יום שישי, 23 בנובמבר 2012

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder of Ziyon

Israelis saving the world, again: Biological "pacemakers"

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 07:00 PM PST

It's been too long since I did one of these...from The Telegraph:

Scientists have grown fully functional heart muscles by reprogramming stem cells and skin cells from patients. They found that these reprogrammed cells can "reset" the rhythm of any unhealthy heart tissue that is placed around them.

The researchers believe that patients suffering from irregular or slow heart beats could be treated with an injection of new heart cells grown from stem cells to create a "biological pacemaker" that will regulate their heartbeat.

Currently patients who have suffered heart attacks that cause their heart to pump out of sync or who suffer from irregular heartbeats have to undergo surgery where a battery powered pacemaker is fitted to control the organ's rhythm.

Dr Oren Caspi, from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology who has been carrying out the research, said the heart cells they had created appeared to behave like young, healthy heart tissue found in new born babies.

He said: "We found that the electrical signal from the heart cells we created synchronised the beat of any surrounding heart tissue.

"We have seen this happen in dishes in the laboratory and in animal models. When we integrated the cells into the hearts of pigs, they were paced by the cells that were injected.

"It seems that the cells that beat fastest control the pace, so it could be used to replace artificial pacemakers for people with slow or irregular heartbeats."

Dr Caspi and his colleague Professor Lior Gepstein earlier this year became the first scientists in the world to generate beating heart cells by reprogramming skin cells taken from patients.

They converted the adult skin into a type of cell known as induced pluripotent stem cells, which have the potential to develop into any tissue found in the body. By altering the conditions they were grown in, the cells then developed into fully functioning heart cells.

The researchers believe it will be possible to use skin cells from patients to create injectable biological pacemakers – reducing the risk of them being rejected by the patients body.

They are now working with clinical heart specialists in a bid to trial the treatment in human patients.

Thursday links

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 03:00 PM PST

From Ian:
Operation Pillar of Defense: Summary of Events
During the next eight days, the IDF targeted more than 1,500 terror sites across the Gaza Strip. The sites that were targeted were positively identified by precise intelligence over the course of several months, including:
More Statistics: Ceasefire Agreement Comes Into Effect

Soldier killed by Gazan shell buried in Jerusalem
Eighteen-year-old Cpl. Yosef Fartuk, son of haredi family, always wanted to serve state.

Hamas's Triple War Crimes
"It is actually a triple war crime, because the use of civilians as shields is intended not simply for protection of the terrorists, but to ensure that Palestinian civilians are killed — to produce the response from the UN, the New York Times, and others in the "international community" necessary to win the media war that is conducted alongside the military one."

On Gaza Body Counts and the Numbers Game
A double standard between Israel and Gaza, Israel and the world
Here was the line:
"Israel has a vastly more capable military than Hamas, and its air campaign has resulted in a lopsided casualty count: three Israelis have been killed."
And here was JG's response:
"Whenever I read a statement like this, I wonder if the person writing it believes that there is a large moral difference between attempted murder and successfully completed murder."

Alan Dershowitz: Why a Cease Fire Will Not Last
"The only solution to this recurring problem is for the international community and the media, once and for all, to expose the Hamas strategy, to condemn it, and to deny Hamas the diplomatic and media victory it seeks to achieve by its double war crimes."

Until the next time By David Horovitz
Israel achieved successes in Pillar of Defense. The worry is that Hamas achieved more
"The intelligence aspect of Israel's strikes has shaken Hamas, no matter how swaggering its bravado. To lose your chief of staff, Jabari, on day one of a mini-war exposes a massive intelligence vulnerability. To see many of your key long-range missile locations pinpointed and targeted underlines the extent to which Israel has penetrated Hamas's command and communications networks."

Greens party in a dubious alliance
A SENIOR Labor MP (Australia) has accused the Greens of supporting "gay-hanging, women-hating" terrorists by failing to condemn Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza on Israel.

