Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, April 12, 2009

"Settlers" "storming" Temple Mount

Ma'an reports:

Israeli police allowed 50 right-wing settlers to tour the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Sunday afternoon without a police escort.

Ma’an’s correspondent in Jerusalem reports that the settlers entered the compound during a time slot reserved for foreign tourists.

Palestinians who were in the compound at the time said that they found the settlers’ tour “provocative.” They said that Israeli police stationed at the entrance refused to remove the settlers when this was requested by Palestinians.

Amazing how Ma'an can tell that these people are all "settlers."

Palestine Press Agency says that the Israelis "stormed" the Al Aqsa compound, as did Palestine Today.

Of course, the big concern is not that they would riot, or shoot, or throw stones at Muslim worshipers. No, the big concern is that they might start to - gasp - pray! Prayer scares the Palestinian Arabs far more than tanks.

It is a good sign that the Israeli police didn't discriminate against religious visitors to the Temple Mount today, as they always do. Yet that behavior is rarely reported as discriminatory, even as thousands of visitors stream to the Temple Mount daily and only the religious Jews are stopped and severely limited in what they can do.

Sharia court allows divorce via SMS

From Arab News:

JEDDAH: A Shariah court here has approved the divorce of a young Saudi woman in her 20s whose husband sent her an SMS text from Iraq saying he had divorced her.
The husband, who is in Iraq to participate in what he described as “jihad,” also telephoned two of his friends who witnessed his marriage and told them that he had divorced his wife.

Who says that Islam hasn't embraced modernity?

This is not the first time that particular Islamic legal ruling has come up.

Saudi judge upholds pedophilia

From CNN (h/t Global Freezing):

A Saudi mother is expected to appeal a judge's ruling after he once again refused to let her 8-year-old daughter divorce a 47-year-old man, a relative said.

Sheikh Habib Al-Habib made the ruling Saturday in the Saudi city of Onaiza. Late last year, he rejected a petition to annul the marriage.

The case, which has drawn criticism from local and international rights groups, came to light in December when Al-Habib declined to annul the marriage on a legal technicality. His dismissal of the mother's petition sparked outrage and made headlines around the world.

The judge said the mother, who is separated from the girl's father, was not the legal guardian and therefore could not represent her daughter, the mother's lawyer, Abdullah al-Jutaili, said at the time.

The girl's husband pledged not to consummate the marriage until the girl reaches puberty, according to al-Jutaili, who added that the girl's father arranged the marriage to settle his debts with the man, who is considered "a close friend."

In March, an appeals court in the Saudi capital of Riyadh declined to certify the original ruling, in essence rejecting al-Habib's verdict, and sent the case back to al-Habib for reconsideration.

Under the Saudi legal process, the appeals court ruling meant that the marriage was still in effect, but that a challenge to the marriage was still ongoing.

The relative, who said the girl's mother will continue to pursue a divorce, told CNN the judge "stuck by his earlier verdict and insisted that the girl could petition the court for a divorce once she reached puberty."

The appeals court in Riyadh will take up the case again and a hearing is scheduled for next month, according to the relative.

PCHR lies about "civilians" and agrees with IDF about Jabalya

PCHR finally came out with the English translation of their list of victims of the Gaza operation, and already a number of things merit attention.

PTWatch, in the comments, quickly looked at Hamas' list of "martyrs" from Gaza on its Al Qassam website and immediately found four people who Hamas happily claimed as members of their terrorist group - and who PCHR called "civilians."

#576 Ayman Mohammed Mohammed ‘Afana
PCHR -> civilian
AlQassam -> martyr & fighter

#959 Amir Yousif Mahmoud al-Mansi
PCHR -> civilian
AlQassam -> martyr & fighter

#406 Ali Zuheir Mahmoud al-Houbi
PCHR -> civilian
AlQassam -> martyr & fighter

#133 Mohammed Salah Hassan al-Sawaf
PCHR -> civilian
AlQassam -> martyr & fighter

To this list you can add #257, Ayman Fou’ad Eid al-Nahhal, whom PCHR identifies as a "policeman/civilian."

And Hamas clearly isn't publicizing the names of all of its members. These are just the ones on their website that they admit were killed. Both parties are lying.

There are other terrorists listed as "civilians," such as #864, Tareq Mohammed Nemer Abu ‘Amsha, who CAMERA noted that Ma'an listed as a member of Islamic Jihad al-Quds Brigades.

Intriguingly, some of the terrorists that CAMERA mentioned, who were listed in the weekly PCHR casualty reports, are mysteriously missing from the final report. Is PCHR protecting itself from listing too many dead terrorists? Were they never killed to begin with? It is something that people should be asking PCHR.

