Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, February 08, 2016

02/08 Links Pt1: UN chief heckled at NY synagogue during Holocaust speech; Iran Infiltrates the WB

From Ian:

UN chief heckled at NY synagogue during Holocaust speech

UN Director General Ban Ki-moon was met with jeers and heckling Saturday at the Park East Synagogue in New York, where he delivered an address in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Congregants at the Manhattan synagogue accused the UN chief of justifying terror, with some saying his comments attributing a wave of near-daily Palestinian attacks to “frustration” was like rationalizing the 9/11 attacks, the Walla news site reported.
Two weeks ago, Ban’s comments — that “it is human nature to react to occupation, which often serves as a potent incubator of hate and extremism” — drew a furious response from Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused him of “stoking terror.” The UN has “lost its neutrality and its moral force, and these statements by the secretary-general do nothing to improve its situation,” he said in an angry video statement.
Ban subsequently reiterated his harsh criticism of Israel’s policies in the West Bank, but stressed that his words under no circumstances amounted to a justification for terror attacks.
Ban did not mention Israel in his speech on Saturday.

Israeli envoy Danon: Palestinians citing UN Secretary General to excuse terror

In a speech at the monthly Security Council debate on the Middle East earlier this month, Secretary- General Ban Ki- Moon, addressing the issue of Palestinian terror, said that “as oppressed peoples have demonstrated throughout the ages, it is human nature to react to occupation, which often serves as a potent incubator of hate and extremism.”
Ban made his remarks on the same day that terrorist victim Shlomit Krigman, 23, was buried in Jerusalem. The young woman was fatally stabbed on Monday evening by two Palestinian terrorists.
"Palestinian terrorism is using your words to excuse its actions," Danon wrote in response to the statements made by the Fatah spokesperson.
"Your words have created two categories of terrorism: Terror against Israel, and then the rest of the world," Danon explained.
Danon explained to the Secretary General that an additional terrorist attack had been executed in Israel's capital city of Jerusalem since his statements, and that only the bravery of Hadar Cohen, a 19 year old police officer, prevented a large scale attack by paying the price of her life.
"Since when is it the job of the UN to find justifications for terror?," asked Danon. "Since when does the UN create two categories for terrorism and its victims?"
In closing, Danon wrote, "I urge you to retract your statements and to make it clear that there is no justification for the bloodshed of Israeli victims."

Jewish boy, 11, stabbed and wounded in Ramle

An 11-year-old Jewish boy was stabbed and wounded Monday in an attack in the central Israeli town of Ramle.
The attacker fled the scene, apparently toward the Jawaresh neighborhood of the city.
The boy was hospitalized with moderate injuries, the Magen David Adom emergency service said. The child said that the assailant was an Arab. A 17-year-old Arab youth was arrested a short time later on suspicion of carrying out the attack.
The victim said he was walking down the street when an Arab teen asked him for a lighter, and stabbed him when he answered he did not have one.

Here is the EoZTV version of the story I broke yesterday about how Travel+Leisure magazine apparently caved to threats by haters when they couldn't stand the idea of the word "Israel" being in their Instagram feed.

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2014 attack against Red Cross vehicle in Gaza

Yesterday, AP reported:

The International Committee of the Red Cross says it is temporarily closing its Gaza office after protesters repeatedly tried to storm it.

Spokeswoman Suhair Zakkout said the office will operate remotely until "local authorities in Gaza provide assurances that our premises, work and staff are respected."

Dozens of Gazans have protested daily at the office in recent weeks in solidarity with a Palestinian hunger striker detained by Israel, demanding that the Red Cross help bring about his release. They tried to enter the building forcefully on Sunday, smashing garage windows and causing other damage.

Mohammed al-Qeq, a 33-year old journalist, has been on a hunger strike for 75 days.

Israel's Shin Bet security service says al-Qeq is involved in militant activity.

