יום רביעי, 3 באוגוסט 2011

Elder of Ziyon Daily Digest

Elder of Ziyon Daily Digest

Foreskin Man gets creamed by Capt. Israel

Posted: 02 Aug 2011 03:35 PM PDT

Remember the anti-semitic comic Foreskin Man?

It looks like he got soundly defeated - appropriately enough, by Capt. Israel:


He looks a little...limp.

Artist page here.

(h/t Israellycool, more here.)

Syrian news is hilarious

Posted: 02 Aug 2011 01:10 PM PDT

I have heard stories about how Pravda used to be when the Soviet Union was around, but never got to see it first hand. However, thanks to the Syrian SANA news agency, we can all get a flavor of what Pravda was like in the old days.

Here's the news:

An official military source on Tuesday said the armed terrorists groups in the provinces of Hama and Deir Ezzor continue terrorizing citizens through spreading false rumors with the aim of distorting the image of the Syrian Arab Army and soiling its reputation in order to sow sedition among the Army and the citizens.

The source called upon the citizens of the two provinces not to listen to the rumors circulated by the terrorist groups.
The rumor they are referring to is almost certainly reports that soldiers have defected to the rebels.

The Syrian TV on Monday evening broadcast videos of masked armed terrorist groups walking the streets of Hama City, setting up roadblocks dominating the City's main squares and targeting the army, the law-enforcement members and the citizens with guns, firearms, cold steel weapons and pump-action rifles.

These armed groups are well-equipped with advanced weapons, machineguns, pump-action shotguns and RBGs.
Here's their proof of how well-armed the "armed groups" are:

An obligatory quote from an outside expert:
Former Lebanese President Emile Lahoud on Tuesday underlined that Syria is facing a conspiracy that targets its national and pan-Arab stances to serve the Zionist and U.S. interests.

In a statement issued by Lahoud press office, the Lebanese President said "no sane person can be confused with what is going on in Syria …it is obvious that Syria is facing from attacks launched by armed groups."

He added that what is going on in Syria is part of the U.S. and Israeli plots which attempt to undermine Syria's role and its resistant stances against the Israeli expansionist, racial and colonist schemes.
The Palestinian Arabs in Syria are feeling the heat:
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) on Tuesday denied completely what some biased mass media sources – including al-Jazeera and some Syrian opposition figures – claimed about participating in confronting protests in some Syrian cities.

In a press statement, an official source at the PFLP said that these allegations are part of a campaign of instigation that aims at distorting the nature of the relation between Syria and its allies in the resistance, noting that those who made these allegations made similar claims regarding other sides.

The source said that these accusations constitute political and media deception to twist reality and distract from the nature of the foreign conspiracy that targets Syria and its unity and national and pan-Arab role.
This is one of those stories about Syrian Palestinians that are making Syria nervous.

The regime is also trying to gain some eleventh hour support from Islamists:
Syrian religious TV channel Nour e-Cham started experimental broadcast on Saturday evening on Nilesat: frequency /10911/ and on Arabsat: frequency /12054/.

The Channel is to broadcast Friday sermons and various religious programs in a way to provide a right understanding of Islam and the Islamic rules.

And where is Bashir Assad?

President Bashar al-Assad on Monday visited a number of wounded army and armed forces personnel at Tishreen Military Hospital who were injured in the line of duty.

President al-Assad checked in on the personnel, listened to their stories about how they were inured, and inquired supervising doctors about the injured men's health conditions, wishing them a speedy recovery.

Wasim Mohammad Jabal said President al-Assad's visit was a balsam for their injuries, saying "we are determined to return to our army units and defend our lands and people."

Abdul-Kafi Hamada, who was hit by a bullet in the neck that led to a quadriplegia, had no ability to shake hands, apologizing through a smile, but he said that President's al-Assad's visit has raised his morale, particularly after President al-Assad had assured him that he will recover and return to his normal life.
He's a miracle worker!

Links!

Posted: 02 Aug 2011 12:10 PM PDT

Claire Berlinski asks - who is running Turkey's military?

Guess who David Duke blames for the Norway massacre!

