Elder of Ziyon Daily News

UNDP says Gaza only has 8 AIDS patients; sends 100 people to conference
Work accident!
Wednesday links
What we call peace, they call "collaboration"
Iran's cyberwar against Israel
Deadly terror attack against Israelis in Bulgaria (updated)
Egypt being "even-handed" between the PA and Hamas
The Assad regime is falling apart
Honor killing in Gaza

UNDP says Gaza only has 8 AIDS patients; sends 100 people to conference

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 07:00 PM PDT

From the United Nations Development Programme:

Gaza Strip, 11 June 2012 – 40 journalists and 60 representatives from the national HIV and AIDS committee, UN agencies, civil society and government institutions completed a three-day workshop on strengthening the response to HIV and AIDS in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The workshop aimed at providing broad areas of training to strengthen the role of UN organizations and partners, from local and national institutions, in response to HIV and AIDS in the occupied Palestinian territory. The workshop also developed the participants' leadership skills in order to reduce the stigma and convey accurate messages and facts on HIV and AIDS. The workshop was organized by UNDP through the Global Fund to fight HIV and AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and facilitated by experts from Egypt.

During the workshop, Dr Majdi Thhair, Director of Preventive Medicine in the Ministry of Health, thanked the Global Fund Programme for organizing the workshop and funding the training of two doctors from the Gaza Strip in HIV and AIDS medical treatment and psychological support.

According to the Ministry of Health, the cumulative number of patients with HIV or AIDS since 1987 reached 72 cases in the occupied Palestinian territory. There are 29 cases in the Gaza Strip, eight of whom are still alive and receiving treatment and support from the UNDP Global Fund programme.

There is no indication that anyone from the West Bank attended, so this was really a seminar for Gaza alone.

A hundred people to cover how Gazans deal with only eight AIDS patients?

Of course, there are far more than eight people with AIDS in Gaza, the number is absurdly low. (In the West Bank it is low as well.) But UNDP's press release reveals no skepticism about Hamas' and the PA's official numbers, which means that either it is wasting a huge amount of time and money that could have been better spent elsewhere, or the agency is just to scared to point out that Hamas is the reason for the stigma about diagnosing AIDS.

Either way, the people in the UNDP look like clowns.

I emailed the contact person on the press release two days ago but received no response. Of course.

(h/t Gidon Shaviv, Israel Research Fellow)

Work accident!

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 03:20 PM PDT

A member of the Popular Resistance Committees, Abdul Rahman Abbaba, 24, was killed Wednesday evening in an explosion at a PRC terror training site west of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.

The Nasser Saladin Brigades, military wing of the PRC, called him a "martyr" and said that he died while performing a "mission of jihad."

The PRC is one of those terror groups that are tiny compared to Hamas, but big enough to ensure that they have veto power over any potential peace agreement. Which is reason #9488 why peace is impossible.

But for now - break out the candy!

Wednesday links

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 01:30 PM PDT

From Ian:

Israel Says Syria Pulls Troops from Golan to Suppress Revolt Elsewhere

"In the briefing, the general said that satellite images show that Mr. Assad's forces are directing artillery at highly populated regions and acting "extremely brutally, which displays their desperation and indicates they are unable to find more efficient solutions to pacify the uprisings."

Now They Are Slaughtering Palestinians by Khaled Abu Toameh

"What is clear is that this massacre of Palestinians has received little attention in the international media. Most of the Arab countries, as well, which treat Palestinians as second-class citizens and subject them to apartheid systems, do not seem to care about the ongoing massacres against Palestinians in particular and Syrians in general."

A-G: Israeli law is applicable on Temple Mount

"Filed Sunday, by the Temple Mount Faithful group, the petition claims infrastructure work carried out to strengthen the Dome of the Rock is harming the Foundation Stone, the large stone on which the Ark of the Covenant is believed to have rested."
"The group said work carried out by the Wakf Islamic trust is not under the supervision of the Israeli authorities and is damaging the holiest site in Judaism."
"There are some people who want to make noise, claiming that the work is damaging," he said, "but all of the work being done there are is under supervision of the Israel Antiquities Authority without any kind of damage to any antiquities."

Report Shows How HSBC Maintained Its Ties With One Of Osama Bin Laden's Key Benefactors
This story broke in Israel a few days ago: 'HSBC ignored financial transactions to Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas'

Chilling archives of French Jews deported to Auschwitz shown for 1st time to public

French paper Liberation prints Mohamed Merah transcript

"Earlier this month, relatives of Merah's victims said they were "outraged" after TF1 broadcast parts of the conversation, and their lawyers said they would seek an injunction to block further broadcasts."

Saudi survey shows high number of women suffer low self worth

"A whopping 90 percent of Saudi women are not satisfied with their appearance, according to a study conducted by a health intelligence office in the kingdom's eastern region."

