Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Saturday night links

From Ian:

Barry Rubin: American Journalists Decry Israel's Ability to Defend Itself as Blocking Peace
Following the logic of the Washington Post we should hope that lots of Israelis are killed by terrorists as a way to pressure those obdurate Israelis to make peace.

The Post article basically follows the same Palestinian political line that has prevailed since the 1960s: forget about a negotiated compromise, Israel must be defeated; Israelis made to suffer. The main goal is to get Israelis to give up altogether and abandon having a state; the shorter-term goal is to get Israelis to accept a Palestinian state unconditionally so it can get on with the task of finishing that job.

Human Rights Watch: War Crimes for Dummies

"Incidentally, the NATO campaign also included a strike on the headquarters of Radio
Television of Serbia (RTS), killing sixteen people and leaving many trapped for days in the damaged building. In this case, HRW was content to assert that this was an “inappropriate” target because “[the] risks involved to the civilian population in undertaking this urban attack grossly outweigh any perceived military benefit.”

NYT Excuses for Carnage: 'Rejection and Discrimination' in France Sent Islamic Killer of Jewish Children Over Edge

“New York Times Paris correspondent Scott Sayare reported from a predominantly Muslim slum in Toulouse, France on Thursday, following up on the massacre earlier this year by Mohammad Merah, a resident of the projects, of three soldiers, a rabbi, and three Jewish children. Sayare suggested that societal "forces of rejection and discrimination" against young Muslims wre at least partially to blame for the rampage, and sought out "understanding" for the massacre among Merah's former neighbors in "Neighborhood Is Torn Over a Killer’s Legacy."

Jewish Pundits Dominate Worst Columns List

"Friedman gets three demerits. David Brooks and Mitch Albom get two. Richard Cohen gets three. There’s Dennis Prager and some Phil Mushnick for good measure. Somehow…and perhaps it’s because bloggers don’t count as columnists, Glenn Greenwald only gets one.

Israel: Palestinians power-drunk
Foreign Ministry warns PA's pledge to take far-reaching steps against Israel if Right wins elections is 'delusional and suicidal'; Jerusalem gears for possible ICC backlash

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is seeking to incite a confrontation with Israel no matter what," the Foreign Ministry said Friday, following the Palestinian leader's announcement that Ramallah will actively try to isolate Israel in the international arena.

Soldier Attacked With Pepper Spray, Has Weapon Stolen in Kidnapping Attempt at IDF Base

This event made everyone very nervous,” a soldier serving on the base told Ynet. “We’re all very aware of the fact that this could have ended with an abduction or murder. No one understands how this could have happened.
According to a statement issued by the IDF, “a soldier was assaulted overnight by two Palestinians adjacent to A-Ram and then fled the scene with his weapon. They threatened him with a fake gun and used tear gas against him. The circumstances of the incident are being investigated."

CAIR Leader Teams with Radical, Jew-Hating Imam

Nihad Awad, co-founder and executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), shared a stage with Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader, during a news conference in Qatar earlier this week.

Canada Adds Iranian Quds Force to Terror List
Canada adds Iran's Quds Force to a list of terrorist groups, says the elite special operations unit arms the Taliban, Hamas and others.

He accused it of providing "arms, funding and paramilitary training to extremist groups, including the Taliban, Lebanese Hizbullah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.

Dozens injured in Egypt clashes as police fire tear gas at Morsi supporters and opponents

Police fired tear gas as scores of opponents of the constitution and thousands of Islamists hurled rocks across a security cordon separating them near a mosque in Alexandria that was the focus for violence last week.
"God is great," Islamists chanted when the clash began.

J’lem, Cairo hold quiet talks over new Gaza policy
Policy could lead to further easing of restrictions in Strip, prevent quick rearming of Hamas, help develop ties with Egypt.

Stand With Us: StandWithUs Achievements in 2012

Implementing the Balfour Declaration
T.E. Lawrence on British-Jewish- Arab cooperation

You won’t find this truth in the lengthy biography of Thomas Edward Lawrence, the legendary “Lawrence of Arabia” in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Don’t expect to hear about this on the BBC. The world remembers Lawrence as a guide, friend and champion of Arabs, but hardly knows that he believed in Zionism as a force to restore Palestine to its ancient glory, brought about by active British-Jewish-Arab cooperation.
T.E. Lawrence, an English officer, an Arab hero, an archeologist, orientalist and author who, precisely because he was such a devoted champion of the Arab cause, supported the Jewish settlement in Palestine.

US travel advisory says Israel, West Bank have gotten safer
State Department lowers alert, citing Tel Aviv and Haifa as particularly secure; government personnel still not permitted to use buses

New York orthodontist restores Jewish history, one grave at a time
Michael Lozman’s cemetery-rehabilitation project educates college students and helps to reclaim Eastern Europe’s Jewish past

In addition to his 11 completed restorations, Lozman works to commemorate victims of notorious Holocaust-era massacres, since many sites remain unmarked. With his focus on Belarus and Lithuania, Lozman works in what Yale historian Timothy Snyder recently labeled “the Bloodlands” of Europe — those Nazi-occupied countries where most of the slaughter took place.

Also:
Europe, face reality in Jerusalem by Nadav Shragai

Now, Miss Ashton, it is your turn. It's about time that you and your colleagues face reality. The Jerusalem you are talking about today is much different than that of 45 years ago, which seems to still be stuck in your heads. This city, part of the Jewish genome, is not up for debate, first and foremost because of the continuous Jewish connection to it throughout the ages and our rights of primogeniture over the city (which has never been an Arab political or cultural capital).

The truth about Christians in Bethlehem (video)

The PA Media Centre uploaded a propaganda video called "From Palestine on Christmas." While it is wordless, it tries to give the impression that Christianity is thriving under PA rule and that the only problems they are having is because of the separation barrier.

So I subtitled it, with actual facts.

Run of the mill anti-semitism in Saudi Arabia media

From columnist Anisa Al-Sharif Makki in Saudi government daily Al-Yawm, translated by MEMRI:

Since 1897, [the Zionists] have been planning to build a global Kingdom of Zion. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion [spell out] a very evil conspiracy against humanity. [It was concocted] in response to the oppression suffered by the Jews in 19th century Europe, which motivated them to find ways to avenge themselves upon all of mankind, for they believed that everyone had some part in their humiliation. Protocol 24 [describes how] they decided to use dirty and furtive means to occupy not only the land of Palestine, but the entire world. The world knew, and did nothing.

[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion] are the modern source that the Zionists use today, and from which they derive their ideology and their satanic plans. The worst of these devils met, in singles and in groups, in order to collaborate and compete with one another in concocting the most criminal plan to invade the world and destroy it. In Protocol [24], they boast that the best results in taking over the world are achieved by means of terrorism and violence – not by means of academic [discussions] – and that political freedom is not a truth but [only] an idea that [they] must know how to exploit when necessary, in order to entice the masses.

This is a criminal plan to overturn the global order and threaten its very existence by spreading anarchy and conflict and by undermining every foundation of religion and nationality and of [the entire] creation. This, in addition to sparking crises and global wars – not only the ones taking place today but [also those that have taken place] over the generations, [while] the world stood by. After securing their control on the ground, the sons of Zion implemented their satanic plan for world domination by taking an iron grip on global banking and media, and admitting: 'We Jews are the rulers, corruptors and hangmen of the world'...

