Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, December 04, 2013

Temple Mount news: firework weapons, menorah freak-out and unmolested girls (UPDATE)

The Temple Mount in Jerusalem was closed to visitors on Wednesday after Arab youths shot fireworks at policemen out of the al-Aqsa Mosque.

The youths were said to have attacked the policemen from within the mosque.

Following the incident, security forces arrived at the scene and closed the religious site to visitors.

Who exactly is desecrating this holy place again? It's so confusing, since all the media reports is that Israeli Jews wanting to peacefully visit and worship there are the violators, and Muslims who hurls rocks and chairs and explosives to the Jews are the victims.

A group that attempted to ascend to the Temple Mount and light a menorah there was stopped by police, and they instead lit it at the Kotel. Arab media had been warning about this for days, saying the Jews would bring a "Talmudic candlestick" to the Mount.

Now the Arab media published dozens of photos of menorahs at the Kotel and in the Old City, in order to incite their readers. because to them, any Jew in Jerusalem doing anything Jewish must be stopped; the Temple Mount is only one venue.

And my favorite:

Meanwhile, Yisrael Medad posts a photo of Muslim girls walking in the Kotel plaza:

No one is hurling stones or explosives to them. No police protection is required. They were allowed through the checkpoint that everyone has to go through by Israeli security. And no screaming headlines of how Muslims are defiling a Jewish holy place.

UPDATE: Video of Muslims intimidating a group of women on the Temple Mount this morning (h/t Yerushalimey)

Post by Chava Nikki Bachle-Docks.

>The police were extra stringent
checking our bags and our persons at the checkpoint just before the wooden bridge to the Rambam Gate leading into the Temple Mount. Even my water bottle was opened and checked, as well as every single scrap of paper, nook and cranny in my handbag (gotta learn to travel light to the Mount from now on!). Yehuda Glick guided a group of women, and there were others of us not in his group, plus a non-Jewish French reporter. We saw lots more police waiting just outside the gate and stationed in front of Al Aksa mosque. Obviously something was in the wind...

When we were finally allowed through the gate and onto the Mount - instead of our customary route straight past Al Aksa, the police directed us to the left, on the way to the next gate, and told us to wait until they receive further instructions... so we waited. In the meantime, Yehuda was showing pictures and giving explanations to his group; while he was doing it, an Arab came up to him and called him "shakran" (liar)...

And then it happened. Two or three firecrackers went off right across from Al Aksa. The bangs were loud - scared the ---- out of me - and I saw the smoke. The cops were right there and did absolutely nothing to stop the Arabs, make arrests, or whatever.

After some more waiting, some Arabs started chanting their usual at us: Allahu Akhbar and whatever other nonsense they were spouting...

The police did NOT allow us to proceed on the walk, but told us we would have to leave at the very next gate - the Chain Gate (which is where we would always exit the Mount, but after doing the whole route around).

As we were standing at that gate, suddenly a large group of Arabs - men and women - started rapidly advancing towards us. The police got in between us and them and started pushing us off the Mount, through the gate, all the time while this group of Arabs seemed to be getting bigger and chanting louder as they moved towards us. I gave them the finger, shouted out my usual "V'techezena eiynenu b'shuvcha l'Zion b'rachamim" - May our eyes behold Your return to Zion in compassion - and a couple of times, "Am Israel Chai"! - The Jewish People live!

Syrian army loses a battle - so they blame Israel

I love stuff like this from Iran's Fars News, also picked up by Hezbollah's Al Manar:

Battles launched in Damascus countryside more than a week ago by a surprised assault on the Syrian army forward posts in the Eastern Ghota were reported to be the first proof of the Israeli army's effective involvement in the terrorist war on the Syrian government, Lebanese daily Assafir reported Saturday.

Sources told the newspaper that Zionist troops have provided reconnaissance maps and photos of the Syrian army positions to the attacking force, which moved from Jordan under the leadership of Saudi-US-Zionist coordinated intelligence, Al-Manar reported.

"However, the great Israeli contribution in the East Ghota battle was the pillar of the whole attack. According to security information, before the start of the first round of the attack, the Israelis succeeded in disrupting communications among the Syrian army units deployed in the region.

During the first hours of the attack, the Israelis used electronic means of encryption, and managed to disrupt radio communications among Syrian army units on the first line of defense, which was breached quickly, and led to the fall of the seven villages and farms in the area of al-Marj.

It has become known that units of the fourth division stationed in the region had lost contact with commanders, and other units protected retreating groups' lines towards the second line of defense to prevent the attackers from progress toward their strategic goal of Otaiba, which forms the entrance to East Gouta and the key to the siege imposed over it.

Syrian army radio goes on the fritz - so it must be the Jews!

But the story does bring up a valid question: if Syria's military communications are so rotten, why doesn't/didn't the West provide equipment to scramble Syrian radio signals to the secular rebels? Seems like a relatively easy way to help them without getting directly involved.

In related news, a Hezbollah leader was assassinated in Beirut - so naturally Hezbollah blamed Israel, even though the terror group is not very well liked in Lebanon.

Finally there's also this: Israel sends humanitarian aid to Syria:

Israel has sent humanitarian aid to neighboring Syria, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Tuesday during a visit to the tense frontier.

"We've sent food, water, baby food and other humanitarian products," he told reporters.

"We cannot remain idle when civilians are being confronted by a humanitarian crisis," he said, without elaborating on how the aid was delivered.

Baby-food-washing!

Those incredible storming settlers performing their Talmudic rituals

Usually, this level of idiocy is only published in Arabic. I was briefly surprised to see it in World Bulletin.

Then I looked at where World Bulletin is published:

Turkey.

I am taking the liberty of highlighting every example of bias or lies in this article:

Jewish settlers storm Al-Aqsa and Nablus

Jewish settlers have been repeatedly storming the Al-Aqsa compound, and have now stormed the Palestinian city of Nablus, where they performed Talmudic rituals.

Dozens of Jewish extremists on Tuesday stormed the Aqsa Mosque compound in the city of Al-Quds (East Jerusalem).

"Settlers, under the protection of Israeli police, stormed the Aqsa compound through the Magharbeh Gate," Mahmoud Abu Atta, spokesman for the Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage, told Anadolu Agency.

The settlers were led by extremist Jewish Rabbi Yehuda Glick, chairman of Israel's Temple Mount Heritage Foundation.

In recent weeks, groups of Jewish settlers – often accompanied by Israeli security forces – have repeatedly entered the Aqsa Mosque complex. The frequent violations anger Palestinian Muslims and occasionally lead to violent clashes.

For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site.

Jews refer to the area as the "Temple Mount," claiming it was the site of two prominent Jewish temples in ancient times.

Israel occupied the city of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) after the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the holy city, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Jewish state.

SETTLERS PERFORM TALMUDIC RITUALS IN Nablus

Clashes erupted on Tuesday after hundreds of Jewish settlers, backed by Israeli security forces, stormed the West Bank city of Nablus and performed Talmudic rituals at the site known as Joseph's Tomb.

"At dawn today, Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces were bussed to Joseph's Tomb, where they performed Talmudic rituals and held noisy celebrations until the late morning," Ahmed Shamekh, chairman of the services committee at the nearby Balata refugee camp, told Anadolu Agency.

Israeli forces used rubber bullets and teargas to disperse Palestinian residents, leaving dozens suffering from gas inhalation, medical sources told AA.

Some details that the Turks left out:

Arutz-7 reports that many of the worshipers, who came overnight, were from central and northern Israel - not the territories.

