Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Saturday, December 08, 2012

Saturday night links

From Ian:

"Critics also need a history lesson. The E1 area, comprising 4.6 square miles of Israeli state-owned land, belongs to Maale Adumim. E1 land is located inside Area C where, under the Oslo II Accords, Israel retains zoning and planning powers. Every prime minister since Yitzhak Rabin has supported its development. If there is any threat to contiguity, wrote Nadav Shagrai in Haaretz (2009), it comes from continuing illegal construction on E1 land by both Palestinians and Beduin."

Build, Bibi, Build

"And this is why it is imperative for Israel to build and settle Jews in every corner of Jerusalem and the West Bank territories; because a Qassam rocket has never been fired from a Jewish neighborhood.
In Israel, no amount of international pronouncements has the ability to stem Arab terror as the building of one Jewish apartment block. But from the lands controlled by Israel’s enemies has sprung forth hate, terror, intolerance and bigotry.
As such the Prime Minister of Israel has but one prerogative: Build, Bibi, build!"

The Political Logic of the Palestinian Authority

"Abbas’ war of ideas also involved elements of delegitimization of Israel, especially statements that denied the Jewish historical connection to Jerusalem and the State of Israel. An official Palestinian Authority book published this year insisted that the word “colonialist” be used when describing Israel, otherwise “the Zionist endeavor” will be turned from a “racist” project into “an endeavor for self-definition and independence for the Jewish people.” For the Palestinian side, words were not used as “confidence-building measures” but as instruments to be employed for political warfare."

Into The Fray: Assessing Abbas’s address
At the UN General Assembly last week, histrionic spin trumped historical substance, while sinister subterfuge went unchallenged.

"So get this. The Palestinians are basing their claim for statehood on a UN resolution which, to this day, they consider irretrievably invalid – regardless of the passage of time. As I said, bizarre, huh?
But perhaps even more bizarre was the spectacle of the General Assembly rising to a standing ovation as Abbas’s vicious vilification of a UN member state drew to a close – which of course significantly reinforces the sentiment expressed in the opening citation: “They are only concerned with using the concept of Palestinian freedom as a weapon against Israeli freedom.”

The Hamas Theme Song (Teach Your Children Well)

Hamas political chief pays first visit to Gaza, vows next trip will be to Jerusalem

Khaled Mashaal says he’ll do everything in his power to unite Fatah and Hamas; Israel says it has no control over who enters Strip from Egypt

“I have been dreaming of this historic moment my entire life, to come to Gaza,” Mashaal told reporters as he stood alongside senior Hamas member Mousa Abu Marzouk and Haniyeh. “I ask God to give me martyrdom one day on this land.”

US pressured Egypt to keep Islamic Jihad leaders out of Gaza, report says

Israel warned Egypt that allowing named individuals to join Khaled Mashaal on visit would violate truce, pan-Arab daily confirms
"The paper confirms reports by Islamic Jihad, which said on Thursday that Israel had warned Egypt it would consider the three-week-old truce since Operation Pillar of Defense over if the terrorist group’s leader Ramadan Abdallah Shalah and his deputy, Ziad Nakhaleh, entered the Strip."

Former Sun Editor: Anti-Israel Bias in Media is “A Form of Proxy for Anti-Semitism by Journalists in the West”

At a recent Jewish Chronicle event in London, former Sun editor Kevin MacKenzie suggested that hostile media coverage of Israel is “a form of proxy for antisemitism by journalists in the West.”

Boycott academic bigots instead

In my opinion, a boycott of Israeli academics is racist and anti-intellectual and should not be tolerated in any Australian university:
"THE head of the University of Sydney’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies has been slapped down by his faculty head for refusing to help a Jerusalem-based civics teacher to study in Australia."

Muslim Brotherhood inherits U.S. war gear

“Egypt has far and away the largest army in Africa,” said Egypt analyst Robert Springborg, a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.
"The billions of dollars in U.S. military aid — in annual $1.3 billion stipends — have made the Egyptian air force the fourth-largest F-16 operator among 25 countries. Egypt’s 4,000 tanks, including the 1,000 or so M1A1s, make it the world’s seventh-largest tank army."

U.N. nuclear chief: Alleged weapons testing site was probably sanitized by Iran

"International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano said the nuclear watchdog would try again next week to visit the Parchin military base, a sprawling complex where Iran is thought to have conducted tests on high-precision explosives used to detonate a nuclear bomb."

Seven companies continue investment in Iran's oil
At least seven companies from China, India, South Korea and South Africa continued to have investments in Iran's oil and gas sectors in 2012 even as Tehran came under international scrutiny for its nuclear ambitions, a US government watchdog said on Friday.

Iranian Commander Says Sanctions Helping Iran

"He cited gasoline production, which Iran had tried to be self-sufficient at since 1991, but said it only achieved that level in 2010, two years after the first gasoline bans were imposed. In July the European Union enforced a total ban on oil imports from Iran. He also made mention of the weapons development in the country which has increased as restrictions on imports have tightened."

'Iran not on track to make long-range missile'

US Congress report casts doubt on intelligence views Iran could test-fly intercontinental ballistic missile by 2015.
"It is increasingly uncertain whether Iran will be able to achieve an ICBM capability by 2015," said the report by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, which works exclusively for lawmakers.
Iran does not appear to be receiving as much help as would likely be necessary, notably from China or Russia, to reach that goal, according to the 66-page report dated Thursday."

Sweden probes artist who used Holocaust ashes

In response to complaint filed by citizen, police consider charges against man who used ashes of Holocaust victims in artwork.
"Police said the prosecutor's office would investigate the case and was considering pressing charges against artist Carl Michael von Hausswolff. Police inspector Annika Johansson told AFP that authorities launched the investigation in response to a complaint filed by a member of the public, alleging the painting was "disturbing the peace of the dead."

Exclusive: A7 Interview with Maj. Gen. Ben Reuven on Iron Dome

Major Gen. (res.) Eyal Ben Reuven, Israel National Defense College AA Chairman, talks about the venue for IDF conceptual analysis.
"It was most appropriate, that on the heels of the success achieved by the Iron Dome antimissile system in the last round of the fighting in Gaza, the Israel National Defense College Alumni Association (INDCAA) devoted its Third annual conference to the topic of "Science and Technology in the Service of Israel's Future and How National Technological Development Serves the Security of the State of Israel."

SodaStream to kick off at Super Bowl

Israeli soft drink company has long been a target of pro-Palestinian activists who promote boycotts of settlement products
"SodaStream has enjoyed widespread success in Europe. It says 25 percent of Swedish households use its products, and reports similarly high rates in countries like Finland and the Czech Republic.
But in the US, the household penetration rate is just 1 percent. Birnbaum is confident that with his publicity blitz, beginning with the Super Bowl, he can gradually bring that number closer toward the European levels."

Steve Wonder Parody: We Just Called to Say We LOVE Israel! VIDEO

Standing Up for Israel with Stand Up Comedy
Arutz Sheva met the participants of a unique tour of soldiarity. "Comedy for Koby" brings comedians to Israel for laughs and support.

