Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Sunday links

From Ian:

MFA: Hamas detains foreign journalists in the Gaza Strip

"Hamas is not allowing at least 22 foreign nationals who wish to exit the Gaza Strip for Israel to do so. Among the foreigners being detained are nine Italian citizens, one Canadian, one South Korean, a French national and six journalists from Japan. In addition, two Turkish Red Crescent members have been refused exit.
This violation of the human rights of neutral foreigners is yet another example ofHamas’ attempts to manipulate and pressure the press.
For its part, Israel is keeping the Erez crossing into Gaza open, allowing passage to the foreign press, diplomats and humanitarian workers."

[I want to add that this is not the only way that journalists are effectively being human shields. This great video compilation shows how many of the journalists in Gaza say that they hear rocket launches very nearby where they are reporting from:

-EoZ]

IDF Blog: Pillar Of Defense: Fourth Day Recap VIDEO

Israeli patrol fires back at Syrian troops after being hit by bullet on the Golan
No Israeli troops injured in latest spillover of civil war
[Reports that Syrian soldiers may have been killed - EoZ]

Rupert Murdoch Tweets: “Why Is Jewish Owned Press so Consistently Anti-Israel In Every Crisis?”
He also tweeted: “Can’t Obama stop his friends in Egypt shelling Israel”

UK Prime Minister: Hamas ‘Bears the Principal Responsibility’ for Gaza Conflict

Washington defends Israel, blames Hamas for escalation
‘Israelis have endured far too much of a threat from these rockets for far too long,’ White House spokesman says

HuffPo: Jimmy Carter: "Israelis' Policy Is to Confiscate Palestinian Territory"

Arab MKs honor Gazan victims of IDF operation

“Israel is breaking international law in Gaza, all for the sake of Netanyahu’s election campaign,” MK Zoabi charges.
"Not to be outdone, MK Taleb a-Sanaa’s Arab Democratic Party was addressed by one of the leaders of Hamas via video-conference at a party meeting Saturday. Sanaa was reelected as the party’s representative on United Arab List-Ta’al."

Palestinian Authority warns of chaos in West Bank By Khaled Abu Toameh
Protesters throughout the West Bank call on Hamas's Izzadin Kassam Brigades to "destroy Tel Aviv."

In Hebrew Video Hamas Threatens Renewal of Suicide Bombings Against Israeli Civilians (VIDEO)

“We have missed the suicide [bombs]… wait for us soon in stores, buses and cafes,” promises the video according to a translation from the Jerusalem Post.

[Some of the video is hilarious, with Hebrew being displayed backwards or in reverse order. Israelis are openly laughing at it on YouTube. - EoZ]

Hamas warns Gazans against ‘spreading rumors’ that help Israel
Interior Ministry says government is providing the media with all ‘needed information’

Gaza PM goes into hiding, as several key Hamas military commanders killed
Haniyeh heads underground after command center housing his office is bombed; 11 Hamas activists said killed on Saturday

Russia Today Presenter Accuses Israel of “Terrorism” and “Apartheid” (VIDEO)

CIFWatch: ‘Comment is Free’ contributor: Israeli leaders murder Palestinian children to score electoral points

"The enormity of this smear – a staggering moral inversion which evidently was unchallenged by Guardian editors – is difficult to even fathom."

CAMERA: On U.S. Radio, BBC Reporter Misinforms to Defend Hamas Use of Human Shields

"Danahar then quickly pivots to say that "the key factor here" is the accuracy of Israel’s counter strikes. In other words, according to the BBC journalist, the key factor is not the use of human shields by Palestinian terrorists, nor is the indiscriminate rockets that they fire into Israel, but rather the accuracy of Israeli tank shells."

The "Diversity" of New York Times Op-Ed Page

"It's possible that the newspaper might publish an Op-Ed focused on Hamas's war crimes, or on Israel's need to defend its citizens from incessant rocket attacks. But history shows that if you're waiting for anything coming close to balance on the opinion pages, you'll be waiting in vain."

Workers begin digging up Arafat’s grave ahead of exhumation
Job expected to take two weeks before remains of Palestinian leader can be tested for poisoning

Egypt churches pull out of constitution panel
The Coptic Orthodox church's new pope, Tawadros II, said after his election last week that he would reject a constitution if it imposed a religious state in the Muslim-majority country.

10 Years on, Victim of Arab Terror Coulter Remembered Through NY Street

"She was eating lunch with the students in the cafeteria on Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus on July 31, 2002, when the Palestinian bomber struck. Nine people, including Janis, were killed in the blast. More than 80 others were wounded."

Former VP Henry Wallace, Forgotten Zionist, Stars in Oliver Stone’s New TV Series

"After a public outcry, Stone expressed “regret” that he “made a clumsy association about the Holocaust” and acknowledged that “Jews obviously do not control media or any other industry.” He did not, however, withdraw his slur about Israel—a statement which, ironically, would have appalled the hero of his new TV series, Henry Wallace."

The Scattered Tribe: Discovering Remote Jewish Communities

"In his new book, The Scattered Tribe, Frank first embarks on a quest to uncover his familial roots in Russia but then discovers a remote Jewish community on the exotic island of Tahiti. Later travels to India, Vietnam, and Morocco reveal intricate histories of Jewish achievement, tragic purges, and a diverse people’s stubborn endurance throughout the centuries. Frank even manages to infiltrate the communist regime in Cuba, where a suppressed Jewish community struggles to revive in the face of politically imposed atheism."

From The Guardian Teacher Network:

Israel's assassination of Hamas' top military commander this week has triggered fears of a whole new surge of violence in Gaza and the Middle East. The Israeli air strike on the Ahmed al-Jabari's car – which also killed a six-year-old girl and an 11-month old baby – was just the first step in a new Israeli military operation to eliminate militants and weapon sites in the Gaza Strip.

So, this is what UK teachers are telling their students?

Of course, the Jaabari hit not only caused little collateral damage, it was an amazingly little amount of collateral damage. As the rival Telegraph reported:

It was a remarkably successful operation even for Israel's security forces, who pride themselves on their skill at despatching their enemies. Grainy black and white footage taken from a drone showed a minibus full of passengers drive past the target's car to a safe distance, seconds before the missile exploded. A piece of chassis is seen spinning into the air, as the vehicle, in flames, continues drunkenly for a few yards.

Unlike targeted killings in the past, there was no collateral damage except for some minor injuries from flying glass. Israel has learnt the hard way that accidentally killing civilians carries a damaging political cost.

I tweeted to the Guardian and to the columnist about the error many hours ago, but they have yet to correct their slander.

