יום שישי, 3 במאי 2013

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder of Ziyon

Who wants to work on an action-oriented resource list?

Posted: 02 May 2013 08:15 PM PDT

In response to my earlier post on how to complain to Google News when antisemitic articles (in the Arabic media, usually) get published, a couple of people asked me to create a resource page for things like this.

I think it is a great idea. I picture a page with specific information on how to contact people and organizations  with suggestions, complaints or tips; giving out their Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, email addresses and phone numbers as appropriate. Also, specific links and instructions on how to flag offensive content in Facebook, YouTube and other social media, and tools to help generate letters to politicians and newspapers.

This page can easily get too big, so I want to prioritize contacts and links that are action-oriented.
Detail of the skeleton spreadsheet

I would rather crowdsource this than do it all myself. So if you want to be involved, I created a skeleton Google Docs spreadsheet. If you want to contribute and do some research, just email me your Google account/email address, or place it in the comments, and I will share it with you. When it gets fully populated, I will put it on as a page in this blog so you can always find the contact information you need!

Thursday Links Part 2

Posted: 02 May 2013 05:00 PM PDT

From Ian:
Honest Reporting: No Sugarcoating BDS Ignorance
According to the paper, PAG's promotional material claimed that Max Brenner supports Israel, the IDF, and the torture and genocide of Palestinians.
"But Mr Harrison appears in the video saying: "Max Brenner itself is a franchise. So financially speaking there isn't really any connection between this Max Brenner store in particular and Israel. It's become really a kind of cultural ambassador for Israel, this store . . ."
By that logic, other foreign companies with operations in Israel, like, Intel, Microsoft, IBM, and McDonalds, are also "ambassadors" for Israel on some level, if not financially supportive of the Zionist entity. Which begs the question: Can the BDS supporters wash off their Windows and Whoppers?
Unis tolerating intolerance
As a pluralistic democracy that provides for the security and well-being of Palestinians, Israel is not remotely comparable to apartheid South Africa. For decades Arabs have had greater democratic and human rights in Israel than in any Arab country. They make up about a sixth of Israel's population and Palestinian Muslims hold seats in the Knesset on a platform of creating a viable Palestinian state. Israel is not perfect and the Palestinian issue must be resolved. But demonising Israel and Jews is not only wrong because it is racist, it is also an incorrect and deceptive interpretation of reality. (PM) Julia Gillard is right to condemn the BDS campaign, now so marginalised it has been disowned even by the Greens. We are entitled to expect our universities to take a stronger stand both against racism and in favour of facts.
Stand With US: StandWithUS to counter anti-Israel posters in Metro-North with Pro-Israel posters May 13 until June 9
StandWithUs [SWU] is placing seven posters in 25 New York (Westchester) Metro-North locations from May 13 until June 9, 2013. The ads counter the misinformation in anti-Israel posters currently on display at these sites. This is the third time the non-profit Israel education organization has countered anti-Israel posters in New York's metro system. In July-August 2012, SWU placed six different ads at 75 Metro-North locations, and in 2011 it posted a billboard on 25 New York subway platforms.
How UC Berkeley killed BDS
For years now, the BDS movement in the United States has failed to enact any boycott against, or divestment from, Israel. Not once has it harmed Israel's pockets or stature. Not once has it benefitted Palestinians, let alone the cause of peace, because it rejects entirely the concept of peace between a Jewish state of Israel and an Arab state of Palestine. Two weeks ago, the student government of America's most radical student body rejected it outright, explicitly and repeatedly. If it cannot succeed at Berkeley, how can it ever hope to succeed elsewhere? It cannot. Berkeley killed BDS.
Can You Be Sued for Boycotting Israeli Companies?
