Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Miftah deliberately ignored PA incitement and delegitimization - and supported terrorists as heroes

Miftah, the Palestinian Arab NGO that has published a blood libel and has extolled terrorism (but deleted the offending articles when they were made public), has another initiative that has been dormant for a few years but is still very enlightening.

It is called the Media Monitoring Unit, and its goals are set forth as:

Monitoring Palestinian Media.

Research and advocacy activities aiming to reduce incitement, dehumanization and delegitimization of "the other"

Educating the public to become more critical media consumers

Fostering professionalism in the Palestinian media

In fact, Miftah teams with an Israeli organization, Keshev, an organization that monitors Israeli media from the Left. Keshev would look for bias and anti-Arab incitement in Israeli media and Miftah's unit would purportedly look for the same in Palestinian Arab media.

Miftah's part of the initiative seems to have only been active from 2008 to 2010, and some ten reports were written and released during that time period.

Amazingly, during those two years, Miftah could not find a single example of anti-Israel or antisemitic incitement in Palestinian Arab media. No delegitimization! No dehumanization!

While a couple of the reports would imply that newspaper use of the word "martyr" to describe suicide bombers is not strictly accurate, Miftah never said that this glorification of terrorism in the media reaches the level of incitement. Moreover, the many cases of pure antisemitism and maps that erase Israel in the print and broadcast media - well documented by Palestinian Media Watch - are uniformly ignored, by the very unit that is supposedly meant to search for it and fight against it!

If a map of "Palestine" that erases Israel is not an example of delegitimization, then what is?

The steering committee of the Media Monitoring Unit included Hanan Ashrawi and Joharah Baker.

In what can only be considered a massive waste of Western money, this unit was funded by the EU and the Ford Foundation.

Even worse, in the cases that incitement was found and publicized by Israeli sources, Miftah would tend to deny that any incitement existed, and would defend the PA's honoring of terrorists. Here is Miftah's Joharah Baker in an official Miftah editorial, "Let Us Honor Our Own":

When Palestinians named a square after Dalal Al Mughrabi, a Palestinian fighter who was killed during a military operation against Israel in 1978, Israel was up in arms, claiming the Palestinians should not be allowed to name streets or squares after “terrorists.” Israeli watchdog groups and the Israeli government play on the fact that Palestinians have named streets after Abu Jihad (Khalil Al Wazir) and Yehya Ayash. The prisoner stipends are just the latest episode in the drama.

...Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are a whole other ballgame. These men and women are not imprisoned for stealing cars, or for selling drugs. They are there because they are resisting a belligerent military occupation of their land, which has oppressed them and their people for decades. The PA’s allocations to prisoners and their families is in no way an endorsement of “terrorism and violence” but rather a means of helping mostly young men and women and their families to resume a life that has been interrupted by an occupying authority. Any other country would have done the same.

Besides, countries should not interfere in the internal affairs of others. If the Palestinians want to name a street after one of their national heroes, regardless of how this person is perceived by Israel, that is their business.

Instead of promoting peace and fighting incitement, Miftah defends incitement and supports the terrorists as national heroes. (Notice how even Dalal Mughrabi, responsible for the deaths of 13 children, is considered a heroine by Miftah.)

If Mughrabi is a national hero, then Miftah can' t be too serious about being upset that newspapers refer to terrorists as "martyrs." Indeed, their objection to that is seen to be more from the perspective of accuracy rather than incitement and nationalistic support of terrorist acts.

The media review unit seems to have run out of funding. Considering that it spent more time obfuscating Palestinian Arab incitement and dehumanizing Israelis rather than exposing it, this is probably a good thing.

When will the remaining funders of this NGO that promotes incitement against "the other" realize that their money is being used for the exact opposite of what they intended?

Hamas' reign of terror covered by - NPR!

A rare NPR piece that blames someone besides Israel for something in the Middle East:

Life was already grim in the Gaza Strip when fighting raged between Israel and Hamas last November. Then Khulud Badawi got unexpected bad news about her husband.

"I was at home when my son came in and said, 'Mom, they killed Dad.' I said, 'Who?' He said, 'Hamas.' I asked him, 'Where?' He said, 'Next to the gas station,'" she recalls.

Badawi's husband, Ribhi Badawi, was in prison in Gaza City. He was supposed to go to court that day for a final appeal of charges that he had collaborated with Israel against Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip.

But Ribhi Badawi was taken from prison and executed in public, along with five other inmates. They were all accused of being collaborators, or informants, working for Israel.

"In this case, what was remarkable was that these men were not executed in anything resembling legislative authority or the penal authority of the Hamas government, but by armed men," says Sarah Leah Whitson, who directs the Middle East division of Human Rights Watch.

Wow - how could that have happened?

Hamas, which has been in control of Gaza since 2007, has executed people judged to be collaborators. But in the six deaths last Nov. 20, the Hamas-run government said it was not responsible.

"What happened was against the law," Islam Shawan, a spokesman for Gaza's Interior Ministry, says. "We had a high-level committee investigate, and it handed down tough punishments to security officials who failed to do their jobs."

Shawan won't name names, give ranks or offer any other information, but he claims that four people working in the prison system were punished. One was fired, one was transferred, one was jailed and one lost any chance at promotions.

He has no progress to report on tracking down the people who actually did the killings, but he does claim progress in cracking down on collaboration.