The page also has a set of resources for UK teachers to teach about the Middle East. From the descriptions, they seem to be as biased against Israel as the Guardian itself is, by constructing a framework of history that begins around 1920, disregarding the millennia-old attachment that Jews have to the Land of Israel. When your narrative starts at a time when Jews appear to be new colonialists rather than people returning to their national home, everything else cannot possibly be taught accurately. The next generation of British schoolchildren will grow up with an incorrect understanding of the conflict.

It seems entirely possible that this is exactly what the Guardian wants.

See also CiFWatch.

UPDATE: The page was finally corrected. Another small victory for truth.

Hamas' hilarious video "proof" of shooting down plane

Terror sites have been pushing this video all over the place, claiming that it shows Hamas downing an Israeli plane:

Conveniently, they say that the wreckage fell into the Mediterranean, so they cannot recover it.

Their slow-motion sections show an explosion about one second after launch, so either the plane was really, really low - or their claimed Stinger (really, Strela) missile exploded a few feet above ground.

(Although the explosion seems to occur beneath the missile, so perhaps they just faked an explosion to coincide with the launch.)

(h/t Judge Dan for missile ID)

The delayed Saturday linkdump

Late but still a ton of good stuff.

From Ian:

Some questions for the apologists of Hamas by Douglas Murray

"When Hamas launch rockets from beside a pram with a baby in it – as they do – they know that the Israelis have two options: they must either allow the rocket-launcher to remain in place to fire more rockets into Israel, or they must hit the site and risk killing the baby. For Israel these are two terrible options. For Hamas it is a win-win. If the Israelis do not strike then Hamas can fire more rockets at Israel. If they do hit then Hamas have another dead child they can hold up for the cameras and weep fake tears for. Hamas know that these pictures will travel round the globe and bring the anger of much of the civilised world against Israel. For Hamas, the child is worth it, for the child is a tool of their war."

JPost: Editor's Notes: Israel’s Pillar of Defense

"The primary purpose of Operation Pillar of Defense is to restore Israel’s deterrent capability. The message to Hamas, to the world, and ultimately to ourselves is that terrorist groups can no longer attack us with impunity. The constant firing of thousands of rockets and mortar shells at southern Israel from the Gaza Strip over the past 11 years must finally come to a halt."

IDF counts over 800 Gaza airstrikes, with some 180 early Saturday
Targeting follows Hamas’s unleashing of 500-plus rockets, including unprecedented launchings at Tel Aviv, Jerusalem

Israel under fire - November 2012 (Statistics and Maps).
Since the launching of Israel's anti-terror operation Pillar of Defense on November 14, some 400 rockets have struck Israel, landing in the south and in the greater Tel Aviv area, killing three people in Kiryat Malachi.

IDF Blog: Pillar Of Defense: Third Day Recap (Video)
Fajr 5 - The Hamas Rocket That Threatens Millions of Israelis (Video)

Hamas missile launch pad next to mosque, playground. Civilian factories, gas station also half a block from Fajr-5 firing site.

Pictures of IDF Soldiers mobilising

‘Surprise’ rocket fire at Jerusalem shows Hamas flailing but still seeking to escalate the conflict
Gaza’s Islamists, far from cowed, are pushing to their limits in a bid for ‘an achievement’

Hamas – godless killers by David Horovitz
In firing at Jerusalem, the Islamists underlined that they have no compunction about murdering absolutely anybody

Jerusalemites shaken, not stirred, by ‘surprise’ siren
Shrill air raid alarm follows traditional Sabbath siren, startling residents of the capital; mayor Barkat urges locals to keep calm

Hamas rockets burst the Tel Aviv bubble
The targeting of Israel’s commercial and cultural capital brings reality to the doorstep of the beloved oasis

2 Great Cartoons:
The Times - Targets

Spooner – Gilad

CIFWatch Guardian publishes cartoon showing Israeli leader as puppet master controlling Hague & Blair

Glenn Greenwald criticizes Bibi AND Obama’s “policies” of intentionally killing innocent Muslims

"Those within the mainstream American Left who don’t succumb to the false moral equivalence between Islamist terrorists and Western democracies, and who don’t buy into the defamatory suggestion that Obama is engaged in a war against Islam, should begin to view him as, at the very least, a crank – a shrill and vitriolic anti-Obama extremist."

BBC Watch: BBC’s Jeremy Bowen: “a deliberate escalation by Israel”

"In other words, Bowen wants his audience to go away with the feeling that it is Israel – and Israel alone – which is pushing the entire region to the edge of disaster, rather than the actions of terrorist organisations dedicated to its destruction which commit war crimes against civilians on a daily basis."

Richard Millett: Photos and footage from last night’s anti-Israel and pro-Israel demonstrations in London.

Anti-Israel protesters get aggressive with Sun News (Canada) Video

Protesters chant anti-Semitic slogans outside Rome synagogue
Mass student protests across Italy include clashes and pro-Palestinian slogans in capital’s Jewish Quarter

Kardashian's Prayer for Israel Inspires Hate, Death Threats

AP 'Corrects' Itself Calling Jerusalem Israel's Capital
Yes, the correction was for omitting the "self-declared" capital.

The Return of "Tan Jacket Man": CNN Uses Faked Palestinian 'Casualty' Video in Coverage

BBC to Twitter: Stop Tweets from IDF, Hamas
The BBC took to Twitter to let the world know that it thinks that there is no difference between terrorists and victims.

NY Times: Muslim Brotherhood Morsi Torn over Israel
Once again we see a New York Times trying to portray Israel's enemies as perfectly reasonable actors in the Middle East instead of the genocide-wishing, terror-supporters that they are.

Interpol to restart search for Bulgaria bomber
Second round of searches to focus on finding possible accomplices involved in Burgas blast by sifting through Interpol’s database and seeking help from the public

Get ready for Coptic Christian refugees
Eventually, the refugee crisis inside Egypt will spill over its borders and become an international problem
"Borhamy, a physician as well as one of the top Salafist clerics in Egypt, issued a fatwa stating that Egyptian taxi drivers should not stop for Coptic Priests because they are most likely headed to church where they will commit a sin. He has also ruled that Copts and women cannot hold positions of authority in the Egyptian government. Dr. Borhamy further publicly stated that while he deeply hates Christians he is still capable of treating them justly."

Al Jazeera correspondent supports Hamas killing half a million Jews

Clayton Swisher, Al Jazeera correspondent, reacted to the news that a Hamas rocket landed in Gush Etzion this way on Twitter:

Swisher is seriously claiming that the Geneva Conventions actually give Hamas permission to kill Jews who live in the territories?

Yes, he's been on CNN too.

