Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Egyptian sheikh says secularists are even worse than Jews

El Balad reports that Sheikh Mahmoud Murad Amam, a preacher in Damanhour, attacked Egypt's secularists while delivering a sermon Friday.

He described secularists as "more dangerous than the Zionists and Jews."

"They are receiving external funding to destabilize Egypt," he said, adding attacks on the media and journalists, accusing them of lying and slander against him for their reporting on his previous sermons.

(h/t Lachlan)

Arab nations still reneging on pledges to the PA

From Ma'an:

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Sunday criticized Arab states for evading their financial commitments to the PA.

Arab countries have yet to follow through on a pledge in March to provide a financial safety net of $100 million monthly to the PA to mitigate Israeli sanctions, which were imposed in November.

During a visit to Jenin, Fayyad called for an urgent Arab summit to address the PA's financial crisis.

So what else is new?

Dead Sea Scrolls and 15th century Mishnah online

The Dead Sea Scrolls:

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) is very proud to present the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, a free online digitized virtual library of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Hundreds of manuscripts made up of thousands of fragments – discovered from 1947 and until the early 1960’s in the Judean Desert along the western shore of the Dead Sea – are now available to the public online. The high resolution images are extremely detailed and can be accessed through various search options on the site.

With the generous lead support of the Leon Levy Foundation and additional generous support of the Arcadia Fund, the Israel Antiquities Authority and Google joined forces to develop the most advanced imaging and web technologies to bring to the web hundreds of Dead Sea Scrolls images as well as specially developed supporting resources in a user-friendly platform intended for the public, students and scholars alike.

The Mishnah:

The text of the Mishnah describes the first written account of the early Jewish oral tradition and the earliest significant work of Rabbinic Judaism. It dates from the period of the second century BCE at a time when persecution of the Jewish populations gave rise to the fear that the details of the oral traditions dating from the first five centuries BCE might be lost. As a written authority it is second only to the Bible text and can be used as a source of authority for making judgments. The Mishnah is divided into six orders (Shisha Sedarim) and over the next six centuries, along with further commentaries, came to form the Talmud. The major part of the text of the Mishnah is written in Hebrew and reflects the debates which took place in the first and second centuries CE by a group of Rabbinic thinkers known as the Tannaim. It teaches by drawing on examples of specific judgments along with debates by notable Rabbis, and discusses problems from all areas of human existence.

This is one of only three complete manuscripts of the Mishnah, and considered to be 'an outstanding witness of the western type of Mishnaic Hebrew'. Of the manuscript, Schiller-Szinessy (vol. ii p. 9) writes: ‘Although this copy can lay claim neither to a very great age, nor to absolute correctness, we cannot hesitate to pronounce it to be a MS. beyond all price.’ Edited by W. H. Lowe, ‘The Mishnah on which the Palestinian Talmud Rests’ (Cambridge, 1883) – although that title can be considered inaccurate given more recent research on the manuscript.

((h/t Yoel)

Today's fake PCHR "civilian"

Hamas continues to slowly release obituaries of terrorists killed during Pillar of Defense. (HRW used the absence of names on the Al Qassam website as evidence that the dead could not be terrorists!)

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights described a "civilian" death this way:

At approximately 19:50 on Saturday [November 17], an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a gathering of Palestinian civilians in Wadi al-Salqa village, killing Ali Hassan Bin Saeed, 25, and wounding 3 others.

But Hamas released Saeed's obituary today, referring to him as a "mujahid."

Saeed was born in Saudi Arabia, but went to UNRWA schools in central Gaza. He attended Palestine Technical College for management and office automation, and received his bachelors degree in business administration. He joined Hamas in 2005 and the Al Qassam Brigades in 2006. He was involved in working on several weapons smuggling tunnels and participated in Cast Lead as well as Pillar of Defense.

This is one of the people who are being identified in the media as a "civilian" killed by Israel, basing it on PCHR's bogus statistics.

(poster h/t Challah Hu Akbar)

Bibi Netanyahu's Christmas message - and Ha'aretz' hallucinogenic interpretation

Barak Ravid in Ha'aretz writes a truly bizarre article that discerns anti-Muslim bigotry in this brief talk.

“Today Christian communities throughout the Middle East are shrinking and many of them are in danger,” said Netanyahu, according to the announcement published by his bureau in Hebrew and English. “...this is of course not true in Israel. Here there is a strong and growing Christian community that participates fully in the life of our country.”

Netanyahu did not specify in his greeting exactly who is threatening to annihilate the Christians, but it's clear from the wording that he means the Muslims. As he did last year, he emphasized that the Christian community in Israel is large and that it enjoys freedom of religion and freedom to worship, but this year he added a hinted reference to the “Judeo-Christian heritage.”

The reference is to a sensitive term taken from the conceptual world of the rightist-evangelical anti-Muslim wing of the Republican Party.

Dexter Van Zile in The Algemeiner points out that every Christian knows that Muslim extremists are indeed threatening Christians in the Middle East; it hardly needs to be mentioned.

In fact, by not mentioning the Muslim tormentors of Christians, Netanyahu was going out of his way to make his Christmas message upbeat, not the hateful rant Ravid thinks it is.

Moreover, Ravid asserts that Netanyahu "hints" of the the phrase "Judeo-Christian heritage" and implies that this is an unforgivable anti-Muslim phrase.

In reality, the phrase is not as loaded as Ravid believes it is - it has been used way before modern Zionism.

Netanyahu's actual words can hardly be more innocuous - or accurate. He said "We hope that you will recall the places where Judaism and Christianity emerged." Who but a conspiracy theorist can find offense at that sentence?

Just like Netanyahu doesn't use the word "Muslim," he doesn't use the phrase "Judeo-Christian." Ravid is basing his article on what Netanyahu doesn't say and draws fevered conclusions from what he believes are the secret racist beliefs underlying the message with these omissions!

This isn't the work of a journalist or of a editorialist - these are the ravings of a paranoiac who is determined to see hidden meanings in everything uttered by his imagined enemies.

Finally, it is useful to point out that, unlike Netanyahu's positive message for Christians on the holiday, Mahmoud Abbas' Christmas message was literally filled with explicit hateful attacks on Israel and Zionism, referring to the Jewish state's "injustice and tyranny" and Israel's desire to "Judaize the whole earth." He accuses Israel of "eroding the national and religious culture" of Palestinian Christians. He says that Israel is "tormenting" Palestinian Arabs and making their lives a "living hell." Beyond his explicit message of hate, Abbas further implies that Palestine is only sacred to Christians and Muslims, not Jews.

The contrast between Netanyahu and Abbas could not be starker.

Ha'aretz, of course, has nothing bad to say about Abbas' speech. In fact, it never even reported it. That would upset the narrative of the evil, extremist Netanyahu versus the moderate, liberal Abbas. We can't have that.

Abbas has no plans to outlaw "honor killings"

In May 2011, to much fanfare, Mahmoud Abbas announced that he removed leniencies to the Palestinian Arab laws that reduced murder sentences in the case of "honor killings," if a woman is murdered for reasons of "family honor."

I noted at the time that he didn't bother to get rid of the law, but sort of amended it a little with still lots of loopholes.

It was even worse than I interpreted it. Abbas did literally nothing.

President Mahmoud Abbas has no plans to amend laws that reduce sentences for suspects who claim an "honor" defense for murdering women, his legal adviser says.

"Why change it? This would cause serious problems," Hassan al-Ouri told Ma’an, adding that such a reform would "not benefit women."

