יום שישי, 23 בדצמבר 2011

Elder of Ziyon Daily Digest

Elder of Ziyon Daily Digest

UNESCO stops funding PalArab kid magazine that thanked Hitler

Posted: 22 Dec 2011 05:30 PM PST

A followup to this story from Europe-Israel:
A day after a protest from the Simon Wiesenthal Center to UNESCO's Director-General over a Palestinian youth magazine which published materials exalting Hitler, UNESCO has agreed that it « will not provide any further support to the publication in question. »

Zayzafouna, a magazine which supposedly promotes democracy and tolerance, published an article by a ten-year-old Palestinian girl who said that in her dreams, Hitler told her, "Yes. I killed them [the Jews] so you would all know that they are a nation who spreads destruction all over the world." The article was brought to the public's attention by Palestinian Media Watch.

A letter from the office of UNESCO's Director-General read:

UNESCO's attention has been drawn to the February 2011 issue of the Palestinian children's magazine Zayzafouna. This magazine is published by an NGO of the same name under the patronage of the Palestinian National Commission for UNESCO, which is the national body set up by the Palestinian Authority to facilitate its work with the Organization. The February issue features a story written by a 10-year-old girl in which Hitler is quoted by her as stating that he "killed [the Jews] so you would all know that they are a nation who wreak havoc on Earth". While UNESCO upholds freedom of expression as an integral part of its mandate, the inclusion in this publication of a statement that may be interpreted as an apology of the holocaust is contrary to UNESCO's constitutional mandate and values. It is totally unacceptable.

UNESCO supported the publication of three issues of the Zayzafouna Magazine six months after the February 2011 issue. The support was provided for these issues following agreement with the editorial board that they would focus on building greater appreciation amongst Palestinians for their heritage and culture. They were to open the way for positive dialogue aimed at overcoming the consequences of the Middle East conflict, and to fight against stereotypes that may be conducive to violence. It was UNESCO's intention to foster a positive view ofPalestinian heritage based on the values of tolerance and UNESCO's mandate of building peace in the minds of men and women. This vision guides all of UNESCO's activities, and we urge all partners to work in this direction.

UNESCO is shocked and dismayed by the content of the February issue, and has requested more detailed information and clarification from the editors of the magazine and to Palestinian Authority.

UNESCO strongly deplores and condemns the reproduction of such inflammatory statements in a magazine associated with UNESCO's name and mission and will not provide any further support to the publication in question.

The Organization, which is deeply committed to the development and promotion of education about the Holocaust, disassociates itself from any statement that is counter to its founding principles and goals of building tolerance in the full respect for human rights and human dignity.
From what I can tell, UNESCO only funded the magazine for a few issues; the latest issues no longer had its logo.

The last issue of 2010 had a tribute to Yasir Arafat.


The issue beforehand had a story about a child visiting his father in prison, ending off with "I am aware that the enemies are the ones who prevented my father from returning home."

The previous issue to that one was the last one to have the UNESCO logo.

Chanukah Video Night 3: Chanukah Rights!

Posted: 22 Dec 2011 02:30 PM PST

From Six13:

Muslim Brotherhood is suddenly against Egyptian protests

Posted: 22 Dec 2011 01:15 PM PST

My, how things change after one wins an election.

Firas Press (possibly quoting Al Balad News) is quoting Muslim Brotherhood and Nour officials as saying that Egyptian security should respond to protesters "with an iron fist."

A Nour party spokesman told a rally that protesters in Tahrir Square are not innocent, but a group of terrorists that the Military Council must address "with full force."

The Nour spokesman also questioned the morality of women protesters who sleep outside the home and in public squares.

Doonesbury blames US troops for Christian exodus from Iraq

Posted: 22 Dec 2011 12:00 PM PST

Yesterday's Doonesbury comic betrays a very interesting mindset.


AP looked at this phenomenon in 2009:

Christians first began leaving Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War, during the economic sanctions and repression under Saddam Hussein, who pushed more Islamist policies. But the trickle turned to a flood after Saddam was toppled in 2003 and the violence escalated, said a prominent Iraqi Christian lawmaker, Younadem Kana.

