Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, February 12, 2016

02/12 Links Pt2: 10 Basic Questions for Ban Ki-moon; Healthy Institutions Don’t Boycott Israel

From Ian:

Hillel Neuer: 10 Basic Questions for Ban Ki-moon as He Visits Canada

As UN chief Ban Ki-moon continues his high-profile visit to Canada today with an address at McGill University, my alma mater, I hope students will ask Mr. Ban 10 basic questions concerning U.N. actions over the past year, which new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau failed to ask yesterday:
5: If the UN Charter promises equality, why does the UNGA condemn Israel 20 times a year, with 3 times for the rest of the world combined?
4: Why was an Algerian dipomat who notoriously campaigned to muzzle UN rights experts just now himself elected a UN rights expert?
3: After the deadly Islamist terror attacks in Paris, why did UN expert Alfred de Zayas try to blame France and the West?
2. Why on Feb. 25th is the UN planning to reelect Syria to a leadership post on the Decolonization Committee, which aims to end the “subjugation of peoples”?
1: Why did the UN recently elect Saudi Arabia to behead of a UN Human Rights Council panel that names human rights experts?

10 Questions for UN Chief Ban Ki-moon

Anne Bayefsky: The UN's 'violent extremism' scam: What to say when 'radical Islamic terror' is too scary

There is a dangerous scam gaining traction at the United Nations, backstopped by the White House. It’s called “violent extremism.” Given the U.N.’s long and undistinguished history of being unable to define terrorism, and an American president who chokes on the words “radical Islamic terrorism,” pledges to combat “violent extremism” have become all the rage.
It turns out that the terminological fast one is a lethal diplomatic dance that needs to be deconstructed, and quickly.
In 1999, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) adopted an “anti-terrorism” treaty stating that “armed struggle against foreign occupation, aggression, colonialism and hegemony, aimed at liberation and self-determination…shall not be considered a terrorist crime.”
In practice, that means it is open season on all Israelis, as well as Americans and Europeans who get in the way. Each of the 56 Islamic states, and what the UN labels the “State of Palestine,” is a party to this treaty.
The September 11 terror attacks then launched a growth industry in U.N. counter-terrorism chit-chat and paraphernalia.

White House: Obama Will Sign Trade Bill Begrudgingly, Hates Anti-BDS Part

The White House has announced it is partially unhappy with the new bipartisan bill, Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015. They like the bill in general, they say, as the W.H. Press Secretary put it in a statement: “We are pleased the Senate passed the bipartisan Customs conference report because it will provide additional tools to help crack down on unfair competition by trading partners and foreign companies that put our workers and businesses at a disadvantage.” However, there’s this one portion they really dislike:
“…there are provisions in this bill that we do not support, including a provision that contravenes longstanding US policy towards Israel and the occupied territories, including with regard to Israeli settlement activity.”
Here’s what the new trade bill has to say about that last, unpleasant Jewish settlements part (abbreviated, because it’s Friday and you need to go shopping for Shabbat). But if you’re really in a hurry, the part Obama et al loath the most is hidden way down there, in item (b) (7), which declares that Congress
“supports efforts to prevent investigations or prosecutions by governments or international organizations of United States persons solely on the basis of such persons doing business with Israel, with Israeli entities, or in any territory controlled by Israel.”

Egypt finds another Hamas tunnel (photos)

Hamas isn't giving up.

Egypt has discovered another arms smuggling tunnel to Gaza, including a cache of arms and explosives.

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02/12 Links Pt1: The IAF’s Achilles’ heel; 120 Days of Terror; An Arab Right to Back Terrorism?

