Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Obama's condemnation reveals a lack of respect for the victims

Rabbi Kalman Levine

Here is President Obama's statement of condemnation for the terror attack yesterday:

I strongly condemn today’s terrorist attack on worshipers at a synagogue in Jerusalem, which killed four innocent people, including U.S. citizens Aryeh Kupinsky, Cary William Levine, and Mosheh Twersky, and injured several more. There is and can be no justification for such attacks against innocent civilians. The thoughts and prayers of the American people are with the victims and families of all those who were killed and injured in this horrific attack and in other recent violence. At this sensitive moment in Jerusalem, it is all the more important for Israeli and Palestinian leaders and ordinary citizens to work cooperatively together to lower tensions, reject violence, and seek a path forward towards peace.

The most obvious problem with this statement, of course, is the sickening implication that Jews in Israel are inciting violence and that they must limit their own human rights because Arabs react violently to Jews acting like equals.

But there are a couple of other problems with this statement that indicate a lack of respect by the President towards the American murder victims.

Obama (or his aides) chose to call Kalman Levine by a name that he hasn't used for at least three decades. Instead, he chose to call him by his birth name. (Kalman is a Yiddish name, probably from German.)

This would be no big deal, except that the President seemed to go out of his way to call Peter Kassig "Abdul Rahman" in his condemnation of his execution.

Is an American who converted to Islam while in captivity more deserving of being called by his Arabic name than a Jew to be called by the Jewish name he's used since 1982?

It is also interesting that Obama didn't bother to dignify the terror victims with the title "Rabbi." That is basic etiquette, and it is a glaring omission.

The President's statement shows a disgraceful lack of respect for the victims, for Rabbi Levine in particular, and for Israeli Jews altogether.

Lebanese news site El Iwaa today published a profile of the religious Zionist yeshiva Mercaz HaRav.

Yeshiva Mercaz HaRav is not an ordinary religious school, nor is it only meant to ordain rabbis for the Israeli army, butit is a leader in teaching the religious Zionist movement since the founding of the State of Israel to realize the dream of a national home for the Jews.

It goes on to say that the yeshiva's leaders have encouraged Jews living in "so-called" Judea and Samaria.

The photo illustrating the story isn't of Mercaz HaRav, however. It is of the synagogue that was attacked yesterday.

Why would an Arab paper decide, out of the blue, to profile a fervently Zionist yeshiva in Jerusalem? And to publish it the day after an attack on a synagogue, that many Arab papers are now using as evidence that the Jews have started a "religious war" by visiting the Temple Mount?

The story does not mention that in 2008, an Arab with an AK-47 murdered 8 students at Mercaz HaRav, in an attack that was supported by 84% of Palestinians surveyed.

If Arab media wants to encourage "lone wolf" attacks against Jews, they could hardly do a better job than pointing out targets. The only thing missing from this article is the address of the yeshiva.

El Iwaa highlighted a photo of Arabs celebrating in its article on yesterday's attack.

CAIR, the American Muslim organization that the UAE recently put on its list of terror organizations, condemned an attack on Christians in Pakistan in September using these words:

We condemn these horrific and un-Islamic attacks targeting the Christian community in Pakistan. No one with a shred of humanity would commit such despicable acts against innocent men, women and children.

And here is CAIR's condemnation of the beheading of Peter Kassig by ISIS:

Just as we have denounced previous killings of innocent civilians by the ISIS terrorist group, we condemn the barbaric murder of Peter Kassig and once again repudiate the anti-Islamic ideology that produces such brutality. We also offer our sincere condolences to Mr. Kassig’s family and loved ones.

Now, compare those condemnations with what CAIR wrote about the slaughter of Jewish worshippers on Tuesday:

We condemn this and any other attack on a house of worship and urge all parties in that holy city to refrain from actions that further inflame religious tensions.

The attack isn't "barbaric" or "un-Islamic" or "despicable," the victims aren't "innocent civilians" and the murderers aren't "terrorists." In fact, there aren't even any victims - they are only condeming an attack at a house of worship, not of the worshippers! The word "Jews" is too odious to be written in context of their condemnation.

In the same sentence of their bare minimum "condemnation" they blame the victims - after all, isn't Jews wanting to pray in peace and security in their land the latest excuse being used by Muslims to justify attacking them?

