Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Egypt again blocks off Gaza - and Abbas praises it!

It is not fashionable for Westerners to say that Gaza is a source of terrorism.

But Egyptians say it all the time.

Egypt closed the Rafah crossing to Gaza on Saturday morning, It is reported that the closure will last "indefinitely."

Egypt was also reported to be creating a huge buffer zone - between 1.5 and 3 kilometers - from the border with Gaza in order to stop any smuggling of weapons to and from Gaza.

President Sisi said in a speech that "new procedures will be initiated on the border with the Gaza Strip in the face of terrorism."

Now, this means that Egypt will once again be enforcing a blockade on Gaza. People will not be able to leave Gaza for medical, educational or professional reasons. This is what would be characterized as "collective punishment" if done by Israel..

Egypt, by any yardstick, is treating Palestinians in Gaza worse than Israel is. Israel has not closed the Erez crossings and hundred of truckloads of materials go to Gaza every weekday from Israel.

But how does Mahmoud Abbas respond to Egypt's latest moves to enforce a crippling siege on Gaza?

He supports them!

After Sisi's speech, Abbas said "We stand by Egypt's leadership, government and people, and we support all measures to be taken by the Egyptian leadership in order to maintain security and stability in Egypt in the face of terrorism in the Sinai and all the Egyptian territories, because of the service of the Palestinian cause and the Arab national security."

Abbas praised the Egyptian position as being "courageous in the face of terrorism," saying he has great confidence that Egypt will overcome the enemy.

How's that for hypocrisy?

10/25 Links: Something Is Rotten at Foggy Bottom; Teresa Heinz Kerry's Kitchen Nightmare

From Ian:

Something Is Rotten at Foggy Bottom

That’s right, all Psaki would say is that Abbas “has renounced violence and consistently sought a diplomatic and peaceful solution”–an obviously false statement–along with the strident insistence that she doesn’t “have any other analysis for you to offer.”
It’s worth pointing out that in the very same press briefing Psaki confirmed that the victim of the Palestinian terror attack in Jerusalem was an American citizen. So even Americans not totally inclined to defend Israel from terrorism would, theoretically, be fairly embarrassed by Psaki’s pusillanimous, kowtowing claptrap.
The degree to which this administration will go to avenge perceived slights would make a middle-schooler uncomfortable. While Psaki has nothing to say about deadly anti-Semitic incitement from Abbas even when it’s followed by the murder of an American baby, the State Department reserves its outrage for Israeli officials who disagree on the record with Kerry.

Edgar Davidson: On killing terrorists: the hypocrisy and Obama's viciously anti-Israel regime

In New York yesterday police shot and killed Zale Thompson a Jihadist convert to Islam who attacked a number of policemen with an axe. Just imagine if, in response to this event, the Government of Israel issued the following statement:
"Israel expresses its deepest condolences to the family of a US citizen (Zale Thompson) who was killed by the US Police Forces during clashes in New York on October 24. We demand a speedy and transparent investigation into his killing."
Well Israel did not issue such a statement, but on the same day as the Zale Thompson killing, Israeli security forces killed a Palestinian who was throwing Molotov cocktails at them. And the US Government really did issue the following statement:
"The United States expresses its deepest condolences to the family of a US citizen minor (Orwah Hammad) who was killed by the Israeli Defence Forces during clashes in Silwad on October 24. We demand a speedy and transparent investigation into his killing." (h/t Bob Knot)

