Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Ahmadinejad blames US for delaying return of the Mahdi

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed once again to "cut the hands" of Iran's enemies if the Islamic republic came under attack, AFP reported Tuesday.

In the speech, broadcast live on state television and circulated in several media outlets, Ahmadinejad reiterated his accusations that the United States was hindering the return of the redeemer of Islam, the Mahdi, local media reported.

“If the Mahdi does not come, this will mean that the battle of Karbala could be repeated. The Mahdi will face what the prophets faced and his life will be in danger,” he told the rally.

While pointing out that the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which ousted the Shah and installed the current religious regime, is a prelude to the appearance of the Mahdi, Ahmadinejad argued that the arrogance of the United States is one the main obstacles to the Mahdi’s coming.

Ahmadinejad accused the United States of planning and carrying out the September 11 attacks in order to gain the sympathy of the world.

“These attacks fed its propaganda and became an excuse for attacking Afghanistan under the pretext of fighting terrorism.”

In an earlier speech he gave in Esfahan in December, Ahmadinejad claimed he had documented evidence that the United States invaded Iraq in order to prevent the coming of the Mahdi and stressed that the Iranian people would prepare the ground for his coming forming the Mahdi Army.

In a meeting he held with cleric Ayatollah Jawadi Amuli, Ahmadinejad claimed a halo of light surrounded him while he gave a speech at the United Nations General Assembly, attributing this to the Mahdi’s support.

In Shiite faith, the Mahdi, an Arabic term for guided, is believed to be the redeemer of Islam who will come to earth before the Day of Judgment and, together with Jesus, rid the world of all tyranny and injustice.

So, according to Ahmadinejad, Obama is more powerful than his messiah. So was Bush. Cool!

If mere US presidents can stop the Mahdi from arriving, how can the Mahdi expect to rid the world of tyranny and injustice?

Dubai police now have 26 suspects

From Gulf News:

Police revealed 15 more suspects in the Al Mabhouh murder case on Wednesday.
The extensive investigation has led to a total of 26 suspects so far involved in the murder of the Hamas official Mahmoud Al Mabhouh at a Dubai hotel.

In addition to the previously released list of 11 suspects, Dubai Police has now identified another six suspects, who include a woman who used British passports, a man and three women travelling on Irish passports, two men who used French passports, and three people with Australian passports. The Australians included a woman.

The new list of suspects include 15 names, bringing the total identified suspects to 26.

Soon every European who ever visited Dubai will be a suspect.

By the way, this is not the first high-profile murder to happen in Dubai. Two years ago, famous Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim was murdered by a hitman hired by her ex-lover, a powerful and rich Egyptian businessman and politician.

Hillel Cohen responds to my review of "Good Arabs"

The author of "Good Arabs," Hillel Cohen, responded to my review where I questioned whether the word Nakba was used in the 1950s:

Thanks for your review. Just one factual comment - the term Nakba was in use in Arabic in the 1950s. As you might know, the book of Constantin Zureik 'Ma'na al-Nakba' (the meaning of the Nakba) was published in Beirut in summer 1948 (!). It is true that Jewish Israelis (and the elders of Zion?) became familiar with it only in the 1990s, but one should bear in mind that there are discourses beyond the Hebrew one.

I asked back:

Thanks for writing, Hillel. My only question is whether the term was used in the 1950s with the "capital N" usage that it is used today, even in Arabic. In other words, would the average Palestinian Arab have used it in that context in that decade to the extent of saying that "May 14th is Nakba Day."

And, if you would be so kind as to answer whether you believe that the word "collaboration" is the correct, consistent translation of the term in Israeli documents you cite, or whether "cooperation" was closer to the authors' intent in some or most cases.

Cohen answered:

As far as i understand, the term Nakba was rather widespread in the internal discourse among the Arabs in Israel in the 1950s-1960s, and was the common word to refer to the war of 1948 and refugehood.

As about 'collaboration' - Arabs who were involved with the Israeli security agencies were usually considered collaborators by all involved parties (, i.e. the general Arab community, themselves and the security agencies). Political cooperation with Mapai was termed 'collaboration' by those who opposed it, and 'cooperation' by those who advocated it (and I tried to present their arguments according to my understanding). Anyhow, it was frequently the same people who were involved in politics and security matters. Police and Shabak officers in many cases looked down at the people who assisted 'the system': sometimes view them as traitors, but not always.

There were changes in this respect througout the years, and what was considered treason in one period was not necessarily considered so in other, what complicates the definitions even more.

Personally, I'd add, I have no political goals in writing my books, and I don't try to prove anything - but to present and analyse historical sources that I read. This is not to say, of course, that I am not influenced by my (ever-changing) political views that support Jewish-Arab cooperation.

