Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, January 06, 2014

Hamas may be kicked out of Cairo

In 2012, as the Syrian civil war raged, Hamas moved its headquarters out of Damascus.

Khaled Meshal moved his offices to Doha, and his deputy Abu Marzouk moved to Cairo.

Now it looks like Egypt is not going to tolerate Hamas' presence there for much longer.

Egypt, which has labeled the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization and has accused Hamas of complicity in some Sinai terror attacks, is reportedly considering expelling Abu Marzouk. Hamas is expecting to be kicked out, and is considering either consolidating its offices in Doha or movng Abu Marzouk to Gaza, which is seen as less likely.

A few months ago there were rumors that Hamas' position in Qatar was similarly threatened, and that it was considering moving to Khartoum, as the Arab world has become less tolerant of an organization that was flying high only a year ago.

The birth of a new anti-Israel stunt - the soccer ball

From Ma'an:

A group of children in a Palestinian village south of Tulkarem have taken the unprecedented step of writing a letter directly to the United Nations in a bold attempt to win back their soccer ball from Israeli occupation authorities.

The children in the village of Kafr Sur sent the letter to Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon via social media, asking him to intervene after the ball fell into lands confiscated by Israeli authorities to build the separation barrier through their village.

The campaign began after a local youth named Amir was playing soccer in the village and kicked the ball too far, hitting it into an area in the village under Israeli military control and beyond barbed wire, according to municipality head Imad Zibda.

The group of children spoke to Ma'an on Saturday, explaining that the Israeli occupation had impinged on their rights by not allowing them to retrieve their ball, which had disappeared behind the barbed wire of the separation barrier.

Ma'an helpfully publishes five staged photos of the kids playing soccer (somehow, they managed to find another ball for the photographer.)

When did the incident occur? Did the kids ask to get the ball back? We don't know, because the point of the story isn't facts, but propaganda.

They stressed that they have the right to play in their own lands without any restrictions. They expressed their fear that the ball would never be returned because it had fallen on the other side of the barbed wire.

They feared that all of the lands that had been confiscated from the village would suffer a similar fate, they added.

Really? No prompting from any adults to come up with perfect anti-Israel quotes for the media?

Arabic reports do mention that it was an adult's idea to write to the UN and disseminate this story on social media. The letter is clearly written by an adult in a child's voice, starting off with "We are a group of children in Kafr Sur who collected a sum of money by ourselves and bought a football for the exercise of our right to play like other children." Yeah, kids say stuff like that all the time.

Clearly the adults in town found that this is a media-friendly story and ran with it to make a soccer ball into an international incident, with the helpful collusion of Arab media. Now they are just waiting for it to go viral, and given how much people hate Israel, the chances are very good it will.

Indeed, a version of this story was played out, virtually, in 2009, to worldwide headlines.

The Israeli company Cellcom made a popular commercial then showing this same scenario. Look at how the IDF responds there:

The tagline is "We all just want to have fun." The company said the commercial was about overcoming obstacles.

At the time, the Israel haters made their own version, with the IDF responding to a soccer ball with tear gas and gunshots:

That episode showed very clearly which side actually wants to live together with the other side in peace and which side will take every opportunity to demonize the Other. The Israeli commercial humanizes the Palestinian Arabs; the PalArab response demonizes Israelis.

Can you imagine the outcry if an Israeli had made a commercial showing the soccer ball returning to the Israeli side as a shrapnel-filled bomb? That is the equivalent of the second ad - but only one side is expected and encouraged to hate.

One solidarity group barred from entering Gaza, another barred from leaving

Egyptian authorities seem to enjoy jerking around Gaza solidarity activists.

On January 2, after a number of days of pleading, Egyptian authorities allowed an Italian delegation (with the name "never forget the right of return") to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing, even as it kept that crossing closed for actual Gazans.

The Italians had a wonderful time mugging for the cameras and doing nothing to actually help any Gazans. (Yes, they pretended to bring in some token "medical supplies.")