New York-based legal think tank The Lawfare Project and Israeli civil rights organization Shurat HaDin were among the first entities to recognize the applicability of section 296(13) to anti-Israel discriminatory business practices perpetrated by New York companies. In March 2012, human rights attorney and Lawfare Project Director Brooke Goldstein briefed the Brooklyn-based Park Slope Food Co-op on the potential legal implications of its proposed boycott of Israeli products, which contributed to the Co-op's overwhelming vote against enacting the boycott.
The closing of the academic mind in Ireland
When seen through the prism of what is taught in Israeli and in Palestinian schools, can anyone doubt that there is hypocrisy at play in Ireland? When the Irish Teachers Union picks out one set of teachers and loathes them above all others, when it simplifies politics and history to fit a biased ideology of victim and oppressor, or imposes a twisted view of good and evil on events that defy such categorization, academic thinking has been abandoned. As such, such actions should have no place in any academic union purporting to represent scholars and teachers.
Newseum and Freedom House Smear Israel
The report claims that the appearance on the scene of Israel Hayom, a relatively new Israeli newspaper, is a threat to press freedom because it is a success that has hurt the business prospects of its competitors. No, you didn't misread that sentence. Freedom House is taking the position that the fact that Israel Hayom has claimed an impressive share of the hyper-competitive newspaper market is undermining the freedom of the press. The justification for this ridiculous claim is that Sheldon Adelson, the casino mogul and well-known contributor to Republican candidates, has "subsidized" the paper and that its editorial line favors Prime Minister Netanyahu. The paper, which is distributed free of charge, is now the most-read paper in Israel, a state of affairs which Freedom House not unreasonably connects to the demise of Maariv, a longtime mainstay of the Hebrew daily press. But the question readers of this report have to ask is what in the name of Joseph Pulitzer does the ability of Adelson's paper to succeed where many other print papers are failing have to do with freedom of the press?
A lesson from Martin Luther King
In his 1968 speech to the Rabbinical Assembly, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said "peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy." Less than two weeks after giving that speech, Dr. King was assassinated.
Unfortunately, since Dr. King's passing, some high-profile African-American individuals have embraced anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. Rather than building upon the strong ties forged between Jews and African-Americans during the struggle for civil rights, some African-American leaders have damaged both communities with their demagoguery.
This was not Dr. King's dream.
Israeli translation tech promotes 'understanding'
Before Google Translate, there was Babylon. Although the Israeli translation software and service has long been eclipsed in numbers of users by Google's product — due, for the most part, to Google's Internet ubiquity — Babylon is now getting its shot at mass web usage. The company has signed a four-year cooperation agreement with Yahoo to provide online translation services for web users and mobile devices. The two companies will share advertising revenue.
Buffett: Israel a Top Place for Ideas, Investments
"Israel needs to continue doing what it does," Buffett said. "You are a nation of entrepreneurs with fantastic capabilities. You need to continue providing the best and most comfortable conditions for investors. This is the responsibility of the government, which ensures a positive climate for investors.
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway pays $2 billion for Iscar
American business magnate says Israel is the best place to invest outside the US.
Sephardi Stories, on the Record
Stanley Urman, executive vice-president of Justice for Jews From Arab Countries, says that just as Spielberg documented the stories of survivors in order to negate Holocaust revisionism, Sephardi Voices can ensure that nobody can deny the legacy of Jews from Arab lands. "Arabs say that Jews weren't discriminated against in their countries and that they left from their own free will," he said. "They try to expunge the legacy of Sephardi Jews from the history of the Middle East. Jews lived in the Middle East for over 2,500 years—1,000 years before the advent of Islam. Jews are the indigenous people of the Middle East, and their story must be told and recognized."

