Elder of Ziyon Daily Digest

Israel might become an exporter - of water!
Israeli company teaching kids math and science with Lego
"Infidel Santa" murdered
First Temple-period bulla found
Arab League "observers" in Syria not observing anything wrong
Abbas' demands violate Oslo (Yitzhak)
Singer satirizes PA, so Ramallah police stop his show
Mauritania claims to have broken Mossad spy ring
Another victim of the toy gun that "insults Aisha"

Israel might become an exporter - of water!

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 07:59 PM PST

A very important story that I had missed from a month ago (YNet only published it last week):

Israel's national water company signed a financing agreement to build a desalination plant, which officials said could allow drought-ridden Israel to export water to its neighbors upon completion in 2013.

Israel's ADL, a subsidiary of state-owned Mekorot, will build and operate the plant in the coastal city of Ashdod for 25 years, supplying 100 million cubic meters of desalinated water annually, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Israel is two-thirds arid and to avoid further depleting its fresh water sources it has become a world leader in desalination and wastewater recycling. The new Ashdod plant will join four other desalination facilities that to provide, by the end of 2013, 85% of the country's household water consumption.

"In the coming years we will be able to return water to nature and even sell water to our neighbors," said Energy and Water Minister Uzi Landau.

The Finance Ministry had previously put a $400 million price tag on the plant, which will use reverse-osmosis to desalinate seawater from the Mediterranean.

Israel produces about 2 billion cubic meters of water annually. I think that the idea of export is quite a few years away.

Even so, this is big news.

Israeli company teaching kids math and science with Lego

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 01:45 PM PST

From Israel21C:

Sometimes the best ideas are born of misfortune.

"The project started when I was injured in an accident during my military service and was forced to spend seven months at home, on crutches," says Amir Asor, who went on to conceive uniquely innovative programs that teach children the intricacies of engineering as they play with Lego.

From a diversion, internalizing the thought process behind lego model-building became a mission for Asor during that period. "I had the time and frame of mind to explore the possibilities, and built dozens of prototypes of each idea," he tells ISRAEL21c.

Still only 26, he now heads the Decade Group, a rapidly growing business that conducts extracurricular programs for schoolchildren around Israel, and has just won the prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year prize from Britain's Youth Business International non-profit organization.

The video really picks up around the 3:30 mark when you see kids building his team's designs on their own.

I want that!

"Infidel Santa" murdered

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 12:20 PM PST

From Russia Today:

A young man dressed up as Father Frost, the Russian counterpart of Santa Claus, has been brutally killed in Tajikistan. The assailants reportedly shouted "infidel" as they stabbed him to death.

The tragedy unfolded in the capital, Dushanbe, on Sunday night. Parviz Davlatbekov put on a traditional Father Frost costume to visit his friends and celebrate New Year with them. But before reaching his destination, the 24-year-old encountered a group of youths who beat him up and stabbed him. He died in hospital shortly after.

According to some local media and reports on social networks, the attackers were Muslim radicals who had targeted Davlatbekov for wearing a Father Frost outfit. They are said to have called their victim an infidel during the attack. Reports say some 30 people participated in the killing.

However, the religious motive is being denied by the police, who say they are treating the killing as an ordinary, secular crime. Three people have been detained for their role in the assault, all of whom are university students.

That's funny. I was sure that Santa was always targeted by Zionists, not Muslims. At least that's what leftist darling cartoonist Carlos Latuff - an anti-semite who has been praised by the BBC, the Guardian and Reuters - tells his many fans:

It almost looks like the murderers used Latuff's cartoon as a model.

(h/t Serious Black)

First Temple-period bulla found

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 11:00 AM PST

From Bible History Daily and The Temple Mount Sifting Project:

Jerusalem archaeologist Gabriel Barkay announced this week that the Temple Mount Sifting Project has discovered a fragment of a seventh-century B.C.E. clay bulla impressed with the ancient Hebrew inscription [g]b'n lmlk, or "Gibeon, for the king." According to Barkay, the bulla is evidence for royal taxation of different Judahite cities, in this case the town of Gibeon. More than 50 other such "fiscal bullae" are already known, but most lack contextual information. "All the fiscal bullae known until now come from the antiquities market, and our bulla is the first one to come from a controlled archaeological project," wrote Barkay on the project's Web site. "This bulla enables us to fully illuminate and discuss the entire phenomenon of the fiscal bullae."