In May 2011, the president pledged to amend the law to guarantee maximum penalties for "honor killing" in response to protests over the killing of university student Aya Baradiya in Hebron.

The decision was announced in a phone call to a primetime show on state TV, drawing tears among crowds of mourners shown in a live link-up from the Ramallah studio to Baradiya’s hometown.

Abbas suspended Article 340, which offers a pardon for murder if the perpetrator committed the crime on finding his wife in bed with another man.

The reform was cosmetic: Article 340 had never been used in Palestinian courts since it was legislated in 1960.

"So why did we change the law? To garner public opinion," al-Ouri said in an interview in the presidential compound in Ramallah.

"I, personally, was against the amendment because the crimes that happen in the street have no relevance to Article 340," the legal adviser added.

Al-Ouri says the president will not change the go-to clauses for lawyers seeking leniency for clients who claim they committed murder to defend family "honor."

Articles 97 to 100 of the Jordanian Penal Code, in force in the West Bank, still offer reduced sentences for any act of battery or murder committed in a "state of rage."

In 2009, Abbas ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, but al-Ouri, the legal adviser, says it will only be implemented "so long as it doesn’t contravene Islamic code."

"Look, we are for total equality but if there is a basic tenet of Islamic code that we would be forced to change under CEDAW, then people would revolt and brand us as non-believers," al-Ouri said.

It's still open season on Palestinian Arab women, thanks to Mahmoud Abbas, the darling of the the Left!

I'd love to hear what the anti-Israel Code Pink group has to say about this....

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar)

The most appropriate video for "Nittel Nacht" - ever!

For the confused, here is Slate's article about Nittel Nacht. A more "lomdish" article is here.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

Hamas lie of the day

Hamas' spokesman, Abu Obeida, responded to Human Rights Watch's charges that they target civilians by simply denyng it.

While he admitted that the Hamas rockets aren't accurate enough to target precisely, he claimed that all of Hamas' rockets are aimed at military sites.

Now, compare what Hamas says now with its press release on the last day of the fighting last month (excerpts):

The Al Qassam Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the following jihad tasks :
Day: Wednesday Date: 07 Muharram 1434, corresponding to 11/21/2012
Details :
- At 01:55 we bombed occupied "Ashdod" with 5 Grad rockets.
- At 04:30 we bombed occupied "Ashdod" with a makeshift rocket.
- At 09:45 we bombed occupied "Beersheba" with a Grad rocket.
- At 10:15 we bombed "Kiryat Malachi" with 3 Grad rockets.
- At 10:15 we bombed "Sderot" with a Qassam rocket.
- At 11:07 we bombed "Nir Yitzhak" with 3 Katyusha rockets.
- At 11:18 we bombed "Kiryat Malachi" 7 Grad rockets.
- At 11:10 we bombed "Kissufim" with two mortars.
- at 13:50 we bombed occupied "Beersheba " with 4 Grad rockets.
- at 15:20 we bombed troop concentrations in the military location of "Nahal Oz" with two mortar shells caliber.
- at 19:50 the bombing of "Ofakim" with a Grad missile.
....

This brings the number of rockets fired by the Qassam Brigades towards enemy positions since the beginning of the aggression to 1573 rockets.

This comes in the context of responding to the Zionist crimes and massacres committed against civilians and the bombing of houses over the heads of their inhabitants what led to the martyrdom and injury of dozens of innocent citizens

The Qassam Brigades committed itself to turn the life of Zionists into hell, and make them regret their heinous crimes against the innocent and crush their pride and to soak their noses in the dirt.

They also published numerous posters glorifying their ability to make ordinary Israelis run into shelters, which is consistent with their stated goal of - literally - terrorizing ordinary Israelis.

But if they repeat the lie that they only target military sites often enough, the media will start believing it.

Monday links

From Ian:

Hamastine: A Present from the U.N. to Khaled Mashaal by Amin Farouk

"The West, which stands on the sidelines and condones their criminality through inaction, should take into consideration that eventually Israel will be forced to take determined steps against the Palestinian terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, as the Allies did for example, against Dresden. When that happens, the UN would do well not to complain: Israel has the right to defend itself, just as, in the Second World War, the Allies had the right to defend themselves -- as any country has a right to defend itself."

When the Terrorists Become the Standard Bearers

"When Wolf Blitzer was covering Operation Pillar of Defense, he had a guest on the show from Gaza describing the Gaza side of the story. The conversation seemed more like a Saturday Night Live skit. The guest explained how Israel was sending missiles into heavily populated areas, and that the missiles were doing a lot of damage. Wolf then asked with a curious intonation whether the rockets that were being fired from Gaza were guided or were falling haphazardly into Israel. The guest concurred that not only were they unguided, but Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system was abating the impact of the Hamas weapons. To which Wolf asked, “There is no Iron Dome or its equivalent on the Gaza side, right?” The guest said, “No, Israel’s missiles are hitting inside and destroying….” Gaza’s infrastructure."

CIF Watch: CiF Watch prompts Guardian correction to Ashrawi claim regarding ‘Jews only’ homes

"Ashrawi was slyly attempting to con CiF readers into believing that new homes in eastern Jerusalem would be leased to residents based on a discriminatory policy in order to buttress her broader narrative of Israeli racism."

Honest Reporting: Squeezing a Story Out of Bethlehem

"The Guardian regularly trashes or undermines Jewish historical claims to the land of Israel that go back to biblical times. Why is it, however, that the same paper has no problem promoting the claims of Palestinians using biblical imagery to buttress the case if those Palestinians happen to be Christian?"

Video Captures Arab Firebombing of Historic Jewish House in Jerusalem’s Old City

"Arabs in the Silwan neighborhood of Jerusalem’s old city videotaped their firebombing of the Jewish Meyuhas House according to Israel’s Channel 10. The video was posted to YouTube on December 22nd and was apparently shot the night before. The video credits “Bustan
Cultural Center” for capturing the footage."

Israel Targeted Gaza Civilians – with Humanitarian Aid

"Israel “targeted” Gaza civilians with humanitarian aid during the counter-terrorist Pillar of Defense operation, at the same time Gaza terrorists committed war crimes by firing missiles on Israelis, as cited by Human Rights Watch on Monday."

Al Jazeera: Assad Unleashed Chemical Weapons

Assad has dropped bombs containing toxic gases, killing six people and blinding others in Homs, Al Jazeera reported Monday.

Air strike kills dozens of Syrians in bread line

Activists say large crowd was queuing for bread, video shows dozens of dead bodies; special envoy arrives for new talks.

Christianity 'close to extinction' in Middle East

Christianity faces being wiped out of the “biblical heartlands” in the Middle East because of mounting persecution of worshippers, according to a new report.
"The study warns that Christians suffer greater hostility across the world than any other religious group.
And it claims politicians have been “blind” to the extent of violence faced by Christians in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
The most common threat to Christians abroad is militant Islam, it says, claiming that oppression in Muslim countries is often ignored because of a fear that criticism will be seen as “racism”.

Here's the beginning of the book this article refers to:

November Free Chapter - Christianophobia by Robert Shortt

Christians in Israel Well-Off, Statistics Show
Christians in Israel are prosperous and well-educated - but some fear that Muslim intimidation will cause a mass escape to the West

"The Central Bureau of Statistics on Sunday released statistics on the 158,000-strong Christian community in Israel. The statistics showed that Christians living in Israel are well-educated and prosperous – but there were fears that Muslim intimidation in cities in northern Israel, where many of them live, are causing large numbers to consider emigrating to the West."