CAIR could not even find a way to write a complete sentence condemning the attack- just like Mahmoud Abbas' fake "condemnation."

The two earlier condemnations actually have some emotions behind them. This one for the Jerusalem attack looks like it was written under duress.

As with Abbas, they felt pressure to say something because they didn't want to be criticized for ignoring it. And just like Abbas, they said the barest minimum possible - while being able to get the media to say that they condemned it.

Why does CAIR care less about Jewish victims of Palestinian Arab violence than other civilian victims of other groups?

I think you can figure that out.

More UNRWA teachers praising the murder of rabbis

Yes, the UN employees who are responsible for teaching the next generation of Palestinian Arab children are cheering the deaths of four rabbis who were murdered while praying.

Besides Ibrahim Hajjar, who I mentioned earlier, we have:

Maha al Mosa, a UNRWA teacher in Syria, who called is a "heroic" operation and who begs Allah to accept the murderers as martyrs in Paradise.

Zuhair Hindi, who had multiple posts praising the murder including a video with the sounds of Jews screaming, a photo of a meat cleaver and a photo of two rabbis with his cursing them in the caption (autotranslation below):.

Naser Haroun of Jordan shows a video of the police action outside the synagogue which he calls "a tribute to the blood of the martyrs."

All of them support the cold-blooded murder of Jews because they are Jews. And all of them are UNRWA teachers.

In a very real sense, UNRWA is responsible for creating the next generation of terrorists. And the world community, by continuing to fund one of the major sources of hate in the Middle East, is complicit.

11/18 Links Pt2: Terrorists should know, it’s not going to work; A Tale of Two Green Lines

From Ian:

David Horovitz: Palestinian terrorists should know: It’s not going to work

Adding to the overwhelming feeling of sheer awfulness pervading the city today is the dismal sense of déjà vu. We’ve been through all of this before, in the Second Intifada terror war — the relentless attacks, the blood, the sirens, the heart-rending funerals, the families ripped apart, the effort to maintain some kind of normality when nowhere is truly safe from terrorism, the international indifference, criticism and misrepresentation.
And the sheer pointlessness of it all.
Because the final thing that has to be put in writing, even on a horrible, evil day like this, when the fingers loathe the necessity to tap the keyboard, is that it’s not going to work. Palestinian terrorists, and those who incite them and support them, should know: We are not going to be shot and stabbed and bludgeoned out of here by your brutality and the false justifications you invoke to legitimate it.
We stood firm during year upon year of Second Intifada terrorism, when you were blowing up our buses, malls, restaurants and supermarkets, and pragmatism could have dictated that we do what the terrorism was designed to make us do: flee. We do not insist on maintaining our majority Jewish state to the exclusion of your rights. Anything but. We seek co-existence. But your rights cannot be achieved by denying us ours.
For this is the homeland of the Jewish nation, the only place we have ever been sovereign or sought sovereignty. And what needs writing and saying, most especially on a terrible day like today, is that we will not be driven from it.

Jeffrey Goldberg: Hamas Endorses a Massacre

One of the most shocking aspects of the murderous attack on a Jerusalem synagogue this morning by men with guns and axes is not the attack itself—we've seen, from time to time, this sort of sectarian barbarism take place in places like Jerusalem, and Hebron. The most shocking aspect is the wholesale endorsement of this slaughter by Hamas, a group that, during this summer's war in Gaza, half-succeeded in convincing the world that it wasn't what it actually is: a group with actual genocidal intentions.
According to witnesses, the two attackers entered the synagogue, in the Har Nof neighborhood, and began killing worshipers with pistols and axes. (Both assailants were killed by police, but not before they murdered four worshipers and injured at least six others, including two police officers.)
“To see Jews wearing tefillin [phylacteries] and wrapped in the tallit [prayer shawls] lying in pools of blood, I wondered if I was imagining scenes from the Holocaust,” said Yehuda Meshi Zahav, who leads an emergency-response team, according to The New York Times. "It was a massacre of Jews at prayer.”

