Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Arab League claims Israel spending $17b to "Judaize" Jerusalem

Israel has earmarked US$17 billion for the Judaization of Jerusalem, the holy city which both Palestinians and Israelis insist on as the capital of their states, an Arab League official said Monday.

“The attack on Jerusalem is very overwhelming ... Israel is in control of prayers at al-Aqsa Mosque,” Mohamed Sobeih, Assistant of the Arab League secretary general for Palestinian affairs, told Palestinian Al-Ray news agency. He urged for the immediate application of Jerusalem-related resolutions in consecutive Arab, Islamic and UN summits.

Just to give some perspective, the entire budget of Israel's government is about $70 billion.

The budget of Jerusalem's municipality is less than half a billion dollars.

You could give every man, woman and child in Jerusalem $20,000 and still have more left over than the current Jerusalem budget.

Too bad that there does not seem to be a single Arab who is willing to publicly call this guy an idiot. Because in a normal, healthy society, lies like this have consequences; but in the Arab world, they are swallowed whole.

In liberal pan-Arab daily Elaph, Mahdi Majid Abdullah writes:

With the beginning of the era of Internet sites and social networking I was lucky to get to know a Jew who lives in Israel, and I had the good fortune that he was of Kurdish origin who lived part of his childhood and his youth in Kurdistan.

...When I came to the European country where I live, I settled in the city inhabited by a large number of Jews and I got to know a Jewish family and which strengthened my relationship with other Jewish writers and journalists.

I personally learned from the Jews that it is no exaggeration to say that If you want to live a happy life then be like the Jews. You will learn from them splendid behaviors, morally you will learn how to control yourself and your instincts, learn to respect yourself and respect others and not to harm yourself or upset others, to love yourself and love others, you will learn to focus on your studies and your business, learn how to focus on your goals..., when you are with Jews you will avoid trivial things snd insted master the pursuit of what is good for you and what can benefit others.

Jewish families teach children from a young age on the proper goals and values and principles, which instill confidence and facilitate the way for him and fueled by tenderness and kindness and to make him know how to walk in the path of his life, so the Jew does not see failure in his life. Where Jews entered a city or a country they dominated them culturally and intellectually, politically and economically for the greater good at this place. There is no need to list many examples;just to know that the United States and Europe are successful was because of the Jews who have lived there, and in the eastern countries if we go back to the history books, we find the Arab and Islamic countries were living in affluence in all respects when the Jews inhabited them.

In European countries do not see the young Jew interested in meaningless things, while the young Muslim and Christian is interested in pursuing football supporting his club or national team, or gasping behind drinks and pursuing girls in the bars and nightclubs or on the streets. You find a Jew interested in the study or the economy or in the goal of particular benefit to himself and others. Of course, there are also creative and responsible Muslims and Christians, but compared with the Jews their proportions are negligible.

Dear reader, do you ever asked yourself why Jews are ahead and in control of the economy and politics and media world, but in the field of singing and dance and football you hardly see them?

Those who live in a European country certainly have noticed the lack of Jews mixing with people, and not gathering in bars and barely find somewhere special entertainment for Jews except some cultural centers and some of their own houses of worship, Those that say Jews are racist are wrong because the Jews' main purpose in life has a focus and organization and no time for the side conversations or cafes or chasing girls and young women and alcohol or recreational things that do little but to grant a false sense of temporary pleasure.

You do not see a Jew insult the validity of your religion and you do not hear from him a word of abuse towards any belief or religion or any nationality or any civilization; they have respect for themselves, respect for women and others. They do not ask you to give up your religion; in Israel you can find dozens if not hundreds of cultural centers and religious heritage centers that are government-backed and sponsored, with the knowledge that most of these centers do not coincide with thought, but no one objected to them and their religious freedom and cultural and expressions reserved for all patrons.

If an Arab had written this it would be amazing, but Abdullah is a Kurd. Even so, the fact that Elaph published it is remarkable.

The comments to this article are mixed.

Religion News service, Indy, NatGeo still don't know what Judaism's holiest spot is

You would think that the media would know by now.

Religion News Service:

Comedian Sarah Silverman made a rare appearance in the middle of a hot political dispute Thursday (Dec. 18) when she attended a Hanukkah menorah lighting alongside a group of Jewish feminists at the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site.

