Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Judge a society not by isolated events but by its reaction to them

Israel is in an uproar over the airing of a video showing Jews at a wedding celebrating the deaths of innocent Arabs:

Footage released on Wednesday showed dozens of young Israeli right-wing extremists, said to be linked to the suspected perpetrators of the Dawabsha family murder, celebrating the killing at a wedding last week. The images in the clip immediately sparked wide condemnation.

The video, aired by Channel 10, shows revelers at the Jerusalem celebration waving knives, rifles, pistols and a Molotov cocktail during the wedding.

Amid the festivities, a photo of baby Ali Dawabsha, who was burned to death in the July 31 firebombing in the West Bank village of Duma, is shown being repeatedly stabbed.

The crowd in the video chants the lyrics of a song which include a verse from Judges 16:28, quoting Samson, blinded in Gaza, saying “let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes” — but changing the word Philistines to Palestine.

The video is indeed horrific and sickening. And already the Arab world is pointing to it as evidence that Israeli Jews are hateful, murderous bigots.

Every society has its fringe elements just as every Internet forum has its crazies. It is lazy and dishonest to point to one or five sick incidents as evidence of a society's attitudes. Not that they should be swept under the rug, but neither should they be used as proof.

But you can judge a society by how it reacts to such events in its midst.

...The video was met with harsh condemnation from across the political spectrum.

Minutes after the clip was aired, Zionist Union MK and former foreign minister Tzipi Livni got up before the Knesset and railed against the youngsters in the film, saying “this is the group that wants to destroy the Jewish Israel, to destroy this state from within, to destroy the government from within and sow hate.”

Pointing at Jewish Home MK Bezalel Smotrich, Livni said: “These are the people you protest being interrogated by the Shin Bet.”

“My Judaism is not the Judaism of those dancing on the blood of babies,” she added on Twitter.

Smotrich condemned the “evil price tag ideology,” referring to right-wing attacks against Palestinians, but attempted to disassociate himself from the extremists, saying it “is not the way of religious Zionism, period.”

“The demonic dance with the picture of the murdered baby represents a dangerous ideology and the loss of humanity,” he said, according the Israel National News website.

Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home), an outspoken supporter of the settlement movement, condemned the participants at the wedding.

“The clip published by Channel 10 news this evening is shocking and one cannot allow the activity of radical groups fueled by hate,” Ariel wrote on Facebook.

“Violence and support of violence deserve only condemnation. This is not the path of Zionism and this is not the path of the settlement movement,” wrote Ariel, who a day earlier had called for the Shin Bet to close down its division that deals with Jewish terror cases.

The video clip was also denounced by Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau, who said it went against Jewish tradition. Other religious figures also spoke out against it.

And it isn't only politicians. Blogs, Facebook posts, and op-eds out of Israel are united in condemnation for this event - and not only because it makes Israeli Jews look bad, but because Israeli Jews are naturally horrified by it and want to rid themselves of such evil in their midst.

The contrast to how Palestinian society reacts to their own outrages could not be more clear. After months of stabbing, car ramming and firebombing attacks on innocent Jews, I have yet to see a single statement in any Palestinian news or social media outlet that condemns those actions for being immoral. Not one.

On the contrary, the universal reaction is to justify these attacks or even to celebrate them.

The Henkins murdered in cold blood - nothing.

The massacre of the Fogels - nothing.

The Har Nof synagogue massacre - nothing.

Except for the occasional pro forma and hypocritical "condemnation" by Mahmoud Abbas (which disgust the Palestinian street), there is never any moral outrage or soul-searching that follows every attack by Jews on innocent Arabs.

While Jews condemn, Palestinians celebrate. While Jews try to root out the evil in their midst, Palestinians name schools and sporting events after their "hero" murderers. While Jews distance themselves from crimes in their name, Palestinians embrace them and encourage their people to do more.

Zionist Jews are rightly sickened at the sight of seemingly religious Jews acting in such a disgusting manner. The day that Palestinian Arabs start to react the same way to their celebrations of murdering Jews will be the day that peace might actually be a possibility.

There is no indication that it will ever happen.

