יום שישי, 7 באוקטובר 2011

Elder of Ziyon Daily Digest

Elder of Ziyon Daily Digest

PLO ambassador in Brazil: "Israel must disappear"

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 03:10 PM PDT

From Reinaldo Azevedo in Veja-Brazil, Brazil's most popular magazine:

Imagine the scandal if an Israeli diplomat said: "The Palestinian Authority should disappear." On Friday, Alzeben Ibrahim, the Palestinian ambassador in Brazil, told a group of university students that "Israel should disappear."

To leave no doubt as to what he meant, he added, "And this is not the ambassador of Iran or President Ahmadinejad who is speaking."

Thus it was evident that he did not mean Israel must disappear from the West Bank, but wiped off the map as Ahmadinejad preached.

Knowing that Hamas, which also says that Israel must disappear, will not stop shooting rockets into Israel, Alzeben said: "Israel is preparing provocations for a new conflict. Be skeptical of the origin of the next rocket departing from Palestine. " So he is saying he has counterintelligence information where Israel is infiltrating agents into Gaza to fire missiles at Israel itself, understand?

By saying that "Israel must disappear," Alzeben illuminates the nature of the "struggle" which many experts, including ours, refuse to admit.

When the Palestinian Authority refuses to recognize Israel as a "Jewish state" and wants to make the return of the so-called "refugees" this is a cause for future generations to be guided. When it cannot eliminate "that Israel" using weapons, it is dreaming to one day eliminate it via demographics.

(h/t Daily Alert via Honest Reporting.)

Some good news stories about Israel

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 01:54 PM PDT

A new report came out ranking the world's leading nations for innovation and technology. Some of the results:

The first map charts the percentages of economic output countries devote to R&D investment. The U.S. ranks sixth. Israel is in first place, followed by Sweden, Finland, Japan, and Switzerland, which make up the top five. South Korea, Germany, Denmark, and France round out the top ten. Canada ranks 13th.

The second map charts scientific and engineering researchers per capita. The United States ranks seventh. Finland takes the top spot, followed by Sweden, Japan, Singapore, and Denmark. Norway, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand round out the top ten. [For some reason, Israel is not listed at all in the full report in this category, probably the authors could not get complete data. -EoZ]

The third map plots innovations, measured as patents per capita. Now, the United States takes first place, followed by Japan, Switzerland, Finland, and Israel. Sweden, Germany, Canada, Denmark, and Hong Kong round out the top ten.

By combining all three of these measures, we end up with an overall Global Technology Index, a broad assessment of the technological and innovative capabilities of the world's leading nations. The United States ranks third. Finland takes the top spot, followed by Japan. Israel's fourth place finish may come as a surprise to some. But as Dan Senor and Saul Singer argue in Start-up Nation, Israel has relentlessly pursued an economic development strategy based on launching innovative firms. Israel has the highest concentration of engineers in the world—135 per 10,000 people, compared to 85 per 10,000 people in the United States. Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Korea, Germany, and Singapore round out the top ten.
From Business Week, September 22:
Never mind the collapse in confidence in Europe, the Palestinian proposal for United Nations recognition and heightened tensions with neighboring Egypt and longtime ally Turkey. The Israeli economy just keeps growing faster than the rest of the developed world.

The International Monetary Fund this week raised its forecast for the country and cut its estimate for the global economy on the impact of the European debt crisis. Israel's gross domestic product will expand 4.8 percent this year, according to the Washington-based lender. That's up from an April forecast of 3.8 percent and triple the pace for the average of the 34 advanced economies.

Citigroup Inc. said on Sept. 18 it would establish a new Israeli research center and Standard & Poor's a week earlier raised the country's credit rating. It cited the discovery of two gas fields off the coast of Israel that hold an estimated 25 trillion cubic feet of the fuel. Mellanox Technologies Ltd., the 12-year-old Israeli adapter maker part-owned by Oracle Corp., says sales will grow 80 percent in the third quarter.

"The Israeli economy is very vibrant," Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said in a Sept. 20 interview with Bloomberg Television. "We enjoy very low unemployment and nice economic growth and this is mainly because we managed to develop very advanced high tech industries and very strong exports."

Israel ranks third in terms of projected growth this year among MSCI's list of 24 developed economies, after 6 percent for Hong Kong and 5.3 percent for Singapore, according to the IMF.

"Israel's exports are high-added value exports like informatics and technology," said Jean-Dominique Butikofer, a fund manager who helps oversee about $1 billion of emerging- market debt at Union Bancaire Privee in Zurich, including quasi- sovereign Israeli bonds. "They're not exporting Gucci bags. If there's a slowdown, these are the kind of assets that are good to have."