The Independent (since corrected, via CiFWatch):

National Geographic:

It isn't that hard to find out the truth, even if you are a lazy reporter.

Pictorial Arab dictionary: "Desecration" (Poster)

12/22 Links Pt2: Top 10 Worst U.N. Decisions Of 2014; Police detain Gideon Levy in Samaria

From Ian:

Buzzfeed: Top 10 Worst U.N. Decisions Of 2014

8. U.N. Creates Biased Inquiry into Hamas-Israel War, Declares Israel Guilty in Advance
5. As 9/11 Truther Richard Falk Exits, U.N. Names His Wife and Co-Author to Top Human Rights Post
4. UNRWA Hands Rockets in Gaza Schools Back to Hamas Terrorists
3. U.N. Names Anti-Israel Judge to Head Gaza Inquiry
1. U.N. Adopts 20 Resolutions on Israel vs. 4 on Rest of World Combined
In 2014, the U.N. General Assembly adopted 20 resolutions condemning Israel, and only four on the rest of the world combined, being one on Syria, North Korea, Ukraine and Iran.
There were zero UNGA resolutions condemning gross and systematic abuses committed by China, Cuba, Egypt, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Turkey, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, nor on many other major perpetrators of grave violations of human rights. (h/t Yenta Press)

Terror victim hid Arab Zionist teen during Gaza war

It sounds like the plot of a novel. A Jewish tour guide who survived a Palestinian terror attack that left her Christian friend dead helped shelter an Arab teen who got death threats after voicing support for Israel’s summer operation in Gaza.
British-born Kay Wilson said that she helped hide Mohammad Zoabi throughout the summer war in Gaza, before he was able to flee to the United States in fear of his life.
Seventeen-year-old Zoabi, an Israeli Arab from Nazareth, was forced to leave the country after receiving death threats for posting a YouTube video harshly condemning the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers by a Hamas-affiliated terror cell in June.
In the YouTube video, Zoabi, wrapped in an Israeli flag, called for the release of the three teens and urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop negotiating with Palestinian terrorists.
Zoabi, who is a distant relative of controversial Balad MK Hanin Zoabi, describes himself as an Israeli Zionist Arab Muslim. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

Police detain Gideon Levy of Ha'aretz in Samaria

Two Ha'aretz journalists – columnist Gideon Levy and photographer Alex Levac – were detained in the West Bank after they entered area A and allegedly cursed and spit at soldiers, the Judea and Samaria district police said on Monday afternoon. The pair were released after about three hours of detention.
According to police, at 1:04 p.m. officers received a call from the IDF saying that soldiers manning a checkpoint at the entrance to Tulkarm said they had detained Israelis who entered Area A, where the Palestinian Authority has full security and civil control, without a permit and while being checked by the soldiers they “confronted them, causing a provocation and spitting and cursing at them.”
A police cruiser was dispatched and officers detained Levy and Levac, taking them for questioning at Samaria subdistrict headquarters, under suspicion of violating the ban on entering area A and for attacking soldiers.
Israelis have been banned from entering area A since the beginning of the second intifada, under an IDF order, but Israeli Arabs typically come and go freely, especially on weekends, and the ban is for the most part not enforced on journalists traveling to the area for work. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

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The year is winding up and it is time to look over what we did over the past quarter.

As usual, we were quoted in a number of media outlets, like Algemeiner, Arutz-7, Breitbart, Jerusalem Post and The Tower. But let's look at some of the more important posts.

In October, a photo went viral on anti-Israel media showing a Jewish man screaming at an Arab woman. We showed the reason he was screaming - she had stolen his book of Psalms, and we showed the video of the event. (So far, our edit of the video has over 140,000 views.)

An anti-Israel libel was stopped in its tracks in 24 hours.

This quarter I spent a lot of time - 43 posts! - on showing, conclusively, that UNRWA teachers are teaching antisemitism and hate. UNRWA, while not officially acknowledging my posts, has been working overtime to hide the evidence I found. Moreover, I showed how UNRWA teachers were supporting terror and denying (or supporting) the Holocaust on social media and how UNRWA's major arguments against its critics were filled with falsehoods. The information is bubbling up to the mainstream, slower than I like but it is happening, and I am told that not only is my research being discussed at the highest levels of UNRWA but it is also making an impact with funders.

I also discussed how the history of a simple stamp says volumes about Palestinian nationalism, or the lack thereof.