Krazy Ken O'Keefe is really good at ticking off his fellow moonbats. What a shame.

Israel Matzav looks at one of the "homeless" protest leaders in Tel Aviv. She's ...rich.

A new hasbara initiative (that I've already seen the anti-Israel leftists tweet furiously about.)

What are the Palestinian Arabs planning to do after September? And are they going to ask for compensation while they are at it, as the PLO has said they would?

Yisrael Medad puts forth his radical plan: maintain the status quo.

The US Supreme Court will hear a case where an American citizen born in Jerusalem wants to have "Israel" listed in his passport as "Place of Birth."  You can read the legal brief here. (He was born on the Israeli side of the Green Line.)

NGOs published baseless and false accusations against Israel during the Lebanon war five years ago, a new study finds.

Is it time for Israel to end Oslo?

Some revisionist history noticed by Evelyn Gordon.

Nah, you don't have to worry about Islamic extremists.

(h/t Silke, LW, Yoel, Serious Black, jzaik)

How to solve the PA's budget problems

Posted: 02 Aug 2011 11:05 AM PDT

From Ha'aretz on Sunday:
The Palestinian Authority will pay its employees' salaries in full in August but still faces a financial crisis which forced it to pay only half wages in July, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said on Sunday.

Earlier on Sunday, the head of the public sector workers' union had raised the prospect of a strike in protest at the wage cuts. The union was due to meet on Monday to take a decision on possible industrial action.

Fayyad, who is also finance minister, said he expected full salaries to be paid on Tuesday.

"In view of the continued financial difficulties, payment of the salaries in full will greatly limit the ability of the PA to meet other needs during the coming month," he said in a statement, without going into details.

Fayyad has blamed a fall in aid from Arab states for largely causing the financial crisis. The PA continued to seek the foreign aid needed to overcome the problem, he said on Sunday.

The PA relies on help from foreign states to pay the salaries of about 150,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and monthly allowances to another 75,000 people.
It looks like Fayyad's move averted the strike, as there is no mention of the strike in the Arabic media today.

But Fayyad can save much of the budget earmarked for wages and "allowances" without penalizing a single worker.

The PA still pays its employees in Gaza - people who are not working at all ever since Hamas took over Gaza. But even after supposed "unity" these workers are still doing nothing. Either put them to work or take them off the payroll.

Gaza altogether gets some 60% of the PA budget, and a lot of that must be these non-working employees.

Similarly, the 75,000 people who get "allowances" are the prisoners who get salaries and the families of "martyrs" who get paid. These people should not be getting a dime, let alone prioritized salaries!

Add it up and it looks like Fayyad can cut his payroll budget in half without any reduction in services. (What are the idle Gaza employees going to do - strike?)

And, of course, it will never happen.

Djinn news wrapup

Posted: 02 Aug 2011 10:10 AM PDT

From Emirates 24/7:

A Saudi man is believed to have been gripped by jinn (ghosts) during a picnic with his friends in a valley which is reputed to be haunted. But he was later treated in an exorcist-style session by the Gulf Kingdom's religious police.

The unnamed man and seven friends from the western town of Makkah were vacationing in the nearby Taif city when they decided to descend into Wadi Al-Amak (the deep abyss) despite warnings by local people.

After a short evening trip in the valley, the colour of the man's began to change and his behavior became aggressive before he lost balance and fell down.

When his friends tried to talk to him, he shouted and pushed them away while his eyes were fixed at an area deep in the valley.

"Friends then overpowered him and washed his face with cold water…it was clear the man was haunted by a jinn," Sabq Arabic language daily said.

"They then decided to carry him back to town…they were told that the valley is haunted and that there were two similar cases in the past."

The paper said the man was taken to the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the most influential Islamic law-enforcement authority in the conservative Moslem Gulf nation.

"The Commission brought experts in such cases and subjected the man to a session of Koran recitation and incense burning until the jinn was forced to get out of the man through his hand…once the session was over, the man began to restore his strength…after a while he fully recovered and started to ask his friends why he was brought to that place."
And earlier this month:
An Egyptian man suffered from severe burn injuries after a blast jolted his apartment and shook the entire building in Kuwait City. Police and civil defence units rushing to the site neither found a trace of fire nor could they explain the explosion while a newspaper wondered if it was an act of jinn (ghosts).