I appreciate that he came here and explained himself, and from reading his books it is clear that Cohen is intellectually honest he does intend to portray things as accurately as possible.

UNRWA chief again takes away "refugee" choice

The new UNRWA Commissioner General, Fillipo Grandi, is in Syria to discuss the situation in UNRWA camps there and to praise the Syrian president for all he does for Palestinian Arab "refugees."

According to Firas Press, he explicitly told the Syrians that UNRWA is not interested in resettling any Palestinian Arabs in other countries besides "Palestine." While he stressed that UNRWA wants to improve their living conditions in the camps, he said that on the topic of the UNRWA position on resettlement in Arab countries, he "discussed this matter with the Syrian government and representatives of the refugees and the refugees themselves" and that they were not interested in resettling.

This is, of course, a lie. A significant number of stateless Arabs of Palestinian origin would jump at the opportunity to become full citizens of Arab countries, and in the rare occasions that they had such an opportunity, they grabbed it.

It is the Arab leaders - and the Palestinian Arab leaders - who work mightily to stop such a thing from happening. And now UNRWA, which actually did try to resettle refugees in the 1950s, is in the forefront of prolonging the statelessness and misery of Palestinian Arabs, doing everything it can to increase the number of "refugees" forever.

The world sits by silently at this abuse of millions of people by the UNRWA and Arab leaders who all pretend to be doing what is best for the stateless Arabs of Palestinian origin - without once surveying them and asking them what they really want.

The most basic human right - the right to make one's own decisions - is being explicitly revoked by the UNRWA.

This is why the UNRWA needs a major overhaul, or to be eliminated altogether. It does not solve any problem, and it is a major reason that the problem is getting worse.

Hamas leader's son was a "collaborator" who saved many lives

Remember Mosab Yousef, the son of one of Hamas' founders who converted to Christianity and caused his family much grief?

Their grief is about to be redoubled. From Ha'aretz:

The son of a leading Hamas figure, who famously converted to Christianity, served for over a decade as the Shin Bet security service's most valuable source in the militant organization's leadership, Haaretz has learned.

Mosab Hassan Yousef is the son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a Hamas founder and one of its leaders in the West Bank. The intelligence he supplied Israel led to the exposure of a number of terrorist cells, and to the prevention of dozens of suicide bombings and assassination attempts on Israeli figures.

Yousef's memoir, "Son of Hamas" (written with Ron Brackin) will be released next week in the United States. Yousef, 32, became a devout Christian 10 years ago and now lives in California after fleeing the West Bank in 2007 and going public with his conversion.

Yousef was considered the Shin Bet's most reliable source in the Hamas leadership, earning himself the nickname "the Green Prince" - using the color of the Islamist group's flag, and "prince" because of his pedigree as the son of one of the movement's founders.

During the second intifada, intelligence Yousef supplied led to the arrests of a number of high-ranking Palestinian figures responsible for planning deadly suicide bombings. These included Ibrahim Hamid (a Hamas military commander in the West Bank, Marwan Barghouti (founder of the Fatah-linked Tanzim militia) and Abdullah Barghouti (a Hamas bomb-maker with no close relation to the Fatah figure). Yousef was also responsible for thwarting Israel's plan to assassinate his father.

His former handler, who no longer serves with the security service, says Yousef collaborated with Israel because he wanted to save lives.

"So many people owe him their life and don't even know it," said the handler, named in Yousef's book as Captain Loai. "People who did a lot less were awarded the Israel Security Prize. He certainly deserves it."

Loai makes no secret of his admiration for his former source. "The amazing thing is that none of his actions were done for money," he says. "He did things he believed in. He wanted to save lives. His grasp of intelligence matters was just as good as ours - the ideas, the insights. One insight of his was worth 1,000 hours of thought by top experts."

Loai recalled one time when the Shin Bet received information that a suicide bomber was going to be picked up at Manara Square in Ramallah and be given an explosives belt.

"We didn't know his name or what he looked like - only that he was in his 20s and would be wearing a red shirt," he said. "We sent the Green Prince to the square and with his acute sense, he located the target within minutes. He saw who picked him up, followed the car and made it possible for us to arrest the suicide bomber and the man who was supposed to give him the belt. So another attack was thwarted, though no one knows about it. No one opens Champagne bottles or bursts into song and dance. This was an almost daily thing for the Prince. He displayed courage, had sharp antennae and an ability to cope with danger. We knew he was one of those who in any situation - rain, snow, summer - give their all."

With his memoir, Yousef hopes to send a message of peace to Israelis. Still, he admits he is pessimistic over the prospect of Israel signing a peace agreement with the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, let alone Hamas.