On Saturday, this same delegation was barred from leaving Gaza. They spent three hours at Rafah and the Egyptians said they did not make the proper request to leave, so they are stuck.

Meanwhile, "Miles of Smiles" attempted their 24th visit to Gaza - and were also promptly barred by the Egyptians.

Of course, regular Gazans are banned from travel. Rafah has opened sporadically over the past four months but even when it is open the number of people allowed to leave is very small.

Still, no outraged op-eds, no UN resolutions and no NGOs condemning Egypt's capricious and near-total siege of Gaza.

Using facts against Israel haters is like speaking to a wall

Here is a synopsis of the debate at St. James Church last night, about Israel's separation barrier, which really says all you need to know, From "amie" in the comments section of Harry's Place:

Alan Johnson of Bicom spoke brilliantly; cogently articulating the case for the wall as a security issue. His rhetorical devices were masterly, as he spoke of the realities of the actual wall as against the never never world of the pretend wall, which in turn facilitated the calcification of the intellectual wall which refused to recognise the reality of the need for the real wall.

He cited famous harrowing instances of bombing and terror.

He showed graphs of how the level of terror decreased dramatically after the wall.

He cited last week's abortive bus bombing where the terrorists had got through a breach in the wall, from Bethlehem.

When he finished, (to a good round of applause from the substantial pro Israel presence there.)

Jeff Halper, the next speaker, opened his mouth wide and bellowed: This wall has NOTHING to do with security.

And without his having to say a single thing more to back up or verify this bellow, the hall erupted into cheers and applause.

I watched two attractive young women behind me as their faces broke into delighted beaming smiles of relief, clapping wildly. Without more, everything they had invested in, momentarily in danger of panicky disturbance by Johnson was reassuringly reinstated by this single, unsubstantiated bellow.

...Halper just shouted total outrageous lies, that Israel was killing children with chemicals which melted their insides, (White Phosphorus again?) and with weapons with whirling blades which shredded them. All to wild cheers.

Saeb Erekat - so moderate in English, so crazy in Arabic.Original post here.

01/05 Links: The end of dhimmitude, London 'Peace' Festival Organized by Terrorism Advocates

From Ian:

The end of dhimmitude

We are now witnessing one of the most dramatic developments in the historic configuration of relations among Jews, Christians and Muslims. Christians in Israel’s Galilee are courageously promoting their pre-Islamic non-Arab identity as an old-new collective Aramean/Aramaic-speaking Oriental narrative. This is a cultural and political game-changer with revolutionary significance, for Israel, the Middle East and the global scene.
Under the leadership of Father Gabriel Nadaf, an Orthodox priest from Yafia near Nazareth, and Shadi Khalloul, a Maronite activist and army reserve officer from Gush Halav, the Christian Recruitment Forum has been established. While all non-Jews in Israel, excepting the Druse and Circassians, are exempt from the military draft, a new promotional effort has been undertaken to further encourage Christian youth to voluntarily enlist. This initiative expresses both a desire to serve the state and integrate into Israeli society, conveying that Christians are committed to the security and welfare of the Jewish state of Israel.

London "Peace" Festival Organized by Terrorism Advocates

Interpal was an inaugural member of the Union of Good, a coalition of charities that manages the financial support required by Hamas for its terrorist activities.
These links, which have been comprehensively detailed before, include recent Palestinian news footage showing Interpal's primary trustee, Essam Mustafa, attending a press conference hosted by Hamas to honor Interpal's work.
Interpal's other trustee, Ibrahim Hewitt, has referred to the "so-called Holocaust." In a pamphlet written by Hewitt, 'What Does Islam Say,' he advocates the killing of apostates and adulterers, and demanded that homosexuals suffer "severe punishments" for their "great sin."