Ma'an, which also describes the visitors as "settlers," gives more details on the clashes:

While the settlers visited the site, a number of Palestinian young men gathered in the area hurling stones and empty bottles at Israeli soldiers.

No casualties were reported.

The "storming Joseph's Tomb to do Talmudic rituals" story - something that happens at least once a month - also received absurdly biased coverage in Bahraini and Jordanian English-language news outlets.

Perfect news for Chanukah:

Josephus wrote about Hasmonean Jerusalem but it is only now that remains of a building are being exposed from this period in the city’s history

In recent months remains of an impressive building from the Hasmonean period (second century BCE) are being unearthed in excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority is directing in the Giv‘ati parking lot, located in the City of David in the Walls Around Jerusalem National Park.

The building stands c. 4 meters high and covers an area of c. 64 sq. m. The building’s broad walls (more than one meter thick) are made of roughly hewn limestone blocks that were arranged as headers and stretchers, a construction method characteristic of the Hasmonean period.

Although numerous pottery vessels were discovered inside the building, it was mainly the coins that surprised the researchers. These indicated the structure was erected in the early second century BCE and continued into the Hasmonean period, during which time significant changes were made inside it.

According to Dr. Doron Ben Ami and Yana Tchekhanovets, the excavation directors on behalf to the Israel Antiquities Authority, “The importance of this discovery is primarily because of the conspicuous paucity of buildings from the Hasmonean city of Jerusalem in archaeological research, despite the many excavations that have been conducted to date. Apart from several remains of the city’s fortifications that were discovered in different parts of Jerusalem, as well as pottery and other small finds, none of the Hasmonean city’s buildings have been uncovered so far, and this discovery bridges a certain gap in Jerusalem’s settlement sequence. The Hasmonean city, which is well-known to us from the historical descriptions that appear in the works of Josephus, has suddenly acquired tangible expression”.

(h/t Yoel)

12/03 Links Pt2: PA want 'Geneva Accord' against Israel, SFSU GUPS Pres. wants to stab an IDF Soldier

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians: We Want a Geneva Accord against Israel

Abdel Rahman urged the PA leadership to take advantage of the Geneva accord between the six big powers and Iran to call for an international conference to discuss ways of imposing a solution on Israel.
The Palestinians are now convinced that that under President Barack Obama, the U.S. role in the region is continually receding. That is why they do not believe that the U.S.-sponsored peace talks with Israel will produce any results.
The Geneva accord and Washington's failed policies in Egypt and other Muslim countries have taught the Palestinians that it would be better to wait until the U.S. completely loses its influence so that other players such as Russia, China and the EU will step in to impose a solution on Israel.

Why Netanyahu Gave Pope Francis His Father’s History of the Spanish Inquisition

In other words, Ben Zion Netanyahu’s argument shifted the root blame for the Inquisition from religion to ingrained racial animus–from the spiritual to the secular. If one was going to give the pope a book about the Inquisition, then, this would be the one. Moreover, not only does the book’s revisionist reckoning partially absolve Christianity for Spanish persecution of the Jews, it offers a contemporary message of pressing relevance. At a time when Christian anti-Semitism has receded–evidenced not least by the friendly relations between the Vatican and the state of Israel–secular and racial forms of anti-Semitism have been on the rise, particularly in Europe, where a nearly a quarter of Jews say they are afraid to publicly identify as Jewish. The anti-Semitism diagnosed by Ben Zion Netanyahu is alive and well.
The elder Netanyahu’s account of the Inquisition then, whatever its merits as a reconstruction of the past, serves as a powerful warning about the dangers lurking in the present–one that his son doubtless intended to convey.

Israelis distrust Iran deal but overwhelmingly value alliance with US

The findings come from the latest Tel Aviv University-Israel Democracy Institute Peace Index, a monthly survey of Israeli public opinion.
Fully 77% of Israelis say the nuclear agreement between Western powers and Iran will not end the Islamic Republic’s drive for nuclear weapons. Just 18% said they thought it would.
At the same time, Israelis overwhelmingly welcome the alliance with the US.

The truth about Israel’s Bedouin resettlement plan

What should give the propagandists pause for thought is that even Israel’s very leftist liberal President Shimon Peres has approved of the Begin-Praver plan and insists it should be carried through.
It is a disgrace, but unfortunate no surprise, that Israel is damned if it does and damned if it doesn’t. For all the years that the Bedouin have been neglected Israel has been criticised for not providing proper housing, taking care of their needs and generally neglecting the Bedouin. And now that Israel is finally prepared to resettle them permanently in a very generous arrangement, Israel is demonized by its detractors and haters from home and abroad.
We need to ignore the propagandists and bigots and act in our own – and the Bedouin’s – best interests.

Sound and fury masking true debate over Bedouin resettlement

The Bedouins’ plight is real. The state’s failure over the decades to supply them with basic services is a documented fact. At the same time, many Bedouin leaders’ resistance to the kind of centralized planning necessary for such services to be properly deployed is also a fact.
And it is the ordinary, unassuming families of the sprawling tent-cities who are the true suffering victims of their own leaders’, and Israel’s, collective neglect. And who are not being usefully served by the passionate, largely under-informed, and in some cases perniciously motivated international outcry.

Anti-Israel Ads in Boston, Denver, Portland Countered by StandWithUs

"The anti-Israel ads also leave out the context such as the chronic wars and terrorism unleashed against Israel that first created the refugee problem. They omit the numerous times Israel has given up land for peace—such as in Gaza—when in exchange, it got thousands of rockets hurled at its southern towns and Palestinian leaders continued refusal to accept the Jewish state,” Rothstein said.
The pro-Israel ads from SWU depict Jewish loss of land over time, highlight Israeli innovation, and direct viewers to thewholestory.org, a website listing the “Top 10 Things Palestinian Leaders Don’t Want You To Know” about Israel.

The National Lawyers Guild, GUPS, and SFSU: Red Herring. Its whats for Lunch

On Nov. 7, an event sponsored by the General Opinion of Palestinian Students at San Francisco State University featured signage stating "Our heroes have always killed colonizers", which was roundly condemned by university administrators, and advocacy groups.
In an open letter than never once mentions the controversial phrase, the National Lawyers Guild has come out with a statement declaring this as "controversial political speech rather than hate speech", and therefore safeguarded by protections under the first amendment.

SFSU GUPS President Loves His Knife And Wants To Stab IDF Soldier With It

This is so disturbing, it has forced the Simon Wiesenthal Center to warn SFSU of a “a potential threat to its Jewish students.”
Simon Wiesenthal Center officials today warned San Francisco State University of a potential threat to its Jewish students after the Amcha Initiative uncovered a picture on Tumblr allegedly posted by the President of the University-sanctioned General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS) in which he is shown holding a knife with the caption saying, “I seriously can not get over how much I love this blade. It is the sharpest thing I own and cuts through everything like butter and just holding it makes me want to stab an Israeli soldier….”The Tumblr post has since been removed.

Documents reveal British banned Geller and Spencer because of their ‘pro-Israeli views’

The British government tried to cover its tracks. But a new cache of documents Robert Spencer and I have received in our battle to overturn our being banned from Britain reveal that a chief reason why we were banned from the country was because we strongly support Israel. As part of our lawsuit against the Queen of England and the Home Secretary et al, we have received numerous documents between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Office of Security and Counterterrorism, and the Home Secretary.

