Elder of Ziyon Daily News

"Saudis Got Talent" show - no women, no music
PLO says Jerusalem Festival of Light is "Judaization"
PalArabs slam Abbas' indication of possible talks with Israel
Muslim clerics set their sights on conquering Spain - and the Vatican
Arab cartoons of the Six Day War (VIDEO)
Links!

"Saudis Got Talent" show - no women, no music

Posted: 10 Jun 2012 05:24 PM PDT

A Saudi city known for its ultraconservatism has created its own version of the "Arabs Got Talent" television reality show, but with no music and women banned from taking part.

Instead, competitors will be permitted to perform religious chants, recite poems and engage in sports events.

The contest is being held north of the capital in the city of Buraydah, known as a centre for Wahhabism – a strict interpretation of Islam that is followed in the desert kingdom.

"Buraydah's Got Talent" is the title of the contest which will abide by the strict rules of segregation between the sexes, meaning it is not open to women.

Music, singing and dancing are strict no-nos, despite being staples in "Britain's Got Talent" and similar talent competitions that have become a global viewing phenomenon with national versions televised in 32 countries.

The Saudi version, organised by the internet Buraydah Forum, will take place in the open air before a jury comprising a poet, a television producer and TV presenters, Al-Hayat newspaper reported, quoting forum supervisor Jalawi al-Shukair.

I wonder if they allow beheadings. It takes talent, after all.

PLO says Jerusalem Festival of Light is "Judaization"

Posted: 10 Jun 2012 11:30 AM PDT

The PLO has slammed the Jerusalem Festival of Lights, currently being held, as evidence that Israel is trying to "Judaize" Jerusalem.

In a statement, they said that this is "an escalation of the Judaization of the Holy City and to change its Arab and Islamic countries through a series of violations and the Israeli practices in the holy city and against its inhabitants, and we call on the international community to assume full responsibility for these practices. The "festival of lights" organized by Israel is currently celebrating the occupation of Palestinian and Arab territories and East Jerusalem, 1967, and these celebrations are held at the gates ofthe Al Aqsa Mosque as the Israelis dance on the blood and Palestinian rights violated by the Israeli occupation."

There is little about the Jerusalem Festival of Lights that is religious. Here's a video from 2010:

So when the PLO speaks in Arabic, they regard all Israeli actions in Jerusalem as "Judaization," not so much as "occupation." Because they know that their audience hates Jews; it is more effective as propaganda to repeat the charge of "Judaization" even when the actions of the Jerusalem municipality have nothing to do with Judaism.

PalArabs slam Abbas' indication of possible talks with Israel

Posted: 10 Jun 2012 09:25 AM PDT

From Ma'an:

President Mahmoud Abbas' offer to talk to Israel if it freed prisoners and allows more arms to Palestinian security forces represents a retreat from his previous demand for a settlement freeze, Palestinian political analysts told Ma'an.

On Friday, Abbas said he had informed Israeli envoys he would open a dialogue with Israel in exchange for arms allowances and released detainees, but stressed it wouldn't amount to full negotiations, reiterating his insistence on a total freeze on settlements.

But Chair of the Al-Quds University Humanitarian Department Imad Abu Kishik said the president's formulation was the wrong way round.

It is more important to agree the principle of establishing a Palestinian state on pre-1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, while other details, such as arms and releasing prisoners, will follow from this, he told Ma'an.

"Negotiations will be pointless if there is no agreement on the main principle," he said.

Abu Kishik said he believes Abbas is trying to meet international pressure to find a glimmer of hope for negotiations with Israel.

Palestinian analyst Talal Ukal said Abbas' stance "represented a retreat" in the Palestinian Authority's long-standing position that talks cannot resume without a settlement freeze.

It seems likely that the bizarre unilateral release of the bodies of scores of terrorists by Israel, touted as a "confidence building measure," was tied to this.

Meanwhile, Saeb Erekat is taking pains to say that even when the PLO talks to Israel they should never be considered "negotiations."

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sunday that while he has held secret talks with Israeli envoys, any return to full negotiations will depend on a full settlement freeze.

Erekat said he had discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's adviser Yitzhak Molcho while he delivered a letter from President Mahmoud Abbas to Netanyahu on April 17.

He described another meeting on May 7 when he went to receive Netanyahu's reply. Officially, Molcho delivered his premier's response to Abbas and Erekat in Ramallah on May 12. Meanwhile, Erekat suffered a mild heart attack on May 8 and said he was thus unable to hold more talks.

Israeli daily Haaretz reported Sunday that the envoys had held six or seven meetings in the last two months, prior to Erekat's heart attack, on the exchange of communiques, and Palestinian requests for goodwill gestures from Israel.

Erekat told Ma'an the Palestinian position remains based on a full settlement freeze and recognition of a Palestinian state on 1967 borders as the basis of full negotiations.

"Otherwise, we will end up repeating the previous rounds of negotiations," he said.

Sounds like the PLO is trying to have it both ways - telling the West that they are willing to "talk" while telling their own people that they will never "negotiate" without the preconditions they added around 2008 or 2009 and additional ones since then.

And note that even this limited, symbolic "talking" is being slammed by mainstream Palestinian Arab analysts as caving to international pressure.

