Elder of Ziyon Daily News |  |
- Do Saudi woman have a legal workaround for driving?
- The obligatory Alice Walker poster
- Tuesday Links Part 2
- Official PA newspaper cartoon pines for the good old days of violence
- Clan clash kills journalist, NGO lawyer in Gaza
- IDF video of Syrian attacks and Israel's missile response
- Tuesday Links Part 1
- Prominent Israel hater believes world run by reptilian space aliens (updates)
- Video: Islamists in Syria publicly lash two men for marriage too soon after girl's divorce
- The disappearing Jews of Malmö, Sweden
| Do Saudi woman have a legal workaround for driving? Posted: 21 May 2013 11:00 PM PDT Bikya News reports: Dubai traffic police are seeing an increase in the number of Saudi women seeking to obtain drivers' licenses in the city and other cities within the United Arab Emirates.What the report doesn't mention is that this may be way for women to legally drive in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia doesn't ban women from driving; it bans women from getting drivers' licenses. If a man with a UAE or Bahraini driver's license can drive in Saudi Arabia, then women with a valid license should be able to as well. I wonder how long it will be before some brave Saudi women test this out. Although, according to this article in the Saudi Gazette, some Saudi women are already quietly driving: We all know that Saudi women in remote areas drive their cars between villages and that people in those areas accept it and do not see anything wrong with it. The women drive from one village to another and get their business done, or some times in emergencies they drive out of necessity.           |
| The obligatory Alice Walker poster Posted: 21 May 2013 04:23 PM PDT |
| Posted: 21 May 2013 02:35 PM PDT From Ian: Hawking hatred Hawking is perhaps the most impressive fish to become ensnared in the boycotters net. And, not surprisingly, the campaigners were dancing jigs of joy for the media. But there was something sad and pathetic about all this. Where is the academic excellence, the technological achievement, and the science-driven innovation in the Palestinian universities? Or, for that matter, further afield in the Middle East? And how will those Israel boycotters apply their turbo-charged minds to a Unicef report which shows that half of the women in the Arab world are illiterate and more than ten million children in the region do not even attend school? That is worth a burst of keening wails.'Al-Dura probe will spur honest Israel coverage' The revelations in the al-Dura case will discourage the foreign press from forging stories about Israel in the future, Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday.Analysis: Words vs. pictures in al-Dura affair For those who despise Israel, all the learned arguments in the world are not going to convince them that Israel did not shoot the 12- year-old Gazan boy in cold blood. To those who truly know Israel, they do not need this document to know that IDF soldiers do not intentionally target children hiding behind their parents.'Criminal Charges Should Be Filed' Over Al-Dura Blood Libel "Criminal charges should be filed, and Charles Enderlin should never be allowed to practice journalism in Israel again," asserted Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center, in response to a report released Sunday by the Israeli government, which found France 2's claims that IDF troops killed Mohammed al-Dura in 2000 as baseless.Newspaper Prints Critical Quote on Al-Dura Report from Org Tied to Charles Enderlin A look at Keshev's website reveals a prominent board member of the organization… Charles Enderlin.Jordan's king trying to play on Israel's fears Abdullah should wake up and realize that beating the Israeli piñata will not save his ailing throne Also Abdullah chooses to ignore that Israel's security has never been dependent on any Arab regime's goodwill. Even with Jordan, Abdullah's father, Hussein, had peace with Israel only because he attacked Israel first and lost, a lesson Abdullah does not seem to have learned. Thus, Israel's military superiority is what has kept its borders with Jordan safe, and this will remain Israel's only guarantor, whoever rules Jordan after the king falls.Iran-Argentina AMIA attack joint probe is official AMIA and the national Jewish political umbrella group DAIA filed a joint petition last month with the Federal Administrative Court arguing that Argentina's Congress acted unconstitutionally in voting for the memorandum of understanding.IDF Blog: Lt. Zehava Elias: Born on the Way to Israel Zehava's journey has been a