Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, December 26, 2014

12/26 Links: Slight improvement overnight for girl hurt in West Bank firebombing; Israel’s only option

From Ian:

Jews are carriers of memories; people being burned gives us collective goosebumps. Next week, on the 10th of the Hebrew month of Tevet, we will have a general Kaddish (the mourning prayer) day for all those murdered in the Holocaust.
Now, some will ask, "How can you make such a comparison?" Some whose eyes are still shut tight will say that those who threw the Molotov cocktails were just punks, bored teenagers. But the Palestinian incitement, which bears the stamp of Islamic State and al-Qaida, is causing those same youths to fantasize about a final solution.
Yes. A little familiarity with what is happening on social media at the fringes of Palestinian society, with its textbooks, and with its television messages is enough for us to realize that some of our neighbors are growing closer to the ideology of those who tried to exterminate us seven decades ago. Compared to them, the "serious threat" posed by the Lahava anti-assimilation group is child's play.
Those who throw rocks and Molotov cocktails want to kill. Their numbers are growing in the face of the silence from the security apparatus. I'm not sure where the phrase "helplessness" comes from, but apparently this is what it looks like: a homemade bottle of murder breaks a family into pieces, and the Israeli Air Force and Iron Dome and the Israeli Navy can't save a girl trapped in a burning car. What can they do? Deterrence. Sovereignty.

Slight improvement overnight for girl hurt in West Bank firebombing

There was a slight improvement overnight in the condition of the 11-year-old Israeli girl seriously injured in a West Bank firebomb attack Thursday evening.
Ayala Shapira is still intubated and sedated in serious condition, as doctors in the Sheba Medical Center emergency room work to save her life, Israel Radio reported.
A doctor at Sheba told Israel Radio Friday that they had opened a breathing passage in her neck, where she had suffered serious burns.
Shapira and her father, Avner, were driving home near a West Bank settlement in the northern West Bank when their car was struck by a Molotov cocktail.
The girl suffered third-degree burns over the majority of her body and face and was placed in an induced coma.
Sheba director Professor Zeev Rotstein said that she suffered life-threatening burns to her torso, head, arms and legs, and that “we will do everything in order to save her life.”

Terrorist Behind Near-Deadly Firebomb Attack Apprehended

IDF forces quickly deployed in a massive operation to track down the terrorist responsible for the attack, which also left father Avner lightly injured. 12 Palestinian residents of the village of Kfar Azoun were arrested during the operation.
Ya'alon had vowed to "lay hands" on the attacker earlier Friday during a visit to the scene of the near-deadly firebombing, where he met with top-ranking IDF commanders to review the security situation in the sector.
He praised the "rapid" deployment of "military operations and security forces on the ground following the attack."
"We will put our hands on the attackers and if they have backers - we will even reach them," Ya'alon said. "The IDF and Shin Bet will know to address the situation where there is mass terror, which includes throwing Molotov cocktails and rocks."
Ya'alon then visited critically wounded 11-year-old Ayala Shapira at Tel HaShomer's Sheba Medical Center and spoke with her parents.
"Be strong," Ya'alon told the parents. "Ayala is in the good hands of excellent doctors. I wish her a speedy recovery."
"Looking ahead, this is a very complex and trying time, and you should stock up mental strength for it," he continued. "This terror aims to intimidate the residents of Judea and Samaria, but from my knowledge of the people of the region, and from talking to you, I can tell that they will not deter us."

Egyptians curse the Jews in mosques, too

Recently I noted an article that said that in every single mosque in Jordan, every week, the preacher says "Oh Allah, destroy the Jews and those who are associated with them."

I just saw an article by an Egyptian (who is trying to distinguish between good Jews and evil Zionists) that he heard a sermon where the preacher, convulsing with hate, shouted, "Oh Allah, plague the damned Jews sleep. Send an earthquake underneath their feet. Cut off their descendants, turn their wives into widows and their children into orphans."

He noted in an earlier article that right after the preacher asked to kill all the Jews, he asked the congregation to donate money to get a dialysis machine. The inventor of that machine, he says ironically, was Jewish. (That is not true.) He also says that the discoverer of hepatitis B, which Egypt is plagued by, was Jewish (this is true.)