[They believe that] they alone are God's chosen, while all others are inanimate objects they own and may use as they please. When the Jews win a battle, they are obligated to destroy their enemies to the very last one – as we saw today in Gaza [during Operation Pillar of Defense] – a war of extermination that the world witnessed with indifference. Any kind act that a Jew does for a non-Jew is [considered] a great mistake, while any evil act that a Jew does to a non-Jew is [considered] a sacrifice to God...

Then, after saying how hugely powerful the Jews are, we learn:

They are cowards, afraid of a stone in the hand of a child, though they themselves have destructive weapons. They fight the helpless and shake with fear in the face of Hamas's missiles, [which set off] panicked sirens in Tel Aviv. What would have happened had Hamas possessed [even] a tenth of the arsenal they possess?

The jihad in Palestinian is ongoing, and the resistance will continue until [the land] is liberated... [Whatever happens,] victory is near...

The Jews have taken over the world, caused every war, control the media and the money, brainwash billions of people - but they are nothing compared to Hamas!

There is only one explanation for this contradiction. The author is actually a Zionist operative who is trying to lure the Arabs into fighting the Jews so they can be destroyed once and for all. Since Jews own the media, no one will say a word against us.

And Saudi newspapers are part of the media!

Jewish War Heroes comic book #2

Last week I found this WWII comic book series; I'm uploading the three published issues on three successive weeks.

Jewish War Heroes 2

Friday links

From Ian:

LATMA: Debating war criminals

Converging toward Hamas

All the years, all the dollars, all the military training and assistance, all the political acceptance -- including an "embassy" in Washington and diplomatic status -- could not buy the United States one iota of political clout where it counted. It is an enormous American failure of understanding to think those things would trump the natural morphing of Palestinian leadership toward the convergence of politics, religion and "national origin" against the "foreign." The enemy of my enemy is not my friend…. Rather than face their lack of insight, the default position of the US Administration and the Europeans is to blame Israel.

Muslims Angry Over Spanish Citizenship for Jews

The Spanish government has announced that it will grant automatic citizenship to Jews of Sephardic descent, whose ancestors were expelled from Spain in 1492.
The measure has been welcomed by Jewish groups, who say the move is long overdue and that it rights a historic wrong.
But Muslim groups are now clamoring for reciprocity, and are demanding that the Spanish government grant instant citizenship to millions of descendants of Muslims who were also expelled from Spain during the Middle Ages.

Poll: PA Can't Be Trusted to Keep a Deal
A new poll shows that the vast majority of Israelis are opposed to an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria, and do not trust the PA.

A new poll by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs shows that the vast majority of Israelis are opposed to an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria. The poll, taken in November, showed that 76% of all Israelis (83% of Israeli Jews) do not believe that a withdrawal to the 1948 armistice lines will bring Israelis a secure peace.

Israeli ambassador urges UN to disarm ‘powder keg’ Hezbollah

Syrian chemical weapons could fall into the hands of Lebanese group, Ron Prosor warns
"Prosor also attacked the Lebanese group for concealing weapons in populated areas.
“Not only does Hezbollah continue to accumulate missiles and weapons, but it also uses civilians as human shields,” he said. “It’s no coincidence that the explosion in the storehouse took place only 300 meters from a school.”

Hold Iran accountable for incitement to genocide, Irwin Cotler urges
Canadian MP and former justice minister also calls on Sweden to sign the Ottawa Protocol to Combat Anti-Semitism

"Canadian MP and former justice minister Irwin Cotler on Wednesday called on the international community to hold Iran accountable for state-sanctioned incitement to genocide and violations of human rights."

New computer virus hitting Iran could be more potent than it looks
‘Batchwiper’ seems to be a simple Trojan, says Israeli expert, but so was the malware that apparently prefaced Stuxnet

Spanish Satellite Provider Bans Iranian Channel That Blamed Newtown Shootings on Israel

This is an important development in the worldwide effort to contain the defiant regime in Tehran, one we have been watching carefully for months and discussing with our friends in Spain,” American Jewish Committee (AJC) Executive Director David Harris said in a statement Dec. 20.

German official says Jews should go to Uganda

Tenenbom calls for dismissal of Holocaust memorial director who allegedly told him Jews should have set up state in Uganda.
"In an email to the Post on Tuesday, Dr. Clemens Heni, a leading German academic expert on contemporary anti-Semitism in the Federal Republic, wrote, "It is a scandal that the head of the Buchenwald concentration camp memorial and a recipient of the Heinz-Galinski award supports the Uganda Bar" in Jerusalem. This bar believes the idea is better that Jews should settle in Uganda than in the State of Israel. Knigge embodies the view of many Germans who mourn dead Jews but attack living Jews." Tenenbom was equally critical of Gaede, describing him as being "no better" than Knigge.
Daniel Gaede, an educator at the Buchenwald memorial camp, also came under fire from Tenenbom for his participation in anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian activities
"This man [Gaede] spends his free time demonstrating against Israel and in support of Gaza¹s Palestinians," wrote Tenenbom."

Iranian suspects claim innocence in alleged Bangkok anti-Israel terror conspiracy
Saied Moradi, who lost his legs in an attempt to throw a bomb at police, claims he was just trying to take cover

BANGKOK (AP) — Two Iranians arrested after a botched bomb plot that allegedly targeted Israeli diplomats say they’re innocent and were stunned to discover explosives stashed in a cabinet in their rented Bangkok home, a lawyer said Friday.

Stop extreme-right assembly, Jewish Italian lawmaker urges
Emanuele Fiano calls on country’s interior minister to block gathering of new anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant political party in Rome

Alba Dorata Italia, or Golden Dawn Italy, was formed in Trieste in November and has scheduled its constituent assembly for December 21 in Rome. The party uses the same ancient Greek logo as the Greek Golden Dawn, which has been compared to a swastika, and its platform also reflects anti-immigration and extreme nationalist positions.

Malaysia Lifts Restrictions on Christian Pilgrimage to Jerusalem
Malaysia has removed quotas and other restrictions on Christians making their pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

According to the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM), however, the government imposed a quota of 700 pilgrims per year, with any one church only allowed to send one group of 40.
Visits were also limited to 10 days and pilgrims were only allowed one visit every three years, CFM executive secretary Tan Kong Beng told AFP Wednesday.

Canadian Man Stops Shaking for First Time in 10 Years After Israeli Manufactured Treatment

According to the Post: “Sunnybrook doctors hope the MRI-guided ultrasound technique could eventually be applied to a host of other problems, from brain tumors to Parkinson’s, avoiding the risk of infection and other complications of traditional surgery. The technology might even help diseases like Alzheimer’s better respond to medication by opening up the blood-brain barrier that prevents most drugs from being absorbed into the organ.

A Secret Jew in Jordan

In the Peace Corps, I hid my Jewish identity. But that didn’t prevent me from experiencing anti-Semitism.
I pushed the door open slowly, and my eyes drifted to the blackboard, which several students had peppered with small white swastikas. I scanned the silent room for perpetrators. Everyone was grinning. I wiped the board clean, shrugged off what appeared to be a prank, and began teaching the lesson as if nothing happened. But when I went home that day, I called our Jordanian security officer and asked for guidance. He told me that to many people in Jordan, Hitler is considered a hero. I said it was wrongheaded history but avoided telling him that the swastikas had bothered me so much because I was Jewish.

