Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, February 25, 2013

Monday Links Part 2

From Ian:

Op-Ed: Hagel’s $160 Billion 'West Bank' US Troops Deathtrap
Hagel, at Obama's bidding, plans to send troops to Judea andSamaria (the "West Bank") where they would soon be victims of Hamas terror. It's in writing. An investigative report.

There is only one reason that Chuck Hagel was picked by President Obama to be US Defense Secretary, and why Obama will go nuclear to get him confirmed:
Hagel is the only person alive now dumb enough to deploy US “peacekeeping” troops to what is surely a "West Bank" deathtrap. Don’t believe me??! Well, in early 2009, two years after Hamas violently took over Gaza, Hagel along with a ragged has-been crew of “Israel Lasters” had some strong “recommendations” for the incoming President Obama.

PA Officials Warn Obama Over Visiting Al-Aqsa
PA leaders: Obama should not visit the Al-Aqsa mosque in a way that might compromise its "Muslim sovereignty".

Obama will be arriving in the region in the spring, and PA media has been speculating that he will visit the site of the mosque. The White House, however, has announced neither the dates of Obama's visit nor its itinerary.
Sheikh Akrameh Sabri, head of the higher Islamic council and former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, said that Obama must enter through a gate that was not under Israeli auspices.
"Any visitor is welcome to Al-Aqsa, but they should follow the regulations of the Waqf and enter through the Lions' Gate and not through Mughrabi Gate, to ensure Muslim sovereignty," he said at a press conference and was quoted by AFP.

Barry Rubin: Islamists to West: Put Up Your Hands and Hand Over Your Property! By Barry Rubin

Oh, and Israel is supposed to be the bad guy because it defends itself against muggers.
It’s bad enough to be mugged repeatedly but it’s even worse to provide the weapons and money for the assailants, while also praising them. But that’s precisely the moral of the story as far as Obama Administration policy is concerned: Except for a few exceptions who won’t play nice (ie, al-Qaida) if you’re nice to the terrorists and they’ll be nice to you.
Oh, by the way, this is how most of the “international community” advises Israel to behave.

J Street is a dead end

In the final analysis, only Israelis bear the responsibility for determining their future. American Jews who are deeply concerned about Israel’s future have a right to speak out, but the place to achieve a two-state solution is in the diplomatic arena. The place to advocate changes in Israel’s policies is within Israel’s democratic process and the plethora of American- Jewish organizations, many of which take a strong pro-peace position.
It is not in Washington, lobbying the US administration. On the US-Israeli relationship American Jews must stand united. J Street leads only to a dead end.

Arab Filmmakers to Celebrate Genocide

The filming of “Khaiber” is just the latest instance of major TV productions in the Arab world (which are often broadcast in prime time during Ramadan) being used to promote anti-Semitic themes. Egyptian TV’s “Knight Without a Horse” blockbuster centered on the forged “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” canard. Echo Media Qatar has previously produced a film blaming the Jews for the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
But the “Khaiber” film is especially significant because it blends ancient hatreds with contemporary hopes for a similar destruction of the Jews. The goal of such a film is to dehumanize the Jewish people and to delegitimize their rights, especially to self-defense.

Fearing growing anti-Semitism, Congress calls special meet
Human rights subcommittee hearing to tackle anti-Jewish hatred in Europe

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The chairman of the US House of Representatives subcommittee on human rights convened a hearing on anti-Semitism, saying it is worsening, especially in Europe.
The hearing, called by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), will take place Wednesday.
“It is getting demonstrably worse all over the world, but especially Europe,” Smith, who also co-chairs the US Helsinki Commission, the congressional body monitoring human rights, told JTA. “The Middle East is a cauldron of anti-Semitic hate, but much of that hatred is spilling out through the Muslim Diaspora and through satellite television.”

IDF Reservists Fight Back Against ‘Inciting’ Oscar-Nominated Film

The Israeli NGO Consensus recently launched an online campaign to present a counter-narrative to what it calls “the ongoing incitement against IDF soldiers in the movie ‘5 Broken Cameras,’” as stated by the organization in a statement Sunday.
Consensus, which describes its activists as “Guardians of the IDF spirit,” claims to be a non-political organization; its membership is comprised of hundreds of reserve and non-commissioned IDF officers. Its mission, the statement says, is to protect the IDF’s reputation, its soldiers and its commanders in the public relations and media arenas.

West Ham owners threaten 'harshest sanctions' against fans taking part in anti-Semitic chanting towards Tottenham

West Ham co-owners David Gold and David Sullivan will take a zero-tolerance stance on any discriminatory chants from their fans aimed at Tottenham when they meet at Upton Park on Monday.
The clash at White Hart Lane in November, which Tottenham won 3-1, was marred by a minority of West Ham fans engaging in anti-Semitic chanting.

Arrow 3 Tested Successfully
The anti-missile system is intended to intercept high altitude ballistic missiles.

The Arrow 3 will be able to intercept ballistic missiles with longer ranges than the ones that Arrow 2 can bring down, and it will do so at higher altitudes. It is part of the multi-layer defense system that is intended to protect the state of Israel, which also includes the Iron Dome system and the Magic Wand system.

Tel Aviv sets ‘Harlem Shake’ record
70,000 gather in central square to dance like lunatics to latest craze

Obama or no, Tel Aviv became home to the largest “Harlem Shake” dance video yet over the weekend, hosting some 70,000 people in front of the Tel Aviv Museum shaking their moneymakers to the international and not-at-all annoying hit, according to organizers

George Galloway can't even get his anti-Israel agenda to be self-consistent

From George Galloway's Facebook page:

A number of questions have recently arisen I need to deal with. Firstly if people want to talk to the Palestinians they need to contact the Palestine Liberation Organisation. This is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and has been for many decades. ... Apartheid Israel is a cancer at the heart of the middle-east. Only it's replacement by a bi-national democratic state from the Jordan River to the sea will cure this. That is what I am fighting for.

Hmmm. So the PLO is the sole legitimate representative of Palestinian Arabs - yet Galloway meets with Hamas while they are opposing the Fatah-dominated PLO.

But let's take him at his word. If he really supports a bi-national state then either he doesn't believe that the PLO accepts Israel's existence, which is still their official position, or he knows that the PLO really doesn't accept a two state solution. It would be interesting to know which is correct - is he a liar or does he support liars?

Beyond that, he refers to Israel as an "apartheid state" presumably because it is a Jewish state that discriminates against non-Jews. Yet the PLO's constitution for the "State of Palestine" says:

Islam is the official religion in Palestine. Respect and sanctity of all other heavenly religions shall be maintained.
The principles of Islamic Shari’a shall be the main source of legislation.

It also says:

Palestinian people are part of the Arab Nation. Arab Unity is an objective which the Palestinian People shall work to achieve.

This constitution, which was written by Galloway's "sole legitimate representatives" of Palestinian Arabs, is explicitly discriminatory against Jews on both the religious and national levels.

Isn't that apartheid?

Galloway cannot even put forth a consistent, cohesive position in a simple Facebook post. The reason is clear: when it comes to Israel, he is not liberal nor conservative. The only real consistency he has vis a vis the Middle East is that he hates Israel, Israeli Jews and Jewish nationalism. Everything that can help bring about the destruction of a liberal democracy in a region of misogyny, bigotry, anti-Westernism and religious fundamentalism - anything that opposes Israel - is considered inherently moral by this hypocritical blowhard.

Exclusive interview with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat

The mayor of Jerusalem has a question for those who want construction to be frozen in the eastern part of Jerusalem.

What do you really mean? Because we've just been investing over a halfa billion shekels on infrastructure and roads (in the Arab sector.) We're building 500 classrooms in the Arab sector...And we're registering many, many buildings for the residents of east Jerusalem. My question was, what do you mean by 'freeze.' Freeze everything? Or, God forbid, is somebody hinting, 'Wait a minute. Before you give someone a permit, check him out. If he's Jewish, freeze him, if he is Muslim or Christian give him a license'? ...Is somebody hinting to us to look at the color of his skin, to look at his religion before we give him a permit and a license?

Usually I don't get any answers back.

In an exclusive interview with Elder of Ziyon, Mayor Barkat decried what he called "triple standards" that critics demand of the municipality of Jerusalem. The mayor described all other cities as having one standard, and Jerusalem as being held to a higher standard - which he has no problem with. But the third standard, which is unacceptable, is one that holds that Arabs can build illegally wherever and whenever they want, and that if the city provides services to them it is criticized but if it doesn't then it is accused of neglect. Instead, Barkat described his vision for a united Jerusalem, with one law and equal rights for all.

Barkat also stated that there are some ten thousand permits for apartments registered in Arab areas of Jerusalem over the past four years, a far cry from the way that anti-Israel groups characterize the issue. "Don't listen to too much media," he joked.

