Tuesday, June 11, 2013

  • Tuesday, June 11, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon
Remember Howard Gutman? He is the US ambassador to Belgium who made an outrageous and ignorant speech in 2011 saying that Muslim antisemitism is nothing like the traditional European type, because it is really a result of Israeli policies.

It is easy enough to prove him wrong, as I did then.

Unfortunately, his deeply flawed thinking is almost certainly part of the reason why HRW and Amnesty will be quick to condemn traditional antisemitism in Europe but remain stubbornly silent on Arab and Muslim antisemitism.

Anyway, even though I am fully aware that it is a cheap shot, this is irresistible:
A DS [Bureau of Diplomatic Security] agent was called off a case against US Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman over claims that he solicited prostitutes, including minors.

“The agent began his investigation and had determined that the ambassador routinely ditched his protective security detail in order to solicit sexual favors from both prostitutes and minor children,” says the memo.

“The ambassador’s protective detail and the embassy’s surveillance detection team . . . were well aware of the behavior.”

Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy ordered the investigation ceased, and the ambassador remains in place, according to the memo.

Gutman was a big Democratic donor before taking the post, having raised $500,000 for President Obama’s 2008 campaign and helping finance his inaugural.
If the report is true, it looks like Gutman put as much thought into his personal actions as he did in his revelation that centuries-old Muslim Jew-hatred was postdated to 1967.

(h/t Elliott)

  • Tuesday, June 11, 2013
From Ian:

EU slams Falk’s Israel report as biased at UNHRC
The European Union took a strong stand against United Nations Human Rights Council special rapporteur Richard Falk, denouncing as inaccurate and biased a report against Israel which he delivered to the body in Geneva on Monday.
“The EU continues to regret the unbalanced mandate of the Special Rapporteur and is also concerned that parts of the report include political considerations.
In the past, the EU emphasized that future reports should be based on a more factual and legal analysis, and we regret to see no genuine progress in that direction,” it said.
“The council needs to be provided with accurate, factual information and solid allegations to fulfill its role and address the human rights situation in occupied Palestinian territory,” the EU said.
Ha'aretz Manipulates Child Casualty Figures
B'Tselem's full data, which Ha'aretz cites selectively and manipulates to smear the Israeli army, indicates that in fact, the situation for Palestinian children and teens is steadily improving. The number of fatalities has sharply declined, especially during periods in which there are no large scale army operations. The decline underscores the fact that the army does, in fact, draw lessons from prior failures, and does make an effort to reduce the number of innocent deaths. Children and teens in other areas of conflict around the world can only dream of such a high level of personal safety.
Four Billion Dollars to the Palestinian Authority? Not by Arabs!
A December 9, 2011 article by Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News highlights a World Bank report: ”Arab countries have cut aid to Palestinians substantially, despite their rhetoric of supporting Palestinian rights…. Arab donors provided less than $80 million in the first half of 2011, compared to $231 million in 2010, $462 million in 2009 and $446 million in 2008…. Arab countries have committed to billions in aid in past years that never materialized…. One reason could be that the Arab world has become fed up with the Palestinian problem.”
Palestinians call for right of return at UNHRC
The PLO called for the right of return for Palestinian refugees to Israel during a debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday.
Israel "contributes" to increase in drug addicts in the PA - PA TV News


Gaza govt plans to execute more collaborators
The Hamas-run government in Gaza plans to execute a number of collaborators with Israel in an attempt to "eradicate" collaboration this year, a security official said Monday.
With ties to Iran in shambles, Hamas finds new ways to rearm
The reasons for the organization’s current restraint are threefold, he said. Hamas is still recuperating from Operation Pillar of Defense, building its political and military strength back up; it is “very occupied with the internal struggle” against Fatah for leadership among Palestinians; and its ties with the Muslim Brotherhood-led Egypt, counterintuitively, act as a restraining device and a useful channel of information.
Hamas and Hezbollah Remain Allied Over Mutual Hatred for Israel, Says Former Hezbollah MP
Despite tensions between Hamas and Hezbollah over Syria, the lynchpin keeping the two allies relatively civil towards one another is their mutual hatred of Israel, according to a former Hezbollah official.
“What brings us together, in terms of our hostility toward the Zionist entity, is greater than a dispute over the […] situation in Syria,” former Hezbollah MP Hassan Hoballah, said Friday.
Europe’s historic responsibility: Proscribe terror
From the Nazis to Stalin, and now to the Sunni Islamists of Hamas and the Shi’ite Islamists in Iran, we can see that the exponents of Jew-hatred are also brutal and bloodthirsty oppressors of their own people. The lessons of history are inescapable: The Jews may be the first victims of such ideologies, but they are rarely the last.
Original Thinking: Good Hezbollah, bad Hezbollah
With a rampant Islamist shift across the region, it is plain that the extremist and violent political/religious firebrands will carry the people with them. It doesn’t matter whether it is out of fear or out of fondness, they are all part of the whirlwind that endangers those who do not share their agenda. When they strike on your soil, or on your street, the position you take will decide your future fate. There is no moderation in the seriousness of their mission.
There is no such thing as a benign sect of Hezbollah, or Hamas, or Islamic Jihad, or the Salafists, or al-Qaida. Their mission and their aim are plain for all to see. It’s just a question of who can face the truth.
Terra Incognita: Why Hezbollah gets away with it
THE EXTRAORDINARY thing about the Wikileaks cables is that they reveal that most EU governments know Hezbollah is dangerous; they prefer to leave it be because they fear to provoke it. The Italian claim that the mere mention of “terror” would cause Hezbollah to terrorize Italian troops is like the boy who is afraid of calling the bully a bully because he might be bullied. How can an organization like Hezbollah intimidate the entire EU? Perhaps because Hezbollah operates as far away as South America and its agents have been detained in Spain, Cyprus, Texas in the US, Nigeria, and its operatives were involved in the Burgas bombing in Bulgaria in 2012.
Lieberman: If EU Won't Blacklist Hizbullah, it's Irrelevant
The European Union is irrelevant when it comes to dealing with the Middle East because of its failure to blacklist Hizbullah as a terrorist organization, MK Avigdor Lieberman (Likud-Yisrael Beytenu) said on Monday.
Former Lebanese President Warns Mideast Christians Face ‘Existential Crisis’
Former Lebanese President Amine Gemayel warned that Middle East Christians face an “existential crisis” due the threat of “religious cleansing” in the region, at a speech sponsored by Christian Solidarity International.
Gemayel, a Maronite Christian who was president from 1982-1988 after taking over for his brother Bashir, who was assassinated during the bloody Lebanese Civil War, said Christians “are often victims of persecution by both the state and society in the Middle East.”
Haroon Siddiqui Syria in danger of becoming Somalia or Afghanistan
It turns out that even Obama’s “red line” on Syrian chemical and biological weapons is flexible. After reports of Assad’s use of sarin and chlorine gas, Obama made clear he had only been referring to a “systematic” use of such weapons. Spraying on civilians here and there doesn’t count. Washington would worry only if the weapons were in danger of falling in the wrong hands. (That presumably won’t happen as long as Assad is in charge.)
Only Israel has adhered to its red lines. It has bombed Syria thrice, to stop the flow of arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Perversely, all the reasons cited for not intervening militarily have come true because of not intervening militarily.
Anti-Morsi Petition Claims Nearly 15 Million Signatures
The opposition campaign called Tamarod, which means “rebel” in Arabic was launched in early May with the aim of collecting 15 million signatures to outnumber the votes gained by Morsi in last year’s presidential election.
Spokesperson Mahmoud Badr said the opposition is campaign “studying the possibility of confidentially submitting the forms to the Supreme Constitutional Court” before June 30.
25 years on, Saddam’s Kurdish victims seek justice
Twenty victims of Saddam Hussein’s 1988 chemical weapons attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja requested a judicial investigation of French suppliers on Monday, saying executives knew what they were sending to the Iraqi dictator and bore some responsibility.
An Iraqi official said the case serves as a warning to anyone who may still try to sell chemicals to tyrants, touching on a central concern in Syria’s civil war.
  • Tuesday, June 11, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon
Over the past couple of weeks, Egyptians have been surprised and upset over the announcement from Ethiopia that they are building a hydroelectric dam that will temporarily divert water from the Nile.

