Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Despite "unity," Hamas won't give up Gaza control

We knew all this, but now a Hamas official confirms it:

After seven years in power, Hamas has handed over its government in Gaza to the unity government headed by Rami Hamdallah in accordance with the reconciliation agreement signed with its political rival Fatah. However, the movement did not waive its security control of the Gaza Strip.

The crisis caused by the security agencies of the former Hamas government, after they closed Gaza’s banks for several days and prevented government workers from making any financial transactions, has showed the strength of the security services and their ability to maintain control on the ground in the coastal strip.

The security services continue to control the border crossings such as the semi-closed Rafah border crossing that links the Gaza Strip to Egypt as well as the Erez crossing between Gaza from Israel and the West Bank. This situation forces travelers and visitors to register twice upon their arrival to the Palestinian side, once in the Palestinian Liaison Office of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and again at the security checkpoint of the previous Hamas government. Hamas is also in control of the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing.

The internal security services in Gaza arrested prominent Fatah official Arafat Abu Shabab as he was returning from Egypt via the Rafah crossing on June 3 after the Hamdallah government took the constitutional oath before President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.

A source in the Hamas leadership explained that the movement would not give up control over the Gaza Strip with such ease and speed, and that its influence will continue despite the formation of a national consensus government and the handing over of official ministries.

“Hamas is not ready to expose its political project to risk and to hand over the power that it has built over seven years just because of an agreement on a government whose ability to survive is yet to be revealed,” the source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity.

Indeed, Hamas has been doing even more to Islamicize Gaza:

When W., 21, went to the beach with her friend, the last thing she expected was Hamas policemen rushing into the beach cafe where she was sitting and forcing the waiter to remove the argileh — the Middle Eastern hookah — she was smoking from her table.

W., who wished to remain anonymous, expressed her annoyance at what happened, adding that she just had wanted to take a seaside break from her exam preparation.

The owner of the cafe, who preferred to go under the alias Khaled, told Al-Monitor that this was only one case out of dozens that regularly happen.

“The police jeeps never leave the area around the beach, just looking for a girl smoking argileh or a couple sitting together there,” Khaled said.

Khaled said that all he can do is ask the policemen to prove their identities; otherwise, he is powerless to stop their meddling in his customers' personal affairs.

83-year old man attacked and injured in German #BringBackOurBoys vigil

There was a vigil in Hamburg, Germany, last Friday on the Reesendamm Bridge to show solidarity with the kidnapped teens Eyal Ifrach, Gilad Schaer and Naftali Frenkel.

About 50 people came to support the boys.

There was a counter-demonstration by the Palestine AG of Hamburg Attac Group and the Regional Group of Hamburg German-Palestinian Society, with about 15 people.

According to reports, at one point one of the anti-Israel protesters who was carrying a sign to boycott Israel attacked an 83-year old pro-Israel protester, causing him to fall to the ground.His daughter came to help him and she was kicked by the antisemite.

The elderly man could not walk after the attack and had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital.

The haters continued to march aggressively in front of the mostly elderly Zionists, Police eventually separated the two groups.

As of Sunday, the elderly man was still in the hospital.

(h/t Jonathan)

The other story of Egypt chilling press freedom

Most readers have probably heard by now about how Egypt sentenced three Al Jazeera reporters to jail:

Three Al Jazeera journalists who have been held in Egypt since December have been sentenced to seven years in jail, according to Ahram Online's reporter at the courthouse.

The three defendants are Australian Peter Greste, Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and producer Baher Mohamed. They have been on trial along with 17 others on charges of "spreading false news," falsely portraying Egypt as being in a state of "civil war," as well as aiding or joining the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

But there is another story in Egypt about freedom of the press that is perhaps more chilling.

A court in Upper Egypt has sentenced journalist Bishoy Armia to five years in prison and a fine of LE500 fine for inciting sectarian strife, Al-Ahram's Arabic news website reported on Monday.

Al-Ahram said the defendant – originally named Mohamed Hegazy El-Sayed – was also sentenced for "depicting Christians as suffering from sectarian oppression" and reporting the "misinformation" to a US-based television channel called The Road.

The 32-year-old journalist made headlines in 2008 when he lobbied to have his religion changed on his national identification card from Islam to Christianity, after converting and subsequently changing his name from Mohamed Hegazy to Bishoy Armia.

