יום שבת, 13 באפריל 2013

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder of Ziyon

Happy Birthday Israel video (Israel21c)

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 03:30 PM PDT

Friday Links Part 2

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 02:30 PM PDT

From Ian:
Latma asks to bring back the country we know and Tawil Fadiha compares Israel to the Nazis



Kerry's quest: Who really wants peace?
What was John Kerry thinking when he asked Turkey's viscerally anti-Israel and anti-Jewish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to be "a partner" in brokering peace between Israel and the Palestinians? Does he honestly think Hamas' loyal and enthusiastic supporter, a man who has called Zionism a crime against humanity, could be an honest broker? The State Department spokeswoman confirmed a Turkish newspaper report that Kerry wants Erdogan to play an active role in the peace process, and said Kerry asked Turkey to use its "significant influence with the Palestinians" to encourage Hamas to accept the demands of the International Quartet.
MPs: Erdogan's son doing business in Israel
Turkish opposition members have embarrassed Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan by revealing that in the past three years, while the relations between Ankara and Jerusalem were at an all-time low, his son continued doing business with Israel.
The son, Ahmet Burak Erdogan, is the owner of the MB Shipping company, which holds two cargo vessels. One of them, Safran-1, has sailed between Turkish and Israeli ports several times, transferring goods back and forth.
Turkey says terrorists planned to bomb US Embassy, synagogue
Al-Qaeda-linked operatives planned to bomb the US Embassy in Ankara, a synagogue in Istanbul and other sites, Turkish police said on Thursday.
Turkish officials uncovered the plot and arrested 12 people — two Chechens, two Azeris and eight Turks — in February.
The police seized 50 pounds of plastic explosives with detonation systems attached, as well as six laptops and other evidence during a raid on two terrorist cells in Istanbul and Corlu, reported The New York Times.
Caroline Glick: Column One: Moral relativism and jihad
The danger exposed by the cancellation of Geller's speech and the conferral of honors on the likes of Carter and Waters by mainstream Jewish institutions is daunting. If moral relativism remains the dominant dogma of the American Jewish establishment, the already weakly defended, but still strongly rooted, support for Israel among the rank and file of the American Jewish community will dissipate.
IDF: Mideast being Redrawn along Sunni-Shiite Fault Line
He added that regional shifts have deteriorated governance in areas bordering Israel, noting, "For the first time in decades, Israel has four active borders which could open up from terror attacks."
Kochavi also discussed the changing role of religion in shaping regional alliances. "Today, the Middle East is being redefined into Shiite and Sunni camps," he explained, "which explains things like why Hamas has distanced itself from Iran in recent months and is moving closer to Egypt and Turkey, or why Iran is arming the Shiite minority in Yemen."
23,085 soldiers have fallen protecting Israel
The Defense Ministry released its annual figures of fallen soldiers on Friday morning ahead of Remembrance Day, stating that 92 soldiers had fallen this year and a total of 23,085 have fallen in Israel's wars since 1860.
UC Santa Barbara, in Marathon Hearing, Becomes Latest School to Reject Israel Divestment
"The argument against the bill was pretty multi-faceted, but essentially rested on the fact that there were a bunch of claims in the resolution that were either false, taken out of context, or disputed by independent experts, and so the effect of passing the resolution would be to declare Israel guilty of all these accusations despite all the conflicting evidence," Samarov said.
Pallies File UN Complaint Against Canada
I bet we're still taken for suckers & Baird gives them another 300 Million
"In a move that could greatly impact the actions of third-party states and companies currently profiting from Israel's illegal settlement enterprise in the West Bank, the Palestinian village of Bil'in recently filed a complaint against Canada with the United Nations."
South Africa: Labels for Products from 'Occupied Territories'
The new rules stipulate that goods will no longer carry "Made in Israel" labels but instead will have to be specific about the exact origin of the goods.
Medupe explained that goods coming from Gaza will be labeled Gaza-Israel goods, those made in Judea and Samaria will be labeled West Bank-Israeli goods and imports from eastern Jerusalem will be tagged East Jerusalem-Israeli goods.
Avago buys Israel's CyOptics for $400m
CyOptics is developing next-generation optical components for high-speed transmission of video content. Customers include governments and some of the world's biggest companies. The company is growing rapidly, tripling its sales in the past three years to $210 million in 2012.
Israel set to bag another mega Indian defence deal
Israel seems all set to bag yet another mega defence deal to equip all the 356 infantry battalions of the Indian Army with third-generation anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs). While Russia is far ahead in the lead, Israel is trying to stave off a strong challenge from the US to remain the second largest arms supplier to India.
The Rs 15,000-crore ($2.76 billion USD) project will involve an initial direct acquisition of the man-portable "tank killers", with a strike range of 2.5-km, followed by transfer of technology (ToT) to defence PSU, Bharat Dynamics, for large-scale indigenous manufacture.