The rhetoric level has been increasing.

Last week:

The head of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) Mohamed El-Katatni told Al-Ahram's Arabic-language news website on Wednesday that a military response to Ethiopia's Nile dam project "cannot be taken without the consent and support of the Egyptian people."

Tension between Egypt and Ethiopia escalated last week after the latter began diverting the course of the Blue Nile – the source of the lion's share of Egypt's Nile water – as part of a project to build a series of dams along the river.

Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam project has been a source of concern for the Egyptian government, which fears that the project – if completed – could negatively impact Egypt's traditional share of Nile water.

"Egyptians are peaceful by nature, but they have a historical entitlement to Nile water," El-Katatni, a former parliamentary speaker, was quoted as saying. "And it is their right to defend it by any means necessary."

Also last week:




Last night:
Egypt does not want war with Ethiopia but will keep "all options open," President Mohamed Morsy said on Monday, piling pressure to an ongoing dispute over the giant dam Addis Ababa is building across the Nile.

In a televised speech to cheering Islamist supporters, Morsy voiced his understanding for the development needs of poorer nations upstream in the Nile basin, but deployed emotive language to claim Egyptians would not tolerate any reduction in water supplies.

Hot-headed rhetoric, including whispers of military action, by Egyptian politicians last week has raised concerns of a so-called “water war” between Africa’s second and third most populous states.

But Morsy, for whom the dispute provides ample opportunity to rally Egyptians behind him after a divisive first year in power, also seemed to leave room for compromise.

He did not renew an Egyptian call - flatly rejected by Ethiopia last week - for work to stop at the dam but said further study on its impact was needed.

"Egypt's water security cannot be violated in any way," Morsy said. "As head of state, I confirm to you that all options are open." He later added: "We are not calling for war, but we will never permit our water security...to be threatened."

Drawing on an old Egyptian song about the Nile, he said: "If it diminishes by one drop then our blood is the alternative."
And the inevitable fallout:
Dozens of Ethiopian refugees protested on Sunday outside the Egypt office of UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Cairo's 6 October City to demand protection from what they describe as increasingly frequent xenophobic attacks by Egyptians.

Protesters, mostly from the Oromo ethnic group, said that members of their community had faced several violent attacks in Egypt in recent weeks.

The apparent trend comes against the backdrop of mounting tensions between Ethiopia and Egypt over a plan by the former to build a dam on the Blue Nile.

"We have some reports of people being attacked just because of their nationality," protest organiser Jeylan Kassim told Ahram Online.

"We need the UNHCR's protection; and we need the UNHCR to raise the awareness of the Egyptian community [about our plight]."
  • Tuesday, June 11, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon
People who want to redivide Jerusalem - to get back to the anomalous situation that occurred for a mere nineteen years - rarely give a real reason why such a move would not entail, well, a situation very close to how life in Jerusalem was during those years.

Here is just one reporter's description of Jerusalem from January 1962:



Today, Jerusalem is the opposite of what is described here - it is a beautiful, thriving, and growing city. Anyone who wants to divide Jerusalem wants to kill it.

And don't try to argue that "this time will be different." No peace plan can impose security for Jews on the Arab side, and any forays by Jews to their holy spots would be similar to the monthly visits some Jews make to the Tomb of Joseph near Nablus today - at midnight, in heavily armored buses, under IDF protection from a hostile population.

Under Israeli rule, Muslims have access to their holy spots. Who can credibly claim that the converse would be true under Arab rule? We already know how it was the first time.

If Jerusalem is split again, it means that the split will be an international border. Walls and fences would be built, checkpoints erected, buildings and streets divided, and people forced from their homes. This is inevitable, and anyone who believes that people can stroll from one section to another freely is lying.

Who in their right mind thinks that this is better than Jerusalem is today?

  • Tuesday, June 11, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Haaretz:
Israel has exported security equipment over the past five years to Pakistan and four Arab countries, according to a British government report. The report, which deals with British government permits for arms and security equipment exports, says that in addition to Pakistan, Israel has exported such equipment to Egypt, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco.

The report was released by Britain’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which oversees security exports and publishes regular reports on permits granted or denied to purchase arms, military equipment or civilian items that are monitored because they can be put to security uses.

From January 2008 to December 2012, British authorities processed hundreds of Israeli applications to purchase military items containing British components for use by the Israel Defense Forces, or to go into systems exported to third countries.

The British reports also list the countries to which Israel sought to export the items. Among Israel’s clients are Muslim countries with which it does not have diplomatic ties. According to the report, in 2011 Israel sought to purchase British components to export radar systems to Pakistan, as well as electronic warfare systems, Head-up Cockpit Displays ‏(HUD‏), parts for fighter jets and aircraft engines, optic target acquisition systems, components of training aircraft, and military electronic systems. In 2010, Israel applied for permits to export electronic warfare systems and HUDs with components from Britain to Pakistan. Also in 2010, Israel sought permits to supply Egypt and Morocco with Israeli electronic warfare systems and HUD systems that use British parts.
Here's Haaretz' graphical summary of the article:


Although at first glance it sounds a little alarming for Israel to sell to countries that consider it an enemy, I think it is a reasonable assumption that the Israeli government is careful not to give away any technologies that would hurt Israel's defense.

Which means that this is about as massive a BDSFail as can be imagined!

Already the Arabic media are reporting this, so we can expect a backlash any moment now and the denials from Muslim countries will follow soon afterwards.

UPDATE: The first denial, from Pakistan.

UPDATE 2: #2 from Egypt. (h/t IranAware)
  • Tuesday, June 11, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon
A Wikileaks cable from the UN, February 16, 2010:

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 GENEVA 000043

SIPDIS
AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE PASS TO AMCONSUL AMSTERDAM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/02/16
TAGS: PHUM [Human Rights], PREL [External Political Relations], UNHRC-1 [UN Human Rights Commission]
SUBJECT: Palestinian Ambassador on Goldstone, 4GC, HRC

CLASSIFIED BY: Douglas Griffiths, Charge d'Affaires, a.i., State;
REASON: 1.4(B), (D)

...

PA May Call for Special Rapporteur Falk's Dismissal

¶8. (C) Also on February 16, in a separate conversation with Charge
and PolCouns, PA DPR Zuhairi was visibly upset by Special
Rapporteur for Human Rights in the OPT Richard Falk's reference to
Hamas in his draft report.
In para 8, Falk states that UNGA
resolution 64/10 calls on Hamas - vice the PA - to undertake
investigations. Zuhairi argued that he had too often corrected
Falk's many errors and that this latest misguided effort by Falk
had gone too far
. Zuhairi said he might use the February 18 HRC
organizational meeting to seek to block Falk's report from being
presented
to the HRC on the grounds that Falk overstepped his
mandate,
had addressed issues outside his brief, and had failed to
appropriately recognize a UNGA resolution (not to mention the
legitimate authority of the Pa). Zuhairi also said he wished Falk
would drop his repeated suggestions that Israel's actions in the
OPT be equated with the Holocaust.
Such language has allowed
Israel to justify its refusal to allow Falk to visit, and has
limited his usefulness as a rapporteur.

