יום שבת, 24 באוגוסט 2013

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Weekend administrivia plus a poster idea

Posted: 23 Aug 2013 03:30 PM PDT

I have never been too good in using tags on my posts, and I don't have time to go through over 17,000 posts to categorize them, but lately I've been making an attempt to place tags on at least most newer posts.

I have a new automatically generated page, called a Table of Contents, that organizes my posts from recent months by category. It isn't perfect (the lower-case tags after the upper-case ones, for example) but you might find it a useful way to browse posts you might have missed. (Some also got miscategorized, through a weird Blogger bug, apologies.)

Let me know if it is useful.

Also, this week I was inspired by Bar Refaeli's response to Roger Waters' call for boycotting Israel. I've been playing with this idea for a poster series welcoming BDSers to boycott certain Israeli products, starting with supermodels. In this case I chose Esti Ginzberg, who also served in the IDF. But it can aply to computer chips, pharmaceuticals, software...(Click to enlarge.)

Have a great weekend!

8/23 Links Part 2: Netanyahu: We'll Hurt Whoever Hurts Us, Realism on Egypt, Saudi War on Witchcraft

Posted: 23 Aug 2013 02:00 PM PDT

From Ian:
Netanyahu: We'll Hurt Whoever Hurts Us
"We are operating on all fronts, in the north and south, in order to protect the citizens of Israel from these attacks," Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Thursday in the aftermath of a Katyusha rocket salvo fired at northwestern Israel.
"We are using a variety of measures – of both defense and prevention – and we are operating in a responsible manner. Our policy is clear: to protect and also to prevent.
"Anyone who hurts us, and anyone who tries to hurt us, must know that we will hit him."
Analysis: Dragging Israel into conflict
It's not unreasonable to assume that those who fired the rockets would be pleased to create the conditions that would suck the IDF into a conflict with Hezbollah. Their calculation could be that the IDF's immense firepower will weaken the Shi'ite organization, which rules southern Lebanon and is involved neck-deep in the war against Sunni rebels in Syria.
A weakened Hezbollah would in turn cripple the murderous Assad regime, and might shift the balance in favor of the Sunni rebels in Syria.
When all else fails, target Israel
Finally, in the age of active defense, Israel's intelligence capacities, as Thursday's rocket fire illustrates, are less opaque. Three weeks ago, an Iron Dome battery was moved to the Eilat region; one week later, for the first time, it intercepted a rocket over the southern resort city. On Wednesday, also for the first time, an Iron Dome battery was rotated to the Sharon region, north of Tel Aviv. The rocket intercepted over the Acre-Nahariya area may have been shot down by the Iron Dome battery further to the north, in Haifa, but clearly in an age of multiple threats, with varying and shifting degrees of urgency, Israel's intelligence community was not caught by surprise by the fire from Lebanon.
Palestinian-Lebanese group promises retaliation for IAF strikes
A Palestinian terror group in Lebanon, which was apparently the target of IAF strikes early Friday morning in response to rocket fire in northern Israel Thursday, expressed surprise at the raid, given that a Sunni, al-Qaeda-inspired group claimed responsibility for the rocket attack.
A spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) promised retaliation against Israel. "The Zionist enemy will not drag us into responding. It will come at the right time, in the right place."
Twin blasts kill 20 in Lebanese city of Tripoli
Lebanon's health minister said at least 20 people were killed, and over 213 were wounded in twin bombing attacks in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli Friday afternoon.
According to the Lebanese Future TV, the bodies were being transported to a hospital in the city. Security sources said the death toll is expected to rise sharply.
The blasts occurred outside two mosques as Friday prayers ended. The Lebanese Daily Star newspaper reported that the attacks occurred minutes apart.
U.S. Sanctions Four Members of Hezbollah
Cohen, who oversees terrorism and financial intelligence issues, described the four as either high-ranking Hezbollah operatives or those directly tasked with carrying out operations.
"Hezbollah is determined to spread instability, plan terrorist attacks and operate well beyond Lebanon's boundaries," he told reporters, according to AP. "And we have seen the violence and misery that comes along with Hezbollah's influence, particularly in places like Syria and Iraq."
Netanyahu: Syria chemical attack a 'grievous crime'
The alleged use of chemical weapons against Syrian civilians on Wednesday "proves yet again that we cannot permit the world's most dangerous regimes to acquire the world's most dangerous weapons," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.
"They Don't Care About Syria, They Won't Care About Us"
On his Facebook page, Rabbi Ronsky wrote that the hundreds killed by the Syrian army in a chemical weapons attack Wednesday sent a grim message to Israelis. Hundreds die, he said, "and the world remains silent. Hundreds of people – supposedly born in the image of G-d – die before us from chemical poisoning, and the world remains silent."