This puzzle gets harder and harder to solve. I mean, Hamas says they are working to find the people responsible for the murders, and the murderers haven't yet been caught, so they must be very, very smart.

For some reason I am reminded of OJ Simpson and his "investigation" into the murderer of his wife.

(h/t D)

Tuesday Links Part 2

From Ian:

Church of Scotland Shreds Bible Canonizes Palestinian "Scripture," Flunks Exams

Thanks in part to immigration, for the first time since John Knox there are more worshipers on a Sunday in Roman Catholic churches than in the Kirk (Church of Scotland). The Church of Rome, despite its recent travails, retains the advantage that it would never publish a document that had not been vetted by serious theologians.
The State of Israel, on the other hand, is doing very well, thank you, and need not care two hoots what the Church of Scotland thinks about it. Israel's GDP is higher than Scotland's.

The Palestinian ‘Popular’ Violent ‘Resistance’

A new report from the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center shows how Abbas encourages the perpetration of steady low-level violence in the West Bank as part of his effort to stay in power. His calls for on-going “low-level” violence help him and the PLO to compete for Palestinian violence with the U.S.-designated terrorist Hamas organization.
Congress should inquire why this Administration is set on rewarding this violent group that also threatens the political stability of Jordan. Considering the bloody results of U.S. “tacit” support to other allegedly popular resistance movement in the region, such as the “reform” minded Muslim Brotherhood, it’s time we stop funding any violence advocating group, first and foremost with the PA. Additional U.S. support would only fuel more of the same. It’s time to acknowledge what the Palestinians have been telling us all along; they will not budge an inch unless they can –as the map hanging in Abbas’ office – and Arafat before him — shows, take over the Jewish state.

Abbas: PLO Charter Reflects What Palestinians Want

At an event marking the 49th anniversary of the PLO’s founding, Abbas (according to a translation by the Palestinian news agency Ma’an) declared that PLO founder Ahmad Shuqueiri “was asked to figure out what the Palestinians wanted, and he returned with the convention for the PLO.” In other words, according to Abbas, the PLO’s founding document is an accurate reflection of what Palestinians want. And lest anyone has forgotten the contents of that 1964 document, still available on the website of the PLO’s UN mission, here are a few choice quotes:

NPR Romanticizes Child's Attacker

Indicative of the sharp bias is the story’s focus. On the occasion of the release from intensive care of a Jewish child severely injured in a stone-throwing attack by Palestinians, NPR turns not to the dangers faced by Jews under threat from such lethal violence but to extensive, sympathetic treatment of the grievances of the Palestinian perpetrator, Tareq Hammed, and his mother. A brief introductory reference to the child, Adele Bitton, is followed by lengthy commentary devoted to the complaints of the Palestinians, to such things as Hammed being arrested late at night, soldiers shouting at, handcuffing and blindfolding him – and his not having time to change clothes. Hammed’s mother is given a platform to lament that she’d also been witness to her husband’s arrest by Israeli soldiers, the implication being not that father and son were two of a kind, assaulting the innocent, but that they were a family of courageous resistance fighters.

Experts Join Forces in New Book to Combat Online Hate

Two of the U.S’s leading experts on bigoted speech and the Internet have joined forces as authors of a new book that lays out a blueprint for governments, industry leaders and societies to take proactive steps to stem the tide of hate speech on the Internet.
Abraham H. Foxman, the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League and a longtime leader in the fight against anti-Semitism and bigotry, and Christopher Wolf, ADL Civil Rights Chair and one of the nation’s leading practitioners in the field of Internet and privacy law, outline the challenges posed by online hate and propose a series of solutions in their new book, Viral Hate: Containing Its Spread on the Internet.

German seminary to probe Nazi jokes claim

A Catholic seminary in Germany says it is investigating claims that trainee priests made anti-Semitic jokes, played far-right music and gave Nazi salutes.

Last of Boston Marathon bombing victims leaves hospital

A 29-year-old preschool teacher who lost most of her left leg in the Boston Marathon bombing left the hospital Monday, saying she was excited to head home to the Baltimore area so she could hug loved ones, eat steamed crabs and spend time with her students.
“I just want to sit on the floor with them and read them a story,” Erika Brannock said of students at Trinity Episcopal Children’s Center in Towson, Md.

Remembering the Way-to-Go War

The name “Six-Day Dar” instantly conjures up Israel’s lightning victory over Syria, Jordan and Egypt in 1967. However, if some citizens had had their way, Israelis could instead be marking the 46th anniversary of the War of the Boulders this week.
According to a report in Yedioth Ahronoth, there are several letters in the IDF archives at the Defense Ministry which propose various civilian suggestions for the name of the war.

Jewish community mourns passing of Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a ‘true friend’

The US Senate lost its oldest member, its last surviving WWII veteran, and one of its staunchest pro-Israel advocates early Monday morning with the death of 89-year-old Senator Frank Lautenberg.
Lautenberg succumbed to pneumonia at a New York hospital just after 4 a.m.

WHO approves Israeli-developed circumcision device

The World Health Organization approved an Israeli-developed non-surgical circumcision device that could soon be used throughout Africa to help control AIDS.
PrePex, a disposable and easy-to-use device made of rubber bands that obviates the need for anesthesia, stitches or a sterile setting, received WHO approval on Friday, The New York Times reported.