"I hope to leave for any other place in the world," said Sheeran Surkon, a 27-year-old Iraqi woman who fled to Syria in 2004 after she received death threats, her father disappeared and her beauty salon was blown up.

Sukron awaits resettlement to another country, saying she can't tolerate the violence and new Muslim conservatism in Iraq.

"How can I live there as a woman?" she asked.

Daoud Daoud, 70, a former civil servant in the northern city of Mosul, now spends his time waiting with dozens of others at a Damascus, Syria, resettlement center, hoping to follow his children to Sweden.

"Iraq as we once knew it is over. For us there is no future there," he said.

More than 2 million refugees of all religions have fled Iraq since the 2003 invasion. The recent ebb in violence has lured some Muslim refugees to return in small numbers.

But few Christians contemplate going back, the U.N. High Commissioner on Refugees reports.

"They simply do not feel safe enough. They cannot sufficiently count on state security or any other force to protect them," said the the agency's acting representative in Damascus, Philippe Leclerc.

In a report last year, the head of its Iraq support unit said that Christians are more likely than other fleeing Iraqis to register as refugees in an effort to emigrate to a third country.

"The vast majority of Iraqis still want to return to Iraq when the conditions permit — the notable exception being religious minorities, particularly Christians," the report said.

"When I came here to my parish in Karrada, we had 2,000 families," said Monsignor Luis al-Shabi, 70, who started at St. Joseph's 40 years ago. "But now we only have 1,000 — half."

The situation is worse in the Baghdad neighborhood of Dora to the south — where 30,000 prewar Christians fled during the six years of war. The now-quiet neighborhood has only a single church and a handful of Christians.

More troubling, when a group of Christian families recently tried to return to homes in Dora, two Christian women were killed, Iraq's Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly said in an interview after meeting with the pope in nearby Jordan.

Execution-style killings late last year targeted Christians in Mosul, as did a string of bombings. In March of last year, the body of Mosul's Chaldean Christian archbishop was found in a shallow grave a month after he was kidnapped at gunpoint as he left a Mass.
Since then it got worse:
Abdullah al-Nawfali, who heads the Christian endowments fund, says there has been a sharp increase in the number of Christians leaving Iraq since the October 31 suicide attack on the Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad.

More than 50 Christians, including two priests, and seven policemen were killed when Iraqi security forces stormed the Baghdad church in which Islamic terrorists wearing explosive vests were holding worshippers hostage.

Nawfali says the number of Christians emigrating from Iraq in November -- immediately after the church siege – more than doubled from the previous month, and the rate of increase in December was even higher.

He says these statistics suggest that Iraq is in danger of losing its Christian community, which has lived for centuries alongside Muslims and other ethnic and religious groups.
To artist Garry Trudeau, Islamists aren't to blame for murdering and persecuting Christians. Iraq's government and army are blameless for not protecting their religious minorities. No, it is America's fault! Life was so great under Saddam Hussein - why can't we go back to running Iraq with a homicidal dictator?

When Copts inevitably flee Egypt for similar reasons, is Trudeau going to write any comics wishing that Mubarak was back in power? Or will he find a way to blame that on America as well?

We all know who is behind persecution of religious minorities in the Middle East. But some people just can't stop themselves from blaming Big Satan (and, inevitably, his little brother.)

Using Trudeau's logic, the publishers of the Mohammed cartoons are to blame for the people killed in the ensuing riots. Which is an interesting position for a political cartoonist to take.

Nour party spokesman claims he was "ambushed" by Israeli reporter

Posted: 22 Dec 2011 11:00 AM PST

From AP:
Al Nour spokesman Yusri Hammad
The spokesman of Egypt's ultraconservative Islamist party told Israeli Army Radio in unprecedented remarks broadcast Wednesday that the group is not opposed to the country's historic peace treaty with Israel.

Yousseri Hamad's interview with the Israeli broadcaster is unusual for followers of the Salafi Islamic trend, who typically shun Israel for its policies toward Palestinians and its annexation of east Jerusalem, home to Islam's third-holiest site.