After 1,500 years, frankincense returns to the Holy Land in time for Christmas

"Seven years after I revealed her success in sprouting a 2,000 year-old date palm seed found on Masada, botanist Dr Elaine Solowey of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies has done it again.
1,500 years after the last frankincense tree disappeared from the Holy Land, Dr Solowey has managed to grow the first shoots of a tree whose scented white sap was once worth more than gold."

Israel water tech start-up all WET after contest

"TACount, which developed an innovative technology to detect bacteria in water and food, was declared ‘ready to export’ at the Water Export Technology Revolution Competition
Last week was a big one for water in Israel, as seven companies competed in the final round of the prestigious W.E.T. (Water Export Technology) Revolution Competition."

ISRAEL21c’s top 10 stories of 2012
2012 was a year of innovation and progress. To celebrate the New Year, ISRAEL21c looks back at the top stories of the year.

"If you read the world’s newspapers, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the only things happening in Israel this year were security related: the looming threat of a conflict with Iran, missiles from Gaza and unrest on Israel’s borders. The pages of ISRAEL21c, however, tell a completely different story."

Israel distances itself from NRA

From the New York Daily News:

When it comes to Israel and school shootings, Wayne LaPierre doesn’t know what he’s talking about, Israeli security experts said Sunday.

Such shootings are very rare in Israel and have been associated with terror attacks, not crazed gunmen, they said.

Appearing on “Meet the Press” on Sunday, NRA honcho LaPierre said: “Israel had a whole lot of school shootings, until they did one thing. They said we’re going to stop it and they put armed security in every school and they have not had a problem since then.”

But Yigal Palmor, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said the situation in Israel was “fundamentally different” from that in the United States.

“We didn’t have a series of school shootings, and they had nothing to do with the issue at hand in the United States. We had to deal with terrorism,” said Palmor.

“What removed the danger was not the armed guards but an overall anti-terror policy and anti-terror operations which brought street terrorism down to nearly zero over a number of years,” he said. “It would be better not to drag Israel into what is an internal American discussion,” he added.

“There is no comparison between maniacs with psychological problems opening fire at random to kill innocent people and trained terrorists trying to murder Israeli children,” said Reuven Berko, a retired Israeli Army colonel and senior police officer.

In recent years, restrictions on gun ownership in Israel have been tightened, not relaxed.

“Israeli citizens are not allowed to carry guns unless they are serving in the army or working in security-related jobs that require them to use a weapon,” said Berko.

The worst attack on an Israeli school was in 1974, when terrorists from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine took 115 people hostage in a school in Maalot in northern Israel. Twenty-five people were killed as Israeli commandos stormed the building, 22 of them children.

“The attempt to compare the two tragedies is absurd,” said Prof. Gerald Steinberg of Bar-Ilan University. “Palestinian terror attacks like one one at Maalot — the goal of which was to use the children as hostages in order to free other terrorists — are totally different from crimes committed by deranged people with guns.”

Despite having a standing army of more than 100,000 and police and security guards carrying guns on the street, Israel has strict firearms licensing and supervision.
Licenses must be renewed regularly and cannot be issued to people with a history of mental problems or a criminal background.

“In a country where hundreds of thousands of people carry firearms, it is essential to manage the training, licensing and authorization of those who wish to be armed,” said Yakov Amit, head of the firearms licensing department of the Public Security Ministry.

Muslims upset over prayers at Kotel HaKatan

I have occasionally written about the Kotel haKatan, the small area of the Western Wall that is rarely visited even though it is actually closer to the holiest area of the Temple Mount than the more famous Kotel is.

Yesterday afternoon there was a Jewish prayer service there for the occasion of the fast of the 10th of Tevet.

A Muslim took a video of these "Talmudic rituals" being performed and now there are articles are in today's Islamist media complaining about how this literally otherwise empty area is a holy Muslim spot called "the strap of the Kurds." Even the supposedly liberal Ma'an in Arabic complained about the "Talmudic rituals" being performed there.

For fun, I did a Google search on the "Strap of the Kurds" in Arabic. There are thousands of results, but every single one I could find was in articles about how Jews are trying to pray there.

Like the larger Kotel and so many other Muslim "holy sites," their importance is directly proportionate to how much other religions are interested in them.

Waqf destroying more priceless artifacts on Temple Mount

From Times of Israel:

The Muslim authority managing the Temple Mount on Sunday dumped tons of unexamined earth and stones excavated from the holy site into a municipal dump, in violation of a High Court injunction, Maariv reported on Monday.

Israel’s top court in September 2004 prohibited removal of earth from the Temple Mount and ruled that, should it be necessary, the Antiquities Authority must be notified a month in advance so it may examine the earth for artifacts.

Jews regard the Temple Mount as their holiest site, where the First and Second Temple were located. Muslims call it the Noble Sanctuary and regard it as their third holiest site after Mecca and Medina. According to the existing arrangement, the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, or trust, administers the Temple Mount complex.

Despite the High Court of Justice’s ruling, the Waqf has reportedly removed large piles of dirt from the Temple Mount in recent years and dumped them in the valley east of the Old City walls, provoking an outcry from biblical archaeologists and Jewish groups.

Tzachi Dvira, the archaeologist managing the team that sifts through soil excavated from the Temple Mount, told Maariv that mounds of earth containing historic relics were carted off and dumped on Sunday without notification and before archaeologists could investigate them.

Police claimed the removal of the soil was coordinated in advance. Dvira, however, said there were no Antiquities Authority officials on site, and the one police officer monitoring the operation had no idea of its significance.

Heavy earth moving equipment on the Temple Mount

Soil from the Temple Mount that had been removed to the Kidron Valley in recent years has yielded “tens of thousands of finds, including signet rings from the First Temple era, painted floor tiles from the Second Temple era, ancient gold coins, and horseshoe nails and arrowheads belonging to the Knights Templar, who stabled their horses in Solomon’s Stables,” Dvira said.

This video of the material actually being dumped shows what are undoubtedly carved stones.

The Israeli government is clearly giving the Waqf a wide berth to destroy any vestiges of Jewish history on the Temple Mount, apparently to avoid trouble. This is dangerously shortsighted.

The most valuable artifacts in the world are being wantonly destroyed by racists and Israel, which is supposed to guard Jewish heritage, is looking the other way.

I know - we can ask UNESCO to intervene! That's their job, right? They wouldn't stand by while priceless cultural and religious artifacts are being destroyed, would they?

(h/t Yoel and Yisrael Medad)

Gaza: 101 terrorists, 68 civilians killed

The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center has released their findings of people killed in Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza (Hebrew only). They found that, as usual, far more terrorists were killed than had been reported via the Gaza Health Ministry and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.

Among their findings:

The best estimate they can make is that 178 people were killed during the fighting and afterwards from injuries. They identified 169 of them.

Of the 169, 101 of them were known "activists" and 68 were civilians.

They list every terrorist and their affiliation.

They also find that that the Gaza Health Ministry inflated the numbers of those killed, including some who died a natural death in Gaza at the time.

Of the 101 identified terrorists, 71 were Hamas, 17 Islamic Jihad, 6 from the PRC, 3 from Fatah, 2 from the Army of Islam, one from the PFLP, and one from a Salafi group.

25 of the terrorists killed moonlighted at other jobs. Five were journalists, two were clerics.

The ITIC charges that Hamas and Islamic Jihad deliberately do not release the names of all of their members killed, in order to improve morale and to make it appear that more civilians were killed.