Which side wants peace again?

Muslim clerics set their sights on conquering Spain - and the Vatican

Posted: 10 Jun 2012 07:45 AM PDT

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Lebanese cleric Amin Al-Kurdi, which aired on Al-Quds TV on June 3, 2012.

Interviewer: Some people in our Arab countries do not feel as optimistic as the people in Gaza. Somebody from Gaza told you that Jerusalem has become within reach.

Amin Al-Kurdi: They are now talking about the liberation of Andalusia, because they consider the liberation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and of Jerusalem to be a done deal, Allah willing. They now have their sights set on Andalusia, which the Muslims lost. They are convinced, because of their faith in Allah – and we are with them – that the liberation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is a done deal. It will be liberated, and Jerusalem and Palestine in its entirety will be in the possession of the Muslims.

He may be referring to this earlier interview a couple of weeks ago:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Dr. Subhi Al-Yaziji, dean of Koranic studies at the Islamic University of Gaza, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on May 25, 2012:

Subhi Al-Yaziji: The conquest of Andalusia is an old dream, something Muslims proudly hope for and will continue to hope for in the future.

[...]

We place our hopes in Allah and trust that the day will come when our triumph will not be restricted to Palestine. Our hopes go beyond that – to raise the banner of the Caliphate over the Vatican, the "Rome" of today, in accordance with the hadith of the Prophet Muhammad: "Constantinople shall be conquered and then Rome."

"First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people."

Arab cartoons of the Six Day War (VIDEO)

Posted: 10 Jun 2012 04:53 AM PDT

My post about Arab cartoons on the eve of and during the Six Day War received thousands of hits, so I made it into a video:

Links!

Posted: 10 Jun 2012 02:30 AM PDT

Last month:

TÁNAISTE EAMON Gilmore has said Ireland may push for the EU to ban goods from Israeli settlements if Israel does not quickly change its settlements policy in Palestinian territories.

Mr Gilmore has also said the Government may seek to have certain extremist settlers banned from the EU if they do not stop their violence in settlement areas.

Mr Gilmore said he spoke for the Government on these points. Asked if he thought Ireland's presidency of the EU next year would provide a platform to advance the Government's case, he said: "I do, yes." '

You can sign a petition against the EU banning Israeli goods from over an arbitrary 1949 armistice line here.

From Ian:
A must read article from Dore Gold
Why the Six-Day War still matters

"These details still matter forty-five years later. When the rights of the parties that claimed Jerusalem were debated after the Six-Day War, it became necessary to look into the circumstances of how each came to possess the city. Jordan's capture of Jerusalem in 1948 resulted from what had been described at the time by the U.N. secretary-general, Trygve Lie, as the first case of "armed aggression" since the Second World War. This stood in contrast to how Israel entered the eastern portions Jerusalem in 1967, that came about through what was plainly a war of self-defense. This distinction became glaringly apparent when the Soviet Union failed in its repeated efforts to have Israel branded as "the aggressor" in the Six-Day War first in the Security Council, in June 1967, and then a month later in the General Assembly."
"The great American legal scholar, Stephen Schwebel, who would become the President of the International Court of Justice in the Hague, was cognizant of this comparison for he wrote in 1970: "when the prior holder of territory had seized that territory unlawfully, the state which subsequently takes that territory in the lawful exercise of self-defense has, against the prior holder, better title." Israel had historical rights to Jerusalem that had been embedded in the British Mandate, but that was not part of the international discourse after 1967. Basing himself on the events of the Six-Day War, Schwebel concluded that Israel's claim to "the whole of Jerusalem" was stronger than that of Jordan's. His analysis was echoed at the time by his contemporaries like the British expert on international law, Elihu Lauterpacht and the Australian, Julius Stone."

Recipe for War: Unilateral Withdrawal from West Bank by Khaled Abu Toameh

"The case of Jenin, a city in the West Bank, is a good example of the weakness of the Palestinian Authority security forces, especially with regard to imposing law and order: Palestinian Authority officials have admitted that Jenin has been controlled over the past two years by Fatah militiamen and thugs who worked closely with many top Palestinian security officers, imposing a reign of terror and intimidation on the city's residents."

Syrian Rebels are using Hamas/ISM tactics aka get friendly Westerners killed for publicity.
UK journalist Syria rebels led me into death trap

In nod to Israel, Olympic committee says athletes thinking of discriminating should stay at home

Refusing to compete against an athlete because of nationality or religion would be a 'serious breach' of the Olympic code of ethics.

Richard Beinart and Peter Goldstone – Part II

Avram Grant accompanies England players visiting Auschwitz ahead of Euro 2012

State Dept Looks Other Way on Christian Slaughter in Middle East

"The bottom line: the State Department's Human Rights report fails to report Human Rights violations that are religious in nature, and that's either because reporting the deaths of Christians would shine a bad on the Islamists who are now in charge or because it would shine a bad light on the State Department that helped put them in charge (or both)."

Gallup Obama's 10 points off his 2008 pace with Jewish voters

Zawahiri's better half "I advise you to raise your children in the cult of jihad and martyrdom and to instil in them a love for religion and death"