Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, December 09, 2011

Latest Latma

Danny Ayalon's speech to the UNHCR

Since this seems to have been Danny Ayalon week at EoZ, I might as well finish it off with the full text of the speech he gave at a UNHCR Ministerial Meeting in Geneva yesterday:

Thank you, Mr. High Commissioner.

I would like to congratulate the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on the 60th anniversary of the UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Your office and the convention are vital tools in dealing with the global challenge of helping people in need who were forced for different reasons to leave their homeland and families and to find a better life somewhere else.

The State of Israel is a country that was established as a shelter for Jewish refugees from all over the world, including, survivors of the Holocaust and those forced from their homes in North Africa and the Middle East. Our society is a mosaic of people from around 100 countries who returned to their ancestral homeland escaping the horrors of persecutions and violence.

As a result of our experience, Israel was one of the initiators of the Refugees Convention and one of the first countries to join it. Israel is committed to all its articles.

In addition, we support the application of the general principles governing the treatment of refugees worldwide to apply universally, without exception, including those in the Palestinian context. While the UNHCR has found durable solutions for tens of millions of refugees, the agency created specifically for the Palestinian context has found durable solutions for no one.

This has meant that a peaceful solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians remains further away. This is morally and politically unacceptable.

The refugee issue is a core element towards finding a solution to our conflict and in its broader context would have to address both the Palestinian and the Jewish refugees forced to flee from Arab lands. Jewish refugees also require redress.

Israel's unique history, core values and moral compass are the basis for our sympathy toward those who require shelter and refuge. During the 70's, Israel was among the first countries to accept "Boat People" from Vietnam and decades later we gave shelter to refugees who escaped the ravages in Darfur.

In recent years, for different reasons - climate change, lack of employment, conflicts and a general desire for a better standard of living, we are witnessing an increasing number of population movements from developing countries to the developed world. It is a global challenge and the international community should work together to find the most effective and humanitarian ways to deal with these challenges.

Israel, as a flourishing democracy with a contiguous land access from Africa is facing a growing number of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers arriving in its territory. In a small country such as Israel, it has severe implications on society, economy, demography and security. There is increased debate in Israel at all levels on this issue. The dilemmas are not simple and there are no easy solutions.

We cooperate in a full and transparent manner with UNHCR in trying to formulate the best solutions. The UNHCR has assisted us in training our RSD unit and in developing a unique voluntary-return program to South Sudan based on incentives and vocational training, which we are very proud of.

Israel is committed

To continue expanding Government capacity and refugee status determination expertise;

To assuming greater responsibility for refugee status determination;

To reaffirm our commitment to the internationally recognized principle of non-refoulement;

To provide the necessary assistance and medical care to victims of human trafficking, among them many women who, on their way to Israel, were kidnapped, tortured and raped.

We are committed to continue our policy in encouraging voluntary-returns through incentives and professional training that will enable the returnees to rebuild their future and to start a new life with better tools at their disposal.

I am happy to report that Israel will increase our annual contribution to UNHCR.

And finally, we offer UNHCR the use of Israel's expertise and to work together, through MASHAV - Israel's International Development Agency, to create and implement professional and vocational training programs in mutually agreed locations of UNHCR's refugee camps around the world, with the aim of uplifting the refugees' standard of living and helping them to obtain a better future. We stand ready to start a dialogue with UNHCR on this matter as soon as possible.

Thank you.

Satellite images seem to show site of Isfahan explosion

Amazing research from ISIS:

An explosion reportedly occurred on Monday, November 28, 2011 somewhere in or near the city of Esfahan in Iran. The Times reported that the blast occurred at the Esfahan nuclear site and that it has seen satellite imagery that showed “billowing smoke and destruction.” The Times also cites “Israeli intelligence officials” as claiming that the blast was “no accident.” ISIS has acquired DigitalGlobe satellite imagery of the Esfahan nuclear site taken on December 3, 2011 and December 5, 2011. There does not appear to be any visible evidence of an explosion, such as building damage or debris, on the grounds of the known nuclear facilities or at the tunnel facility directly north of the Uranium Conversion Facility and Zirconium Production Plant at the Esfahan site (see figure 1).

It is still unclear where the reported blast occurred in Esfahan and whether it occurred anywhere near the nuclear facility. ISIS has identified a facility near the Esfahan nuclear site that underwent a significant transformation recently. The facility is approximately 400 meters away from the edge of a perimeter fence that surrounds the Esfahan nuclear site (see figure 2). An August 27, 2011 satellite image shows that the facility consisted of a ramp leading underground with several buildings along the surface (see figure 3). In a December 5, 2011 satellite image, the buildings are gone, heavy equipment can be seen around the site and there is evidence of bulldozing activity (see figure 4). These buildings were present on the site for at least 15 years (see figure 5). It is unclear how and why the buildings are no longer present at the site. It is also unclear whether this transformation is related to the November 28th, 2011 blast reported to have been heard throughout Esfahan.

