Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Iranian "admits" he's a Mossad spy, spins absurd story

Iranian kick boxer Majid Jamali Fashi admitted Tuesday to the murder of nuclear scientist Masoud Mohammadi on the orders of the Israeli intelligence while the opposition expressed doubt over his claims, saying they seemed fabricated by the authorities.

The 26-year-old athlete, who took part in several championships both inside and outside the country, admitted in court that the bomb attack that targeted Mohammadi on January 12 was part of a plan by the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad to assassinate five other nuclear scientists. Fashi said he got $120,000 in return for all operations.

The Iranian opposition website Rooz Online dismissed the story as fabricated by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and National Security. According to the website, Fashi’s testimony contains several loopholes.

“Fashi said in his televised confessions that he traveled to Israel three times. How could he have done that without arousing the suspicions of the Iranian authorities?” said the Rooz Online statement.

The statement mocked the details about the tools Fashi allegedly used to facilitate the operations he was to carry out like a communication belt, bullet-proof clothes, mobile phone with infra-red camera, and a motorcycle that connects digitally to Tel Aviv.

“This [information] is taken from one of those American action movies.”

I would have believed that the Mossad was behind this until I saw the details of the accusations.

Sounds more like Batman to me.

Hamas takes responsibility for latest mortars

Hamas had been careful to distance itself from Gaza rocket fire over the past week, even denying rocket fire after they had initially taken responsibility.

But now Hamas' Al Qassam Brigades are bragging that they shot 3 mortars towards what they claim was the IDF entering Gaza.

Ooooh! A briefing book!

MJ Rosenberg on Twitter is all excited to have uncovered an AIPAC Briefing Book to the current members of Congress. It was discovered, apparently after much painstaking research, on AIPAC's own website.

Now, that's great journalism! Who would have thought to look there?

His acolytes are combing through it to find evidence that the evil Zionist Jews own Congress. A couple of hours later - they haven't found much, but they are "sick to their stomachs" anyway.

So, in about two minutes, I found the Americans for Peace Now briefing book to Congress. Yes, it looks like AIPAC is not the only lobby that writes these things! Who knew? This must be exposed!

Here are the highlights of APN's supposedly pro-Israel message to Congress, with each of the bullet points as little Stars of David:

Americans for Peace Now (APN) urges Congress to:

Reject legislative initiatives-letters, resolutions, etc.- that unhelpfully heap blame on only one side.

Demand expanded accountability regarding Israel’s expenditures on settlements, including reporting from the State Department on the amount of funds Israel is spending annually across the Green Line to support and expand Israeli residential development.

Reject efforts to add gratuitous new conditions, restrictions, and oversight requirements to Palestinian assistance.

Embrace a smart approach to U.S.-Syria relations, founded on a commitment to resolute engagement and diplomacy.

Support continued U.S. assistance to Lebanon.

Oppose Israeli settlement activities in East Jerusalem, support a negotiated solution on the future of Jerusalem, and refrain from statements or actions that could delay, harm or hinder such negotiations.

Reject efforts to force an immediate transfer of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

Reject efforts to use the legitimate claims of Jewish refugees as a pretext for blocking an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

Reject efforts to undermine or de-legitimize UNRWA.

Reject any efforts to further tie the Administration’s hands with respect to U.S. policy toward a future Palestinian power-sharing arrangement that may include Hamas.

Reject efforts to use this issue [two state solution] as a pretext for imposing additional conditions/sanctions on the Palestinians.

Recogniz[e] that the PA is engaged in a serious effort to fight incitement.

This is a lobby that expends most of its efforts on pushing issues that are identical to those desired by Israel's enemies.

Now, that's what I call pro-Israel!

Syria roundup (Zvi)

From Zvi:

* UN says protest deaths exceed 2200, including 350 since the start of Ramadan. I notice that the lady in the video was not complaining about people stocking Syrian products. Funny, that.

* 7 more civilians were killed in Syria today, including 3 women killed in raids in the al-Ghab region.

* US Ambassador Ford visited town of Jasem, apparently violating a regime ban on leaving the capital. Citizens gathered around and chanted slogans in support of international efforts [against the regime].

* Switzerland withdrew its ambassador.

* EU introduced UNSC draft resolution calling for embargo on Syria and freezing assets of 24 top officials (but not the regime's financiers).

