Virgin stores respond to Mein Kampf issue - with lies (updated)

Yesterday, I reported that Virgin Megastores in both Qatar and Bahrain had featured an  Arabic version of Mein Kampf as "recommended" books to read for their customers.

The UAE-based National picked up on the story, and received a statement from Virgin in Doha:

Virgin Megastore Middle East is a regional leader in retail entertainment, offering our customers a wide range of products in many languages, genres and interests to satisfy the demand of our consumers across CDs, DVDS, electronics, gadgets and toys, multimedia games and accessories and books.

Each Virgin Megastore in the Middle East is responsible for the merchandising of products within its respective store and is not merchandised via a planogram from headquarters.

Recently, one of the region's Virgin Megastores included in its book section the Arabic translation of Mein Kampf, by Adolf Hitler, a title available worldwide in major bookstores and online.

For one day, the book was included in the recommended section. The recommended tag was not an endorsement of the book's author or its content. In response to a customer, we removed the title from the display. Commentary in the public domain was also taken seriously by Virgin Megastore and our policy is always to listen and respond immediately.

This is a very offensive statement filled with provable lies.

It wasn't only one store, but at least two (and possibly three - a commenter here saw Mein Kampf featured in an airport bookshop in Saudi Arabia, but did not recall if it was a Virgin store.)

How on earth can they say "The recommended tag was not an endorsement of the book's author or its content"? That's what the word "recommended" means!

It was not only in the Recommended case for a single day. Here is a photo from a tweet on November 5:

Here's the picture from the tweet I noted yesterday, dated November 23rd. Note that one of the "Recommended" books has changed in the meantime:

And while I don't know if it had been in the "Recommended" section earlier, someone complained about the book being sold at Gulf stores as long ago as April. (h/t Israellycool)

The Bahrain post I linked to was from a year ago.

In all those cases the customer complained, and it does not appear to have helped. I know I tweeted the company and received no response.

And moreover, how offensive is it that Virgin's response says that defends their decision to prominently and repeatedly display incitement to genocide as merely "a title available worldwide in major bookstores and online"?  You can bet that they wouldn't stock anything offensive to Islam, even if those books were "available worldwide in major bookstores and online."

Virgin ME is trying to squirm out of this, without any hint that it is even aware that it did anything wrong.

UPDATE: The Middle East Virgin stores are owned by The Azadea Group, not Virgin itself, except for Morocco.

However, Virgin seems to consider itself the lead company anyway. From its website:

Once a Virgin company is up and running, several factors contribute to making it a success. The power of the Virgin name; Richard Branson's personal reputation; our unrivalled network of friends, contacts and partners; the Virgin management style; the way talent is empowered to flourish within the group. To some traditionalists, these may not seem hard headed enough. To them, the fact that Virgin has minimal management layers, no bureaucracy, a tiny board and no massive global HQ is an anathema. But it works for us! The proof of our success is real and tangible.

Our companies are part of a family rather than a hierarchy. They are empowered to run their own affairs, yet the companies help one another, and solutions to problems often come from within the Group somewhere. In a sense we are a commonwealth, with shared ideas, values, interests and goals.

If they take credit, they must also take responsibility. (h/t Silke)

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Hamas denies its members are fleeing Syria

UPI reports:

Iran has threatened to cut off funds and arms to Hamas if its officials vacate their Damascus headquarters and leave Syria, Palestinian sources told Haaretz.

Hamas officials involved in raising funds for the organization's military wing and some members of the political leadership have already left Syria with their families for Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan and Qatar, the sources said.

The sources told Haaretz "second- and third-ranking" Hamas activists are leaving but senior leaders such as Khaled Masha'al will remain in the Syrian capital.

Hamas denies it:

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Monday categorically denied media reports about the departure from Damascus of families of the movement's leaders. According to these reports, these families have secretly left to the Gaza Strip amid the violent events taking place across Syria.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement on Monday, "the movement (headquarters) are still in Syria, and continue to work as usual, following the Palestinian issues, without any significant change." According to Barhoum, the reports about Hamas leaders leaving Syrian territory are just a "failed and miserable attempt to create the strained relationship between the movement and the Syrian regime," pointing out that Hamas has not taken any decision on this matter until this moment.

The Hamas official stressed that the movement is not looking for an alternative to host its leadership.

I would be very surprised if Iran would cut Hamas off even if it did leave Syria. Hamas is hardly strengthening Syria and its utility to Iran is its terrorism against Israeli Jews, not its presence in Syria.

