Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, August 03, 2012

Friday links

From Ian:

LATMA returns with full episodes: Jamil and Awad's summertime blues and Israel's unfair tax burden

Stand with Us The El Al Ambassadors Program

J’lem 'angry' at PA failure to reciprocate goodwill

"The Palestinian failure to respond positively to a series of recent Israeli goodwill gestures shows that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is “unable to enter into negotiations that will require concessions,” according to an internal government memo made known to The Jerusalem Post."

Capital, seat of government or a town in limbo: World still divided over an ‘undivided’ Jerusalem

“A statistics book by the UN, of all bodies, grants Israel the right to assert its capital claim, while leaving the Palestinians with Ramallah. It’s an anomaly that highlights an unrelenting dispute”

Caroline Glick Israel -- Obama's wedge issue

"It is hard to think of a milder criticism of Palestinian society than Romney's comparison of the Palestinian economy to the economies of Mexico and Ecuador. Romney could easily have gone much further without ever leaving the confines of received wisdom. For instance, he could have mentioned - as Obama did in his speech in Cairo in June 2009 - that Muslim societies under-invest in education relative to non-Muslim societies."

The French Railroad and the Holocaust Is a Public Company Private? by Michael Curtis

“In all these legal encounters, the SNCF has used contradictory, but successful, arguments. In the French case, it argues that the court has no jurisdiction over it because it was a private company. In the U.S., it argues that courts have no jurisdiction over it because it was not a private company but an arm of the French government.”

BDS enthusiast David Martin, MEP, and a Hamas-linked trip to Gaza

Muslim sprays tear gas into face of two women wearing the Star of David (German)

"On Monday evening two women who came to a waterpark in Stein were assaulted. A 23-year-old insulted them, sprayed them with tear gas and gave them the "Hitler salute" -- apparently because of a Star of David on a necklace of one woman...."

Al Qaeda trio' arrested in Spain with enough explosives to blow up a bus

The trio - two of whom had practiced flying light aircraft - may have been plotting attacks in Spain or elsewhere in Europe according to Spain's interior minister.
The three - a Russian, a Russian of Chechen descent, and a Turk, were arrested after being watched by Spanish authorities for 'some time'.

Photos from today’s Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade

Israel Daily Picture: The Hardships of Aliya (Immigration) to the Land of Israel in the 1930s

Fascinating account of Israel's strike against Syria's nuclear facilities

Ha'aretz (Hebrew) is excerpting a piece from the new book by Yossi Melman and Dan Raviv, whose English title is "Spies Against Armageddon." It sounds fascinating.

Here is an excerpt from the Haaretz article, auto-translated back to English:

Information about the Syrian nuclear program came to the Mossad by accident. A few years before, on Christmas Eve 2003, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi announced that he agreed to give up his plans to produce weapons of mass destruction. Israeli intelligence - the IDF Intelligence and the Mossad espionage agency - were stunned. They did not have a clue about the Libyan leader's intention , and they learned it from the media.

Dagan and research officers of the Mossad intelligence wing sank into a sad reverie. They asked themselves: "If we did not know about Khan's activities in Libya (Pakistani nuclear scientist, Abdul-Qadir Khan, was that brain behind the Libyan nuclear program), what else don't we know?" Consequently, in early 2004, the head of Military Intelligence demanded to examine every piece of information collected and stored in the last decade in connection with his actions, his conversations and Khan's trips in the Middle East.

Intelligence communities tend to store hundreds, if not thousands of bits of information, not always with the time and tools for humans to read or listen to them carefully. Information that is important can disappear because no one noticed it or people didn't understand its meaning. They found that Khan visited Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria. The evaluation was that because Saudi Arabia and Egypt are countries friendly to the U.S., they will not rush to accept the offers of Dr. Khan's services to purchase nuclear know-how. In any case, the Mossad assessed, even if they keep in touch with him, then the U.S. will know about it.

Therefore the Mossad decided to concentrate on Syria, a country hostile to Israel, who runs anti-American policy and that cooperates with Iran and supports Hezbollah. Bashar al - Assad, who took power after his father died in 2000, was inexperienced and may have been tempted to do reckless or adventurous acts.

A few months after the start of the initial examination, the spring of 2004, researchers returned to the Mossad's research division to their division head and told him that indeed there is something behind it, because as the intelligence division investigators pursuing the Mossad's issue, they found more and more suspicious and worrisome signs.

