Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Egyptian minister: "Israel is the #1 enemy of Egypt and Arabs"

Dr. Gouda Abdel-Khalek, Egyptian Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, has said that the calls by some Egyptians to dismantle the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) is "absurd."

He said that the Egyptian military is "the only coherent military institution in the Arab world, capable of facing any external force."

Abdel-Khalek told Al Masry al Youm, "I ask the revolutionaries to cease the demand for dropping SCAF, if they consider that Israel remains the number one enemy of Egypt and the Arabs."

Abdel-Khalek was, unsurprisingly, appointed by the military council. And the Egyptian military owns a lot of Egypt's internal trade, even of non-military items.

PalArab leader: "May elections impossible"

From AFP:

It is “impossible” for the Palestinians to hold presidential and legislative elections in May as planned, a senior Palestinian MP warned on Monday.

Mustafa Barghuti, who heads the Freedom Committee set up to help implement a reconciliation deal between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, said the preparations necessary for holding a vote in May had not been made.

“According to the Palestinian Central Elections Commission (CEC), it has become impossible to hold the elections this May, and we will have to work fast to hold the elections this year,” Barghuti told AFP.
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“This requires the commission to begin its work in Gaza,” he said.

Under the terms of the reconciliation deal inked by Hamas and Fatah in Cairo on May 3, presidential and legislative elections are to be held within a year of the signing of the accord.

But the last Palestinian elections were held in 2006, and the electoral register in Gaza has not been updated since, with the CEC yet to begin work in the territory, which is under Hamas control.

CEC head Hanna Nasser confirmed the commission had not yet been able to start work in Gaza, in a statement released on Monday.

“Hanna Nasser confirmed today the continuation of the closure of CEC headquarters in the Gaza Strip despite a statement issued two weeks ago indicating the re-opening of district offices,” it said.

“Nasser indicated that recent communication with officials in Gaza resulted in a promise to tackle this issue soon.”

The commission's failure to begin preparations for the scheduled elections comes as Hamas and Fatah struggle to make progress towards the formation of the interim government of independents called for by the reconciliation deal.

Under the accord, a caretaker government was to have been formed to help oversee preparations for the elections, but disagreements over its make-up and who would head it have yet to be resolved.

Barghuti said it was crucial that progress be made towards forming the interim government.

“Discussions on forming the government haven't started yet, giving the impression that the deadlines don't matter,” he warned.

“We must work quickly to implement what was agreed upon, including the formation of the consensus government.”

In an honor/shame culture, appearances are more important than facts.

So Hamas and Fatah have been concentrating on making it appear as if they are reconciling - and doing essentially nothing.

The entire impetus for their paper "unity" was protests in Gaza and the West Bank last year in the wake of the Arab Spring from discontented young people fed up with the division and the poor leadership. Although the protests were not huge, they did make Fatah and Hamas very nervous.

What is amazing is that these same protesters have not yet seemed to have caught on to the fact that the entire past year has been a shell game by their leaders meant to shut them up, not to make any real change.

About "Arab Jews" (Point of No Return guest post)

Al Arabiya has an op-ed by Naava Mashiah asking "Are 'Arab Jews" extinct?"

Is it an oxymoron to be an Arab Jew? An Arab Jew refers either to a Jew living in the Arab world or whose ancestors came from Arab countries. This term flourished once in the Middle East but is not widely known today. Not long ago there were Jews living in the cities of the Middle East who were integrated into their societies and held influential roles in their communities and economies.

My grandfather, Baba Yona Mashiah, was such a figure in Baghdad. He was, I would say, an Arab Jew. My childhood was sprinkled with stories of his grand personality, power and business acumen. He was a prominent land and real-estate developer and in the 1940s contributed to building “Baghdad el Jedidah”, a chic neighborhood in the Baghdad suburbs. His partners were mostly Muslim and some were prominent government officials.

In the 1950s the Jews of Baghdad experienced an exodus from Iraq. A reluctant exodus, I would claim, which was brought about by a combination of increasing Zionism, anti-Semitic propaganda, envy of the privileged life Jews had when Iraq was under British control and the creation of Israel. The displacement of thousands of Palestinians and the humiliating defeat of the Arab armies were the final blow.

Life had become unbearable for the Jews and even those who had wanted to stay were compelled to leave. Jews were assumed to be a fifth column and turned into scapegoats following the defeat of Arab armies by the Israeli Defense Forces. Baba Yona watched his empire crumble. His peer and neighbor, Mr. Addas, another influential Jew, was hung in the square. He himself was imprisoned for three months, accused of having Zionist connections.