Members of a ‘lost tribe’ emigrate to Israel
Some 50 Jews from the Bnei Menashe community in India depart for the Promised Land

CHURACHANDPUR, India (AP) — A group of 50 Jews said to descend from one of the 10 Lost Tribes prepared Thursday to emigrate to Israel from their village in northeastern India.

Saudi columnist calls for Egypt to annex Gaza

From MEMRI:

In an article published in the official Saudi daily Al-Sharq, columnist Ibrahim Aal Majari called to annex Gaza to Egypt, as it was between 1948 and 1967 before being captured by Israel.

First, we congratulate the residents of Gaza for their victory, and we thank them for their persistent [stand] against this oppressive, criminal enemy [Israel]. This victory has pleased all Arabs and Muslims. Second, after the changes that occurred in the region, and especially in Egypt, and after the victory in the [Gaza] Strip, the conditions have ripened to present the idea of annexing Gaza to Egypt.

This idea is the best way to end the Israeli attacks on Gaza, and it should be realized, because [this situation has already existed] in the past. As you know, Gaza was under Egyptian control from 1948 until 1967, when Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and Sinai. For years following the [1967] war, Egypt demanded the liberation of its occupied territories – Sinai and the [Gaza] Strip – until President Sadat relinquished Gaza in the Camp David Accords and saddled its residents and the Palestinian people with the responsibility of negotiating for the liberation and autonomy [of Gaza].

Sadat's [decision to] relinquish an area that had been under Egyptian control for decades was a wanton act, [and it was perpetrated] by him and his associates alone, since most of the Egyptian people was displeased by this agreement that separated Gaza from Egypt. [Sadat] negotiated the [agreement] alone and signed it without presenting it to the Egyptian parliament or seeking his people's position [on it].

Annexing Gaza to Egypt will not contradict the peace agreements or the Arab initiative. On the contrary – it is an effective solution for Gaza residents, [because it will place them] under Egypt's patronage and protection. Furthermore, it is the best [solution] for Egypt, [because it will] relieve the ongoing tensions and conflict between Gaza and Israel – a conflict that negatively affects [Egypt's] national security and economy, and which causes [Egypt] embarrassment vis-à-vis the outside world, which insists that [Egypt's] borders with Gaza be supervised.

Annexing Gaza to Egypt will not meet with objections from Israel, the U.S., or even the U.N., because it is up to Gaza and its residents to decide their own fate. Moreover, Israelis want this annexation more than anyone, since it would rid them of the threat of armed groups, ensure Egypt's sovereignty over the [Gaza] Strip, and end the attacks on [Israel from Gaza].

There is also the geographic matter: How can the [West] Bank unite with Gaza despite the geographic separation? How can two entities separated by Israel comprise one homeland? [Does anyone really believe that] Israel will open passages for Palestinians between Gaza and the [West] Bank running through its territory, or that it will implement Defense Minister Ehud Barak's plan to dig a 57 kilometer tunnel for Palestinians to pass through? Can we envision a land swap in which the Palestinian Authority relinquishes territory in the [West] Bank in return for Israel giving the Palestinians land that connects the [West] Bank to the [Gaza] Strip? This is an unrealistic suggestion, because Israel would refuse to split in two. Therefore, the dream of establishing one homeland out of two entities that are geographically separated by more than 60 kilometers is a pipe dream and a mirage.

...
Egypt cannot focus on economic reforms and development, and cannot rid itself of this chronic headache, caused by repeated problems [relating to] Gaza, unless it annexes it. Instead of calling to open the Rafah border crossing, we must call to open all Egyptian crossings, schools, universities, hospitals, and markets to Gaza residents. Instead of remaining in the Gaza prison at the mercy of the opening [or closing] of the crossings, let them pass freely to the land of liberty and justice, the land of revolution and honor.

Does he advocate that Gazans become Egyptian citizens as well? That would be really novel - to have a columnist call to eliminate all discrimination against Palestinians in the Arab world.

A full month since the last rocket or mortar from Gaza

On the first day of Operation Pillar of Defense, the IDF announced:

"The first aim of this operation is to bring back quiet to southern Israel, and the second target is to strike at terror organizations."

It has now been a full month since the last rocket or mortar has been shot from Gaza.

If this continues, as Challah Hu Akbar has researched, December will be the first calendar month since at least 2004 that has not seen a single rocket or mortar from Gaza. (I don't know if there had been any 30 day periods of calm within that time period, but there certainly have been none for at least six years.)

For all of Hamas' bragging about their victory, it appears that Israel achieved its stated major goal for the operation.

Ashton apparently only has a problem with Jewish, but not Israeli Arab, "settlers"

EU High Representative Catherine Ashton made this statement earlier this week:

The approval of an additional 2610 housing units in the settlement of Givat Hamatos is extremely troubling, coming in addition to announcements made at the end of ovember and Monday’s approval of 1500 units in Ramat Shlomo. This plan for Givat Hamatos would cut the geographic continuity between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. I strongly oppose this unprecedented expansion of settlements around Jerusalem.

First of all, Ramat Shlomo and Givat Hamatos are in Jerusalem, not "around" Jerusalem.

But more interestingly is how there is one set of announced housing that Ashton did not mention, namely, the plan to add 688 units to the neighborhood of Beit Safafa.

Why would she mention some neighborhoods and not mention Beit Safafa? Because Beit Safafa is Arab.

But which side of the Green Line is Beit Safafa on? The answer is - both. The Green Line divided it into two. Before 1967, residents who were literally across the street from each other - even within the same family - were separated.

The ones in the north are Israeli citizens, the ones in the south generally are not (unless they choose to become citizens, as any Jerusalem Arabs have the right to do.)

Since 1967, Israeli Arabs have moved to Beit Safafa, including Christians from Jaffa and Nazareth, on both sides of the Green Line. The residents themselves are adamant that their neighborhood never be divided again, and certainly most of the Israeli citizens will refuse to become citizens of "Palestine."

Beit Safafa will never be divided and the Israeli Arabs who live there will not agree to change their citizenship.

So why does the EU not consider Israeli Arabs on the other side of the Green Line to be "settlers"? Why does Ashton not object to building in Beit Safafa?

Yaacov Lozowick looked at Beit Safafa in more detail and noted:

The odd thing is that in all the endless verbiage on the matter, no-one (NO ONE) ever calls the Israeli Arabs from Beit Safafa who moved in the same direction, settlers. Yet it can't be that Jewish Israeli citizens who crossed the Green Line to settle are illegally forbidden settlers, while the Arab Israeli citizens who did the exact same thing are not. That would make international law explicitly racist and antisemitic, and for all its silliness, it isn't those.

...In the decades since 1967 thousands of Israeli Arabs from elsewhere - Nazerath, Jaffa, Sachnin and so on - have moved to Jerusalem. It's a big city, it's got the country's largest university, it's got hospitals, government ministries, and all sorts of other things to encourage migration. Some of them have moved to Beit Hakerem or Rehavia, and that's all right. Others have moved to Beit Hanina, a wealthy area on the city's north side, so they're clearly legally forbidden settlers. Some have moved to Beit Safafa, because it's the one part of town that already had a community of Israeli Arabs and it felt hospitable. Of course, if they moved to the northern part of the neighborhood (it has long since ceased to be a separate village), no problem. If they moved to the southern part however, they're illegal settlers, as we've already seen. The thing is, when you walk through the neighborhood, there's no way of recognizing which it is, unless you happen to be old enough or savvy enough to remember where the long-defunct line ran. Most people aren't. Most people, that is, except for the teeming millions who know that Jerusalem must be divided.