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Egypt's Youm7 reports that an Egyptian professor at the University of Assiut has figured out the real story about the Jewish Temples.

Dr. Iman Tayeb says that her studies of the Prophets, Talmud, Maimonides and others points to the conclusion that the Temples were not built in Jerusalem, but much further north in the Galilee.

You see, she notes that the priestly families that served in the Temple lived in Tzippori which is quite a distance north from Jerusalem. How could they commute to Jerusalem to do their service? (The answer is that each family would travel to Jerusalem for a week, twice a year, during their designated watch.)

She notes that this could explain why there haven't been any ancient Jewish artifacts found in Jerusalem. Yep.

But she also says that when Egypt was powerful in the Levant, it would build large garrisons. After they left, these garrisons would often be converted to temples, so the real Jewish Temples were just converted Egyptian buildings somewhere in the Galilee.

Mahmoud Abbas issued his annual Christmas message yesterday. As he always does, he hijacked what should be a message of peace into an anti-Israel screed.

Here's the introduction:

It is a divine blessing that this year we are coincidentally celebrating the birth of Jesus and the birth of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon them, for the first time in centuries. On this day, billions around the world celebrate the birth of two great messengers of love, hope, justice and peace.

Jesus is a symbol for all Palestinians. Palestine and its people take pride in being the birthplace of Christianity and having the oldest Christian community in the world.

Christmas is a message of hope which should prevail even during the difficult times that our nation, and the world, are facing. In Bethlehem this year, Palestinians will celebrate Christmas surrounded by eighteen illegal settlements and an annexation wall, which are taking over their land. Over the past few months, we have seen how the Israeli government has continued to consolidate an Apartheid regime by accelerating policies which destroy the two-state solution. And yet, Palestinians continue to defy the daily oppression imposed by their occupier with steadfastness and love for their country.

Those stabbers are acting out of love!

Throughout the speech, Abbas relentlessly focuses on the anti-Israel theme. He praised churches that practice BDS. He pretends to speak on behalf of the dwindling Christian population to slam Israeli defensive actions near Bethlehem.

But at the end of a speech that is nothing less than hijacking Christmas to slander Israel, he says, "The use of any religion for political purposes is absolutely unacceptable and must be fought."

Except, of course, by Palestinian Arabs.

Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah celebrates Wednesday's murderous terror attack

From the official Fatah Facebook page comes the message saying the two people who murdered Ofer Ben Ari and Rabbi Reuven Biermacher are "heroes" and "martyrs" who engaged in a "heroic operation" and who they say are now immortalized and filled with glory.

The party led by Mahmoud Abbas is very excited that they managed to kill a couple of Jews

I want to stress that yet again, I cannot find a single Arabic-language voice under PA rule - not one op-ed, not one article - that finds murdering Jews to be anything less than heroic.

12/23 Links Pt2: 2015 Dishonest Reporting Awards; Dermer sends settlement products as gifts

From Ian:

Honest Reporting: The 2015 Dishonest Reporting Awards

The year began with Islamic terror in Paris, but was dominated by the Iranian nuclear talks and strained US-Israeli ties. A wave of Palestinian stabbing and car-ramming attacks began with the Jewish new year. As 2015 draws to a close, Islamic terror has struck the West again, with Paris suffering even more bloodshed.
The 2015 Dishonest Reporting Awards
1. Best Reason to Handle Palestinian Sources With Care: The Gaza Flood Libel
2. Most Bigoted Journalist: Kitty Holland
3. Worst Abuse of Anonymous Sources: Haaretz
4. Smear of the Year: Fareed Zakaria
5. Most Unholy Row: New York Times
6. Great Moments in Self-Embellishing: Brian Williams
7. Dumbest Twitter Rant: Jim Clancy
8. Most Maddening Map Misrepresentation: MSNBC
And who is the overall Dishonest Reporter of 2015? We’ll announce that next week, so stay tuned! Without further ado, here are the runner-up winners.

