יום רביעי, 23 בינואר 2013

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder of Ziyon

Palestinian Human Rights Foundation declares the Holocaust a "myth"

Posted: 22 Jan 2013 07:00 PM PST

The Palestinian Human Rights Foundation (Monitor) has an article in its website by Dr. Mustafa Ahmed Abul Khair, chairman of its Advisory Council and a professor of international law.

In the article, Khair claims that Israel should compensate Egypt for damages Egypt claims Israel has done to it over the years, up to some $500 billion.

In order to buttress his argument, he says that "the Zionist entity is extorting Germany to get too much financial compensation for the myth of the Holocaust."

EoZ at YU

Posted: 22 Jan 2013 02:00 PM PST

I will be speaking at Yeshiva University in Manhattan next Tuesday night.

The topic is "דע מה להשיב: How to answer the 20 most popular anti-Israel libels clearly and concisely."

I will also be speaking about Hasbara in general. In addition, I will be giving out the Hasby Awards for the best examples of Hasbara for past year (although it will be more low-key than I originally planned given I am in mourning, so no song-and-dance routines.)

I don't yet know specifically which building/room I am going to be speaking in.

It is sponsored by the YU Israel Club.

Tuesday links

Posted: 22 Jan 2013 12:45 PM PST

From Ian:
Study: Allow Gaza population to expand into Sinai By Khaled Abu Toameh
Palestinian study recommends solving "population explosion" by transferring residents to West Bank, setting birth control rules.
"A study published Monday by a Palestinian engineer recommends solving the Gaza Strip's "population explosion" by allowing the enclave to expand into the Sinai Peninsula.The study also recommends transferring some of the Gaza Strip's residents to the West Bank and setting rules for birth control as a way of solving the problem.
The study was prepared by engineer Mustafa al-Farra and published in the daily Al- Quds newspaper."

France marches on Mali, and the Left's anti-war fervour falls silent. Is liberal interventionism back on the agenda?
"Surely it is only a matter of time before the righteous legions begin their counter-march. The demands for a boycott of French produce. The recall of our Ambassador from Paris. Soon the Mall will echo to lusty cries of "Pas en mon nom!", while lawyers begin to draw up papers for the arrest of the 24th president of the Republic.
Then again, perhaps not. It may just be me, but the anti-war movement seems to have been a little slow off the mark when it comes to France's latest bout of international adventurism. Seamus Milne has been strangely silent. A search of Google uncovers no condemnation from venerable anti-imperialist John Pilger. Even George Monbiot doesn't yet appear to have found a pipeline with which to explain and expose Hollande's true motives."

Caroline Glick: Bye-bye London
"At another point, I was asked how I defend the Nazi state of Israel. When I responded by among other things giving the Nazi pedigree of the Palestinian nationalist movement founded by Nazi agent Haj Amin el Husseini and currently led by Holocaust denier Mahmoud Abbas, the crowd angrily shouted me down.I want to note that the audience was made up of upper crust, wealthy British people, not unwashed rabble rousers. And yet they behaved in many respects like a mob when presented with pro-Israel positions."

London Review of Books Cheerleads for Hamas
"The London Review of Books is nothing if not consistent in its contemptuous attitude towards the Jewish state. A recent article, "Why Israel Didn't Win" (Dec. 6, 2012), by Adam Shatz is illustrative. Ignoring a litany of violent provocations and repeated proclamations by Hamas leaders that "Palestine is ours from the river to the sea," Shatz grasps at the disingenuous figleaf of a "temporary truce" offered by Hamas in order to cast Israel as the villain responsible for last November's intensification of violence. Shatz's argument is shoddy, transparently reversing cause-and-effect. It typifies the diminished quality of analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict coming from The London Review of Books."

BBC outsources coverage of Israeli elections to writer for far-Left magazine
"+972 magazine showcases the opinions of a tiny fringe on the far Left of Israeli politics which is alien to mainstream Israeli opinion. As its Editor himself admits, its English language format is intended to appeal primarily to foreign readers, with the aim of securing "dramatic pressure from abroad" in order (rather undemocratically, some might think) to influence the internal Israeli political process.
The BBC's decision to outsource some of its election coverage to a contributor to such a forum is the equivalent of its publishing analysis of British elections by a writer for the 'Socialist Worker'. One doubts very much that the BBC would dare to try that one at home."

