יום שבת, 30 באפריל 2011

Elder of Ziyon Daily Digest

Elder of Ziyon Daily Digest

Moroccan journalist arrested

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 11:43 AM PDT

A respected Moroccan journalist named Rachid Nini, who also runs the AlMassae newspaper, has been arrested by Moroccan authorities who were evidently unhappy with how he was exposing corruption.

The charge was "compromising the safety and security of the homeland and citizens."

Ahmadinejad in political trouble? (UPDATED)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 10:49 AM PDT

From Al Arabiya:

Iran's president was missing from a cabinet meeting on Wednesday for the second consecutive time adding to speculation that the rift with the country's supreme leader was widening on Wednesday, agencies reported.

The rift is over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's decision to dismiss Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi last week, a decision that was revoked by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Mr. Moslehi was present on Tuesday at a meeting of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, the body that regulates educational and cultural issues, and which he chairs, Agence-France Press reported.

Mr. Ahmadinejad's absence in that meeting was particularly noted, as he is known for never missing any opportunity to appear in the media and delivery fiery speeches, AFP said.

No reason was given for his absence by the state's media.

Earlier on Saturday, in a speech that aired on state TV, Mr. Khamenei said he would intervene in government's affairs "whenever necessary"—a rebuke to the president for challenging his all-encompassing authority.

The power struggle between the two leaders could be indicative of a serious political crisis in the making—especially ahead of legislative elections scheduled for March 2012. The presidential election will take place in 2013.

Analysts told The Associated Press that Mr. Ahmadinejad is looking to control the intelligence ministry in a bid to influence the next parliament as well as to determine the next president.

However, Mr. Khamenei is also seen as intent on helping shape a new political team, free of Ahmadinejad loyalists, to lead the next government.
It looks like the ayatollah is flexing his muscles to remind Mad Mahmoud exactly what "supreme leader" means.

UPDATE: After I wrote this, AP wrote this up about the topic:
A hard-line cleric warned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Friday to end an escalating power struggle with Iran's supreme leader, calling it a religious obligation to do so and accusing the country's enemies of trying to sow rifts among its leadership.

The split threatens to destabilize Iran at a time of tension with the West over Tehran's disputed nuclear program and appears to center on a battle for influence between the two men over next year's parliamentary election and a presidential election in 2013.

"Obedience to the supreme leader is a religious obligation as well as a legal obligation, without any doubt," said Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami. He did not mention Ahmadinejad by name, but it was clear he was referring to the president.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has the final word on all matters of state in Iran, and hard-liners consider him above the law and answerable only to God.

As David G wrote in the comments, "'Obedience?!' What does he think Ahmadinejad is? A woman?"

A hundred corpses in Daraa. Where's Jimmy Carter? (updated)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 09:46 AM PDT

From Now Lebanon:

Al-Jazeera television on Friday reported that more than 100 corpses were seen on the streets of Daraa.

"In Daraa, more than 100 bodies have been seen on the roads and more than 150 [people] are missing," an eyewitness told the TV station.

"Electricity is still cut and there is lack of water supplies and baby milk," he added.

The eyewitness called on humanitarian organizations to save the people of Daraa.

"People from the villages around Daraa came to support the city but they were shot at by security forces."
Syria has imposed a siege on Daraa, stopping all travel, communication and humanitarian aid.

The last time Jimmy Carter was in Syria, he eerily predicted this crisis by saying "The blockade is one of the most serious human rights violations on Earth."

Oh, sorry, he was talking about another blockade, one that didn't involve any civilians being targeted. He hasn't said a word about what is going on in Syria for the past month.

In fact, the Carter Center website is curiously silent about all the things happening in the Arab world nowadays. Nothing on Bahrain, Syria, or Yemen, and the only recent mention of Egypt was to congratulate them on helping bring a terrorist group into the Palestinian Authority government.

Could it be because the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has given over a million dollars to the Carter Center?

And so has the Saudi BinLadin Group?