Last night there was an apparent agreement between Hamas and the Red Cross that would allow it to re-open today. ICRC spokesperson SZ Zaqout told the media that the Red Cross agreed to resume work as usual today. It appears that a side deal may have been struck between the protesters - many of them journalists - and the ICRC to have the organization be more vocal in protest over Israel's holding of al-Qiq who is said to be close to death.

Paletinian media have been filled with posters in support for al-Qiq.

Today, despite Hamas' assurances, the Red Cross offices in al-Bireh were again forced to close by a group of protesters.

There is a long history of Palestinians violently protesting the NGOs that are dedicated to helping them. When it happens to UNRWA, usually the agency tries to sweep the incidents under the rug, which is one reason that the media ignores those stories. In this case the Red Cross publicly said that they refuse to work under conditions that would endanger their employees.

The difference is that UNRWA does not want to shame their Arab clients by publicizing their violent activity. The Red Cross, on the other hand, values its own mission more than the honor of the violent protesters. Even though this local office was still closed, the fast response by Hamas in this case as opposed to their foot-dragging when it happens to UNRWA shows that shame is a powerful weapon against obscene behavior by Arabs - but it is a weapon that Western NGOs and reporters and politicians are loath to use.

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Frustrated Gazans ask jetsetting leader Khaled Meshal to "Come live in Gaza"

A new social media campaign from Gaza is "spreading like wildfire," according to Karama Press.

24 year old and unemployed Gazan Ahmed Nafez started the hashtag "#Khaled_Meshal, #Come_live_in_Gaza" as a way to express indignation and anger at the Hamas leaders in Gaza.

Khaled Meshal, the political leader of Hamas, is an obvious target, as he is known for traveling in style between villas and luxury hotels in Doha and Ankara.

Despite the tightening control Hamas exerts over Gaza's Internet, others quickly created their own versions.

A 19-year old woman named Nola Mohammed joined in, creating numerous posters targeting Meshal. Her father was not able to pay her university tuition this semester, but at the same time he sees her neighbor who is prominent in Hamas with a modern car whose two sons enjoy full scholarships in universities in Turkey.

(h/t Bob Knot)

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Hasby Awards voting: Best Own Goal

For Super Bowl Sunday (please don't sue me NFL), what could be more appropriate than to open the voting for the Best Own Goal Hasy Award, given to the best example of an anti-Israel idiot making an even greater fool of him or herself.

The nominees are:

BDS fail for Matisyahu in Spain

Marsha Levine, horse expert

Roger Waters, Lifetime Achievement

William Schabas quits UNHRC commission

#AskHamas Twitter campaign

web survey

Voting will be allowed all week.

(Hopefully more polls will be coming soon, been busy...)

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02/07 Links: PA official: 'Do we have to hijack planes for you to care about our cause?'

From Ian:

Letter to Ban Ki-moon on Terrorism & “Human Nature”

Dear Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,
Tomorrow when you attend synagogue to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day—after two weeks when you singled out Israel at the Security Council and in the New York Times—I hope you will pay heed to the following verses of Exodus in the weekly Bible portion that will be read out before the congregation:
“Do not spread a false report… Do not follow the crowd to do evil; neither shall you testify in a dispute by siding with the multitude to pervert justice.” (Exodus XXIII)
As you begin your 10th year as Secretary-General of the United Nations, I hope you reflect upon these words, and on how your conduct has changed over time.
Because I remember when, during your first year in office, in 2007, you admirably criticized the Human Rights Council after it decided to permanently single out Israel under a special agenda item at every one of its meetings. You were sharply rebuked for this by the 56-strong Islamic group.
Today, perhaps because you have been stung by such rebukes from the multitude that dominates your organization—including the 120-strong Non-Aligned Movement, now chaired by Iran—too often your own actions, and those carried out by U.N. officials under your command, spread false reports, follow the crowd to do evil, and deliver testimony that perverts justice.
Mr. Secretary-General, your op-ed was entitled “Don’t shoot the messenger, Israel.” Perhaps you ought to consider that the U.N. is not a messenger here, but a key actor; and that, too often, your organization’s actions encourage, enable and legitimize terrorism.
If you unequivocally condemn terrorism that strikes French, American, and Nigerian victims, without expressing sympathy and understanding with the alleged grievances of the murderers, you should do no different when the victims are Israelis.
I conclude again with the words of the Bible:
“Do not spread a false report… Do not follow the crowd to do evil; neither shall you testify in a dispute by siding with the multitude to pervert justice.”

