Monday, October 17, 2011

  • Monday, October 17, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
Although Hamas is bragging that it got "99%" of its demands in the Shalit swap, this is quite an exaggeration.

One major figure that Hamas wanted was Ibrahim Hamid. As Ha'aretz reported in June:
Ibrahim Hamid, a senior Hamas military commander in the West Bank, planned and saw to the carrying out of a shooting in the West Bank a year ago despite being in solitary confinement in an Israeli prison for the past five years.

Hamid, from the West Bank town of Silwad, was arrested in May 2006. He was tried and convicted of being responsible for the deaths of 46 Israeli in suicide bombings in the early days of the second intifada. According to the Shin Bet security service, Hamid is, in fact, responsible for the deaths of 90 Israelis, and is considered a "groundbreaker in the field of strategic terror" and a "model" for other terrorists.

Hamas wants Hamid included among the Palestinian prisoners to be exchanged for the release of Gilad Shalit, but Israel is adamant that he stay in jail.

Hamid has been in total isolation since his arrest. He was recently moved from Ayalon Prison to Hasharon Prison. With the exception of his attorneys, Hamid is barred from having visitors.

Last week, the Central District Court extended Hamid's solitary confinement by an additional six months in what has become a biannual event. Unclassified information submitted by the state to support its request to extend Hamid's isolation indicated the existence of recent intelligence "pointing to his involvement in planning, from prison, a shooting attack in which two Israelis were injured on September 1, 2010 at Rimonim Junction. [Hamid] constitutes a serious and extraordinary danger even from within prison."
There has been some controversy between the Fatah and Hamas press about whether Hamid's mother complained about her son not being released; apparently she did and turned around quickly when Hamas let her know their displeasure.

Other Hamas leaders whom Hamas, for years, insisted be released and whom Israel refused to release include:

Hassan Salama. Head of Hamas' Jerusalem branch, responsible for two suicide bombings on the city's No. 18 bus in 1996 and for a suicide bombing in Ashkelon the same year.

Abdullah Barghouti. Senior bombmaker for Hamas' military wing in the West Bank. He was convicted of planning terror attacks in which 66 Israelis were murdered and hundreds hurt, including the attack on a Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem.
He was sentenced to 67 life terms in 2003.

Abbas Sayid. Head of the Hamas military wing in Tul Karm. He was convicted of planning terror attacks in which 35 Israelis were murdered and hundreds hurt, including the attack on the Park Hotel in Netanya in 2002.
Sayid was sentenced to 35 life terms in 2006.

Mahand Sharim. Sayed's deputy, involved in planning the suicide attack on the Park Hotel in Netanya in 2002.

Ra'ad Hutri. One of the masterminds of the attack on the Dolphinarium in Tel Aviv, which killed 22 young Israelis. He was also involved in suicide attacks in Neve Yamin and at the Bar Ilan Bridge.

Jamal Abu al-Haiga. Hamas' leader in Jenin, sentenced to nine life terms for his involvement in suicide bombings at the Hadera Mall, at the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem. He also planned a number of other attacks from his home in Jenin.

Muath Bilal. Sentenced to 26 life sentences for the deaths of 26 Israelis. He was involved in suicide bombings at the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem and on the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall in 1997.

Bahij Badr. Responsible for the death of 18 Israelis in suicide bombing in Tzrifin, at the Hillel Cafe in Jerusalem and in south Tel Aviv.
(source)

Another prisoner who is not being released - and whose mother has taken ill because of it - is Issa Abed Rabbo, the longest serving prisoner, sentenced to life in 1984. I cannot find out his crime; pro-terror sites simply say that he was arrested for belonging to Fatah.

So it looks like most, if not all, of Israel's negotiating red lines were not crossed in this deal (at least so far.)

It is Hamas that caved, not Israel.
  • Monday, October 17, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From the Los Angeles Times:

As a child growing up in Kaifeng in central China, Jin Jin was constantly reminded of her unusual heritage.

"We weren't supposed to eat pork, our graves were different from other people, and we had a mezuza on our door," said the 25-year-old, referring to the prayer scroll affixed to doorways of Jewish homes.

Her father told her of a faraway land called Israel that he said was her rightful home, she recalls. But "we didn't know anything about daily prayers or the weekly reading of the Torah."

Jin has since fulfilled her father's dream. On a hot summer day in Jerusalem, where she works as a tour guide for Chinese citizens visiting Israel, Jin, who now goes by the Hebrew name Yecholya, wore a long khaki skirt, indicative of her conservative religious views, and Teva-like sandals, the national footwear of Israel.

Jin and her relatives belong to a community of Chinese Jews that was established in the 9th century by Persian traders who traveled along the Silk Road to Kaifeng, at the time China's capital.

Records documenting the group's history are spotty, but experts do know that some of the Jewish traders settled in Kaifeng and eventually built a synagogue with official recognition from the emperor. After the last rabbi in Kaifeng died in 1809, many began to forsake their religious practices while holding on to certain traditions, like the prohibition against pork and the celebration of a communal meal on Passover.

