Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, April 29, 2012

The sacred soccer stadium on the Temple Mount

At the very end of an AP story about the dispute within the Islamic world of whether Muslims should visit Jerusalem or not, it says:

The compound is sacred to both Jews and Muslims. It is one of the most sensitive religious sites in the world.

Palestinians use the area to worship and rest - one of the few open spaces in the intensely crowded walled Old City of Jerusalem.

They sit under the soaring pine trees and walk among the intricately painted turquoise tiles adorning the Dome of the Rock. Children play football nearby.

We've shown videos of Muslim children playing soccer there before:

They even set up a volleyball net on this "sacred" site:

But AP has a new meme to justify this desecration of the holy place: it is a park, too, and there is nowhere else for Palestinian Arab children to play!

Of course, AP doesn't say that Jews who live in the Old City have the right to use this wonderfully beautiful park, even though they live in the same crowded spot. No, only Muslims have permission to use a sacred site as a soccer stadium.

Iran threatens US East Coast

From YNet:

Iran's Navy has the ability to deploy its vessels three miles off the US east coast, a high-ranking Iranian Navy commander was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.

"Our naval forces are so powerful that we have a presence in all the waters of the world and, if needed, we can move to within three miles of New York," Revolutionary Guards Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi was quoted as saying during a speech to students at the University of Yazd earlier this week.

Meanwhile, Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Commander Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said Iran was capable of crippling or disabling US aircraft carriers, Fars said.

"First, sinking an aircraft carrier is not a complicated task," Hajizadeh said. "Second, an aircraft carrier is equipped with so many advanced, delicate, and sensitive devices … that it could be incapacitated by even the smallest explosion."

Earlier, Fox News reported that the US military has deployed several F-22 fighter jets to an allied base less than 200 miles (320 km) from Iran [in the UAE.]

According to the report, the US Air Force strongly denied ordering the deployment s a show of force against Iran, or that it is in some way related to a potential strike on the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities. It claimed the measure is part of routine activity and "security cooperation with regional partners."

(h/t Yoel)

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the influential preacher based out of Yemen whose sermons are seen by tens of millions of people, once again has called for Muslims and Arabs to rise up and destroy Israel.

In his sermon last Friday, Qaradawi called on all Arabs and Muslims to be "fighters and mujahadeen" and exhorted them not to accept the "humiliation and disgrace" of Israel.

He said that the Muslims will be victorious and Israelis will go back to "the lands they came from." He added that Muslims are lying in wait for that day to happen.

He further said that the Jews support Israel and it is necessary for the Muslims to similarly support the destruction of Israel.

Qaradawi is often portrayed as "moderate" by Western media.

British co-op boycotts Palestinian Arab farmers

From The Guardian:

The Co-operative Group has become the first major European supermarket group to end trade with companies that export produce from illegal Israeli settlements.

The UK's fifth biggest food retailer and its largest mutual business, the Co-op took the step as an extension of its existing policy which had been not to source produce from illegal settlements that have been built on Palestinian territories in the West bank.

Now the retail and insurance giant has taken it one step further by "no longer engaging with any supplier of produce known to be sourcing from the Israeli settlements".

The decision will hit four companies and contracts worth some £350,000. But the Co-op stresses this is not an Israeli boycott and that its contracts will go to other companies inside Israel that can guarantee they don't export from illegal settlements.

Welcoming the move, Palestinian human rights campaigners said it was the first time a supermarket anywhere in the west had taken such a position.

The Co-op's decision will immediately affect four suppliers, Agrexco, Arava Export Growers, Adafresh and Mehadrin, Israel's largest agricultural export company. Other companies may be affected by the policy.

Right now, if Palestinian Arab farmers want to export their goods to Europe, they use Agrexco as their distributor. They even have their own brand, Coral.

Agrexco ensures that their goods would be accepted in the international markets by providing quality control and an already existing infrastructure for refrigeration, transportation, marketing and other services.

In other words, the Co-op is now boycotting Palestinian Arab farmers who have no other means of distributing their goods to the West, and directly hurting them - and the Palestinian Arab economy as a whole. Tomatoes and other produce grown in Gaza will be affected as well.

The Co-op has made a decision that hurting Israeli companies is more important than helping Palestinian Arabs who have no alternative means to market their products to the West. And this is the hypocrisy that shows that BDS cares not one bit about the people they pretend to be helping.

More on this hypocrisy here.

