יום שלישי, 5 במרץ 2013

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder of Ziyon

Over 1000 Palestinian Arabs killed in Syria. Ho-hum.

Posted: 04 Mar 2013 11:00 PM PST

From Hamas' Qassam website:
The workgroup for Palestinians in Syria has said that 1038 Palestinians were killed in Syria since eruption of the popular revolution in that country almost two years ago.

It said in a statement on Sunday that 14 Palestinian refugees were killed last week due to the continued attacks and sniper fire in refugee camps.
Good luck finding a negative word about Syria in website of the "pro-Palestinian" International Solidarity Movement.

Or the "pro-Palestinian" BDS movement webpage.

Or "Students for Justice in Palestine."

Or the blog of the "Free Gaza" movement.

It makes you wonder what exactly "pro-Palestinian" means, doesn't it?

Giant, "mutant" rats plague Tehran

Posted: 04 Mar 2013 06:30 PM PST

No joke:
Tehran, the capital of Iran, is battling an invasion of "genetically mutated" giant rats.

Iran has sent in sniper teams to clear Tehran's streets from the massive rodents weighting up to five kilos plaguing 26 district of the Iranian capital, the city's environmental agency said.

"They seem to have had a genetic mutation, probably as a result of radiations and the chemical used on them," Ismail Kahram, Teheran city council environment adviser and university professor Ismail Kahram told Qudsonline.ir.

"They are now bigger and look different. These are changes that normally take millions of years of evolution. They have jumped from 60 grams to five kilos, and cats are now smaller than them."

The "mutated rats" have been running rampant in the capital, as cats are scared off by their giant size and traditional poison appear to have no effect on them.

To stop them storming of restaurants' backyards and scavenging public waste containers, the council has deployed ten snipers teams armed with infra-red sighted rifles.

"We use chemical poisons to kill the rats during the day and the snipers at night, so it has become a 24/7 war," the head of the environment agency, Mohammad Hadi Heydarzadeh, said.

Rats' carcasses are burnt or buried in lime.

So far 2,205 rats have been shot dead, but the war is far to be won and the council is planning to bring the snipers team up to 40.
Between the Tehran rats and the Cairo locusts, we Zionists have had a busy week getting our zoological friends to do our nefarious bidding! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!

(h/t Motti)

EoZNews: Interview with NGO Monitor's Gerald Steinberg

Posted: 04 Mar 2013 02:00 PM PST

On the first full day of my recent trip to Israel, I visited NGO Monitor, the organization that keeps track of abuses by NGOs - both the supposedly unbiased NGOs like Human Rights Watch and the many specifically anti-Israel NGOs that have spouted up.

I was warmly welcomed, and had a nice time meeting all the employees over a Big Apple Pizza lunch. (It isn't Pizza Hut, but it isn't bad!)

I took the opportunity to interview its president, Gerald Steinberg, about how NGO Monitor started, the Israeli NGO transparency law that has caused such angst among the anti-Israel crowd, and NGO Monitor's own transparency.

Monday Links Part 2

Posted: 04 Mar 2013 12:30 PM PST

From Ian:
Ashton's £240m EU ministry is attacked as wasteful and clueless in damning report
-European External Action Service is accused of squandering money
-Conclusions are a humiliation for Baroness Ashton, appointed in 2009
The report, drafted by a group of experts after five months' research, warns that morale in the service is falling because of lack of trust, internal quarrels, clashes with other European institutions and an opaque chain of command.
The conclusions are a humiliation for Baroness Ashton, who was appointed to head up the new service in 2009.
The Labour peer is regarded as a political lightweight by opponents in Brussels and has been pilloried for her inability to speak a foreign language.
One of the report's authors, Geert De Maere, a Belgian law professor, said: 'We specifically decided not to say too many things about Baroness Ashton so as not to allow the report to be interpreted as a character assassination, which is why we focused on her office instead.'