The interview countered Israeli fears that Islamist parties would seek to cut ties with Israel.

In his remarks to the Israeli station, Hamad said the Salafi Nour Party is committed to agreements signed by previous Egyptian governments, including the 1979 peace treaty with Israel.
"We are not opposed to the agreement, and we are saying that Egypt is committed to the agreements that previous Egyptian government have signed," he said, noting that if Egyptians want changes on the treaty, "the place for that is the negotiation table."

In response to the interview, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the comments were worth considering.

"This is certainly food for thought and we will of course keep observing very attentively developments in Egypt," he said.

Salafi Muslims follow a strict interpretation of Islam similar to that practiced in Saudi Arabia. The Salafi Nour Party in Egypt has so far won a quarter of the seats in Egypt's parliamentary elections, placing it second only to the more moderate Muslim Brotherhood.

After the interview aired, Hamad told The Associated Press that he did not know he was talking to Israeli Army Radio, and he was told only it was for an Israeli broadcaster. He claimed that had he known, he would not have agreed to the Army Radio interview because "they occupy our Palestinian brothers."

He also said that his party "without doubt" supports changes to the agreement, including raising troop levels in the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel. He also said that there need to be guarantees for Palestinians.

"We call for full Sinai rights for Egypt and for our brothers in Palestine and occupied lands, and we see this as directly related to the agreement," he told the AP.
Al Ahram's account contradicts AP's:
Hammad, however, later said he had been "ambushed" by the Israeli reporter that conducted the interview, who, says Hammad, had introduced himself as an Iraqi journalist.

The interview had prompted surprise in Israel – and outrage in Egypt – that a member of Egypt's hard-line Salafist movement would grant an interview to an Israeli media outlet, especially one associated with the military.
He made the same claim to Al Arabiya:
Hammad told Al Arabiya.net that he received an anonymous phone call and when he started the conversation with the caller, the Israeli journalist at first presented himself as an Iraqi one and spoke with him in Arabic.

"If I knew [the caller being a journalist from the Isareli army radio station], I would not have talked to him," he said, adding "this is a media deceit and I reject such approach."

The spokesman said only at the end of the interview the journalist said that he is Israeli.

Speaking of Nour, Hudson-NY has a must-read piece saying that the party isn't really Salafi - but Wahhabi.

Financial Times refuses to correct Hamas claim

Posted: 22 Dec 2011 09:45 AM PST

The Financial Times wrote earlier this week:

The Islamist Hamas movement celebrated its 24th anniversary last week, with a mass rally in Gaza City that carried a clear and defiant message. "Armed resistance is the way, and it is Hamas's strategic choice to liberate Palestine," declared Ismail Haniyeh, the movement's leader in Gaza.

The same day, as if to remind the world of its violent heritage, the military wing published a list of its bloody achievements since 1987. Among other boasts, it claimed to have killed 1,365 Israeli soldiers, fired 11,093 rockets and mortars at Israel, and carried out 87 suicide bombings.
Honest Reporting called them out on the claim that Hamas had killed 1,365 Israeli soldiers - when in fact most of the dead are civilian,and obviously targeted as civilians - but the Financial Times refused to issue the correction:

thank your for your email, which I followed up with Tobias Buck , our Jerusalem bureau chief, and we don't feel a correction is warranted. The column clearly attributes its claims to Hamas in Gaza. The statement was carried on the official Qassam Brigades website and referred to "1385 Zionist soldiers". We and all other outlets tend to translate "Zionist" into "Israeli", since that is what they mean. Hamas was clearly not talking about civilians.

Honest Reporting correctly notes that since they didn't quote "Zionist" accurately it is disingenuous for them to quote "soldiers" without explanation.

But there is another small point that needs to be emphasized.

The English-language Qassam website did say that Hamas killed 1365 "Zionist soldiers." But at least one Hamas press release in Arabic simply said "Zionists."