ISIS has learned that this underground facility was originally a salt mine dating back to at least the 1980s, and that it has more recently been used for storage. It is unclear what Iran stored in this underground facility. The Times article quoted a “military intelligence source” saying the blast “caused damage to the facilities in Isfahan, particularly to the elements we believe were involved in storage of raw materials.”

Figure 1. December 3, 2011 DigitalGlobe satellite image of the Uranium Conversion Facility, Zirconium Production Plant and entrances to a tunnel facility at the Esfahan nuclear site. There does not appear to be any visible evidence of an explosion at these facilities.

Figure 2. Wide-view of the entire Esfahan nuclear site. The facility that underwent significant transformation recently is approximately 400 meters from a perimeter fence that surrounds the Esfahan nuclear site. It is unclear if this facility is related to the Esfahan nuclear site.

Figure 3. August 27, 2011 satellite image showing the facility before a November 28, 2011 explosion reportedly heard throughout Esfahan.

Figure 4. December 5, 2011 satellite image showing the facility after a November 28, 2011 explosion was reportedly heard throughout Esfahan. The buildings on the site are gone. Large equipment and evidence of bulldozers on the site can be seen in the image. It is unclear how and why the buildings are no longer present at the site

ISIS is being very cautious, but the upshot is that since the explosion, at least five buildings - not all next to each other, but seemingly all on top of an underground storage facility- have been bulldozed.

It sounds like the explosion might have been in the underground facility, and it was so massive that it heavily damaged or destroyed the buildings on the surface..

Which implies that there were some seriously explosive material in that former salt mine.

(h/t CHA)

Muslim Brotherhood website filled with anti-semitic canards

From Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times:

If you want to understand the Islamic forces that are gaining strength in Egypt and scaring people here and abroad, let me tell you about my dinner in the home of Muslim Brotherhood activists.

First, meet my hostess: Sondos Asem, a 24-year-old woman who is pretty much the opposite of the stereotypical bearded Brotherhood activist. Sondos is a middle-class graduate of the American University in Cairo, where I studied in the early 1980s.

Sondos rails at the Western presumption that the Muslim Brotherhood would oppress women. She notes that her own mother, Manal Abul Hassan, is one of many female Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated candidates running for Parliament.

...I asked skeptically about alcohol, peace with Israel, and the veil. Sondos, who wears a hijab, insisted that the Brotherhood wasn’t considering any changes in these areas and that its priority is simply jobs.

...“We embrace moderate Islam,” she said. “We are not the ultra-conservatives that people in the West envision.”

...So a bit of nervousness is fine, but let’s not overdo the hand-wringing — or lose perspective. What’s historic in Egypt today is not so much the rise of any one party as the apparent slow emergence of democracy in the heart of the Arab world.

They sound so enlightened!

Even worse is this video he produced with the piece (h/t EBoZ):

So just for fun, for fifteen minutes after I read this interview I went to the Muslim Brotherhood website. Not the slick one in English, of course, but their Arabic site.

And I did a simple search query: "Jews."

From the results I learned that :

The IDF is really a bunch of Jewish Nazis,
The Holocaust was a myth,
"Hypocrisy is the most prominent characteristic of the Jews,"
The Talmud tells Jews to lie to gentiles
Queen Esther seduced the king of Persia in order to get him to support the Jewish desire to perform genocide on tens of thousands of his subjects
Jews are encouraged to pretend to embrace other religions for purposes of deception,
"Nazi Jews firmly believe in force, and nothing but force, which makes them kill children, women and the elderly,"
Jews were behind the toppling of the Caliphate

....along with a call telling Jews not to forget the massacre of Jews at Khaybar and Mohammed's Army is returning.

I have a newsflash for journalists like Kristoff: Arabs are a very hospitable people. They treat their guests with respect. But just because Muslim Brotherhood hosts are charming in person does not mean that their beliefs are any less reprehensible.

A real journalist would know that. A dupe allows himself to be convinced otherwise.

But all it takes is those 15 minutes of research to see the truth, in the Muslim Brotherhood's very own words.

Hamas considers copying MB in Egypt to gain legitimacy

From pan-Arab daily Dar al-Hayat (Arabic):

Arabs and Western advisers recently suggested the Hamas movement rebuild the Muslim Brotherhood branch in Palestine in order to obtain international recognition of the growing political parties the Brotherhood controls in the Arab world. The diplomatic sources told Al Hayat that the transformation of Hamas into a branch of the Brotherhood in Palestine may exempt it from international conditions for recognition and give it the same recognition as that obtained by its counterparts in Egypt, Tunisia, Syria and others after the beginning of the "Arab Spring".

Sources in the Hamas told Al Hayat that the movement's leadership and its political bureau have discussed the proposal in depth, adding that some in Hamas found it appropriate, especially as the movement grew out of the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza and the West Bank. The idea is opposed by others saying that it would lead to the weakening of Hamas as a resistance movement by turning them into a [purely] political party.

Some of the leaders of Hamas considered the establishment of a new political party under the party name "Freedom and Justice" to run in the next election and work in the parliament and government and to allow Hamas, as the resistance movement, to avoid the complexities of working in parliament and government. The sources said that the idea has been discussed at various levels, but the movement is not ready for such a move at this stage.

