Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Conspiracy theory of the day: The artificial earthquake

A (presumably Arab) "expert in Israeli affairs" warned that Israel planned to create an artificial earthquake to demolish the Al Aqsa Mosque.

The evil Zionists are apparently using a rock-melting chemical to destabilize the Temple Mount and to ultimately cause its collapse.

It seems that the Jews have tested their localized artificial earthquake technology in the Western Negev and near Eilat.

I don't know about this one. It seems to me that if Israel could cause earthquakes at will, they would be wiser to direct it towards Natanz. Not that I would be terribly upset if the Muslim desecrations on the Temple Mount would happen to collapse due to an act of God.

Casualties of Truth

(This is the article that I wrote as an op-ed, that was inexplicably not published as planned. Much of it was beautifully rewritten by a prominent writer and author.)

For three weeks in December 2008-January 2009, Israel and Hamas fought a war in the Gaza Strip after Hamas announced it was abandoning the ceasefire and began escalated rocket and mortar attacks on Israel.

There is one fact about that war which people around the world think they know: there were about 1400 Palestinians killed in the war and most or almost all of them were civilians, mainly women an children.

This claim, however, is false and demonstrably so on the basis of careful research using publicly available and reliable materials. Indeed, a group of bloggers, including the author, have shown already that more than 30 percent of the claimed "civilian" casualties were in fact, to use the polite word, armed militants or members of Hamas-led security forces. And the number of such combatants we are discovering is rising every day.

While Hamas and other Palestinian political groups were using alleged civilian casualties to bolster their case with international public opinion, they demonstrably knew otherwise. In fact, they publicly bragged about the military activities of those they labeled innocent civilian bystanders.

The basis for many claims about the distribution of casualties was in a March report <http://pchrgaza.org/files/PressR/English/2008/list.pdf> by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR). Widely covered‹and credulously accepted‹in the Western media, the report was a seemingly comprehensive, detailed list of every death. The bottom line: : the name, gender, age, location, and job of each person is detailed. Most importantly, the PCHR claimed 1180 of the alleged 1414 victims were civilians.

Our team cross-checked the names listed by PCHR with lists of "resisters" compiled by the Al- Mezan Center for Human Rights <http://www.mezan.org/en/index.php> , lists of "martyrs" published by Hamas, the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), and other militant groups in Gaza, as well as from the Ma'an News Agency, and other Palestinian sources.

The IDF released its own report on casualties from Operation Cast Lead, saying that there were 1166 killed in Gaza, of whom 709 were known Hamas or Islamic Jihad militants. The IDF did not release their list of casualties, so we could not check specifics against the PCHR claims.

Our results so far show that at least, if all armed police are counted, 391 of the 1180 people who PCHR classifies as "civilians," were, in fact, militants.

PCHR's criteria to determine exactly who is a "militant" are unclear. Sometimes they speak of "active combatants" but at other times they state, accurately, that any members of armed groups, such as the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, would be considered legitimate targets under international law.

The team has identified members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Resistance Committees, the PFLP and the DFLP considered "civilians" by the PCHR. Examples include Adib Harb (brigade commander for the PRC), 'Eid 'Oda al-Shandi (field commander in the al-Qassam Brigades) and even senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayyan.

The IDF has categorized most or all of the Hamas police force as "Hamas or Islamic Jihad operatives" and therefore as legal targets. The PCHR takes strong exception <http://pchrgaza.ps/files/PressR/English/2008/44-2009.html> to this categorization, saying that Hamas policemen are civilians.

Even by the PCHR's own criteria, our research <http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2009/04/more-of-those-civilians-killed-in-gaza.html> has detailed proof identifying over 64% of the police killed in Operation Cast Lead some 180 of them out of 283, were also members of militant groups, predominantly the al-Qassam Brigades acting as combatants against Israel.