One day soon, he said, those chemical weapons could be aimed at Israel, too. "And the world will remain silent – very silent – when those weapons are aimed at us," he wrote.
Obama: Syria chemical attack an event of 'grave concern'
President Barack Obama on Friday called the possible chemical weapons attack Wednesday in Syria a "big event of grave concern."
The president said the US was still seeking conclusive evidence that chemical weapons were used this week. But he said such actions were "very troublesome" and are going to "require America's attention."
Galloway: Israel gave chemical arms to al-Qaida in Syria attack
The Respect Party MP for Bradford West, who is a longstanding supporter of Hezbollah and Hamas, stated: "If there has been use of chemical weapons, it was al-Qaida," asking, "Who gave al-Qaida chemical weapons?"
Staring determined into the camera, Galloway stated: "Here's my theory. Israel gave them the chemical weapons."
UN says Syrian child refugees top 1 million mark
740,000 are under the age of 11; 7,000 children killed so far in the country's bloody two-year civil war
Syria-based al Qaeda group issues threat to Western aid workers
Al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria - the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham, or ISIS - warned Western aid workers that they are at risk of kidnapping or death if they enter Syria. The directive from the terror group now officially makes many U.S.-funded organizations targets.
Clifford May: Realism on Egypt
Final point: A great and historic upheaval is taking place not just in Egypt but throughout the Muslim world. It should by now be evident that there never was an "Arab Spring" — the blossoming of a new season of freedom. Nor is there an "Arab Awakening" — a widespread recognition that peace, prosperity, and dignity can be achieved through the establishment of liberal-democratic governance. What are we looking at instead? Anger, frustration, and ambition within societies that have become frighteningly dysfunctional, and in which poisonous ideologies based on dreams of conquest and glory — blended with nostalgia for an imagined past — have taken root.
Both America's expectations and its policies require adjustment. If Egypt's generals can be persuaded to see their immediate mission as pacifying the country, beginning the process of economic recovery, protecting minorities, and guaranteeing basic rights even while countering the militant, supremacist, and anti-democratic Islamists — a delicate balance, to be sure — it will be in our interest to assist them.
Egyptians Bewildered Over Support for Muslim Brotherhood
What many Egyptians cannot understand is: Why is the U.S. Administration siding with the forces of oppression in their country and assisting with its transformation into a failed state under the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood? These conditions all run contrary to American interests.
In the Middle East, a strong economy, military, and police are the cornerstones of stability. Egypt was the first Arab nation to choose the path of peace with Israel. Egypt is the nerve system of the Arab and the Islamic world. The U.S. has a strong interest in a stable, modern, and prosperous Egypt. It simply cannot be allowed to become another Somalia or Afghanistan, controlled by its own version of the Taliban.
Christians United for Israel Condemns Attacks on Egypt's Churches
Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the largest pro-Israel organization in the U.S., condemned the recent attacks on Christianity in Egypt and urged the U.S. government to do more to aid Christians there.
"Events in Egypt this week highlight yet again the tragedy facing the Christians of the Middle East. Once again, Christians are being targeted for murder. Once again Christian schools, businesses and churches are being attacked. And once again, the world is largely silent," David Brog, executive director of CUFI, said in a statement.
No More Kosher Food from Egypt
The latest violence in Egypt has finally put an end to kosher food exports from the country. Several Egyptian factories that marketed reliably kosher food to Israel will no longer be able to do so.
Over the past two and a half years, kosher certification companies in Israel have continued to send their workers (mashgihim) to Egypt despite political unrest as first Hosni Mubarak and then Mohamed Morsi was ousted from power.
New Images Show Major Alterations at Iran Nuclear Site
The most recent imagery from satellite company Digital Globe is from August 13 and was seen by The Associated Press ahead of publication by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS).
The images show what ISIS says is progressive asphalting of a part of the Parchin complex that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says was possibly used to test conventional explosive triggers for a nuclear blast.
Saudi Arabia's War on Witchcraft
Belief in magic is so widespread that it is often invoked as a defense in Sharia courts. "If there's an employer dispute -- say the migrant domestic worker claims she wasn't paid her wages or her conditions are unlivable -- a lot of times what happens unfortunately is the defendant makes counterclaims against the domestic worker," Coogle said. "And a lot of times they'll make counterclaims of sorcery, witchcraft, and that sort of thing."
Domestic workers, many of whom who are not fluent in Arabic, face significant challenges in defending themselves against these charges, according to Coogle.