At a certain point the Iraqi government offered a deal for Jews, inviting them to escape to Israel if they would renounce their citizenship and relinquish their property. Baba Yona was forced to leave Baghdad with over 100,000 other Jews to the one country that would accept them at the time – Israel. Ironically, the Zionists, whose movement played a part in alienating Muslims from their Jewish compatriots, were there to save them.

I asked the blogger from Point of No Return to comment, and she kindly responded with a full post:

Naava Mashiah’s article is doing the rounds of the Arab media, gaining prominence in Arab News. Much of what she writes is only partially true, and is designed to ingratiate herself with her Arab Muslim readership.

Is there such a creature as an Arab Jew? Even Naava’s own father says there is no such thing. We agree.

Very few Jews from Arab countries self-define as ‘Arab Jews’, unless they are far-leftists. The ‘Arab world’ is itself a modern false construct, defining identity by language and culture. It’s like saying that a Spaniard and a Peruvian are both bound by a ‘Hispanic’ identity. But whereas a Spaniard and a Peruvian might have the same ancestry, religious communities in the Middle East always kept apart from each other; there was limited social interaction and almost no intermarriage.

Moreover - If you scratch away at an ‘Arab’’s identity, you will often find that he or she is not Arab at all. The region is a kaleidoscope of sects, religions and ethnicities. There is no such thing as ‘Arab’ culture. The famous singer Farid al-Atrash was not Arab but Druze, and many of the stars of Egyptian 20th century cinema were Jews or Copts. The roots of 20th popular ‘Arab’ musical culture in Iraq - the Jewish al-Kuwaity brothers had a powerful influence – could be said to be Jewish.

When she tries to explain why Jews left Arab countries, Na’ava Mashia assigns equal blame to Zionism and antisemitic propaganda. In fact antisemitism alienated Muslims from Jews. Miss Mashiah makes no mention of the 1941 Farhud pogrom, seven years before Israel was established, and the rise of pro-Nazi feeling in the 1930s. Zionist activity in Iraq was a response to the Farhud, not the other way around.

Miss Mashiah’s allegation that Israel ‘effaced’ the identity of Jews from Arab countries is a charge commonly levelled by radical leftists and anti-Zionists. It is true that in its zeal to create a new Israeli, the establishment disparaged ‘Arab culture’, in the same way as it did ‘Yiddish culture’. But whatever the situation in the 1950s – and there was real discrimination then – Mizrahi culture has come back with a vengeance in Israel today.

In the final paragraph, Miss Mashiah herself gives the reason for writing her article: ‘my interest in my Arab roots grew about 10 years ago when I established my business which focuses on economic cooperation between Israel and the Middle East.”

So now we know. Being an ‘Arab Jew’, and downplaying the impact of Arab antisemitism, is good for business.

4 Iranian Revolutionary Guards leaders died in four days

From YNet:

An Iranian opposition website reported Tuesday that four former Revolutionary Guards commanders have mysteriously died in the past four days after suffering strokes and heart attacks.

The website did not point any fingers but hinted that other elements may have been involved in the deaths.

The Hebrew YNet article gives details.

The four are Wafa Afrian (52), Abbas Mahari(52), Ahmad Siafzada (55) and Mansur Torkan (50).

Afrian was the head of Iran Telecommunication Company and previously was a senior commander in the field of electronic warfare. He was reported ill for months.

Mahari, who died of a stroke, worked at the University of Imam Hussein in Tehran, and he had been linked in the past with developing non-conventional weapons.

Siafzada, who died of a heart attack, was high up in the Revolutionary Guards.

Torkan was one of the the senior commanders of the Revolutionary Guards during the Iran - Iraq war, between the years 1980 to 1988. He died of a stroke.

An Iranian army officer was killed in a motorcycle attack on Saturday.

Hmmmm.....

(h/t Yoel)

Animals smuggled into Gaza for zoo (photos)

Hamas' Palestine Times website shows a bunch of exotic animals that have been smuggled into Gaza for a zoo:

A few years ago, Hamas found another use for a zoo in Gaza:

Last week reports began to filter out of Syria that members of Khaled Meshal's family, including his daughter Fatima and her husband, had been arrested by Syrian forces on the pretext of having property registered under fictitious names.

Hamas denied the report, but now Arab newspaper Elaph confirms it. Fatima and her husband were arrested on January 11.

According to the report, Meshal's wife and other children were also summoned by Syrian police on the 15th, and Fatima and her husband were released on 50,000 pounds bail (about $900.)