Missing Peace: Relationship between EU and Israel increasingly complicated
Relations between Israel and the European Union hit a new low last week when the EU funded NGO Breaking the Silence leaked an internal EU report which blasted Israel's policies vis-à-vis the Palestinians.
Another official said the report, and other annual reports put out by the EU heads of missions in east Jerusalem and Ramallah, is a result of their living in an "echo chamber."
He said the EU representatives there are forbidden to be in contact with Israeli government officials, and are only exposed to the Palestinians and the NGO community – organizations such as Breaking the Silence.
"As a result, it is not a surprise they come out with one-sided partisan reports," he said. "This is a structural problem. One part of the EU's foreign policy bureaucracy is institutionally anti-Israel, where their whole milieu is Palestinian activists on the West Bank and NGOs that share their same agenda."

Oren: We Want Peace, Now
Ambassador sounds pacific note at AIPAC conference, ahead of Obama visit.
"We do not want a peace process," Israel's U.S. Ambassador Michael Oren said at Sunday's AIPAC Conference. "We want peace."
"We do not want to start negotiations tomorrow; we want to start them today, now – in Jerusalem, in Ramallah and here in Washington," Oren said.

Oren to Abbas: Unity with Hamas sets back peace
Israel's top envoy in America warned Fatah leaders on Sunday against entering a national unity deal with Hamas, arguing that it would set back prospects for peace.
"We hope that [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas will not follow through on reconciliation with Hamas," said Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to the US, during the opening plenary of the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference in the US capital. "We see that very much as a game-blocker."

Argentina's About-Face on Terror By Fabián Bosoer and Federico Finchelstein
Mrs. Kirchner's decision to abandon Argentina's longstanding grievances against Iran is particularly galling because it comes just weeks after Bulgaria, another country victimized by Iranian-sponsored terrorism, accused Hezbollah of staging a suicide attack on Israeli tourists in the Bulgarian town of Burgas last year. That attack, like the 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires, was part of a shadow war against Jewish civilians across the world. Bulgaria's government, unlike Argentina's current administration, decided to stand up to Hezbollah and forthrightly accuse it of the crime.
Argentina's president is undermining her own country's prosecutors, who have for several years tried to pursue the suspected perpetrators. Many observers have denounced Mrs. Kirchner for giving Iran a free pass. As Laura Ginsberg, whose husband was killed in the 1994 attack, has put it, the Argentine government has terminated the possibility of justice.

British MEP Relents, Removes Derogatory 'Jew' Remarks
British MEP David Ward removes derogatory "Jews" statement from his website following further calls for disciplinary action.
British Member of the European Parliament (MEP) David Ward has finally removed a derogatory statement about "the Jews" from his website following further calls for disciplinary action, The Jewish Chronicle (JC) reported.

New DC institute aims to put Israel in the Ivory Tower
Non-partisan organization hopes to boost study of Jewish state via new programs, financial resources and academic partnerships
In the crowded alphabet soup of Washington, DC, Jewish think tanks, advocacy groups and associations (AIPAC, WINEP, APN, JCPA, JINSA…), a new institute opened its doors last week with a novel mission: to advance the scholarly study of modern Israel in the United States and around the world.
The Israel Institute, established by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, aims to be something of an academic clearinghouse for scholars pursuing Israel-related research and schools looking to expand their offerings of Israel studies courses and programs.

Trains, bikes and shoppers: The quiet unification of Jerusalem
Jerusalem's physical division once seemed imminent. Today, urban planning is subtly bringing the capital's disparate parts closer to each other than ever before
The idea of an "east" and "west" Jerusalem has always been more a theoretical shorthand than a workable description of reality. There are Jewish neighborhoods to the east of the Arab ones of "east" Jerusalem, and Arab neighborhoods to the west of Jewish ones in the "west." But the recent developments are additional proof — at least for some of those concerned about the city as a place where people live rather than as a chip on the poker table of the peace process — that Jerusalem's urban health lies in the integration of its parts, and that any solution will have to involve sharing the city, not splitting it.

