Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Bonus Chanukah video 2: The Fountainheads, iHanukkah

(h/t Hugo Van Minnebruggen)

Israeli company markets Gaza produce to Europe; BDS hypocrites want to boycott them

Arava, a prominent export company from Israel, has recently declared the commencement of the strawberry season in the Gaza Strip. This unique cooperation between Arava Export Growers Ltd. and the Growers' Societies in the Gaza Strip promote commerce and shared interests. "It goes without saying that we are all committed equally to see this venture through and bring prosperous financial success to both sides as well as strengthen relationships between Israel and the Gaza Strip" claimed Arava.

The season itself it expected to last till mid-February with cumulative amounts of approximately 400 tons of fruit. The variety chosen this year is Tamar, a very well known specimen of strawberry which is best characterized by its sweet flavor, tenderness and, extended shelf life. To add some spice and differentiation, Arava Export Growers Ltd. had taken upon itself the task of branding this year's yield by perfecting the sorting process for better consistency and quality. In addition to that, Arava is introducing a new line of packaging that includes black boxes, designed punnets and attractive stickers. "This action is for the benefit of ensuring superior quality, consistency and, distinctiveness. We want to make sure that European markets will be well aware of the Gaza Strawberries and, consciously, place them on a higher rank than the competition".

In recent months steps had been made by Palestinian Crops to certify all growers with a Global Gap certificate and, at the same time, implement a strict protocol for MRL residue levels.

Omer Kamp, of Arava, said "It is with great pride that we can proclaim to have tested the fields with ZERO tolerance and yet, achieve full success. All growers are now certified and, with no exception, MRL tests came out clean.

"It is essential to point out that many efforts were given for this season to succeed. Aside from the technical issues, the growers and Arava are fully committed to show the benefits of mutual cooperation and how it could make a difference in perceptions."

Fruit is now available in packaging of 10x250 and is available from:

Fruit World NL.
Total Produce Ireland.
Pacific Produce UK.
Garden Frutta Italy.

We have seen that the Israel boycotters have also boycotted exporters of produce from Palestinian Arab farmers - because to these hypocrites, it is more important to hurt Israeli companies than it is to help Palestinian Arabs!

From this article you can see that Arava adds value to the products, and is actively marketing them to European wholesalers. It is a true partnership between Israelis and Gazans, Arava isn't marketing the strawberries as Israeli, but is attempting to help brand Gaza as a source for high-quality produce! Arava's actions today can help Gazans for decades. It is exactly what people who espouse peace say they want to see.

But Arava is also on the boycotters' lists.

Here we have a list of EU wholesalers that sell Gaza produce, which are marked "Produce of Palestine" and labeled Palestine Crops.

The boycott crowd, that pretends to be pro-Palestinian, wants you to avoid buying anything that says "Produce of Palestine."

Orwell himself couldn't have made this up.

Monday link-dump

From Ian:

Michael Oren WSJ OpEd: The Iron Dome Military Revolution
Historically, defensive measures lag behind offensive capabilities. Not so with Israel's new antimissile system. by Michael Oren

“By neutralizing most rockets headed for populated areas, the Iron Dome gives decision makers invaluable time to find diplomatic solutions. If salvos of rockets were pummeling Israeli homes, hospitals and schools, Israeli leaders would be under immense pressure to order ground operations that could yield significant casualties. By denying the terrorists a decisive offensive advantage, Iron Dome will save lives and prevent wars.”

Melanie Phillips: A double-standard abstention

"Yet here’s the really delusional thing about the UK’s peace-process obsession. It is precisely because the Palestinians refuse to co-operate with this supposedly vital process that the UK is ever more desperate to get them on board.So instead of punishing them for not co-operating, it turns a blind eye to every outrage they commit — while blaming Israel, whose own willingness to negotiate they take for granted, for “provoking” them."

Barry Rubin: Israel Has No Other Alternative But the Alternative it Has is a Good One

"The Palestinian leadership, abetted by many Western governments, has now torn up every agreement it made with Israel. Once the efforts of two decades of negotiations—including irrevocable Israeli compromises in giving the Palestinian Authority control over territory, its own armed forces, dismantling settlements, and permitting billions of dollars of foreign aid to the Palestinians—were destroyed, the world has decided to focus the blame on Israel approving the construction of 3000 apartments."

Oren: Israel will act if Hezbollah gets Syrian WMDs
Ambassador to the US says Israel has "a very clear red line" on Syrian chemical weapons, but also supports Obama's red line.

"Were those weapons to pass into the wrong hands, into Hezbollah's hands for example, that would be a game changer for us." Armed with chemical weapons and a large cache of rockets, Oren said, the terrorist group could kill "thousands of people."

Report: Assad Has Transferred WMDs to Hezbollah

"A report from Israel’s Channel 2 says that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has passed chemical weapons along to Hezbollah. Channel 2 cites Syrian media which uses as its source officers that have defected from Assad’s army. Channel 2 does, however, maintain that the report is almost impossible to verify."

German spy chief: Signs show Assad regime is in its final phase
Government forces concentrating on holding capital, rebels better coordinated, says Gerhard Schindler

Abbas warns Israel against withholding taxes, says he may turn to ICC
PA president says he wants to continue peace process, but will go to The Hague if Israel violates existing agreements

Abbas calls for economic agreement with Israel to be amended
The PA is ‘on the verge of collapse,’ says Palestinian president, declaring the need for a constitution

Bibi: Why Doesn’t Abbas Condemn Hamas’ Threat to Destroy Us?

Mashaal has revealed Hamas’ real face, says Netanyahu, while Abbas hides behind him by not condemning remarks to destroy Israel.
"He noted that Abbas, who has fostered an image of a “peace partner” while recently declaring unity with Hamas, “has issued no condemnation, not of the remarks about the destruction of Israel, just as previously he did not condemn the missiles that were fired at Israel.”

Hamas leader says Gazans destroyed Barak’s home, will target Netanyahu’s next
Khaled Mashaal praises attacks on Tel Aviv and calls for Palestinian unity, in speech to Gazan students

IDF: Hamas trying to activate W. Bank sleeper cells
Terror organization is attempting to gradually regroup after its infrastructure was destroyed in 2002 operation.

CIF Watch: Guardian editorial takes the side of Morsi (or Mubarak?)

"The Guardian is not only supporting a racist, antisemitic, anti-Christian, anti-West Islamist movement, but are remaining loyal even when a more liberal alternative is possible.You don’t need to agree with our critique of the paper’s coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict to acknowledge that the ‘Guardian Left’ ideology in many ways resembles the reactionary right more than anything truly progressive?

BBC Watch: Compromising public perceptions of BBC impartiality

"Sadly – for both its colleagues in the field in which it operates and the many people around the world in need of the human rights sector – there is nothing novel about the seemingly interminable ability of ‘Human Rights Watch’ to bring itself into repeated disrepute and compromise its own reputation for impartiality."

PMW: Hamas: Martyrdom death for Allah is ideal
"We love death more than you love life" "You [Israel] scare us with what we love"

Honest Reporting: Crossing the Line? Promoting Petitions Against Israel
“One can’t think of the Mount of Olives as real estate. It is important for the three monotheistic religions.” (?)

Our man in Cairo

"And let’s be honest: The Obama administration has been Morsi’s main enabler. U.S. officials have worked closely with him on economic development and regional diplomacy. Visiting Washington last week, Morsi’s top aides were touting their boss’s close contacts with President Obama and describing phone calls between the two leaders that led to the Gaza cease-fire."

Inside Look at Muslim Brotherhood’s Torture Chambers
"The Muslim Brotherhood replaced Mubarak, but torture chambers remain the same despite the US attempt to make Egypt safe for democracy."

