community made an announcement to condemn the act. The TV commercial was prepared for a new "men's shampoo", which claims that the product is effective against dandruff and stimulates growth of hair. Part of a Hitler speech was dubbed where he declares: "If you don't wear women's clothes then don't use a women's shampoo. Now there's a hundred percent men's shampoo Biomen. If you're a man you use Biomen."

The Jewish Community announcement said "We are reminding once more, with emphasis , that it is unacceptable to use, in a commercial and in the name of creating a difference in advertisement, Hitler who represents the perverse mentality that has caused the brutal deaths of millions of people. We are condemning this mentality and stressing once again the necessity of apologising to the public in order to repair the injury inflicted on humanity's conscience."

Turkish media also blasted the commercial and the company that has so far refused to withdraw it, saying it's socially irresponsible and in bad taste. Fatih Cekirge, a columnist, criticised the cosmetics industry for demeaning women and casting Hitler as a symbol of virility. He asked "Who's going to clean up the anger created by this advertisement?" The commercial has been aired on most TV stations across the country.

My YouTube edit of the commercial has 17,000 hits so far.
(UPDATE: Over 67,000 as of 3/26.)

Weekend links

Nutty Syrian conspiracy theory of the day: Soccer star sending secret signals to Syrian smugglers

No Islamists Here: Media Buries Motive on Toulouse by David Gerstman at PJMedia

On the same topic, Removing All Traces of Islamist Terror from Toulouse Shootings at Commentary

Plus, Mohammed Merah in a photo-op with French politicians.

Lebanon's Shi'ite Amal party says it detects Zionist hands in Syrian and Iraqi car bombs. Of course it does.

Some Moroccan MPs are very upset that this weekend's Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly in Rabat will host some Zionists. They say it is "heinous."

Paintballing with Hezbollah. Really.

At the very end of the evening, things take a chilling turn. The Boss walks over and takes Ben’s gun away from him while criticizing his marksmanship. In an exemplary display, the Boss takes careful aim at a rope hanging on the other side of the arena and fires shot after shot, squarely hitting the rope each time while chanting Yahoud (“Jew”) on each pull of the trigger. He seems to think it’s funny, but no one else laughs.

International Incident of the Day

Egypt MP calls for end to women’s right to divorce

And, of course, Israel saving the world again - with a potential cure for pancreatic and prostate cancer.

Have a great weekend and Chodesh Tov!

(h/t @cetypeestfou, @ZNovetsky, @ChallahHuAkbar)

UNRWA lies

At the same conference that Catherine Ashton made such an idiot of herself, an almost equally stupid statement - but really more of an outright lie - was given by UNRWA Commissioner General Filippo Grandi. UNRWA was the conference organizer.

Our introductory speakers - representing their governments and institutions, but also through their own personal commitment - are an impressive cross section of all those who support Palestine refugees, and are thus UNRWA’s key stakeholders: the European Union, our largest collective donor; the Government of Belgium, whose support to Palestine refugees dates back to 1949; the Government of Jordan, host to the largest single Palestine refugee population; the League of Arab States, the refugees’ main global and regional ally and advocate; and Foreign Minister Malki of the Palestinian Authority, who will speak today on behalf of President Abbas. The Palestinian Liberation Organization, I remind you, is UNRWA’s key partner and counterpart in its role of representing all Palestinians and through its efforts to find a solution to the question of refugees.

UNRWA has not done a single thing to help find a solution to the "refugees" since they really were refugees, in the mid 1950s. Since then UNRWA has gone from being part of the solution into being part of the problem. While in the early 1950s, they tried to build works projects to rehabilitate the refugees and allow them to ease into the economies of their host countries, the completely gave up on that part of their mandate by 1960. Since then they have been following whatever Palestinian Arabs want them to do, mostly because 99% of their employees are Palestinian - who don't want to solve the problem that gives them a livelihood.

One small but telling episode occurred in 1958. On the occasion of United Nations Day, October 24th, UN posters were distributed in all the refugee camps. The posters showed the flags of all the world’s nations – including Israel.

Jordan protested the inclusion of the flag of Israel on these posters. So UNRWA personnel were sent to all the camps to erase Israel’s flag from each and every poster.

And to praise the PLO as wanting to solve the refugee problem is to praise the PLO for wanting to destroy Israel, because that is exactly how they intend to solve the problem - by misreading UNGA 194 as if it means that Israel must accept millions of artificially-defined "refugees." It doesn't.

UNRWA could help solve the problem by putting their definition of "refugee" in line with that of UNHCR. Because then some 80% of the so-called "refugees' would disappear immediately even if you still believe that descendants of refugees are refugees themselves.

But they won't do that - because they don't want to solve the problem at all.