Hamas' "moderate" leader promises to violently destroy Israel. "Experts" silent.

From Al Jazeera:

Khaled Meshaal, the Hamas leader in exile, has rejected any concessions over a future Palestine state at a rally marking the 25th anniversary of the armed Palestinian group.

More than 100,000 Palestinians gathered in the Gaza Strip on Saturday to hear him speak for the first time in the Palestinian enclave.

"Palestine is our land and nation from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river, from north to south, and we cannot cede an inch or any part of it," he said.

"We fight Zionists, not Jews. We fight whoever occupied our land, regardless of religion ... Statehood will be the fruit of resistance, not negotiations," Meshaal said to cheering fans.

Just to remind you, this is the person that Karl Vick of Time has said supports negotiations.

The same person that went on PBS to claim that Hamas doesn't support violence against civilians, while today he was speaking in front of a replica of a "M75" rocket that was fired towards civilians in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

The same person that the Globe and Mail called a "moderate" earlier this year.

The same person that the New York Times praised as having a peace plan virtually identical to the PLO's (actually, that might be correct, but not for the reasons the NYT gave.)

The BBC didn't bother noting the quotes above. Instead, they quoted this:

"As long as Palestine is ours and Palestine is the land of Arabism and Islam, we can never recognise the legitimacy of Israel's occupation of it," he told supporters.

"There is no legitimacy for occupation. Hence, there is no legitimacy for Israel, however long time lasts."

But without noting the other parts of his speech, a BBC reader may believe that Meshal is referring only to the the territories won in 1967. It would have been nice if the BBC noted explicitly that when Hamas says "occupation" he is referring to all of Israel, and when Hamas leaders say they want to "end the occupation" they mean they want to destroy Israel.

But that is too much to ask from the BBC. And it is typical of Western media outlets who always try to soften the racist, genocidal rantings of terrorist leaders.

You will be hard pressed to find any mainstream Arab leader who is offended by Meshal's speech calling to utterly destroy Israel and ethnically cleanse Jews from their homeland.You will not find any op-eds in the Arab media saying that Meshal is a terrorist, or that peace is necessary, or that negotiations are desirable, or that a Palestinian Arab state cannot realistically encompass all of British Mandate Palestine.

The multiplicity of views common in Western media on any topic is not to be seen in the Arab media on this topic. There are no Arab "Peace Now" rallies in Ramallah or Amman.

To the Arab world, Meshal's Islamist supremacist rantings are completely mainstream.

That is the story that every major media outlet is missing. They are so invested in the false narrative of a moderate Arab majority interested in real peace that they will downplay genocidal Hamas rants and (mis)quote only the parts that can be interpreted as somewhat reasonable.

Here's a photo from the Gaza celebrations you won't see on any of those news outlets:

Hamas is grooming the next generation to be exactly as "moderate" as the current leadership is.

The world really needs to understand the Arab mentality

Here is an unremarkable article in Assabeel, a Jordanian newspaper. Well, it is unremarkable for Arab media. Westerners who believe that Arabs think just like them might be a little surprised.

The author, Akram Alsoir, says that when he saw footage of Jews scrambling for shelter from Qassam rockets, he held his head high.

Granted, he says, that Jews are cowards. Not just cowards, but the most cowardly of all cowards. This assumption was proven when he saw the footage of Jews running to avoid being hit by rockets - the Jews aren't so powerful as Arabs thought!

Not only that, but in this author's (and most Arabs') mind, Israel's agreeing to a ceasefire is even more evidence of its cowardly nature. Israel, by agreeing to a truce with Hamas, increased Hamas' prestige to be equivalent to Israel, which is a huge defeat for Israel.

Alsoir wonders - if Hamas could force the cowardly Jews to accept a cease fire (i.e., surrender,) imagine what would happen if all the Arab countries shot rockets at Israel! The detested Jews would surrender even more quickly! Why didn't they join in?

The concept that Israel only wanted the rockets to stop is completely foreign to Arabs. Since they live in an honor/shame society, everything is seen through the lens of honor. To have an opportunity at vanquishing the enemy and to choose a truce instead is not considered praiseworthy - but contemptible, and evidence of cowardice.

It always comes down to the difference between the Arab "honor/shame" culture and the Western "guilt" culture. The consequences of the honor/shame mentality are huge, for example, by treating women and minorities as inferior in order to boost the fragile ego of the Arab male.

Israel's existence is an affront to the Arab honor/shame mentality, because it is a constant reminder of Arab defeat. No amount of compromise will ever change that. Until Jews are reverted to their proper place as second-class dhimmis paying tribute to their Arab masters, the Arab world will not accept Israel.

Every single move Israel does that is remotely conciliatory, or peaceful, or that shows any attribute that is not naked macho aggression, is not greeted with praise but with derision.

As a result, every time Israel shows restraint, it feeds Arab hopes that the Jews can be defeated - and it encourages them to continue to provoke the Jews and prove their weakness anew.

The irony, of course, is that if Israel felt weaker, it would react with much less restraint. Israel's willingness to take chances for peace is a direct consequence of its security and strength, not of weakness. If Israel felt it was up against a wall, it would not be negotiating a truce with anyone!

The West insists that Israel must act according to Western standards of morality. But the West must realize that in the Middle East, those actions will not be reciprocated - they will be derided.

While real peace is impossible, the only chance for a long-term detente is by maintaining a posture of strength that the Arabs can understand. Unless Arab culture is changed from top to bottom, Israel will always be caught in the middle between the nebulous consequences of acting like Europe insists or the longer-term benefits of acting like the Arabs would if the positions were reversed.

Friday linkdump

From Ian:

Latma: Blame Canada The Palestinian Version, and Britain under fire from Israeli media

JCPA: The Palestinian UN Upgrade: Setting Things Straight

"Now it is perhaps the time to place things in their correct proportion and to face the legal and political truths, without misleading exaggeration, imaginative embellishment, wishful thinking, and false predictions."

Europe Prays to Paper Peace, Paper God

"Cavemen prayed to stones and talismans, but Europeans worship paper gods.
Europeans have a bad habit of holding up paper agreements as if they guarantee peace, progress, prosperity."

Melanie Phillips: Jewish students running gauntlet of hate: welcome to 21st century Britain

"The delegitimisation campaign against Israel, comprising the obsessional lies and blood libels promulgated by the media and intelligentsia week in, week out, has produced this result: Jewish students in Britain are being forced to abandon their university courses out of fear."

Honest Reporting: Top 10 Media Fails of the Gaza War (EoZ involved in a few!)

CAMERA: New CAMERA Monograph: Indicting Israel: New York Times Coverage of the Palestinian Conflict

“A new monograph about CAMERA's six-month study of The New York Times details how the newspaper treats Israel with a harsher standard, omits context, and shows a clear preference for the Palestinian narrative. The entire booklet will soon be available for purchase on Amazon.”