I asked him about neighborhoods like Isswiya, where non-Arabs have been nearly lynched more than once. He answered that Jerusalem's murder rate is 1/20th that of major American cities and the crime rate was also much lower, but also that things are being done to make it better. He disagreed when I said that Har HaZeitim has been a dangerous place to visit, saying that things are much improved there and it is now perfectly safe.

The full interview can be viewed here:

Monday Links Part 1

From Ian:

Missing Peace: Study shows: Second Intifada was planned by the PA

JCPA researcher Jonathan Halevy now published a study in which he presents compelling evidence about Arafat’s personal responsibility for the outbreak of the Second Intifada and about the fact that the uprising was planned by the PA directly after the failed peace talks at Camp David in July 2000.
What Halevy didn’t mention however, was that Sharon’s visit had been coordinated with Jibril Rajoub of the Palestinian Authority. He made arrangements with Shlomo Ben Ami who was minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of Ehud Barak.
Marwan Barghoutti’s involvement in organizing the Second Intifada was described by Halevi but he omitted Barghoutti’s admission that he had mobilized the masses on Palestinian TV on the eve of the outbreak of the Intifada.
The way the PA operated in the week leading up to the Second Intifada is similar to what is happening now.

Exposing the UN's dirty little secrets
A gathering of the tortured in Geneva shames the UN Human Rights Council by giving victims not perpetrators a platform to tell their story

They came to bear witness to the crimes committed by some of the very members of this esteemed UN body. Naturally, at the Palace of the Nations, where over 80 international officials, including Foreign Secretary William Hague, will over the coming days address the Council, there will be no space for these brave freedom fighters.
This is why UN Watch, together with over 20 other NGOs, organized the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy last week. Now in its fifth year, the annual summit does the sort of work the UN shies away from. It gives the victims, not the perpetrators, of state terror a podium.

JPost Editorial: Wrong Cause
Palestinians have ignored the fates of journalists arrested, beaten, censored and arrested by their own political leadership.

Inexplicably, Palestinians – and Israel’s Arab citizens – have chosen to champion the causes of these hunger-striking terrorists and others while ignoring the fates of journalists arrested, beaten, censored and arrested by their own political leadership, which for four years now has been ruling without democratic legitimacy. Under the circumstances, what prospects for peace can US President Barack Obama hope for when he visits the region next month?

PA gives no indication of calling for West Bank calm
Following death of Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jail, 4,500 Palestinians send back food in protest; Palestinians throw stones at security forces in Hebron area; PM reportedly orders transfer of tax revenues to PA.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sent a message to the Palestinian Authority to calm tensions in the West Bank on Sunday as Palestinians rioted and threw stones at security forces near Hebron.
However, a senior aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas gave no indication the Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank,
would issue any call for calm, and blamed Israel for the spike in unrest.

Beware Turkish Hypocrisy

The Syrian war has undermined Turkey’s “no-problems-with-neighbors” strategy and exposed its bluster. In August 2011, Turkey threatened military action against Syria but only if other nations joined it. In June 2012, Syria shot down a Turkish warplane over the Mediterranean. The Turkish response: consultations with NATO followed by much sound and fury. So when Israeli warplanes allegedly attacked Syrian military targets earlier this month, one would have expected Turkey to praise tiny Israel for taking risks to address a regional threat that the much bigger Turkey has found too daunting to confront alone. Instead, according to the Turkish daily Hurriyet, Turkey’s foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu urged Syria to attack Israel, suggested that Assad’s inaction was due to “a secret agreement” with Israel, and vowed that Turkey would not sit still in the face of an Israeli attack on any Muslim country. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

Erdogan: Assad a ‘mute devil’ for not defying Israel
Turkish prime minister calls on world leaders to speak out against Syrian president for his crimes against his people

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan received several rounds of applause at a government communications forum in the United Arab Emirates, which has joined other Gulf nations in backing Syrian rebels seeking to topple President Bashar Assad.
“We will not remain silent in the face of the cruel dictator, the mute devil, who mercilessly carried out massacres against his own people, but who has remained silent and unresponsive toward those who have occupied his own territories for decades,” Erdoğan told the gathering in Sharjah, just north of Dubai.

Preparing for the Fall of Jordan

The question is, will the world sit idly by and allow yet another Arab country, one that is bordered by a warring Syria to the north and an unstable Iraq to the east, to either be taken over by Muslim fundamentalists or to deteriorate into civil war and bloodshed? Or will they spend a tiny fraction of the time and money that is invested in endlessly trying to force Israel to accept the ill-advised and impractical two-state solution to help develop a stable Palestinian state east of the Jordan River, one that can be developed to satisfy the national aspirations of the Palestinians and in doing so finally lay the groundwork for solving the supposedly unsolvable Arab-Israeli conflict?

UN Experts Investigate Iranian Shipment Seized in Yemen

UN experts in Yemen on Sunday investigated an Iran-linked arms shipment which authorities intercepted in January, the official Saba news agency reported, according to AFP.
The UN team, escorted by army general Nasser al-Taheri, inspected the contents of the ship which Saba said includes surface-to-air missiles, Katyusha rockets, explosives, ammunition and surveillance systems.

'Eco-Bridge' Under Construction on New Jerusalem-TA Highway
Work has started on a new “eco-bridge” that will allow wildlife to flourish as vehicles travel daily between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv

For decades, the area where the road is being built has been forested, and an ecology has developed there which includes animals such as deer, mountain goats, boars, and others. In order not to ruin the ecology of the road, it was decided to construct an “eco-bridge” for animals over the new section of the highway. The eco-bridge will be a green area indistinguishable from the surrounding forest, enabling animals to easily pass between both sides of the highway.

Co-opting the smartphone revolution for the elderly
An Israeli company has developed a platform that will put the 55+ crowd in charge of their data

For many people, smartphones have become constant companions – sources of information, communication centers, and even safety nets, enabling them to contact others for help when they’re in a jam. Not everyone can benefit from smartphone use, though; many elderly people have a hard time learning how to use these devices, either fearful of new technology, or intimidated by different ways of doing things.

Al Qaeda calls to expel all Jews from "Palestine"

Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula came out with a video statement saying that the expulsion of all Jews from Palestine should be considered "sharia law" - meaning it is compulsory under Islamic law.

There is really no difference between Al Qaeda and the other Muslim Brotherhood offshoots like Hamas, Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic Jihad. However, some of the MB descendants that gained some level of political power are a little more reluctant to make such bigoted statements out loud, since they want to make it appear that they only have a problem with "Zionists," not Jews. However, before the networked world we now live in, Muslims did not have any compunction about broadcasting their anti-semitism when they were certain that their words would not be reported worldwide.

Al Qaeda is not representing a fringe movement. In this case, they are representing what hundreds of millions of Muslims truly believe.

Internet down/Shushan Purim/Jaradat open thread

My hotel lost its Internet feed last night and it hasn't yet returned.

Blogging on an iPhone is a bit too painful to contemplate now, not to mention that it will be a busy day today since it is when Purim is celebrated here.

Last night in the Old City virtually everyone was in costume, which was cool.

Taking a cab home, the Arab driver was listening to an Arabic station where I could hear the newscaster talking about Arafat Jaradat. I see now that Israel allowed a Palestinian Arab pathologist to view the autopsy and even so he lied about the results saying he died from torture, opposite the Israeli coroner's claims. (Marks on the body were from resuscitation attempts.) I am still amazed that Israeli authorities expected honesty from a Palestinian official.

It was not a pleasant ride.

So here is an open thread...

Sunday Links

From Ian:

Who Really Cares About the Palestinians?

The answer lies in a simple but inconvenient truth — no one really cares about the Palestinians – unless Jews are involved.
This is not new; you can go back to the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948. The popular misconception is that the Arab states invaded to help the Palestinians. Actually, they intended to carve up Palestine for themselves, not to create a Palestinian state.
From 1949 until 1967, Egypt could have given Gaza to the Palestinians for a state, just as the Jordanians could have created a Palestinian state in the West Bank. Neither did, but no one in the world cared because the Palestinians were not interested in a state and the occupiers were Arabs.

The irony is that the people who care the most for the Palestinians are probably American and Israeli Jews. In the United States, Jews are among the most vociferous supporters of the Palestinians. The Jewish establishment organizations are also pro-Palestinian, advocating a two-state solution that would give Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza the same freedoms Israelis enjoy, but are currently denied to them by their own leaders. In Israel, many Jews advocate for the Palestinians: Israelis represent them in the courts, join them in protests and speak out on their behalf in the press and the Knesset. The many Arab-Jewish coexistence projects are nearly always initiated by Israeli Jews.
With the slaughter in Syria, Palestinians can see who their real friends are, and most are not the ones they expect.

