Thursday, June 14, 2012
Elder of Ziyon
Thursday, June 14, 2012Elder of ZiyonEgypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) dealt a blow on Thursday to civilian forces by handing down rulings that effectively dissolved Parliament, returned legislative powers to the military and affirmed the legality of former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq’s bid for presidency.Reactions:
In a much anticipated court session, the SCC deemed the Parliamentary Elections Law unconstitutional, under which an Islamist-dominated Parliament was elected earlier this year. The court based its ruling on the law’s failure to ensure independent and party candidates equal opportunities. While parties were allowed to run for all contested seats, the bid of independent parliamentary hopefuls was restricted to only one-third of the seats.
According to Hossam Issa, a law professor at Ain Shams University, the verdict means that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces shall assume legislative powers until Parliament is reelected.
For the generals, taking over parliamentary powers is not a new responsibility. Since Hosni Mubarak stepped down in February 2011 until the People’s Assembly first convened in January 2012, the military authorities held both executive and legislative powers. During that period, they issued several laws that regulated the establishment of political parties and the exercise of political rights, and criminalized protests that would obstruct the economy.
Issa dropped a bombshell by arguing that the presidential election set for this weekend should be postponed until Parliament is reelected.
“According to the Constitutional Declaration, the parliamentary elections must precede the presidential election,” he told Egypt Independent.
However, SCC head Farouk Sultan told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the ruling would not affect the upcoming presidential runoff slated for Saturday and Sunday.
The fate of the newly formed Constituent Assembly, elected by Parliament on Tuesday and tasked with writing the new constitution, is also up in the air.
According to Rafaat Fouda, a constitutional law professor at Cairo University, the ruling would lead to the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, because “it includes members of Parliament that has now been dissolved.”
Several secular parties had withdrawn from the Constituent Assembly on grounds that it is dominated by Islamists. The State Council is currently looking into the legality of the assembly.
Rulings by Egypt’s constitutional court that dissolve the Islamist-dominated parliament and allow Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister to continue in the presidential race amount to “a complete coup,” a former presidential candidate said on Thursday.Barry Rubin notes:
In a statement on his Facebook page, Abdul Moniem Abul Fotouh said that a government decree issued on Wednesday granting military police and intelligence services the power to detain civilians was part of the same action.
...Meanwhile, former chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog Mohammed ElBaradei wrote on his Twitter account that electing a president in the absence of a constitution and a parliament will bring a president with utmost dictatorship authorities.
In short, everything is confused and everything is a mess. All calculations are thrown to the wind. What this appears to be is a new military coup.
Yes, it is under legal cover, but nobody is going to see it as a group of judges — appointed by former President Hosni Mubarak, remember — looking deep into the law books and coming up with a carefully reasoned decision based on precedent. This will be seen by every Islamist — whether Salafi or Muslim Brotherhood — and by most of the liberals — who feel closer to the Islamists than to the government — as if the 2011 revolution has just been reversed.
Prediction: massive violence.
Thursday, June 14, 2012Elder of ZiyonThe Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) has a paid secretariat and a network of some 40 branches in the UK plus affiliated groups. Sinisterly, it includes the entire land of Israel on its logo.Read the whole thing.
Among its current links is the London Palestine Place fest (Palestine Place, incidentally, was the purpose-built and deliberately-named nineteenth century headquarters of a notorious London missionary society that existed for the sole purpose of converting Jews to Christianity!)
In its own words, which I take from its leaflet entitled "Palestine-Israel: The Basic Facts", the PSC
"produces publications for its members and the general public and disseminates information through its website; lobbies the media, institutions, the British government and local MPS; organises public meetings, film shows, conferences, debates, boycott events. pickets and demonstrations at local, national and international levels; promotes relations between British and Palestinian oranisations and communities"
It's promoted BDS with gusto since 2001, not least by picketing supermarkets selling Israeli goods, button-holing passers-by, and thrusting anti-Israel propaganda at them. "This is an excellent way to start up a discussion with the general public," one member is quoted as saying. "You start with imported avocados and end up with the Fourth Geneva Convention!"
In my experience, there's always a wad of Israel-demonising leaflets on hand at such demos. But what is not as generally known as it might be (for it's not usually among the material distributed at pickets and rallies) is that in 2009 the PSC produced a particularly pernicious piece of propaganda aimed at poisoning impressionable teenage minds against Israel.
This pernicious piece of propaganda is called "Teachers Pack on Palestine" and a leaflet describing it was given to me hot off the press when, at a PSC-sponsored Israel-demonising exhibition of children's drawings from Gaza, I was mistaken for a schoolteacher.
Thursday, June 14, 2012Elder of Ziyon“Hillel’s concept of bringing efficient water irrigation to arid lands helped some of the most barren environments in the world flourish, according to (Hillary) Clinton. Using his method, farmers now produce crops on more than 6 million hectares of land, she added.”Paris: Jewish youth attacked
"The new station led its Syria coverage with statements from both the opposition and Syria's state-run media. In a later program, the channel hosted Anis Nakash, a Lebanese pro-Iranian figure with a controversial past.