Quick-Thinking Security Officers Head Off Arab 'Fire Libel'
Arabs who set several fires in central Samaria may have been trying to smear area Jews for the destruction of an Arab olive grove

Egyptian soccer referee threatens boycott of Israel
'Israel is a cancer and we must fight it,' official says, decrying upcoming European championships in Israel
"This Zionist Entity is planted, like a cancerous tumor, in the body of the Arab and Islamic nation. We must tear it out and, until we do, we must fight it as much as we can," Nasser Sadeq Abdel Naby said in an interview on Egyptian television earlier this month that has been translated by MEMRI."

Syrian government has pattern of attacking bakeries, bread lines
"After a week without bread, people in the small central Syrian town of Halfaya got word two days before Christmas that a shipment of flour had arrived at the main bakery, prompting several hundred to queue up for the staple of life in the war-ravaged land.
For the Syrian air force, it was a moment of lethal opportunity. Soon, a Sukhoi-22 ground attack plane flew over the bakery and dropped eight bombs, each filled with cluster bomblets. The first struck 150 feet from the bakery, but the second was a direct hit on the bread line, killing at least 68 people, witnesses said."

Reports: Saudi commutes sentences of death-row inmates who agree to fight 'Jihad' in Syria
Reports claim that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been commuting the death penalty for those willing to fight against Bashar Al-Assad in Syria

UN chief blames Israel for Arab world stagnation
'Conflict, injustice, occupation' — and especially the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate — have prevented progress, says Ban; our conflict is not the core Arab issue, Israel responds

Hungarian lawmaker to speak on 'Zionist threat'
"A lawmaker from Hungary's Jobbik Party who recently called for listing Jews as a "security risk" reportedly is planning a lecture tour about the "Zionist threat."

Ethics board summons Belgian doctor over Israel boycott
Order of Physicians holds hearing to discuss efforts to block sales of Teva pharmaceuticals
"Gorissen, a veteran anti-Israel activist, is a member of GVHV, a group providing free medical services as part of an initiative started by the Marxist Belgian PvDA party."

Upgraded Iron Dome intercepts medium-range missile
Rafael and the Defense Ministry successfully test improved version of rocket interception system

Tel Aviv Ranked Seventh Best Beach City Worldwide
"Tel Aviv, known as the "White City," placed seventh in the Lonely Planet's review of top beach cities behind top-ranked Barcelona. Tel Aviv beat cities such as its Middle Eastern neighbor Dubai, Miami, as well as Brighton and Hove in Great Britain on the list."

New EU Marie Curie Prize goes to Israeli woman
Israeli biomed engineering researcher Sarit Sivan received the European Commission's new prize for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Sui generis - int'l law only for Israel (Robbie Sabel - video)

Posted: 22 Jan 2013 11:00 AM PST

Robbie Sabel, professor of international law at Hebrew University, gave this brief talk last summer that is worth watching. He is discussing how many seeming international laws are"sui generis" for Israel - meaning they apply to Israel and no one else.



(h/t Dave Gold)

PLO puzzled that it wasn't invited to Obama inauguration

Posted: 22 Jan 2013 09:20 AM PST

From The National: (UAE)

With its pomp and ceremony, a US presidential inauguration is frequently touted here as an inspiring example for less fortunate countries of peaceful and orderly transitions of power.

But one diplomat from a people long denied statehood, in some ways as a direct result of US policy, had no seat at the festivities yesterday.

"You know it's a funny thing," said Maen Rashid Areikat, the Palestinian envoy to Washington, about not receiving an invitation to Mr Obama's swearing-in. "Technically we are not on their diplomatic list because we are not recognised as a full-fledged state.

"When we checked last they told us that because we changed addresses and emails," he said, his voice trailing off. "It could be technical, it could be logistical. But I don't feel angry."

...Mr Areikat, in the face all facts to the contrary, believes that Middle East peace is still a core US interest and that Mr Obama's second term holds glimmers of promise.

John Kerry's nomination for secretary of state is promising because he is an advocate of a strong US role in the Middle East and in resolving its conflicts, he added. "But presidential involvement in any effort is crucial."

Mr Areikat also sees opportunity in the US policy of engagement with the new democracies of the Middle East, especially Egypt.
But was the PLO invited to the 2009 ceremony?