¶9. (C) In light of the reference to Hamas, Zuhairi said he had
called Falk personally and asked him to step down, something Falk
angrily rejected.
Zuhairi sought our advice on how best to
approach the issue, particularly in light of currently OIC and
African Group attempts to censure the secret detention study.
Charge and PolCouns, while acknowledging the problem of recognizing
Hamas, told Zuhairi that the U.S. defended the independence of the
special procedures mandate holders and that we objected to state's
use of the code of conduct as a means to muzzle rapporteurs.

There ya go - Falk is too extreme even for the Palestinian Arabs!

(h/t Hillel Neuer)

Monday, June 10, 2013

  • Monday, June 10, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon
Times of Israel last week reported:

German’s under-21 squad will wear special shirts dedicated to Israel as it warms up for its
match against Holland’s team Thursday, in a tribute to the tournament’s host country.

The shirts read “we feel at home” in Hebrew, and wearing them is a rare move by a visiting country in an international tournament. UEFA’s Under-21 Championship is the most prestigious sporting competition to be hosted by Israel since the 1968 Paralympics.

At a pre-game press conference, international midfielder Lewis Holtby spoke warmly of the welcome the German team received in Israel. “The hospitality in Israel is great, the weather is better than in England or Germany,” he said, adding his club, Tottenham Hotspur, had a Jewish background, which made the experience “interesting.”
It was, of course, inevitable that Arabs would be upset that anyone could express happiness at visiting the Jewish state.

Elaph reports that
There was a state of anger and extreme indignation among Arabs and Palestinians on websites and social networks, especially Facebook and Twitter, because this move was "provocative" to the feelings of the victims and the wounded and injured by the brutality and racism of the Israeli occupation forces.

Activists on social networking sites said that Germany is trying to ingratiate themselves to the Israelis as atonement for what they suffered during the rule of Nazi leader Hitler; they are trying to make friends and get closer to the Jews at the expense of the just Palestinian cause.
  • Monday, June 10, 2013
From Ian:

Sykes-Picot and Israel
The political order artificially constructed in the Middle East by the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement is disintegrating. As the Syrian civil war rages, the borders drawn nearly a century ago are becoming blurred.
Syria is gradually splintering into three different entities: one region along the coast is loyal to the Alawite regime of President Bashar Assad; another yet-to- be-determined swath of territory might fall under the control of Sunni opposition forces; and a Kurdish enclave with ties to northern Iran and Kurdish groups in Turkey is also emerging. Perhaps this is the inevitable demise of a state populated by a Sunni majority that is ruled by an Alawite minority.
Dore Gold: The Arab World Fears the ‘Safavid’
In an interview on Al-Jazeera this past May, the commander of the Free Syrian Army, Brig. Gen. Salim Idris, explained that the diversion of Hezbollah forces from Lebanon to Syria to take part in the civil war was part of a “Safavid” plan for the Middle East region.
This past January, an article in the influential Lebanese daily As-Safir accused Iraq’s Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of receiving assistance from his “Safavid allies.” After the powerful Sunni Muslim leader, Sheikh Yousuf al-Qaradawi, condemned Iran for its actions in Syria, the Muslim Scholars Association of Lebanon warned that the Sunni Arabs were facing “the spreading Safawi project.”
Caroline Glick Speaks at the 2013 Jerusalem Post Conference


Golda Meir: Israel would not withdraw to 1967 lines
Anyone who creates illusions among the Arabs that it is possible to impose an Arab- Israeli solution from the outside is pushing off peace, then-prime minister Golda Meir told German chancellor Willy Brandt 40 years ago, in words that Israeli leaders continue to say to European counterparts today.
The comment was contained in one of the 28 documents that the Israel State Archives released on Sunday to mark 40 years since Brandt’s historic visit to Israel, the first ever by a German chancellor. The visit took place from June 7-11, 1973, some five months before the Yom Kippur War.
'Occupation'? Not Necessarily
Israel has a very good case regarding its sovereignty in Judea and Samaria and should not accept its classification as “occupier,” say two participants in a conference on the subject.
Prof. Jeremy A. Rabkin of George Mason University and Prof. Avi Bell of the University of San Diego and Bar Ilan University weighed in on the matter.
Bar-Ilan University's Faculty of Law hosted the conference on “International Law and Israel,” the first in a series of annual conferences aimed at exploring the growing gap between international law as it is often applied to Israel vs. how it is understood in the rest of the world.
Gaining national sovereignty
Our achievements can largely be traced back to those six days in June. Those miraculous days, largely unprecedented in the annals of military warfare, not only gave us our ancient lands, but our long-term future.
Our victory and the liberated territories are eternally bound with our modern achievements and endurance. While the War of Independence in 1948 gave us a state, and the Suez Crisis in 1956 gave us independence, the 1967 war gave us sovereignty, and no state can consider its abjuration.
These were some of the best days of my life, and the most essential for our nation.
German cop orders rabbi to erase pics of attackers
A German police officer and security personnel ordered a rabbi to delete photographs of the suspects who engaged in an alleged violent anti-Semitic attack on him in a shopping center last week in Offenbach, a city near Frankfurt.
New details have since emerged, including that the youths shouted “Viva Palestine” during the attack on Rabbi Mendel Gurewitz.
Australia offers large reward for 1982 bombers of Israeli consulate
Police in Australia say they now have four primary suspects in the 1982 bombings of the Israeli Consulate and the Hakoah Club, and offered a $100,000 reward to help flush them out.
Detective Chief Superintendent Wayne Gordon, the commander of the terrorism investigation squad, told reporters Thursday in Sydney that he hoped the money would entice the public or the alleged perpetrators to come forward.
Dutch school to commemorate Holocaust despite vandalism concerns
A Christian school in a predominantly Muslim neighborhood has resumed a plan to unveil a plaque in memory of Holocaust victims, despite concerns of anti-Semitic vandalism.
The board of the Paul Kruger School in The Hague said last week that it would move ahead with the plan, which was shelved in recent years because of what school officials said were “concerns that youths would destroy the monument.”
Rambam Hospital: Saving Patients, Uniting People
David Ben-Yair added, "Here in our country and in the world, we need to understand the power we have to save people, all people. Donate. Help. We got another chance. Give it to others."
David Ben-Yair’s message runs true. Rambam has a history of providing medical care to diverse populations. Last fall, during Operation Cast Lead, Rambam, the second largest transplant center in Israel, took care of four seriously ill Gazan children who were awaiting kidney transplants despite Israel being subjected to continuous rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
Photo brings desperate hope for a Holocaust miracle
Picking up her mail about a year ago, 88-year-old Rose Goteiner stopped in her tracks upon seeing the photo on a newsletter cover.
Posing shortly after the Holocaust ended, 21 people were standing before a truck marked “American Joint Distribution Committee” — the relief organization later known as the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. There were young children and teenagers, plus a few adults.
In the middle of the front row was a girl wearing a light-colored dress, hands at her sides and staring into the camera.
Goteiner believes it is her sister, Ruth Konigstein. And now Goteiner is hoping against hope that Ruth is still alive and that the sisters might miraculously reunite in their twilight years.
Middle East Gay Pride and LGBT Safety Exist Only in Israel
Sexual minorities are as unwelcome in the Middle East as are religious minorities. Just as the Muslim-majority countries of the Middle East are generally hostile to Christians, Jews, Bahá’ís, Zoroastrians, and other religious minorities, they are even less welcoming of non-heterosexuals. Except in Israel. And yet it is Israel — absurdly enough — that is consistently singled out for excoriation by human rights groups, college campus activists, and other ostensibly well-meaning individuals.
English, Israeli players give red card to racism
At the training grounds in Netanya, girls from a program promoting women’s soccer and empowerment in Ra’anana took the pitch alongside boys from Bnei Sakhnin’s youth department; Jewish and Arab players from neighborhood leagues played with members of Tel Sheva’s local Bedouin team; and players from both national teams ran with the kids on the field.
The woman turning wave technology into electricity
It was a twist of fate that not only introduced Inna Braverman to a passion for green energy, but reconnected her to Ukraine, where she spent the first four years of her life.
Braverman, 27, is the co-founder and marketing director of Eco Wave Power (EWP), an Israel-based company whose innovation in wave technology for the production of electricity has catapulted it to the top tier in the field worldwide.
And it is Braverman’s key role in the endeavor that led to her nomination as “Young Sustainability Executive of the Year” in the 2013 Business Green Leaders Awards, to be held in London on July 3.
CallApp is like global caller ID on speed
Mi ze? (“Who is this?”) asked Oded Volovitz, the CEO of CallApp, when ISRAEL21c cold-called him recently.
The tech tastemaker site TechCrunch touts CallApp as a disruptive technology, and if Volovitz has his way, his company will become the Wikipedia of phone calls.
Google reportedly acquiring Waze app for $1.3 billion
After dating at least three of the biggest tech companies in the world, it appeared Sunday night that Waze was finally getting the ring — one worth $1.3 billion, according to a report in the Israeli business newspaper Globes.
That’s the sum Google has reportedly agreed to pay for Waze, the Ra’anana-based crowdsourced driving and navigation app with 50 million users around the world. The figure is $300 million higher than Facebook reportedly offered to pay for the firm earlier this year.
Israeli men - Old spice