Bin Jiddo said earlier that the new channel will champion Arab nationalism, primarily the Palestinian cause."We will fight sectarianism and stand against colonialism and foreign intervention," he said. "The station's compass will always be turned to Palestine and the resistance."
The channel has attracted journalists from across the Arab world and even beyond. George Galloway, an outspoken former British lawmaker, will host a weekly program called "A Free Word.""
“The Egyptian lawyers alleged they had video proof that snipers from Hamas’ military wing Izz A-Din Al-Qassam infiltrated Egypt during the final days of the Mubarak regime, helping the Muslim Brotherhood kill demonstrators.”
None of this means that a degree of opportunism or expediency is not involved. Some as noted in the Finkler Question only claim a Jewish identity as a convenient means of bashing Israel, and deflecting allegations of anti-Semitism. The most offensive use of a pseudo Jewish identity arguably occurs when Jewish anti-Zionists (including some of the most extreme BDS advocates) highlight and exploit the Holocaust survivor background of their parents or family in order to justify their attacks on Israel (see, for example, the flier promoting Avigail Abarbanel’s book). Yet any serious survey of Holocaust survivors and their families would almost certainly find that the vast majority furiously reject these statements, and offer strong support for the State of Israel.from Daphne Anson
‘Perhaps in some parallel universe,’ scoffs Foreign Ministry spokesman
Thursday, June 14, 2012Elder of Ziyon
unescoAmazingly, though, UNESCO's draft resolution rejects this obvious use of UNESCO for political ends:Under intense pressure by the PLO and its allies, the upcoming meeting of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, to be held in St. Petersburg, Russia, from June 24 to July 6, is liable to find that the “Birthplace of Jesus: the Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage route, Bethlehem” is under urgent danger and worthy of special UN protection, a declaration that could only further inflame the region.What news reports fail to mention, however, is that the PLO’s submission — its first nomination to the World Heritage List since UNESCO voted to admit “Palestine” as a member in October 2011 — has been completely rejected by the professional body charged with evaluating country applications.In its submission, the PLO claims that “the Israeli occupation,” which is “hampering the supply of appropriate materials,” creates an “emergency situation” that needs to be addressed by “an emergency measure.”Yet a comprehensive investigation and report by The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) – a Paris-based entity that advises the World Heritage Committee on which nominated properties to list — said the very opposite:“[T]he Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage route in Bethlehem, Palestine should not be inscribed on the World Heritage List on an emergency basis. . . ICOMOS does not consider that the conditions required by paragraph 161 of the Operational Guidelines are fully met, concerning damage or serious and specific dangers to the Church of the Nativity that make its condition an emergency that needs to be addressed by the World Heritage Committee with immediate action necessary for the survival of the property.”ICOMOS also found that, contrary to the Palestinian submission now before the UNESCO committee, the Church of the Nativity was neither “severely damaged,” nor “under imminent threat”.There was no “immediate action… necessary for the survival of the property”. Despite the Palestinian claims, Israel was not found to be a major obstacle to the preservation of the Church of the Nativity. In fact, the report pointed out that the church’s roof – said to be at greatest risk – was repaired “most recently in 1990, when works were implemented by the Israeli military authorities.”Accordingly, ICOMOS suggested that the PA “resubmit the nomination in accordance with normal procedures for nomination.”
The United Nations circulated a draft resolution rejecting a Palestinian bid to list the birthplace of Jesus as an endangered World Heritage site, citing a report by international experts who investigated and dismissed claims that the Church of Nativity was under any specific danger. CLICK HERE FOR UNESCO TEXT.The draft resolution will be considered by UNESCO’s 21-nation World Heritage Committee at a meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, later this month. The panel has the power to overturn the expert-drafted text but insiders say that Arab states may not win the required two-thirds majority, noting that Russia, as the host country, may be hesitant to upset an objective evaluation submitted by UN professionals.“This is the first time in recent memory that a draft resolution circulated by the United Nations — let alone by UNESCO, which recently elected Assad’s Syria to its human rights committee — openly rejected a Palestinian claim or position,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based UN Watch monitoring group.“At the UN, whose General Assembly each year adopts more resolutions criticizing Israel than on the rest of the world combined, this is a spectacle as rare as Halley’s Comet.”
Thursday, June 14, 2012Elder of Ziyon
Last week I reported that Gaza's power plant was shut down despite the fact that Israel was providing roughly the same amount of fuel it had been since the "fuel crisis" earlier this year. I guessed that this might be because Hamas was manipulating the fuel supply to pressure Egypt to send through some promised (and free) Qatari fuel instead of being forced to pay for fuel from Israel.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012Elder of ZiyonThe macho-baby arrived to his own circumcision riding a convertible remote-control car, together with drumming and fireworks.I never imagined KITT as a kvatter.
Whoever is controlling the car is doing pretty bad job too, which could explain where Israelis get their bad driving habits from, although he was able to avoid running the car into the fireworks so I’ll give him that.
