Elder of Ziyon Daily Digest |
- Beautiful new gold coin depicts the Kotel
- Hamas propaganda: "Gilad Shalit fasting during Ramadan"
- Nivea website excludes Israel, includes "Palestine Territories"
- I vote for a free market
- WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS HASBARA
- Video of "Mubarak is Dead, Zionist Double took over" claim
- PalArab homes demolished. One killed. Media silent.
- A new UNRWA lie?
- Jeffrey Goldberg's list of terror attacks he fears (updated)
- Al Qaeda in the Sinai seeks an Islamic state
- "Mubarak died in 2004; a Zionist agent replaced him"
- AFP article on PalArab "honor killings" not as positive as it seems
| Beautiful new gold coin depicts the Kotel Posted: 03 Aug 2011 11:22 PM PDT From YNet, in what appears to be a press release:: While coins have been issued by the Bank of Israel since the early days of independence, Jerusalem Day 2011 was special. Israel Coins & Medals Corp. (ICMC), exclusive distributor for coins of the Bank of Israel, launched a new coin, in gold bullion, which trades based on its precious metal content. 
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| Hamas propaganda: "Gilad Shalit fasting during Ramadan" Posted: 03 Aug 2011 06:38 PM PDT Here's a disgusting attempt by Hamas to use Gilad Shalit. The Hamas-affiliated Ar-Risala website reported Wednesday that captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has decided to fast during Ramadan.Even if the blatant lies in the report were more believable, the story is still obviously garbage. Hamas is doing everything it can think of to keep Shalit's whereabouts secret, and no one who knows details about Shalit's captivity would dare speak to a newspaper about it. It is a transparent, and sickening, attempt to influence Israeli public opinion. However, I would not be surprised if Shalit fasts during the ninth day of Ramadan, and even the night before when the Muslims are feasting. (h/t Folderol) 
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| Nivea website excludes Israel, includes "Palestine Territories" Posted: 03 Aug 2011 01:15 PM PDT Here is a list of countries in the Middle East according to cosmetics manufacturer Nivea: MIDDLE EAST
 Isn't that interesting? An outraged former customer wrote to them: Hi there, Nivea has a "Nivea Official Israel" Facebook page, but they have not yet responded there. Their "Contact" page drop-down menu has Israel and "Palestine" listed. It appears that Israel was listed under "Middle East" last year. The Nivea Middle East Facebook page features a special Ramadan application. This will probably get fixed in a day or two - but why did it happen to begin with? A corporate level decision or a single Israel-hating web designer? But you can always go to Estee Lauder's Israel page. 
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| Posted: 03 Aug 2011 12:15 PM PDT YNet reports on Binyamin Netanyahu's reaction to the "tent protests." "Populism is sweeping through the country. There is a serious expression of plight and not-so-serious suggestions for solutions," Netanyahu said.Forgetting politics, all of this makes sense to me. I am no economist but it sure appears that Israel's economy has prospered in the past decade precisely because it has been abandoning socialist economic concepts and embraced the free market. While I am sympathetic to those who cannot afford housing, a free market would say that they should move to a more affordable area. The inconvenience is more than outweighed by the benefit to the entire nation. Governments do not always do a great job at regulating prices. Housing is expensive because it is scarce. It appears to be scarce because of the ridiculous amounts of red tape one must go through before building. The root cause must be addressed, which will take time, but a quick fix would almost certainly cause more problems than solutions. Obviously social programs need to exist - I am not advocating a perfectly free economy, and that model would fail as well. A safety net needs to exist for those who would otherwise be homeless. But given a choice, a free market is the direction to go. Now is probably a good time to investigate and invest in areas around Tel Aviv that are affordable, as those prices will go up. Given Israel's socialist history, I can see the romantic appeal of socialism as hearkening back to "the good old days." However, I am not so sure that nostalgia is accurate. Tzipi Livni's response to Netanyahu was pure politics: In response to Netanyahu's statements, Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni turned to Netanyahu saying: "They are populists? You're a populist. The government is one big political lie. The seeds of mistrust sprouted from every seat Netanyahu gave out."I cannot imagine that this screed enamored her to the protesters at all, even though most aren't fond of Bibi. There seems to be no doubt that the protests are ready-made for the hard left, who are already pushing socialism both politically and economically. I'm not following the story so closely, but there is evidence that they are trying to hijack the protests for their own political purposes. This doesn't mean that the protests are necessarily illegitimate, but it should give one pause before believing that this is completely a people-driven revolution. As the Knesset debate shows, no one is above politicizing everything. More details on the Knesset debate - and the transparent attempts to politicize them - at JPost. 
