| Google's very cool Israel offices Posted: 12 Sep 2013 10:00 PM PDT Russian-language site LoveOpium has a very nice photo gallery of Google's Tel Aviv offices: Check out the whole thing. (h/t Yerushalimey)  |
| Latest #BDSFail: Morocco exporting etrogim to Israel Posted: 12 Sep 2013 05:00 PM PDT Hebrew and Arabic media are reporting that, for the first time, Morocco is exporting etrogim (citrons used during the upcoming holiday of Sukkot) to Israel.
According to some experts, the etrogim grown on Mount Atlas in Morocco are the closest one to the biblical "פרי עץ הדר" mentioned in the Torah. Spanish Jews prefer to use this strain of etrog.
The first shipment of 1500 etrogim have arrived, and apparently more are coming.
Last year, Gaza farmers lost $1 million when Hamas forbade export of palm fronds to Israel.  |
| 9/12 Links Part 2: Oslo and Israel’s red lines, Holocaust relativists, The Jewish 'Bond Girl' Posted: 12 Sep 2013 03:00 PM PDT From Ian:
Oslo and Israel's red lines We fight for the red lines at any price with all our might.
Before the Oslo Accord, the public was united behind indisputable red lines: we would not give up the Golan Heights or the Jordan Valley or move the 1967 Green Line.
Jerusalem and the return of refugees were not even up for discussion. Nor was negotiating with terrorists.
And yet every single one of these red lines was crossed over the last two decades; the debate centered instead on how high a price we would be willing to pay for each one. Israel Urged to Make Further Concession to Help PA Economy In a report published ahead of a September 23rd meeting in New York of donors to the PA, the IMF said the Palestinian Authority faced a budget deficit of $300 million (225 million euros) by the end of 2013.
"The PA's finances are not viable over the medium term if the current model of financing large deficits with unpredictable aid flows is maintained," the report said.
It predicted that Palestinian GDP growth would slow from 11 percent in 2011 and 5.9 percent in 2012 to 4.5 percent by the end of this year.
Islamic Group Denounces Jerusalem Discovery as 'Fake History' Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu hailed the magnificent discovery as a testament "to the ancient Jewish presence and to the sanctity of the place," which he said was "as clear as the sun."
But in an official statement, the Waqf dismissed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's celebration of the finds as "an effort to dismiss the Arab and Islamic nature of the holy city."
"An immediate Arab and Muslim campaign is needed to stop the Israeli attempts to Judaise the holy city of Jerusalem," the statement read. Israel replaced with Palestine on map in language class at SDSU Sources told Team 10 the map was handed out by a professor on the second day of class in an Arabic language course. Sources said students were upset and unsure how to protest the erroneous map because they feared speaking out publicly could have a negative impact on their grades.
One student talked with Team 10, on the condition of anonymity.
"I don't really believe it was the right place for dialogue," the student said. "It is a language class, it's not a class about conflict."
Students gave the map to the non-profit, pro-Israel San Diego group, "Stand With Us." Honest Reporting: How to Libel Israel: A Case Study This incident also draws attention to the relationship between Oxfam and an anti-Israel hate site.
Thanks to the Internet, a story libeling Israel will remain in perpetuity to be recycled by anti-Israel activists who either ignore or have not seen a correction.
This is one reason that HonestReporting's material is so important. It is critical that a counterpoint is also accessible online providing the truth and a rebuttal to the frequent accusations leveled against Israel. We hope that, ultimately, this very post from HonestReporting will also be present in a Google search the next time someone looks for the false story of how Israel denied the Palestinians of Gaza access to clean water. Rabbi Abraham Cooper: Blaming the Jews, again In the 1980s, Saddam Hussein used poison gas to murder thousands of Iraqi Kurds.
Simon Wiesenthal warned then that we would all pay a price for our silence in face of the tyrant's crime against humanity. Imagine what the world would be like today if a coalition of the willing had punished Saddam, then and there for verified WMDs, but we didn't. Now Assad has taken a page from Saddam's mass-murder playbook.
Many of us believe that failure to act now could bring a wider and deadlier wider war later. But whatever the outcome – one thing is certain – they've already blamed the Jews. Brendan O'Neill: The people milking the memory of the Holocaust to justify an airstrike on Syria are moral relativists and charlatans Holocaust relativists don't deny that the Holocaust took place; instead they unwittingly water down its historical uniqueness, its status as the greatest crime in history, by describing all sorts of modern-day, comparatively small-scale acts of war or barbarism as "Holocausts" too. Such inappropriate use of the H-word, usually as a form of moral blackmail to get people to support military action against some tinpot tyrant said to be "the new Hitler", has the effect of making the Holocaust mundane, unexceptional, an event that happens again and again in human history. The only real beneficiaries of such relativism are the Nazis themselves, whose wickedness is implicitly diluted and diminished if we accept the idea that Holocausts like theirs happen all the time.
Scale-wise, try to get your head around this – Auschwitz was capable of exterminating five times as many Jews in one day as Syrians have been killed with chemical weapons in the whole Syrian conflict so far. And Auschwitz was operational for five years. And it was one of 11 death camps. Shapiro: 'We Need To See A Future Without Terror' U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro was among the participants at the JNF initiated 9/11 memorial ceremony outside of Jerusalem on Wednesday, in which he took the opportunity to promote the ongoing US-sponsored talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
"No one can understand our pain from the disaster like the Israelis who have experienced terrorist attacks. On this day we see the friendship between the U.S. and Israel," he said, adding: "We need to see a future without terror, but ...with peace; and for that, Israelis need to negotiate with the Palestinians in order to bring a solution - two states for two peoples." MEMRI: Online Jihadis Celebrate 12th Anniversary Of 9/11 As in past years, online supporters of global jihad celebrated the 12th anniversary of Al-Qaeda's September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S., using the event for their propaganda efforts. They boasted of Al-Qaeda's success in striking the U.S., posting photos and videos of the attack, photos and biographies of the hijackers, quotes by Osama bin Laden, and the like.