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: The IAF’s Achilles’ heel

The administration has rejected Israel’s requests for additional systems it could use to defend against Iran attacks.
This week Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told government ministers that he may wait for the next US president before signing a new military assistance deal with America. Israel’s current military assistance package is set to expire in 2018 and the new package is supposed to include supplemental aid to compensate Israel for President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. But to date, the administration has rejected Israel’s requests for additional systems it could use to defend against Iran attacks.
Last October, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon asked US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter to provide Israel with a new squadron of F-15s that Israel would outfit with its own electronics systems. Carter reportedly rejected that request as well as one for bunker buster bombs.
Carter instead insisted that Israel use the supplemental aid to purchase more F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, US-made missile defense systems, and the Osprey V-22 helicopter, which Ya’alon didn’t want.
The fact that the administration wants Israel to buy more F-35s instead of F-15s is alarming both for what it tells us about America’s commitment to maintaining Israel’s qualitative edge against Iran and for what it tells us about the F-35, which is set to become the IAF’s next generation combat fighter.
Before considering these issues, it is worth pointing out that the US is not the ally it once was.

IPT: Plenty of Palestinian Passes

Activists who genuinely want to see peace between Israelis and Palestinians need to internalize a memorably alliterative warning: plenty of Palestinian passes perpetuate the impasse. The more global opinion ignores or rewards irresponsible behavior by Palestinians, the more likely renewed violence (rather than peace) becomes.
There are enough instances of unfair and counterproductive "Palestinian passes" to fill a tome, but here are some recent examples.
PASSING ON HAMAS BELLICOSITY
Probably the most important pass currently given to the Palestinians is the global silence over news that Hamas is preparing to launch another war against Israel while distressing ordinary Israelis with their ominous tunneling sounds. Such silence by the world's most important media, international bodies, political leaders, NGOs and academics helps keep Hamas in power, and when Hamas eventually launches new hostilities against Israel, many of the same voices that are now silent will blame Israel for the resulting suffering.
Hamas bellicosity is constant, and constantly ignored. Rather than prepare Palestinians for peace, Hamas glorifies death and promotes viciously hateful ideologies. A Hamas TV broadcast announces, "We have no problem with death. We are not like the children of Israel...we yearn for death and Martyrdom...Every mother...must nurse her children on hatred of the sons of Zion."

120 Days of Terror

Incitement to racism and violence by Palestinian leaders is fueling stabbings, shootings, and other attacks against innocent Israelis. Incitement kills. Share this to raise awareness, and report incitement on social media when you see it.

South African health group replaces Israel with "Palestine" on map

Here is a detail from a map in the 2016 edition of the Bulletin of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (not online yet.)

Countries in red are those that have received aid from a South African medical charity.

The countries in white aren't mentioned. But "Palestine"is represented by a red image of Israel within the Green Line, while the west bank of the Jordan is white!

(h/t Gideon)

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From UNRWA's Instagram feed:

[Ibrahim says:] Three years ago, there was very cold night and the power's cut off. My daughter, a university student, lit a candle so she could study. The candle caused a fire. A miracle rescued us and we coped with burned walls until UNRWA completely reconstructed the house. Now our house will be safe. "

Over 8000 Palestine refugee families in the West Bank like Ibrahim have houses that need rehabilitation. #shareyourwarmth

If your house burns down, unless you have insurance, you are out of luck.

But when Palestinian houses burn down, they can call on the United Nations to rebuild those houses. For free.

Ibrahim is not a refugee by any stretch of the imagination.

He owns and lives in a house.
He is living under the government of his people, the Palestinian Authority.
His house is in within the borders of British Mandate Palestine that he is supposedly a "refugee" from.
Obviously, he never fled oppression - his grandfather fled a home a few miles away, perhaps out of fear of fighting or because he didn't want to be under Jewish rule.
Ibrahim probably has a job, and if not there is nothing stopping him from getting one.
The lack of power in his house that resulted in the events that led to the fire had nothing to do with Israel.

But since Ibrahim is a Palestinian, this homeowner - who lives in a state recognized by over 130 nations - can demand the right to having his house rebuilt at the world's expense. UNRWA happily asks for donations to help Ibrahim and people like him.

Thousands of people whose homes burn down every month have no such recourse.

What makes Ibrahim so special?

Because he has Palestinian privilege.

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Dutch want to ban selling dogs to Israel because the IDF uses dogs. Really.

Here's a video I took a few years ago in Hebron of Arab kids playing with and petting an IDF dog.

The reason I'm posting this now is because of this article showing, yet again, Israel Derangement Syndrome - in Holland.