Kitchen Nightmares

It recently began serving Palestinian food wrapped in leaflets that include quotes from Palestinians defending terrorism and opposing the existence of Israel.
“How can you compare Israeli F-16s, which are some of the best military planes in the world, to a few hundred homemade rockets?” states one quote on the wrapper, a reference to Hamas rocket attacks against Israelis. “You’re pushing them to the absolute extreme. So what do you expect?”
“Palestinians are not going to just let [Israel] in and drop their arms,” it adds. “No, they’re going to kill and they are going to die.”
The statements on the wrappers were taken from interviews with Palestinians. They are published without quotation marks and do not appear to be edited for accuracy.
Another section of the wrapper refers to the creation of Israel as “an intentional and ongoing offensive.” It also alleges that Israel deliberately blocks Palestinians from obtaining drinking water, opposes non-Jews from becoming citizens, and has assassinated or imprisoned all of the non-corrupt Palestinian leaders.
According to the wrapper, Conflict Kitchen is supported in part by the Heinz Endowment, which is chaired by Kerry’s wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry.
A spokesman for the Heinz Endowment told the Washington Free Beacon that it gave Conflict Kitchen a $50,000 grant last April to support its relocation to another site in Pittsburgh.
He declined to say whether the Heinz Endowment would continue to support the group in the future, but added that, “the opinions of Conflict Kitchen do not represent those of the Heinz Endowment.” (h/t Jewess)

10/24 Links Pt2: South African BDS Thugs use a Pigs Head in Supermarket Kosher Food Section

From Ian:

South African BDS Activists Target Woolworths Kosher Food Section With Severed Pigs Head

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel took another step into open antisemitism today when student activists in South Africa placed the severed head of a pig in the kosher meat section of a Woolworths store in Cape Town. The shocking gesture was aimed, the perpetrators said, at preventing “people who will not eat pork to pretend that they are eating clean meat, when it is sold by hands dripping with the blood of Palestinian children.”
Jewish leaders were quick to condemn the act, organized by the Congress of South African Students (COSAS,) a body affiliated with the ruling African National Congress (ANC.) “Disregarding all standards of basic decency, the Congress of South African Students today chose to send an ugly message to the Jewish community of South Africa. This morning, as a protest against Woolworths for stocking Israeli products, COSAS members in Cape Town deposited a pig’s head in the kosher meat section of a Woolworths food store,” said the South African Jewish Board of Deputies. “The SAJBD regards this incident as a hate crime and is investigating its options regarding taking the matter further.”
A spokesman for Woolworths claimed after the incident that there “were no kosher food products on the affected shelf” at the retailers’ Fort Road store in the Sea Point district. “Placing a pig’s head in our store is unacceptable and offensive to our employees and customers, including Jewish and Muslim employees and customers,” Paula Disberry, Woolworths group director of retail operations said in a statement. “We are investigating this incident and we will consider our options to prevent such distasteful protests in our stores.”

It’s Time for HRW’s Ken Roth to Go

Ken Roth has now been executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) for more than two decades; indeed, he has become an institution there. But if HRW is going to retain any credibility, it is time to demand Roth resign or be fired.
Here’s the problem: On October 22, a car driven by a known Hamas activist slammed into a light rail stop, injuring several Israelis and Americans, and killing a three-month-old girl. The driver of the car tried then to flee on foot, but was shot (and has since succumbed to his wounds). Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. Seems pretty cut-and-dried. Not to Roth, who wasted no time casting doubt.

This is what Roth had to say on Twitter:
“Palestinian deadly crash into train stop. Israel calls it ‘terrorist attack…typical of Hamas’ http://trib.al/EIkJp01 ”
To call the attack in Jerusalem simply a car crash is like calling the 9/11 attacks a plane crash, or to call ISIS’s enslavement and rape of Yezidi women as mere groping. The contempt with which Roth holds Israel is legendary. Five years ago, its founding chairman even took to the New York Times to lament HRW’s bias and politicization under Roth.

Caroline Glick: It’s time to beat the Jew-haters

The decision by the most prestigious opera house in America to produce an opera that mainstreams Jew-hatred and anti-Jewish terrorism is a great victory for elitist anti-Semitism. In the world of elite anti-Semitism, Jews are told that truth is but a narrative. Jewish history and rights have no more merit – indeed less merit – than the lies of Jew-haters. And if Jews dare to object to the propagation of lies against them, they open themselves to the easy accusation that they seek to stifle free speech.
The goal of elitist anti-Semitism is to erode the right of Jews to have and promote Jewish rights and interests. This is done by demonizing those who defend Jewish rights and advance Jewish interests, while elevating and romanticizing the lives and largely false narratives of those who seek to destroy Israel.
The Met’s singular contribution to the cause of elitist anti-Semitism is the prestige its production of The Death of Klinghoffer confers on the cause.
Another dam has been breached. Another safe zone has become a no-go zone.