Palestinian Media Watch:
Fatah summer camp named after female terrorist Mughrabi, who led killing of 37 in bus hijacking
Abbas and PA leaders attend Fatah performance presenting Israel as "Palestine"
Arab member of Israeli parliament Ahmed Tibi attends Fatah performance presenting Israel as "Palestine"

From the BBC Olympics website – Palestine is a country with East Jerusalem as its Capital
From Daphne Anson: Palestinian Statehood Confirmed – By The BBC
But there's more:
Palestine
Key Facts - Capital East Jerusalem
Israel
Under Key Facts no mention of a Capital!
I checked all 32 counties on the page with Israel, only Ivory Coast doesn't have a capital listed.
Also the map for "Palestine" is zoomed way out with only a Palestine marker, the Israel map is correct and only shows Jerusalem, so that's something.

Also:
Eritrean regime cashes in on arms and human trafficking, says UN report

A multimillion-dollar arms trafficking industry that is funding the Eritrean military regime is behind the kidnap, torture and ransom of thousands of Eritrean refugees, according to a leaked report to the UN security council.

An investigation by the Somalia and Eritrea monitoring group has uncovered a trafficking highway running from the Eritrean highlands through Sudan's refugee camps into the Sinai desert, delivering arms to militant groups, and Eritrean asylum-seekers to Bedouin gangs, who use starvation, electrocution, rape and murder to extort up to $40,000 (£25,000) from relatives in the Eritrean diaspora for their release.

According to witness testimony, part of the arsenal smuggled from Eritrea is sold to Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. This industry, run jointly by Eritrean officials, Sudanese and Egyptian smuggling gangs, is estimated to generate more than $10m a year.

(h/t Yoel)

What we call peace, they call "collaboration"

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 12:00 PM PDT

The IDF's COGAT brings us another of those little-reported stories that illustrate how different things are on the ground compared to what we hear from the media.

Those who stayed at the Grand Beach Hotel in Tel Aviv in recent days probably observed a group of approximately 45 Palestinian foresters, who came for a 3-day training workshop on the subject of forest preservation. The workshop took place through financing and planning provided by the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria and in cooperation of the Israel National Fund and the Forest Department at the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture.

"This is the third workshop we've held with the Israel National Fund and the Forest Section at the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture", explained the Agriculture Headquarters Officer at the Civil Administration, Mr. Samir Muadi. "The purpose of this workshop is to tighten the relationship and cooperation, to preserve the forests, to carry out information exchange between both parties and to train the foresters of the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture and the Agriculture Headquarters Officer".

The whole workshop was planned and funded by the Civil Administration that cared for the permit issuances for the foresters and financed the travel and hotel accommodation. Among the foresters, 12 Palestinian foresters who work at the Civil Administration were also present and also participated in the workshop in order to refine their professional knowledge in their field of expertise.

"A forest requires correct tending, correct maintenance, correct inspection and correct surveillance in order to preserve it", says the Agriculture Headquarters Officer. "Strengthened relationships greatly contribute to forest preservation. Consequently, within this framework, we try to tighten our relations and learn from the accumulated experience of the Israel National Fund, since once there is cooperation between the parties, the forests are better preserved".

Unlike other stories I've mentioned about the IDF helping out West Bank businessmen and farmers, here we see that the Palestinian Authority itself is working with Israel on matters of mutual interest - all paid for by the hated IDF. Not only that, but he much vilified Jewish National Fund is involved in this initiative as well!

Needless to say, there is nothing about this mentioned on the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Agriculture webpage, nor in any Arabic media. To Palestinian Arabs, any cooperation with Israel is not a sign of peace but a sign of "collaboration" with the Zionist enemy.

(Incidentally, Hamas has its own separate Ministry of Agriculture - moa.gov.ps as opposed to moa.pna.ps.)

Iran's cyberwar against Israel

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 10:30 AM PDT

Kaspersky Labs analyzes a number of Trojan Horses and malware examples targeting Israel that are apparently written in Iran, in part one of a two part article.

The malware, nicknamed "Madi" (presumably a reference to the Shiite messianic figure of the Madhi), is not sophisticated. Instead, it relies on tried and true methods of social engineering, relying on naive computer users to allow scripts to run in PowerPoint presentations, ignoring the warnings that Windows gives about potentially dangerous actions.

It is well known in the computer security world that people are too likely to fall for such schemes.

Another method used is to send what appear to be JPG images, but in fact they are programs as well, using a known Microsoft bug where Unicode characters in languages that are written right-to-left can create file names that appear to have the extensions of mere images but in fact are executable programs that can do anything to the computer (in this case, a screen saver):

Once the malware is loaded then the attackers can remotely do anything they want on the infected machines.

Again, these are not sophisticated attacks in the least; hackers have been doing things like this for years. But it only takes one stupid victim to click on that cute photo of nature or puppies to compromise an entire company or government department.

This specific malware can take screenshots at regular intervals and also make audio recordings from the victim's computer, which can then be uploaded to the attackers' machines.

The Jerusalem Post reports that Iran is the target of the malware, even though key parts were written by Farsi speakers. I find that hard to believe given that Hebrew in the Powerpoint above, although the people who created the Trojan are not necessarily the same as those that created the Powerpoint macro that calls the Trojan.

