Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Israel’s exports to Arab countries up 21%

Some cheerful news to further freak out the Saudis:

Israel’s industrial exports to Arab countries, excluding diamonds, grew 21% to $106 million in January-June 2005, compared with the corresponding period last year, Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute director Yechiel Assia said.

Assia noted that these figures did not include $6 million in indirect exports to Arab countries by way of third countries in the first half of this year. These exports resulted from partnerships between Israel and Arab companies.

That's a lot of paper cups!

Abbas to media: Print what I say, not what I do

Once again, the new incarnation of Arafat says meaningless words to the news media, and they lap it up:

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday he hoped to persuade Palestinians peaceful dialogue was the way to statehood after an Israeli pullout from Gaza that militants claimed as a victory for armed struggle.

Declaring the 'jihad' or 'holy struggle' of confrontation with Israel over, Abbas told Reuters it was time for what he called the 'greater jihad' of economic revival, rule of law and talks with the Jewish state to achieve a lasting peace.

Abbas said he has been promoting that message at recent public rallies celebrating the first evacuation of Jewish settlements from Israeli-occupied land Palestinians want for a state.

'The people are responding in a remarkable way. The people's beliefs are changing,' he said."

On the very same day, the PA's Ministry of Culture was busy as well:

The PA's Ministry of Culture released its "Book of the Month" today, a poetry collection honoring suicide terrorist Hanadi Jaradat, who murdered 29 Israelis. It was distributed as a special supplement in the daily Al-Ayyam.

Entitled "What Did Hanadi Say?" the collection includes a poem glorifying Jaradat's act of suicide terror, calling it "the highest goal":

"O Hanadi! Shake the earth under the feet of the enemies! Blow it up! Hanadi said: "It is the wedding of Hanadi the day when death as a Martyr for Allah, becomes the highest goal."

Now, we wait for a single mainstream media outlet to point out the jarring contradiction between Abbas' words and his actions.

And wait. And wait.

I just wrote to Reuters about this; we'll see what kind of form letter I get in return:

To the Editors:

On the very same day that Mahmoud Abbas claims in your interview to now be promoting a culture of peace among Palestinians, his own Ministry of Culture published a book praising a female suicide bomber who killed 29 Israelis.

Would it be too much to ask you, as a supposed "news" organization, to go a tiny bit beyond parroting the words of a proven liar and actually exposing the clear fraud he is trying to use you for? I seem to remember learning that news organizations should be a little skeptical of what leaders say; yet I have yet to see you expose a single incongruity within your beloved Palestinian Authority.

Would it be physically harmful to you to mention that the terrorist Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigades gets money from Abbas' PA, which in turns gets its money from US and European taxpayers?

Is it too taxing for your Arabic-speaking reporters to mention the incitement that is printed and broadcast daily in the Palestinian media, directly breaking a signed agreement with Israel?

Or does your own political agenda trump actually reporting the news?

Saudis freak out over Hebrew paper cups

You can't make this stuff up! (Hat tip to OpinionJournal Best of the Web)

Made-in-Israel Paper Cups Used in Local Hospital
Samir Al-Saadi, Arab News

JEDDAH, 22 August 2005 — Paper cups with Hebrew writing disturbed both employees and medical staff at King Khaled National Guard Hospital on Saturday. The catering subcontractor for the hospital coffee shops began using them on Saturday after their usual supply ran out.

“We were shocked and angry,” said an employee. “How can Israeli products be allowed and how did they enter this hospital?” he asked.

The Filipino employee who works in the Al-Musbah coffee shop asked: “Why is everybody mad about the cups?” He was told: “Because they are made in Israel!”

According to hospital officials, the matter is being investigated and action will be taken.

Saleh Al-Mazroi, executive director for operations at KKNGH, said the matter had been referred to authorities in Riyadh and was being dealt with.

On the bottom of the paper cup was a website address and a telephone number. When Arab News looked at the website — www.orion-rancal.co.il. — it was found to be in Hebrew though there were a few words of English: “Israeli disposable paper, plastic and foam dinnerware supplier for restaurants.”

Arab News contacted Ibrahim Al-Musbah, manager and owner, who said, “I thank you for informing me. I will look into it personally and the offending articles will be disposed of.” He added that the company has a supplier in the Kingdom from whom they buy restaurant supplies. According to Al-Musbah, the supplier might be unaware of the problem.

Al-Musbah later contacted Arab News and said that the paper cups had come to his company by mistake. The cups were in a cardboard box that looked exactly like the ones his company normally receives and so the employees did not notice any difference. Al-Musbah added that the supplier was named “Jeelani” and that he would supply Arab News with his contact numbers today.