OK, I admit it: I'm frustrated that I have gotten no traction on my UNRWA exposes over the past two weeks.

A UN agency with a billion dollar budget is covering up information about its teaching hate to hundreds of thousands of students, and I cannot get a single mainstream reporter to cover this. (The only coverage I got was from Algemeiner.)

I tweeted almost all of the Western UN news correspondents, and emailed many of them. Except for one who said he might use the information in the future, nada.

An NRO article from a couple of years ago reveals a little about the "old reporters club" that covers the UN, and how they were trying to expel one rogue reporter who actually asked uncomfortable questions. It seems that the article understates the case.

I'm still trying, and I'm not going to give up so easily on this. Anyone who wants to send my articles on UNRWA over to your favorite columnists, pundits, reporters or politicians, please do so until we get some coverage. And let me know their responses.

Here's a recap of the main articles of the series:

Original 2012 expose: Learn about Islam, Jihad, martyrdom - at UNRWA schools (updated)

All sites mentioned there were taken down within a couple of weeks.

UNRWA's Gaza "human rights" website posts:

Current UNRWA "human rights" website includes antisemitism

Plenty of hate and lies in the UNRWA "human rights" curriculum

Site taken down:

COVERUP: UNRWA removes "human rights" webpage after hate and lies exposed

UNRWA Gaza "respect and discipline" school website:

Israel News: UNRWA site, quoting hadith, says Jews are dirty (UPDATE)

Site taken down:

Israel News: For the THIRD time, UNRWA engages in a coverup of its hate

Lebanon UNRWA teacher antisemitism: Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: Holocaust denial and antisemitism from UNRWA teachers

10/24 Links Pt1: Abbas's Responsibility for Murder; Israel Can't Have Partial Sovereignty

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Abbas's Responsibility for Murder

To understand what drives a young Palestinian to carry out such a deadly attack, one needs to look at the statements of Palestinian Authority leaders during the past few weeks.
The anti-Israel campaign of incitement reached its peak with Abbas's speech at the UN a few weeks ago, when he accused Israel of waging a "war of genocide" in the Gaza Strip. Abbas made no reference to Hamas's crimes against both Israelis and Palestinians.
Whatever his motives, it is clear that the man who carried out the most recent attack, was influenced by the messages that Abbas and the Palestinian Authority leadership have been sending their people.

Israel Can't Have Partial Sovereignty

This may not be taught in conflict resolution departments, but this is how it works in the real world: whoever shows a daily, regular presence determines affairs. If it's not us, it will be someone else.
The only way to restore security is a robust sovereign and consistent presence in Arab neighborhoods and towns. Not by hiding behind pillboxes and armored vehicles, but with constant and stubborn policing, day after day. Law enforcement is a dirty job, and professional have to do it. Crimes, murders (including "honor killings"), illegal arms and all the sundry "internal" Arab affairs need to start being our business, not something to be dealt with "in house". If we don't, we simply won't last here.
This requires a lot of effort, it's not politically correct and there may be casualties. But if we don't want to wake up with ISIS as a next door neighbor, we're going to have to act preemptively to keep it out.

The Poison Tree

Last month, addressing the U.N. General Assembly, Benjamin Netanyahu made a connection between the Islamic State and Hamas. These terrorist entities, Netanyahu said, have a lot in common. Separated by geography, they nonetheless share ideology and tactics and goals: Islamism, terrorism, the destruction of Israel, and the establishment of a global caliphate.
And yet, Netanyahu observed, the very nations now campaigning against the Islamic State treated Hamas like a legitimate combatant during last summer’s Israel-Gaza war. “They evidently don’t understand,” he said, “that ISIS and Hamas are branches of the same poisonous tree.”
The State Department dismissed Netanyahu’s metaphor. “Obviously, we’ve designated both as terrorist organizations,” said spokesman Jen Psaki. “But ISIL poses a different threat to Western interests and to the United States.”
Psaki was wrong, of course. She’s always wrong. And, after the events of the last 48 hours, there ought not to be any doubt as to just how wrong she was. As news broke that a convert to Islam had murdered a soldier and stormed the Canadian parliament, one read of another attack in Jerusalem, where a Palestinian terrorist ran his car over passengers disembarking from light rail, injuring seven, and killing 3-month-old Chaya Zissel Braun, who held a U.S. passport.