* China National Petroleum Corp.'s Great Wall Drilling Co. shut down 6 major projects in Syria, Libya, Niger and Algeria.

* South Korea banned citizens from traveling to Syria due to instability. Syria joins Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Iraq and Yemen on the short list.

* Syria creates the "Syria is fine" campaign: “With the participation of 250 academic, political, media, art and parliamentary figures from 18 countries in response to the invitation of an independent Syrian youth group, 'Syria is Fine' campaign started its activities on Sunday,”

* UNHRC approved a resolution calling for investigation of human rights violations by Syrian security forces.
- Voted against the resolution: China, Cuba, Ecuador, Russia. Russia claimed to have voted against it because - I'm not making this up - it ignored the positive steps taken by the Syrian regime, willingness for dialog, etc. China's excuses were its usual; since Tiananmen, China has always used the sovereignty argument to defend dictators. Cuba's excuse is a bunch of BS from a bygone era. Ecuador silently followed Cuba's lead.
- Abstained: Angola, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Djibouti, India, Malaysia, Mauritania, Philippines, and Uganda. India's excuse was pure hypocrisy, given its willingness to support UNHRC attacks on Israel.
- Voted in favor of the resolution: Austria, Belgium, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Chile, Congo, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Guatemala, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Mauritius, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Poland, Qatar, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United States of America, and Uruguay.

* London-listed Gulfsands Petroleum pays a share of its Syrian production profits to Rami Makhlouf, pays more than $1 million to Ramak, the Makhlouf family holding company, and is 5.7% owned by an investment fund controlled by Rami Makhlouf. Boycotts or sanctions, anyone? No? I didn't think so. Now, if Makhlouf were Jewish, it would be a different story, wouldn't it... ?

8 Gaza men, women and children injured by Qassams

From PCHR:

In the past five days, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) documented the injuries of eight persons, including two children and three women, due to the explosions of home-made rockets in populated areas across the Gaza Strip. The injury of one of the women was described as serious.

The latest incident took place at approximately 01:40 on Monday, 22 August 2011, when a home-made rocket landed onto the roof of a 3-storey house belonging to Sobhi Ibrahim Shakhsa, 53, where three families live, in al-Tawaheen area in al-Shuja'ya neighborhood in the east of Gaza City. As the result of the rocket's explosion, three sons of Shakhsa were shocked and were transported to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Besides, the rocket made a hole in the roof, falling part of the southern wall of the house and damaging the water network and doors. In his testimony to a PCHR field worker, Shakhsa said that the Explosives Police arrived at the scene and collected the rocket's shrapnel, but the civil police did not come to investigate the incident.

Earlier, at approximately 20:00 on Sunday, 21 August 2011, another home-made rocket hit the western side of the house of Mas'oud Ibrahim al-Sheikh, 53, near Dar al-Arqam School in al-Toffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City. As a result, his son Ra'ed Mas'oud al-Sheikh, 8, was moderately wounded by shrapnel to the head, and his daughter Samar Mas'oud al-Sheikh, 28, was seriously wounded by shrapnel to the pelvis and back, and consequently, was admitted into the intensive care unit at Shifa Hospital.

At approximately 20:45 on Saturday, 20 August 2011, Sa'd Bakr al-Salhi, 16, from Deir al-Balah town in the central Gaza Strip and Naheda Hashem Salem, 53, were evacuated to Shifa Hospital, as the former was wounded by shrapnel to the right hand and the latter was wounded by shrapnel throughout the body. Medical sources described their wounds between light to moderate. The two persons were wounded due to the explosion of a home-made rocket while exiting from Sa'eed Murad Mosque near al-Helou Hall, southeast of Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip.

At approximately 03:00 on Friday, 19 August 2011, Mohammed Yusef al-Najjar Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah received Abdul Sattar Selmi Abu Snaima, 21, from al-Shouka village, east of Rafah, as he was wounded by shrapnel throughout the body. Medical sources described his wound as moderate. According to Palestinian police sources, Abu Snaima had been wounded when a home-made rocket landed in front of his house, which is located near al-Shouka clinic.

Interestingly, PCHR does not mention the death of the 13 year old boy who the UN said was killed by a Grad rocket. Perhaps because the Grads are not "home-made."