EU: designate Hezbollah a terrorist organisation now

From the beginning, Hezbollah has been involved in terrorist activities. What has changed in the last decades is that the organisation has stepped up its criminal and terrorist activities abroad. According to a newly released report by Dr. Matthew Levitt – head of the Stein Programme on Counter-terrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy – between May and July 2012, Hezbollah operatives, in close co-operation with the Qods Force, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s international arm, attempted more than 20 foreign terror operations.
Hezbollah remains confident that with the backing of Germany and France, the EU will not designate the group. Critically, it is this sense of complacency which would allow it to plan future attacks. Now is the time for action and the political leadership of the EU needs to take the lead and designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation.

BBC Watch: No BBC reporting on Hizballah in Cyprus

The story has been reported by media outlets around the world, including the New York Times, the Huffington Post, the Australian and even the BBC’s paper of choice, the Guardian. The BBC, however, has to date not seen fit to report on the trial in Cyprus itself or on its wider significance as another example of the fact that Hizballah is operating within Europe, despite the fact that the subject of the terror organisation’s designation is currently on the EU agenda.

Marco Rubio: U.S. Shouldn’t Dictate Israeli Policy on Settlements

While on a Middle East tour that has fueled speculation that he will run for president in 2016, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio arrived in Israel on Wednesday, wading quickly into politically sensitive territory by saying Jerusalem was “of course the capital of Israel.”
Rubio, a Republican senator from Florida and a rising star in his party, made the comment during a meeting with President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem, according to the Associated Press. The United States, like many other countries, has never recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, instead maintaining that the city’s status can only be determined through negotiations with the Palestinians.

'Israel monitors weapons transfers to Syrian rebels'
Rebel weapons could pose security threat if they end up in the wrong hands, Israeli intelligence officials tell US news agency.

“On the one hand, there is a great deal of pressure on the Western world to bolster arms to moderate – what we call ‘friendly’ – rebel groups so that they are on a level playing field with the groups that might be getting support from Islamist movements,” this official told McClatchy.
“On the other hand, once you send a weapon somewhere, you can’t control where it goes. The fear is that the same gun used to shoot a Syrian soldier will one day be used to shoot an Israeli soldier.”

Analysis: The Egyptian army is making a comeback
As the clash between the regime and the opposition shows no signs of abating, can the military remain indifferent to the country’s slow degradation?

Morsi will do all he can to achieve the complete takeover of the country before the new parliament can be convened in July. The opposition is up in arms threatening to boycott the elections if a new national unity government is not formed to ensure that they are free and fair, the large Coptic minority is outraged since polling will be held on their holy Easter week – and the country’s economy is still spiraling out of control.
What will the army do, if anything? On the one hand, the new constitution grants it powers beyond its wildest dreams. On the other hand, the army, for so long the symbol of Egypt’s greatness, cannot remain indifferent to the country’s slow degradation.

The silent Islamization of Egyptian society

A court in Cairo allows Islamist police officers to wear beards to Islamic way. Slogan praising Islam also appears on army tanks. The Muslim Brotherhood program to impose lessons on Islam and Koran, even in foreign schools.

4 Egyptian Students Arrested After Making ‘Harlem Shake’ YouTube Video ‘A Scandalous Act’

Egyptian media has reported on the incident, but few are posting the exact video.
It seems the Harlem Shake is actually quite popular in Egypt — a YouTube search shows at least 3 videos filmed in the post-revolution “Arab Spring” nation.

Iran: Jailed pastor describes ‘psychological abuse'
Prison authorities in Tehran ratchet up pressure on American-Iranian Pastor Saeed Abedini to renounce Christianity.

Iran’s prison authorities have ratcheted up the pressure on American- Iranian Pastor Saeed Abedini to renounce Christianity.
In a letter written by the 32- year-old Abedini – and released on Friday – he says the conditions in Tehran’s Evin Prison, are “so very difficult that my eyes get blurry, my body does not have the strength to walk, and my steps become very weak and shaky.”

Polish TV regulators receive anti-Semitic threats
Poland National Broadcasting Council members receive death threats after deciding not to renew ultra-Catholic TV station license.

Jan Dworak, the chairman of the council, and Krzysztof Luft, a senior board member, received a handwritten letter sent from a Warsaw post office stating: “If you continue to carry out the orders of the anti-Polish and anti-Catholic Jewish mafia of [Prime Minister Donald] Tusk and [President Bronislaw] Komorowski by not granting TV Trwam a license, the Freedom and Independence Court will issue a death sentence against you,” the Polish Press Agency reported.

Start-up’s ‘indoor GPS’ solves huge retail dilemma
WiseSec has installed its location solution in one of Europe’s largest indoor shopping malls

With smartphones everywhere, retailers have begun using location protocols on phones to recruit customers. It’s a great idea — unless your store is indoors, like in a mall, where location services don’t work. One Israeli company claims to have the answer, and a large shopping center in Moscow agrees — with the mall installing the “beacons” location system made by Israeli start-up WiseSec.
One of retailers’ greatest dreams for mobile is to recruit the location services on smartphones in the service of selling things to customers. Imagine, retailers say, if they could automatically send out coupons to customers who are walking or driving by their store, tempting them to come in for a special deal and, hopefully, recruiting new customers?

Defying Boycotts, Jagger, Stones, to Honor Israel’s 65th Birthday.

Despite a barrage of attacks from British, European and U.S. Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) groups, the Rolling Stones will perform their planned concert in Jerusalem on Israel’s Independence Day, Monday, April 15.
“We’ve been slammed and smacked and twittered a lot by the anti-Israeli side,” said Mick Jagger, the band’s leader and most recognizable member since 1963. “All I can say is: anything worth doing is worth overdoing. So we decided to add a concert on Tuesday.”

Purim in Jerusalem 2013 (video)

Footage from the Mamilla Mall, today:

(h/t to Real Jerusalem Streets for telling me where to find kids in costume)

The leader of Salafi Nour Party in Egypt, Yousri Hammad, claims that there is a 'fifth column' backed by the media to drive a wedge between the Egyptian army and the presidency, and between Muslims and Christians and the Salafists and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Hammad said through his Facebook account that he perceives "a clear methodology the Jews managed to improve over the course of history, and the sole beneficiaries are the Jews who are seeking to overthrow Egypt in the cycle of domestic violence like Syria and Iraq and the nations surrounding Israel."

He continued: "They are attempting to overthrow Egypt economically and forcing begging from abroad and the West...at worst it paid for the sale of their national institutions at the cheapest prices after the collapse of the exchange rate of the Egyptian pound."

Hammad said "What is required is detection of the fifth column which destroys and spreads hate between parts of Egyptian society... "

Releasing terrorists as a precondition on "peace talks"

Mahmoud Abbas told a delegation from the International Union of Socialist Youth yesterday that he insists that Israel release terrorists from prison - especially those serving the longest sentences - before agreeing to "peace talks."

This is in addition to his other preconditions, such as Israel accepting the 1949 armistice lines, to freeze all "settlement activities."

When releasing terrorists is considered a precondition to "peace," one must wonder what kind of peace it could be.

Purim Video #4; "Homies Noshin' Hamantashen"

Adult language and content. Don't click if you can't handle it. Funny, though.

Purim Video #3: Move Like Graggers

A PalArab dies in Israeli prison, and the Arabs go crazy (updated)

From Ma'an:

A Palestinian prisoner held in Israel's Megido Prison died on Saturday, a Palestinian Authority official said.

PA Minister of Detainees Issa Qaraqe identified the victim as Arafat Jaradat, 30, from the Hebron village of Sair.

Israeli media had earlier reported that Jaradat suffered a cardiac arrest and prison staff tried to revive him to no avail.

Qaraqe told Ma'an that he holds the Israeli government responsible for Jaradat's death and demanded an immediate inquiry into the circumstances behind his death.

Jaradat was arrested three months ago, Qaraqe added, and was not involved in ongoing hunger strike action by Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas allies are demanding - get this - an international inquiry into the circumstances of Jaradat's death.

A couple of years ago I showed that the likelihood of a young, healthy person dying in Israeli prisons is far less than that of a young, healthy American dying in any given year.

When people die in most of the world, it is a tragedy. When an Arab dies in circumstances that can be remotely twisted as Israel's fault, it is an international incident.

UPDATE: BBC's Jon Donnison tweets propaganda as fact:

And so it goes.

(h/t JS)

Saturday Links Part 2

From Ian:

Barry Rubin: Why the CIA Director is Wrong: Rethinking al-Qaida

Ironically, the United States has a counterterrorist policy but it does not have a national security strategy. It has a way of reducing anti-American terrorism—let or even help Islamists seize power—but does not realize that anti-American regimes are far more dangerous than a bunch of guys in caves.
If terrorism was ever merely a law enforcement issue that is certainly true today in terms of al-Qaida.
Instead, what the Obama Administration has done is like trying to reduce crime by turning over the cities to the Mafia and letting it make the laws and also run the police and court systems.