Ten Fake Signatures on Shrinking Soccer Petition?
The following ten "signatories" apparently never signed, and perhaps never even saw, the petition, as their names have been removed from the list of 62 purported signatories:

CIF Watch: Harriet Sherwood gets it right

"While Hoffman’s analysis is open for debate, it’s refreshing to read a Guardian analysis which gives voice to the overwhelming majority of Israelis who tire of the imperiousness and moral condescension consistently displayed by the European left towards their nation – a hubris which manifests itself in the audacious belief that citizens of the Jewish state continually need to be ‘saved from themselves’."

Poll: Majority of Israelis supported Gaza operation

"Peace Index poll finds a majority of Israelis want a return to peace talks, but even larger number doubts their chances of success. Support for Operation Pillar of Defense was not limited to one side of the political map, Israeli Jews from across the political spectrum supported the operation; 74% of people self-identifying with the Left, 86% of centrists and 89% of right-wing Israelis."

Human Rights Organizations Overlook Female Genital Mutilation to Focus on Israel

“It seems that knowledge of that country extends little past the movie Black Hawk Down and occasional pirate attacks on Westerners. This lack of information is due in part to a lack of concern among groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Rather than taking the lead in defending Somali people, these organizations are channeling the majority of their resources to areas that are easier to report on, such as the U.S. and Israel.”

Clinton Excludes Israel Again from Counterterror Summit?

"Now Israel has apparently been excluded again, and in announcing the meeting the State Department spokesperson did not think it necessary to inform himself on the issue before meeting the press. The unfortunate effect is to call into question the meaning and effect of the U.S. “commitment,” sending a signal to Turkey (the other GCTF co-chair) and other nations that perhaps the word doesn’t mean what they think it means. "

If all else fails, US will hit Iran in 2013, say former top advisers to Obama and Bush

At Washington Institute gala, Dennis Ross, Elliott Abrams and outgoing US ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey insist the president will strike next year if diplomacy doesn’t succeed
"James Jeffrey, a former deputy national security advisor and, for the past two years, the US ambassador to Iraq, agreed with Ross’ assessment.
“I think [Obama’s] first choice will be a negotiated settlement. Failing that, I think that we’re going to strike,” Jeffrey said."

U.S. Secret Weapons Delivery Fell into Hands of Terrorists
A secret arms shipment to Libyan rebels fell into the arms of known terrorist groups. U.S. now concerned that the same can happen in Syria.

"The United States agreed last year to arm Libyan rebels from Qatar, but, as the New York Times reported, American officials grew concerned when intelligence evidence revealed only a few weeks after the deal was agreed to that the rebels were handing weapons over to known terrorist groups."

Kedar: Israel 'Knows How to Deal With Syrian Chemical Threat'
As Syria raises the stakes over its chemical weapons, an Israeli expert says measures are being taken to minimize the threat.

"The aerial chemical weapons threat, however, is one reason Turkey has turned to NATO for assistance, Kedar said. “This is why Turkey is deploying Patriots along the border with Syria,” he pointed out.
If an aerial bomb bearing a payload of sarin explodes in mid-air, Kedar said, “it is much less dangerous than if it blows up on your head. Sarin needs to be within a certain range, and at a certain concentration, in order to be effective.”

'French media is with the Palestinians'

Israel has a new friend in the French parliament, Avi Assouly: Socialist, proud Jew and former IDF volunteer. Assouly holds an Israeli passport and served a brief stint on the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team. 'The French media are pro-Palestinian,' says Assouly, who describes himself as very popular in France, despite his outspoken pro-Zionist views.

University of Toulouse Nixes Support Mtg for PFLP Terror Group

A meeting to express support for the PFLP terrorist support organization at the University of Toulouse has been cancelled by administrators.
"The university was the scene of an attack on an Israeli delegation in late April by a group of chanting, shouting protesters calling for the extermination of Jews. The incident took place about a month after the murder of a rabbi and three young children at a Jewish day school in Toulouse. The attackers ripped down the Israeli flag from the delegation's stall at the Le Mirail campus, in the area where Toulouse terrorist Mohamed Merah grew up."

IDF soldiers clash with Palestinian police in Hebron
Initial reports indicate that fray sparked as Israeli patrol tries to arrest policeman

"A group of IDF soldiers on patrol in Hebron clashed with some 250 Palestinians after trying to arrest a Palestinian policeman on Thursday in the West Bank city of Hebron."

Always Watching: The IDF Unmanned Ground Vehicle

"The border with Gaza is one of Israel’s most tense regions. Hamas snipers, anti-tank missiles and explosives threaten IDF soldiers whose job it is to patrol the security fence on the border.
To counter these threats, the IDF has introduced the Guardium Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV), which patrols the Gaza fence around the clock. “The most important aspect of the Guardium is that it saves human lives — and money, too,” said Lt. Avidav, Head of the Guardium Division."

Israel - The Start-Up & "Heart-Up" Nation
The latest advancements in cardiovascular innovations were introduced at a conference in Tel Aviv this past week.

"The annual "Innovations in Cardiovascular Interventions" (ICI) conference, the leading meeting for interventional cardiologists, innovators, entrepreneurs in the industry took place in Tel Aviv in early December, bringing together the latest in ground breaking medical technology and the leading figures in the world of cardiology. "

Soviet Jewry activists commemorate ‘a singular day in Jewish history’
Twenty-five years after chants of ‘Let my people go!’ rang out in Washington DC, organizers of the fight to free the USSR’s Jews recall a landmark triumph

"If you’re an American Jew under 30, you might want to sit down. The following piece of information may shock you: There was a day, not too long ago, when Jews calling themselves Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, secular, left-wing, right-wing and everything in between came together in solidarity on a single issue."

Egyptians thought Nasser was a spy for Israel

From Israel's Documented Story, the blog of Israel's Archives (by Yaacov Lozowick):

At the first secret high-level Egyptian-Israeli meeting prior to Sadat's visit to Jerusalem in 1977, Egypt's Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Hassan Touhami asked Moshe Dayan for the truth about the previous Egyptian president, Gamal Abdel Nasser. According to the English-language summary of the meeting:

Touhami's opinion of Nasser was of extreme and hateful despise. He asked Moshe dayan if Nasser had been in connivance with him when Nasser sent Abdel Hakim Amer with an airplane on an inspection tour just when our planes attacked at 08:00 on the morning of the 5th of June 1967.
The Mossad report of the meeting added a bit of detail:

The fact that the [Egyptian] Airforce was unprepared and its commanders were sanguine was explained by Touhami by the fact that Nasser was actually in conspiration with the Israelis. "Tell us the truth," Touhami requested seriously, "wasn't Nasser conniving with you at the time? Otherwise, how to explain what happened?" Touhami gave the appearance of rage and despise at Nasser, whom he described as having brought Egypt to the edge of calamity.

When the alternative is believing that your leaders were preening idiots that you worshipped, I guess the "spy" hypothesis is fairly compelling.