The bulla originates from the eastern slope of the Temple Mount, descending into the Kidron Valley.

The [full collection of] bullae include names of 19 different cities of Judah, and dates of the reign of one of the Judean kings, usually in hieratic numerals, as well as the particle "lmlk", "for the king". ...The fiscal bullae represent a taxation system from the different Judean cities, based on yearly taxes, which probably replaced the previous one, reflected in the royal Judean jars and their seal impressions, from the time of King Hezekiah. The discussion includes the characteristic details of the taxation systems of the Samaria Ostraca and the "lmlk" jars, in comparison to the fiscal bullae. A detailed discussion of 13 different arguments is brought to suggest the dating of the fiscal bullae to the time of King Manasseh, Hezekiah's son (698-642 BCE). The mentioning of Lachish in some of the bullae is directly connected to the question of the date of the reconstruction of that city's level II. The city is mentioned to pay its taxes in the 19th and 21st regnal years, which could not be in the reign of Hezekiah as the city was destroyed by Sennacherib in 701 BCE, which was Hezekiah's 14th regnal year. According to our suggestion, Lachish was restored after being in ruins for about 16 years, by King Manasseh, rather than Josiah, as previously suggested.

The discovery of the fiscal bulla with the name of Gibeon from the slope of the Temple Mount, authenticates all the other fiscal bullae, and enables us to study a variety of subjects connected to the history of Judah in the 7th century BCE.

Those Jews, always pretending to have been in Israel for more than 63 years.

(h/t Dan)

Arab League "observers" in Syria not observing anything wrong

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 09:30 AM PST

From Global Arab Network:

Syrian Democracy activists on denounced as "unprofessional" an Arab League observer mission in Syria, after the bloc's chief admitted snipers were still active in the country despite their presence.

The mission has been mired in controversy since the first observers arrived on December 26, with activists accusing Syria's regime of keeping the monitors on a short leash as it presses on with its lethal crackdown on dissent.

Meanwhile, as unrelenting violence continued, French President Nicolas Sarkozy demanded his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad step down for overseeing "disgusting" massacres against his own people.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said security forces killed three civilians in the central city of Homs, even as state television reported observers were in the Homs region.

The group also reported two more civilian deaths in Hama, and said 18 members of the security services died during clashes with army deserters in the southern city of Daraa.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi, in his first remarks since the observers arrived, defended the mission, saying it had secured the release of political prisoners and the withdrawal of tanks from cities.

However, "there are still snipers and gunfire. There must be a total halt to the gunfire," he told reporters on Monday.

There have actually been dozens of murders since the observers arrived. 29 were killed Tuesday alone.

Political cartoonists have been noticing this:

(h/t gidon)

Abbas' demands violate Oslo (Yitzhak)

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 08:15 AM PST

From commenter Yitzhak:

There is an interesting aspect of Abbas' demand that there be a 'halt' to what he terms the construction of 'settlements'. The word 'settlement' itself is carefully chosen to convey the sense of illegality and illegitimacy which Abbas desires to associate with Jewish presence in a land that has quite literally been Jewish for millenia, and which was Arab for nineteen years - and even then, only because of a crime against international law committed by the Jordanians in 1948.

Much more insidious, however, is Abbas's demand that Israel not build in these areas. The very act of making such a demand constitutes a violation of the Oslo Accords, or more precisely of the Interim Agreements between the Israelis and the Arabs, signed and witnessed by the European Union, Egypt, Jordan, Russia, and Norway, and of course by the United States, on 28 September 1995 (see Article XVII, para. 1). See inter alia annex to UN document A/48/486-S/26560 dated 11 October 1993.