  • Monday, June 10, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon
Here is the beginning of a new Economist article:
BLESSED are the meek. While Israel’s 1.4m Muslim citizens vociferously champ for the right to return to the lands they fled in 1948, when Israel was created, the Christians, ten times fewer, have begun quietly tiptoeing back. In what was once the Galilee village of Maalul, Christians displaced to nearby Nazareth have carved a path through the forest of pine-trees that were planted to hide it, and have cleared the bracken to expose two churches, one Greek Orthodox, another Catholic, where they have begun celebrating festivals such as Easter.

Across the valley, in what was once the Palestinian village of Safuriya, renamed Tzipori by the Jews who moved in after the conquest of 1948, two Franciscan friars are renovating the dilapidated Crusader chapel of Qadissa Hanna, where they now say mass every Sunday. They hope to mend the roof to let a congregation regularly attend.
Is it true that 1.4 million Muslims were internally displaced in 1948 Israel?

Of course not. There weren't that many Muslims in all of Palestine. The Economist obviously means those who were displaced, plus their descendants.

Would that make the statement accurate?

Not in the least. Most Arabs who remained in Israel stayed in their own homes. In fact, out of the 160,000-170,000 Arabs in Israel after the 1948 war, less than one third - between 46,000 and 48,000 - fled their homes in the fighting.

Not all of them were Muslim, either, so the Economist is wrong by a factor of perhaps 4 in its breezy attempt to demonize Israel. Even their descendants are nowhere close to the 1.4 million The Economist claims. But 1.4 million sounds so much better than 48,000 who actually fled from their homes, doesn't it?

The Economist's biased reporting and inaccuracies don't end there, though.

Then the Economist decides that Safuriya is the real name of an Arab village, while the evil Jews renamed it Tzipori.

Tzipori was, obviously, the original name of the town. Josephus referred to it as Sepphoris from which it became Arabicized to Seffurieh many centuries later, after the Romans burned it to the ground in the wake of a Jewish revolt. (See Edward Robinson 1841 and Karl Baedeker's travel handbook 1894, plus Jewish Encyclopedia 1906.) Yet The Economist - which prides itself on its supposed accuracy - says that restoring an original name, one that never fell into disuse among Jews, is "renaming."

Remember how upset the Economist was the last time my readers asked them to uphold their own stated standards of accuracy? They referred to you as a "pro-settler group," which is in their world about the biggest insult one can hurl at another.

It would be a shame if we upset them even further by pointing out their latest errors and insisting that they correct them, wouldn't it?

(h/t Elliott)

  • Monday, June 10, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon
Asharq al-Awsat (via PalPress) reports that there are increasing calls in Hamas to dismiss interior minister Fathi Hammad after a series of bungles, including a security officer killed during a drug raid last week.

Seven Gazans have been killed in the past two weeks, including the policeman, as Hamas security is seen to be acting recklessly. (Although the reports aren't clear, it seems that the policeman was killed by "frienndly fire." He is still honored as a "martyr" on the Al Qassam Brigades webpage, indicating that he was a member of that terror group as well.)

Hammad is also seen as responsible for travel restrictions in Hamas and unwillingness to take responsibility for the excesses of Hamas security. In addition, he is close with the Qassam Brigades and it is possible that he is pushing for closer ties to Hizballah, in contrast to the Haniyeh/Mashal "political wing." This indicates that the friction between the Qassam Brigades and the rest of Hamas is increasing.

Other criticisms of Hammad include his recent crackdown on Western-style clothing and hairstyles, on women smoking water pipes in public, and the escape of murderers (probably Qassam members) from prison.


  • Monday, June 10, 2013
From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: The Radicalization of Palestinians Kerry Has Not Heard About
Kerry, who is returning to the Middle East later this week in yet another bid to revive the "peace process," is probably unaware that Abbas, Rajoub and other Palestinian Authority leaders have radicalized Palestinians to a point where many do not want to hear about peace with Israel.
Meretz's 'Peace Partner' Rajoub: All of Israel is 'Occupied'
Palestinian Authority official Jibril Rajoub, who was touted last week as a “man of peace” by the leftist Meretz party, is continuing his incitement against Israel.
The Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) research organization exposed on Sunday yet another controversial statement by Rajoub, who this time said during an interview, which aired last week on an Arab sports television channel, that all of Israel is “occupied Palestine”.