Ibrahim Al Dasouki, 61, was ablaze as he stumbled out of the building and collapsed just near the entrance after Saturday's explosion that was heard and felt by all inhabitants of the building and other residents of the area. He was rushed to the intensive care unit and doctors believe he has little chance to survive.

Police and civil defence experts examined the apartment of Dasouki, an education ministry adviser, but found no traces of fire.

"They also could not find an explanation for the explosion that rocked the flat and shook the whole building….there was no gas leak and no power failure…yet the glass in Dasouki's flat on the fifth floor was shattered all over, his front door was smashed and flung towards the other apartment and part of the balcony fell off on trees surrounding the building," Alwatan Arabic language daily said.

(h/t jzaik)

IDF pays $150K to family of Gaza Cast Lead victims

Posted: 02 Aug 2011 09:10 AM PDT

From PCHR:

The Legal Aid Unit of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) was able to ensure reparation for the family of Raya Salama Abdul Karim Abu Hajjaj, 64, and Majeda Abdul Karim Abu Hajjaj, 37, from Juhor al-Dik area, southeast of Gaza City, who were killed by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) during "Operation Cast Lead" (27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009). PCHR was able to conclude a settlement with representatives of the Israeli military prosecution, under which an amount of 500,000 NIS (approximately US$ 147,000) would be paid to victims' family in return for closing the claim. Procedures to hand this amount to the family are currently ongoing.

On 04 January 2009, during IOF's ground operation in various areas in the Gaza Strip, IOF seized control over the northern entrance of Juhor al-Dik village, southeast of Gaza City, and fired a number of shells at Palestinian civilians and property. IOF then ordered residents of the area to leave it. Soon, many civilians, mostly women and children, got out of their houses raising white flags. When they got as close as to 100 meters from the Abu Hajaj family's house, Israeli soldiers positioned in the area opened fire at them. As a result, Raya Abu Hajaj, and her daughter, Majeda Abu Hajjaj, were killed. IOF denied access of medical crews to the area. When a ceasefire was declared on 18 January 2009, medical crews were able to evacuate the bodies from the victims from beneath the debris.

On 19 February 2009, the Abu Hajjaj family referred to PCHR and granted it a power of attorney to take necessary legal action concerning his death. PCHR submitted complaints to the compensation officer of the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the Israeli military prosecution of the southern command, in which it demanded opening an investigation into the attack and holding the perpetrators accountable.

To ensure reparation for the family, on 14 July 2010, PCHR filed a compensation claim before the Magistrate Court of Haifa demanding compensation for the family for the death of the two women by IOF. PCHR supported its claim by evidences confirming IOF's responsibility for the two women's death. Consequently, the Israeli prosecution sought to close the claim through a settlement, under which an amount of 500,000 NIS would be paid to al-Sawarka's family in return for closing the claim. The court approved this settlement.

This is a judicial precedent, as it is the first time that PCHR is able to ensure compensation for victims of "Operation Cast Lead" in the Gaza Strip. PCHR is following up hundreds of claims on behalf of victims of the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, known as "Operation Cast Lead."
I wonder what would happen in victims of rocket attacks would sue Hamas in a Gaza court? Maybe PCHR can represent them and fight for a fair trial.

Ramadan photo quiz

Posted: 02 Aug 2011 08:20 AM PDT

One of these photos was taken in the impoverished, prison like concentration camp knows as Gaza, the other in the Arab Spring-infused, newly free Egypt.

Can you tell which is which?



Actually, the Gaza photo was taken last year, when things were even worse!

