יום שני, 11 ביולי 2011

Elder of Ziyon Daily Digest

Elder of Ziyon Daily Digest

Today's photos from Open Air Prison Gaza

Posted: 10 Jul 2011 06:35 PM PDT

A Palestinian youth jumps with a horse during an equestrian show in Gaza City on July 8, 2011.

Palestinian girls ride horses during an equestrian show in Gaza City on July 8, 2011.

I hope the two remaining flotilla boats are bringing food. For the horses.

Official PA newspaper again says that the Temples never existed

Posted: 10 Jul 2011 03:12 PM PDT

Once again, the official WAFA "news" agency has stated that there was no Temple in Jerusalem:

The Israeli authorities are working on establishing a Talmudic garden in Tantur Faron, an area south of Al-Aqsa mosque, which is considered an Archaeological area that extends back thousands of years, it said.

It said that in Ein Em Edorg, an area in Silwan, diggings reached a depth of more than 20 meters under the ground, and there are diggings in Al-Ain Mosque, the oldest mosque in Silwan, in the area of Ain Silwan, in addition to the digging of tunnels.

It said the diggings in Wadi al-Rababa, aim to establish more of the Talmudic gardens, change its historical and Archaeological character, and to build additional fake Jewish graves, in an attempt to give it a Talmudic historical character associated with the myth of the alleged temple.
Last year the PA Ministry of Information (a truly Orwellian title) published a paper saying that the Kotel was never a Jewish site. When American outrage caused them to delete the article, it surfaced a couple of weeks later in...WAFA.

It is worth recalling that the Waqf themselves published a pamphlet in 1925 that described "Al Haram al-Sharif" as the place where Solomon built the first Temple, saying this was "beyond dispute."

(h/t Yaacov Lozowick)

Karsh slams Morris as a "chameleon"

Posted: 10 Jul 2011 10:00 AM PDT

Efraim Karsh again takes aim at fellow historian Benny Morris at The American Thinker:

Humility was never one of Morris's trademarks. In a manner that would put Woody Allen's human chameleon to shame, Morris made an art of portraying his ideological acrobatics as moral decisions exacting a heavy personal and professional price. For years, he cast himself as a victim of Israel's political and academic establishments, which allegedly denied him a tenured position at a local university. This patent fabrication -- the respective faculties in Israel's universities have long been dominated by Morris's ideological fellow travelers -- won him international sympathy (and besmirched Israel's reputation for its supposed encroachment on academic freedoms), so much so that then-president Ezer Weizmann personally intervened to arrange Morris a tenured post. Now that he has changed his colors, Morris is supposedly victimized by Islamists and anti-Semites of all hues for his heroic defense of Israel.

As before, this false pretence has had its fair share of takers. Only now it is Israel's supporters who are willfully turning a blind eye to Morris's past antics, and their lingering damage to the Jewish state's international reputation, in the desperate hope of scoring a point in the rearguard action against the country's growing de-legitimization. Yet they shouldn't be holding their breath, for there are clear indications that Israel's human chameleon is laying the groundwork for another dramatic flip flop.

That Morris has been able to engage in this intricate game of doublespeak for so long, without paying any professional or personal price, is a sad testament to the shortness of public memory and the utter ruthlessness of the Arab-Israeli propaganda war. And while one can only speculate about Morris's next somersault, it is clear that this human chameleon will have no problem in finding the "facts" to back up whatever his political convictions demand at that time-and the useful idiots to applaud them.
This may be a tad unfair, as Morris has not changed his view of history unless new documents were uncovered, and his writings on history should be critiqued without reference to his ever-changing political views. But Karsh is right when he says that Zionists should not embrace Morris' political views because his pendulum happened to have swung in their general direction for a couple of years. That pendulum is already on its way back.

Egyptian security keeps Ilan Grapel for another 15 days

Posted: 10 Jul 2011 08:59 AM PDT

From Ha'aretz:
Egyptian authorities have extended the detention of Israeli-American Ilan Grapel, who is being held on allegations of spying for Israel.

Grapel will spend 15 more days in detention.

The Egyptian attorney general's office explained that more time was needed in order to continue its investigation into Grapel's activities.

Grapel was arrested in Cairo in June. He has not been indicted.

According to reports in the Arab media, the U.S. has been in contact with Egypt, seeking Grapel's release and departure from Egypt.

An indictment would transfer the case to the court system and start a lengthy legal process. Therefore, efforts are being made for Grapel to be released before he is indicted.

Grapel's story has fallen from the headlines in Egypt as it has become evident that he is probably not the serious spy that he was described as by the Egyptian press when he was arrested.
That last paragraph is questionable, as Egypt's major daily, Al Ahram, continues to push the lie that Grapel is a spy - without bothering with any infidel Western modifiers like "alleged" or "accused."

Its latest article on him, indeed a headline, says categorically that he is a Mossad spy who was "fanning the conflict of the youth revolution and inciting subversion against the police and the army."

Two ships still trying to reach Gaza

Posted: 10 Jul 2011 08:01 AM PDT

From Reuters:


Notice how Reuters still pushes the lie that the purpose of the ships is to deliver aid to Gaza, and secondarily to "raise awareness of Israel's naval blockade." Um, no. Even the activists admit their goal is to create an unfettered sea route to Gaza that would include weapons for Hamas.

Ha'aretz says that there is one other ship that remains in the flotilla, the Giuliano.