I have yet to see a majority-Muslim state using laws like this against Muslims who incite against other religions.

06/23 Links Pt2: CNN Rips Presbyterian Official Over BDS; A ‘new anti-Semitism’ rising in France

From Ian:

Can Palestinians humanize 6 million living Jews when they won’t sympathize with 6 million murdered Jews?

UK media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict typically imputes good faith to Palestinians – operating under the premise that most truly want a peaceful resolution with the Jewish State.
However, what if this assumption is misplaced?
How would media coverage of boycotts, lawfare and other forms of Palestinian ‘resistance‘ change if journalists took seriously the possibility that the Palestinians’ end goal was not to live in peace with their neighbors, but, rather, perpetual war, the only desirable end result being the elimination of the Jewish state?
Well, an independent Catholic news site asked that very question (Do Palestinians Want Peace?, June 19), in the context of linking to a Guardian report by their Middle East editor Ian Black about the forced resignation of a Palestinian professor who led a group of his students on a trip to Auschwitz.
Black – as Guardian editors are wont to do – framed the depressing episode, in which a Palestinian professor was vilified for merely attempting to evoke sympathy amongst Palestinians for Jewish victims of Hitler’s genocide, as a story of ‘competing narratives of victimization.

JPost Editorial: Presbyterian mistake

It is dangerous to allow irrational theologies of any kind to inform one’s politics, whether these politics are pro-Zionist or anti-Zionist. Christians of all stripes should, instead, inform themselves about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and reach their own conclusions based on reason, not theology. Intellectual honesty will lead any inquirer to admit at the very least that the issues are complicated.
By taking a stand in favor of divestment the Presbyterians of America are saying that they have figured out who is right and who is wrong in the conflict. And they have done this based either on the influence of irrational theology or a biased, radical left-wing agenda. As a result, some of the worst human rights offenders go unpunished by the mainline churches, while Israel is singled out for special censure.

Netanyahu slams ‘disgraceful’ US Presbyterian divestment

“It’s so disgraceful,” Netanyahu said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” news program. “Most Americans understand that Israel is a beacon of civilization and moderation.”
He said that while much of the Middle East was “riveted by religious hatred, by savagery of unimaginable proportions,” Israel is “the one democracy that upholds basic human rights, that guards the rights of all minorities, that protects Christians.”
Netanyahu advised the Presbyterians to “fly to the Middle East, come and see Israel for the embattled democracy that it is, and then take a bus tour, go to Libya, go to Syria, go to Iraq, and see the difference.”
“I would give them two pieces of advice — one is make sure it’s an armor-plated bus, and second, don’t say that you’re Christian.”

PCUSA's New Moderator Unsettled by CNN Scrutiny

Things got even uglier when the host asked about Zionism Unsettled, a hateful and dishonest text produced by the Israel Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (USA), a group of so-called peace activists with a long history of demonizing Israel and American Jews. The host asked how the PC(USA) can profess its love for its Jewish sisters and brothers in light of some of the rhetoric in Zionism Unsettled. “It seems as if the rhetoric at least, does not speak to your love for, as you say, your Jewish brothers and sisters,” he asked.
In response Rada invoked a overture passed by the General Assembly in Detroit that stated that Zionism Unsettled does not represent the viewpoint of the PC(USA). Interestingly enough, the overture initially instructed the denomination to stop selling the text, but this section was removed in committee and approved as amended by the General Assembly. Rada said:
“Our General Assembly distanced itself, saying we do not support the statements that were made in Zionism Unsettled. We as a denomination do not affirm that terminology.”
The host responded, “But you’re still selling it on the Presbyterian USA website. It still is a teaching guide on your website. I looked at it this morning.

CNN Anchors Rip Presbyterian Official Over BDS Vote (quoted part starts at 5min)

(This post will remain on top for much of today. New posts can be seen below.)

Things have remained very busy at EoZ since my last appeal.

The biggest event over the past few months has been the Beitunia incident, where I analyzed and (in my opinion) proved that the bullet that killed at least one of the youths during the Nakba Day incidents was not fired by Israeli forces, as it was a rubber-coated bullet. Many hours were spent doing the work that "human rights" organizations and the media didn't bother to do, with exclusive videos and analysis way beyond nearly anyone else's coverage.