Israel still tops in tech, says start-up expert

There are many active high-tech scenes but few that are truly pioneering, according to a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who is on a mission to map, catalog, and analyze the world’s start-up ecosystems. And Israel, he says, is one of those few.
“True innovation is really rare,” Bowei Gai told The Times of Israel at the Israel-Asia Summit, held last month at the Peres Peace Center in Jaffa.

Israel helped design Intel's new Haswell processor

Intel Corporation (Nasdaq: INTC) has unveiled its fourth-generation microarchitecture-based Intel Core processor, codenamed Haswell, at the Computers expo in Taiwan. The new processors, designed for ultrabooks and tablets, were partly developed in Israel. The Haswell is manufactured by 22-nanometer process. Intel says that it extends work station's battery life by 50% compared with the third generation processors, which will give ultrabooks more than nine hours working time.

Richard Falk, the terror-supporting and constantly lying UN special rapporteur who used to support Ayatollah Khomeini, who believes in bizarre 9/11 conspiracy theories and who has justified the Boston bombings as "retribution" has written the latest of his regular anti-Israel reports for the UN.

Hilariously, he goes way off topic in a crazed rant in the introduction to the document to attack UN Watch, which has meticulously documented his unsuitability for his position.

The Special Rapporteur wishes to raise another concern regarding the independence, credibility, and effectiveness of this mandate. Since the Special Rapporteur assumed this position, “UN Watch” – a “pro-Israel” lobbying organization accredited as an NGO to ECOSOC, has issued a series of defamatory attacks demeaning his character, repeatedly distorting his views on potentially inflammatory issues. This smear campaign has been carried out in numerous settings, including at the Human Rights Council, as well as university venues where the Special Rapporteur gives lectures in his personal capacity on subjects unrelated to the mandate. The lobby groups' smears have been sent to diplomats and United Nations officials, including the Secretary-General, who has apparently accepted the allegations at face value, issuing public criticism of the Special Rapporteur. It is disappointing that such irresponsible and dishonest attacks have been taken seriously, with no effort to seek the views of the Special Rapporteur or verify the accuracy of the allegations. To set the record straight, the Special Rapporteur proposes that UN Watch be investigated to determine whether it qualifies as an independent organization that operates in accord with its name and stated objectives, and is not indirectly sponsored by the Government of Israel and/or other “pro-Israel” lobbying groups affiliated with the Government, as well as whether its programme of work is of direct relevance to the aims and purposes of the United Nations.1 Even a superficial review of their website confirms their preoccupation with character assassination, and the absence of an organizational agenda that corresponds to its claim to exercise oversight over United Nations activities. Despite its efforts to discredit the Special Rapporteur, UN Watch has never offered substantive criticisms or entered into any serious discussion of the Special Rapporteur's reports. Such defamation of a special rapporteur is detrimental to the independence and substantive intention of any mandate. It diverts attention from the message to the messenger, and shifts public interest away from the need to protect human rights in contexts that have been identified by the Human Rights Council as of particular concern. The Special Rapporteur recommends that this issue be viewed in relation not only to his mandate, but also as a matter of principle relating to ensuring a responsible role for NGOs within the United Nations system. In like manner, it seems important to encourage a greater willingness on the part of senior United Nations officials to defend special rapporteurs subject to such diversionary attacks, or at the least, not to be complicit.

It looks like Falk is feeling the heat for his outrageous statements and he is lashing out. His crazed viewpoints on justifying even the most horrific terror acts are finally seeing the light of day, and Falk can no longer hide his ugliness from the very organization that gives him legitimacy. (Notably, even Human Rights Watch recently expelled Falk from one of its committees because of the embarrassment of being associated with him.)

He is a despicable man and it is nice to see that his world is crashing down around him.

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

UPDATE: To give an idea of Falk's sick mentality, in this very report he seems to care as much about the fate of rocket launchers meant to target Israeli civilians as is does about human beings:

[During Pillar of Defense,] on the Gazan side, casualties to police and militants were greatly reduced by avoiding targeted facilities and taking secure shelter, and damage to rocket launchers was reduced by greater mobility and use of underground launching sites.

While it many be possible Falk was trying to say that Israel's stated aim of destroying the rocket infrastructure failed, it still sure looks as though Falk is praising Hamas for saving part of its weapons aimed at civilians! While this may be consistent with Falk's oft-stated claim that Hamas rockets are simply "resistance," it is hardly consistent with his standing as a human rights expert.

Unless, of course, he considers Israelis to be a little less human.

(h/t Bebe)

Tomorrow is the 46th anniversary of the start of the Six Day War, and the IDF is starting a Twitter account minute-by-minute reconstruction of what happened.

Unfortunately, it is all in Hebrew, so far.

If you want to follow it anyway, the Twitter account is @IDF1967.

If you want to complain to the IDF to have it translated into English, just retweet this.

Alternatively, if you want to spend the next week translating the hundreds of tweets yourself in near real-time and you want to create an English-language Twitter account for that purpose, let me know and I'll publicize that. You can call it Naksa1967 or something like that. It can have the added bonus of upsetting people who are sorry that Israel won.