Giving the Greens a rocket
"Next question: If Gaza is the ``world's biggest outdoor prison'', strangled by a blockade so severe that Palestinians are left, as activists such as Professor Juan Cole like to claim, desperately short of food and medicine, why would Hamas be smuggling in rockets instead?Strange priorities, especially when rockets are not weapons of self-defence but of offence. Of terror. Which, of course, is the stock in trade of Hamas, pledged to Israel's destruction.

Media Comment: Irresponsibility even in war
Why do so many readers continue to support media outlets proven to be consistently unethical with unfair and biased toward Israel?
"As reported originally by blogger Elder of Ziyon, in breaking news, the BBC showed a "wounded" Gazan civilian being removed by stretcher following an Israeli attack. The headline was: "Hamas military: Attack opens the gates of hell." Yet 30 minutes later a clip shows the same person walking about freely. As a result, CNN corrected its report on this incident."

CIF Watch: Guardian claims Hamas scored political points from photo of Egypt PM cradling dead baby
"It is worth noting that the Guardian is once again suggesting that Hamas, unlike the "craven" Palestinian leaders in Fatah, is more deserving of our moral sympathy, more justified in claiming the mantle of the authentic Palestinian resistance movement. Further, the picture of the Egyptian prime minister clutching a dead Gazan child, which the Guardian is referring to, is an incident which was revealed (by EOZ) to be a fraud."

BBC Watch: Terror in Tel Aviv: scare quotes at the BBC.
Note the wording of the report's synopsis as it appears on the website: [emphasis added]
"At least 10 people have been injured in an explosion on a bus in Israel's commercial capital, Tel Aviv, in what one Israeli official described as a "terrorist attack". "

Minutes after Tel Aviv terror attack, Glenn Greenwald praises Seumas Milne's defense of 'armed resistance'

Honest Reporting: Airstrike on Aleppo Hospital While World Watched Gaza
Now that the foreign press corps in Israel and Gaza have set the bar on concern for civilian casualties, will we see a similar level of righteous indignation at Syria?

Ankara wants NATO Patriot missiles to help contain Syrian fighting
Organization, seeking to stay out of conflict, may deploy arms to protect Turkey

Al-Jazeera offices in Tahrir Square firebombed, gutted
Incident comes on third day of conflict between protesters and security forces in Cairo

Amnesty UK official in hot water over Jewish MPs tweet
Kristyan Benedict tweets joke suggesting three Jewish MPs support bombardment of Gaza; Amnesty UK launches 'confidential' disciplinary process; official's private Twitter feed includes strong anti-Israel views
On Tuesday, during a parliamentary discussion on violence in Syria and in Gaza, Benedict tweeted, "Louise Ellman, Robert Halfon and Luciana Berger walk into a bar… each orders a round of B52s… #Gaza."
NGO Monitor: NGO Warfare Update: Amnesty Launches Frontal Attacks
"On November 19, Amnesty launched a direct assault on Israel's right to self-defense, calling on the UN Security Council to impose an "international arms embargo on Israel, Hamas, and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza." (plus more offensive Amnesty tweets)"

The Vatican on Gaza: Israel is a Baby-Killer"
Not a word was heard from the Vatican all the years Sderot babies were in mortal danger. They began noticing the violence last week.

'Iran is hauling dirt to site IAEA wants to inspect'
Western diplomats: Satellite images reinforce suspicions Tehran is trying to hide illicit nuclear activity at Parchin plant.

Even as Rockets Rain Down, Israeli Economic Strength Recognized
NEW YORK—On Nov. 20, for the sixth consecutive year, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) recognized the innovative technology and business acumen that characterizes the Jewish state at its "Israel Day."

Diaspora kids reach out to Israeli students under fire
A school twinning program sponsored by the Jewish Agency lets schoolchildren from abroad express solidarity with their counterparts in Israel

Israeli Kids Learn Song To Overcome Fear Of Rockets

IDF band's European tour takes nasty turn during Gaza operation
A bomb threat and chants of 'Jews to the gas' provide the low points of young musicians' annual concert series
"The audience, which had paid $15 for tickets and donated thousands more to aid Israelis under fire from Hamas, showered the players with affection.
"During a pause in the performance, a YouTube clip by Dr. Elisheva Ronen, a Dutch-born pediatrician who lives in Ashkelon, was projected on a screen. In the clip, which has become a Facebook hit, Ronen filmed rockets falling near her home as sirens wailed in the background. Ronen then took the stage and, choking back emotion, thanked the audience members for their prayers."