Iranian agents reportedly on hand as North Korea prepares to test launch rocket
Long-range launch delayed, though window remains open; Iranian experts believed to be from company that developed Shahab missile

Envoy's sole 'wounds' Ahmadinejad's soul
Swedish ambassador inadvertently offends Iranian president by crossing his legs during meeting, not knowing that in Islam, shoes are considered impure

Syrian Rebels Tied to Al Qaeda Play Key Role in War
"The lone Syrian rebel group with an explicit stamp of approval from Al Qaeda has become one of the uprising’s most effective fighting forces, posing a stark challenge to the United States and other countries that want to support the rebels but not Islamic extremists."

Syria: Rebel Prisoners On Their Religious War
"This led to a question about the future of Syria's minorities such as the Christians. Ahmed, Basah, and Hamid Hassan all agreed - Christians could only live there if they either converted, or paid the 'Jizyah' - a special tax levied on non-Muslims in previous centuries in the Middle East. If not said Bahar, they could be killed.
When asked why, the answer was, to them, quite simple - because the Prophet Mohammed said so. I was then invited to become a Muslim."

Friends of the Israel Defense Forces: 2012 FIDF Gala VIDEO

Cancelling cancer cells with new radiation

“It disrupts their activity, although we don’t yet know how beyond some speculation regarding the mechanism,” says Asher Yahalom, head of Ariel University Center’s Free Electron Laser (FEL) Laboratory User Center, who also noted that the rays seem to have no effect on normal cells.

Israeli ambassador visits her Ethiopian hometown

Nearly three decades after immigrating to Israel, Belaynesh Zevadia returns to her village in Ethiopia, this time as Israel's ambassador
"The ambassador arrived at the village with a group of Israeli eye doctors who work with Eye from Zion, an organization that provides medical humanitarian aid across the globe. The doctors set up two clinics where they are to undertake an eye surgery "marathon," aiming to restore the eyesight of some 1,000 Ethiopians, including some who have been blind for many years

Also:

Barry Rubin: A Turning Point in Egypt: Not on Direction But on the Speed of Islamist Transformation

Cool waterfall at Ben Gurion Airport (h/t Alexandre):

Israel drafts "puppies are cute" UN resolution. Arabs oppose it.

Israel drafted a General Assembly resolution to promote entrepreneurship.

While it did pass overwhelmingly, 129-31, the Arab countries voted as a bloc against it.

Only because it was submitted by Israel.

The reasons the Arabs gave for opposing it were quite funny:

RABEE JAWHARA ( Syria), making a general statement, said Israel was attempting to monopolize the Second Committee’s work by submitting draft resolutions that portrayed it as a peaceful State seeking to work within the United Nations. However, such drafts did not camouflage Israel’s human rights violations and occupation, he stressed, pointing out that, even as it submitted the text, Israel restricted any chance of entrepreneurship in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the occupied Syrian Golan. It was guilty of several examples of policies that restricted business and economic growth in Palestine and the occupied Syrian Golan, and had continuously failed to comply with United Nations resolutions. He urged Committee members to vote against the draft so as to send a signal that Israeli must end the occupation.

AMER HIAL AL-HAJRI (Oman), speaking on behalf of the Arab Group, noted that the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) had shown that Israel’s occupation continued to undermine the rights of Palestinians, particularly their ability to engage in entrepreneurship. The Arab Group had proposed changes to ensure balance in the text, but had been unable to achieve that, he said. As such, it was obliged to vote against the draft resolution.

MOHAMED KHALIL HUSSEIN (Egypt) also said the text lacked balance, particularly given its focus on national policies for entrepreneurship, and did not take into account the need to create an internationally conducive climate and to establish support in that regard. A multilateral, transparent and open regime was needed, with no barriers in the way of developing countries. Finance, the transfer of technology and capacity-building must also be included, he said.

The draft resolution also failed to take into account the conclusions of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) report on the condition of the Palestinian people, he continued. It showed that Israel’s occupation and blockade undermined opportunities for marketing and drained natural resources, meaning that the area lacked necessary land for production. That discouraged private investment and increased risks and production costs.

He said his delegation had tried to address the imbalances mentioned by taking part in discussions, but agreement on implementation had proven impossible because developed countries had changed their position at the last minute. The co-sponsors had ignored the UNCTAD reports, but Egypt was unable to ignore them, especially since the draft sought to promote entrepreneurship internationally, he said. As such, Egypt would vote against the draft.

The fact that the Arabs would vote against it was never in doubt. Their only disagreements were what reason to give for the record.

Ron Prosor gave a zinger to those opposed to the resolution:

RON PROSOR ( Israel) said entrepreneurship offered developing communities the best hope for breaking the cycle of poverty. The actions of entrepreneurs had a ripple effect, unlocking minds and inspiring others to pursue their dreams. By adopting the draft resolution, the Committee was sending a clear and simple message that entrepreneurship was a primary pathway to sustainable economic growth.

He went on to say that while he had hoped for consensus, the Arab Group had been committed to voting against it even before negotiations had ended. Recalling that people in the Arab world had risen against their Governments precisely because they wanted better conditions, he said that by failing to respond, Arab Governments had “turned their backs on their own people” and sent a clear message that they cared far more about “petty politics than human prosperity”. Israel’s achievements were the result of close collaboration between business and Government, he said, adding that stability required people’s empowerment.

(While there is no written record of what changes the Arabs wanted to make to the resolution to make it more "balanced," almost certainly they wanted to hijack it and turn it into an resolution bashing Israel.)

(h/t Margie)

Jordan pushes Jerusalem as "eternal capital of Arab culture"

Qudsmedia reports that Jordan is pushing an initiative to declare Jerusalem as the "eternal capital of Arab culture."

Officials are pushing the idea of Jerusalem cultural festivals "to affirm the importance of the city and its holy sites."

During Jordan's illegal occupation of Jerusalem, while it did encourage pilgrims to visit to gain tourist dollars, the nation did little to actually improve the city. King Abdullah II's father famously never visited Jerusalem after his own grandfather, Abdullah I, was assassinated in the Al Aqsa mosque.

Jordan did attempt to Islamicize Jerusalem. Not only did it destroy over 50 synagogues in the city and thousands of Jewish graves in the Mount of Olives, and deny Jews from visiting holy places there, but it also placed restrictions on Christian land ownership and schools in the city.

In 2009, Jerusalem was named the Capital of Arab Culture. The half-built website still exists where pains are taken to deny any Jewish connection to the city. Interestingly, most Arab nations all but ignored the initiative.

As usual, Arabs are using the word "culture" as cover for politics.

David N. Myers, the historian who doesn't know history

From the chair of the UCLA History department, David N. Myers, at The Daily Beast/Open Zion:

Sixty-five years ago, the Zionist movement scored the greatest success in its history—recognition on November 29, 1947, by the United Nations General Assembly, of the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine. U.N. General Assembly resolution 181 called for the creation of a Jewish state alongside an Arab State, with Jerusalem as an international protectorate. It was this diplomatic act that brought the State of Israel into existence.

Myers then draws a tendentious analogy between the 1947 UN partition vote and the recent UNGA vote upgrading the PLO's status to a non-member state.

Given that Myers is a historian, the bolded statement is astonishing.

Myers no doubt knows that General Assembly resolutions do not create states, and UNGA 181 in 1947 was no exception. UNGA resolutions have no force in international law.

Israel was not created by that resolution. It was created because Zionists fought for a state in the vacuum left by the departing British in May of 1948, against combined Arab armies, and survived. In 1949 the Security Council then admitted Israel as a member, but its existence as a state was established beforehand - by the Zionists winning a defensive war.