..So now we've got the following situation. There are about 8,000 people in Beit Safafa. Some have been Israeli citizens since 1948, but they'll move or stay depending upon where they live now. Some have become Israeli citizens since 1967, but that's immaterial. If they're Arab (they are), and they live south of the Green Line (many do), they obviously yearn to live in a free Palestine, not Israel. No? Some are not Israeli citizens, merely permanent residents, but if they live north of the line, they can stay put, or move to Haifa, or move 25 feet to the south, and thus choose to live in whichever country they prefer. And then of course there are the non-Israeli citizens who moved in 1974, or 1983, or 1992, or 2001, or whenever it was, to Haifa or Kfar Kassem or elsewhere in Israel, and they won't be affected in any case, since they're inside the Green Line and thus impervious to the entire discussion. It's only Jews who are on the wrong side of the line who need to do any explaining or accommodating.

Ashton's omission of Beit Safafa is only a small part of the inherent discrimination that most of the world applies to Israeli Jews. Only Jews can be "illegal settlers," not Muslims or Christians.

I think there is a word for that.

(h/t David G)

Whoops! PressTV forgot to replace "Jews" with "Zionists"

A couple of days ago, Iran's PressTV received a lot of attention from Western media as they discovered what we all knew: it peddles bizarre conspiracy theories using Western "experts" as cover. The most recent example was when someone named Mike Harris claimed, on Iranian TV, that Mossad "death squads" were responsible for the massacre at Sandy Hook.

This same Mike Harris is back today - but he let slip that he is really against the Jews, not the "Zionists."

The surge in violence in the US is the result of Zionist-controlled Hollywood and news media which have been creating a culture of violence in the country over the years, an analyst tells Press TV.

“We have had a Zionist-controlled Hollywood, a Zionist-controlled news media that is the conduit to all of this violence...this imagery into every home in America, and so you wonder why there is a culture of violence? It is because it comes from the Jews in Hollywood. That is where the conduit of violence comes from,” Phoenix-based Mike Harris said on Tuesday.

“The culture as we are talking about here is Jewish-inspired, comes out of Hollywood, comes out of the Jewish-controlled news media,” he added.

Usually, the Iranian media is careful to make sure that they only blame hook-nosed "Zionists" for controlling the media, banks and Hollywood, faking the Holocaust and so forth. Their English editor must be on vacation.

By the way, PressTV says that Harris is the (Arizona) managing director of AMT Capital Partners. There is a webpage for AMT - that has not been updated in over ten years.

Guess who is giving out free Christmas trees?

The city of Jerusalem!

From the Jerusalem municipal website:

If Israel is hellbent on "Judaizing" Jerusalem, as we are constantly being told, they are doing a really poor job of it.

(h/t Shraga Simmons, who also tells me that the entire city of Jerusalem is being decorated with Christmas lights.)

Thursday linkdump

From Ian:

What Is Behind Salam Fayyad's Call for "Economic Intifada"? by Khaled Abu Toameh

Instead of seeking way to solve the financial crisis, Fayyad chose to call on Palestinians to boycott all Israeli goods. He is hoping that by calling for an economic intifada, he will succeed in diverting the anger and frustration on the Palestinian street outward to Israel. This has always been the Palestinian Authority's way of avoiding responsibility for anything that goes wrong — by putting all the blame on Israel.

Man in the Middle — Israeli Ambassador’s Inside Account of Obama-Netanyahu Relationship (Inc. Video)

In a lot of ways, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren has been the man in the middle. Oren was born in New York and raised in New Jersey but gave up his American citizenship to take on the position of ambassador — a role that puts him squarely between two leaders who don’t always see eye to eye.

UN Watch: U.N. to Endorse Hero of Holocaust Deniers, Alfred De Zayas

While a handful of these decisions were good, many were despicable. One stands out for its ignominy: the appointment of a top official whose life’s work—authoring books on World War II that make Germans the victims and the Allies the war criminals—has made him a hero to Holocaust deniers.

PMW: European-funded Palestinian NGO glorifies plane hijackings, terror, and hatred of Israel and the US
Poem read by hosts of youth program on PA TV funded by the EU, the World Bank, Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden

Expect us always, expect us where least expected. We’re in every airport, and in every ticket…A small rifle in the hand of a small boy can kill the big one.

Fatah Official: Palestinians have not abandoned armed struggle VIDEO

PA TV glorifies terrorist mastermind of suicide attacks that murdered 31 VIDEO

BBC Watch: Myths and lethal narratives on the BBC website

.. what happens when that “permanent public record” is inaccurate or misleading? Should the BBC be obliged to clearly label it as such or even to remove the webpage?
One example of such BBC material still available on the internet are its many reports on the ‘Jenin Massacre‘ that never was.

Journalists in wartime: a legal view

The law of armed conflict distinguishes between different types of journalists:
1. Journalists who work for media outlets or information services of the armed forces..."
"The first category of journalists constitutes members of the armed forces. Accordingly, they don’t benefit from the protections afforded to civilians and their deaths don’t constitute a violation of the law.

2013: The year of Iran
Will the US president truly resort to force if all else fails to thwart Tehran’s nuclear program? Perhaps more important, does Israel’s PM think he will? By David Horovitz

He will be torn, furthermore, between a certain fealty to his late father’s fierce mindset — confront the threat, take action, use the Jewish nation’s hard-won restored sovereign power to strike down the latest advocates of Jewish genocide — and his own far more cautious inclinations, his tendency to talk the talk (on defying international pressure on settlements, refusing to negotiate with terrorists, ousting Hamas) but not always walk the walk.

Opposition to Hagel nomination grows, but supporters rally around likely defense chief pick
Washington Post claims Obama’s choice for Pentagon is ‘well to the left’ of the president, while defenders argue he is pro-Israel ‘but knows the grim costs of going to war without a plan’
(includes Emergency Committee for Israel video)

No-go Areas for Jews in Europe
Israel has room for all Jews and welcomes them, but that does not have any bearing on what is going on in Europe. Rabbi Lau predicted that European Jewish history is nearing its end.

Indeed, it seems a tragic but unavoidable process: Europe as a Jew-free continent or a realm of fear in which Jews will survive as "invisible", like during the Inquisition, where even lighting candles on Shabbath is a hazard because someone could see the holy flames from the street.

Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs: The “Day After” Scenario in Syria Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi,

After overthrowing the Assad regime, a potential military-terrorist threat to Israel will likely emerge in the transition period, which will be marked by governmental instability and a lack of central control over at least some of the fighting forces.

Destroyed Hezbollah Weapons Depot Held Missiles Capable of Being Equipped With Chemical Warheads

What should we make of these reports? First, the Syrian chemical-warfare capability may be even more dangerous than people had thought, because the weapons can be moved to other locations and mixed en route. And, second, there’s a significant risk of proliferation to other groups, such as Hezbollah, which could pose a global terrorist threat.