John Kerry: US working to end anti-Israel bias at UN

On Monday, the US and other Western countries admitted Israel into the Western Europe and Others Group in Geneva, a move which will provide it with some influence before the UN top human rights body. Israel will official assume its seat on January 1.
Kerry called the move “overdue,” and said it was a step toward giving Israel a greater global voice.
“It goes without saying that at a time when the scourge of global anti-Semitism is on the rise, it is more important than ever for Israel to have a strong voice that can be heard everywhere,” he said in a statement. “This is a particularly welcome development as we work to end anti-Israel bias in the UN system.”

Samantha Power Welcomes Israel to UNHRC

In a statement she issued on Monday, Power said, “For far too long Israel has been unfairly excluded from regional bodies at the United Nations. I applaud the decision to admit Israel into the Western European and Others Group (WEOG) at the UN in Geneva beginning January 1, 2014, providing Israel membership into one of the regional bodies that shape policy and determine leadership posts in UN fora.”
Power added, “This long-overdue decision brings Geneva in line with the decision to admit Israel into WEOG in New York in 2000, which continues to pay dividends more than a decade later, as well as more recent efforts by this administration to more fully normalize Israel’s treatment across the UN system.”

EU disowns the ‘EU working definition of anti-Semitism’

On 6 November, I protested to EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton, the current disappearance of the “Working Definition” from the FRA website, requesting it be immediately re-uploaded.
The 29 November response from the European Commission Directorate-General Justice, with responsibility for Fundamental Rights, was astounding in insisting “at the outset, that neither the Commission in particular, nor the Union have an established definition of antisemitism and that there is no policy to create one. Furthermore, it should be pointed out that the FRA is an independent agency.”

ADL raps rapper Kanye West for 'classic anti-Semitism'

The Anti-Defamation League rapped rapper Kanye West over his off-the-cuff remarks in a radio interview that Jews and “oil people” are more well-connected than black people in general and President Obama in particular.
“If the comments are true as reported, this is classic anti-Semitism,” the ADL’s national director, Abraham Foxman, said in a statement. “There it goes again, the age-old canard that Jews are all-powerful and control the levers of power in government. As a celebrity with a wide following, Kanye West should know better. We hope that he will take responsibility for his words, understand why they are so offensive, and apologize to those he has offended.”

French firm to change name of detergent reminiscent of Zyklon B

A French detergent maker said it will change the name of a product called Cyclone B following complaints that it is offensive to Holocaust victims.
“We are aware of the issue and are working to address it,” a spokeswoman for the firm IPC-SA from Brest in northwestern France told JTA on Monday.

Four menorahs vandalized in spate of Budapest attacks

Three vandals of public menorahs in the Hungarian capital of Budapest reportedly turned themselves into police.
Police were searching for a fourth vandal in the attacks they said took place over the weekend on four menorahs throughout the city, Hungary’s Club Radio reported. The vandalism was captured on public surveillance cameras.

Israel Prepares for Record 2 Million Christian Tourists in 2013

At end-October, according to Tourism Ministry statistics, 1.85 million tourists had passed through Rachel’s Crossing from Jerusalem to visit Bethlehem.
A total 75,000 tourists are expected to be in Jerusalem, Nazareth and Bethlehem over Christmas, with 25,000 being considered Christian pilgrims.
The Ministry said, over the past two years, Israel has invested NIS 86 million ($24 million) in strengthening the transport infrastructure and other assets used by Christians to tour Israel’s religious sites.

Jewish Playwright David Mamet Takes on Obama, Defends Israel

Mamet also described his own position on Israel and the recent deal that partially lifted sanctions against Iran, coming at the political situation as a Jew from a family of Holocaust survivors.
Mamet said, “Well, I was born right after World War II and I’m a Jew. I’m a serious Jew. My grandparents didn’t leave Poland. Got killed, half of them got killed by the Nazis. Half of them got killed by Stalin and it’s clearly evident to me, from the first, that the left is going to make Israel do it’s dirty work. It’s going to turn its back on Israel until, to save the West, Israel is going to have to strike at Iran and leave the cat sitting on the fence to say, ‘See, I told you so. Look at what them Yids are up to this week.’”

Lady Gaga heading to Israel in 2014

Gaga, who is currently touring in Japan, is to perform in Yarkon Park in Tel Aviv, a venue that regularly hosts performances by international stars. She last visited Israel in 2009 when she performed at the Israel Trade Fairs & Convention Center, also in Tel Aviv.
Channel 2 also reported that singer Justin Timberlake is scheduled to perform in Israel on May 14, 2014, either in Yarkon Park or the Ramat Gan Stadium.

More Amazing Photos by Shlomo and Sonia Narinsky -- Jewish Photographers Exiled by the Turks, Swept Up by the Nazis

In 1932, the Narinskys opened a studio in Paris, but Shlomo was arrested when the Nazis captured France. He was later exchanged for a German spy caught in Palestine after the intercession of David Ben-Gurion and Yitzchak Ben-Zvi. The Narinskys returned to Israel, eventually moving to Haifa where Shlomo taught as a photography teacher. He died in 1960, relatively unknown.

Chanukah video post #7: Too Short slow-raps "Judah MaccaBIATCH"

TMZ says:

He's been workin' on it for a solid year ... and now legendary rapper Too Short has finally released his long-awaited Hanukkah slow jam ... complete with latkes, dreidels and Judah MaccaBIATCH!

Um....OK:

Palestine Today reports:

The head the commission of inquiry into the death of the late President Yasser Arafat, Major General Tawfiq Tirawi, pledged to reveal the accomplices involved the assassination of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat during an upcoming press conference, although he did not announce when this would occur.

Tirawi said on his Facebook page Tuesday: "I promise that the next press conference will be the last to shed light on the names of every accomplice or co-conspirator in the case of President Yasser Arafat....We are in the last quarter-hour of the investigation."

I love pre-announcing an unscheduled press conference that will never happen. The only people with Arafat were major officials in the PLO and people he trusted, the chances that a PLO-backed investigation will blame any PLO member for being an accomplice is zilch.

Then again, maybe Tirawi will resurrect the Joo-Rays theory, updating it as a long-distance polonium weapon! This way he can avoid blaming any Arabs altogether!

Four years ago, the head of another Arafat death investigation also announced that he was really, really close to figuring out what happened. We're still waiting.

Meanwhile, BBC reports that the French investigation finds that Arafat was not poisoned:

A team of French scientists probing the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 2004 do not believe he was poisoned, according to leaks from their report.

They have reportedly concluded he died after a "generalised infection".

...Tawfiq Tirawi, head of the Palestinian Authority's inquiry into the death, told AFP: "We need to study the report. We can't take a position on it until we've looked at it."

I wonder what his position would be?

Remember that the Russian report was also leaked to show no evidence of polonium poisoning.

The Swiss report that said that their results "moderately" supported the theory that he was poisoned relied more on the same lab's previous findings about Arafat's alleged underwear and toothbrush than on what was found on his remains directly. Apparently, the Russian and French reports concentrated only on the actual tests done on his tissues.

Today's #BDSFail report (Zvi)

From Zvi:

From the #BDSFail Desk

BDS fails. And boy, is it an Epic Fail. They fail in Mexico, in the Vatican, in the Persian Gulf, in the EU, in Canada, in India and on the global financial stage.

Mexico’s president: Peres visit ‘cause for celebration’ (JPost)

In Mexico, Peres also met with Carlos Slim, the world's second richest man and a man of (Christian) Lebanese descent, who is interested in increasing his high-tech investments in Israel.