It would be an interesting attempt to get around the sanctions against Hamas, but it would mean that Hamas would publicly revert to being nothing but a terror group again. On the other hand, an avowedly political-only Muslim Brotherhood party would very possibly defeat Fatah; it is unclear if Hamas would win a new election today.

Right now Hamas claims that its military and political arms are separate, but that is obviously a lie - most Hamas police moonlight as Qassam Brigades terrorists, and Nizar Rayan had served as a liaison between the two before the IDF killed him. A separate, purely political "Freedom and Justice" party would be equally a fiction but it would convince credulous Westerners that a moderate Islamist party could be the key to unlock the PA government impasse.

Hamas stops medical delegation from leaving Gaza

From PCHR:

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 13:00 on Wednesday, 07 December 2011, Dr. Bassam al-Badri, Director of External Medical Treatment Department, received a phone call from the office of World Health Organization (WHO) in Gaza, informing him that him and 4 members of the Higher Medical Committee of the External Medical Treatment Department, nominated by the Ministry of Health in Ramallah, were banned from traveling to Jerusalem to participate in a medical conference which would be held on 08 and 09 December 2011. The conference is organized by the network of hospitals in East Jerusalem, in cooperation with WHO, to support and develop the hospitals of Augusta Victoria (al-Muttala’), al-Maqassed, St. John Eye, Red Crescent, Saint Joseph and Princess Basma. Dr. al-Badri pointed out that the remaining members of the delegation (9 doctors nominated by the Ministry of Health in Gaza and 5 doctors from NGOs) were not banned.

Dr. Mahmoud Dhaher, Director of WHO Office in Gaza, stated that he was surprised by the decision taken by Minister of Health in Gaza, Dr. Bassem Naim, to ban the five doctors from traveling for no apparent reasons. As a result of this decision, the participation of the whole medical delegation from the Ministry of Health in Gaza was cancelled.

PCHR has followed up developments relating to the decision with relevant security bodies and the Attorney General’s office, but in vain. It also contacted the office of the Minister of Health in Gaza to check the reasons for banning the medical delegation from traveling to Jerusalem. The reply was that the banned five doctors were not nominated by the Ministry of Health in Gaza. However, the current decision remains illegal as neither the Ministry nor security services have the authority to ban traveling; it is an absolute authority of the judiciary.

The conference, which is organized by hospitals in Jerusalem in cooperation with WHO, aims at reviewing the level of services provided by Arab hospitals in Jerusalem to patients from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Notice that Israel had no problem with Gaza doctors traveling to Jerusalem for this conference.

If Gaza is a prison, then Hamas is the only party that holds all the keys.

Rockets in south, IDF raids in Gaza (updated)

From YNet:

Two Qassam rockets were fired at the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council at noon on Thursday. No injuries or damage were reported.

Earlier on Friday, a Qassam rocket exploded in an open area in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council. No injuries or damage were reported. A Color Red alarm was sounded in the area.

The IDF carried out a strike against two targets in the Gaza Strip overnight Friday which Palestinian reports claim left one person dead. Gaza sources said that a Hamas training camp near Gaza city was hit in the strike and that shrapnel hit nearby residential buildings. One person was killed and 25 others, mostly women and children, were wounded as a result.

The Palestinian Ma'an news agency reported that among the victims were seven members of one family. According to the report, the person killed is 38-year-old Bahajat Zaalan. Among the victims are seven children between the ages of six months and 13, two of whom are in serious condition.

Meanwhile, it was reported that the Air Force carried a strike in the Rafah area. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit confirmed that the IAF attacked two targets and carried direct hits.

It later added that the air raid involved "additional blasts which were caused by the presence of arms in terrorist centers that were attacked." The statement noted that "the IDF regrets injuries caused to innocents but stresses that Hamas is accountable."

The Ma'an article confirms that the target was a Hamas terrorist site, showing how Hamas uses the people of Gaza as human shields since there are homes nearby.

The IDF's assertion that the victims died because of secondary blasts is quite credible. Yesterday, the IDF targeted a car on a street in Gaza City and no bystanders were killed; IDF airstrikes have been remarkably limited in firepower lately, killing only the intended terrorists.

Meanwhile, how staged is this Reuters photo of the damage?

A Palestinian girl holds her brother as she looks at a house damaged in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City December 9, 2011.

UPDATE: From NYT:

A strike on a site in northern Gaza badly damaged a house nearby, killing an elderly man and wounding other family members, according to Adham Abu Selmia, a spokesman for the Gaza medical services.

The victim was 42 years old.

This is not the first time that Gaza medical services have lied. The question is why the New York Times believes them.

Chanukah Video: Maccabeats cover Matisyahu

With special guest star Mayim Bialik.

Three good Chanukah videos released on successive days - not bad!

I know it is still a week and a half away, but if the White House can celebrate Chanukah early, why can't we?