long one, from her childhood in Ethiopia to her service in the IDF.Advanced analytics technology for water management IBM researchers and the Arad Group, a world leader in the field of water measurement solutions and services, are working together to help water companies and utilities around the globe provide more effective and efficient management of drinking water through the use of Big Data and advanced analytics technologyA windfall for Israel's 'waterfall' sewage treatment firm Mapal breaks into British market with its unique system for faster and more efficient treatment of wastewater.UK retail companies shop Israeli technology Representatives from top British corporations are in town on a four-day trade mission highlighting Israel's cutting-edge retail technologies. Senior Policy Advisor to the British Prime Minister, Rohan Silva, is leading the high-level business delegation that includes reps from high-street supermarket chains to internationally-renowned luxury brands, among them including Marks & Spencer, Tesco and John Lewis.IKEA kitchen buyers to get Israeli countertops Kitchen buyers at American outlets of the Ikea furniture chain will have their countertops covered by an Israeli product – Caesarstone, an engineered stone marble and granite substitute made in Kibbutz Sdot Yam. Ikea and Caesarstone signed an agreement with Ikea US, to serve as that company's exclusive non-laminate countertop vendor.Streisand to be granted honorary PhD from Hebrew U. On June 18, Streisand will perform at the opening ceremony of the Israeli Presidential Conference, which is marking President Shimon Peres' 90th birthday. She also will perform concerts on June 15 and 16 at Tel Aviv's Bloomfield Stadium.      |
| Official PA newspaper cartoon pines for the good old days of violence Posted: 21 May 2013 12:30 PM PDT Al Hayat al Jadida published this cartoon:  The caption is "Pensioners..." From what I gather, the black stripes on the pictures of the sub-machine gun, pistol., hand grenade and Molotov cocktail mean that they are no longer being used (well, they are, but let's forget that for now) and the old man is sad that the only weapon remaining is the slingshot. This is the PA's official government newspaper. (h/t Ibn Boutros)      |
| Clan clash kills journalist, NGO lawyer in Gaza Posted: 21 May 2013 11:15 AM PDT From Ma'an: A journalist and human rights activist were shot dead in Gaza overnight during a suspected clan clash, locals said.Their dispute was over an inheritance. Too bad that the NGO Ahmad Safiyya worked for ignores issues like the one that got him killed. But there is no money for NGOs that aren't anti-Israel, so there are very few human rights organizations in the territories that care about abuses of human rights done within Gaza. In related news, a man beat an elderly female relative to death in Gaza when she refused to lend him 200 shekels. You just know that when stories like these come out, a significant number of people reflexively blame Israel. The only question is how tortured their logic will be this time.      |
| IDF video of Syrian attacks and Israel's missile response Posted: 21 May 2013 10:00 AM PDT From the IDF: I'm not happy with the translation - the video shows the projectiles being fired from Syria, not them hitting Israel. It is obvious that the IDF fired back at exactly the same spot that it was fired upon from, nine minutes later. (h/t Yoel)      |
| Posted: 21 May 2013 09:00 AM PDT From Ian: CIF Watch: An ugly disgusting rant: Joseph Massad and Glenn Greenwald attack 'the usual Jewish suspects' In case there is any doubt who Greenwald is referring to by "the usual suspects", in the Tweet he links to a piece criticizing AJ's decision (and defending Massad) by Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada – whose support for Massad is not surprising as he advanced the Zionism = Nazism narrative in a Tweet in 2010 – which accused Al Jazeera of caving in to "Zionists extremist" Jews, such as Jeffrey Goldberg, John Podhoretz and Rahm Emmanuel.The Rage, Relativism and Racism of Glenn Greenwald One will search Greenwald's writing for coherence in vain because, although he espouses moral relativism when it suits his agenda, as we've just seen, he'll vehemently disown it with his very next breath. His is not a thoughtful, principled commitment to a philosophy he's prepared to defend or apply consistently. Rather, his geopolitical outlook might be best described as a half-understood kind of dime-store Third Worldism; a gruesome combination of a thoroughgoing Western masochism with an ostensible compassion for the