Will Israel Be The Focus Of Mexican Telecom Mogul Carlos Slim's Next Investment Spree? (Forbes)

“We like to have our finger on the pulse of everything regarding new technologies and I know that in this Israel is a world leader, so we are interested in Israeli developments. I’m glad that through our connection and friendship the opportunity was created for this unique visit here by the Israeli delegation to Grupo Carso,” Slim was quoted saying by the Mexican media....After the conference, in a gesture that did not go unnoticed, Slim Helú, his youngest son Marco Antonio Slim Domit, chairman of Grupo Financiero Inbursa, and son-in-law Arturo Elías Ayub, Telmex’s Chief Officer of Relations with Investors, visited Peres at his hotel suite. Elias posted an image of the four on his Twitter account.

Netanyahu meets Pope Francis (USA Today)

Pope Francis met Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a closed-door meeting at the Vatican to discuss matters that are highly political and an illustration of the pontiff's increasing willingness to weigh in on global affairs.

Peres addresses Gulf Arab summit (Arutz Sheva)

I hardly know where to begin with this one.

President Shimon Peres secretly addressed 29 foreign ministers from Arab nations last month,Yediot Aharonot reported Sunday - and they applauded him after his speech about Israel, a nuclear Iran and the fight against radical Islam.Peres spoke two weeks ago to the Gulf States Security Summit in Abu Dhabi from his Jerusalem office via livestream, according to the report. Peres allegedly only agreed to appear if his presence was kept strictly under wraps.Foreign Ministers present at the event included representatives from Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, and Yemen. Other officials present included high-ranking representatives from other Muslim countries - including Indonesia, Malaysia, and Bangladesh. Saudi Arabia was represented by the son of the Saudi monarch.The meeting was facilitated by top United Nations envoys, including Terje Larsen, the Under-Secretary General to the UN, and Martin Indyk, the US Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations.

Of course, Larsen acted as intermediary so that no Arab would have to sully his reputation by actually asking Israel's president a question.

Still, BDS fails when BDS idiots fail to stop Israelis from giving lectures at universities. So this must be a pretty big failure for the Bigots, Drones and Sociopaths of BDS, eh?

Israel on course to join Europe's science program

Israel is the only non-EU country to have been asked to join Horizon 2020 as a full partner, and is expected to pay in €600 million, while receiving €900m back in research grants and investment.

Canada's PM announces his first trip to Israel

Israel working to finalize arms deal with India (UPI)

Israeli stocks climb to a new record

Also, the largest cruise ship ever built in Europe, the Fantasia, is docked at Haifa today. Looks like it will be visiting regularly.

12/03 Links Pt1: Bibi: Iran Will Wreak Havoc on ME, Flotilla to Nowhere, Palestine- a study in addiction

From Ian:

Palestine: a study in addiction

"The West deludes itself by talking about a “Palestinian-Israeli” conflict for which it has no responsibility and in which it claims it is only aiding the downtrodden victims of one party. When in reality it is not a Palestinian-Israeli but in fact a pan-Arab-Israeli conflict and, indeed, particularly fuelled by the mullahs in Tehran, a wider Islamist-Jewish conflict."
"That conflict is exploding in places far geographically removed from Ramallah, Amman, Gaza City and Jerusalem. And it is doing so with increasingly frequency – and increasing ferocity."
"It is time the UN and EU stopped investing hard-earned tax revenues in the wasteful Palestinian Arab addiction to violence, intransigence, corruption and fanaticism. And instead started demanding reciprocity, transparency and democracy. On pain of withheld financial aid." (h/t Bob Knot)

Netanyahu: Iran Will Wreak Havoc on Middle East

Netanyahu continued, firing back at criticism that Israel's talks with the Palestinians, which many have seen as a failure, are the key to peace across the entire Middle East.
"The great turmoil that we see in Syria is not related to Israel and the Palestinians. The great turmoil we see in Libya is not related to Israel and the Palestinians. The great turmoil we see in Iraq is not related to Israel and the Palestinians. The great turmoil we see in Yemen, Egypt and other places not related to Israel and the Palestinians," he declared.
"Unfortunately, the broader question of [what will bring peace to the] Middle East remains open except for one question," he continued. "If we add the instability of Iran's deal regarding its nuclear program into the Middle-East reactor, what will happen?" Netanyahu asserts that continued neglect of the full ramifications of the deal between Iran and Western powers provides the answer: chaos.

BBC explains why it did not report on toddler injured by stone-throwers

The issue of the rising scale of terror attacks against Israeli civilians even as those talks continue is, however, one which has been largely ignored or downplayed by the BBC. That means that its audiences have no appreciation of the influence of those quotidian attacks (especially those in which children are injured) on Israeli public opinion regarding the issue of the ‘peace process’ and are deprived of the context necessary to understand Israeli policy and actions – as they were, for example, at the beginning of Operation Pillar of Cloud in November 2012 because the BBC had previously under-reported the missile attacks on Israeli civilians living in proximity to the Gaza Strip.

Jihadist Terrorists Killed; Times Omits the Facts

On November 26, the IDF killed three Salafi jihadist terrorists in the West Bank. The Times of London reports on claims by an Islamist terror group with links to Al-Qaeda that the three terrorists were members of that group. Referring to the deaths of the three, it reports:

Palestinian officials have denounced Israeli claims about the men’s affiliations. They also condemned the deaths as “extrajudicial killings”, noting that Israeli special forces shot the men in their car without establishing that they were armed. Firearms and improvised explosions were discovered in the car.
Rather than rely on less-than-reliable Palestinian sources, a professional journalist would have also published the details of the incident from the IDF, which were already in the public domain.

Colonel's Killers Planned to Abduct his Wife

The Arab terrorists who murdered reserve colonel Sraya Ofer Hy”d at his home on October 10, also planned to abduct his wife, Monique. She succeded in escaping, however, suffering injury in the process.
Ouda Haroub, 18, and Bashir Haroub, 21, both from the PA Arab town of Deir Sammit in the Hevron region, were charged this week with murdering Ofer, whose nickname was Yaya, outside his Jordan Valley home

PA police arrest Palestinian-Canadian investor after calling to oust Abbas

Palestinian Authority policemen arrested Palestinian-Canadian investor Mohamed Al Sabawi on Monday for “insulting” PA President Mahmoud Abbas. He was released after being held for eight hours.
Al Sabawi, 68, was arrested from his office in Ramallah by several armed PA policemen and taken to a police station.

Israel Warns EU of Emerging Gaza Humanitarian Disaster

He blamed the severe energy crisis on the confrontation between the new rulers in Egypt and the Hamas government—supporter of the deposed regime—which resulted in the Egyptians’ uncompromising assault on the smuggling tunnels into Gaza that used to be the lifeline of the densely populated strip.
“Egypt sees Hamas as the enemy,” Dangot stated emphatically. This, he pointed out, has also led to Hamas avoiding new confrontation with Israel, since it can no longer rely on Egypt to replenish its lost assets in such a conflict.

Gaza Division Commander: Hamas, IDF Cooperate

He stressed that "Leaders of Hamas, both the political and military branches, do everything to maintain restraint." He also claimed that "Hamas soldiers have been prevented from shooting at or mounting charges at the IDF."
"Hamas neutralizes any terrorist attacks against Israel", said the commander of the Gaza Division, "Hamas has become Gaza's cop, but this does not guarantee it will continue to work over time." (h/t Yoel)

Flotilla to nowhere

The "reverse flotilla" that left Gaza on Monday returned without confronting the Israeli Navy. About 150 Palestinian and European activists set out on 19 boats from the Gaza shore toward Israeli Navy vessels in an effort to break the sea blockade that the Israel Defense Forces has imposed on Gaza.
Hamas personnel escorted the flotilla to prevent an altercation between activists and the navy, with the goal of ensuring that understandings reached after last year's Operation Pillar of Defense would remain in place. The IDF's naval blockade is enforced at a six-mile distance from the Gaza shoreline, and prior to Operation Pillar of Defense, it had been set at three miles from the shore. The activists approached the five mile line, and from there they threw plastic bottles with protest letters into the water.