The legal basis for Israel's attack on the media buildings in Gaza (NGO Monitor)

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 01:15 PM PST

Here is an important article from NGO Monitor that explains not only why Israel had the legal right to perform limited, targeted attacks against terrorists and terrorist communication infrastructure, but also exposes the one-sided and incorrect accusations by NGOs against Israel.

  • On November 18, the Israeli army targeted Hamas' operational communications arrays and antennas on the roof of two buildings -- the Shawa Hussari and Al Shourouq towers. A number of foreign media outlet offices were located on the lower floors of the Al Shourouq tower. (Hamas has systematically placed strategic infrastructure and weapons close to or within civilian buildings.)
  • Many political advocacy NGOs active in the Durban strategy, including false accusations during the 2008-09 Gaza conflict, immediately accused Israel of deliberately targeting journalists and the foreign media. As in the past, these statements provided highly incomplete factual information, lacked context, and made allegations of "war crimes" and other legal claims without any evidence. 
  • The NGOs incorrectly declare that Israel acted unlawfully -- simply because the buildings contained civilians. Under international humanitarian law, if civilian objects are being used for military objectives, they are indeed legitimate targets (attacks must comply with the rules of proportionality). This is particularly the case where combatants are exploiting those objects for cover,as Islamic Jihad members have.
  • None of these NGOs acknowledges that Al Aqsa and Al Quds TV are an integral part of the Hamas military structure; that Al Aqsa is a Specially Designated Global Terrorist; that channels are used by Hamas to transmit threats to the Israeli civilian population; that they are used to incite genocide and war crimes on the civilian population of Israel; that they are used to indoctrinate and recruit child soldiers.
  • Adalah and Al Mezan falsely claimed that Israel was intending to "demolish the 'Al-Shoroq Tower'."  The building was not demolished; rather, the IDF issued statements that it was targeting installations on the roof of the building, and based on video footage from the strikes, that is exactly what the IDF did.


  • Reporters without Borders claimed that "these attacks constitute obstruction of freedom of information," but, as mentioned, there is no protection under international law for Hamas to engage in incitement to violence or hate speech.
  • The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), funded by European governments, accused Israel of "a systematic crime to silence the press and prevent journalists from reporting on the crimes that are being committed by Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip."  This claim is wildly incongruous with the reality of hundreds of media stories, blog posts, tweets, and other reports emanating from Gaza.
  • HRW's Executive Director, Ken Roth, characterized these news outlets simply as "pro-Palestinian." The failure to provide the full context is highly deceptive and immoral.
  • None of the NGOs involved in this campaign possesses the expertise to determine whether a military action was "indiscriminate."  To make such claims, they would need access to IDF military intelligence; specific information known to the IDF commanders prior to the strikes, as well as their intentions; knowledge of how the targets fit into the overall war effort; location of Hamas installations, combatants, and weapons; among many other factors.
Read the whole thing.

A postscript about Israel's super-morality

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 11:45 AM PST

I reported on Tuesday that Islamic Jihad boasted of targeting the Kerem Shalom crossing, where most critical medical aid and supplies are sent to Gaza. They even showed video of the attack.

Israel did indeed shut down Kerem Shalom in order to protect the lives of the people that work there. And anyone could understand if would have shrugged and said it is no longer their problem to provide aid to people so dedicated to hate and addicted to death. There's only so much one can do to help your enemy, right? Let Egypt, Hamas' friend, take care of that.

Yet the IDF did manage to get aid through. As COGAT notes:
This afternoon (Wednesday) 5 trucks carrying medical equipment entered Gaza via the Erez crossing.
This was during some of the heaviest rocket barrages of the conflict.

The Erez crossing is not built for major truck deliveries, but Israel went out of its way anyway in order to allow the aid to get to Gaza however it could.

Has this ever happened in the history of wartime? (Besides, of course, the daily cease-fires during Cast Lead - which Hamas never respected - in order for Israel to send food and aid to Gaza.)