So while I believe that some Hamas members are fleeing Syria, I doubt that Iran made any threats, except maybe as a form of posturing.

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Doublethink in action as Saudi Arabia says it may seek nukes

From AFP:

Saudi Arabia may consider acquiring nuclear weapons to match regional rivals Israel and Iran, its former intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal said on Monday.

"Our efforts and those of the world have failed to convince Israel to abandon its weapons of mass destruction, as well as Iran... therefore it is our duty towards our nation and people to consider all possible options, including the possession of these weapons," Faisal told a security forum in Riyadh.

"A (nuclear) disaster befalling one of us would affect us all," said Faisal.

Israel is widely held to possess hundreds of nuclear missiles, which it neither confirms nor denies, while the West accuses Iran of seeking an atomic bomb, a charge the Islamic republic rejects.

Riyadh, which has repeatedly voiced fears about the nuclear threat posed by Shiite-dominated Iran and denounced Israel's atomic capacity, has stepped up efforts to develop its own nuclear power for "peaceful use."

Israel is widely assumed to have had nuclear weapons capacity for over four decades.

Yet Saudi Arabia never made any indications of interest in acquiring nuclear capabilities until Iran started its own nuclear program.

If Saudi Arabia was ever really frightened that the warmongering Zionists would shoot atom bombs at Riyadh, why wouldn't they have started their nuclear program in the 1970s?

This is how Orwell's doublethink is working in the Arab and anti-Israel world, today.

Every intelligent person, like Prince Turki, knows that Israel is a rational player with morality and an instinct for self preservation. Every intelligent person also knows that the current Iranian leadership is irrational, unpredictable and more interested in macho posturing than in the well-being of its people, and that they are endangering the entire world with their reckless pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.

But no one is allowed to actually say it as it is.

So all we see and read are pro-forma denunciations of Israel, the pre-requisite to any other statement. The media, in this case AFP, dutifully reports the doublespeak without blinking an eye or noting the obvious counter-proof I mentioned above.

Turki is not worried about Israel at all. All his fears are towards Iran. But he must lie to maintain his standing in the viciously anti-Israel universe he inhabits.

This relatively small news story combines with thousands of others with similarly irrational slams against Israel, as every Arab, Muslim and far-leftist is required by their own peculiar mindset to frame everything in terms of "Zionist aggression." Even though they know that it is nonsense, it is hardwired in their collective psyches.

Millions of readers see stories like this and believe that a rational, ethical Israel is worse than an unstable Islamist regime who actively wants to start a new world war to bring the messianic Mahdi closer to Earth. They also see many, many similarly illogical stories blaming Israel for every ill without even unbiased  reporters caring enough (or even smart enough) to point out the obvious.

Generations of such news consumers are not exposed to the fact that they are being fed lies and naively believe wholeheartedly the lies they have been fed since they started to watch TV. They become the next generation of reporters and pundits, without even the ability to look at Israel fairly - and without even the language to do so.

It all ends up being a tsunami of lies and hate, an area so dark that candles here and there cannot make a dent in the deepening blackness of falsehood.

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Newspapers speculate on Iran, come up with different theories

The New York Times says:

It is still unclear what caused the explosion, with American officials saying they believe it was probably an accident, perhaps because of Iran’s inexperience with a volatile, dangerous technology. Iran declared it an accident, but subsequent discussions of the episode in the Iranian news media have referred to the chief of Iran’s missile program as one of the “martyrs” killed in the huge explosion. Some Iranian officials have talked of sabotage, but it is unclear whether that is based on evidence or surmise after several years in which Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated on Tehran’s streets, and a highly sophisticated computer worm has attacked its main uranium production facility.

Both American and Israeli officials, in discussing the explosion in recent days, showed little curiosity about its cause. “Anything that buys us time and delays the day when the Iranians might be able to mount a nuclear weapon on an accurate missile is a small victory,” one Western intelligence official who has been deeply involved in countering the Iranian nuclear program said this weekend. “At this point, we’ll take whatever we can get, however it happens.”

The Los Angeles Times says:

However, many former U.S. intelligence officials and Iran experts believe that the explosion — the most destructive of at least two dozen unexplained blasts in the last two years — was part of a covert effort by the U.S., Israel and others to disable Iran's nuclear and missile programs. The goal, the experts say, is to derail what those nations fear is Iran's quest for nuclear weapons capability and to stave off an Israeli or U.S. airstrike to eliminate or lessen the threat.

"It looks like the 21st century form of war," said Patrick Clawson, who directs the Iran Security Initiative at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a Washington think tank. "It does appear that there is a campaign of assassinations and cyber war, as well as the semi-acknowledged campaign of sabotage."