By the way, that blog is getting better and better - history tells us a lot.

(h/t Silke)

Terror group deployed to protect Meshal in his visit to Gaza

The Al Qassam Brigades is being deployed by Hamas on the streets of Gaza to protect Khaled Meshal in his heralded visit to Gaza today. (Here are some of them in the background of this photo.)

Why is this important?

Because the Goldstone Report took pains to distinguish between the supposedly "civilian" Gaza police and the Al Qassam Brigades. My argument at the time was to point out that Hamas itself did not distinguish between the two, as well as the fact that some 75% of the "police" killed in Cast Lead were also member of the Qassam Brigades, a terror ("militant") group even according to Goldstone.

But now we are seeing that not only are Hamas police tightly integrated with the Qassam Brigades, but that the Qassam Brigades are being deployed as police!

To Hamas, every person in uniform is a mujahid, and part of their military, even if they sometimes do routine police duties. Goldstone's idea, and theinsistence of some other groups, to distinguish the two is a complete fiction (and came from virulently anti-Israel NGOs), and does not reflect reality.

Just ask Hamas.

Iranian ships impersonating others' satellite signals

Some real reporting from Reuters:

Iranian oil tankers are sending incorrect satellite signals that confuse global tracking systems and appear to conceal voyages made by other ships to Syria, which, like Iran, is subject to international sanctions.

The two countries are close allies and have helped each other deal with shortages by swapping badly needed fuels such as gasoline for diesel.

Sanctions imposed on Iran to hamper its nuclear program have blocked sales of its oil to the West and made it increasingly difficult for Iran's fleet to obtain insurance and financing for deals with Asian buyers in China, India and South Korea.

Western sanctions have also isolated Syria, preventing it from exporting oil, while blocking fuel and weapons imports.

Large vessels must transmit their identity and location to other ships and coastal authorities using an automatic satellite communication system, but in the last month Iranian vessels sailing in Asian seas have sent signals that took over the identity of other vessels, so the same ship appeared to be in two places at once.

“It is of course possible to manipulate or falsify information in these messages,” said Richard Hurley, a senior analyst at IHS Fairplay, a maritime intelligence publisher.

At least three Iranian oil tankers are transmitting such false signals, effectively taking over the identity of Syrian-owned vessels travelling between Syria, Libya and Turkey.

All the vessels in question were registered in Tanzania.

“In the past months we witness a recurring pattern of vessels sailing the Tanzanian flag that transmit the same MMSI number [a satellite signal that provides information on a ship's identity and position], said Windward, a firm that provides maritime analytics technology.

“This way, if one of the two vessels is engaged in legitimate maritime activities, it might be used as a 'cloaking' for the other vessel and its activities.”

Iranian oil tanker Millionaire sent messages that doubled over a voyage made by a Syrian-owned ship, the Lady Rasha.

In a separate instance, the satellite tracks of Iranian oil tanker Pioneer were mixed up with a Tanzania-flagged cargo ship called the Talavera, recently renamed Chief Ahmed, and travelling from the Mediterranean into the Red Sea.

Read the whole thing.

Look who supports including Maaleh Adumim in Israel

What radical organization published this map showing that Israel would hold on to Maaleh Adumim through much of E1, supposedly splitting "Palestine" in two and making a two-state solution "impossible"?

Yes, it came from the far-left Geneva Initiative, which includes the most dovish of Israelis and a significant number of prominent Palestinian Arabs.

The Geneva Initiative is officially endorsed by the ultra-Left Americans for Peace Now, Meretz USA and even the Carter Center. Some of the GI's members are also members of the PLO.

While Saeb Erekat is fuming about how the E1 corridor would destroy any chances for a two-state solution, this map was there for all to see when he made a video for the Geneva Initiative.

Beyond this, CAMERA noticed that the Clinton peace plan included much more land than the Geneva Initiative shown here. I guess Bill Clinton is also a far-right warmonger hell-bent on destroying any chance of a Palestinian Arab state, judging from the reactions we are seeing to the E1 announcement.

The uproar in Europe, the US and Arab nations over the planned building of houses in the E1 corridor is manufactured outrage - and the best evidence comes from this map, which shows the minimum that most Israelis believe must remain in Israel in any possible two-state solution.

(h/t also to TIP)

Just great. The UN wants to take over the Internet.

From Al Arabiya/AFP:

Telecom companies across the world may be given the opportunity to dig through data passed across the Internet more easily following a move to allow the United Nations new authority to regulate the Web.

At a conference in Dubai this week, Members of the United Nation’s International Telecommunications Union (ITU) agreed to work towards implementing a standard for the Internet that would allow for eavesdropping on a worldwide scale.

The ITU members decided to adopt the Y.2770 standard for deep packet inspection, a top-secret proposal by way of China that will allow telecom companies across the world to more easily dig through Web data, according to a report from Russia Today.

The gathering which opened this week in Dubai of the U.N.’s International Telecommunications Union has triggered fierce objections from Washington, and from Internet freedom activists who fear new rules that could end the freewheeling system of the Internet.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted unanimously on Wednesday to oppose any efforts to give the United Nations new authority to regulate the Internet.

The 397-0 vote, following a similar vote in the Senate, came as delegates were meeting in Dubai to revise a global telecom treaty, a gathering which some say could be used to impose new controls on the Internet.

Representative Greg Walden said ahead of the vote that lawmakers should “send a strong bipartisan, bicameral signal about America’s commitment to an unregulated Internet.”

He said Washington should not “stand idly by while countries like Russia and China seek to extort control over the Internet.”

The Internet controlled by the same countries that control the UN?

Even though it is unlikely to happen anytime soon, in a decade or two this could become a major problem.

Just imagine what Muslim countries could band together to do to the Internet.

Say goodbye to Jesus and Mo.

Sudan catches the latest Zionist Attack Zoo spy

From YNet:

Sudanese media was a buzz Thursday, with news saying that Darfur authorities had captured a vulture carrying Israeli spy gear.

The suspect bird was found to be tagged with an Israeli GPS chip and a leg band labeled "Israel Nature Service" and "Hebrew University, Jerusalem."

Khartoum's media claimed that the device was capable of taking photos and sending them back to Israel; but Israel's National Parks Service dismissed the allegation, saying that both the band and the GPS chip were nothing more than standard migration trackers.

Tensions between Israel and Sudan have been high since a mysterious airstrike leveled a major weapons manufacturing compound in Khartoum in October. Sudan blamed Israel for the raid. Jerusalem has remained mum on the subject.

The Opposition in Sudan was quick to mock the "spy bird" find: The country's Justice and Equality Movement featured the news on its website, asking: "How is it possible that the regime was able to detect one vulture, but was unable to detect the jets that bombed the arms facility?"

The website further ridiculed the authorities' report of the case, which lauded it as an "unprecedented achievement," saying that all state reports about the bird's seizure failed to mention whether the vulture was captured because the military's radar picked up on its GPS signal, or whether the bird just happened to be flying by.

The story broke on Monday in the Sudanese press.

