Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, January 08, 2007

The tiny minority of extremists

Today's cartoon in the Palestinian Arabic Maan News:

Maan is not an "extremist" news agency and their cartoonist is not the type that will put Nazi-like caricatures in the paper. It is the model of what would be considered mainstream and modern among the PalArabs by the West.

Although it has been pointed out countless times in the past, it is worth repeating and clarifying over and over again. This is what the cartoon signifies:

The mainstream Palestinian Arabs are not interested in living side-by-side with Israel; they are interested in eliminating Israel.
The mainstream Palestinian Arabs expect that their ultimate victory will be military.

One corrolary to these two statements is that any "peaceful" moves made by the mainstream PalArabs are tactical in order to get that much closer to their ultimate military victory over Israel.

Another corrolary is that those who are actually fighting now, namely terrorists targeting Israeli civilians, are the heroes in Palestinian Arab society.

Fatah and Hamas and Islamic Jihad and the other paramilitary groups may differ a bit over strategy, tactics and focus, but ultimately essentially nobody who calls themselves Palestinian nowadays would be the least bit offended by the cartoon above. On the contrary, it is quite mild and simply appears to be patriotic.

Yet its symbolism is clear - there is no room for Jews to control a single square inch of land in the Middle East.

When the mainstream adopts an extremist position, it is absurd to refer to some of them as "moderate." The fact that there are essentially no Palestinian Arabs who truly believe in a permanent peace with Israel mean that any concessions that Israel makes for "peace" are just small steps to Israel's destruction.

Turnabout is fair play

Very often you will hear the Israel-bashing crowd throw in their favorite keywords, like "apartheid" and "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing" and "child killers" and on and on, ad nauseum.

A large part of this blog is of course dedicated to showing the truth and context behind what Israel does. But there is another way to look at these issues, which may be unusual but it also shows the hypocrisy of the bashers.

The other way is to find out exactly what the critic's definitions of these crimes are, and then to see whether they admit that even if they can twist words to mean that Israel is guilty of these crimes, that the side they support is far more guilty.

Genocide? No problem! Look at Hama, look at Black September, look at The Palestinian Arabs themselves. If Israel is guilty then Syria and Jordan and pretty much the entire Arab world is more guilty.

Ethnic cleansing? Sure! Look at how many Jews are in Arab countries nowadays and how many there were in, say, 1940. Look at what happened to Palestinian Arabs in Kuwait, and what's happening now to them in Iraq. (We're not even talking about European adventures.)

Apartheid? When Saudi Arabia doesn't allow churches to be built or Bibles to be seen? When Kurds and Copts are mercilessly persecuted? Go for it!

And of course, there are the children. When Israel kills a 16- or 17-year old who is shooting at them, it gets counted somberly as another "child" that Israel "murdered." But what is it when a child is the one being recruited to blow himself up - is there a word for that as well?

Israel Defense Forces soldiers arrested four members of the Fatah-aligned Tanzim movement in the West Bank city of Nablus early Sunday, in a raid that also yielded the discovery of two explosive belts.

The army said the operation had thwarted a suicide bombing planned in the coming days, and that the arrests included two masterminds of the attack. The would-be bomber, a 16-year-old boy, had been arrested previously, army officials said.

No matter how you want to frame the argument, Israel always comes out as being far more moral than the people that the Israel-bashers support - as long as they are being consistent.

Which, of course, they never are. It is much easier for them to compare Israel with some never-seen ideal, because that is the only way they can make Israel look bad. But if you ask them who they think is more moral, they shut up real fast. Otherwise, their heads might explode rather than their being forced to admit that they support some of the most sickening, immoral, murderous people in history.

Morning links

If you haven't checked it out yet, Esser Agoroth's Haveil Havalim 101 is a must read.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach throws cold water on some post-high school yeshiva/seminary programs. (hat tip Life in Israel)

Charles Morse has an interesting take on Saddam's "Palestine is Arab" statement. I'm not sure if his statistics are right (saying the majority of Israelis are full or partly Arab Jews) since the Russian Jews came in the 90s.

Israel Matzav has a good analysis of the Sunday Times piece claiming Israel is planning to use tactical nukes on Iran.

Daled Amos reviews the year in Islamic terror, over at Soccer Dad.