I hope the baby wasn’t driving back home, since the mohel probably gave him alcohol.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012Elder of Ziyon
Wednesday, June 13, 2012Elder of ZiyonI notice that Melman didn't explicitly say that Israel was behind Stuxnet or Flame, only that they started their cyberweapons program against Iran before the US. Does this mean that Stuxnet really was American?Well-informed Israeli security and intelligence officials responded with a smile and a pinch of verbal salt, when asked about Confront and Conceal: Obama’s Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power the book coming out (this coming week) by David Sanger, The New York Times reporter.
In his book Sanger argues that it was an American idea to attack Iranian nuclear installations with sophisticated and clandestine cyberspace warfare – planting viruses and worms in Iran’s computers. According to the writer, the operation — code-named ”Olympic Games” — was initiated in 2007 by the Bush administration and sped up under President Obama. In an excerpt adapted from his book by the Times, Sanger wrote that only at a later stage were Israeli intelligence experts and computer wizards were brought in and joined forces.
The Israeli officials actually told me a different version. They said that it was Israeli intelligence that began, a few years earlier, a cyberspace campaign to damage and slow down Iran’s nuclear intentions. And only later they managed to convince the USA to consider a joint operation — which, at the time, was unheard of. Even friendly nations are hesitant to share their technological and intelligence resources against a common enemy. In our book,Spies Against Armageddon, we will reveal much more about the special strategic relations and cooperation between the CIA and the Mossad and the importance given by the Aman (military intelligence) to cyberspace warfare.
Yet my Israeli sources understand the sensitivity and the timing of the issue and are not going to be dragged into a battle over taking credit. “We know that it is the presidential election season,” one Israeli added, ”and don’t want to spoil the party for President Obama and his officials, who shared in a twisted and manipulated way some of the behind-the-scenes secrets of the success of cyberwar.”
Among the burning questions addressed and answered in SPIES AGAINST ARMAGEDDON are these: Who planted a powerful computer worm in Iran’s uranium enrichment centrifuges? Who has been motorcycling boldly through the streets of Tehran, assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists? Are Israeli spies regularly inside Iran and other enemy countries? Did the Mossad make a huge mistake when two dozen of its operatives were seen by hotel security cameras in Dubai, or was it a successful murder mission? Do the assassins, as portrayed in the movie “Munich,” really feel pangs of conscience? Have Israel’s enemies ever managed to plant agents in the Israeli government? Does the United States really trust Israeli intelligence, or is the relationship limited by mutual mistrust? Why do U.S. security agencies believe their close ally is spying on America? Is Israel trying to maneuver the U.S. into attacking Iran?Looks like I might have to buy this....
Wednesday, June 13, 2012Elder of ZiyonZionist army intensified its movements pace Wednesday dawn and morning along the border of the eastern sector of Lebanon, National News Agency reported.Not s single soldier or bullet crossed the Blue Line. No complaints to UNIFIL recorded. All that apparently happened was an IDF exercise of some sort.
Intensive movements of infantry and armored patrols have been recorded close to the barbed wire of the Lebanese border, NNA added.
At 7:00 a.m. (local time) a Merkava tank has stationed behind the earthworks at the Abbasiya axis, while 3 Hammer vehicles entered the Lebanese part of the village of Ghajar at about 07:15 a.m. to monitor the liberated zone of confrontation, in particular the sector of Wazzani river.
Hundreds of Lebanese citizens thwarted the Zionist enemy’s scheme which aimed at keeping hikers away from the area of the Wazzani River through practicing daily provocations and building new military posts, Al-Manar correspondent to South Lebanon reported Monday.Yes, Hezbollah has successfully launched Picnic Jihad.
After 10 days of the hype, alert, throwing flares, igniting fires and building positions adjacent to the bordering Wazzani resorts in southern Lebanon, all those inciting actions did not prevent the Lebanese people from frequenting areas along the Blue Line and the barbed wire to entertain and picnic on the banks of the Wazzani River, without being affected by the Zionist provocations.
“We are used to their (Zionists) attitude and movements, the more acts they provoke, the more hikers visit the area to entertain,” one hiker told Al-Manar correspondent, Ali Sheib.
More than 6 parks are open on the banks of the Wazzani River, where all are filled with citizens from different regions of Lebanon, who come to spend time of rest and relaxation in spite of the tension proved by the enemy.
“We have been waiting for summer to come and make them (Zionists) feel oppressed watching us entertaining. They do nothing but looking at us from above. That's all they manage to do,” another hiker told Al-Manar.
The significance of frequenting the Wazzani River region, alongside its aesthetic geographical location, constitute a state of challenge to which the people of the resistance are accustomed since the liberation in 2000 at each site facing the Zionist enemy.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012Elder of Ziyon
Sure, Barron has been loud and outrageous at times.Ah, so its only the rich people who are against him!
But he has also been a fixture at scores of social justice battles in this city for decades. Few black leaders are better known. Few are more willing to challenge the city’s rich and powerful.
No wonder the money people in Manhattan are suddenly worried about a congressional race in Brooklyn - one they thought was a sure thing.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012Elder of ZiyonKuwait’s morality police have reportedly arrested at least 10 LGBT teenagers in the country for “satanic rituals” under a crackdown in the name of “morality.”Is my copying an article from an Egyptian newspaper about Kuwaiti intolerance towards gays another insidious form of "pinkwashing" since it implies a distinction between how Israel acts and how Arab nations act?