Egypt would "love" to see Israel as part of a regional union, says Islamist MP

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 01:29 PM PDT

Say what?
Egyptians "would love" to be part of an Islamic Union model which will bring together not only the Muslim countries but Israel as well to discuss how to solve regional conflicts, a prominent Islamist member of Egyptian parliament told a Turkish television station during a visit to Istanbul this week.

Abdulmawgoud Dardery, head of the Foreign Relations Committee at Egypt's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), told Turkey's A9 TV that Egyptians "cannot wait" to see the formation of an Islamic Union model, in which even non-Islamic countries such as Israel, Russia and Armenia take part, according to a press report by the Turkish channel sent to Al Arabiya.

Dardery made the statement in response to a question by Turkish author Adnan Oktar during a talk show on A9 TV. When Oktar asked him about an Islamic union model. which will bring unity to the region Dardery "heartily agreed in principle," according to the report and said Egyptians "would do whatever it takes on their part to contribute to that," the report added.
I have a feeling we will be seeing some serious backtracking next week.

Jordanian parliament demands murderer of 7 Jewish schoolgirls be released

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 11:40 AM PDT

From YNet:
An overwhelming 110 members of the Jordanian House of Representatives signed a petition demanding a pardon for a Jordanian soldier who shot and killed seven Israeli schoolgirls in 1997.

Ahmad Musa Mustafa Daqamseh shot the girls during a school fieldtrip in Naharayim, near the Israel-Jordan border, and is currently serving a life sentence.
A number of Jordanian MPs refer to Daqamseh as a hero in this initiative.

This is not the first time there has been a push in Jordan to release the heinous murderer. I reported on earlier attempts in 2008, 2009, 2011 , including from Jordan's justice minister and the head of "human rights" organizations.

Some 31 members of parliament demanded his release in 2009. Now the number is apparently more than triple that.

Yes, in "moderate" Jordan, a soldier who wantonly mows down schoolgirls is considered a "hero" by a large percentage of people.

Memorial to the girls in Naharayim
One person, a Dr. Fares, commented in the Jordanian media by saying that Daqamseh is no hero for killing schoolgirls. Practically every comment afterwards insults him for saying such a thing.

(h/t Josh)