UN confirms Hezbollah fighting for Assad in Syria
Report warns that civil war fighting has split along sectarian lines, pitting ruling Alawites against majority Sunnis; investigators say conduct of both sides "increasingly in breach of international law."

Report: Morsi Suffering From Brain Tumor
Recently installed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is apparently suffering from a brain tumor, Egyptian media reported

Turkey Declared a 'Prison for Reporters'
Reporters Without Borders says Turkey has become the “world’s biggest prison for journalists.”

Tunisian Imam Accused of Inciting Hatred Against Jews
Tunisian group for minorities has lodged a complaint against an imam, accusing him of inciting hatred against Jews in a fiery sermon.

Racism behind defections from Al Qaeda in Mali

Racism is one of the main factors that motivate many young Africans from non-Arab to defect and resume their normal lives in their country of origin.This occurs at a time when the majority of these young Africans beginning to realize more than ever that the promises of equality, freedom and dignity advocated by the true Islam does not materialize in jihadist movements. (Google Trans)

Analysis: IAF preparing surprises for enemies
Upgrades to fighter jets creating operational capabilities that would have been considered fantasy years ago.

As a senior Air Force official stated on Tuesday, a single aircraft can now strike four different targets far away, with the push of one button, meaning that fewer sorties are required to level heavy damage on the enemy. The strike capabilities of several aircraft in the past are now possessed by a single warplane.

Keeping data safe on a billion and a half cellphones
Red Bend is the world’s most popular solution for safe over-the-air software updates for smart devices

An Israeli company is responsible for nearly three quarters of the wireless software updates for cell phones around the world. Red Bend, which has developed a secure firmware over-the-air (FOTA) system, allows users to get automatic operating system and firmware updates on their cellphones. It’s used by more than 80 mobile operators and device manufacturers to manage updates on more than 1.6 billion mobile phones.

Egypt's economy is royally screwed

From Egypt Independent:

Egypt has announced that it has changed from a gas-exporting to a gas importing country based on a decision issued by the Petroleum Minister that went into effect on 17 December.

According to the ministerial order, the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company would either import the gas itself from international markets or via contracting companies. The gas would be transferred via national networks with necessary approvals.

Petroleum expert Medhat Youssef said the decision was “unprecedented,” especially as Egypt would import gas from international companies in Qatar, not the Qatari government. The import price is expected to reach US$14 per 1 million thermal units, whereas the government sells gas to factories for no more than $4.

The Egyptian government exports gas to Jordan at $5.50 per one million units, while Qatar exports it at more than $9, Youssef said, arguing that Egypt administers its petroleum supply poorly and should reconsider prices.

Egypt's economy is already in the toilet, and yet it still subsidizes private factory energy by as much as 70%? And it will import gas to be able to export it to Jordan at a huge loss?

The free market might help a little. Just a thought.

Importing gas at international prices would affect industries such as cement and fertilizer production.

Meanwhile, Hany Suleiman, former Petroleum Ministry deputy for gas affairs, said gas production in Egypt does not meet demands, referring to expectations that the deficit would reach 3.7 billion cubic feet by 2018.

Daily consumption, according to Suleiman, will double by the fiscal year 2014/2015 reaching 25 million cubic feet, compared to around 12 million cubic feet in 2011/2012.

Importing gas requires infrastructure and facilities that would cost around $600 million to develop.

Egypt could be negotiating with Israel to import natural gas from the Mediterranean gas fields (Tamar is almost online, Leviathan expected in a few years). After all, it seems unlikely that Jewish terrorists would bomb the pipeline repeatedly as Islamists did when Egypt was exporting gas to Israel.

But Egypt would rather destroy itself than allow Israel to help.

Which is, when you think of it, pretty much the reason why the Arab world is doomed.

EU-funded NGO glorifies terrorism on TV

From Palestinian Media Watch:

Two teenage hosts on the Palestinian Authority TV program for youth Speak Up, which is co-produced with the Palestinian NGO PYALARA, chose to read aloud a poem that glorified plane hijackings and threatened Israel and the United States:

“People of Israel, don’t get caught up in arrogance,
the hands of the clock will surely come round...
Expect us always, expect us where least expected.
We’re in every airport, and in every ticket.
We emerge in Rome and in Zurich from under the rock…
Our men arrive without warning, with the fury of thunder and the pounding of rain.
They come in the Prophet’s robe and with Omar’s sword (Muslim conqueror).
Remember, always remember that America, important as it is, is not Allah the Almighty and Omnipotent, and that America with all its strength will not stop the birds from flying.
A small rifle in the hand of a small boy can kill the big one.”
The mention of Rome and Zurich in the poem is a reference to hijackings by PLO/PFLP terrorists. In July 1968, El Al Flight 426 from Rome was hijacked. In February 1969, terrorists attempted to hijack El Al Flight 432 before taking off from Zurich.

PYALARA, the co-producer of this program, is funded by NDC. NDC's international donors include: the European Union, the World Bank, the French government’s Agence Française de Développement, a donor consortium of Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden, the Islamic Development Bank, the United Palestinian Appeal, and the Palestinian private organization the Welfare Association. [NDC website, accessed Dec. 20, 2012]
PYALARA is also funded by the Swedish Olof Palme International Center.

Earlier this year I exposed real anti-semitism in PYALARA's youth magazine.

HRW gives benefit of doubt to terrorists, but accuses Israel without proof

The latest HRW report condemning Israel reveals, within its own text, how biased the organization is towards Israel and how "fair" it is with terror groups.

First, look how they characterize Israel's actions in the first paragraph:

Four Israeli attacks on journalists and media facilities in Gaza during the November 2012 fighting violated the laws of war by targeting civilians and civilian objects that were making no apparent contribution to Palestinian military operations.

There is no caveat. HRW is stating, as a fact, that Israel targeted civilians, without any knowledge of what Israel was actually targeting.

HRW's reading of international law is flawed - read this invaluable NGO Monitor article that explains exactly why - and its "evidence" is laughable.

The two men’s families, interviewed separately, said the men were neither participating in the fighting nor members of any armed group. Human Rights Watch found no evidence, including during visits to the men’s homes, to contradict that claim. Hamas’s armed wing, al-Qassam Brigades, has not put either man on its official list of killed fighters– an unlikely omission if the men had been playing a military role.

HRW's "investigation" is talking to families of suspected terrorists, seeing if there is any "evidence" in their homes (what are they looking for, rockets?) and saying that Hamas hasn't put them in their list of "martyrs." This last point should note that Hamas has been adding "martyrs" to their list as recently as this week, and those killed in Cast Lead were often posted many months after the fighting.

But this is enough for HRW to make definitive statements that Israel targeted civilians.

Now, look at how HRW reports this other incident where Israel bombed a media building:

A second and separate attack on the third floor of the Shoruq Building on the afternoon of November 19 appeared to target specific Palestinian militants, who, if present, would have been unlawfully placing the building’s civilian occupants at risk, Human Rights Watch said. The IDF apparently contacted at least one international journalist in the building to warn them to evacuate.

All of a sudden, when there is evidence of Islamic Jihad violating the laws of armed conflict, HRW is hedging. "Appeared," "would be," "if present," "apparently" - all phrases that it doesn't use in reference to Israeli actions.

