יום שני, 9 בינואר 2012

Elder of Ziyon Daily Digest

Elder of Ziyon Daily Digest

Western Union shuts down Gaza operations

Posted: 08 Jan 2012 06:55 PM PST

From Ma'an:
International money transfer service Western Union has stopped its service to many currency exchange stores in the coastal enclave over concerns about money laundering, [Palestinian Monetary Authority Governor Jihad] al-Wazir said.

While the currency centers were able to use Money Gram and Money Express, the PMA was working to resolve the Western Union shutdown as soon as possible, he added.
Money laundering in Gaza? Geez. What's the world coming to when you can't trust funders of terrorists who shoot rockets at innocent civilians to be honest in their business dealings?

Haniyeh: "We will not lay down our arms"

Posted: 08 Jan 2012 12:15 PM PST

From AFP:
The prime minister in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Sunday promised "difficult days" for Israel, and at a rally in Tunis urged Arab Spring revolutionaries to fight for an independent Palestine.

Ismail Haniya received an ovation from the crowd of some 5,000 men, women and children gathered in a stadium waving Palestinian, Tunisian and Hamas flags.

"We promise you that we will not cede a single part of Palestine, we will not cede Jerusalem, we will continue to fight and we will not lay down our arms," he said, urging "the people of the revolution to fight the army of Al-Quds" as Jerusalem is known in Arabic.

"To Tunisia we say: 'It is us today who are going to build the new Middle East'."

Haniya insisted "We will not recognise Israel", as the crowd chanted: "Death to Israel", "The Tunisian revolution supports Palestine", and "The army of Mohammed is back".
Some wiped their feet on the Star of David.

Haniya's visit does not sit well with representatives of the Palestinian Authority led by president Mahmud Abbas, with a source telling AFP: "The Palestinians are furious."

Jews in Tunisia asked the government earlier Sunday to take steps to avoid a repeat of anti-Semitic slogans chanted during the Hamas leader's visit.

Islamist activists welcoming Haniya were heard chanting slogans like: "Kill the Jews, it is our duty", along with anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian messages.
I'm sure when they say "death to Israel" they mean it metaphorically, like "jihad" and "intifada" and "resistance." Nothing to worry about here.

(h/t CHA)

Work accident!

Posted: 08 Jan 2012 10:00 AM PST

22-year old Jihad Anwar al-Habib was killed this morning "while performing a Jihad mission," according to Islamic Jihad's Al Quds Brigades.

Unfortunately, Islamic Jihad didn't describe the circumstances of his death. His face was mostly intact, though.



There was a large funeral for the mujahid in Gaza City.

The sheikh who spoke exhorted the crowd not to be fooled by the tricks and ploys of those who are calling for "popular resistance." He also reminded them that Habib's blood was not spilled in vain.

May many more jihadists follow precisely in his footsteps.

Arab pride will ensure no unity between Hamas and Fatah

Posted: 08 Jan 2012 08:35 AM PST

I've been covering the increasingly hostile spat between Hamas and Fatah over what appears to be a minor incident: Fatah members being forced to wait at the Erez crossing to enter Gaza.

The Fatah members left in a huff, saying that Hamas disrespected them; Hamas responded by saying it will charge one of them with blasphemy for "cursing God."

Now Fatah has again increased the rhetoric. The Fatah Central Committee is demanding an apology from Hamas for how they treated their members.

And if they don't get it, they will re-assess the entire idea of unification with Hamas.

They also called on their "Arab brothers" to be aware of "Hamas' tricks" in Gaza.

They also said
Some of the leaders of Hamas in Gaza have blood on their hands with the blood of our people and our movement; they are not in a position to accuse, for it is they who should be tried for their crimes against the Palestinian national project and the right of freedom fighters of our people as well as their insistence on deepen and consolidate the division that serves only the Israeli occupation and the few leaders of Hamas in Gaza who benefit.

They further said that Hamas' threats to charge one Fatah member with blasphemy are "threats, lies, and an inappropriate use of religion to pour oil on the fire of division."

Hamas today responded by accusing Ramallah of not providing adequate medicines for Gaza.

This incident sheds light not only on why the entire "unity" scenario is a sham, but on why peace with Israel is impossible.

Here we have a case of wounded pride, of Fatah members feeling slighted, and it has turned into the equivalent of an international incident between the two sides, with rhetoric that one simply would not see outside the Muslim world. No one is even attempting to back down or to tone down the rhetoric - on the contrary, they are bringing up old grievances.