That "dismantled" terror group keeps making appearances

Posted: 23 Aug 2013 12:00 PM PDT

Back in January 2008:
A dozen Palestinian gunmen surrendered to Palestinian forces on Tuesday, and the top Palestinian security official said this means a violent West Bank militia, is now defunct. However, Israeli officials are skeptical of such claims, and say gunmen still pose a threat to Israel.

The gunmen who gave themselves up Tuesday are from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a violent offshoot of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement.

Al Aqsa was formed at the start of the Palestinian uprising in 2000, and at its height had hundreds of members who carried out scores of shooting attacks against Israelis. Most recently, Al Aqsa was involved in the killing of two off-duty Israel Defense Forces soldiers in the West Bank last month.

In recent months, Abbas' security forces have tried to assert control in the West Bank, particularly in Nablus, the West Bank's second largest city and a former militia stronghold.

As part of the campaign, they have urged Al Aqsa gunmen to surrender their weapons, in exchange for a promise of amnesty from Israel and the prospect of jobs in the security services. Hundreds have so far taken up the offer, but holdouts have remained.

In Nablus, a small Al Aqsa splinter group, which called itself The Knights of the Night, was the last to surrender, Palestinian Interior Minister Abdel Razak Yehiyeh said Tuesday.

This is the last military group of Al Aqsa to hand over its weapons, Yehiyeh told The Associated Press. The Al Aqsa Brigades have been dismantled.
Five and a half years later, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades still maintains its webpage, and you can see its latest activities.

For example, they greeted one of their old comrades when he was one of those released by Israel as a "goodwill gesture."



You can almost read their minds:  "Israel made a goodwill gesture, maybe we should reciprocate and send a hail of bullets back to those swell guys."

A couple of weeks before, as the new round of negotiations were just getting underway, this group - as proud members of Fatah,whose leader is Mahmoud Abbas -showed off their arsenal of weapons that inexplicably managed to make their way through the much-praised PA security forces and declared, "Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine, we will continue developing our own weapons to crush the enemy, wherever he is."

There are only two alternatives: either Mahmoud Abbas approves of a terror group under his own command, or he is too weak to stop them.

The US is pressuring Israel to sign a "peace agreement" with someone who either supports this terror group, or who is too weak to control his own political party, let alone his political opponents.

It doesn't really matter which it is.

8/23 Links Part 1: Resetting US foreign policy, Egypt’s Polish syndrome, Latma - We will be back