wretched of the earth that masks the same racist condescension and contempt typified by the worst kind of colonialist paternalism.NGO Monitor: Report: U.S. Talks Peace, But Aids Incitement American leaders speak of the importance of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but American money is being used by terrorist groups that undermine the chance for peace, according to a report by NGO Monitor that was presented Monday to the United States Congress.PMW: Facebook page associating UNRWA with terror glorification closed Last week, Palestinian Media Watch reported on the glorification of suicide bomber Wafa Idris by the Palestinian Al-Amari youth center on its Facebook page, noting that UNRWA's name (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) appeared in the logo of the youth center on the page.Checking BBC-propagated untruths about checkpoints So what are the facts? How many checkpoints actually exist and do they really "prevent" Palestinians from travelling to work or to university?Palestinians hold off on UN agency membership The Palestinians have done all the legal work necessary to join 63 UN agencies, conventions and treaties but haven't applied yet mainly to give the latest US peace effort a chance to succeed, the chief Palestinian negotiator said Monday.Nablus vendor tries to set self on fire after crackdown A man tried to set himself on fire in Nablus on Sunday in protest against a police campaign to regulate street vendors in the West Bank, locals said.Syrian army claims it destroyed Israeli vehicle 'and those in it' Israel did not respond to the Syrian claim, but earlier Tuesday the IDF Spokesperson's Office said that an Israeli jeep on patrol was hit by light weapons fire, causing slight damage to the vehicle, and that the army responded by shooting a long-range Tamuz rocket at the source of the attack and reported a "direct hit."Eritrean tells of Sinai torture for ransom After seven months of beatings, burns, electric shocks and constant threats to kill him, an Eritrean refugee has finally been freed by his kidnappers in Egypt's Sinai desert. Covered in deep scars and suffering from breathing problems and bone injuries, Philemon Semere, now in Cairo, told the BBC how it feels to be free at last.Saudi Arabia beheads Yemenis, displays corpses in public Saudi Arabia has today beheaded five Yemenis and displayed their bodies in public.Has Saudi Arabia blocked the Jerusalem Post? Another answer may lie in the fact that unlike other Israeli newspapers, the Jerusalem Post is an English newspaper. That is, the paper is issued in the most dominant language in the world.SYRIZA MP Yelled "Heil Hitler!" In Parliament Golden Dawn denied it was any of its members who said it and after a day of confusion, Greek media reported that it was Giorgos Pantzas, a former film actor who now belongs to the major opposition party Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) who yelled the reference to the Nazi leader in an apparent attempt to ridicule Golden Dawn. (h/t jake)      |
| Prominent Israel hater believes world run by reptilian space aliens (updates) Posted: 21 May 2013 07:00 AM PDT Alice Walker, the author of "The Color Purple" who was also a "jurist" in the kangaroo court "Russell Tribunal on Palestine," believes that Israel is an apartheid state. She also believes that the world is run by shape-shifting reptilian aliens who practice mind control from the Moon. I'm not sure which opinion is more bizarre. On her blog, she waxes poetic over the book that taught her so much about the aliens:that control our world: Earlier I wrote that David Icke reminded me of Malcolm X. I was thinking especially of Malcolm's fearlessness. A fearlessness that made him seem cold, actually, though we know he wasn't really. All that love of us that kept driving him to improve our lot; often into quite the wrong direction, but I need not go into that. What I was remembering was how he called our oppressors "blue eyed devils." Now who could that have been? Well, we see them here in David Icke's book as the descendants of the reptilian race that landed on our sweet planet the moment they could get a glimpse of it through the mist that used to cover it (before there was a moon). No kidding. Deep breath! Yes, before there was a moon! (Oh, I love the moon; can I keep it? Please?). Anyway, there they came, these space beings (we're space beings too, of course, not to forget that). But they looked…. different than us. And they were. Wikipedia summarizes Ickes' theory that enthralls Walker: Icke introduced the reptoid hypothesis in The Biggest Secret (1999), which identified the Brotherhood as descendants of reptilians from the constellation Draco, who walk on two legs and appear human, and who live in tunnels and caverns inside the earth. He argues that the reptilians are the race of gods known as the Anunnaki in the Babylonian creation myth, Enûma Eliš.