While I was looking for the story found another where Sudanese authorities say that hemophilia patients in the Sudan were complaining about side effects from an Israeli drug they were taking. It seems that the drug was already expired. A Sudanese minister of consumer products promised to figure out how Israeli medicines entered the country to begin with, blaming it on the "drug mafia."

(h/t EuroGirl)

Turkey fines broadcaster for blasphemous "Simpsons" episode

From The Telegraph:

Turkey's Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTUK), the state broadcasting regulator, levied the fine on the cartoon's Turkish broadcaster for airing an episode on September 20 that was found to be insulting to religion, according to local newspaper Hurriyet.

The episode in question was the Halloween special 'Treehouse of Horrors XXII,' that originally aired in the US in October last year. In one segment of the episode, titled "Dial D for Diddly", the religiously-devout character Ned Flanders goes on a killing rampage after being given orders by what he thinks is the voice of God. Later in the episode, the Devil demands God bring him a cup of coffee. "Yes sir," God responds, revealing it is actually the Devil that runs the world.

RTUK stated that the episode shows "one of the characters is abusing another one's religious beliefs to make him commit murders.

The Bible is publicly burned in one scene and God and the Devil are shown in human bodies."

RTUK also said that God serving the Devil coffee can be considered an insult to religious beliefs.

The fine was handed to Turkish broadcaster CNBC-E for "making fun of God, encouraging the young people to exercise violence by showing the murders as God's orders."

One can only imagine how many fines South Park could get in Turkey.

(h/t Gidon)

Thursday. Links. Here.

From Ian:

Dancing Around Genocide
At Human Rights Watch, a bitter behind-the-scenes battle over Iran's calls to annihilate Israel.

"Mr. Roth's main claim is legalistic: Iran's rhetoric doesn't qualify as "incitement"—which is illegal under the United Nations Genocide Convention of 1948—but amounts merely to "advocacy," which is legal.
The theory to which Human Rights Watch subscribes, he has written in internal emails, "is that in the case of advocacy, however hateful, there is time to dissuade—to rebut speech with speech—whereas in the case of incitement, the action being urged is so imminently connected to the speech in question that there is no time to dissuade. Incitement must be suppressed because it is tantamount to action."
Mr. Roth added in another email: "Many of [Iran's] statements are certainly reprehensible, but they are not incitement to genocide. No one has acted on them."

Candidly Speaking: Australia tilts against Israel By Isi Leibler
Germany and Australia, 2 countries considered solid supporters of Israel, abandoned us at the crucial moment.

"The opposition Liberal Party adamantly supports Israel. Former prime minister John Howard described the government’s tilt as “pathetic” and an “embarrassment.” Elections are scheduled next year and recent polls indicate that the Liberals may win by a landslide.But unless Gillard succeeds in persuading the Labor Party caucus to change its approach, in the short term Israel should not expect support from Australia under Foreign Minister Carr. Like many of our European “friends,” Carr may continue insisting that his motivations are based upon having the Jewish state’s security at heart and trying to save Israel from itself. But when the chips are down, he will abandon us, as he did at the UN General Assembly."

Andrew Bolt: Intellectual racism
Isn’t this racism - and the kind of intellectual ghettoisation that creates division, not peace?

“THE Sydney University’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, which has thrown its support behind controversial Palestinian leaders, has cited its boycott of Israel for refusing to help an Israeli civics teacher who has designed programs for both Jewish and Arab children.”

Netanyahu to Czech PM: Thank You for Standing Up for Peace
Netanyahu thanks Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas for his country’s vote against the PA's unilateral statehood bid.

“My real purpose in coming here is to say on behalf of the people of Israel to you and your government and your countrymen and women, to say thank you,” Netanyahu told Necas in a joint press conference.

Amendments Penalizing PA for Unilateral UN Bid Fail in Senate

“Any reports of its ultimate demise are premature,” the source said. “It can be attached to another piece of legislation down the road. Senate amendments can resurrect themselves in other forms.”

BBC Watch: BBC promotion of the ‘targeting the media’ myth

"But by indiscriminately promoting the theme of ‘targeting the media’ whilst failing to make the necessary distinction between legitimate members of that profession and every member of a terrorist organization with a video camera, journalists also provide – intentionally or not – a protective mantle to terrorist organisations."

CAMERA Sun Sentinel Columnist Gets Facts Wrong

"Writing yesterday in Florida's Sun Sentinel, Pierre Tristam argues that the U.S. is on "the wrong side of history" with its vote against upgrading the Palestinians' status in the United Nations. Too bad, though, Tristam can't get the history right."

Despite Military Atrocities, Ivory Coast Elected as UN Disarmament Commission Vice-Chair

“A government whose military has just committed widespread human rights abuses — including arbitrary arrests, illegal detentions, extortion, inhuman treatment, and torture — should not be made vice-chair of a U.N. arms control body. The U.N. should recognize that it has sent absolutely the wrong message at the wrong time, cancel the decision, and apologize to the victims,” said Hillel Neuer, UN Watch executive director.

As Iranian Nuclear Program Forges Ahead, is 2013 a Make-or-Break Year?

"Many experts are also concerned with Iran’s refusal to allow IAEA inspectors into the Parchin military complex. The IAEA believes that Iran may have conducted “explosives tests” as part of its nuclear program at the site, its report said. Satellite photographs indicate that Iran has been working quickly to clean the site up, while delaying the IAEA’s access."

Sudan Must Face the Consequences of Its Alliance With Iran

Syrian Mortar Lands in Israel: UN Peacekeepers Reinforced on Golan Heights

"The IDF confirmed that a Syrian mortar shell landed near an IDF base on the border between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights on Wednesday afternoon, December 5. It was most likely a misfire from Syrian infighting stated an IDF source, with the mortar landing in Israel by accident and causing no damage or injuries."

US ‘huddling’ with Israel, other allies as Assad’s forces ‘load chemical weapons into bombs’
Syrian troops reportedly began mixing components over the weekend; ‘remote’ danger of chemical weapons being fired into Israel, CNN contributor notes

"The CNN report said that the US analysis is that Assad is not ready to flee Syria at this point, but that if he did, his possible bolt holes could be Venezuela, Russia or Iran. The Russians, however, are growing increasingly wary of Assad, in part because of signs that he might be readying to use chemical weapons against his own people. And he would likely be safest from retribution in Iran."

CAIR Targets Morsi/Brotherhood Critics
CAIR-New York’s Cyrus McGoldrick disparaged criticism of Morsi as “a last stand by old pro-West/Mubarak/Israel crowd to keep power in judiciary.”

Out of the ashes, a ghoulish display
Swedish artist uses remains of Holocaust victims, taken from a concentration camp mausoleum, to create a macabre ‘painting’

"A Swedish artist, Carl Michael von Hausswolff, has stirred up controversy in his home country for blending the ashes of Holocaust victims, taken from a concentration camp, in water and using the resulting admixture to paint a picture. The morbid work, which the Daily Mail described as a “small painting of grey streaks,” is currently on display in a gallery in the Swedish city of Lund."