Posted: 23 Aug 2013 10:30 AM PDT

From Ian:
Caroline Glick: Resetting US foreign policy
Aside from the carnage in Benghazi, the most enduring image from Hillary Clinton's tenure as US secretary of state was the fake remote control she brought with her to Moscow in 2009 with the word "Reset" in misspelled Russian embossed on it.
Clinton's gimmick was meant to show that under President Barack Obama, American foreign policy would be fundamentally transformed. Since Obama and Clinton blamed much of the world's troubles on the misdeeds of their country, under their stewardship of US foreign policy, the US would reset everything.
Around the globe, all bets were off.
Five years later we realize that Clinton's embarrassing gesture was not a gimmick, but a dead serious pledge. Throughout the world, the Obama administration has radically altered America's policies.
And disaster has followed. Never since America's establishment has the US appeared so untrustworthy, destructive, irrelevant and impotent. (h/t Jewess)
Sarah Honig: Egypt's Polish syndrome
Jewish culpability always was – and apparently still remains – a key element in lending moral authority to any contentious cause. Jews have known this for millennia but the dispiriting fact of our existence is that it still goes on, unabated, in the 21st century and that it motivates not only declared and implacable enemies but also forces of supposed enlightenment and liberality in the West.
As it was from time immemorial – it's just not a marketable story without that eminently salient Jewish connection.
The blood-soaked internecine turmoil convulsing the Arab realm – from the Maghreb to Mesopotamia – has nothing to do with Jews, with Zionism, the Jewish national liberation movement or with Israel, the Jewish state. The carnage is spawned by internal Arab ethnic, religious, clannish and political conflicts. Each side reinforces its case by recruiting throngs of volatile and violent demonstrators. This rent-a-mob fest is palmed off to clueless foreigners as democracy-in-action. (h/t NormanF)
Do Abbas and the PA Really Want Peace?
The Palestinian Authority, despite billions in aid over the years, does not appear ready to run a state for whose success or failure it would be held accountable. Better to drag out the process and drama of negotiations by which—for merely for showing up—they succeed in forcing more unilateral concessions from Israel. Why sweat the details when there are broad hints from Washington and the EU that nine months down the road Israel will be forced to capitulate even without a mutual agreement?
A month from now, Mr. Abbas will once again address the UN General Assembly. He will doubtless denounce a "Judaized Jerusalem" and "illegal Settlements" as the main obstacles to peace. But the truth is that the real stumbling block is the failure of President Abbas to tell his people in Arabic, once and for all, that the Jewish state of Israel is here to stay. Instead he retains the map and hope of a Palestine from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River, while his PA continues to present terrorists as role models for their youth.
Unless and until such a mindset is deconstructed, all the American and European arm-twisting of Israel alone won't bring peace to either people, only hasten more needless violence and suffering in a region already on the brink of a total meltdown.
The PLO Charter Still Calls for Israel's Destruction
Contrary to belief in some quarters, the Charter has never been amended and in fact, fealty to "armed struggle" (i.e., terrorism) was reasserted as late as 2011. In pursuit of its goals, Palestinian terrorism has killed more than 5,000 Israelis since 1949. Airplane hijackings; sniper shootings (including an infant in her father's arms), bombings on buses, in cafes and in restaurants; little boys bludgeoned to death; children murdered in their homes in front of their parents. Raw anti-Semitism pours today from Voice of Palestine Radio. School children learn that Israel is only a temporary impediment to Palestinian aspirations and that killing and dying is the highest good.
This would seem to preclude peaceful coexistence with the State of Israel.
Abbas: We'll renounce claims to Jaffa, Haifa for peace
If offered a just agreement, the Palestinian Authority would agree to a final end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and "will not demand in the future to return to Jaffa, Acre or Haifa," Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told a group of left-wing MKs who visited his Ramallah office on Thursday.
The statement appeared to signal a disavowal of the long-held Palestinian demand for a right of return to Israel for refugees of the 1948 war and their descendants. bbas expressed similar sentiments in an interview with Channel 2 in November. He later played down those comments.
Fatah: "Without blood Palestine will not return"
Fatah's official Facebook page continues to promote and glorify violence and terror for children. In one post, young Palestinian boys are shown holding rifles with the text:
"The children of Palestine - this is how they celebrated their holiday."
In another post, a masked man is holding a rifle with these words beside the picture:
"Machine gun, wake up the sleeping and tell them that without blood Palestine will not return"
Kerry's Peace Talks Could Lead to New Terror Attacks
Until today, terror has helped the Palestinian Authority gain the trappings of an emergent nation state. So as long as violence continues to produce favorable outcomes for the Palestinians, the PA leadership is likely to perceive this as the better option.