Poll: Palestinian support for 'intifada' is falling

During a similar poll that was conducted in November, 63 percent of the people asked responded that they were in favor of another intifada breaking out. In the recent poll that number diminished to only 42 percent. A majority of Palestinians who answered, some 54 percent, said that they were against another intifada breaking out. 50 percent believe that such an intifada would delay the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Other statistics that were published in the poll included results from questions about Palestinian governance and hypothetical election results. Through the responses it was revealed that 79 percent of Palestinians are against the dissolution of the Palestinian Authority and returning full control of area "A" to Israel, whereas 14 percent of Palestinians support the move.
Questions regarding the Palestinian leadership to follow President Mahmoud Abbas were asked, and based upon the answers Fatah would gain a minority government in both the PA and Gaza. However an overwhelming majority felt that open elections were the best method to select their next leader.

Senior PA official: 'Do we have to hijack planes for you to care about our cause?'

A senior Palestinian Authority official has suggested that the West ignores the Palestinians when they maintain security, rhetorically asking if they have to resort to "hijacking planes" and "destroying airports" to garner Western support for the Palestinian cause.
In an interview translated by MEMRI on the PA-backed station Awdha TV last week, Nabil Sha'ath asserted that being moderate does not turn heads.
He sought to substantiate his claim by drawing attention to the ongoing refugee situation in Europe: "If the Syrian problem had not been exported to Europe - through refugees, on the one hand, and terrorism, on the other - the Europeans would not have cared even if the entire Syrian people had died."
Sha'ath stated that the European decision to finally deal with the Syrian crisis was not motivated by good-willed humanitarianism, but rather by a fear that the massive influx of "non-Anglo-Saxon" refugees would alter the composition of the population.
"But when all of a sudden there were four million Syrian refugees in Europe, and when this was accompanied by ISIS operations in France and elsewhere...it started a debate about racial transformation, the entrance of non-white, non-European races," he said in the interview.

Nabil Shaath on International Peace Conference: Anything Is Better than U.S.-Led Negotiations

Hamas executes one of its own for "moral excesses" (update)

The Al Qassam Brigades of Hamas announced that it executed its own member, Mahmoud Rushdie Eshtewi, for what it called "behavioral and moral excesses."

In a statement on its website, it said "The Martyr Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades at 16:00 pm on Sunday, 28 April 1437 H corresponding 7-2-2016, implementated the death sentence against a member of the al-Qassam Brigades, Mahmoud Rushdie Eshtewi, by military courts and the sharia judiciary of the al-Qassam Brigades for behavioral and moral excesses."

Usually, when Hamas executes a suspected spy or "collaborator" with Israel, they do not announce his name. Either this is a change of policy or he was sentenced to death for some other equally heinous crime, like homosexuality.

Palestine Press Agency says that this is the first time Hamas has ever executed one of its own members. Eshtawi was arrested last summer and his family has been staging sit-ins to find out his fate. According to the article, he was ranked fairly highly and had been the target of Israeli airstrikes.

It will be interesting to see how strongly "human rights" organizations denounce this application of the death penalty - if at all.

(h/t Bob Knot)

UPDATE: TOI adds:

Websites linked to the Palestinian Fatah group had in the past alleged that Eshtawi had led Israel to the hiding place of Hamas commander Muhammed Deif during the 2014 Gaza war, resulting in a failed assassination attempt against him, according to Israel Radio.