EJC: Swedish Jewish Community 'Dying of 1,000 Cuts'

Sweden's Jewish community is in “grave danger” after a series of anti-Semitic attacks, warns the European Jewish Congress. The statement came in the wake of an attack on two Jewish women earlier this week in the city of Malmo.

Ecuador’s president compares Jewish center bombing to NATO action

South American leader condemned for remarks likening terrorist attack to overthrow of dictator
“Speaking so callously in Argentina displays extraordinary insensitivity on the part of President Correa. The attack on AMIA was an assault on all of Argentina. One would expect Latin American nations to be empathetic and supportive of Argentina’s efforts to bring those responsible, including Iranian officials sought by Interpol, to justice.”

India urges Israel to speed up defence projects

"NEW DELHI: India has asked Israel to speed up crucial bilateral defence projects, including the around Rs 13,000 crore development of two advanced surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems to arm Indian armed forces against hostile aircraft, drones and helicopters.
This came at the 10th joint working group on defence cooperation here, co-chaired by defence secretary Shashikant Sharma and Israeli defence ministry director-general Major-General Ehud Shani."

Jordan reportedly drops out of Dead Sea canal project
Ambitious plan to run a waterway from the Red Sea to the water-depleted lowest point on Earth may now be put on hold

"The dream of using the drop in height from the Red Sea down to the Dead Sea, the lowest point on Earth, has been around for decades, but in 1998 Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority began serious research into building a canal. The initiators of the project hope to use the water to drive hydroelectric plants that would power desalination stations to produce up to two billion cubic meters of drinking water for the regional partners."

Israel in the frame (III)

Mahane Yehuda market

Ten of the world’s top Instagramers take on the Holy Land — our final installment

A proud mother of a terrorist

The Islamic Jihad Saraya website has a lengthy tribute to one of the terrorists the IDF recently killed, Ayman Rafiq Hassan Eslim.

The article says that the Zionist enemy deprived his children of having a father, even as it notes that he shot rockets towards Israel immediately before he was killed by a missile.

His family poses in front of his "martyr" poster:

But his mother, in the center, is the most interesting member of his family.

[Eslim's mother]said, "Ayman was an tireless ascetic worshiper, reading the Koran at night and crying, and although his work was difficult he was doing his jihadist duty wholeheartedly and consistently. Since his childhood Ayman talked of Jihad and resistance and he was influenced by the thinking and approach of [Islamic Jihad founder] Martyr Fathi Shikaki... "

The mother said that she was expecting his death every moment, although she constantly encouraged him to continue jihad and to perform his sacred duty, saying: "I knew very well that the road pursued Ayman through difficult and end either victory or martyrdom and despite the bitterness of parting, but I encourage him and Ahvzh to uphold this approach inherent. "

She "knew he was lonely while firing rockets" and would iron his shirts, and sometimes prepare food for his fellow terrorists.

The loving mother also proudly recalled how Ayman would pray to be killed in battle.

For all other Gaza mothers out there with the same wish, any nearby collaborator can ensure that their perverted dreams come true.

Introducing Hamas M75 Perfume - "the smell of pride and dignity."

A Gaza company has introduced a new fragrance, for men and women, named M75 - the name that Hamas gave the Fajr-5 rockets they shot towards Tel Aviv.

The head of the perfume company, Shadi Adwan, plans to introduce the perfume on Saturday, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Hamas.

Adwan (whose name translates to "aggression") said that the perfume was "dedicated to those who love the fragrance of victory," stressing that the company "wanted to remind Gaza residents of victory wherever they are and wherever they can smell it, even if they were in China."

He said that the fragrance has "the smell of pride and dignity."

There are two different versions, one for men and one for women, and will initially be available in limited quantities, only for Gazans.

Now, every Gazan can smell like these people do:

I don't know why they are stopping there. They should market a line of Qassam Rocket Kitchen Cleanser ("The dirt will flee in terror!") or Mortar Mouthwash ("Your mouth will explode with flavor!")

Tunisian cleric calls Jews apes and prays for their genocide

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from a Friday sermon in Rades, Tunisia, which was delivered by Sheik Ahmad Al-Suhayli, which aired on Hannibal TV on November 30, 2012:

Sheik Ahmad Al-Suhayli: Ever since the days of the prophets, the Jews have been obstinate. They rebelled against the decrees and laws of Allah. Whenever Allah commanded them to do something, they did the exact opposite.
[…]
The Jews continued with their deviations and transgressions. Those accursed Zionist Jews even had the audacity to slay the prophets of Allah. Allah said: “They were struck with humiliation and misery, and they drew upon themselves the wrath of Allah, because they rejected His signs, slayed the prophets without just cause, and rebelled and transgressed.” In the days of Allah’s prophet David, a group of Jews was transformed into apes, because they violated the laws of Allah.
[…]
The Koran exposed the evil psyche of the Jews.
[…]
When they violated the treaties and agreements that the Prophet Muhammad made with them in Al-Madina, he banished them and drove them out of Al-Madina. In modern times, this accursed gang gathered once again in Palestine, by means of deception and trickery. Then came the Balfour Declaration. It was Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary back then, in 1917, who gathered the Jews in Palestine and Jerusalem. Then he called upon the foreign powers to help [the Jews], providing them with money and weapons.

This Balfour Declaration was a tragedy and a catastrophe for the Palestinians in particular, and for the Arab and Islamic nation in general. He promised a land that he did not own to people who do not deserve it – because it is not the land of the Jews – to pave the way for the racist Zionist movement to rule Palestine and Jerusalem. Indeed, that is what happened.
[…]
Look at those Zionists. After a bus in Tel Aviv was blown up by a martyrdom seeker, they hastened to seek a truce, when the Arab and Islamic peoples showed their resolve, and stood as one, defending the violated honor of the Islamic nation.
[…]
Brothers, the Arab Spring that the media talks about will not truly be a spring unless we support our brothers in Gaza, and stand united with them, in order to drive those Jews out of Palestine and to liberate Jerusalem.
[...]
Oh Allah, just like you destroyed the people of ‘Aad and Thamud, destroy this gang of Jews. Strike them with a deterring force that will destroy them.
[…]
Oh Allah, you know everything that those accursed Jews have done – the corruption they spread on earth, their diverting of people from your path, and their humiliation of your servants. Strike them with a resounding blow, and do not leave a single one of them. Oh Lord, rip them asunder, and disperse them throughout the land, as you did with their followers, because they have invoked the sanctities of Islam. “Soon the unjust will know what vicissitude will befall them.” “Oh Lord, do not leave a single one of them on Earth, for if you do, they will lead your servants astray, and they will beget none but sinners and infidels.” Allah, make the wombs of their women barren, and dry up the loins of their men. Strike them with Your hatred and wrath, oh You who delivers harsh punishment and torment.