Abbas rejected Netanyahu offer to free 50 pre-Oslo prisoners for new talks
Today, a senior Palestinian official told The Times of Israel, the Palestinians might agree to renew talks with Israel if Netanyahu releases all 107 of the pre-Oslo veterans still in jail, most of whom have blood on their hands.
State Compensates PA Arab Victims of Hamas Rocket Attack
Last week, reported Channel 10, the state transferred a sum of 1.7 million shekels to the families of the two Arabs. The money was transferred from the Ministry of Finance to the families through the Israeli lawyer who represents them. He transferred the money through a bank in New York, as direct transfers from Israel to Gaza are prohibited by law.
Arabs Cause Destruction in Hevron Fields
Arabs are the culprits behind the destruction Saturday of agricultural fields operated by the Jews of Hevron, say the local Jews. According to a resident of Hevron, Haim Bleicher, some of the Jews discovered the destruction, which included the uprooting of saplings, during their Sabbath family outings.
Gaza terror tunnel network branches out
The tunnels serve several purposes: As hiding places for terrorists, as storage locations for weapons and basic supplies, and as a place for long stays in times of emergency. They are camouflaged for deception during combat and ready for service in the scenario of an Israeli ground invasion. In recent years, some of the tunnels were converted for use as hidden rocket launchers. When necessary, a window opens and the launcher emerges, returning immediately inside its camouflaged window after shooting.
Rape Victim, Lost in Translation
Except the rape victim, a teenage girl, was not Palestinian. She was an Israeli Jew. The original Hebrew article did not make the false claim that the victim was Palestinian. The Hebrew states (CAMERA's translation):
“Yeshaya, a judge emeritus of a district court in Tel Aviv, said this week during a hearing that "some girls enjoy rape." He was the head of an appeals committee on national security which was ruling on the appeal of a female youth, now 19, who was raped six years ago by four Palestinians near the Hizma checkpoint.”
Guardian cartoonist draws upon antisemitic stereotypes in depicting Henry Kissinger
Now, here’s how Kissinger was depicted on June 8th by Guardian cartoonist Martin Rowson, in a cartoon about the annual meeting of the Bilderberg Group in Watford.
Letter to a new BBC ME correspondent
This region is saturated with journalists writing nearly identical reports which conform to an unquestioned political narrative and news consumers have no use for yet more of the same. What they do need however is objective, factual, innovative reporting from people curious enough to look behind the clichés and the obvious. That is a big challenge. Whether you decide to take it on or not will depend upon the route you choose to take.
Did They Stay or Did They Go?
An article on Christian Arabs in The Economist begins with the following:
“While Israel’s 1.4m Muslim citizens vociferously champ for the right to return to the lands they fled in 1948, when Israel was created…”
Evidently someone at The Economist must be confused. For starters, 1.4 million Muslims did not flee Israel in 1948 (the number was half that) and if they had, they would not be citizens as The Economist described them.
Hezbollah losses laid bare after victory in Syrian town
Hezbollah has sent some 3,000 of its elite fighters - who were reportedly trained by ally Iran - into Syria, a Hezbollah source said. Most of them were stationed in al-Kussair.
Hezbollah has stayed silent on its casualties in Syria. But sources close to the group told dpa that more than 100 fighters had been killed and as many as 200 were wounded.
Arm rebels or risk genocide, British Jewish MP pleads
A British Jewish MP from the governing Conservative Party, who has met frequently with Bashar Assad, warned that the Syrian president is “willing to destroy Syria completely” in his bid to protect his regime and his family, and said that Syrian rebels forces must be supplied with the weaponry needed to defeat him and avert genocide.
Egypt's Qaradawi: Hizbullah 'Party of Satan'
The highly influential Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, president of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, retracted his previous defense of Hizbullah and Iran, in an interview with Al Arabiya aired on Sunday.
Cairo demonstrators join 'Global March to Jerusalem' VIDEO
Demonstrators in Cairo staged a "Global March to Jerusalem". The march coincides with the 46th anniversary of the 1967 War when Israel took the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
Iran says Arak reactor 1 step closer to completion
A heavy water reactor in Arak, Iran, came one step closer to completion after the installation of the “upper container,” according to a report by the Fars News Agency, a news site associated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Iran’s apocalyptic policy makers
Two of the most lunatic and apocalyptic high-ranking figures in Iran are Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself and his now disgraced one-time protégé, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. While Khamenei deeply believes his task is to prepare for Mahdi’s appearance, Ahmadinejad takes the apocalyptic narrative to an unprecedented level of lunacy and weirdness, even by the Islamic republic’s measures. He believes, for example, that the real reason behind the US invasion of Iraq was to search for the Hidden Imam and to postpone his appearance. Many observers believe Khamenei chose Ahmadinejad as president mainly because of their shared belief in this apocalyptic version of Islam.
From Naharnet:
Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Avigdor Lieberman slammed the European Union on Monday for failing to label Hizbullah as a terrorist organization.

He labeled the move as “ultimate hypocrisy."

Israeli media quoted Lieberman as saying that Israel must convey to the EU that failure to blacklist Hizbullah in an upcoming discussion on the topic in two weeks "will make the EU irrelevant to us."

Last week, several EU governments expressed concern that a British request to add Hizbullah on the list of terrorist organizations would increase instability in the Middle East.

At a meeting in Brussels, the governments also questioned whether there was sufficient evidence to link Hizbullah to an attack that targeted Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last year.
s
Britain has argued that Hizbullah should face EU sanctions over its alleged role in the bus bombing in the resort of Burgas that killed five Israelis and their Bulgarian driver.
Maariv adds that although Bulgaria's investigation in the Burgas bombing concluded that Hizballah was behind it, the new socialist Bulgarian government does not want to stand behind the report. Furthermore, it says that Bulgaria was actually the force behind the move, as it fears that accurately labeling Hizballah as terrorist would hurt Lebanese/EU relations.

This means that Gulf Arabs are more willing to label Hizballah to be a terror group than Europeans. While this is more a function of the extreme hatred that Sunnis have for Shiites, it is still astonishing that the EU is coddling a group whose ties to terror are impossible to ignore - and that Muslims who cheered 9/11 are more hawkish on Hezbollah terror than Europeans are.
  • Monday, June 10, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon
Wow - its like looking into a mirror!

The punchline of this Egyptian sketch is at the very end - after it is over:



Following are excerpts from an antisemitic sketch, which aired on Al-Hafez TV, an Egyptian Islamist channel, on June 6, 2013:


An actor portraying a stereotypical Jew delivers an address to the Zionists, with posters of Theodor Herzl and Lord Balfour in the background, as well as Jewish symbols.


Jewish character: Cry out, oh Zionism, Egypt has had a taste of freedom. Anyone who comes near the fire of the revolution will be burned by it. You know full well, oh Zionists and lackeys of the accursed regime, that if the situation in Egypt improves, Zionism will go down the drain.


What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for [the Arabs] to enter Tel Aviv or to return to Jerusalem? If the revolution succeeds, they will be able to reconcile between Fatah and Hamas. They will stop giving us natural gas, and leave us with nothing but the shirts on our backs. Oh Lord, foil this revolution.
[...]
We should make the Egyptians dance to the drumbeat of Zionism. The best ploy everywhere is to instigate strife between the crescent and the cross. If you want this to end in tears, ruin Fridays and Sundays. Are you waiting for the Egyptians to awaken? If you want to make things worse, torch mosques and churches. Instigate strife between Muslims and Christians, between Sufis and Salafis, between fans of the Al-Ahli and Zamalek soccer clubs. What are you waiting for?


He "blows" a trumpet
[...]
Are we waiting for them to turn against us? If you can't beat them, pit them one against the other. If you cannot rip the strong fabric of this flag, unravel it.


What does not rip should be unraveled: Muslims and Christians, Salafis and Wahhabis, fans of Zamalek and fans of Al-Ahli, even between men and women.


Divide and conquer, oh Zionists. We want to instigate strife, we will not sit idly by. I swear by the Talmud, by the synagogue, and my own eyes that [Mubarak's] National Democratic Party will return.
[...]
Be prepared! Divide and conquer! Divide and Conquer!
[...]
Al-Hafez TV studio


Al-Hafez TV host Atef Abd Al-Rashid: This is a good effort. It involves art, values, as well as important warnings.
This is not parody! This is an accurate video representation of hundreds of articles I've seen in Arabic, portraying how many Islamists really think. As laughable and insane as the skit is, it happens to be the worldview of tens of millions of Muslims - a very conservative estimate.
  • Monday, June 10, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Al Jazeera:

Rebels fighting the Syrian regime have shot dead a 15-year-old boy in front of his parents and siblings after accusing him of blasphemy, an activist group said.