Over this past weekend there were also many posts about the Presbyterian Church USA general meeting and resolutions, again going beyond the coverage of most other media, following up on what can only be considered antisemitism by the leaders of that organization.

During this quarter I passed the 7000 mark in Twitter followers. I tweet far more often than I post and it is worthwhile to follow my Twitter feed.

I also have nearly 1800 Facebook Likes on a page I spend no time on besides automatically posting my tweets. Even my Google+ page, which I don't push at all, has a couple of hundred followers. In addition, about 2000 people follow EoZ on RSS readers or via email subscription (there were some hiccups in the RSS feeds and emails, which take a fair amount of time to debug.)

It has been harder and harder to keep up with the demands of the blog but so far I've managed to maintain the pace of at least five new posts a day besides Ian's stellar linkdumps. I am looking to add more columnists to broaden the conversation; Mike Lumish's Sunday columns have caused much thoughtful discussion in the comments and PreOccupied Territory is an often hilarious weekly addition to the blog.

I've been writing here for nearly ten years and have almost 20,000 posts since August 2004. My goal, as always, is to have every one of those posts inform you of something you didn't know about before.

All of this takes up time and money. So if you find this blog to be an invaluable resource, as thousands of daily readers do, please consider donating to keep things going. The PayPal buttons on the right hand sidebar of this main page are the easiest way to donate or (better) to create a monthly subscription. Otherwise you can send Amazon gift cards.

As always, thanks for your support!

Gaza to run out of fuel tomorrow, again

Arab media is reporting that the Gaza power plant will run out of fuel tomorrow. Apparently the fuel donation from Qatar that has been transferred from Egypt to Israel through the Kerem Shalom terminal is about to run out.

We've seen this film before. Even though Israel is willing to sell Gaza all the fuel it wants at market prices, and indeed Kerem Shalom has never reached the capacity of fuel it can transfer, Hamas refuses to pay the amount needed. The PA balks at subsidizing the fuel. Egypt has all but shut down the illegal trade of subsidized fuel, not able to afford to give enough to its own citizens.

And Israel will be blamed by Hamas, the media and so-called "human rights organizations."

In a few days we will see photos of Gaza kids walking around with candles. The stories of how horrible Ramadan is in the summer heat without fans or air conditioning will start coming out of wire services. "Human rights groups" will use it as an excuse to bash Israel. And each of these articles will mention the "Israeli siege" or "blockade" saying either explicitly or implicitly that Israel is at fault.

The lying is shameless, but since it is anti-Israel, it is accepted uncritically.

PA official trashes Hanin Zoabi

This is too funny:

Balad MK Hanin Zoabi accused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas over the weekend of "betraying the Palestinian people" by cooperating with Israeli security forces.

Appearing on "Meet the Press" on Channel 2, Zoabi voiced her malcontent with Abbas. "I do not agree with him. I disagree with the positions he takes and his strategy, if he even has one. Abbas has reached a point of not just coordinating security but coordinating politically as well. His and the Palestinian Authority's goal is to strengthen their hold on power. My fight as a Palestinian is to end the occupation. We do not agree with Abbas' path on political grounds," she said.

The Palestinian Authority refused to release an official response to Zoabi's statements. However, a senior official from Abbas' office told Israel Hayom, "This is populist demagogue at its lowest level. We do not comment on what she says because she is not worth a response or attention. She is a sad person and there is nothing to do but feel sorry for her, she should be happy that she is your problem and not ours. She was never a welcome guest for the Palestinians and never will be. Even her 'beloved' Hamas sees her as a [Israeli] collaborator and nothing more."

Even Palestinian Arabs consider Zoabi to be beneath contempt.

