Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, July 27, 2006

We're reaching our goal

Thanks to all who helped contribute to the Elder Tzedakah Challenge. If you didn't do it yet, all you have to do is click on one of the charities listed on the sidebar, or one of the others listed in this posting, give money, let me know about it by sending me a receipt (after you remove your personal information) to elderchallenge -at- gmail.com and I will match that amount to the same charity.

Boruch Hashem we have raised over $800 since last Friday and I want to get to at least $1000 by tomorrow. Every little bit helps so give today to the charity of your choice!

Also, a big yasher koach to the bloggers that have contributed so far:
Life-of-Rubin
Garbanzo Tunes
Bat Flattery
Boker tov, Boulder!

(apologies if I missed someone - let me know)

Hezbollah's "honor"

From a comment by "Hassan" on a Lebanese-American blog "From Beirut to the Beltway": (HA probably stands for Hizb Allah, "Party of God")

I just finished talking to an old friend of mine back in Lebanon. He is shia from Tyre and as long as I can remember, he has always been sympathetic with HA. I always related this sympathy to the fact that he was in a HA elementary school.

Our brief discussion quickly turned into him "lecturing" me about the importance of not being swayed by the propaganda and aligning my position with HA since, due to the lack of choice, I was born a shia, "a 220" Volt (yes, in lebanon, the shia run on 220 volt AC power, unlike the rest of the population who run on 110 volts). The fact that I don't believe in God (a precursor to I don't believe in Shia, Sunni, Islam, Christianity, Judaism) never registered in his brain.

Anyways, after our blame game and my "disappointing" stance, my friend reverted to reminding me of the pictures of death and destruction that have befallen Lebanon due to the Israeli aggression. But after I questioned how someone (HA) that was there to (allegedly) protect us, ended up bringing all this destruction from "the enemy", and questioning what we gained from the destruction, his answer was brief and swift: "Honor"

So to my HA shiite friend, Honor is the vice that would make a community die, leave their homes, and starve. It's sad to see an entire community live and die by such a definition of Honor. It's even sadder to see an entire country being dragged into serving such Honor.

I for one choose not to be Honorable.

AFP's fractured history lesson

AFP publishes a nice convenient chart for newspapers to reprint:

For some reason, AFP can't seem to mention that it was the Palestinian Arabs who created the civil war in Lebanon, or any of their rocket attacks against Israel, or anything else relevant. Let's fill in some of the missing pieces and try to see why AFP chose the events they did, and chose to ignore the events they did: (Most of these are from CNN.)

November 1969: Lebanese army commander in chief Emile Bustani and Arafat sign an agreement in Cairo that recognizes the "Palestinian revolution" and allows Palestinians in Lebanon "to join in the armed struggle without undermining Lebanon's sovereignty and welfare." This agreement will stay in effect for nearly 20 years, until Lebanon rescinds it in May 1987.

1970-1971: Faced with fighting in Jordan that left thousands dead, the PLO moves its base to Lebanon, where it carries out raids on Israel. A Palestinian terrorist group linked to the PLO is formed. Its name is "Black September" -- a reference to the Jordanian crackdown on Palestinians in September 1970.

1975: Civil war breaks out in Lebanon, pitting Palestinians and pro-Palestinian Lebanese militias against Lebanon's Christian militias. The war would last nearly 15 years, officially ending in 1990.

1976: Syria sends military peacekeepers during the early months of the civil war to help end it. The troops would remain there nearly 30 years, until April 2005.

March 1978: A PLO attack on a bus in northern Israel prompts Israeli military forces to move into Lebanon to push the PLO back from the border. Israel withdraws after the U.N. Security Council passes a resolution for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces. Under the leadership of Lebanese army Maj. Saad Haddad, an Israeli ally, a 12-mile wide "security zone" is established to protect Israeli territory from cross-border attacks.

1981: The PLO repeatedly violates a US-brokered cease fire by firing rockets into Israel.

May 17, 1983: Lebanon and Israel sign a U.S.-brokered peace agreement, spelling out terms of Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, conditional on the withdrawal of Syrian forces. Syria opposes the agreement.