The report includes photos of 73 of the terrorists killed.

The report concludes that it is clear that Israel did not target civilians. Indeed, the ratio of terrorists to civilians killed is unprecedented in military operations in an urban environment.

By the way, Hamas is still slowly releasing the obituaries of those killed; here's one from today. Remember, HRW used the absence of names being listed on the official Hamas site as evidence that they were not members of Hamas, not realizing that Hamas leaks out the information over months.

HRW condemns Hamas for rocket attacks but is still clueless

HRW came out with an article condemning Hamas, and other Gaza groups, for rocket attacks against Israeli civilians. The short piece (not a full report) seems perfunctory, as if HRW must add a little "balance" to the many anti-Israel reports it writes.

Some parts are somewhat noteworthy.

While the report says that intentional rocket attacks against civilians are war crimes, and that there is evidence that Hamas and other groups did exactly that, HRW does not explicitly charge Hamas with war crimes.

HRW, taking a page out of the Goldstone playbook, tries to distinguish between Hamas and the "armed groups" that deliberately shot rockets at civilians. It says:

Hamas, the ruling authority in Gaza, is obligated to uphold the laws of war and should appropriately punish those responsible for serious violations, Human Rights Watch said.

Given that Hamas itself is churning out models of the rockets that they aimed directly at Tel Aviv civilians, this idea that Hamas should "punish" the violators is simply a denial of the reality that Hamas is a terror organization.

Some rockets launched by Palestinian armed groups fell short and struck inside Gaza. On November 16, a rocket that appears to have been launched from within Gaza hit a crowded street in the Gazan town of Jabalya, killing a man, 23, and a boy, 4, and wounding five people.

We knew about this. HRW does not seem to have done any serious research into how many other Gazans may have been killed by errant rockets aimed at Israel.

Human Rights Watch interviewed four witnesses to rocket launches from densely populated areas inside Gaza, and heard second-hand reports about many more. Unlike during previous fighting, armed groups seem to have fired many rockets from underground tunnels, opening a hatch to launch the munition.

One rocket was launched on November 20 at around 1:30 p.m. just off Wehda Street in Gaza City, about 100 meters from the Shawa and Housari Building, where various Palestinian and international media have offices. “I saw it [the rocket] go up and heard it, and then smoke was in the office,” a witness said.

One man said he saw a rocket launched from the yard of a house near the Deira Hotel in central Gaza City, though he could not recall the date.

International and Palestinian journalists traveling around Gaza during the fighting told Human Rights Watch that they did not see any Palestinian militants moving in the open, suggesting that Hamas has developed a network of tunnels for personnel and perhaps rockets.

HRW doesn't even entertain the idea that the militants were walking around in civilian clothing, violating another law of war! Given that we saw that during Cast Lead, this omission shows that this report is not a serious attempt to uncover war crimes but window dressing for the next dozen anti-Israel reports. As was the case in Cast Lead.

Of course, HRW cannot resist comparing Israel's actions that were provably aimed only at military targets and those of terror groups whose entire purpose is to target civilians:

The November 14 to 21 hostilities between Israel and Hamas and armed groups in Gaza involved unlawful attacks on civilians by both sides.

HRW repeats that Israel killed 103 civilians, using suspect statistics from PCHR which we have already shown are not accurate.

HRW seems to have parachuted into Gaza, interviewed a couple of people to verify their preconceived viewpoints (on both sides,) and written up their reports according to their Cast Lead templates. Which means we can expect another few anti-Israel reports from HRW now that they got their obligatory "we condemn rockets too" article written.

Hamas rally in Lebanon draws thousands

Thousands of people, including Lebanese politicians, attended a 25th anniversary celebration of Hamas' founding in a Beirut sports arena on Sunday night.

Progress MP Abdul Majid Saleh represented House speaker Nabih Berri and MP Jamal Jarrah represented former Prime Minister Saad Hariri on the podium. Original songs were composed for the occasion.

Ali Baraka, Hamas' representative in Lebanon, stressed that Hamas provided "25 years of giving and sacrifice for Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa, 25 years for the freedom of prisoners, 25 years for Palestine, all of Palestine." He added, "Resistance is the shortest route for the Liberation of Palestine, and we are united in the face of the occupation, and the right of return is a sacred right."

Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, speaking over the phone from Gaza, said that the choice of violent resistance is the strategic choice for Hamas and through it lies victory; it could bring about a "return," and the liberation of prisoners. He said that the "right of return" is a sacred right, and "every Palestinian must return to his village and his town in Gaza and the West Bank, to Jaffa, Acre, Safed and everywhere."

Haniyeh called for more Palestinian Arab rights in Lebanon, including the right to own land. He stressed that he was not demanding Lebanese citizenship for hundreds of thousands who were born and raised in Lebanon, instead asserting that they were "guests" would one day "return" to "Palestine."

Haniyeh also cannily said that Hamas would send funds to displaced Palestinians from Syria who fled to Lebanon, a hugely symbolic political move at the same time that Fatah is struggling to pay its debts.

"Today you celebrate in Lebanon; tomorrow you will celebrate in Jerusalem, God willing," he concluded.

So far, no English-language media has covered this.

Here are photos:

Gaza rocket towards Israel falls short

From JPost:

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket Sunday evening, causing no damages or injuries.

The IDF would confirm only that the rocket did not make landfall in Israel.

There still have been no rockets of mortars that landed in Israel in December, but that streak seems to be in jeopardy.

(h/t Daled Amos)

Open thread

It's been one of those days. So here's an open thread for you guys to post interesting links. Don't let Ian have all the fun. :)

I also want to thank those who generously responded to my request for donations last week. You rock!

Sunday links

From Ian:

How Algeria lost its Jews
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the exodus of the Jews of Algeria. The exhibition at the Jewish Museum in Paris has been attracting wide interest into this neglected aspect of French, Jewish and Algerian history.

"The issue has been neglected by France because the 130,000 Jews were subsumed into the great mass of pieds noirs – the 800, 000 French settlers who fled Algeria. It’s been neglected because the loss of Algeria, the jewel in the crown of France’s colonial empire, was a humiliation which French society was glad not to be reminded of. It’s been neglected by the Jews because they too saw themselves as Frenchmen. It’s been neglected by Israel because, unusual among the 850,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries, 90 percent of Algerian Jews went to France and not Israel. It’s been neglected by independent Algeria because it has chosen to erase all traces of Jewish presence, culture or history."

Buried Christian Empire Casts New Light on Early Islam
Archeologists are studying the ruins of a buried Christian empire in the highlands of Yemen. The sites have sparked a number of questions about the early history of Islam. Was there once a church in Mecca?

"After the triumph of Islam in the 7th century, the church was torn down and stripped of its treasures, and a mosque was built on the site. As Barbara Finster, an archeologist from the Bavarian city of Bamberg, discovered, some of the columns in the mosque came from the wrecked church, while some of the church's magnificent mosaics were sent to Mecca, essentially as booty."

UN Watch Dissident Egyptian Blogger Launches Peace Mission to Israel

"GENEVA, Dec. 23 – As reported today by the New York Times, Maikel Nabil, one of Egypt’s most famous human rights dissidents and democracy bloggers — a former political prisoner who is also his country’s most outspoken supporter of peace with Israel — has arrived in Jerusalem on a peace-building mission, where he will deliver university lectures, meet with leading public figures and peace activists, and visit the Palestinian territories."