Then in 2005, Shavei Israel arrived. The privately funded conservative religious organization, based in Jerusalem, specifically targets descendants of Jews who have lost their connection to the religion, such as those forced to convert to Catholicism during the Inquisition in Spain.
A video about Shavei Israel and the Chinese Jews made two years ago shows more:



(h/t Philtheman, Ian)
  • Monday, October 17, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From YNet:


From the sea of words and images flooding the Israeli press since news of Gilad Shalit's return for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners broke, two female terrorists stand out above the others: Amina Mona from Fatah and Ahlam Tamimi of Hamas.

Mona was the mastermind behind the murder of teenager Ofir Rahum while Tamimi drove the Sbarro restaurant suicide bomber to his Jerusalem destination, where he murdered 15 Israelis and seriously injured many others.

In Israel, the release of the two is stirring strong emotions as they symbolize in their non-apologetic demeanor a strong sense of disgust and well-founded desire that they serve the rest of their lives in prison for their murderous activity. According to the prisoner swap deal, both will be deported: Mona to Gaza and Tamimi to Jordan.

As part of a project I conducted in Israeli prisons, I have held lengthy conversations with the two. Apart from being a young and intelligent woman, Mona turned out to be a manipulative woman with a larger ego than the entire Palestinian problem she claims to represent.

During our meetings, her mood swings could be easily identifiable. Alongside her outrageous statements defending her right to murder her enemies, including an innocent teenager who was lured by her romantic gestures, she still tried to convince me that she was not the monster that Israelis claim her to be.

Mona's problem is that it isn’t only Israelis who view her as a monster. Her fellow inmates also think she is. She controlled the prisoners in her ward with an iron fist as if she were Al Capone. Several inmates who refused to obey her orders suffered heavy punishments. Some were bitten by her while others suffered serious burns inflicted by boiling wax because they dared challenge her leadership.

Her infamous cruelty did not go unnoticed. Many Fatah members including her accomplice found it hard to defend her actions to me. Hamas even vowed to "sort things out" with her upon her release.

Even if it is no comfort to the Rahum family and the people of Israel, Mona may initially be received as a hero in Hamas-controlled Gaza, but her fate may not turn out to be as bright. She obviously won't enjoy much comfort in light of her abusive methods in prison.
On the other hand....
Ahlam Tamimi was always proud of the fact that she was the first female Hamas combatant. She planted an explosive charge she had made inside a bottle and placed it on a supermarket shelf. Since she had a press card, she was granted free access to roam Jerusalem and collected information on possible targets for Hamas.

She personally led the suicide bomber to the location that she had singled out – the Sbarro restaurant – because she said there were "many radical Jews there".

She spoke to me while maintaining a chilling and provoking composure, which characterizes her entire attitude. The only concern she expressed in our meetings, during which she defiantly described her story, pertained to a possible deportation to Jordan, as was eventually decided upon in this deal.

During her prison sentence, Tamimi got engaged to her cousin – who is also jailed in Israel – and may now remain single. In contrast to Mona, she is expected to join Hamas' propaganda machine because of her persuasive rhetoric ability. She may even turn into Hamas' Leila Khaled (a Fatah plane hijacker who became a leading voice of the Palestinian cause).
People may want to look at a poster series I did earlier this year on female terrorists including Tamimi.

  • Monday, October 17, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
Palestine Today reports that Marwan Barghouti, the senior terrorist in Israeli jails, was surprised by the Shalit deal and says he was in the dark about the negotiations.

According to a source close to Barghouti, he said that Hamas was not in contact with him, nor with Ahmed Sadaat of the PFLP or even with other major Hamas terrorist leaders who are not part of the deal.

He said, "No one told us that we will not be freed, and certainly they did not get our consent in writing.. We knew about the deal from the media, and that contrary to Hamas pledges to free us throughout the discussions of the deal, we were very surprised about it."

UPDATE: A Hamas website says that Barghouti's lawyer is denying this story, sayingthat the prisoners were kept abreadt of all the details and were told of "Zionist intransigence" towards their release. He blames the article on Fatah. The source it uses is a Facebook group.


The newspaper also reports that Hamas' interior minister has banned the use of shooting weapons in the air in celebration of the scheduled arrival of hundreds of prisoners on Tuesday.

He said that such celebrations are against the law and Hamas will prosecute any lawbreakers.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

  • Sunday, October 16, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Ma'an:

Egypt's finance minister, who has been negotiating with Gulf Arab states for financial assistance, said on Sunday that Qatar had given a grant of $500 million to support the budget which has ballooned as a result of political turmoil.

Hazem el-Beblawi said last week he was negotiating with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for funds worth close to $7 billion. He also said he was considering International Monetary Fund financing that Egypt previously turned down.

Egypt's economy, which had been growing robustly before the popular uprising earlier this year, was hit hard by the protests, which prompted foreign investors to withdraw funds and saw major revenue sources like tourism suffer.

"They transferred $500 million as a grant to Egypt," Hazem el-Beblawi told Reuters, adding that the Qatari funds had been transferred in the past week or so. "It is a grant for budgetary support," he added.
Qatar's pledges to the PA have been a lot less than that. In fact, Qatar had refused to pay its pledges to the PA back in 2007.