And the The Saudi Fund for Development?

And the Government of The United Arab Emirates?

And the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development?

And the Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation?

And the The OPEC Fund for International Development?

And the The Sultanate of Oman?

And His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said also of Oman?

No, perish the thought. No doubt Jimmy Carter is not swayed at all in his important humanitarian work by such considerations.

It is more likely that he would never have said a bad word about Arab repression anyway, and this is the reason that he gets so many Arab donors, rather than the other way around.

UPDATE:

In 2009, Jimmy wrote an article on behalf of his team of old busybodies called "The Elders' view of the Middle East." In it he says

During the past 16 months I have visited the Middle East four times and met with leaders in Israel, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza.

Yet the entire article only talks about "Palestine." Apparently the Elders couldn't imagine that their gracious Arab hosts were anything but wonderful to their own people as well.

Latest Latma (4/29/11)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 08:47 AM PDT

A bedtime story about moral purity.

10,000 Muslim clerics: "Arab uprisings might be a Zionist plot"

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 07:52 AM PDT

From Arab News:
KOTTAKKAL, Kerala: The ulema conference organized by the Samastha Kerala Jam'iyathul Ulema, a body of Islamic scholars, has warned against the possibility of the uprisings in Muslim nations into the hands of Zionists.

"The Zionists and colonialists are doing everything at creating cracks in the unity of Ummah on the ethnic and nationalist lines. The Muslims should be cautious about this trap," a resolution adopted by the three-day conference attended by more than 10,000 scholars said.
It's difficult to find the pattern of Zionist plots, but I think I cracked the code:

Anything going on in the world that you, personally, are uncomfortable with, is a Zionist plot.

Don't thank me, I'm glad to help.

Palestinian Arab leaders disclose their strategy (NewsRealBlog)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 06:42 AM PDT

My latest post at NewsRealBlog:
The entire impetus for the Fatah-Hamas "unity" agreement is the September attempt to get "Palestine" to be internationally recognized at the UN.

And today Fatah freely admits it:

Senior Fatah official Tawfiq Tirawi said Thursday that the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation will promote Palestinian interests ahead of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' planned statehood bid in September, making it "more important than peace with Israel."

"We want this reconciliation to arrive at the UN General Assembly united. Appealing to the United Nations will be done with the support of all Palestinian factions and all the nations that have recognized a Palestinian state until now."

Fatah and Hamas hate each other and have no desire to cede their respective power. They will keep things together just long enough for September and their hoped-for international recognition. This is exactly what they have done in the past.

And here is how the PA is planning to incorporate Hamas while pretending that "Palestine" accepts Israel's right to exist:

T
irawi dismissed concerns voiced over the possibility that a future Palestinian government with Hamas in it will refuse to negotiate with Israel, saying that the Palestinian government will have "no say" in such peace talks, since "the only body allowed to negotiate with Israel on behalf of the Palestinian people is the PLO."
So this is the game:

The PLO is the party that negotiates with Israel, and the party that officially recognizes Israel.

The PA is only responsible for governing the Arabs in the territories, not with any foreign relations.

The PA, despite claims of being democratic, reports to the PLO.

The fake Hamas/Fatah reconciliation is meant to only address the PA, not the PLO. They won't hold any elections until after September, if ever.

So the PLO will claim to still recognize Israel and be peaceful, as it will claim that from its perspective nothing has changed.

The instant that Palestine is declared a state that is recognized by the world, in part because of these assurances that it is a peaceful state that recognizes Israel, Hamas and Fatah (and all the other terrorist parties that decide to join the government) will immediately take over the PLO's foreign affairs, as that is what nations do. The PLO's foreign affairs role will be superseded by "Palestine."

Which means that the very minute that Palestine is recognized as a state, it will be by definition a terror state that no longer recognizes Israel! And indeed it will not need to. The entire peace process since Oslo has been a sham in order to gain territory, with peace being a tactic, not a strategy.