If you consult the above documentation, in particular Article 27 of Annex III (Civil Affairs Annex), you will note that full rights for construction powers are granted to the respective authorities (in this case, the Israeli Government, and the 'PA' or 'Palestinian Authority'). Judea & Samaria were split into three zones: A, B and C. In Zone A, all control (including security) was handed over to the PA. In Zone B, all control except security, was handed over to the PA. Only in Zone C - which includes Israeli villages and Israeli military installations, was full control retained by the Israeli authorities. In all of these zones (including C), the situation was agreed upon by the Israelis, the 'Palestinians', and was given official sanction in the aforementioned UN documents (supra).

So in fact, it is legal and moral nonsense, to refer to Israel as 'the occupying power' in any of the above zones, or to assert that Israel must 'halt construction' in Zone C. During the discussions which led to the Interim Agreement of 1995, the PA had requested the addition of a 'side letter' which would restrict construction in Zone C. This request was ultimately withdrawn.

As for the 'settlements' themselves, the usual rationale for 'illegality' is that their existence is a violation of the IV Geneva Convention. This is not the case, because Article II of the aforementioned Convention deals with 'partial or total occupation' of the territory of a High Contracting Party. As Jordan's seizure and subsequent annexation of Judea & Samaria came about following a war of aggression, Jordan does not enjoy this status. (International Law, Malcolm N. Shaw, Fifth Edition, Cambridge University Press 2003, pp. 1061-1063. See also Article XLII, Hague Regulations 1907 and A. Gerson, Israel, the West Bank and International Law). To accord the status of 'High Contracting Party' to Jordan from 1948 onwards would be to legitimize a posteriori armed aggression and land theft. [Obviously, the PLO is not a "high contracting party" either. - EoZ]

The second reason the Convention does not apply can be found in Paragraph 6 of Article XLIX, which states: 'The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies'. To quote Prof. Eugene V. Rostow, former dean of Yale Law School and US Under Secretary of State, 'The Jewish settlers in the West Bank are most emphatically volunteers. They have not been "deported" or "transferred" to the area by the Government of Israel, and their movement involves none of the atrocious purposes or harmful effects on the existing population it is the goal of the Geneva Convention to prevent'.

Also, to cite Professor Julius Stone (former Challis Professor of Jurisprudence and International Law at the University of Sydney and visiting Professor of Law at the University of New South Wales), 'Irony would...be pushed to the absurdity of claiming that Article 49(6), designed to prevent repetition of Nazi-type genocidal policies of rendering Nazi metropolitan territories judenrein, has now come to mean that...the West Bank...must be made judenrein and must be so maintained, if necessary by the use of force by the government of Israel against its own inhabitants. Common sense as well as correct historical and functional context excludes so tyrannical a reading of Article 49(6)'.

I repeat: there is no legal impediment whatsoever to Israeli construction in Zone C, and this is where the currently disputed 'settlements' are located. By demanding that construction be halted, Mahommed Abbas is committing yet another violation of the Oslo Accords (as he did when he went to the UN in September of 2011), and showing that neither he nor his 'Palestinian Authority' can be trusted.

I would add that the PLO leaders regularly say that Israel, by continuing to build in the areas of existing communities, are violating "signed agreements." They seem to be referring to the Roadmap of 2003. But Israel made clear at the time that it did not accept certain parts of the roadmap, and spelled them out.

Singer satirizes PA, so Ramallah police stop his show

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 06:58 AM PST

From (of all places) The Electronic Intifada:

At the Palestinian New Year's festival at Arafat Square in Ramallah, musician Basel Zayed and his group Turab were prevented from completing their music concert by the Palestinian police because the group sang "El-Doleh" ; a satirical song about the Palestinian promised state. The police issued a statement regarding preventing Basel Zayed's group from continuing their concert, the statement says that the police reacted in order to maintain security because the song has provoked the feelings of the audience. Basel Zayed has strictly denied that his song has provoked anyone's feelings; rather he said that the audience were happy and large crowds were enjoying the concert.

