יום שני, 9 במאי 2011

Elder of Ziyon Daily Digest

Elder of Ziyon Daily Digest

Administrivia

Posted: 08 May 2011 08:22 PM PDT

Sharp-eyed readers may have noticed that a few weeks ago, I placed a badge for StandWithUs on the sidebar of my blog, captioning it "EoZ Partner." Here is why.

StandWithUs is, in my opinion, the most effective hasbara organization on the planet. They are innovative, pro-active and creative. They are particularly effective on college campuses, standing up for Israel in the most hostile environments and teaching students what needs to be done to combat the lies.

When I came out with my "Apartheid?" series of posters, StandWithUs liked what they saw and proposed a partnership where I provide them with materials, mostly things I was doing for the blog anyway. The materials they like get co-branded between StandWithUs and EoZ.

I am of course honored to work with SWU.

Tomorrow, for Yom Ha'Atzmaut, I am unveliling a new series of posters. They will have the StandWithUs logo as well as the EoZ web address.

The posters' purpose is to instill pride for those who love Israel and to help make people proud to be called Zionist.

I hope you like them.

CAIR scholarship recipient now whitewashing CAIR for LA Times

Posted: 08 May 2011 03:08 PM PDT

Great reporting from CAMERA:
Two weeks after the 9/11 terror attacks, University of Florida student Raja Abdulrahim published a letter in her campus newspaper, the Independent Florida Alligator, denying that Hamas and Hezbollah are terrorist organizations. The Sept. 26, 2001 letter stated: "I decided to respond to Guy Golan's letter ('Jews must help all Arab people') from Monday's Alligator because he erroneously refers to Hamas and Hizbollah as 'fundamentalist' and 'terror organizations' that have 'murdered innocent Israeli civilians.'"

Her views were in line with those of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which in 2004 awarded her with a $2500 academic scholarship. (See CAIR's 2004 tax returns here, thanks to the Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report.) Also, a July 28, 2003 CAIR document (posted on the the Investigative Project on Terrorism Web site) announces that Raja Abdulrahim was one of several students to receive a one-time $5000 Journalism and Communications Scholarship Award. The announcement noted: "CAIR established the award to encourage Muslim students to pursue careers in journalism that will help bring about fairness and accuracy in the coverage of Muslims and Islam in the media."

...[S]he is now a reporter at the Los Angeles Times where she covers, from time to time, issues concerning terrorism and the American Muslim community. Most recently, on May 3, she reported on Muslim American community officials' reactions to the demise of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden ("Experts hope it's 'a new era' for Muslim Americans").

Given her apologist history for Islamist terror (more examples can be seen here), it's no surprise that Abdulrahim now covers up support for terrorism among certain American Muslim leaders. She casts Muslim American leaders, including her one-time CAIR benefactors, as hapless victims of unfounded bigotry.

Looks like CAIR got its money's worth from that scholarship!

Read the whole thing.

Egyptian Copts forced to form militias for self-defense

Posted: 08 May 2011 02:02 PM PDT

Egyptian security isn't protecting its Coptic Christian minority, so they have to do it themselves.

Members of the Coptic community in the working-class neighborhood of Imbaba in northwest Cairo are forming militias for self-defense after recent sectarian clashes left 12 dead and hundreds injured.

Copts in Imbaba, who expect more clashes in coming months, say they have organized small groups to protect churches as well as homes and businesses owned by Copts.

The clashes broke out Saturday night after a group of Muslims attempted to storm a church under the pretext of rescuing a Muslim woman who converted to Christianity. A second church was set on fire.

A small group of Copts who gathered near the US Embassy in Cairo on Sunday called for international protection of Egypt's Christian community and criticized the government for not doing more to protect them.

Sunday night, thousands of protesters staged a sit-in front of the state TV building calling for immediate investigation into the clashes and church burning.

Tens of Copts gathered inside the church at the center of the clashes while the army blocked nearby streets.

Christian protesters are accusing the army of collaborating with crowds of ultraconservative Islamists during the earlier attack on a church overnight. A residential building home to Christians was also burned in the overnight violence.

Rides of Hope (video)

Posted: 08 May 2011 08:45 AM PDT

I just stumbled onto this video as I was researching a new poster series.

It is inspiring.

Is Nasrallah afraid of being killed like Bin Laden?

Posted: 08 May 2011 07:41 AM PDT

Al Masry al Youm quotes a Kuwaiti newspaper as saying that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has moved away from his Beirut home in fear of a commando-style operation that would kill him the way Bin Laden was killed.