Security sources in the country have said that the LGBT youth were targeted under “vice” claims.
PinkNews.co.uk reported that the 10 teenagers between the ages of 16- and 18-years-old were arrested on June 8 after police alleged the rituals and “indecent acts” taking place.
The Kuwaiti daily al-Rai in addition claimed that they are also “suspected of homosexuality.”
Kuwaiti police “received complaints” the group held nightly meetings in a disused building in Al-Sharq district of Kuwait city, the report said.
During questioning the adolescents claimed they were working on a film, a claim the police dismissed as the building has no electricity and no photographic equipment was found.
Al-Rai has also reported that 20 men and one woman were arrested in the areas of Salamiya and Hawalli of Kuwait city for “suspicious parties.”
The al-Anba daily claimed the number of people arrested was 27 in several suspect apartments where they usually meet to commit “immoral activities.”
Kuwaiti Times alleged that some of the people were found to be “intoxicated.”
Al-Rai claimed that some of the suspects were arrested in previous raids and were released after signing a document that they will not repeat their “activities.”
Wednesday, June 13, 2012Elder of ZiyonAfter the IDF raided the Marmara ship and the rest of the Turkish flotilla vessels in May 2010, Israel went into effective radio silence mode. While the flotilla's organizers flooded the media with reports placing Israel in an extremely bad light, nothing was said in Israel until noon.While the IDF did do an admirable job at the time, this report points out systemic problems with Israel's Foreign Ministry in getting the facts out to the right people in a timely manner.
The State Comptroller's report on the flotilla raid pointed to severe impairments in the execution of Israel's public diplomacy policy.
State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss noted the significant delay in Israel's public response to the IDF raid and the public diplomacy bureau's last ditch effort to contain the media disaster and minimize the event's negative effect on Israel's global image.
The report stated that the public diplomacy bureau in the Prime Minister's Office did not distinguish between Israel's domestic messages and those directed to the international community. This, the report stated, was manifested in negative coverage overseas, largely due to the severe delay in response.
The comptroller also found that the public diplomacy bureau is not equipped to operate on a 24/7 capacity.
The report points to impairments in the division of responsibility between the Foreign Ministry and the IDF. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit, the report said, acted as Israel's public diplomacy bureau by default and operated in areas which exceed its responsibility, due to the weakness of other state advocacy bodies.
The comptroller explained that the delay in the transfer of photographic material critical for Israel's public response to the raid was largely due to the IDF's sensitivities in domestic hasbara.
Addressing the handling of foreign press in Israel, the report stated that no element was tasked with overseeing overall communication with foreign press.
Impairments were also found in Israel's hasbara vis-à-vis Arab states. The report states that there was hardly any Arabic-language hasbara in the period preceding and following the Marmara raid.
He noted that this falls under the full jurisdiction of the Foreign Ministry.
He also criticized the fact that the head of Israel's public diplomacy bureau acted as the prime minister's spokesman.
Lindenstrauss concluded this part of his report by recommending a comprehensive plan to improve Israel's public diplomacy under the prime minister's guidance.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012Elder of Ziyonunrwa
Tuesday, June 12, 2012Elder of ZiyonDo settlers get more water than the Palestinians?
As Israeli citizens, settlers’ water falls within the Israeli allowance allocated by the Interim Agreement. The 350,000 settlers in the West Bank consume 47 MCM/year which means 134m3/year of fresh natural water per capita. This is lower than the Israeli allowance of. 150 m3/year.
Do settlers ‘steal Palestinian water?
No. Settler consumption falls within the Israeli allocation, and therefore does not tap into, or affect, the Palestinian allocation. Settlers source their water only from Israeli sources (which includes approved Israeli wells in the West Bank) and sourcing directly from Israel. The water sourced from Israel amounts to 100MCM in total, of which 52.5 MCM for Palestinian usage, and 47.5 MCM for settler usage (in addition
Palestinians produce 140 MCM/ year themselves) although in reality settler ,usage is lower than this thus leaving more water .for the Palestinians.
Does Israel use Palestinian water?
No. Israel uses strictly the amount of fresh water allocated by the agreement, and does not tap into Palestinian allocation.
Does Israel continue its presence in the West Bank as this offers a water advantage?
No. Israel’s consumption from the Mountain Aquifer (and freshwater consumption in general) is distinctly lower than it was in 1967: In 1967 Israelis consumed 504 m3/year per capita (total water consumption of
1411MCM/year) of fresh natural water. In 2009 Israeli consumption was 137 m3/year per capita (total water consumption of 1040 MCM/year), and this despite a considerable population increase since1967.
Does Israel need the West Bank in order to access the underground aquifer?
No. The aquifer is spread out under both Israel and the West Bank, with the largest part of the aquifer
actually lying beneath Israel: 8900 km, while only 5600 lie under the West Bank.
Does Israel sell water to the Palestinians at inflated prices?