From the Hamas-run Palestine Times:

The Information Office of the Qassam Brigades, military wing of Hamas, published today the official statistics on the number of martyrs and wounded, and the jihad operations carried out since the start of the Hamas movement, which started on this day December 14 twenty-four years ago. The Qassam Brigades said in a statement obtained by "Palestine Today." It states: "1848 martyrs, while killing 1365 Zionists and wounding 6411 others." The battalions confirmed they have been carried out 1117 the jihad operations, including 87 martyrdom operations, adding that "it bombed Zionist targets and settlements with 11,093 rockets and mortars." The Al-Qassam Brigades promised, in memory of the people, to start to move forward in the way of Jihad and resistance until the liberation of Palestine.

The Arabic al-Qassam website does say "soldiers" though, so I don't know if Palestine Today received a different copy or if they edited it to mean what everyone knows it means - except readers of the Financial Times.

(h/t Honest Reporting)

Jews peacefully visit their holiest site, Muslims freak out

Posted: 22 Dec 2011 08:30 AM PST

Once again, Muslims are up in arms over several groups of Jews visiting the Temple Mount, site of both historic Jewish Temples.

Palestine Press Agency quotes the always histrionic Al Aqsa Heritage Foundation, as they try to incite anger in the teeming Muslim masses by claiming that the "intruders," including students from Jewish schools, were "performing Talmudic rituals" for Chanukah at the holy site.

Even more outrageously, the groups were led by tour guides who explained the details of the destroyed Temples.

The article helpfully adds that "there was an atmosphere of tension and suspense in Al-Aqsa Mosque" during these awful events where the "settlers" were said to "storm" the Mount. Walking peacefully is considered "breaking in" and "storming" in the parlance of the Muslim supremacists who demand exclusive control over the Mount.

Sheikh Kamal Khatib, an Islamic leader in the territories, underscored the point by saying that "Masjid al-Aqsa is ours and ours alone."

The peaceful cleric also issued a veiled threat that the entire Muslim world would go to war if Jews continue to visit the Har HaBayit. "More than once in history, the Al Aqsa Mosque was the torch that destroyed the hopes of empires, and the Al Aqsa Mosque will be the flame in extinguishing the illusions of the Zionist project, because the Al Aqsa Mosque is part of the faith and doctrine of the hearts of 1.5 billion Muslims, not merely 13 million Palestinians. I advise Israel to realize that the continued violation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque...will translate into action for Arabs and Muslims, in true defense of the Al Aqsa Mosque, and we will never allow [the Jews] to continue desecrating and insulting it... It is not in [Israel's] favor and it will not benefit its people; especially considering the new reality and the changes that are occurring in the region."

Interestingly enough, I have never heard any EU member denounce words like these. I've never read an op-ed in the mainstream media about how Muslim supremacism and fanaticism regarding the Temple Mount is a recipe for a never-ending war. On the contrary - in the face of threats like these, the usual reaction is to agree with the Islamists that it is better not to upset the apple cart and risk angering hundreds of millions of Muslims.

Muslims see that their threats cow the liberal Westerners who pretend to be at the forefront of religious freedom for all.

This Western fear of irrational Muslims starting a holy war at the slightest pretext has a long history. 

Which is why threats and terror will continue to be effective.

Winter solstice appeal: Donate to EoZ

Posted: 22 Dec 2011 06:58 AM PST


This has been an amazing year for the blog, and it is all thanks to you for reading, Tweeting, Like-ing on Facebook, +1-ing on Google, linking and emailing the posts you liked.

This year the blog broke out of the mold of most websites and went in some new directions. It is no longer a blog - it is a one-person multimedia empire:

  • I gave a couple of lectures about Hasbara and received great feedback. You can watch one of them here.
  • I created two very popular poster series, "Apartheid?" and "This Is Zionism." They went viral. The blog received tens of  thousands of pageviews, but beyond that, they were reproduced and printed worldwide, translated into many languages, and sent in email chains by many people.
  • I also created a number of cartoons to illuminate the situation in the Middle East with some humor.
  • I had a regular writing gig for NewsRealBlog; unfortunately that site closed down.
  • I partnered with the excellent StandWithUs organization to help spread some of my posters.
  • I continued to create original videos and reproduce hard-to-find videos on my YouTube channel. 
  • I started doing video interviews of newsmakers, like Alan Dershowitz and Danny Ayalon.
  • And I also managed to blog! About 3000 posts, many with original reporting, analysis and scoops. I am fairly certain that most mainstream reporters would love to have dug up and reported as much information as was introduced on this blog. 
Although I am not great at self-promotion, somehow EoZ keeps gaining fans.

