יום שני, 25 ביוני 2012

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder of Ziyon

How much do moderate, educated Lebanese hate Americans?

Posted: 24 Jun 2012 08:44 PM PDT

Lebanon is considered a moderate Arab country. And perhaps nowhere in Lebanon can be considered more liberal and pro-American than the American University of Beirut.

This year, AUB decided to present an honorary degree to Donna Shalala, a proud and well-accomplished Arab-American who was formerly the Secretary of Health and Human Services under the Clinton administration and who has headed a number of US colleges.

And when she thanked the university at the commencement ceremony, here is what happened:


Then came her keynote address. Here's what happened then:


As the Daily Star Lebanon reported:
Several dozen people disrupted the Master's graduation ceremony at AUB Friday evening to protest against the awarding of an honorary degree to Donna Shalala due to her support for engagement with Israel.

Shalala, president of the University of Miami in Florida and a former U.S. secretary of health, has three honorary degrees from universities in Israel, and does not support a cultural boycott of the country.

Around 40 protesters heckled Shalala as she began her speech of thanks, shouting "boycott Israel." Some held a large banner that read "Boycott Zionist Shalala."

Some other audience members, including graduates, ushers and parents, joined in the heckling, prompting Shalala to respond, "Let us welcome this demonstration of academic freedom."

In her keynote address later, Shalala, born in the U.S. to Lebanese parents, spoke of volunteer work that she carried out with UNRWA at a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon.

"Fifty years ago, my experience with Palestinians in the refugee camp seared me forever as an advocate for the people of Palestine and their statehood."
You cannot argue that Shalala is not pro-Palestinian. But since Shalala does not explicitly support the destruction of Israel, she is considered persona non grata in the American University in Lebanon, despite her impressive accomplishments as an American and as a person of Arab heritage.

This is how moderate Arabs act towards even the most sympathetic Arab-Americans who are not blindly anti-Israel.

A few Lebanese commenters on YouTube were embarrassed, but for the most part the Arabic press - and the English-language Lebanese press - either ignored the fracas or supported it.

Notice also that the supposedly racist state of Israel has given this person of Arab descent honorary degrees without any protests whatsoever from the Jews.

America has only one true friend in the Middle East.

Egypt tells UN that gays aren't "real people" (UPDATED: Video)

Posted: 24 Jun 2012 05:06 PM PDT

This is real.
From Bikya Masr:
An Egyptian delegation at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday has urged the body to focus its efforts on "real people" who need assistance in questioning the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

"Finally, concerning the highly controversial notion of sexual orientation, we can only reiterate that it is not part of the universally recognized human rights," said the Egyptian delegation at the UN Human Rights Council.

"We call on Mr. Kiai not to undermine the credibility and legitimacy of his important work in the eyes of real people who actually need it, especially in regions where such concepts are rejected by both its Christian and Muslim inhabitants like the Middle East," the statement added.

UPDATE: Here's the video, starting at around 11:50:



(h/t Benny)

Administrivia? Nah, just trivia

Posted: 24 Jun 2012 02:00 PM PDT

Two and a half years ago I wrote a quick review of the Google Nexus One which I bought as soon as it was released without waiting for a review. In the end, the phone served me well; the updates fixed a lot of the early glitches and it was a fine phone except for its memory limitations.

But the phone was not quite good enough for my new commute, where I am trying to blog on a netbook using the phone as a hotspot - the connection was intermittent. So I upgraded to the Google Nexus Galaxy last week.

So far, it rocks. It is running the latest Android OS - "Ice Cream Sandwich." The voice to text abilities are quite good, I can now speak continuously and it will transcribe it pretty well, as such things go. It is thin, with a large screen; I like the facial recognition unlock feature. And, so far, it has worked great during the commute.

I know that the Galaxy 3 just came out this week, but I am a fan of stock Android that gets updated immediately, so at the moment I believe I have the best phone on the market for me. (Although it appears that the battery life is not quite as good as I was hoping.)

I hadn't been to any movies lately, but I saw Men In Black 3 today. Yeah, I know, everyone has seen it already. But I noticed a mezuzah on the door of K's old apartment after he disappears in a time warp, which I thought was a nice touch.