Max Blumenthal has a big problem with facts

I have discussed how Max Blumenthal had fabricated a quote from Karen Greenberg, director of the Fordham School of Law's Center on National Security. Greenberg made it crystal clear in two other interviews that she did not in any way assert what Blumenthal says she said, namely that (in Blumenthal's words) "Israeli influence on American law enforcement is so extensive it has bled into street-level police conduct."

Blumenthal defended his reporting in a followup article - and, ironically, this new article proves even more so that he plays fast and loose with the facts.

He writes:

Greenberg's statement to me did not come out of the blue: A book she co-authored with Joshua Dratel, "The Road to Abu Ghraib," contains a lengthy section on Israeli court rulings authorizing torture and torture techniques refined by the Shin Bet. In a subsequent article, Greenberg and Dratel proposed questions for Donald Rumsfeld about torture. Here is one: "Did your discussions of torture involve consulting experts in Israel..?"

Let's look at these two sources and see if Blumenthal is representing Greenberg's words correctly.

In her book "The Road to Abu Ghraib," she does not say that there were Israeli court rulings "authorizing torture and torture techniques." Quite the contrary. She writes:

According to the Israeli Supreme Court, however, there is a necessary balancing process between a government’s duty to ensure that human rights are protected and its duty to fight terrorism. The results of that balance, the Israeli Supreme Court stated, are the rules for a “reasonable interrogation” – defined as an interrogation which is (1) “necessarily one free of torture, free of cruel, inhuman treatment of the subject and free of any degrading handling whatsoever”; and (2) “likely to cause discomfort.”

Turning to the specific interrogation methods before it, the Court concluded that shaking, the “frog crouch,” the “shabach” position, cuffing causing pain, hooding, the consecutive playing of powerfully loud music and the intentional deprivation of sleep for a prolonged period of time are all prohibited interrogation techniques.

“All these methods do not fall withiin the sphere of a “fair” interrogation. They are not reasonable. They impinge upon the suspect’s dignity, his bodily integrity and his basic rights in an excessive manner (or beyond what is necessary). They are not to be deemed as included within the general power to conduct investigations.”

The Israeli Supreme Court explained that the restrictions applicable to police investigations are equally applicable to GSS investigations and that there are no grounds to permit GSS interrogators to engage in conduct which would be prohibited in regular police interrogation.

Blumenthal breezily says that her book proved that Israel's legal system authorized torture - when in fact it prohibited it, as Greenberg makes clear.

Now, how about his second quote, where he implies that Greenberg wanted to ask Rumsfeld whether the US learned torture techniques from Israel by consulting Israeli experts on torture.

Here's the entire context:

Based on a careful reading of the hundreds of pages of "torture memos" that poured out of the White House, the thousands of pages of military reports, investigations, and original documents that have emerged from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, as well as the flood of recent FBI e-mails and prisoner complaints that have emerged from Guantanamo prison in Cuba, we might -- as a lawyer and an historian who have been working in this area for the last two years -- suggest the following series of questions for Congress:

1. Does Torture Work? Given the detailed attention shown in the White House memos to describing three levels of interrogation (from questioning to physical abuse) to be applied in the war on terror, is there an underlying assumption that torture in fact really works? That it is more effective than ordinary means of questioning prisoners? And, if so, what does it work to produce? Have you considered whether it is a means of venting frustration or a means of obtaining reliable information? Is there clinical, verifiable evidence that torture produces better information more quickly and more accurately than other methods of interrogation? Did your discussions of torture involve consulting experts in Israel, the United Kingdom, Egypt, and elsewhere? If so, what did those sources have to say in recommending torture? Or was the administration convinced of the efficacy of torture before it began drawing up its legal documents?

Greenberg and Dratel are asking whether the US used expert information on the efficacy of torture when drawing up its policy - not whether the US learned torture techniques from Israel!

Less importantly, but no less deceptive, is how Blumenthal characterizes "Did your discussions of torture involve consulting experts in Israel...?" as one of the questions Greenberg and Dratel wanted to ask Rumsfeld, when in fact the question they were asking was "Does torture work?" and this was part of that category. The article talks about 37 questions for Rumsfeld; this was not "one of them" but only a small part asking for clarity on one of them.

In other words, Blumenthal's implication that Greenberg had previously accused Israel of teaching Americans torture techniques indeed comes "out of the blue." And the fact that Greenberg made clear to two reporters that she did not assert anything close to what Blumenthal says - and yet Blumenthal says "I stand by my reporting" - is yet another indicator that Blumenthal is not a reporter, but a crusader disguised as one.

His further speculation that Greenberg supposedly changed her story because "she was intimidated by Goldberg and the pro-Israel forces he represents" is, frankly, psychotic. Everyone agrees that Greenberg is an expert in her field, yet as soon as she explains that her position is at odds with Blumenthal's fantasies - he insults her by making up a conspiracy theory.

Blumenthal first makes up his mind as to what the truth is, and then will twist whatever facts he can to shoehorn them into his pre-existing bizarre and hateful worldview. He is in no way a responsible or even a serious journalist, and his track record proves that he plays fast and loose with the facts, if not making them up altogether.