Rand Paul: Cut Foreign Aid From Countries Burning Our Flag VIDEO

"...what I would say is that I would start by cutting foreign aid from countries that are burning our flag and chanting 'death to America,' countries that don't really seem to be acting like our allies."

Senators Ask Obama to Withdraw Hagel Nomination

Fourteen U.S. senators asked President Barack Obama to withdraw his nomination of former Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel, who continues to come under fire for his record on Israel and other areas of foreign policy, for Secretary of Defense.
In a letter dated Feb. 21, the senators—all Republican—said Hagel in his confirmation hearing “displayed a seeming ambivalence about whether containment or prevention is the best approach [to Iran’s nuclear program], which gives us great concern.”

Palestine – Backtracking Begins As Democracy Dies by David Singer

Dr Zogby seeks to blame Israel’s settlement policies for the lack of democratic reforms in the areas of the West Bank under full Arab administrative control.
It is time to end the blame game whilst perennially claiming victimhood status.
It is time to face up to the reality that only the fundamentals of a democratic state – free and fair elections, freedom of expression and the media – can lead to a negotiated end to this long running conflict.
The sooner elections are held to end the seven year drought since the last election was held – the sooner the hope of peace will become a flickering light at the end of a very dark tunnel.
Dr Zogby has done the Arab residents of the West Bank and Gaza a grave disservice by dashing the hope of democracy ever coming to change their lives – as it changed the lives of Sharansky and the million Soviet Jews who eventually made it to Israel.

Israel grapples with terror threats to its tourists in nearby countries

Ahead of Passover vacation rush, security officials working with Greek, Cypriot, Bulgarian counterparts to counter possible Hezbollah plots

Terror victims’ monument vandalized
Inscription bearing Asher and Yonatan Palmer’s names found desecrated

Unknown vandals desecrated an obelisk commemorating Asher and Yonatan Palmer, who were murdered near Kiryat Arba in September 2011.

Arabs Riot, Clash with Security Forces
Thousands of PA Arabs continue to riot and clash with security forces following prayer services at mosques in Judea and Samaria.

Thousands of Palestinian Authority Arabs continued to riot and clash with security forces on Friday, following prayer services at mosques in Judea and Samaria as well as on the Temple Mount.
According to various reports, dozens of PA Arabs suffered injuries during the clashes. At the same time, one policeman was lightly wounded by a brick thrown at him by Arab rioters in Hevron.
On the Temple Mount, dozens of PA Arabs threw rocks and firecrackers at police forces stationed outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque. In response, dozens of soldiers entered the compound and dispersed the rioters with tear gas and stun grenades. The quiet in the area returned after one Arab was arrested and taken in for questioning.

Judea and Samaria Residents Reestablish Civilian Security Patrol

Following the recent deterioration of the security situation in Judea and Samaria, local residents have decided to take their security into their own hands, reestablishing the civilian based reconnaissance unit which was operative during the second Intifada. In recent months there has been a sharp upsurge in terrorist attacks against the residents of Judea and Samaria. The number of stone and fire-bomb attacks on the roads has increased dramatically. To contend with this reality the local security councils have decided to reestablish the civilian security patrols on the roads.

UN Watch: UN researcher reports UN session on Israel that never happened

The incident underscores the shoddy scholarship and disregard for facts that characterizes much of the anti-Israel propaganda produced by many of the researchers who write UN reports on Israel, including the Goldstone Report.
Will UNESCO and UNIFEM disclose which Palestinian matters have been handled by Perugini?
Is the kind of shoddy scholarship Bard College is trying to promote through its Palestinian summer school?

BBC selected ‘expert opinions’ and transparency

Of course Bennett-Jones provides no information for his readers as to Crooke’s real background (or even the name of his organization) and he certainly does not inform them that the entire raison d’etre of Crooke’s think tank is to turn that terrorist organization into something more palatable to Western minds.

Safer and greener: Israel’s high-tech highways
Asphalt that uses recycled tires makes roads easier to brake on and helps the environment, says Dimona Silica Industries

Leave it to Israel to infuse high technology into something as prosaic as asphalt. A Negev company has developed a road asphalt compound that uses old tires for strength and safety, and is friendly to the environment to boot.
The new compound, called RuBind, is already in use in Israel. Approved by the Israel Standards Institute last October, the compound was used to pave roads in the Beit She’an Valley that are particularly notorious for their accidents. Among the qualities of RuBind is its “rubberiness,” due to the bits and pieces of rubber mixed in with the asphalt, and as a result, cars have an easier time braking thanks to the higher friction that occurs when a car’s rubber tires meets the rubber on the road.

Terror Victim’s Purim Message: Despair is Just a Mask
Terror attack survivor Asael Shabo, who lost his mother and three siblings, has a message of hope for Purim.

Terror survivor Asael Shabo was there to give the group a first-hand account of overcoming disability. Shabo, who lost a leg in a terrorist attack over 10 years ago, has become a top athlete and is training for the 2016 Para-Olympics.
Asael’s mother and three of his siblings were murdered in the 2002 attack, in which a Palestinian Authority terrorist entered the family home and began shooting the children at close range.
He had a message of Purim hope for the young women from Maagalim. “Know that despair and difficulty are just a mask,” he told them. “If you believe, you can remove it and reveal your truth.”

Saturday Links Part 1

From Ian:

UK’s Chief Rabbi: New Anti-Semitism is Number One Threat (VIDEO)

As part of his farewell tour, the chief rabbi of the UK, Lord Jonathan Sacks, visited Israel recently. During his visit he gave a lecture at Tel Hai College, titled “The 21st Century Challenge for Jews and Israel,” that touched on anti-Semitism, the top challenge facing Jews, in his opinion. “Today we are living through a new anti-Semitism,” he said. He expounded by saying that Anti-Semitism is anti-Zionism; it’s epicenter is in the Middle East rather than Europe and it has gained an increasing amount of legitimization. He also pointed to the senselessness of the world’s imbalanced diplomatic assault on the Jewish state.

London Metropolitan University suspends researcher with car bomb conviction
A university researcher has been suspended after it emerged he has a conviction over a car bombing at the Israeli Embassy in London.

Botmeh, who was released from prison in 2008, was found guilty of involvement in two car bombs set off in July 1994, one of which went off outside the embassy in Kensington Palace Gardens. Nobody was killed.
He and the woman were convicted on the basis they were part of a UK-based terrorist cell which planned to sabotage the Middle East peace process.

PMW: PA TV continues to honor terrorists in music videos

A new Palestinian Authority TV music video honors three terrorist prisoners serving a combined total of 40 life sentences. They are responsible for several terror attacks against Israeli civilians, including at least two suicide bombings that killed 35 and wounded 100.
The music video shows footage of the three arch terrorists while a song with the following words is heard:
"As long as it may last, the prison's doors will not stay shut [forever]... the clouds will disappear, and our honor will be restored."

Palestinians refuse to team up with Israel against soccer greats

Palestinian football officials on Friday said their players won’t team up with Israelis in a match against FC Barcelona that was designed to promote peace.
Palestinian Football Association president Jibril Rajoub met with Barcelona president Sandro Rosell and said “there are lots of obstacles.”
Rosell launched the initiative Thursday with Israeli President Shimon Peres. Barcelona FC is the most beloved foreign soccer club in Israel and in the Palestinian territories, Rosell told reporters, praising Peres as a man who “has done much for peace.”

Alicia Keys, Depeche Mode Urged to Cancel Concerts in Israel
The US singer, one of the most popular and successful of the last decade, is due to perform in Tel Aviv in July for the first time in her career.

On Wednesday she released a statement saying, “I’m excited to go to new places on this tour, among them Tel Aviv. I plan on bringing with me a show full of emotion and inspiration.”
Depeche Mode, one of the most successful rock groups in history, is also being called upon to cancel their show in Israel. The band is planning to launch it’s world tour there in May. The band last played in Israel in 2009.

Berlin Film Festival Prize Winner Denies Israel's Right to Exist
Danish-Palestinian film director provoked controversy after publicly questioning Israel's legitimacy and right to exist.

Danish-Palestinian film director Mahdi Fleifel, who was awarded the Berlin International Film Festival’s annual Peace Prize, provoked controversy after publicly questioning Israel's legitimacy and right to exist.

Spain arrests 3 suspected of spying for Iran
Interior ministry says men allegedly infiltrated local NGO to gain information on defectors

MADRID (AP) — The Interior Ministry says Spanish police have arrested three men on suspicion of spying on Iranian dissidents and reporting back to the ruling regime.
The suspects had allegedly infiltrated a Spanish NGO that helps asylum seekers and communicated to Iran’s secret services the identities of Iranians who fled the country for ideological reasons, a statement said.