Syria updates (Zvi)

Posted: 02 Aug 2011 07:30 AM PDT

From Zvi:

  • 24 more people (unverified) were killed in Syria on Monday (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights). 150 more were arrested. 6 more were killed early on Tuesday. Reuters, quoting a source in Erbin: "People marched after the nightly Ramadan prayers. Security cars and pick-up trucks with machineguns mounted on their beds entered Erbin around midnight and assembled at the main roundabout before branching out in the streets and firing at neighbourhoods."
  • Guardian column that includes a photo of Friday's (big) anti-regime protest in Hama: 

  • Italy has withdrawn its ambassador to Syria.
  • The UK has ruled out using force against the Syrian regime. Because, you know, it's very important to take out the nut-case dictator of oil-rich Libya, but the Baathist regime in Syria plays a very important role as the switchboard and logistics hub for terror and instability in the Levant and the junior partner of pre-nuclear Iran; G-d forbid that THIS regime should be removed.
  • Turkey is becoming increasingly frustrated with Syria. The Turkish FM said that nobody can remain silent when "more than 100 people were killed in one day." The Turkish president said that he was "horrified" by the footage that he had seen.
  • The UN Security Council still can't even bring itself to condemn the Syrian government for the ongoing slaughter of well over 1500 people. Russia, China, India, South Africa and Brazil are protecting the dictator, and thereby supporting the deliberate slaughter of noncombatant protesters.
  • Russia is in a hard place, torn between protecting its long-time client regime and customer on the one hand, and the knowledge that many people in the region are becoming increasingly upset by the carnage on the other.
  • EU's Catherine Ashton is a moron if she really thinks that the Syrian regime cares that others want it to "protect the population". Otherwise she's just a puff of stale air.
  • Al Jazeerah Engish interviews a prominent Syrian human rights activist. He's frustrated with the hypocrisy of the world's response.

Arkansas jihadist also attacked homes of rabbis

Posted: 02 Aug 2011 06:38 AM PDT

From The Tennessean:
Abdulhakim Muhammad had just returned from a failed attempt to firebomb a home he believed belonged to a Nashville rabbi when he opened fire on an Army recruiting station here, killing Pvt. William Andrew Long and wounding Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula.

Opening statements have concluded in the capital murder trial against Muhammad, who was born Carlos Bledsoe in Memphis, Tenn., but changed his name after he began practicing Islam in Nashville while attending Tennessee State University.

And AP just discovered this:
A man who pleaded guilty to shooting two soldiers outside a military recruiting station in Arkansas says in a letter to the FBI that he also targeted the home of a rabbi in Little Rock.

In a handwritten confession mailed to the FBI, Abdulhakim Muhammad says he fired 10 rounds at the home of Rabbi Eugene Levy (LEE'-vee) days before he shot and killed Pvt. William Andrew Long and wounded Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula (ee-ZEEG'-wuh-luh).
A jihadist who is also a Jew-hater. What a shock.

(h/t jzaik)

Arab Spring: Egyptian military beat demonstrators, arrest journalist

Posted: 02 Aug 2011 05:48 AM PDT

From AFP:
Egypt's military arrested a BBC journalist when it cleared out a central Cairo protest that left several protesters injured and dozens detained, officials with the British broadcaster said on Tuesday.

Shaimaa Khalil was detained on Monday after the military, backed by riot police, cleared the three-week sit-in in Tahrir Square, they said.

The BBC's foreign editor John Williams wrote on his Twitter account that the broadcaster was trying to secure her release.

"Very concerned at the detention of Shaimaa Khalil in Cairo -- a good journalist doing her job. Doing all we can to secure her release," he wrote.

Khalil had been posting updates on Twitter before her arrest.

""Careful!' someone just told me. 'They arrest anyone taking photos," she wrote.

Witnesses said soldiers and police beat demonstrators and broke mobile phones, targeting anyone taking pictures.

Here is what she wrote on her Twitter feed. Read it from the bottom up. The links to photos work. (Latest tweet indicates she is OK.)