NGO Monitor: Deck the Halls with Exploitation: How Anti-Peace NGOs Abuse and Misuse the Message of Christmas

Similar to previous years, many politicized NGOs and well-known charities have been exploiting the 2015 Christmas season with anti-peace campaigns, some of which glorify terrorism.
Groups such as Sabeel (funded by Sweden, via Diakonia, and the Netherlands via ICCO and Kerk in Actie), War on Want (funded by UK, EU, and Ireland), Adalah-NY, Kairos Palestine, and Amos Trust are again using religious and holiday themes to demonize Israel. These organizations utilize inflammatory and offensive rhetoric in their Christmas carols, holiday messages, appeals, and religious imagery.
At the same time, their messages strip the context, omitting references to deadly Palestinian terrorism and other violence against Israelis. They fail to condemn the escalation of attacks against civilians in the last quarter of 2015 – stabbings, car rammings, and drive-by shootings. For example, many of these so-called Christmas messages allege that the security barrier causes harm to Palestinians, while failing to mention its role in protecting civilians against terror attacks.
The abuse of Christmas messages is part of a broad international campaign of political warfare conducted against Israel in some churches. Palestinian Christian NGOs, such as Sabeel and Kairos Palestine, provide the theological and ideological frameworks for these attacks.

In Christmas message, Abbas calls on world to protect Palestinians from Israel

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday accused Israel of continuing to “consolidate an Apartheid regime by accelerating policies which destroy the two-state solution.”
Abbas’s latest accusation came in a “Christmas Message” in which he repeated other charges against Israel, such as the construction of an “Annexation Wall” and the uprooting of “historic olive trees” near Bethlehem.
“Jesus is a symbol for all Palestinians,” Abbas said. “Palestine and its people take pride in being the birthplace of Christianity and having the oldest Christian community in the world.”

Compare how Amnesty reports on Russia vs. Israel

From Amnesty International:

“Some Russian air strikes appear to have directly attacked civilians or civilian objects by striking residential areas with no evident military target and even medical facilities, resulting in deaths and injuries to civilians. Such attacks may amount to war crimes,” said Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

Compare that language with how Philip Luther described Israeli attacks on houses in a nearly parallel report issued last November:

“Israeli forces have brazenly flouted the laws of war by carrying out a series of attacks on civilian homes, displaying callous indifference to the carnage caused,” said Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

“The report exposes a pattern of attacks on civilian homes by Israeli forces which have shown a shocking disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians, who were given no warning and had no chance to flee.”

Amnesty uses much more graphic and loaded language to describe Israeli actions.

It gets worse. Amnesty's report about Russia says that they found zero evidence of any military targets among the sites hit. But it admits that Israel did have some military targets even according to their biased investigation:

In several of the cases documented in the report, possible military targets were identified by Amnesty International. However the devastation to civilian lives and property caused in all cases was clearly disproportionate to the military advantages gained by launching the attacks.

As I have proven repeatedly, Amnesty was wrong about many of the targets because I was able to document valid military targets in nearly every single case Amnesty mentioned. And Amnesty was wrong about international law ("disproportionate") in the report on Israel.

But with Russia, where Amnesty cannot find a single military target, Philip Luther's language is far less critical and more clinical.

The bias is obvious. As usual.

(h/t Ben)

Galloway Seeks Return To Labor After Nazis Reject Him As Too Racist (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

London, December 23 - Firebrand MP and former Mayor of Bradford George Galloway expressed a desire to return to Labor, following his failure to join the Nazi Party, who dismissed him as too racially prejudiced.

Galloway, currently sitting in Parliament as a member of the Respect Party, was expelled from Labor twelve years ago, after calling on British troops in Iraq to refuse to obey their "illegal orders." He has cultivated a base of loyalists opposed to Israel and the West in general, and has expressed admiration and support for brutal dictators such as Saddam Hussein and Muammar Qaddafi. He ran for Parliament following a failed reelection bid for the mayoralty of Bradford, and seeks the same office in London, but since his dismissal from Labor has yearned for an established party that better reflects his sensibilities. The Nazis, however, rejected Galloway, saying he was far too racially divisive for their tastes.

"Dude...no," said a Nazi representative, recalling his response to Galloway's application. The Nazi spoke to PreOccupied Territory on condition of anonymity, as he was too ashamed to be associated with the Galloway debacle.