If Myers were correct, then Arab Palestine was also "brought into existence" in 1947. Obviously it wasn't, and there was essentially no call for an Arab Palestinian state at the time, even from Palestinian Arabs themselves. Palestinian Arab nationalism - both the original variety before 1948 and the post 1967 variety - is entirely a reaction to Zionism and Israel, as opposed to an movement for self-determination of a people. This weakness of Palestinian Arab nationalism, and the frantic attempts to manufacture a retroactive history and culture of Palestinian Arab peoplehood, is perhaps a fascinating topic for historians who are not blinded by ideology.

(Bizarrely, Myers also says "As a result of that armed conflict, the State of Israel came into existence." But his basic thesis in the article is the analogy between the 1947 partition vote and Abbas' stunt as both being momentously important.)

Myers also lies when he says "It is the Palestinians who, through their request for recognition by the U.N. General Assembly affirmed the long-standing principle of partition. By seeking sovereignty in territories currently occupied by Israel, they are affirming the ideal of two states, Jewish and Palestine, dwelling side by side."

Of course, the Palestinian Arabs do not accept the idea of a Jewish state, and have made that very clear. In fact, they are willing to actively disregard history itself if it contradicts their goals. They are as insistent that Israel be the home of hundreds of thousands of so-called "refugees," destroying the Jewish state, as they are on the 1949 armistice lines. Myers no doubt knows this as well.

When reporters and pundits twist history for their purposes, it is despicable, But when historians choose to elevate their own political viewpoints above history and well-known facts, it is unconscionable.

Meshal's speech - the one that the media wouldn't quote

Some media outlets selectively quoted Khaled Meshal's speech on Saturday. However, their quotes don't even hint at the amount of fanaticism from Hamas' supposedly "moderate" leader.(The Guardian was actually pretty good this time.)

From MEMRI:

Khaled Mash’al: First of all, Palestine – from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea, from its north to its south – is our land, our right, and our homeland. There will be no relinquishing or forsaking even an inch or small part of it.

Second, Palestine was, continues to be, and will remain Arab and Islamic. It belongs to the Arab and the Islamic world. Palestine belongs to us and to nobody else. This is the Palestine which we know and in which we believe.

Third, since Palestine belongs to us, and is the land of Arabism and Islam, we must never recognize the legitimacy of the Israeli occupation of it. The occupation is illegitimate, and therefore, Israel is illegitimate, and will remain so throughout the passage of time. Palestine belongs to us, not to the Zionists.

[...]

The liberation of Palestine – all of Palestine – is a duty, a right, a goal, and a purpose. It is the responsibility of the Palestinian people, as well as of the Arab and Islamic nation.

Fifth, Jihad and armed resistance are the proper and true path to liberation and to the restoration of our rights, along with all other forms of struggle – through politics, through diplomacy, through the masses, and through legal channels. All these forms of struggle, however, are worthless without resistance.

[...]

Politics are born from the womb of resistance. The true statesman is born from the womb of the rifle and the missile.

Announcer: Say: “Allah Akbar.”

Song: Oh Abu Al-Walid, oh Mash’al, prepare the way, come on.

Our journey must be completed. Allah is with you.

Khaled Mash’al: May Allah bless you.

Oh Palestinian statesmen, oh Arab and Muslim statesmen, learn your lesson from Gaza. Anyone who wishes to take the path of diplomacy must take a missile along with him. He must rely upon the infrastructure of the resistance. Your value, oh statesman, is derived from the value of resistance.

I, along with my dear brother Abu Al-Abd Haniya, the entire Hamas leadership, both here and abroad, our comrades, the leaders of the resistance, in Gaza, in the West Bank, here and abroad – by Allah, we are indebted to the leadership of the Palestinian military wings. If not for the great commanders of the military wings, we would have no statesmen. This is thanks first to Allah, and then to the heroes of the resistance.

How wonderful was your shelling of Tel Aviv. May your hands be blessed. May your hands be blessed. We are proud of what you have done.

Jihad and resistance are the path. This is not mere rhetoric. Events have shown us that Jihad and resistance are the most advantageous and reliable option. This option is not a delusion or a mirage. By no means. The resistance is a palpable, visible, and envisioned thing. It marches on the ground, spreading light to its people, and unleashing fire upon its enemies. That is the resistance.

[…]

For us, resistance is the means, not the end. I say to the entire world, through the media: If the world finds a way other than through resistance and bloodshed to restore Palestine and Jerusalem to us, to implement the Right of Return, and to put an end to the loathsome Zionist occupation – we will welcome it. But we gave you a chance for 64 years, and you did not do a thing. That is why we opted for resistance. Don’t reproach us. If we had found another way – one that did not involve war and battle – we would have proceeded upon it, but history and the laws of Allah tell us that victory and liberation cannot be achieved without resistance, battle, and sacrifice.

[…]

Jerusalem is our soul, our history, our collective memory, our past, our present, and our future. It is our eternal capital, to which we hold fast and which we will liberate, inch by inch, neighborhood by neighborhood, stone by stone, every place sacred to Islam, and every place sacred to Christianity. Israel has no right to Jerusalem.

[…]

The Right of Return means the return of all the refugees, the displaced, and the exiled to the land of Palestine – to its cities and its villages, to the neighborhoods of Gaza, the West Bank, and within the 1948 borders. We own every inch of our land. Our fathers and our forefathers were born there. We lived there. It retains our memory and our history. The Right of Return is sacred to us, and it cannot be depreciated.

When my brothers and I entered the Gaza Strip yesterday, we began the fulfillment of the Right of Return, Allah willing.

[…]

Hamas has a clear-cut principle: no to resettlement of refugees and no to an alternative homeland. There is no substitute for Palestine.

[…]

The unity of Palestinian land refers to Gaza, the West Bank, and the land within the 1948 borders. That is the land of Palestine – it is all Palestine, every part of it is Palestine.

No part of it will be separated from the other parts. Anyone who believes that Gaza can be kept far from the West Bank is delusional. Gaza, the West Bank, and the land within the 1948 borders are all beloved parts of the great Palestinian homeland.

Isn’t that so, Abu Al-Abd [Haniya]?

Announcer: Say: “Allah Akbar.”

Crowds: Allah Akbar.

Announcer: Say: “Allah Akbar.”

Crowds: Allah Akbar.

Announcer: Say: “Allah Akbar.”

Crowds: Allah Akbar.

Khaled Mash’al: The West Bank is inseparable from Gaza, Gaza is inseparable from the West Bank, and they are both inseparable from Haifa, Jaffa, Beersheba… and Safed.

[…]

Man: Oh Mash’al, our beloved...

Crowds: Oh Mash’al, our beloved…

Man: Your army shelled Tel Aviv…

Crowds: Your army shelled Tel Aviv…

Man: Your army struck Tel Aviv…

Crowds: Your army struck Tel Aviv…

Man: Oh Qassam, do it again…

Crowds: Oh Qassam, do it again…

Man: But this time, strike Haifa…

Crowds: But this time, strike Haifa…

Man: But this time, strike Jaffa…

Khaled Mash’al: Allah willing…

Man: Say: “Allah Akbar.”

Crowds: Allah Akbar.

Khaled Mash’al: Hear me well, my comrades in the various factions. Liberation will precede statehood. A real state will be the fruit of liberation, not of negotiations.

There is no alternative to a free Palestinian state with real sovereignty on the entire land of Palestine.

Hamas planning to kidnap more Israelis?

Hamas' Palestine Today reports that Hamas leader Khaled Mashal promised a "surprise" where all Palestinian Arab terrorists in Israeli prisons will go free.

The father of the imprisoned terrorist Abdullah Barghouti says that that his son told him that the Khaled Meshaal plans a "surprise" on the issue of prisoners in Israeli jails, without giving further details.

The father said in an interview with Al-Quds TV morning this morning that his son told him the surprise will be revealed at the right time. According to him, Meshal told the mother of another prisoner, Hassan Salameh, during a meeting with families of prisoners on Sunday: "I swear to God, I swear to God, I swear to God, a plan to free all the prisoners in safety."