It turned out that Syria has increased three years prior to testing the secret dealings with North Korea. The Mossad had known about the cooperation between the two countries in the development of Scud missiles, but now there was also cooperation between them in the nuclear field.

I just ordered the book.

(h/t Yoel)

UPDATE: Challah Hu Akbar notes another book that covered this topic, excerpted in JPost a short while ago. Each has details the others don't have.

LA Times: Don't worry, "experts" assure us Iran isn't going nuclear soon

I love how "experts" are willing to bet every single Israeli life that they are correct:

Nonproliferation experts and Middle East analysts are skeptical of Israeli claims that the Tehran regime is so close to building a nuclear weapon that time is running out for a peaceful resolution of the decades-long standoff.

OK, let's hear them:

"This is a window that has been closing for 15 years now, and it's always imminently about to close," said Jamal Abdi, policy director for the National Iranian American Council. He sees the sudden flurry of diplomacy between Jerusalem and Washington as an outgrowth of the U.S. presidential campaign and Israeli interest in ensuring that the United States continues to hold a hard line against Iran.

Hmmm... an advocate for Iran in America is the first "expert" the LA Times quotes. Sounds a little like an agenda, doesn't it?
Who's next?

Alon Ben-Meir, a professor of international relations at New York University's Center for Global Affairs, said Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak used the American visits to send a message to Tehran that Israel won't hesitate to take unilateral action.

Ben-Meir cautions U.S. and other officials against seeing the Israeli threats as mere posturing, pointing out the profound national security concerns that shape Israeli defense policy and the country's unshakable faith that Washington will come to its rescue if a strike against Iran triggers retaliation by Tehran or its well-armed allies in the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militia.

"I don’t think Israel is bluffing entirely. There is an element of exaggerating its readiness to act and likelihood of winning. But many advisors to Prime Minister Netanyahu are saying that if he waits six or eight months, they may end up unable to do anything significant in terms of damage" to nuclear facilities that Iran has been moving underground to protect them from airstrikes, Ben-Meir said.

This seems pretty accurate - of course Israeli public statements are meant to send a message, but at least he acknowledges that time is running short.

Next expert?

Threats of military action against Iran are spurred by Israel's frustration with the paltry progress being made at recently resumed negotiations between Iran and six major powers. The talks are aimed at ensuring that Iranian programs are limited to peaceful purposes like energy production and medical research, said Gaukhar Mukhatzhanova, a nonproliferation scholar at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

"I don’t see any particular breakthroughs in the Iranian program. It's been on a pretty steady course," she said, adding that, as far as preemptive air strikes were concerned, "there is technically no urgency to do this."

Except that Iran's nuclear weapons program is on a pretty steady course. Hmmm.

And finally....

Still, those pressures are mounting on Iran and raising the cost -- both financially and politically -- of the regime's nuclear pursuits, said Alireza Nader, senior policy analyst on Iran for Rand Corp. He pointed to reports of Iranian demonstrations against rising food prices and shortages, along with demands, even from Iranian elites, that the government give priority to social needs over nuclear investments.

"According to the U.S. intelligence community, the Iranian leadership hasn't even made the decision to weaponize their program," Nader said. "They've been creating the technical know-how and the infrastructure, but they haven't made that decision, and there is much more time than the Israelis portray there to be. I don't think an Iranian nuclear weapons capability is inevitable or imminent."

Here's a classic example of how some academics can't think.

Nader doesn't think that anything bad will happen, and while Iran is doing everything besides publicly announcing it is building nuclear bombs, they haven't officially decided to do it. Iran has merely decided just to get to the point where they can build a bomb within 15 minutes if they choose to.

That's OK, isn't it? I mean, there will still be 15 minutes to act, right?

Now, I wonder if these "experts" would be so lackadaisical and pushing their "probablies" and "I thinks" if the warheads were aimed squarely at them?

Morsi will not attend Tehran NAM conference - but Abbas will

From Egypt Independent:

The London-based Al-Hayat newspaper said Friday that President Mohamed Morsy will not attend the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran at the end of August, where Egypt is scheduled to hand over chairmanship of the movement to Iran.

A source close to the presidency said either Prime Minister Hesham Qandil or Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr would likely represent Egypt at the summit. The source added that Morsy decided not to attend after being advised that he should not visit Tehran. The source did not reveal from whom the president received this advice.