PMW: "No one has removed the rifle from the equation" - Fatah official Jibril Rajoub

Fatah Central Committee member, Jibril Rajoub: "This is a popular struggle. We still believe in all forms of the struggle. No one has removed the rifle from the equation. However, for us, the struggle is a means, and the end is freedom and independence."

Israel to join NATO ops despite Turkey tension
Approval to join 2013 NATO activities follows granting of Turkish request for deployment of Patriot missiles along Syrian border.

PM in TV interview blitz: Kotel isn’t occupied
Netanyahu rejects charges that approval of building plans is related to election campaign.

“I said to them, would you accept it if you could not build in your capitals?” Netanyahu recalled. “My fundamental position is that we live in a Jewish nation; Jerusalem became that nation’s capital over 3,000 years ago. We will build in Jerusalem because it’s our right,” he said.
Had the Jewish people bowed to international pressure, the State of Israel would not have been created, the Six Day War would not have been fought, the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak would not have been bombed and Petah Tikva and Kfar Saba would never have been built, Netanyahu told Channel 1."

'Hamas preparing for West Bank takeover'

The Sunday Times' claims Hamas instructed its sleeper cells in West Bank to prepare for armed struggle to overtake the territory.
"The Sunday Times claimed that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had been warned by Israeli intelligence services of Hamas's possible usurpation of power, and quoted what it described as a close Netanyahu associate as saying: “Bibi [Netanyahu] understands the geopolitical changes in the Middle East. No way would [he] give up an inch of the West Bank - he is convinced that the intelligence assessment about a Muslim Brotherhood [Hamas] takeover is solid.”
The Sunday Times also alleged that relations between Hamas and Iran were on the upswing after a brief cooling off period; relations were strained when Sunni Hamas abandoned its support of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Shi’ite Iran's primary ally in the region.

CAIR Leader Mimics Hamas in Calling for Israel’s Destruction
On November 15, McGoldrick tweeted, “Palestine is a land occupied by foreign settlers. They [Hamas] have the right to resist, to defend themselves, ‘by any means necessary.’”

"The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, brokered by Egypt, took place on November 21. However, that did not stop McGoldrick from tweeting and posting to his Facebook page one week later, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” When McGoldrick said that “Palestine” was “land occupied by foreign settlers,” he wasn’t referring to Gaza and the West Bank; he was referring to all of Israel."

Rebels threaten to storm two Syrian Christian towns
Insurgents claim government troops are using the towns as a base; commander orders locals to ‘evict Assad’s gangs’ or face attack

"Abdul-Fidaa accused regime forces of taking positions in the two towns in order to “incite sectarian strife” between Christians and the predominantly Sunni opposition. Assad belongs to the Alawite minority sect, an off-shoot of Shiite Islam.
The threat comes just two days after a UN team investigating human rights abuses in Syria accused anti-Assad militants of hiding among the civilian population, triggering strikes by government artillery and the air force."

Turkish Police Raid Dorms, Arrest Marxist Student Protesters

Turkish police raided university dorms and arrested 12 students last week following protests against PM Erdogan at a university event.
Erdogan came with massive security at the Middle East Technical University on Dec. 18 to attend a ceremony to mark the launch of Turkey's Gokturk-2 satellite. The prime minister arrived with 105 security vehicles, 20 armored cars, one “intervention tank” and 2,500 police officers, according to the report.

Yoram Kanuik novel to become US television series
New Regency to turn popular Israeli book into a weekly half-hour satirical black comedy.

New Regency is the latest US production company to take a cue from Israeli culture. The firm recently announced its intentions to turn popular Israeli writer Yoram Kanuik’s 1994 bestseller, Magic on Lake Kinneret, into a weekly half-hour satirical black comedy in the United States.

Israeli birth control product wins Gates grant

Not yet out of the lab, Hervana’s non-hormonal, long-acting and non-invasive solution could be a game-changer for women in developing countries.
The Israeli company behind a new contraceptive won a $1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop and test its formulation for a safer, long-acting, non-invasive contraceptive solution, and also won second place in a startup competition at the Israel Life Sciences Biomed Conference in Tel Aviv last May.

After first-round success, Microsoft accelerator lines up its new start-ups

Thirteen of Israel’s best start-ups are enrolled in what the software giant believes is the country’s – maybe the world’s – best program to help them succeed
The Azure accelerator was considered a big success in Microsoft, so much so that the Israeli model is being utilized in India and China, and is likely to be exported to other countries as well, said Weisfeld. “We’ve got a great physical plant for them and a fantastic mentoring program, with over 100 top professionals who work with the start-ups regularly. And the accelerator staff is here to help them all hours of the day or night.”
It’s a program that is appropriate for a “start-up nation,” he added — and one that will help keep Israel that way.

How Arabs teach Jewish history in the West

Here is an English language history resource, meant for Muslim children, from Albalagh.

There is an article on persecution of Jews which starts off OK:

Jews have been persecuted throughout history. From the times of the Pharaohs of Egypt to the totalitarian regime of Hitler in Germany, Jews have been mercilessly tortured and discriminated against. Their cities have been burned to the ground by various armies, their unlucky new-born sons doomed for execution at the hands of the Pharaoh, and their worship severely restricted. Their temples have been razed to the ground numerous times, and they have been expelled many times from Jerusalem. They have been mercilessly chased out of their homes during the Spanish Inquisition. All in all, the persecution of Jews was mainly spurred by religious and nationalistic sentiments, and slowly zigzagged its way in terms of severity until it reached the peak in the Holocaust, after which it gradually stopped and resulted in the sponsored establishment of Israel.

Later the lies start to creep in:

In a society where the white Christian was supposed to be supreme, nobody cared to question any of the ongoing persecutions. However, the situation was different in the Muslim world, where they prohibited the persecution of any culture – let alone the Jews.

As I have documented many times, while Jews had generally better lives under Muslim rule than under Christian rule, they were still persecuted and scapegoated.

But finally we see the hate being taught to Muslim children in English-language schools:

The outcome of all this was the creation of Israel. A sorry Europe shipped its Jewish inhabitants off to a foreign land, and hoped that would make up for all of the previous vices they had committed. They gave the Jews a free hand – and also very generous support – to set up a state that would call for the ethnic cleansing of the people living there. That state, under the watchful eyes of its benefactors, uprooted centuries-old towns and villages, rudely disrupted the prevailing atmosphere of peace and tolerance, and instead brought misery and suffering to the bewildered, yet helpless inhabitants. It upset the harmonious equilibrium that had been in place for more than a few centuries, and began a new genocide against the Palestinians.

Today, it is considered extremely evil to even speak against – let alone persecute - Jews and anything associated with them. Denying the Holocaust can land a person in jail. Speaking against Israel will be brandished as being anti-Jewish. Protesting against the ongoing occupation in Palestine will result in furious demands of an immediate retraction. People who are desperately devoted to regaining their own precious homeland from the barbarity of the foreign Israeli occupiers are labeled as terrorists. In effect, Jews are now an untouchable force. (There is an immense double-standard here, as many Jews routinely bash other races – especially their own neighbors. An example is the famous quote of a famous rabbi: “A million Arabs are not worth one Jewish fingernail.”) Although adherents of many religions have also been subject to equally horrendous persecution, none have been bemoaned as loudly as the Jews have. Millions of Muslims and Christians and others have been killed throughout history solely on the basis of their religion, yet there is a profound silence concerning them...The question still lingers: why is the persecution of Jews more publicized than any other form of hate? Why is being anti-Jewish considered more evil than being anti-anything-else? The answer – no doubt, a very complex issue – is deeply tangled in the fact that exaggerating Jewish sufferings is actually a crucial means of garnering more support for the Zionist state of Israel.

