Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, September 19, 2011

Those Sabbath-breaking settlers again

From the official Palestinian Arab WAFA "news" agency:

Extremist Jewish settlers Saturday set fire to Palestinian farms adjacent to the evacuated Homesh settlement, south of Jenin, said security sources.

They said 15 settlers broke into the area under Israeli army protection, verbally assaulting local residents and setting fire to fields near the settlement.

So not only are these fanatically religious extremist jewish settlers setting fires on their Sabbath - but the IDF is protecting them while they do it! (The same army that is fighting against the "price tag" attacks by some of these settlers!) And it must be true! Because "security sources" said so! And, of course, so did Mondoweiss!

(h/t Sylvia)

Photo essay of PRC terrorist training

Normally, Hamas media only focus on Hamas terror training. But they seem to be chummy with the Popular Resistance Committees, so Palestine Times has a photo essay of their training in Gaza:

You never know when you will need to stop blowing up Jews and start praying.

Like now, for instance.

A "work accident" just waiting to happen.

What playground did they steal this from?

Allah hu akbar! We blew something up!

Nothing happens in Gaza without Hamas approval, and certainly no one can just start training in open space without Hamas allowing it.

So when Hamas claims to not be engaging in terror lately, it is pretty much to allow idiots like richard Falk to believe them - but in reality, the PRC is just about a branch of Hamas.

Hamas paper publishes anti-UNRWA editorial

The Hamas mouthpiece Palestine Times published an article this weekend accuding UNRWA of "killing religion" by not spending more time teaching the Koran and for hiring teachers of Islam who are not as fanatic as Hamas would like.

The author complains that UNRWA's Islamic education is being treated with the same seriousness as gym and far less than math or science. The teachers, he claims, are not experts in Islam and they teach it like just another subject, in ways that would not give the youngsters an adequate desire to grow up and kill Jews (a paraphrase, but that is what he is saying.)

In a followup article the author says that some teachers were not happy with what he had written, and he calls on them to - as much as they can without getting fired - disregard the official UNRWA curriculum and instill Islamist concepts into the students.

Notice that no one is saying that UNRWA schools - bankrolled by secular Western nations - are not teaching Islam. They are. The complaint is that they aren't doing it to the exacting standards of Hamas, as a springboard into teaching more hate.
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Match of the century! Abbas vs. Zionist Pigs! (poster)

Last week, Mahmoud Abbas accused Jewish settlers of unleashing wild pigs against Palestinian Arabs.

While major news outlets may have ignored this perfect example of insane Palestinian Arab conspiracy theories wholeheartedly believed by their leaders, we here at EoZ know when there is a golden opportunity.

A major loss - Just Journalism is closing

Just Journalism is a fantastic, professional organization that exposes anti-Israel bias in the British media. They also managed to get op-eds published in a number of places.

Perhaps even better, the anti-Israel crowd really, really hates them.

Unfortunately, they are shutting down.

We very much regret to inform you that Just Journalism is closing down. Despite our extremely modest budget it has become increasingly difficult to financially sustain the operation in the current economic environment.

We are extremely proud of the work we have produced since we launched and of the impact it has made all around the world. This would not have been possible without your help and support.

This is a major loss. It is a shame that anti-Israel NGOs can effortlessly gain funding from any number of foundations or nations, but the other side must beg for crumbs.

Israeli Jewish family donate daughter's lungs, heart to an Arab woman

Palestine Press Agency reports that a Jewish family has donated the lungs and heart of their brain-dead daughter to a Palestinian Arab woman from Nazareth.

The Jewish girl was killed in a traffic accident in early August. She was 18. Her family, named Ayyash, is of Moroccan origin.

The two families met in Nazareth over the weekend, and the Jewish family was overwhelmed to meet the woman within whose body their daughter's heart was beating.

An Arab doctor from the area urged more Israeli Arabs to donate organs, noting that there are far fewer Arab donors than Jewish ones. He also urged more Arab bone marrow donors.