Certainly, the PCHR is aware of the affiliations of many of not all of the victims in Gaza . For example, the PRC al-Nasser Salah Addin Brigades‹the most extremist group in Gaza which has been reportedly linked to al-Qaida--published a list <http://www.moqawmh.com/ara/index.php?act=News&id=2583> of its 18 of its "martyrs" on January 22. Yet nine of them, including two commanders, were classified as "civilian" by the PCHR months later. Similarly, an al-Qassam Brigades' leader famous for developing the Qassam rocket, Amir Yousef Al-Mansy, was also called a "civilian." It strains credulity to think that the PCHR was unaware that they were militants engaged in fighting Israel.

Why, then, did they classify so many known militants as civilians? One can only conclude that the reason is to deceive the media.

Such a high number of Al Qassam members among the police killed indicates that Hamas itself does not distinguish between its so-called civilian and military wings. Effectively, Hamas considers its police to be the same as its military force. If Hamas does not make such a distinction, why shouldn't everyone else conclude that its entire police force is a legitimate target?

In addition to the police, we have identified 117 other militants that the PCHR classified as "civilian." None of our findings are inconsistent with the IDF report on Gaza casualties.

While the PCHR misrepresents the facts about Palestinian casualties it makes other statements which reveal the highly politicized nature of the group that show it is not a human rights organization. For example, it consistently uses the phrase "IOF" ("Israel Occupation Forces") instead of Israel Defense Forces, the proper name of Israel's military, in trying to make Israel look as bad as possible.

The PCHR's influence cannot be overstated. UN groups routinely quote PCHR figures and reports. News media around the world rely on organizations like the PCHR to give them accurate information about what happens in Gaza. The PCHR presents itself as an unbiased party and is taken as such in media reports. The truth, however, is quite different.

Israel's war in Gaza was not aimed at causing civilian losses, nor was it a war of "occupation," as the PCHR would have it, but of defense. The fact that the casualty figures are being misrepresented is a demonstration of the fact that charges made against Israel are false. We are confident that as our research continues we will find many more soldiers of Hamas and other groups waging war against Israel disguised as civilians.

(updated numbers 6/12/09)

Mystified and frustrated

As my readers know, I have been leading a group effort to expose the lies that the PCHR has continually been telling the media about the number of civilians killed in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead. The research has been painstaking, time consuming and completely transparent. In a large part, it has also been already successful, and we have found hundreds of so-called "civilians" who were members of terror organizations.

Unfortunately, we have been far less successful at publicizing our findings.

Every effort I have made to reach out to people doing similar research, in order to consolidate findings, has been met with silence. Every effort to publicize it through the media has been ignored.

I thought that would change as I was corresponding with an op-ed editor at a major Israeli newspaper about publishing an article about these results. The last I heard was that they were planning to run it, and they wanted a picture to go with my (pen) name. I politely declined and they have not returned my emails since then. (The article, which was graciously edited to the point of a beautiful rewrite by a well-known author and blogger, will follow this post.)

I just don't get it.

Is it not newsworthy? Is it automatically suspect because it originated at a blog? Are people turned off by the blog name? Do the other researchers feel threatened by "competition"?

There are at least two major findings we have, and many smaller but significant findings. We have so far identified some 287 members of various militant groups that the PCHR classified as "civilian" - far more than the number of militants that the PCHR identified initially. And perhaps more improtantly, we have identified that nearly two thirds of the "policemen" killed by Israel were members of the al-Qassam Brigades or other terror groups, making Israel's legal case for attacking "policemen" much stronger. We have also identified child terrorists, we've started some work towards identifying human shields, we've found indirect evidence that some people who died of natural causes during Cast Lead were counted as being killed by Israel, and we've found other mistakes in the PCHR totals.

One would think that the openness of this project and the fact that it is the only one of its kind where each finding is sourced - well over 300 links by now - would overcome any reticence about trusting the research. We also have no ulterior motive - I am not doing this to get more hits to the blog, I make no money off this blog, and I don't care if my blog title is associated with the research (although I would want to give full credit to the others who contributed should they desire it.)