Amnesty "human rights" group goes out if its way to mitigate a terror attack

Posted: 02 May 2013 02:15 PM PDT

From Amnesty:
The Israeli authorities must immediately remove a new outpost set up yesterday by Israeli settlers in the Nablus district of the occupied West Bank, Amnesty International said today.

The new outpost was set up following the killing of Evyatar Borovsky, a resident of the illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzhar, on Tuesday.

Borovsky, a civilian who was carrying a gun at the time of the attack, was stabbed and killed by a Palestinian man who was wounded and later arrested by Israeli forces.
By any definition, the murder of Evyatar Borovsky was a terror attack.

But look how Amnesty tries to mitigate it:
  • It was a "killing," not a murder
  • He lived in an "illegal settlement" - implying that he was somehow more deserving of death than someone else
  • He was "carrying a gun" - implying that he was a violent person, also more deserving of death than someone else
They also pointedly ignore that the attacker seized Borovsky's gun and shot at others. To Amnesty, this was not a terror attack - it was merely an incident and the evil Jewish settler got what was coming to him, although Amnesty likes to point out that "We deplore all deliberate attacks on civilians, including settlers. But..."

Wow - even settlers? Thanks, Amnesty, for being so generous!

Of course, Amnesty would not mention that this gun-toting illegal usurper of Palestinian land that no Arab ever lived on was a father of five, or a well-loved and respected member of his community, or an actor working to help people overcome emotional trauma. Those facts, you see, are irrelevant. No, the only extraneous facts they mention are those that make him vaguely evil.

No such biased language is associated with Evyatar's murderer.

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

The Church of Scotland has big problems with the Old Testament

Posted: 02 May 2013 12:15 PM PDT

The Church of Scotland just released a pseudo-scholarly paper called "The inheritance of Abraham? A report on the 'promised land'".

As the JC writes:
A discussion document compiled by the Church's church and society council suggests that Jews' claim to the land of Israel could be invalidated by their treatment of Palestinians.

The report will be voted on by the 700 Church members who attend the annual general assembly - the Church's sovereign body - when it meets later this month. If it is passed by a majority, it will become "the considered view of the Church", a spokesperson said.

The goal of the report is to use the mirage of Biblical scholarship to deny Jewish rights to historically sacred Jewish lands.
Since 2003, two new insights have been noted by the General Assembly: in 2007, in the report What Hope for the Middle East?2 the Church of Scotland responded to a declaration from Church leaders in Jerusalem, and endorsed their criticism of Christian Zionism and encouraged members of the Church of Scotland to reject it, and in 2009 Christians in the Holy Land came together and produced Kairos Palestine: a moment of truth, offered as a word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian Suffering.

With the co-operation and support of the World Mission Council, we present this report in 2013 as our latest reflection on the 'questions that need to be faced', as the political and humanitarian situation in the Holy Land continues to be a source of pain and concern for us all.
According to the paper:
In general terms there have been three main ways of understanding the promises about land in the Bible:
1. A territorial guarantee
2. A land held in trust
3. A land with a universal mission.
After quoting a number of Hebrew Bible verses that support the first idea literally, where God unconditionally promises the Land of Israel to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Church has no real response - only "questions:"

i) How do we understand biblical texts that tell us that occupation of the land must go hand in hand with obedience to God's law and God's concern for justice?

ii) Did the prophets not warn that pursuit of power and wealth would lead to inequality, injustice and the loss of land, as it did in the Exile?

iii) What land is being discussed? Is it the land claimed by Joshua, or the land of David and Solomon, or Judah, or the Northern Kingdom of Israel?

iv) How do we view the narratives on the occupation of the 'promised land' in Joshua and Judges? (Violent ethnic cleansing was apparently condoned by God in some passages, while others suggest assimilation.)

v) Do any of the Hebrew Bible accounts really sanction future occupation of the land and the driving out of the people already there? For example, the occupation of the land by Jewish immigration in recent times and the violence used to deprive some 750,000 Palestinian people from their homes at the time the State of Israel was established in 1948? (This is known by the Palestinian people as Al Nakba – the catastrophe).

vi) Clarence Wagner describes the creation of the modern state of Israel as a 'miracle'. What is meant by 'miracle'? Was Al Nakba a 'miracle' – driving people from their ancestral land and property with no right of reclaim; the creation of the Gaza Strip; all the refugee camps; the occupied Palestinian territory with the destruction of community life; and the impoverishment of the Palestinian people?

vii) Justice is a major theme in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. For example "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8) and "Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness…" (Matthew 6:33). Are these not a challenge to the policies of the State of Israel?

viii) How can Christians support the violation of human rights in the name of alleged divinely conferred exclusive rights to a specific area of land?
9/11 "Truthers" and others use a similar appalling lack of logic - they simply "ask questions" to cast doubt, without providing any alternative explanations. Has any Church of Scotland member ever asked a Christian Zionist how to answer these questions, let alone a knowledgeable Jew?

Beyond that, these questions are not meant to honestly find out answers, but they are loaded questions that presuppose lies:

  • They assume a mass expulsion of 750,000 Arabs in 1948, which is a lie. 
  • They bizarrely blame Israel for the creation of the Gaza Strip, which was where Egyptians dumped all Palestinian Arab refugees in 1948-49 to keep them out of Egypt proper. 
  • They blame Israel for the existence of "refugee camps" 65 years after the fact - when in fact every other refugee population gets assimilated into their host countries, and the Arab nations are the ones that have kept them stateless and miserable for so many decades.  
  • They assume that Israel, by its very existence, is a violation of human rights. 
  • They also skirt close to antisemitic stereotypes by claiming that Zionist Jews today are only engaged in the "pursuit of power and wealth." This is a perverted and thoroughly offensive description of modern Israeli priorities and accomplishments.