At any rate, for those who believe that Muslims have no problem with Jews, their preachers say otherwise.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

Two Border Police officers were stabbed on Friday morning in Jerusalem's Old City near the Lions Gate, in a suspected terrorist attack.

The policemen suffered light injuries, one to the neck and the other to the hand. They were taken for treatment at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem.

Police said the incident occurred after morning prayers on the Temple Mount, when an unidentified assailant attacked one officer with a knife and stabbed him in the neck. A second policeman fought off the attacker, who fled.

Police were sweeping the area in attempt to locate the attacker.

Jerusalem District Police Commander Moshe Edri, who arrived at the scene of the attack, said police are treating the incident as a terrorist attack, vowing that "The Jerusalem police will lay its hands on the terrorist."

January 1 will be the 50th anniversary of Fatah.

Well, that's not true. Fatah was founded several years beforehand. It is the 50th anniversary of Fatah's first terror attack (a failed attack against Israel's water carrier,) so for Fatah, that's the same thing.

The organization released a statement for the occasion on its official website. But this statement is not self-congratulatory or celebratory. Instead, it is a wildly angry missive against all of Fatah's enemies, internal and external, especially against the Mahmoud Dahlan faction of Fatah in Gaza.

Conflict rages today after prospects for the peace process have closed, and after that the Israeli enemy turned his back to the world and international legitimacy, and completely denied all Palestinian national rights, and insisted on the practice of racism and fascism in all its aggressive and criminal forms. ...Add to this the racial escalation and Nazi-like Israeli occupation and the Zionist practices...

Israeli enemy has proved racism through daily obnoxious behavior and based on the murder, detention, destruction of homes, and the desecration of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the daily provocations stationed against Muslims, and the attack on the worshipers there and the plan for temporal and spatial division of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

In the face of these racist policies and collective punishment, targeting humans and trees and stones, and the practice of genocide in its ugliest forms, the leadership has acknowledged, led by President Mahmoud Abbas to take decisive and serious steps to address these crucial challenges, and insist on going to the Security Council to submit a draft resolution backed by the Arab world, to recognize the State of Palestine on the territories occupied in 1967, and a time limit for the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation.

We are encouraged to do so by the support of the ongoing European parliaments for a Palestinian state, which is evidence that the European and South American peoples and others began to be liberated from the nightmare of the Zionist media.

..The decision for the escalation of popular resistance is our top position, and the approach pursued by the martyr leader Abu Ein will prevail throughout the West Bank, and the city of Jerusalem, and it must make the enemy feel that the occupation is expensive, and it can not feel stable while our people suffer.

At this time the President Abu Mazen is leading the battle ending the occupation, at a time when the United States stands in solidarity with the Israeli enemy to abort the Palestinian project with arrows of treachery, and attempts to abort the Palestinian project by many quarters, including Palestinian sources. We have seen a gruesome picture stand out in the Gaza Strip in raising the banners of Fatah Festival but in fact nothing to do with Fatah, the festival showed images against Palestinian President Abu Mazen, who stands today with all hardness particularly against the United States and her stepdaughter Israel racism.

It is surprising that this suspicious festival was sponsored under the protection and guarantee of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, a joint project between the two parties who met on that day in order to weaken the Palestinian position, and confuse the Palestinian arena, and send a message to the world that President Abu Mazen has no control over the Gaza Strip, so the Gaza has a rebellious leasership. Is Hamas responsible for the consequences of such media festivals, namely Hamas, which signed a reconciliation agreement, and national unity, and the government of national reconciliation, is it still committed to what it signed or not? In front of what is going on, we emphasize to all those who are challenging the Fatah movement, we assure them that all those who who hatch conspiracies wil be met with stiffness and strength, and that this historic leadership will not pay attention to them, but is concerned with the national interests of the people, and adheres to our principles , and refuses to bargain, we in the Fatah movement have come close to the anniversary of the establishment of Fatah, the start of the Palestinian revolution emphasize that these leading her movement under a single command, a unified body, and the decision of one, and others should not accept others to ride roughshod over our leadership, because the encroachment on Fatah leadership is sacrilege.

We emphasize the Palestinian people that the Seventh Conference of the Fatah movement will make them stronger and harder and able to face all the dangers that beset them.