No. The trade price of water between the Israeli and Palestinian sides was established by the JWC Pricing Protocol in 1998, as 2.6 NIS per .cubic meter for the PWA. This is a considerably lower rate than the full real price and also significantly lower than that paid by Israeli municipalities, both within Israel and the West
Bank (the average Israeli Municipality pays 3.86 NIS per cubic meter.)
Is it difficult for Palestinians to drill wells?
No, and the procedure is identical for Israelis wishing to drill wells. The procedure for drilling wells requires either one or two steps. The first step is to get an approval for the well by the JWC. This applies to both
Israelis and Palestinians wishing to drill wells in the West Bank. If the well is located within Areas A or B, Palestinians do not need any further approvals or permits and can start drilling. If the well is within Area
C, both Israelis and Palestinians require a permit from the Civil Administration, which approves and permits
99% of requests.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012Elder of Ziyon
Earlier this week, Kaspersky Labs noted that in a matter of hours after researchers had announced the discovery of Flame, the command and control infrastructure behind Flame went dark. This infrastructure was important because Flame is initially configured to contact a number of these servers and then run the control scripts that they serve. However, by 28 May — the day that Flame's details began to emerge — requests for these scripts were met with 403/404 errors, hampering efforts to learn more about the servers behind the malware.
Kaspersky Lab, with the assistance of GoDaddy and OpenDNS, attempted to sinkhole the malware; however, Symantec noted that this effort was only partially successful — Flame's authors still had control of a few command and control servers — enough to communicate with some of the infected computers.
"[Flame's authors] had retained control of their domain registration accounts, which allowed them to host these domains with a new hosting provider," Symantec wrote on its blog.
From here, infected machines received a new module from the remaining command and control servers — browse32.ocx — which has the purpose of covering Flame's tracks. It not only has a hit-list of all Flame-related files and folders to delete, but it subsequently rewrites random characters on the disk to ensure that the old data can't be retrieved.
There is one exception to the firing squad, and that is a temporary file: ~DEB93D.tmp. According to CrySyS' research (PDF), it is an encrypted file that contains a SQLite database of NetBIOS name look-ups. In theory, it would provide forensic teams with the ability to determine the names of all the computers it was able to see and possibly infect.
Researchers haven't come to an agreement as to whether sparing this file was an intended feature or an oversight by Flame's authors, but its existence is already being used as a temporary indicator for if a computer is, or was, infected by Flame.
Even though many folks suspected Flame was made in the U.S.A., this is as close as anyone has come to saying so. As an American I feel a wee-bit of national pride. So what if our critical utilities infrastructure is less secure than my son’s piggy bank? And so what if the government’s defense and intelligence networks are more compromised than a herd of Kardashians? We made the coolest piece of malware since William Gibson invented Black Ice in Neuromancer.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012Elder of Ziyon“ICOMOS (The International Council on Monuments and Sites)also found that, contrary to the Palestinian submission now before the UNESCO committee, the Church of the Nativity was neither “severely damaged,” nor “under imminent threat”.”
“Fayyad often comes across in the international community as a "moderate" man who believes in peace and coexistence with Israel; but his actions in the past few years reveal that the Palestinian prime minister is anything but liberal or moderate, even if he did receive a doctorate at the University of Texas.”
“If Fayyad does not want Palestinian children to mix with Israelis, why does he continue to live in an Arab neighborhood in Jerusalem that is under Israeli sovereignty? And why does he continue to meet with Israelis on different occasions? If, as his aides say, he despises Mahmoud Abbas and believes that he is leading the Palestinians toward the abyss, why doesn't he tell this to the president in his face? Or is it possible that Fayyad and Abbas are playing the good cop and bad cop?”
“What would Israel do if a journalist from Der Sturmer was filing reports from inside the country? Despite the fact that there is remarkable press freedom in Israel, extending to and including Arab media such as Al-Jazeera, it’s a safe bet that Israel would find it extremely hard to swallow.
Yet there is such a foreign media outlet represented in Israel, publishing propaganda and openly supporting Israel’s worst enemies. It’s called The Guardian.”
Tuesday, June 12, 2012Elder of Ziyon
Last Sunday, San Francisco held its annual "Israel in the Gardens" festival where thousands of people get together to celebrate Israel. There were concerts, community booths, a mini-film festival, theater and dancing sections.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012Elder of Ziyonzionist attack zooWild boars on Sunday damaged farm land near Salfit, farmers said.If you are so stupid as to believe that Jewish settlers raise wild boars, specifically to attack Arab farms and workers, you must either be:
Farmers told Ma'an the boars damaged apricot trees, wheat crops and seedlings. They said the boars were released onto their land by settlers.
Residents and local officials in the area have for several years complained that settlers release pigs, which have caused injuries and destroy land in the rural communities.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012Elder of ZiyonBDSSwiss-Jewish organizations sharply criticized last week a full-page advertisement in the Swiss paper Neue Zürcher Zeitung promoting the Migros supermarket’s decision to boycott products from Israeli settlements.
A Swiss Protestant aid organization sponsored the ad and urged readers to support the boycott.