Later on, we see that HRW knows very well that Islamic Jihad terrorists were there:

A second attack that afternoon on the building’s third floor appears to have been on a military target, killing one member of Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, Ramez Hareb. If Palestinians involved in military operations were meeting in the Shoruq Tower, as the IDF claimed, they were placing civilians at unnecessary risk in violation of the laws of war, Human Rights Watch said.

Now, the IDF gave out a list of the people it was targeting on that floor of that building, including Hareb:

Baha Abu al-Ata: Commander of Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Gaza City Brigade; involved in planning attacks against Israel, arms manufacturing and long-range rocket launching capabilities

Tissir Mahmoud Mahmed Jabari: Senior Islamic Jihad operative; responsible for training within the organization and approving terrorist attacks against Israel

Halil Batini: Senior Islamic Jihad operative; a key figure in planning the group’s long-range rocket launching operations; responsible for internal security

Ramez Harab: Responsible for propaganda in Islamic Jihad’s Gaza City Brigade; an aide to Tissir Jabari; the former head of the Sheikh Rajuan Division

Obviously, the IDF had good intelligence on who was in that building - yet HRW doesn't even lift a finger to investigate whether Islamic Jihad was performing a war crime!

This also proves that the IDF was obviously not targeting people indiscriminately, and that it had specific military targets in mind. HRW's blanket statement that they were not military targets shows that it would not believe anything the IDF says, no matter what, unless they can twist it into making it look guilty.

HRW - in its own words, in its own report - consistently gives the benefit of the doubt to Islamic Jihad and Hamas terror groups, but gives no such slack to the IDF which is accuses, without any reservation, of war crimes.

If that isn't bias, then I don't know what is.

Latest member of the Zionist Attack Zoo: Super-Rhinoceroses

From conspiracy site Terminal X (h/t Judge Dan at Israellycool):

[S]ources close to TX revealed on Sunday evening via email that Israel is working on a heavily-funded bio-engineering program which is funded by a select group of retired elites within the Israel Defence Forces on 'hybrid animals'.

The source, who is a retired security official from a Gulf country, made the claims while referring to one of his junior comrades who was tasked with undercover information gathering in the illegitimate state more than 7 years ago.

"He described a large, underground laboratory adjacent to the Negev desert where a highly-secured bunker was located, guarded by about two dozen troops of the elite Sayaret Matkal commandos and Military Intelligence units".

"He observed various visits to the facility by then Military Intelligence chief Aharon Zeevi-Farkash accompanied by a panel of scientists who changed on rotation every other day. Although he wasn't able to capture any footage owing to the high security and sensors in the area, he was able to have several glances from very narrow openings".

The retired officer described how the underground bunker had another sub-station inside it which had no window at all:

"He recalls those Zionists (Israelis) talking of 'super beasts' equipped with improvised weapons".

Did the said spy who claims to have found such a facility actually see any such 'mutated beasts'? This question was posed to the source:

"Once, he shared details of a group of bizarre rhinoceroses and canines but never spoke on the subject again. Our superiors thought we had been feeding on telltale rumors hence that chapter was closed once and for all".

At the end, the source said that he, along with his subordinate, retired early from service.

After exhaustive research, I found a photo of one of the super-rhinos that the Arab spy witnessed:

Protesters close down ICRC offices in Ramallah

Palestinian Arab activists held a protest that closed down the International Committee of the Red Cross offices in Ramallah today.

They were protesting Israel's treatment of terrorist prisoners and the supposed lack of ICRC pressure on Israel.

If the Red Cross provides health services from this location, this is a clear violation of international law.

Even if not, the Palestinian Arab propensity to protest those who are trying to help them - a practice that goes back to the early 1950s with attacks on UNRWA - shows a particular immaturity.

Al Ahram publishes Khaled Amayreh's incitement for Egypt to go to war

In the past we've seen prolific and completely nutty Khaled Amayreh showing his anti-semitism, his inability to tell the truth, his belief in parapsychology and UFOs, and his desire to incite an all-out terror war against Israel.

Now, he is writing in Al Ahram to convince Egypt to start a war with Israel.

Whether we like it or not, Israel has been, is and will always be Egypt's existential enemy. There is a preponderance of evidence corroborating this fact.

...Yes, the two states reached a peace treaty in 1978. However it is crystal clear that the Camp David treaty, which the Egyptian leadership signed more or less under duress, did very little to put an end to undeclared but definitive Israeli designs against Egypt.

Israel wanted to use the Camp David treaty to strip Egypt of its Arab and Muslim character as well as cause irreparable damage to the collective conscience and consciousness of the Egyptian people. However, thanks to the enduring vigour and strong moral fabric of the Egyptian people, the morbid Israeli designs were a gigantic fiasco.

According to Israel Shahak's book, Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years, much of Egypt is actually part of Biblical Israel according to some sages of the Talmud. This mythology is taught to Jewish students in hundreds of Talmudic schools (yeshivot) and colleges throughout Israel.

I would have thought that these ideas were no more than mythical hallucinations on the part of some deranged so-called 'sages'. But when I found out that many otherwise level-headed rabbis kept regurgitating these myths, I began to view the matter differently.

How can you argue with that? An anti-semite writes nonsense and another one quotes him! I must not have spent enough years in yeshiva to learn about how it is part of Eretz Yisrael. But those clever Jews returned the Sinai because they want to conquer all of Egypt!

Only a Jew is smart enough to figure out how that works. Oh, and Khaled Amayreh.

The Egyptian media reported on several occasions the arrest of Israeli agents with instructions to spread the AIDS virus in Egypt, generate chaos, including sectarian conflicts between Muslims and Copts.

More to the point, it is absolutely logical to assume that Israel's agents are implicated in one way or the other in the current crisis between the Egyptian government and the opposition.

I don't have hard evidence to prove this impression, but the Hebrew press reported numerous times of late that the Israeli intelligence was heavily involved in manipulating events in the largest and most important Arab country.

And with the January 25 Revolution, it is very likely that Israeli designs against Egypt have become more virulent and daring, given the tumultuous transitional period Egypt is undergoing these days.

Damn, we're good!

The man is certifiably insane. So he is well qualified to write an op-ed for Al Ahram.

(To their credit, most of the commenters say he is nuts, too.)

Birzeit terror university calls Technion immoral

Mondoweiss, exhibiting the remarkable lack of shame that we come to expect from sites like that, published a piece of propaganda from "The Right to Education Campaign at Birzeit University."

In light of news that Cornell University has engaged in a joint bid with Israel's Technion Israel Institute of Technology to build a campus of applied science and technology on New York's Roosevelt Island, we, the students and volunteers at Birzeit University's Right to Education campaign, support the initiative of New Yorkers Against the Cornell-Technion Partnership (NYACT).

Cornell University's students, professors and partners alike will be implicated in Israel's colonial project in Palestine through the University's decision to work in collaboration with the Technion, an institution that has long been, and remains deeply complicit in the design, implementation and justification of Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

To give a flavor of how moral the students at Birzeit are, here is a pro-Hamas march there only a week ago:

Here's part of an "art exhibit" shown there this month:

Here's more:

At the end of 2003, elections were held [at Birzeit] for the student government council. The campaign featured models of exploding Israeli buses. In the debate, the Hamas candidate asked the Fatah candidate: "Hamas activists in this university killed 135 Zionists. How many did Fatah activists from Bir Zeit kill?"

