Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

05/28 Links Pt2: BDS boycotts Youth Peace Forum, MLA message board rife with Anti-Semitism

From Ian:

BDS Movement boycotts online peace discussions among Israeli and Arab youth

Maybe it’s a fool’s errand, but at least it’s an attempt to get youth talking to each other.
Which is why it has been attacked since its inception by BDS movement supporters.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) is the official international boycott organization. The American Studies Association adheres to its academic boycott guidelines.
PACBI issued a statement calling for a boycott of this year’s YaLa conference, Boycott YaLa-Young Leaders Group and Its Online Normalization Conferences:

Washington Free Beacon: Professors Engage in Anti-Semitic Rhetoric on Secret Listserv

The highly charged rhetoric about Israel, revealed last week on a leaked listserv, show that some professors involved in the Modern Language Association’s (MLA) resolution to boycott Israel are motivated by the belief that Jewish people are nefariously pulling the strings in American academia.
The leaked comments have spurred accusations of anti-Semitism in the MLA’s ranks and prompted outrage among Jewish leaders who say that this type of discourse is motivated by a deep seated bias against Jewish people and the state of Israel.
The charges of anti-Semitism were underscored by a controversial Facebook posting by one of the professors involved in the debate questioning the deaths of 6 million Jewish people in the Holocaust.
Other professors involved in the debate referred to colleagues who oppose the boycott measure as “Zionist attack dogs” and claimed that they “control and twist the media.”

South Africa’s de Klerk: Israel not an apartheid state

As opposed to the racial segregation in South Africa, “you have Palestinians living in Israel with full political rights,” and “you don’t have discriminatory laws against them, I mean not letting them swim on certain beaches or anything like that. I think it’s unfair to call Israel an apartheid state. If [Secretary of State John] Kerry did so, I think he made a mistake.”
In April Kerry had said that Israel was liable to become an apartheid state if, in the absence of a two-state solution, it chose to annex all or part of the West Bank without granting full citizenship to the Palestinians. He later retracted his remarks.
After the interviewer interjected to clarify that Kerry had stressed that Israel was not at present an apartheid state, de Klerk said that in a future scenario, Israel could only be deemed “apartheid” if it became a binational state and its binational government discriminated against Arabs.
“The test will be, do everybody living then in such a unitary state — will everybody have full political rights? Will everybody enjoy their full human rights? If they will, it’s not an apartheid state,” he said.

Caroline Glick: Our world: Pope Francis’s unfriendly visit

The Palestinians – and their Islamic and Western supporters – de-Judaize Jesus and proclaim him Palestinian in order to libel the Jews and criminalize the Jewish state. It seems like it would be the job of the Bishop of Rome to set the record straight. But instead, Francis’s discourtesy indicated that at a minimum, he doesn’t think the fact of Jesus’s Judaism should be mentioned in polite company.
Francis’s behavior during his public meeting with Netanyahu could have been brushed off as much ado about nothing if it hadn’t occurred the day after his symbolic embrace of some of the worst anti-Jewish calumnies of our times, and his seeming adoption of replacement theology during his homily in Bethlehem.
Consider first Francis's behavior at the security barrier.

Hezbollah destroys a Merkava tank (replica)!

From The Daily Star, Lebanon:

Merkava tank destroyed in Sidon [sic]

Political activists in Sidon Saturday blew up a replica of the Israeli-made Merkava tank as part of celebrations marking Resistance and Liberation Day.

Plumes of smoke ascended from the southern coastal city of Sidon’s Martyrs Square after activists blew to pieces a replica of the infamous war vehicle they spent 261 hours assembling.

“When we were building the replica we were full of enthusiasm and we were eager to finish building the Merkava so that we can destroy it ,” Ibrahim Jomaa one of the event’s organizers told The Daily Star. “We want to destroy it as a form of revenge from Israel that killed our people in Lebanon and Palestine.”

“We were brainstorming an unconventional means to mark the anniversary of the withdrawal of Israel from south Lebanon and we agreed that we’ll reproduce a generation 4 Merkava tank and destroy it as the occasion draws nearer,” Jomaa added.

"Oooooh, look how powerful we are, we can destroy what a papier-mâché tank!"

And how great is the line "We were eager to finish building the Merkava so that we can destroy it"? Sort of sums up the attitude of terror-supporting Arabs, doesn't it?

(h/t Michael)

The PreOccupied Territory weekly satirical column continues...