Melanie Phillips: Nuclear holocaust? Yes he can.

Whatever the truth of these claims, Obama’s agenda has been clear from the start. To those like myself who warned about Obama from the moment he became a candidate for the US Presidency, it was clear that here was a man who believed that America was the world’s principal rogue state which needed to be shackled, and that its ‘victims’ – Third World tyrannies and enemies of the west – needed to be empowered to even up the score. As for Israel, well, these whingeing Jews always behaved as if they were the only victims in the world, and if Israel was destroyed it would be all its own fault anyway.
But let’s get this in perspective. UK media pin-up Rouhani is now starring in a music video which is said to mimic an Obama campaign production.
Nuclear holocaust? Yes he can.

Netanyahu: Iran deal insubstantial ‘political theater’

At a press conference in the Italian capital, the prime minister again expressed strong opposition to the accord, urging European powers to demand a substantial rollback from Iran before agreeing to ease an effective sanctions regime. He warned that although Tehran, led by President Hassan Rouhani, presented a smiling face to the West, it continued to “butcher people in Syria, to promote terrorism” and to support Hezbollah and Hamas.
“Even though Iran has not even begun to implement the agreement, there appears to be a general relaxation of sanctions and a rush to accommodate Iran and to make it legitimate, as if Iran has changed anything of its actual policies except to smile, to speak English — on occasion — and to make Powerpoint presentations,” Netanyahu remarked. “What a revolution!”

Court Awards $9 Million to Victims of Iranian-Backed Terrorism

A U.S. district court has awarded millions in Iranian government funds to five American families who were victims of an Iranian-backed suicide bombing, despite objections from Tehran and the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Nov. 27 ruling, which allows the American victims of a 1997 terrorist attack in Jerusalem to recover more than $9 million from a U.S.-based defense contractor that worked with Iran, was hailed as a precedent-setting case by the victims’ legal counsel.

Talks on ‘technical aspects’ of Geneva deal to resume this week

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that the six-month interim period, during which Iran would take steps to rein in its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, had not yet begun. She also said a number of details were still to be worked out, without specifying which points had yet to be finalized.
“The next step here is a continuation of technical discussions at a working level so that we can essentially tee up the implementation of the agreement,” Psaki told reporters. “Obviously, once that’s — those technical discussions are worked through, I guess the clock would start. Obviously, there’ll also be a reconvening of the political track with the P5+1, which Under Secretary Sherman will continue to be our lead negotiator on.”

State Department Does Not Dispute Majority Of Iranian Enrichment Has Occurred Under Obama

Rosen cited Secretary of State John Kerry’s statements after the Geneva deal was signed in which Kerry contended Iran’s increase in centrifuges from 164 in 2003 to the current 19,000 indicates the international community achieved the best possible agreement with the Iranians.
However, Rosen asked Psaki if she would acknowledge 70 percent of those centrifuges were installed during the Obama administration. The statistic, Rosen said, calls into question Kerry’s implication that the agreement was actually the result of Bush administration foreign policy.

CNN Reporter Sees ‘Israel Lobby’ Behind Anti-Nuke Group

According to Tehran-based CNN correspondent Reza Sayah, the bipartisan advocacy group United Against a Nuclear Iran promotes anti-Iranian “propaganda” on behalf of “powerful bosses” and because of its “Israeli connections.”
Sayah then linked to a June blog post on the anti-Zionist website Mondoweiss that claimed UANI was part of the “Israel lobby” because it “gets a portion of [its] funding from organizations with a focus on Israel and Judaism.”

Iran News Agency Claims Israel, Saudi Arabia Making 'Stuxnet 2'

The news agency, which has been associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, claimed that an "informed source" told reporters that “Saudi spy chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and director of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency Tamir Pardo sent their representatives to a meeting in Vienna on November 24 to increase the two sides' cooperation in intelligence and sabotage operations against Iran’s nuclear program.“

Analysis: Coming peace talks on Syria are likely doomed before they start

“Assad and Iran are the winners in the regional equation at this point,” he said. In fact, Assad and his allies may have gained more confidence to attack the rebels in a more ferocious way, said Bligh. He points out that Syria might even try to provoke Israel in a way similar to the shots fired at Israel on Monday in the Golan. This could bring Iran into the arena.
Iran could even have Hezbollah remove its forces from Syria to concentrate on fighting against Israel, said Bligh. This could be a face-saving way for Hezbollah to withdraw from the Syrian war, where it has suffered many casualties, he said.
But the other option, he said could even be for Iran to use the issue to “attack Israel in a preemptive strike.” This option, he said, should not be overlooked.

UN: Syria crimes evidence ‘indicates’ Assad role

The statement by Navi Pillay, who heads the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, adds to the pressure for quicker action on Syria ahead of a key peace conference planned for Geneva in January. The conference, brought on by combined UN, US and Russian diplomacy, would for the first time bring the Assad government and opponents together for face-to-face negotiations.
“As we look around the world at the end of 2013, we see examples of situations where that readiness of the international community to act in time is already being sorely tested,” Pillay told a news conference that touched on trouble spots around the world.

French envoy honors Hezbollah lawmakers in dinner reception

Patrick Paoli, France’s Ambassador to Lebanon, hosted a dinner reception in early November for two Hezbollah MPs and the political militia’s international affairs representative.
The Lebanon Daily Star reported the dinner gathering on Thursday. Hezbollah MPs Ali Fayyad and Nawwar Saheli along with international affairs member Ammar Moussawi were honored by Paoli.
It is unclear if the ambassador violated EU sanctions outlawing contact with the military wing of Hezbollah.

Egyptian Nazi Party Leader Arrested

Egyptian Nazi Party leader Ramy Jan has reportedly been arrested by Egyptian military authorities, according to Arabic language reports.
Jan—who was recently invited to, and then uninvited from, a forum at Georgetown University—was reportedly seized by authorities under “mysterious circumstances,” according to the Arabic newspaper Almesryoon.

MEMRI: Uproar In Egypt Following Cancellation Of Bassem Youssef's Satirical TV Show

Following the cancellation of the second episode Bassem Youssef spent a week in the UAE, during which his weekly column in the daily Al-Shurouq did not appear and no new messages were posted on his Twitter account, which is usually quite active. However, on November 12, 2013, after remaining silent for nearly two weeks, Youssef published a new article in Al-Shurouq in which he indirectly referred to the affair by sharply criticizing regimes that accuse artists and creators of treason simply because "they refuse to be led like a herd".
The decision to drop the program sparked a new wave of controversy in the Egyptian press, with some decrying the gagging of the media and others criticizing the amount of public attention the affair was receiving.

You know how UNRWA pretends to be non-political and even-handed?

Yeah, right:

"Everything stops," says Daulat. She doesn't just mean the refrigerator, the washing machine and other devices; this Palestine refugee mother means daily life in her neighbourhood of Shajaiya. "Electricity outages paralyze our entire life," she explains. Since the Gaza Power Plant stopped operating, on 1 November, she’s had to change her entire routine: "I sleep when the electricity is off, and I wake up when it's on."

Power outages are something that Gaza has dealt with for years. Israel’s restrictions on the amount of fuel Gaza could import, together with supply from Egypt not always being reliable, meant regular cuts for homes and businesses, hospitals, schools and even basic infrastructure.