In a letter to Claude Ruey, the president of the Zurich-based aid organization of the Protestant Churches of Switzerland (HEKS), Swiss-Jewish leaders wrote, “We protest this discrimination against the State of Israel and are disappointed that the HEKS as a recognized aid organization fosters anti-Israel sentiments, which have a direct effect on us Jews in Switzerland.”
The letter to Ruey was signed by Dr. Herbert Winter, Nicole Poëll and Gabrielle Rosenstein.
The Jewish leaders added that the decision is “purely political,” singling out Israel and not boycotting goods sold in Migros from other countries where human rights violations are taking place.
The Berlin-based office of the American Jewish Committee said in a statement last week, that the “AJC has raised concern about the European relationship to Israel, given the growing number of boycott and BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions] campaigns targeting Israel in Europe. In recent days, the large Swiss supermarket co-op Migros began labeling products originating in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, while the German branch of the church-based peace organisation Pax Christi launched its ‘Occupation Tastes Bitter’ boycott campaign against Israeli products.”
Tuesday, June 12, 2012Elder of ZiyonThe United Nations has received reports of grave violations against children in the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011 and throughout the reporting period, continuing into 2012. In response to the need for United Nations verified information, my Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict sent a technical mission to the region to conduct interviews with victims and witnesses in refugee camps, villages and hospitals in the region in March 2012. In almost all recorded cases, children were among the victims of military operations by Government forces, including the Syrian Armed Forces, the intelligence forces and the Shabbiha militia, in their ongoing conflict with the opposition, including the Free Syrian Army (FSA). Children as young as 9 years of age were victims of killing and maiming, arbitrary arrest, detention, torture and ill- treatment, including sexual violence, and use as human shields. Schools have been regularly raided and used as military bases and detention centres. Information obtained by the technical mission is in line with the findings of the independent international commission of inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic.
Interviews with former members of the Syrian Armed Forces and the intelligence forces indicated that civilians, including children, were targeted by Government forces if they were residing in villages where members of FSA or other armed opposition groups were believed to be present or where deserters were hiding, or if they were seen fleeing the country seeking refuge. In one instance, a former member of the Syrian Armed Forces stated that, during protests in Tall Kalakh in December 2011, he was given an order by his commander to shoot without distinction, although the soldiers were aware that there were women and children among the protesters. During the armed break-up of the demonstrations, the witness saw three girls between approximately 10 and 13 years of age who had been killed by the Syrian Armed Forces. In another similar incident in Aleppo in the fourth quarter of 2011, a former member of the intelligence forces witnessed the killing of five children in a secondary school during demonstrations.
The grave violations continued into 2012 and although this is beyond the reporting period, the gravity of the incidents requires their inclusion in the report. Witness accounts described a particularly grave incident in the village of Ayn l’Arouz in the Jabal Azzawiyah in Idlib province. On 9 March 2012, Syrian Armed Forces, together with the intelligence forces and the Shabbiha militia, surrounded the village for an attack that lasted over a period of four days. Government forces entered the village on the first day and killed 11 civilians, including three boys aged between 15 and 17 years. Thirty-four persons, including two boys aged 14 and 16 years, and one 9-year-old girl, were arrested for interrogation about the suspected presence of deserters. Eventually, the village was reportedly left burned and 4 out of the 34 detainees were shot and burned, including the two boys aged 14 and 16 years.
There is no evidence of Government forces formally conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 18 years. However, the Syrian Armed Forces and its associated Shabbiha militia used children as young as 8 years on at least three separate occasions within the reporting period. In the incident mentioned above in the village of Ayn l’Arouz in March 2012, a witness stated that several dozen children, boys and girls ranging between the ages of 8 and 13 years, were forcibly taken from their homes. These children were subsequently reportedly used by soldiers and militia members as human shields, placing them in front of the windows of buses carrying military personnel into the raid on the village.
The United Nations collected dozens of accounts of eyewitnesses of both children as young as 14 years of age who were tortured while in detention, as well as former members of the Syrian Armed Forces who themselves were forced to torture or witness torture. The Shabbiha militia was also involved in the detention and torture of children, especially during military operations and often in makeshift detention cells in schools. Most child victims of torture described being beaten, blindfolded, subjected to stress positions, whipped with heavy electrical cables, scarred by cigarette burns and, in one recorded case, subjected to electrical shock to the genitals. At least one witness said that he had seen a young boy of approximately 15 years of age succumb to his repeated beatings. Children were detained and tortured because their siblings or parents were assumed to be members of the opposition or FSA, or they themselves were suspected of being associated with FSA. On one occasion, in May 2011, a 15-year-old boy was taken into custody by intelligence forces in the municipal building in Jisr Ash-Shughur and repeatedly beaten with heavy electrical cables during interrogation. The boy stated that there were at least 20 other children his age or younger held in detention.