The Netherlands would like to limit the export of Dutch-bred dogs to Israel, where the army uses them in occupied Palestinian territories, but is not allowed to do that under current EU rules.
The Dutch minister for foreign trade, Lilianne Ploumen, told members of the Dutch parliament in a letter on Tuesday (9 February) that she saw no legal possibilities for curbing the export of service dogs.

EU member states can only limit national exports under certain conditions – export bans are usually decided on at the European level.
Ploumen had asked the European Commission's legal service if the export of dogs could be limited under the so-called dual-use regulation, which allows unilateral national bans under some circumstances. The regulation sets out common European rules about goods, software, and technology which can be used for a military as well as a civilian purpose.

But in her letter, she said that the commission considered service dogs as having a civilian purpose, even when they are accompanied by soldiers.

The Dutch wish to have more control over dog exports came after the national newspaper NRC Handelsblad reported in October 2015 that Dutch dogs were being used by the Israeli army on patrols in Palestinian territories, and that they had bitten Palestinian civilians, including minors.

The paper quoted humanitarian lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld, who said Israel “uses the dogs as weapons” and that the exports should stop.

But that is unlikely to happen.

Ploumen said the Netherlands had also raised the issue in a forum with other member states called the Working Party on Conventional Arms Export. But it could not find a majority to support its wish to consider service dogs as potentially having a military use.

The newspaper article that they refer to says, without any documentation, that "Palestinians, including minors, are regularly bitten by Dutch service dogs."

Many of the IDF dogs are Holland Shepherds.

Here is a very partial list of what IDF dogs are trained to do:

Manhunts
Detect border fence breaches
Sniffing for bombs and explosives
Searching for guns and weapons
Find people in collapsed buildings

In fact, IDF dogs have been dispatched to find earthquake victims worldwide. They have saved lives in Gaza by entering booby-trapped buildings before soldiers.

Last year, some soldiers acted unprofessionally by having a dog attack a stone throwing Arab youth and making fun of the kid. As a result, the IDF temporarily suspended all such K9 activities in the West Bank, tightened up the rules of when dogs can be used and severely reprimanded the soldiers.

But that incident was caught on video, and that single event was probably what caused the Dutch to see how to block their dogs from going to Israel. It was certainly the only event mentioned in the newspaper article that caused the furor that claimed that such incidents happen "regularly."

By all accounts, the dogs - trained in the Oketz unit - are professional. They are not used to terrorize random Palestinians. They are used, at most, as a means to break up violent demonstrations. The Dutch have taken the 2015 incident and want to punish Israel, without doing the slightest investigation and not even apparently bothering to ask any Israeli or IDF official about the false and exaggerated reports of the IDF using the dogs against civilians.

When Americans see a video of police brutality, there is understandable outrage but generally the media and politicians will at least pretend to get the other side of the story. But the Dutch government apparently didn't extend Israel that minimal courtesy before attempting to impose its own misinformed idea of ethics on an army that uses dogs to save lives. (In this case, even though the use of the dogs violated the IDF's own rules, the victim was still no innocent child, but an active stone-thrower.)

A sure sign of bias is believing one side of a story and not bothering to check the other - because it just seems true to the biased individual. The idea that the IDF unleashes their dogs, after intense training, to go after Arab kids for fun is nothing less than slander. But the Dutch government believes it without a second thought.

(h/t Dina)

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Amazing video of female Arab Muslim combat soldier in the IDF

This was on Israel's Channel 2. Yoel translated it and I added the subtitles.

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02/11 Links Pt2: Cristiano Ronaldo Stars in Israeli Advert; 1 in 10 Syrians killed or injured in conflict

From Ian:

The shadowy right-wing group infiltrating lefty organizations

They’re a self-styled whistleblower group, frustrated Israel Defense Forces combat veterans who covertly document what they say are abuses in the West Bank witnessed during their service. Reviled in some quarters of the Israeli public, admired in others, they view exposing this information in the media as an effective means of changing the situation on the ground, while their shadowy funding and questionable documentation methods are raised at every opportunity by their critics.
Readers familiar with recent public outrage in Israel could be forgiven for thinking the above description refers to the left-wing Breaking the Silence NGO. But in fact, it likewise describes the right-wing Ad Kan organization (its name means “No more” in Hebrew), whose members, posing as human rights activists, have infiltrated some of Israel’s left-wing organizations and surreptitiously recorded their activities.
They are shtulim — that ominous Hebrew word for “foreign agents” or “moles” that recently entered the Israeli discourse to describe (and denigrate) both foreign government-funded left-wing NGOs and the right-wing activists embedded in those same groups to spy on them. And while these various human rights organizations are miles apart politically from Ad Kan, have wholly different aims, and would likely resent being compared, Ad Kan founder Gilad Ach maintains his strategy was inspired by them.
“We learned this tactic precisely from these organizations,” he said of the idea to film the activists. “An organization like Breaking the Silence, Anarchists Against The Wall, Ta’ayush, like B’Tselem — what do they do? Film the IDF soldiers, collect documentation on these soldiers from within the state, as in, as citizens, and then bring it to the world.
“We’re using precisely the same method,” he said. “The only difference is that their cameras are out in the open, and ours are hidden.”

Anti-Israel hackers release info on over half of all FBI employees

Following through with a threat made last week, a group of hackers released data pertaining to as many as 30,000 federal government employees.
Hacktivists released the information in two waves via a Twitter account by the name of @DotGovs. The data was posted on the encrypted text-sharing website by the name of Cryptobank. The first release took place place shortly after kickoff on Super Bowl Sunday and included a directory of names, job titles, and contact information of 9,355 employees of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The second directory was released on Monday and contained subsequent information on 20,000 employees of the FBI. This is more than half of FBI personnel.
Tweets from the @DotGovs account were filled with pro-Palestine hashtags. One tweet was directed towards the U. S., saying the hackers would not stop “until they cut relations with Israel.”

IsraellyCool: Cristiano Ronaldo Stars in Israeli Advertisement

It’s true. He even announced it proudly himself.
So remember those rumors about him being anti-Israel? I was right to be skeptical.
BDSHoles, you may now seethe.

Last June, after announcing his candidacy, Bernie Sanders asserted that he was proud to be Jewish:

“I’m proud to be Jewish,” the Independent from Vermont – and candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination – responded Thursday at a press breakfast hosted by the [Christian Science] Monitor. Though, he added, “I’m not particularly religious.”

In November, he opened up more about his Jewish upbringing in an interview with JTA.

The only time I can find that Sanders mentioned his religion on the campaign trail was to respond to a Muslim woman who complained about anti-Muslim rhetoric. Sanders answered:

“This is what I think. Let me be very personal here if I might. I’m Jewish. My father’s family died in concentration camps. I will do everything that I can to rid this country of the ugly stain of racism which has existed for far too many years.

In all three cases, Sanders used his religion to gain political points. But how does he really think about his Jewish roots?

His longtime friend Richard Sugarman, a religious Jew, says “It’s not like he’s embarrassed or ashamed of [his faith].” But I'm not so sure.

The impression I get is that Sanders is ashamed of his Jewishness but he has to claim some sort of connection because he knows Americans prefer a president to show a spiritual side.

In his autobiography/polemic written in 1998, he describes his father as having "dropped out of high school in Poland." The only time he even implies he might be Jewish was in saying that he lived in a Jewish neighborhood.

Isn't that a strange thing for a "proud Jew" to not mention in his autobiography? He is not only distancing himself from the religion but also from his ethnic Jewishness.

In his victory speech in New Hampshire, Sanders said something else that was peculiar. He again described his father as a Polish immigrant who spoke little English and never made much money.

Not Jewish.

I am certain that his father would have identified himself as a Jew way before calling himself Polish.

Sanders essentially never spoke about his religion before the presidential campaign. How proud could he really be?

His concept of Judaism is essentially the same as Barack Obama's - it is a word that is devoid of any religious meaning but instead it is a synonym for "progressive" politics, when it must be invoked at all.

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From Israel Hayom:

Security Minister Gilad Erdan plans to establish new division within the Israel police force that will be tasked with promoting law enforcement in Israel's Arab sector and recruiting Arab Israelis to serve in the police force.