Eugene Kontorovich: A Tale of Two Green Lines

Efforts by academic groups to impose boycotts and other kinds of punitive measures on Israeli universities have gotten considerable attention lately. However, an opposite phenomenon has escaped notice: the widespread participation by mainstream universities in programs and collaborations with institutions located in occupied territories.
This may surprise those who recall that Israel’s establishment of Ariel University in the West Bank drew earnest condemnation from academics and even foreign ministries around the world. Yet it turns out that Ariel is not the only graduate-level institution established in what much of the international community considers occupied territory. And the others have gotten a very different reception.
Turkey has established 10 universities and many colleges in Northern Cyprus since seizing the territory in an invasion in 1974. Half of the universities are public, state-run institutions, and several are campuses of major Turkish institutions on the mainland. Some of the universities were established in just the past few years.
The United Nations Security Council, the European Court of Human Rights, and most of the international community have condemned the Turkish takeover of one third of the island of Cyprus. As of this writing, no nation other than Turkey recognizes the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” regime by which Ankara controls the territory. Turkey maintains a major settlement program, and settlers from the mainland now account for half or more of the population of the TRNC.

Israel A-Z with Frank Luntz and Tomer Kornfeld **Fixed**

Today's UNRWA teacher lessons: Terrorist worship, Hitler admiration, and Jew-hatred

(Latest in a series)

In the aftermath of today's terror attack, it is reasonable to remember that the incitement to glorify terrorists and hate Jews is inculcated in the young. UNRWA supposedly has some standards they pretend to live up to; other schools that Palestinian kids attend are probably even worse.

Ibrahim Hajjar teaches at a UNRWA school who lives in Hebron. He enthusiastically supported today's terror attack,writing a poem in honor of the murderers.

Even though he lives in the West Bank, he is a big fan of Hamas terrorists..

He also likes photos of dead terrorists.

Do you think his liking of terrorists gets exposed when he teaches?

Hanan Jarad, an UNRWA teacher in Lebanon, doesn't seem to understand what the word "genocide" means. Her grasp of history is also suspect, based on these photos she uploaded to her Facebook page.

Not only does this show a shocking ignorance of the basics of what the Holocaust was, but this teacher isn't even aware of the much worse crimes done by Arabs to other Arabs in Syria, Libya, Yemen and elsewhere.

I don't think UNRWA's Chris Gunness would find these offensive to begin with!

This Syrian UNRWA teacher, who doesn't give his real name, seems to believe that Adolf Hitler has wisdom to impart to him.

The "quote" says "Some believe they are men simply because they are not women." It sounds more like what an Arab with machismo issues would say, rather than Hitler.

Of course, it isn't too hard to find UNRWA teachers who also push clssic Nazi antisemitic stereotypes like Suraiah Fdilat of Hebron:

The supply of material for this series is truly inexhaustible. More tomorrow.

The original sin - "occupation" or being Jewish?

A tweet earlier today shows how deep the idea that "occupation" is the root of all evil has become entrenched in certain circles:

Just BBC news: today's Jerusalem attack a terrible, tragic reminder that ongoing violence of Israeli occupation isn't sustainable
— rachel shabi (@rachshabi) November 18, 2014

Of course, when I called her on it, she said that we need to look at the big picture:

@elderofziyon there is no justification for killing civilians.But there's a wider context here, which must be heeded to avoid more violence
— rachel shabi (@rachshabi) November 18, 2014

Ah, the wider context! Let's look at the wider context.

Every person murdered this morning, by sheer coincidence, was a rabbi.

The Arab world's cartoonists, when they decide to create a caricature of Israel, nearly invariably make them look like this:

How many Israeli prime ministers looked like that?

However, the victims today did have black coats and beards.

Is there any lesson in "wider context" that idiots like Shabi might learn from this?

Does Shabi's "wider context" include attacks on Jews by Arabs before "occupation"? Before 1948? In Syria and Iraq?

Or is that too wide for the open-minded Left crowd to wrap their minds around?

Here is the real "cycle of violence" in the Middle East, and it isn't about violence at all. It is about existence (and not accepting second-class status in the Arab world, as Shabi seems to want to return to.)

The original sin in the Middle East for Arabs isn't "occupation." It is an excuse used by Israel-haters to justify their pre-existing hate.

The original sin is that Jews are asserting their rights to live in their own ancestral homeland in peace and security. And that sin is too much for hundreds of millions of Arabs to bear.