The harassment is allegedly to show Syria's displeasure at Hamas not supporting the Assad regime more strongly. Meshal has been trying to straddle the fence between supporting the Syrian revolution and not upsetting the regime.

Elaph's sources claim that Meshal's announcement that he will step down as Hamas' political leader is related to this pressure from Syria. Elaph says that Syria prefers that he be replaced with his current deputy, Mousa Abu Marzouk.

An Arab expert diagnoses Israel

Jamal Kanj, writing in the Gulf Daily News, explains it all:

Israel's survival kit is: Perpetuate conflict, insecurity to rationalise collective hate and finally play victim.

Devoid of conflict, Israel implodes internally; without hate, Zionism loses its justification; and playing eternal victim to continue blackmailing the West. In the absence of this holy trinity, Israel ceases to exist.

See? It is all so simple!

If Kanj really believes this, and he really wants to destroy Israel, then the prescription is clear:

Convince Arabs to make peace with Israel.

If all Arab countries and the PLO prioritize peace, accepting Israel's security concerns (which Kanj knows are just excuses to murder tens of thousands of innocent Arabs), then Israel cannot survive, according to Kanj. Israel will be "devoid of conflict" and will therefore "implode internally."

But if that is not enough, then the Arabs must learn to unconditionally love the Jews of Israel. If they truly love Israel, Israel cannot justify itse existence, in Kanj's view.

Putting the two of those together would make it impossible for Israel to "play the victim" anymore. And, soon thereafter, Israel ceases to exist!

I think Kanj is onto something. His plan has great merit. Arabs should put it in motion, in anticipation of the quick demise of the Jewish state. This is easier than incitement, and terror, and war - all of which makes Israel stronger, according to Kanj.

And Jamal Kanj is just the man to spearhead such an initiative.

What do the Arabs have to lose? According to Kanj, it has been Arab intransigence that has strengthened Israel so much. It must end now, so Israel can end as well..

The worst that could happen is that Kanj is wrong, and the Arabs will have to live in peace with their Jewish neighbors forever. Israeli Jews would tour all over the Arab world; Jewish backpackers would visit Iraq and Syria; Jewish scientists would work with their Arab counterparts to try to solve problems like water shortages and medical care; Arab Muslims would be able to visit Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque and other historic sites with a mere passport; and a Palestinian Arab state would be freely trading goods and services with their Arab partners.

I know- that is a pretty bad scenario, and one that Arabs are dead-set against happening. They's rather maintain the state of war and continue to incite against Israeli Jews.

But isn't the chance that they can destroy Israel with peace and love is worth the risk?

The Jews again prove they control the media

Once again, a journalist wrote something that offended Jews , and they quickly forced him to resign.

The owner and publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times has resigned and is seeking a buyer in the wake of a column he wrote speculating that Israel would consider assassinating President Obama.

Andrew Adler, in an email obtained by JTA, announced Monday that he is "relinquishing all day-to-day activities effective immediately" following the publishing of his opinion piece saying that Obama's assassination was among Israel's options in heading off a nuclear Iran.

Adler named staff writer John McCurdy as interim managing editor until a replacement can be found. Adler said he would publish an apology in his next edition and that reaction from readers had been overwhelmingly negative.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta said earlier Monday that it would suspend its relationship with the Atlanta Jewish Times until Adler removed himself from the newspaper's operations. The federation also called on Adler to sell the weekly.

"While we acknowledge his public apology and remorse, the damage done to the people of Israel, the global Jewish people, and especially the Jewish Community of Atlanta is irreparable," the Atlanta federation said in a statement issued Monday to constituent groups.

Proving again that those Jews are against freedom of the press. Except for the press they own, which is all of it. Except for the Atlanta Jewish Times, which they are against, even though they own it, like all the other Jew-owned media.

(I'm sure that some anti-semites will find a bizarre Jew-hating angle in this story, so I wanted to beat them to the punch.)

UPDATE: After I wrote this, I see that J-Street managed to almost do what I satirized here:

[T]he extremism evinced by the Atlanta Jewish Times’ editor is enabled by a broader communal atmosphere in which critics of Israeli governmental policy are regularly called anti-Israel or even anti-Semitic.

While we welcome the outrage that is being focused around this latest incident, we hope that the American Jewish community will take this opportunity to consider the state of discourse over Israel more broadly.

Yes, J-Street believes that being against President Obama's policies is but a small step away from calling for him to be assassinated.

I wonder how much J-Street stays up at night worried about the extreme anti-Israel rhetoric that is "enabled" by J-Street's public positions against the policies of Israel's democratically elected government?