Friday Links Part 1

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 10:20 AM PDT

From Ian:
Barry Rubin: In Egypt, Pogroms against Christians Have Become Routine
The Brotherhood is running the government; the Salafists are running in the streets. Moderate Muslim Egyptians, like those who run al-Ahram for the time being (as a state newspaper it will soon come under Brotherhood control) are unhappy with the persecution but can do nothing.
Things can only do worse. The world is indifferent; the Western mass media is usually determined to be "even-handed" or to ignore the extent of the situation, preferring to seek alleged oppressors in other, near-by countries.
PMW: Facebook allows Palestinian promotion of hate speech but prevents PMW from exposing it
Following Palestinian Media Watch's bulletin exposing the PA TV broadcast of a girl reciting a poem referring to Jews as "enemies of Allah, descendants of pigs," Facebook, like YouTube, decided to remove PMW's post.
BBC guest champions Hass' advocacy of violence against Israelis
By providing a platform for Glass to whitewash Hass' call for what is – let's be perfectly frank about this – the organized and pre-meditated attempted murder of Israeli civilians, the BBC has rendered itself complicit to that incitement. Although it fairly successfully avoids reporting on the majority of the dozens of incidents in which Israelis are attacked – and sometimes killed – by Palestinian stone-throwers, it would not be too difficult for the BBC to apprise itself of the consequences of such shockingly frequent acts of terror.
US-Palestinian boy faces trial for stone-throwing
"The American government is obligated to do something for us," says father of 14-year-old suspected of stoning cars in W. Bank.
Lawyer: Recognize Victims of 'Terrorist Rape'
There is a clear trend of Arab men sexually assaulting Jewish girls and women as a form of anti-Israel terrorism, attorney Roni Sadovnik said Wednesday, speaking to Arutz Sheva.
Israel's courts prefer to treat such crimes as solely criminal in nature rather than as crimes motivated by nationalist hate, she said. Changing the status of such crimes would give victims a wider array of services and assistance.
U.S.: Fayyad Not Going Anywhere, as Far as We Know
The United States on Thursday reacted warily on Thursday to reports that Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was poised to offer his resignation to Chairman Mahmoud Abbas after a dispute between the two, AFP reported. Similar reports have surfaced in the past.
'Hamas didn't probe executions of spy suspects'
Rights group says Hamas failed to investigate executions of 7 Palestinians accused of spying for Israel during Gaza operation.
Hamas Claims 'Collaborator' Campaign a Success
"A number of agents turned themselves in," Shahwan said, without giving a number, adding only that they would be "dealt with" according to Palestinian law.
Under Palestinian law, collaboration with Israel is punishable by death.
Sinai Bedouin kidnap, release Hungarian observer
An Egyptian security official says armed Bedouin tribesmen have kidnapped a Hungarian member of the multinational observer force in Sinai.
The observer was released several hours after the kidnapping, and the kidnappers said they did not know he was a member of the international peacekeeping force.
West has 'hard evidence' chemical weapons used in Syria
Diplomats say the West has firm proof that chemical weapons have been deployed at least once over the course of the civil war that has been ravaging Syria for two years.
"In one case, we have hard evidence," one diplomat was quoted by AFP as saying Thursday. And "there are several examples where we are quite sure that shells with chemicals have been used in a very sporadic way."
U.S. Envoy: Syria 'Not Fit to Sit' on UN Rights Committee
The Geneva-based watchdog group UN Watch congratulated Ambassador Killion and urged UNESCO to finally expel Assad from the panel.
"It is indefensible for the Syrian regime to be allowed to stand as a judge of other countries' human rights records," said Ambassador Killion in response to a question by UN Watch, which heads a global campaign of more than 50 parliamentarians, human rights and religious groups calling for Syria's expulsion.

Video: Screaming Christian woman sexually assaulted on the street in Egypt

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 08:50 AM PDT

I saw this video going viral in some Arabic sites, but MEMRI's translation seems to verify that it is what they said it was - Egyptian Islamist men sexually assaulting a Christian woman on the street in the name of Allah:

Nightmare on Schocken Street - Ha'aretz in serious trouble

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 07:30 AM PDT

Mida (Hebrew) has an extensive report on Ha'aretz' problems in the wake of the Amira Hass debacle.

The article talks about Ha'aretz' firing dozens of workers, dramatic cuts in wages, eliminating editorial meetings, the chief editor losing control of his writers, and above all the deterioration of journalistic norms in favor of pursuing sensationalism and radical propaganda.

Interviewing several former employees, Mida heard about the shocking loss of journalistic standards at the "New York Times of Israel." Even so, the Hass article is seen as crossing a red line, a new low for the paper.