11/18 Links Pt1: Jerusalem terror victims identified as US and British citizens; Abu Mazen's Incitement

From Ian:

Jerusalem terror victims identified as US and British citizens

The names were released on Tuesday afternoon of the four victims - three dual US-Israeli nationals and one British-Israeli citizen - murdered in the terror attack at a synagogue in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof.
Rabbi Aryeh Kopinsky, 43, Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, 68, and Rabbi Calman Levine, 55, all from the Har Nof neighborhood were identified along with Rabbi Moshe Twersky, 59, as victims murdered by two Palestinian terrorists.
Kopinsky, Levine and Twersky held dual US-Israeli citizenship after making aliya from American. Goldberg, a British-Israeli national, immigrated to Israel from Britain.
Funerals for the four were to be held Tuesday afternoon.
Kopinsky's death marked a further tragedy for his family as his daughter died three years ago in sudden circumstances.
Levine leaves behind five children and nine grandchildren.

The silence of prayer, shattered in a synagogue bloodbath

Yaakov Amos had just finished calling silently on God to “grant peace everywhere, goodness and blessing; grace, loving kindness and mercy to us and unto all Israel, Your people,” when two terrorists stormed into Har Nof’s largest synagogue at 7:01 a.m. on Tuesday.
Amos, a trained trauma therapist, was in the middle of the Amidah prayer when he heard a pair of gunshots issued in quick succession. “Boom-boom,” he said.
He swiveled around fast, his feet still together in prayer, and saw “a Jew in phylacteries” on the floor.
In those seconds, Amos was transported from the calm of the meditative prayer into the middle of a massacre, as terrorists armed with a gun, a knife and meat cleaver killed four people and injured several more. Witnesses and rescue workers described a gruesome scene inside the Jerusalem synagogue, with blood spattering prayer books and people in the middle of prayer caught in the carnage.

Times of Israel Live Blog American, British victims of Jerusalem terror attack laid to rest

Four people were killed early Tuesday morning when two Palestinian assailants entered a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood. The two terrorists, from East Jerusalem, were killed. Condemnation over the attack has poured in from Israeli and international leaders, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, blamed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for inciting terrorism against Israel. The Times of Israel is liveblogging developments.

The big Palestinian question: Do they mourn or celebrate the terrorists?

Mosques in the neighborhood of the terrorists who attacked a synagogue this morning announced three days of mourning - for the murderers.

This is being reported by the Shehab news agency.

This happens at the same time that Arabs are celebrating the murders with candy.

Indeed, some of the commenters to that post say that it is inappropriate to mourn the heroic martyrs who are being welcomed to Paradise at this very moment.

In fact, when Shahab reported the pretend "condemnation" by Mahmoud Abbas of the attack, readers were most upset. One wrote repeatedly "I am a Palestinian, Mahmoud Abbas does not represent me." Another wrote that he hopes that, Allah willing, they kill "Rabbi Mahmoud Abbas" next.

In addition, they are calling the rabbis who were murdered "dogs" and hoping they go to hell.

Shehab also showed a photo of what they said were sweets being handed out by British Muslims.

They have congratulatory messages from people and politicians all over the world, including Tunisia, Bahrain, Jordan, Syria, Libya and Mauritania.

Shehab also reproduces this poster celebrating the attack, saying "This is the way from now on."

It looks like the consensus is to celebrate the murder of Jews praying.

These are the moderate peace partners that the EU and the West never threaten with sanctions. No, that's reserved for the nation that is trying to survive these attacks.

Arabs celebrate synagogue slaughter as Fatah leaders praise it

While Mahmoud Abbas issued his fake "condemnation" of the slaughter of Jewish worshipers this morning, the political party he leads embraced the terror attack.

The official Fatah website called this a "heroic operation" and its officials praised the attack.

Central Committee of Fatah member Tawfiq Tirawi said "I consider the Jerusalem operation to be a natural response to the occupation and the crimes of the settlers."

Another Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki said that Yasser Arafat was right when he said that the biggest leaders belong to the people, meaning that terrorists are more leaders than anyone.

Official spokesman for Fatah Ahmed Assaf said that "the Jerusalem operation was a natural response to the Israeli violations."

Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades called all of the victims "soldiers" and issued a statement in support of the attack calling for more "revenge" attacks.

This is besides the praise for the attack across the board from other Palestinian Arab terror groups. But it shows that there is really total support for murdering Jews among all factions of Israel's "peace partner."

All this is evident from scenes of celebration from Palestinian Arabs in support of the terror attack. Sweets were handed out and young Arab men posed with axes in joy that Jews were murdered

Do any of these celebrants look like they interpreted Abbas' "condemnation" as anything but a joke?