[42] According to Barkun, Icke's idea of "inner-earth reptilians" is not new, though he has done more than most to expand it.[43]Walker is of course worshiped by the Mondoweiss crowd. Then again, their grasp of reality is about as tenuous as Walker's. (h/t Max S) UPDATE: BlazingCatFur illustrates the theory:  UPDATE 2: On a more serious note, Walker's daughter wrote an extensive essay describing just how sick a human being Alice Walker is. All this was known when she was honored for her anti-Israel stunts.      |
| Video: Islamists in Syria publicly lash two men for marriage too soon after girl's divorce Posted: 21 May 2013 05:00 AM PDT The Syrian opposition publicly flogged two men in a town in northern Syria this week, according to reports. Their crime? In Islamic law, a woman is divorced before she can be remarried (so that there is no doubt as to the parentage of any children she has - this was taken from Jewish law but claimed by Muslims to be one of their innovations.) A father in Syria married his daughter to a young man before the three months were complete. So the Islamists who control the town gave both the father and the groom a public flogging, apparently with electrical wire, after reading their verdict.      |
| The disappearing Jews of Malmö, Sweden Posted: 21 May 2013 02:00 AM PDT Here is most of a long article, in Swedish, in DN.se: Malmö has for many years been a new, secure residence for tens of thousands of refugees from different parts of the world. 30 percent of the city's 307,000 residents were born abroad. In recent years, it is mainly Syrians, Somalis and Afghans who have come here. The very first group of refugees who found refuge in Malmo were Jews. In 1860, Sweden abolished the law that forbade Jews to settle outside Stockholm, Gothenburg, Norrköping and Karlskrona. Eleven years later, in 1871, two hundred Jews had moved to Malmö. Mistrust of them was widespread. "People Magazine" wrote about the "swarm of Jews," "peddlers and hucksters", who settled in southern Sweden "to great discomfort for the friends of order," according to the newspaper. But the Scandanavian Jew hatred was not as aggressive as that in in Poland, Russia and Ukraine. There, tens of thousands of Jews were killed in pogroms, bloody riots encouraged by the authorities. Many Jewish refugees found refuge in Lund and Malmö. The congregation grew. In 1903 the synagogue was inaugurated in Club Street, designed in the Moorish style of John Smedberg. The synagogue in Malmö is one of the few preserved temples from its era. Most similar synagogues on the continent were destroyed on 30 - and 40's, under Nazism. In 1930, Malmö was a Nazi stronghold. Nazis marched through the streets of Malmö. But a bunch of Malmö sports fans did not hide their Jewish identity. At Café Triangle in central Malmö - "a little chilly two-story" as one of the young men would later write - they gathered on 29 December 1932 to form the Jewish sports club SK Hakoah. Hakoah means "power" in Hebrew. In the society's annual report, you can see black and white pictures of men's teams, women's teams and Little League teams, and learn about the tough qualifying matches against teams like Arlöv and Heleneholm. ... In 1945, thousands of Jewish survivors of Nazi death camps moved to Malmo. Many stayed and started families. The congregation grew, and so did SK HaKoah. In the late 1960s, the communist dictatorship in Poland whipped up anti-Semitism. Jews were fired from jobs and banned from the university. Shops were vandalized and marked with Stars of David. Thousands fled, and many settled in Lund and Malmö. SK Hakoah's volleyball and bridge teams benefited in particular - many of the newly arrived Poles were driven volleyball and bridge players. In a festival booklet for Hakoahs 50th anniversary celebrations in 1982 the writer speaks of "the large number of Jewish youth growing up" in Malmö and predicts "additional years of sporting activities." The writer was wrong. Inexperienced teams are some older bridge players today areall that remains of SK Hakoah. Their men's football team came to an end after last year's season. In the final years played no Jews in the club's first team. In contrast, SK Hakoah had several Muslim players. It did not matter to some anti-Semites among the fans. The cries