Richard Millett: Israel’s “beautiful resistance” to suicide bombers: A response to Lucy Winkett

Moreover, St James’s Church’s Bethlehem Unwrapped festival has attracted antisemites, Holocaust deniers, those campaigning for the destruction of Israel and those who condone violence to that end.
This may not have been St James’s Church’s intention but this is what has happened and for this Rector Winkett should apologise to Britain’s Jewish community which is bearing the main brunt of the backlash.
The biggest irony is that St James’s Church itself is protected by a security fence; a tall metal fence that contains a locked door. When the door is unlocked it is heavily guarded. Some may call this a checkpoint.

Roger Cohen sort of compliments me

After my latest takedown of the NYT's Roger Cohen was published on Algmeiner, he sent out two tweets. One linked to Mondoweiss attacking him from the crazy Left:

One take: Roger Cohen (who doesn't live there) explains the need for 'my Jewish state' http://t.co/EHJbPS7Nou
— Roger Cohen (@NYTimesCohen) January 3, 2014

And the next linked to mine:

Another take (involving a huge amount of research on "Palestinian Arabs") http://t.co/GzGA6C1YUG
— Roger Cohen (@NYTimesCohen) January 3, 2014

He obviously doesn't understand why I say "Palestinian Arabs" instead of "Palestinians," which is something Menachem Begin used to be particular about. And I didn't do any real research for the piece beyond what I had already done for years. Which means that, in effect, Cohen is admitting that I posted stuff he was unaware of - as I wrote in the piece.

Also, by putting my post and Mondoweiss' next to each other, Cohen is being self-congratulatory that since he is being attacked from both sides the truth must be in the middle where he thinks he is, which is a rather poor assumption.

(h/t DE)

Another EU program to take land away from Jews

The EU continues to ignore the Oslo Accords and to actively work to grab as much land in Area C as possible and give it to Palestinian Arabs without coordinating with Israel.

Here's a new initiative.

Innocuously called the "Land and Water Development Programme," here are its objectives:

The global objective of this Call for Proposals is to promote social and economical development in the 'Area C' of the West Bank through supporting agriculture growth and profitability.

The specific objective of this Call for Proposals is to enhance the access to and the utilization of land and water.

The priority-components of the Action/project that will stem from this Call for Proposals are:

land reclamation of non-utilized agricultural lands (including rangeland reclamation).The activities related to land reclamation under this Call for Proposals, will be of the kind of 'heavy reclamation works', such as land levelling, building or rehabilitating of retaining walls, etc. The 'light reclamation works’, such as ploughing, fencing, planting seedlings or intercropping, etc., will be the responsibility of the farmers and/or of their associations or cooperatives;

rehabilitation of agriculture roads to facilitate access to markets, inputs, equipment and services.The rehabilitation of agriculture roads will be carried out with the purpose of improving productivity and competitiveness;

increase water availability for agricultural purposes (rehabilitation or construction of rainwater harvesting cisterns, community-reservoirs, small dams, steel water tanks, rehabilitation of wells and springs, water conveyance systems, etc.) and,

capacity development to farmers' associations/cooperatives to strengthening their management skills, including women's empowerment initiatives, and improving agriculture practices, in particular, the development and adoption of good practices in water demand management.

Besides pre-determining the outcome of negotiations, the EU is also ignoring its own positions. If Israel is the legal occupier of Area C, then it is the party responsible for governmental functions like land registration, digging wells, building roads and so forth. By the EU ignoring Israeli responsibilities for the area, it is - ironically - not recognizing Israel as the occupier under international law.

The EU, quoting the PA's "Agriculture Sector Strategy 2011-2013," says this initiative is meant to "Promote farmers' perseverance and attachment to their land and retention of their occupations - Palestinian farmers’ adherence and attachment to their land is one of the most important components of resisting the occupation and settlement activity."