An inside look at the Syrian army

Now Lebanon has an incredible interview with a high ranking Syrian army defector:

Why did you defect, and what do you plan to do next?

Officer: I remained in my position in the beginning of the uprising to support it from the inside; I would organize, prepare and do what I could to see that the demonstrations succeed. When I felt that my cover was going to be blown, I left, but remained in contact with others like myself inside the army. Today I’m part of the Syrian Free Army and am coordinating with the different brigades.

Some of us announce defecting, like you see on television, and some don’t to be able to play a better role in the success of the revolution. So technically, the number of those defecting is far greater than what has been announced.

What happened to soldiers who defected and were caught?

Officer: Death. Death is the fate of those defecting or those who refuse to obey orders to shoot at protesters. Most of the executions are happening at military prisons in Tedmor and Saadnaya, where officers are being shot every Monday. Also, some who refuse to shoot at protesters are shot on the spot during the demonstrations. The aim is to set an example for others and to make it look like demonstrators are armed.

Who is the party cracking down on the protesters?

Officer: It’s a combination of army officers, police officers, security officers and the shabiha. Out of the army, the Fourth Brigade, which is one of the biggest brigades, is taking the most part. This brigade is loyal to Maher al-Assad, President Bashar’s brother.

The security forces come from the different security branches under the Ministry of Defense, but mainly the officers are from the Military Security Branch and the Air Force Intelligence, what people refer to as the jawiyah.

The shabiha take a big part in the crackdown because they are vicious. They are mafia and they are smugglers who trade in drugs, cigarettes, weapons, people, body parts. Most were initially wanted by the state or were in prison, but they were released to fight against the demonstrators.

Is it true that there are Iranian forces and Hezbollah members assisting regime forces in the crackdown?

Officer: Yes it is true. Hezbollah members are mainly used in the streets; they are well acquainted with battle techniques, while the Syrians are not. Many Syrian officers were left free to grow beards so that the Hezbollah members don’t stand out, but they still do; they are built differently.

At the beginning Iranians were mainly used as snipers, but later on they were taken down to the streets and Syrians took their places on the rooftops.

It was always hard for the Iranians to tell who to shoot at; sometimes there are instigators among the demonstrators planted there by the regime to create strife, and the Iranians don’t know who to shoot.

In places where confrontation is expected, and there’s a risk of them being injured, the Iranians are used to detain protesters and torture them in prisons because if they get hurt, they could be captured by the opposition and shown on TV.

What happened to the 61st Army Brigade in Daraa after it defected? Is it true that everyone was killed?

Officer: The head of the 5th squad, which the 61st Brigade is part of, was General Rifaii, who was ordered to crack down on the demonstrations and refused, and he had the support of the officers with him. President Assad himself negotiated with him, but he stuck to his position, saying that he refused to shoot at unarmed men.

They planted a trap for him. An order was then given to him to spread his troops in Daraa but not to shoot at protesters, as he wished, but then his forces were attacked by forces from the Fourth Brigade and they massacred them.

Read the whole thing.

HRW notices Hamas is not exactly acting democratically

Two statements about Hamas by HRW! It's a miracle!

A Palestinian human rights official is urging the leadership in Gaza to reverse a decision blocking eight students from traveling to the United States for university.

Rawyeh Ash-Shawwa, member of the legislative council and head of the Independent Commission for Human Rights, ... found it dumbfounding that Palestinians have battled Israel for permission to leave Gaza but remain stuck due to Hamas.

The 16-year-old students had been granted Amideast scholarships to study in the US. They will lose their scholarships if the decision is not reversed. The students have asked not to be named.

On Monday, Human Rights Watch urged Hamas to overturn the decision.

“Hamas should be encouraging young people to seek educational opportunities, not arbitrarily blocking them from traveling abroad to study,” said Joe Stork, Human Rights Watch's deputy Mideast director.

And:

Authorities in Gaza should halt interrogations, detentions, and harassment apparently aimed at intimidating civil society activists, Human Rights Watch said Monday.

"Hamas should respect their rights to freedom of expression and assembly," the group said in a report noting the arrest of youth activist Abu Yazan, who campaigned for Palestinian unity in March.

