Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, October 25, 2010

Monday afternoon links

Israel's Chief Rabbi tells the Vatican not to interpret the Torah for Jews (story in French, in reaction to this story)

Eid al Adha is coming, and Gaza needs some 20,000 sheep and 8,000 cows to ritually slaughter in the streets (Arabic)

The Guardian, about a month late, notices that Hamas torched a Gaza water park. But they take pains to distringuish between mainstream Hamas and the extremists from Hamas who, in uniform, capriciously force Gazans to do what, um, Hamas wants. (h/t CiFWatch)

An op-ed that notices that, just maybe, UNRWA is part of the problem!

Egypt: Feeding its Coptic Christians to the Islamic lions

Also in Egypt, a pro-Israel conscientious objector, whose freedom to say unpopular opinions publicly is about to go away, possibly forever.

Oh, by the way, Cast Lead was as moral as war can be

Evelyn Gordon writes:

The New York Times tucked a remarkable statistic into the tail-end of an article on WikiLeaks’s latest document dump, one with ramifications for the ongoing delegitimization campaign against Israel: for most of the last century, the normal civilian-to-combatant wartime fatality ratio has been 10:1.

Civilians have borne the brunt of modern warfare, with 10 civilians dying for every soldier in wars fought since the mid-20th century, compared with 9 soldiers killed for every civilian in World War I, according to a 2001 study by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

This elicits an obvious question: if civilians routinely account for 90 percent of all casualties in modern warfare, why is the world up in arms about the civilian casualty rate in last year’s Israel-Hamas war in Gaza — which, by even the most anti-Israel account, was markedly lower?

Indeed, by the count that my team and I came up with of Gaza war casualties, nearly one half of the dead were either terrorists or members of the Hamas police which is effectively a paramilitary force, or (often) both. (The IDF claims closer to two-thirds killed were militants. The discrepancy is mostly in counting how many were killed in the war altogether.)

By way of contrast, the latest numbers from Iraq indicate a 2-1 civilian to militant casualty ratio - at least double Israel's rate.

So, yes, many civilians were killed - but compared to pretty much any modern war you can name, the ratio of civilian to fighter deaths was very, very low. Not only that, but a clear part of Hamas' strategy was to maximize their own civilian casualties, which makes Israel's achievement even more remarkable.

(h/t T34zakat)

Doesn't he look trustworthy?

Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Youssef has denied making the statements I reported that he said to Jordan's Addastour news.

In the interview, he had said "Martyrdom operations bring us problems with the international community, and are exploited by the Israeli media to distort our image, and accuse us of terrorism and incitement to violence....and this issue has been behind us since 2004, when we abandoned martyrdom operations." He also said that the Hebron massacre of four civilians was not timed to disrupt negotiations and that the Hamas ban on women smoking the hookah was a moral, and not a religious, issue.

Today, without specifying in which topic he was misquoted, he told Ma'an that he doesn't want to deny or even comment on the "yellow journalism and lies" that were in that article that could prejudice the resistance. That sounds like a denial to me.

Over a million Palestinian Arabs want to leave their homeland - and cannot

The latest PSR poll asks Palestinian Arabs:

Do current political, security, and economic conditions lead you to seek emigration abroad?

37% of Gazans, and 24% of West Bankers, say either that they "certainly seek to emigrate" or "seek to emigrate" from the territories.

That comes out to some 1.1 million Palestinian Arabs who do not want to stick around.

Now, imagine what would happen if they were free to emigrate to any Arab country they wanted. After all, the Arab League encourages its members to have liberal naturalization policies for Arabs from any Arab state - except Palestine.

The reason given by the Arab leaders for this explicitly discriminatory policy is that they are helping to preserve Palestinian Arab unity - by keeping them in a stateless limbo. But has anyone asked the Palestinian Arabs themselves what they want to do? As high as these numbers of West Bank and Gaza Arabs who want to emigrate are, the percentages of those who are already in other Arab countries and would love to become full citizens in their host or other Arab countries is almost certainly much higher - many millions who would happily become citizens elsewhere.