(h/t Yoel)

06/23 Links Pt1: Mother of kidnapped teen to address UN; New Palestinian Intifada - Against Abbas

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: New Palestinian Intifada - Against Abbas

Hamas and other Palestinian groups are now talking about preparations for a third intifada against Israel. "We are headed toward a third intifada and a direct confrontation with the Israeli occupation," said Hamas spokesman Hussam Badran.
But the truth is that in the West Bank there already is an intifada against Israel. Palestinians call it a popular intifada, which they have been waging since long before the abduction of the three teenagers. This is an intifada that consists of daily confrontations between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians, who have also been targeting Jewish settlers in several parts of the West Bank.
The incident in Ramallah and increased criticism of Abbas and the PA leadership show that the Palestinians are also close to declaring another intifada, this time against their president and his "treacherous" security forces.
To avoid such an uprising against his regime, Abbas will most likely try to divert the anger on the Palestinian street toward Israel, thus paving the way for a further escalation of the anti-Israeli intifada.
This explains the strong condemnations in recent days, from Abbas and his senior officials, of the ongoing Israeli security crackdown in the West Bank. The rhetorical attacks on Israel embolden Hamas and Palestinian extremists and drive more Palestinians into their open arms.

Expert: Abbas is Only Paying Lip Service

Middle East expert Dr. Mordechai Kedar dismissed on Sunday the comments by Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas condemning the kidnapping of three Israeli yeshiva students.
Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Kedar said that Abbas was simply paying lip service, similar to that of former PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, who would often make the right statements at the right time in order to appease the United States or Israel.
"He says what is expected of him to say," noted Kedar, adding that Abbas’s remarks were nothing more than a meaningless word game. "The question is what does he do with [Hamas]. Whether they continue to be in the same coalition and the same government."
He further predicted that Hamas and Fatah, despite the unity agreement, will continue to separate from one another and would have done so regardless of Abbas’s condemnation of the kidnapping which resulted in a condemnation of him by Hamas.

Peres: Abbas ‘risking his life’ in stance against terrorism

President Shimon Peres on Sunday hailed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as a great leader, calling him the best peace partner Israel has ever had, and saying he was “risking his life” to take a principled position against terrorism.
Peres’s comments in praise of Abbas contrasted starkly with a far more wary assessment delivered earlier in the day by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mother of kidnapped teen to address UN

The mother of kidnapped teenager Naftali Fraenkel is to address the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday and call for the immediate release of the three Israeli boys.
Rachel Sprecher Fraenkel may be accompanied by Iris Yifrach and Bat-Galim Shaar, parents of Eyal Yifrach and Gil-ad Shaar, but the two are not slated to speak at the summit.
Fraenkel is expected to appeal for international condemnation of the abduction and call for pressure to urge the kidnappers to free the yeshiva students.

IDF discovers underground Hamas weapons bunkers in West Bank

From YNet:

The IDF has discovered dozens of suspected terror tunnels in the Hebron area during Operation Brother's Keeper. Members of Israel's elite engineering unit Yahalom uncovered the tunnels and hiding holes while searching for the three teens kidnapped in the West Bank ten days ago.

Some of the tunnels were found by soldiers inside the homes of Palestinians, under large pieces of furniture and laundry machines. According to one senior officer in the engineering corps, the IDF had no prior intelligence reports regarding the tunnels.

Using their specialized equipment, Yahalom (diamond in Hebrew) forces participated in dozens of raids on the homes of Palestinian activists across the West Bank, confiscating caches of weapons and explosives.

The unit's forces discovered close to 20 laboratories for manufacturing improvised explosives devices hidden in homes they searched. "We would arrive at a suspicious home and find a family living on the first floor and a laboratory with explosives on the third floor," said a senior officer in the unit.

"We also discovered underground spaces in the Hebron area which we had not known about previously. Because of the intensive operations, we have had to cut short the advanced training for some of our soldiers in order to reinforce the units in the field, even as we continue our operations in the Gaza sector and GOC Northern Command," he added.

IDF forces continued to comb the area north of Hebron on Sunday, searching wells, water reservoirs, pits and ditches on agricultural lands, and homes in order to find the kidnappers or a clue that will lead Israeli forces to them.

Absurdly, "human rights organizations" are regarding the operation that is uncovering this huge terror network as "collective punishment." Under international law, however, they are wrong:

Amnesty and other civil rights groups are arguing that Israel can look for the missing teenagers as long as it does not inconvenience anyone, said international law professor Eugene Kontorovich, who teaches at Northwestern and Hebrew universities. But that has little to do with international law, he suggested.