Sarah Honig: The 14th century in Washington

Kerry didn’t only fail to rebuff this dangerous allegation when it was sounded by the “regional leaders” with whom he so cozily hobnobbed. Kerry actually quoted Arab aspersions, giving them resonance and official endorsement.
And he didn’t just echo Israel’s enemies but added his own editorializing commentary to reinforce their Israel-connection contentions: “People need to understand the connection of that. And it has something to do with humiliation and denial and absence of dignity.”
Here Kerry treacherously crossed a redline, in a calculated move that should send chills down the spine of every thinking person.
Kerry intimated that by refusing to commit collective suicide, Israelis abet the nastiest menace to the civilized world. The subtext ought to be clear even to this non-erudite secretary of state.
In essence, blaming the blameless for what they have no involvement in is as morally reprehensible as the mid-14th century scapegoating of Europe’s Jews during the Black Death. Right across the Continent, the recommended remedy was to accuse Jews of poisoning the wells.
With adaptations, this remains the undisputed conventional wisdom. As Hamas avers and as Kerry chummily chimes in, when anything goes wrong the instant surefire remedy is to blame the Jew. The 14th century lives on in 21st century Washington.

Hamas just said, as it has said thousands of times before, that "armed resistance is the only way to liberate Palestine."

This means rockets, kidnappings, and terror attacks.

Dr. Younis al-Astal, Hamas leader in Khan Younis, said that Hamas "resistance" during the Gaza war has already proven that Zionists could never feel secure.

He was speaking during a festival organized by Hamas to honor the families of the martyrs of Khan Younis

Astal said that there is no way that Hamas will abandon its weapons under a unity government, saying "this is our weapon and our spirit and our jihad for the sake of God."

Of course, Hamas' insistence on terror as its main function will never sway the many Western Hamas cheerleaders. They will continue to insist that Hamas is peaceful and pragmatic as many times as Hamas will continue to say the exact opposite in Arabic.

And Western audiences never hear the Arabic.

The provocative crime of sitting while Jewish

This video, apparently taken this week, shows a Jewish man on the Temple Mount quietly sitting down.

This is, of course, an unspeakable crime.

The caption from Facebook says "Haj Abu Badi, despite his age, does not get tired in response to the daily incursions of settlers. Here a settler is sitting and refuses to move, a provocation."

How dare someone provoke someone else?

Obviously the shouting man and the screaming woman aren't guilty of the crime of provocation, because the Jew being screamed at isn't being successfully provoked into reacting.

The logic is impeccable.

There were other videos of those Jews stomping on the precious feelings of screaming Muslim women this week.

This one might be of the same provocateur:

More generic provokers:

Here are Israeli police on the Mount, inexplicably not shooting or punching a single person.

(h/t Bob K)

J-Street supports pol who gave award to friends of Hamas

The "Free Gaza" movement and Hamas have been great friends for years. Here is Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh with a large group of Free Gaza members he had just given awards to:

Here's free Gaza co-founder Paul Larudee, one of the awardees above (seated second from the left,) shaking hands with this same terrorist leader:

Now, here is Larudee and other Free Gaza co-founders Kathy Sheetz and Greta Berlin being given another award from the "The San Jose Peace and Justice Center."

Concurrent with this presentation, Congressman Mike Honda sent Certificates of Special Congressional Recognition to each of these terror supporters as well as a letter of commendation recognizing the award recipients for their "peace" work in campaigning tirelessly against Israel.

Guess who wants you to give money to Mike Honda's campaign?

Yes, that "pro-Israel, pro-peace" group J-Street:

J-Street has an interesting definition of "pro-Israel." To them, it means "supporting those who hate Israel."

(Honda's opponent, also a Democrat, doesn't seem to push any particular foreign policy line.)

See also "J-Street endorses candidates who voted against Iron Dome funding."