One other relevant part of the report: PCHR lists people who were killed "near" and "opposite" the al-Fakhoura School in the Jabalya camp on January 6th. You may recall that the UNRWA told me explicitly that they stood by the casualty figures of 30-50 dead at the school even after the IDF claimed that only 12 were killed. The PCHR itself claimed at the time that 27 civilians were killed instantly at the school.

Well, the PCHR counts of who died near the school are very interesting. Once you do not count the Deeb family - who PCHR says died "opposite" the school, who do appear to have been victims of an errant shell, and who were not counted as casualties from the school by PCHR in January - we are left with 12 dead! The IDF figures are found to be exactly right! The PCHR now says the Deebs were "opposite" the school, whatever that means, while the remaining 12 victims (11 from January 6, 1 from January 7) were "near" the school.

So now we know that not only is the PCHR lying as to who is a "civilian," and not only is Hamas lying as to the number of their own terrorists who were killed, but the UNRWA is also lying in claiming that many dozens were killed at the school - even according to the lying PCHR.

UPDATE: More names of terrorists described as "civilians" by PCHR, and terrorists not listed:

#1314 Ashraf Rebhi al-‘Abed Banar PFLP terrorist described as "Fallen in Battle" by PFLP, civilian by PCHR

# 908 Jamal Ahmed Hussein Nashwan PFLP terrorist "was a leader of the PFLP in the eastern area of Beit Hanoun"

#412 Nizar Abdul Kader Mohammed Rayan prominent Hamas leader

Hamas military leader Abu Zakariyya Al-Jamal not listed

# 468 Mahmoud ‘Adnan Mahmoud Abu Ma’arouf - Hamas member listed as Mahmoud Arif in Ma'an

# 747 Mohammed ‘Ayesh Mansour Abu Naser "affiliated to the Ayman Juda faction, an offshoot of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah."

#1185 Hamdi Saleh Mohammed Hamada "Al Aqsa fighter"

# 1054 Sa’ad Mohammed Abdullah Hassan "fighter"

# 1047 Ahmed Ibrahim Mohammed Abu Jazar Islamic Jihad "martyr"

Haggadah correction

I found a couple of mistakes in my downloadable Haggadah, plus I made some last minute additions before Yom Tov, so here is a link to the latest version.

In the end the EoZ Haggadah had over 750 downloads.

If I made it into a much more serious, expanded and better-designed Haggadah for next year, in full color with a hard-cover, would you pay $25 or so for it? I don't think I could self-publish it for any less. I know I could do a much better job, I just don't know if it is worth it.

Chag Sameach!

Because of Passover/Pesach, I will not be blogging until Saturday night.

I wish all of my Jewish readers a Chag Kasher V'Sameach!

Your chance to join the real Zionist Lobby

Last year, I attended the NORPAC Mission to Washington, where nearly a thousand committed American Zionists descended on Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress and their aides, thank them for their help and ask them to vote on specific bills. As I wrote then, it was a very gratifying experience, especially when given the opportunity to have a more wide-ranging discussion about the Middle East.

This year's Mission is being organized now, and I highly recommend taking a day off to join NORPAC. The buses leave from various locations in New York and New Jersey.

You will be glad you did.

That Israeli racism

After days of searching, the body of the Israeli student who was missing in the massive earthquake in Italy has been found.

The Israeli press has had headlines about search for the student for the past couple of days. That search was so frantic that even other nations' media commented on the story. The Jewish press in places as far as Australia were also closely following the story.

Clearly, the Jewish state and the worldwide Jewish community was very concerned for the fate of the missing student.

Who was an Arab.

That fact was mentioned, if at all, only incidentally in the Israeli press. An Israeli was missing, and it didn't matter what religion he was, just as long as he was found.

If Israel is as racist against Palestinian Arabs as it is commonly portrayed, why would the entire nation be so concerned about the fate of "just another Arab?" If the goal of Zionism is to ethnically cleanse Israel of Arabs, why wouldn't his death be celebrated by those racist Zionist Jews?

And if the Palestinian Arabs cared so much about each others' fate, how come I cannot find a single article in any Palestinian Arab newspaper about Hussein Hamada over the past three days? Nothing in Ma'an, nothing in IMEMC, nothing in Firas or Palestine Today. Palestinian Arabs who get slightly injured by "Zionists" or "settlers" or the "IOF" get top headlines, but a school student who dies tragically in an earthquake gets no coverage at all. I also couldn't find anything in the general Arab press like Al Arabiya or Al Jazeera.

Israel once again seems to care more about Arab lives than Arabs do.

Here is what the sky looked like as Junior Elder and I waited patiently in our backyard for the sun to peek out for a minute so we could say Birkat HaChamah this morning. (We waited at the shul for about fifteen minutes before giving up.)

The picture doesn't capture it but the sun just became visible as I took the snapshot.