The PA must not be happy that the pockets of Gulf countries are open to Egyptian Arabs and not to the Palestinian Arabs.
  • Sunday, October 16, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Al Arabiya:
The issue of alleged money-laundering in Kuwait is no longer a local concern, but it is raising alarm in other Gulf Arab and Western countries, sources said.

The sources, Gulf Arab diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Kuwait al-Rai daily that investigations have begun, inquiries that have expanded since claims that Iran was behind plans to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington.

The investigations are looking into the extent to which some Kuwaiti officials and a businessman are involved in breaking the EU, U.S., and U.N. sanctions placed against Iran.

The alleged money-laundering scheme also involves countries including Germany, Russia and Britain.

According to Al Shahed newspaper in Kuwait, the money deposited in the accounts of two lawmakers, a former minister and a businessman, came in installments of $54,267,200, $180,891,000 and $162,802,000, for a total of $397,960,000.

Al Rai daily, the media outlet that broke the news, said that the amount alleged was $300 million, and that around $180 million was deposited in the accounts after the amount was taken on a private plane from Kuwait to Amsterdam.

The money was then taken to Moscow, where it was kept for four days before it was moved to Iran and then back to Kuwait.

Experts said that laundering money through a third country can help Iran get around the sanctions imposed on it.

In the alleged plot to kill a Saudi ambassador on U.S. soil, a complaint from the U.S. Justice Department claimed that one of the key plotters, Manssor Arbabsiar, an Iranian-American citizen who is now in U.S. custody, was able to transfer of $100,000 from Iran to a financial institution in an unnamed country.

The Justice Department complaint said that the money moved to a bank in New York and was then deposited into an account monitored by the FBI.
Following the money works just as well today as it did in the days of Al Capone.

  • Sunday, October 16, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
I had missed this video:
In the absence of any sustained conflict, packs of photojournalists and freelance photographers have taken to covering the so-called “Friday demonstrations” staged weekly by Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank against settlements and the Israeli West Bank barrier. Each Friday, Israeli Defence Forces and border police routinely trade tear gas for stones with Palestinian youth, thereby presenting photographers with opportunities for dramatic images. Easily accessible by taxi and safer than an actual conflict zone, these demonstrations have become training grounds (some might saybattling grounds) for young conflict photographers. Documentary filmmaker Andrew Lampard is preparing an hour-long film on the subject. This video piece, excerpted from the longer documentary, examines the issues that arise when “the pack” visits these demonstrations.

In this video is that you see numerous journalists and photographers saying, quite clearly, that if there were no journalists there would be no demonstrations and that there is really no news here but it is a play where photographers jostle to outdo each other. They say that while the intifada was a real story, the weekly Silwan and Bili'n demonstrations are little more than a game, where reporters who want to pretend to be in a war zone go to dodge tear gas and feel macho.

The place I saw this video was in a blog entry by Lisa Goldman in 972 magazine who is disingenuously claiming that this video, and another video I had linked to earlier, are not showing the real truth. Incredibly, she believes that the two videos are being more deceptive than the photos filed by wire services where you cannot see the gaggle of photographers crowding around a single stone thrower mugging for his audience.
But there are a few questions that are not asked by these journalists.... Questions like, Why are these Palestinians out demonstrating in the first place? Why do they come out, week after week, to face Israeli security forces who choke them with tear gas, beat them and arrest them? What are their grievances?
This video says, quite clearly, that the tear gas always comes after the Arab youth start throwing stones. And that the stone throwing is magnified by the media. The arrests are not unprovoked. But Goldman specifically ignores that and frames these events as if these stone-throwing youth are peacefully demonstrating and then the evil IDF, for no reason, starts choking and beating them. How objective she is!

The video also shows that there is nothing newsworthy about the demos, that they are the same every week, that there are literally thousands of photos that show the same thing - and that they are boring. But that enrages our intrepid journalist Lisa Goldman:
Neither of the two video reports include any background or explanation. They also don’t really touch on the fact that very few of the photos and videos shot at these demos are ever published. Editors are not interested anymore. Their readers have turned away; Israel-Palestine is regarded as a story that is stuck in Groundhog Day, doomed to repeat itself in perpetuity.
Instead, she wants the world to remain enraged in perpetuity! How dare the world media decide that weekly staged demonstrations - a game played between the Arab kids, the journalists and the soldiers - are anything less than an expression of sheer anger and desperation! How dare editors choose stories from Syria or Yemen or Tunisia instead of yet another story of pawns playing a game in Silwan every damn week? Don't they know what is newsworthy, like Lisa Goldman does?

In fact, Goldman lets us in on a secret:
Do teenage boys wearing jeans and muscle shirts swagger and act all macho when a bunch of photojournalists point big lenses in their direction? Yup, they do. Do they sometimes make a mockery out of stressful, frightening situations in order to preserve their dignity, their cool and their street cred? Sure. Does that mean they have no reason or purpose in demonstrating? Of course not. Would the same people demonstrate if there was no media presence? Yes. I know, because I have attended many demonstrations from which the media was completely absent, and events unfolded in pretty much the same way as they do when the photographers are there.
It is a mystery how Goldman, a journalist, has attended demonstrations where there was no media. Was  she was wearing a burqa? She is obviously Western - is she really claiming that she is not part of the audience for these demonstrations?