Or perhaps not. Any such operation would be highly classified, and those who might know aren't talking. The result is Washington's latest national security parlor game — trying to figure out who, if anyone, is responsible for the unusual incidents.

The Daily Mirror is more dramatic:

Sleeper agents in Tehran received coded signals and moved on their targets.

Their weapons were bombs made from household substances.

The result was more than a dozen fire-bomb attacks on the homes and offices of some of Iran’s leading nuclear scientists.

The message was clear. Agents working for Israel’s Mossad were telling Tehran: “Stop the nuclear weapons programme. We know where your key people are.”

The attacks would have been carried out not by Israelis but Iranian ­dissidents, ­probably trained by Mossad. Today the Mirror ­spotlights the secret war against Iran that has been going on for months.

Last week’s bombings were in response to threats by Tehran against Israel and the state-sponsored storming of the British embassy by demonstrators in Tehran.

And it goes on from there:

Within a fortnight we may see an all-out American air strike on a dozen key targets in the Islamic republic.

According to our sources, if the strike on Iran does take place, it will be US-led. British signals operators are likely to help monitor Iranian communications from a listening station in the Mediterranean. An ­intelligence source revealed: “There are UK experts nearer the region in places such as Cyprus who may assist in ­intercepting communications.

“And British warships will, of course, be in the Indian ocean – ostensibly helping the anti-piracy mission – but they will be able to provide aid.”

Almost hourly briefings are taking place between America’s most senior war ­planners in a bomb-proof bunker at US Central Command, called CentCom, in Tampa, Florida.

CentCom also has an office at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, in the Gulf, where staff help with the ­planning of an attack.

A new generation of super accurate missiles could be used to destroy bunkers up to 200ft underground. The US’s Massive Ordnance Penetrator, dubbed the Big Blu, was designed for targets in Iran.

B-2 Spirit stealth bombers will deploy the six-metre GPS-guided rocket, fitted with 2.5 tons of explosives.

They will be used to smash open bunkers and tunnels suspected of containing weapons of mass ­destruction. The £700million bombers are the most costly warplanes the world has seen.

They would fly a 13,000-mile-plus round trip to Iran from Whiteman air force base in Missouri or 12,500 miles there and back from Andersen US Bomber Forward Operating Base on the Pacific Island of Guam. If President Obama gives the go-ahead for a strike, Tomahawk cruise missiles are likely to be fired by US submarines in the Indian Ocean. They would slam into more than a dozen key targets.

Hellfire missiles unleashed by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles flying 40,000ft above Iran would target its nuclear labs in precision attacks.

Israel is committed to stopping Iran’s nuclear weapons programme but only the US has the resources to wipe out the suspect sites.

Barack Obama knows the longer he waits to give the go-ahead the greater the chances that Israel would launch an attack – with the possibility that they might not complete the job.

In the end, very few people actually know anything, making it easy to find experts willing to say anything.

(h/t Yoel)

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Evil Israeli army helps Gaza farmers

From the IDF:

IDF holds conference supporting Gaza flower export

The Erez Crossing Coordination Liaison Offices (CLO) at the Gaza Strip held a flower cultivation conference for 24 Palestinian representatives in response to the recent carnation export. The conference focused on protecting crops during the winter and the export process in general.

"There is not natural border between Israel and the Gaza Strip," explained (CLO) agricultural coordinator, Ori Madar. "Diseases and other infections can pass from the Gaza Strip to Israel and vice versa." He added that approximately 8% of the Gaza agricultural product is exported.

Israeli authorities and the IDF are essential in the Gaza flower export and follow international standards. "The CLO is also in charge of water systems as well as ground and product inspections, and provides Palestinian farmers with the necessary agricultural tools and support," explained Madar.

Such educational programs are held monthly, this particular conference dealing with American Carnation crops that are in high demand in markets in Holland. This year, over 20 million flowers are to be exported from the Gaza Strip, as well as strawberries, peppers and tomatoes.

"The participants are thirsty for knowledge. They are seeking innovation and we can provide them with it. We help them with marketing and optimize their export," explained Joseph Moshe who lectured at the conference.

"This is about our income," said one of the Palestinian farmers. "The information and support we get from the CLO is extremely beneficial. The flowers' quality is the most important component affecting our income. I learned a lot about packaging, and most of my work is based on information I acquired from Israel throughout the years.