For some reason, their freedom of choice is not a concern for organizations like Human Rights Watch, which explicitly denies individual Palestinian Arabs the right to become citizens of their host Arab countries. And they are silent, of course, on Arab League discriminatory policies against Palestinians.

By sheer repetition of the mantra of "keeping Palestinian unity," the world has bought into one of the greatest human rights abuses occurring today, by Arabs against their fellow Arabs.

As I was writing this, I discovered a tiny loophole that some Palestinian Arabs have managed to use to become citizens of some Gulf countries. If they manage to move to the EU first, and become citizens there, then they or their children can move to Arab countries and become citizens as non-Palestinians!

Just another threat from Hamas

Hamas interior minister Fathi Hammad accused Israel of planning to invade Gaza, and since imaginary threats are so thoroughly offensive, he decided to make a real one in response (a "cycle of threatened violence," if you will.)

Speaking at a university in Khan Younis, Hammad said that Hamas, accompanied with the armies of the world, will come to Haifa and Acre to liberate them from Zionist control.

He bragged that Israel is spending so much effort on missile defense, saying that the "occupation" is hiding behind walls and Israelis are unaware that they are trapped.

Moreover, he said that the siege of Gaza has made Gazans stronger and more steadfast.

Boycott Saleys Bags and Gifts

Saleys Bags and Gifts is a South African company that specializes in luggage, bags and keychains.

Recently, they decided that they don't want any business from people who support Israel:

'Sorry, we cannot supply you any of our goods as we don't want or need your blood money!"

This scathing comment, written on an invoice returned to the South African Zionist Federation, has angered some members of the local Jewish community, who are now seeking legal opinion against a Muslim-owned Johannesburg company.

The SAZF had placed an order with Saley's Travel Goods in Ormonde, Johannesburg, for 249 conference bags, which it wanted to hand out at its 47th conference in March next year.

But after placing the order and confirming it telephonically, the SAZF had their invoice returned with the strongly worded comments, purportedly signed by "management" of Saley's.

The unknown person who wrote on the invoice started off by writing "Dear", but then scratched it out and launched into a series of harsh words.

It continued: "Please do not contact us anymore and remove all our contact details from your records and we will do likewise. We don't want to aid and abet organisations that are responsible for crimes against humanity!"

Two lines were also crossed over the invoice, worth R8841.59, with the words: "Please don't pay! Don't contaminate our account with your blood money!"

The SAZF - which describes itself as an organisation acting on behalf of the South African Jewish community in matters relating to Israel, and which is the local representative of the World Zionist Organisation - reacted angrily to the snub, with office bearer Ben Swartz saying they are seeking legal opinion.

"We believe it amounts to hate speech," Swartz told the Sunday Times on Friday.

He said the SAZF had previously placed numerous orders with Saley's over the years and "never experienced a problem like this with them before".

Note that this awful Zionist organization never had a problem buying products from this Muslim-owned company in the past.

Their feedback form is here. You might want to (politely) drop them a line.

(h/t CiFWatch for image)

Poll: Gaza and WB Arabs cannot express themselves without fear

We've seen numerous times how easily Palestinian Arab "eyewitnesses" lie to the media to make Israel look as bad as possible. Not nearly as often, we've seen journalists actually go a little beyond the sound bites and find Arabs who will go against the conventional wisdom and tell the truth - but almost invariably, they demand to remain anonymous.

There is a very simple reason that this occurs: fear.

The latest poll from the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research asks a very simple question:

In your view, can people in the Gaza Strip/West Bank today criticize the authority without fear?

The percentage of Gazans who answered "no" about their territory was 71.2%. This would not surprise most observers.

But the percentage of West Bank Arabs who answered "no" to the same question about their territory was nearly as high: 68.4% (or 71% of those who answered the question.)

More than two out of every three people who live in the West Bank feel fearful of simply criticizing their government. The same government that Western journalists and pundits are falling over themselves to praise as transparent and progressive has instilled a culture of fear that is nearly as pervasive as the one in Gaza! It might have improved in the past couple of years (as this poll seems to indicate) but it is nowhere near the paradise of progressiveness that the media has been breathlessly reporting.