Hundreds Hold Anti-Morsi Protest in Egypt's Port Said

Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of Port Said on Friday to demand justice for protesters killed by Egyptian police, as a strike in the Suez Canal city entered its sixth day.
Protesters chanted against Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood, while slamming the interior ministry it accuses of having killed at least 40 people in clashes with police last month.

Morsi to the moon
President’s former April 6 allies want to send him to space as protest

An Egyptian opposition group is using a novel way to protest against President Mohammed Morsi: Sign him up for a chance to win a trip to space.
The April 6 Youth Movement said on its official Facebook page on Thursday that it had entered the Islamist leader’s name in the online contest because it wanted to be rid of him. It called on supporters to vote for the president so he’d have a chance to win the trip into space.

Neo-Nazi Had Hit List of Jewish Leaders in Detroit

Richard Schmidt the owner of a sporting goods store in Bowling Green, Ohio, was originally reported to have been arrested by the FBI for trafficking counterfeit goods. But the case has become more worrying and bizarre since it was revealed that the former felon, who spent 13 years in Ohio state prison for a homicide after being convicted of killing a man and wounding two others in a shooting during a traffic stop, had a small arsenal at his disposal and a hit-list of Jewish and African-American targets in the Motor City.

Hungarian Jews ask government not to honor Nazi ally
Request follows growing list of public tributes to Holocaust-era ruler Miklos Horthy

BUDAPEST, Hungary (JTA) — Hungary’s main Jewish organization urged the government and parliament to prevent the honoring of Miklos Horthy, the country’s Holocaust-era ruler.
Horthy had “direct responsibility for the killing and destruction of several hundred thousand Hungarian Jews,” the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities, or Mazsihisz, said in a statement Wednesday.

Polish Jewish cemetery, Russian center vandalized
"Kalisz without Jews" spray-painted on Jewish cemetery in Kalisz, according to news site; Holocaust memorial in Russia smashed.

A Jewish cemetery in western Poland and a Holocaust memorial site in Russia were defaced in suspected anti-Semitic attacks.
In Kalisz, near Wroclaw, a Star of David on a gallows and the inscription "Kalisz without Jews" (Kalisz bez Żydów) were spray-painted on a Jewish cemetery and discovered on Feb. 20, according to naszemiasto.pl, a news site.

4 Israeli apps nominated for Global Mobile Awards
Israel’s Waze, MyCheck, uTest and recently sold Intucell are front-runners in the prestigious competition.

Waze, MyCheck, uTest and the recently sold Intucell are four Israeli startups nominated in the Global Mobile Awards competition, set to take place at next week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
The mobile navigation and traffic community app Waze, which recently announced to have reached 36 million drivers in 2012, is nominated in the main category, Judges Choice – Best Overall Mobile App. Waze faces tough competition against the world’s most famous applications: Dropbox file hosting service, Flipboard technology news application, Sky Sports F1 software and Square electronic payment service.

Friday Links Part 2

From Ian:

Latma: Clash of the Jew hating Titans, and Bibi searches for the perfect costume

Sarah Honig: Another Tack: Not created equal
Facts will never be allowed to interfere with popular prejudice – not so long as any refugee episode can be linked to some Jewish aspect or another.

There’s no end to the shameless perversion of truth. Soon after Israel’s independence, the young, embattled country was covered with tent cities full of refugees, many of them from Arab countries. In early 1950, legendary photographer Robert Capa captured the image of a tiny weeping girl in Haifa’s Sha’ar Ha’aliya transit camp.
In no time, the Arab propaganda machine hijacked the evocative image, falsely hyping it as that of a pint-sized Palestinian refugee crying her heart out. She became an instant poster child among self-professed humanitarians.
Nobody cared that she was, in fact, a Jewish refugee crying her heart out. The corrected caption put the picture out of mind. As we said – not all refugees are created equal.

Why does the world target Israel? by Kasim Hafeez
Op-ed: By singling out Israel, human rights activists abandon those who really suffer from apartheid

For me, a particular source of pain and anger is the situation of minorities and women in my parents' homeland. In Pakistan, not a week goes by without a story of rape, murder, humiliation and torture. In this Islamic country, terms such as Jesus Christ are banned in text messages and a young girl is shot for demanding basic education. Yet apart from the attempted murder of Malala Yusufzai, these stories rarely make it to the press. The brutally oppressed Christian minority suffers at the hands of an archaic blasphemy law, yet, apart from small-scale protests held by Pakistani Christian groups, there were no calls to boycott Pakistan and no flotillas were planned. I guess murdered Pakistani Christians maybe not a trendy enough cause. I wonder if a British newspaper would publish a cartoon of a Pakistani mullah murdering minorities to pave the way for a Sharia state. Our journalists love freedom and liberty, but the love their lives a little bit more.

Arab Group: Kotel is a Muslim Site, And Jews Don't Belong There
An Israeli Arab group says, Israel is “defiling the holiness" of the Kotel - as defined by Islam - by conducting Jewish prayers there.

An Israeli Arab group, “The Al-Aqsa Heritage Institute,” on Thursday issued a statement demanding that Israel halt its plans to bring more Jews to the Kotel (Western Wall) – which, the group claims, is holy not to Jews, but to Muslims.
In fact, the group says, Israel is “defiling the holiness of the site” by conducting Jewish prayers there.

CAMERA: In Washington Post, Palestinian Oxymorons Threaten Israeli Archaeology

The article’s lead paragraphs make clear that material in the exhibit was found at Herodium, built by Herod, a Roman-era king of Judea—that is, king of the Jews and their land. Yet it relays with a straight face, without contradictory context,
criticism from Palestinian Arabs that Israeli removal of artifacts from Herodium for display in Israel “violates international law and appropriates cultural property that should remain in the West Bank, which the Palestinians seek as part of a future state.”

BBC Watch: Yolande Knell parrots Palestinian political propaganda

Did the BBC Jerusalem Bureau’s Yolande Knell even bother to check the facts behind the Palestinian claims featured widely in both of her recent reports about the new exhibition of archaeological finds from Herodium at the Israel Museum? It seems not.

Richard Millett: Shlomo Sand at SOAS: Israel is “a shitty nation” and “the most racist society in the world”.

He was speaking in London at the SOAS launch of his new book The Invention of The Land of Israel. The much discredited thesis of his previous book The Invention of The Jewish People is that there was no expulsion of the Jews from the Holy Land; diaspora Jews, therefore, must have all descended from converts and so have no right to return to Israel.
The already much discredited thesis of The Invention of The Land of Israel is, simply, that the land of Israel holds no religious significance for Jews either.

Also: Shlomo Sand on BBC Radio Three

Israelis to protest outside Argentinian embassy
Immigrants, family members of AMIA bombing victims reject joint probe with Iran

Argentinians living in Israel have organized a rally to protest the agreement signed between Argentina and Iran on a joint investigation of the 1994 AMIA Jewish center bombing.
The rally outside Argentina’s embassy in the central Israeli city of Herzliya Pituach is scheduled for Friday. It was organized via the Facebook group Kehila Latina en Israel.

Recession, xenophobia prompting Jews to ditch Hungary

Though the couple would prefer to raise their child near their Jewish families in Budapest, rising nationalism and an economic recession are leading them to stay in Austria.
“I don’t want to cut my roots, but I see no good future for a child growing up in an increasingly xenophobic environment,” said Fanni, a lawyer, who along with others interviewed for this article asked that their full names not be published.
As many as 1,000 Hungarian Jews are believed to be leaving the country each year, spurring fears among Jewish leaders about the future of Central Europe's largest Jewish community -- some 80,000 to 100,000 people. Immigration to Israel has tripled in the past three years, to 170 in 2012. And many others have sought new lives in Berlin, London and Vienna, the Austrian capital just a two-hour train ride away.

Purim goodies to your home, courtesy of Samsung
Using a Facebook app, you can send out a free holiday candy basket sponsored by the Korean electronics giant. It’s for a good cause

In a combination marketing campaign and charity project, Samsung is sending 10,000 Purim baskets (mishloah manot) to anyone in Israel lucky enough to have a friend that signs them up for one on the Samsung Mobile Israel Facebook page. Each basket is full of Purim goodies (candies and the like), and will be delivered by the end of Shushan Purim (on Monday) to any address in Israel. Samsung is paying for the candy, and is paying two Israeli organizations, Variety Israel and the Enosh Fund, to assemble them.

Israel Daily Picture: A Purim Potpurri from Tiberias, Scotland, America..

The mirthful festival of Purim will be celebrated in the Jewish world on Sunday. Residents of Jerusalem celebrate "Shushan Purim" on Monday.
We present pictures we found in the Scottish Dundee University Medical Archives, including the mysterious picture of "Rabbi Aboulafia" blowing a shofar and holding what appears to be a Megillat Esther read on Purim.