They say the exact opposite. The very name of the Fourth Geneva Convention is "Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War."

From the viewpoint of the Geneva Conventions, civilians must be protected no matter where they live.

From an ethical and legal viewpoint, there is no difference between shooting a rocket into the middle of a community and blowing yourself up in the middle of a community.

Swisher, however, subscribes to the opinion that not only do Israeli civilians who live in Judea and Samaria have no protections under Geneva, but that Hamas has the obligation to attack them. For Swisher, Hamas' suicide attack spree during the intifada was not only acceptable, but a right!

In other words, a correspondent for a major news organization is openly advocating the murder, by Hamas, of a half million Jews. And he claims that Palestinian terrorists have the right to kill them, under a fictional idea of "legitimate resistance."

Swisher, in one small tweet, shows the world that he is ignorant of international law, a bigot against Jews, and a supporter of terrorism.

In fact, given that Swisher clearly accepts the Hamas terrorist definition of the human right to kill Jews, it is entirely possible that he also accepts Hamas' view that all of Israel is "occupied."

Which means that Swisher really wants to see the murder of six million Jews. And he will defend Hamas' attempts to kill as many of them as they can.

This should be beyond the pale even for Al Jazeera.

Beyond that, this hateful bigot has appeared on CNN. He has written for The Nation and The Guardian as well as fringe sites like Electronic Intifada.

Readers may want to ask other Hamas apologists online whether they agree with Swisher's views of the right to kill Jewish women and children, and ask The Guardian and The Nation if they think that such a person should be writing for them.

Yusuf Qaradawi asks Allah to "deal with" (destroy) the Jews

Video:

As my translator "Al Gharqad" notes:

"Allahuma alayka bil-yahud iz-zalimin il-jairin, Allahuma alayka bil-yahud il-mustakbirin il-mutajabbirin"

This means:
Allah, "alayka bi" the tyrannical and despotic Jews, Allah, "alayka bi" the arrogant and tyrant Jews

"Alayka bi" is a curse, which has no exact English translation. It is a prayer to Allah to do something with the subject of the curse. This "something" has been translated in many different ways:

1. "Take" (as in "kill"):
http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/imagery/0020
(second line from top)

2. "Destroy":
http://www.kalamullah.com/qunoot.html
(sixth Arabic paragraph from bottom)

3. "Deal with":
Egyptian President Morsi Joins Preacher in Prayer for Dispersal of the Jews
http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/3614.htm
(0:26)

Either way, he isn't calling for Allah to punish Zionists or Israelis - but Jews.

Qaradawi is perhaps the most popular preacher in the Sunni Muslim world and has famously encouraged suicide bombings.

Dead child cradled by Egypt's PM was killed by Hamas! (UPDATED)

The Mirror (UK) on Friday published this, as did many other newspapers:

Egypt's Prime Minister wept today as he kissed the forehead of a boy killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza.

And here is how CNN reported the child's death:

CNN takes it as a given that young Mahmoud Sadallah (Sadhala) was killed by an Israeli airstrike. Only one problem: he was killed by a Hamas rocket that fell short in Gaza. There is a lot of evidence for this. Read the New York Times' account of his death:

The Abu Wardah family woke up on Friday morning to word that a hudna — Arabic for cease-fire — had been declared during the three-hour visit of the Egyptian prime minister to this embattled territory. So, after two days of huddling indoors to avoid intensifying Israeli air assaults, Abed Abu Wardah, the patriarch, went to the market to buy fruits and vegetables. His 22-year-old son, Aiman, took an empty blue canister to be refilled with cooking gas. The younger children of their neighborhood, Annazla, in this town north of Gaza City went out to the dirt alley to kick a soccer ball.

But around 9:45 a.m., family members and neighbors said, an explosion struck a doorway near the Abu Wardah home, killing Aiman Abu Wardah as he returned from his errand, as well as Mahmoud Sadallah, 4, who lived next door and had refused his older cousin’s pleas to stay indoors.

It is unclear who was responsible for the strike on Annazla: the damage was nowhere near severe enough to have come from an Israeli F-16, raising the possibility that an errant missile fired by Palestinian militants was responsible for the deaths. What seems clear is that expectations for a pause in the fighting, for at least one family, were tragically misplaced.

The IDF did not launch any airstrikes in Gaza while Egyptian PM Kandil was in Gaza. AP adds:

Mahmoud Sadallah, the 4-year-old Gaza boy whose death moved Egypt's prime minister to tears, was from the town of Jebaliya, close to Gaza City.

The boy died Friday in hotly disputed circumstances. The boy's aunt, Hanan Sadallah, and his grief-stricken father Iyad — weak from crying and leaning on others to walk — said Mahmoud was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Hamas security officials also made that claim.

Israel vehemently denied involvement, saying it had not carried out any attacks in the area at the time.

Mahmoud's family said the boy was in an alley close to his home when he was killed, along with a man of about 20, but no one appeared to have witnessed the strike. The area showed signs that a projectile might have exploded there, with shrapnel marks in the walls of surrounding homes and a shattered kitchen window. But neighbors said local security officials quickly took what remained of the projectile, making it impossible to verify who fired it.

If it was an Israeli missile, you can be sure that it would have been shown to the media!

Furthermore, PCHR, which is keeping track of everyone killed in Gaza (and which admits that most of the dead have been "militants,") did not list Mahmoud Sadallah or Aiman Aby Wardah in their list of victims of Israeli airstrikes, although they even include one person who died of a heart attack.

Put this together with the fact that Hamas and other terror groups were firing rockets throughout Friday morning while the IDF did not, plus the fact that over 100 rockets have fallen short in Gaza (both using past performance and IDF statistics as proof), and the fact that the shrapnel in the video matches almost exactly the shrapnel damage we have seen from rocket fire into Israel, and it is very clear: this child was killed by Gaza rocket fire, not by Israel.

And every media outlet that irresponsibly assumed that Israel killed him must correct their slander, and also make sure that they don't automatically blame Israel for civilian deaths in the future.

Write to CNN, the Mirror and every other media outlet that published this lie. This war needs all of us to get involved. Every newspaper is on Twitter, and they read their tweets.

(h/t Herb, Diana)

UPDATE: The Telegraph verifies that Sadallah was killed by a Hamas rocket:

But there were signs on Saturday that not all the Palestinian casualties have been the result of Israeli air strikes. The highly publicised death of four-year-old Mohammed Sadallah appeared to have been the result of a misfiring home-made rocket, not a bomb dropped by Israel.