Jerusalem, May 27 - Turkey asked Interpol yesterday to issue a Red Notice for a number of former top Israeli military commanders in connection with the deaths of ten protesters in a 2010 raid on a Turkish flotilla to Gaza, but Israeli analysts expect the group to end up imprisoned in Israel on various corruption-related charges before any international action is taken, in keeping with recent trends in Israeli politics.

The Turkish government seeks life imprisonment for all of the Israeli personnel involved directly or indirectly in the Mavi Marmara incident, in which a ship trying to break Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip was stormed and commandeered by Israeli commandos. The IDF continues to insist that it encountered violent resistance that justified its use of gunfire that killed nine and caused the death of a tenth from injuries this year. A Turkish court is trying various Israeli officers in absentia, a move that may prove moot at a time when countless former senior Israeli figures are being investigated, tried, and sentenced on corruption, ethics, and other charges that carry incarceration sentences.

Even heads of state or not immune, as two presidents have been tarnished by criminal allegations, with one serving jail time for rape. Myriad ministers have faced probes related to corruption and obstruction of justice, including prominent party leaders and the current foreign minister. Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was recently sentenced to six years behind bars for accepting bribes, which was only the most recent in a series of other, inconclusive investigations of similar charges.

The plague of corruption and misconduct has not spared the military echelons; one recent candidate for Chief of the General Staff had his nomination withdrawn after allegations surfaced that he had misappropriated public land and forged a letter libeling rivals for the coveted position. Senior law enforcement officials have also figured prominently in corruption scandals. It is widely assumed that graft thrives at every level, leading some analysts to predict that by the end of the decade, 90% of Israel's politicians, generals, and other government figures will be serving time.

Turkish officials acknowledged the challenge, and suggested that political opponents of Prime Minister Erdogan could serve as alternative residents of the allocated prison space.

05/28 Links Pt1: So, Just What is a “Palestinian,” Anyways?; Historic Syrian Synagogue Destroyed

From Ian:

Michael Lumish: So, Just What is a “Palestinian,” Anyways?

The Philistines, of course, were a seafaring people of the Aegean islands.
They were one of the rivals for regional dominance competing with the ancient Israelites along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea over one thousand years before Jesus of Nazareth walked the land.
They were, needless to say, not a people from the Arabian peninsula and were in no way the forebears of those who conquered the Land of Israel in the seventh century.
This is to say that the ancient enemy of the Jews, the Philistines, are in no way related to the contemporary Arabs who have, for some reason, taken a Latin name that refers to a Greek people.

Syria’s Oldest Synagogue, Destroyed by Assad

The Jobar Synagogue was one of the holiest Jewish sites in Syria and contained priceless historical artifacts. Now it’s destroyed—and the opposition says Assad is to blame.
Syrian Arab Army forces flattened the Eliyahu Hanabi Synagogue in the Jobar neighborhood of Damascus over the weekend. The attack not only wrecked a site that’s at least 400 years old. It may have destroyed thousands of irreplaceable Jewish artifacts contained inside the synagogue, according to opposition leaders and photos obtained at the site.
The area where the synagogue once stood has been under bombardment by the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for months. The Syrian regime is laying siege to the town, one of the few rebel strongholds in the area. It’s all part of what the opposition calls Assad’s “scorched earth” policy, which includes random and violent attacks on civilian populations. (h/t Yenta Press)

US supports case against Arab Bank financing terror, but worries of foreign policy fallout

In a major decision that will impact the high-profile Arab Bank terror finance case in the US and the future of terror financing cases, the US government late Tuesday told the US Supreme Court that it supports the Arab Bank case going to trial, but also undermined the case's strength.
The context of the decision was Arab Bank's interim appeal to the US Supreme Court to reverse a lower US court decision which could seriously hurt the bank's chances of winning at trial.
The case itself, which has been featured on CBS News's Sunday Morning program, involves allegations that Arab Bank facilitated massive transfer of funds to Hamas leaders and institutions, as well as to the families of imprisoned Hamas members and suicide bombers, via Saudi Arabia and Hezbollah's al-Shahid Foundation, mostly between 1998-2004.

Karim Younis, one of the Arab murderers who have been in Israeli prison the longest, is complaining that the PLO didn't do enough to get him and his fellow prisoners released in the planned fourth batch.

Younis wrote a harsh letter to Palestinian leadership saying that they dropped the ball and that they should quit their jobs and return to their mansions.

"This means that we are over the past nine months we lived in a spiral of deception and empty promises and commitments," he wrote.