(h/t a new blog called "maxblumenthalliar" - I have no idea who is behind it and it has no track record, but its points concerning the Greenberg book are valid.)

Chanukah video: Rocky Hora "Let's Light the Candles Again"

I like this one, by the Shlomones:

More evidence of Hamas leaving Syria

There have been a number of reports lately that Hamas has been quietly moving its personnel out of Syria.

Hamas has vehemently denied it.

Now there is some more evidence. Palestine Press Agency reports that sources in Gaza say that Hamas members and their families have been entering Gaza recently, through the Rafah crossing, many with forged passports. (We all know that forged passports is a major international crime - when one country does it.)

An anonymous official also repeats older rumors that Hamas is looking to relocate its headquarters to Jordan or elsewhere.

British Advertising Standards Authority forces Palestine Mission to take down map

From TheJC:

The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint against the Palestinians' diplomatic mission to the UK for displaying a map which included the whole of Israel as part of Palestine.

The map, decked in red, green and black, the colours of the Palestinian flag, appeared on a tourist section of the mission's website called "Discover Palestine".

Barrister Jonathan Turner, head of the Zionist Federation's legal group and one of six complainants to the ASA, said that the authority "should be congratulated on its careful and impartial scrutiny.

"Too often we are on the defensive against attacks on Israel and Israeli organisations. As this ruling shows, those who attack us should pay more attention to failings in their own camp."

The mission - referred to in the ASA report as the Palestinian Embassy UK - argued that the map referred to "historic Palestine" in 1948 and that it had changed the colour coding to demarcate Israel from the Palestinian territories.

But the ASA noted the use of the Palestinian national colours and the lack of any reference to the state of Israel. "We considered that the average consumer would infer from the map and the linked information that the total area represented by the map was the Occupied Palestinian Territories," it concluded.

It also upheld complaints against the website for implying that Haifa, Jaffa and all of Jerusalem were part of the Palestinian territories.

Entries on Hebron and Bethlehem also breached the advertising watchdog's code because they failed to provide information on travelling restrictions to the two destinations that should have been given to potential tourists.

Mr Turner said: "We will examine the revised website as well as other advertising and if necessary make further complaints."

The website used to be called the "Palestine Embassy UK" website - even though there is no such embassy. Now the website is called "Palestine Mission UK" - and while they don't refer to this map issue, they have a headline accusing Israel's tourism board of showing a map of all the territories as Israel. (They don't reproduce it, though.)

I had noted the map in May.

Even today, after the British ASA ruling, it says things like Palestine is "Located in the Levant, surrounded by Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon" - even though "Palestine" does not border Syria or Lebanon, and they don't mention Israel.

But they do mention the fact that "More than 96% of Palestinians are Sunni Muslims and approximately 2% are Christians." Something to be most proud of, given that in 1948 they were some 7% of the population.

Holy Land Foundation (Hamas front) loses appeal

Good news:

A U.S. federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld the convictions of five leaders of an Islamic charity on charges of funneling money and supplies to Hamas, which the United States designates as a “terrorist” group.

The organizers of the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation argued they were denied a fair trial in 2008 when the government used secret Israeli witnesses to testify against them. The organizers also raised a host of constitutional challenges to the evidence presented against them at trial.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected those challenges, concluding that “while no trial is perfect,” Holy Land and its leaders were fairly convicted. The court pointed to “voluminous evidence” that the foundation, which was started in the late 1980s, had long-running financial ties to Hamas.

Once the largest Muslim charity in the United States, Holy Land was closed by the administration of former President George W. Bush soon after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Holy Land argued that the millions of dollars it raised went to charities in the West Bank and Gaza known as zakat committees. Although those committees performed legitimate charitable functions, they were also Hamas social institutions, the court found.

Federal law makes it a crime to provide material aid and support to a designated terrorist organization like Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and does not recognize Israel’s existence.

“By supporting such entities, the defendants facilitated Hamas’ activity by furthering its popularity among Palestinians and by providing a funding resource. This, in turn, allowed Hamas to concentrate its efforts on violent activity,” Judge Carolyn King wrote on behalf of the unanimous three-judge panel.

Two layers of discrimination against Israeli writers in France

From Ha'aretz:

There was a stir at a conference of Mediterranean writers in Marseilles yesterday when Israeli author Moshe Sakal was booted from a panel discussion at the request of Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish.

The director of the conference, French-Jewish author Pierre Assouline, said Sakal's participation in the panel, which was on the Arab Spring, "was not crucial."

Speaking by phone from Marseilles, Assouline told Haaretz that in the previous two years the conference had been held, Palestinian writers had refused to come because there were Israeli participants.

This year, Darwish said he had no problem with Israeli participants, so long as he would not have to sit with any of them at the same roundtable discussion.

Assouline said that when he explained to the audience before the discussion about the Palestinian's refusal to sit with Sakal, "half of the crowd got very angry, and the other half was thrilled."

Sakal, who entered the hall after the discussion had begun so he could listen to it, was somewhat surprised when his entrance caused a stir.