The paper cups were quickly withdrawn from use but might there not be other, less obvious, Israeli products in our shops and marketplaces?

Horrors! The $15 that they accidentally paid to an Israeli company could have gone for bomb belts!

Australian mainstream Muslim group promotes Protocols of the Elders of Zion

In a transcript of a radio interview in Australia about the Prime Minister meeting with "moderate" Muslim leaders, a moderate Muslim critic mentions a casual fact in passing:

MICHAEL VINCENT: What do you think of the result of today's meeting? Do you think it does progress the dialogue between the Muslim community and the Government?

IRFAN YUSUF: Well, it'll progress the dialogue between the Government and these particular organisations, but then I don't know really how committed these organisations are to, you know, to curbing extremism.

I mean, the last camp I went to, which was organised by the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, I was handed a copy of The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, as an educational text. It's extremely anti-Semitic, anti-Jewish text.

It's (inaudible) anti-Semitic forgery which was written, I believe, during the Zionist time as a way of encouraging pogroms against Jewish people.

And, I mean, I don't regard that as being, you know, reflective of mainstream Muslim opinion, but unfortunately that's the sort of opinion and attitudes and books and what have you that are being distributed by some of these peak bodies.

Today's future Pal Police funnies

Another in the continuing saga of "Today's criminals, tomorrow's policemen."

In another incident in the West Bank, arsonists set fire to the offices of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Hebron on Sunday night. No group claimed responsibility for the attack, which is yet another sign of increased lawlessness in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Hebron residents said the arson was apparently the work of a local Fatah gang whose members were angry because they were not given jobs and money.

Your tax dollars going to terrorists

An interesting part about funding for Fatah terror groups buried in another Gaza-in-chaos article:

In a military training camp run by the ruling Fatah movement, hundreds of young Palestinians marched in formation Monday and sprinted across a sandy lot.
[...]
Competition among armed Palestinian groups over control of Gaza's lawless towns intensified Monday as Israeli settlers cleared out the last of 21 Jewish settlements.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas wants to see carefully orchestrated victory marches under the Palestinian national flag. However, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and a few tiny Palestinian Liberation Organization factions have ignored his appeals, already parading their gunmen in a show of force and planning parades once the last Israeli soldiers leave in the coming weeks.

[...]

In southern Gaza, near what was once the Gush Katif bloc of Israeli settlements, members of Fatah's military wing, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, have organized three military training camps for more than 3,000 activists. (Tiny indeed! - EoZ)

[...]
The Palestinian Authority distanced itself from the training camps.

"There is no Fatah army, no popular army," said Tawfik Abu Khoussa, a Palestinian Interior Ministry spokesman. "We want to get rid of the military images. After the withdrawal, there is one authority and that's it."

However, the Al Aqsa men said they were getting Fatah funding for the camps, and Palestinian security officials sat in on one of Monday's interviews with camp organizers.

In organizing a small private army, Fatah gunmen in southern Gaza also appeared to be sending a warning to the Palestinian Authority that they could make trouble if jobs are not found for them in the security forces. Many gunmen believe they are entitled to government posts, saying they made personal sacrifices in fighting Israel.

We have mentioned many times before the absurdity of believing that Abbas is a "moderate" when he directly funds the Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigades terror group. The connection is well known and for some reason the world community doesn't seem to have a problem continuing to give huge amounts of money to the PA knowing that some of it goes directly to a terror organization.

The AP decided that this information didn't have to appear until paragraph 24.

Two good reference articles

CAMERA published a good backgrounder, "Why Palestinians Still Live in Refugee Camps", that explode many of the myths that the media take for granted about Palestinian "refugees." (interestingly, they published the same table I did in an earlier article, but I had not seen theirs before I published mine from Wikipedia.)

And, via Israpundit, here is "Confessions of a Once-Hopeful Leftist," by Jared Israel, that does a nice job laying out the basic truths of the conflict and the true goals of the Palestinian Arab leaders.

Palestinian "Police" punchlines continue

More insanity from the Palestinians that the world thinks sounds normal in the bizarro Palestinian world. In today's double feature, we have the interesting idea of paying former terrorists more so they abandon their lives of crime.

It brings a whole new meaning to the expression "pay for their crimes."

Palestinian Authority Interior Minister Nasser Youssef has decided to double the salaries paid to the PA's security forces.

The increase in salaries is an attempt to attract more recruits to the PA security forces and to prevent them from opting to join terrorist organizations.

Meanwhile, back in Gaza:

Palestinians from the ruling Fatah party armed with assault rifles converged on the Gaza parliament building on Sunday to demand jobs in a protest that underlined challenges ahead for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

At least 200 al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades gunmen, most dressed in black, demanded jobs while accusing officials of corruption. Some fired into the air. The protesters came close to scuffles with police before commanders on both sides ordered calm.