(h/t Greg)

Today's anti-semitism on Iranian PressTV

This comes from PressTV columnist Ismail Salami, who is very, very careful to always replace the J-word with the Z-word, even when it doesn't make sense:

Evidently spearheaded by the Zionists, Spain’s satellite provider Hispasat has ordered Overon to take Press TV and Hispan TV off the air. No wonder, the illegal move created extreme joy in the Zionist organizations such as the American Jewish Committee (AJC).

Without even Michel de Rosen being the Zionist CEO of Eutelsat, the European media is so pathetically caught up in the claws of the Zionists that they would readily give in to their demands especially when they are directly aimed at dispelling the political sway of the Islamic Republic.

...The Zionists keep depicting themselves in the light of a nation so viciously persecuted in the course of history at the hands of the Europeans, an excuse which they use as a way of emotional blackmail. This, the Europeans sadly buy and seek to make up for the ‘holocaust’, an inflated issue, a political ace in the hole for the Zionists.

...The Zionist lobby is so powerful in Europe that they prefer to cave to their wanton demands, ignore the very basis principles upon which the European Convention of Human Rights is built, and avoid withering criticism or political isolation from Washington.

...Depriving the international community from these channels is stripping the people across the globe of the choice to hear. It is not ‘kosher’ and amounts to an act of intellectual abacination.

Gunfight in Cairo as arms dealer tries to smuggle weapons to Hamas

Egypt's Youm7 reports that an hour-long gunfight erupted in the Sheikh Zayed neighborhood of Cairo yesterday between an arms dealer and police.

The dealer was taking advantage of the voting for the constitutional referendum to try to smuggle a large quantity of ammunition, explosives and cash to Gaza.

According to police, the suspect, "Mohammed T." has set up a dummy company to smuggle weapons to his contact from Hamas in Gaza. The source of the arms is Libya and they were stored in Egypt en route to Gaza.

Egyptians upset that constitution gives Jews rights

The third article of Egypt's draft constitution, which appears to be on its way to overwhelming approval in this weekend's referendum, says:

The canon principles of Egyptian Christians and Jews are the main source of legislation for their personal status laws, religious affairs, and the selection of their spiritual leaders.  

On Thursday night, one of the members of the draft committee, Dr. Ahmed Darraj, held a rally against the word "Jews" in that paragraph.

He said that this mention would give Jews the right to visiting the tomb of Rabbi Abuhatzira in the village of Damanhur and exercise their "orgies" of dancing there.

Moreover, Darraj says, the paragraph was a "calamity," pointing out that there are only 87 Jews left in Egypt while the U.S. Constitution does not have any specific mention of Jews, although America has more than 6 million Jews. If the constitution would be approved, Darraj charged, it means recognizing the legitimacy of their presence within the country to practice their rituals and allowing them to claim that the Jews built the pyramids, possibly to claim ownership down the line.

He compared this constitution to the Balfour Declaration.

Darraj therefore urged Egyptians to reject the constitution - because it gives rights to Jews.

Saturday night links

From Ian:

Barry Rubin: American Journalists Decry Israel's Ability to Defend Itself as Blocking Peace
Following the logic of the Washington Post we should hope that lots of Israelis are killed by terrorists as a way to pressure those obdurate Israelis to make peace.

The Post article basically follows the same Palestinian political line that has prevailed since the 1960s: forget about a negotiated compromise, Israel must be defeated; Israelis made to suffer. The main goal is to get Israelis to give up altogether and abandon having a state; the shorter-term goal is to get Israelis to accept a Palestinian state unconditionally so it can get on with the task of finishing that job.

Human Rights Watch: War Crimes for Dummies

"Incidentally, the NATO campaign also included a strike on the headquarters of Radio
Television of Serbia (RTS), killing sixteen people and leaving many trapped for days in the damaged building. In this case, HRW was content to assert that this was an “inappropriate” target because “[the] risks involved to the civilian population in undertaking this urban attack grossly outweigh any perceived military benefit.”

NYT Excuses for Carnage: 'Rejection and Discrimination' in France Sent Islamic Killer of Jewish Children Over Edge

“New York Times Paris correspondent Scott Sayare reported from a predominantly Muslim slum in Toulouse, France on Thursday, following up on the massacre earlier this year by Mohammad Merah, a resident of the projects, of three soldiers, a rabbi, and three Jewish children. Sayare suggested that societal "forces of rejection and discrimination" against young Muslims wre at least partially to blame for the rampage, and sought out "understanding" for the massacre among Merah's former neighbors in "Neighborhood Is Torn Over a Killer’s Legacy."

Jewish Pundits Dominate Worst Columns List

"Friedman gets three demerits. David Brooks and Mitch Albom get two. Richard Cohen gets three. There’s Dennis Prager and some Phil Mushnick for good measure. Somehow…and perhaps it’s because bloggers don’t count as columnists, Glenn Greenwald only gets one.

Israel: Palestinians power-drunk
Foreign Ministry warns PA's pledge to take far-reaching steps against Israel if Right wins elections is 'delusional and suicidal'; Jerusalem gears for possible ICC backlash

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is seeking to incite a confrontation with Israel no matter what," the Foreign Ministry said Friday, following the Palestinian leader's announcement that Ramallah will actively try to isolate Israel in the international arena.

Soldier Attacked With Pepper Spray, Has Weapon Stolen in Kidnapping Attempt at IDF Base

This event made everyone very nervous,” a soldier serving on the base told Ynet. “We’re all very aware of the fact that this could have ended with an abduction or murder. No one understands how this could have happened.
According to a statement issued by the IDF, “a soldier was assaulted overnight by two Palestinians adjacent to A-Ram and then fled the scene with his weapon. They threatened him with a fake gun and used tear gas against him. The circumstances of the incident are being investigated."

CAIR Leader Teams with Radical, Jew-Hating Imam

Nihad Awad, co-founder and executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), shared a stage with Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader, during a news conference in Qatar earlier this week.

Canada Adds Iranian Quds Force to Terror List
Canada adds Iran's Quds Force to a list of terrorist groups, says the elite special operations unit arms the Taliban, Hamas and others.

He accused it of providing "arms, funding and paramilitary training to extremist groups, including the Taliban, Lebanese Hizbullah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.

Dozens injured in Egypt clashes as police fire tear gas at Morsi supporters and opponents

Police fired tear gas as scores of opponents of the constitution and thousands of Islamists hurled rocks across a security cordon separating them near a mosque in Alexandria that was the focus for violence last week.
"God is great," Islamists chanted when the clash began.

J’lem, Cairo hold quiet talks over new Gaza policy
Policy could lead to further easing of restrictions in Strip, prevent quick rearming of Hamas, help develop ties with Egypt.

Stand With Us: StandWithUs Achievements in 2012

Implementing the Balfour Declaration
T.E. Lawrence on British-Jewish- Arab cooperation

You won’t find this truth in the lengthy biography of Thomas Edward Lawrence, the legendary “Lawrence of Arabia” in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Don’t expect to hear about this on the BBC. The world remembers Lawrence as a guide, friend and champion of Arabs, but hardly knows that he believed in Zionism as a force to restore Palestine to its ancient glory, brought about by active British-Jewish-Arab cooperation.
T.E. Lawrence, an English officer, an Arab hero, an archeologist, orientalist and author who, precisely because he was such a devoted champion of the Arab cause, supported the Jewish settlement in Palestine.