Moreover, by receiving a virtual get-out-of-jail-free card from Mr. Kerry, the chances the PA will negotiate in good faith on final status issues, such as the so-called right of return for the 1948 Palestinian refugees and the fate of Jerusalem, are probably slim to none.
Bearing that in mind, it's possible PA leader Mahmoud Abbas will intentionally torpedo peace talks with Israel, and instead pursue the more favorable methods of incitement, violence and terror, as the PA has consistently done in the past.
Piron: Our Grandchildren May Know Peace
Education Minister Shai Piron has expressed pessimism about the odds of true peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Piron told Maariv that he wants peace and thinks Israel should sacrifice for peace. "If I knew that we could end the conflict and make peace with our neighbors by establishing two states for two peoples, and paying the price by giving up communities in Judea and Samaria, I would support that," he explained.
However, he continued, as Education Minister, he gets reports about the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish incitement in the PA school system.
BBC describes known terror finance man as 'activist'
The BBC's choice of the term "activist" gives audiences no insight into the type of pursuits engaged in by Bassam Saadi (also a-Saadi or al Saadi) – which, contrary to the impression readers might receive, are not limited to folding flyers or licking envelopes.
Bassam Saadi is a senior figure in the Jenin branch of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad who has been imprisoned due to his involvement in terrorist activity in the past. Palestinian Authority documents seized during 'Operation Defensive Shield' in 2002 named Saadi as part of the PIJ's terror financing network.
Abraham Foxman: An Open Letter to Roger Waters From the ADL: 'Your Animosity Towards Israel is Colored by Anti-Semitism'
Your single-minded obsession with trying to convince others to boycott the Jewish state, while ignoring the world's true human rights violators, must be driven by something other than a guilty conscience. Taking all this into account, one must conclude that your views on Israel are in fact colored by offensive and dangerous undercurrents of anti-Jewish sentiment.
Rental Agency Apologizes for Map
Israeli customers of the global car rental agency "SixT" earlier expressed their surprise and anger at the company's decision to unilaterally erase Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights from its maps of Israel.
Information gathered by Arutz Sheva revealed that the company's European branches made the decision to take the politically-charged step, which effectively takes sides in the as-yet unresolved dispute between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
eBay to Cooperate With Israeli Exporters for First Time
For three months, the online retail giant will assist 10 Israeli exporters with small businesses in the field of consumer goods by exporting their products through eBay's online commerce platform.
This is just the first stage in the planned cooperation. "We see this support as a top value and hope to make it permanent in the future," said the head of eBay's business activity in Israel, Elad Goldenberg, according to Yedioth Achronoth.
How Israel has Rebranded Amid a Volatile Geopolitical Backdrop
Mr. Aharoni launched "Brand Israel" in 2005 when he was serving as consul for media and public affairs at the Israel Consulate in New York. The campaign is meant to "rebrand" Israel, emphasizing its relevance and modernity. Mr. Aharoni, who joined the Israel foreign service in 1991, calls his specialty "country positioning." In short, he's worked to define what makes Israel attractive for tourism, foreign investment and export, and then used those advantages to promote his country to relevant audiences.
At Ad Age's CMO Strategy Summit in San Francisco on Oct. 16, Mr. Aharoni will share how he's worked to define Israel's brand and discuss how he deals with the obstacles Israel faces, given its difficult geopolitical situation.
A Glimpse into United Hatzalah Israeli Rescue Squad
Arutz Sheva visited United Hatzalah of Israel's main center in Jerusalem, where over 2,000 people volunteer and answer hundreds of phone calls a day in order to save lives.
The center responds to over 650 calls daily from dozens of locations across the country. The 24/7 rescue team uses the "best" and most advanced technology, called the Moskowitz Life Compass. The team also uses the Israeli mobile navigation, Waze, in order for respondents to arrive as fast as possible.
Israel's 'green' house cleans up in world contest
Israel's entry, an 85-meter modular house built of locally-produced materials, came in first in the "energy balance" category for homes that produce more energy than they consume. It also won the hot water production category, and was second in the architecture category and fourth in the market appeal category.
The results were announced last week in Datong, China, where the contest took place. Two Chinese teams — from the University of Wollongong and the South China University of Technology — came in first and second overall, while Team Sweden came in third.
Caroline Glick: We will be back
The Israeli media is impossibly post-Zionist. The Tribal Update is without a doubt the best satire show ever produced in this country. And the fact that we cannot get a television contract for our show -- which by all accounts would receive massive rating -- shows the inherent and all-encompassing bias and hatred driving the media elites in this country -- and the cowardice and fecklessness of Likud apparatchiks in the face of this situation.
I will have more to say about our experience once the dust clears, and our plans are set.