Mida also goes over some of the embarrassing mistakes made over the past year, such as Gideon Levy's purposeful misinterpretation of a poll indicating Israel "apartheid" and Ha'aretz' scoop that the White House has a secured telephone line to Dennis Ross, a claim ridiculed by Jeffrey Goldberg.

Someone should translate this entire article.

Today's UN hypocrisy

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 05:47 AM PDT

Today Israel re-opened the Kerem Shalom crossing after closing it on Monday in response to rocket attacks.

On Wednesday, the UN criticized the closing:

The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr. James W. Rawley, expressed serious concern regarding the impact of these restrictions on the civilian population. "These measures are resulting in the depletion of stocks of essential supplies, including basic foodstuffs and cooking gas, and undermine the livelihoods and rights of many vulnerable Gazan families", said Mr. Rawley. "If these restrictions continue, the effect upon the Gaza population will be serious".
Notice that the closure did not affect a single Gazan. The stockpiles of goods were somewhat depleted but they were adequate to ensure that Gazans still had their basic needs met as they have been.

Yet the UN itself last week stopped giving food and other services directly to Gazans in response to riots at UNRWA offices and distribution centers. If anyone was engaging in collective punishment, it was UNRWA.

But, hey, criticizing Israel is so much easier than justifying your own hypocrisy.

Your tax dollars at work: $20 million "Palestine Museum"

Posted: 12 Apr 2013 03:32 AM PDT

From Ma'an:
Palestinian officials on Thursday joined a ceremony to lay the cornerstone for a new museum of Palestinian culture, history and society in Birzeit near Ramallah.

Organizers said the museum would provide Palestinians with "a valuable source of information on Palestine and its history".

The museum is to be constructed in two phases, the first of which is slated for completion by the end of 2014. It is expected to cost some $20 million.

"The museum will not only be for Palestinians but will reach out to the whole world through an advanced digital network," project manager Omar al-Qattan said as ground was broken on the new venture.

"It will be more than a traditional building with archaeological relics. We are looking at an institution that will transcend all boundaries -- geographical and political," he added.
There is nothing wrong with building a museum, even if it supports a narrative that is at odds with history. (In video, they say that ancient Palestinian culture is "one of the most infuential [sic] cultures the world has ever seen." Well, yes, if you mean the culture of the Jews who lived in an area later called Palestine.)

In fact, "Palestinian culture" is mostly a fiction. There have been some specific examples of local culture - costumes in Bethlehem, soap in Nablus - that have been collected ex post facto into a collective "Palestinian" culture in order to further a national myth that is a mere decades old. It could hardly be described as influential on a world scale, or even in a pan-Arab scale. From the Arab perspective, remember, "Palestine" was really considered southern Syria up until the early 20th century.

Be that as it may, Palestinian Arabs have every right to build whatever they want. That is not the problem.

When museums are built in the rest of the world, they are funded by private donors and foundations, with perhaps the aid of local government. However, this museum in Bir Zeit - like most other Palestinian Arab initiatives - is using Western government funds.

The major funder is called "The Welfare Association." Despite its universal sounding name, it is dedicated solely to Palestinian Arab projects.

Its money comes from "the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, World Bank, EU, Islamic Development Bank, Arab Monetary Fund, Kuwait Fund, AGFUND, Ford Foundation, and the governments of Austria, Canada, France, Italy, and Switzerland, among others."

Apparently, the West has become so enamored with the Palestinian Arab cause that it believes that propagating the PalArab national myth is worth millions of Western dollars. Yet as we saw recently, the Palestinian Arabs knowingly push this myth not only to achieve a unity that has eluded Arab residents of Palestine for centuries, but also to actively battle against the undeniable facts of Jewish culture in the same land. (In this case, it looks more like they want to subsume Jewish culture rather than deny it altogether.)

It is highly questionable whether it is appropriate for the West to spend so much money and effort to build a national myth for a nation they want desperately to exist. (How much Western money is earmarked for Kurdish or Armenian culture?)

It far worse, however, when that same money is being used deliberately to erase or marginalize the culture of a real nation that has existed for thousands of years.
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