Morsy was told that he could face public criticism for visiting Iran because of Tehran’s support for the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, the source explained.

As I have previously noted, most members of NAM have wavered on sending their leaders to the conference in Iran, instead sending lower-level representatives.

But Mahmoud Abbas eagerly accepted the invitation.

So what does it say about the PA's "moderate" leadership when it is more accommodating to Iran than practically every other country?

UAE photo competition open to all - except, of course, Israel

From the website of the Emirates Photo Competition:

Under the patronage of International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP) the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) is organizing the Seventh Session of the Emirates Photography Competition (EPC) 2012.

...The EPC believes in the inclusive nature of art and its timeless ability to unite the interests and creativity of human beings everywhere, as well as the ability of photography to facilitate interaction and communication amongst people. Therefore the EPC’s Seventh Edition will be open to all photographers from around the world.

Sounds great! Let's register!

Uh-oh:

It's a bit difficult for Israelis to register for this competition that is "open to all photographers worldwide, amateur or professional" when their country and nationality is not listed in the registration form.

If this was only a typical daily example of Arab hypocrisy and hatred of Israel, perhaps it could be laughed off. But this competition is under the patronage of the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP) which states clearly on its website:

All considerations of political, ideological or racial order are absolutely banned from the activities of FIAP.

So why is it sponsoring a photo contest that violates its own rules?

I am told that FIAP has already been contacted and is aware of the issue, but has not yet decided to do the right thing.

The president of FIAP is Mr. Emile Wanderscheid and his email is e.wanderscheid@fiap.net. You might want to contact him and ask about why FIAP is ignoring its own stated standards and is acceding to blatant discrimination against a FIAP-member country.

UPDATE: See my follow-up post here.

BREAKING: 20 Palestinians killed by artillery

8 Palestinian Arab civilians were killed as a barrage of artillery shells were fired on the Yarmouk camp. (UPDATE: The death toll is now 20!)

Two children who were killed were apparently brothers, Anas Ahmad Tlozi and Ibrahim Ali Tlozi.

Several shells exploded on Ja'una Street in the camp, which also injured 25 civilians. Many of them are in serious condition at a nearby hospital.

Residents of the camp appealed to the UN to help protect them from the withering fire of the enemy.

This terrible event will no doubt generate endless op-eds and condemnations from Palestinian sympathizers.

Hold on....I just received an update: The Yarmouk camp is in Syria, not Gaza.

Oh, forget it then. No one cares about dead Palestinians when they are killed by Arabs!

Today's nutty Al Aqsa rumor: Jews dissolving foundation with chemicals

Palestine Today reports that Jamal Amr, who is responsible for architecture affairs for the Al Aqsa Mosque, charges that he found traces of chemicals that the Israelis are using to dissolve the foundations of the mosque.

Who knows, maybe they are dissolving the entire Temple Mount.

Amr said in a speech that Israeli experts are deploying the solvents during the night and removing them during the day to hide their nefarious plans. This is the biggest attack against Al Aqsa in three years, he said.

Yes, the Israelis can use this wonder chemical to dig tunnels, or safely take down buildings, but they choose to use it to weaken the Al Aqsa Mosque. Because that's how they roll, apparently.

By the way, this story was also reported back in February. And Mondoweiss swallowed it, naturally. Because republishing absurd anti-Jewish conspiracy theories is how they roll, in reality.

And more links

Diana Muir Appelbaum uncovers a 1958 Turkish blood libel against Jews that still has echoes today in Turkish society.

Lebanese authorities arrest 36 men at gay cinema

According to a report on the Gay Star News website on Monday, “an unknown number” of the 36 had been released after an unnamed doctor administered the anal exam – a procedure meant to detect sperm.

PalWatch: The Muslim Brotherhood's Patient Jihad

The Economist has a large special report on Jews and Judaism today

JUDAISM IS FLOURISHING, both in Israel, where 43% of the world’s Jews now live, and throughout the Jewish diaspora. The Jews as a nation are flourishing too. Israelis, for all their problems, are the 14th-happiest people in the world, happier than the British or the French, according to a recent global happiness report commissioned by the UN. In the diaspora Jewish life has never been so free, so prosperous, so unthreatened.