Venture-capital backed Israeli technology companies raised $364 million in the second quarter of this year, a 77 percent jump from the $206 million raised in the year-earlier period, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Moneytree report. Seventy-six companies raised funding in the three-month period, compared with only 60 last year, the report said.

"One reason that the economy continues to do well is the component of innovation and ability to adapt to a changing environment," Citigroup Israel Managing Director Ralph Shaaya said in explaining the New York-based bank's decision to locate a research center in Israel. 'There is a rich pool of talent in the high tech sector. The propensity for innovation is high."
From Israel HaYom:
Israel is the only country in the Middle East with universities on the Top 200 World University Rankings list from Times Higher Education (THE), which is released annually in conjunction with the start of the new school year.

Hebrew University of Jerusalem ranked 121st and Tel Aviv University placed 166th.
I am getting more and more convinced that Israel's long-term security is best served by having a strong economy, one that not only serves the needs of Israelis by keeping it economically independent but one that has such a large impact on the world that nations would themselves directly feel the loss if Israel is not secure.

Think of it this way: China's human rights record is abysmal, but because the economic potential there is so gigantic the world overlooks that issue. So even if Israel is losing the PR battle to BDS-supporting haters, a strong economy would go a great way towards muting their whining.

Syria again enters Lebanon, kills farmer

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 12:47 PM PDT

From Now Lebanon:
Syrian troops entered Lebanese territory on Thursday and shot dead a Syrian living in a remote border area of the eastern Bekaa region, a security official told AFP.

"At around 2:30 p.m. in an area called Saaba, next to Aarsal, Syrian troops entered Lebanese territory and opened fire on farmer Ali al-Khatib, a Syrian national," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"His body is still on site and a probe is underway."

He said Khatib was married to a Lebanese and lived in the area, where the border is not clearly delineated.

A government official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the incident and said it was unclear why Khatib was targeted or how he was killed.

"The area in question is very remote and right along the border," he said.

Earlier this week, Syrian tanks entered the same region in a brief incursion that raised fears of the revolt against the regime in Damascus spilling over into Lebanon.
As I mentioned earlier this week, there had been three previous incidents of the Syrian army crossing the Lebanese border, and as far as I can see, no formal protests on Lebanon's side.

(h/t CHA)

Photo of the Zionist flag at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 11:31 AM PDT

From the St. Louis Jewish Light:

Most Jews are very familiar with the flag of Israel, which stands alongside the American Stars and Stripes at many synagogues, but few are familiar with its origins or with the startling fact that the first time the Zionist flag flew over a public building on an official occasion was at the 1904 World's Fair right here in St. Louis!

When the World's Fair (officially named the Louisiana Purchase Exposition) was being organized, Michael Stiffelman, a local Zionist leader, won the support of Jules Aubere, a non-Jewish newspaperman, to persuade the Fair's board of directors to approve a request to publicly fly the Zionist flag alongside those of other countries atop the Hall of Nations. According to the late Moses Joshua Slonim, a famous local Zionist leader in his book, "The Struggle for Zion's Rebirth," which was extensively quoted by the late Jewish historian, Dr. Walter Ehrlich in his definitive "Zion in the Valley," the flag snapped proudly in the breeze, alongside the Stars and Stripes of the USA, the British Union Jack and the French Tricolor.

A striking photograph of the Zionist flag fluttering above the Hall of Nations appeared in the 1926 anniversary edition of The Modern View, a local Jewish newspaper published in St. Louis from 1900 through 1944.

This really is a stunning photo.

The proto-Israeli flag was introduced and displayed on a balcony outside the Stadt Casino Musiksaal in Basel, Switzerland during the First Zionist Congress in 1897, but the 1904 World's Fair may indeed have been the first time it was officially flown at a non-Zionist event.


Muslim jihad in Spain - against dogs

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 10:35 AM PDT

From Soeren Kern in Hudson-NY:


Spanish authorities are investigating the recent deaths by poisoning of more than a dozen dogs in Lérida, a city in the northeastern region of Catalonia that has become ground zero in an intensifying debate over the role of Islam in Spain.

All of the dogs were poisoned in September (local media reports here, here, here, here and here) in Lérida's working class neighbourhoods of Cappont and La Bordeta, districts that are heavily populated by Muslim immigrants and where many dogs have been killed in recent years.

Local residents say Muslim immigrants killed the dogs because according to Islamic teaching dogs are "unclean" animals.

Over the past several months, residents taking their dogs for walks have been harassed by Muslim immigrants opposed to seeing the animals in public. Muslims have also launched a number of anti-dog campaigns on Islamic websites and blogs based in Spain.

In response to the "lack of sufficient police to protect the neighbourhood," 50 local residents have established alternating six-person citizen patrols to escort people walking their dogs.