Salute to the sons of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, and in all the occupied homeland, and we say to the blessed sons of Fatah in all governorates of the Gaza Strip that all attempts to abuse the Fatah movement and its cadres and leaders will not only increase our rigidity and insistence on our principles, but this movement of martyrs will always be bigger than the plots against it.

Salute to the martyrs whose righteous blood lit the road of revolution and liberation.

Salute to prisoners detained steadfast behind bars, believers that independence is coming.

And it's a revolution until victory

Palestinian National Liberation Movement Fatah

The Guardian has a rare piece of real reporting that isn't obsessed with bashing Israel:

Amid mounting criticism of the pace of the rebuilding effort, the Guardian has established that a controversial UN-designed mechanism to control the supply of building materials – and prevent them falling into the hands of the militant group Hamas – has been widely corrupted.

The mechanism for allowing the entry of materials into Gaza – including the monitoring of the distribution and use of concrete – was designed by the UN special envoy Robert Serry to satisfy Israeli government concerns that cement should not be diverted to Hamas for military purposes, including tunnel building.

But some within the UN and international aid groups had privately expressed fears that the mechanism – which involves inspection, registration and monitoring – was vulnerable to corruption.

Under the scheme householders are assessed to see if they qualify for rebuilding materials, then registered and issued with a coupon allowing them to buy a specified amount of materials from warehouses monitored by a UN-administered inspection regime.

During a recent visit to cement warehouses in Gaza, however, the Guardian [saw] cement being resold a few feet outside the warehouse doors at up to four times the cost within minutes of being handed over to householders with coupons.

Elsewhere, the Guardian heard allegations of officials taking bribes to produce coupons for more concrete than was needed by householders, so the excess could be resold on the black market, with licensed dealers either turning a blind eye to fraud or participating in it.

At his warehouse, one of the biggest in Gaza City, manager Maher Khalil complained about the complexity of the system. “We do what we are supposed to do,” he told the Guardian. “There is a list published with people’s names which we post outside. They check their name and come with their coupon. We check the ID and then give them the cement.

“We told the UN inspectors who came to see us we can only check what is going on inside the warehouse, not what is happening outside. Inside we sell the concrete for 500 shekels [£81] a tonne. Outside they sell it for 1,600.”

Walking out of the warehouse the Guardian immediately encountered men with horse carts loaded with cement who offered to both buy and sell concrete. One man offered to buy a bag – usually costing 27 shekels – for 70 shekels, saying he would sell it for 90. Another street trader with a laden cart offered to sell concrete by the tonne.

At the bottom of this food chain was Adham, a scrawny boy of nine who was collecting the concrete dust off the carts to put into a bag that he planned to sell for 5 shekels to buy snacks for himself and his brothers.

“It is a disgrace what is happening,” said economist Omar Shaaban. “The new reconstruction mechanism has reproduced the Israeli siege of Gaza, only this time it is the UN that is regulating it. The UN is trading stability for cement – and not very much of it. And most of the cement that is coming in is being sold on the black market. Israel knows it. Serry knows it. The mechanism was a licence for corruption. It is a licence to prolong the siege. It is a licence for big salaries for the UN officials running it. What is absurd is that none of it is preventing Hamas rebuilding.”

In Shujaiya, one of the areas most heavily hit during the war, the rubble had been cleared from the streets but there was little evidence of anyone rebuilding.

Meanwhile:

International donors have so far failed to deliver billions of dollars in aid money that was promised to rebuild the war-battered Gaza Strip, a Palestinian official said Monday, saying the rift between rival Palestinian factions is deterring foreign governments from sending aid.

In the wake of a 50-day war between Israel and Palestinian fighters over the summer, international donors promised $2.7 billion to help rebuild Gaza at a conference in Cairo in October. But Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa said "not even one penny" has been received from major donors such as Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.

"Frankly speaking, what is happening now is not encouraging," Mustafa said. He said just a trickle of money has been received, but refused to elaborate.

And this:

Over the past several days, residents of Netiv Ha’asara, a cooperative agricultural community located near Israel’s border with the Strip, reported a number of instances where bulldozers and trucks were spotted conducting heavy excavation activity close to the security fence, according to Israel Radio.