All of these "questions," therefore, are not quests for the truth, but attempts to promulgate lies under the rubric of "simply asking questions" - just like 9/11 "truthers" and Holocaust revisionists.

If they can explain how their disgusting "questions" are any different than those other immoral haters, I'd love to hear it. As it is, this section of the paper proves how dishonest and sickening these people are.

The second idea, that Israel is given to the Jews conditionally on their performing God's will, is dismissed by the Church - by arrogantly deciding that Jews are doing the opposite, and that the "Zionist project" is invalid, without a single proof-text:
As long as Zionists think that Jewish people are serving God's special purpose and that abuses by the state of Israel, however wrong and regrettable, don't invalidate the Zionist project, they will believe themselves more entitled to the land than the Palestinian people.
Again, the Church is assuming guilt and then twisting the facts to fit their preconceived ideas. They even give the following quote, calling it a "difficulty":

"Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, 'This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I have carried you on eagles' wings and brought you here to me. If only you will now listen to me and keep my covenant, then out of all peoples you will become my special possession; for the whole earth is mine. You will be to me a kingdom of priests, my holy nation. Those are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.'"

From a theological perspective, it is a difficulty for the anti-Zionist Christians, not to anyone else. Assuming that God controls the world, He apparently has given the Land to Jews, at least at the moment. Whether it is a test or a precursor to Messianic times no one can say for sure, but to dismiss the current miraculous Jewish state - only a vague idea a century ago - as nothing more than an excuse to oppress Arabs who lived there at the same time is not exactly theologically supportable. Indeed, it is another perversion of the truth.

Finally, the Church comes to what it believes is the true meaning of Israel - that the entire idea of Zion is symbolic and universal, with nothing at all to do with Jews.

I cannot speak for the New Testament concepts written in the paper to support this idea, but their interpretation of the Hebrew Bible is laughable.

The prophetic writings especially were developing a different understanding. In Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings, force is used to achieve Israel's nationalistic goals. This is continued by the Maccabees in the 2nd century BC and the Zealots in AD 1st century. That exclusivist tradition implied Jews had a special, privileged position in relation to God. But the prophetic tradition stood against this. Narrative of the Babylonian captivity demonstrated that God was not confined to 'their' land, or was concerned only for  'them'. 
How exactly were prophets such as Samuel against war? David was also a prophet - as well as a warrior. Was he, and the Psalms he wrote, not part of the "prophetic tradition"?

And why should God's promises towards the Jews imply that God ignores them when they are in the diaspora?
The book of Jonah is a key text for understanding the Hebrew Bible's promise of the land to Abraham and his descendants. Written at a time when Jewish people were turning inwards, the book presents Jonah as a Jewish nationalist to drive home the point: God's universal, inclusive love is for all. God in Jonah is merciful, gracious, a liberator of the oppressed and sinful who looks for just living. The people of God even include the hated Assyrians. So Jonah suggests a new theology of the land, because God was not confined within the land of Israel, but also embraced the land of Assyria. 

God's special relationship with the  Jews in the Bible in no way implies that He has nothing to do with the other nations, as the Church bizarrely implies here, any more than a father would ignore his neighbor's kids.  Jewish tradition teaches that all people - not just Jews - can be rewarded by God. God spoke directly to Balaam, a non-Jewish prophet - as well as to at least one Pharaoh. There is no "new theology" in Jonah.

If the Church simply wanted to argue that the Hebrew Bible is outdated by the New Testament - which is in fact its strongest argument - then why try so hard to twist the Old Testament to support their anti-Zionist thesis?

Obviously they feel that the Hebrew Bible is their biggest challenge, one that does not fit in the least with their political theology, and this embarrasses them. The result is ten pages of hand waving to misdirect their readers away from the problems posed by the Hebrew Bible, and to discount the actual words of God - in their own theology - in order to justify their hatred for Israel.

This is not exactly how one would expect a religious institution to act.

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

Why the French court decision is significant

Posted: 02 May 2013 10:15 AM PDT

I mentioned last week that a French appeals court has apparently ruled that Israel's occupation of the territories was not illegal.