This sounds very similar to the promise that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah made in the beginning of 2006 that Samir Kuntar would be freed by Israel - as he was planning the abduction of Israeli soldiers for a prisoner swap.

Since the IDF has been very careful not to let that happen again, what could Meshal have up his sleeve?

If I had to guess what Meshal was saying, it would be that Hamas plans to kidnap Israeli civilians, perhaps in Judea and Samaria or maybe from an Israeli community at the Gaza border, for a prisoner swap. There are probably a number of hidden tunnels being readied now.

"Moderate" Abbas to allow Hamas terror rally in Nablus

From Ma'an:

The Palestinian Authority has officially agreed to allow a Hamas festival commemorating the movement’s 25th anniversary in the West Bank, an independent politician said Monday.

Khalil Assaf, who heads a Palestinian forum of independent figures, said Hamas would organize a festival in Nablus on Thursday.

Hamas leaders will deliver speeches, with the sanction of the Fatah-dominated West Bank government.

Hamas has already approved a Fatah festival in Gaza commemorating its 48th anniversary, Assaf noted.

And so the Hamas takeover of the West Bank accelerates, using the excuse of "unity." Remember that Hamas won the legislative elections in nearly every district in the West Bank the last time they were held. in 2006.

For some reason, Western diplomats and pundits believe that that Hamas' ascendancy is a reason for Israel to give yet more concessions, as if the Palestinian Arabs will suddenly have a flood of good-will feelings and decide to support Israeli liberalism instead of Hamas terrorism.

"Time is running out," they say.

Indeed.

UPDATE: Hamas denies that the PA gave permission for the festival.

Bonus Chanukah video 1: We're lighting the menorah (Reishit Yerushalayim)

I already have videos queued for every night, but I hadn't seen this one. So here's the first bonus video for Chanukah this year. (I'm only posting videos that were released this year.)

(h/t Josh R)

A challenge to "moderate Arabs"

Is there any citizen of any Arab country who would publicly say, using his or her real name, anything negative about this photo of a baby wearing the headband of the Qassam Brigades terrorist group?

I have not yet found a single negative op-ed about Hamas in any Arabic-language media, except for tose that translate Hebrew articles, and one from a Shiite website upset that Meshal didn't thank Iran or Syria.

So where are you, the so-called moderate Arabs? Where are the articles distancing yourselves from Hamas? Where are the people who are livid at the brainwashing of babies to learn terror? Where are the TV interviews with people skeptical about what Hamas can accomplish to help out ordinary Palestinian Arabs' lives?

Where are you?

(photo h/t JM)

UPDATE: TOI actually published a Kuwaiti article critical of Hamas today, the exception that proves the rule. (h/t Pedro)

Jordan farmers proud that they aren't exporting many olives to Israel

From Ammon News:

Jordanian olive traders exported 643 tons of olives to Israel up to Saturday, Head of the Jordanian Agricultural Engineers' Association (JAEA) said.

JAEA President Mahmoud Abu Ghanimeh said in statements to Ammon News that the exported olive amounts are "modest" compared to the permits issued to export quantities reaching up to 15,000 tons of olives to Israel.

Abu Ghanimeh added that the deadline to export to Israel expires on December 15th, and stressed that the low quantities of exports to Israel is caused by "Jordanian citizen's awareness and farmers' intent to remain distant from normalization with Israel."

In 2009, Jordan was exporting between 250-300 tons of olives to Israel a day.

Last September, Jordanian farmers called to halt all olive exports to Israel.

Sunday links

From Ian:

Abbas’ Suit and Tie Has Same End as Arafat’s Pistol: Violence
Abbas’ unity with Hamas already has spawned violence. Woman hurt by rock before the Sabbath. PA lets Hamas run loose.

“Abbas has cashed in the chips he has been stockpiling ever since he took over after Yasser Arafat died eight years ago last month. Replacing Arafat’s pistol on the hip and his black-and white checkered kefiyah with a suit and tie, he built up an image as a “peace partner,” convincing the United States to force the Sharon, Olmert and Netanyahu governments to make "good will concessions” towards a “final status” solution to PA demands."
"Simultaneously, Abbas ostensibly eschewed violence while the PA education system and Muslim clerics openly preached violence and the establishment of a new Arab state of “Palestine” in place of Israel, from the Lebanese to the Egyptian border and from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.”

Palestine's strangely stubborn state of mind

"The UN vote upgrading the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to a non-member state with observer status has done nothing to move the cause of Palestinian statehood forward. Instead, it repeats the old adage of Palestinian history: rather than seeking compromise with Israel, Palestinian leaders have again put the fate of their cause into the hands of others, foolishly believing that others will deliver what they themselves are not capable of obtaining."

Pundit: Did Haaretz Make Up Crisis with Britain?
Uri Elitzur of Makor Rishon asks if report Britain may cancel trade agreements with Israel was Haaretz's idea.

"Uri Elitzur, a deputy editor and writer at the Hebrew newspaper Makor Rishon whose columns also appear on Maariv, has speculated that reports regarding a possible cancellation of the British-Israeli trade agreement were made up by Haaretz."

Two scenarios in which Syria unleashes the world’s first use of chemical weapons in 30 years
Neither instance is likely — yet both involve civilian massacre and a major escalation of violence

"The first is that President Bashar Assad, in a last-ditch effort to save his regime, would order chemical attacks — either as a limited demonstration to the rebels of his willingness to use the internationally banned weapons, or in a large-scale offensive designed to turn the tide of a conflict that already has killed an estimated 40,000.
The second is that some portion of Assad’s arsenal could be moved to Iran or Lebanon or fall into the hands of foreign fighters with ties to terrorist groups who are helping Syrian rebels."

Syrian rebels claim new video shows victims of chemical attack
Israeli special forces reportedly operating on the ground in Syria, monitoring chemical weapons stockpile

How close did Israel just come to its own Cuban missile crisis?

"Hundreds of Iranian-made, long-range missiles already smuggled into Gaza provided a secret sense of urgency behind Israel's recent campaign against Hamas, and the the Jewish state acted with the Obama administration's full knowledge, intelligence experts told FoxNews"

Iranian warships dock in Sudan for second time, angering Saudis
Presence of vessels is part of ongoing cooperation between the two countries, says Sudanese military spokesman

"Though Saudi Arabia has not officially commented on the warships, the kingdom’s pro-government daily Al-Riyadh warned that Sudan was risking its relationship with Gulf states.
“Sudan is in a state of losing balance as it loses Arab friendship, especially of Gulf Arab states, who know the precise details of its alliance with Iran, politically and militarily,” stated an editorial in the paper on Saturday."

Iran claims Azeri drones are plying its border under Israel’s watchful eye
Israel and Azerbaijan signed a $1.4 billion arms deal in February

"Azerbaijan in October denied reports that it had agreed to allow Israel to use its territory as a staging ground for a possible attack on Iran. Also in October, 22 people were sentenced behind closed doors to lengthy jail-terms in Baku for assisting Iranian agents in plotting terror attacks against US and Israeli targets in Azerbaijan."

Italy Stops Weapons Shipment to Gaza
Following a tip from Israel, Italian police seize a shipment of weapons intended for Egypt with a final destination of Gaza.

"The weapons, which included a rocket launcher among other things, were part of a shipment that was supposed to go on an Egyptian ship which has been detained by local authorities, reported ANSA. The container in which the weapons were found was part of a shipment of five containers, and the four remaining containers are currently being examined by the Italian customs authorities."

Italian deputy calls for EU ban of Hezbollah
Fiamma Nirenstein submits resolution to parliamentary committee calling on Italian FM to urge EU to list Hezbollah as terror group.

