Friday, November 23, 2012
Elder of Ziyon
Friday, November 23, 2012Elder of ZiyonPresident Mohamed Morsy has often celebrated the fact that he has seldom used his legislative powers, using that fact as an index of his care not to abuse his expansive authorities.Sounds pretty absolute, doesn't it? And it cannot be a coincidence that Morsi decided to announce this right after being praised by the US for his role in brokering a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
But a new constitutional declaration issued on Thursday night actually harnesses more power for Morsy, which he says he is trying to avoid.
The seven-article declaration renders the president's decrees and laws immune from appeal or cancellation. It also protects both the Shura Council and the Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly from dissolution by any judicial authority, and further protects the assembly by extending its mandate to draft the constitution to eight months instead of six, as stipulated in an earlier constitutional declaration. Two cases against the Shura Council and the Constituent Assembly are currently awaiting a court ruling, but those cases will now be voided by the declaration.
The new constitutional declaration also gives immunity to all decisions and decrees issued by Morsy since he took office on 30 June and until the ratification of a new constitution, thus protecting those decisions from judicial or any other type of revision.
Further, Morsy granted himself the exclusive right to take any measures he sees fit to protect the country's national unity, national security and the revolution.
Quarrels between opponents and supporters of President Mohamed Morsy escalated into violent clashes in Alexandria on Friday afternoon.
Eyewitnesses told Al-Masry Al-Youm that 15 were injured in the clashes as both sides hurled stones at each other, and at least five cars were smashed in the course of the violence. The confrontations led to a brief halt in traffic on the Alexandria Corniche.
Anti-Morsy protesters are gained control of the area in front of the Al-Qaed Ibrahim Mosque, while Morsy’s supporters have pulled back, the witnesses added.
Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr reported that anti-Morsy supporters had stormed the office of Freedom and Justice Party at the area and set it ablaze.
The problem is that the pro-Islamist groups can easily summon far more people at any protest any time they want. The parliamentary elections made that clear - the masses in Egypt are not pro-secular, and an Islamist government that veers towards totalitarianism is not considered a problem as long as Islamic law is the driving force behind it.Thousands of protesters marching from various points in the city are converging on Tahrir Square Friday afternoon, chanting slogans such as "Down with the Supreme Guide," "Wake up Morsy, it's your last day," and the popular "The people demand the fall of the regime," eyewitnesses report.
A march of dozens coming came from Estiqama Mosque in Giza Square after Friday prayers. The march included April 6 Youth Movement, Popular Current and Constitution Party members. Each movement raised its flag while others raised the Egyptian flag. The protesters also held banners denouncing the Muslim Brotherhood and its intervention in the state policy, as well as banners rejecting yesterday’s constitutional declaration.
Another march from Nour Mosque in Abbasseya that includes dozens of opponents to Morsy's decisions, including April 6 activists, is also headed to Tahrir.
The protesters held symbolic coffins wrapped in Egyptian flags and white flags that read "martyr."
They chanted "The people want to bring the president down" and "A second revolution anew."
The protesters arrival in Tahrir comes about an hour after Islamist supporters of President Mohamed Morsy came out in the tens to demonstrate against the Constitution Party’s anti-Morsy protest march from the Fatah Mosque in Ramses Square.
The two groups engaged in verbal sparring matches, shouting slogans at each other after the Friday prayers ended. Constitution Party protesters immediately left.
Friday, November 23, 2012Elder of Ziyon
Technorati Authority measures a site's standing and influence in the blogosphere.I've previously seen my rankings go as high as #4. For the past couple of years I have been in their top ten more often than not, but I've seen my ranking fall into the 40s as well.
Authority is calculated based on a site’s linking behavior, categorization and other associated data over a short, finite period of time. A site’s authority may rapidly rise and fall depending on what the blogosphere is discussing at the moment, and how often a site produces content being referenced by other sites.
Topical Authority measures a blog’s influence within its subject category. Blogs will appear ranked by topical authority within Technorati’s blog directory. Factors include linking behavior from blogs and posts in the same category, how well a blog's overall content matches the category in question, and other associated data. It’s possible for a blog to have authority in several different categories. The authority in each category may be different.
Friday, November 23, 2012Elder of Ziyon
pchrAt approximately 09:40, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a group of Palestinian civilians near Abdullah Bin Rawaha Mosque in Maan area in the east of Khan Yunis. 2 civilians were killed: Abdullah Harb Salem Abu Khater, 21; and Mahmoud Saeed Abu Khater, 34.