Basel Zayed's group, along with many other Palestinian artists, musicians, and dance troupes, were part of the Palestinian public New Year's festival held in Ramallah. This festival was entirely organized on a short notice by Palestinian youth as a response to some New Year's parties hosting Israeli singers and performers in Ramallah.

Refuting the official statement issued by the police, Basel said that audience were happy and unprovoked at all by his song, he is used to sing this song at many concerts and no one has ever had any issue with it.

The song "Doleh", as Basel puts it, is a sarcastic commentary about the state promised for the Palestinian people. It is also a message to the Palestinian leadership and the world that Palestinians don't want half states and half solutions anymore. He continues to say that the song also raises the issues of freedom of speech and questions the kind of a state that is being negotiated on the Palestinians' behalf by people who do not officially represent the Palestinian people.

Notice that the article has no problem with the same police stopping a concert by an Israeli Druse singer - because he was Israeli.

Like all hypocrites, Electronic Intifada is all for freedom of expression - but only for those they agree with.

Al Arabiya covers both events as well.

Mauritania claims to have broken Mossad spy ring

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 05:50 AM PST

From Israel HaYom:

Mauritanian media reported Tuesday that the West African nation had nabbed "the largest Mossad spy ring in the country's history." The spy ring includes several businesspeople and "activists from various Arab states," the reports added.

Mauritania's security officials remarked that the capture of the spy network was made possible thanks to careful surveillance over time. They cited "suspicious activity" as having sparked the investigation.

The Islamic Republic of Mauritania is currently ruled by a government headed by Gen. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who took charge after a military coup in 2008, abdicated his position in 2009, and won nationwide elections that year, becoming president of the country. The country was affected by the "Arab Spring" uprisings that swept through several Arab countries in 2011, with hundreds of people taking to the streets of Nouakchott, the capital city.

The El Hourriya newspaper in Mauritania goes into details on how a single alleged spy, a Jordanian, was allegedly recruited by the Mossad.

Hezbollah's Al Manar gives details:

The espionage network was revealed after the police arrested an agent, named as Fares al-Banna, who was recruited by a tourism agency.

The police found documents with the suspect, including a letter addressed to the Emirati embassy in Mauritania, in which he confirmed he is ready to confess information related to the assassination of [Palestinian figure Mahmoud] Mabhouh in Dubai, and the explosion of the Ethiopian plane in Lebanon. The suspect also vowed in the letter that he would reveal detailed information about an Israeli espionage network in Mauritania.

The daily stated that the Mauritanian authorities have opened an investigation on the issue in order to pursue details in this case.

The Mauritanian article claims that the Ethiopian Airlines crash was meant to kill senior Hezbollah leaders who were supposed to be on the plane.

Hezbollah has denied that any of its officials were meant to be on that flight.

Al-Banna, who is a Palestinian Arab with Jordanian citizenship, said that he was instrumental in creating a front company to recruit other Arab spies, pretending to sell timeshares. The company was called "Gateway to the World." At one point, he claims, Mauritanian authorities raided the offices, thinking it was a front for prostitution, but were embarrassed to find out it was legitimate.

The idea that the Mossad would trust a Jordanian Palestinian who has no ideological reason to support Israel with secrets on two highly sensitive operations is beyond absurd.

(h/t CHA)

Another victim of the toy gun that "insults Aisha"

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 02:58 AM PST

From AFP:

The owners of a Jordanian company have been charged with inciting sectarian strife for importing toy guns with voices that say "kill Aisha," one of the Prophet Mohammed's wives, a judicial official said Wednesday.

"Prosecutors in Amman charged the importers on Tuesday with inciting sectarian strife and sent them to the state security court over charges of insulting the prophet's wife," the official told AFP.

The voice in the plastic space handgun says "kill Aisha" in a clear Arabic-language reference to the prophet's wife, the official added without elaborating on the origin of the toy.

Local news reports said "authorities confiscated the toys in a shop in the southern city of Karak after complaints from citizens."

Prominent MP Khalil Attieh has demanded that Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh investigate "this heinous crime."

Aisha was a favored wife of Mohammed.