We simply want the truth to be known.

I'll keep trying. There are a couple of other ideas that we have not yet explored. But I have to admit that I am mystified, and a bit frustrated.

Arab League boycott members meet in Damascus

From Al-Quds:

On Tuesday in a hotel in Damascus, Syria, the eighty-second conference of liaison officers to the regional offices of the Arab boycott of Israel opened with the participation of 14 Arab countries.

Eight countries were absent from the meeting, namely Jordan, Egypt, Mauritania, Oman, Bahrain, Comoros, Somalia and Djibouti.

The three-day conference will discuss a number of topics relating to the amendment of some items of the general principles of the boycott and the addition of companies in breach of these principles through their support for the Israeli economy and put it on the blacklist. The conference will discuss "the lifting of the ban on companies that have committed themselves to the terms of the boycott that were named on the black list," according to organizers.

The conference meets twice a year to draw up a "black list" of names of Israeli companies, or companies that do work in Israel, to be boycotted. Since the normalization of relations between a number of Arab countries and Israel over the past twenty years, the effectiveness of the Office of the boycott has been reduced.

The article doesn't list the names of the countries that attended, so it is unclear if, for example, Saudi Arabia or the UAE was there. Both countries had agreed to drop the boycott under US pressure for their entry into the World Trade Organization, and both apparently reneged.

It looks like the PA also attended. They had attended recent conferences.

The PalArab nutcase echo chamber

Sheikh Taissir Tamimi, the head of the PA's religious court, is completely insane.

For example, a couple of years ago he said "Israel is trying to hurt the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people also by means of exporting AIDS, drug trafficking, promiscuous norms, and making prostitution legal."

But he has no independent way of knowing that his consistent and absurd vilification of Israel is a bit crazy. His rants attract a great audience, his weekly screeds against Israel will get written up in the Arabic press approvingly, and he has fans who adore his crazy rhetoric. No one in the PA will ever stand up and say, "You know, this guy has a few screws loose."

The reason being that no one wants his crazy supporters to be angry at them.

So Tamimi, along with his similarly nutty Muslim and Greek Orthodox clerics, regularly gets only positive feedback as his rhetoric keeps getting ratcheted up. He knows that the crazier he speaks, the more popular he will become among Palestinian Arabs.

Every once in a while, the insanity that we get so used to in the Palestinian Authority - the craziness that is happily tolerated by the West as a minor issue that can be ignored - runs up against reality, and it forces people to notice, if only fleetingly, that these guys really are nuts.

Sheikh Tamimi, meet the Pope:

Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the Notre Dame Hotel in east Jerusalem Monday night for a meeting with the heads of all religious represented in Israel was cut short by an unpleasant incident, after a Palestinian sheik interrupted his speech.
The meeting was attended by heads of the Rabbinate, Vatican State Secretary Cardinal Tarkisio Bertoni, heads of the various churches in Israel, Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal and Sheikh Taiseer al-Tamimi, head of the Palestinian Authority's Sharia Courts.
Patriarch Twal began the ceremony and then invited the pope to speak. Both clergymen spoke of the importance of unity, brotherhood and peace.
The pope's speech was suddenly interrupted by Sheikh Tamimi, who began crying out at his holiness, asking him to "see to a just peace. A just peace means a Palestinian state in which Israel will stop killing women and children and destroying mosques, like it did in Gaza."
Those present in the hall attempted to silence him, but he continued, slamming Israel for "destroying Palestinian cities and erecting settlements on Palestinian land. Jerusalem will remain the Palestinian people's capital," he said in Arabic, and called on the heads of the other religions present to "defend the Palestinians and their lands."
The pope left the room immediately after Tamimi was done, passing on the traditional exchange of gifts.