of "fucking Jews" rained sometimes over the non-Jewish players. ...One of soccer parents (cheering the kids' team) is Shneur Kesselman. He is the rabbi in Malmo, leading services and conducting funerals. "It is important that Jewish life is kept alive. This club is part of it," says the rabbi. In his long black beard, his black pants and his white shirt 33-year-old Shneur Kesselman sticks out from the other, more leisurely dressed parents. The rabbi's traditional Hassidic way of dressing has made him an obvious target for anti-Semitism in Malmö. Since he moved to Malmö from Detroit eight years ago Shneur Kesselman has been harassed almost every month. He gets empty cans threw at him. People spit in his direction. He has become accustomed to taunts like "we support Hitler". The police hate crimes coordinator has objectively summarized why the rabbi is so very vulnerable: "You can see so clearly that he is a Jew." Between two football games the Rabbi talks about the latest unpleasantness. Recently, on a Saturday in late April, he walked from his apartment to the synagogue. "First, near my home, there was a man rolled down the window and shouted 'fucking Jew.' I kept walking." A few minutes later, at Triangle Square in central Malmö, four young men in a car pulled up. One of them went out on the sidewalk and took a few menacing steps toward Shneur Kesselman. "He wanted to fight or intimidated. I quickly walked away." Rabbi usually records the license numbers of the cars, in order to notify the police. But this day was the Sabbath - a day of rest. He is not allowed to write, according to the rabbi's faith. "I memorized the plate number in my head and wrote it up the next day." The judiciary has never managed to get any offender convicted, although Shneur Kesselman reported dozens of anti-Semitic attacks. Still, Malmö police take the problems more seriously today than a few years ago, he thinks. "Then when I called the police they didn't even bother questioning the owners of the cars." When a Swedish hear the word anti-Semitism they often think of Nazi skinheads. If you are older and interested in politics you may remember fascist leader Per Engdahl. He wanted to distinguish Jews from other Swedes, stop "mixed marriages" and prohibit Jews from holding management positions in society. Engdahl was admired by Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad, which Elisabeth Åsbrink writes about in his award winning book, "And in Wienerwald trees are left standing." Remnants of Swedish kitchen table anti-Semitism are still alive in some quarters. A group of Jewish children between seven and twelve experienced it when they were at camp in Hollviken south of Malmö, during a weekend in October 2010. The center was surrounded by a great bunch of local teenagers who threw eggs, beat on trashcans and trampled down the fence. Youths shouted "Heil Hitler", "Jude Shit destroys Hollviken" and "You shall be gassed". The Jewish children were frightened. Sixteen students were later identified as participants in the attack. The old, traditional Jew hatred exists. But if one wants to understand the contemporary anti-Semitism in Malmö the image of the Nazi skinhead is wrong. In Malmö it is most often young men roots in the Middle East accounting for harassment of Jews. Last year I interviewed Henryk Grynfeld, a teacher who repeatedly met with hatred of its pupils on Herb School in Malmö. Once students gathered outside his classroom and chanted: "Fucking Jew, fucking Jew!" Henryk Grynfeld summed up the situation: "In Poland, I was'fucking Jew.' When I came to Sweden, I was 'fucking Pole.' Now it's back to 'fucking Jew' again." As contempt for Jews was once mainstream in Swedish newspapers, with racist cartoons, anti-Semitism is common in many Arab countries' media. The Muslim world's famous television preacher Yusuf al-Qaradawi, whose words carry weight for many residents, has called the Holocaust a "divine punishment." "With God's will, the next punishment to be carried out by the faithful," said Yusuf al-Qaradawi, in 2009 on TV channel Al-Jazeera. Henryk Grynfeld says that several of his students and their parents watch much Arab television. "They see programs that sometimes have the same Jew rhetoric that German Nazis had. Syrian television showed kegs of nails. In the barrels, the Jews kept children whose blood was mixed in with matzoh, the television channel told their viewers." Jew Hatred in Malmö is often interwoven with anger against Israel's policies toward the Palestinians. The rabbi noticed it last year when someone had carved PALESTINE in the paint on