Thursday, November 22, 2012Elder of ZiyonScientists have grown fully functional heart muscles by reprogramming stem cells and skin cells from patients. They found that these reprogrammed cells can “reset” the rhythm of any unhealthy heart tissue that is placed around them.
The researchers believe that patients suffering from irregular or slow heart beats could be treated with an injection of new heart cells grown from stem cells to create a “biological pacemaker” that will regulate their heartbeat.
Currently patients who have suffered heart attacks that cause their heart to pump out of sync or who suffer from irregular heartbeats have to undergo surgery where a battery powered pacemaker is fitted to control the organ’s rhythm.
Dr Oren Caspi, from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology who has been carrying out the research, said the heart cells they had created appeared to behave like young, healthy heart tissue found in new born babies.
He said: “We found that the electrical signal from the heart cells we created synchronised the beat of any surrounding heart tissue.
“We have seen this happen in dishes in the laboratory and in animal models. When we integrated the cells into the hearts of pigs, they were paced by the cells that were injected.
“It seems that the cells that beat fastest control the pace, so it could be used to replace artificial pacemakers for people with slow or irregular heartbeats.”
Dr Caspi and his colleague Professor Lior Gepstein earlier this year became the first scientists in the world to generate beating heart cells by reprogramming skin cells taken from patients.
They converted the adult skin into a type of cell known as induced pluripotent stem cells, which have the potential to develop into any tissue found in the body. By altering the conditions they were grown in, the cells then developed into fully functioning heart cells.
The researchers believe it will be possible to use skin cells from patients to create injectable biological pacemakers – reducing the risk of them being rejected by the patients body.
They are now working with clinical heart specialists in a bid to trial the treatment in human patients.
Thursday, November 22, 2012Elder of ZiyonDuring the next eight days, the IDF targeted more than 1,500 terror sites across the Gaza Strip. The sites that were targeted were positively identified by precise intelligence over the course of several months, including:More Statistics: Ceasefire Agreement Comes Into Effect
"It is actually a triple war crime, because the use of civilians as shields is intended not simply for protection of the terrorists, but to ensure that Palestinian civilians are killed — to produce the response from the UN, the New York Times, and others in the “international community” necessary to win the media war that is conducted alongside the military one."
A double standard between Israel and Gaza, Israel and the world
Here was the line:
"Israel has a vastly more capable military than Hamas, and its air campaign has resulted in a lopsided casualty count: three Israelis have been killed."
And here was JG’s response:
"Whenever I read a statement like this, I wonder if the person writing it believes that there is a large moral difference between attempted murder and successfully completed murder."
"The only solution to this recurring problem is for the international community and the media, once and for all, to expose the Hamas strategy, to condemn it, and to deny Hamas the diplomatic and media victory it seeks to achieve by its double war crimes."
"The intelligence aspect of Israel’s strikes has shaken Hamas, no matter how swaggering its bravado. To lose your chief of staff, Jabari, on day one of a mini-war exposes a massive intelligence vulnerability. To see many of your key long-range missile locations pinpointed and targeted underlines the extent to which Israel has penetrated Hamas’s command and communications networks."
"Next question: If Gaza is the ``world’s biggest outdoor prison’’, strangled by a blockade so severe that Palestinians are left, as activists such as Professor Juan Cole like to claim, desperately short of food and medicine, why would Hamas be smuggling in rockets instead?Strange priorities, especially when rockets are not weapons of self-defence but of offence. Of terror. Which, of course, is the stock in trade of Hamas, pledged to Israel’s destruction.
"As reported originally by blogger Elder of Ziyon, in breaking news, the BBC showed a “wounded” Gazan civilian being removed by stretcher following an Israeli attack. The headline was: “Hamas military: Attack opens the gates of hell.” Yet 30 minutes later a clip shows the same person walking about freely. As a result, CNN corrected its report on this incident."
"It is worth noting that the Guardian is once again suggesting that Hamas, unlike the “craven” Palestinian leaders in Fatah, is more deserving of our moral sympathy, more justified in claiming the mantle of the authentic Palestinian resistance movement. Further, the picture of the Egyptian prime minister clutching a dead Gazan child, which the Guardian is referring to, is an incident which was revealed (by EOZ) to be a fraud."