The United Nations has received some credible allegations of the recruitment and use of children by armed opposition, including FSA and other armed groups, although FSA has a stated policy of not recruiting any child under 17 years of age. Various sources reported on young children association with FSA carrying guns and wearing camouflage uniforms. My Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict reminded all parties of their obligations under human rights and international humanitarian law.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012Elder of ZiyonPoster, real liberals, X-washing
Aharon Cohen Mohliver: Just to clarify to all the skeptics: this picture was taken during gay pride in israel. It's not "just two men holding hands" and it is absolutely reflective of how the Israeli army treats gays. I'm gay. I served in the IDF as an openly gay soldier in combat units. This is a clear example that sexual orientation has nothing to do with how well one can perform any task, including serving in the field with other (straight) men.UPDATE: YNet has an article about this photo:
The Foreign Ministry, as well as Israeli missions worldwide, has been known to use the IDF's acceptance of gay soldiers into its ranks as a symbol for Israel's progressive nature; but this is the first time the military has publically embraced the gay community on one of its social media platforms.
The IDF's Facebook initiative struck a chord: Within hours of posting the photo online, it garnered 4,621 "Shares" and over 6,500 "Likes," as well as hundreds of supportive comments.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012Elder of Ziyon
Monday, June 11, 2012Elder of ZiyonA forest fire broke out Sunday evening in the Anatot forest near the security fence as a result of Molotov cocktails thrown from the Shufat refugee camp north of Jerusalem.You know how Palestinian Arabs consider trees to be sacred? How they issue press releases every weekend claiming that Jews cut down their trees, whether it really happened or not?
Four firefighting teams were working to extinguish the blaze, under security since more Molotov cocktails were being thrown from the camp in an attempt to fan the flames.
Monday, June 11, 2012Elder of ZiyonWe are Soldiers of God, and we do not want to live in this life; it is just a corridor towards the Hereafter....we did not get ahead because of the infidel West, and dignity for us is only by the sword; the computers that come from the West, America and China , is a conspiracy and deception, you want to spend our future, and spread immorality, God forbid; these computers are infidel...I couldn't translate it all but it looks like there were plenty more juicy parts, including about women and why Japan had an earthquake (because they didn't wash themselves before praying five times a day.)
...We are the best people, we are God's Soldiers, we want access to power, and cutting people's hands and feet, in application of the law, and will not fail to do so, technology is will help us, electric saws, for cutting people's hands and legs, steadiness steadiness ..
Democracy is Kufr, secular atheism, a liberal trap; freedom lies, the technology lies, and all this said evidence 1400 years ago
Right now we go along with the infidel democracy, but this is temporary, and we use it only to reach power, and you will see how the law of God will prevail, and the infidels will know it will be overturned, and Israel will die, and during the resurrection, we will enter Paradise in crowds... ..
Monday, June 11, 2012Elder of ZiyonOn June 7, four days after an attack on a Jewish cemetery near Budapest, some 120 Hungarians lined up in protest on the bank of the Danube in downtown Budapest wearing the German word for “Jew.” During the Nazi era, Jews were forced to wear the yellow-colored stars as a means of identification.Go to Monash University for another lecture on the enemies of Allah
Tareq Al Suwaidan said his foremost cause is that of Palestine and Jerusalem. “The most dangerous thing facing the Muslims is not the (Arab) dictatorships. The absolutely most dangerous thing is the Jews. They are the greatest enemy.”I doubt Al Suwaidan realises that Monash University is named after General Sir John Monash born in Victoria, on 27 June 1865, the son of Louis Monash and his wife Bertha, née Manasse. Both parents were Jews from Germany (the family name was originally spelt Monasch).
“The US blocked Israel's participation in the Global Counterterrorism Forum's, due to fierce objections from Turkey.”[Israel's foreign ministry denied this story - EoZ]
"Some mosques in the city have relaunched the message, announcing from the minarets: 'Christians must leave Quasir,' " read the report from the Vatican agency, which has sought to document the parlous plight of Syria’s ancient Christian community.
Monday, June 11, 2012Elder of ZiyonThe head of the Palestine Monetary Authority said Sunday that the Palestinian Authority government has reached the maximum limit of borrowing from Palestinian banks.Remember when Fayyad declared that the PA would be financially independent by the end of 2013? Good times.
Jihad Al-Wazir said in a statement that banks in Palestine increased lending to the government by over $300 million in the last two months, and cannot lend more unless repayments from donor countries come through.
The Authority has set supervisory measures to bolster the banking sector in the face of any political or economic shocks, al-Wazir added.
They maintain a financial leverage ratio of 12 percent, higher than many European banks and put aside 15 percent of profits into a special account, Wazir said earlier.
PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said in January that his government owes $1.1 billion in bank loans, as well as $400 million in unpaid revenues to private sector contractors.
Monday, June 11, 2012Elder of ZiyonA mob of hundreds of men have assaulted women holding a march demanding an end to sexual harassment, with the attackers overwhelming the male guardians and groping and molesting several of the female marchers in Cairo's Tahrir Square.Amnesty called for an investigation.
The attack follows smaller scale assaults on women this week in Tahrir, the epicenter of the uprising that forced Hosni Mubarak to step down last year. Thousands have been gathering in the square this week in protests over a variety of issues — mainly over worries that presidential elections this month will secure the continued rule by elements of Mubarak's regime backed by the ruling military.