"Hamas cannot make peace with the Israelis. That is against what their God tells them. It is impossible to make peace with infidels, only a cease-fire, and no one knows that better than I. The Hamas leadership is responsible for the killing of Palestinians, not Israelis," he said. "Palestinians! They do not hesitate to massacre people in a mosque or to throw people from the 15th or 17th floor of a building, as they did during the coup in Gaza. The Israelis would never do such things. I tell you with certainty that the Israelis care about the Palestinians far more than the Hamas or Fatah leadership does."

Hamas, for its part, describes the Israeli media as being filled with lies and as just another instrument of war, and will not dignify this article with a response, according to Palestine Today .

In other words, they are seething.

Mamilla update and the text of the judgments

The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles has an op-ed by Rabbi Marvin Hier where he discusses the article I found in the Palestine Post about how the Supreme Muslim Council approved building on the Mamilla Cemetery in 1945 - including its own offices - showing how the Muslim community no longer considered it sacred ground.

It also has an article about the 1945 plan, which mentions me:

The blog, titled Elder of Ziyon, is written anonymously and serves as a watchdog against anti-Zionism.

I'm anonymously famous!

While we are on the topic, I have uploaded the text of the Israeli Supreme Court judgment on the original case (it was corrupted so I had to recover the text only, not the formatting.) I also have the text of the judgment concerning the appeal.

For people who care to read it, one can see that all of the arguments against the building were heard, discussed and dismissed by Israel's Supreme Court. The people who are now making a stink over the museum are being dishonest by repeating only their side of the story and not mentioning how their arguments were demolished, twice. For example, in the appeals judgment:

Furthermore, from the various data produced to us, it appears that the “purple area” has been deeply excavated and that the work of moving the tombs and interring the human remains has been completed. Such being the case, it can no longer be said that the Court’s intervention is necessary for the purpose of implementing the recommendations of Mr Sulimani in the report that he filed so that the whole site will be excavated. In view of this state of affairs, it is not clear what relief the Petitioners are seeking from the Court. Are they seeking to stop the construction of the Museum at the site even though the tombs and human remains that were there have been moved? Or is it sought to move the tombs back to the site and thereby prohibit construction? One way or the other, it is clear that those applications cannot be met and there is no cause to do so either, in view of the express findings of the judgment in the first petition.

...We have gained the impression that whilst the first petition was filed with the intention of raising factual and legal pleas against the venture and obtaining the Court’s decision, the filing of the petition herein was essentially intended to bring about a delay in the Museum’s construction, in such a way as amounts to an abuse of court proceedings.

The first judgment is much lengthier and describes each sides' arguments in great detail. One of the more laughable claims made by the anti-museum side was this one:

It submitted the opinion of Dr Hassan Sanalla of 12 December 2006, which reviewed the extensive protection given to Jewish burial sites in Islamic countries, and the general protection extended to sites of a religious character in international law

The most important cemetery in the Jewish world is on the Mount of Olives, which is not only ancient but also still being used today. And that cemetery was mercilessly defiled by the Jordanians between 1948 and 1967:

On the Mount of Olives, the Jordanian Arabs removed 38,000 tombstones from the ancient cemetery and used them as paving stones for roads and as construction material in Jordanian Army camps, including use as latrines. When the area was recaptured by Israel in 1967, graves were found open with the bones scattered. Parts of the cemetery were converted into parking lots, a filling station, and an asphalt road was built to cut through it. The Intercontinental Hotel was built at the top of the cemetery. Sadar Khalil, appointed by the Jordanian government as the official caretaker of the cemetery, built his home on the grounds using the stones robbed from graves. In 1967, the press published extensive photos documenting that Jewish gravestones were found in Jordanian Army camps, such as El Azariya, as well as in Palestinian walkways, steps, bathrooms, and pavement.

Here are some pictures of the desecration. (h/t Boker Tov Boulder)

Here are Jewish tombstones used as pavers for a road:

For building a wall:

For building a bench:

The hypocrisy is stunning.

Mossad T-shirt sales explode

From Irish Times:

SALES OF Mossad-themed T-shirts, available by mail order, have risen tenfold since the Israeli spy agency was linked to last month’s assassination in Dubai.
Despite the fact that Israeli leaders are refusing to confirm or deny Mossad involvement, orders for the garments have flooded in over the past few weeks – from Israelis and particularly from diaspora Jews.
Eran Davidov, marketing manager of a top mail order company selling Israeli-made products, told The Irish Times they have been overwhelmed by demand since they launched a special “Show off your Mossad and Israeli pride” campaign earlier this week.
“Don’t Mess With the Mossad” next to a picture of a pistol is top of the T-shirt range. Another popular T-shirt has the word Mossad with the letter “o” replaced by a circular target used on a rifle range, with the organisation’s title underneath: “The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations.” The word Mossad in Hebrew next to a pistol is also on offer.
Mr Davidov said that since the launch of the marketing campaign the company has received dozens of e-mails and blog messages expressing pride in the ability of Mossad to strike with impunity throughout the Arab world.
Mossad-theme souvenirs are now definitely in.
Israeli army or T-shirts with pro-Israel slogans have been popular for years among Jewish tourists visiting Israel, particularly with Jewish American teenagers.
Ironically, they are often purchased from Palestinian merchants in the winding alleyways of Jerusalem’s old city.