British Christian cultural festival indoctrinates children against Israel

Posted: 23 Aug 2013 08:45 AM PDT

This weekend:
This year, Greenbelt celebrates 40 years as a Christian arts, faith and justice festival. The festival organizers have chosen the theme 'Life begins', and we will be using our presence there to remember those for whom life is permanently on hold.

Our installation in the Centaur foyer aims to give a glimpse of the challenges faced by ordinary Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. There'll be a giant, interactive floor game - Occupation! - for all ages. Roll the dice and make your way through checkpoints and challenges, permit denials and poverty. On your journey, you'll learn about the issues affecting the West Bank and Gaza and find out how you can help Embrace the Middle East to make a positive difference to the lives of marginalised people.

Occupation! is just a game, and you can walk freely away whenever you want, but the message behind it is a serious one. In the West Bank and Gaza, injustice continues to weave through the fabric of Palestinian life. Join us as we embrace the work of our Palestinian Christian brothers and sisters in their determination to be agents of change.


Not that Greenbelt is only indoctrinating children:
One of our Greenbelt highlights will be the official launch of Kairos Britain: A Time for Action, the new booklet from British Church leaders responding the 2009 Kairos Palestine Call, challenging British Churches and Christians to take action and stand with our Christian brothers and sisters in Palestine against Israel's 46-year occupation of their land in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. The launch will be at 12.30pm on Sunday. We're hosting a reception after the launch, so do stay and take the opportunity to talk some more.
While the Greenbelt site has many, many articles about how evil Israel is, there is not a single posting there about how Coptic Christians are being attacked, today, in Egypt. In case the social justice people at Greenbelt missed it, here are the latest stats:
47 churches attacked, of which 25 were burned, seven looted and destroyed, five partly damaged, and 10 attacked without sustaining heavy damage. Nor how Christians are fleeing Lebanon.
Nor does Greenbelt discuss how Muslims have pushed Christians out of Bethlehem. They used to be a majority, including under Israeli rule; now under the PA they are almost gone. And it isn't because of Israel. It  is systemic Muslim discrimination and therefore a topic that must not be discussed.

Christians in Gaza? Not a topic that Greenbelt wants to discuss. Wouldn't want to upset Hamas, would we?

Not a word about how the Middle East is turning into a Christian-free zone, everywhere -except Israel.

And only a single article about Syrian Christians becoming refugees. In the past two years, Syria has become the only Arab country that one is allowed to criticize without worrying about losing your lefty credentials. It is still nowhere as monstrous as Israel, of course, based on the amount of attention it gets at fun, family festivals like Greenbelt. They'd have to gas at least a half million more people to death and etch crosses in their faces to start getting the same attention Israel get from good, moral, justice-seeking Christians like the ones at Greenbelt.

See also the Archbishop Cramner site. H/t to Alex for WSJ link, a very worthwhile article.

Earthquake-washing - in 1953

Posted: 23 Aug 2013 07:00 AM PDT

You know how Israel-haters claim that anything humanitarian that Israel ever does does not reflect the true attitude of Israelis, but are only meant to cover over their supposed crimes?

I'd love to hear how they explain this:

In August 1953, Israel had just concluded celebrations of the country's fifth anniversary. The festivities weren't joyful: An economic recession and military threats were causing no end of anxiety to the country's leadership. The country was also preoccupied with the task of absorbing waves of immigrants, who had come from Arab lands and post-Holocaust Europe. Israel's international position was also precarious: On the one hand many countries had recognized the newly founded state, but on the other hand their leaders refrained from paying official visits because of the Arab boycott. A number of European countries had not yet recognized Israel, among them Germany, Austria, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and Greece.

The Israeli Navy was in the process of building its force, having at its disposal only a small number of old frigate-class warships, which had been renovated and put into service, along with a mixed assemblage of young soldiers lacking experience or naval training. On Aug. 12, 1953 the navy flotilla was on its way back to Israeli shores, after four weeks of intense training in the Aegean Sea, aimed at creating a professional naval force. Suddenly S.O.S alerts were sounded off the Greek shores: A series of deadly earthquakes, measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale, had struck the area of the Greek islands, Kefalonia, Zante, and Ithaca. The commander of the Israeli flotilla reported back to naval headquarters in Haifa and requested permission to turn back and offer aid. The Israeli response was immediate: "Enter and provide assistance."