The residents further reported that a 200-meter-long dirt mound had been raised in the area, with Palestinians workers periodically raising emblems of the Islamist terrorist group above it.

All those pledges for Gaza, especially from the Arab nations, have (as usual) been shown to be empty. The homeowners prefer the black-market money to the concrete. Hamas gets money from its friends in Qatar and Turkey and buys what it needs for tunnels as families prefer to use free shelters from UNRWA or from families to rebuilding on their own. UN officials are getting rich from the bribes. Israel is selling all the cement that people are willing to pay for under this mechanism but the money isn't there despite the pledges. The PA, which is whom the official scheme has been negotiated with, is no doubt also profiting from this as well. And UNRWA, whose officials are part of the corruption, uses the problems as an excuse to do even more fundraising.

(h/t Ronald)

Modern Muslim Mechanical Marvels

Remember the device invented by the Egyptian army that supposedly detects and cures AIDS and Hepatitis C?

It was shown to the world earlier this year, and debunked quite decisively as soon as it made a public appearance.

The army originally announced that it would be widely available in June, but right before the deadline it announced that it will delay the planned launch by six months.

Well, the six months is almost up, and after the army announced that December 28 would be the day of the great unveiling, now the army is saying that it will release the device next month.

I'm sure that this is the last delay, and this time they mean it!

Meanwhile:

An Iranian scientist claimed this week that he had invented a radar system which can detect drug addicts from nearly a mile away, and measure the level of narcotics flooding their system.

According to the Iranian Mehr news agency, the system was designed to identify explosives and bodies buried under rubble, as well as alcohol and drugs.

Scientist Seyed Ali Hosseini told the news agency on Tuesday that the technology can locate drug addicts from 1,500 meters (0.9 miles away). He said the “radar tracker was designed and built to detect drugs, explosives, bodies alive and dead under the rubble, addictive drugs and alcoholic beverages.”

The system “can be applied by the police, border guards, security agents and during unexpected accidents and disasters,” he added.

The enterprising scientist offered a vague description of the mechanisms involved, saying “the transmitter part consists of radio waves and radio magnets emitting waves across the earth and stimulates elements’ molecular layer and releases their ions.” The receiver, meanwhile, “detects ions as well as the molecular layer, then transfers waves back to the target to detect their essence.” The system then projects the findings on a computer, “which includes the volume, weight and size of the traced elements,” he said.

Scientists from the Islamic Republic have in the past touted other improbable inventions. In April 2013, an Iranian businessman and scientist said he had successfully invented a time machine.

Ali Razeghi, 27, a Tehran-based scientist, businessman and serial inventor, claimed his “Aryayek Time Traveling Machine” can “predict five to eight years of the future life of any individual, with 98 percent accuracy,” according to a report in The Guardian.

Razeghi said that his device, which is about the size of a small computer, uses complex algorithms to “bring the future to you.” He said that governments can use his invention to “prepare itself for challenges that might destabilize it” but that a prototype won’t be launched currently because “the Chinese will steal the idea and produce it in millions overnight.”

(h/t Ian)

12/25 Links Pt2: The Modern Day Miracle of Israel; What if Jesus Were Born Now?; Palestinianism

From Ian:

The Modern Day Miracle of Israel

Close your eyes and imagine for one moment how radically different the entire world would be if Israel were at peace with its neighbors in the Middle East. In fact, consider the multitude of benefits to all of humanity and the thought becomes as exciting as it does overwhelming.
I am not merely talking about the preservation of human life that is tragically lost to deadly terrorist attacks and wars that are forced upon the Jewish state by neighbors who remain committed to its destruction. I am also talking about the life-improving innovations that flow from Israel like the mighty streams that rush through the rugged landscape of the Holy Land.
If Israel received the gift of peace and security then the entire world would receive even more remarkable benefits than it has already reaped from a tiny country no bigger than the state of New Jersey, which fights to survive in one of the world’s most violent and destructive neighborhoods.
During the past week I have traveled through Israel and the Palestinian territories with Dr. Ben Carson and his wife Candy. We have seen first-hand the challenges that Israel faces and the incredible opportunities that this small dynamo is creating for its people and the larger global community.