"The resolution bases the call to blacklist Hezbollah on a number of factors, including the July 18 bus attack in the seaside resort of Burgas, Bulgaria, which killed five Israeli tourists and their Bulgarian bus driver, and wounded 32 other Israelis. American and Israeli intelligence officials attributed the explosion to a joint Iran-Hezbollah operation."

Navy Prepares to Defend Gas Rig
If Hizbullah carries out threats to attack Israeli rig, it will meet a well-prepared naval force.

UN passes Israeli resolution on ‘entrepreneurship development’
129 states back campaign to promote development and reduce poverty by encouraging entrepreneurship, despite efforts by Arab states to thwart it

"Concerning the Arab states’ opposition to the resolution, Prosor stated that these states had, to his regret, “chosen once again to struggle against a move that was meant to aid them, just because Israel was the one standing behind it.”

Friends of the IDF gala raises $14 million
More than 1,400 FIDF supporters and dignitaries from around the globe gather to express support for the soldiers, citizens of Israel.

"The participants at the gala included Gershon, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison; Guess cofounders Maurice and Paul Marciano; Israeli military attaché to the US and Canada Maj.-Gen. Yaakov Ayash; FIDF National Chairman Nily Falic; FIDF National President Julian Josephson; Hollywood film producer Meir Tepper and his wife, Katya; Israeli actresses Noa Tishby and Moran Atias; and Swedish actor Dolph Lundgren and American actor Robert Forster."

Righteous Gentile Raoul Wallenberg to Have Street Named After Him in Brooklyn

Aboriginal activist's anti-Nazi stand remembered
Members of the Aboriginal and Jewish communities have observed the anniversary of a unique protest in Melbourne.

"Seventy-four years ago Aboriginal activist William Cooper and his colleagues at the Australian Aborigines League tried to hand a resolution to the German consul-general condemning the Nazis' persecution of the Jews."

Study of Holocaust mandated for schools
THE study of the Holocaust will become compulsory for all NSW school students in years 9 and 10 after a lobbying campaign by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies prompted the state government to include it in the syllabus.

With EPOS Purchase, Qualcomm Reveals Growing Presence in Israel

"Qualcomm operates an advanced wireless communications R&D center in Haifa that founder Irwin Jacobs established almost 20 years ago. Qualcomm now has about 270 employees in Israel—which represents a 50 percent increase since 2010."

A ‘vaccine’ to boost global food production

A revolutionary new seed treatment from Morflora could improve the world’s agricultural output, without the need for worrying genetic engineering.
The Israeli company Morflora now has an alternative seed treatment in the works that is so revolutionary it is short-listed for Best Novel Agricultural Biotechnology in the 2012 international AGROW awards, and recently won a Red Herring business award in the Top 100 Europe category.

A very Hamas Hanukkah (video)

This video is at least as bizarre as the Chanukah video I made last year.

And I'm sure some idiots will misinterpret it.

But....what the hell.

After I made this, I saw this photo from Gaza.

Notice the pattern on the tiles!

Today's lies from Time's Karl Vick

From Time (paywalled):

After Statehood Bid, 'Doomsday'

The day after the U.N. voted 138 to 9 (with 41 abstentions) to recognize a rump Palestine, Netanyahu's government unveiled "the doomsday settlement," in the words of Jerusalem geography specialist Danny Seidemann. Casting aside assurances to Washington that date to the Administration of President George W. Bush, Netanyahu moved to virtually chop the West Bank in half, pushing forward plans to build housing for Israeli Jews on the last stretch of usable Palestinian land east of Jerusalem. Outraged diplomats said that would effectively end the possibility of a two-state solution.

We have already shown that it doesn't chop the West Bank in half, that the Clinton parameters were much more expansive than this plan, and that the most liberal Israelis accept that Maaleh Adumim would be a part of Israel in any peace plan.

Karl Vick doesn't mention that Daniel Seidemann is hardly an unbiased "geography specialist." Seidemann has founded at least two one-sided European-funded NGOs against any Israeli building in Jerusalem, Ir Amim and Terrestrial Jerusalem. Using Seidemann's loaded term of "Doomsday" to describe the building in the headline is more than irresponsible - it betrays Time's bias.

Beyond that, while Israel has postponed building on E-1 in recent years, it never promised any administration that it would never build there as Vick implies.

Moreover, there is zero reason that the E1 plan would end the possibility of a two state solution. Just because Palestinian Arabs pretend that they cannot have a state without arbitrary preconditions doesn't mean it is true. That simple fact eludes essentially everyone in the media.

Yet another item to add to the ever-growing list of reasons that Karl Vick is an anti-Israel idiot.

Gazans upset at people dumping garbage in cemetery. But rockets from cemeteries are OK.

Palestine Today has an article about Gazans who are outraged at a cemetery being used as a garbage dump:

Nearby residents in the Shijaia neighborhood are complaining about the smell, the possibility of disease and the desecration of the dead. It is, they say, "an affront to Islamic sensibilities."

Yet in what may be the very same cemetery in same neighborhood, there is no record of residents complaining when the cemetery was used as a site for launching rockets to Israel:

Apparently, using a cemetery for terrorism isn't an affront to Islamic sensibilities.

Baby boom: Gazans name their child after Fajr rockets

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from a TV report on the naming of a newborn infant in Gaza, which aired on Al-Manar TV on November 28, 2012.

Reporter: The Fajr missiles were the spearhead of the battle in which Gaza brought down the awe of Israel. The people here know the meaning of honor. They know that these moments of victory must linger beyond a slap to the barbaric face of Israel.

Hamoud, what’s his name? Fajr or Faraj?

This baby is called Fajr because it emerged from the battle that will bear a name of honor brought by this type of missile. In this humble abode, a new baby was born to the Shafe’i family in the first hours following the victory of the resistance in Gaza.

Father: We called him Fajr-3 after the missiles that pulverized the [Zionist] entity, bringing real pain upon it. These missiles played an active role in the decisive victory in Gaza.

This is a good followup to my piece on the Arab honor/shame culture from Friday. That post stirred a great deal of comment on Reddit.

The New York Times op-eds from November overwhelmingly anti-Israel

From David G:

New York Times Op-Ed index for November 2012

1) Palestinians at the U.N., Again - Editorial - November 4, 2012

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has refused to make any serious compromises, and the two-state solution seems to have a diminishing chance of ever happening. Mr. Netanyahu’s recent decision to jointly field a slate of candidates with the ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu Party in parliamentary elections in January suggests his approach could become even more hard-line.

Any analysis of the Middle East that fears Yisrael Beiteinu but doesn't even mention Hamas is anti-Israel. Furthermore the editorial persists that Israel is still an "occupier" and doesn't acknowledge that the New York Times actually encouraged Mahmoud Abbas's intransigence by giving him an op-ed in which he outlined his strategy of how to marginalize Israel, and never criticized him for his bad faith.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 1 / Pro-Israel 0

2) Turkish-Israeli Relations on Trial - Andrew Finkel - November 8, 2012

Turkish justice moves slowly, and the case against those who gave the order to storm the Mavi Marmara will limp on for months, if not years. Meanwhile, Turkey will not abandon its demand for an apology from Israel and for compensation for the victims — or for the lifting of the Gaza blockade. And if the Israeli government hems and haws before giving in to the first two conditions, it will not on the third. This means that Turkish-Israeli relations will not be mended until a solution is found for the misery in the Gaza Strip.