The Jewish History Channel came by here and gave me a compliment, and I am returning the favor.

A completely nonsensical and bizarre rant about Illuminati, Jews, Wahhabis is at EtherZone. I only mention it because this is another of those insane conspiracy sites that Google deems to be "news."

Abbas' support for terror

Reading a little between the lines of the news the past couple of days....

Mahmoud Abbas outlawed the Hamas militia (the "Executive Force") that have been fighting his Fatah-backed militias.

Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigades terrorist group hold a massive rally supporting Abbas and "national unity."

Al Aqsa, of course, is responsible for countless terror attacks againstIsrael, both bombings and rockets.

Abbas never outlawed Al Aqsa, even though he at the very least has more influence over them at at most he is their leader. They can walk the streets of Palestan with their ski masks and RPGs without any fear from the "security forces." They can also fire rockets without fear that Abbas will stop them (Hamas has taken no credit for the past month's rocket attacks; they've all been Al Aqsa and/or Islamic Jihad.)

Is there any other possible conclusion than to say that Abbas supports terror?

More chaos in Palestan

The Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights announced that 23 had been killed during the week, as of this afternoon (of course, their English site is silent.) So my count of 22 was close.

In addition, 3 more were killed today, all Hamas supporters from the same family, along with assorted kidnappings, house bombings and more of the usual acts we've all come to expect from this proud people. Not to mention the point-blank shooting of a lecturer at A-Najah university at his house, also a Hamas supporter, who is now in serious condition.

Hamas is not standing still for this, and they announced that they're doubling the size of their now-illegal militia.

Our counts of PalArabs violently killed by each other, are now up to 231 dead since Summer Rains and 26 dead since January 1. (This death will not be counted by Mezan's methods above because this was a martyrdom operation, not from infighting.)

UPDATE: One of the people injured in a "work accident" in the end of December has gone on to meet his virgins in Paradise, because while he didn't manage to take any Jews with him, he gets credit for trying. So our count is now 232 and 27.

UPDATE 1/8: A 19-year old in Nablus playing with his gun got on the wrong end. 233 and 28.

UPDATE 1/9: Another died from injuries in the fighting last week. The AP story wrongly says that all the deaths were in Gaza - I documented one in the West Bank. 234 and 29.

UPDATE 1/10: A university student killed in a clan clash in a refugee camp north of Ramallah. 235 and 30.

Palestinian Arabs killing each other - in 1938

The hundreds of murders of Palestinian Arabs by other Palestinian Arabs that I have been documenting for the past six months is nothing new. A very similar situation occurred from 1936-39.

The Arabs of Palestine tried on a few occasions in the 1920s and 1930s to rise up and destroy the Jews of Palestine, and things were very bad in 1936. Yet no matter what they did, the Jewish influence on the area kept increasing, Jews kept arriving and Jewish institutions thrived.
They then started killing each other in earnest. I'm not sure why - perhaps it was frustration at their impotence, perhaps because an entire generation had been raised to praise Arab murderers as heroes and therefore bloodshed itself became considered desirable, or maybe they simply started misplacing their hatred for Jews and the British onto any Arab that was too Western for their tastes. Nationalism and religion seems to have played a part but more as excuses rather than as root causes.

Either way, the amount of lawlessness that ensued looks very familiar to those of us who have been following "clan clashes" and the Fatah/Hamas civil war. Especially notice how many Arabs were killed for not wanting to join in with the terrorists, or for speaking out against the terrorists. Also note the left column, dealing only with the terror crimes of the previous day.

There are three more columns of dead Arab victims of Arab violence I didn't reproduce.

Whatever psychological reason one wants to hypothesize, one thing is the same then as now: the most extreme elements of Arab society are not dealt with adequately by more moderate Arabs (either out of fear or out of ideology.) This apathy is treated as carte blanche to accelerate the terror.

This could explain why so many Arab societies are either chaotic messes or autocratic dictatorships. There seems to be no real internal mechanism within Islam or Arab thinking to limit the influence of the terrorists, so either go the route of Egypt/Syria and repress everybody, or go the route of the PA and Somalia and let the foxes run the henhouse.

And the "hits" just keep on coming!

Today's first fatal victim is Sheikh Adel Nassar, 50, who was shot many times after leaving a mosque where he gave a sermon. He was the "founder" of the Muslim Sunnis in Gaza, whatever that means, and it appears he was a critic of Hamas.