הסירנות עלולות להישמע בכל רגע #יוני67 vine.co/v/b3vPBaqWruv
— צה''ל בששת הימים (@IDF1967) June 3, 2013

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

UPDATE: Google Chrome users with the translate plug-in can see a reasonable translation in real time on the page. (h/t Clark)

Tuesday Links Part 1

From Ian:

US spills Israeli missile defense secrets

The US government has publicized classified information detailing the location, design and specifications of a launch site to be built from this summer for Israel’s new Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missile system. The details, apparently spilled in error, appear to include highly sensitive information relevant to the struggle against Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
The material specifies, for instance, that the launch site must be completed by the end of next year, by which time, it says, Israel expects to have the Arrow 3 — a missile defense system crucial to Israel’s plans for countering an Iranian nuclear threat — operational.

Hamas man arrested for planning kidnapping, attacks

The Shin Bet emphasized that this incident is the latest in a series of Palestinians released in the Shalit deal returning to terrorist activities, and trying to free other militants. In March 2013, a Palestinian man was arrested for meeting with Amir Dukan, also released in the bargain, who offered him $60,000 to carry out an attack near Nablus.

IAEA Official Stepping Down Over Iran Enforcement Failures

The number two official at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was forced to step down over disagreements regarding Iran’s nuclear program with his boss, the Japanese Director General (DG) Yukiya Amano. Officially it was announced last month that the contract of the Belgian Herman Nackaerts would not be renewed after only three years as Deputy DG and head of the important Department of Safeguards.

U.N. Nuclear Watchdog: Iran Talks “Going Around In Circles,” Regime Has Sanitized Nuke Warhead Testing Facility

The IAEA has especially been seeking access to Iran’s military facility at Parchin, where Western intelligence agencies and U.N. officials believe that Tehran has conducted work relevant to the development of nuclear warheads. Iran has denied the agency access to the facility to such an extent that IAEA officials have been forced to resign over deadlocked talks. Amano today warned that being granted access now might be meaningless, after Iran spent years sanitizing the site:

Irwin Cotler: Int'l terrorists must be prosecuted, not placated

Argentina should demand that the Iranian gov't extradite suspects who have been formally charged in Argentina.
This June – in sham elections that are certain to be neither free nor fair – eight presidential candidates who have all been authorized to run by the Guardian Council of Iran will “contend” for the office currently held by the incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Indeed, the résumés of two candidates in particular stand out: Moshen Rezai and Ali Akbar Velayati have both been indicted by Argentinian authorities for their complicity in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Center in Argentina that left 85 dead and more than 300 injured.

Assad: “Arabs Have Forgotten… Real Enemy is Still Israel”

Analysts continue to unpack the implications of an interview given last week by Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad to Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV. On some issues – Assad was vague on whether advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missiles had yet been delivered from Russia to Syria. Regarding his desire to have the Arab world focus on Israel, rather than on the Syrian conflict which has now claimed some 100,000 lives, he was far more explicit.

UN rights team sees chemical weapons use in Syria

United Nations human rights investigators said Tuesday they had "reasonable grounds" to believe that limited amounts of chemical weapons had been used in Syria.
In their latest report, they said they had received allegations that Syrian government forces and rebels had used the banned weapons, but that most testimony related to their use by state forces.

4,000 Hezbollah fighters reach Aleppo, says Free Syrian Army

Over 4,000 fighters from the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah have reached the northern Syrian city of Aleppo as part of military preparations to retake the rebel-held city, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army told The Daily Star today.
“The number of Hezbollah members who have entered Aleppo has exceeded 4,000,” Louay Meqdad, the FSA spokesman, said.

Gulf States to Consider Measures Against Hizbullah

Gulf States will consider taking measures against Hizbullah if it continues its involvement in Syria’s civil war.
Arab Gulf States will consider taking measures against Hizbullah if the Shiite terror group continues its involvement in Syria’s civil war or interferes in Gulf Arab affairs, the head of their six-member bloc said on Sunday, according to Al Arabiya.

North Korea sends officers to aid Assad?

In another bizarre twist to Syria's tragic civil war, opposition forces are now claiming that officers from the North Korean army are aiding the fight against the rebels in an effort to bolster Bashar al-Assad.

Defense minister confirms field hospital operating on Syria border

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, in a wide-ranging presentation to a Knesset defense oversight committee, confirmed on Monday that Israel is operating a field hospital on the Syrian border and transferring severely wounded Syrian nationals to Israeli hospitals for treatment.
“Our policy is to help in humanitarian cases, and to that end we are operating a field hospital along the Syrian border,” Ya’alon told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. “In cases where there are badly wounded, we transfer them to Israeli hospitals. We have no intention of opening refugee camps.”

US to deploy Patriot missile battery in Jordan

The US intends to leave an advanced Patriot missile battery in Jordan after an upcoming international military exercise, an American military spokesman said Tuesday. During the regional exercise, dubbed Eager Lion, the American military also plans to use F-16 fighters, according to US Central Command spokesman Oscar Seara.

Jordan cracks down on online media, blocks 304 news sites

Jordan said Monday it blocked unlicensed news websites in a step toward regulating online media widely criticized by the government and readers for sensational reporting.

Reports: Turkish activist brain dead after police brutality

Turkish demonstrators have slammed the domestic and international media for failing to cover the recent wave of protests in Turkey.
While global news agencies are catching up with the situation on the ground in the country, the domestic news agencies are said to be largely ignoring the mass demonstrations and even, some say, the killing of Turkish human rights activist.

The window of opportunity for peace is closing, said the US Sec'y of State. In 1991. And 2003.

From JPost:

In his first address to an American Jewish audience as secretary of state on Monday, John Kerry made a passionate case for renewed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, calling on both sides to "summon the courage" to negotiate.