Hamas will insist that "Palestine"'s foreign policy adhere to minimal Hamas demands, which is pretty much to insist that all of Israel is occupied territory–a position that the PA and PLO wholly agree with even if they will not say it in English. Their maps and logos show it to be true.

So instead of helping peace, this "unity" agreement is a recipe for prolonging and accelerating a six-decade war between the Arab world and Israel. A new "Palestine" would not help solve any of the real issues–like Jerusalem, "refugees," water, Gilad Shalit, incitement to terror, actual terrorism. Hamas' inclusion ensures that it will not be a peaceful state.

Will the West wake up in time to stop this recipe for disaster?

Photos of Arabs setting fires outside Joseph's Tomb last Sunday

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 05:51 AM PDT

Wire services actually published pictures of Arabs from Shechem (Nablus) setting fires at Joseph's Tomb last Sunday - a Jewish holy place that they, unbelievably, say is holy for them as well.

Is this how you treat a holy place? 

Getty Images


Reuters

And here they are vandalizing the Tomb:

Reuters 

Palestinian rioters set fire and break facilities in Joseph's Tomb in the West Bank city of Nablus April 24, 2011

Video can be seen here. And here's an article about the world's silence on the murder of a Jewish worshipper.

(h/t Yerushalimey, Vandoren)

Morning links (updated)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 04:40 AM PDT

Hot Air: Syria gloats over US failure at UN

Guardian: Syria funding St. Andrews University causes embarrassment

    --Is anyone embarrassed over this much larger 2008 gift to Edinburgh and Cambridge Universities from Saudi Arabia?

Toameh at Hudson-NY: The New Middle East

J-Wire: The Israel Embassy perspective on Hamas/Fatah reconciliation

Der Spiegel: Security breach at UNESCO exposes thousands of records

Ha'aretz: A previous royal wedding (I had to find an angle to mention this story, didn't I?)
---
The Guardian uses Sri Lanka's secret mass murders to bash...Israel.

(h/t Ian, Silke)

The Gaza "siege" is over. Where are the celebrations?

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 03:38 AM PDT

From Ma'an:
Egypt will permanently open the Rafah border crossing as part of its plans to ease the blockade on Gaza, Foreign Minister Nabil Al-Arabi said in an interview with Al-Jazeera Friday.

Arabi said his country would take "important steps to help ease the blockade on Gaza in the few days to come," according to the Arabic-language satellite channel.

He said Egypt would no longer accept that the Rafah border -- Gaza's only crossing that bypasses Israel -- remain blocked, describing his country's decision to seal it off as "shameful."

Egypt has largely kept Rafah closed, opening it exceptionally for humanitarian cases from the besieged Gaza Strip.
The thing is, Rafah has been open since last June, allowing people and supplies through.

No matter. What's important is that the cruel Israeli blockade has been smashed once and for all, and now all those "humanitarian aid" organizations can easily coordinate with their Egyptian friends to send much needed supplies to Gaza and ease the humanitarian crisis there.

But for some unexplainable reason, this news is not on the Free Gaza website. They are not celebrating, nor can I find any plans to send flotillas to El Arish so the massive amounts of aid they like to bring can come to the Gazans unhindered.

One would think that an organization that says it cares about Gazans would be ecstatic at this news!

Could it be that they really don't care about Gazans, and want to destroy Israel instead?

Nah, that's crazy talk.

Video: How Arabs Repress the Press (HonestReporting Canada)

Posted: 29 Apr 2011 02:28 AM PDT

An important video:


One of the best parts of Michael Totten's book was where he described exactly how Hezbollah tries to intimidate and threaten reporters - and how reporters are reluctant to report this story.

There are two reasons for this, Totten says. One is that the intimidation often works. The other, simpler reason is that editors will not allow journalists to be part of the story. (p. 157)

Even though readers need to know the context of how a journalist obtained his or her information, so we can evaluate how accurate it is likely to be, it is the rare journalist like Totten who actually explains the situation. So we see a very skewed view of the world in closed societies.
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