Executions have previously been carried out in the Gaza Strip, including in public squares in the Palestinian territory, but it appeared to be the first time Al-Qassam itself had sentenced one of its own through a court martial and executed him.

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Remember Professor Andrew Pessin?

Anyone who follows the Long Arab War against the Jews of the Middle East knows about the harassment of vocal pro-Israel professors on western university campuses, including in the United States.

As I wrote in a piece last summer:

Professor Andew Pessin is a Professor of Philosophy at Connecticut College. He studied at Yale and earned a PhD at Columbia University. He is the author of five books, including most recently Uncommon Sense: The Strangest Ideas From The Smartest Philosophers. He is also friendly to the Jewish State of Israel and in opposition to political Islam for reasons having to do with social justice and human rights.

Pessin, as you will recall, took a beating on his home campus for daring to disparage Hamas. Meanwhile, at San Francisco State University, professors Rabab Abdulhadi and Trevor R. Getz have partnered with what is perhaps the most racist university in the entire world, An-Najah National University, in the Palestinian Authority controlled town of Nablus. and nobody even blinks.

The ADL has this to say about An-Najah National University:

An-Najah University, in the West Bank city of Nablus, has been a flashpoint in the conflict between Israel and Palestinians since at least 1980, when violent anti-Israel protests led the Israeli military to close the school intermittently. Today the student council of An-Najah is known for its advocacy of anti-Israel violence and its recruitment of Palestinian college students into terrorist groups. The council, almost completely controlled by factions loyal to Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah, glorifies suicide bombings and propagandizes for jihad against Israel. Hamas has described An-Najah as a "greenhouse for martyrs."

Yet San Francisco State University supported Abdulhadi, while Connecticut College turned its back on Pessin. Is this the sad condition of American campuses these days? Supporting a genocidal organization like Hamas is A-OK from a progressive-left viewpoint, but supporting the lone, sole Jewish-democratic country in the entire world is verboten and considered illiberal?

Well, I am pleased to see that Professor Pessin, is well-liked by most of his students, one of whom wrote this:

actually the best professor at conn. intensely passionate about the subject matter and works exceptionally hard to make sure his wording is precise and his arguments are clear. will go out of his way to help, he read 8 drafts of one of my essays. take pessin's classes if you want to learn rigorous (real) philosophy.

Aside from garnering the support of some very well respected colleagues at nearby universities, such as Richard Landes of Boston University, and successfully high-lighting the issue of anti-Jewish support for genocidal terrorists on American college campuses, he has also started up his own venue which he calls The Unabashed Zionist.

"Because an unabashed Zionist is better than a bashed one."

I could not agree more.

In a recent piece by Noah Beck of the Algemeiner we learn:

A pro-Israel professor won’t be on campus at Connecticut College when classes start Monday, missing the second straight semester since his 2014 Facebook post criticizing Hamas led to death threats and ostracism.

Andrew Pessin “requested and received a sabbatical for the Spring semester to continue his studies in Jewish philosophy and Israel studies,” Connecticut College spokeswoman Pamela Serfes said in an email last week. “He has been and continues to be a valued member of the Connecticut College faculty.”

The vague and misleading response glosses over the intensity of the campaign against Pessin — he first took a medical leave last spring as a smear campaign against him was at full throat. The controversy exposed an administration unwilling to enforce its own honor code to protect a professor against anti-Israel activists and a student journalist responsible for covering the very controversy she had joined.

It seems to me that those of us in the pro-Jewish / pro-Israel community need to stand up for this guy... which is why I am writing this piece.

Check out The Unabashed Zionist and lend your vocal support to Professor Pessin who did nothing more than disparage Hamas, an organization in great need of disparagement from decent people everywhere.