Egypt, Gaza's friend, was pretending to send in token medical aid along with lots of human shields and wannabe jihadists.

Anyone who actually thinks that Israel's morality is somehow comparable to - or worse than - that of its neighbors, doesn't even have a passing relationship with reality.


The twenty letters Israel sent to the UN - to avoid war

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 10:00 AM PST

UN Watch has a must read:

On at least 20 separate occasions this year, the Israeli government appealed to the UN to take action against Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, in letters sent to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the President of the Security Council.

In the letters, Israel informed the United Nations about repeated instances of rockets fired from Gaza against Israeli civilians, and urged the U.N., at a minimum, to speak out and condemn the attacks.

"Inaction today could help ignite an escalation of conflict tomorrow," Israel warned the UN, while exercising astonishing measures of restraint that no other country facing a similar onslaught of rockets has ever shown.

Yet we are unaware of any UN action whatsoever taken in response.
The world media, human rights organizations and the UN yawns when Israel is under attack. But when Israel finally gets fed up, they pretend that it all happened in a vacuum.

Highlights of the letters:

January 6:
The situation in Gaza must be addressed with the utmost seriousness. Day after day, international law is flagrantly violated by the terrorists that operate with impunity in Gaza. In letter after letter, Israel has warned the international community about the dangerous potential for escalation. Yet, we still hear no words of condemnation from the Security Council. There has been no concerted effort inthe international community to halt the fire of rockets into Israeli cities.

All responsible members of the international community have a duty to clearly and unequivocally condemn these attacks. The world must act now to prevent terrorism in Gaza from sparking even greater turmoil and conflict in the Middle East.
January 31:
I write yet again to express Israel's serious concern about the rockets flying out of the Gaza Strip day after day into our homes, cities and communities. It is clear that these acts of terrorism could ignite an escalation of conflict in our already volatile region. Unfortunately, some members of the Security Council continue to turn a blind eye to the serious dangers posed by these attacks.

March 8:
Reminder: One million civilians in southern Israel remain under fire.
– In the past seven days, seven rockets have exploded in Israeli communities.
– Not one word of condemnation has been issued by the Security Council, to
date.
– No responsible Government can tolerate the unabated targeting of its citizens.

Caution: Inaction today will bring instability tomorrow.

June 25:
• Since my last letter four days ago (S/2012/472 of 21 June 2012) 87 more rockets were fired into Israeli communities.
• We see the same reality, month after month: as aid flows into Gaza, rockets fly out.
• The Security Council has not uttered a single syllable about this appalling terrorism.

Caution: The Security Council's decision to stay mute could have grave  consequences.
Inaction today could help ignite an escalation of conflict tomorrow.

October 11:
Last week, the Security Council showcased unprecedented efficiency when rockets were fired in the direction of another country in the Middle East — and rightly so. This is the Council's responsibility.

Meanwhile the Security Council has slept through more then 12,000 rocket attacks against Israelis over the past decade. We applaud the Council's condemnation last week — and expect the Council to act with the same speed and conviction to condemn the rocket fire targeting 1 million Israeli civilians.

November 12:
The serious danger of an even greater escalation hangs over our very volatile region. Many Israeli civilians and soldiers have been injured. Damage to property has been significant. One million people in Southern Israel remain under grave threat. The people of Israel cannot – and will not – tolerate these acts of terrorism. The Israeli government has a right and a duty to protect its citizens.

Israel holds Hamas fully responsible for all acts of terrorism flowing from Gaza. Israel's leaders have been very clear: we are prepared to take all necessary measures to protect our citizens from Hamas terror. Those who target Israelis with terrorism today will pay a very heavy price tomorrow. Israel has exercised – and will continue to exercise – our right to self-defense.

At this critical moment, responsible members of the family of nations have an unmistakable duty. All Security Council members that truly value peace and security will send a very clear message to Hamas without delay. The time for the Security Council to condemn Hamas terrorism with one voice is now, before it is too late.

The Palestinian leadership also has a fundamental responsibility to clearly condemn Hamas terrorism. The silence that continues to echo from President Abbas' office speaks volumes.
It isn't as if Israel didn't warn the world about what was happening.