Of course, there was an immediate reaction from the majority of moderate, peace-loving Tunisians against this naked example of Jew-hate. The TV station was picketed, outraged editorials were published, Tunisia brought Sheikh Suhayli up on charges of "defamation of religion" and he was forced to issue an apology.

Just kidding! The crowd just nodded as if he is speaking obvious wisdom about Jews having turned into apes, and his praying for Allah to utterly destroy every Jew on the planet was received s if it is the most normal thing in the world for a Muslim sheikh to say.

Because, apparently, it is.

6 dead in Egypt riots, video of MB shooting protesters

From Al Ahram:

Clashes between supporters of President Mohamed Morsi and his opponents which started on Wednesday night have left five [later six - EoZ] dead and 450 injured, according to the health ministry.

Hospitals in the Heliopolis area continued to receive casualties of gunshots and rock throwing into the early hours of Thursday morning.

El-Hosseini Abul-Deif, a journalist at El-Fagr newspaper, is one of those who were shot and was critically injured during the clashes and doctors at Zahraa Hospital declared him clinically dead on Thursday morning.

The executive board of the Journalists' Syndicate has blamed the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood for the attack on El-Hosseini and also held President Morsi responsible for his failure to ensure public security.

Meanwhile, a total of six presidential advisers have resigned from their posts to protest President Morsi's recent decrees and what they said was his inability to resolve the current political crisis.

A Palestinian Arab photographer from AP says he was beaten and his equipment smashed as well.

Bikya Masr reports that this video is of a Muslim Brotherhood member shooting a shotgun at anti-Morsi protesters.

Al Azhar, the institution that the draft constitution says is the definer of Sharia law in Egypt, http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/12/06/253664.htmlhas asked Morsi to suspend his new powers.

Hamas warns that female IDF soldiers are trying to seduce Gazans!

From Hamas' Palestine Times:

Security sources belonging to the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip disclosed that the "Karkal" Israeli unit - predominantly female - intensified its work on the eastern border of the Gaza in order to blackmail the Palestinians.

The resistance sources pointed out that they observed many soldiers in this unit trying to draw the attention of the Palestinians who returned to work in the lands adjacent to the border by showing parts of their bodies and inviting young people to talk with them.

Sources reported that 33 soldiers serve in the "Desert Cats" battalion, two-thirds of them female. They operate openly on the border with the Gaza Strip and Egypt. The "Shabak" intelligence works in cooperation with the Israeli army to work on recruiting new spies from the Gaza to refresh the list of potential targets which were exhausted during the recent war on the Gaza Strip.

This cooperation with the predominantly female Desert Cats are a means of attracting young people and citizens to entice them sexually, where the girls intentionally show parts of their bodies and do things that are not moral in order to excite young people and get them to collaborate. The collaboration process with security devices of the enemy on the border works two ways, either by giving young people the phone numbers to contact them or invite them to cross-border entry and trap them after extortion.

Ah yes, soldiers showing body parts to the enemy. I think that is in Sun Tzu somewhere.

Hamas can brag about its imagined prowess at standing up (actually, hiding underground) to the IDF, but they turn to jelly at the thought of female soldiers.

In September, the Karakal unit foiled an attempted infiltration from Egypt.

The IDF says:

The Karakal Battalion was founded in the year 2000 conceding to public pressures for the creation of an intensive combat unit for girls. They are given the name of a desert feline whose gender is barely distinguishable, and the battalion number signifies the number of women soldiers who fell in the Palmach Era.

The girls volunteer to become combat soldiers, and must go through two days of mental
examinations and physical challenges before joining, since the course is strenuous and
identical to that of any other exclusively male battalion.

As part of the Southern Command, Karakal men and women secure the Egyptian border from smugglers, infiltrators, and terrorists.

Here's a 2010 video about them:

(h/t O)

The first minyan on the Temple Mount in 913 years (updated - not quite)

Something rather momentous happened on Monday.

A group of ten Jewish men prayed together on the Temple Mount.

From Times of Israel:

Likud politician Moshe Feiglin on Monday violated the unwritten rule that prohibits Jews from practicing religion on the Temple Mount, as he prayed at the holy site.

Feiglin, a political hard-liner, is No. 15 on the Likud list for the upcoming elections and head of the Jewish Leadership faction within the right-wing party, a nationalist group defined by many as extreme.

Footage obtained by Channel 10 showed a group of Jews, including the likely future MK, as they prayed on the Temple Mount.

Though there is no law against Jews praying on the Temple Mount, for years both Israeli officials and the Islamic Wakf — the religious group in charge of managing the site — have told Jews not to carry out religious ceremonies or prayers at the site, for fear of violence and a potential outbreak of riots.

The video makes it clear that this wasn't a few people praying - this was a minyan, as opposed to other times that individuals prayed on the Har HaBayit.

When was the last time there was a minyan on the Temple Mount? One might think it was before the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, but there is much evidence that Jews visited the site, off and on, for hundreds of years afterwards through the Byzantine era. In a fascinating paper by Gedalia Meyer and Henoch Messner about the halacha and history of Jews visiting the Temple Mount, we learn:

Following the Arab conquest we have very little information concerning Jewish activity on the Temple Mount. Unlike during Byzantine times, there is no indication that the Muslims prohibited Jewish visitation to the site. The first solid report of what was going on during this time comes in the early 12th century when Jerusalem was already in the hands of the Crusaders. This report is found in a rarely referenced book called Megilas Hamegila by Avraham ben Chiya. He was a rabbi who is believed to have lived in Barcelona and was occasionally quoted by the Abarbanel, among others.

On page 99, he mentions that the Arabs had good relations with the Jews. He says that the Jews were even permitted to have a synagogue on the Temple Mount, which they used on holidays to serve in place of the sacrifices that had been offered in the Beis Hamikdash.

This synagogue was destroyed when the Crusaders came [in 1099], and since that time the Jews were prohibited from entering the Temple Mount area.

The fact that there was an actual, functioning synagogue on the Temple Mount in the 11th century is not well known.

Any way you look at it, this visit on Monday was historic.

The Islamic media noted that Feiglin visited, and that he "attempted to perform Jewish and Talmudic rituals," but there has been no note about the prayer quorum. Certainly there have been no riots as Muslims have threatened for years.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

UPDATE: There was a minyan for several days on the Temple Mount when Jerusalem was liberated in 1967. From a letter by Rabbi Shlomo Goren, chief rabbi at the time:

In the framework of the function of the Military Rabbinate, we held organized study and prayer on the Temple Mount -- Shacharit (morning service), Mincha (afternoon service), and Ma'ariv (evening service), and Torah reading on Shabbat, Monday, and Thursday on the Temple Mount Plaza itself, inside the Mugrabi Gate, near our study center. Once, the Waqaf people tried to close the Shevatim Gate, on the northeastern end of the Temple Mount, from a gathering of officers of the Military Rabbinate that was held on the Temple Mount. We broke through the gate and entered. That taught them the Temple Mount is ours officially and practically.