The Nine Lives of 'Hava Nagila'
A new documentary looks at the many iterations of the popular tune, from Hasidic niggun to American kitsch
On today's podcast, guest host Rebecca Soffer, a New York-based producer and writer, talks to Grossman about how this project came to be, the song's status among American Jews today, and Bob Dylan's "talking blues" interpretation which is, depending on your perspective, a mangling or a brilliant articulation of Jewish ambivalence. [Running time: 19:50.]

Davutoğlu refused to shake hands with Ehud Barak

Posted: 04 Mar 2013 10:30 AM PST

From Today's Zaman:
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu refused to shake hands with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak at the Munich Security Conference held in early February, Today's Zaman has learned.
Davutoğlu did not shake hands with Barak, thus rejecting an attempt by US and German officials to break the ice between Turkey and Israel during a dinner hosted by Bavarian Premier Horst Seehofer on the sidelines of the conference last month.

According to the seating plan prepared by US and German officials, Davutoğlu sat next to Seehofer and US Vice President Joe Biden, while Barak sat opposite the Turkish minister. When officials sitting in Davutoğlu's row started to shake hands with the figures sitting opposite them, the Turkish minister immediately stood up and greeted the Macedonian and Croatian presidents. Seeing Davutoğlu not responding to his attempt to shake his hand, Barak said, "As the distance between the two sides of the table is wide, we could not reach each other's hand." Davutoğlu replied: "No, the problem is not the size of the table. There will always be a distance between us unless you meet our demands."

Davutoğlu was referring to Turkey's demand for an official apology from Israel for a deadly attack on the Mavi Marmara bound for Gaza in May 2010.
Classy, right?

Meanwhile:
Last month, Israel agreed to send promised electronic systems to Turkey, which will integrate those systems into its Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) military aircraft purchased from the US. In addition, Israel also offered to build an undersea gas pipeline from Israeli-owned offshore gas rigs to Turkey's south coast for Turkish business conglomerate the Zorlu Group.
And:
A senior member of the Turkish government, former Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan, recently visited Israel for stem cell treatment. Unakitan, who is suffering from chronic renal failure, served seven years in Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government from 2002-2009.

According to Turkish media, the 67-year-old Turkish politician was treated at Tel Aviv's International Center for Cell Therapy & Cancer Immunotherapy (CTCI) for almost two and a half months.
It seems that instead of sending advanced AWACS equipment and offering to help Turkey in other ways, Israel should simply say that unfortunately the distance between the two states has become insurmountable, and it might decide to use its goodwill towards friendly Greeks and Kurds instead.

Let's recall how friendly a reception the IDF received when it boarded the Mavi Marmara:





(h/t Silke, Zvi)

Jordanian columnist describes Arab childishness perfectly

Posted: 04 Mar 2013 08:30 AM PST

In my last speaking engagement, I stressed that the Arab world must be held accountable for choosing to act like children, instead of the coddling that the West has been giving the Arab world, where outrageous behavior is simply considered normal.

This op-ed from Ammon News in Jordan is directed to Jordanians only, but it describes how childishly a large part of the Arab world acts.
It's Friday and we must have a protest in Jordan. Someone, somewhere in Jordan has done something that peeves us and makes us angry so we need to go out, block the roads, cry foul and snarl traffic because we have nothing constructive to do but protest. We seem to be doing a lot of that in Jordan lately.

The latest spat is because the government has raised fuel prices that are already subsidized by another 4%. So let's go out and protest against these government civil servants and their leadership that must be corrupt.

It cannot be that the fuel prices have been kept low for so long by subsidies that the government cannot continue to maintain due to large debts, and fuel prices that are going up. It has to be because they are corrupt.

It cannot be because we refuse to walk anymore to burn off some of the fat from our overly obese bodies (The rise of Diabetes in Jordan is staggering). Or the fact that some of us cannot walk a kilo without collapsing because of all the cigarette smoking we do and the fact that this vile, dangerous, costly, dirty habit is killing us and our children who have to live with second hand smoke (Cancer and many other disease linked to tobacco use in Jordan is growing rapidly).

We don't want to change our poor habits. We don't want to take a bus or taxi (because that is beneath us). We don't want to walk or try different alternative sustainable energy methods that in the long run will make it cheaper for us and our country. We just MUST HAVE cheap fuel.