his car. 62-year-old Barbro Posner, growing up in Malmo, talks about when she met two young men during a walk in the Möllan neighborhood. One of them looked at Barbro Posner's necklace in the shape of a Star of David, and said, "Fucking Jew." "What do you mean?" asked Barbro Posner. "I hate Jews. You're killing children," said the young man. In 2009, during the Israeli bombing of Gaza, the mixture of Israeli criticism and anti-Semitism was extra clear. A strange SMS chain message was sent around: "The staff at McDonald's has concluded that all profits on Saturday to go to Israel, try not to eat of the accursed Jews. Even Coca-Cola, Fanta, and Sprite is Jewish. Avoid those too." A rally with Israeli flags in the Great Square was attacked with bottles, eggs and rockets. The cry of "fucking Jews" drove participants to flight. 30-year Malmo teacher Sophia was one of those who fled from the Square. "Many of those who shouted hateful things were my former students. Guys who I once taught to tie their shoelaces," says Sofia when DN met her at an outdoor café in the castle town in central Malmö. Sofia is now working at a school in a rural municipality - her choice. Antisemitism at the Malmo School became too much. The pupils told her that Jews mix Palestinian children's blood in Coca-Cola. One day there was a nine year old student standing outside her classroom. This was a kid that Sophia really liked. "Why don't you go in?" she asked. "Mom and Dad don't want me to," the boy replied. "Why not?" The nine year old hesitated. Finally he said: "You are a Jew." ... "Malmo has become the symbol of anti-Semitism - but the problem exists in all of Sweden," says Petra Kahn. When she was a substitute teacher in a school in Vårby, south of Stockholm, she said the other teachers told her to hide her Jewish identity. Many students at the school do not like Jews, declared colleagues. When Petra Kahn heard a student say that all Jews should be shot, she could not keep quiet. She told them: I am a Jew. Word spread quickly, remembers Petra Kahn. "Several students came up and asked: 'Are you Jewish?' It was creepy. A sort of aggressive curiosity." But far worse than the students' hostility was her colleagues' requests to keep quiet because she was Jewish, says Petra Kahn. "It felt like the Swedish society adopted this behavior." 32-year-old Emilia grew up in Malmo but moved with her husband and son to Copenhagen last summer. Not because they have found jobs in Denmark... "My son's childhood should be safe - which is better in Copenhagen than Malmö." In Copenhagen, there is also a Jewish school, says Emilia, which Malmö lacks. "It is easier to live as a Jew there." A Copenhagen Rabbi, Yitzi Loewenthal, arrives. Like his Malmo colleague Shneur Kesselman, he wears a beard and traditional Hasidic attire. Yitzi Loewenthal visited Malmö several times. On two occasions, he has been harassed. "People shouted ugly things. This rarely happens in Copenhagen." The rabbi recalls that Malmo has a special place in Danish Jewish hearts. During the German occupation many Jews in Copenhagen went in fishing boats across the Strait in autumn 1943 to escape the Nazi extermination camps. In Denmark elderly Jews still remember how they were welcomed with open arms. How strong Malmö police officers helped pull in the boats. "Because of that, the pain from the situation in Malmö is that much worse," says Yitzi Loewenthal. 58-year-old Malmöbon Kaj Gellberg shows up .... His own children are too old to play Little League teams, but Kaj and his wife have been driving over the bridge to Denmark to cheer SK Hakoah. Kaj Gellberg is a positive person who downplays the dangers of being a Jew in Malmo. If you wear no Jewish symbols, then you have no problem." Kaj Gellberg's ancestors were involved in founding the synagogue in the 1800s. It is tragic that Jewish life now fades away, he thinks. But maybe, he considers, there's hope for Malmö. He points out that the situation of Jews in Hungary is difficult. Politicians from the extreme party Jobbik have demanded registration of Jews and anti-Semitic events are being organized. "Maybe we can get Jewish refugees from Hungary to move here." Is he serious? He shows no sign of making a joke. And there's a horrible logic in the reasoning. Historically, it is actually Jewish persecution in other countries - Russia, Poland, Germany - which meant that Jews fled to Malmö. Kaj Gellberg says it again: "Hungary, yes. It's probably the only chance for a fresh start for the synagogue in Malmö." (h/t BlazingCatFur)      |
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