The Israeli fleet, 15 hours away from the site of the disaster, doubled back and sailed past the American and British fleets, which could not access the areas on the islands that had been hit, due to the immense size of their warships.

In his blog "Seven days - notes from the Great Blue", Yiftah Kozik vividly describes the sights encountered by the Israeli naval personnel arriving at the devastated islands:

"huge clods of earth were falling into the water at tremendous speeds, the summit of Mount Ainos on the island of Kefalonia looks as though it were split in two, pillars of smoke rising from cracks could be seen throughout the town, and fierce fires had broken out in the olive oils storerooms and were burning all that remained...in most of the island's village not a building remained standing, and thousands were wounded in critical condition, among them pregnant women, old and young, people with amputated and crushed limbs, and all were in need of immediate help....the casualty clearing station was located on a wharf of the island's central port, the flotilla's senior physician, Dr. Ashkenazi, along with his younger colleague, Dr. Seelenfreud, were in charge of medical treatment, distributing the limited medical resources, and performing triage. The Israeli teams performed emergency surgeries: a broken pelvis, skull fractures, premature births, complex fractures, hemorrhages, panic attacks, despair, and havoc everywhere..."

According to the Law of the Sea of that time, the first rescue force to arrive on the scene takes command of the operation, and since the Israeli navy was the first to land on the shores of Kefalonia it took charge and also directed the rescue operations of the American and British fleets. For three days and nights the 450 Israeli naval men struggled side by side with the Americans and the British to provide relief to the residents of the Greek islands, saving hundreds from a sure death, transporting 400 seriously wounded casualties to the mainland, and providing medical assistance to 16,000 local residents. Although at the time the Greek government had not yet recognized the state of Israel, and official recognition would arrive only 37 years later, the Greek people expressed their gratitude. The king of Greece came personally to greet the Navy soldiers to convey a message of thanks to David Ben Gurion, Israel's Prime Minister, and to award badges of merit to the commanders of the operation, Shlomo Harel and Yizhak Dviri. In an act of appreciation for the Israeli navy, the Greek press called it "the fleet of love and hope," and "the Israeli sailors of salvation."

As the Israeli fleet departed from the Kefalonia bay to make its way back to Israeli shores, the other ships that took part in the rescue operations sounded their horns in a prolonged cheer, in a spontaneous show of professional homage.
Obviously, the Israelis were trying to whitewash the future "occupation."

PalArab gets arrested for selling "Morsi" perfume

Posted: 23 Aug 2013 05:15 AM PDT

When you want to smell like an Islamist....

Palestinian security services have arrested an Islamist sympathizer in the West Bank for selling perfume named in honor of Egypt's ousted President Mohammad Mursi, family members said on Thursday.

Islambuli Badir, a 36-year-old member of Islamist movement Hamas, was arrested during a raid on his perfume shop in the town of Tulkarem, his brother Abdel Fattah Badir told AFP.

"Men from the security services on Tuesday raided my brother's shop and confiscated all the perfume bottles that were labeled 'Mursi,' then arrested Islambuli and also seized his laptop," said Abdel Fattah.

"The day after the arrest, my younger brother Qassam, 24, put a sign up on the shop door saying: An apology to customers -- our Mohammad Mursi perfume has been seized by the authorities."
Arab media report that the perfume was created after the Egyptian coup, and it was a best seller in the West Bank.

I'm not sure if the target market is women or men.

Hamas terrorists hold a pathetic parade in Rafah

Posted: 23 Aug 2013 02:38 AM PDT

This parade/motorcade occurred yesterday, in Rafah, by Hamas' Al Qassam Brigades:



It appears that there were ten vehicles, filmed over and over, with masked terrorists triumphantly holding their weapons to the utter indifference of passers-by.

They are holding up four fingers to symbolize Cairo's Fourth Square where hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members were killed.

If Hamas is trying to give the impression that it is not involved in Egyptian terrorism, this isn't the best way to get that message across.
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