I can't wait for "peace activists" and "human rights activists" put out any press releases praising this initiative between Israel and Palestinian Arabs as a shining example of peace and cooperation. After all, this should be an example as to how things should work, so no doubt these activists will be thrilled to learn about it. Otherwise, people might start to wonder whether they really care about peace at all.

And I found this news at an Arab website!

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Syria test-fires Scud B, other missiles - but betrays its fears

From UPI:

Syria test-fired at least one Scud B missile and other missiles "with accuracy" near the Iraqi border, officials said.

State television released footage of the tests, which SANA, the country's official news agency, said were aimed at proving the military's capability "to defend the homeland."

The test-firings "all achieved their goal with accuracy," the report said.

Israeli television reports said Scud B missiles have a range of about 190 miles. The reports said other surface-to-surface missiles, with a range of up to 124 miles, were also fired in the tests.

The WaPo adds:

[T]he combination of missile tests as well as air and ground troops indicate the maneuvers were of a higher-level than the military’s usual annual war games.

A telling detail comes at the end of official Syrian news agency SANA's report on the exercises:

Gen. Rajiha stressed that the armed forces, under the leadership of President Bashar al-Assad, will remain loyal to the homeland and will defend the interests of the Syrian people.

An unprompted assertion like that would never be stated by a nation confident in its own armed forces.

Syria's leadership is very nervous.

(h/t Yoel)

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Quartet irritated by Palestinian Arab actions

From Ha'aretz:

The U.S. government has asked senior Palestinian officials to refrain from leaking details of talks that took place recently between Middle East Quartet envoys, Israeli representatives and the Palestinian Authority.

According to a senior U.S. official, the Quartet agreed with Israel and the Palestinians that the content of the talks would remain confidential.

“Quartet members and parties have agreed to preserve confidentiality in their discussions. So frankly, we're somewhat disturbed by the fact that many of these details have appeared in the press,” the official said.

The Palestinians presented the Quartet with two documents relating to the borders of a future Palestinian state and security arrangements with Israel in November, but the Quartet told the Palestinians that the documents would not be passed to the Israelis, according to the official.

Quartet representatives told Saeb Erekat, head of the Palestinian negotiating team, that the proposals he presented were not relevant, because they had not been presented in direct talks with Israel, the official said.

The Americans have expressed displeasure with the Palestinians in part because of their refusal to engage in face-to-face talks with Israel. The Obama administration sees the Palestinian strategy of presenting proposals to the Quartet without engaging in direct talks as an attempt to change the rules of the game.

On December 13 and 14, Quartet envoys will once again hold separate meetings with Erekat, and Israeli negotiator Isaac Molho.

Haaretz reported on Thursday that Erekat presented Quartet representatives with two documents on November 14 that contained the Palestinian proposals. One document proposed the borders of a Palestinian state based on 1967 lines,but also indicated a willingness to swap 1.9 percent of West Bank territory with that of Israel.

The second document dealt with security arrangements and included the Palestinians' consent to an international peacekeeping force on the Israeli border and in the Jordan Valley. It also committed the Palestinians to refrain from forging military alliances with countries hostile to Israel, and also to the demilitarization of the West Bank. The proposal, however, would permit the Palestinians to have limited weaponry.

The Palestinian proposal was submitted in the context of a timeline suggested by the Quartet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York on September 23, just a short time after Netanyahu delivered a speech to the assembly. The Quartet's timeline called for the Palestinians and Israelis to submit proposals on borders and security issues by January 26 of next year, to serve as opening positions for subsequent negotiations.

The recent comments from Howard Gutman and especially Leon Panetta indicate that despite soothing words the Obama administration has hardly tilted towards Israel.

However, it is fascinating that Palestinian Arabs have managed to irritate three White House administrations in a row that had started off very supportive of them.

Clinton did more than anyone to turn Arafat from a terrorist into a respected politician, only to be rebuffed and insulted during negotiations in the final months of his presidency.

George W. Bush started out quite sympathetic towards Palestinian Arabs, but Arafat's lies to him during the Karine-A incident made him publicly call for a change in the PA leadership.

And now it appears that the White House, years after Obama told his friend Rashid Khalidi that he would tilt the US' policy towards Arab positions, is showing unhappiness towards the PLO leadership as well. And, more amazingly, so is the Quartet - which includes the UN.

The PLO will always pocket their gains given by successive US leadership, but it does not make them any more flexible or amenable to peace - on the contrary, it makes them more arrogant.

The lesson, that no Western leader seems to learn until it is too late, is that coddling Palestinian Arab leadership is counterproductive to peace.