Aspects of this essay seem somewhat balanced. However a reference to the IHH doesn't identify it as a terrorist organization. The concluding paragraph, cited here, makes clear that the author blames Israel and its defensive stand rather than the extremism of Turkey's leaders.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 2 / Pro-Israel 0

3) My President is busy - Thomas L. Friedman - November 10, 2012

You should be so lucky that the president feels he has the time, energy and political capital to spend wrestling with Bibi to forge a peace between Israelis and Palestinians. I don’t see it anytime soon. Obama has his marching orders from the American people: Focus on Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, not on Bethlehem, Palestine, and focus on getting us out of quagmires (Afghanistan) not into them (Syria). No, my Israeli friends, it’s much worse than you think: You’re home alone.

This is a typical Friedman tantrum. Things aren't going his way so he mocks. To some degree I think he's correct. In other words, the President isn't likely at this time to push for a peace settlement. But contrary to Friedman's premise, that's a good thing. Even if Israel were willing to make peace, there's on one on the other side or capable of making peace. So leaving Israel alone is precisely the correct move at this time. Only someone who believes that Israel is uniquely at fault for the lack of peace in the Middle East could hold Friedman's views.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 3 / Pro-Israel 0

4) America's Jewish Vote - Jeremy Ben Ami - November 12, 2012

For decades a loud minority of Jewish Americans has made the case that their hawkish views represent the entirety of the Jewish community. Their well-funded campaigns and lobbying between elections reinforce the appearance of broad-based support for their conservative views.

There is some truth in Ben Ami's column. Jewish voters are liberal and Israel isn't necessarily their primary concern. However here he's setting up a straw man. "Hawkish" in Ben Ami's vocubulary is AIPAC, which is not. Support for Israel is strong, mainstream and bipartisan. (Though there seems to be a trend among Democrats to be less supportive of Israel.) Jewish pro-Israel American don't necessarily reject peace efforts or coexistence; what they reject is Ben Ami's path for achieving these things. Ben Ami and J-Street would be insignificant if not for the fact that they're well-funded and get plenty of sympathetic press in publications like the New York Times. When Robert Elman of the American Jewish Committee wrote that Israel didn't need lectures on how to make peace, it was published as a letter to the editor. It's harder to rate an op-ed at the New York Times if you're supportive of Israel.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 4 / Pro-Israel 0

5) Has Bibi lost his touch? - Shmuel Rosner - November 12, 2012

Still, an Olmert-Livni alliance may be Netanyahu’s greatest threat. Many voters see the pair as the only possible remedy for a fractured center-left with no serious unifying candidate for the top job.

This is ridiculous. Netanyahu might have lost some seats due to the merger with Yisrael Beiteinu, but he's still favored as the most credible candidate for Prime Minister by a large margin. I wouldn't call this essay anti-Israel as it is more about internal Israeli politics. But that doesn't make it credible. I'm ranking this as neutral.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 4 / Pro-Israel 0

6) The Need for U.S.-Iran Talks - Roger Cohen - November 12, 2012

The risk was real that Romney — surrounded by hawks like the former United Nations ambassador John Bolton, beholden to the casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, and prodded by his friend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel — might take the United States to war in Iran. Certainly, any chance of a diplomatic resolution of the crisis caused by Iran’s nuclear program would have receded for the foreseeable future.

The biggest threat to world peace would have been President Romney egged on by Netanyahu and controlled by Adelson. Compared to that, what difference does it make if Iran is able to make a nuclear device?

Current Score: Anti-Israel 5 / Pro-Israel 0

7) The Plight of the Palestinian Olive Tree - Raja Shehada - November 13, 2012

The Israeli government displays considerable tolerance toward this kind of harassment. According to the Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din, of 162 investigations conducted since 2005 by the Israeli police concerning acts of vandalism against Palestinian-owned trees in the West Bank, only one produced an indictment.

Of course there could be a reason why there was only one indictment: most of the cases were not cases of vandalism.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 6 / Pro-Israel 0

8) Another Israel-Gaza War? - Editorial - November 14, 2012

Israel has a right to defend itself, but it’s hard to see how Wednesday’s operation could be the most effective way of advancing its long-term interests. It has provoked new waves of condemnation against Israel in Arab countries, including Egypt, whose cooperation is needed to enforce the 1979 peace treaty and support stability in Sinai.

When no one else lifts a finger to prevent the flow of arms into Gaza, how else is Israel supposed to defend itself? Essentially the Times is arguing that Israel has a right of self-defense but is better off not exercising that right. I wish the Times was as vociferous in condemning the smuggling of weapons into Gaza and the targeting of Israeli civilians. Most of the letters to the editor - including one by Abe Foxman - criticize the editorial.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 7 / Pro-Israel 0

9) A Call From the Shelter - Shmuel Rosner - November 16, 2012

My five-year-old daughter Yael just called from Tel Aviv to say that she’s doing fine. She’s a bit scared, but that’s only because I’m not there to watch her — if I were home, she would not be afraid. The brave soul: it was her first time in a bomb shelter. Until yesterday, for our family rocket fire was a troubling part of life but not a personal experience: the last time that Tel Aviv was under fire was during the first Gulf War, back in 1991.

It took half the month before the New York Times deigned to publish an opinion article that cast Israel in a sympathetic light.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 7 / Pro-Israel 1

10) Israel’s Shortsighted Assassination - Gershon Baskin - November 16, 2012

I believe that Israel made a grave and irresponsible strategic error by deciding to kill Mr. Jabari. No, Mr. Jabari was not a man of peace; he didn’t believe in peace with Israel and refused to have any direct contact with Israeli leaders and even nonofficials like me. My indirect dealings with Mr. Jabari were handled through my Hamas counterpart, Ghazi Hamad, the deputy foreign minister of Hamas, who had received Mr. Jabari’s authorization to deal directly with me. Since Mr. Jabari took over the military wing of Hamas, the only Israeli who spoke with him directly was Mr. Shalit, who was escorted out of Gaza by Mr. Jabari himself. (It is important to recall that Mr. Jabari not only abducted Mr. Shalit, but he also kept him alive and ensured that he was cared for during his captivity.)

Is it possible to suffer from the Stockholm Syndrome due to someone else's captivity? There was nothing moderate about Jabari.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 8 / Pro-Israel 1

11) I’m Losing Hope for a Peaceful Israel - Jessica Apple - November 16, 2012

When I moved to Israel 15 years ago, the picture was very different. There was never a question of whether Israel and the Palestinians would make peace, only of when. The dream of peace inspired me, and even after an intifada, scores of suicide bombings and a war, I stayed in Israel. I remained hopeful.

What was the source of the the intifada and suicide bombings? Why did they not prompt any soul searching from Ms. Apple?

Current Score: Anti-Israel 9 / Pro-Israel 1

12) The Israel-Palestine Conflict Won't Go Away - Yossi Alpher - November 16, 2012

The coming months of transition in Washington provide a unique opportunity to review failed strategies in the Israeli-Palestinian context and examine new ones, even if the objective is stabilization and limited progress rather than an elusive end-of-conflict.

While Alpher wants something done, he doesn't have any serious ideas. Still this isn't critical of Israel. Neutral.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 9 / Pro-Israel 1

13) Trapped in Gaza - Lara Aburamadan - November 16, 2012

Gaza, after all, is a very small place. Pick a point, any point, along its 25-mile coastline, and you’re seven or so miles — never more — from the other side. The other side is where my grandparents were born, in a village that has since become someone else’s country, off limits to me. You call it Israel. I call it the place where the bombs come from. One thundered to earth just now, as I was writing this.

Exercise for the reader: In the month prior to Israel's launching Pillar of Defense, how many New York Times opinion pieces described life in southern Israel?

Current Score: Anti-Israel 10 / Pro-Israel 1

14) If you've got a hammer - Ronen Bergman - November 17, 2012

Israel has the right to defend itself, especially against the huge numbers of Iranian long-range missiles pouring into the Gaza Strip from Iran via Sudan and Egypt. However, wielding the heaviest hammer — assassinations — against Hamas could lead to further deterioration instead of amelioration.