Friday Links Part 1

From Ian:

Palestinians Plan Violence to Force the US to Extract Concessions from Israel by Khaled Abu Toameh

The Palestinian Authority leadership is hoping that the anti-US protests will scare Obama and force him to exert even more pressure on Israel.
The Palestinian Authority's message to Obama: You must act quickly against Israel before things get out of hand.
It now remains to be seen whether Obama is aware of this attempt to put pressure on him, or whether he will continue to turn a blind eye to the Palestinian Authority's new-old tactic of initiating an escalation with the hope of extracting concessions from the US and Israel.

50,000 Tell Obama: Bring Pollard With You
Former president, MKs and Nobel Prize winners among 50,000 Israelis calling on Obama to free Jonathan Pollard.

More than 50,000 people have signed a letter calling on United States President Barack Obama to free Jonathan Pollard. An ongoing campaign to free Pollard has gone into high gear in light of Obama’s plan to visit Israel in March.
The petition to release Pollard opens with the line, “Honorable President Obama, come with Pollard!”
Among those who have signed so far are a former Israeli president, several former ministers and former and current Members of Knesset, as well as Nobel Prize winners.

The neighboring Kingdom of Mahmoud Abbas

Today, these basic tenets of democracy are sorely lacking in the Palestinian governing bodies. The PLO in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza vet and approve every appointment of every civil servant to every public position, from teachers in schools to judges in courts. Both of these organizations have been recognized in the past by the US government and other Western nations as terrorist organizations.
Palestinian human rights activists explained that Anas Awwad received a harsh sentence for his benign exercise of freedom of speech, primarily because he is known to support the Hamas movement. In a court in the “kingdom” of Mahmoud Abbas, where judges are appointed by the PLO, being a Hamas supporter is considered to be a crime. It would behoove those who claim to advance Palestinian human rights, including the right to statehood, to start by soul searching a bit closer to home.

UK court finds 3 guilty in ‘spectacular’ plot aimed at synagogue
Muslim extremists face life in prison for plan to carry out ‘another 9/11′; watchdog decries ‘disturbing example of would-be anti-Semitic terrorism’

LONDON — Three men were found guilty Thursday of planning a “spectacular bombing campaign” in the UK, including an attack on a synagogue.
Irfan Naseer, 31, Irfan Khalid, 27, and Ashik Ali, 27, wanted to carry out “another 9/11” by using eight suicide bombers armed with guns and explosives-filled rucksacks to target “crowded places” in their native city of Birmingham, Woolwich Crown Court found.
The trio had not decided on a specific target, but in conversations secretly recorded by police, Naseer said that even if the group could not make a bomb, it could “get guns, yeah, from the black geezers, Africans, and charge in some like synagogue or charge in different places.”

Guardian reports on UK terror plot ignore facts regarding potential Jewish targets

The document also outlined specific plans to attack the Stamford Hill and Golders Green neighborhoods in London, areas in which, the terror group chillingly noted, “tens of thousands of Jews” are “crammed in a small area.”
It’s curious, to say the least, that the Guardian reporter covering the terror plot, by self-radicalized Brits intent on causing mass casualties in the UK, evidently didn’t find it of interest to note that one particular often-targeted religious community was again singled out by the Jihadists for murder.

Israel’s Deputy Ambassador to the UK Forced to Flee Essex University

Roth-Snir was speaking at Essex University when 40 students disrupted the meeting, university officials split students into two groups, according to who was and wasn’t supportive of Mr Roth-Snir’s presence, and allowed the lecture to continue in a small side room.
However, security officials ultimately decided the protestors posed a great enough risk that Mr. Roth-Snir was evacuated.

Israeli-British student had earlier run-in with boycotting MP
Following George Galloway debate walkout, officials say Israeli engagement on British campuses will continue despite a series of recent pro-Palestinian disruptions, protests

Aslan-Levy, a dual national who was born and educated in London and who would have been 16 at the time, says he challenged the MP on a previous statement that there should be no engagement with anyone connected to the state of Israel.
Galloway, he said, denied he had ever said such a thing, calling him a “L.I.A.R. – liar.”

Hizbullah Terror Group Scanning EU for Israeli, Jewish Targets

Hizbullah terror operatives are in Europe scanning for area for Jewish targets, according to a source quoted by The New York Times. Israel has for months tried unsuccessfully to persuade the European Union to add Hizbullah to its official list of terrorist organizations.

Experts decry EU ‘delays’ on Hezbollah sanctions
Israeli analysts believe European reluctance to label Hezbollah a terrorist group stem from fear of antagonizing organization.

Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg, a political scientist at Bar-Ilan University, told the Post that “the leaders of the European Union claim to promote moral foreign policies, but the cynical excuses used to avoid designating Hezbollah as a terrorist organization are anything but moral. For years, the EU turned a blind eye to Hezbollah’s role in rocket and mass terror attacks – every one a war crime – and allowed this organization to raise funds and operate freely.”
Steinberg, who runs the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor watchdog group, added, “After the Burgas attack, and then the official Bulgarian report with the evidence of Hezbollah’s role, EU leaders still ignored the evidence and the need to take a principled position.

President Peres: “The Time Has Come for Every Country in the World” to Add Hezbollah to its Terror List

“On our border, in Lebanon, Nasrallah [Hezbollah's leader], wrapped in a cloak of religiosity, is pushing Lebanon into a bloody war. It is time to call Hezbollah what it really is – a murderous terror organization. The United States of America and other countries have already included Hezbollah in its list of terrorist organizations. Now, after it has been proved that Hezbollah was behind the terror attack in Bulgaria, on European soil, and murdered innocent civilians, and as reports increase of its involvement, along with Iran, in attacks in Cyprus and Nigeria, the time has come for every country in the world, and especially the European Union, to add Hezbollah to its list of terror organizations,” he said.

'Gazans seek elections as Hamas support declines'
AWRAD poll shows support for Hamas declined since December; 68% support negotiations if Israel halts settlement construction.

Support for Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza has declined by four percentage points to 18 percent since December, according to a poll published Thursday.
The poll, conducted by the Arab World for Research and Development (AWRAD), said that while support for Hamas was down, support for Fatah was back to its July 2012 level (42%), an increase from 37% in December.
According to the survey, 95% of Gazans support holding legislative and presidential elections immediately, as do 82% of West Bank respondents.

Gaza man self-immolates in government office
A man set himself on fire at a government office in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, wounding himself and four others, witnesses and medics said.

Nazi Thugs Attack Soccer Fans in Lyon Pub
Fans of the English Premier League soccer club Tottenham Hotspur were the target of an anti-Semitic attack in France Wednesday night ahead of the club’s Thursday match in the country.

A gang of thugs chanting Nazi slogans descended upon the Smoking Dog pub in Lyon in what police believe was an incident “of an anti-Semitic” nature and was “well-coordinated.”

Barcelona to play in Israel for peace
Top Spanish soccer club will fly over in July, face Israeli-Palestinian squad

Barcelona FC, one of the most prestigious soccer teams in the world, will play a game in Israel against a team made up of Israeli and Palestinian players, President Shimon Peres and Barcelona’s president, Sandro Rosell, announced Thursday evening.
Peres praised the power of sports to teach people values. The planned game will be “a great celebration and a message for peace to us and our neighbors,” he said at a press conference in Ramat Gan. Children want to be like the Barcelona players, and this project can convey a “good and important message.”

Was there a "naqba" in 1967? One way anti-Israel propaganda works

Sometimes the most insidious lies one sees in the media are the ones that are not directly related to the topic being discussed.

From the UN's news service, IRIN:

Ahmed Dweik’s family knows a thing or two about the refugee experience.

Theirs started in 1948, when his father fled his Palestinian home town as Israeli forces captured the village of West Batani near Ashdod in present-day Israel.

From there, he settled in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, further south, until the 1967 Arab-Israeli war pushed him to search for an easier life abroad. He went first to Egypt to study, then to Yemen to find work.

That is where Dweik was born. But like his father, he too sought better opportunities, migrating to Syria to look for a better paying job and settling close to Yarmouk, the largest camp for Palestinian refugees in Syria.

“But what happened to my father after the 1967 war happened to me in 2012,” Dweik told IRIN.

Excuse me?

Not one Gazan was expelled when Israel took it over in 1967. During the Six Day War there wasn't even time for the Gazans to flee.

But thousands of them decided to flee anyway after the war. The reason was simple: they didn't want to live under Jewish rule. Many thousands went to Jordan - going through Israel itself. Many others, as was the case with Dweik's father, chose to go to other Arab countries to get jobs.