Friday's march was called to demand an end to sexual assaults. Around 50 women participated, surrounded by a larger group of male supporters who joined hands to form a protective ring around them. The protesters carried posters saying, "The people want to cut the hand of the sexual harasser," and chanted, "The Egyptian girl says it loudly, harassment is barbaric."
After the marchers entered a crowded corner of the square, a group of men waded into the group of women, heckling them and groping them. The male supporters tried to fend them off, and it turned into a melee involving a mob of hundreds.
The marchers tried to flee while the attackers chased them and male supporters tried to protect them. But the attackers persisted, cornering several women against a metal sidewalk railing, including an Associated Press reporter, shoving their hands down their clothes and trying to grab their bags. The male supporters fought back, swinging belts and fists and throwing water.
Eventually, the women were able to reach refuge in a nearby building with the mob still outside until they finally got out to safety.
"After what I saw and heard today. I am furious at so many things. Why beat a girl and strip her off? Why?" wrote Sally Zohney, one of the organisers of the event on Twitter.
The persistence of the attack raised the belief of many that it was intentional, though who orchestrated it was unclear.
“These women stood up to demand an end to sexual harassment. What they got was intimidation and sexual assault,” said Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, in a statement.Notably, the protest was organized by 20 Egyptian women's groups - yet only 50 women showed up, which might indicate that most Egyptian women knew something like this would occur.
“In last year’s protests, Tahrir Square was a place where women stood on an equal footing with men to demand their freedom. Now it has become a place where women are singled out for sexual harassment.
“These attacks need to be investigated immediately and those found responsible held to account. An investigation would serve as a deterrent against sexual harassment and will help protect women protesters who are exercising their right to peacefully express their views.”
Monday, June 11, 2012Elder of Ziyon
There is a cartoon that children like. They like it very much, and so do adults - Tom and Jerry.Well, now an Arab academic based out of the US is saying the same thing on Saudi TV:
[...]
Some say that this creation by Walt Disney will be remembered forever. The Jewish Walt Disney Company gained international fame with this cartoon. It is still shown throughout the world. This cartoon maintains its status because of the cute antics of the cat and mouse – especially the mouse.
Some say that the main reason for making this very appealing cartoon was to erase a certain derogatory term that was prevalent in Europe.
[...]
If you study European history, you will see who was the main power to hoard money and wealth, in the 19th century. In most cases, it is the Jews. Perhaps that was one of the reasons which caused Hitler to begin the anti-Semitic trend, and then the extensive propaganda about the crematoria began... Some of this is true. We do not deny all of it.
Watch Schindler's List. Every Jew was forced to wear a yellow star on his clothing. The Jews were degraded and termed "dirty mice." Tom and Jerry was made in order to change the Europeans' perception of mice. One of terms used was "dirty mice."
I'd like to tell you that... It should be noted that mice are very cunning...and dirty.
[...]
No ethnic group or people operates in such a clandestine manner as the Jews.
[...]
Read the history of the Jews in Europe. This ultimately led to Hitler's hatred and resentment. As it turns out, Hitler had behind-the-scene connections with the Protocols [of the Elders of Zion].
Tom and Jerry was made in order to display the exact opposite image. If you happen to watch this cartoon tomorrow, bear in mind the points I have just raised, and watch it from this perspective. The mouse is very clever and smart. Everything he does is so cute. He kicks the poor cat's ass. Yet this cruelty does not make you despise the mouse. He looks so nice, and he is so clever... This is exactly why some say it was meant to erase this image of mice from the minds of European children, and to show that the mouse is not dirty and has these traits.
Following are excerpts from an interview with Muhammad Waqi’ullah, a US-based Sudanese professor of political science, which aired on Al-Majd TV on June 4, 2012. Waqi’ullah received his Ph.D. from the University of Mississipi, and worked for the Institute of Islamic and Arabic Sciences in America in Fairfax, Virginia.That damn Jewish mouse again!
Muhammad Waqi’ullah: The neocon movement was established at US universities, especially at the University of Chicago. It was established by a group of Jewish professors, who fled Nazism. They wanted to fortify Western civilization against the leftist, secular, Nazi, and Fascist invasion.
Ultimately, they wanted to protect the Israelites, or the Jews, from annihilation by Western civilization. They infiltrated Western ideology, and specifically, American ideology, until the circumstances, under Bush Jr., enabled them to gain control over the country’s centers of power and to implement their ideas.
This led to the invasions with which they destroyed Islam and the Islamic world.
....The Muslim fights for the sake of good, while the infidel fights for the sake of evil. It is a war of values, not of material interests or personal or national ambitions. It is a war of civilizations, a war of values. Islamic civilization defends the good.
...Some films look the epitome of innocent, purity, and reliability. They look like nice harmless films, like the Superman movies or Tom and Jerry. People don’t sense the danger of these films, but these films instill Western philosophy, the theory of Thomas Hobbes [sic], which we discussed.
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PROTOCOLS: EXPOSING MODERN ANTISEMITISM
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