Also, here is a picture of the house that Hamas destroyed yesterday as they assassinated the PA security commander and much of his family:

Our counts of Palestinian Arabs violently killed by each other are now 227 since Operation Summer Rains and 22 since January 1.

Mubarak's Gaza fears (JPost)

From an analysis by the Jerusalem Post's Khaled Abu Toameh:

Mubarak's biggest fear is that the Gaza Strip, which is entirely under the control of armed militias, could turn into a major base for global jihad and other terrorist groups.

Reports about al-Qaida terrorists who have infiltrated the Strip through the border with Egypt have left Mubarak and his top security officials extremely worried. These terrorists, who apparently work in cooperation with elements in Egypt's banned but powerful Muslim Brotherhood, are said to be very active among the Beduin population in Sinai.

Mubarak's merciless crackdown on al-Qaida cells in Sinai has forced some of the terrorists to flee to Gaza, where they have been welcome to use the training camps established on the ruins of some former settlements. The Egyptians fear that these terrorists will eventually return to Egypt to carry out attacks.

The absence of IDF troops along the Philadelphi Corridor, the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, has put Mubarak's regime at risk. The weapons smuggling industry that has flourished there in the aftermath of disengagement poses a serious threat, not only to Mubarak's regime but also to that of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

Some PA security commanders are convinced the Egyptians are not doing enough to combat the smuggling. According to these commanders, the main reason for this is Mubarak's fear that the weapons, including tons of explosives, could end up in Cairo if they don't make their way to the Gaza Strip.

Notice the throwaway phrase "training camps established on the ruins of some former settlements."

The entire world never ceases to describe Israeli settlements as "obstacles to peace." Yet those horrendous Gaza settlements plus the Israeli investment in the industrial zone in Gaza gave thousands of Palestinian Arabs money and jobs.

Their being replaced by terrorist training camps is not the fodder of the thousands of pundits, politicians and reporters who could not bear the existence of Jews in Gaza. No one is coming forward and saying that perhaps the Palestinian Arabs' lives were better when the Jews were there. No one is describing the replacement of beautiful communities with grenades and rockets as a step backwards. There may be some tsk, tsking at what a shame it is that PalArabs can't get their act together but no one will admit that Israel's presence in Gaza was the golden age for average Palestinian Arabs there.

No, these know-it-alls learn nothing from the disintegration of Gaza and still insist that Israel must leave the West Bank as well.

For whose benefit? Certainly not for the average Arab there. Because Gaza today is what the West Bank will become if Israel leaves. Yet the only Arab voices that are being heard are the politicians and the terrorists. For a regular Arab who just wants to provide for his family to say otherwise makes him a "collaborator" subject to instant deadly "justice."

True peace can only come from a complete overhaul of Palestinian Arab society, from the corrupt and terrorist government through the inciteful media and the hate taught in schools, a complete change from the culture of death that celebrates mayhem and murder. The idea that Israeli concessions will bring peace while the society is so thoroughly screwed up is a joke.

But the West likes to solve problems quickly, and this penchant together with the virulent Jew-hatred endemic throughout Arab societies combine to create pressure on the only entity whose presence stabilizes the situation. This is, as can be seen in Gaza, a recipe for disaster, far worse than the "evil" of Jews living their lives in territories that Jews have held sacred for millenia.

Who in the West is willing to admit it?

UPDATE: See TCSDaily for a similar point.

More Arabic/English dichotomy at Maan

I only recently discovered Maan News, which appears to be so far the best place to see breaking news in the territories.

But only in Arabic.

The English site was down during 'Eid and the New Year and only came back up today. But the English site contains very different news and opinions than the Arabic site.

First, look at the main picture on the Arabic site, which reflects the major news of the day - Hamas and Fatah killing each other and dozens dead and injured:

Now look at picture on the English site:

Israeli oppressors!

The Arabic site details the deaths of at least 7 people from infighting, the English site mentions only one.

The Arabic site includes a nonsensical editorial extolling Saddam and blaming the Zionists/"Chosen People" who control America for his death. (It also has a poem about him.) The article adds that the Jews are encouraging Shiite/Sunni violence.

The English site doesn't mention a word about Saddam or the PalArab grief over his death.