When IRIN quotes the younger Dweik as saying that his fleeing war-torn Syria is similar to his father fleeing Gaza in 1967, the implication is that Israel was treating Gazans the way Syria is treating its citizens today. This is a baldfaced lie. Readers, not being on the lookout for anti-Israel bias in an article that is about the problems of Palestinians in Syria, will accept this nugget of misinformation as fact.

Multiply that by tens of thousands of such lies one sees in newspapers and books and other media, and you can see how even well-meaning people can be indoctrinated with anti-Israel propaganda without realizing it.

Five more Palestinian Arabs killed without the media noticing

On Wednesday, five more Palestinian Arabs were killed in Syria.

A rocket shot at the Yarmouk camp killed three, including a mother expecting her sixth child.

Another was killed in Jobar and one in Homs.

Of course, "pro-Palestinian" groups have been silent.

Meanwhile, the Free Syrian Army warned Hezbollah to stop interfering in Syria or else they might attack Hezbollah in Lebanon.

And Reuters has a story on the increased numbers of refugees streaming into Jordan from Syria - but doesn't mention that Jordan still turns Palestinian Arabs back at the Syrian border, another small fact that "pro-Palestinian" groups are ignoring.

Mondoweiss reveals the evil Zionist dentist conspiracy

The blogosphere is filled with "Mommy bloggers" who vent about the everyday frustrations they have in life and commiserate with other stay-at-home moms.

But when the mommy blogger is a Palestinian Arab, in this case someone named Nora Lester Murad, her whines must be against Israel. And the Mondoweiss hate site must distribute her ridiculous complaints far and wide:

A lot of people hate going to the dentist because it hurts. I hate going to the dentist in Jerusalem because it hurts, but not in my mouth. It hurts my sense of belonging.

Last time I took my children to the Israeli dental clinic, the receptionist waved us to the x-ray room and a technician hurried my middle daughter into the big faux-leather chair.

“Wait! Why does she need an x-ray?” I intervened.

The woman had straight blond hair and a pink hair extension that matched her pinkish lipstick. She looked at me with a totally unreadable look on her face.

“She’s having her teeth cleaned. She doesn’t need an x-ray,” I repeated in English. My middle daughter was looking uncomfortable in the chair, embarrassed. The other two had backed into the waiting area and were pretending not to know me.

The technician shouted to the receptionist and there was soon a small congregation of Israeli women around me, all speaking Russian. They were trying to figure out what my problem was.

...I was livid, frustrated, powerless.

“She doesn’t need an x-ray!” I raised my voice, following her to her office.

“I decide!” she countered.

By then, all my children were ready to crawl into the medicine cabinet with shame.

And I made it worse.

I approached a Palestinian woman sitting with her children in the waiting room. I asked her in Arabic if she knew enough Hebrew to explain to “those crazy people” (yes, I was angry) that my daughter needed her teeth cleaned, not an x-ray. She didn’t look too happy to be associated with me in any way, but she stood up to help.

Then the door to the hygienist’s room opened and she stepped out, interested in all the commotion. I ran to her. Her long bouncy curls had changed colors since our last visit.

“Do you remember me?” I asked in English.

“Of course!” She smiled at my children and I felt a wave of relief. She is the reason why we go to that clinic. She makes flossing and mouthwash and fluoride fun.

“Can you please tell them I want you to clean my daughter’s teeth? I told them you wrote it on her dental record, but they don’t understand.”

A few minutes later, my middle daughter was reclining in the hygienist’s chair having her teeth cleaned.

“Apparently the person who scheduled your appointment at your last visit thought you wanted to see the dentist,” she said as she worked. “And everyone who sees the dentist for the first time needs an x-ray.”

“You provide services in Hebrew and in Russian,” I said. “Why not in Arabic? Isn’t Arabic also an official language of Israel?”

Yes, when you are a Palestinian Arab and you are frustrated by something, it must be Israel's fault.

You see how Israel oppresses Arabs? It doesn't force every dentists' office to have Arabic speakers! (Or English speakers, for that matter.)

However, I want to look at Murad's saying that visiting a dentist who doesn't speak her language hurts her sense of "belonging." Earlier in the piece she writes:

Many Palestinians in Jerusalem go to Israeli dental clinics. Why shouldn’t they? Palestinians who have residency in Jerusalem are entitled to Israeli health insurance. It’s one of the few benefits they got when Israel illegally annexed Jerusalem.

Nearly all the approximately 300,000 Palestinians living in East Jerusalem are “residents.” They were born in Jerusalem (like their parents, and their parents’ parents) but despite Israel’s annexation, they are not citizens of Israel. They have no voice in the Israeli elections that determine their fate. Not that they necessarily want to vote in the Israeli elections. But I digress.

This little aside puts everything in proper perspective.

You see, Arab residents of the eastern part of Jerusalem can choose to become full citizens of Israel. Anytime they want. Thousands have made that decision.

But many others, including presumably this writer, refuse to do so, for whatever reason.

This is fine. But if you refuse to become a citizen, how can you whine about not being allowed to vote in Israeli elections? All it takes is some paperwork. Maybe you could even then start a movement to get Israel to pass a law that every dentist employ an Arabic speaker!

And this shows the hypocrisy of the writer. She chose not to make a simple phone call to find a dentist office that she could comfortably go to - and blames Israel for its lack of Arabic (and paucity of English) speakers. She chooses not to become a citizen - and blames Israel for not giving her full rights.

It is hard to be sympathetic with people who whine about things they can easily change.

The irony is that just like Nora Lester Murad tries to use her bad experience at a Russian dentist office to show how Israel is to blame at large, her article shows that Palestinian Arab problems at large can often be ascribed to the simple inability to take responsibility for their own choices and to instead always blame the other instead.

(h/t Naftali)

Photos:Hamas teaching kids at school how to be snipers

A photo essay from Hamas-oriented Palestine Today shows students in Hamas schools in Gaa being given military training, including how to become a sniper:

Jews and Arabs shopping together today
at Rami Levy

Today I had the opportunity to interview the manager of the Rami Levy supermarket in the Binyamin region of Judea and Samaria (the "West Bank.")

The Rami Levy stores, you will recall, have been the target of Palestinian Authority wrath because it offers low prices that Palestinian Arabs from the area take advantage of. The PA even started a boycott campaign against the chain back in 2010, but it failed miserably.

During today's visit I saw lots of Palestinian Arabs shopping there, together with many more Jews buying food for Purim (the parking lot was completely full.)

So I spoke to the manager of the store, as well as to an Arab supervisor at the market (unfortunately, he didn't want to be on videotape, for obvious reasons).

Over and over again, the manager and Arab supervisor - who incidentally was promoted to his position after only three months on the job - claimed that the store did not discriminate against the Arab employees or customers in any way. Arab employees are paid the same amount as Jewish employees for the same jobs. Roughly half the employees at the store are Arab. They claimed that the store was a perfect example of Jewish-Arab coexistence and tolerance.

From seeing the protests against the store by leftists who claim to be supporting human rights, however, I knew that these Rami Levy employees could not possibly be telling the truth. There had to be some way that they mistreated their Arab workers - I knew it, deep down. The "human rights" activists wouldn't lie, would they? I just had to dig a little deeper.

Finally, I discovered the shocking truth.

The manager showed me the synagogue on the premises. I naturally asked him if there was prayer room for Muslims as well. He answered that they only go to the mosque on Fridays and generally pray by themselves during the week, and he is happy to let them go where ever and whenever they want to pray (usually outside.) He also said that during Ramadan he would adjust their work schedules so they could break the fast with their families.

In other words, only Jews have a room for prayer.

It gets even worse!

I asked the manager if Rami Levy gives out gifts to their employees for various holidays. He answered that they do give out Mishloach Manot baskets to all employees every Purim.

But then he admitted the shocking truth.

Rami Levy takes the wine bottles out of the gift baskets meant for Muslim employees! Only the Jews get wine!

They made some excuse, saying that giving alcohol to a Muslim is offensive. Pshaw. The anti-Israel Leftists know the real reason: explicit, abject Jewish discrimination against Arabs.

There can be no other explanation that makes sense to those who are offended by real coexistence.

Thursday Links Part 2

From Ian:

Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S: Iron Dome is Important to Peace Process (VIDEO)

Following his public statement criticizing a “60 Minutes” report that asserted Israel’s Iron Dome defense system would hinder rather than help along the peace process, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, appeared Tuesday Morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program to tout its capabilities.
“It not only saved Israeli lives but it saved Palestinian lives because we didn’t have to operate on the ground,” Oren noted, referring to Iron Dome’s effectiveness during Israel’s November conflict with Gaza terrorists. He believes the program will also be instrumental in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority because, “It gave us space and time.”

Andrew Bolt: If Wilders is wrong, explain this conference
This hypocrisy and fear is exposed best by what is misleadingly called a ”Peace Conference and Exhibition” being organised in Melbourne in March.