There is no shortage of other observers besides the mainstream media who play parts in this charade. NGOs, so called "peacemaking" teams, and other Westerners are always around for these exercises and they are just as much an audience as the photographers. Their mobile phones take pictures and videos too, and they post things on their websites.

Goldman's piece is fascinating in how she gets so angered at the truth being revealed about the staged charades that occur every week. Perhaps because she knows that a large chunk of her paycheck comes from her inflating the importance of these trivial events rather than uncover real news - news that might even show Palestinian Arabs as less than heroic youths fighting to "preserve their dignity."

(h/t Richard)

  • Sunday, October 16, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Iran's official FARS "news" agency as well as Iran's ABNA agency:
The Iranian author of the book "Yisroel and Zionacracy", Seyed Hashem Mir-Lohi, took Zionists responsible for the current economic crisis in a large number of the world countries, and said the only way to rescue the world from the current situation is harnessing Zionists' greed and expansionism.

"To save the world from the current situation and prevent further calamities, there is no way out but controlling the Zionists," Mir-Lohi said at a press conference at Fars News Agency on Sunday.

He also reiterated that the current economic problems of the American people which have sparked the "Occupy Wall Street" movement were resulted from the malfunction of the US banks which are mostly under the Zionists' control.

Even the US presidential election candidates should be approved by the Zionist lobby active in the country, Mir-Lohi said.

"Thus, Americans are actually protesting against the behind-the-stage policies of their countries which are decided and run by the Zionists," he added.
The search and replace algorithm replacing "Jew" with "Zionist" is always amusing.

I can't wait for the press release saying that "Zionists" have hook noses.

  • Sunday, October 16, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Amnesty International:
12 October 2011
Amnesty International today urged Canadian authorities to arrest and either prosecute or extradite former US President George W. Bush for his role in torture, ahead of his expected visit to Canada on 20 October.

“Canada is required by its international obligations to arrest and prosecute former President Bush given his responsibility for crimes under international law including torture,” said Susan Lee, Americas Director at Amnesty International.

“As the US authorities have, so far, failed to bring former President Bush to justice, the international community must step in. A failure by Canada to take action during his visit would violate the UN Convention against Torture and demonstrate contempt for fundamental human rights.”
A failure by Canada to arrest former President Bush demonstrates contempt for human rights?

I have never seen Amnesty urge any Western nation to arrest Mahmoud Abbas, whose Palestinian Authority has been found to - surprise! - torture prisoners. Similarly, I cannot find any Amnesty calls to arrest leaders of Hamas or other terror groups. (Egypt, for example, is a signatory to the Convention Against Torture and Amnesty did not urge Egypt to arrest any Palestinian Arab terrorist or political leader responsible for torture when they are in its territory.)

Amnesty, it will be remembered, has defended a supporter of the Taliban as a "human rights defender" and suspended an employee who disagreed.

If anyone needed any more evidence of the twisted priorities of Amnesty International, this pretty much seals the deal.

(h/t CHA, Daled Amos)
  • Sunday, October 16, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
Palestine Today writes that "Jewish extremist groups" have "stormed" the Temple Mount to "terrorize and intimidate" Muslim worshippers and celebrate the Sukkot holiday.

David Ha'Ivri, spokesman for the Shomron Liaison Office, tweets that he spent 5 hours in Israeli police custody for the crime of praying in the holiest spot in Judaism.

Arutz-7 reports:
Arab policemen arrested two Jews, including a prominent spokesman in Samaria, for allegedly bowing down and praying on the Temple Mount Sunday morning.

Shomron (Samaria) Liaison Spokesman David Ha’Ivri told Arutz Sheva, “We were in a group of 25 men performing the mitzvah of being seen on the Temple Mount during the Sukkot holiday.

“Suddenly, two policemen said a friend and I were bowing down, which they say is forbidden.” Ha’Ivri said the policemen were non-Jews and, responding to Arutz Sheva, identified them as Arabs.

“I told the policemen, ‘Look, there are Arab watch guards here, and they are not making a fuss about it.’ The policemen replied, 'It is forbidden to bow down, and we are just doing our job.'”

He added, “Can you imagine being indicted for bowing down?”

Ha’Ivri said he has ascended the Temple Mount several times a year for the past 20 years and was arrested only once, many years ago.

Abiding by known rules issued by Muslim clerics, Ha’Ivri and the other members of the group did not carry with them any prayer books or religious items, which are forbidden by Jews to being with them when going up to the Temple Mount
.
From AFP:
Egypt is mulling its own prisoner exchange with Israel, swapping a U.S.-Israeli joint national suspected of spying for Israel for 81 Egyptians detained in the Jewish state, the state-owned daily Al-Ahram said Sunday.

Ilan Grapel, who has been in custody since June 12, has been accused of being an agent of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency and of sowing sectarian strife and chaos in Egypt during the uprising which ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February.