The Vatican responded:

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said: "The speech by Sheikh Taysir Tamimi was not scheduled by the organisers of the meeting. In a meeting dedicated to dialogue, this intervention was a direct negation of what a dialogue should be. We hope that such an incident will not damage the mission of the pope aiming at promoting peace and also interreligious dialogue."

It is not easy to tick off the Pope.

Is this how a cleric speaks to the head of the Roman Catholic Church? Tamimi is so completely clueless because of the echo chamber of approval that surrounds him - even among the so-called "moderates" of the PA - that he honestly thinks that he can do whatever he wants and will only get adoration.

And the funny thing is, within the Palestinian Arab community, his prestige will probably only increase after this.

Our tax dollars helping Hezbollah

Ha'aretz reports:

Lebanon arrested five people over the weekend suspected of belonging to an intelligence cell transmitting information about Hezbollah to Israel, the most recent arrests in a two-month crackdown apparently aided by American training and equipment.

...The United States has provided $1 billion in aid since 2006, including $410 million in security assistance to the Lebanese military and police. But U.S. officials have said they would review aid to Lebanon depending on the results of the June 7 election, which could oust the U.S.-backed government.

Israel has expressed reservations about American aid to the Lebanese army and security services, saying those organizations will ultimately be unable to contend with Hezbollah and that any aid is liable to serve Hezbollah's interests.

Let's see if we understand this: The US gives hundreds of millions to the Lebanese for security. The US presumably wants that money to be used against Hezbollah, not to help it. But in the end it is used to strengthen Hezbollah.

How exactly did this episode advance US strategic interests?

How often do we see the US or EU give money to questionable Arab regimes in order to "strengthen" them against the "radicals" only to find out that these regimes had more in common with the radicals than the Westerners had imagined?

The idea that giving money actually buys influence from people who hate you to begin with is perhaps one of the more naive aspects of Western foreign policy. And yet, the same mistakes keep repeating.

Pope politely did not call for PalArab state

Even though news headlines are saying otherwise, Pope Benedict did not call for a Palestinian Arab state in his address upon his arrival in Israel.

Ma'an writes:

Speaking at a red carpet welcoming ceremony, the pontiff called for renewed efforts for a peaceful resolution to the Palestinian struggle for self-determination.

"I plead with all those responsible to explore every possible avenue in the search for a just resolution of the outstanding difficulties, so that both peoples may live in peace in a homeland of their own, within secure and internationally recognized borders," said Benedict.

The pope did not make reference to a Palestinian state in his first foray into the Palestinian-Israeli arena.

However, the Vatican is on the record as supporting a Palestinian Arab state. The New York Times notices his word choice and dismisses its significance:

While he did not use the word “state,” he made clear in a brief speech that he was underscoring the Vatican’s previous support for the creation of a Palestinian state, albeit with a stronger resonance imparted by the setting and timing of his remarks within minutes of arriving in Israel.

If Livni was still prime minister, chances are that the Pope would have had no qualms about using the word "state."

Which should be a lesson in diplomacy for Israeli leaders.

May 2009 rocket calendar

Q=Qassam (may include Katyusha-style rockets)
QS=Qassam landing short in Gaza
M=Mortar
F=Fatality (F=Gazan, F=Israeli)
(G)=Grad (included in Qassam count, not consistent yet)

MS=Mortar landing short
P - unnamed "projectiles"
(Paren) indicates unconfirmed Palestinian claims

* - Fatal non-rocket attack

K=Katyushas from Lebanon

May 2009

United Palestinian Emirates?

From Ma'an:

An Israeli researcher specializing in Arab-Israeli affairs at Bar-Ilan University, Dr Mottie Kedar, asserted on Monday that he would submit to the Israeli Knesset this week a proposal suggesting the establishment of a “Palestinian emirate state.”

Kedar told local Palestinian radio station “Ar-Raya FM,” which is based in Ramallah, that several Knesset members and party leaders welcomed his idea that he has worked on for some ten years studying the nature of Palestinian-Israeli relations.