Al-Azhar Sheikh Abdur-Rahman Al-Sudais, imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, is the highest-ranking cleric in the Sunni Muslim world. He has prayed to God to “terminate” the Jews and is a virulent anti-Semite to judge from his sermons:

IDF: Expect Intifada, Not Talks with Palestinian Authority

Israel's military is training for the possibility the Palestinian Authority may soon launch a formal third intifada.
A senior IDF officer warned Thursday morning during an interview on Army Radio that army analysts believe it is likely the PA will choose to launch an intifada over returning to the negotiating table for final status talks with Israel.
The officer, who serves in the regions of Judea and Samaria, said Thursday in an interview on Army Radio that soldiers are currently training to deal with four-week confrontation scenarios.

Fatah mad over reported indirect Israel-Hamas talks By Khaled Abu Toameh

Fatah official says only PLO is authorized to conduct negotiations as the “sole legitimate representative of the Palestinians.”
Fatah officials expressed outrage on Wednesday over reports that Hamas and Israel are conducting indirect talks in Cairo.
According to the reports, Israeli and Hamas officials who arrived in Cairo recently have been holding indirect talks about consolidating the current cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, which has been in effect since Operation Pillar of Defense ended in November.
Jamal Muheissen, member of the Fatah Central Committee, said the talks Hamas has been conducting with Israel are “unacceptable.”

CAMERA: Where's the Coverage? LGBT Community Suffers in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority

Even ten years in prison for homosexuality is not the worst that can happen to a gay man in Gaza. Last year, the Hamas-run regime executed a gay man.
Gay Palestinians regularly seek to escape to Israel. In considering a case where a gay Palestinian man sought asylum, the Israeli High Court of Justice ordered the state to take into consideration the degree to which his life would be at risk due to his sexual orientation, should he be returned to the West Bank.

A Chinese Life Is Worth Less Than a Middle Eastern Life

Imagine the international uproar if 100 young Palestinian Arabs burnt themselves to death while demanding Israel return land to the Arabs? Not 100 at once, but one by one, one could envision the topic dominating world headlines. Coverage of funerals, visuals of their families and undoubtedly we’d see pundit after pundit pontificating on the need to “understand their frustrations.”
Meanwhile, in Nepal, 100 Tibetans have burnt themselves to death to protest Chinese rule of Tibet – and it has largely been ignored by the media. No calls for China to give in to Tibet because of the poor oppressed Tibetian people – no U.N. peace force, and little media coverage. In December 2010, a Tunisian fruit-vendor set himself on fire, and media coverage of subsequent Arab riots and the “Arab spring” fueled global headlines for months on end. Despite the fact that China is a world power, the Middle East is more interesting to the media, and for the media seemingly a Chinese life is worth less than a Middle Eastern one.

Honest Reporting: Whose Opinion Matters? A Look at the New York Times

And it’s not as if there are regular columnists working at the Times who clarify Israel’s perspective to readers. Roger Cohen and Tom Friedman, the columnists who write most frequently about Israel, are both clearly critics of the Netanyahu government and its policies. This comes through in the combined 22 columns the two penned during 2012.
The Times did not completely prevent dissenting viewpoints from appearing on the op-ed pages. Two articles gave views supporting Israeli policy. One argued for the legality of the settlements while a second took issue with those who have said that a military strike on Iran would not be effective. Yet these two articles hardly constitute “balance.”
Overall, 68 percent of opinion pieces in the New York Times in 2012 were critical of Israel while just over 2 percent were supportive.

Hollywood’s Unknown Rescuer
Before Schindler’s List, an L.A. studio boss saved hundreds of Jews from the Holocaust. Why was he alone?

That same year, Harry Warner was also working hard to push American policymakers to save Jewish refugees from Hitler ¬but from the top down, rather than from the bottom up. In October 1938, after hearing that the British were considering restricting Jewish immigration to Palestine, he immediately sent a telegram to his brother Jack in London, instructing him to go see U.S. Ambassador Joseph Kennedy for help. Warner sent a second missive directly to President Roosevelt—addressed “My dear president”—asking him to personally intervene. (The stress of the episode, according to Warner biographer Michael Birdwell, put Harry Warner in the hospital with bleeding ulcers that same month.)

Sarah Honig: Doing well

How many in Israel realize that this country was recently declared the second-best educated in the world (after Canada)? How many know that a recent survey declared Israel the first in the world in hi-tech Research and Development intensity?
Odds are that very few do. In our society, bad news is given resonance and the good is relegated to the margins. When Israeli fifth-graders do badly in international math evaluations, the entire country seethes. This feeds political recriminations that generate more headlines for days to follow. Our successes rarely, if ever, receive notice.

Thursday Links Part 1

From Ian:

British MP ditches debate because rival is Israeli
Anti-Israel politician George Galloway claims he was misled about opponent’s identity in Oxford University face-off

British MP George Galloway quit a debate on Israel at Oxford University Wednesday after discovering that his opponent was an Israeli citizen. The Respect party legislator, who is renowned for being staunchly pro-Palestinian, stormed out of the building saying: “I don’t recognize Israel and I don’t debate with Israelis.”
Galloway was first to speak in the debate, opining in favor of the statement “Israel should withdraw immediately from the West Bank” for 10 minutes. But midway into his opponent’s address, in which the third-year student referred repeatedly to Israel as “we” and “us,” Galloway inquired whether the speaker, Eylon Aslan-Levy, was Israeli. Upon learning that he was, the MP stormed out of the building with his wife, claiming that he was misled.

BBC Watch: Gaza news ignored by the BBC

Can you imagine how many heart-rending, finger-wagging reports would have been produced by the BBC if Israel had taken to flooding the Gaza Strip’s smuggling tunnels in order to put them out of operation? In particular, can you imagine the outrage if – as has been claimed – such flooding operations were carried out using sewage?
It is now over a week since reports of just such actions on the part of Egypt began coming through, but so far there has not been a mention of the subject from the BBC’s Gaza reporter on any of its radio or television channels or on its website, despite his clearly being aware of the story.

CAMERA: Neglected Facts About Hunger-Striking Samer Issawi

As Palestinian prisoner Samer Issawi has allegedly exceeded more than 200 days of a hunger strike, Palestinian demonstrations and NGO activity on his behalf have intensified, and so too has media coverage. Though some media outlets have demonstrated great interest in Issawi's case, that interest is decidedly selective.
Take for instance the following photograph and caption which appeared in yesterday's Ha'aretz English edition on page 2. (It did not appear in the Hebrew edition.)

Iran installs uranium enrichment accelerators
Diplomats say Tehran upgrading fissile material production, nearing ability to outfit nuclear warhead

In a disheartening signal to world powers at upcoming Iran talks, Tehran has started installing high-tech machines at its main uranium enrichment site that are capable of accelerating production of reactor fuel and — with further upgrading — the core of nuclear warheads, diplomats said Wednesday.

Michael Totten: Free Syrian Army Threatens Hezbollah in Lebanon

Hezbollah is scary good at insurgency, but counterinsurgency is emphatically not a skill in its toolbox. That’s one of the many reasons the organization has never tried to conquer the rest of the country. It can’t. It can only push people around from its own corner.

Turkish Official: Marmara Trial of Israeli Commanders ‘Political’

A top Turkish government legal official has said that his country’s in absentia trial of top Israeli commanders for their role in May 2010 Marvi Marmara flotilla incident is “political, not really judicial.” The trial will restart Thursday after first beginning in November 2012.

Report: Budapest University student council lists Jews
Hungarian anti-Semitism watchdog calls for police action on alleged files, which would violate the law

Members of the student council of the University of Budapest reportedly have compiled illegal lists of students’ presumed religion, ethnic background including Jewish origins, and political affiliation.
The files were compiled annually on freshmen by the HOK student council, according to a report published Tuesday by the Hungarian television channel ATV, which received a copy of a full list from 2009.

Israeli Scientists Create ‘Stealthy Fiber Optic Communications’

Two Israeli university professors and a PhD candidate have created a concept for “stealthy fiber optic communications.”
Developed by Ben Gurion University of the Negev’s Prof. Dan Sadot and Prof. Ze’ev Zalevsky of Bar Ilan University together with PhD student Tomer Yeminy, the new encryption method enables stealthy transmission of any optical communications signal.

Pirate bugs, the superheroes of Arava farms
Predatory wasps and other beneficial insects are taking over for chemical pesticides on many crops grown in Israel’s fertile desert.

Meet the superheroes of the insect world: “pirate bugs” that feast on thrips, aphids and other tiny pests that destroy and infect food crops.
Single-mindedly devoted to their mission, these beneficial predators have allowed Israeli farmers in the Arava region of the Negev Desert – where 60 percent of Israel’s fresh vegetable exports originate – to cut their use of chemical pesticides by about 80%.