Israel has strongly denied the claims, insisting the whole thing was a mistake and accusing Egyptian authorities of “bizarre behavior.”

Egypt mediated between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas to secure a deal under which more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners are to be freed in exchange for soldier Gilad Shalit, captured in 2006.

“All reports suggest that the Shalit deal will not be the only one concluded between Arabs and Israel in the coming days,” Ahram said.

It should “soon be followed by another deal, between Egypt and Israel, in which the spy Ilan Grapel... will be released in return for all Egyptians held in Israeli prisons,” the daily said.

There are 81 Egyptian prisoners, including three children, held in Israel, the majority facing criminal charges, including illegal entry to Israel, drug trafficking and arms possession.

Negotiations on an exchange are almost finished, the paper said.

“The success of the Egyptian mediation of the Shalit deal and Israel’s formal apology to Egypt for the death of Egyptian soldiers killed on the border by Israeli fire, certainly cleared the road for making the Grapel deal.”
Al Ahram published a list of the 81 prisoners that it says Israel would release. Most of their crimes are for illegally infiltrating Israel, drug charges, or weapons charges, with sentences from 3 to 15 years.

Two of them, however, may be terrorists: Atef Ahmed Hamdan Qudaih is a Palestinian who was sentenced to 20 years for attempted murder, and Mohamed Hassan Osman was sentenced to 15 years also for attempted murder. I have not been able to find out the details of these cases.

UPDATE: Sylvia in the comments notes that Egypt is holding another Israeli citizen, Ouda Tarabin, a Bedouin being held on trumped up spy charges who was arrested for visiting relatives in El Arish. It would be tragic if he is not included in any deal.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

  • Saturday, October 15, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Ha'aretz, in an interview with outgoing Microsoft Israel executive Moshe Lichtman:

Another successful project conceived at Microsoft's Herzliya development center was the free antivirus program Microsoft Security Essentials.

"Two and a half years ago we decided we needed to offer a free security solution," Lichtman says. "At that time 60 percent of computers - 1.5 billion - were not protected by an antivirus program, and we wanted to change that. It was important to us that our antivirus program could be installed only on legal versions of our operating system. Within a year, that product, which was developed by fewer than 30 people, had 100 million downloads. It quickly became the No. 1 information security product. That is rare."
So as a service to people who want to boycott all Israeli products, if you are running Windows, look at the bottom right of your screen to see if there is an icon that looks like this:

If so, you had better uninstall that application immediately!

And since there are other innovations coming out of Microsoft Israel, you might want to get rid of Windows altogether.

Don't be a hypocrite - do it now!

And publicly tell everyone about it, with your email address, so that people worldwide can send you messages of congratulations, along with appropriate email attachments.
  • Saturday, October 15, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From JWeekly:
A sukkah in the common area of a Palo Alto apartment complex has become the center of a burgeoning debate.

Abraham Berman, 81, who lives with his wife, Sylvia, 80, in the Sheridan Apartments, has erected a homemade sukkah on the complex’s second-floor patio every Sukkot for the past 11 years.

This year, the Palo Alto Housing Corporation, a nonprofit that manages 20 affordable-housing properties, informed Berman that he would no longer be permitted to build the structure, as part of a prohibition against personal property in common areas.

When Berman countered that the complex often has other “personal” decorations and religious symbols in common areas — such as a Christmas tree on the ground floor — housing officials informed him that the tree will be scrapped this year, as well, presumably at all 20 properties.

After erecting last year’s sukkah, Berman received a letter informing him of the rules. He tried to educate the property managers about Sukkot, the weeklong harvest festival, sending them photos of sukkahs erected in public areas, such as one at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

“I do this to present good will toward the world, and as far as I know everyone enjoyed it,” Berman said on Oct. 11, one day before the start of Sukkot. “I would say, Come in, have coffee, share something to eat. It wasn’t interfering with anything.” He added that he had no plans to defy the regulations.

But Berman said he was dismayed that the dispute might be morphing into a debate about public displays of one’s religion. “I don’t want this to be a situation where they use my sukkah to deny someone else their religious practices,” he said.

Georgina Mascarenhas, the director of property management, told the Palo Alto Weekly that the previous building manager at the complex had been remiss in allowing the structure to go up year after year, and that manager was replaced earlier this year.

“The issue is that residents are not allowed to put up anything personal in the common area,” she told the newspaper. “Whatever they do within their apartments is fine and we certainly don’t question that at all.”

As of Oct. 11, city officials were notified of the dispute and promised to take steps to mediate, but no solution had been reached.
From other news stories it is clear that Berman cannot put up a kosher sukkah on his balcony.

Political correctness run amok.

(h/t jzaik)

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

  • Wednesday, October 12, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon




Wishing all my readers a great Yom Tov!

I will not be posting until at least Saturday night.
  • Wednesday, October 12, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From YNet:
Two 16-year-old teens were arrested in suspicion of spraying slogans reading "death to Jews" on four synagogues and vehicles in Safed.