Early this morning, Palestinian Arab terrorists entered a synagogue during prayers and went on a murder spree, killing four worshippers and injuring six more, using a gun, meat cleaver and an ax.

Unlike all of the recent attacks by knife or car, in this case Mahmoud Abbas issued a "condemnation."

His words shows exactly what a disgusting human being he is.

Here was his entire statement:

The president always condemns killings of civilians from any party whatsoever, and condemns the killing of worshipers today in one of the houses of worship in West Jerusalem, and also denounces all violent acts no matter what their source is, and demands an end to the ongoing incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the provocative acts by Israeli settlers as well as incitement by some Israeli ministers.

The presidency also confirms that it is time to end the occupation and end the causes of tension and violence, affirming our commitment to a just-based solution on the basis of a two-state solution, in accordance with the resolutions of international legitimacy, and maintain an atmosphere of calm and understandings that have been made with King Abdullah II and Foreign Minister American John Kerry in Amman.

This is not a condemnation. This is an anti-Israel polemic that uses a terror attack as a hook in order to issue a statement slamming Israel an blaming all Arab terror on the victims.

Abbas doesn't acknowledge that his own people were behind the attack. For all anyone knows from his statement, the men massacred in their prayer shawls might have been killed by people from Japan - or Mea Shearim.

Moreover, Abbas' deliberately pointing out that this attack happened in "West Jerusalem" indicates that had the men been in a synagogue in other parts of Jerusalem, everything would have been just fine.

And as with every single other "condemnation" of terror by Abbas in history, he doesn't say that the slaughter is immoral or against Palestinian Arab morals. He is bothered far more about any backlash that he might get for not condemning it than he is about the murder of four Jewish worshipers.

The synagogue slaughter didn't even merit a stand-alone sentence.

After his perfunctory "condemnation" that wasn't even that, Abbas goes on his usual anti-Israel harangue, so that the "condemnation" of the attack is dwarfed by about 10 other statements. He turns his statement into a naked insult to the Jews who dare consider praying in other parts of Jerusalem.

And indeed Abbas didn't condemn the car terrorism or the knife attacks, because the victims either happened to be in his twisted mind either "settlers" or "soldiers." For all we know, Abbas considers ramming cars into crowds of people to be "non-violent resistance." His own official news agency invariably call them "accidents."

It is obvious that the current spate of attacks is at least partially due to Abbas' incitement, calling for Palestinian Arabs to "defend Al Aqsa by any means." His official TV station has been broadcasting antisemitism.

And Abbas' own advisors assure their people in Arabic that Abbas really does support all terror attacks. His advisor advisor Mahmoud Al-Habbash said on November 5, "First of all, allow me to say that we kiss every forehead, every hand and even every foot that carries out Ribat (religious conflict/ war over land claimed to be Islamic) at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and in Jerusalem... We are behind them. The leadership is with them... We are with them in every movement, in every action and every deed, and we welcome what they are doing at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque."

Abbas' "condemnation" was released in order to re-assure Western leaders that he is really a "man of peace" while he simultaneously tells his people to keep on killing Jews, and he is behind them 100%. Just try to avoid Jews whose deaths would make him look bad.

Egypt will demolish hundreds more homes

From Al Ahram:

The width of a new military buffer zone established along Sinai's border with Gaza this month has been increased another 500 metres, making it now span 1 kilometre, in an effort by the Egyptian army to take out tunnels used by militants to infiltrate the peninsula.

The Egyptian army said in a statement on Monday that the decision comes after the discovery of tunnels spanning between 800 and 1000 metres under the Sinai border, reported Al-Ahram's Arabic news website.

The army's decision to create a buffer zone on the border - 500 metres wide and 14 kilometres long - came following one of the deadliest attacks on its personnel last month, when 30 soldiers were killed in a daylight assault by militants.

Egypt's Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) said a total of 802 houses hosting a total of 1156 families will be removed in the initial 500 metre evacuation.

As we all know, home demolitions for security purposes is one of the most heinous crimes imaginable. Demolishing 800 homes in a couple of weeks is a war crime.

Oh, I forgot. Jews demolishing homes for security purposes is one of the most heinous crimes imaginable. Arabs can do it all they want without worrying.