I didn't realize that the writer was a religious Jew, Etan Cohen, who is now a hot writer in Hollywood. But the mezuzah wasn't his idea, it was the director's.

Cohen also wrote a number of Beavis and Butthead episodes as well as the really great dark comedy Tropic Thunder.

And he was born in Efrat, in Israel - so what's not to love?

Last week's top posts

Posted: 24 Jun 2012 12:00 PM PDT

Morsi wins Egypt, but don't worry: Jimmy Carter approves (UPDATED)

Posted: 24 Jun 2012 10:00 AM PDT

Although closer than expected, theMuslim Brotherhood Islamist candidate won the presidential election in Egypt:
The Muslim Brotherhood's presidential candidate, Mohamed Mursi, has been named the fifth president of Egypt after narrowly beating off competition from rival, Ahmed Shafiq, in the hotly-contested presidential elections' runoffs.
So now that Egypt has the Islamist Brotherhood in control of the presidency and in possible control of the Parliament after the legal issues are sorted through, should we be worried about freedom in Egypt?

Of course not! Jimmy Carter personally vouches for Morsi:
Carter said he knows the Western-educated Morsi "quite well" and that he appears committed to women's rights and the Egypt-Israel peace agreement.

"I've crossed-examined him in my own private way very thoroughly about adherence to the terms of a peace treaty for instance between Israel and Egypt that I happened to negotiate back in 1979. He assured me that he honored those terms and he's been quite an outspoken champion I would say of the basic four freedoms that should relate to any country," said Carter.
There ya have it!

And Jimmy's not alone in being happy at Morsi's win. His pals in Hamas are ecstatic as well, as is Islamic Jihad,  as are most Gazans.

(UPDATE) They are shooting in the air in joy. And so far, at least one has been killed and ten injured from all the happiness.

Sunday Links

Posted: 24 Jun 2012 08:00 AM PDT

From Ian:

New IDF Videos
Israel Air Force Targets Terrorist in Gaza, Prevents Rocket Attack on Israel

Israeli Army Druze Battalion


Another dog bites man story
European Islamic group praises Holocaust-denier
"Brussels-based Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE) mourned death of French Holocaust-denier Roger Garaudy."
[There have been daily news stories in the Arabic press praising Garaudy since he died. - EoZ]

Fatal failure to fight for right – Melanie Phillips
"Elements of the British Jewish leadership continue to raise eyebrows abroad by fatuously asserting that reports of anti-Jewish feeling in the UK are much exaggerated, while themselves stoking the anti-Israel fires by absurdly demonising Benjamin Netanyahu as the cause of the Middle East impasse.
There is here in both camps a failure to understand that effective defence means the fight must be taken to the enemy. The US neocons believed they had a duty to fight for what is right. And that is a Jewish position."

One million invisible people.
"As the sixth day of rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip upon one million civilians living in the south of Israel comes to a close, with a school (fortunately empty) hit today and a factory worker suffering injuries from shrapnel in his neck, it is interesting to note the images chosen by the Guardian in order to illustrate its somewhat sparse coverage of events."

Canadian Television Erroneously Omits Over 300 Gaza Rocket Attacks (VIDEO)

More on - Kenneth "let them have nukes" Waltz.
Kenneth N. Waltz – The Stupidest Strategist? by Daniel Pipes
"..Waltz has also published in the July/August issue of Foreign Affairs the single most preposterous analysis by an allegedly serious strategist of the Iranian quest for a nuclear weapon. His title and subtitle neatly sum up his argument: "Why Iran Should Get the Bomb: Nuclear Balancing Would Mean Stability."

Anti-QuAIA complainants intimidated, B'nai Brith Canada steps in, files complaint
"TORONTO – Pride Toronto's dispute resolution process, created to address complaints about the participation of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) in the Pride Parade July 1, has been discredited after the complainants' private information was published without their consent."

Leftists, not neo-Nazis, helped in Munich massacre
"Dr. Wolfgang Kraushaar sharply disputes 'Der Spiegel' article's emphasis on the role of neo-Nazis in the attack. "
Can't it be both?