$50 for Gazans to travel to Egypt via tunnel

Palestine Press Agency reports that due to the onerous restrictions on travel via the Rafah crossing, tunnel operators in Gaza are now competing to offer good rates for Gaza residents to visit Egypt.

The going rate is now bout $50.

Gazans are mostly limited to visiting Rafah and El Arish, because Egyptian security is carefully watching people leaving those areas.

The tunnel operators have even set up an committee to set up an informal visa-type system to ensure that the people crossing have legitimate need to visit the other side, because they don't want terrorists to use the tunnels which would get them shut down.

All of those rumors about Egypt shutting the tunnels down seem to have disappeared.

Abbas lies again - this time about Obama

From Ma'an:

President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday that he has not scheduled to meet with US President Barack Obama during the 66th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, but is open to the possibility.

“Neither I, nor Obama asked for a meeting, so I don’t believe we will meet. However, if we meet, I will remind him that he promised last year that the state of Palestine would be a full member of the UN this year, and I came here on the grounds of the promise I heard,” Abbas told a Ma'an delegate.

Did Obama promise a Palestinian Arab state?

Here are sections of the speech Abbas is referring to, to the UN General Assembly, on September 23, 2010:

Last year, I pledged my best efforts to support the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security, as part of a comprehensive peace between Israel and all of its neighbors. We have travelled a winding road over the last 12 months, with few peaks and many valleys. But this month, I am pleased that we have pursued direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians in Washington, Sharm el Sheikh and Jerusalem.

...[W]e all have a choice to make. Each of us must choose the path of peace. Of course, that responsibility begins with the parties themselves, who must answer the call of history. Earlier this month at the White House, I was struck by the words of both the Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “I came here today to find a historic compromise that will enable both people to live in peace, security, and dignity.” And President Abbas said, “We will spare no effort and we will work diligently and tirelessly to ensure these negotiations achieve their cause.”

These words must now be followed by action and I believe that both leaders have the courage to do so. ...

The conflict between Israelis and Arabs is as old as this institution. And we can come back here next year, as we have for the last 60 years, and make long speeches about it. We can read familiar lists of grievances. We can table the same resolutions. We can further empower the forces of rejectionism and hate. And we can waste more time by carrying forward an argument that will not help a single Israeli or Palestinian child achieve a better life. We can do that.

Or, we can say that this time will be different -- that this time we will not let terror, or turbulence, or posturing, or petty politics stand in the way. This time, we will think not of ourselves, but of the young girl in Gaza who wants to have no ceiling on her dreams, or the young boy in Sderot who wants to sleep without the nightmare of rocket fire.

This time, we should draw upon the teachings of tolerance that lie at the heart of three great religions that see Jerusalem’s soil as sacred. This time we should reach for what’s best within ourselves. If we do, when we come back here next year, we can have an agreement that will lead to a new member of the United Nations -- an independent, sovereign state of Palestine, living in peace with Israel.

Obama did not come close to promising anything. He said if the negotiations that just started that month would bear fruit, then by September 2011 there could be an agreement that would lead to an eventual Arab state in Palestine. And that ultimately it was up to the Palestinian Arabs and Israelis themselves to make such an agreement, not for it to be imposed externally.

Earlier this month, there have been Palestinian Arab radio ads that implied a promise from Obama, and Abbas was reported to have called it"the Obama promise." But to have a putative head of state blatantly lie about what another head of state said publicly is a much bigger deal.

Yet again, Abbas is exposed as a liar. President Obama is being used by him. Will anyone in the media call him on it?

Turkish hackers deface PalArab websites thinking they were Israeli

From YNet:

Turkish hackers attacked dozens of Israeli websites over the weekend, only to find out that the sites belonged to Palestinians.

The confusion was caused due to the fact that the Palestinian sites, which have a .ps web suffix, use Israeli web servers.