In July, two Islamic groups based in Lérida asked city officials to regulate the presence of dogs in public spaces so they do not "offend Muslims." Muslims are demanding that dogs be banned from all forms of public transportation including all city buses as well as from all areas frequented by Muslim immigrants.

Muslims in Lérida say the presence of dogs violates their religious freedom and their right to live according to Islamic principles.
When will they release the dog beheading videos?

Yom Kippur War hurting Gazans in 2011

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 09:34 AM PDT

Today, Egypt is celebrating what it considers its victory in the Yom Kippur War of October 1973.

This is a state holiday, with parades and air force overflights.

Because it is a holiday, Egypt closed the Rafah crossings to and from Gaza, imprisoning 1.5 million people.

Just sayin'.

Pat Condell - The Great Palestinian Lie (video)

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 08:38 AM PDT

Refreshing to hear someone just speak the truth.:


(h/t Lisbeth)

Joseph's tomb vandalized with swastikas and anti-semitic graffiti

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 07:40 AM PDT

From YNet:
Unknown assailants have scrawled graffiti, including swastikas, on the walks of Joseph's Tomb in Nablus. Soldiers and worshippers arriving at the holy site on Wednesday night, exactly one year after the completion of its renovation, rushed to erase the graffiti.

Shomron Regional Council head Gershon Mesika placed responsibility on the "Palestinian police terrorists."

When the first soldiers and worshippers arrived at the site, they immediately painted the graffiti in white and the prayer began.

Council head Mesika responded to the vandalism at the site, saying that "only barbarians could do such a horrible thing. People capable of desecrating such a holy site in a pathological manner do not deserve to be called humans."
CNN adds
The Israeli Civil Administration filed a complaint with the Palestinian Authority.
Israel HaYom:
The vandalism at Joseph's Tomb included anti-Jewish writing as well as swastikas.

Israel's chief rabbis expressed their outrage at the attack. In a joint statement, Rabbis Shlomo Amar and Yona Metzger said it was "unacceptable that holy places become the targets of attacks of revenge between religions."

The chief rabbis called on the leadership of all the faiths in the Holy Land and across the world to loudly denounce the attack on Joseph's Tomb, as well as introduce into their flocks great respect for holy places.

The worshippers should have photographed the desecration before whitewashing it; the only photos available now don't show much:

It will be interesting to compare the world reactions to this outrage to those for the arson at a mosque in northern Israel on Sunday.

Israel announced that they had made an arrest in the mosque arson.


Egypt, Hamas, and maybe Jordan causing lulav problems

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 06:37 AM PDT

A few weeks ago, Egypt confirmed a story I had in August that the country would refuse to export palm fronds - lulavim - that religious Jews use in the upcoming Sukkot holiday.

UPI reports that Egyptians were smuggling lulavim to Israel in defiance of the ban, although it is not clear how exactly this was being accomplished.

According to some sources, after the Egyptian ban, Israel then tried to get the lulavim from Gaza:

Israeli officials will temporarily lift a ban on agricultural exports from the Gaza Strip to allow the entry of palm fronds used to mark a Jewish holiday, a newspaper report said Wednesday.

Maariv, a Hebrew-language Israeli daily, said the defense ministry agreed to alllow 100,000 lulavs to enter Israel from Gaza on a "one-time basis" ahead of Sukkot, which starts next week.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak authorized importing the lulavs from Gaza to avert a "crisis" caused by Egypt's refusal this year to approve the sale of the fronds, Maariv reported.

This gave UNRWA's spokesperson another opportunity to slam Israel:

"What a revealing double standard," said UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness.

"When Israel's theocratic echelons need agricultural produce for a Jewish religious celebration, imports from Gaza are authorized, yet since June 2007 this has apparently been an insurmountable security threat.

"Now the truth is laid bare," Gunness told Ma'an.
Gunness did not mention that Israel restricts exports from Gaza not only for security reasons but also to retain some leverage over Hamas. Security is not only stopping the smuggling of weapons.

Anyway, this move that would have injected much needed cash into Gaza's economy was stopped - by Hamas.
Israeli traders will buy between 70,000 and 100,000 lulavs – palm tree fronds that are one of the Four Species of Sukkot – from Jordan. Another initiative – to buy 50,000 lulavs from Gaza traders who smuggled them into Gaza from Sinai – was vetoed by the Hamas terror group that rules over Gaza.
I wonder if Gunness will issue a statement on how Hamas is subjecting Gazans to collective punishment.

As far as the Jordanian lulavim are concerned, things aren't going so smoothly either. Religious website bhol.co.il reports that 85,000 lulavim are being held up at the Jordanian border for unspecified reasons.

Israel supplies some 650,000 lulavim from local sources.