Al Jazeera was told that the boy, a street vendor selling coffee, was from the Shaar neighbourhood of the northern city of Aleppo. He has been named locally as Mohammad Kattaa.

Reports indicated that he was arguing with another boy on Saturday and used the name of Prophet Muhammad in a common phrase used by Syrians at which point he was picked up by fighters, beaten, and then shot.

"An unidentified Islamist rebel group shot dead a 15-year-old child who worked as a coffee seller in Aleppo, after they accused him of blasphemy," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Abdel Rahman said the rebel group likely comprised foreigners.

"They spoke classical Arabic, not Syrian dialect," he said.

"They shot the boy twice, once in the mouth, another in his neck, in front of his mother, his father and his siblings," he added.

It is thought Kattaa's customer was trying to get a free coffee and the boy responded "Even if Muhammad comes down, I will not give it as debt."

This was misinterpreted by the foreign fighters who took it for blasphemy.
Whose side are we on again?

(h/t Brenny)
  • Monday, June 10, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon
Mahmoud Abbas, who is currently in the ninth year of his four year term, has finally embraced the idea of voting.

President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday urged Palestinian communities across the world to vote for Arab Idol contestant Mohammad Assaf, the first Palestinian to reach the final of the pan-Arab show.

Abbas instructed the PA Ministry of Foreign Affairs to contact international Palestinian embassies in order to mobilize support for the Arab Idol star, and urged the Palestinian diaspora to vote for Assaf.

The president praised Assaf's creativity and powerful voice, calling him a son of Palestine who is bringing joy to his people.
Here's the contestant showing why Abbas cheers for him so enthusiastically, as PA TV has broadcast it numerous times since Assaf sang it first:



"Oh flying bird, circling round,
My eyes protect you and Allah keeps you safe
By Allah, oh traveling [bird], I burn with envy
My country Palestine is beautiful
Turn to Safed and then to Tiberias,
And send regards to the sea of Acre and Haifa
Don't forget Nazareth - the Arab fortress,
And tell Beit Shean about its people's return
By Allah, oh traveling [bird], I burn with envy
My country Palestine is beautiful."
Every single city he mentions is in Israel, not the territories.

This isn't a case of Palestinian Arab pride, but - as usual - an expression of their desire to destroy Israel.

Which is really what the entire purpose of Palestinian Arab "nationalism" is, and has been, since it started.

UPDATE: IDF Arabic spokesman Avichai Adraee on Facebook claims that Hamas is not happy with Assaf and demanded he quit the competition; also that Hamas is fining people who put his picture and posters about him in public.

Assaf denied this. I haven't verified one way or the other yet.

Sunday, June 09, 2013

  • Sunday, June 09, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon
From COGAT (Israel's Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories):
COGAT has coordinated the crossing of the Jordanian supply convoy bound for the Jordanian Hospital in the Gaza Strip.

This convoy includes 12 supply truckloads carrying medical equipment, medications and food for the hospital.
Yes, somehow 12 trucks filled with medical equipment managed to break the Israeli "siege" of Gaza, by going...through Israel, with its full cooperation.

No threats, no incidents, no one killed.

And, of course ..no media.

So the myth of the "siege" can remain the conventional wisdom.
  • Sunday, June 09, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon
Syrian hackers claim to have hacked Haifa's water system:
A Syrian hackers' group paraded the secret information it has allegedly obtained from Israeli
websites by means of a cyber attack, transferring it to Israel's regional foe Iran.

Two weeks after Yitzhak Ben-Yisrael, chairman of the National Council for Research and Development, said Syrian Electronic Army’s hackers attempted two weeks ago to launch a cyber attack against Haifa's water system, failing, the semi-official Iranian news agency FARS published the documents, complete with writings in Hebrew, allegedly obtained in the course of the attack against the websites of Haifa's municipal services.
Interview with Jonathan El Khoury: Lebanese citizen of Israel defending Medinat Israel



Palestinian Arabs lay foundations for state in Area C
Six cities, two airports, a high-tech complex, a university and a system of highways to connect all of the above are included in the new Palestinian construction plan aimed at setting facts on the ground and creating a territorial continuity in the West Bank.

Dozens of sites in the West Bank are part of the new trend of construction, as the authorities refuse to wait for the revival of peace talks and are laying down the foundations and infrastructure for an independent state.

Yedioth Ahronoth obtained a document detailing the planned construction projects that are part of the "Fayyad Plan," a template for a de facto Palestinian statehood.

The majority of the projects are in the Israel-controlled Area C, and many of them have already begun. Some are awaiting the approval of the Civil Administration, the Israeli governing body that operates in the West Bank.

The Palestinians hope to push the projects that the Civil Administration will reject through negotiations as "confidence-building steps." In view of US Secretary of State John Kerry's frequent visits to the region, the plan looks grounded in reality.

The Blaze picked up my story about the Paris "art" exhibition glorifying Arab terrorists.

Middle East Monitor honors an Arab "expert" on Judaism. I looked at his website; it looks like his "expertise" is in translating Encyclopedia Judaic entries into Arabic. Plus some of the usual rumors ("Thousands of Jews joined the Nazi army!" "Most Zionist archaelology is fake!")

Anti-Hezbollah protester killed in Lebanon. Ho-hum.

I mentioned this in passing this morning, but this NGO Monitor report is important:
The European Commission transfers hundreds of millions of Euros annually to political advocacy organizations globally through frameworks such as EIDHR, PfP, AIDCO, the Anna Lindh Foundation, and others. In many cases, particularly in the Middle East, this European Union funding is allocated in non-transparent processes to organizations whose activities are entirely inconsistent with the stated objectives.

This report examines one case in detail – EIDHR and PfP grants (total €602,798 for 2011-2014) to the Coalition of Women for Peace (CWP) and partners. CWP is a leader in the campaigns to demonize Israel, including boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) via the “Who Profits” website, and sponsoring “Nakba Day” activities that repeat Palestinian narratives. EC policy opposes BDS and other forms of demonization as counter-productive to peace efforts. In 2011, due to CWP’s radical activities, the US-based New Israel Fund (NIF) ended funding of CWP.
A surprising venue for Dani Dayan, an Israeli supporter of Jews living in Judea and Samaria - The Guardian!
This week marks 46 years since the agonising days of June 1967, when the Arab world physically tried to annihilate Israel. We defeated them and liberated the strategic hills that overlook 70% of Israel's population. If partition of this contested land was ever the just solution to the conflict, it ceased the moment one side refused. It was not a mere rejection: they launched repeated assaults to take it all by force. Returning Israel to its indefensible nine-mile waistline would once again place us in mortal danger, while rewarding the aggressor.

Our communities stand on solid moral ground. Built on vacant land, no settlement stands on the ruins of any Arab village. Naturally, there are civil disputes over land ownership. Some are real, others mere provocations. All should be resolved by courts of law. Last year in Migron and Ulpana, we had serious doubts about the judge's verdict, but still we abided by the court decision. In Judea and Samaria there is ample room for many Jews, many Palestinians and peaceful coexistence.

Our communities stand on solid moral ground because the right of Jews to live in Shiloh, Hebron or Beth El is inalienable. These sites are the cradles of Jewish civilisation, the birthplace of Hebraic culture. Negating the right of Jews to live in these historic parts of the Jewish homeland would be morally wrong.

Our communities stand on solid moral ground, because they are not – and never were – an impediment to peace. Statements such as Baroness Ashton's are misinformed, erroneous and the real obstruction. Ashton and her colleagues are most welcome to visit our communities to see for themselves how distant reality is from their perception.
Finally, this is a pretty interesting MEMRI video:



(h/t Yoel, Israel Muse, Y Medad))
It is truly scary when Gulf Arabs have a better sense of how to characterize Hezbollah than Europeans do.