He also called the failure of negotiations aimed at his release an "unforgivable crime," saying the negotiations were "miserable and shameful that no one can justify or defend it, so everyone runs away from the face of what actually happened and the tragic consequences because of it. "

He said to Palestinian officials, "get out, do not look behind you, just go to your palaces and mansions, just go and leave your office keys to those who can act responsibly."

Meanwhile, prisoners have been holding a hunger strike for over a month and the Palestinian Arabs are getting very frustrated that the media and NGOs have largely ignored this story. So naturally they are attacking - the Red Cross.

Palestinian activists on Wednesday closed the Red Cross' al-Bireh office in protest against the organization's "silence" regarding an ongoing prisoners' hunger strike, the organizers said.

"Today we are shutting down the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross because it has failed to play the role it should to protect Palestinian prisoners, especially hunger strikers," the organizers said.

Protesters blocked the doors of the office and denied entry to employees.

Arabic media every day describes how the prisoners are at death's door and deteriorating badly. The impression I get is that they are hoping that one manages to die, so that the media will start writing about them and raising this never-ending whinefest to a higher priority than troubles in Syria and Egypt and Libya and Iraq, where hundreds of people are actually, you know, dying.

A botched attempt at Pallywood: "The Hopper"

More footage taken from the extended "Nakba Day" CCTV video in Beitunia shows an attempt to fake an injury for the cameras that doesn't pan out.

Now that we have established that people faked injuries for the cameras, what else might have been faked?

(All posts on this topic here.)

Extended "Nakba Day" video shows no blood stains from Israeli bullets

Now that the entire hours-long footage of the CCTV cameras from the Nakba Day incidents in Beitunia are available, interesting facts are emerging.

We can see cameramen arriving at both incident scenes about ten minutes ahead of time, even sitting on the same object directly in front of where the youths are supposedly shot. We see a youth hopping around on one leg, pretending to be injured, and his buddies calling an ambulance over, only to see him walking around normally by the time they arrive.

But here's one thing I thought was a bit more interesting:

The medical reports for both youths claimed that the bullets ripped through their bodies and exited out the other side. We have seen no blood on any of the still photos anywhere near the entrance or exit wounds.

But the video shows that the ground where they were supposedly shot through has no bloodstains at all.

Truly amazing.

By the way, Walla reports that there were two medical reports issued for Nadim Nawarah. In the first there was no exit wound at all, but after his father went on TV claiming to have seen a bullet hole in Nadim's backpack and a (clearly unfired) bullet within, then the medical report was changed to suddenly find an exit wound.

So, what other lies have been given out by the oh-so-ethical Palestinian Arab coroner?

(h/t asherpat)

(All posts on this topic here.)

No anti-Zionist rumor is too stupid for Mondoweiss to believe (poster)

Really:

05/27 Links Pt2: Pope Francis’ Failure to Confront Evil; Stones: Dylan told us to come to Israel

From Ian:

Shmuley Boteach: Pope Francis’ Failure to Confront Evil

No one can deny that Pope Francis is a man who walks the walk. While many disagree with his neo-socialist world-view, who can feel anything but respect for a world leader who eschews the perks of office to champion the poor and the oppressed? The Pope is also courageously confronting the Church’s obsession with abortion, gay marriage, and contraception in favor of spiritual values that directly address the materialism, narcissism, and rot of the modern world.
But there is one area where the Pope must do more. And that’s in his confrontation with evil. Over the past few days we’ve heard the Pope repeatedly invoke the need for Middle East peace. We have seen him walk a tightrope of neutrality between Israel and the Palestinians. But as the world’s foremost religious voice, can he afford to be silent in the face of a grotesque moral affront? When the Pope prays at an Israeli security barrier in front of graffiti that compares Bethlehem to the Warsaw Ghetto, he has taken neutrality to an extreme and risks being party to trivializing the Holocaust.
Pope Francis, who is a global inspiration and a great light of the Church, must learn from the poor example of his predecessor not to be vague when it comes to mass murder. Platitudes about Middle East peace that refuse to condemn Hamas terrorism or its genocidal charter’s against the Jews risks compromising the great Pope’s moral standing. A security fence built solely to protect innocent Israelis from being dismembered dare not be compared to a fence designed to cage Jews prior to their gassing.
The Pope can surely find a different place to pray.