The Times of Israel interviewed some legal experts who claimed that there was very little new legal ground broken here:

Legal expert Frances Raday, the president of the Concord Research Center for Integration of International Law in Israel, likewise said the court decision is only marginally significant for a debate about the legality of Israel's actions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

"It's only talking about transport infrastructure," she said. "I don't think they actually say anything new, except that an occupying power is not prohibited from putting in place transport infrastructure."

However, Eugene Kontorovich writes in Opinio Juris:
Crucially, the Court held that only the Government of Israel, and not private parties, can violate the relevant provisions of the Geneva Conventions. The arguments that Israeli communities in the West Bank violate international law start with Art. 49(6) of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which provides that "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer its civilian population into the territory it occupies." The provision was also relied on heavily in the lawsuit. The Court ruled that 49(6) only speaks to and applies to action by the Israeli government ("the Occupying power"), and does not regulate Alton's activities in the occupied territory.

This is an extraordinarily important holding in light of the decades old-debate about the meaning of 49(6) in the context of Israeli civilian migration into the West Bank. It is in direct opposition to the political and international law position on settlements. In the standard narrative, any migration of Israeli Jews past the Green Line, or the expansion of their residences and communities once there, is a war crime. Thus when private citizens decides to buy or build a house across the Green Line, or even expand an existing one, it is a war crime.

Moreover, Israeli citizens who migrate to the West Bank are often said to be guilty of war crimes themselves as aiders-and-abettors. The Versailles decision would seem to reject such a position.

Israel's critics often claim that "everyone agrees" that international law bans all "settlement activity" as it is broadly called, and that only Israeli apologists could believe the arguments to the contrary. (In the Human Rights Council's recent report on Israel's settlements, light rail is itself called a settlement.)

He elaborates in the comments:
[The ruling] does not deal with the liability of the Gov't – but discussions of settlements usually lay the blame much wider:

1) It clearly says private action is not governed by 49(6).

2) It suggests it is wrong to speak of settlements as "illegal." Settlements are a mix of private and public action, with the amount of public action most would require being quite thin, and certainly not necessary

3) Compare this the Human Rights Council report, which called all activities whatsoever in the WB "settlements" that are "illegal." That got report got more play than this decision.

4) Under the Court's ruling, cases where 1)Israelis buy preexisting Arab houses, usually in Jerusalem or Hebron, and without the government knowing; 2) build additional structures on their houses; 3) are born in WB; 4) make "illegal" settlements, i.e., not recognized by gov't — would all be clearly legal. There would be nothing to protest about these actions – one could still protest some background government role, if one thinks it is significant enough, but one can't say these actions themselves are illegal. That itself would be a big change.

5) Yes, much of the issue would still remain – how much state action is required....The reading that 49(6) requires the occupying power to not "enable" people moving to the WB means the provision actually means "shall not deport, and shall prevent individuals from moving," which is rather different language from that chosen [by Geneva.]
Did you catch the irony? Outposts considered illegal by the Israeli government would not be illegal under Geneva 49(6) - by virtue of Israel's opposition to them!

Another important point: the ruling makes clear that businesses operating east of the Green Line are not violating international law, and all the BDS proponents are lying when they say otherwise.

The UN has been calling Israeli presence in the territories "illegal occupation" for over a decade, and the UNHRC recently reiterated that settlements are "illegal" as well, based on their reading of Geneva 49(6). They are essentially making up international law as they go along. This French ruling is one of the very few actual court cases that addresses these issues that "everyone knows" - and their reasoning is at odds with what the UN and anti-Israel groups have been claiming for years.

(The UNHRC statement that Israel must dismantle the Jewish communities across the Green Line is a huge legal leap beyond anything Geneva states, and in fact I would argue that it would be considered ethnic cleansing and tantamount to a war crime itself.)

By the way, national court decisions are at least as important for their legal arguments as any international court, even for international law issues.