The child’s death on Friday figured prominently in media coverage after Hisham Kandil, the Egyptian prime minister, was filmed lifting his dead body out of an ambulance. "The boy, the martyr, whose blood is still on my hands and clothes, is something that we cannot keep silent about," he said, before promising to defend the Palestinian people.

But experts from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights who visited the site on Saturday said they believed that the explosion was caused by a Palestinian rocket.

Kudos to the Telegraph for doing real research.

So when will the other media outlets issue corrections?

(h/t Honest Reporting)

UPDATE 2: Reuters has corrected their photo captions blaming Sadallah's death on Israel.

UPDATE 3: CNN retracted it on the air, not yet in cyberspace.

Lebanon's Al Akhbar, a site associated with Hezbollah, reports that Hezbollah is in contact with Hamas to replenish its arsenal of long-range rockets that has been reportedly decimated by Israeli airstrikes.

The report says that on Friday an alert was sounded in the ranks of Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. It was raised towards all those who know how to smuggle weapons from Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Sudan and other countries to the Gaza Strip.

During the first hours of the fighting, there was communication between Hezbollah and the terror factions in Gaza, especially Hamas, to determine the size of the damage done to the stores of long-range missiles. Lebanese and Palestinian terror groups along with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are working to supply groups in Gaza, in anticipation of a prolonged battle. According to the report, the focus is on the transfer of large amounts of long-range missiles.

Sources told the paper that were emphatic that the supply lines will not stop. Although the efforts to transfer arms to Gaza suffered a major setback as a result of fighting in Syria, which was the main waystation in the operations of arming terror factions since before the outbreak of the second intifada, but the decision of Iran and Hezbollah to continue the flow of weapons is said to be "irreversible."

The article goes through a history of Iran sending weapons to Gaza, and Israel's fight against it, including a string of assassinations against those responsible, such as Ali Deeb (Abu Hassan Salameh), Jihad Ahmed Jibril, Ali Saleh, Ghaleb Awali, Brigadier (in the Syrian army) Mohammed Suleiman, and others. Some Hamas fighters were assassinated in Syria and abroad for this reason as well, not to mention Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who was (probably) assassinated by Israeli intelligence in Dubai in 2010, and even the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh comes, at least partially, within the framework of the Israeli war on the transfer of arms to Gaza.

Al Akhbar goes on to say that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards has been in contact not only with Hamas but with Islamic Jihad, the PFLP and some factions of the Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the Salah al-Din Brigades of the PRC and the PFLP-GC. Since 2005, the Iranians have been supplying these groups with all types of weapons that can be transferred: from light and medium weapons, to mortars and medium and long-range rockets, as well as ammunition and materials that can be used for the manufacture of rockets and missiles. The reporter goes on to say that they have also been working on the transfer of hundreds of fighters from Gaza to Syria and Iran, where they underwent training programs on military tactics, and the use of sophisticated weapons, including anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons.

I was reporting about terrorists leaving Gaza to get training in Iran, pretending to only travel for Hajj, in 2007. All in all, this Al Akhbar article seems to accurately reflect the thinking at Hezbollah and Iran.

The big question is whether Egypt will act to stop this weapons smuggling - or encourage it. Egyptian security forces have not been too bad, but Morsi has been signalling a different direction, and his Muslim Brotherhood have been staging anti-Israel protests.

The US must communicate to Egypt immediately that if there is the slightest evidence that they are allowing weapons to be smuggled to Gaza that they will lose their $1.5 billion in aid. This is absolutely critical, and I hope that the White House makes this crystal clear.

(h/t Yoel/Walla)

My 6 seconds of Pallywood fame on CNN

CNN referred to the video I posted about that was aired on the BBC and CNN, provided by Reuters, and showed a screenshot of my webpage on Friday night:

The Reuters/CNN explanation is ridiculous. They have the timestamps on the video and they know quite well which segment was first and which was second. And they had no reason whatsoever to publish them in reverse order.

While I have not had time to watch the video news media coverage of the conflict, I am hearing that CNN is particularly bad this time around.

I will note that Anderson Cooper has a mixed record on reporting from the Middle East. To his credit, he was essentially the only reporter who noted Hezbollah's manipulation of the media during the Lebanon war, but he himself didn't know the basics of who Ismail Haniyeh was in a later report..

Shabbat Shalom/administrivia

I hope that my you have noticed that I added a Twitter widget to the right side of my webpage, showing tweets and retweets from Israeli officials and spokespeople. It is a good place to keep up with what is happening - even when I am not online.

You should follow my Twitter feed as well, there is plenty there that I do not have a chance to post. Follow me on Twitter, too!

In fact, many of you have done just that. I gained about a hundred followers over the past three days, pushing my follower count to over 3000!

I also got mentioned in the New York Times Lede column for a tweet I sent out:

Which also goes to show how absurdly biased Al Jazeera correspondents are.

The blog has been getting lots of hits as well, doubling its normal traffic.

One tip that can be very helpful: when you see an anti-Israel image online, on a blog or tweet, you can check to see if it is really a new image or a recycled one by using Google Image Search. You can drag the image to the search box in http://images.google.com or you can use the Firefox and Chrome plugins to search from the image itself. Already the anti-Israel crowd has been caught many times posting fake images of dead babies from Syria or elsewhere. (h/t O)

Anyway, it is getting close to Shabbat where I am. I wish all my readers a Shabbat Shalom in the truest sense of the words.

Here is the text of the prayer for the welfare of the Israeli army that is said in many synagogues every week, and which has a special poignancy this Shabbat as Israel prepares for a likely ground invasion:

מִי שֶׁבֵּרַךְ אֲבוֹתֵינוּ אַבְרָהָם יִצְחָק וְיַעֲקֹב הוּא יְבָרֵךְ אֶת חַיָּלֵי צְבָא הֲגַנָּה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, הָעוֹמְדִים עַל מִשְׁמַר אַרְצֵנוּ וְעָרֵי אֱל-הֵינוּ מִגְּבוּל הַלְּבָנוֹן וְעַד מִדְבַּר מִצְרַיִם וּמִן הַיָּם הַגָּדוֹל עַד לְבוֹא הָעֲרָבָה בַּיַּבָּשָׁה בָּאֲוִיר וּבַיָּם. יִתֵּן ה' אֶת אוֹיְבֵינוּ הַקָּמִים עָלֵינוּ נִגָּפִים לִפְנֵיהֶם. הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא יִשְׁמֹר וְיַצִּיל אֶת חַיָלֵינוּ מִכָּל צָרָה וְצוּקָה וּמִכָּל נֶגַע וּמַחְלָה וְיִשְׁלַח בְּרָכָה וְהַצְלָחָה בְּכָל מַעֲשֵׂה יְדֵיהֶם. יַדְבֵּר שׂוֹנְאֵינוּ תַּחְתֵּיהֶם וִיעַטְרֵם בְּכֶתֶר יְשׁוּעָה וּבְעֲטֶרֶת נִצָּחוֹן. וִיקֻיַּם בָּהֶם הַכָּתוּב: כִּי ה' אֱלֹ-הֵיכֶם הַהֹלֵךְ עִמָּכֶם לְהִלָּחֵם לָכֶם עִם איבֵיכֶם לְהוֹשִׁיעַ אֶתְכֶם: וְנאמַר אָמֵן:

Egyptian terrorists joining in?