This op-ed from the Saudi Gazette last week is perhaps a tad overly optimistic, but at least it gets one thing right:
THERE will be those who wonder why the GCC did not declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization long ago. Hezbollah rode high in the opinion of some after it threw back the 2006 Israeli assault on southern Lebanon. However, the reality has always been that this is a group that is entirely preoccupied with its own agenda and has no interest in promoting the unity and reconstruction of Lebanon.

Indeed, in order to protect its mini-state within the country, the Hezbollah leadership has been prepared to act as an agent for Iran and its Syrian ally Bashar Al-Assad. In return for dancing to Tehran’s tune and seeking to carry out the disruptive interventions desired by the Iranian leadership, its militiamen have been armed and trained and the movement as a whole has seen many millions of Iranian dollars poured into its coffers.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah may, however, have now overreached himself. Some wonder if he has not become a victim of his own propaganda about a militant and victorious organization and really believes that his forces are actually capable of turning the tide of defeat that is engulfing the Assad regime. Not only this, but he clearly had little idea of how, by throwing in its lot with the hated Assad, Hezbollah would unmask itself in the Arab world as an Iranian cipher. Even the leadership of Hamas, with which Hezbollah once had close relations, recoiled in disgust when it threw in its lot with the Assad dictatorship.

In recognizing that Hezbollah, for all its attempts to portray itself as a responsible political movement, is in fact simply a terror group, the GCC member states have taken a bold and decisive step. No longer will Hezbollah be able to present itself convincingly as a champion of any Arab cause. No longer will it be able to pretend that its men are dying for the rest of the Arab world.

Indeed, by rushing to fight alongside Assad’s faltering army and Shabiha militiamen, this terror group has allied itself with a government that has sought and failed to terrorize its own people into obedience.

It must be wondered if some Hezbollah leaders do not already appreciate the considerable risks of rushing to the aid of a doomed regime. Once Assad is gone, there will be no easy supply line to Hezbollah-occupied areas of Lebanon. Nasrallah might have argued that it was for this very reason, plus the need to keep Iranian support, that its commanders simply had to send young Lebanese to Syria to fight and die alongside Assad’s forces. But it will prove to be a desperate move.

When Syria is free, Hezbollah will be alone and isolated in its south Lebanon territory. Its murderous and malign influence in the country will be challenged by moderate Lebanese, who are fed up with its strutting thugs and the obstruction of its leaders in the country’s delicate political process. The time is past when the Hezbollah leadership can pose as a champion of the Arab cause. Thanks to its slavish support for Iran and Syria, it has actually defined itself as an enemy of the Arab world in general and the Palestinian cause in particular.

Hezbollah needs to be seen for the ruthless terrorist organization that it really is and the GCC’s decision to call it such is surely a crucial nail in the terror group’s coffin.

(h/t Arsen)
  • Sunday, June 09, 2013
  • Elder of Ziyon
In 2007, I wrote this post:

The Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem has a collection of Isaac Newton's non-scientific writings, many of them theological.

In a manuscript where Newton discussed aspects of the Temple in Jerusalem, we can see here where he actually writes in Hebrew in addition to English and Latin:
At the time I used an image host that no longer exists, so my picture of Newton's Hebrew handwriting (in this case, while discussing Maimonides) was lost. (I cannot edit posts more than 5000 posts ago, due to a strange Blogger glitch, so I am missing many old images.)

So here again is Isaac Newton's writing:


His vowelization of the Talmudic phrase which is today pronounced as "Tah Sh'ma" as "Tay Shayma" is interesting too.
  • Sunday, June 09, 2013
From Ian:

US Denounces Falk's 'Outrageous Abuse' of UN Position
“We welcome U.S. Ambassador Donahoe’s strong rejection and condemnation of Richard Falk’s latest report on the human rights situation of the Palestinians, and call on Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, U.N. High Commissioner Navi Pillay and member states of the Human Rights Council to denounce Falk and his outrageous abuse of the position he holds,” said ADL National Director Abraham Foxman.
“Mr. Falk’s attempt to paint himself as the victim of an Israeli government-sponsored defamation campaign, carried out by U.N. Watch, has echoes of classical anti-Semitic conspiracy theories,” asserted Foxman.
My prediction: Please help prove it wrong
A determined domestic thrust is under way to compress Israel back into its precarious pre-1967 frontiers, imperiling the viability of Jewish sovereignty.
It is important to note the metamorphosis that has taken place in the rationale of the two-state doctrine. For in contrast to the not too- distant past, withdrawal from the territories across the 1967 Green Line is now no longer presented – as least not, primarily – as a measure designed to attain a peace accord with the Palestinians. Rather, it is portrayed as a desired value in, and of, itself. Today, territorial retreat is being promoted as a standalone moral imperative which must be aspired to, no matter what the peace negotiations with the Palestinians achieve. Or don’t.
Golda Meir offered Egypt most of Sinai for peace before 1973 war
Several months before the 1973 Yom Kippur War, then-Israeli prime minister Golda Meir used West German diplomatic channels to offer Egypt most of the Sinai Peninsula in exchange for peace, according to documents released Sunday by the state archives.
Leftists won't Apologize over Gay Murder Smear
For four years, leftists blamed the religious sector, and especially hareidim, for the 2009 double murder in Tel Aviv's Barnoar club, which caters to homosexual youths. A gunman opened fire on youths at the club, killing a young man and a young woman, and leaving others crippled.
Now, police have arrested four people in connection with the attack. According to leaks, the police have solid evidence that the attack was carried out by a group of young men with criminal backgrounds in revenge for the alleged rape of their relative, a male youth, by the manager of the club.
BBC self-censors on gay rights in Middle East
The BBC ignored the event completely, with no reporting on the Middle East page of its website or in the ‘In Pictures’ features for that day or that week.
One brief reference to the event was, however, to be found at the bottom of a strangely headlined article concerning the arrest of suspects in the investigation into the shooting at the Bar Noar (not “Bar Noah” as stated in the BBC article) LGBT youth club in 2009 which – contrary to the headline’s implication (Four held over Israel ‘gay attack’)– appears at this stage not to have been motivated by anti-gay sentiment on the part of the perpetrators.
Alert Soldiers Thwart Stabbing in Hevron
Alert Border Police officers thwarted an attempted terrorist attack at the Tomb of the Patriarchs (Ma'arat Hamachpelah) in Hevron on Saturday night.
Palestinians protest against new PA prime minister
The first protest against Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah took place in Hebron on Saturday.
Dozens of Palestinians staged a sit-in-strike in the center of the city in protest of Hamdallah’s failure to appoint more than one minister from Hebron to his new government, which was sworn in before PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday.
UN Official: Syrian Army Asked IDF Not to Hit its Tanks in the Golan
"The Government of Israel Liaison Officer informed UNDOF that the IDF had provided emergency medical treatment to a total of 16 armed members of the opposition."
‘Despite Qusair victory, Iran-Syria-Hezbollah axis showing cracks’
The Iran-Syria-Hezbollah axis is showing cracks, but until the Syrian rebels unite and receive a steady supply of weapons, Syrian President Bashar Assad has high chances of survival, the former head of the IDF Intelligence Directorate, Amos Yadlin, said Saturday.
“This development [cracks in the axis] is beneficial for Israel, but the price is sporadic terrorist activity in the Golan Heights,” Yadlin said, during a Channel 2 interview.
German report: Berlin a hub of Hezbollah activity
Hezbollah has 950 members in Germany, including 250 in the capital, a reported released by Berlin’s domestic intelligence agency released last week showed.
A Hezbollah-controlled orphans organization in Lower Saxony state is used to raise money for the families of suicide bombers targeting Israelis, the 140-page German-language report examined by The Jerusalem Post also showed.
Erdogan rules out early elections as thousands defy call to end protest
Tens of thousands of people thronged Istanbul’s Taksim Square Saturday, and thousands more turned out in central Ankara as protests that have presented Turkey’s prime minister with the first serious challenge to his leadership entered their second week.
Hours earlier, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s governing party dismissed the protests, which have spread across the country, as an opposition attempt to topple the government, and rejected calls for early elections.
Weeklong protests crack Turkey’s international image
A violent police crackdown on a small environmental sit-in at Istanbul’s central Taksim Square has done more than spawn a week of protests across the country. It has left cracks in the shiny international image of a tolerant and deeply democratic Turkey.
It might even have rattled the nation’s grand ambitions on the world stage, which include a bid to host the 2020 Olympics and its long-standing aim to join the European Union.
Arab boycott of Lebanese movie filmed in Israel is the ‘height of obscenity’
When bestselling Algerian writer Mohammed Moulessehoul discovered the Arab League had asked its 22 member states to boycott the award-winning film based on his book, “The Attack,” he says, he wasn’t at all surprised.
To the 58-year-old, who publishes under the pen name Yasmina Khadra, the Arab League’s attitude is emblematic of “how ridiculous the Arabic political elite can be.”
Lebanese Film Director Ziad Dweiri/Doueiri (“The Attack”) Defends His Visit to Israel: Boycott Harms Us, Not Israel