"We are running out of time," Kerry said. "We are running out of possibilities."

While reassuring the pro-Israel crowd that America would always support and defend the Jewish State, Kerry warned the American Jewish Committee that the status quo in the region was unsustainable.

"A stalemate today will not remain tomorrow," Kerry said. "In this conflict, the simple fact is tomorrow is not guaranteed to look like today."

"Let’s be clear: If we do not succeed now – and I know I’m raising those stakes – but if we do not succeed now, we may not get another chance. So we can’t let the disappointments of the past hold the future prisoner."

Of course, tomorrow's Arab leaders are also not guaranteed to fulfill the obligations of today's Arab leaders. But why worry about that? The goal is signing a paper, not peace!

Anyway, here is today's déjà vu:

"The reason for the trip, quite frankly, was because we don't know how long this window of opportunity might last," Mr. Baker told reporters on his plane before landing here at the outset of the trip for talks in Israel, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan,

"We don't think things should be permitted to simply drift," Mr. Baker said. "It's been over three weeks since we were in Israel and almost four since we were in Riyadh, and the President felt, and I felt, that it's time to try and push the envelope a little further if we can and see whether or not we can make some progress."

During Mr. Baker's peacemaking swing three weeks ago, he gently explored with Arab and Israeli leaders whether they might be willing to take some "confidence building" steps to reduce mutual suspicions and pave the way for direct negotiations at some kind of international meeting.

There is one big difference between Baker and Kerry, however. Baker didn't really believe the nonsense he was spouting about the urgency for a solution, but Kerry seems to believe it completely:

At his joint news conference with Mr. Bush in Houston, Mr. Baker seemed to inadvertently reveal his own deep ambivalence about the real prospects for peace. It came through in his tortured answer to a question about what justified his assessment that after the gulf war there was now a "window of opportunity" to settle the Arab-Israel issue.

Mr. Baker answered: "Well, the new factors are generated, of course, by what happened as a consequence of the gulf war. I'm not suggesting that there are any new factors. I'm not suggesting new factors -- there may be some -- that have occasioned this trip."

Pressed by reporters as to why he insists on pursuing such an incremental, step-by-step approach, Mr. Baker said: "Neither the United States nor anybody else can impose peace in the Middle East. And you are not going to get peace in the Middle East unless the parties themselves really want it, and at the most the United States can only serve as a catalyst."

For all of Baker's problems, he at least knew the difference between rhetoric and reality. Kerry does not seem to, and as a result he is digging himself into a credibility hole that he will inevitably topple into.

But he wasn't the most recent Secretary of State to warn that the "window of opportunity" was closing:

Colin L. Powell insisted tonight that this was the right moment to act.

"The president turned his attention to this issue because he sees that there are these new dynamics in the equation," Mr. Powell said on ABC tonight. "And everybody knows we can't stay where we are. The Palestinian economy has been destroyed. The Israeli economy is in difficulty. Israel doesn't want to keep its troops deployed forever in the cities and towns. So I think all the pieces have come together, and we are here at Sharm el Sheik to take advantage of the new elements in the equation and this window of opportunity that has opened."

The funny thing is that things are better now for both the Israelis and Palestinian Arabs than they were ten years ago. All without the "peace process" moving forward an inch.

Palestinian Arab parents - and teachers - beat their kids. Men beat and rape their wives. No one reports it.

Buried in the middle of an April report "Palestinian Children –Issues and Statistics" by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, we see:

Children Exposed to Violence in Educational Institutions

More than one fifth of students aged 12-17 years were exposed to psychological violence at school during the 12 months that preceded July 2011: 21.6% in the West Bank compared to 22.7% in the Gaza Strip. The results indicated that psychological violence was the most common abuse against students by their colleagues or teachers: 25.0% by friends and 27.6% by teachers. Physical violence by teachers was reported by 21.4% compared to 14.2% who reported fellow students.

Parents First to Practice Violence Against Children

In 2011, 51.0% of children aged 12-17 years were exposed to violence inside the household by an individual member of the household: 45.8% in the West Bank compared to 59.4% in the Gaza Strip. Of these children, 69.0% were exposed to psychological violence and 34.4% to physical violence by their parents compared to 66.4% exposed to psychological violence and 34.5% to physical violence by their mothers.

Where was the outcry?

In fact, these numbers are based on a 2011 report by the same source, that also said that

7.3% of the elderly 65 years and over were exposed to one form of violence by one individual of the household in the past 12 months, 8.5% in the West Bank compared to 4.5% in Gaza strip the percentage among males was 6.4% compared to 7.9% females.

Based on the forms of violence that were measured in the survey questionnaire, it became clear that health negligence was the most form of violence that the elderly are exposed to, 17.1%; 18.3% among females compared to 15.5% among males. 11.4% of these individuals were exposed to a psychological violence, 13.2% females compared to 9.3% males.

And:

37.0% of women who ever been married were exposed to one form of violence by their husbands in the past 12 months; 29.9% in the West Bank compared to 51.0% in Gaza Strip. The rate of those who were exposed to psychological violence “at least for one time” among those women out of violated women was 58.6%. 55.1% were exposed to economical violence, 54.8% were exposed to social violence, 23.5% were exposed to physical violence and 11.8% were exposed to sexual violence.