“Rounding up suspects, or potential witnesses, is not punishment, but rather rudimentary investigative process,” Kontorovich said. “Especially when the crime is thought to be committed by a complex terror organization, the number of potential witnesses is high. There is no evidence whatsoever that the Palestinians are being rounded up just to get back at Palestinians, without any regard to their having potentially useful information.”

Collective punishment means targeting the broader community for the crimes of an armed group, Kontorovich added. “However, members of a criminal group can be punished for each others’ crimes as part of joint criminal enterprise. This is widely used against everyone from the Nuremberg defendants to drug dealing gangs.” Police often round up gang members after a crime hoping they can shed light on the perpetrators or that they themselves might be liable for offenses committed in furtherance of the joint criminal enterprise, he said.

(Video of the operation is at the YNet article)

Over 550 Coptic girls have been kidnapped in Egypt since revolution

This is horrific:

Since 2011 to date at least 550 Christian girls have been kidnapped by Muslim men in Egypt, forced to convert and marry their abductors, often after suffering violence at the hands of their captors, the Association of Victims of Abduction and Forced Disappearance (AVAFD) reported earlier this month.

Echoing AVAFD report, the Pontifical foundation Aid to the Chuch in Need emphasized that the kidnapping of young Coptic Christian girls is no new phenomenon. During the presidency of Anwar el-Sadat (1970-1981) several cases were reported to authorities. Nevertheless, after the fall of toppled dictator President Hosni Mubarak at the beginning of 2011, there has been a rash of kidnappings reported.

“Before the revolution five or six girls would disappear each month. Now the average is 15,” Ebram Louis, founder of AVAFD (AVAED in Egyptian), said.

According to AVAFD, in 40 percent of the cases in which the girls and women abducted are between 14 and 40 years old, they are raped and subsequently forced to marry their captors after being converted to Islam. The organization says that other victims are instead coerced by young Muslims, who first gain their trust, then force them to convert and marry. During wedding preparations, the traditional cross that the Coptic minority tattooes on their wrists, a symbol of the Christian faith carried with pride by many members of the minority, is erased with acid.

The high number of missing girls and the repeating identical operating patterns have convinced lawyers, activists and priests — long engaged in the battle against the terrible practice — that there is an organized network behind the kidnappings. According to some, there are Islamic cells dedicated exclusively to the abduction of Coptic women.

Aid to the Church in Need cites the example of a young girl, Nadia Makram, who was kidnapped in 2011 at age 14. Nadia's parents knew the name of her kidnapper — Ahmed Hammad, a 48-year old Muslim — and turned to the police immediately. The man was not arrested. According to numerous documented episodes by the organization, the police often refuse to search for missing girls, claiming that they voluntarily abandoned their parents’ home. Often, if the young girls are found, they are almost always accompanied to the police station by their new Muslim "relatives", even during questioning to determine if the girl was forcibly abducted. In these circumstances, many of the girls and women say that they voluntarily left the family home.

The story of Nadia, and other girls kidnapped and forced into the marriage, gets even more serious for some. Egyptian law forbids the marriage and conversion of minors, even if they claim to be consenting. Yet in 2012, when Nadia was just fifteen and had already given birth to her first child, authorities closed the case acquitting the husband. For the man, it was sufficient to show a marriage certificate attesting to the ‘legal’ union with his underaged wife.

This means that far more girls have been kidnapped in Egypt in the past few years than the number of girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria.

This study was cited in the Huffington Post a few days ago, along with other alarming statistics of the number of Copts murdered and churches attacked since the revolution.

(h/t Irene)

The Presbyterian Church USA has a prominent supporter for its anti-Israel resolutions - white supremacist David Duke:

“The [sic] tried to threaten the voters by saying that “David Duke” supports this policy and that the Church will get a bad name by supporting something that Dr.Duke has been tied to in the media,” Said Melissa Anderson who was there with close friends who voted on the divestment. “But, people are just not listening to the Jewish racist threats anymore, they are starting to stand up for real justice.”

Dr. David Duke, currently on a lecture tour, was reached for and he made this official comment:
..[T]hrough ethnic racism and tribalism they discriminate against Gentiles and take over media and other institutions.

Their racist power over the media and government is why Israel can get away with it all.

But people can stand up.

Bravo to the Presbyterian Church for standing up to Jewish racism and supremacism!

The world is waking up to Jewish supremacism!”