"I entered the hall just as [Moroccan poet] Tahar Ben Jelloun was speaking forcefully against this type of boycott," Sakal said. "He said that there are many Israeli authors who are supportive [of the Palestinian cause] and one should speak to them even if one doesn't approve of current Israeli politics."

"There were hundreds of people there and there were a lot of hecklers," Sakal said. "People were very upset."

Darwish, said Sakal, accused him of expelling him from his home, and said "the Jewish-Arabs [Jews from Arab lands] particularly hate the Palestinians."

Sakal, who is of Syrian and Egyptian origin, said he told the crowd "I understand them but I also understand my situation, and the one thing that distressed me was that he didn't try to find out who I am or what my views are."

The article makes an obvious point that is ignored by the so-called liberal Left: that even educated, cultured Palestinian Arabs like Najwan Darwish are bigoted and narrow-minded. You won't find any angry tweets about this from people who rail all day about supposed Israeli "apartheid."

But there is a more subtle, equally outrageous discrimination going on.

Both the Morroccan poet and, it seems, the Israeli author imply that there is no problem discriminating against Israelis if they are perceived to have political views that are different from their own. They are arguing that the Israeli writers who agree with them are OK, but poets and authors should ban any other writers who happen to have different ideas. Nothing to do with their writings, of course - only their political opinions.

Don't ban Israelis, they say. Allow Israelis whose opinions fit the political correctness of the Palestinian Arab narrative - and merely ban the others.

Why this second kind of discrimination is considered progressive is a question left unanswered by the "progressives."

(h/t Silke)

Egypt grants citizenship to 454 PalArab children

In January, in a UNRWA report about Lebanon, the agency stated "Tawteen (naturalization) is also strongly rejected by the Palestinians, who insist on their right to return to Palestine."

As I noted then, this is simply a lie. Every time an Arab government allowed Palestinian Arabs to become citizens, they rushed in to do it.

The latest example comes from Egypt. 454 children in Egypt who have Palestinian fathers were given citizenship yesterday, making over 1000 people who were formerly considered Palestinian to now be Egyptian citizens this year. And tens of thousands more are trying desperately to gain Egyptian citizenship.

The idea that Palestinian Arabs do not want to become citizens in the countries that they were born in and grew up in is simply another lie. Many, probably most, do, especially when they hear that even in the case of a Palestinian Arab state, their own leaders don't want them to move to "Palestine" - but to flood Israel instead, a scenario that will never happen.

The Arab nations and Palestinian Arab leaders are colluding to keep their "refugee" population miserable and stateless. And they have succeeded, brilliantly.

Fatah and Hamas really ARE united - in terror

YNet reports on some more nice shooting:

Israel Air Force aircrafts were able to target a vehicle transporting Assam Subahi Ismail Batash, a senior Gaza-based terror operative.

According to the IDF and the Shin Bet, Batash was the mastermind behind several terror attacks carried out by militants who infiltrated into Israel from the Sinai Peninsula.

Palestinian security officials said Thursday that a car transporting three people exploded near a public garden in Gaza City, killing at least two people and injuring six. IDF officials confirmed that the IAF had targeted a vehicle carrying Batash. Eyewitnesses reported seeing the two men being pulled out of the white vehicle.

Batash, IDF officials claimed, was a senior figure in the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, and was behind the imminent terror threat in the south.

Officials said Batash was also involved in several attacks in which terrorists from Gaza were smuggled into Sinai and then infiltrated back into Israel through the border. In January 2007 he organized a suicide bombing in Eilat that killed three Israelis.

Batash was also involved in several botched attacks, in which he tried to smuggle terrorists and arms into Israel.

However, who was the other person killed?

According to Palestine Press Agency, it was his nephew, Subhi Batash, who was a member of the Al Qassam Brigades.

Which means that members of the Fatah terror group and the Hamas terror group really do love to cooperate!

So there really was some unity that was being celebrated in Cairo.

(Fans of car swarm videos can see the one from this strike here.)

UPDATE: A touching photo of the double funeral with both group flags draping the dead terrorists:

When you hate Israel, even pro-PalArab articles are hasbara

A few months ago I wrote a tongue-in-cheek post about how Israel-bashers cannot stand any news from Israel, no matter how trivial or how local, that does not prominently feature supposedly evil Israeli policies against Palestinian Arabs.

I suggested that you too can share their viewpoint if you wear the special Occupation Glasses, through which the entire world can be seen refracted correctly where "occupation" is the central theme of everything you look at.

A hilarious example could be seen this morning on Twitter - and the offending article doesn't praise Israel, but Palestinian Arabs!

The Atlantic has a piece about the art scene in Ramallah. It is upbeat and positive. It shows a thriving art culture and it highlights new institutions that bring art to Palestinian Arabs. It tells us about the effort to bring a Picasso to the territories and how popular that exhibit was.

It is a nice article, it tells a story that people do not hear about, and (as long as the art is not used as a cover for incitement to kill Israeli Jews) it is a trend that should be encouraged. I don't look at this pro-Palestinian article and foam at the mouth in anger that someone dares write a piece that doesn't demonize all Arabs in the territories.