But after several years, the shortages have finally grown so severe that the plant can no longer operate at all. Blackouts now last for an average of 16 hours a day. With the essentials of daily life compressed into only a few hours, it is no wonder that Gaza and its residents - young and old, women, men and children alike - are tense and anxious.

UNRWA knows very well that Israel has nothing to do with the Gaza fuel shortage. That is why a close reading shows that the article doesn't blame Israel directly - it cleverly uses past tense when it refers to Israeli restrictions on fuel (in 2009, for example, the old Nahal Oz terminal/pipeline was sometimes closed because of terror attacks.)

But by mentioning Israel as the only named party that has ever restricted fuel to Gaza, and purposefully omitting any reason for current fuel shortages, the article gives readers the impression that Israel is restricting fuel today, and that Egyptian fuel supplies are merely unreliable. This is a clearly deliberate deception.

UNRWA purposefully doesn't mention the Egyptian blockade on Gaza and closure of the tunnels that provided fuel, the Hamas disagreement with the PA over payments for fuel, and Hamas using Gazans as hostages to get a better price for fuel, or even Hamas' conscious decision years ago to rely on smuggled Egyptian fuel rather than get it from Israel. No, according to UNRWA, the only possible guilty party is Israel - as always.

So UNRWA manages to give the reader the impression that the Gaza fuel problems are primarily Israel's fault - without technically lying. That takes skill, an overarching desire to blame Israel for everything, as well as a deep desire to hide the truth of Hamas' complicity in Gaza misery from the world.

This is hardly non-political. This is pure, planned deception. Israel should lodge an official protest against UNRWA's deceit.

UNRWA did not respond to my request for comment.

(h/t Hadar)

UAE newspaper says Israeli schools teach kids to murder non-Jews (UPDATE)

Emirati News writes about a supposed investigation into Israeli schools and how they teach kids to kill Arabs as part of the curriculum.

According to this investigation, which seems to be based on a film, Israeli kids from the beginning are "taught the art of war, implanting feelings of nationalism and hatred of Arabs... they want you to bear grudges against the Arabs in order not to tremble your hands when you press the button on the drone .. "

The report goes on to say that for 12 years the focus of Israeli education is teaching war, so students will be ready to kill Arabs as soon as they reach adulthood.

The kids are also supposedly taught a that the Talmud teaches "whoever kills a Muslim or a Christian or pagan is rewarded with eternity in paradise and will dwell in the fourth Paradise. " (The Talmud says no such thing, and it pre-dates Islam.)

Jewish kids are also taught not to engage in dialogue with the other side, that the "rest of the world is antisemitic, the Italians helped the Nazis, the French are the Vichy regime, Turks are the perpetrators of crimes against Armenians and Kurds, ...Do not give us moral sermons, the Holocaust will not be repeated."

Arabs, the Jewish kids are taught, are "backward and decadent and do not understand the language of force."

The article also says "It is worth mentioning that it is forbidden to utter the word 'Arab' in the schools, instead replacing it with 'the demographic threat.'"

Well, there is brainwashing going on - and a great deal of psychological projection - but it isn't in Israeli schools.

UPDATE: The film this article is based on was called "Schools of Violence" and aired on Al Medayeen TV, a Hezbollah-affiliated channel.

The parts about the Israeli schools comes from a left-leaning Israeli satirical program, Eretz Nehederet, in a sketch where they made fun of he rightist Im Tirtzu organization. Here is the sketch with English subtitles:

Many Arab news outlets have been fooled by Onion-type articles and have reported them seriously. .But this was no mistake on Al Medayeen's part. Here's their documentary. At 22:10 they take the opening of a Channel 2 newscast, and then they edit in the obviously satirical skit as if it is part of the news!

No, this is slander, made easier by Israeli humorists.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

From Ha'aretz:

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has belatedly adopted recommendations by professional echelons of the defense establishment and is now allowing the transfer of building materials into Gaza for some large construction projects coordinated by international organizations.

Officials in the office of the coordinator of activities in the occupied territories have warned that continuing the prohibition on transferring construction materials to Gaza would lead to the loss of tens of thousands of jobs in the Strip and adversely affect security.

Ya’alon initially believed that the warnings were overstated, and that Israel should continue exacting a price from Hamas, following the discovery of the cross-border tunnel in the Western Negev. After further deliberation, Ya’alon has decided to partially adopt the recommendations, instructing the co-ordinator of government activities in the territories, Maj. Gen. Eitan Dangot, to prepare a plan for the partial removal of Israeli sanctions in the coming days, coordinated with the UN.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon recently talked to Ya’alon by phone to request that he approve the transfer of the materials, and even Egypt, whose actions brought about the present crisis, has made a similar appeal (even though it won’t change its own embargo.)

Ya’alon will only permit a partial easing, allowing the transport of materials needed for projects led by the UN Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) and other international groups. In the past, Israel allowed in materials for such projects, believing that supervision would be tight and that none would ‘leak’ to Hamas for construction of fortifications. Ya’alon’s decision may also be linked to this week’s visit to Israel by United States Secretary of State John Kerry.

Defense sources told Haaretz that Ya’alon would not permit the transfer of materials beyond those needed for these specific projects, out of concern that they would serve for construction of additional offensive tunnels. Israel is worried that further deterioration in Gaza’s economy will make it harder for Hamas to restrain the smaller organizations and to enforce the ceasefire with Israel.

This is appropriate, as it mirrors the previous policy and I am unaware of any claim that construction materials for UNRWA and similar projects have been diverted by Hamas. They might complain privately if it happened, but the rumors would hit the anti-Hamas media.

It is funny that Egypt is appealing to Israel to allow this material in. Under the previous Egyptian regime, construction material was transferred directly via the Rafah crossing at times, and there is nothing stopping Egypt from resuming that practice.

Apparently, Egypt has security concerns with Hamas in Gaza. Imagine that.

There was a recent rumor that some cement, paid for by Qatar, was still entering Gaza via Rafah, but I have not seen that confirmed. This report would seem to contradict that.

Outrageous: Former Canadian ambassador says Jews, not Arabs, stoned leftist (UPDATE x4 - CORRECTED)

Michael Bell has been Canada's ambassador to Israel, Jordan and Egypt. He is an adjunct professor of political science at University of Windsor and also teaches at Carleton University.

He is also a complete and total moron.

I don't say things like this lightly. I really don't like to engage in ad hominem attacks. But this is the most charitable way to explain the first paragraph of this article he wrote today for the Globe and Mail, to which he is an occasional contributor.

It is behind a paywall, but here is what it says:

Two weeks ago, a friend of mine, Danny Seideman, a Jerusalem lawyer who works pro bono on settlement Issues respecting Palestinians threatened by displacement, had his car stoned in East Jerusalem. He himself suffered a concussion. No suspects have been identified.
Given established patterns, however, the likely perpetrators are ultra-nationalist members of the settler movement, the fulfillment of whose goals would be the displacement of Palestinians and the incorporation of the entire West Bank Into a greater Israel.
Among Israelis, debate on their country's future is, to their credit, universal and wide-ranging. There have been a variety of responses, from a very slim few welcoming the attack to the great majority who see it as a transgression of Zionist ideals. Indeed, Mr. Seideman has received messages of regret and concern from a number of the settlement communities' leadership.

...Mr. Netanyahu - as did his predecessors - has an immediate problem, illustrated by the "Seideman incident." That problem is the willingness of the ultras increasingly to violate Israeli law in pursuit of their vision of a Greater Israel. A kind of theological fervor governs their behavior, albeit a common and pervasive phenomenon elsewhere In the region. For, as they believe, one cannot ignore the will of the Deity?