In other words, the Arabic site reflects the true way that Palestinian Arabs think, and the English site is nothing but propaganda.

Just like Wafa. Just like the Palestine News Network.

Jefferson's Koran

Boker Tov, Boulder points to a news story from yesterday that Keith Ellison will swear on a Koran that belonged to Thomas Jefferson. Anne points out that in all probability, Jefferson read the Koran to learn how to combat the Barbary Pirates, who he had been informed followed the Koran.

This may or may not be true - Jefferson was a very well-read man and he owned a large number of books about religion. But what we do know is that he owned the Koran translated by George Sale around 1741. An 1881 edition is available on Google Books and it is fairly interesting.

Sale wrote essentially an entire book as an introduction to the Koran's translation, and while he is sympathetic with Islam he by no means subscribed to it: his commentary was written as a believing Christian.

So for example we can see this passage, where Sale looks upon Islam's being spread by the sword as proof that it is not a divine religion: (p. 35)

So while it may be a very smart move politically for Ellison to swear on Jefferson's historic Koran, one wonders if he knows what is actually in the text that he will be placing his hand on.

Pakistani columnist on Arabs vs. Israel

From "The News" (Pakistan):

By Farrukh Saleem
Imam Ali Ibn Abi Taleb: "If God were to humiliate a human being He would deny him knowledge"

The League of Arab States has 22 members. Of the 22, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman are 'traditional monarchies'. Of the 22, Libya, Syria, Sudan, Tunisia, Algeria and Somalia are 'Authoritarian Regimes' (Source: www.freedomhouse.org). Of the 22, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Morocco and Somalia are among the 'world's most repressive regimes' (Source: A special report to the 59th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights). Of the 330 million Muslim men, women and children living under Arab rulers a mere 486,530 live in a democracy (0.15 per cent of the total).

A mere two hundred and fifty miles from the 'League of Dictators' HQ in Cairo is the only 'parliamentary democracy' in the region; universal suffrage, multi-party, multi-candidate, competitive elections. Israel's 6,352,117 residents are 76 per cent Jewish and 23 per cent non-Jewish (mostly Arab).

Israel spends $110 on scientific research per year per person while the same figure for the Arab world is $2. Knowledge makes Israel grow by 5.2 per cent a year while "rates of productivity (the average production of one worker) in Arab countries were negative to a large and increasing extent in oil-producing countries during the 1980s and 90s (World Bank; Arab Development Report)."

Facts cannot be denied: The state of Israel now has six universities ranked as among the best on the face of the planet. Hebrew University Jerusalem is in the top-100. Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Tel Aviv University and Weizmann Institute of Science are in the top-200. Bar Ilan University and Ben Gurion University are in the top-300. The Arab League does not have a single university in the top-400 (http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ranking.htm). One in two Arab women can neither read nor write (remember, "If God were to humiliate a human being He would deny him/her knowledge").

Israel's universities are producing knowledge. Israeli society is applying that knowledge plus diffusing knowledge produced by others. On the other hand, within the Arab League, repressive regimes have erected religious, social and cultural barriers to the production as well as diffusion of knowledge.

Look at how knowledge is abandoning the Arab world: Between 1998 and 2000 more than 15,000 Arab physicians migrated. According to the World Bank, "roughly 25 per cent of 300,000 first degree graduates from Arab universities emigrated. Roughly 23 per cent of Arab engineers, 50 per cent of Arab doctors and 15 per cent of Arab BSc holders had emigrated."

Israel, on the other hand, has more engineers and scientists per capita than any other country (for every 10,000 Israelis there are 145 engineers or scientists). Israel ranks among the top-7 countries worldwide for patents per capita.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Israel's pharmaceutical giant, is the world's largest producer of antibiotics (Teva developed Copaxone, a unique immunomodulator therapy for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, the only non-interferon agent available).

Facts are hard to deny: Most members of the Arab League grant Muslim women fewer rights -- with regards to marriage, divorce, dress code, civil rights, legal status and education. Israel does not. Spain translates more books in a year than has the Arab world in the past thousand years (since the reign of Caliph Mamoun; Abbasid, caliph 813-833).

Six million Israelis buy 12 million books every year making them one of the highest consumers of books in the world. Israel has the highest number of university degrees per capita in the world; the Arab world has the lowest. Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other country (109 per 10,000 Israelis); the Arab world -- next to nothing.