If only that knowledge would transcend an election cycle.

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Exclusive: EoZ interview with Danny Ayalon

I interviewed Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon at the Bet El dinner on Sunday night. It was a noisy room so the sound quality isn't the greatest but for the most part it is understandable.

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More details on Shalit

YNet has some interesting new details on Shalit as a hostage in Gaza:

On Sunday Yedioth Ahronoth revealed that the kidnapped soldier decided to stop eating while captive and reached a point of malnutrition that put him in a life threatening situation.

According to the report, Shalit's hunger strike advanced his release as Hamas senior officials feared for his life.

An intelligence source said that "there were those in Hamas who feared that the extreme conditions under which Shalit was being held would mean they could not offer him the help he needed and he would die on them," and so they compromised over the details of the prisoner exchange deal.

The report also reveals that Shalit was injured from shrapnel during the kidnapping which just barely missed his vital organs. The wounds eventually healed.

I found this particularly interesting:

The news of Shalit's abduction led to a flurry of activity in Israel in a bid to find out which organizations were behind the attack and a great deal of effort was invested in trying to locate the place where Shalit was being held.

At a certain point Israel believed the intelligence efforts would bear fruit. Information that reached Israel claimed that the captive soldier was being kept in a northern Gaza house surrounded by a wall. Israel exerted many efforts in trying to find out exactly what was going on in the house and was even considering the possibility of a rescue mission.

Luckily, they found out that Iran and Hamas were "feeding" the information to Israeli intelligence: The house was in fact empty and booby trapped. The scheme set up by Iran and Hamas was to lure the Israeli rescue forces into the house and then blow it up with the forces inside.

And more:

Shalit was guarded by four Hamas members who were brought in from abroad especially for the secret mission. The foreign operatives were not replaced at any time during Gilad's captivity. "The four guards basically sentenced themselves to the same conditions in which Gilad was being incarcerated," the Israeli intelligence source noted.

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Now it is time for - Hunger-washing!

From YNet:

A majority comprised of 133 states voted at the United Nations General Assembly Friday in favor of an Israeli proposal to make farming technology more accessible to developing African nations. Arab countries, who opposed the measure for political reasons, led a group of 35 nations who abstained from the vote.

The measure proposed by the Jewish state is expected to aid the Arab world among other regions, and is in line with the UN policy to eradicate hunger and poverty.

Here's the good part:

Iraq expressed objection to the proposal on behalf the Arab states, claiming that Israel is exploiting the developing world's needs to make political gains and to mask "illegal and destructive" policies.

Sounds like they have been reading Sarah Schulman!

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Sunday links

Barry Rubin lets the Obama administration have it.

Take the Palestine Quiz!

The IDF's Mona Lisa - an Arab woman enlists in an elite IDF counter-terror unit.

From Bucharest to Jerusalem at Jewish Ideas Daily

Moderate PA envoy: "Israel never had any shred of right to exist"

Here's a photo from Israel's Terror Watch showing an Iranian protester throwing a stone at the British embassy while police just watch him.

(h/t Jewess, Yoel)

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France doesn't want to lead UNIFIL next year

From Naharnet:

France has renounced leading the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon fearing that its contingent would be a possible target of attacks if the situation on the border deteriorated, according to a report published in Le Figaro Newspaper on Saturday.

“It is better to stay in the shadows when the French diplomacy is taking a major role in the campaign on the Syrian regime,” military sources told the newspaper.

The sources said that France gave up its command role according to the rotation principle between the three European countries that have the wider participation in the UNIFIL, which are Italy, Spain, and France.

The command of the UNIFIL will be vacant in early 2012.

Le Figaro reported that the French step indicates the country’s decision to move away from the spotlight, as the UNIFIL peacekeepers “might be possible targets to be taken hostages if the situation in southern Lebanon deteriorates.”

On July 26, 2011, a roadside bomb hit a French convoy in the southern city of Sidon, wounding five French peacekeepers.

The newspaper added that the rocket attack from southern Lebanon into northern Israel on Tuesday indicates that any military intervention in Syria will “affect the whole region.”

According to Le Figaro France gave up leading the UNIFIL leadership without any media fuss and without announcing the step.

France considers that the UNIFIL mission is “incapable of carrying out its tasks … due to the reduced freedom of movement and the humiliation of the soldiers” in the south, the newspaper said.

Yeah, when they signed up to be patrolling a region dominated by a terrorist group sworn to destroy its neighbor to the south they had no idea that it might actually be dangerous!

If you didn't realize that UNIFIL was a joke before....

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