There are initial reports that mortars that hit near the Kerem Shalom crossing came from Egypt.

In the hours before Operation Pillar of Defense, there were four rockets fired from the Sinai towards Israel.

I can imagine the Islamists in the Sinai itching to join in the shooting, especially since they know Israel isn't going to attack Egypt. At least one major Sinai jihadist group openly claims to cooperate with Hamas when firing rockets.

Egypt, publicly a staunch defender of Hamas but privately far more cautious, will need to make clear very soon how it intends to deal with such actions. Morsi will probably string this out as long as possible, claiming plausible deniability to the West while tacitly supporting the groups by dragging his feet to stop them.

As far as I can tell, Egyptian security did little or nothing after the last round of fire on Israel.

Even if this report doesn't pan out, there is a good chance that Sinai groups will be firing towards Jewish communities.

The target of Kerem Shalom is interesting. It is the crossing through which Gazans get most of their food and other supplies via Israel. The crossing was closed on Sunday and Monday because of the rocket fire, reopened Tuesday and Wednesday and then closed again since then.

(By the way, Israel keeps the Erez crossing open for diplomats and reporters. A number of diplomats, trying to flee Gaza on Thursday, were stopped from leaving - by Hamas. They were detained for several hours. Too bad none of them will talk about it. I received this information from an Israeli military source.)

Friday links

From Ian:

LATMA: Learn the language of the Arab man

The Strong Hearts of Israel’s City of Angels: Kiryat Malachi’s Residents React to Rocket Attacks and Fatalities

"As I make my way back down the stairs of the heavily damaged building, an elderly man leaves his apartment and walks slowly down the blood-stained stairs. He looks sadly at the memorial candles at the bottom, and whispers a few words, and then continues on to the synagogue to pray. Meanwhile, outside the apartment building, soldiers, security personnel and local Israeli press continue their activities, as tired residents in the city prepare for a long night ahead."

Melanie Phillips: Pallywood, and the stench of an ancient score being settled

"When you look in horror and astonishment at the British media’s coverage of the onslaught upon Israel from Gaza and Israel's actions in self-defence – and from the messages I am receiving, there are still many, many decent Brits who are indeed appalled beyond measure by the eye-watering bias of the coverage from the BBC, Sky and much of the press – you might well conclude that more, much more, is actually going on here than standard knee-jerk prejudice or ignorance. This is the ugly sound of a very old score indeed that is being settled."

NGO hypocrisy in Gaza by Gerald Steinberg
For these groups, their Palestinian counterparts that also use the façade and language of human rights, and their funder-enablers, Israelis do not have human rights.

Turn off the lights in Gaza

"Scholars of genocide and mass atrocity crimes know that these outcomes result from human choice and bystander indifference. It follows that what happens in the next few days, weeks and months will be determined by the degree to which public diplomacy will make the case for holding the perpetrator, Hamas, accountable for this latest round of crimes against humanity – the rocketing of civilian populations with intent to kill, maim, injure, destroy and intimidate. But what the bystanders do or do not do may be even more important: The US has to make aid to Egypt conditional on it reining in on Hamas."

Rockets? What Hamas Rockets?

The Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) New York Advocacy Director Cyrus McGoldrick even seemed to defend their use in a Twitter post Thursday.
“Palestine is a land occupied by foreign settlers,” he wrote. “They have a right to resist, to defend themselves ‘by any means necessary.’”
“A former CAIR-New York director, Lamis Deek, wrote that Gaza is a “beacon of resistance, [which] exposes shackles, awakens dignity, inspires revolution, reaffirms our oneness the reason ‘israel’ won’t last.”
This situation provides a stark, clear truth about these groups’ true colors: for all their talk about peace and countering terrorism, their decision not to speak out about the rocket attacks demonstrates what they really believe. They’d be happy if Israel disappeared off the face of the earth.

PM slams Hamas for ‘hiding behind civilians’
Islamists ‘deliberately target our children,’ says PM in English remarks directed at international audience

Foreign Ministry slams UN human rights chief for ‘ringing silence’ on Gaza rocket fire
High Commissioner does not care for Israelis’ human rights, spokesman charges

Obama administration condemns Hamas rocket fire, backs Israel’s right to self-defense

Australian Leaders say Israel's actions appropriate

PMW: Special Report on Operation Pillar of Defense pt1

From the PMW archives: Al-Ja'abari: "The Jew who comes to the soil of Palestine... is fighting us, and we will fight him and kill him"
"Sacrifice your souls for the sake of Allah, until the rats (i.e., Israelis) return to their holes" "Haifa, Jaffa, and Tel Aviv... all of Palestine" will be liberated

Special Report on Operation Pillar of Defense pt2: PA glorifes Hamas' Ahmed Al-Ja'abari

Official PA daily: "His self-sacrificing actions (i.e., terror attacks) will be told for generations to come and will be eternalized in memory"

CAMERA: The New York Times Evades the Facts to Blame Israel

"With all its evasions about the situation and its unrealistic demands for restraint on Israel's part, the editorial belied its statement that Israel has the right to defend itself. Indeed, it makes clear just one thing– that no matter what the reality is, in the eyes of The New York Times editorial board, Israel will always be at fault."

BBC Journalist on Twitter Misinforms
BBC's Wyre Davies told his 9,100 Twitter followers earlier today that "nearly all" of the Palestinians and Israelis killed during the fighting today were civilians.

BBC Calls Tel Aviv Israel's Capital, Not Jerusalem

Gaza cyber-struggle takes missile war to second battlefield

"Supporters of Israel and those opposing Operation Pillar of Defense tussle on social media
As of Thursday morning, Israel seemed to be ahead: Of the top trending tweets on Twitter, the second-most popular tweet subject in the world was #HamasBumperStickers — a crowdsourced collection of tragicomic lines condemning the Gaza terror group. One example: “It takes 2,587 Nuts & Bolts to put a car together – and only one Hamas nut to have it scattered all over the road.” #HamasBumperStickers was beating out #PrayforGaza, the preferred hashtag for the anti-Israel crowd on Twitter."