During their investigation, the two admitted committing the acts and claimed they did it to protest the mosque arson in Tuba Zangaria. The two will be brought in front of a judge on Thursday for a remand hearing.
I still have never seen any condemnation of the vandalism at Joseph's Tomb. I anticipate a similar silence from all Muslim and Arab leaders about this attack.
  • Wednesday, October 12, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Iran's ISNA agency:
Iran said Canada is involved in Zionist regime's war crimes since it has provided weapons for the regime.

Iranian mission in the recent meeting of the UN General Assembly Disarmament and International Security Committee said Canadian "baseless" allegation on Iranian peaceful nuclear drive carries misleading information on humane aspects of the country's nuclear work.

Canadian ambassador has claimed the process of 20-percent uranium enrichment by Iran is "illegal."

"Uranium enrichment to that level is completely legal and aims to supply fuel for Tehran research reactor which provides medical isotopes for over 1,000,000 patients suffering cancer," the Iranian mission said.

Iran also criticized deadly silence of Canada on Zionist regime's secret plan to develop nuclear weapons without any international inspection which is a "serious threat for regional and international peace."

"Canada is one of the major weapons providers for Zionist regime and is involved in its crimes against occupied Palestinian lands. Canada should be tried," the mission added.
A badge of honor!
  • Wednesday, October 12, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From 10million.org:

On the night of January 1, 1970, a group of Fatah terrorists infiltrated Metula from Lebanon and abducted a night watchman named Shmuel Rosenwasser. The terrorists, together with the abduction victim, withdrew to Kfar Kila which is located about two kilometers west of Metula in Lebanon. This was the first abduction attack perpetrated by a Palestinian terror organization inside Israel.

This terror attack was perpetrated to mark the anniversary of the Fatah’s first terror attack (placing a demolition charge at Israel’s national water conduit). January first was also considered the anniversary of the organization’s establishment. The Fatah claimed responsibility for the abduction several days after the attack and demanded that the State of Israel release 100 terrorists incarcerated in Israel while giving first priority to the terrorist Mahmoud Hijazi

Mahmoud Hijazi was a terrorist who served in the Fatah organization. On January 7, 1965 Hijazi commanded the Fatah’s first terror attack. Hijazi’s terror squad, which included 5 additional terrorists, detonated an explosive device at the water institute in moshav Nechusha situated in the Ela Valley in Israel. Hijazi was wounded and apprehended.

He stood trial at a military court which sentenced him to death. Hijazi appealed this verdict in the military appeals court, which ordered a retrial. During the trial, Hijazi demanded to be recognized as a prisoner of war. The court turned down this request and in May 1966, Hijazi was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Hijazi was only the second person in Israeli history to be sentenced to death, after Adolf Eichmann.

The decision to swap him for Rosenwasser was only a one-to-one swap. However, and in retrospect, that was the decision that emboldened Palestinian Arabs to continue to kidnap Israelis in order to bargain for Israel's release of other terrorists.

The Rosenwasser abduction was followed by a number of others kidnappings and attempted hostage taking, such as a 1974 attack in Beit She'an where terrorists broke into a family home for the purpose of taking them hostage and negotiating a release of terror prisoners. The 1974 Ma'alot massacre started off as a hostage drama as well. Even though Israel did not capitulate in any of the attacks on Israeli soil and usually killed the terrorists, their incentive to mount hostage-taking attacks did not lessen.

The prisoner-exchange train had already left the building in 1970. It is not possible to turn the clock back. Even if the current Israeli government had publicly announced that Shalit was considered dead and that there will be no negotiations, the public pressure in Israel would not have closed the door and Hamas would have waited for a different government to renew its demands.

For these reasons, I do not accept the argument that it is possible to remove the incentive for kidnappings by refusing to negotiate. The terrorists will continue no matter what.

Not that there aren't other options that should be explored. Reinstating the death penalty for terror attacks, which would remove any terrorists available for exchanges, may be unlikely to happen but it would be more effective - and humane.  Israel has tried to seize terrorists on its own as bargaining chips but for some reason it never followed through to the end. Other possible but problematic ideas include cyanide pills for soldiers to kill themselves rather than be allowed to become hostages, or instructions to go after the kidnappers without any regard to the safety of the hostages.

Obviously, prisoner swaps are not ideal and depending on the circumstances they can be horrible mistakes. The Samir Kuntar debacle is a textbook example of the worst possible type of exchange.

But I cannot see a way that terrorists will ever stop kidnapping Israelis in an attempt to negotiate a release of prisoners.

Not since 1970.
  • Wednesday, October 12, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From JTA:
A new mobile app provides a database of information about Zionism and Israel.

The free “Zionation” app for iPhone and Android devices, developed by the World Zionist Organization’s Department for Diaspora Activities, includes a Zionist calendar that marks and provides background information on significant dates in the history of Zionism and the State of Israel.

The app, which supports Hebrew, English and Spanish, also notifies users about conferences and events occurring in their communities or around the world.

Gusti Yehoshua-Braverman, the co-chair of the Department for Diaspora Activities, said the app is designed to resonate with a younger Jewish generation.

“We believe that now more than ever, given the alienation among large segments of the Jewish community from the State of Israel, that it is our duty to encourage the younger generation to create their own Zionist Jewish identity based on knowledge and familiarity with major figures and historical events, values and achievements,” he said in a statement.