US travel advisory says Israel, West Bank have gotten safer
State Department lowers alert, citing Tel Aviv and Haifa as particularly secure; government personnel still not permitted to use buses

New York orthodontist restores Jewish history, one grave at a time
Michael Lozman’s cemetery-rehabilitation project educates college students and helps to reclaim Eastern Europe’s Jewish past

In addition to his 11 completed restorations, Lozman works to commemorate victims of notorious Holocaust-era massacres, since many sites remain unmarked. With his focus on Belarus and Lithuania, Lozman works in what Yale historian Timothy Snyder recently labeled “the Bloodlands” of Europe — those Nazi-occupied countries where most of the slaughter took place.

Also:
Europe, face reality in Jerusalem by Nadav Shragai

Now, Miss Ashton, it is your turn. It's about time that you and your colleagues face reality. The Jerusalem you are talking about today is much different than that of 45 years ago, which seems to still be stuck in your heads. This city, part of the Jewish genome, is not up for debate, first and foremost because of the continuous Jewish connection to it throughout the ages and our rights of primogeniture over the city (which has never been an Arab political or cultural capital).

The truth about Christians in Bethlehem (video)

The PA Media Centre uploaded a propaganda video called "From Palestine on Christmas." While it is wordless, it tries to give the impression that Christianity is thriving under PA rule and that the only problems they are having is because of the separation barrier.

So I subtitled it, with actual facts.

Run of the mill anti-semitism in Saudi Arabia media

From columnist Anisa Al-Sharif Makki in Saudi government daily Al-Yawm, translated by MEMRI:

Since 1897, [the Zionists] have been planning to build a global Kingdom of Zion. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion [spell out] a very evil conspiracy against humanity. [It was concocted] in response to the oppression suffered by the Jews in 19th century Europe, which motivated them to find ways to avenge themselves upon all of mankind, for they believed that everyone had some part in their humiliation. Protocol 24 [describes how] they decided to use dirty and furtive means to occupy not only the land of Palestine, but the entire world. The world knew, and did nothing.

[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion] are the modern source that the Zionists use today, and from which they derive their ideology and their satanic plans. The worst of these devils met, in singles and in groups, in order to collaborate and compete with one another in concocting the most criminal plan to invade the world and destroy it. In Protocol [24], they boast that the best results in taking over the world are achieved by means of terrorism and violence – not by means of academic [discussions] – and that political freedom is not a truth but [only] an idea that [they] must know how to exploit when necessary, in order to entice the masses.

This is a criminal plan to overturn the global order and threaten its very existence by spreading anarchy and conflict and by undermining every foundation of religion and nationality and of [the entire] creation. This, in addition to sparking crises and global wars – not only the ones taking place today but [also those that have taken place] over the generations, [while] the world stood by. After securing their control on the ground, the sons of Zion implemented their satanic plan for world domination by taking an iron grip on global banking and media, and admitting: 'We Jews are the rulers, corruptors and hangmen of the world'...

[They believe that] they alone are God's chosen, while all others are inanimate objects they own and may use as they please. When the Jews win a battle, they are obligated to destroy their enemies to the very last one – as we saw today in Gaza [during Operation Pillar of Defense] – a war of extermination that the world witnessed with indifference. Any kind act that a Jew does for a non-Jew is [considered] a great mistake, while any evil act that a Jew does to a non-Jew is [considered] a sacrifice to God...

Then, after saying how hugely powerful the Jews are, we learn:

They are cowards, afraid of a stone in the hand of a child, though they themselves have destructive weapons. They fight the helpless and shake with fear in the face of Hamas's missiles, [which set off] panicked sirens in Tel Aviv. What would have happened had Hamas possessed [even] a tenth of the arsenal they possess?

The jihad in Palestinian is ongoing, and the resistance will continue until [the land] is liberated... [Whatever happens,] victory is near...

The Jews have taken over the world, caused every war, control the media and the money, brainwash billions of people - but they are nothing compared to Hamas!

There is only one explanation for this contradiction. The author is actually a Zionist operative who is trying to lure the Arabs into fighting the Jews so they can be destroyed once and for all. Since Jews own the media, no one will say a word against us.

And Saudi newspapers are part of the media!

Jewish War Heroes comic book #2

Last week I found this WWII comic book series; I'm uploading the three published issues on three successive weeks.

Jewish War Heroes 2

Friday links

From Ian:

LATMA: Debating war criminals

Converging toward Hamas

All the years, all the dollars, all the military training and assistance, all the political acceptance -- including an "embassy" in Washington and diplomatic status -- could not buy the United States one iota of political clout where it counted. It is an enormous American failure of understanding to think those things would trump the natural morphing of Palestinian leadership toward the convergence of politics, religion and "national origin" against the "foreign." The enemy of my enemy is not my friend…. Rather than face their lack of insight, the default position of the US Administration and the Europeans is to blame Israel.

Muslims Angry Over Spanish Citizenship for Jews

The Spanish government has announced that it will grant automatic citizenship to Jews of Sephardic descent, whose ancestors were expelled from Spain in 1492.
The measure has been welcomed by Jewish groups, who say the move is long overdue and that it rights a historic wrong.
But Muslim groups are now clamoring for reciprocity, and are demanding that the Spanish government grant instant citizenship to millions of descendants of Muslims who were also expelled from Spain during the Middle Ages.

Poll: PA Can't Be Trusted to Keep a Deal
A new poll shows that the vast majority of Israelis are opposed to an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria, and do not trust the PA.

A new poll by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs shows that the vast majority of Israelis are opposed to an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria. The poll, taken in November, showed that 76% of all Israelis (83% of Israeli Jews) do not believe that a withdrawal to the 1948 armistice lines will bring Israelis a secure peace.

Israeli ambassador urges UN to disarm ‘powder keg’ Hezbollah

Syrian chemical weapons could fall into the hands of Lebanese group, Ron Prosor warns
"Prosor also attacked the Lebanese group for concealing weapons in populated areas.
“Not only does Hezbollah continue to accumulate missiles and weapons, but it also uses civilians as human shields,” he said. “It’s no coincidence that the explosion in the storehouse took place only 300 meters from a school.”

Hold Iran accountable for incitement to genocide, Irwin Cotler urges
Canadian MP and former justice minister also calls on Sweden to sign the Ottawa Protocol to Combat Anti-Semitism

"Canadian MP and former justice minister Irwin Cotler on Wednesday called on the international community to hold Iran accountable for state-sanctioned incitement to genocide and violations of human rights."

New computer virus hitting Iran could be more potent than it looks
‘Batchwiper’ seems to be a simple Trojan, says Israeli expert, but so was the malware that apparently prefaced Stuxnet

Spanish Satellite Provider Bans Iranian Channel That Blamed Newtown Shootings on Israel

This is an important development in the worldwide effort to contain the defiant regime in Tehran, one we have been watching carefully for months and discussing with our friends in Spain,” American Jewish Committee (AJC) Executive Director David Harris said in a statement Dec. 20.