As offensive rages, Hamas resorts to disinformation

Islamic movement claims it struck Tel Aviv, while eulogizing its slain military leader; Abbas condemns rocket fire on Israel

IDF: Hamas Using Facebook, Twitter Posts To Guide Rocket Calculations

The Israeli Defense Force has issued a warning to all Israelis on all social networking sites. Their warning urges Israelis not to post information on Facebook or Twitter about where rockets are falling and where sirens are being sounded. Hamas intelligence, IDF is warning, is closely monitoring Facebook and Twitter for such information; they’re then using that information in recalibrating their firing angles in order to target the rockets more efficiently.

Jordan Preparing To Jettison PLO by David Singer

"Reinstating Jordan ‘s severed legal and administrative ties with the West Bank in direct negotiations with Israel is now rapidly shaping up as the most viable option to resolve sovereignty in the West Bank as the PLO slowly sinks into the political sunset."

Poll: Anti-Semitism, Facism Rife in Germany

"A new poll shows a shocking level of anti-Semitism among Germans. According to the poll, taken by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (associated with the SPD, the Social Democratic Party of Germany), 15.8% of German residents in the former East German part of the country identify themselves with the fascistic far right, and subscribe to its beliefs, including hatred of Jews."

Being Black in the Muslim World

“When I’m Just Walking Down the Street, People Will Call Me a Dirty Black Man or Slave”
Morroco’s Maroc Hebdo magazine is running a cover story about the “Black Peril” and French media outlets have stories on what life is like for Africans in the parts of Africa controlled by Arab Muslims. And it’s not a pretty picture.

Behind the Veil of Islamophobia
The murder of Shaima Alawadi isn’t a sign of increasing prejudice, but of writers’ credulousness

“The Facebook group “One Million Hijabs for Shaima Alawadi,” which was a hive of activity in the weeks following her murder, has since been taken offline. Despite some posts about women’s rights and feminism, the Islamophobia angle was what the organizers were interested in pushing. She was, it now seems, killed because she was a woman who attempted to throw off the shackles of an oppressive husband. Which makes this case doubly tragic. Just because Shaima Alawadi wasn’t killed by an American racist doesn’t mean that there isn’t cause for activist outrage.”

150-Year-Old Pictures Released for Online Viewers
Thank You Library of Congress for Responding to Our Request

"Israel Daily Picture requested that the Library remove copyright restrictions on the 147-year-old photos. The pictures were posted on the Internet this week and appear here. The Library's site allows visitors to enlarge the photographs to see amazing details, in these cases more than 12 MB in size."

1865

Also:

Joke going around cyberspace

Anti-Israel leftists in Tel Aviv forced to break up rally - because of Gaza rockets

(h/t Josh, Sophie)

Illuminating news story from last week

On Wednesday, the government started an offensive against a terrorist group, killing dozens in the next three days.

But not in Israel and not this past Wednesday.

From Reuters, one week ago:

Turkish air force jets and attack helicopters pounded Kurdish militants along the border with Iraq and Iran for three days, killing 42 militants, the local governor's office said on Friday.

The operation, which began on Wednesday, was launched after word was received that a group of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants had been identified in Turkey's southeastern province of Hakkari, bordering Iraq and Iran, the Hakkari governor's office said.

One Turkish soldier was killed, the statement said, while searches turned up quantities of ammunition, food supplies and medication. It said the operation was continuing.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which launched its insurgency in 1984 with the aim of carving out a separate state in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey.

The PKK is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union.

Turkey continued killing Kurds this week.

Did you catch that story?

There have been plenty of articles about Israel's PR push to show the world its side of the story during this current conflict, but not too much about IDF's Arab PR initiative.

The IDF has an Arabic YouTube page where they show the same aerial videos we've seen elsewhere, sprinkled with video interviews of the IDF's Arab spokesperson, Avichai Adraee.

It looks like he has been keeping busy, too.

Al Masry al-Youm quoted him using an Arabic phrase to describe Hamas. The phrase literally means "He hit me and cried, and also went to complain to me," saying that Hamas has no right to whine about a war that they started.

I see him most often quoted in Egyptian media, like Al Ahram and Shorouk News; but Arabic media outside Egypt has not been as obsessed over this operation as they had been in the past. Jordan is busy with its own now-daily (and sometimes deadly) anti-government protests, Lebanon is far more nervous about Syria, and everyone else seems pretty blase about this whole thing.

Hamas shoots missiles at Jerusalem

From YNet:

After Tel Aviv metropolitan area, capital under fire too: An air raid siren was sounded in Jerusalem and surrounding communities early Friday evening. After residents reported hearing blast sounds, security forces confirmed that one rocket had landed in the Gush Etzion area.

This was the first air raid siren sounded in the area since the IDF launched Operation Pillar of Defense in the Gaza Strip. Air raid sirens were sounded in southern communities throughout the day and a barrage of missiles hit the area.

Hamas first announced the missile to Jerusalem a couple of hours earlier, and that report was false.

Similarly, they announced bombing Tel Aviv several hours before the actualattack.

Hamas released this loop video of a rocket, claiming that it is the one shot to Jerusalem. This seems unlikely as it was already nightfall when the rockets hit.

Hamas calls the rocket used a Qassam M75, and claims that it was manufactured in Gaza. They made the same claim about the Tel Aviv rockets. This seems unlikely but it is possible that Iran designed a rocket for Hamas that could go far but not be accurate. (Islamic Jihad said that the Tel Aviv rockets were Iranian-manufactured Fajr-5's.)

While the rockets are reported to have landed in Gush Etzion, it is important to note that Hamas announced the target to be Jerusalem supposedly Islam's third holiest city, and a city that is roughly half Arab. Which goes to show that their concern about the lives of their fellow Arabs is far lower than Israel's.

How many Gazans are killed by Hamas munitions?

Gaza terror groups have fired well over 340 rockets towards Israel since Wednesday - but how many of them exploded in Gaza?

The latest bimonthly Gaza NSO Safety Report notes that in the second half of October there were 59 rockets fired from northern Gaza towards Israel. Of those, eight of them fell short or exploded on the launch sites.

Historically, between 15-30% (sometimes even 40%) of Gaza rockets do not make it to Israel. And many Gazans have been killed or injured as a result of those misfirings. most recently with the death of 18 month old Hadeel Haddad last June and also the previous August.

And in both those cases, the lying Gaza government claimed that the deaths were due to Israeli airstrikes.

Similarly, in the Hamas rocket barrage that immediately preceded Cast Lead (that no one remembers), two girls were killed by a Qassam rocket. A UNRWA school was hit last December. And on and on.