The Sukkot holiday starts on Wednesday night.

Journalists, NGOs complain of Hamas restrictions

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 05:26 AM PDT

From Reporters Without Borders:
Reporters Without Borders is worried by the Hamas interior ministry's adoption of new rules for foreign journalists that will restrict their access to the Gaza Strip.

Under the new rules, adopted on 25 September, every foreign journalist wanting to visit the Gaza Strip will have to apply in advance to the interior ministry in Gaza, and processing the application could take several days.

Journalists submitting applications will have to include a photocopy of their passport and ID photos, and will have to name a "guarantor" in the Gaza Strip.
The official PA Wafa news agency adds:
A number of foreign employees and local journalists in Gaza complained of restrictions imposed by Hamas on the entry of foreigners into the sector, forcing them to pay 'access control' fees in order to make more money for its treasury.

The sources added that a number of journalists and staff of institutions that support humanitarian projects in the sector remain in Jerusalem, and refuse to come to Gaza because of the restrictions.

One expatriate staff member told Wafa, "We have no problem with the registration of in and out of Gaza; the problem in the payment of funds to Hamas. To give money to Hamas means funding a designated terrorist organization and the legal [complications] may result in suspension of relief projects in Gaza. "

Sources told Wafa that Hamas imposes restrictions on foreigners in order to monitor local journalists who work in the sector in addition to acquiring funds from the so-called 'access control' levy.

Hamas charges about $10 to any foreigners who want to stay in Gaza, and the procedures required to register before entering takes at least five days.

A local journalist who refused to be named said, 'if a foreign journalist wrote material critical of Hamas, the local journalist, who acts as his assistant and translator, is the one who bears the responsibility and this constitutes a threat to it. "

The journalist added that there are numerous restrictions faced by journalists in Gaza and they can not shoot or write anything about what is really happening in Gaza behind the scenes.
That last part I hadn't heard of before. Since most foreign journalists cannot get around Gaza without locals, Hamas leans on the locals and threatens or punishes them if their guest writes anything that Hamas doesn't like.

Even the bravest reporters would hesitate before writing something that would put their friends and colleagues in danger. Not that there are any brave reporters in Gaza who are willing to report negatively on Hamas to begin with.


Glenn Kessler of WaPo "contextualizes" Iran's calls for Israel's destruction

Posted: 06 Oct 2011 02:43 AM PDT

Glenn Kessler writes a very strange and somewhat deceptive article in the Washington Post that brings up the old question of whether Iranian leaders ever said that Israel should be "wiped off the map."

He accurately notes that the real quote was along the lines of "wiped from the page of time" and he mentions or links to other anti-Israel statements, as well as links to many photographs of the phrase "Israel should be wiped out of the face of the world" in English in Tehran:

But in his conclusion, Kessler says:
In fact, Ahmadinejad is not the power broker in Iran; it is Khamenei. Khamenei, in fact, has been consistent in speaking of his hatred of Israel, but without a military context, as he demonstrated once again this week. Moreover, the fact that Ahmadinejad was merely quoting Khomeini suggests that even less weight should have been given to his words, especially since there is a dispute over the precise meaning in English.

Kessler's proof that Khamenei spoke about the destruction of Israel outside a military context comes from this part of his speech this week, to which he does not provide a link:
The Islamic Republic's proposal to help resolve the Palestinian issue and heal this old wound is a clear and logical initiative based on political concepts accepted by world public opinion, which has already been presented in detail. We do not suggest launching a classic war by the armies of Muslim countries, or throwing immigrant Jews into the sea, or mediation by the UN and other international organizations. We propose holding a referendum with [the participation of] the Palestinian nation. The Palestinian nation, like any other nation, has the right to determine their own destiny and elect the governing system of the country.

However, Khamenei also said something else later in the speech, which was quite specifically military:
What is posing a threat to the Zionist regime is not the missiles of Iran or resistance groups… the real threat, which can never be countered, is the strong will of men, women, and the youth in Muslim countries, who no longer want the United States, Europe, and their subservient elements to rule over them and humiliate them. However, if a threat is posed by the enemy, those missiles will fulfill their functions.
Once Kessler goes so far to try to provide context for Iran's threats against Israel, it is very strange that he concludes that those threats have never been military.

Sorry, but mentioning Iran's willingness to use its missiles is a very military context.

Even if he would argue that Iran's military threats have been carefully calibrated to sound as if they are purely defensive, one must also add the small fact that Hezbollah is effectively an arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and now that Lebanon is under effective Hezbollah control Iran can use any future Israeli defensive actions in Lebanon as a pretext for military reprisal.

Kessler needs to award himself a "pinocchio" or two for this "fact check."

(h/t JW)
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