I debunked a claim in two news outlets (The Daily Beast and the International Business Times) that the IDF sexually abused children. Tellingly, neither of them bothered to correct the false story.

I proved lies and deceptions in The New York Times a few times.

I proved Amnesty International's anti-Israel (and pro-Hamas) bias.

I was part of a group that showed that a "journalist" killed in Gaza was a terrorist, causing UNESCO to remove its tribute to him.

I revealed, over and over again, systematic antisemitism in the Arab world as well as Iran.

While Haaretz published countless pieces about how awful the draft "Jewish State" law was, I actually published the text so people can make up their own minds.

I showed that a B'Tselem "human rights" volunteer has a problem with Jews.

And this is only a small percentage of the things covered this quarter. My general rule is that if you don't learn something new from every one of my posts, I have failed.

I now have over 12,400 Twitter followers and over 3000 Facebook "Likes."

I am not the only person blogging at EoZ, though.

Mike Lumish has a nice fan base willing to get into long discussions on his thoughtful Sunday columns.

PreOccupied Territory's humor columns are often confused with reality. It is a hard job to satirize the Middle East when the truth is so utterly crazy.

And Ian does an incredible job with his twice daily linkdumps, never missing any important story and making my life difficult as I try to find original items to blog that he hadn't already covered.

All of this takes up a lot of 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!

Former Finnish MP says Chabad spies for Israel

From Verkko Uutiset (Finland):

Ex-MEP: Helsinki sold city center property to spies and state terrorists

Esko Seppänen says that the Sea Customs Barracks should not be sold to Jewish groups.

"I'm not an anti-semite," Esko Seppänen says.

The former MEP Esko Seppänen criticized the City of Helsinki’s decision to sell the old maritime customs barracks to the cultural organization Chabad Lubavitch. In Seppänen’s view, the Orthodox Jewish organization could spy on Finland, being close to the Israeli secret service Mossad.

"The international funding that the Finnish branch of this association enjoys, the City of Helsinki has been selling real estate to its members’ for cultural pursuits – and possibly also for the organization’s synagogue activity – straight from Finland’s parade scene at the Presidential Palace and in the immediate vicinity of the Government," Seppänen, writes in his blog.

"Former Marine Customs property offers a great location, for example, for the interception of messages of the telecommunications of the Finnish State and capture."

Seppänen believes that the Mossad represents “state terrorism.” For this reason, the Sea Customs Barracks will in the future also be an attractive target for anti-Israeli terrorist attacks, he says.

This is not the first time that antisemites have accused Chabad members of being spies.

(h/t Tundra Tabloids)

Israel haters really upset at donations of Israeli food to the poor

Yesterday, a number of British groups held their "IsrACTION Day:"

The day was a smashing success, with scores of bags of food donated, based on what the Facebook page shows:

Who could have a problem with the idea of Zionists coming together to buy non-perishable Israeli goods, in coordination with local food banks and supermarkets, and donating them to the poor?

Well, for one, the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign writing in Palestine News Network:

To counteract the widespread revulsion at Israeli massacres that has led millions to shun Israeli produce, the UK Zionist response is to exploit the misery of the homeless and the hungry to promote Israeli produce.

Many of us with a roof over our heads and enough to live on have taken a decision to boycott Israeli produce; being homeless or having to rely on food banks limits a person's or a family's options. SPSC understands that homeless shelters and food banks have a duty to accept the food in order to help their needy clients. We also know that the sort of people who dedicate their time to helping the victims of this Government's austerity drive are likely to be opposed to injustice abroad as well as at home.

SPSC asks citizens to deny any propaganda publicity to these pro-Israeli campaigners, the supporters of homelessness and hunger for Palestinians who come bearing Israeli foodstuffs. It is part of their effort to defeat the Palestinian call for BDS and their struggle for freedom. Supporting the manufacture of homelessness and hunger in Palestine; exploiting homelessness and hunger in Britain to sanitise the perpetrators, the Israeli State.

Unfortunately, at least one liberal Jew (proudly quoted by SPSC in the article just mentioned) also came out against the initiative, with a screed in the Times of Israel that included this little piece of insanity:

Nobody, as far as I am aware, has bothered to ask the food banks what they need. The general attitude seems to be, let’s dump a load of lokshen noodles on it and they should be grateful. Naftali Bennett meets Marie Antoinette: let them eat Bamba. (That is an absolute lie.)