The myth of the Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque continues

I mentioned a few months ago that Palestinian Arabs gave Rachel's Tomb the supposedly "ancient" name of the "Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque" in the mid-1990s. The Arabs are desperately trying to claim this indisputably Jewish shrine as their own, just as they claim every other Jewish shrine in the Middle East without exception.

Now that Binyomin Netanyahu decided to place Judaism's second and third-holiest sites in a list of Israeli heritage sites, the lies about the very name of Rachel's Tomb are increasing, both in Arabic and in English (including here and here.)

Another proof of how new these claims are comes from IMPACT-SE, a group that translates Palestinian Arab textbooks. They note:

Even the Jewish holy places in the country are not recognized and are presented as Muslim holy places taken over by the Jews:
… The attempt to Judaize some of the Muslim religious places like the Mosque of Abraham [the Machpelah Sanctuary— Cave of the Patriarchs] and the Mosque of Bilal bin Rabbah [Rachel’s Tomb]

National Education, Grade 7 (2001), p. 55
In the case of Rachel’s Tomb, in fact, we see a myth in the making.

In an experimental book issued by the PA in 1996, this place is still called the “Dome of Rachel, mother of our Lord Joseph and wife of Jacob.”3 In a book published in 2001, it is given the name “Mosque of Bilal bin Rabbah.”4

This is an amazing example where Palestinian Arab history is faked in front of our eyes, yet you will not find a single Arab willing to say publicly that there was never any such mosque.

(There happen to be many mosques in the Arab world with that exact name, including in Tulkarem, in Gaza and elsewhere.)

Syrian human rights activist to be tried for "insulting" Assad

Al Quds al Arabi reports that a prominent Syrian human-rights advocate is going to stand trial later this month on the charges of "insulting Syrian President Assad and his father."

Haitham al-Maleh, 78, has been held by Syrian authorities since last October. His arrest came two days after he gave an interview criticizing Syrian authorities for their repression of free speech.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration rewarded Syria by appointing a new US envoy to the dictatorship, the first in five years. This was right around when the IAEA indicated that the complex bombed by Israel in 2007 was indeed a secret nuclear plant.

Political intrigue in Libya between Fatah and Hamas

An Arab League summit is planned in Tripoli next month, and the big question is whether Hamas would be allowed to attend as a representative of Palestinian Arabs.

At first it appeared that Hamas would not be permitted to attend as a representative unless there is a reconciliation deal between the two groups.

But Al Quds al-Arabi is reporting that when Mahmoud Abbas went to Libya to make arrangements for the meeting, Libya's leader Maommar Ghaddafi refused to meet with him, and is hinting that he might want to meet with Hamas leaders instead.

Abbas seems to have more prestige in the West than in the Arab world.

Now, here is a target for the Mossad

According to the Saudi Okaz news agency, quoted by Palestinian Press Agency, this coming weekend it is likely that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will meet in Damascus both with Hamas "politburo" leader Khaled Meshal and with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Actually, why bother with the Mossad? A couple of cruise missiles or smart bombs could do more for long-term peace in the region than any number of UN conferences.

A new "Persian Gulf" diplomatic crisis

From the WaPo:

Airlines not referring to the waterway between Iran and the Arabian peninsula as the Persian Gulf will be banned from Iranian airspace, the transport minister told local media Monday.
The warning was directed specifically toward the airlines of neighboring Gulf Arab countries who have a history of referring to the body of water as the "Arabian Gulf."

"The airlines of the southern Persian gulf countries flying to Iran must use 'Persian Gulf' on their flight monitors," Hamid Behbahani told the IRAN daily.

Airlines ignoring the warning would be banned from Iranian airspace, while repeat offenders would have their planes grounded in Iran and "the companies' flight permits to Iran canceled."

The report said Iran expelled a Greek flight attendant from the private Iranian airline, Kish Air, for using "Arabian Gulf" on a monitor over the weekend.

What most interested me in the Kish incident is that some Iranian airlines lease airplanes from other countries, including their flight crews.

This would be a nice way to leverage sanctions, if the West ever gets its act together.