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| WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS HASBARA Posted: 03 Aug 2011 11:05 AM PDT For those whose worldview does not admit that Israel is anything but completely evil, it may be dangerous to continue reading this. This post is complete, 100% hasbara, and as such you will be forced to either denounce it as lies, or ignore it. We are not responsible for any cognitive dissonance or spontaneous brain embolisms that may come about from reading this post. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! From Israel21c: The CleanTech 2011 mega-event in Tel Aviv displays Israel's advanced water, solar, wind and natural gas energy solutions.And: "What would you do for a fiver?" That's the question Israeli startup Fiverr asks in big letters on the site's home page. The answer: A lot of really weird stuff.And: The physical deterioration of old age and illness is often manifested in what doctors call chronic wounds - wounds that just will not repair themselves. Petah Tikvah-based MacroCure has a product that aims to do what the body can't: Heal wounds that have festered for months, if not years.And: A simple mobile-phone imaging system developed in Israel for diagnosing and monitoring malaria has won its developers a $100,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.And: At the offices of Keshet: The Center for Educational Tourism in Israel in Jerusalem, things are humming with activity. Every summer the organization's staff of 33 swells three fold, and this July is no exception.This is only a sampling of stuff from the last few days that is happening in a tiny, amazing country. 
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| Video of "Mubarak is Dead, Zionist Double took over" claim Posted: 03 Aug 2011 09:57 AM PDT Hamed Seddik, who claimed in court today that Mubarak had died in 2004 and was replaced by a Zionist double, spoke at Tahrir Sqaure afterwards. Here's the video: The circus has come to town. (h/t A7) 
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| PalArab homes demolished. One killed. Media silent. Posted: 03 Aug 2011 08:50 AM PDT Last Sunday, a Hamas policeman was killed. The story did not get much attention; the English language Palestinian Arab media did not seem to cover it. It turns out that the circumstances were even more interesting: At approximately 23:30 on Sunday, 31 July 2011, medical staff at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City announced the death of Majed Hamdan Karam, 23, a police officer from al-Tufah neighborhood in Gaza City. Karam died of wounds he sustained that afternoon in an armed clash in Juhor al-Dik village. He was on duty with Palestinian police and they were accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Awqaf (religious affairs) and a bulldozer in order to enforce the court ruling. The force headed to a plot owned by the Ministry of Awqaf. The plot was used by the Abu Thaher family who built three houses on the plot. Three families lived in the houses. As the force started bulldozing the three houses, members of the Abu Thaher family and members of the Abu Hein family intervened to stop the demolition. The police arrested four persons, and partially destroyed the houses which are now uninhabitable. While the police were leaving the village, gunmen who are relatives of two of the detainees approached them. The gunmen are believed to be members of a Palestinian armed group. An armed clash took place between the police and the gunmen. Two of the gunmen and three policemen, including Karam, were wounded as a result. The wounded were transferred to the al-Shifa Hospital for medical treatment. The wounds of Karam were gravely serious and he was pronounced dead on the same day. It is only an outrage to evacuate and bulldoze illegal buildings when it is Jews doing the evacuation and demolition. If Arabs do it, well, hey, it's the law. By the way, if Gaza was really occupied by Israel, then Israel would have the right to demolish homes there as well. Occupiers by definition are ultimately responsible for administrative issues like zoning and building. Just sayin'. (h/t My Right Word) 
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| Posted: 03 Aug 2011 07:50 AM PDT From Ma'an: The link between Israel's settlement expansion in the West Bank and the displacement of Palestinians from their homes is now "abundantly clear," UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said Tuesday.I believe that this is a complete lie. With rare exceptions, Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria have stayed within their municipal limits ("blue lines") for about a decade now. What anti-Israel groups call "settlement expansion" is all occurring within these already-existing borders. And I am almost certain that no Jewish communities are expanding into land legally owned by Palestinian Arabs. If Gunness is going to make such an accusation, he had better back it up with specifics. (The press release from UNRWA seems to show that the demolitions have mostly been against Bedouin who have been setting up illegal instant communities in areas that are unquestionably within existing Jewish community boundaries. As far as I can tell, the Bedouin do not and never did own the land.) (h/t YM) 
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| Jeffrey Goldberg's list of terror attacks he fears (updated) Posted: 03 Aug 2011 06:50 AM PDT At Bloomberg, Jeffrey Goldberg listed the three potential terror attacks he worries about the most: 1. Jewish extremists attacking the Dome of the Rock 2. "An assault by a white, Christian extremist agitated by the imagined specter of worldwide Muslim domination, either against a government target, in the Oklahoma City and Oslo manner, or against a Muslim target [in America.] 