October 23, 1983: A Hezbollah suicide bomber blows up the headquarters of U.S. Marine and French forces in Beirut, killing 298 people -- 241 of them U.S. Marines and other military personnel. U.S. troops are withdrawn from Lebanon a few months later.

January 18, 1984: American University of Beirut President Malcolm Kerr is assassinated.

March 1984: With pressure mounting from Syria, Lebanon cancels the May 17, 1983, peace agreement.

September 20, 1984: The U.S. Embassy annex in East Beirut is bombed, and 23 people are killed.

June 1985: Israel withdraws from most of Lebanon but keeps control of the 12-mile-wide security zone in the south. Israel remains there until May 2000.

July 2006: Hezbollah militants cross into Israel, kill three Israeli soldiers and kidnap two others in a bid to negotiate a prisoner exchange, a demand rebuffed by Israel. Another five Israeli soldiers are killed after the ambush.

So, can the astute reader find any pattern whatsoever in the AFP's choices for its timeline? Why the PLO is not mentioned, nor Hezbollah? Why the only times Palestinian Arabs are mentioned are for Sabra and Shatila (with the AFP inflating the likely figures)? Why the only protaganist mentioned is Israel?

Anyone notice any, shall we say, consistency in the AFP message?

Hezbollah fundraising in America

The Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, MI has an "emergency relief fund for the victims in Lebanon."

A gathering will be held on Friday, July 28, 2006 at 6:30 p.m at the Islamic Center of America (Ford Road) to raise donations.

If you are unable to attend please donate today by,
Transfer:
Beneficiary: Islamic Center Lebanon
Relief Fund
Bank Name: Comerica Bank
PO.Box 75000 Detroit, MI 48275
Account #: 1850029784
Routing Number #: 072000096

It goes on the print a letter from the mosque's imam, condemning Israel's attacks and not saying a single word about "terror", "rockets" or "Hezbollah." It is also interesting that they accept direct wire transfers - the same methods that Hezbollah terrorists use to transfer money.

Since Dearborn is the US center of Hezbollah supporters, with its local Arab newspaper printing articles that lionize terrorists, where a local Muslim "cultural center" is named after the "capital" of Hezbollah in Lebanon, it is a safe bet that not all of the money raised is going to food and shelter.

Hooray for Hezbywood

Kudos to Anderson Cooper for telling the truth as he was showing Hezbollah-chosen sites for the news:

As the video showed a group reporters and photographers interviewing a single woman on a blanket, Cooper explained, “Civilian casualties are clearly what Hezbollah wants foreign reporters to focus on. It keeps the attention off them — and questions about why Hezbollah should still be allowed to have weapons when all the other militias in Lebanon have already disarmed.

“After letting us take pictures of a few damaged buildings, they take us to another location, where there are ambulances waiting.

“This is a heavily orchestrated Hezbollah media event. When we got here, all the ambulances were lined up. We were allowed a few minutes to talk to the ambulance drivers. Then one by one, they've been told to turn on their sirens and zoom off so that all the photographers here can get shots of ambulances rushing off to treat civilians. That's the story that Hezbollah wants people to know about.

“These ambulances aren't responding to any new bombings. The sirens are strictly for effect.”

This is as opposed to CNN's Nic Robertson, who dutifully reported Hezbollah's viewpoint and only days later admitted that he was manipulated.

Here's that other famous picture again:

(H/T Atlas Shrugs)

It is obvious to anyone with a brain that Israel has no incentive to directly target the UN, but it is equally obvious that the UN has been firmly on the terrorists' side for decades.

Arabs love Ben Franklin - they can't stop printing his picture

I blogged last month about my theory that some of the $20 million that Zahar's "fundraising tour" raised may have in fact been counterfeit US currency. I had no evidence besides the fact that pristine $100 bills are not found in large quantities in the countries he visited.

Now, NBC news accidentally seems to have found another source for mint-condition US currency in the Middle East: (video from LGF, story from OpinionJournal):

(Video player requires Flash Player 8.)