“Today I promise both peoples that their complicated question will be solved through this proposal. My proposal suggests the appointment of a king or emir or caliph in each Palestinian city or village, which will have its own systems and its own army. These emirates could become richer than the Gulf states if the Palestinians wake up and invest in the gas reserve near the Gaza beaches."

However, Kedar rejected a withdrawal from Israeli settlements in the West Bank. He said Israel would not allow these hilltops to become bases for Hizbullah.

As for Jerusalem, he said it would never be negotiable, and that if any Israeli prime minister were to seriously negotiate over Jerusalem, he would be assassinated immediately because Jerusalem is a red line "burning anyone who comes close to it."

This is a bit beyond simple autonomy but it is in intriguing idea that could instantly give Palestinian Arabs statehood, the promise of an economy and a much more direct way of taking responsibility for their own lives.

Which means it doesn't stand a chance.

They are still looking for how Arafat was "poisoned"

Last month I mentioned a new "commission," headed by Yasir Arafat's nephew, to determine that Arafat was poisoned by the nefarious and evil Jooos.

Apparently, they are not alone.

Farouk Kaddoumi, PLO political leader in Tunisia, is also forming a similar commission:

Head of the Political Department of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Farouk Kaddoumi, in a press statement released on Monday said that the search is still underway to determine the tools used in the "poison" the late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat.

And on the formation of a commission charged with investigating the circumstances of the mysterious death of Arafat, Kaddoumi said "I have no knowledge of the formation of this Committee, but in the coming days, I will announce the formation of a commission of inquiry.

"As is well known, (former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon is the one who poisoned Arafat."

So they know who did it and how it was done. All they need is.... the tiniest shred of proof.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank....

Yesterday:

Quantities of homemade explosives were found in homes and mosques in Qalqiliya, a city in the northern West Bank, on Saturday, according to Palestinian Authority security services spokesperson Adnan Dmeiri.

He also insisted that the Palestinian Authority will not allow manufacturing and storing of explosives in residential neighborhoods, whatever the justification, because it endangers residents’ lives.

Dmeiri did not name any particular faction thought to be responsible for storing the explosives, however, he highlighted that statements were found near the explosives bearing the signature of Hamas’ militant wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades. He claimed that the statements included defamation against the Palestinian Authority.

Today:

A military court sentenced a Hamas militants in Nablus sentenced to one and a half years for possession of weapons and planning 'of a coup against the Palestinian Authority' in the West Bank.

So when you read things about how Hamas is willing to (temporarily) accept a peace plan engineered by the PA, keep in mind that they are planning to do to the West Bank what they did to Gaza, and that the PA is likely to be nearly as ineffective next time as it was last time.

(It is worthwhile to note that the PA did not feel threatened by the explosives found in the first story quoted - they assume that those are earmarked against Israel, and their concern was more for safety issues than for worries about a Hamas coup.)

In the Palestinian Arab universe, very few are passionate about Fatah - but many are passionate about Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terror groups. Decades of indoctrination against Israel and Jews have resulted in a profound ambivalence about any peace process, and even PA television glorifies "resistance" and not peace. Gaza became a terror statelet because popular passion was on Hamas' side, and even though a large number of Gazans were ambivalent and nervous about Hamas, they weren't keen on the Fatah government either - the only pro-Fatah passion being for the the Fatah al-Aqsa Brigades terrorists.

The billions that the West is pouring into the PA (most of which indirectly helps Hamas anyway) is money that is backing an ephemeral pseudo-government that will ultimately fall to Islamic extremists.

Hamas "civilian" of the day

The EoZ PCHR research team, tentatively titled the "haqq" team (Arabic for "truth',) continues to unearth more and more so-called "civilians" from the PCHR list that are anything but.