I downloaded this app, and it is as close to a useless application as you can imagine.

It contains three sections on its home page: "Yearly events," "Protagonists of Zionism" and the ever popular "About."


For October, it has exactly one event: the memorial day for Rahav'am Ze'evi. That's it. Nothing about the Yom Kippur War, for example. (But you can add Ze'evi's memorial day to your calendar!)

The awfully named "Protagonists of Zionism" section is even worse. It has five categories: Prime Ministers, Presidents of the State of Israel, Nobel Prize Laureates, Olympic Champions and Winners of the Eurovision.

Have all Zionist heroes been reduced to this?

It is like a really, really bad website, with very little information. Nothing interactive. Essentially nothing useful in its "database." The biographies are ridiculously short.  It is only a week old and already out of date, since there is a new Israeli Nobel laureate.

If this is how the WZO is trying to engage young people, they are even more clueless than I would have imagined. I can guarantee that no "young people" will use this app more than once, probably to laugh at it.

I am shaking my head thinking how much this cost the WZO in time and money. If this is how they think they can engage Zionist youth, they might as well close that division  - or hire someone who is not completely ignorant about how young people think.
  • Wednesday, October 12, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Wafa:
PLO Executive Committee Member, Saeb Erekat, Wednesday denied reports that the Quartet has proposed a meeting between the Palestinians and Israelis in Jordan later this month.

Erekat, speaking to Voice of Palestine radio, said the Quartet contacted the Palestinian leadership and denied statements by US State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, announcing the proposed meeting between both sides.

But in WaPo:
International Mideast mediators proposed a meeting between Israel and the Palestinians this month to relaunch stalled peace talks, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday the global spotlight on the conflict should be a catalyst to bring the two sides together.

On Sept. 23, hours after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas took his people’s quest for independence to the United Nations and asked for U.N. membership, the Quartet moved to revive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. It set a 30-day deadline for the two sides to hold preliminary talks aimed at resurrecting direct negotiations and called for a peace deal by the end of 2012.

To keep up the momentum, the Quartet wants both sides to meet in Jordan on Oct. 23, the deadline they set for talks to resume.

Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said there would be no decision on whether the Palestinians would attend the meeting until a formal invitation had been received.
So Erekat knew about the proposal, even if it wasn't a formal invitation - and then he turned around and told Wafa that there was no proposal for talks at all.

Obviously the Quartet would not issue a formal invitation if it knows that one side will refuse, because that would be embarrassing. But it is just as obvious that the Quartet has been pushing for, and proposing, meetings between the two sides.
  • Wednesday, October 12, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon

From Emirates 24/7:

Saudi Arabia’s religious police have told foreign players with tattoos on their arms to cover such drawings while on the field, saying they are adversely affecting young Saudis, a newspaper reported on Monday.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice sent a letter to the Higher Youth Committee asking it to warn all foreign players in the conservative Muslim Gulf kingdom to cover their tattoos before going into the field during matches, Sabq Arabic language daily said.

The letter cited Columbian player at Al Nasr Club, Juan Pablo Pino, whose hands and shoulders are covered with tattoos “in violation of existing rules.”

These tattoos have negative effects on the Saudi youth…you are asked to draw the attention of all foreign players in the Kingdom to the need to abide by the rules and cover their tattoos during matches,” the letter said.

The paper said the letter contained a photograph of Pino, showing his two arms are covered with tattoos.

The paper said the letter followed a picture published in local newspapers showing Pino’s tattoos included some “Christian drawings.”

The 24-year-old Pino and his pregnant wife were detained by Commission members at a Riyadh shopping mall this week on the grounds he was wearing a T-shirt without sleeves.

More from Zimbabwe Metro:
“Sleeveless shirt is a threat to Saudi’s society, and the tattoo is an insult to our local Muslims. It is completely a negative influence and would send wrong message for the Saudi youths who may imitate him,” the letter said.

Pino is under contract to play for Saudi Arabia’s Al Nasr football club. He has expressed his “deep sadness” over the incident and said that it was not his intention to violate the laws of the country. The communiqué adds that the player was in the mall “to buy Muslim clothes for his wife, so that she can go out in public dressed in a respectful manner.”

Last year, Romanian player Mirel Radoi, from the Saudi Al-Hilal club kissed the cross he was wearing after scoring a goal. The episode outraged Saudi Muslims and caused a media outcry.

Following the incident however, Pino’s pregnant wife is so distressed that she is now demanding that she and her husband be allowed to leave Saudi Arabia immediately. Al Nasr club has asked its Argentine coach Gustavo Costas to try and persuade Pino’s wife to change her mind but his attempts so far have been futile.

The Argentine coach sent to persuade Pino’s wife himself, also had similar issue. In an interview with the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio, Gustavo Costas told about his new life in Saudi Arabia (previously he coached the Peruvian team in Lima, Alianza Lim). In Lima he made the sign of the cross before every game, and wore a rosary around his neck. “Now I can not do this in public, I can only do it in the locker room. If I made the sign of the cross publicly, the Saudis would kill or stone me,” said Costas.
It is dangerous to be a Christian soccer player in the Kingdom - as long as our heroes at the Commission are on the case!