German official says Jews should go to Uganda

Tenenbom calls for dismissal of Holocaust memorial director who allegedly told him Jews should have set up state in Uganda.
"In an email to the Post on Tuesday, Dr. Clemens Heni, a leading German academic expert on contemporary anti-Semitism in the Federal Republic, wrote, "It is a scandal that the head of the Buchenwald concentration camp memorial and a recipient of the Heinz-Galinski award supports the Uganda Bar" in Jerusalem. This bar believes the idea is better that Jews should settle in Uganda than in the State of Israel. Knigge embodies the view of many Germans who mourn dead Jews but attack living Jews." Tenenbom was equally critical of Gaede, describing him as being "no better" than Knigge.
Daniel Gaede, an educator at the Buchenwald memorial camp, also came under fire from Tenenbom for his participation in anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian activities
"This man [Gaede] spends his free time demonstrating against Israel and in support of Gaza¹s Palestinians," wrote Tenenbom."

Iranian suspects claim innocence in alleged Bangkok anti-Israel terror conspiracy
Saied Moradi, who lost his legs in an attempt to throw a bomb at police, claims he was just trying to take cover

BANGKOK (AP) — Two Iranians arrested after a botched bomb plot that allegedly targeted Israeli diplomats say they’re innocent and were stunned to discover explosives stashed in a cabinet in their rented Bangkok home, a lawyer said Friday.

Stop extreme-right assembly, Jewish Italian lawmaker urges
Emanuele Fiano calls on country’s interior minister to block gathering of new anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant political party in Rome

Alba Dorata Italia, or Golden Dawn Italy, was formed in Trieste in November and has scheduled its constituent assembly for December 21 in Rome. The party uses the same ancient Greek logo as the Greek Golden Dawn, which has been compared to a swastika, and its platform also reflects anti-immigration and extreme nationalist positions.

Malaysia Lifts Restrictions on Christian Pilgrimage to Jerusalem
Malaysia has removed quotas and other restrictions on Christians making their pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

According to the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM), however, the government imposed a quota of 700 pilgrims per year, with any one church only allowed to send one group of 40.
Visits were also limited to 10 days and pilgrims were only allowed one visit every three years, CFM executive secretary Tan Kong Beng told AFP Wednesday.

Canadian Man Stops Shaking for First Time in 10 Years After Israeli Manufactured Treatment

According to the Post: “Sunnybrook doctors hope the MRI-guided ultrasound technique could eventually be applied to a host of other problems, from brain tumors to Parkinson’s, avoiding the risk of infection and other complications of traditional surgery. The technology might even help diseases like Alzheimer’s better respond to medication by opening up the blood-brain barrier that prevents most drugs from being absorbed into the organ.

A Secret Jew in Jordan

In the Peace Corps, I hid my Jewish identity. But that didn’t prevent me from experiencing anti-Semitism.
I pushed the door open slowly, and my eyes drifted to the blackboard, which several students had peppered with small white swastikas. I scanned the silent room for perpetrators. Everyone was grinning. I wiped the board clean, shrugged off what appeared to be a prank, and began teaching the lesson as if nothing happened. But when I went home that day, I called our Jordanian security officer and asked for guidance. He told me that to many people in Jordan, Hitler is considered a hero. I said it was wrongheaded history but avoided telling him that the swastikas had bothered me so much because I was Jewish.

Members of a ‘lost tribe’ emigrate to Israel
Some 50 Jews from the Bnei Menashe community in India depart for the Promised Land

CHURACHANDPUR, India (AP) — A group of 50 Jews said to descend from one of the 10 Lost Tribes prepared Thursday to emigrate to Israel from their village in northeastern India.

Saudi columnist calls for Egypt to annex Gaza

From MEMRI:

In an article published in the official Saudi daily Al-Sharq, columnist Ibrahim Aal Majari called to annex Gaza to Egypt, as it was between 1948 and 1967 before being captured by Israel.

First, we congratulate the residents of Gaza for their victory, and we thank them for their persistent [stand] against this oppressive, criminal enemy [Israel]. This victory has pleased all Arabs and Muslims. Second, after the changes that occurred in the region, and especially in Egypt, and after the victory in the [Gaza] Strip, the conditions have ripened to present the idea of annexing Gaza to Egypt.

This idea is the best way to end the Israeli attacks on Gaza, and it should be realized, because [this situation has already existed] in the past. As you know, Gaza was under Egyptian control from 1948 until 1967, when Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and Sinai. For years following the [1967] war, Egypt demanded the liberation of its occupied territories – Sinai and the [Gaza] Strip – until President Sadat relinquished Gaza in the Camp David Accords and saddled its residents and the Palestinian people with the responsibility of negotiating for the liberation and autonomy [of Gaza].

Sadat's [decision to] relinquish an area that had been under Egyptian control for decades was a wanton act, [and it was perpetrated] by him and his associates alone, since most of the Egyptian people was displeased by this agreement that separated Gaza from Egypt. [Sadat] negotiated the [agreement] alone and signed it without presenting it to the Egyptian parliament or seeking his people's position [on it].

Annexing Gaza to Egypt will not contradict the peace agreements or the Arab initiative. On the contrary – it is an effective solution for Gaza residents, [because it will place them] under Egypt's patronage and protection. Furthermore, it is the best [solution] for Egypt, [because it will] relieve the ongoing tensions and conflict between Gaza and Israel – a conflict that negatively affects [Egypt's] national security and economy, and which causes [Egypt] embarrassment vis-à-vis the outside world, which insists that [Egypt's] borders with Gaza be supervised.

Annexing Gaza to Egypt will not meet with objections from Israel, the U.S., or even the U.N., because it is up to Gaza and its residents to decide their own fate. Moreover, Israelis want this annexation more than anyone, since it would rid them of the threat of armed groups, ensure Egypt's sovereignty over the [Gaza] Strip, and end the attacks on [Israel from Gaza].

There is also the geographic matter: How can the [West] Bank unite with Gaza despite the geographic separation? How can two entities separated by Israel comprise one homeland? [Does anyone really believe that] Israel will open passages for Palestinians between Gaza and the [West] Bank running through its territory, or that it will implement Defense Minister Ehud Barak's plan to dig a 57 kilometer tunnel for Palestinians to pass through? Can we envision a land swap in which the Palestinian Authority relinquishes territory in the [West] Bank in return for Israel giving the Palestinians land that connects the [West] Bank to the [Gaza] Strip? This is an unrealistic suggestion, because Israel would refuse to split in two. Therefore, the dream of establishing one homeland out of two entities that are geographically separated by more than 60 kilometers is a pipe dream and a mirage.

...
Egypt cannot focus on economic reforms and development, and cannot rid itself of this chronic headache, caused by repeated problems [relating to] Gaza, unless it annexes it. Instead of calling to open the Rafah border crossing, we must call to open all Egyptian crossings, schools, universities, hospitals, and markets to Gaza residents. Instead of remaining in the Gaza prison at the mercy of the opening [or closing] of the crossings, let them pass freely to the land of liberty and justice, the land of revolution and honor.

Does he advocate that Gazans become Egyptian citizens as well? That would be really novel - to have a columnist call to eliminate all discrimination against Palestinians in the Arab world.

A full month since the last rocket or mortar from Gaza

On the first day of Operation Pillar of Defense, the IDF announced:

"The first aim of this operation is to bring back quiet to southern Israel, and the second target is to strike at terror organizations."

It has now been a full month since the last rocket or mortar has been shot from Gaza.

If this continues, as Challah Hu Akbar has researched, December will be the first calendar month since at least 2004 that has not seen a single rocket or mortar from Gaza. (I don't know if there had been any 30 day periods of calm within that time period, but there certainly have been none for at least six years.)

For all of Hamas' bragging about their victory, it appears that Israel achieved its stated major goal for the operation.