Syria: the view from Israel in The Guardian

Israel's position with regard to the Syrian crisis has been misrepresented by two myths. One, propagated by the Assad regime itself, has argued from the outset that this is not a genuine domestic rebellion, but a conspiracy hatched by the US and Israel. The other holds that Israel favours the survival of Assad's regime ("the devil we know" theory) and has exerted its influence in Washington in order to dissuade the Obama administration from serious humanitarian intervention in Syria.

'If I were an Iranian, I would be fearful in coming weeks'

Good news! Iran's Parchin nuclear site seems to have been properly cleansed and is now (presumably) ready for inspection!

An anti-tank missile shot from Gaza gets intercepted

In Iran, anti-semitic outbursts are increasing under Ahmadinejad

Dr. Ruth visits haredim in Israel and sees that things are not as bleak as we are hearing

(h/t Yoel, Yerushalimey, Menachem)

Surprise! Henry Clifford fakes Zionist quotes as well

Henry Clifford, the man who paid to put copies of The Map The Lies on LIRR train stations and who refused to answer the many proofs that they were deceptive, is now adding more deception to his already tattered reputation.

He wrote an article in the LoHud.com paper where he takes alleged Zionist quotes that he claims shows that early Zionists were hell-bent on ethnically cleansing the land.

In a must-read article, CAMERA traces back the history of these quotes and shows how they are distorted, out of context or simply not credible.

I'll only add one point. Henry writes:

Richman and Grossman tell us that in 1967, “the Arab world threatened Israel with destruction.” Here’s what then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin said in 1982: “In June 1967, we had a choice. The Egyptian army concentration in the Sinai approaches did not prove that Nasser was really about to attack us. We must be honest with ourselves. We decided to attack him.”

The Arabs did not initiate the war, Israel did.

No one says that Nasser fired the first shot. But the threat to Israel was real, both in extreme Arab rhetoric and in fact (by his closing off he Straits of Tiran, for example.)

But Clifford pretends to be concerned primarily with the West Bank. And every historian would agree that Jordan fired the first shot there, after Israel warned them not to get involved.

If Jordan had decided not to join the war, the Palestinian Arabs would still be under Jordanian occupation. They certainlywouldn't have an independent state! Also, they would still be doing all they could to destroy Israel within the Green Line, as they did before 1967.

So Clifford is again being knowingly deceptive.

And his choice of quotes also shows very clearly that he has no ability to think for himself, and that his entire knowledge of the Middle East comes from anti-Israel websites that he simply copies and pastes from without doing even the slightest fact checking.

Ian's Thursday links

From Ian:

Stand with Us: Danny Ayalon Israel Palestinian Conflict: The Truth About the Peace Process (video)

Hamas blasts Palestinian official’s Auschwitz trip
"Islamist group’s spokesman says Holocaust ‘is a big lie,’ and visit by Abbas adviser was against public opinion" See also MEMRI

BDS movement forcing Brits to pay more for medicines?

"The European Union – Israel Agreement on Conformity, Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products (ACAA) was approved by the European Council of Ministers in March 2010 and then sent on to the European Parliament for ratification. The European Parliament has delayed that process for over two years – supposedly as a reaction to the May 2010 flotilla incident in which nine Turkish political activists were killed after having attacked Israeli soldiers."

Why Abbas Wants to Go Back to the UN in September by Khaled Abu Toameh

"Abbas's decision to return to the UN is not only a ploy to avoid internal problems at home, it is also a way of trying to extort the Americans and Europeans into channeling more funds into his coffers. Abbas's threat: Give me more money or I will misbehave and file another request with the UN."

Islam at the Olympics "Rid the Streets of Evil" by Shiraz Maher

"With East London hosting the world during the Olympics, a group of Islamists associated with Anjem Choudary and his group, Islam4UK, have taken the law into their own hands.
Over recent weeks the group has launched a vigilante campaign in Waltham Forest, close to the main Olympics venues, to target "Pimps and Prostitutes," part of a wider campaign by Choudary's associates to launch their own vigilante campaigns, based on a narrow interpretation of Shariah law. Last year, the group put up stickers around parts of East London declaring it a 'Shariah Zone.' It warned women to observe strict dress codes, and local residents against drinking alcohol. Homosexuals were also threatened."