Bergman calls the killing of Jabari a punishment. But was it? Jabari was reportedly in charge of smuggling arms from Iran. It seems that the killing was a strategic move. Still, overall, Bergman supports Israel's right to defend itself even if he questions one aspect of it.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 10 / Pro-Israel 2

15) Gaza without end - Roger Cohen - November 19, 2012

Is all this good for Israel? No. Unless good is defined as policies that radicalize the situation, erode middle ground, demonstrate the impossibility of agreement, and so facilitate continued Israeli occupation of the West Bank, the expansion of settlements there and the steady eclipse of the idea of a two-state peace. This may well be Netanyahu’s criteria for a tactical victory from Operation Pillar of Defense (along with victory for Likud on Jan. 22.)

The suggestion that Netanyahu led Israel into war for electoral purposes is demonstrably false. How does striking back at an enemy "demonstrate the impossibility of agreement?" Doesn't the enemy fire aimed at civilians show that they are uninterested in any sort of a lasting agreement? There seems to be a skill among columnists for the New York Times to portray self-defense (in Israel's case) as a sign of unreasonableness.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 11 / Pro-Israel 2

16) How Obama Can Use Pressure to Bring Peace - Yossi Melman and Dan Raviv - November 19, 2012

A coalition promoting stability that includes Egypt and Turkey would also be a potent way to dent Iran’s bid for regional hegemony. The United States and Israel share that aim, and so do the oil-exporting kingdoms of the Persian Gulf. They are all concerned that Iran’s uranium enrichment will lead to a nuclear weapon.

It sounds nice but Melman and Raviv give Morsi and Erdogan too much credit. They also give President Obama too much credit for his diplomatic skills. Despite referring to Cast Lead as a "pointless war," this essay is neither anti-Israel nor pro-Israel. Neutral.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 11 / Pro-Israel 2

17) Hamas's illegitimacy - Editorial - November 19, 2012

Israel also has a responsibility for the current crisis, which threatens to complicate and divert attention from international attempts to deal with the threat of Iran’s nuclear program and the Syrian civil war. Israel has a right to defend itself, although it is doing so at the cost of further marginalizing the moderate Palestinian Authority that helps administer the West Bank and it risks further isolating Israel diplomatically.

It must be rare to to blame Israel for Hamas's terror, but here you have it. Sure the words condemning Hamas are welcome. Unfortunately, that condemnation isn't entirely convincing. "Hamas, which took control of Gaza in 2007 and is backed by Iran, is so consumed with hatred for Israel that it has repeatedly resorted to violence, no matter the cost to its own people." The Times blaming Hamas not for targeting Israeli innocents but for the damage that Israeli retaliation cause to Gaza! The word "evil" does not appear in the editorial. The word "terrorist" does, but it's a quote from Prime Minister Erdogan about Israel! (The editorial to its credit appears to dispute that charge.) A letter to the editor attributed the war to Israel's "cruel" blockade of Gaza.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 12 / Pro-Israel 2

18) Violence escalates between Israel and Gaza - Patrick Chappatte - November 20, 2012

Chappatte is an anti-Israel cartoonist who contributes to the International Herald Tribune. There's nothing original or profound about his cartoon. He simply equates Israeli self-defense with mindless retaliation.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 13 / Pro-Israel 2

19) Hamas Left Israel No Choice but to Strike - Michael Oren - November 20, 2012

Unfortunately, Hamas is not rational. It targets Israeli civilians while hiding behind its own. During a campaign of murder and kidnapping in 2006 and 2007, it gunned down members of its rival, Al Fatah, in the streets. Its covenant says Christians and Jews “must desist from struggling against Islam over sovereignty in this region”; under its rule, militants firebombed a Christian bookshop. It celebrated 9/11 and mourned the death of Osama bin Laden. We hope some day to persuade its leaders to make peace with us, but until then we must convince them of the exorbitant price of aggression.

Ambassador Oren masterfully traversed Israel history of seeking peace with its enemies to demonstrate that Hamas is not an enemy that is inclined to make peace.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 13 / Pro-Israel 3

20) A new Israel-Hamas ceasefire - Editorial - November 21, 2012

The cease-fire that ended eight days of bombing and airstrikes between Hamas and Israel should allow Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza to return to some normalcy as the two sides pull back from a violent cycle that killed 140 Palestinians and five Israelis in the past week. But even if it holds — and that is a big if — this moment of calm will not create real stability if it is not followed by a serious new peace effort aimed at a two-state solution.

As long as Hamas maintains its stranglehold over Gaza and its arsenal, there can be no "two state solution." Advocating for a coalition between Fatah and Hamas as this editorial does is not a prerequisite for peace but an invitation to disaster.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 14 / Pro-Israel 3

21) What can the Arabs do? - Patrick Seale - November 21, 2012

My contacts said that these regional leaders should give Obama a clear choice. They should tell him that if in 2013, the first year of his new presidential mandate, he fails to bring Israel to the table to negotiate peace and statehood for the Palestinians, then the Arabs would be compelled to downgrade their relations with the United States.

The leaders to whom Seale refers are the leaders of Egypt, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. No doubt that this threat that would have President Obama quaking with fear. Seale assures us that Israel is a great threat to the Arab world. The ridiculousness of Seale's essay is magnified by his own career. Seale was Hafez Assad's biographer (read: propagandist). That the New York Times allows an apologist for a mass murderer to write in its pages is a disgrace. But I guess since Seale's condemning Israel, his past sins are forgotten, if not forgiven.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 15 / Pro-Israel 3

22) Obama and Morsi discuss Israel - Patrick Chappatte - November 22, 2012

Another unfunny and offensive cartoon from Chappatte.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 16 / Pro-Israel 3

23) Enough - Roger Cohen - November 22, 2012

Well, ambassador, a powerful Israeli reminder was delivered to Gaza in 2008. Operation Cast Lead left 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead. Since then Israel’s interest in the “dream” of a two-state peace has been expressed mainly in the expansion of West Bank settlements. And here we are again facing the fact that neither side in the Holy Land is going away.

An ambassador of a free country and a man who whitewashed a war criminal wrote op-eds and who did Roger Cohen see fit to rebut? Cohen's rant about settlements is not credible for those who keep track. But what did Cohen miss? That since Cast Lead Hamas has been re-arming and Abbas has been stonewalling. Has anyone on the Palestinian side demonstrated any interest in "two state peace?" Cohen adds insult to injury by claiming that President Morsi's contribution to the ceasefire show that he is a true pragmatist despite his origins in the Muslim Brotherhood. ( In a more recent column, Cohen excused Morsi's subsequent power grab as a "mistake" and would "give Morsi the benefit of the doubt on his motives.")

Current Score: Anti-Israel 17 / Pro-Israel 3

24) Time to impose a plan - Yonatan Touval - November 23, 2012

One way out of this conundrum is the following: Between now and Nov. 29, the United States and other key members of the international community should seek to convince the Palestinians to suspend their bid at the General Assembly in return for a Security Council resolution that would, for the first time in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, spell out the general parameters for peace.

Touval explains that Security Council resolutions are binding and would thus be able to force both sides to come to an agreement. The naivete of Touval's proposal is astonishing. Does he really believe this could work? The effect of Touval's proposal, had it been followed would have been detrimental to Israel but his column, on its own was not. Neutral.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 17 / Pro-Israel 3

25) Solution without resolution - Eran Yashiv - November 23, 2012

The bottom line is both tragic and simple. The fact that a well-known solution exists and is rejected speaks volumes. Calls for renewed efforts to resolve the conflict are blind to this reality and to a large part express wishful thinking on the part of their authors.