Both sides hate each other, and even though their leaders will grimace in their vain attempt to "unify" so they can fight Israel, there is no unity there, and there never will be. If there ever is an election (something that Mahmoud Zahar yesterday said would not happen by May as scheduled) the losing side is likely to ignore the results and keep whatever territory they already rule. Arab pride will not allow admitting defeat, or guilt.

If this is how Hamas and Fatah talk to each other when they are trying their hardest to pretend to be unified, how can anyone ever think that there could be peace between them and Israel?

Morning links

Posted: 08 Jan 2012 07:10 AM PST

"Popular resistance" - 4 terrorists with 12 bombs, gun and knife caught at one of those inhumane checkpoints

Stonegate: Divisions in Hamas' leadership exposed in Sudan

Abbas' honoring a child-murderer is ignored by the Left

Volume of trade between India and Israel is now $5 billion annually; expected to triple when a free trade agreement is signed later this year. Sorry, Israel-haters.

Solving a problem begins by calling it by its proper name, at Treppenwitz

You know how the Left pretends to be against discrimination? Well, that doesn't apply to the ultimate evil of Jews wanting to live in their ancient homeland. Left wing group petitions High Court against allowing a Jewish settler from being a judge.

Over 100 mosques attacked over the past five years - in the Netherlands.

Israeli ophthamologists from Tel Hashomer Hospital go to Nablus to help treat eye diseases, do a surgery marathon. A young boy asked why the Jews were helping his grandfather; his parents answered "not all Jews are bad."

The biggest kids' store in the Middle East is in Israel - and owned by an Israeli Druse.

A flashmob of religious and secular women in Bet Shemesh:



Israelis saving the world again: an artificial pancreas.

US: MB will honor peace treaty. MB: No, we won't.

Posted: 08 Jan 2012 05:45 AM PST

Who are you going to believe?

From Ha'aretz on Friday:
The Muslim Brotherhood gave the United States assurances regarding the maintaining of Egypt's peace deal with Israel, a top U.S. official said on Thursday, despite recent comments by party leaders claiming that the 1979 treaty did not bind Cairo's new regime.

From Israel HaYom today:
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood on Saturday denied remarks made by U.S. State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland that the Islamist group made guarantees to the U.S. that it would continue to respect Egypt's peace treaty with Israel.

In an interview over the weekend with the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper, the deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, Essam Arian, said, "We never promised that we would honor the peace treaty with Israel. The treaty is not sacred and we can and should make changes in it."

Another senior member of the party told the London-based newspaper Asharq Alawsat, "The movement's position is not to recognize the Zionist entity and not to recognize peace agreements with hostile entities, and this position will never change."

The truth? Egypt simply cannot risk the billions of dollars it receives from the US every year, so the Muslim Brotherhood will do the minimum necessary to appease the US while dismantling every discernible manifestation of an actual peace with Israel.

The ally from hell (Goldberg/Ambinder)

Posted: 08 Jan 2012 03:40 AM PST

From Jeffrey Goldberg and Marc Ambinder in The Atlantic:
Nuclear-weapons components are sometimes moved by helicopter and sometimes moved over roads. And instead of moving nuclear material in armored, well-defended convoys, the SPD prefers to move material by subterfuge, in civilian-style vehicles without noticeable defenses, in the regular flow of traffic. According to both Pakistani and American sources, vans with a modest security profile are sometimes the preferred conveyance. And according to a senior U.S. intelligence official, the Pakistanis have begun using this low-security method to transfer not merely the "de-mated" component nuclear parts but "mated" nuclear weapons. Western nuclear experts have feared that Pakistan is building small, "tactical" nuclear weapons for quick deployment on the battlefield. In fact, not only is Pakistan building these devices, it is also now moving them over roads.

What this means, in essence, is this: In a country that is home to the harshest variants of Muslim fundamentalism, and to the headquarters of the organizations that espouse these extremist ideologies, including al-Qaeda, the Haqqani network, and Lashkar-e-Taiba (which conducted the devastating terror attacks on Mumbai three years ago that killed nearly 200 civilians), nuclear bombs capable of destroying entire cities are transported in delivery vans on congested and dangerous roads. And Pakistani and American sources say that since the raid on Abbottabad, the Pakistanis have provoked anxiety inside the Pentagon by increasing the pace of these movements. In other words, the Pakistani government is willing to make its nuclear weapons more vulnerable to theft by jihadists simply to hide them from the United States, the country that funds much of its military budget.
The article gets even scarier after that.

(h/t Yoel)
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