The Palestinian Culture of Slapping Israel

“PFD (Palestinians for Dignity), which was instrumental in the protests against Mahmoud Abbas and PA corruption earlier in the summer, is now protesting the European Union’s decision to upgrade a variety of trade and other ties with Israel.
The EU is the largest provider of economic assistance to the Palestinian Authority — so the willingness to antagonize it should be put in the context of what the PFD is willing to sacrifice — not for the benefit of the Palestinian people, but to demand that Israel be slapped:”

IDFBlog: IDF Roundup – What Happened In July 2012
20 Years of Saving Lives Abroad
Delhi Police Charge Muslim Journalist in Attack Against Israelis

“Nearly five months after an Israeli diplomat's car was bombed in New Delhi, the Delhi Police on Tuesday indicted Indian journalist Syed Mohammad Kazmi of conspiring with foreign elements [i.e., Iran] and others for the terror strike.”

German Center on Anti-Semitism Appoints Edward Said Wannabe, Achim Rohde

“Opponents of Dr. Rohde claim that his work is aimed at belittling anti-Semitism by confounding it with Professor Said’s Orientalism philosophy, which Dr. Rohde is now pushing hard as a sort of replacement theology: their confused thinking equates anti-Semitism with Orientalism and portrays Muslims as victims of Nazism and the Holocaust.”

Hungarian Politican Resigns From Anti-Semitic Party After Jewish Roots Become Public

YouTube, Google and Apple Take Steps Towards Combating Online Anti-Semitism

Countering Clifford and His Anti-Israel Maps

House considering Jewish refugees bill

“Bill would also recognize other displaced populations, including Christians from countries in the Middle East, North Africa and the Persian Gulf”

Members of Congress file brief to support Jerusalem passport case

Have a safe flight, thanks to Israel’s XSight

Runway debris costs about $14 billion in damages yearly. That’s why the FAA likes an Israeli system to detect birds and metal fragments 24/7.

Israeli Daily Picture: Rishon LeZion Celebrates Its 130th Anniversary This Week

Al Azhar cleric says suicide bombings are a religious duty

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from a program featuring Egyptian cleric Hashem Islam Ali Islam, a member of the Fatwa Committee of Al-Azhar, which aired on Al Aqsa TV on July 12, 2012.

I say to people who object to martyrdom operations that martyrdom operations are among the deeds most pleasing to Allah.

They constitute a religious duty in this day and age, in order to strike at the Zionist enemy.

In Egypt, Al Azhar is considered to represent moderate, mainstream Islam.

But it is possible that the quote is out of context. After all, he only mentions "the Zionist enemy," so perhaps he is only justifying blowing up Jewish women and children.

Which isn't really controversial at all, is it?

Arab women protest brutal murder of wife in Bethlehem

From AP:

The brutal killing of a battered wife in front of horrified witnesses in an open-air Bethlehem market prompted angry accusations Wednesday that Palestinian police and courts ignore violence against women.

Nancy Zaboun, a 27-year-old mother of three, had her throat slashed Monday after seeking a divorce from her abusive husband of 10 years. The husband was arrested at the scene and is the prime suspect, West Bank officials said.

The case reverberated across Palestinian society because of the brutality of the attack. However, violence against women continues to be tolerated—similar to attitudes in other parts of the Arab world—and women's rights activists say abusive husbands are rarely punished.

Zaboun was regularly beaten by her husband, 32-year-old Shadi Abedallah, at times so severely that she had to be hospitalized, said Khaula al-Azraq, who runs a West Bank counseling center where Zaboun sought help.

Even so, Abedallah was never arrested. Police only made him sign pledges he would stop hitting his wife, said al-Azraq, adding that Abedallah himself is a former police officer.

Zaboun was killed after attending a hearing in her divorce case. She was walking on the steep paths of an open-air market—not far from the Church of the Nativity, marking the traditional birthplace of Jesus—when she was fatally slashed.

On Wednesday, several dozen women staged a memorial for Zaboun in the Bethlehem market alley where she was killed, holding signs and chanting, "No to violence against women." One sign read, "Shame on us Palestinians for killing our women."

Women have scored some breakthroughs in traditional Palestinian society in recent years, including gaining a greater role in public life. However, tribal laws still remain strong, and violence against women is generally viewed by police as an internal family matter.

Honest Reporting notes that this came only a day after The Guardian published an absurd piece where Israel was blamed for Palestinian men beating their wives.

By the way, Arab media disgustingly published graphic photos of the murdered woman. (And in the first link, the moral editor tastefully edited out the inch of exposed skin between her shirt and jeans, while allowing his readers to see her slashed throat.)