“At least 10 people have been injured in an explosion on a bus in Israel’s commercial capital, Tel Aviv, in what one Israeli official described as a “terrorist attack”. “
Kristyan Benedict tweets joke suggesting three Jewish MPs support bombardment of Gaza; Amnesty UK launches ‘confidential’ disciplinary process; official’s private Twitter feed includes strong anti-Israel viewsNGO Monitor: NGO Warfare Update: Amnesty Launches Frontal Attacks
On Tuesday, during a parliamentary discussion on violence in Syria and in Gaza, Benedict tweeted, “Louise Ellman, Robert Halfon and Luciana Berger walk into a bar… each orders a round of B52s… #Gaza.”
"On November 19, Amnesty launched a direct assault on Israel’s right to self-defense, calling on the UN Security Council to impose an “international arms embargo on Israel, Hamas, and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza.” (plus more offensive Amnesty tweets)"
“The audience, which had paid $15 for tickets and donated thousands more to aid Israelis under fire from Hamas, showered the players with affection.
"During a pause in the performance, a YouTube clip by Dr. Elisheva Ronen, a Dutch-born pediatrician who lives in Ashkelon, was projected on a screen. In the clip, which has become a Facebook hit, Ronen filmed rockets falling near her home as sirens wailed in the background. Ronen then took the stage and, choking back emotion, thanked the audience members for their prayers."
Thursday, November 22, 2012Elder of Ziyon
- On November 18, the Israeli army targeted Hamas’ operational communications arrays and antennas on the roof of two buildings -- the Shawa Hussari and Al Shourouq towers. A number of foreign media outlet offices were located on the lower floors of the Al Shourouq tower. (Hamas has systematically placed strategic infrastructure and weapons close to or within civilian buildings.)
- Many political advocacy NGOs active in the Durban strategy, including false accusations during the 2008-09 Gaza conflict, immediately accused Israel of deliberately targeting journalists and the foreign media. As in the past, these statements provided highly incomplete factual information, lacked context, and made allegations of “war crimes” and other legal claims without any evidence.
- The NGOs incorrectly declare that Israel acted unlawfully -- simply because the buildings contained civilians. Under international humanitarian law, if civilian objects are being used for military objectives, they are indeed legitimate targets (attacks must comply with the rules of proportionality). This is particularly the case where combatants are exploiting those objects for cover,as Islamic Jihad members have.
- None of these NGOs acknowledges that Al Aqsa and Al Quds TV are an integral part of the Hamas military structure; that Al Aqsa is a Specially Designated Global Terrorist; that channels are used by Hamas to transmit threats to the Israeli civilian population; that they are used to incite genocide and war crimes on the civilian population of Israel; that they are used to indoctrinate and recruit child soldiers.
- Adalah and Al Mezan falsely claimed that Israel was intending to “demolish the ‘Al-Shoroq Tower’.” The building was not demolished; rather, the IDF issued statements that it was targeting installations on the roof of the building, and based on video footage from the strikes, that is exactly what the IDF did.
Read the whole thing.
- Reporters without Borders claimed that “these attacks constitute obstruction of freedom of information,” but, as mentioned, there is no protection under international law for Hamas to engage in incitement to violence or hate speech.
- The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), funded by European governments, accused Israel of “a systematic crime to silence the press and prevent journalists from reporting on the crimes that are being committed by Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.” This claim is wildly incongruous with the reality of hundreds of media stories, blog posts, tweets, and other reports emanating from Gaza.
- HRW’s Executive Director, Ken Roth, characterized these news outlets simply as “pro-Palestinian.” The failure to provide the full context is highly deceptive and immoral.
- None of the NGOs involved in this campaign possesses the expertise to determine whether a military action was “indiscriminate.” To make such claims, they would need access to IDF military intelligence; specific information known to the IDF commanders prior to the strikes, as well as their intentions; knowledge of how the targets fit into the overall war effort; location of Hamas installations, combatants, and weapons; among many other factors.
Thursday, November 22, 2012Elder of ZiyonThis afternoon (Wednesday) 5 trucks carrying medical equipment entered Gaza via the Erez crossing.This was during some of the heaviest rocket barrages of the conflict.
Thursday, November 22, 2012Elder of ZiyonOn at least 20 separate occasions this year, the Israeli government appealed to the UN to take action against Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, in letters sent to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the President of the Security Council.The world media, human rights organizations and the UN yawns when Israel is under attack. But when Israel finally gets fed up, they pretend that it all happened in a vacuum.
In the letters, Israel informed the United Nations about repeated instances of rockets fired from Gaza against Israeli civilians, and urged the U.N., at a minimum, to speak out and condemn the attacks.