Quoting "high level Lebanese sources," the article says that Nasrallah moved from his home and changed his security personnel in fear of leaks about his whereabouts.

In my experience, Kuwaiti newspapers are not the most reliable in reporting from other areas of the Middle East, but it is worth following this story. A Nasrallah hit could have very positive results, as his charisma is instrumental in holding Hezbollah together.

US to forgive $1 billion in Egyptian debt

Posted: 08 May 2011 06:27 AM PDT

From the Washington Post:

The Obama administration has decided to provide about $1 billion in debt relief for Egypt, a senior official said Saturday, in the boldest U.S. effort yet to shore up a key Middle East ally as it attempts a democratic transition.

The aid would be part of a major economic aid package that also includes trade and investment incentives, officials said. It is intended to help stabilize Egypt after demonstrations forced out longtime President Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11.

While the Obama administration has been preoccupied of late with the war in Libya and protests in Syria, it sees Egypt as even more critical for U.S. interests. Washington has long regarded Egypt as a moderating influence in the Middle East. With one-quarter of the world's Arabs, Egypt could emerge as a democratic model in the region — or, if its revolution fails, a locus of instability or extremism.

Economic assistance for Egypt and Tunisia is "fundamental to our capacity to support their democratic transitions," a senior State Department official said on the condition of anonymity. He said that officials were in the midst of "intense policy formulation" but that the economic package wasn't finished. Parts of it will need congressional approval.

"We are at a crossroads here," said an Egyptian official who has been involved in talks with Washington, and who spoke recently on the condition of anonymity. "If we go wrong, it will be too late [for the United States] to come later and say, 'We'll start helping now.' "

The Egyptian finance and planning ministers visited Washington last month to seek forgiveness of the country's $3.6 billion debt. Egypt pays about $350 million a year to service the debt, which it incurred buying American farm products.

In recent weeks, Egyptian officials have been frustrated by the lengthy U.S. interagency process to consider economic aid, and a cool reaction from a Congress ensnared in a budget-cutting battle. On Saturday, Ambassador Sameh Shoukry said through an aide that Egypt appreciated the U.S. efforts but would not react to news of the debt relief until his government was formally notified.
There is only one problem.

As I exclusively reported last week, in a story that still has not been picked up by mainstream English language media, Egypt has rejected $150 million is aid from the US - because it was tied to democratic reforms.(The Public Record picked up on the story three days later, as did Iran's PressTV.)

If Egypt is rejecting aid meant to help democracy, then why does the US think that its influence on Egypt's future will be helped by forgiving a debt when it has no strings attached?

Egypt will gladly take the money - but it is rejecting any semblance of US influence.

So how exactly will this extra burden to US taxpayers help the US?

Will the PA release Hamas murderers in the name of "unity?"

Posted: 08 May 2011 05:38 AM PDT

Hamas' Palestine Times reports that the Hamas murderers of four Jews last August will have a court hearing tomorrow in Jericho.

Hamas is insisting that they be released under terms of the reconciliation agreement.

Families of the murderers will be protesting outside the court demanding their release.

The four victims were Yitzhak and Tali Ames, Kochava Even Haim and Avishai Schindler. They were killed in an ambush on the road near Hebron.

Abbas trying to convince Hamas to keep Fayyad as PM

Posted: 08 May 2011 02:59 AM PDT

According to reports out of the PA, president Mahmoud Abbas is trying to convince Hamas to allow Salam Fayyad to remain as the prime minister of the "transitional" PA government before elections.

Palestine Today quotes London-based Asharq al-Awsat as saying that even though Fayyad was excluded from consideration in talks between Hamas and Fatah, Abbas is still pushing his PM - to placate the Quartet.

In the words of the article:
Sources pointed out that the reassignment of Fayyad to form a transitional government could reduce the insistence of the Europeans and Americans on the government's commitment to the Quartet's conditions, which provides recognition of the occupation [Israel] and a commitment to signed agreements and to renounce the so-called terrorism.

In other words, Abbas understands that Fayyad is what is giving the PA what legitimacy it has from the US, UN and EU, and also that a government that includes Hamas does not meet the minimal requirements of the Quartet. So keeping Fayyad on until September will give the PA enough political cover to claim to the Quartet that Hamas is really not part of the government despite the much heralded unification agreement that makes it very much part of the decision making process.

Abbas is trying to have his cake and eat it, too. Unfortunately, the West (especially the UN) is so heavily invested in the idea of the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state that he may be right - the Quartet might very well look the other way at the distasteful Hamas involvement until it is too late.
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