UPDATE: Ben White thinks he "got" me. I show quite the opposite.

Iranian police crack down on "immoral" dress

From Al Arabiya:

Police in Tehran are conducting a new crackdown on women wearing mandatory headscarves improperly or in “vulgar” dress, the city’s police chief said, according to media reports on Saturday.

Such operations, which see police screening foot and vehicle traffic at major junctions and shopping centers, are conducted fairly often in Iran.

The latest one was ordered days ahead of the May 4 second round of parliamentary elections, and as the onset of warm spring weather prompts Iranian women to don lighter clothing.

The police chief, Hossein Sajedinia, said the crackdown was “asked for by the people,” the Fars news agency reported.

Women wearing “bad headscarves, bad dress, and model-type women in vulgar dress” would be stopped, he said.

Typically, such women are fined or detained in police stations until relatives collect them hours later with more modest clothing.

Sadejinia said that companies importing “illegal clothes” that do not comply with Islamic dress standards would be given a warning or closed.

In Saudi Arabia, there are special religious police to do things like this. In Iran, the regular police are enforcing (current understandings of) Islamic law.

That is even worse, but it is an aspect of Iran that Western media rarely discuss.

Egyptian protesters call Saudis "Zionist," insulted Saudis close embassy

From Al Arabiya:

Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador to Egypt for “consultation” and temporarily closed its embassy and consulate in Cairo following protests in Egypt against the detention of an Egyptian activist by the Saudi authorities.
The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported that the reason behind the diplomatic move was “unjustified protests” in Egypt and attempts to storm the Saudi embassy and consulates which “threatened the safety of its employees.”

Egyptians have been protesting outside the embassy against the arrest of an Egyptian lawyer and human rights activist, Ahmad al-Gazawi, in the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia said he was arrested for smuggling drugs.

Egyptian activists, however, said Gazawi was detained for filing a complaint against Saudi Arabia for its treatment of Egyptian citizens in Saudi prisons.

What the stories aren't telling you is how deeply the Egyptian protesters insulted the Saudis.

They didn't call them kufrs, or women, or infidels. No, they used the worst insult imaginable.

They called them Israelis.

In this video you can see six pointed stars as graffiti all over the Saudi embassy compound in Cairo.

(h/t jzaik)

How many lies can you find in this article on Palestinian Arab prisoners?

From Russia Today:

Human rights groups in the West Bank say 2,000 Palestinians have been on hunger strike for more than a week, and others are ready to join next week. At the moment there are an estimated 5,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails. Each year, 700-800 minors are arrested, and in all, 20 per cent of Palestinians have experienced Israeli prison.

There are actually less than 4400 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails according to B'Tselem.

The idea that 20% of Palestinian Arabs have been in Israeli prisons is ridiculous. It obviously comes from Adameer, and is obviously a whopper of a lie as I have proven in the past. Yet it gets repeated by magazines, UN agencies and newspapers whose reporters cannot understand anything beyond sixth grade math.

Here's one of the testimonies that RT believes wholeheartedly:

Speaking about his years spent in an Israeli jail, as-Sinwar says different kinds of torture were routine practice.

“They kept me awake for 10 days in a row. Whenever I dozed off, they would pour ice-cold or boiling water on me – depending on their personal preferences. They would tie my arms behind my back, throw me on the floor, a prison guard would sit on my stomach or chest, apply pressure to the groin – the pain was excruciating,” Yahya as-Sinwar recollects.

According to as-Sinwar, the Shabak [Israeli General Security Service] handles torture during the investigation, and the Shabas [Israeli Prison Service] tortures sentenced prisoners. “They have two departments – Nahshon and Metzada – which are responsible for the total psychological destruction of a person. These methods are not used anywhere else in the world.”

He says Israeli prison guards could tie a prisoner to a child’s chair and make him balance on it for days; put a person in an ice box (after this the person’s limbs are usually amputated).

“They have this form of torture when they tie a prisoner’s hands and leave him hanging for 24 hours. Or they suffocate the prisoner, watch him turn blue, let him breathe for a bit, and then repeat this several times,” as-Sinwar told RT. “When they tortured my close friend, they beat him on the back of the head with tightly rolled newspapers. A person has terrible headaches afterwards, becomes hysterical, all the internal organs get damaged.”

According to as-Sinwar, these kinds of torture leave no marks and even a very keen doctor would find it very difficult to discover any signs of abuse.

al-Sinwar says that prisoners routinely get frostbite and have to have their limbs amputated - yet RT couldn't seem to find one of these people. Shouldn't be too hard since it happens all the time, right?