Viola player at synagogue reacts brilliantly to interruption

This was on YouTube for months, but has gone viral in the past day. And for good reason.

The musician is Lukáš Kmiť.

The venue is the Preslov, Slovakia Orthodox Synagogue.

The interesting part starts at 0:36:

"Hamas will never abandon armed jihad"

From Now Lebanon:

Senior Hamas official Mahmud Zahar said on Monday that the Palestinian Islamist movement will never give up its armed struggled against Israel.

The statement comes as Gaza Strip officials openly attacked the movement's leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal, who has decided not to run again this summer for the leadership of Hamas, for prioritizing "peaceful resistance."

"We are fighting for our dignity and rights. Jihad is our path, our life, our pride and we will not renounce it no matter the sacrifices," said Zahar, quoted on the website of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing.

Hamas will "never give up its armed struggle against the Zionist enemy," he said during a speech in Zeitun, a neighborhood in East Gaza, in honor of the "martyrs" of Israel's December 2008-January 2009 Cast Lead operation against the enclave.

Zahar is being mentioned as a possible successor for Khaled Meshal, who is stepping down as its political leader.

Rule One: Always Blame the Jews

Ma'an has a photo-essay:

Artistic glass products, hand-made ceramics and Palestine's one and only producer of the Keffiyeh, the traditional Palestinian scarf, Hebron’s factory district used to be flourishing.

Times have changed, however, amid an increase in settler violence, the economic crisis and a flood of cheaper-made Chinese products. The city's old, family-run factories are struggling to survive.

Here's a look into the secret life of the Hebron manufacturing district's graffiti-sprayed walls, ever-struggling businesses and the beauty of the unique products still being made.

The essay is centered around the Hebron Glass and Ceramics Factory:

Interestingly, at least past of its customers are Jews (see the "Shalom" tiles in the lower left:)

That graffiti the article mentions is Arabic:

So how exactly is "settler violence" affecting this shop?

Answer: It isn't. The shop is situated in around what is known as Glass Junction in this map (in north Hebron):

This is quite a distance from H2, where the Jews of Hebron live. The Jews are not even allowed to go near that section of town!

So when Ma'an blames "settler violence" for the financial woes of this shop, there are no facts behind it. It is just a reflexive condemnation, one that is as automatic as breathing - if a Hebron shop is in trouble, the Jews must be at least partially to blame.

Hezbollah increases its firepower

From UPI:

As the Middle East frets about a regional conflict, Israel's military says it believes Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah has long-range surface-to-air missiles supplied by Syria, significantly boosting its defenses against the Jewish state's formidable air power.

The Jerusalem Post reported Thursday that the military command "is also working under the assumption" that the Lebanese movement, which fought Israel's armed forces to a standstill in 2006, has obtained several dozen long-range M600 surface-to-surface missiles from Syria, Iran's ally.

Hezbollah is already believed to have a substantial number of M600s, which are Syrian-produced clones of Iran's Fateh-100 missile.

The M600 has a range of around 190 miles and carries a warhead containing a half-ton of high explosives.

The Israelis estimate that Hezbollah possesses around 42,000 missiles and rockets, including long-range weapons capable of hitting anywhere in Israel and which are changing the nature of Middle Eastern warfare.

That's more than three times the number of missiles Hezbollah had at the outset of the 34-day war in July-August 2006. Hezbollah fired nearly 4,000 rockets and missiles, or around 200 a day, into Israel's northern Galilee region during that conflict.

That was the heaviest bombardment Israel's civilian population endured since the state was founded in 1948 but that pales against the threat the nation faces from the missile arsenals of Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and the Palestinian radical of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Military officials have warned Israel's population of 7 million that Israeli cities could be hit by 500 projectiles a day for weeks on end if a new conflict erupts.

"According to Western intelligence assessments, Hezbollah is believed to have taken advantage of the ongoing upheaval in Syria to obtain advanced weapons systems, such as additional long-range rockets as well as Russian-made air-defense systems," Post military analyst Yaacov Katz wrote.

Apart from the addition of "several dozen" M600s to its armory, Hezbollah is believed to have acquired additional 302mm Khaibar-1 rockets from Syria. These have a range of around 62 miles.

The Israelis' big fear is that the Damascus regime, battling against a stubborn 10-month-old pro-democracy uprising aimed at toppling President Bashar al-Assad, will transfer advanced weapons systems, including chemical weapons, to Hezbollah if it looks like the opposition is going to win.