If only 20% of the rockets fired now - very hurriedly - are landing in Gaza, that means that we can estimate over 65 rockets have fallen in Gaza over the past three days alone! And the number can easily be much higher.

How many killed people? How many leveled houses? How many injuries?

We'll never know, because Hamas will do everything they can to ensure that all deaths are blamed on Israel, just like they did with the death of Hadeel Haddad.

Similarly, look at the secondary explosions from this Israeli airstrike:

Israel is targeting munitions and rocket depots that are often hidden in civilian neighborhoods. The secondary explosions are often at least as large as the initial airstrike. So it is likely that shrapnel from these secondary explosions of Hamas munitions are responsible for injuries and deaths.

This means that before reporters automatically say that children are killed by Israeli missiles, they should verify the facts first. And if they cannot do that, they should say so. Because the chances are quite high that many of the civilians being killed are dying from terrorist rockets or munitions.

Israel's MFA slams UN Human Rights Council

From Israel's MFA:

Has the High Commissioner for Human Rights gone mute?
15 Nov 2012
Israelis do have human rights. The High Commissioner simply does not care about them.

(Communicated by the Permanent Mission of Israel to UN Geneva)

Since the beginning of 2012, more than 800 rockets were launched from Hamas-controlled Gaza into Israeli cities, over 200 of them just this the past week.

The lives of one million Israelis are threatened, and daily life in southern Israel has been severely disrupted. Children do not attend school; civilians sleep in shelters. Only this morning, three Israeli civilians were killed in their home in the town of Kiryat Malachi, when a Hamas rocket hit their building. Others, including a 4-year-old boy, where injured. This has been the bitter reality of one-seventh of Israel's population for the past years.

This terrorist activity is carried out by Hamas and other terrorist organizations that operate under Hamas protection.

And yet the High Commissioner has gone mute. Not a word of sympathy, not a word of concern for the violation of the human rights of Israeli citizens. Just a ringing silence.

Israelis do have human rights. The High Commissioner simply does not care about them.

Zing.

(h/t Omri)

"Collaborator" murdered in Gaza City

From Islamic Jihad's website Palestine Today:

Apparently a file photo, not the actual victim. Pic taken from PalToday site

The Palestinian resistance executed an agent who instructed the Zionist enemy of resistance movements and rocket launching sites.

Our correspondent said that the resistance executed agent "P" with gunfire and threw him in "Victory" Street in central Gaza, and placed next to his body a paper indicating confessions he made about his participation in 15 assassinations of resisters and faction leaders.

Lets see if any "human rights" organizations issue any condemnations over this extrajudicial killing.

Want to bet that this guy will end up on lists of victims of Israeli aggression?

(h/t jump for photo caption)

Hamas war crimes, illustrated

Geneva Conventions

Protocol IAdditional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, 8 June 1977

Article 51:

2. The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited.

A volunteer goes through the apartment in Kiryat Malachi were three where killed Thursday, and looks for remains. November 15 2012. Photo by Yossi Zeliger/Flash90

4. Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited. Indiscriminate attacks are: (a) those which are not directed at a specific military objective; (b) those which employ a method or means of combat which cannot be directed at a specific military objective; or (c) those which employ a method or means of combat the effects of which cannot be limited as required by this Protocol; and consequently, in each such case, are of a nature to strike military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without distinction.

Rockets being fired from Gaza indiscriminately towards Israeli communities

5. Among others, the following types of attacks are to be considered as indiscriminate: ... an attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.

Ultra Orthodox Jewish men gather around the body of Mirah Sharf who was killed in the southern town of Kiryat Malachi by a rocket thought to have been fired [!] by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip, during her funeral in Jerusalem, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012.

6. Attacks against the civilian population or civilians by way of reprisals are prohibited.

Tel Aviv residents bracing themselves as rocket alarm sirens sound Thursday

7. The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favour or impede military operations.

A rocket launched by Palestinian militants towards Israel [from a heavily populated area of Gaza] makes its way from the northern Gaza Strip, seen from the Israel Gaza Border, southern Israel, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

How many times has Hamas "opened the gates of hell"?

You remember how Hamas promised on Wednesday to "open the gates of hell" in response to Ahmed Jaabari's killing?

It is a habit with them.

Longtime blogger Meryl Yourish used to do a "Open the Gates of Hell" watch so I decided to do a quick search of when else Hamas and other terror groups made that same promise.

November, 2001 - in response to Israel's killing of Mahmoud Abu Hanoud

January 2002 - Fatah warning Israel not to hurt a terrorist in custody

September 2003 - after an unsuccessful attempt to kill Sheikh Yassin

March, 2004 - after the successful attempt to kill Sheikh Yassin

July 2005 - after Israel killed 7 Hamas terrorists

November 2005 - After Israel killed a member of Fatah and Hamas

February 2006 - when Israel withheld money transfers to Gaza

June 2006 - by the PRC after their founder was killed

April 2007 - a general warning against an Israeli invasion of Gaza

May 2007 - after Israel fired at the house of Ismail Haniyeh

August 2008 - Islamic Jihad general warning against Israel

December, 2008 - Hamas threatened this before Cast Lead

March 2011 - threat against UNRWA if it started teaching about the Holocaust in Gaza schools

It looks like every time the terrorists "open the gates of hell," they fall right in.

(h/t Omri)

Video: Iron Dome taking out 12 rockets at once...

...taken from a Beersheva wedding on Wednesday.

It might not be perfect, but it has already saved a lot of lives.

(h/t O)

Wildcard in Syria: Kurds take over several towns

From Al Arabiya:

Kurdish militiamen and residents have wrested control of yet another town in northeastern Syria near the Turkish and Iraqi borders, in what an activist said was part of an anti-Turkey “dirty game” by the regime.

Hundreds of people gathered Tuesday outside the town of Derik’s security headquarters, the last building abandoned by the army and police, blasting out Kurdish music and hearing speeches in the officially banned Kurdish language.

“We tried to tell Assad's people to leave peacefully. We are a peaceful people”, said Abdi Karim, a 56-year-old officer in the People’s Defense Units (YPG), the militia involved in regaining the town.

The takeover came just days after Kurdish residents backed by militia from the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) took control of three other towns near the border with Turkey as pro-government forces pulled out without a fight.

North and northeast Syria are home to most of the country’s two million-strong Kurdish minority, whose militias operate independently of the rebels’ Free Syrian Army (FSA).

“There are differences between Kurdish anti-regime forces and the Arab opposition, mainly over the question of Kurdish nationalism and recognition of Kurdish as Syria’s second most widely spoken language,” independent Kurdish activist Massud Akko said.