(h/t AR)

Hamas earning its bad Freedom House score

Posted: 22 Jan 2013 07:30 AM PST

In the annual Freedom House report on how free various countries and territories are, Gaza received one of the worst rankings - 6 for political rights and 6 for civil liberties (7 is the worst.) It did beat out Syria, though, which was scored 7 and 7.

Hamas seems hell-bent on hitting the Syrian rankings, though, as Palestine Press Agency reports that Hamas started a new campaign of arresting journalists.

Hamas detained one radio journalist's family in order to get him to come to security headquarters this morning so they could arrest him.

Two others were arrested yesterday, including the managing director of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate. Yet two mores were detained on Sunday.

The West Bank under the PA was not much better than Hamas, with scores of 6 and 5.


Israel was ranked the only free country in the Middle East, with scores of 1 and 2.

Egyptian "expert" says Jews stole Star of David from Muslims; Menorah symbol stolen from Romans

Posted: 22 Jan 2013 05:30 AM PST

Al Ahram quotes an Egyptian "antiquities expert" as saying that the Star of David and the Menorah symbols of Judaism are stolen from other cultures.

Dr. Rahim Rihan, who we have seen recently as claiming that there were no Temples in Jerusalem and that Israel is using super-secret chemicals to dissolve the Al Aqsa Mosque, is apparently going to keep on making things up as long as the Arabic media quotes him seriously.

He says that the Star of David as a Jewish symbol has its roots in Prague in 1648. A Jewish army contingent was defending the city and the Emperor of Austria, Ferdinand III, suggested the star as the symbol of the Jewish troops, using the Greek Delta (triangle) character and doubling/inverting it to symbolize David. In fact, says Rihan, it is an ancient Islamic symbol.

This is a very nice story, but it doesn't explain why the Leningrad Codex Hebrew Bible of 1008 has this on its cover:


Or why a 3rd century synagogue was decorated with this:


It is true that other cultures used a six-pointed star and it wasn't seen as being exclusively Jewish until relatively recently, but it clearly predates Islam.

Rihan doubles down with his discussion of the menorah symbol. He says that it is really a Roman symbol, and that the Biblical description of the menorah is really from the Romans - who lived quite a few centuries later.

Here's a menorah on a Hashmonean coin circa 40 BCE, already a clear Jewish symbol:

Dr. Rihan is clearly enjoying making things up and being taken seriously by the Egyptian media. And the Egyptian media is happy pushing his lies.

So we can expect to see many more of them.

Abbas won't save Palestinian Arab lives - on principle!

Posted: 22 Jan 2013 02:30 AM PST

Yesterday there were reports that implied Mahmoud Abbas might allow thousands of imperiled Syrian Palestinians to enter the West Bank, as opposed to what had been reported last week.

Last night, however, Abbas made it very clear that he will not act to save the lives of these people in danger - because of the principles involved.

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina repeated on Monday evening that President Mahmoud Abbas rejected Israel's condition to allow up to 150,000 Syrian Palestinians to the relative safety of the PA.

Israel said it would allow them to come to the West Bank if the immigrants would sign that they are giving up their claim to move to Israel itself.

Abu Rudeina said that Abbas rejected this condition "categorically." He said "The issue of Palestinian refugees and the right of return are final status issues, and one may not act against international resolutions providing for their return to their homeland and their homes, which they fled, in particular resolution 194, which provides for the right of return of Palestinian refugees."

You see? They must die because the principle of misinterpreting a non-binding UNGA resolution  and to avoid "final status" issues in a moribund "peace process" is more important than human lives!


Note also that Abbas is not giving the Syrian Arabs of Palestinian descent even the option of making their own decision in this matter. He is dooming perhaps hundreds more to death, because to him and other Arab leaders, their entire utility is to act as pawns to pressure Israel on the bogus "right of return" - and if they are not acting as these pawns, they might as well just die.

People say that Abbas is taking pages out of the Zionist playbook in trying to build a state, but the contrast between how Zionists were willing to compromise on their state in order to save Jewish lives and how callously Palestinian Arab leaders act towards their "people" could not be starker.

(Remember when the world media breathlessly reported that Abbas was softening on the "right to return" a couple of months ago? Yet another example of wishful thinking trumping explicit Palestinian Arab statements? Good times.)

Four more Palestinian Arabs were killed in the past few days in Syria. Their families should send a "Thank You" card to Mahmoud Abbas.
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