Pope, Netanyahu spar over Jesus' native language

Pope Francis and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traded words on Monday over the language spoken by Jesus two millennia ago.
"Jesus was here, in this land. He spoke Hebrew," Netanyahu told Francis, at a public meeting in Jerusalem in which the Israeli leader cited a strong connection between Judaism and Christianity.
"Aramaic," the pope interjected.
"He spoke Aramaic, but he knew Hebrew," Netanyahu shot back. (h/t MtTB)

The meanest bastards in history VIDEO

So the Pope celebrates Mass in Bethlehem, but they can’t turn down the volume of the PA system at the nearby mosque?
Somebody was apparently trying to make a point, in case anyone wondered who’s in charge in Bethlehem.

UN Watch: What happened to the U.N.?

Insane Arab rumor: Netanyahu thanked Al Jazeera for screwing up the Arab world

This video was shown on El Balad TV earlier this month:

It shows a supposed letter from Binyamin Netanyahu to Al Jazeera, which says something like, "A special thanks to Al Jazeera for what you did on our behalf in the Arab world, and we are beholden to it for its acts of incitement against our enemies the State of Palestine and against the Egyptian army." (I know I'm missing some words I couldn't make out.)

I grabbed as much of it as I could from the screen:

Ya gotta love people who will believe literally anything as long as it fits into their bigotry.

Muslims desecrate Jewish holy spot with Koranic rituals!

The Al Aqsa Foundation published this video taken this morning, which illustrates - according to them - "Jewish settlers storming and desecrating the Al Aqsa Mosque."

It of course shows the opposite. It shows Muslim usurpers performing Koranic chants at Judaism's holiest spot, while a group of Jews respectfully tour the site.

But you won't find even Israeli headlines that mention the simple fact that Muslims are the thieves, even as Arab newspapers from Egypt to the Gulf have articles daily warning of "Jews storming the mosque" and "performing Talmudic rituals."

Invariably, the "storming" looks exactly like the scene above.

This article is warning about plans for Jews to visit their holiest site on Jerusalem Day tomorrow "to establish Talmudic rituals and dances in the Al-Aqsa Mosque" and the Al Aqsa Foundation is imploring Muslims to block Jews from entering.

05/27 Links Pt1: Daughters of Brussels shooting victims: 'They'll always be with us'

From Ian:

Daughters of Brussels shooting victims: 'They'll always be with us'

Shira and Ayelet Riva, daughters of the Israeli couple killed in the Brussels Jewish Museum shooting, write final letter to parents as their bodies land in Israel: 'We know that they'll always be in our hearts and souls.'
"We couldn't ask for better parents. Loving, caring and good-hearted, who most of all wanted the best for us," wrote Shira and Ayelet Riva in a letter in memory of their parents Emanuel and Miriam Riva, who were killed in the shooting at the Brussels Jewish Museum Saturday, just hours after their bodies arrived in Israel.
In the final letter to their parents, the daughters (16 and 15 years old) wrote that "they went abroad to celebrate their 18th anniversary. Before the trip they promised us we would do a lot of things together after they return, but they won't come back to us.

Tel Aviv couple to be laid to rest; Brussels shooter still at large

The bodies of Emanuel and Mira Riva, the Israeli couple killed in Saturday's shooting at the Brussels Jewish Museum, will be laid to rest at Tel Aviv’s Kiryat Shaul cemetery at 5 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, as investigators continue searching for the perpetrator still at large.
A lone gunman entered the museum with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and opened fire, killing the Rivas and one other, injuring a fourth person. The fourth victim died on Monday.

Belgium sends museum murder file to terrorism prosecutor

Deputy public prosecutor Ine Van Wymersch told a news conference that “the file is transferred to the federal” level, but she refused to say whether or not it was being reclassified as a terrorist act.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack on Saturday, Joel Rubinfeld, who heads Belgium’s league against anti-Semitism, told AFP it clearly “is a terrorist act” as a man had been seen driving up and entering the museum before opening fire inside and running off. He added that the act was the result of a “climate of hate.”

Brussels gunman was wearing video camera, sources say

Belgian media reported Monday morning that the gunman who killed four people in an attack Saturday at the Brussels Jewish Museum carried out the act while wearing a portable video camera on his chest.
If true, the behavior would be reminiscent of that of Mohammed Merah, who filmed himself killing four people at the Ozar Hatorah school in Toulouse, March 2012.
“Sources involved in the investigation” informed several news sites that while reviewing one of the museum’s security videos, it was observed that the suspect was bearing a GoPro brand camera that may have documented the event.