It cannot be because we are lazy and do not want to try to make things better by attempting new innovations or thinking. It's because it must be the corrupt civil servants and their leadership that is doing this to us.

We don't want to leave our wet nurse, we don't want to grow up and start to think and live on our own and pay our own way. We want to be moochers of the government coffers, because after-all they are our mommy's and daddy's.

So when we do not get our way, we need to throw a fit. We need to go out and protest. We have to show them and the world that we can throw a tantrum just as well as a teenage kid, when they are told that they are spending too much time playing and on the phone with his friends and not studying and applying new skills.
...

My brothers and sisters we of all people know that we have been living like wet nursed children for so long. We know that we need to wake up and move on alternative sustainable energies. We know that we need to raise prices not just on fuel but things that we are fully aware are killing us and our children principally tobacco use.

This product must be taxed to limits that will deter its use. We know that we have to control this dangerous narcotic as we control other dangerous narcotics. But I have yet to hear a protest or demands about its flagrant use in our public building and street and at tobacco companies, who are profiting on the demise of others.

We must get our heads out of the sand and stop pretending that we do not live in the real world. When things get hard we must rise to the challenge. That does not mean we let our public officials off of performing their duty to us, but understand that things in our country must change for us to survive. So like my father used to say, "Pull up you big boy pants and get to work".
Westerners are so afraid of criticizing the Arab mentality the way that some brave Arabs do. But that criticism itself is a necessary precondition to forcing the Arab world to grow up. By giving them a free pass, the childish behavior is being rewarded and reinforced. This hurts everyone - including the Arabs themselves.

Monday Links Part 1

Posted: 04 Mar 2013 07:15 AM PST

From Ian:
A.B. Yehoshua Tells BBC Correspondent: I Hope Israel Flourishes in the Future and is Recognized by You (VIDEO)
The interview, which became contentious at times, was conducted by Tim Franks, the BBC's former Middle East correspondent. At its conclusion it became apparent how exasperated Yehoshua had become, when he answered a question from Franks on whether or not he remained optimistic about Israel by saying, "This is what I'm doing with my friends in Israel, to work very hard that our Israeli state, the Jewish totality state will be functioning in peace with its environment, and I would say flourishing in the future," then hesitated, adding "and recognized by you."