...And far from making the poor self-sufficient, they are giving arbitrary Israeli produce to food banks who will find Yarden hummus about as much use as shekel coins – and that is no doubt the organisers’ next ‘charitable’ initiative.

So what is the point of IsrACTIONday? It provides an admirable opportunity to vilify opponents. The BDS movement has (ridiculously) been urging food banks to boycott donations of Israeli produce. The Friends of Israel groups immediately pounced on this as evidence that not only do anti-Israel organisations want to gas the Jews, they want to starve the poor: a smear about as undignified as it is wilfully inaccurate.

Sussex Friends of Israel is even using the day to stoke controversy within the British Jewish Zionist community, demanding aggressively of pro-Israel pro-peace group Yachad: “Are you supporting IsrACTIONday? If I don’t get a clear yes or no answer I’m going to slaughter you tomorrow!”

I don't see Yachad on the list of sponsors so I guess they will need to call the police for fear of being slaughtered by those evil right-wing Zionists.

Sheesh.

12/22 Links Pt1: EU Gives Hamas Green Light to Attack Israel; The price of Israeli restraint

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: EU Gives Hamas Green Light to Attack Israel

The EU court's decision represents a "severe blow to the Palestinian Authority and Egypt," according to Palestinian political analyst Raed Abu Dayer.
Any victory for Hamas, albeit a small and symbolic one, is a victory for the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, the Muslim Brotherhood and other fundamentalist groups, and causes tremendous damage to those Muslims who are opposed to radical Islam.
Hours before the EU court's decision was made public, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar announced that his movement would never recognize Israel, and that Hamas seeks to overthrow the Palestinian Authority and seize control of the West Bank.
The EU court's decision also coincided with a rapprochement between Hamas and Iran. Now, the Iranians and other countries, such as Turkey and Qatar, are likely to interpret the EU court's decision as a green light to resume financial and military aid, including rockets and missiles, to Hamas — not only to Gaza but to the West Bank as well — to support those Palestinians whose aim it is to eliminate Israel.

Europe doesn't care about dead Jews

As long as Europe maintains its prejudice against Israel, Israelis will have little reason to believe that further concessions will win them Europe’s favor.
Instead, they will continue to shrug their shoulders and rightfully recall that the “goyim” are always against us and will remain so despite the Palestinian terrorism that will inevitably follow the next concession.
At the same time, Europe’s obsession with Israel leads Palestinians to view Europe and the international community, their institutions, and the various pro-Palestinian non-governmental organizations they fund as tools and forums which can be utilized to force Israel to meet their demands outside of a negotiated peace. With Europe as their advocate, they can win concessions – as they did with the 2005 disengagement, the 2010 settlement freeze and the recent release of 78 terrorists – before negotiations even begin or merely for participating in negotiations. There is no need for them to relinquish their quest for Israel’s ultimate destruction, or cease acts of terrorism and indoctrination, incitement and funding of terrorism.
Even more disturbing than the negative consequences for the prospects for true peace is the unspoken, but readily apparent disregard for Jewish life implied by these European resolutions and actions.
Israel’s security concerns are real. A century of Palestinian violence against Jews is not a mere excuse that Israel conjures to avoid Palestinian statehood or other concessions. Europeans, however, are unfazed. Even as Palestinians plow their cars into pedestrians with encouragement from Palestinian Authority institutions, European officials do not even attempt to explain why Israelis shouldn’t worry about the concessions they demand. They want Israel to give the Palestinians what they believe the Palestinians deserve, even if unaccompanied by a termination of violence on the part of the Palestinians. If that results in more dead Jews, that is none of their concern.