Yashiv writes, "In what was a kind of implicit referendum, the notion was resoundingly rejected in the 2001 elections in which Sharon defeated Ehud Barak with 62 percent of the vote." This is exceedingly dishonest. At the time Arafat had rejected the "well-known solution" and embarked on a terror war against Israel. Ehud Barak who had made the offer of the "well-known solution" was blamed for the outbreak of the violence. Put simply, Arafat rejected the "well-known" solution but Yashiv faults Israelis for reacting rationally to the war that was imposed upon them.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 18 / Pro-Israel 3

26) America's failed Palestinian policy - Yousef Munayyer - November 23, 2012

By constantly condemning Palestinian armed resistance, and failing to condemn Israeli settlement expansion and repression of nonviolent Palestinian dissent, the message the United States is sending the Palestinian people is this: All resistance to occupation is illegitimate.

Munayyer's argument put simply is "Palestinian terror against Israel is always legitimate."

Current Score: Anti-Israel 19 / Pro-Israel 3

27) Morsi's moment - Thomas L. Friedman - November 24, 2012

Do I expect that? No more than I expect to win the lottery. The Muslim Brotherhood has long hated the Jewish state, as well as political and religious pluralism and feminism. Therefore, here’s what I do expect: More trouble between Israel and Hamas that will constantly threaten to drag in Egypt. Hamas is a shameful organization. It subordinates the interests of the Palestinian people to Iran (and earlier to Syria), which wants Hamas to do everything it can to make a two-state solution impossible, because that will lock Israel into a permanent death grip on the West Bank, which will be the undoing of the Jewish democracy and will distract the world from Iran’s and Syria’s murderous behaviors.

The editorial, "Hamas's illegitimacy," made a similar argument: Hamas is wrong because it works against the interests of the Palestinians, not because it harms Israelis. "Shameful," is too weak; "evil" is appropriate. Israel has no "death grip" on the West Bank. All that's needed is a Palestinian leadership committed to peace. None exists currently.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 20 / Pro-Israel 3

28) Two State solution on the line - Gro Harlem Brundtland and Jimmy Carter - November 25, 2012

In going to the General Assembly, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is not carrying out a provocative act. Nor is he undermining trust and distracting from the pursuit of peace, as his critics have said.

Brundtland and Carter are lying. The Oslo Accords spelled out that peace was come about due to negotiations not the imposition of one side's will on the other. Abbas admitted that that was precisely his intent in going to the UN.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 21 / Pro-Israel 3

29) Support Palestinian Statehood - Yossi Beilin - November 25, 2012

Now, the Palestinians are admitting their mistake and asking the same assembly to recognize a state of Palestine alongside Israel, and requesting that the boundaries of their state be determined as a result of negotiations with Israel. Meanwhile, Israel’s right-wing parties — which in 1993 rejected the Oslo Accords that envisaged Israeli withdrawal from parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the establishment of Palestinian autonomy in those areas — are now using, and abusing, that same agreement to prevent Palestinian statehood.

Beilin was the architect of the Oslo Accords. As a politician he found no violation of the Oslo Accords by the Palestinians to be too severe. That is why he is now an ex-politician, far outside the mainstream of Israeli political discourse. Yes Netanyahu fought the Oslo Accords, but when he became Prime Minister, he observed them. He didn't observe them to the degree that his critics thought he should have, but he did observe them. I don't believe that Arafat or Abbas made any concrete contributions to the peace process and certainly none as substantial as removing Jews from most of Hevron as Netanyahu did during his first term in office. It is Abbas (and Arafat before him) who have refused to abide by the terms of the agreements Arafat signed.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 22 / Pro-Israel 3

30) The Iron Man - Shmuel Rosner - November 27, 2012

Peretz may be the one laughing now as Israelis laud him for seeing what experienced generals didn’t see with their open binoculars. Peretz, as defense minister, was the lone knight of the Iron Dome, an essential part of the Pillar of Defense operation and a stunning success. The shield intercepted an astonishing number of rockets in mid-air, enabling — as Peretz was quick to point out in our conversation — the leaders of Israel to make decisions based on cold calculation. “Iron Dome,” he told me “is not just a military tool, it is also a political tool.”

Rosner pays tribute to the failed defense minister who had an enduring vision. The Wall Street Journal has an extensive report on the efforts to field Iron Dome.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 22 / Pro-Israel 4

31) Photo Caption Should Have Been Better. But ‘Orwellian’? No. - Margaret Sullivan - November 27, 2012

The Times’s coverage of this conflict cannot begin to be judged by the choice of one photo on one day. It has to be put in context over time. (I haven’t done that kind of long-term study, though I am paying careful attention to the coverage.) I reject the idea that the choice of this photo indicates an anti-Israeli bias.

Well, no. One photo shouldn't be the basis to judge any news organization. But if it shows systematic signs of bias, then the photo could and should be one more piece of evidence. If the Times didn't regularly report every time alarms sounded in Israeli cities sending residents to shelters but then sent its staff to Gaza to report on the destruction that was caused when Israel struck back, the picture is misleading. If the Times didn't publish aerial mapsshowing that Hamas placed weapons and fighters near schools and then published a photo of the damaged structure, the picture is misleading. Sullivan's in typical public editor mode, defending her paper against any and all charges, but I'm not ready to call this column anti-Israel. Neutral.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 22 / Pro-Israel 4

32) The U.N. to vote on Palestine - Patrick Chappatte - November 28, 2012

Chappatte's message is that history is passing Israel and the United States by.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 23 / Pro-Israel 4

33) Problems With a Reporter’s Facebook Posts, and a Possible Solution - Margaret Sullivan - November 28, 2012

More recently, during the Gaza conflict, she wrote one Facebook post in which she described Palestinians as “ho-hum” about the death of loved ones, wrote of their “limited lives” and, in another, said she shed her first tears in Gaza over a letter from an American woman. The comments came off as insensitive and the reaction was sharp, not only from media pundits, but also from dismayed readers.

Sullivan reports that to solve the problem of Jodi Rudoren's social media postings, an editor will be assigned to what she writes on Twitter and Facebook. When the New York Times allows an opinion article that effectively endorses anti-Israel terror for it to be so concerned of what it's reporter does on her own time is outrageous. I won't grant Sullivan any benefit of the doubt here.

Current Score: Anti-Israel 24 / Pro-Israel 4

34) The Palestinians’ U.N. Bid - Editorial - November 28, 2012

Earlier this month, Israel warned that if the resolution passed, it could cancel the 1993 Oslo accords, oust President Abbas and dismantle the Palestinian Authority. Some in Congress have also threatened more sanctions. Israel has since toned down the threats, but it should drop them altogether, as should Congress. It makes no sense to punish the one Palestinian institution that has committed to a peaceful solution.

But that one Palestinian institution has done nothing to demonstrate that it is committed to a peaceful solution. Negotiations "have been at an impasse since 2008" since Abbas refused then Prime Minister Olmert's offer and then hoped that President Obama would pressure Netanyahu to make unilateral concessions. The New York Times does the chances of peace no favor by whitewashing Abbas's passive aggressive refusal to deal honestly with Israel.

Final Score: Anti-Israel - 25 / Pro-Israel - 4 / Neutral - 5

Methodology: I surveyed all opinion articles in the New York Times from November 1 - 30, 2012 containing the word "Israel." I excluded all letters to the editor and included articles substantively about Israel. Given Israel's war against Hamas and Mahmoud Abbas's effort to avoid negotiations by bringing his statehood bid to the U.N., as expected, the anti-Israel op-eds increased. (Last month, the totals were nearly equal due to three "Latitude" columns by Shmuel Rosner. This month was a return to the usual imbalance of opinion article unfavorable to Israel.) A number of articles included gratuitous terms like "bellicosely right-wing Israeli government"or suggested that Israel's response to Hamas helps Assad. Nasty as those references were, the articles were not mostly about Israel.