The highest percentage of violence that had been directed against wives by husbands was in Jericho & Al-Aghwar in the West Bank; 47.3% and the lowest percentage was in Ramallah & Al Bireh governorate 14.2% while in Gaza Strip, this percentage reached its highest in Gaza governorate; 58.1% while the lowest percentage was in Rafah governorate; 23.1%.

In contrast, the percentage of women in refugee camps whom had been subjected to violence by their husbands were the highest percentage compared to those women in urban and rural areas; 41.8%, 38.2% and 29.3% respectively.

So how many of the hundreds of NGOs that fill Gaza and the West Bank are concerned with domestic and school violence?

How many of the violent acts in schools occurred in UNRWA schools?

And if violence occurs most often in "refugee" camps that are in the boundaries of British Mandate Palestine - then why on earth haven't these camps been demolished? Why are people who live in their own land being treated as refugees in perpetuity - especially when these camps are breeding grounds for violence?

But it would be unfair to say the Western media ignores Palestinian Arab domestic violence completely. When they can find a way to blame Israel for it, it becomes a very popular topic.

(h/t Irene)

Egypt closes 5 NGOs, sentences 43 NGO workers to prison, including 19 Americans

From Al Ahram:

A Cairo criminal court has sentenced 43 people to between one and five years in prison for working for unregistered NGOs in Egypt.

Twenty-seven defendants, all of whom were tried in absentia, received five-year jail sentences. Eleven received one-year suspended sentences, and five received two-year sentences.

One of the defendants to receive a two-year sentence was Dar Al-Hilal publishing company CEO Yehia Ghanem, who was a consultant for the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ), one of the NGOs involved in the trial. He was also the managing editor of Al-Ahram International.

The court also ordered the closure of five foreign NGOs operating in Egypt and for their funds to be confiscated. These are the US-based Freedom House, the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute (NDI), and the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ), and Germany's Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS).

Forty-three staffers from NGOs, including 19 Americans, were referred to trial in December 2011 on charges of illegally obtaining foreign funds and failing to register their operations with the Egyptian government. The case sparked a crisis in relations between Cairo and Washington and threatened $1.3 billion in annual US military aid.

These are not fly-by-night NGOs, but some of the most respected human rights organizations around.

Remember - the current Egyptian government is moderate compared to the other Islamists in Egypt.

Morsi said dancing violates sharia law in 2005

From Al Arabiya:

A twirl, a two-step, a shimmy and a whirl. None are likely to win points with Egypt’s Mohammed Mursi.

The Egyptian president revealed an early dislike of dance even before he took office, a recently resurfaced video has revealed.

In an interview with Mursi, filmed eight years ago, the then MP said that dance “violates Shariah (Islamic) law.”

Mursi also belittled an Egyptian dance school, saying: “What is this school? What is its role? What are its goals?”

“This school, with the known concept of dancing, violates the constitution's article II,” Mursi told Egyptian presenter Wael Abrashi on Dream TV 8 years ago.

Mursi can also be heard saying that dancing has a “negative influence on the viewer,” adding that the school “violates” Sharia law as well as the Egyptian constitution.

Mursi’s old interview has resurfaced almost a week after an Islamist lawmaker threatened to close a ballet school in the country.

The funny part is that YouTube is filled with parody videos of Morsi dancing:

The Sun wins this headline contest

By now you are probably aware of the story of some IDF women putting their photos on Facebook wearing fairly little.

The story has naturally been popular, but I think The Sun's photo-headline wins:

A little Jew-hatred from the "Palestine Scholars' Association"

Hamas' English-language Qassam website tells us:

Muslim Scholars Association called on the Arab and Islamic nation to place names of those who call for normalization with Israel in the wanted list on charges of treason.

The Association said in a statement that the normalization is a direct recognition of the Israeli state, and leads to the loss of the holy sites and the violation of sanctities.

It pointed that some officials are seeking to prepare a delegation that will participate in a conference to be held in Turkey and aims to establish normalizing relations with the Israeli rabbis, and that the second part of the conference will take place in the 1948-occupied territories under Israel's auspices.

The scholars asserted that: "The nation has unanimously agreed that normalization with the occupation and visiting the holy city under the occupation are taboo."

No big deal, right? Arabs from Morocco to Bahrain are against "normalization."

Except that the Arabic version of the Palestine Scholars' Association press release includes some Jew-hatred as well that didn't survive the translation process:

We say: There is no Muslim on earth who is pleased with establishing relations with the killers of the earlier prophets; it was Jews who killed Zacharia and who tried to kill Jesus son of Mary and Muhammad bin Abdullah (prayers of Allah and peace be upon them all,) are not these the same rabbis who issue fatwas for the army to kill the young and old, women and children?

Ah, so speaking to Israelis isn't the issue - it is speaking to Jews that get them all hot and bothered.

Glad they cleared that up.

Monday Links Part 2

From Ian:

World Council of Churches attacks Israel to no gain

The book is also pretty revealing. In her assessment of the WCC’s dialogue with Muslim leaders, Sperber gives the game away:
“The solution of the Palestinian problem in the sense of the West’s abandoning its pro-Israeli attitude became the criterion to judge the credibility of the Christian/Muslim dialogue, and indeed, of inter-religious dialogue in general. This attitude was not only adopted by Muslims but also by Arab Christians.”
In other words, if the WCC was going to have good relations with Muslim leaders, it needed to attack Israel’s supporters in the West.