While many of Galloway's statements and declared goals align with Nazi ideology, explained the representative, he simply holds views that are excessively racist. "The guy is a caricature of himself. No self-respecting party, regardless of its name, if it wants to be taken seriously, can accept that....thing in its ranks." He also noted the former mayor's distaste for military force, at least as applied by his own country, and said that such an attitude was incompatible with Nazism.

Labor chairman Jeremy Corbyn declined to rule out Galloway's return to the party, saying such a move should be decided by the party organs tasked with such a decision. The Labor leader expressed surprise that the Nazis had rejected his colleague. "I'd have thought George and the Nazis were a good fit, actually. Perhaps there's something they know that we don't regarding the suitability of certain people for public office."

Corbyn himself might not remain with Labor much longer, it is rumored, especially in light of recent developments in the Middle East. Aside from rank-and-file dissatisfaction with his hard-left leadership so far, a possible early election in Israel has politicians there voicing a desire to have him assume leadership of Israel's Labor Party.

12/23 Links Pt1: Why Palestinians Love Baby-Killers; Cruz: Close DC's PLO terror office

From Ian:

Why Palestinians Love Baby-Killers

Samir Kuntar murdered four Israelis. One of his victims was a four-year-old girl, Einat Haran. Kuntar smashed her skull. Kuntar was killed this week in Syria while helping President Bashar Assad commit war crimes against his own citizens.
Senior Palestinian official Sultan Abu Al-Einein evidently believes that murdering Jews is not a "despicable crime," but killing an arch-terrorist such as Kuntar is a "despicable crime."
When the Western-backed Palestinian Authority openly endorses terrorists and names streets, squares and schools after them, Palestinian leaders are sending a message to their people that murdering Jews is a noble and dignified act. This show of solidarity with a baby-killer is the direct result of ongoing incitement against Israel and Jews in mosques, the press and social media in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
In this sick, twisted society that the Europeans have bought and paid for, anyone who murders Jews is considered a role model. Anyone who supports peace with Israel is denounced as a "traitor."

Douglas Murray: The Establishment Is In Denial — Yet Again

Worst was in the wake of November’s atrocity in Paris when the story went around from the Wall Street Journal to the Huffington Post and the Daily Mail that one of the suicide bombers at the Stade de France football stadium had been stopped and turned away by a Muslim security guard called Zouheir. The story was reported around the world and heralded across social media. Amid a night of bloodshed which allegedly had nothing to do with Islam here was a security guard who had everything to do with Islam saving hundreds of lives. This seemed such a good meme that it became one of the most popular “stories” of the night on Twitter. Except that it turned out — as the BBC was unusual in being good enough to concede — that the tale was fabricated. There was a guard in the stadium of unknown religion called Zouheir but he had been elsewhere on the night and had not seen any bombers. He had relayed part of a colleague’s story to a reporter. Why had this all become about him? For the simple reason that people wanted it to be.
The point is that all these things are varieties of self-distraction. They are things we have set up to stop us coming to the conclusions based on the evidence before us. Parliament discusses sending a few planes to bomb IS, but is aware that this minimal action could cause maximal pain at home. The media reports the terrorist attacks while scouring to find a news story that will show Muslims in a good light.
Many worthy sentiments may be mixed up in all this. But at the root of them, living through them and watching this doubt from the top to the bottom, it is hard not to reflect that we are living in the in-between years. At some point the atrocities will come here again and only then will we again be able to see that these years were largely wasted.

Ted Cruz to Obama: Shut Down DC's Terror-Supporting Palestinian Office

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is demanding that the Obama administration close the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) office in Washington for “celebrating the murder of Jews,” “glorification of terrorism,” and paying salaries to jailed Palestinian terrorists.
The United States government has an obligation to publicly denounce the PLO’s actions and should immediately revoke its waiver,” reads a letter signed by 30 Republican lawmakers and sent to Secretary of State John Kerry by Cruz and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC).
The letter, released Monday, further states that Israel has “seen a dramatic increase in deadly attacks carried out by Palestinians sympathetic to the message of hatred and intolerance proclaimed by leaders” of the PLO.
The PLO has been banned by Congress from maintaining a D.C. office. However, the legislation allowed the president to temporarily waive the requirement and since 1994 this waiver has been in effect.
But Republican lawmakers are insisting that the waiver be revoked due to a string of terrorist attacks “directly connected to the Palestinian government’s teaching of hate and glorification of terrorism.”