"The hackers left anti-Israel messages on 70 Palestinian sites," said Shai Blitzblau, the head of Maglan-Computer Warfare and Network Intelligence Labs. "Most of them discovered it when it was already too late. Only after they broke in and sabotaged the websites did they found out these were Palestinian sites."

The message, which featured an image of an Israeli soldier washing blood off of his hands, read: "Because you voted on behalf of Israel on Blue (Mavi) Marmara report… We will suspend this site. You will apologize Netanyahu, you will apologize Israel."

This was not as sophisticated as the Turkish DNS attack earlier this month that redirected hundreds of sites (not all Israeli) that was seen as a "test run."

Web site defacement is sort of like spraying graffiti on the front door of a company. It looks bad but doesn't really affect anything.

A DNS attack makes it difficult or impossible for customers to reach the company altogether.

Photos of Jews "storming" the Temple Mount Sunday

Palestine Today brings us photos of Jews roaming around the Temple Mount on Sunday.

Palestine Times referred to them as usurpers" who were "desecrating" and "storming" the holy site.

What do Tom Friedman and Hamas have in common?

Both of them believe in a mythical nation!

From Thomas Friedman in the New York Times:

Israel should have either put out its own peace plan or tried to shape the U.N. diplomacy with its own resolution that reaffirmed the right of both the Palestinian and the Jewish people to a state in historic Palestine and reignited negotiations.

From Al Arabiya, quoting Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh:

“We repeat today that we are with the establishment of a Palestinian state on any liberated part of Palestinian land that is agreed upon by the Palestinian people, without recognizing Israel or conceding any inch of historical Palestine."

Like the PLO and others, these people use the phrase "historic[al] Palestine" as if it is identical to the boundaries of British Mandate Palestine after August 1922 when Transjordan was split off from the Mandate.

As I have shown extensively, "historic Palestine" has little in common with British Mandate Palestine. It did not include the Negev but it did include parts of today's Jordan and Lebanon.

The idea that "Historic Palestine" coincides with the areas that are controlled by Jews is of quite recent vintage. But it has been repeated so often that, like many lies, it get accepted as truth by so-called "experts" in prestigious newspapers.

Sunday links

Durban III news:

France is the latest state to quit the anti-Israel, UN-sponsored Durban III conference.

The organizers of the conference banned UN Watch from attending.

The list of countries boycotting Durban III is (according to Challah Hu Akbar):

Israel

United States

France

New Zealand

United Kingdom

Austria

Australia

Bulgaria

Czech Republic

Germany

Italy

Netherlands

Canada

And if you are in the New York area on Thursday, don't forget to join the Durban III Clown Parade!
12 to 2 PM at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza.

Which is a theme I had explored earlier:

Other links:

At about the same time I was challenging liberal pundits to write articles on Mahmoud Abbas' intransigence, Jeffrey Goldberg sort-of did. Not nearly as strong as I would like, but at least it is out there.

Martin Sherman says, "I do not think there is a Palestinian nation. I think it’s a colonialist invention."

The London Philharmonic suspends four musicians for using its name in opposing the Israeli concert at the Proms.

Humor from Hurriyet Daily News: Dear Arab Brothers: Yes, you may borrow our Prime Minister.

Guilio Meotti on The Smiling Baby Killer.

Israel was accepted as an associate member of CERN.

(h/t Benjamin, Silke, Kramerica, Effector)

Young PalArabs aren't excited over the UN stunt, plan to skip rallies

From Ya Libnan:

Recent college graduate Reem Qadan is exactly the kind of young, energetic West Bank resident the Palestinian Authority hopes will hit the streets this week when it makes its historic case for U.N. membership and statehood recognition.

But rather than use her Facebook page to coordinate plans with friends to join the rallies, the 21-year-old is posting critical messages dismissing the United Nations bid as a “tale of collective mismanagement” by Palestinian leaders. Many of her Facebook friends echoed the sentiments and said they planned to skip the rallies.