You can still download the free EoZ Haggadah

So far, over ~~450~~ 550 people have downloaded the Elder of Ziyon Haggadah, available here.

It contains the entire Hebrew and (almost the entire) English text of the Haggadah. It is quite usable during the Seder, especially if you print it double-sided. The commentaries all come from a religious-Zionist perspective, emphasizing themes of golut and geulah, that will enhance your Seder (or Sedarim.)

לשנה הבאה בירושלים הבנויה

Socialist writes against modern Leftist anti-semitism

An unusual op-ed from The Militant, a stridently socialist site:

The fifth annual “Israeli Apartheid Week” was held on campuses across the United States the first week in March. The activities are part of an international campaign to boycott businesses that have trade or other relations with Israel, and to sever ties between Israeli academic institutions and those in other countries.
The campaign has the backing of a range of groups that support the struggle of the Palestinian people against national oppression, including radical and socialist groups in the United States like the International Socialist Organization (ISO) and the Workers World Party.
The character of these activities—aimed increasingly at Jewish-owned businesses—is part of the deepening pattern of Jew-baiting and anti-Semitism in the middle-class left worldwide. It should be opposed.
At a February 10 panel discussion at Hunter College in New York, ISO leader Lichi D’Amelio appealed to students not to buy hummus produced by the company Sabra. After stating that the company gives money to the Israeli military, she also asserted that the chick-pea-based dip “is not even Jewish, but an Arab food.”

Starbucks, whose owner is Jewish, has become a target of this campaign internationally. On January 10 some 200 protesters looted a Starbucks coffee shop near the Israeli embassy in London and attacked a number of businesses in the area. One proud participant posted a video of the looting on YouTube under the header “How to really boycott Israeli products.”
Jew-hatred and anti-Semitism, a centuries old form of racism, has been used by ruling classes throughout history when their system faced a crisis. Modern anti-Semitism often comes draped in an anticapitalist and even socialist cloak. The real exploiters—the billionaire ruling families, whose great majority is non-Jewish—are replaced by a racist conspiracy that paints the Jews as the source of society’s problems.
The notion that Washington is a pawn of the Israeli lobby is a modern form of this anti-Jewish conspiracy theory. And those who promote it often use the term "Zionist movement" as a substitute for "Jew."
As part of Israeli Apartheid Week a meeting was held at New York University titled “NYU-Tel Aviv University: A Partnership in Occupation.” Students, academics and others are presented as a “partner in occupation” simply because they study or teach at Tel Aviv University. And, by that logic, why is studying or teaching at NYU less of a threat to the interests of humanity. It also produces scientists, politicians, and military leaders who advance the bloody course of U.S. imperialism—a far greater threat to humanity than the Israeli capitalist state.

He goes on to decry Leftist support of Hamas, which is hardly a socialist cause:

Support for the anti-Israel boycott effort among radicals—like the members of the Workers World Party and the ISO—often goes along with increasingly open support for Hamas. As ISO leader D'Amelio said of Khaled Meshal, the Hamas political bureau leader in Damascus, "There is little in what he says that I disagree with.”
The Hamas covenant, written in 1988, outlines the aims of that organization.
Speaking of the Jewish people, the document states, “With their money, they took control of the world media… . [T]hey stirred revolutions in various parts of the world with the purpose of achieving their interests and reaping the fruit therein. They were behind the French Revolution, the Communist revolution… . With their money they formed secret societies… . They were behind World War I, when they were able to destroy the Islamic Caliphate, making financial gains and controlling resources.”

This has upset the truly hateful ultra-leftists.

AP can't avoid their anti-Jewish bias

Here's a picture of Jews performing the once-every-28 years Birkat Hachamah from AP:

Nice enough, until you read the caption:

Overlooking the Dome of the Rock Mosque, in the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City, Jewish worshippers wrapped in prayer shawls participate in the special "Blessing of the Sun" prayer, in Jerusalem, Wednesday, April 8, 2009. Devout Jews around the world on Wednesday observed a ritual performed only once every 28 years, saying their morning prayers under the open sky in the "blessing of the sun."

Before AP even bothers to say what is happening, it has to imply that the crazy ultra-religious Jews are coveting Muslim holy places. The existence of the mosque, illegally built on top of sacred Jewish land in order to erase all Jewish claims, is utterly irrelevant to the story, and the parenthetic phrase "also known to Jews as" mean that the Muslims have the absolute right to the Temple Mount while Jews have some sort of an irrational claim to Muslim land.

It shows how deeply ingrained the Muslim narrative has come to dominate the Western media. Anyone who thinks that the press is biased towards Jews should read this caption objectively - and if you cannot see what is offensive about it, it means that years of Muslim influence has made such incredible bias the norm.