They then dispersed.

"We are here only to send a message that Fatah fighters should be treated fairly. Jobs should be secured for those who made dear sacrifices," said Abu Jihad, a spokesman.

I can just see the want-ad now:

WANTED: New Palestinian policemen. Must have fired at Jews. Will consider rock throwers. A previous stint in jail a plus. We will do a background check to ensure previous membership in terror organizations. Send resume, along with references, blackmail and threats to shoot us, to: Abu Abbas, on top of Arafat's grave, Ramallah

Statue of Liberty, 8:30 AM

I am very lucky in that I can see the Statue of Liberty looking south from my cubicle window. I am about a mile away from it so I can't take any really good pictures without a much better zoom, but the lighting was pretty interesting at 8:30 even though there was a lot of smog today.

Enjoy!

Haveil Havalim #33 is up

Another excellent issue of Haveil Havalim, a round-up of the week's best postings in the Jewish blogosphere, is now at SoccerDad . One of my articles made it there.

The birth of modern Islamic terror

An amazing article by John Roy Carlson from October 19, 1948 in the Palestine Post about the growing threat of Islamic fundamentalism. Essentially every point the author makes applies today; eerily so. The graphic format is a little hard to read but it is worth it, especially the parts about the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Azhar University, about liberalism in interpreting the Koran, the various competing Muslim fundamentalist groups, and the affinity they had with Nazism.

Before this point, Arab terror was not primarily religious-oriented; it was more nationalist, anti-Western and anti-semitic. The rise of Muslim fundamentalism changed the game and it is more important to understand the origins today of a movement that is responsible for 9/11.

Arabs accelerate media attacks on Israel

One of the biggest hopes of the wishful thinking accompanying the Gaza withdrawal is that it will lead to "peace." In the West, a peacemaking move is regarded as something that is naturally reciprocated with good-will gestures. But in the Arab and Muslim worlds, it appears to be a chance to increase the hateful rhetoric and absurd conclusions.

Here's a selection from Arab and Muslim writers over the past couple of days.

The Providence Journal published an op-ed by Mazin Qumsiyeh comparing post-withdrawal Gaza to apartheid South Africa, justifying terror, and referring to Zionist "ethnic cleansing."

Aljazeerah.info (from Georgia) blames Israel for Darfur and seems to be claiming that Israel wants to expand to Africa through the Sudan.

A New York writer names Preston Taran calls for the destruction of Israel, saying that a two-state solution is impossible. He openly calls for war in the name of Arab pride:

Therefore, “we have nothing to lose but our chains.” We cannot continue under these circumstances forever. Do we want our children to continue witnessing our humiliation? Do we want them to look us in the eyes and see our powerlessness? Do we want to keep on losing our children to Israeli murder? I do not think so. It is time to break the chains and end the “pleasant talk.”

Hamas has said, to no disapproval from the Arab world, that they will now move the terror attacks to the West Bank and Jerusalem.

The PA-controlled Palestine Media Center published an Al Ahram editorial slamming the Gaza withdrawal as a facade. It also mentions "territorial contiguity" as a requirement for a Palestinian state, meaning that Israel would have no territorial contiguity itself.

The next stages, from the Arab perspective, are clear, and all are consistent with Israel's destruction and inconsistent with any real desire to live in peace with Israel:

Do not create an independent state in Gaza because that would lessen pressure on Israel.
Move Kassam rockets to the West Bank because (they think) that is what caused the withdrawal.
No Palestinian state without all of Jerusalem.
No Palestinian state without cutting Israel in two.
No real Arab aid to Palestinians; their suffering is what keeps them useful.
Keep taking land, even tiny bits; never compromise. (Shebaa Farms is a good example.)
Use Hamas and Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah to create the illusion of moderation by the PA.
Always blame Israel for every worldwide terror attack so Europeans will do the same.
Use Western standards of morality to castigate Israel; use Arab standards of morality to justify terror.
Lie continuously and often, because the West will report it as fact.
Keep pressuring about "right of return" to destroy Israel demographically.
Keep referring to Palestinians as "refugees" although in no other case are the descendants of refugees ever referred to as such. This way there are always more Palestinian "refugees," never fewer.
After the 1967 borders come the 1947 partition borders, then no borders at all.

There will be no softening of rhetoric as a result of Gaza - on the contrary, it will only increase. Because, ultimately, today's Israel is sensitive to world pressure and those who want to destroy Israel have an inexhaustible supply of means to apply it.