Today's civilian is #267 of the PCHR list of dead Gazans, Abdullah Talal Ibrahim Aal-Sane'. Intrepid researcher Suzanne found a picture of Mr. Aal-Sane':

Known as "Abu Hamza," Aal-Sane' was a sniper for the Al Qassam Brigades.

Doesn't he look like an innocent civilian to you?

(Kudos to Suzanne, who is methodically Googling the Arabic names of every victim and discovering facts like these.)

We are now up to 282 fake "civilians" from the PCHR list, and we are up to 62.5% (177/283, including ten that the PCHR listed) of all the "policemen" listed there being known members of the Al Qassam Brigades or the PRC.

The Jewish "objective"

An art critic in Kentucky named Andrew Adler writes about the challenges of being Jewish and being an objective observer:

How do I begin talking about an issue that is so close to me not just as a critic, but as a Jew? Consider the following:

In the Belgian city of Antwerp, the Flanders Opera is mounting a production of Saint-Saëns' "Samson et Delilah" in which the Philistines are portrayed as Westerners, with Samson and his fellow Hebrew fighters dressed as Arabs.

In London, Caryl Churchill's eight-minute "Seven Jewish Children — A Play for Gaza" has generated intense controversy over its alleged anti-Semitism and Churchill's unabashed sympathies for the Palestinian cause.
Meanwhile, in Israel, there continues to be an official ban on performances of music by Richard Wagner. On the rare occasions when orchestra conductors like Daniel Barenboim defy that ban, audience reaction ranges from grumbling acceptance to overt, audible outrage. It's been this way for decades.
The tension between religion and art has always been present, and Jews by no means have a monopoly on perceived prejudice rendered through culture. Yet there are times when being Jewish — and all the hypersensitivity accompanying that identity — seems to run counter to the cultural independence we hold so precious. Indeed, I sometimes wonder if we Jews have become so accustomed to the role of history's victim that we resist a better kind of aesthetic progress.

After some exposition, the critic finds that he, at least, can be objective:

I can hear a magnificent work like "Die Meistersinger von N√ºrnburg," capped by Wagner's plea to keep pure his "holy German art" in the midst of scurrilous outsiders, without having to cringe at the anti-Semitic back story. I can read and evaluate the worth of "Seven Jewish Children" without being derailed by Churchill's brand of Mideast politics. And I would hope that I could see that Antwerp production of "Samson et Delilah" without feeling as though I were being victimized yet again.

That, I hope, is art's truest imperative: to be brave, and encourage a bit of bravery in all of us.

Is this bravery?

It is perhaps unfair to pick on this writer, because I know nothing about his identification with Judaism, but too often one will find people who are Jewish and who will happily jettison the emotional aspects of their Jewish identity in the name of objectivity, or modernity, or even-handedness. Rarely does one get the idea that they are struggling on an emotional level with a deep attachment to Judaism. They are Jews, they freely admit this, but inevitably they decide that their Jewish identity is not as important as - or, often, is redefined as - secularism.

The result is that Jews who actually feel strongly about their religion and about defending it, whether culturally or politically, are put on the defensive and feel they have to play by the rules set by the secular Jewish majority.

Take a look at this article in the New York Times about Israel's restoration of Jerusalem as the Jewish capital of the world:

Israel is quietly carrying out a $100 million, multi-year development plan in some of the most significant religious and national heritage sites just outside the walled Old City here, part of an effort to strengthen the status of Jerusalem as its capital.

As part of the plan, former garbage dumps and once derelict wastelands are being cleared and turned into lush gardens and parks, now already accessible to visitors who can take in the majestic views, along with new signs and displays that point out significant points of Jewish history.

The parts of the city being developed were captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, but their annexation by Israel was never recognized abroad. As part of the effort, archaeologists are finding indisputable evidence of ancient Jewish life here. Yet Palestinian officials and institutions tend to dismiss the finds as part of an effort to build a Zionist history.

But notice who the article quotes that are against the plan:

Hagit Ofran of Peace Now, a leftist Israeli group that supports a two-state solution, contended that the plan aimed to create "an ideological tourist park that will determine Jewish dominance."