On the ground, YPG member Karim made clear the separation. “If the FSA comes as a guest, we will allow them,” but the non-Kurdish rebels would not be permitted to take over the town, he said.

“We will protect our people from the Turkish, the FSA and Assad,” said Karim.

Akko said Assad's regime forces were handing over territory to the PYD deliberately, saying this explained the relatively peaceful takeover of towns in the region.

“The regime’s handing over of institutions to the PYD is a dirty game,” he said. "It is a message to Turkey, because Turkey is helping the Syrian opposition.”

“I am not saying the party is collaborating with the regime. But the two sides do tolerate each other,” Akko added.

“The Kurds do not have the military capacity to take control of the Kurdish areas. The province of Hasakeh, for one, is Syria’s second-largest region (after Homs).”

Kurdish civilians backed by militia have quietly taken control of a string of towns in Hasakeh, leaving just two of its main cities under the control of President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

So Syria is tacitly giving Kurds their territory, just to upset Turkey? More likely they are thinking that they can use their troops better elsewhere.

Even so, it looks like the Kurds may be the one winner in the Syrian mess, and they are playing all sides well against each other.

Will they try to unify with Iraqi Kurdistan?

Thursday links

From Ian:

Restoring Israeli deterrence by Gerald Steinberg

"Israel owes its survival to effective and continuous deterrence. Confronted with uniquely narrow borders and destructive threats from all directions, the threat of large-scale response has been Israel’s most effective insurance policy. When the IDF has acted effectively to deter the threats of conventional attacks from large armies, mass terror campaigns and missiles aimed at cities, Israeli citizens have been protected."

Douglas Murray: Who started it?

"If you read most of the British media that may well be what you think. After all there has been barely any previous mention in the British papers of the massive escalation in rocket fire into Israel in the last month or the even swifter escalation this week. Certainly no British paper or broadcaster has come close to giving these attacks the front-page publicity they grant to Israel’s response today."

We must back Israel over Hamas terror chief killing

"The Foreign Office came out with the standard, dithering rubbish effectively refusing to take sides. The FCO tweeted:
"We continue to call on all sides to exercise restraint to prevent a dangerous escalation that would be in no one’s interests. #Gaza"
It could have been worse, of course. It could have been a response from the BBC."

IDF Disperses Warning Leaflets Over Gaza Strip, in Effort to Limit Civilian Casualties (VIDEO)

IDF Warning to Hamas: Don't Show Your Faces Above Ground
IDF spokesman said there will be further military operations in the coming days and said he expects more rockets from Hamas

Missiles Fired on Nuclear Reactor in Dimona

The New York Times Dismissing Palestinian Rocket Attacks on Israel?

The Times wrote that those attacks were "called rocket attacks" by Israel as if the Israeli's were simply making unsubstantiated claims about the attacks.

Guardian ‘Live Blog’ on Gaza accuses IDF of “chest thumping” over killing of Hamas terror chief

Protesting Israel’s Gaza operation, Egypt withdraws ambassador from Tel Aviv
Atef Salem arrived less than a month ago, telling President Peres he came to work for ‘mutual trust and transparency’

Aid amid austerity: Egypt to receive over $6bn in aid from EU

How "Moderate" Palestinians Succumb to Threats by Khaled Abu Toameh

"This radicalization — to a point where they are not ready to hear about any concessions to Israel — is the direct result of decades of anti-Israel incitement and indoctrination, spearheaded, ironically, by the "moderate" Palestinian Authority leadership that is publicly talking about making peace with Israel."

Palestinian Authority unable to pay salaries, even as it pursues statehood
The Palestinian drive for non-member state status at the UN could trigger Israeli economic retaliation that would end the viability of the Palestinian Authority.

Beinart banned from Atlanta’s Jewish book festival
"Beinart was then scheduled to speak in a smaller venue in downtown Atlanta, nearly 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the festival site at the suburban community center. The 200 seats allotted for his talk quickly sold out."

Talk-show host grabs local trivia show
Ellen DeGeneres liked Dror Refael’s ‘Anybody Home?’ show so much, she bought the concept for her own program

Stem cells could be used to make biological pacemaker for heart patients
Injections of heart muscle created from patients’ own skin cells could save them from needing surgery to implant artificial pacemakers that regulate their heartbeat, following new research.

A breakthrough in bone marrow failure?
Pluristem’s PLX placenta-based cell therapies may provide hope for patients who have reached the end of the line.

Israel Pioneers New Type of Liver Cancer Treatment

"The method applies a direct flow of high-voltage electrical currents to the malignant tumor and has raised new hope for patients diagnosed with the disease. Until now, a cancerous growth in the liver has been considered a death sentence."

Wine Enthusiast Names Golan Heights Winery “New World Winery of the Year”

"Winemaker Victor Schoenfeld added: “Our proudest achievement is our ongoing effort to work in tune with our natural elements, making high-quality wines that are a true reflection of our unique combination of latitude, high altitude and beautiful volcanic soils. We continue to realize what an amazing region we have, and how much the potential seems limitless.”

Why Hamas named their operation "Shale Stones"

Since I discussed yesterday the Jewish source for the Hebrew name of the current war, which translates to Operation Pillar of Cloud, it i snow time to explain why Hamas chose its own name, Operation Shale Stones.

The source is, naturally, the Quran. The 105th chapter is called Sūrat al-Fīl, The Elephant.

Background:

It describes the Ethiopian army attacking Mecca in the year 570, the year in which Muhammad was born. In verse 4 it says that Allah sent birds against the people/owners/companions of Elephants (depends which translation of the Koran you listen to), a reference to the Ethiopian army. These birds dropped "sijjil stones" on the Ethiopian army - most English translations translate this as "baked clay stones", as can be seen here:

Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with the People of the Elephant? [1] Has He not turned their plan into nullity? [2] And He sent upon them flying birds in flocks, [3] throwing upon them stones of baked clay, [4] and thus He turned them into an eaten-up chaff.

Here's an unintentionally funny video illustrating the chapter.

Although the translation "Shale Stones" is the exact translation, the Arabic "Hijjarat As-sijjil" implies this Quranic meaning.

Gawker and "Jewish Voice for Peace" managed to find nefarious, offensive meanings in the Hebrew title that is - as any Jewish schoolchild knows - a reference to a story where the Israelites are saved by a miraculous cloud that defends them.

Will they have anything bad to say about Hamas' clear choice of naming their war after an episode where Allah attacks and destroys the enemy with projectiles until the adversary is nothing but chaff?

(thanks to Al-Gharqad)