Expert: "Palestinians may have used Czech Rep for arms transit"

From Ceske Noviny. as a followup to the story of the Palestinian Arab envoy to Prague being killed by an explosion:

Palestinians may have used the Czech Republic for weapons transit, former Czech chief-of-staff Jiri Sedivy has told server Aktualne.cz, reacting to the unregistered weapons the police uncovered at Palestine´s embassy in Prague where a safe explosion killed the ambassador on Wednesday.

The safe exploded in the brand-new building that is to become the embassy´s new seat.

"Maybe the affair in question involves a well organised weapons and explosives distribution network, including the weapons´ further recipients," said Sedivy, who now heads the security studies section at Prague´s CEVRO Institut university.

He said he was not speaking of terrorism but of the gathering and distribution of military equipment that could be used in an action if need were.

"This is the worst of the variants I´m thinking about," Sedivy said.

According to available information, 70 firearms, unregistered by Czech authorities, have been found in the future embassy building in Prague 6-Suchdol.

The Palestinians have not explained the weapons´ presence in the building.

"I´m horrified. This is not only a blatant violation of diplomatic norms and habits but also of security rules related to keeping such an arsenal, that also implies the tragic death of ambassador Jamal al Jamal," said Sedivy.

He said he is afraid that apart from Prague, similar arms arsenals may also be secretly kept at other Palestinian embassies in Europe and overseas.

"I my opinion this is very probable. The [Prague] blast, which occurred by sheer coincidence, may have uncovered something incredible...on the verge of monstrosity," Sedivy said.

He said Palestinian representatives have "played theatre" within the investigation into the case so far.

Their possible explanation that the weapons were to help defend the embassy is unacceptable. No one jeopardised Palestinians in Prague, Sedivy said.

"From the beginning it has not been a mere minor local scandal that would be soon over...but an incident of international dimensions," Sedivy said.

He said the find of the weapons at the future Palestinian embassy is a far more complex issue than how official places have presented it.

Sedivy also said he does not trust the version about the exploding safe that killed the ambassador.

"This is utter nonsense...In my opinion he died as a result of improper manipulation of an explosive," Sedivy said, adding that the ambassador probably did not respect safety rules for handling an explosive.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Czech anti-terrorism official pointed out the possibility that the Palestinian embassy in Prague served as a transit point to freely ship firearms to any of the 26 Schengen Area countries (European countries that do not have passport or immigration controls.)

A further article in Aktualne has a columnist asking other military experts and diplomats if they agree with General Sedivy, and most of them agreed, although some preferred to remain anonymous.

The former head of Czech foreign intelligence service Karel Randák said bluntly: "What did you expect?! Sure General Sedivy is right. This is without a doubt! I'm bot surprised at all.

"If this scandal of a collection of weapons and explosives cannot be plausibly explained by the Palestinians, the Czech authorities should terminate that mission without pardon. Diplomats who violate every conceivable principle have no business being in the Czech Republic," he said. "But I can not think how they can explain this. It's Inexplicable and indefensible, so that - at least in my opinion - we have no choice but to expel the Palestinians. Let's start with the new Palestinian diplomats on a green field - for me, there's no other way."

The story also recalled the discovery in 2003 of an entire arsenal, including an anti-tank weapon, in the Iraqi embassy in Prague. The intended target was found to be Radio Free Europe.

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

St. James Church won't let supporters of Israel in

Last week when one of the people behind the "Bethlehem Unplugged" anti-Israel stunt wrote in The Guardian:

When we have been challenged about "taking sides" and "politicising the church" – which is a fair discussion to have – we are clear that we are not "pro" one side or another but we are instead campaigning for equal human rights for all people regardless of ethnicity or background.

Well, that isn't true.

From Sussex Friends of Israel:

Historic Lebanese Christian library torched by angry Muslims

From RT:

Two-thirds of a historic collection of 80,000 books have gone up in smoke after a library was torched in the Lebanese city of Tripoli amid sectarian tensions. The blaze was started after a pamphlet insulting Islam was reportedly found inside a book.