The BBC 'explains' Zionism
And of course the fact that there would have been no "life under occupation" whatsoever had Arab nations not chosen to take another shot at wiping Israel off the map in 1967 is also completely ignored.
Instead, the writer absolves the Arab nations in general and the Palestinians in particular of all responsibility and agency for their fate, blaming Zionism for all ills. One might even wonder if this particular BBC journalist moonlights as a speech writer for Erdogan.
Clearly, this article contravenes BBC Editorial Guidelines on impartiality: a correction and an apology should be issued urgently.
Telegraph runs silly and gratuitous anti-Israel propaganda piece
The Telegraph's attempt to smear Israel with the apartheid label over Palestinian buses is silly, but it is also dangerous
First, there's the obvious security issue: there is a dreadful history of Palestinian suicide bombing on Israeli buses. Israelis are understandably afraid, especially in the context of mass incitement by the Palestinian Authority, and would rather Palestinians took their trips to Israel on their own buses. (Are you absolutely sure you wouldn't feel the same way?)
The second reason, which explains why Israel has made its move now, is that due to more generous arrangements for the Palestinians, Israel is now granting more work permits. More workers, more buses. More Palestinian workers, more buses for Palestinians. Not one of life's great mysteries... unless you smell a conspiracy.
Guardian provides forum for Palestinian terrorist Samer al-Issawi
Issawi's 'jailhouse letter' at 'Comment is Free' represents not only another example of the Guardian Left's inability to see past even the most risible charades of post-colonialism and anti-imperialism, but also what can only be described as a fetishization towards political violence which continues to make a mockery of every value the true left has historically embraced.
PMW: Debate at the highest political level in Norway following TV report on PMW findings
MPs challenge Norway's funding of the PA and criticize Norway's failure to stop PA Antisemitism and hate promotion
The next day, two Norwegian MPs from opposition parties were interviewed by NRK TV and challenged Norway's funding policies. They called to stop funding the PA if the PA continues its hate incitement and terror glorification:
Morten Høglund, foreign policy spokesman for the Progress Party: "We must use the power we have, and as a major donor to the PA, we must fight fire with fire and say that we will stop the aid unless the PA takes immediate action to stop this type of hate message."
Palestinian finance minister resigns in anger
Nabeel Kassis walks out in protest of the PA's growing budget deficit, expected to reach $1.4 billion in 2013
Nabeel Kassis told reporters Sunday that the Palestinian Authority's 2013 budget deficit is expected to reach $1.4 billion. He says he decided to step down after politicians and labor unions objected to a number of proposed austerity measures.
Kerry: US releasing millions in aid to Egypt, but with promise of reform
Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday the United States will give Egypt $250 million more in aid, following President Mohammed Morsi's pledges for political and economic reforms.
However, Kerry also said the Obama administration will hold Morsi, who came to power in June as Egypt's first freely elected president, to his commitment.
John Kerry vilified by Egypt's opposition
US secretary of state promises aid to Morsi, protesters block his path to airport in response; leading Islamist gets stoned in Tunisia
The London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi reports that Al-Ahly Ultras, fans of the Cairo-based Al-Ahly soccer club that was embroiled in a massive riot in Port Said a year ago, used burning tires to block the road leading to the airport, paralyzing traffic in both directions and delaying Kerry's flight by two hours.
In addition, supporters of over 28 political parties launched protests in front of the US consulate in Alexandria.
Egyptian Religion Classes Aim to Prevent Conversion to Christianity
A recent course in Egypt's southern city of Aswan has raised a few eyebrows after it was announced that the course would be an "anti-Christianization course" aiming to educate youth about Islam and how to respond to attempts of converting by Christians in the country.
The course, which started on Saturday and will continue until Wednesday, is run independently, according to coordinator, Ibrahim al-Etmany, a student at the engineering faculty in Aswan.
Egypt unleashes Islamic morality police force
A new informal police force has been launched in Cairo, to ensure Islamic morals are adhered to. The Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice denies it is linked to Saudi's dreaded morality police, which share the same name.
Islamic Cleric Hisham el-Ashri, founder of Egypt's newly launched Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, stated the morality police will only use "non-violent methods" to implement the moral principles of Islam, the IB Times reported.
Latin American priests 'create new friendships' in Israel
Delegation organizers hope to forge bonds of understanding between future Catholic leaders and the Jewish state
Claudio Epelman, executive director of the Latin American Jewish Congress, said, "We seek to achieve increased cooperation between future Latin American Catholic and Jewish leaders in the teaching of common values, mutual respect and support for the Jewish state, which will add strength to our communities."

Islamists claiming IDF officer kicked a Quran on Temple Mount

Posted: 04 Mar 2013 05:30 AM PST

The Al Aqsa Foundation, an organization that has no compunction about lying, claims that a female Israeli police officer kicked a Quran on Sunday while trying to move some women who were studying it. Other Islamic media are carrying this story as fact.

The Al Aqsa website claims to have photos and video of the incident, but none of the videos show anything remotely like that. All that can be seen is that the Israeli police are asking that they move their chairs and tables a couple of meters, and then the women start protesting.


The article at the Al Aqsa website helps explain what probably happened.

Apparently, in an attempt to stop all Jews from entering the Temple Mount, the women set up their "study groups" directly at the Moroccan Gate, the only entrance for non-Muslims at the Mount.

They normally study in the large plaza between  the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Islamic Museum, where there is plenty of room, as I showed in the video tour of the Temple Mount I made last month. Israeli police then asked them to unblock the entrance, and they replied that they had the right to "study the Quran" anywhere they wanted to.

This appears to be another attempt to incite a third intifada, something that the Al Aqsa people have been trying to do for years by making up ludicrous rumors and incitement.