“If Hamas expects to be treated as a responsible governing authority, it should stop persecuting peaceful critics in Gaza,” said Joe Stork, deputy Mideast director at the New York-based rights group.

Of course, unlike when they want to criticize Israel, HRW waited a week or two after these stories were originally reported before making any statements.

Turkey kills 100 in Iraq. Yawn.

From The Independent:

Up to 100 Kurdish rebels have been killed in six days of air strikes on northern Iraq, Turkey's military said yesterday.

The raids are the first by Turkey in the mountains of northern Iraq in more than a year and are in retaliation for an escalation of guerrilla attacks following the collapse of efforts to negotiate a settlement to the 27-year-old conflict.

In the town of Rania, in Iraq's northern Kurdish region, relatives of seven Iraqis, including children, killed in an air strike on Sunday – the first civilian casualties since the raids began last Wednesday – questioned the Turkish tactics.

The attacks have angered residents of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, a relatively safe haven in war-torn Iraq where Turkish investors have flocked in recent years to build homes, offices and shopping malls.

"They were just farmers. They didn't cause problems for anyone. I want to ask why they were killed," said one local, Yaqub Mustafa.

As the Honest Reporting blog notes,

Now imagine if Israel had also crossed over the territory of a sovereign state and killed 100 people, including a number of civilians.

Cue front page news, expressions of outrage, calls for a Goldstone-style UN inquiry. You get the picture.

But then, Israel is held to a different standard to other nations.

It's actually worse, because Iran has shelled civilian sections of Kurdistan as well.

Wikileaks: Child marriage in Israel (updated)

Last night, Wikileaks released some 35,000 new cables.

Most of them are incredibly boring, very few are classified or secret.

Here's an unclassified 2005 cable that is interesting, though:

The Executive Director of the NCC described early marriage as "not a significant problem in the general Israeli population," but "significant" among minority groups such as Muslims, certain ultra-Orthodox Jewish sects, and new immigrants from Ethiopia and the Islamic states in the FSU.

According to the Government's Central Bureau of statistics, 47 boys 17 years of age or younger married in 2002, 30 from the Jewish sector and 17 from the Muslim sector. ... During the same year, there was a total of 196 "child brides" under the age of 17, with 29 from the Jewish sector, 165 from the Muslim sector, and one from the Christian sector. The Central Bureau of Statistics highlighted that the ratio of girls in the Muslim sector who married under the age of 17 increased from 1.3 girls per 1,000 in 1995, to 6 girls per 1,000 in 2001. The ratio for girls in the Jewish sector who married under the age of 17 remained stable at 0.3 girls per 1,000. In the view of the NCC, child marriage has an adverse effect in that it influences the child's ability to continue his or her education and impedes the child's proper development. Ivri was not aware of any specific government office that is working on this issue.

No U.S.-funded initiatives exist in Israel to reduce the incidence or address the negative affects of child marriage. The NCC endorses implementation of new educational programs that target the specific at-risk populations cited above.

The highlighted statistic is incredible - a fourfold increase in Muslim child brides in only six years?

Could it be that after Oslo there was a rush to marry girls between those living in Israel and the territories so the latter could gain Israeli citizenship? I cannot imagine that this huge jump was not related to political issues as (at the time) a Palestinian Arab state seemed increasingly likely.

UPDATE: Commenter akibigman notes that during Oslo, some 130,000 Palestinian Arabs received Israeli citizenship by marrying Israeli Arabs, so my supposition makes sense.

Palestinian Arabs might lose "right to return" in UN September stunt

Fascinating:

The Palestinian team responsible for preparing the United Nations initiative in September has been given an independent legal opinion that reveals a high risk involved with its plan to join the UN.

An initiative to transfer the Palestinians' representation from the PLO to a state will terminate the legal status held by the PLO in the UN since 1975 that it is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, according to the document.

Crucially, there will no longer be an institution that can represent the inalienable rights of the entire Palestinian people in the UN and related international institutions, according to the brief.

Representation for the right to self-determination will be gravely affected, as it is a right of all Palestinians, both inside and outside the homeland, the legal opinion says. This change in status will severely disenfranchise the right of refugees to return to their homes and properties from which they were displaced.

The seven-page legal opinion, obtained by Ma'an, was submitted to the Palestinian side by Guy Goodwin-Gill, a professor of public international law at Oxford University and a member of the team that won the 2004 non-binding judgement by the International Court of Justice that the route of Israel's wall was illegal.