Here's a photo from last month of a Birzeit student quietly going about his studies:

Moral indignation from Birzeit students towards Israel? Now, that's funny.

(h/t Lori)

Biased reporting from Reuters on West Bank labor strikes. (Guess who's to blame?)

Some biased reporting from Reuters:

Palestinian government employees in the West Bank began a two-day general strike on Wednesday to protest against a delay in the payment of their wages because of Israeli economic sanctions.

Israel is withholding some $100 million in monthly customs revenues it collects on the Palestinians' behalf as punishment for their successful bid at the UN General Assembly last month to gain de-facto statehood recognition.

Is it all because of Israeli sanctions? Well...

The Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank, was experiencing a deep financial crisis even before the move, and its 153,000 public sector workers have seen their salaries repeatedly issued late this year.

...Government workers last received salaries for October, which were payed belatedly at the end of last month. There was no word on when November or December wages might be handed over.

If the October wages were not paid on time, and the UN stunt was in late November, then...how exactly is Israel the only party responsible?

Reuters manages to admit in a later paragraph:

Israel said the Palestinian UN initiative contravened their peace accords and has threatened to withhold tax returns for four months to cover outstanding Palestinian debts with Israeli utility firms.

Oh! So the PA owes Israel hundreds of millions of dollars! Something that we knew for months already!

Meaning, if the PA had paid their debts to Israel, they would have the exact same financial crisis today! Yet the world expects Israel to keep providing free services and never to dare to do anything to collect the debts. How dare they!

Oh, and this:

Arab countries have yet to fulfill pledges to offset the Israeli measures with cash donations.

In fact, they have yet to fulfill pledges to the PA given years ago. Most recently before the UN stunt. But Israel is the only party to blame, apparently.

Reuters here is parroting what the Palestinian Arabs are saying .For example, Fayyad today said that "the financial crisis is because of the Israeli piracy of Palestinian tax revenue," pretending that there was no crisis beforehand.

And imagine if the Israel electric company simply turned off the power instead. What an outcry would ensue! Reuters would have photo essays of kids with candles and patients in hospitals without electricity.

As usual, Israel is set up to be the bad guy, no matter what it does.

Meanwhile, teachers in the West Bank also went on strike earlier this week for non-payment of salaries.

By the way, I have never heard Fayyad amend his plan to have the PA be financially independent by the end of 2013. In fact, their debt has skyrocketed since then - again, while Israel transferred tax monies every month.

Not to worry. The World Bank assured us already in 2010 that the PA has the infrastructure ready to become a state.

Wednesday linkdump

From Ian:

UN Watch: Hypocrisy: UN adopts 9 resolutions on Palestinians & Golan, yet silent on Syrian massacre of Palestinians

GENEVA, December 18 – The U.N. General Assembly today adopted nine resolutions on Palestinian rights and the Golan, sharply criticizing Israel yet making no mention of Sunday’s massacre of Palestinians by Syrian warplanes firing missiles into a mosque in a Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus. Nor did the texts mention the tens of thousands of Palestinians who continue to flee the camp.

CIA game changer
Now is the time for President Obama, finally, to respond to all the official requests for Pollard’s release by commuting his sentence to time served.

Moreover, the document puts the lie to American allegations that have been used for over a quarter of a century to justify Pollard’s continued incarceration. For example, Pollard’s full cooperation with the prosecution was one of the welcome admissions in this document, as was the confirmation that the volume of information Pollard transferred to Israel was far less than claimed.
The CIA document also reveals the subterfuge used by the US government to breach its plea agreement with Pollard.

Abbas Asks UN for First Step to Flood Israel with Foreign Arabs
Abbas asks UN to take first step to flood Israel with foreign Arabs by suggesting Syrian “refugees” move to the PA.

His latest diplomatic ploy could place Israel again in the role of “bad man.” Abbas asked Ban “to help the Palestinian refugees in Syria, who are suffering from the bloody conflict there, to return to live in the Palestinian Territory.

Israeli Druze Envoy: Abbas Does Not Even Represent His Wife

The so-called problem of the Palestinian Authority-Israel struggle actually disguises the real problem of Islamic fundamentalism, Israeli Ambassador to Norway Naim Araidi told the local ABC news outlet. He said that Muslim extremists want to replace modern life in Europe with Islamic Shari'a law.
As for PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, “He does not even represent his wife," according to the ambassador.

As Terror Attacks Increase, Samaria Residents Protest Security Deterioration

During November, the GSS reports that there were 122 terror attacks in Judea and Samaria, with 98 of those attacks occurring during Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense aimed at halting rocket fire emanating from Gaza. In Jerusalem, 44 attacks were recorded, with 27 occurring during Operation Pillar of Defense. A majority of the attacks, 156 of the 166, involved Palestinians throwing Molotov cocktails."

Iranian news site pins Newtown shooting on ‘Israeli death squad’
American Press TV panelist charges that ‘Zionist-controlled Hollywood, news media’ cultivate American culture of violence

Michael Harris, the financial editor at Veterans Today, a website littered with anti-Semitic and anti-Israel conspiracy theories, charged in an internationally broadcast interview on the Iranian station that “Israel has been operating death squads.” Harris, a former Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arizona, used the interview as a soapbox for an anti-Semitic rant against Israel and American Jews.

[Veterans Today/PressTV reacted to the articles about their nuttiness, saying that they are effectively an admission of guilt by Israel. Possibly crazier than this article was. - EoZ]

Defiant Iran vows to continue enrichment, dismisses sanctions as insignificant
Ahmadinejad says international pressure will not slow down Tehran’s nuclear program

Syrian jets again bomb Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus
Government claims Yarmouk camp houses PFLP-GC fighters

Iran keeps silent on the killing of Palestinians in Syria

Based on the Iranian government’s claims that it wants to help Palestinians defend themselves, will the Iranian regime provide weapons to Palestinians in Syria who are under attack from Assad’s forces?
Or are Palestinians victims only when Iran’s adversaries attack them, and not when Iran’s allies do the same?

Israeli Attorney Wins $338 Million Case Against Syria

Syria was ordered to pay $338 million to two American families for its funding of a 1991 kidnapping of American biblical archaeologists during an excavation in Turkey for the remains of Noah’s Ark, the Israeli law center that helped win the judgment announced in a press release.
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of Tel Aviv-based Shurat HaDin Law Center, represented the families along with New York attorney Robert Tolchin. Syria was found vicariously liable for the kidnapping, which was perpetrated by the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) terrorist organization.

Review of deadly Benghazi attack finds systematic security faults
Panel cites State Department failures, says there was no protest outside US Consulate before terrorist ambush

Systematic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department resulted in a Special Mission security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place,” the panel said.

Egypt orders probe into alleged vote violations
Low turnout, irregularities have opposition crying foul in referendum on Islamist constitution

Hungarian Minister reveals he’s Jewish ‘whether you like it or not’ following Jewish list controversy

BUDAPEST (EJP) --- A Hungarian Minister confronted the country’s recent anti-Semitism row head on when he told parliament he was Jewish. After the far-right Jobbik party was roundly criticised by both the government and Jewish community alike for calling for a registry of Hungary’s prominent Jews to be drawn up in the interests of “national security”, the State Secretary of the Development Ministry Janos Fonagy revealed to cross-party politicians: “My mother and father were Jewish, and so am I, whether you like it or not.