Firefighters struggled to subdue the flames as the decades-old Al-Saeh library went up in smoke on Friday in the Serail neighborhood of Tripoli. Despite firefighters’ best efforts, little of the trove of historic books and manuscripts was recovered from the wreckage.

“Two thirds of some 80,000 books and manuscripts housed there,” a security source told Agence France Press, referring to the items destroyed. The source added that the blaze was started after a manuscript insulting the Prophet Mohammed was found hidden in the pages of one of the library books.

A demonstration had been planned in Tripoli after the pamphlet was found but was reportedly called off after the library’s Greek Orthodox owner spoke with Muslim leaders. Lebanese news outlet Naharnet also reported that one of the library workers was shot and wounded Thursday night.

“The library owner, Father Ebrahim Surouj, met with Islamic leaders in Tripoli. It became clear the priest had nothing to do with the pamphlet, and a demonstration that had been planned in protest over the incident was called off,” the source said.

However, Ashraf Rifi, former head of the Internal Security Forces, told AP the attack had nothing to do with a pamphlet and was, in fact, triggered by speculation that Father Surouj had written a study on the internet that insulted Islam.

"This criminal act poses several questions [about] the party behind it that aims at damaging coexistence in the city and ruining its reputation,” Rifi told AFP. The Lebanese police have launched an investigation into the incident.

Naharnet says that the protest was because of rumors that "claimed the father had published a book deemed insulting to Islam."

[T]he Greek Orthodox priest forgave those responsible for the attack, in a statement aired on television on Saturday.

The contrast between how Muslims and Christians act could not be starker.

01/04 Links: Prague Mayor: kick out Palestinian 'embassy', Let there be more Stephen Harpers

From Ian:

Douglas Murray: Absolute moral squalor on display at a London church

It is utterly disgraceful that St James’ church has presented this partial view of Israel while ignoring the plight of their co-religionists. Here are some festivals we are very unlikely to see taking place at St. James’s Piccadilly anytime soon.
A festival set up to highlight the victims of suicide-bombings which murder Christians while leaving church in Pakistan.
An installation — ‘Borno Unwrapped’ — commemorating the 12 people killed last weekend (whilst ‘Bethlehem Unwrapped’ was going on) in two Christian villages in northeast Nigeria, including the eight Christians murdered by Islamists at a wedding reception in Tashan-Alede village.
A small event organised to condemn the savagery which led Islamists in Iraq to plant three bombs at churches and other Christian areas in Iraq on Christmas Day, and which murdered 37 people as they were celebrating the birth of Jesus

Where Are the Other Replica Security Walls?

Here, then, is an instructive question: why is there no art installation decrying the EU's 'apartheid' security barriers on the Spain-Morocco border? What about the human rights of impoverished Moroccan and sub-Saharan African illegals, who surely deserve a temporary monument in a major capital city (and an accompanying festival) at least as much as jihadis determined to infiltrate Israel and murder innocent men, women and children, deserve one? Perhaps such a project will be next on the agenda for the baleful coterie of trendy British priests and fading, 'socially conscious' media figures currently assembled at St. James's Church.
A list of security walls, barriers and fences around the world: (h/t Bob Knot)

Human Rights Watch Should Rescind Reports

What is truly reprehensible, however, is that given the questions now surfacing with regard to al-Karama, Human Rights Watch has not rescinded the reports in whose development it had partnered with al-Karama. Take the case of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which last year successfully busted a coup plot by al-Islah, the local affiliation of the Muslim Brotherhood. Human Rights Watch condemned the UAE and accused it of torture in a study that it conducted in conjunction with al-Karama. Now it seems that its partner’s leader was committed not only in rhetoric but also fact to advancing al-Qaeda’s goals. Can HRW really, in hindsight, take seriously the group’s work which castigated a government which has cracked down on al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood? Frankly, it seems plausible that al-Karama’s leadership wanted to use HRW’s mantle to castigate those it saw as ideological enemies.