Joseph Dana's dishonesty (updated)

Posted: 10 Jul 2011 07:02 AM PDT

Here is a tweet from anti-Israel activist/self styled "journalist" Joseph Dana, referring to a video of a protest this morning in Nabi Saleh:

Minute 5:00, soldiers physically attack a female Israeli protester. Welcome to the wasteland of democracy
However, if you look a few seconds beforehand, you see a female protester pushing an IDF soldier first.


Then there is an edit.

In fact, there are dozens and dozens of edits in this video, no doubt an attempt to whitewash the violence of the "non-violent" protesters. Many of the edits clearly excise only a few seconds of video at a time, right in the middle of the action. Why?

The answer is simple: The entire video is theatre, a lie to give the impression that IDF soldiers initiate violence against peaceful demonstrators. Of course, Dana swallows the video whole, because its edits conform with his existing vicious biases.

Let's see the unedited version! That's what a real journalist would demand. Dana no doubt knows the videographer - lets see if he ever asks for the raw footage to see what really happened.

UPDATE: Dana insisted that there was no shove, so I looked again full screen at the moment at 4:57 where I thought I saw it. It is possible that she was shaking off her friend. Even so, the video is a textbook example of how editing is used in videos like these - notice that every single example of IDF "aggression" is preceded by an edit so we cannot see what happened immediately prior. In other words, it is still theatre, and Dana has no clue what specific event may have precipitated the "wasteland of democracy" outrage..

Slate: Gaza rocket terrorists are "rock stars"

Posted: 10 Jul 2011 05:26 AM PDT

Slate 's Sharon Weinberger writes a flattering article about Gaza rocket terrorists:

Abu Saif, a rocket maker for the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, is a fan of Google Earth. One recent evening in Gaza City, I sat next to him as he showed me how he used the popular satellite mapping program to target sites within Israel.

"The technology is always improving," he told me. "Our struggle started with the Kalashnikov, and then it moved to the suicide bomb, then the locally made rocket, and now the Grad rocket," he said.

And that's where Google Earth comes in. The satellite mapping tool that was created with help from the CIA's venture capital arm has now become a favored tool for rocket makers, who use it to help aim their artillery. Maps are quickly outdated, and don't provide, as Google Earth imagery does, the precise locations of buildings, roads, and other potential targets.
Like schools, perhaps? No, Weinberger doesn't bother to ask that.
Rocket makers enjoy an air of mystery, and to meet Abu Saif (a nom de guerre, meaning the "father of Saif"), I was instructed to drive down a specific street in central Gaza City, where a young man jumped into the car and guided us to the meeting point.
You can almost feel her excitement at meeting such a mysterious, almost romantic, figure.

It was a rather domesticated setting for a meeting with one of the rocket makers, who over the last several years have become the rock stars of Gaza, or at least its reality stars. In some ways, rocket making has almost become an extreme form of reality television, with the militants understanding that playing to the cameras is as important as, or perhaps more important than, actually launching rockets. Groups like the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades regularly film semiscripted home videos, complete with dramatic editing and cheap sets.

Indeed, Abu Saif was surrounded by a small gaggle of young men who, like members of a celebrity entourage, seemed to have little purpose other than to enhance the importance of their star.

...Indeed, Israel may be improving its defenses, but the militants have been improving their rockets. They have, over the years, become more adept at aiming them, with help from Google Earth. Particularly since the unilateral withdrawal of Israeli settlements from Gaza in 2005, the rocket attacks, to be effective, have had to go longer distances.

Was it harder to target Israeli positions before the advent of Google Earth in 2005? I asked Abu Saif. "No, it was easier," he replied, smiling. "Because the settlements then were inside Gaza."

Yet lately it appears things may have evolved even beyond the unguided Grad. In April, militants launched into Israel what was reported to be a laser-guided missile, which struck a school bus. When asked if the militant groups were indeed on the cusp of employing a new technology, Abu Saif was coy, saying only that when the right time came, they would make an announcement.

"At some point in the future," he said, "the Grad will be a thing of the past."
Weinberger didn't even mention that a child was murdered in the schoolbus attack. She didn't mention that the targets have been purely civilian. She refrains from using the word "terrorism" - which is what these rockets are, in the purest sense. She doesn't even ask whether these "rock stars" are planning to work with the paper unity government or against it. She doesn't ask whether Hamas has been encouraging or discouraging recent rocket attacks.  She doesn't mention - and probably isn't even aware - that many Palestinian Arabs have been killed by these romantically crude rockets that fell short.

Is it coincidental that the day after this report was published, three rockets were shot into Israel,  the biggest attack in months?

No, Weinberger was so happy to play the part of the adventurous journalist that she happily allowed herself to be used by (what appear to be) Islamic Jihad terrorists to further their own agenda - on the pages of Slate - without asking a single hard question, and without admitting that she was being used as a tool of the terrorists.

(h/t Dan)

Attempt to burn down Ma'an office in Gaza

Posted: 10 Jul 2011 02:39 AM PDT

Someone tried to burn down the office of the Ma'an news network in Gaza this morning.

A Molotov cocktail was thrown against the Ma'an office door, burning it, but the fire did not make it inside the office.

Palestinian Arab media condemned the attack, noting that Ma'an is one of the very few media outlets to manage to report both from PA-controlled areas and Gaza, and saying that such an attack makes it look like Palestinian Arabs act against against freedom of expression.

Hamas has a history of doing exactly that, and so far it has not commented on the incident.
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