In the Hamas Charter we read:

Within the circle of the conflict with world Zionism, the Hamas regards itself the spearhead and the avant-garde. It joins its efforts to all those who are active on the Palestinian scene, but more steps need to be taken by the Arab and Islamic peoples and Islamic associations throughout the Arab and Islamic world in order to make possible the next round with the Jews, the merchants of war.

The next round with the Jews.

This document is nothing less than a call for the genocide of the Jewish people within living memory of the Holocaust, yet Pessin gets called to the carpet for strongly disagreeing.

I have tended to be critical of San Francisco State University because it is one of the most racist universities in the entire country, but Connecticut College made an exceedingly bad decision when that administration refused to stand up for Dr. Pessin.

May he find greener pastures elsewhere.

Michael Lumish is a blogger at the Israel Thrives blog as well as a regular contributor/blogger at Times of Israel and Jews Down Under.

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Middle East Online has an article about "research" by Dr. Hassan Zaza about Jews:

A nation that clearly emerged with hostility to Arabs and Musloms, trying to disrupt their entity and undermine it by all means, from distortion and pollution, to subversive propaganda against them all over the world, to cooperate with each enemy of them...to beat them in the fields of finance and business, and finally to the rape of their land, and evacuating the inhabitants thereof, and the shedding of their blood by force of arms.

All this to Dr. Zaza sees as a continuation of specific historical phenomena, since ancient times until contemporary times which witnessed the Zionist crimes, committed by its leaders every day.

Al Wafd has an article about the discovery of a seal with the name of King Hezekiah that was in the news a few months ago. Since the seal used Egyptian motifs, the article claims that it "exposes the lie" of Jewish sovereignty in the area.

Al Sharq has an article called "Qualities of the Jews in the Holy Quran" about how Jews lie, betray prophets and that they killed Jesus, and are cursed by God.

Libya Akhbar has a book review of "The Big Lie: The burning of six million Jews in gas chambers" by Sultan Ahmed Thami. The article takes it as a given that the Holocaust was a lie; that upsets the author is that Jews continue to use it to blackmail Germany. It highlights how terrible it was for Jews to expose Kurt Waldheim's Nazi past.

All of these articles were published in the past day.

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Travel+Leisure Magazine removes photo of Israel from Instagram

In November, an assistant digital editor at Travel+Leisure magazine posted this beautiful photo of the Negev on Instagram:

Notice the comment from "85til__" - what is he or she talking about?

Therein lies the tale.

That same photo was posted as an editor's pick by Travel+Leisure in their main Instagram account. Within a couple of hours, apparently after complaints from people who get livid at the very mention of the word "Israel," they removed the word Israel:

Readers noticed. Some were happy and some were upset:

So what did the magazine editors do?

They removed the post altogether.

To be sure, in the past there have been some wonderful stories about Israel in Travel+Leisure magazine. There is no evidence whatsoever that they are anti-Israel.

But with the slightest whiff of manufactured controversy - after all, who disputes that the Negev is part of Israel? - they caved to a tiny number of haters.

Twice in the space of a few hours.

I emailed the digital editor as well as the originator of the photo, but they did not respond.

(h/t E)

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Irony as Jordan protests Israeli plans for egalitarian prayer area next to Temple Mount

From Jordan Times:

Jerusalem Awqaf Department Director Azzam Khatib Tamimi has condemned Israel’s violations against the Umayyad Palaces area to the south and southwest of Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Thursday.

In a letter of protest sent to the occupation force chief in Jerusalem, Tamimi denounced Israel’s violations as an occupation force, stressing that it is legally bound to preserve the status quo before 1967 and honour the 1994 Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty.

Tamimi demanded that the occupation authorities halt excavations and end the destruction of Arab and Islamic heritage sites.

He called for removing a makeshift metal roof set up in the centre of the Umayyad Palaces site.

Tamimi also called for removing the metal and wooden platforms set up to expand the yards designated for Jewish prayers next to the mosque’s Western Wall. The Israeli authorities decided last week to expand the platforms, according to Petra.