Thursday Links Part 1

Posted: 02 May 2013 09:00 AM PDT

From Ian:
Israeli Checkpoints Stop Terrorists, not Elections by Khaled Abu Toameh
It is worth reminding those people who profess love the Palestinians that there are no Israeli checkpoints inside the Gaza Strip to foil either Palestinian elections or democracy, and that those in the West Bank do not foil elections or democracy, either.
But the anti-Israel spokesmen in the U.S., Canada and Europe are not going to let facts get in their way. They seem determined to continue spreading lies that are harmful not only to Israel, but also to Palestinians, who want see an end to tyranny and corruption in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
NGO Monitor: B'Tselem Condemns Terror Attacks, Other NGOs Silent
In response to the murder of an Israeli on April 30, 2013, B'Tselem released a statement "strongly condemn[ing] the stabbing attack" ("Israeli civilian killed in stabbing attack, northern West Bank," April 30, 2013). B'Tselem emphasized that "There is absolutely no moral or legal justification for attacks that deliberately target civilians. Civilians must be kept separate from the fighting. This applies to countries, organizations and individuals."
Muted Response to Hamas Jihad Program for School Kids
Western nations need to consider this indoctrination in any discussion of a prospective Palestinian unity deal, or of whether to accept Hamas as an acceptable player in peace efforts, Abu Toameh wrote. "By poisoning the hearts and minds of schoolchildren," he wrote, "Hamas is raising an entire generation of Palestinians on glorification of suicide bombers, jihad and terrorism."
Hamas leader dismisses Arab peace initiative
Khaled Mashaal claims Kerry-backed plan will benefit Israel while harming the Palestinian cause
Dumbing down terror for BBC audiences
For the BBC, this is a simple story of a "Palestinian militant" on a motorbike killed by an Israeli air strike. It apparently does not believe that its audiences need to know anything more than that.
So much for the BBC stated mission to "build a global understanding of international issues" and to "enhance UK audiences' awareness and understanding of international issues".
A letter to the Labour Party (Ken Livingstone et al)
Continued membership of Ken Livingstone (and other antisemitic, terrorist supporters) in the Labour Party
UNIFIL: Hizbullah Replacing Lebanese Troops Near Israel
According to the report, UNIFIL patrols are finding paths blocked and former temporary observation points suddenly out of bounds in what is being interpreted as Hizbullah seeking to flex its muscles on the ground.
UNIFIL officers are privately expressing frustration at the often humiliating confrontations with Hizbullah members, in which the peacekeepers feel compelled to back down.
Saudi Journalist Calls Hezbollah a "Tool of the Mullahs"
Opinion Editor Mshari Al-Zaydi says Hezbollah's "resistance" slogan has been deceitful for "more than ten years" since the organization takes direct orders from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Its blatant fighting on behalf of dictator Bashar al-Assad makes this clear.
Turkey: Iran Behind Syria's Use of Chemical Weapons
A source in Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development party told Kuwait's Al-Seyassah newspaper that Iran's Revolutionary Guard were overseeing Syria's chemical weapons and monitoring their use.
Iranian Officials: Iran Transferred Fajr-5 Missiles To Gaza, Which Were Fired At Israel
Iranian officials recently publicly acknowledged that Iran had sent military aid to Palestinians in Gaza, specifically Fajr-5 missiles with a range of up to 80 km, and expressed satisfaction with the damage they had caused to Israel during Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012.
BRING IT ON - Iran declares war on VEXNEWS
The extraordinary attack – and claimed litigation – by the notoriously vengeful regime comes as the Edwina Storie saga becomes an international embarrassment for Press TV, with dozens of reports appearing around the world based on our initial revelations. The story has been widely reported in Europe, in Greece, Spain, France, Australia's Herald Sun, Daily Telegraph and Courier-Mail, the Sydney Morning Herald and perhaps sweetest of all, in too many Persian free-Iran websites and forums to list that it warms the heart that we might have contributed just a little bit to those who yearn for Iran to be free.
Greece's Golden Dawn Neo-Nazi Party Blasts Prime Minister's Planned AJC Speech
Greece's neo-Nazi political party, the Golden Dawn, posted an article on its website condemning Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras for a planned visit to Washington, DC, next month, during which he will address the American Jewish Committee's (AJC) Global Forum.
Turkish-Muslim TV Commentator Goes to Bat for Israel
Unfortunately, Ozbudak and her group in Istanbul that supports peaceful coexistence within Israel have been targeted by radical Islamists for their beliefs. Evidently, al Qaeda had a list of targets within Istanbul. The first on the list was a synagogue, yet Muslim scholar Adnan Oktar, with whom Ozbudak is affiliated, was number two on the list.