“Inaction today could help ignite an escalation of conflict tomorrow,” Israel warned the UN, while exercising astonishing measures of restraint that no other country facing a similar onslaught of rockets has ever shown.
Yet we are unaware of any UN action whatsoever taken in response.
The situation in Gaza must be addressed with the utmost seriousness. Day after day, international law is flagrantly violated by the terrorists that operate with impunity in Gaza. In letter after letter, Israel has warned the international community about the dangerous potential for escalation. Yet, we still hear no words of condemnation from the Security Council. There has been no concerted effort inthe international community to halt the fire of rockets into Israeli cities.January 31:
All responsible members of the international community have a duty to clearly and unequivocally condemn these attacks. The world must act now to prevent terrorism in Gaza from sparking even greater turmoil and conflict in the Middle East.
I write yet again to express Israel’s serious concern about the rockets flying out of the Gaza Strip day after day into our homes, cities and communities. It is clear that these acts of terrorism could ignite an escalation of conflict in our already volatile region. Unfortunately, some members of the Security Council continue to turn a blind eye to the serious dangers posed by these attacks.
Reminder: One million civilians in southern Israel remain under fire.
– In the past seven days, seven rockets have exploded in Israeli communities.
– Not one word of condemnation has been issued by the Security Council, to
date.
– No responsible Government can tolerate the unabated targeting of its citizens.
Caution: Inaction today will bring instability tomorrow.
• Since my last letter four days ago (S/2012/472 of 21 June 2012) 87 more rockets were fired into Israeli communities.
• We see the same reality, month after month: as aid flows into Gaza, rockets fly out.
• The Security Council has not uttered a single syllable about this appalling terrorism.
Caution: The Security Council’s decision to stay mute could have grave consequences.
Inaction today could help ignite an escalation of conflict tomorrow.
Last week, the Security Council showcased unprecedented efficiency when rockets were fired in the direction of another country in the Middle East — and rightly so. This is the Council’s responsibility.
Meanwhile the Security Council has slept through more then 12,000 rocket attacks against Israelis over the past decade. We applaud the Council’s condemnation last week — and expect the Council to act with the same speed and conviction to condemn the rocket fire targeting 1 million Israeli civilians.
The serious danger of an even greater escalation hangs over our very volatile region. Many Israeli civilians and soldiers have been injured. Damage to property has been significant. One million people in Southern Israel remain under grave threat. The people of Israel cannot – and will not – tolerate these acts of terrorism. The Israeli government has a right and a duty to protect its citizens.It isn't as if Israel didn't warn the world about what was happening.
Israel holds Hamas fully responsible for all acts of terrorism flowing from Gaza. Israel’s leaders have been very clear: we are prepared to take all necessary measures to protect our citizens from Hamas terror. Those who target Israelis with terrorism today will pay a very heavy price tomorrow. Israel has exercised – and will continue to exercise – our right to self-defense.
At this critical moment, responsible members of the family of nations have an unmistakable duty. All Security Council members that truly value peace and security will send a very clear message to Hamas without delay. The time for the Security Council to condemn Hamas terrorism with one voice is now, before it is too late.
The Palestinian leadership also has a fundamental responsibility to clearly condemn Hamas terrorism. The silence that continues to echo from President Abbas’ office speaks volumes.
Thursday, November 22, 2012Elder of Ziyon
Thursday, November 22, 2012Elder of ZiyonpchrAccording to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 17:45 on Tuesday, 20 November 2012, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at Hussam Mohammed Salama, 30, and Mahmoud Ali al-Koumi, 29, cameramen of the Gaza-based al-Aqsa Satellite Channel, while they were traveling in a civilian car clearly marked with ‘TV’.
Luckily, I just made a poster about Mr. Salama, along with a photo of the car where he had crudely spray-painted "TV." A senior Hamas operative was targeted while driving a press vehicle. Muhammed Shamalah, commander of Hamas forces in the southern Strip and head of the Hamas militant training programs, was targeted by an Israeli air strike while driving a car clearly labelled “TV”, indicating it to be a press vehicle, abusing the protection afforded to journalists.
These crimes are aimed to silence and the press and prevent journalists from reporting on crimes committed by Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians.In other words, PCHR is not just withholding information - it is knowingly lying.
Thursday, November 22, 2012Elder of ZiyonZvi
Buy EoZ's book, PROTOCOLS: EXPOSING MODERN ANTISEMITISM