On the 9th of Av, 5727 (1967 CE), I held a Mincha service for a small group on the Temple Mount Plaza across from the steps going up south of the Dome of the Rock, a place that is permissible to enter according to all Halachic authorities. This Mincha service on the 9th of Av on the Temple Mount raised many reactions in the media in Israel and abroad. Jewish writers hostile to religion in the State started incitement against our efforts to renew Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.

In the midst of deliberations, in both governmental and religious frameworks, about renewing Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount and building a permanent synagogue on the open southern plain, the Minister of Defense told me, to my great surprise, that he decided to pass the auspices and responsibilities for all arrangements on the Temple Mount to the Islamic Waqaf. He ordered me to take the Torah study center of the Military Rabbinate down from the Temple Mount and to remove all officers of the Temple Mount. From then on, according to him, the Military Rabbinate has no responsibility for the arrangements there, and I should stop organizing Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount. I accepted the order with anger and pain, and I told the Minister of Defense that this is likely to bring about a third destruction, since the key to our sovereignty over Judea, Samaria, and Gaza is the Temple Mount.

(h/t Dr. Mike Cohen)

Bonus links!

Ian's linkdump was too long already...and people keep sending me excellent stuff.

Elliott Abrams interview on ABC Australia: (h/t Ahron S)

ELLIOT ABRAMS: You know I think it's been greatly exaggerated. Again, it's not some kind of right-wing plot. Rabin and Barak both planned to build in E1. The Clinton parameter, the Olmert plan, all assumed that E1 would be part of Israel in its final settlement.

The thing is you've got a town, Ma'ale Adumim, of 40,000 people that's like a balloon tethered to Israel by one road and that's just never going to stand. I don't understand really the argument that it destroys the possibility for Palestinian states.

EMILY BOURKE: But is it not the case that it virtually bisects the West Bank and renders a Palestinian state unviable?

ELLIOT ABRAMS: No, I think that's wrong. There are two ways to solve the problem. Build a road that is east of Ma'ale Adumim where there's about 15 miles as I recall it between Ma'ale Adumim and the Jordan River. Or there's a road that goes between Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adumim. So build an overpass or build an underpass.

But the notion that it makes a Palestinian state impossible, I mean it's ironic that this argument comes the week after the UN has declared there is a Palestinian state. I mean they admitted the Palestinian state as a non-member state of the United Nations. They raised the status from into each a state.

So I just don't think it makes it unviable. You just build an overpass or an underpass. It is not a decision to construct. There will not be one shovel hitting the earth. It's just another stage in this endless planning stage that has been going on for about 30 to 40 years. It is not a decision to construct anything in E1.

Richard Behar in Forbes: My Family In Israel: One Direct Hit, Two Near Misses -- And The Brainwashing Behind The Rockets (h/t many)

Hurriyet Daily News: Is Hamas real or a bad joke? (h/t RK)

Hamas’ rhetoric stinks of death, nothing but death – indiscriminate death. Be it “our” death or “the enemy’s.” And it never metamorphoses into something more humane, something less nihilist. Most recently, in an interview with Today’s Zaman, Gaza’s Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, confidently spoke of “defending and liberating Jerusalem,” and “fighting the enemy forever.” According to Mr. Haniyeh, the nearly 200 dead Palestinians – including Palestinian children killed by errand Hamas rockets – proved Hamas’ “prowess.” He called the eight-day fighting a “victory.”

When journalists are legitimate military targets (Gary Osen)

Whether the IDF targeted terrorist leader Muhammed Abu Shamala as it contends, or Hamas operative and Al Aqsa TV cameraman, Hussam Salama as Hamas claims, human rights groups cannot retain credibility by describing strikes on Al Aqsa TV or its personnel as “the targeting of journalists.” In doing so, they unwittingly aid terrorist organizations like Hamas in their concerted effort to transform journalism into warfare by other means.

Europe Once Again Shows that Palestinian Violence Pays, by Evelyn Gordon in Commentary:

That is a microcosm of what’s wrong with the peace process as a whole: As far as most of the world is concerned, bilateral Israeli agreements are binding on one side only: Israel. Thus it’s perfectly fine with the Europeans for the PA to violate one of its cardinal commitments under the peace process: that all disputes will be resolved through negotiations rather than unilaterally–or as the 1995 Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement put it, “Neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip pending the outcome of the permanent status negotiations.” But it’s an outrage, completely beyond the pale, for Israel to respond by doing something that no signed agreement actually bars it from doing: In no agreement did Israel ever promise to halt construction in the West Bank or East Jerusalem.

Douglas Murray in The Spectator: Did Israeli settlements in the West Bank kill the two-state solution?

When did the dream of a two-state solution die? When it became clear that there are already two Palestinian states – the Hamas-run Gaza and the Palestinian Authority-governed West Bank? Or when the extremists of Hamas fired thousands of missiles into Israeli cities? Or last week when the ‘moderates’ of Fatah once again refused Israeli offers to go to the negotiating table and instead moved to circumvent their only negotiating partner via a diplomatic coup at the UN?

No, in the eyes of portions of the UK government as well as the international community, the two-state solution is threatened not by these consistent, physically and diplomatically violent moves; but by everybody’s favourite subject: Israeli settlement building.

Driving in Neutral: Hillary Clinton Explains the Israel-Palestinian Conflict (Barry Rubin)

Yet in policy terms at the very moment of culmination for a Palestinian Authority three-year effort to wreck any peace process by unilateral independence and when Hamas has decided the moment has come for a jihad backed up by the Islamist tidal wave in the region, Clinton and the Obama Administration are obsessed with Israel not making even more concessions.

E1 is a mountain…not a statement (Paula Stern, TOI blog) (h/t Josh)

What we have is a mountain – not a very tall one, smaller even than the ones next to it on three sides. That’s all E1 is – a mountain. It is barren, but for a road that snakes its way up to a midpoint where a large police station has been built. No one lives there – no one has. Some trees, a lot of rocks, a traffic circle at the base – that’s all.

A 1955 memo from David Ben Gurion: (h/t Silke)

We're in a difficult situation with the Arabs, because when they wish to destroy or murder, they don't have to kill hundreds of us at a time. Instead, they make our life miserable day by day. Maybe they can't do otherwise, since they're afraid to send an entire military unit against us. So they send a small squad, and the squad crosses the border and waits for nightfall. Under cover of darkness they wander around until they find an object or a person, and they destroy it or kill the person. Their intention is to do this for years and wear us down...

We can't do what they do, even if we wished to, because we can't kill civilians, say to start killing Arab civilians we meet along the way..

So we have two options. We can resign ourselves to this situation, or we can not resign ourselves to it. This government was created to not resign itself to such a situation. I announced this in the Knesset.

The Deadly Israeli House, at Sultan Knish (h/t Serious Black)

According to the New York Times, which is never wrong, building more houses makes peace impossible. Peace, which is not in any way obstructed by rockets, suicide bombers, unilateral statehood bids and declarations of war, comes up against only one obstacle. The stout unyielding wall of the Israeli house.