By the way, the San Jose Peace and Justice Center once hosted an author who defended prominent people against charges of terrorism. They included Hamas leader Khaled Meshal - and Syrian president Bashar Assad!

(h/t Anarcho-Zionist)

Gideon Levy's fantasy and some video reality

From insane-leftist Gideon Levy in Haaretz:

The uprising is on the way. When the next wave of terror emerges from the alleys of East Jerusalem, Israelis will pretend to be astonished and furious. But the truth must be told: Despite Wednesday's shocking incident, the Palestinians are turning out to be one of the most tolerant nations in history. Mass arrests, violent settlers, deprivation, expulsion, neglect, dispossession — and they remain silent, except for the recent protest of the stones.

After I read this I happened to see this video report from Israel's Channel 10 showing dozens of recent attacks against Jews in Jerusalem - firebombs, rocks thrown at buses, small rockets and more. It is in Hebrew but it is self-explanatory.

This version of the video was enthusiastically reproduced by a pro-terror Arab media outlet with the headline "See how the people of Jerusalem [i.e., Arabs] make the lives of Zionists into hell."

But Levy knows that things have really been quite calm.

(h/t Oliver)

In Arabic, he's a hero. In English, he's "mentally ill because of Israeli torture." (update)

From Ma'an:

Abd al-Rahman al-Shaludi, who died early Thursday after being shot by Israeli police following a suspected attack on civilians in Jerusalem, suffered psychological issues following his release from an Israeli jail, his mother said.

His mother was quoted by the Wadi Hilweh Information Center as saying that her son suffered mental health issues after being released from Israeli prison custody in March, where he was allegedly tortured.

On the day of the incident in Jerusalem, she had taken al-Shaludi to see a doctor who referred her to a psychiatrist and booked an appointment for Nov. 9.

This story is interesting in a couple of ways.

Shaludi was released from prison last December. Isn't is a huge coincidence that the very day that his mother gets a referral to a psychiatrist (with a very specific appointment date, making it sound quite realistic) is the exact same day he decides to attack the Jews?

And if she was so worried about his mental state thatshe had to accompany him to the doctor, then why is she letting him drive by himself?

There could be two explanations. One is that she is telling the truth, and Shaludi decided to do a terror attack rather than be known as someone who needs a psychiatrist.

But the other possibility is that this story is completely made up.

One other interesting fact: Ma'an did not publish this story in Arabic. And neither did any other Arabic news site.*

In Arabic media, there is not one mention I could find of his mental state. After the initial reports asserting that the terror act was an accident, after the videos came out, Arab sites started being proud of his act - or changed their tone to one of outrage that Israeli police "murdered" him.

The "mental health" (because of Israel, naturally) is probably made up for Western consumption, because only Westerners would be sympathetic to someone who is mentally ill. But such a diagnosis is a source of shame for Arabs, so they make up a different story for their own people.

In an honor/shame society, the truth is not relevant. Only appearances are. This is why they lie so easily, and why Westerners cannot understand them,

Either way, the attack has nothing to do with "Israeli torture." A three month old baby was killed because killing Jews is the most honorable ambition in Palestinian society.

*UPDATE: The story about his mental health was published in Arabic here (h/t Bob K)

10/23 Links Pt2: J Street U Slammed for Offensive Post After Baby's Murder; Is Beinart Just a Troll?

From Ian:

J Street U Slammed for Insensitive Post Following Murder of Baby

J Street U, the campus arm of the George Soros-founded organization which claims to be pro-Israel, is garnering negative attention after an insensitive post following the murder of a Jewish baby in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
Rather than simply express sympathy with the family of the murdered three-month-old, who was killed in a Hamas-endorsed attack, J Street U felt it was necessary to editorialize. "In Jerusalem, a baby has been killed and 8 wounded by a terrorist from the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan, the same neighborhood where last week new Jewish settlers moved in," the group wrote on its page.