 shaimaa khalil 
 now ... surrounded by military , riot police and armoured vehicles..extremely tense  
16 hours ago 
 shaimaa khalil 
 now  
16 hours ago 
 shaimaa khalil 
 now... remains of tents or are they banners?? 
16 hours ago 
 shaimaa khalil 
 main ring now.. "careful!" someone just told me.. "they arrest anyone taking photos "  
16 hours ago 
 shaimaa khalil 
 banners and monuments carried off 
16 hours ago 
 shaimaa khalil 
 monument taken apart and lifted on a truck ...  now 
16 hours ago 
 shaimaa khalil 
 now ... military and riot police in control of the square forbidding any gathering  
16 hours ago 
 shaimaa khalil 
 now  
16 hours ago 
 shaimaa khalil 
 now riot police and army moving in on ppl praying ishaa 
16 hours ago 
 shaimaa khalil 
 now  
16 hours ago 
 shaimaa khalil 
 now military police everywhere "there was no resistance"1 of them tells me."we came in boom!" 
16 hours ago 
»
 shaimaa khalil 
 now armoured vehicles , police cars and traffic back to normal  
16 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply
 shaimaa khalil 
peeps.. who's in  ??? I'm on my way there
17 hours ago 

So who's setting fires to fields in Judea and Samaria?

Posted: 02 Aug 2011 05:00 AM PDT

From YNet:
Residents of various West Bank settlements have found themselves under a new threat recently – arson.

According to a report published by Yedioth Ahronoth Tuesday, more than 20 fires have been maliciously set in West Bank settlements and outposts in the past few weeks.

Police investigators determined that all of the fires were the result of arson and evidence in all cases led to surrounding Arab villages. The Judea and Samaria District Police have recently arrested six suspects.

Defense establishment sources have expressed concern that the area may be facing an "arson intifada," saying Palestinians have foregone hurling rocks and rioting in favor of setting fires near settlements and letting the hot weather and winds do the rest – i.e. feed the blaze as it spreads and threatens communities and wildlife alike.

Residents of northern West Bank outpost of Mizpeh Danny have had to conquer seven fires over the past three weeks, Neve Tzuf, Migron, and Givat Ronen outposts battle an average of one fire a week; and just last week, an entire neighborhood in the Kochav Yaakov settlement in the Binyamin region had to be evacuated after flames began devouring its outskirts.
The anti-Israel crowd, of course, refuses to believe that their pet Palestinian Arabs would do such a thing. Suicide bombings, sure - but setting fires in their beloved land?

Why, it's almost as outrageous as imagining them uprooting sacred olive trees!

A look at the prison gates at Rafah

Posted: 02 Aug 2011 03:01 AM PDT

Remember when Egypt said it was opening up the Rafah crossing for Gazans?

Well, not so much.

An article in a blog called Gaza Youth Breaks Out describes what is necessary to leave Gaza:
Let me sequence what you need to do if you want to travel from Gaza to anywhere else;
1- You have to go the registration office in Gaza at least 3 months before the date you wish to travel on. For example, if you want to travel on October, you have to register on July. Why? Because the Great Pharaohs allow only 300 people to leave daily and the number of people wishing to leave for several reasons is huge, so there is no empty place for you before October.

2- After waiting for 3 months, you go to Rafah gate. There, you would be really really really really really really lucky if you made it in your first try; people usually go 3 or 4 days in a raw, hoping to get in and not everyone crosses in the end as thousands are waiting for their turn.

3- If you made it and crossed the gate, you'll have to wait in the Palestinian hall for at least 2 hours until you get your passport stamped.

4- Then you get in the bus and wait for some more.

5- Then you cross to the Egyptian hall and wait for them to call your name and stamp your passport. But guess what? They don't stamp all the passports they receive. Almost 50 out of every 300 people will be returned to Gaza; depends on the mood of the person stamping the passport.

This Al Jazeera video shows that in order to get out of Gaza, it helps to be a friend of a Hamas leader - or to pay bribes:


Al Jazeera adds:

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, has announced that from Monday only students, patients and foreign passport holders will be allowed to leave the territory through the Rafah crossing into Egypt.

The move is an attempt to clear the huge backlog of travel applications.

Egypt and Hamas are both working to severely limit the number of travelers through the Rafah crossing.

Where are the full-page ads calling on Egypt to stop treating Gaza like a prison?  Why isn't George Galloway or Greta Berlin going on every TV show they can find to complain about Egyptian and Hamas policies? Why aren't there people participating in demonstrations against Egypt and Hamas? You know, because they care so much about the misery of Gazans?

(h/t CHA, Jerusalem Today)
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