But when you wear the Occupation Glasses, even this article is terrible!

Joseph Dana looked at this article that humanized and praised his erstwhile Palestinian Arab friends and seized onto one sentence. Here it is in context:

Thanks to Palestine’s tense political history, the visual arts in Palestine have long failed to gain the foothold they deserve. From 1967 until the signing to the Oslo Accords in 1993, when Palestinian cities were under military occupation, there were restrictions on arts and culture. For example, it was forbidden to paint images combining the four colors of the Palestinian flag, black, green, white, and red. "Painting a watermelon was not allowed," explains Khaled Hourani, one of Palestine’s leading artists and former Director of Fine Arts for the Palestinian Ministry of Culture.

Even after 1993 and the end of military occupation, the visual arts stalled in the territories.

The author obviously meant that the restrictions that Israel placed on Palestinian Arab art are no longer in place since Oslo. Whether there is a "military occupation" after Oslo or not, it completely peripheral to the article's intent and thrust - unless you are wearing the Occupation Glasses.

You have got to see this conversation between Dana (writing as ibnezra) and Jewlicious, a liberal and pro-Palestinian Jew, to see how hate twists people's minds:

ibnezra says:
1967-1993, "when Palestinian cities were under military occupation" http://t.co/yxZtNIHZ

jewlicious says:
@ibnezra The thrust of the article was arts, not politics, and from that perspective it was rather good and humanizing http://t.co/UX8v51zQ

ibnezra says:
@jewlicious the article claimed that there was no military occupation of Palestinian cities. That is a joke.

jewlicious says:
@ibnezra The nature of Israel's presence in the WB changed dramatically after 1993 and the article is about arts!

ibnezra says:
@jewlicious I am sure that you are not saying that Palestinians cities in the West Bank are not under military occupation

jewlicious says:
@ibnezra That's not what I said

ibnezra says:
@jewlicious then you should not have any problems with my argument that the @theatlantic should be ashamed with itself

jewlicious says:
@ibnezra Gevalt. I think it was overall a good piece, esp if you focus on the arts.

ibnezra says:
The article is basically saying there is an art culture in Ramallah and no military occupation. Why are they complaining about? @jewlicious

jewlicious says:
@ibnezra and i am not arguing with you to score points either...

ibnezra says:
@jewlicious I understand. @noamsheizaf is going to write a post soon which will be necessary reading on the matter.

jewlicious says:
@ibnezra i for one am just glad there's a thriving arts scene in Ramallah, c'est tout...

ibnezra says:
@jewlicious there is not a thriving arts scene in my opinion. There is something but it is not thriving.

jewlicious says:
@ibnezra ok more thriving then? more thriving than 7 years ago?

ibnezra says:
@jewlicious Not necessarily

jewlicious says:
@ibnezra So you're saying the entire article is completely flawed? Come on, be fair...

ibnezra says:
@jewlicious I am saying that the article is dangerously flawed and basically a piece of propaganda

Yes, an article that praises Palestinian Arabs, that humanizes them and is more sympathetic to them than anything you are likely to see in the mainstream media, is "basically a piece of [anti-Arab] propaganda." No redeeming qualities at all. Completely flawed.

It takes a special kind of hate to be able to discern such a bizarre version of reality.

The Truth About Refugees (latest Ayalon YouTube video)

When I spoke with Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon on Sunday, he told me that he has a new video about the 1948 refugees.

It just came out:

He hits most of the major points about the history and about UNRWA's shortcomings.

He also quotes Alexander Galloway, head of UNRWA in Jordan in 1951,whom I posted about at length here.

CSU math professor uses college resources to attack Israel

From the Amcha Initiative, a letter to California State University/Northridge's president:

Dear President Koester,

We are faculty members at the University of California, who have been investigating and documenting anti-Jewish bigotry on California public university campuses for the last several years.

In case you have not seen them, we wanted to bring to your attention two webpages of CSU Northridge Professor of Mathematics David Klein, which are hosted on the CSUN server:

Professor Klein’s “Home Page,” linked to the “Tenure-Track Faculty” webpage of the CSUN Department of Mathematics, contains a section entitled “CSU and Political Issues,” that includes a link to another CSUN-hosted webpage entitled “Boycott Israel.”

Professor Klein’s “Boycott Israel” page contains a litany of false and inflammatory statements and photographs intended to incite hatred and promote political activism against the Jewish state.

There are several reasons why Professor Klein’s webpages should be immediately removed from the CSUN server:

1) These webpages are in clear violation of the CSU policy prohibiting the misuse of the CSU name for inappropriate purposes, including for the promotion of political organizations and activities such as “boycott.” As you have seen on Professor Klein’s Home Page, he specifically links the University to several political action organizations and activities, including the boycott of Israel, in a section he telling calls “CSU and Political Issues.”