The hypocrisy of the UN Security Council immediately condemning Syria's shelling of Turkey while ignoring thousands of rockets from Hamas says volumes.

(One slight correction: One of the letters UN Watch lists is actually about Hezbollah, not Gaza. Not that the UNSC issued any condemnation then, either.)

How a Hamas website avoids denial of service attacks

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 08:15 AM PST

During the past week, I noticed that the Hamas Al Qassam terror website added a feature to combat Distributed Denial of Service attacks (DDoS).

When going to the site, you see a five-second delay where the site is apparently checking to make sure that you are running a real browser and not a bot. Only after the check will it allow you to enter the site.

During those five seconds, we see the name of the anti-DDoS company that Hamas uses - CloudFlare.

It appears that CloudFlare is a US-based company.

Perhaps someone should see if this is legal. After all, Hamas is a US-designated terror organization, and the idea that a US company can help secure the Al Qassam Brigades seems to be not quite right.

And CloudFlare should answer why it decided to support a terror group.

The first fake PCHR "civilian"

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 06:45 AM PST

As EoZ readers know, after Cast Lead I led a team that identified hundreds of people who were called "civilians" by the Palestinian Center of Human Rights - but were in fact terrorists.

We scoured through official jihadist websites and forums to see which of these "civilians" were called "mujahadeen." We crosschecked obituaries published on Hamas and other terror group websites, often months later, against the PCHR list.

In short, we showed that PCHR was happy to lie in order to make it appear that the IDFwas targeting civilians.

Looks like we have our work cut out for us again:
According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 17:45 on Tuesday, 20 November 2012, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at Hussam Mohammed Salama, 30, and Mahmoud Ali al-Koumi, 29, cameramen of the Gaza-based al-Aqsa Satellite Channel, while they were traveling in a civilian car clearly marked with 'TV'.

Luckily, I just made a poster about Mr. Salama, along with a photo of the car where he had crudely spray-painted "TV."

As the IDF says:
A senior Hamas operative was targeted while driving a press vehicle. Muhammed Shamalah, commander of Hamas forces in the southern Strip and head of the Hamas militant training programs, was targeted by an Israeli air strike while driving a car clearly labelled "TV", indicating it to be a press vehicle, abusing the protection afforded to journalists.

PCHR no doubt knows all of this, and they choose not to mention it. Even if they want to make the argument that Salama was not actively involved in combat - their normal argument when asked about the high number of terrorists that they call civilian - they show their dishonesty by not revealing the entire story, and instead saying as a fact:
These crimes are aimed to silence and the press and prevent journalists from reporting on crimes committed by Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians.
In other words, PCHR is not just withholding information - it is knowingly lying.

This is why so-called "human rights" organizations cannot be assumed to tell the entire story. They have an agenda just like everyone else does, and they will hide information that does not fit that agenda. PCHR is just one very sorry example of this.


Hamas' "victory" (Zvi)

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 06:00 AM PST

From occasional EoZ contributor Zvi:
So let me get this straight. They're saying, "we won because we picked a fight with Israel and Israel has better things to do than flatten Gaza."

That's a victory?

The terrorists and their sympathizers:

* lost a large percentage of their most advanced and long-range weapons
* lost experienced senior terrorist commanders from Hamas and PIJ
* did no damage at all to Israel's ability to fight a war
* only squeaked a small percentage of rockets past Iron Dome
* only received "moral support" from Islamists, Arab regimes, communist hold-overs and the Russians, who mostly did it because they are trying desperately to distract attention away from Syria.
* failed even to stop Israeli shipments of food and fuel into Gaza through Kerem Shalom
* exposed their use of hospitals and press facilities as military command posts
* highlighted in front of the international media the extent to which Israelis are under fire, and the extraordinary efforts that Israelis have taken to protect civilians, in contrast to Hamas' attacks on civilians
* came whining to the Egyptians for help in stopping an escalation that they started themselves, basically forcing the Egyptian government to underwrite an agreement with Israel
* executed some "collaborators" in public and had a nice little motorcycle parade for the cameras, embarrassing the Hamas leadership
* put Khaled Meshaal back in charge (apparently)
* attempted to surpass Baghdad Bob by continually making ludicrous claims that were subsequently disproved.
And now
* killed some of their own supporters while celebrating a nonexistent victory.
* committed a wide plethora of war crimes, many of which (storing explosives in civilian buildings, for example) resulted in the deaths of their own people.