The only problem is that Seidemann was attacked by Arabs.

He was visiting a Palestinian friend in an Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem, Sur Bahir. He admits having been targeted previously for being a Jew in Arab neighborhoods. Representatives of the Arab community visited him and expressed regret. The Jewish doctors that treated him all pretty much asked what he was doing in a neighborhood where Jews are routinely attacked if they step foot.

There are no Jews there.

As far as I know, outside of "ultra" religious idiots in Mea Shearim who hate people driving in their neighborhood on Shabbat, there have been very few instances of Jews throwing rocks at moving cars.

There are certainly no "established patterns" of Jews throwing rocks at Arab cars (or cars driven by Israeli leftists.)

However, incidents of Arabs throwing rocks at Israeli cars happen virtually daily. This rock throwing has caused serious injuries and deaths.

Jews (and Arabs who look like Jews) who accidentally enter Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem have been almost lynched and subjected to barrages of rocks thrown by dozens of Arabs, egged on by photographers.

One rock throwing was caught on video just yesterday.

Seidemann freely admits it was Arabs who threw the rock that injured him.

But Bell, a former ambassador to Israel apparently is so obtuse, so suffused in his righteous anger to blame "settlers" for everything wrong in the Middle East, that he seemingly only glanced at the news about his "friend" Seidemann and filled in the blanks in his incredibly biased professorial brain.

There is a double bias here shown by the professor. Not only is he willing to exaggerate events to blame Jews, he is willing to ignore Arab violence that happens every day in Jerusalem.

The charitable explanation is that Bell is a complete and utter moron who cannot be trusted to read simple English sentences. The alternative is that he purposely chose to twist Seidemenn's words to blame his favorite bogeyman, the "ultras."

Bell's grasp of basic facts about Israel are no more accurate:

Such is the conundrum of Zionism today: The mainstream's goal being the establishment of a Jewish democratic national state; the religious nationalists' being the control of the land as the instrument of redemption, in some cases at whatever cost. The seed of defiance stems largely from the latter's drive to settle the densely Palestinian populated Samarian mountain ridge. Largely these high points but not only the ridge. [sic] Mr. Seideman has been most active respecting the Elad settlers' movement in Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood just outside the Old City's walls, beneath which the earliest foundations of Jewish Jerusalem lie.

This is barely understandable English, further proving that The Globe and Mail's editor was asleep when this came in. Still, anyone who has driven in Judea and Samaria sees that Jewish settlements are generally not near "densely Palestinian populated" areas, the Arabs generally live in valleys while the settlers usually gravitate towards hilltops, and most of the area is quite empty. Well over 95% of Arabs live in Areas A and B where there are few if any Jews.

Also, Silwan was originally a Jewish neighborhood of Yemenite Jews The Jews were driven out, attacked in 1921 and again in 1929.

Who knows who attacked the Yemenites? Maybe Professor Bell can write an article blaming the settlers. I mean, who else could have attacked Jews when Arabs and Jews lived so peacefully together before "occupation" according to morons like Bell? It makes just as much sense as what he wrote here.

The idea that such an ignorant person was an ambassador - a job that requires a tiny bit of knowledge about the host country - is nothing less than astonishing.

I've seen a lot of media bias over the past decade, but this is off the charts.

(h/t Daniel, This Ongoing War)

UPDATE: Yisrael Medad tweeted Seidemann:

@ymedad Of course I didn't. I just saw the article now, and immediately notified him of his error.
— Daniel Seidemann (@DanielSeidemann) December 3, 2013

@DanielSeidemann It's not "an error" if it's predicated on an entirely bogus hypothesis blaming Jews based on "established patterns"
— ymedad (@ymedad) December 3, 2013

Also, a commenter writes:

I actually was a student under Professor Bell when I attended the University of Windsor, and I will attest that it is more out of bias than it is ignorance. As being, quite possibly, the only pro-Israel student in a class that had 25-30% Arabs, he certainly puts a lot of blame of the conflict upon the religious Israelis, but he's fully aware that the Palestinians are not saints either.

UPDATE 2: Yisrael Medad emailed Bell as well, and received this reply:

Mr. Medad.

I take your point.

My information was received early on but was incorrect.

It needs to be made good.

I've taken corrective action.

My guess is that he will change it to a generic anti-settler screed without mentioning once the truth about stone throwers in the Jerusalem area, since that is a fact that must be hidden from the world.

UPDATE 3: Another letter he wrote to a critic:

I take you point that I incorrectly reported the Seideman incident based on breaking news.

Indeed Palestinians were responsible and deserve the condemnation.

The first time the news was breaking was from Seidemann himself making clear that he was attacked by Arabs, so this is disingenuous.

UPDATE 4: The article has been modified. The first paragraph now says:

Two weeks ago, a friend of mine, Danny Seideman, a Jerusalem lawyer who works pro bono on settlement issues respecting Palestinians threatened by displacement, had his car stoned in East Jerusalem. He himself suffered a concussion. No suspects have been identified. Both Israelis and Palestinians are beset by radicals. This time however those throwing stones were Palestinians. This I have confirmed with Danny. They must be roundly condemned.

I don't know if the second paragraph is still there (it wouldn't make sense) nor if it still mentions the "Seidemann incident" in the later paragraph.

12/02 Links Pt2: Netanyahu meets the Pope, Arab Rock attack caught on video, Canadian PM to Visit Israel

From Ian:

Disturbing imagery

Likewise, it’s not unwarranted to assume that had an Israeli head of state described any of Israel’s neighbors as subhuman, as vermin deserving extermination, Obama would be beside himself with vehement denunciation.
Had Israel’s preeminent ruling party openly and with publicly sanctioned impunity threatened to abduct Palestinians or to rain rockets on peace-partners, the hue-and-cry from the White House would have been deafening and would have been followed by tangible and substantial retaliatory action.

Toddler wounded in Jerusalem rock attack released from hospital

Avigail Ben-Zion, the two-year-old toddler who was moderately wounded last Thursday when a rock was thrown at the car she was traveling in with her mother and siblings in Jerusalem's Armon Hanatziv neighborhood, was released from Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center on Sunday.
The child, who suffered a head wound, spent the weekend receiving treatment in Hadassah's Pediatric Surgery Unit.
Four residents of the neighborhood of Sur Baher in east Jerusalem were arrested early Friday morning in connection to the case.

Caught on Video: Arab Rock Ambush

The event was caught on video by the man's car cam. This may be the first time such an attack is caught on video in real time, although rock attacks are common in Judea and Samaria, and have become regular occurences in Jerusalem as well. A large rock thrown into a car hurtling down a road can easily kill or maim the driver and passengers, or cause the driver to lose control of the car.

PMW:

‘Palestinians threaten to end peace talks’

Peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians restarted in late July. Although they have continued out of the media spotlight, reports have mounted that that two sides have reached an impasse.
Last week, senior Palestinian official Nabil Shaath said negotiations with Israel have already failed, and that the prospect of freeing Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails is all that’s keeping the talks alive. Top negotiator Saeb Erekat told reporters that the world needs to get tough with Israel over its continued settlement building to ensure the remaining five months of talks won’t be wasted.

PA Official: Jews 'Defile' Al-Aqsa (Temple Mount)

Ahmed Qureia, a former "prime minister" of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization terrorist organization (PLO), claimed Sunday that "International involvement in Al-Quds (Jerusalem) enables Israel to continue its 'occupation', and for settlers to continue to defile some of Islam's holiest places."