The Palestinian team, headed by Saeb Erekat, has been preparing an initiative that involves the replacement of the PLO at the UN, substituting it with the State of Palestine as the representative of the Palestinian people.

...Particularly crucial is the scholar's conclusions about the implications of the plan to substitute PLO representation in the UN with the Palestinian state for the Palestinians in the Diaspora. The majority of the Palestinian people are refugees, and all of them are represented by the PLO through Palestinian National Council.

"They constitute more than half of the people of Palestine, and if they are 'disenfranchised' and lose their representation in the UN, it will not only prejudice their entitlement to equal representation, contrary to the will of the General Assembly, but also their ability to vocalise their views, to participate in matters of national governance, including the formation and political identity of the State, and to exercise the right of return," the legal briefing says.

Which means that the September stunt will have to either be modified so that the PLO remains the "sole representative of the Palestinian people" - making the declaration of a state even more meaningless than it is - or the fake state will further erode the rights of the Palestinian Arabs who live outside the land.

The part that is left unsaid: The PLO, led by Mahmoud Abbas and previously by Yasir Arafat, has done literally nothing to advance the rights of Palestinian Arabs living in Arab nations. In fact, they have acted to further disenfranchise them in order to use them as pawns to pressure Israel. The idea that the PLO actually represents average Palestinian Arabs, many of whom want to move on with their lives with dignity in their host countries, is a joke.

The legal opinion and the lawyer that Ma'an quotes afterwards know quite well that their goal is to destroy Israel demographically, and this stunt can make that less likely in their minds.

That's their real concern, not the "rights" of the Palestinian Arabs who have been stepped on in the name of "Palestinian unity" for decades.

(h/t T34)

Egypt to crack down on terrorists infiltrating from Gaza

Media Line reports on the burgeoning trade in smuggling people from Gaza to Egypt:

The much anticipated opening of the Rafah terminal – the single crossing point for people between Gaza and the outside world - whet their taste for travel without sating it. As a result, demand to get people over the border into Egypt and back has swelled. Tunnel operators say business is strong again, giving them the incentive to keep their underground passages open and maybe even expand them.

“Tunnels that smuggle people weren’t popular before and there were only one or two of them.

But since there’s no point in sending goods through them, many of us are thinking about switching to smuggling people,” [tunnel operator Abu]Ola told The Media Line. “We don’t even need to smuggle cars anymore, because Israel is letting cars enter Gaza. Rafah is messed up, so many people are resorting to tunnels to get in and out of here.”

That’s good news for tunnel entrepreneurs like Ola as well as the many Gazans with legitimate reasons to travel, whether they are family members seeking to be reunited or someone in need of urgent medical care. But it’s bad news for Israel, which believes the attack on its border with Egypt last week that left eight dead was the work of terrorists smuggled out of Gaza through one of the underground passages.

The thriving tunnel business, together with the growing lawlessness in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula adjacent to Israel and Gaza, has made it easier than ever for gunmen to cross the border with weapons and supplies. Israeli officials say that last week’s attacks, which occurred some 180 kilometers (110 miles) from the Gaza Strip, could have only succeeded if the perpetrators travelled from Gaza through Egypt to the Israeli border.

As a result, Arabic media is reporting that Egypt plans to map all the tunnels in Rafah in preparation of their closure:

Security has been tightened in the city of Rafah, at the main entrance of the crossing and nearby areas, as well as intense inspections for those in transit to and from the crossing, as part of the security crackdown carried out by the Egyptian army on vital installations in the northern Sinai.

Egypt had coordinated with the government of Hamas in the Gaza Strip to prevent the infiltration of individuals from both sides, while in pursuit of those who may be involved or participated in acts of sabotage in the Sinai.

A statement issued by a number of tribal elders in Sinai called on Hamas to prevent the infiltration of people from Gaza, and said that any Palestinian infiltrators will be handed over to Egyptian security authorities.

Honor killing in Gaza

From Ma'an:

A man in the northern Gaza Strip fatally shot his daughter on Wednesday morning, police said.

Locals said the girl was shot inside the family home in Jabalia, adding that her father was recently released from prison in Gaza.