(h/t Yoel, Ian)

Deadly terror attack against Israelis in Bulgaria (updated)

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 08:46 AM PDT

Haaretz is live-blogging. So is the Times of Israel.

From YNet:

A number of casualties were reported in what appears to be a terror attack on an Israeli bus in Burgas, Bulgaria, according to initial reports.

Channel 10 said the blast occurred inside the terminal of Sarafovo Airport.

AFP reports three killed.

The JC:

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has confirmed Israeli tourists have been killed in an explosion on a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Bulgaria.

Local media in the resort of Burgas claim the bus was outside the Sarafovo airport and was packed with Israelis.

Bulgarian radio said three people had been killed. It is thought at least 20 have been injured.

The explosion is thought to have occurred at around 6pm local time.

Burgas is the second largest resort on the country's Black Sea coast. It is popular with Israeli tourists and is home to a Chabad centre. Israeli teens are known to flock to the resort for their summer holidays.

Israel has previously warned Bulgaria of the threat posed by Hizbollah.

Israeli media has interviews with eyewitnesses who said thatthe explosion was in the luggage compartment of the bus and people were jumping out of the windows to escape.

Of course, Hezbollah is an arm of Iran.

Three days ago YNet had a report by Alex Fishman saying that Hezbollah, frustrated at not being able to successfully kill Israeli diplomats, was ready to target tourists. This was in the wake of the discovery of a plot against Israeli tourists in Cyprus.

There were reports of an unsuccessful bomb attack that targeted Jewish tourists in Bulgaria this past January that was apparently hushed up.

YNet adds in a newer report:

An eyewitness told Channel 2 News that Bulgarian authorities were slow to respond to the event; adding that search and rescue teams and the paramedics "Didn't seem to care too much. They took a while getting these two small fire-extinguishers to fight a burning bus, and the airport's fire truck took over 15 minutes to get there."

I am told that Israeli media is now reporting 7 killed.

A tweet quotes Israel's Channel 10 as saying it was a suicide bomber. Well, that rules out Mormons.

JPost notes that this is the 18th anniversary of the AMIA bombings in Argentina, done by Hezbollah for Iran.

Egypt being "even-handed" between the PA and Hamas

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 07:30 AM PDT

Last night, PA leader Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Cairo to meet with Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi today.

This morning, Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal arrived in Cairo for exactly the same reason, and he plans to meet Morsi tomorrow.

Morsi said in a speech that Egypt regards both of the groups equally and is committed to reconciliation between them.

It is widely expected within the Palestinian Arab community that Morsi will expand the operations of the Rafah terminal to allow more people to pass through as well as starting to allow commercial goods - and who knows what else - through the crossing. While that was an election promise, so far Morsi has said nothing specific about his plans for Rafah.

The Assad regime is falling apart

Posted: 18 Jul 2012 05:30 AM PDT

Syria roundup:

Syria's state TV said the country's minister of defense, General Daoud Rajha, and Assad's brother-in-law have been killed in a suicide attack in Damascus on Wednesday, as raging battles across the capital upped the stakes ahead of a Security Council vote on the Syria crisis.

President Bashar al-Assad's brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, is also the deputy minister of defense, was initially transferred to the hospital and was in a critical condition.

The television said interior minister, Mohammed al-Shaar, was still alive and in a "stable condition," after Arab TV stations reported his death.

Meanwhile, the Syrian intelligence chief, Hisham Bekhtyar, was undergoing a surgery after being wounded in the bombing, security sources told Reuters.

Security officials told AFP that several other participants in a top-level meeting were wounded in the blast and taken to al-Shami hospital in the capital for treatment.

Suicide bomber worked as bodyguard for president Assad's inner circle, Syrian security source told Reuters.

More than 60 soldiers have been killed in clashes with the rebel Free Syrian Army in Damascus in the past 48 hours, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday.

"Between 40 and 50 soldiers of the regular Syrian forces were killed the day before yesterday (Monday) in fighting in Damascus, and at least 20 were killed yesterday," the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

Two Syrian brigadier generals crossed into Turkey overnight, a Turkish foreign ministry official told AFP Wednesday.

"Some 330 Syrians including two brigadier generals fled to Turkey Tuesday night," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official also said that nearly 43,300 Syrian refugees were now living in camps near the border with Syria.

"We are seeing an increase in the number of Syrians arriving in Turkey, whether they are civilians or military," he added.

On Monday, a Syrian general and several soldiers crossed into the Turkish side of the border.

The United Nations said the number of Syrian refugees who have sought help from it since April has almost tripled to 112,000, according to The Associated Press.

The U.N. refugee agency said women and children make up three-quarters of the Syrians who it has registered or assisted in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

Agency spokesman Adrian Edwards said Tuesday in Geneva that the actual number is probably "significantly higher" and that many Syrian refugees are completely dependent on humanitarian aid.

Edwards said that Jordan has seen 33,400 Syrian refugees, while 30,900 have arrived in Lebanon. Another 7,900 have sought sanctuary in Iraq.