And Israeli torturers have the amazing ability to cause severe damage to all one's internal organs - and yet do it in such a way that even expert doctoes cannot find anything wrong with those same organs.

That's a neat trick!

More absurd allegations in the article:

“Prisoners in Israel get 10 per cent of the amount of food served in the prisons of other countries."
"It was a tiny cell measuring 1.2 by 0.8 m where one person could not lie down, or stand up or stretch his legs, it had no furniture, and food was given once a day, and it’s so bad you couldn’t eat it."
"What they say about prisoners having the opportunity to complete their education in Israeli schools is also a lie.”

Basic journalism standards, folks. It isn't so hard.

(h/t Margie)

Apartheid in Lebanon

Isn't it time for celebrities to boycott Lebanon?

The Palestinian Association for Human Rights (Shahed) announced in its annual report Tuesday that the situation of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon is getting worse by the year, as their rights diminish in number and value daily.

According to the report, “the [poor] housing conditions in camps have not been addressed, and there is no local or international initiative on the horizon to improve them.” It described the camps as “a breeding ground for disease, home collapses, and a well of social problems.”

There are approximately 400,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, most of whom live in and around the country’s 12 camps. The camps are largely overcrowded and poorly provided for in terms of water and electricity.

The report called the pace of reconstruction of Nahr al-Bared, the northern camp that was mostly destroyed during a 2007 conflict between the Lebanese Army and Islamist group Fatah al-Islam, very slow.

The health situation in the camps is also deteriorating, according to the report, despite slight improvements in UNRWA’s health services. Education provision is dramatically declining, the report added, as problems in the education system have accumulated for 20 years now with the exception of a slight improvement at the high school level.

The report also said that in 2011, it had recorded no initiatives by the Lebanese government aimed at improving the conditions of Palestinian refugees.

Here's a list of concerts planned this summer in a state that has laws specifically to discriminate against hundreds of thousands of its Palestinian residents. Yet no one calls to boycott these bands because they are playing in Lebanon.

So either the boycotters against bands playing in Israel are hypocrites who don't care about Palestinian Arab rights, or....no, that's really the only explanation.

(h/t Andreas)

Spring weekend open thread

Have a great weekend!

Arabs attacked Jews on Yom Ha'atzmaut

From YNet:

While Independence Day celebrations are continuing throughout the country, residents of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council once again found themselves running for shelter.

An air raid siren was sounded on Wednesday night and one rocket exploded in the region. There were no reports of injuries or damages.

Residents told Ynet that at around half past midnight, at the height of an Independence Day party, a siren sounded. Some of the residents said that they also heard an explosion.

The rocket was most likely fired from the Gaza Strip and exploded in an open area within the regional council.

And, worse:

Three members of the Shukrun family were hospitalized overnight Thursday following an attack by a group of young Arabs. Two of the family members were moderately wounded in the attack, while the third suffered light injuries.

"I tried running away with my children and sister, but they kept coming back to hit us," Tzipi Shukrun told Ynet. "They kids are traumatized."

The family arrived at a park located in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the Jerusalem Cinematheque, to celebrate Independence Day. "We wanted to have a barbecue on the grass with my parents. I have three small children. At around 16:30 a group of Arabs, who seemed to be about 18 years old, sat next to us. It was calm; there were a number of Jewish and Arab families near us so we weren't scared. My kids played soccer with the Arab children."

But as the Shukrun family was preparing to leave, the teens approached and began cursing. "My two brothers, my father and another teenager tried to prevent them from reaching my children. In response, they took out clubs, chains and a knife and began brutally attacking the children," Tzipi Shukrun recalled.

She said the assailants yelled out "Yahud (Jew)."

Tzipi said one of her brothers "was struck in the head and began bleeding, and another one of my brothers suffered a severe blow to the eye. I called the police but it took them 25 minutes to arrive at the scene.

"My brother, who served in Sayeret Matkal (elite IDF unit), arrived at the scene before the police did," she told Ynet. Police officials said officers arrived at the scene at 6:22 pm, just seven minutes after Tzipi Shukrun called.

"I tried to run away with my sister and children, but they (Arabs) kept coming back to hit us. Luckily, my brothers blocked their path. It's difficult to fathom that something like this could happen in the heart of the capital," Shukrun said.