Printfriendly

EoZTV Podcast

Podcast URL

Subscribe in podnovaSubscribe with FeedlyAdd to netvibes
addtomyyahoo4Subscribe with SubToMe

search eoz

comments

Speaking

Follow by Email

translate

E-Book

For $18 donation








Sample Text

EoZ's Most Popular Posts in recent years

Hasbys!

Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 14 years and 30,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

Donate!

Donate to fight for Israel!

Monthly subscription:
Payment options


One time donation:

subscribe via email

Follow EoZ on Twitter!

Interesting Blogs

Categories

#PayForSlay Abbas liar Academic fraud administrivia al-Qaeda algeria Alice Walker American Jews AmericanZionism Amnesty analysis anti-semitism anti-Zionism antisemitism apartheid Arab antisemitism arab refugees Arafat archaeology Ari Fuld art Ashrawi ASHREI B'tselem bahrain Balfour bbc BDS BDSFail Bedouin Beitunia beoz Bernie Sanders Biden history Birthright book review Brant Rosen breaking the silence Campus antisemitism Cardozo cartoon of the day Chakindas Chanukah Christians circumcision Clark Kent coexistence Community Standards conspiracy theories COVID-19 Cyprus Daled Amos Daphne Anson David Applebaum Davis report DCI-P Divest This double standards Egypt Elder gets results ElderToons Electronic Intifada Embassy EoZ Trump symposium eoz-symposium EoZNews eoztv Erekat Erekat lung transplant EU Euro-Mid Observer European antisemitism Facebook Facebook jail Fake Civilians 2014 Fake Civilians 2019 Farrakhan Fatah featured Features fisking flotilla Forest Rain Forward free gaza freedom of press palestinian style future martyr Gary Spedding gaza Gaza Platform George Galloway George Soros German Jewry Ghassan Daghlas gideon levy gilad shalit gisha Goldstone Report Good news Grapel Guardian guest post gunness Haaretz Hadassah hamas Hamas war crimes Hananya Naftali hasbara Hasby 2014 Hasby 2016 Hasby 2018 hate speech Hebron helen thomas hezbollah history Hizballah Holocaust Holocaust denial honor killing HRW Human Rights Humanitarian crisis humor huor Hypocrisy ICRC IDF IfNotNow Ilan Pappe Ilhan Omar impossible peace incitement indigenous Indonesia international law interview intransigence iran Iraq Islamic Judeophobia Islamism Israel Loves America Israeli culture Israeli high-tech J Street jabalya James Zogby jeremy bowen Jerusalem jewish fiction Jewish Voice for Peace jihad jimmy carter Joe Biden John Kerry jokes jonathan cook Jordan Joseph Massad Juan Cole Judaism Judea-Samaria Judean Rose Judith Butler Kairos Karl Vick Keith Ellison ken roth khalid amayreh Khaybar Know How to Answer Lebanon leftists Linda Sarsour Linkdump lumish mahmoud zahar Mairav Zonszein Malaysia Marc Lamont Hill Marjorie Taylor Greene max blumenthal Mazen Adi McGraw-Hill media bias Methodist Michael Lynk Michael Ross Miftah Missionaries moderate Islam Mohammed Assaf Mondoweiss moonbats Morocco Mudar Zahran music Muslim Brotherhood Naftali Bennett Nakba Nan Greer Nation of Islam Natural gas Nazi Netanyahu News nftp NGO Nick Cannon NIF Noah Phillips norpac NSU Matrix NYT Occupation offbeat olive oil Omar Barghouti Only in Israel Opinion Opinon oxfam PA corruption PalArab lies Palestine Papers pallywood pchr PCUSA Peace Now Peter Beinart Petra MB philosophy poetry Poland poll Poster Preoccupied Prisoners propaganda Proud to be Zionist Puar Purim purimshpiel Putin Qaradawi Qassam calendar Quora Rafah Ray Hanania real liberals RealJerusalemStreets reference Reuters Richard Falk Richard Landes Richard Silverstein Right of return Rivkah Lambert Adler Robert Werdine rogel alpher roger cohen roger waters Rutgers Saeb Erekat Sarah Schulman Saudi Arabia saudi vice self-death self-death palestinians Seth Rogen settlements sex crimes SFSU shechita sheikh tamimi Shelly Yachimovich Shujaiyeh Simchat Torah Simona Sharoni SodaStream South Africa Sovereignty Speech stamps Superman Syria Tarabin Temple Mount Terrorism This is Zionism Thomas Friedman TOI Tomer Ilan Trump Trump Lame Duck Test Tunisia Turkey UAE Accord UCI UK UN UNDP unesco unhrc UNICEF United Arab Emirates Unity unrwa UNRWA hate unrwa reports UNRWA-USA unwra Varda Vic Rosenthal Washington wikileaks work accident X-washing Y. Ben-David Yemen YMikarov zahran Ziesel zionist attack zoo Zionophobia Ziophobia Zvi

Blog Archive