This year I've been quoted and linked to by journalists, pundits and news sources like Roger L. Simon, Melanie Phillips, CAMERA, Fox News NY, Israel Today, Honest Reporting, the GLORIA Center, the Algemeiner Journal, PJ Media, Hot Air, The Propagandist, The Jerusalem Post, The Philadelphia Jewish Voice, Commentary, The Spectator (UK), and The National Interest as well as numerous mentions in Memeorandum. (Not to mention the memorable time that the anti-Zionist +972mag thought they could ridicule me - when the joke was on them.)

A book due out early next year actually thanks me by my blog name, which may be the first time an anonymous blogger is acknowledged in a book!

Technorati, using its opaque algorithm, ranks this blog at the moment as #3 out of of all 16,000 World Politics Blogs they follow, and it is #31 out of 15,000 Politics blogs. Not bad for a one-person operation!

My Twitter followers have been steadily increasing, now at over 1850. About 2000 subscribe to the blog via SMS or email. Not huge, but growing, with more and more of my hits coming from social networking sites.

By the end of the year I will have gotten 1.7 million page views.

As you can imagine, I spend thousands of hours on these activities. And I have some plans for 2012 as well.

If you believe that all of this is worthwhile, please consider donating. Due to a boneheaded move on my part I lost my Google AdSense revenue and as I said I had made a little from writing for a website that no longer exists, so right now asking for money is the main way for me to get a little bit back for the huge amount of time I spend. I do not like asking for money, believe me.

You can donate by clicking on one of these two buttons:










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Thanks so much for all your support and the very kind compliments, and have a (choose appropriate wish for your circumstance) wonderful Chanukah, a Merry Christmas, a happy Kwanzaa, a joyous winter solstice, a tremendous Festivus and a Happy New Year!

"Siege" news: 500 Christian Gazans go to Bethlehem

Posted: 22 Dec 2011 05:53 AM PST

From AP:

Christian Palestinians leave Erez border crossing in the northern Gaza Strip December 22, 2011, as they make their way to the West Bank town of Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas. The Israeli army on Thursday gave permits to some 500 Christian Palestinians from Gaza to enter Israel as they make their way to Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas.
Gaza only has around 3000 Christians altogether.

Meanwhile, Egypt has countered Hamas claims that it did not allow some Gazans to go through Rafah, saying that Hamas had not gone through the normal procedures for allowing people through.

Islamic Jihad, Hamas to "temporarily" join PLO leadership? (updated)

Posted: 22 Dec 2011 02:40 AM PST

Ma'an reports:

President Mahmoud Abbas met Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal on Wednesday evening in Cairo to put "final touches" on an agreement to reconcile the leaders' rival factions.

Fatah leader in Gaza Yahiya Rabbah said the meeting is intended to agree on a final arrangement before the outcome is announced Thursday.

Thursday's meeting will be for what is being referred to as the temporary leadership of the PLO; it includes the executive committee, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and four independent personalities.

If true, this may be an alternative to the failed attempts in creating a "technocrat" unity government, by adding the leadership of terror groups to the PLO they would indirectly become the leaders of the PA (since the nominally democratic PA reports to the clearly non-democratic PLO.)

Even with the recent flood of false articles that Hamas is "moderating," it is obvious to all but the most dedicated of reality-deniers that Islamic Jihad has not changed its terrorist ways.

Which means that it is the PLO that is literally embracing terror, not terror groups embracing peace.

UPDATE: Fatah denies it.  (h/t CHA)
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