The Al-Dura Affair and Its Implications for Morality and Ethics in France

It is, of course, regrettable that the report only appeared thirteen years after the affair, which caused grave damage to Israel’s image, but there is no early or late when it comes to the truth. We owe profound gratitude and esteem to all those who tirelessly pursued justice in this affair, with the whole French establishment supporting the Palestinian version. These activists contributed time, energy, and professional experience to the struggle for the supreme value of bringing the truth to light.

When your neighbor unfurls a Nazi flag

Memo to Middle East brokers – from the EU to Secretary of State Kerry: Diplomats may draft treaties but only people can make peace. Until Palestinians liberate themselves from their infatuation with the swastika and the dream of a Judenrein Palestine, there will be no hope for this generation of Palestinians and Israelis to live side-byside in peace and security.

British Ambassador: Parliament becoming More Anti-Israel

British Ambassador to Israel, Matthew Gould, said Sunday that Israel and Britain are engaged in “unprecedented” cooperation to make sure Iran does not acquire nuclear arms. He also warned, however, that Britain's parliament is becoming increasingly anti-Israel as time goes by.

Tutu Constantly Tooting His Tuneless Flute

It occurs to me that Desmond Tutu’s obsession with and hate of Israel, always couched in politically correct human rights jargon and clichés, might have its roots, amongst other things, in an essential lack of intellectual and cogitative ability having absorbed Replacement Theology completely without a single enquiring or discerning thought, thus finding a self-justification for his anti-Semitism and then having it reinforced when his monstrous and equally fragile ego was severely dented in 2008, when he was appointed by that well-known Israel loving body, the United Nations, as head of a “fact-finding” mission to Gaza. Israel refused to grant him the necessary travel clearance. Israeli officials wisely and correctly expressed concern that the report would be biased against Israel.

Expert: Jewish Students Are on the Anti-Semitic Battlefront

The mission, according to Dr. Small, “has to be two-fold.” The first one is to deal with what is happening within the corridors of the university.
“I think it’s very important that leaders of the university and leaders of the Jewish community become aware of the issues and confront them. There should be no space for bigotry on campus,” he said.

'Anti-Semitic NGOs are Funded by Official Authorities'

Anti-Semitic NGOs, which receive funding from official authorities such as the United States and the European Union, use classic Christian blood libels in their claims against Israel, said Professor Gerald Steinberg, head of NGO Monitor.
Steinberg spoke to Arutz Sheva at the 4th conference of the Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism which was held in Jerusalem.

Irish Filmmaker: Jews are Own Worst Enemies

A featured speaker at a pro-Israel event in Sweden Sunday was a young Irish filmmaker who offered some fascinating insights about Israel and the Jewish people, following his own experiences in creating a documentary titled “40 Shades of Gray.”
Nicky Larkin told the audience that in screening his film in different parts of the world, he was “completely devastated” when some of the most anti-Israeli reactions he received came from Jews.

May Sees Explosion in ‘Carmel Fire Inspired’ Arson Terror Attacks – Jerusalem Fire Dept

Arson attacks have occurred with alarming frequency over the past month around Jerusalem, and police and fire department officials believe the acts are politically motivated.
Two of the most popular flash points are Hashalom Forest in southeast Jerusalem and the Ofrit army base on the Mount of Olives, near the Arab village of Issawiya, Israel police spokesperson Mickey Rosenfeld told The Algemeiner.

Police probing suspect for giving Toulouse killer guns

French authorities put a man under formal investigation Saturday, saying they suspected the 31-year-old of supporting Mohammed Merah, who gunned down a rabbi and three children outside a Jewish school in Toulouse last year.
The man is thought to have helped Merah plan the shooting spree, providing him with weapons and a bulletproof vest, a judicial source said, according to a Reuters.

Daniel Pipes: Islamism's Decade of Spreading Polio

The polio disease was on the verge of eradication when Ibrahim Datti Ahmed, president of the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria and a physician, suggested at about this time in 2003 that the vaccination program in his country was part of a Western conspiracy to render Muslim children infertile. His call for an end to the polio immunization campaign touched a nerve and spread to other Muslim religious leaders in Nigeria, causing the vaccination process to slow down and incidences of the disease to pick up.

Minimally Invasive Treatment May Soon Be Possible For People With Mitral Regurgitation Disorder

Israeli company MitrAssist is working on an implant which would be placed on top of the native valve and then anchored securely to work in unison with the body’s own valve. “Our ‘valve-in-valve’ approach is designed to prevent leakage and restore normal blood flow,” MitrAssist’s CEO, Gil Naor tells NoCamels. “Our valve works with the body rather than against it.”

Richard Millett Extremists fail to disrupt Closer To Israel 65 in London’s Trafalgar Square.

A group of 30 extremists failed to dampen spirits as some 3,000 Jewish and non-Jewish pro-Israel supporters came out to show their support and appreciation for the Jewish state at the Closer to Israel 65 event in London’s Trafalgar Square today. Even the sun finally shone!

In New York: Am Yisrael Chai

Video: thousands took part in the annual Israel Day Parade in the heart of New York.

3-year-old Israeli’s kidney saves Palestinian boy

Health minister praises Noam Naor’s ‘noble, inspirational’ family
When three-year-old Noam Naor fell out the window and was pronounced clinically dead 10 days ago, his parents decided to donate his organs. One kidney was given to another Israeli child. The other saved the life of a 10-year-old Palestinian.
The operation, carried out Sunday at the Schneider children’s ward at Petah Tikva’s Beilinson Hospital, was deemed successful.