Jews who visit Temple Mount are "monkeys and pigs" - teacher on PA TV Live

Do American Jews Live in a Cocoon? Peter Beinart thinks so. He's wrong.

Beinart doesn’t stop there. Of Elie Wiesel’s statement about Jerusalem that “for the first time in history, Jews, Christians and Muslims all may freely worship at their shrines,” he writes bluntly, “Sadly, this is false.” On what grounds? Has Israel shut down a mosque or a church? Has it even intervened while the Islamic Waqf carts away archeological treasures from the Jewish Temple? No. The only basis for this claim is travel restrictions into Israel (and according to Israeli law, Jerusalem is in Israel) which affect Muslims coming from outside, particularly from the territories of the Palestinian Authority. Israel has been in control of a united Jerusalem for nearly five decades now. If it were an Israeli policy goal to prevent access to holy sites, this would have been uniformly implemented. For most of this period, however, access has been completely free. (h/t NormanF)

A Month of Horror for Christians under Islam: September 2013

The same month that Obama tried to wage war on behalf of the jihadi rebels in Syria (citing "human rights" concerns), some of the war's worst atrocities were committed against that nation's Christian minority, most notably in Ma'loula, an ancient Christian region where the inhabitants spoke Aramaic, the language of Jesus.
There, al-Qaeda-linked jihadis fired mortars and missiles into at least two ancient churches before looting them; some 80 Christians trying to defend their homes were killed. Others who could not flee were forced, on pain of death, to convert to Islam.

BBC amplification of organised anti-Israel delegitimising campaign

Promotion of the November 30th ‘Day of Rage’ events outside Israel has also been carried out by known anti-Israel campaigners such as Yael Kahn (no stranger to the BBC), Ben White writing on the Hamas-linked MEMO site and of course the flotilla-participating, Hamas-supporting Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Hence, the BBC’s portrayal of these demonstrations as spontaneous protests initiated by Bedouin living in the Negev is – at best – a very partial representation of the facts. However, it can also be viewed as aiding and abetting a political campaign which now exploits the Bedouin issue for a much wider and older agenda of delegitimisation and that perception is reinforced by the fact that the BBC article links to an organised campaigning letter signed (at the click of a mouse on the PSC website) by a collection of known anti-Israel campaigners and former ‘celebs’ and published – naturally – in the Guardian.

The Guardian once again disguises the reality of unrecognized Bedouin “villages”

Leaving aside the absurd idea that people who had till quite recent times led itinerant lives moving across vast distances of the Middle East with no fixed national identity can be now labeled “Palestinian Bedouin” like politically correct produce in an organic food co-op, the article (and letter) conjure up visions of camel-riding nomads being forced to fold their goat-skin tents and leave from vast stretches of Sahara-like dunes.
The Guardian once again is trying to promote the idea that these are Bedouin living in little villages that are the equivalent of the quaint villages one sees in reruns of “Midsommer Murders”. The reality, however, is far different.

Canadian PM affirms support for Israel, announces visit in January

Harper, a staunch supporter of Israel, made the announcement at a JNF-KKL fundraising event in Toronto held in his honor Sunday evening, where it was also revealed that a bird sanctuary in the Hula Valley would be named after the prime minister.
“I am honored by this particular gift…I value it [because] it is where it is. It is in that homeland of the Jewish people and that light of freedom and democracy in what is otherwise a region of darkness — the State of Israel,” Harper said in his opening remarks.
“These are dark days,” the prime minister went on, explaining that Ottawa and Jerusalem share common values but also common threats. (h/t Bob Knot)

Anti-Israel Demonstrators Target JNF Event in Toronto

Responding to the protests, JNF World Chairman Efi Stenzler said, "This is an incident which is part of a long-standing false campaign of de-legitimization that has targeted the State of Israel and the Jewish National Fund in particular. These and other actions will not deter the Jewish National Fund and its supporters around the world from continuing to represent the State of Israel and working to strengthen it.”

Netanyahu gives pope his late father’s book on the Inquisition

Netanyahu presented a Spanish translation of the 1995 book, “The Origins of the Inquisition,” to Francis during their 25-minute closed-door meeting, as well as a Hanukkah menorah.
Netanyahu’s father, Benzion Netanyahu, was an Israeli historian who died last year. A Zionist activist who opposed partitioning Palestine between Arabs and Jews, he was best known in academic circles for his research into the Catholic Church’s medieval inquisition against the Jews of Spain.

Lighting up Africa with Israeli technology

Enter Innovation: Africa, an Israeli organization that specializes in bringing power to the power-less in Africa. The group set up a solar energy system for the Kaliro School, which gave the kids not only the gift of light, but that of time as well; with the extra hours of light, the school was able to run evening programs, giving children greater opportunities to learn how to read and write.
It was just another day at the office for Sivan Ya’ari, founder and president of Innovation: Africa, which for the past five years has been bringing not only solar power, but also clean water, food and medical care to more than 500,000 people in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Malawi and Uganda.

Volun-touring in Israel

The Israeli organization GoEco matches socially conscious tourists with ecological programs throughout the country, such as wildlife and desert conservation programs.
Watch how eco-tourists in Israel gain a unique perspective on sustaining the land that is holy to so many people.

Mekorot to improve Mexico’s water quality

The first of its kind cooperation agreement between Mekorot Group and CONAGUA (the Mexican national water commission) was signed in the presence of President of Israel Shimon Peres, who is visiting Mexico, and the President of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto.
“The choice of Mexico inspires pride and respect, and also represents reaffirmation of Mekorot’s global mobility in providing solutions for problems and crises, especially in light of the current global water crisis,” said CEO of Mekorot, Shimon Ben Hamo.

‘Video games are good for kids’

Video games are actually good for children, a new Israeli study has found, much to the dismay of (most) parents who automatically think of the violence inherent in games like Grand Theft Auto, Halo and Call of Duty.
The research, done by The Center for Educational Technology, asserts that video games — even violent ones — are beneficial for children on a scale much bigger than originally thought. The claims are in contradiction to other studies that found that extended gaming led to depression, anxiety and stunted social development, not to mention the physical effects brought on by long hours of sitting. Some studies have also linked between video games and increased violent behavior in children, arguing that simulated violence leads to real-life violence.

SiSense wins ‘Take the H.E.L.M.’ contest and its $250,000 prize

SiSense, the Big Data Analytics Company, has announced that it is winner of the global “Take the H.E.L.M.” competition, along with its $250,000 prize. The win comes just days after SiSense CTO Eldad Farkash won the World Technology Award for his invention of In-Chip big data analytics. SiSense helps business users make sense of big data without the need for a data science team or expensive hardware to deploy. Its unique In-Chip technology can analyze 100X more data at 10x the speed of traditional in-memory solutions.

Former intel agent discovers Jews in mass ‘Christian’ graves

Kszonzenice in 2004, fledgling guide and former secret service agent Yaki Gantz’s two worlds collided when he found a mass grave with 45 anonymous numbers written on a gravestone.
After a short investigation he discovered that following a nearby mass murder in 1945, the local priest had gathered the 45 unidentified bodies and copied the numbers he found on their arms, which were carved on the gravestone.
Gantz turned to Yad Vashem and in a joint effort they were able to identity 19 of the Jewish victims buried in the mass grave.

Rare Century-Old Photos from the Oregon State University Archives, Part 2

We continue with more photos and original captions from the Oregon State University Archives. The captions provide a fascinating commentary on historical understanding of areas in the Holy Land a century ago, including a comment about "Jewish Zionists." The pictures are dated as "circa 1910."