ISRAEL21c’s year in videos
From hummus ice cream to cardboard bikes and Olympians, we bring you the 10 most-watched 2012 videos we’ve produced showing the ‘real’ Israel.

Also:
U.S. "Cautiously Optimistic" On European Hezbollah Designation: State Department

Netanyahu: "We will continue to build in Jerusalem for eternity"

Jews unsure why everyone else still looking forward to "holidays" (h/t Yerushalimey)

It is that time of year when everyone, it seems, is asking for your money.

Elder of Ziyon is not nearly as large as the mythical organization I named myself after. It's pretty much just me. Even so, this blog has made an outsized impact in the pro-Israel world.

This quarter alone the blog has been seen on CNN, quoted in The New York Times Lede column, as well as the Jewish Press (more than once), Israel National News, FrontPage, Breitbart, Algemeiner (multiple times,) the Jerusalem Post, Commentary, BuzzFeed, PJMedia, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and The Blaze, plus many other blogs and websites.

And it has made a difference. We helped get mainstream media to issue corrections and change the tone of their reporting during the latest Gaza conflict.

During this quarter, my Twitter feed has exploded from about 2700 followers to over 3500. The blog itself had over 215,000 pageviews in November, shattering my previous record.

I have continued to scoop every major English-language media outlet dozens of times with stories big and small. I have given you original research and fascinating historical information. Hopefully, I have also entertained you.

Meanwhile, the anti-Israel sites are raising tens of thousands of dollars to publicize their hate, managing to put together professional operations with paid staff and slick layouts. The Electronic Intifada hate site claims to have already raised some $90,000 while the virulent Mondoweiss claims $17,000.

Unlike most other sites that have similar influence, I do most of the work myself - writing, graphics, comics, posters, infographics, videos, not to mention blog maintenance. But it takes a lot of time - and a little money - to consistently research and publish the number of posts a day I do. (And thanks again to Ian for his stellar work in the daily linkdumps.)

If you find this site valuable, and many of you have told me you do, please consider making a donation.

The New York Times charges $180 a year for digital only subscriptions. Ha'aretz charges abut $100 annually to access their content online. My content - all 15,645 posts - is all free. If you spend more time here than you do at the commercial news sites, please consider paying what you would to subscribe to a newspaper or news-magazine.

Use the PayPal buttons on the upper right side of the blog, for either a one-time donation or a monthly subscription. (If you dislike PayPal you can send an Amazon gift card.)

As always, thanks to all of you who have donated, or helped out by giving me news tips. Thanks also to those who have complimented me and who have used my posts to do direct actions that help Israel and fight the haters.

News editor reveals his ignorance and bias - in a single tweet (UPDATE)

Here's a tweet by Douglas Herbert, International Affairs Editor at France 24:

Herbert thinks that one of the US' top two priorities is to pressure Netanyahu - while Abbas is breaking signed agreements!

And this news editor is not even aware that Time's Person of the Year is not an award or an honor; rather it is just Time's opinion of the person who "for better or for worse, ...has done the most to influence the events of the year." Stalin was named Man of the Year twice and Hitler once.

Yes, one tweet shows that a news editor is both ignorant and biased against Israel. Not surprisingly, the two often go hand in hand.

France 24 is wholly owned by the French government, and broadcasts in three languages: French, English - and Arabic.

(h/t dmo)

UPDATE: Herbert deleted the tweet, perhaps thinking that no one will notice. You would think a person in the media would realize that silently erasing evidence makes things look even worse.

Two-year old Israeli technology sold for $37 million

From Times of Israel:

An Israeli start-up that provides technology for the development of browser extensions has been sold for $37 million. Israel’s Crossrider has been bought by e-commerce company Market.com, which will continue to operate the developer as before, the company’s CEO told reporters.

Crossrider’s is an exceptional success story. It’s less than two years old, and already has over 200 million users developing extensions for browsers. With the “browser wars” heating up to full steam, Crossfire’s easy-to-use platform that allows users to develop cross-browser extensions has made the company a sort of “kingmaker.”

Here is a sympathy card you can send your anti-Israel friends.

(h/t Adam L. for text. Previous BDS sympathy card here.)

Tel Aviv bus bomb suspect indicted

From YNet:

A day after his 18th birthday, Muhammad Mafarji left a bag containing an explosive device on bus No. 142 which was traveling in Tel Aviv. About 10 minutes after the terrorist got off the bus, as it reached Shaul Hamelech Street, the device was activated.

Twenty-four people were injured in the bombing, which took place on the last day of Operation Pillar of Defense.

Mafarji was indicted Wednesday at the Tel Aviv District Court. The charges include multiple murder attempts, aiding the enemy during wartime, and conspiracy to commit a crime. The most serious charge of aiding the enemy could result in a life sentence.

According to the indictment, in the two months before the attack the culprit lived in his uncle's house in Beit Lakiya while studying at Birzeit University near Ramallah. On the sixth day of the Israeli operation in Gaza, while shopping at a West Bank grocery shop, he expressed his desire to fight alongside Hamas activists in the Strip.

The store owner, Ahmed Mussa, asked him to come back later so he could guide him on how to fulfill his desire.

Some observations:

This makes two attacks done by teenagers against Israelis - for their birthdays.

This terror cell does not seem to be directly associated with any major organizations; four were arrested altogether.

Mafarji is an Israeli who was living in the territories. Does that make him a "settler?" Will any anti-settler groups condemn his terror attack? Will this be listed as another example of "settler violence" by the UN?

Kudos to UN Watch for forcing HRW to fire Richard Falk

From UN Watch:

I want to share good news: thanks to our advocacy, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has just expelled U.N. official Richard Falk -- the notorious Hamas supporter, 9/11 conspiracist and antisemite -- from one of its prestigious committees, where he helped played a key role in the organization's global work.

After UN Watch's open letter was published and went viral on the Internet, HRW did the right thing and finally fired Falk, deleting his name from their website listing of committee members.

I received confirmation this morning from an HRW representative, who informed me that Falk "no longer" holds the position, and that the HRW website "has now been updated to reflect that fact."

The timing and specifics were provided today by none other than Richard Falk himself, who admitted on his blog that, following UN Watch's protest yesterday, he was "asked to resign."

Falk said he was told that it was "because of my connection with the UN, which is contrary to HRW policy."

If that were the real reason, of course, he would have been removed long ago.

Results in one day! Truly remarkable.

In fact, I was skeptical that UN Watch would be successful. On Monday, I even tweeted:

Does @UNwatch think @KenRoth will care that @HRW board member Richard Falk spouts anti-semitism and 9/11 conspiracies?

(Ken Roth is the head of Human Rights Watch and has ignored much more important criticism in the past.)

Hillel Neuer of UN Watch responded after the news that HRW did the right thing:

If the right pressure is brought to bear you can make anyone care about their actions, and the price they will be made to pay.

Anyone who has ever seen Hillel Neuer's videos where he stands up, alone, for truth and justice, in the hornets nest of the hypocritical and corrupt UN, knows that he is indefatigable. This is a much-deserved victory.

Now, to get the UN to be as thoroughly embarrassed by Richard Falk as HRW evidently was...