Results are for everyone to see: The average per capita income in Israel is $25,000 while the average income within the League of Arab States is $5,000.

The writer is an Islamabad-based freelance columnist. Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com

More death! More injuries! Plus some Saddam poetry!

This morning's Peaceful PalArab News shows that six to ten were injured during two Fatah funerals. Maan says it was from people shooting in the air; Wafa seems to imply Hamas shooting at the funeral.

Also, one was killed and six more injured, two critically, in Fatah/Hamas clashes in Jabaliya.

The Wafa PA news agency was itself attacked as well.

My count is at 217 violently killed by other PalArabs since late June, 12 this year.

As a bonus, Maan News has a poetry section, and one poem is called "Long dark O Saddam." Obviously an autotranslate program cannot do such a poem justice, but here is a taste from the much, much longer poem. The last line makes it all worth it.

When darkness disappear?
متى سنفرح لسقوط الامطارWhen would rejoice in rainfall
ومتى سنعد الايام ونراقب حركة الاقمارAnd when we will produce the days and watch the movement of satellites
وكيف سنكون يوما ثوارHow we will be days revolutionists
وكيف سنحقق الانتصارHow we will achieve victory
ظلم وقسوة في الجوارThe injustice and cruelty in the neighborhood
استعباد وظلم للثوارThe enslavement and oppression of the insurgents
سقوط لاعظم الجبابرة والاحرارThe fall of the greatest giants and the Liberals
متى سيزول الظلامWhen darkness disappear

كثر السؤال والكلامRumors question and talk
حزنت عليه دماؤنا والعظامSaddened by the blood and bone
جرحت القلوب وذبحت بالسهامWounded hearts and butchered dart
لذهاب الحسامGo to the sword.
سقط القائد المقدامCommander fell venture
وفرحت النفوس الضعيفة وفكت اللثامAnd happy weak and tore down light
ما عاد للسر وجود وكثر طيران الحمامThe general returned to the presence of many airline bathroom
ما عدنا نرفع رأسنا وبتنا كالنعامWhat we raise our heads and we ostriches
فقدت البشرية الشموخ والعظمة بفقدان القائد والاب والامامLost Chammokh human greatness and the loss leader, father and Imam
قائد ثورتنا سقط وما عاد لنا الا الركامCommander of the Revolution fell and returned to us only rubble
ركام قواد ورؤساء هذه الايامThe ruins of the commanders and heads these days

...
When darkness disappear?
ونفضل الرجل والقائد على الكراسي والحساباتThe preferred men and the commander in the seats and Accounts
طال الظلام يا اعز القوادLong dark you dearest pimp

UPDATE: 3 dead so far today, including a senior Fatah dude:

A senior Palestinian security officer and Fatah loyalist were killed Thursday in an assault on his house by Hamas gunmen, Palestinian officials said.

The officer, Colonel Mohammed Ghayeb, had appeared on Palestine TV just moments before his death and appealed for help. Ghayeb's wife was seriously wounded in the attack, in which Hamas fired assault rifles and rockets at the building.

Ghayeb was the chief of the Preventive Security Service in northern Gaza, and his killing was expected to trigger revenge attacks by the men under his command.

A Hamas policeman was also killed in the northern Gaza Strip refugee camp of Jabalya when members of a Hamas police unit attacked the house of a senior Fatah official. Hamas said its forces were shot at first.

And another person, seemingly a civilian protesting the death of the Colonel, was killed by Hamas this evening. Also, no one knows how many people died with Ghayeb in the house as ambulances can't get there. Unconfirmed reports say 7 more - including his brother and two daughters.

The counts are now at least 220 since Summer Rains and 15 for the year.

UPDATE 2: JPost reporting 5 were killed in the house (including the two daughters) and a Hamas man outside, so 4 more added to the counts: 224 and 19.

UPDATE 3:Right before midnight, a Hamas terrorist was killed by those infamous "unknown gunmen" in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus - in the West Bank. They also burned some cars and shops there and in Jenin, and shot at a house and burned another car in Tulkarem. . So violence is spreading outside Gaza now. 225 and 20.

UPDATE 4: One more person died from injuries at the Ghayeb house yesterday - it may be the brother. 226 and 21.