Netanyahu on Christmas: Middle East Christians subject to violence, persecution and fear

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wished Christians the world over a Merry Christmas on Thursday, lamenting the plight of Middle East Christians who he said are subject to persecution in every country of the region, except for Israel.
"I wish Christians in Israel and all over the world a very Merry Christmas," Netanyahu said in the YouTube video.
"Christmas is a special opportunity to spend time with loved ones and to celebrate this most festive of holidays," he added.
He called on the world's Christian communities to remember those who are less fortunate, the Christianss suffering from persecution across the Middle East.
Netanyahu said that Israel was the one exception in the Middle East where Christians live without fear, violence or persecution.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Christmas Greeting - 2014

From Philly.com:

For those with no time to wrap their gifts, the Herzl Group of Camden County Chapter of Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, has been providing the service at the [Cherry Hill] mall for 40 years.

All proceeds from the monthlong gift-wrapping service go toward medical research in Israel for diseases such as Parkinson's, breast cancer, and multiple sclerosis.

"It's kind of become a tradition for me," said Clarence Lejeune, 52, a developer from Sicklerville, in his 18th year getting his gifts wrapped at the Hadassah kiosk. "I know no matter how late I procrastinate in buying my gifts, they will get wrapped, and wrapped beautifully. These ladies do a wonderful job."

The Camden County Chapter of Hadassah began gift wrapping at the mall to raise money for medical research in 1974, as well at two other malls owned by the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT) - the Moorestown Mall and Voorhees Town Center. Last year, it raised $30,000 from all three malls, according to Carolyn King, the chapter's vice president of fund-raising.

Each year, the event is run by an all-volunteer staff. The service at Cherry Hill began Dec. 4 and concluded at 6 p.m. Christmas Eve.

Five volunteers, all women (though men have volunteered, too) worked diligently behind the counter on Wednesday.

"It's just wonderful to meet people, see what they are buying, and see what the trends are this year," said Yvonne Friedman, the local group's organizational vice president. "It's also great to be able to raise thousands and thousands of dollars for medical research, children's programs, and humanitarian efforts."

Based on what she had been wrapping all month, Friedman said the most popular items to give have been Michael Kors handbags, North Face coats and jackets, and boots. She also noted a difference among shoppers this year.

"They are in a very good mood this year," Friedman said. "People are not as frenzied this year compared to last year. They are calmer and much more patient."

Founded in 1912, Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, is the largest women's, largest Zionist, and largest Jewish membership organization in the U.S. The Camden County chapter was founded in 1925.

Egyptian censors have decided to ban the Ridley Scott Biblical epic "Exodus: Gods and Kings."

Two reasons were given.

One is that the film apparently implies that the Jews built the Pyramids, a very touchy subject in Egypt.

The second is that the film characterizes the splitting of the "Red Sea" as the result of an earthquake, not as a direct miracle from Allah.

The Koran does discuss the Exodus story, including the splitting of the sea, in chapter 26.

Morocco censors also banned the film, but they did it after some theaters started the first showing, causing much confusion. No official reason was given, but Morocco had also banned the biblical film Noah.

12/25 Links Pt1: Livni: Abbas Sabotaged Peace Process; US aid to PA should not reward terrorists

From Ian:

Tzipi Livni: Abbas Sabotaged Peace Process

In an interview with Roger Cohen of the NY Times, Tzipi Livni, Israel's chief negotiator with the Palestinians, detailed the events which led to the failure of the most recent talks. Despite the fact that Livni is not a supporter of Prime Minister Netanyahu and felt he was difficult to deal with during the negotiations, she placed the failure of the talks firmly at the feed of Palestinian President Abbas.
According to Livni, the U.S. presented its own framework for a peace plan, Netanyahu agreed to work with it despite his objections but Abbas never gave the U.S. an answer. Things went downhill from there.
On March 17, in a meeting in Washington, President Obama presented Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, with a long-awaited American framework for an agreement that set out the administration’s views on major issues, including borders, security, settlements, Palestinian refugees and Jerusalem.
Livni considered it a fair framework, and Netanyahu had indicated willingness to proceed on the basis of it while saying he had reservations. But Abbas declined to give an answer in what his senior negotiator, Saeb Erekat, later described as a “difficult” meeting with Obama. Abbas remained evasive on the framework, which was never made public.
This, in Livni’s view, amounted to an important opportunity missed by the Palestinians, not least because to get Netanyahu’s acceptance of a negotiation on the basis of the 1967 borders with agreed-upon swaps — an idea Obama embraced in 2011 — would have indicated a major shift.