Report: Hamas refused smuggled rockets with "spy devices"

Posted: 04 Mar 2013 03:30 AM PST

According to Egypt's Youm7 newspaper, Hamas has refused to accept some 28 long-range missiles smuggled from Libya because it discovered that they were equipped with tracking devices that would allow Israel to know where they were.

The report says that members of the Al Qassam Brigades of Hamas inspected the missiles in the Sinai and discovered the tracking hardware within.

As a result, Hamas has ended its relationship with come of its arms smugglers.

Hamas suspects that Israel was behind these attempts.

It is certainly plausible that Israel would do this. It was widely reported that Israel had placed GPS tracking on some of the cars that were transferred into Gaza on the assumption that the first cars to be imported there would go right to major Hamas officials.

Report: Hamas taking over Kerem Shalom crossing

Posted: 04 Mar 2013 12:49 AM PST

From YNet:

Hamas will take control over one of the most important crossings connecting Israel and the Gaza Strip:

The organization's government in Gaza has notified Nahed Shuhaiber, the concessionaire who operates the Kerem Shalom crossing from the Palestinian side, that his responsibilities are being rescinded and that starting Monday morning, the new concessionaire will be Muhisan Sharafi. Monday morning, 70 trucks stood at the crossing waiting to bring goods into the Strip.

Because Shuhaiber operated the crossing on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and for this reason, Israel agreed for years to cooperate but Israel has also made a fundamental decision that the government and the defense establishment do not work opposite any Hamas-related entity.

In the past six days, the Kerem Shalom crossing has been closed for the entrance of goods to the Gaza Strip as a response to the rocket that fell on Ashkelon last week and the shots fired on the car of the Gaza Division's Northern Brigade from the Strip on Friday.

Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Major-General Eitan Dangot announced on Sunday that the crossing will be opened on Monday morning, but it seems that Hamas is planning on disrupting the resumption of activity there.

It is estimated that the PA's disagreement with the Hamas government in Gaza's unilateral decision, will cause the crossing to remain closed since there will be no trucks or contractors at the site to receive the goods from the Israeli side.

Palestinians estimate that 400 trucks full of goods will reach the crossing on Monday morning, a larger quantity than usual because of the fact that it has been closed over the past few days.

The Palestinian crossings administration updated Dangot regarding Hamas' decision and clarified in talks with senior PA officials, that Israel sees this move as an upset of the security-related status quo at the crossing, causing a situation in which Hamas and not the PA, is operating the crossing.

Dagnot explained to officials in the PA that working with a new concessionaire without coordination constitutes a security risk.

In light of the conflict, Egyptian officials placed heavy pressure on the Palestinians so that activities resume on Monday morning at the crossing.

Hamas made this decision in light of their new demand that the concessionaire pay a toll of NIS 170 (about $46) for every truck that enters the Strip. The reason for this toll stems from the loss of profits from taxation from the smuggling tunnels which were mostly destroyed over the past few weeks as a result of intensive Egyptian activity.

Palestinian sources in Rafah told Ynet that Egypt is not only destroying the tunnels intended for weapons smuggling, but also tunnels intended for the smuggling of goods and fuel – which prompted a rise in costs for various products in the Strip on the one hand, and to a significant reduction of income for the government in Gaza on the other.
The Fatah-leaning Palestine Press Agency reports this more as an excuse for Hamas to increase profits at the crossing, and not as a takeover by Hamas. It quotes Hamas official Ziad Zaza as saying that this is merely an attempt to open up the Kerem Shalom concession to competition, and Hamas has no plans to take it over; moreover, that Hamas isn't interested in directly controlling a crossing that Israel is involved with, presumably because Hamas doesn't want to appear to publicly speak to Israelis. Then again, if the previous concessionaire was considered to be working for the PA from Israel's perspective then this may still disrupt the operations there.

We will see in the coming hours whether the trucks make it through the crossing.

Meanwhile, after months of promises, several trucks of building materials have been starting to enter Gaza from Egypt via the Rafah crossing.

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