Tamimi, whose team is affiliated with the Awqaf Ministry, stressed the Hashemite custodianship on Al Aqsa Mosque, urging Israel to respect everything related to Al Haram Al Sharif, Islam’s third-holiest shrine.

He concluded with an explicit demand to return the palaces to the jurisdiction of his department.

And Ammon News adds:

Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications, Muhammad Momani, on Saturday, voiced the government's condemnation of Israel's violations against the Umayyad Palaces area to the south and southeast of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Here's the irony:

If it wasn't for those terrible Israeli archaeologists, Jordan would never have known that there were any Umayyad palaces in the area of the Temple Mount to begin with! They were discovered in the 1970s.

Here is a video showing a 3D model of the palaces that was created and paid for by the Israeli Antiquities Authority together with the architecture school at UCLA:

And here is another reconstruction of what the palaces looked like before the earthquake that destroyed them in 749.

Israel has done more to preserve Muslim heritage sites in Jerusalem than Jordan ever did! And the plans for the prayer area will continue to do so.

The second irony: while the Umayyad palaces are impressive, they were partially built with plundered stones from the Temple Mount and Byzantine churches. Here is a lintel from a 5th century church that is on the lower course of stones in the southern Umayyad building:

The Jordanians are insisting that palaces that were built by desecrating Jewish and Christian holy places be considered sacred by the Israeli authorities - when the Israelis have been the ones who have preserved them and made them accessible to the public to begin with.

These same Jordanians, who claim that the entire area should be under their control, were complicit in the catastrophic destruction of priceless archaeological finds when the Waqf excavated thousands of cubic meters of dirt containing numerous priceless items to build a huge underground mosque on the Temple Mount.

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Palestinians burn Torahs, holy books in synagogue. Where is the outrage?

From Times of Israel:

Suspected Palestinian attackers set fire to Torah scrolls in an outpost next to the Karmei Tzur settlement in the West Bank overnight Friday-Saturday. There were no injuries in the incident, but the scrolls were badly damaged.

The scrolls were inside a tent at the Givat Shorek outpost, which residents said had been in use as a synagogue, the Ynet news website reported. According to the settlers, the tent had also been used as a gathering place for the children of the area.

According to Karmei Tzur residents, the suspected arsonists piled up the Torah scrolls and set them alight.

Judea and Samaria police said that the footprints of the suspects were found leading to a Palestinian village near the town of Halhul, Ynet said.

The tent, which was unmanned at the time, overlooks the site where the bodies of three Israeli teens were found after they had been abducted and murdered by terrorists in June 2014.

No doubt, the people who are most upset for arson attacks on mosques will find this equally abhorrent, right?

Well, as of this writing, Ha'aretz English hasn't even reported this news. Neither has any non-Jewish media outlet outside Israel. (Given that they seem to get all their news from Haaretz, this is almost inevitable.)

One the early morning of September 12, 2005, as soon as Israel abandoned Gaza, the very first targets for Palestinian Arabs were the synagogue buildings left behind. Four of them were burned in one day, possibly the most synagogues destroyed in a single day since Transjordan destroyed some 50 synagogues in Jerusalem in 1948.

Gazans celebrating the burning of the Netzarim synagogue

When Mahmoud Abbas was asked if he condemned the burnings, he said the arsonists were merely “expressing their emotions.” I could not find this quote in liberal mainstream media from 2005.

There is no crime that Palestinian Arabs can do and support that would make the world think any less of them. Because the media and politicians will continue to downplay and excuse crimes of this sort, while they fall over each other to condemn any hint of hate by Jews in Israel.

No one would ever dare say that Jewish arsonists are merely "expressing their emotions."

And not one Palestinian Arab will publicly denounce the deliberate burning of Jewish holy books (which was reported fairly widely in PalArab media.)

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