Another question illustrates the fear that both Gazans and West Baners have of their governments:

To what extent are you worried or not worried that you or a member of your family could be hurt in your daily life by other Palestinians such as those affiliated with Fateh or Hamas?

The answers for West Bank and Gaza were again very similar - 48% of Gazans were worried or very worried about being hurt by other Palestinian Arabs, but 45% of West Bankers have that same fear.

There cannot be true freedom as long as people are afraid to publicly criticize their own leaders. Yet the world supports the establishment of yet another state without basic freedom of expression.

Isn't that a problem?

Reports: Israel behind blast at Iranian missile silo

Two weeks ago, an explosion at an Iranian military base killed some 18 people, including Revolutionary Guards.

Some details that emerged since then indicated that the base housed Iran's Shahab-3 missiles, which can reach Israel - and which can carry a nuclear payload. And those missiles are what exploded, not "ammunition," as Iran claimed.

Now, Le Figaro is reporting that this was a Mossad operation.

Who knows? Even if it wasn't, it can't hurt to make Iran think it was.

Illegal Arab buildings to be demolished. But this time, no one will protest.

When Israel demolishes Arab buildings in East Jerusalem that are illegally built - for example in al-Bustan, which was zoned to be a green open space and now has over a hundred illegal buildings - there is no shortage of self-proclaimed "human rights" workers willing to vigorously protest for the rights of the people to build these structures.

Somehow, I don't think they are going to be as concerned in this case:

The Gaza government announced Monday that it has given directives to its interior ministry to raze what it has termed illegal structures on public lands and enforce previous orders to arrest those trading the land.

Head of the ministry's land department Ibrahim Radwan said those in violation of the order had been given a deadline which has now expired and that officers would maintain permanent checkpoints, supported by police, on public lands to prevent "any violation."

Radwan said in the coming days, the ministry will begin enforcing a "wide-scale campaign" to remove structures erected or built on public lands without permission.

Iranian universities to stop teaching "Western science"

From Reuters:

Iran will not allow its universities to begin teaching certain disciplines it deems too "Western," and existing courses will be revised, a senior Education Ministry was quoted as saying Sunday.

"Expansion of 12 disciplines in the social sciences like law, women's studies, human rights, management, sociology, philosophy....psychology and political sciences will be reviewed," Abolfazl Hassani was quoted as saying in the Arman newspaper.

"These sciences' contents are based on Western culture. The review will be the intention of making them compatible with Islamic teachings."

Hassani said Iranian universities will not be allowed to open new departments in these disciplines and the curricula for existing departments would be revised.

Iran's hard-line rulers accuse the West of trying to harm the Islamic state by influencing the country's young generation with "decadent" culture.

Pointing to the enrollment of some 2 million out of a total of 3.5 million university students in the humanities, in August Iran's most powerful figure Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for modification of these studies.

"Many disciplines in the humanities are based on principles founded on materialism disbelieving the divine Islamic teachings," Khamenei said in a speech reported by state media.

"Thus such teachings...will lead to the dissemination of doubt in the foundations of religious teachings."

I'm afraid that I need to inform Iran that nuclear physics is also a decadent, Western science - and a Zionist one to boot.

Hints of corruption under Fayyad

Palestine Today reported last week that PA prime minister Salam Fayyad, who is supposed to be untouched by corruption, has arranged for the head of the Office of Financial Supervision and Management to be fired.

Dr. Mahmoud Abu Rub's job was to audit the financial dealings of other PA ministries and institutions. According to the article, he did his job too well, and was uncovering a little too much.

Quoting Al Quds al Arabi, the newspaper says that al-Rub "went past red lines in researching the financial files and expenses of the government."

A month ago, al-Rub decided to look at the files of the Ministry of Finance, a ministry that Fayyad had led. This investigation evidently upset Fayyad.

Fayyad does not have the authority to fire the head of that office, so he appealed to Mahmoud Abbas to sack him, and he did.