How the State Department Annually Perpetuates Palestinian Misery

This constitutes an UNRWA commitment to update its human resources manuals, nothing more. There is no mention of UNRWA's refusal to use U.S. or Israeli terror watch lists to ensure any commitment to combat terrorism.
The unreality is compounded by the still more ludicrous statement that the U.S. "notes with appreciation efforts taken by UNRWA during the course of 2014 to strengthen the Agency's neutrality compliance, including but not limited to the development of social media guidelines for official UNRWA communications…"
Whether the UNRWA spokesman crying on camera while being interviewed constitutes "neutrality compliance" is unclear, as is the celebration of the recent Jerusalem murders of rabbis on the Facebook pages of UNRWA teachers [EOZ link]. Perhaps it is unreasonable to expect UNRWA employees, the vast majority of whom are Palestinian, to express neutrality. But if that is the case, then the Framework's endorsement of "UNRWA's human rights, conflict resolution, and tolerance education program" may also be questioned, or at least its implementation.
But a deeper look at the document and the background of the American commitment to UNRWA suggests another vast disconnect. The framework states "All U.S. foreign assistance programs are required to demonstrate performance and accountability, and clearly link programming and funding directly to U.S. policy goals." How prolonging the Palestinian "refugee" issue through the permanent institutionalizing of UNRWA serves U.S. policy goals is mystifying.
Beyond that, UNRWA officials at the top continue to defend the Palestinian "right of return," in speeches as well as on official web pages, not to mention its pervasive promotion in UNRWA schools. How does promoting the Palestinian ideology that they are entitled to return to places once occupied by parents, grandparents and great-grandparents which are now in Israel, and in the process transform Israel into a Jewish minority state, serve U.S. policy, much less the cause of peace?

Fake "Child Victim" of the Day

On July 30, PCHR reported:

- At approximately 18:30, an Israeli drone fired a missile at a motor cart in Bani Suhaila. As a result, 4 Palestinian civilians, including 2 children, were killed: Mohammed Shawqi Mustafa Abu Hammad, 26; Ahmed Ismail Mohammed Abu Hammad, 31; Mohammed Mustafa Ismail Abu Hammad, 14; and Muhannad Ashraf Ismail al-Qarra, 17.

Muhannad al-Qarra was, of course, considered one of the "children" killed mercilessly by Israel during the war.

I turns out that he was an Islamic Jihad terrorist, whose obituary was just published.

In that obituary we find that he eagerly became a member of Islamic Jihad's Saraya Brigades even though he was under 18. His family had many mujahadeen members.

During the war al Qarra transported weapons to the terrorists in different areas of Gaza.

His brother Mohammed reminisces how much Muhannad would talk about ejecting all the Jews from the land.

Notice how the terror groups have been only slowly admitting how many of their members were killed, waiting until months after the meme of Israel killing mostly civilians was embedded in the world's consciousness. This is exactly what they did during Cast Lead as well, and I predicted on the first day of the war that it would happen again.

(h/t Israellycool and Judge Dan)

Video: IDF soldiers give food to hungry kids in Hebron

From YNet Hebrew:

IDF paratroopers' hearts went out to two Palestinian children who approached their post on Sunday asking for food.

One of the soldiers, Corporal Oren, told his friends about the two children, and they didn't hesitate before giving most of their lunch to the children, even giving them some snacks as well.

"After talking to our friends, it was clear to us we couldn't let those kids keep looking through dumpsters for food, while we had extra food," the corporal said.

Normally, IDF soldiers meet Palestinian children when they riot, throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at the troops. But after hearing the kids' plea: "We're hungry, we have no food at home and we're looking in dumpsters for something to eat," the paratroopers decided to give them a loaf of bread, meatballs, fruit, vegetables, hummus and snacks they had bought for themselves.

"One of the children told me he already searched through all of the dumpsters around. I told them to wait a few minutes until I got back," the soldier said. "We went out to them and sent them on their way with food and drink."

Before meeting the children, Corporal Oren wrote on his Facebook page that the pillbox he was stationed at was pelted with stones. "We were preparing to disperse the crowd, which was continuing the massive stones onslaught against us. I was preparing one of the crowd dispersal measures we had," he wrote. "At that moment, my sergeant noticed a little girl standing outside her house, between us and the rioters. He told me to cease fire and that I wasn't to fire until we made sure the girl is safe inside her home. During that time we were exposed to the stone throwers and were hit a lot and hard, but at no point did we even think to do anything while innocent children could get hurt."

He went on to say: "I hope the two stories I told you - as someone who is out on the field experiencing things without mediation - helped paint a certain picture of what soldiers deal with every day. Next time you hear someone in Israel or abroad slamming the IDF, saying we're not a moral army, you're welcome to send them my way."

Officials at the IDF Judea and Samaria Division said this was a local and independent initiative taken by the soldier, and that he received no orders to help the children. They added that the Palestinians often use children to set up a trap for IDF soldiers in order to film them attacking the kids after they provoked the troops.