In stark contrast with the flurry of diplomacy and international attention being focused on the U.N. campaign, the mood so far on the streets of the West Bank is surprisingly apathetic and sometimes even a little hostile.

“People simply don’t care,” Qadan said.

Critics said it was unrealistic to expect Palestinians — who have been disappointed by failed peace initiatives many times — to suddenly embrace the U.N. bid. But that hasn’t stopped the Palestinian Authority from launching an aggressive campaign to change that.

The authority recently distributed thousands of Palestinian flags and urged everyone to put them on their homes and cars as a sign of support. So far, only a few can be seen in the streets of Ramallah. Even government vehicles are not flying the flags.

Giant rallies have been scheduled for Wednesday and Friday.

To ensure a good turnout, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has called upon members of his Fatah movement, the largest political faction in the West Bank, to attend. About 80,000 government workers will be given time off, and some schools will closed. Thousands of Palestinians are expected to take part in the rallies.

So when we see the Western media breathlessly report about huge rallies in the territories this week, remember that all public employees and many schools are taking holiday just to inflate the numbers. Popular support is tepid at best, even in the Fatah stronghold of Ramallah!

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar)

"Islamophobia" news - ban on Paris street prayers, Dutch burqas

From The Telegraph:

Praying in the streets of Paris is against the law starting Friday, after the interior minister warned that police will use force if Muslims, and those of any other faith, disobey the new rule to keep the French capital's public spaces secular.

Claude Guéant said that ban could later be extended to the rest of France, in particular to the Mediterranean cities of Nice and Marseilles, where "the problem persists".

He promised the new legislation would be followed to the letter as it "hurts the sensitivities of many of our fellow citizens".

"My vigilance will be unflinching for the law to be applied. Praying in the street is not dignified for religious practice and violates the principles of secularism, the minister told Le Figaro newspaper.

The French did negotiate, however:

The ban came into effect after announcing an agreement to offer Muslim worshippers the use of a disused fire brigade barracks instead.

The agreement was made with two local mosques for the state to rent out the disused barracks on Boulevard Ney with floor space of 2,000 sq m (yds) for three years.

To encourage believers to use the new space, prayers would not be held inside the existing mosques for the first few weeks.

"We could go as far as using force if necessary (to impose the ban), but it's a scenario I don't believe will happen, as dialogue (with local religious leaders) has born fruit,” Guéant said.

"All Muslim leaders are in agreement."

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands:

The Dutch government said Friday that it would ban face-covering veils worn by some Muslim women because the garments flout the Dutch way of life and culture.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte also announced tougher rules for immigrants and asylum-seekers who want to pursue Dutch nationality; in the future, he said, they will have to show that they have income and that they have not received financial assistance or benefits for at least three years.

The country’s reputation as relatively tolerant and open to immigration has changed over the last decade, reflecting voters’ concerns over a large influx of Muslim immigrants.

“The government believes the wearing of clothing that completely or almost entirely covers the face is fundamentally at odds with public life, where people are recognized by their faces,” the government said in a statement.

Want to get Lebanese in trouble? Tweet them from Israel!

From Now Lebanon:

What happens if, while abroad, you make a friend who happens to be Israeli? What if you are attending an event with participants from the Jewish State and shake an Israeli representative’s hand? What if you bought a magazine that was printed in Tel Aviv and wanted to bring it back home?

These questions may seem superfluous to non-Lebanese, but for natives of the Land of the Cedars, engaging in any activity with an Israeli, physically or not, can land you in hot water.

That is because relations between Israelis and Lebanese are governed by two half-century-old laws: the 1943 Lebanese Criminal Code and the 1955 Lebanese Anti-Israeli Boycott Law, the former of which forbids any interaction with nationals of enemy states, and the latter of which specifies Israelis.

To boot, because in the laws’ eyes Lebanese nationality takes primacy over any other, a Lebanese who has dual citizenship and is involved in an exchange with an Israeli anywhere in the world can be legally prosecuted in a Lebanese court.