(h/t Yoel)

Israelis saving the world - in 1964

Came across this, from the JTA Archives, October 8, 1964:

An Israeli pilot who fought in Israel's War of Independence in 1948, was awarded today the "United States Decoration for Exceptional Service" by Lt. Gen. Harold Grant, deputy administrator of the U. S. Federal Aviation Agency, for developing a safer method for commercial use of airspace.

Bar-Atid Arad, 40, born in Israel and a former member of the Palmach forces, became the first non-American to win the FAA award. He came to the United States through an agreement between the Civil Aeronautics Division of the Israel Ministry of Transportation and FAA, to a research on his theory on more efficient use of airspace. A mathematician, he holds a degree from the University of California. The method he worked out proved so successful that the FAA has applied to all central control towers at American airports.

Mr. Arad was cited by Gen. Grant for his resourcefulness and professional skill in devising a better system for the flow of air traffic both nationally and internationally. He was also awarded a gold medal by the U. S. Government.

Tonight he received another award at a conference on air traffic control at Atlantic City. The conference agenda included a discussion of the "Israeli" innovation. Mr. Arad conceived the theory while working in Israel with the Israel Civil Aeronautics Division.

Clearly an early example of Israeli hasbarists' air-brushing.

Syrian on TV justifies why "Palestine" more important than Syria

Here is a sterling example of how the Arab world uses the "Palestine" issue as a means to avoid anything they don't want to speak about.

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from an interchange between Al-Jazeera TV host Faysal Al-Qassem and Lebanese journalist Salem Zahran, on a program that aired on April 10, 2012:

Faysal Al-Qassem: "How do you account for this denial? The Syrian media give you the impression that nothing is happening there. The Syrian people are concerned only with barbeques, and they all hang out in the parks. Today, Syrian TV has run programs on the massacre of Deir Yassin in Palestine, at a time when the Syrian people is being massacred in Idlib, in Deir Al-Zour, in Homs, and in Hama. By God, how can you make a mockery of the people this way? Is this the time to be talking about the massacres in Palestine, when the Syrian people is being massacred in all the towns…"

Salem Zahran: "No, Dr. Faysal…"

Faysal Al-Qassem: "How do you respond to this denial? Go ahead."

Salem Zahran: "First of all, it's beneath your dignity not to talk about Deir Yassin…"

Faysal Al-Qassem: "Just answer the question, don't give me a lesson in morals. I'm asking you a question, so answer it!"

Salem Zahran: "Just a moment…Firstly, it's an honor for Syria and its media to deal with the Deir Yassin massacre…"

Faysal Al-Qassem: "What about the massacres of Deir Al-Zour, Hama, and Idlib? Thousands are being massacred on a daily basis. Who are you kidding?"

Salem Zahran: "The Deir Yassin massacre is part of our history and heritage. Palestinian blood is our blood."

Faysal Al-Qassem: "What about the Deir Al-Zour massacre?"

Salem Zahran: "Don't interrupt me."

Faysal Al-Qassem: "What about the massacres of Deir Al-Zour and Idlib? People are being salvaged from the rubble, and you direct your camera at Deir Yassin?!"

Salem Zahran: "When you're done, let me know."

Faysal Al-Qassem: "Go ahead."

Salem Zahran: "First of all, Palestinian blood is our blood."

Faysal Al-Qassem: "It's the same old record: 'Palestinian blood.' What about the Syrian blood?"

Salem Zahran: "You should not disparage our history, our heritage, and our culture. We've lived for Palestine, and we will die for Palestine."

Faysal Al-Qassem: "And you are also 'peddling' the Palestinian cause."

Salem Zahran: "Don't interrupt me or I won't talk."

Faysal Al-Qassem: "Is this the time to be talking about Palestine? A gazillion times more Syrians than Palestinians have been killed."

Salem Zahran: "You make tens of thousands of dollars in Doha, so you don't care about Palestine. But for us, Palestine is the frontier, the land of return, the main cause. All the rest are trivial details…"

Faysal Al-Qassem: "Right, hundreds of thousands dead and homeless are trivial…"

Salem Zahran: "Palestine is the main cause, and the Syrian media should be commended for mentioning Palestine. We will not make Palestine disappear for the sake of anything else. Dr. Faysal, I didn't think you would fall into such errors…"

Faysal Al-Qassem: "Call me a traitor and a collaborator. Anyone who doesn't believe your lies is a collaborator." […]