"In Jerusalem, a baby has been killed and 8 wounded by a terrorist from
the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan, the same neighborhood where last week new Jewish settlers moved in."
"That's just a wrong post, in so many different levels. Allowing the blood of anyone who lives where you don't want them to live. So it's ok to kill any settler in the West Bank? J (S)treet- your mind is just twisted," Hen Mazzig on StandWithUs commented on the post. "That's from an Israeli leftist."
Michael Dickson, StandWithUs' Israel Director joined Mazzig in chastising the campus group. "And in one line, you express no remorse for the 3 month old victim, you blame Jews for the murder of a Jewish baby and expose your amoral mindset," he wrote. "A disgusting justification of terror; you should feel ashamed."
“Are you saying the "settlers" are responsible for what happened?” asked Lori Lowenthal Marcus of the Jewish Press. “That really is the soft bigotry of low (no?) expectations.”
Jewish Voice for Peace, a rapidly anti-Israel organization, proved wiser than J Street and elected to simply pretend the incident never happened on its Facebook feed. Hours later, J Street U linked to a two-sentence-long statement from its parent organization condemning the attack.

Netanyahu decries world’s ‘flaccid response’ to Abbas

The day after an East Jerusalem man with ties to Hamas drove his car onto a light rail platform, killing a three-month-old baby and wounding eight, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at the international community for failing to criticize Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Palestinian leader “both glorifies the murderers and also embraces the organization to which the terrorists belong, Hamas,” Netanyahu said during a briefing with security officials in Jerusalem’s national police headquarters. “And faced with these actions of the Authority chairman, we find only a flaccid [response] internationally. [World leaders] are unwilling to say two words, even one word of criticism of him [Abbas]. We do not share this weakness. We will stand firmly for our rights and obligations to defend our capital.”
“The attack in Jerusalem is supported by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas,” Netanyahu said, in an apparent reference to the praise that the terrorist, Abdel Rahman Al-Shaludi, received Thursday from a Jerusalem branch of Abbas’s Fatah organization.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians accept US request to delay Security Council bid for statehood

The London-based pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported on Thursday that the Palestinian Authority has agreed to delay by two months its plan to seek a Security Council resolution calling for an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines within three years.
The paper quoted Palestinian sources in Ramallah as saying that the PA leadership will give US Secretary of State John Kerry a two-month window to present his own plan for peace. The sources said that the PA leadership was nevertheless determined to proceed with the Security Council bid.
The sources also told the newspaper that the PA leadership is prepared to return to the negotiations with Israel but not according to “old mechanisms.”
The Palestinians are now conditioning the resumption of the talks on Israel presenting a map with its borders and a full cessation of settlement construction during the talks, according to the report.
Kerry said on Wednesday that current relations between Israel and the Palestinians were "unsustainable" and that the United States was conscious of the urgency of the situation.

"Witnesses"

Here are a couple of times that Ma'an used the word "witnesses" over the last couple of days:

Witnesses said Abd al-Rahman al-Shaludi, 20, was shot by Israeli guards at the light rail station after he lost control of his vehicle and hit commuters standing nearby.

They told Ma'an that al-Shaludi exited his vehicle after striking the pedestrians, at which point he was shot in the back by the guards. They stressed that the incident appeared to be an accident.

Now that we know how trustworthy Ma'an's "witnesses" are, we can understand these other articles:

From Friday:

Witnesses said that Israeli forces assaulted young worshipers as they attempted to enter the Old City through Damascus Gate to pray morning prayers earlier on.

I've looked at lots of videos of the events last Friday and the only assaults I've seen were from Arab Muslim women attacking Jews and Israeli police.

Eyewitnesses said the Israelis performed Jewish religious rites including "singing and dancing" near Bab al-Rahma (Gate of Mercy), also known as the Golden Gate. During the rites, witnesses added, the Israelis verbally attacked Muslim worshipers.

The eyewitnesses said that the director of the Al-Aqsa Mosque along with security guards and worshipers confronted the visitors, "forcing Israeli police officers to move them out" after having initially failed to do so.

I've watched dozens of videos of Jews on the Temple Mount, and never have I seen any of them sing anything or verbally attacking anyone from the holy spot. As soon as they leave the Chain Gate, however, they often break out into song. Apparently, that is what is being referred to here.

See how reliable Arab "eyewitnesses" are?