Transplant makes blood brothers of Arab and Jewish families

An extraordinary story that defies borders, religions and race recently unfolded at the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa recently: Two patients who desperately needed kidney transplants, one Jewish and one Arab, received donations that saved their lives — with the Arab patient’s wife donating a kidney to the Jewish patient, and the Jewish patient’s son donating his kidney to the Arab patient.

Iran's latest imaginary Mossad plot

From Al Arabiya:

Iran has dismantled an alleged "terror network" backed by Israel's Mossad intelligence services that had a headquarters in Britain, the intelligence ministry said on Sunday.

Officials claimed that the network had planned to disrupt the upcoming presidential election in the Islamic republic, the state broadcaster said, according to AFP news agency.

"The intelligence ministry has identified and arrested the members of this terror network, and confiscated their weapons," IRIB said on its website, quoting a statement by the ministry.

The statement said the group had links to Israel's spy agency, the Mossad, through a unnamed "reactionary" Arab country in the region, but did not mention their nationality.

The statement said the arrested group was made up of 12 members, but did not say when it had been busted.

On June 14, Iran is to hold its first presidential election since massive street protests, stifled by a brutal state crackdown, marred the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009.

The statement on Sunday said the group had been instructed "to conduct terrorist acts ahead of, and in particular, on election day" as well as "creating ethnic and religious divisions" in restive areas of Iran.

The Mossad trying to disrupt Iranian elections using a HQ in Britain and through an Arab country?

Narcotics might be illegal in Iran, but that doesn't seem to have reduced their paranoid fantasies.

World Council of Churches issues insane anti-Israel document

I just read a nice article by Dexter Van Zile about the World Council of Churches' statement at the end of their recent conference in Lebanon on the topic of "Christian Presence and Witness in the Middle East."

Unfortunately, the organization is particularly ill-equipped to address the problem of Islamic violence against Christians. It is, however, quite able to attack Israel and its supporters.

Over the course of its history, the WCC – an umbrella organization of 350 Protestant and Orthodox churches – has worked assiduously to demonize the Jewish state while remaining silent about the sins of its adversaries. It has also made bowing and scraping in the face of Islamic violence a central plank of modern-day ecumenism. Speaking up forcefully on behalf of the victims of such violence is simply beyond the ken of the WCC. The organization is simply incapable of speaking the truth about this problem.

The actual document that was issued is even worse than how Van Zile describes it.

Besides almost completely ignoring the biggest threat to Christianity in the Middle East - which is, simply, Islamic extremism - the WCC is singularly obsessed with Israel.

Palestine continues to be the central issue in the region. Resolving the conflict between Israel and Palestine in accordance with the UN resolutions and international law, will greatly help in resolving the other conflicts in the region. The persistence, after sixty-five years, of continuing dispossession of Palestinian people—Christian and Muslim alike—from their land by Israeli occupation, continuing settlement of land inside the 1967 borders by a nation empowered by overwhelming military strength and external alliances and influence, is central to the turmoil in the region and exacerbated by duplicity of policies of the western powers, especially the United States. Christians have been called to condemn and act against this continuing injustice, affirming the voice and demands of Palestinian Christians, including as heard in the Kairos Palestine document.

To assert, in 2013, from within Lebanon(!), that the central issue in the Middle East is still the Israeli-Arab conflict is to be willfully blind. Syria, Tunisia, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Yemen - all the tectonic changes happening in the region - have nothing to do with Israel. Not only that, but these same upheavals are the ones that threaten Christians the most.

This is besides the lazy reference to "land inside 1967 borders" as if those borders ever existed and as if there was a "Palestine" on the West Bank before 1967. And besides the dig at the US, whose generally supportive stance of Jewish nationhood is considered "duplicitous." And besides the subtle reference to purported Jewish power ("external alliances and influence.")

Jerusalem today is an occupied city with a government which has adopted discriminatory policies against Christians and Muslims alike. ... Jerusalem must be an open, accessible, inclusive and shared city for two peoples and three religions, with careful protection of their holy places.

I'm sorry, but where exactly is the WCC condemnations of Jordanian rule over the holy places that completely excluded Jews for the "status quo" years of before 1967? I don't think there were any, certainly nothing in the titles of their archives that indicate that they gave a damn about the expulsion of Jews from their holy places in 1948.

This besides the small, possibly relevant fact that Israel does not discriminate against Christians!

Christians who promote “Christian Zionism” distort the interpretation of the Word of God and the historic connection of Palestinians—Christians and Muslims—to the Holy Land, enable the manipulation of public opinion by Zionist lobbies, and damage intra-Christian relations.

Yes, they spend more time talking about this topic - which has little to do with Christians in the Middle East - than they do on Muslim attacks on Christians.

Christians must reject Islamophobia, which mischaracterizes Islam as an undifferentiated whole, and undermines decades of cultivation of co-operation with Muslims, and must refuse the temptation to amalgamation, generalization and sensationalization of our Muslim brothers and sisters.

But not a single word about Muslim and Christian antisemitism that is rampant in the Arab world.

The WCC is obsessed with the Jewish state, beyond all logic and facts. It is essentially willing to adopt a fully Islamic narrative and throw the Jews under the bus.