Ankara says downed jet was over international waters, not spying on Syria

Ludwig "Poppa" Guttmann a German Jewish refugee who started the Para Olympics
SBS News (note expires in 4 days, might turn up on YT) Ludwig Guttman honoured by paralympians
Ludwig Guttmann: Founder of the Paralympics – YT Video

PalArabs blame Israel for another child they killed

Posted: 24 Jun 2012 06:00 AM PDT

WAFA yesterday reported:
A 5-year-old child was killed Saturday when Israeli jets fired a missile at a playground near Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip, according to initial reports.
There was a huge funeral for the boy, complete with articles about how his little brother won't have anyone to play with anymore and how journalists cried.

The only problem is that this story, like the one of the toddler supposedly killed early last week, is a lie.

As Arutz-7 reports:
IDF officials later revealed the story as a lie. There was no Israeli airstrike in the region in which the child was killed, they asserted.
The IDF spokesperson tweeted:
My info is that the explosion caused the death of the pales child today was because of an ordnance belonging to one of the terror groups
As with last time, Ma'an reported Israel's denial in English but not in Arabic. I could not find any reports in Arabic quoting Israeli officials, even for major wire services in Arabic. 


Meanwhile, GANSO seems to report of one Gazan being killed by a misfired rocket. In its SMS roundup of Saturday night and Sunday morning attacks, it says:
MU, 24 JUN: since 1800hrs yesterday, Pal. ops. fired 19 HMRs, 2 Grads and 6 Mortars toward the Green Line. 1 Pal. fatality and 2 injuries reported. IF fired 2 tank shells; neither explode. IF conducted 4 airstrikes. 2 fatalities and 10 injuries reported. Updates to follow as received.
The message is that 1 Palestinian Arab was killed because of a misfired rocket. (HMR is "home made rocket.")



PA buys Caterpillar equipment, BDS and Corries silent

Posted: 24 Jun 2012 03:51 AM PDT

I noted on Friday how the BDS crowd, led by the "Jewish Voice for Peace" and the parents of Rachel Corrie, had lied when they claimed that TIAA-CREF had divested from Caterpillar because of their attempts to boycott Israel.

Caterpillar has been a major target of the BDS crows for years because Israel has used their equipment to demolish illegal Palestinian Arab homes, and Rachel Corrie was supposedly crushed to death under a CAT bulldozer as she attempted to defend a house that was on top of a weapons smuggling tunnel. (In reality, she wasn't killed by the bulldozer, but that is their narrative.)

While the BDS crowd was crowing over their fake victory about Caterpillar and TIAA-CREF, however, there was a ceremony in Ramallah as the official Caterpillar dealer in Ramallah transferred several tractors to the Palestinian Authority!


It even made the news in the territories:



The company that sold the equipment is proud of its Palestinian and Caterpillar roots:

Palestinian Tractor is a truly Palestinian enterprise and is set to play a leading role in the country's economic and industrial development, as well as training and development to its Palestinian staff.

Palestinian Tractor and Equipment Co. Ltd. was established in 1995 as a sister company to Jordan Tractor and Equipment Co. and as an affiliate Company to M.E. JALLAD the dealer of Caterpillar Inc. in Lebanon and Syria since 1929. It is a part of Caterpillar dealers network established all over the world.

As a Caterpillar dealer, PT&E are able to bring to the country not only the finest quality products but also the expertise and the know how of a world leader in the productive use and management of machines that serve various segments of the market.

... As a Caterpillar dealer it is our aim to bring to the customer a quality product which is reliable and is best suited to his job requirements.

Yes, while BDS tries to demonize Caterpillar in the West, the PA is happily using Caterpillar equipment with no objections from the moralists of BDS.

Do the Corries or the rest of the BDS crowd have a problem with their beloved Palestinian Arabs buying equipment that they claim crushed the life out of her body? No, of course not!  It doesn't support their anti-Israel narrative, so they ignore it.


They support protests against Caterpillar in the US  but won't say a word about Caterpillar sales to Arab countries. Because they are hypocrites, who only care about demonizing Israel and not at all about Caterpillar.

(h/t Max and StandWithUs)
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