US State Department rejects lawmakers' calls to close PLO office

State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau confirmed that the department had received the letter and said Kerry would respond to it.
"We believe that closing the PLO office would be detrimental to our ongoing efforts to calm tensions between Israeli's and Palestinians, advance a two-state solution and strengthen the US-Palestinian partnership," Trudeau told reporters.
She said every US administration since 1994 had used the waiver to keep the PLO office open.
"We believe the PLO has a valid place ... and we'd oppose those efforts" to close the office," Trudeau said, adding that Kerry had condemned the attacks.

Memorial for terrorist Kuntar to be held in Brussels

A terror-supporting group called Samidoun scheduled a memorial for arch-terrorist Samir Kutar this coming Saturday at the Arab Cultural Center in Brussels:

Unfortunately for them, the Centre Culturel Arabe gets funding from the belgium government and when people complained, the Center shut the event down.

So Samidoun is rescheduling the event - but they won't tell anyone where it is. You must contact them directly (at samirkuntarbxl@gmail.com) to find the location.

Perhaps someone will politely ask where the event will be held. I'll be happy to let everyone know.

(h/t Rudi)

UNRWA human rights worker laughs at Israelis fleeing a terrorist

Nahla Holly works in UNRWA's Human Rights program in Gaza.

She posted this on Facebook, making fun of a video of Israelis fleeing a terror attack in Jerusalem.

She wrote, "Ha-ha-ha, look at the difference between us and them... when the rockets were falling on our houses, the children would run there in order to collect copper and aluminum."

Yes, a UNRWA human rights worker thinks that Jews running for their lives is funny. Because Jews aren't quite human and deserve no rights in UNRWA's world.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

The Palestinian Ministry for Prisoner Affairs held a memorial for child-murderer Samir Kuntar in Ramallah yesterday.

The Minister of Prisoner Affairs, Issa Qaraqe, spoke at the event and extolled Kuntar as "the martyr Samir Kuntar, a Palestinian symbol."

"We meet today in the presence of the martyr Kuntar, to honor a martyr in the name of all the Palestinian people, and to assure him and anyone who fought for Palestine that they will stay present in all of our lives, we will not forget your sacrifices, we'll proudly tell all the generations to come about you and how Kantar rubbed the occupier's nose in dirt."

It is not certain if he is referring to the child that Kuntar murdered, whose nose was in the dirt after he bashed her head in.

Qaraqe has testified about supposed Israeli crimes to the UN, including accusations that Israeli pharmaceutical companies perform medical experiments on prisoners.

There was another ceremony honoring Kuntar held in Ramallah yesterday which Fatah officials attended, but the memorial presided over by Qaraqe showed that the official Palestinian Authority position is to honor a child murderer.

Counterfeit camel urine

From The Daily Mail:

Saudi authorities have closed down a shop selling traditional camel urine drinks after discovering the owner had been filling the bottles with his own bodily waste.

Health inspectors swooped on a vendor in the port city of Al Qunfudhah, in south-western Saudi Arabia, and confiscated more than 70 full bottles.

The practice of drinking camel's urine mixed with milk is believed to date back centuries while some insist it has health benefits.

But the shopkeeper's business was closed down indefinitely amid claims he had been selling his own urine to unsuspecting customers.

The traditional camel urine drink is believed to have originated from a passage in the Hadith.

The Muslim holy book contains quotes from the prophet Muhammad and it says: 'Some people of Ukl or Uraina tribes came to Medina (in Saudi Arabia) and the climate did not suit them.

'So the Prophet ordered them to go to the herd of (milk) camels and to drink their milk and urine (as medicine). So they went as directed and afterwards they became healthy.'

I sincerely hope that there is a class-action suit. I mean, what is worse than finding out that the camel urine you are enjoying with friends is mislabeled?

(h/t Martin)