Assistant Commissioner Jamal Hakroush is set to head the new division and will become the first Muslim Arab in the history of Israel to rise to the rank of deputy commissioner.

Hakroush currently serves as the Deputy Chief Officer of the Coastal Police District. He was the first Arab-Muslim to receive the rank of assistant commissioner, and also the first to serve as a deputy chief officer.

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02/11 Links Pt1: How Palestinians hurt the Palestinians; ‘Hares Boys’ Palestinian Rock Stars

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Israel's Arabs: A Tale of Betrayal

During the past two decades, some of the Israeli Arab community's elected representatives and leaders have worked harder for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip than for their own Israeli constituents.
These parliamentarians ran in elections on the promise of working to improve the living conditions of Israeli Arabs and achieving full equality in all fields. However, they devote precious time and energy on Palestinians who are not citizens of Israel. They vie for the distinction of being the most vitriolic provocateur against their country.
Such provocations make it more difficult for Arab university graduates to find jobs in both the Israeli private and public sectors.
The big losers are the Arab citizens of Israel, who have once again been reminded that their elected representatives care far more about non-Israeli Palestinians than they care about them.

How Palestinians hurt the Palestinians

Ban Ki-moon in his article asks Israeli authorities “to unequivocally support the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian institutions” and make “significant shifts in policies toward the West Bank and Gaza.” True, he also tells the Palestinians that change will require of them “consistently and firmly denouncing terrorism and taking preventive action to end attacks on Israelis, including an immediate stop to Gaza tunnel construction.” But there is no real denunciation by him of the intense incitement by the PA authorities at the highest level and the Hamas government in support of the violence in the West Bank.
Interestingly, Hamas — its nefarious terrorism and violence and its dedication to Israel’s destruction — is not mentioned by name even once in the Secretary-General’s statements.
It is time the UN and the international community recognize the Palestinians’ key role in their present predicament but also “the weight of a half century” of Israeli people’s frustration and lack of confidence in the Palestinians’ and their representatives’ acceptance of a historic compromise for a two state solution.

The Mottle Wolfe Show PodCast: Palestinian Rock Stars

The so-called ‘Hares Boys’ are the cause of the day among Palestinians and their Western supporters including the government of the UK. After all boys will be boys and what did they do that was so bad? They stoned the car of a Jewish woman driving her three young daughters home, resulting in the death of a toddler. Mottle discusses the latest Gush Etzion terror attack with Josh Hasten, a New Hampshire recap, and a new Hamas hit sweeping the charts.

We've previously reported on Palestinian protests in Lebanon against UNRWA for its new rule that says that Palestinians must pay 5 percent of their bill at hospitals run by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and 15 percent at Lebanese government hospitals.

The protests have continued and escalated over the past month. Yesterday, protesters blocked the entrance to the Beirut UNRWA office so no one could get any UNRWA services.

An Arabic article about the protests yesterday says:

The battle with UNRWA and donor countries continue over the right of comprehensive hospitalization which is the natural right of the Palestinian refugees and it is forbidden to reduce it or barter it away.

In response to the UNRWA decision Palestinians protested the lack of giving Palestinian refugees their right to full and comprehensive hospitalization. National and Islamic Palestinian factions and popular committees closed the main office of UNRWA in Beirut and the parking areas to prevent the entry of staff to the offices to work or the use of their cars except for doctors...

Everyone emphasized that the steps of escalation will grow against UNRWA for unfairness to the Palestinian refugees. Also Palestinian political forces denounced the silence of the international community towards this crisis.

As the fake "refugee" population grows ever larger and international funding gets spread thinner, there will be more and more of these issues coming up. Palestinians don't think about how to become self sufficient, or how to demand their rights under an apartheid Lebanese regime that limits where they can live and what jobs they can have. Instead, they demand free healthcare as a "right" and they demand that the international community helps them by giving them welfare forever.

By a strange twist of logic, the idea of being on charity forever is considered "honor." The reason, which we have mentioned before, is because Western payments to Palestinians isn't considered aid, but a jizya tax - something to which they are entitled.

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