Abbas says Fayyad might head next government

Posted: 02 May 2013 07:10 AM PDT

The resignation theatre continues...

Mahmoud Abbas told an Austrian newspaper that Salam Fayyad, who attempted to resign last month, might be the head of the next PA government anyway.

According to Arabic translations of the interview, Abbas said "The [unity] government will be composed of independent experts and should not be an alliance between Fatah and Hamas, and Salam Fayyad has the right to keep his job in the next government."

As far as I can tell, Fayyad is still "caretaker" prime minister while Fatah and Hamas bicker over how to pretend they are working towards the next government.

The next moves will be an outcry from Fatah and Hamas who hate Fayyad, with quiet backroom deals to keep Fayyad in office to keep Western aid dollars flowing.

As usual, all Palestinian Arab politicians try to put on a progressive face while speaking to the West and when they speak to each other it is an entirely different universe. The West has far more influence on them than it realizes - after all, they need Western money - but diplomats shrink back from outright hostility, which is the Arab game to keep pressure at bay. This is why we haven't made any progress towards a real peace since Oslo.

Both Abbas and Hamas' prime minister Ismail Haniyeh are now past their four-year terms from previous elections, and Fayyad was never elected to any position. But Jimmy Carter certified that "Palestine" has a vibrant democracy so everything is fine.

Report: Hamas ready to chop off thieves' hands

Posted: 02 May 2013 05:30 AM PDT

Arabic media are reporting that Hamas is drafting a new penal code for Gaza, separate from the one under the PA, and plans to adhere more closely to Sharia punishments.

According to the (anti-Hamas) Palestine Press Agency and others, the proposed penal code Article 290 says that if someone steals goods worth more than 100 Jordanian dinars (about $140) they will have their right hand chopped off. A second offense brings an automatic jail sentence of at least seven years.

The proposed code is also said to enforce a literal interpretation to "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," meaning that the court system will be inflicting injuries. In addition, it is said to punish adultery with lashes.

The report adds that human rights institutions in  Gaza have been silent about this matter so far.

Using Google to help fight Arab anti-semitism

Posted: 02 May 2013 02:31 AM PDT

Two days ago I revealed that an Egyptian newspaper published two articles claiming, in lurid detail, the charges that Jews ritually drink Christian (and Muslim) blood on Passover and Purim.

This is hardly the first time Arab newspapers descend to pure Jew-hatred.

Exposing their hate is important, but unlike doing that for English-language articles, it rarely would cause a change in behavior. Ultimately, the goal is to shame the haters into not wanting to publicize their hate and poison the next generation, even if only a little.

I managed to embarrass the Palestinian NGO Miftah into removing a similarly offensive article, even if they attacked me for pointing out their hate. How can we do the same for an Egyptian newspaper?

Some six  years ago, I routinely highlighted Jew-hatred in a bizarre ultra-left wing site called The People's Voice. I asked my (then much smaller) audience to complain to Google News, because their site was indexed there as a legitimate "news" organization, and Google News has a policy not to link to offensive articles.

Complaints to Google News causes Google to contact the publisher of the sites asking them to remove the offensive article, and if they make a habit of it, Google will pull the source altogether from Google News.

The People's Voice freaked out over this, much like Miftah did, attacking me in a long rambling article claiming I was "censoring" them.

But, in some ways, they changed their behavior. Some articles were silently removed. While they still routinely publish crazed anti-Zionist articles, 9/11 conspiracy theories and the like, they generally stay away from direct attacks on Jews and Judaism as they had been doing, or they at least mask their Jew-hatred by replacing the word "Jew" with "Zionist." Even though this is only a small step, it is an important one.

There is no reason this would not work for Arabic-language hate as well. Letters to the editor would be ignored, but Google has clout. (Chances are, as with The People's Voice, they will misinterpret contact from Google into thinking that Google will stop linking to them even in its general search engine, not only Google News. This will scare them.)

So whenever I highlight Arab anti-semitism - generally from newspapers indexed in Google News - the proper thing to do is to go to this Google News complaint page. This page is not easy to find, so bookmark it. From previous experience, one complaint is not always enough to get Google to act.

In this case, you would need to note the offending article's URL (in this case, http://www.misrelgdida.com/Investigations/112946.html)  and the name of the news source, which in Arabic is  جريدة مصر الجديدة . 
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