2) Many of Professor Klein’s statements on his “Boycott Israel” webpage meet the U.S. Department of State’s Working Definition of Anti-Semitism, including the statement that “Israel is the most racist country in the world.” In addition, the pictures of mutilated dead babies that appear on this page, with the clear implication that the babies have been brutally murdered by Israeli soldiers, are perfect examples of the classic anti-Semitic “blood libel“, the false accusation that Jews kill non-Jewish children for evil purposes, an accusation that has been used throughout Jewish history for the purpose of inciting hatred and violence against Jews. Campaigns to boycott the Jewish state are also anti-Semitic according to the U.S. State Department, and in some cases are a violation of U.S. law.

3) The promotion of virulently anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements and imagery on the departmental website of a CSUN faculty member cannot help but contribute to a hostile environment for Jewish students on your campus.

4) CSUN is a public university, whose facilities and resources, including the CSUN website, are supported by the tax dollars of California citizens, many of whom would find Professor Klein’s webpages an egregious violation of public trust.

We do not believe that this is an issue of Professor Klein’s freedom of speech. Indeed, CSUN’s policy on internet use explicitly states that the University has the right to remove “any defamatory, offensive, infringing, or illegal materials” from its website. If you choose not to remove Professor Klein’s anti-Semitic material from the CSUN website, we will presume that it is because the University finds nothing “defamatory, offensive, infringing, or illegal” about these webpages, and is unconcerned with the effects they may have on CSUN students, parents, community members, and taxpayers.

We know that you will soon be retiring as CSUN President, but we trust that you will have the opportunity to look into this matter and take appropriate action.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

The president responded:

...The University takes such concerns very seriously. Thus, as soon as we became aware of these concerns and the web pages, I requested a full administrative review. In particular, the review considered whether the web content is in violation of California State University (CSU) or Cal State Northridge web use policies. While the review raised many difficult issues, it found no such violations. This conclusion was affirmed by CSU legal counsel.

While we recognize this finding will not satisfy everyone, the conclusions are based on the important tenets of academic freedom and free speech, which are central to the values and traditions of academia and, indeed, a democratic society. We encourage our professors—as well as students and all members of the campus community—to express their points of view, even when many others may disagree with them or even find them offensive.

This determination does not mean that the University supports or endorses Professor Klein’s views. In fact, Professor Klein is clearly speaking for himself and does not represent Cal State Northridge as a whole. The University, as a forum for the free expression of ideas and points of view, takes no position on the individual expressions of ideas by faculty, staff, or students. But the University does uphold and preserve the principles of academic freedom—and Professor Klein’s right to express his views. Our review affirmed that this right extends to the use of an individual’s web pages, as part of the University website, as a vehicle for expression.
...
I share with those who have expressed concerns a personal discomfort with some of the material on Professor Klein’s web pages, especially because the University is celebrated for its diversity and its spirit of inclusion. As core values, the University also upholds academic freedom, eschews censorship, and defends rights to express points of view. For all these reasons we must tolerate the presence of these web pages.

I personally do not think that Amcha has a slam-dunk case against the virulently anti-Israel (and arguably anti-semitic) webpage of Professor Klein. The biggest point of dispute between CSU and Amcha is whether the "Boycott Israel" page appears to represent CSU (where it would violate CSU policies) or is clearly Klein's personal opinions. Since the page is so laughably amateur - it looks like a webpage from 1996 - CSU has a slight point there.

On the other hand, using resources paid for by California taxpayers to push a boycott if Israel is an extraordinary misuse of funds. CSU's academic website is not Facebook. And the fact is that Dr. Klein's page is linked from the Math Department webpage - where from what I can tell all the other faculty use the pages in a professional manner - and it makes CSU's math department look bad. (Interestingly, the Math Department has a policy that "laboratory facilities, equipment and supplies are only to be used by College faculty, staff and students in the pursuit of instructional and research endeavors." This does not apply to webpages but I have a feeling that the other math faculty are not happy with Klein's use of the math section of CSU's website for blatantly political ends.)

All else being equal, I'm biased towards free speech, and I think people should see the hateful webpage to understand exactly how college professors can be so absurdly stupid (and to laugh at Klein's 1970's-style photo.) But you may want to write to CSU's chancellor, especially if you are a California resident, if you don't want to have your tax dollars supporting what is effectively hate speech on campus websites.

(h/t Bill)

Counterfeiters in Egypt send fake shekels to Gaza

Palestine Press Agency has an article about the problem of counterfeit currency in Gaza.

The reporter posed as a currency exchanger and became friendly with a Gazan contact, as he asked for a quantity of shekels. The counterfeit money comes in all denominations, from 100 shekel notes down to fake 5 shekel coins!

A Palestinian Arab in el-Arish creates the fake money and transports them through Gaza tunnels. The reporter couldn't get the counterfeit shekels the first day because Hamas was watching, bit a few days later they smuggled them in through normal goods smuggled through the tunnels - in this case, in paint cans.

Gazan intermediaries keep in touch with the Egyptian side through SMS. Most of the people involved do not know each other so if they are caught the operation can remain intact.

The forged cash is then spent in Gaza City markets where the shop-owners get duped.