3. Another attack by Lashkar-e-Taiba of Pakistan against Mumbai. Why these three? In the first case "the Muslim world would ignite." In the second, an attack "would do irreparable harm to America's image as a diverse and welcoming refuge, and could trigger the clash of civilizations extremists (both anti-Muslim Americans and anti-American Muslims) so desperately seek." And in the third, well, there is a potential for nuclear war since India would have a hard time not retaliating against Pakistan. Goldberg is not worried about the effects of the attacks themselves - a few hundred people killed - but of the larger repercussions that could result. Going through his list, I can understand being frightened of a nuclear war. I don't think there is any question that an Islamic attack on India is a valid concern. As far as the Temple Mount goes, I think that the threat of the Muslim world "igniting" is overstated - it has been a threat hanging over the heads of Westerners for a long time, and one that the Muslim world is happy to use to intimidate the West to do its bidding. I call it "The Diplomacy of Fear" and there are countless examples of its use, old and recent. This is not to say that the repercussions of such an attack wouldn't be unpleasant - imagine the Mohammed cartoon riots multiplied by a hundred - but I can't see the Muslim world being much more upset at Israel than they already are. But the fear of a Christian US terrorist is, simply, absurd. If you are going to worry about a lone terrorist, there are a lot of scenarios that are more frightening than "doing harm to America's image" - especially when Americans would be the victims! In fact, an al-Qaeda style attack in Chicago would be far more likely to turn Americans against Islam and increase the "clash of civilizations" than an American Christian Islamophobe killing Americans would do. This scenario is bizarre, to say the least. If an American would pull a Norway-type attack in Mecca, OK, that might be something to fear. We could worry about Iran developing a nuke that they would ship to Hezbollah or Hamas. We could worry about a dirty nuke placed in Chicago's water supply. We could worry about a massive sarin attack against New York subway lines. We could worry about a Stuxnet-type attack against the electrical grid that could amplify the Northeast blackout of 2003. History shows that an assassination of a national leader can often change the course of history more than any conventional terror attack against civilians. There is an interesting subtext to this article: that only liberal Westerners can be expected to act peacefully. Conservative Westerners ("anti-Muslim Americans"), according to Goldberg, would jump on the side of an American anti-Muslim terrorist - a really bizarre and almost slanderous thought. Who has supported Breivik's actions? Goldberg goes on to note that Indians and Muslims would react to attacks with much wider violence, despite India's forbearance after the Mumbai attacks. So the reason that Goldberg isn't overly concerned about a Muslim attack against a Western country is because he believes that the West can be counted on not to retaliate. Obviously this doesn't include warmongering Bush, but the more enlightened current resident of the White House. This is a good piece of information for potential Islamic terrorists to know. UPDATE: Viktor Shikhman rips apart Goldberg's characterization of "radical" "messianic" Jewish "terrorists." 
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| Al Qaeda in the Sinai seeks an Islamic state Posted: 03 Aug 2011 05:50 AM PDT From Bikya Masr: Islamists thrive where there is chaos. Egypt, and particularly the Sinai, is now fertile ground for them to make serious gains. (h/t Yoel) 
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| "Mubarak died in 2004; a Zionist agent replaced him" Posted: 03 Aug 2011 05:01 AM PDT From The Daily Telegraph, covering the Mubarak trial that is just underway: 11.32 Surreal moment as a lawyer calls out that Mubarak died in 2004, and that this court appearance is a conspiracy on the part of America and Israel. He is calling for a DNA test to prove that it's the real Mubarak and not a lookalike.During Ramadan, Arab networks often air sensational TV series. I don' t think that this trial will have any ratings competition in Egypt. (h/t Jameel) 
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| AFP article on PalArab "honor killings" not as positive as it seems Posted: 03 Aug 2011 03:35 AM PDT A couple of months ago, the body of a young Palestinian Arab woman was found near Hebron, the victim of an apparent "honor killing," and it caused an uproar. It caused Mahmoud Abbas to somewhat change the Jordanian law that allowed leniency for such killings. But as this article shows, there is a long, long way to go - and even the reporter, Samih Shahine, is clueless. From AFP/Ma'an: Aya's remains were found bound, decomposed at the bottom of a well more than a year after she vanished without a trace, leaving her family beside themselves with worry.Note that "the worst" is not that Aya was killed. But the mystery was solved in May when police found her bones several miles from the family home in Surif, northwest of the city of Hebron -- and triggered an unprecedented public outcry.The horrible implication is that even the mother and sister would have understood it if they felt that Aya had in fact done something to besmirch the family honor. Their rage is not because it was an honor-killing - it is because it was a wrongful honor killing. Under the Jordanian penal code, a man who "surprises his wife or any close female relative" in an act of adultery or fornication may invoke a defense of "crime of honor" if he murders her.According to this article, the change in the law is not to criminalize "honor killings" but to allow a judge to determine whether it is a legitimate honor killing! The leniency is still there but the murderer can no longer assume that his claim will be accepted at face value. "The president's decision is the culmination of the feminist struggle," said Amal Al-Jubeh, coordinator of the Women's Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling in Hebron.Exactly. Women who dare to have relationships with someone the family deems unsuitable, or who marry someone that their parents disapprove of, are still facing the possibility of being murdered with little penalty to the killers. Abbas' change to the law did not erase distinctions between "honor killings" and other murders, and until that is done, such self-congratulatory articles are premature. 
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