As James Taranto notes:

A reader noticed something curious in a video from last night’s “NBC Nightly News.” Richard Engel, the network’s Beirut bureau chief, is reporting from southern Lebanon, and at 1:07 in the video, as he’s saying, “In Sidon, we found part of the financial district flattened,” you briefly see an image of what look like uncut sheets of U.S. hundred-dollar bills.
Now, it’s possible to buy uncut sheets from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, at premiums ranging from 12.5% to 275% over face value—but apparently only in denominations of up to $50. Anyhow, somehow we doubt these were collectibles.

A Treasury Department press release dated June 10, 2004, reports that Hezbollah has been involved in counterfeiting American money:
One of the most prominent and influential members of the Hizballah terrorist organization, along with two of his companies, was designated by the Treasury Department today under Executive Order 13224. Assad Ahmad Barakat has close ties with Hizballah leadership and has worked closely with numerous Islamic extremists and suspected Hizballah associates in South America’s tri-border area (TBA), made up of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. . . .
Barakat has also been involved in a counterfeiting ring that distributes fake U.S. dollars and generates cash to fund Hizballah operations. As of early 2001, Barakat was one of two individuals reportedly in charge of distribution and sale of the counterfeit currency in the TBA.
Was this funny money in Engel’s report from Sidon? We don’t know, but it’d be a good question for him to investigate.

It is a fair bet that much of the cash that made it to Gaza also originated in the "Sidon financial district."

UPDATE: An LGF reader pointed out that these look more like photocopies for the serial numbers rather than counterfeit currency.

Islamist newspaper cheering, exaggerating Israeli civilian deaths

A very good look into the mind of a depraved people can be found at kavkazcenter.com, a Chechen "news" website that is far enough away from the Middle East as to not be concerned about saying things that are politically correct. In other words, it is a rare unvarnished look at Islamic depravity in English (although much of the news comes from an Iranian "news" agency.)

For example, here's a bit of wishful thinking about the number of innocent civilians murdered in Haifa:

Hezbollah Rockets Kill Dozens of Zionists in Haifa, Scores Wounded
In retaliation to the unabated brutalities of the illegal Zionist entity, a rocket barrage by the Hezbollah defenders of Lebanon on Haifa in the northern part of the usurper state of "Israel" reportedly killed two Zionists and wounded 14 others on Sunday.
The actual fatality of Sunday's defensive missile barrage on Haifa is, however, believed to be in several dozens including the wounded. Because of tight censorship by Israel the exact casualty figures in the Zionist entity has been ignored by the Western media.

In a similar vein:

More Than 40 Zionists Killed, 90 Wounded on Sunday

In retaliation to the unabated atrocities of the Zionist entity against the civilians of Lebanon, the Hezbollah movement fired a barrage of 170 missiles on Sunday on mostly military and industrial sites in the northern part of Occupied Palestine inflicting considerable damage and resulting in the death of over 40 Zionists and injury to over 90 others.

It's hard not to see the pride that the Islamists feel at the mythical murder of dozens of civilians, even though in the next breath they castigate Israel for doing exactly that.

The amount of time they spend trying to spin shooting rockets into Haifa as "defensive" is pretty funny, too.

A short BBC note

From Stephen Pollard:

If you watched yesterday’s Andrew Marr programme on BBC1, you would have seen a British TV landmark. To judge from its contents, the programme was the first to have been edited by the leader of Hezbollah, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.

Most of it was, rightly, given over to the events in the Middle East. But of the four guests interviewed, not one had anything but bile to pour over Israel. Up first was Glenys Kinnock MEP, remarking how “heartening” it is that the Middle East minister, Kim Howells, has begun “a shifting of ground away from defence of Israel”. Alongside her was Matthew Parris, who repeated the hostile views he has already made clear to Times readers. A Lebanese minister followed. Then Sir Menzies Campbell, a man whose entire career has been spent attacking Israeli policy, whatever it happens to be.

All were treated with deference by Andrew Marr, as he invited them to honour us with their sagacity.
Not that we should be surprised. The BBC’s coverage has been overwhelmingly one-sided, with presenters and reporters editorialising against what they universally refer to as “Israeli attacks on Lebanon”.

Right at the beginning it was clear how the BBC would cover the operation, when a film on Newsnight concluded with the reporter, Peter Marshall, remarking across a picture of a blown-up bridge: “All this destruction. And still more threatened” — as if the Israelis are on some kind of wilful destruction spree, dropping bombs for the sheer hell of it, rather than taking action to destroy Hezbollah’s capacity to murder any more Israelis.