Elliott Abrams: US aid to PA should not reward terrorists

The omnibus appropriations bill recently passed by Congress contains an interesting ‎provision regarding the support for terrorists and their families by the Palestinian Authority:‎
"The Secretary of State shall reduce the amount of assistance made available by this Act ‎under the heading 'Economic Support Fund' for the West Bank and Gaza by an amount the ‎Secretary determines is equivalent to that expended by the Palestinian Authority in ‎payments to individuals and the families of such individuals that are imprisoned for acts of ‎terrorism or who died committing such acts during the previous calendar year.‎"
The intent is clear: Congress was aware of the PA's practice of rewarding individuals who ‎had committed acts of terrorism with direct financial support or financial support for their ‎families while they remain in prison. And Congress wants to be sure that aid from the ‎United States isn't paying for this, so for every dollar the PA spends we will reduce aid to the ‎PA by the same amount.‎
Good idea, long overdue -- but the language quoted above won't achieve that goal. First of ‎all, why only acts committed "during the previous calendar year?" Does that mean that ‎payments to someone who committed an act of terrorism two or five or 10 years ago is ‎exempt? Does that clause about "the previous calendar year" modify "imprisoned for acts of ‎terrorism," or "who died committing such acts," or both? Or does it modify all "payments," ‎which would be the logical meaning: The amount of U.S. aid is to be reduced by the amount ‎of all payments made in the prior year? Sloppy, last minute drafting of this provision is the ‎culprit.‎

The UNRWA Shill Game and State Department Compliance

“The goal of U.S. support to UNRWA,” according to the State Department Report, “is to ensure that Palestinian refugees live in dignity with an enhanced human development potential until a comprehensive and just solution is secured.” In reality, however, UNRWA has assured that the children, grandchildren and all future descendants of Palestinian refugees will remain degraded and humiliated victims of its policy, which has no equivalent for any other refugees in the world – including more than three million Syrians from President Assad’s current reign of terror.
The stated goal of State Department largesse toward UNRWA is to “promote the human development of Palestinian refugees by improving living conditions, economic potential, livelihoods, access, and human rights.” It pledges to do so “until a just solution is achieved and UNRWA’s mandate ends.” American taxpayers should not hold their breath. A sixty-five year-old policy of unmonitored generosity to a certified rip-off organization that invents and inflates refugee numbers to justify its shnorring is unlikely to abate in the foreseeable future.
Indeed, as Romirowsky and Joffe indicate, UNRWA in Gaza has become little more than a surrogate for Hamas. During its summer rocket assault against Israel UNRWA schools were storehouses for Hamas rockets while UNRWA employees cheered the murder of Israelis. Belatedly mindful of this travesty, the new State Department Framework states, rather preposterously in light of recent events, that “the United States and UNRWA share concerns about the threat of terrorism.” Tunnels beneath and rockets above Israel’s borders are not mentioned.
On paper at least, according to impressionable State Department drafters, UNRWA is “committed to taking all possible measures to ensure that funding provided by the United States to support UNRWA is not used to provide assistance to, or otherwise support, terrorists or terrorist organizations.” The State Department notes “with appreciation efforts taken by UNRWA during the course of 2014 to strengthen the Agency’s neutrality compliance.” Gaza is ignored. Romirowsky and Joffe wonder, as anyone might, how the Facebook celebration by UNRWA teachers following the recent murder of four Jerusalem rabbis at prayer in their synagogue meets the standard of “neutrality compliance.”

This "Christmas tree" is in front of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, decorated with Israeli "bombs" (actually, tear gas canisters), "to be in front of visitors from all countries of the world, to remind them of the occupation crimes."

Apparently, the municipality of Bethlehem removed the exhibit but the organizers returned to put it up again.

What a surprise that Christmas is just another excuse to score political points. In Bethlehem, it sure isn't about Jesus.

UPDATE: Video (h/t Bob Knot)