Daniel Seidemann, the founder of Ir Amim (City of Nations), an Israeli association dedicated to sharing Jerusalem, points to the Palestinian village of Silwan, built on the ruins of what is widely believed to be the ancient capital of the biblical King David. It is one of the most important archaeological sites in the region, and is, according to Ir David -- which sponsors digs there -- "the place where it all began."

Jews are in the forefront of trying to stop Israel from beautifying, reclaiming and re-establishing Jerusalem as the center of Jewish history and longing. For these people, Jerusalem is not a Jewish city in an meaningful sense, and their version of Judaism is so watered-down that the idea of severing it from the Jewish state is not only tolerable but desirable.

One will never find Muslims who are so "even-handed" or "generous" with their claims. One will not find Christians who are so anxious to give up their holy sites for abstract concepts of an illusory peace that will never occur. But one cannot open up a newspaper without finding such Jews who consider themselves so "brave" as to embrace the viewpoint of Israel's enemies and to jettison any vestige of emotional connection they might have once had with Judaism.

The reasons that Jews should control Jerusalem are, ultimately, emotional. Emotional arguments are considered acceptable and even admirable when made by Muslims, but the underlying theme of articles like this one is that enlightened Jews should be beyond such superstitious and backwards nonsense as truly caring about their religion and history.

This is perhaps the biggest problem in the Jewish world today - a complete dismissal by many Jews of the emotional aspects of the religion and peoplehood, and instead the use of their nominal (often accidental) "Judaism" as a weapon against the hopes and dreams of their co-religionists who actually care.

Saudi judge faults women for domestic violence

From Arab News:

A Jeddah court judge’s approval of husbands slapping their wives on the face if they spend money lavishly on unnecessary things triggered a hue and cry during a seminar on domestic violence here recently.
“If a person gives SR1,200 to his wife and she spends SR900 to purchase an abaya (the black gown) from a brand shop and if her husband slaps her on the face as a reaction to her action, she deserves that punishment,” said Judge Hamad Al-Razine.
The judge made this comment in the presence of Princess Adila bint Abdullah, deputy chairperson of the National Family Safety Program, who attended the seminar on the role of judicial and security institutions in preventing domestic violence.
Al-Razine was explaining the causes of an increase in domestic violence in the country, adding that women were also equally responsible. “But nobody puts even a fraction of blame on them,” he said before making the controversial comment.
Al-Razine also pointed out that women’s indecent behavior and use of offensive words against their husbands were some of the reasons for domestic violence in the country.

This is the same logic that Arab men use to justify terrorism, riots and any sort of violence: they are always provoked into doing it and the victims deserve it.

It should come as no surprise that the same justifications used for Arab terrorism can be used for abusing women as well.

Today's insult to Islam

From The Malaysian Insider:

PENANG, May 8 — A lecturer with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) today lodged a police report over a video clip which allegedly insulted and belittled Islam.
The lecturer in the USM Communications Department, Prof Madya Muhammad Hatta Muhammad Tabut said the video clip lasting 1 minute 23 seconds was posted in the website YouTube by someone under the name ‘Streeticeshark’ about two months ago.

“The video clip shows a shirtless man wearing jeans praying toward a verse taken from the Al-Quran and saying, ‘sabda Rasulullah (saw.), marilah kita semua orang Melayu makan babi’ (the Rasulullah (Prophet) said, let us all the Malays eat pork).

“The video clip also showed him mimicking the ‘azan’ or Muslim call for prayer which had been watched by 9,032 visitors to the international video-archiving website,” he told reporters after making the police report at the Jalan Patani Police Station, here.

Muhammad Hatta said he had made an investigation and the Internet Protocol (IP) of the address showed that it was registered in Kota Baharu, Kelantan. — Bernama

So, of course, I have to bring it to you:

Not that I understand a word of it...