On Saturday the BBC’s website helpfully carried full details of the assembly points for that day’s anti-Israel march. Nowhere did it give the same detail for yesterday’s rally in support of Israel.

See also this response from a BBC secret Zionist.

Outrageous bias at AFP

A Palestinian boy stands on the rubble of his apartment destroyed overnight by Israeli air attack in Gaza City. The US government views the conflict in Lebanon through the "war on terror" context, ignoring any nationalist goals of Hezbollah and Hamas, which could re-emerge strengthened by the crisis.(AFP/Hrvoje Polan)

The first thing that AFP didn't bother telling the readers is that the apartment building had a missile factory and that Israel dropped leaflets to tell residents to leave.

But the second sentence is astonishing. Hezbollah sends thousands of rockets towards civilians in Israel and AFP is castigating the US for not seeing the big picture, that Hezbollah only wants a state - that just happens to be in exactly the same place that Israel is?

The US has consistently called for a two-state solution, so to say that it ignores "nationalist goals" of terror groups means that AFP supports the destruction of Israel.

Because those are the nationalist goals of Hamas and Hezbollah.

And the comment that the terror groups "could re-emerge strengthened by the crisis" sounds like nothing less than wishful thinking.

Israel's 9/11 moment?

After reading this article, I can't help but think that the Hizbollah attacks against Israel is doing to the Israeli Left what 9/11 did to the American Left - make them look like fools.

In every other terror attack the Israeli Left (which is as wacky as anything the Americans or Europeans can come up with) would always find some reason to justify the attack - and almost always it was the magic word "occupation," the mantra that could be repeated over and over without any thought, the reason to end all reasons. The poor Palestinian Arabs who had to live under such brutal conditions lost their very free will - they had no choice but to enter ice cream shops and pizza parlors and blow themselves up!

The argument is idiotic but that's not the point - it was an accepted fact among the Left and it neatly justified any level of depravity the Palestinian Arabs could come up with. I often thought that if they would turn their own children into human Molotov Cocktails, tossing them at Israeli civilians, the Left would still write articles about how the "occupation" is so horrendous that they had no choice.

The Right would point out that radical Islam aims to take over the world, that it is not occupation that rankles Arabs as much as the very existence of Israel, that ordinary Arabs fared far better under the "occupation" than they ever did under Arab rule - and would be dismissed as crackpots, lacking in nuance.

In the wake of 9/11 there was born a new generation of "9/11 Republicans" - people who are still liberal on topics such as abortion and women's rights and other social issues, but who became hawkish when it came down to defending the lives of Americans. They realized that no American policy brought about 9/11, but the responsibility belongs wholly to the jihadists. They realized that in the end, people are responsible for their own actions and some people really are evil and malicious.

Now, the Left at large can be divided into two parts - those who actually think and those who embrace the movement out of ulterior motives, usually self-hate. A large percentage of the Left's thinkers broke ranks with the airhead, Vanity Fair-reading, Hollywood worshipping, vacuous twits who blame America for every perceived evil in the world and congratulate themselves on having the guts to criticize America in a free society.

It very well may be that Hizbollah's attacks on Israel, without the fig leaf of "occupation" as a motive, is doing the very same to Israel's Left. Here Israel played by the liberal playbook to the letter - withdrawing from Lebanon, behind UN-drawn lines. By the rules of the game written by the Left themselves, that should have been that - Hizbollah would become a gardening club and Lebanon will be able to build a strong state. The Left was convinced that Hizbollah had no more motive to attack Israel, and the Hizbollah charter that calls for Israel to be destroyed is just so much exaggerated rhetoric that the cute Arabs like to engage in, a cute cultural habit like bargaining at the souk.

The current terror war shows that such thinking was not just naive, but it was deadly. And as a result, Israel may see the same kind of schism that the US sees - a fringe, unrepentant Left who gets more and more loony and deluded, and a new center-right that just woke up and will be re-examining the wisdom of surrendering land when the vacumms created are invariably filled with the most foul, immoral terrorists that exist.