NOW Lebanon asked Salim El Meouchi, senior partner and chairman of the Beirut-based law firm Badri and Salim El Meouchi, just how far the laws extend.

Can a Lebanese citizen who Is physically In Lebanon, or can any resident of Lebanon, engage in a conversation with an Israeli citizen who is physically in Israel? What if the Lebanese has dual citizenship?

No in both cases, and the same applies if the person the Lebanese is talking to is Arab-Israeli. However, a Lebanese can legally call the Occupied Territories. Israelis can also call Lebanon, though engaging in a phone conversation should be avoided and would be considered illegal.

Can a Lebanese citizen who is in Lebanon engage in a conversation with an Israeli citisen who is outside of Israel?

No, not even through an intermediary or institution, though “If you are discussing non-threatening issues such as social small talk, and if you happen to be in another city, the case could, in principle, be defended," said El Meouchi.

Can a Lebanese citizen who is outside of Lebanon engage in a conversation with an Israeli who is outside of Israel?

No, though "In the case of spontaneity, tortuity and the discussion of non~threatening issues, it could be defended," noted El Meouchi.

Can a Lebanese who only holds a Lebanese passport marry an Israeli citizen, dual or not, outside of Lebanon and some back to Lebanon?

No. Article 1 of the Anti-Israeli Boycott Law prohibits any type of relation with Israelis, though it basically has to do with commercial and business transactions. As such, it could he argued that marriage is not a commercial or business transaction, said El Meouchi, However, such an argument may not convince the Lebanese government.

Can a Lebanese man marry an Israeli woman who gives up her nationality and transfer his Lebanese citizenship to her?

Yes. In principle this is possible, though the Lebanese government could take a negative position on a case-by-case basis, the lawyer said.

Can a Lebanese citizen do business from abroad with an Israeli who Is In Israel?

No.

Can a Lebanese buy an Israeli publication or product abroad and bring it back to Lebanon?

No.

Can a Lebanese citizen participate in a conference, festival or sporting event where an Israeli citizen is also a participant?

Yes, as long as they are not in direct communication.

Can a Lebanese publish in a journal in which an Israeli also published?

Yes, as long as the publication is not Israeli, does not publish from Israel, does not belong to an Israeli or a person residing in Israel, and as long as the Lebanese and Israeli did not communicate directly on the published work.

Can a Lebanese Iriend an Israeli on Facebook?

No, because technically speaking, any Facebook activity with an Israeli would still be considered a violation of Article I of the Anti-Israel Boycott Law.

As far as the question on sports competitions, the answer seems to be that Lebanese cannot even compete against Israelis - and must forfeit their matches, the way Iran does.

Sixteen-year-old Christopher Finan’s Tae Kwon Do coach has very high hopes for him. The teenager, who trains in Champville, north of Beirut, started to learn the Korean martial art when he was 10 and has rarely lost a match. Competing in the 2010 World Junior Championships in Tijuana, Mexico last month was a dream-come-true for the Lebanese junior champion. He paid for his own training and even bought his own ticket – which cost over $1,000 – to reach Mexico, but he was in for an ugly surprise.

Finan’s first opponent at the championship was Gil Haimovitz, an Israeli teenager. Finan had to forfeit the match, for as a Lebanese, he is not allowed to not touch, speak to, deal with or compete against an Israeli citizen, even if that citizen is just a 15-year-old boy.

According to that older article, Lebanon has the most restrictive anti-Israel laws of any country - including Iran!

No other Arab countries that take part in international competitions have national laws stipulating boycott with Israel in sports competitions, while Iran allows players to boycott as an individual decision.

It would be a real shame if Israelis should start conversations on, say, Sayed Nasrallah's YouTube page or on the talkbacks at his Al Manar channel. No matter what insult they hurl at him and his Lebanese Shi'ite buddies, they couldn't legally answer without breaking the law.

There's a lot of potential here....