Omri Casspi, ‘Jewish Jordan’ Partner on Basketball Camps to Inspire Youths On and Off the Court
Before last year, basketball camps for Jewish youths never had an instructor quite like Omri Casspi, a forward for the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Cleveland Cavaliers and the first Israeli-born player in NBA history.
Tel Aviv U. helps discover new planet
“This is the first time that this aspect of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity has been used to discover a planet,” said Mazeh. “We have been searching for this elusive effect for more than two years, and we finally found a planet… It is a dream come true.”
For Ethiopia-born Miss Israel, an emotional return
Israel’s first Ethiopian-born beauty queen Yityish Titi Aynaw made an emotional return trip this week to her native homeland, to accompany extended members of her family on their aliyah journey to Israel.
Aynaw, 21, from Netanya, was chosen Miss Israel 2013 in February. She had left Ethiopia with members of her immediate family at age 10.

Printfriendly

EoZTV Podcast

Podcast URL

Subscribe in podnovaSubscribe with FeedlyAdd to netvibes
addtomyyahoo4Subscribe with SubToMe

search eoz

comments

Speaking

Follow by Email

translate

E-Book

For $18 donation








Sample Text

EoZ's Most Popular Posts in recent years

Hasbys!

Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 14 years and 30,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

Donate!

Donate to fight for Israel!

Monthly subscription:
Payment options


One time donation:

subscribe via email

Follow EoZ on Twitter!

Interesting Blogs

Categories

#PayForSlay Abbas liar Academic fraud administrivia al-Qaeda algeria Alice Walker American Jews AmericanZionism Amnesty analysis anti-semitism anti-Zionism antisemitism apartheid Arab antisemitism arab refugees Arafat archaeology Ari Fuld art Ashrawi ASHREI B'tselem bahrain Balfour bbc BDS BDSFail Bedouin Beitunia beoz Bernie Sanders Biden history Birthright book review Brant Rosen breaking the silence Campus antisemitism Cardozo cartoon of the day Chakindas Chanukah Christians circumcision Clark Kent coexistence Community Standards conspiracy theories COVID-19 Cyprus Daled Amos Daphne Anson David Applebaum Davis report DCI-P Divest This double standards Egypt Elder gets results ElderToons Electronic Intifada Embassy EoZ Trump symposium eoz-symposium EoZNews eoztv Erekat Erekat lung transplant EU Euro-Mid Observer European antisemitism Facebook Facebook jail Fake Civilians 2014 Fake Civilians 2019 Farrakhan Fatah featured Features fisking flotilla Forest Rain Forward free gaza freedom of press palestinian style future martyr Gary Spedding gaza Gaza Platform George Galloway George Soros German Jewry Ghassan Daghlas gideon levy gilad shalit gisha Goldstone Report Good news Grapel Guardian guest post gunness Haaretz Hadassah hamas Hamas war crimes Hananya Naftali hasbara Hasby 2014 Hasby 2016 Hasby 2018 hate speech Hebron helen thomas hezbollah history Hizballah Holocaust Holocaust denial honor killing HRW Human Rights Humanitarian crisis humor huor Hypocrisy ICRC IDF IfNotNow Ilan Pappe Ilhan Omar impossible peace incitement indigenous Indonesia international law interview intransigence iran Iraq Islamic Judeophobia Islamism Israel Loves America Israeli culture Israeli high-tech J Street jabalya James Zogby jeremy bowen Jerusalem jewish fiction Jewish Voice for Peace jihad jimmy carter Joe Biden John Kerry jokes jonathan cook Jordan Joseph Massad Juan Cole Judaism Judea-Samaria Judean Rose Judith Butler Kairos Karl Vick Keith Ellison ken roth khalid amayreh Khaybar Know How to Answer Lebanon leftists Linda Sarsour Linkdump lumish mahmoud zahar Mairav Zonszein Malaysia Marc Lamont Hill Marjorie Taylor Greene max blumenthal Mazen Adi McGraw-Hill media bias Methodist Michael Lynk Michael Ross Miftah Missionaries moderate Islam Mohammed Assaf Mondoweiss moonbats Morocco Mudar Zahran music Muslim Brotherhood Naftali Bennett Nakba Nan Greer Nation of Islam Natural gas Nazi Netanyahu News nftp NGO Nick Cannon NIF Noah Phillips norpac NSU Matrix NYT Occupation offbeat olive oil Omar Barghouti Only in Israel Opinion Opinon oxfam PA corruption PalArab lies Palestine Papers pallywood pchr PCUSA Peace Now Peter Beinart Petra MB philosophy poetry Poland poll Poster Preoccupied Prisoners propaganda Proud to be Zionist Puar Purim purimshpiel Putin Qaradawi Qassam calendar Quora Rafah Ray Hanania real liberals RealJerusalemStreets reference Reuters Richard Falk Richard Landes Richard Silverstein Right of return Rivkah Lambert Adler Robert Werdine rogel alpher roger cohen roger waters Rutgers Saeb Erekat Sarah Schulman Saudi Arabia saudi vice self-death self-death palestinians Seth Rogen settlements sex crimes SFSU shechita sheikh tamimi Shelly Yachimovich Shujaiyeh Simchat Torah Simona Sharoni SodaStream South Africa Sovereignty Speech stamps Superman Syria Tarabin Temple Mount Terrorism This is Zionism Thomas Friedman TOI Tomer Ilan Trump Trump Lame Duck Test Tunisia Turkey UAE Accord UCI UK UN UNDP unesco unhrc UNICEF United Arab Emirates Unity unrwa UNRWA hate unrwa reports UNRWA-USA unwra Varda Vic Rosenthal Washington wikileaks work accident X-washing Y. Ben-David Yemen YMikarov zahran Ziesel zionist attack zoo Zionophobia Ziophobia Zvi

Blog Archive