(h/t Ali for help with translation)

Khaled and Hala, ages 5 and 3, are engaged

From MSN:

Hala and her fiancee Khalid have exchanged rings and plan to marry in 10 years when she is 12 and he is 15.

Their story has become a national talking point in Syria after the girl's father relayed the story of their engagement to the Akes Alser website.

The families of both children have won plaudits over the union — although they insist the children are in love and want to marry.

Khalid's father, Juma, said the boy was his only child from a 25-year marriage.

"I vowed to have my child engaged at the age of five if he was a boy and to marry him to a woman of his choice at the age of 15," he told Gulf News.

Juma said Khalid, from the town of Horns, 180km north of Damascus, fell in love with Hala within days of meeting her during a family trip to the port city of Latakia.

He claimed Khalid was so love-sick after parting from his young girlfriend that he refused to go back to his nursery unless little Hala came too.

"We did not know what to do till my wife called Hala's mother and asked her opinion about the case," Juma was quoted saying.

"She said her daughter had developed similar symptoms of loneliness and the family would be happy to see them engaged."

Juma bought rings for the young ones and both families held a celebration in Latakia.

The father has even vowed to cover the education expenses of both children until they graduate from school.

"We know that Khalid or Hala might change their mind in the future, but what we do know at this stage is that they are very happy and talk to each other everyday," Juma told Gulf News.

Yet more outrageous statements from The Yentas

According to the leader of the Palestinian National Initiative, Mustafa Barghouti, Jimmy Carter not only supports the idea of "Palestine" unilaterally declaring itself to be a state, but he said that he would "work in the international arena" to gain traction for that idea.

Jordan's Addustour reports that Carter also told him that he supports international sanctions against Israel for its policy of allowing Jews to live in Judea and Samaria.

I guess if unilateral moves are OK for Jimmy, then maybe it is time for Israel to act unilaterally concerning the the disputed territories as well.

Might be time to change the name of Carter's group of old busybodies trying to remain relevant...

Spokesman defends Hamas from critics - hilariously

Ahmed Youssef, Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs for Hamas in Gaza and widely regarded as one of Hamas' more moderate voices, was interviewed by Jordan's Addustour newspaper (reported in PalPress.) In the interview, he describes why Hamas has not been keen on suicide terror lately: "Martyrdom operations bring us problems with the international community, and are exploited by the Israeli media to distort our image, and accuse us of terrorism and incitement to violence."

That stupid international community, thinking that heroically blowing yourself up among women and children is a form of terrorism!

He also said that the current relative calm in Gaza was partially in order to take advantage of the negative political views of Israel worldwide, because a new barrage of rockets would cloud the impression from the Goldstone Report that only Israel was an aggressor. (His words were that the calm was "an investment for the international reaction, which criticized Israel following the Goldstone report.")

He claimed that the timing of the attack that killed four Jewish civilians in late August was not meant to derail the peace talks or embarrass Abbas, saying that it was "only a coincidence" that the attacks occurred right before the negotiations were to resume.

Perhaps the best part of the interview was his insistence that Hamas is not trying to turn Gaza into an Islamist statelet. Specifically dealing with the law that makes it illegal for women to smoke a hookah in public, he responded:

"There is no place in the world does not prohibit smoking in public places, and in Western countries there are strict laws (restricting smoking), while in Gaza, we have more freedom, and the law is limited to women to maintain public morality."

There you have it - Hamas is more liberal than Western states because it allows men to smoke in public!

(Not to mention...if it is immoral to have women seen smoking in public, using their mouths to inhale the fragrant tobacco from the long tube, wouldn't men smoking in public be....gay?)

More details of what happened on the Mavi Marmara

In his testimony before the Turkel committee, IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi revealed a few new details of the Mavi Marmara incident.

He said that one of the soldiers, who was being strangled by the peaceful protesters, used a stun grenade on his own body to save his life.

One soldier who was beaten on the ship still suffers memory loss.

And the second soldier to be shot was definitely hit with a gun that was not IDF-issue, meaning a gun that the Mavi Marmara militants had brought on board themselves.

(h/t Jed, Islamonazism blog who has an update from Haaretz)