Yes, they killed a handful of Israelis, mostly civilians and one an Arab. Yes, they caused a lot of damage, hurt a lot of people and wasted a lot of time. As much as I mourn for the innocents killed by the Gaza terrorists, and wish their families peace and strength, it is important to point out that while their losses are horrible tragedies for us, they achieve nothing real for people in Gaza.

So what exactly is Hamas celebrating?

I guess when Gazan terrorists can't achieve anything real, they celebrate pretend victories.

PFLP-GC takes responsibility for Tel Aviv bus bombing (video)

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 05:00 AM PST

From MEMRI:



Following is an excerpt from a TV program featuring PFLP-GC spokesman Anwar Raja, which aired on Al-Alam TV on November 21, 2012.

Anwar Raja: I'd like to say that this high-profile operation of detonating an explosive device on a [Tel Aviv] bus...

It was not placed in a bag that blew up, like the enemy claimed. It was detonated by remote control. We have the expertise and capabilities to carry out such things, and that is what we did.

The fedayeen who carried this out are from the heart of Palestine. The enemy can search where they came from. It will find no trace of them. They are the salt of the earth, from the heart of Palestine. They could be from the north, the south, or the West Bank... We don't want the enemy to direct its wrath toward a specific place, so we only say that they were from within Palestine.

The spirit of martyrdom that drives the fedayeen of the Jihad Jibril Brigades is the principle of martyrdom, the spirit of martyrdom...But if we are capable of striking the enemy without having to blow up our bodies – that is even better. This is what happened. Despite all its security measures, the enemy was unable to predict where we would strike. They have been unable to arrest anyone, and therefore, they are fumbling around.

This operation has sent a resounding message to Netanyahu and Barak: Gaza is not alone, and its war extends beyond the borders they want to set. This is the war of the resistance alliance, the battle of us all. This war extends from Tehran to Damascus, to Gaza, to South Lebanon, and to Hizbullah.

"Cease-fire" rockets still falling short in Gaza - and Lebanon!

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 02:49 AM PST

From YNet:

Air raid sirens sounded shortly after 10 am on Thursday in the Eshkol Regional Council after a rocket appeared to have been fired towards the region from Gaza. Witnesses said that they saw the rocket exploding in a Palestinian territory. Security services said it was a false alarm.

The incident followed a relatively quiet night in Israel's south. The final Color Red alert sounded in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council at 22:58, two hours after the ceasefire between Israel and the factions in Gaza went into effect.

The IDF said that of the 13 projectiles that were fired from Gaza after 9 pm on Wednesday, ten failed to reach Israel, exploding in Palestinian territories instead. The army said Hamas and the Islamic Jihad intended to hold fire and to enforce the truce among the smaller factions across the Strip.
Those last two sentences are somewhat contradictory; it seems to mean that the smaller factions are still firing rockets despite the "cease fire."

No word yet on where exactly the rockets fell short or anything about injuries or damage. But Gaza media never mentions that anyway.

It appears that the south isn't the only border where terrorists are trying to shoot rockets into Israel:

The Lebanese army disabled a rocket on Thursday which was primed to be fired into northern Israel and said two others were launched late on Wednesday but fell short of the border.

An army statement said the incidents all took place near the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun, about five km from Israel's northern border.

On Monday the army dismantled two rockets aimed towards Israel, which bombed the Gaza Strip for eight days until a Wednesday evening truce.

Security sources said one of the 107 millimeter rockets fired on Wednesday fell about 500 meters inside Lebanese territory and the other landed right on the border. There were no reports of casualties.
Don't forget - groups in Egypt also are shooting rockets towards Israel as well.

Plus the occasional mortar coming over from Syria.

This is what "calm" looks like.
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