The following are examples of these celebrations, from social media and jihadi forums. BBC & Sky News Commentator Laments Loss of Syrian Chemical Weapons It looks like Abdel Bari Atwan, the former editor-in-chief of Al-Quds Al-Arabi, and a regular commentator on BBC and Sky News, is continuing his advocacy of weapons of mass destruction.
Having stated in 2007 on Lebanese TV: "If the Iranian missiles strike Israel, by Allah, I will go to Trafalgar Square and dance with delight," Bari Atwan is now coming out in favor of Syrian chemical weapons: WSJ op-ed writer Elizabeth O'Bagy fired for resume lie The Syria researcher whose Wall Street Journal op-ed piece was cited by Secretary of State John Kerry and Sen. John McCain during congressional hearings about the use of force has been fired from the Institute for the Study of War for lying about having a Ph.D., the group announced on Wednesday.
"The Institute for the Study of War has learned and confirmed that, contrary to her representations, Ms. Elizabeth O'Bagy does not in fact have a Ph.D. degree from Georgetown University," the institute said in a statement. "ISW has accordingly terminated Ms. O'Bagy's employment, effective immediately." Hezbollah's global footprint Hezbollah then expanded its operations further into the Middle East – Kuwait in particular – then Europe. In 1992 and 1994 Hezbollah truck bombs struck in Argentina, first hitting the Israeli embassy and then hitting the AMIA Jewish community center. In 1996, another large-scale attack was successful – this time targeting the Khobar Towers military housing at a base in Saudi Arabia.
Ironically, it would be another organization's largescale suicide attack that, for a time, would change Hezbollah's calculus; following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, Hezbollah's operational attacks declined noticeably, but the networks were not abandoned, just refocused on fundraising and logistics. Networks in South America embedded themselves into global narcotics trafficking networks, shipping drugs to other Hezbollah agents across the Atlantic to West Africa along the tenth parallel, known to smugglers as "Highway 10." From there drugs would travel to Europe and the Middle East, with the profits sent to Lebanon. In one case, Hezbollah agent Ayman Joumma was laundering as much as $200 million in drug money a month. IDF Blog: What Lurks Beneath the Playgrounds of Southern Lebanon? French soldiers face disciplinary action for anti-Semitic photo Commenting on the actions of the French soldiers who were photographed in front of the synagogue a few weeks ago, Louisfert said Tuesday that they had been identified after being redeployed elsewhere as part of France's Vigipirate anti-terrorist detachments stationed in urban areas. They posed for the photograph in front of the entrance door to the Beth David synagogue in the 16th arrondissement, or municipal district, of the French capital with their left hand placed on their right shoulder and their right hand extended over their right thigh.
Dubbed the "quenelle," the gesture is the brainchild of the anti-Semitic comedian Dieudonne, who invented several anti-Semitic words and gestures seen to be too vague to violate France's law forbidding hate speech and Holocaust denial. The quenelle is thought to echo the Nazi salute. Diedonne has also referred to the Holocaust as "Shoannanas" — a combination of the Hebrew word for the Nazi genocide against the Jews and the French word for pineapple. New biomed accelerator yields better dentures, obesity control Using a wish list from medical professionals in Israel and the United States, participants in Israel's first academic medical innovation accelerator have designed four unique products to vastly improve the delivery of healthcare.
The new Biodesign Innovation Program of the Hebrew University and Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem now seeks partners to further develop and commercialize these inventions, which include: Archive of Jewish WWII Heroine Spy, Original 'Bond Girl,' Captures Renewed Interest at London Museum (VIDEO) Born Krystyna Skarbek, in Poland, her Jewish mother was killed at a Nazi concentration camp, according to a report in the UK's Daily Mail. After Poland fell to the Nazis, she enlisted with the British Army in 'Section D' – for destruction – later called the Special Operations Executive (SOE), to run espionage, reconnaissance and sabotage missions in occupied territory. She was given the cover name of Christine Granville, which she adopted permanently after the war.
Her escapades, which include bombing bridges in France, escaping with a Polish officer from a Gestapo jail by convincing their jailers that she had tuberculosis by pretending to cough up blood (through biting her tongue), and rescuing her superior officer, and lover, from a Nazi field prison by running mental circles around his captives, earned her military honors, including an OBE, Croix de Guerre, George Medal and a Polish Patriot Shielf.  |
| Human trafficking in Israel has virtually disappeared Posted: 12 Sep 2013 01:30 PM PDT In the early 2000s, because of the porous borders with Egypt and organized crime from Russia and elsewhere, Israel was a prime destination for women being trafficked as prostitutes. Now, the phenomenon has disappeared. Al Monitor has an interview with David Tsur, chairman of the Subcommittee on Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in Knesset. While it is shameful that it was such a serious problem, it is fairly incredible that Israel solved it so thoroughly and in such a short amount of time. In this case, some credit also has to go to the US State Department, whose policy on the issue is what woke Israel up. Al-Monitor: Do you remember when you understood that Israel had become a destination for trafficking in women?
Tsur: On a personal level, I realized it after 2001, at one of my first meetings with the Americans on the topic of terror. I was then the head of the operational headquarters of the Ministry for Public Security. After one of the discussions, the representative of the State Department asked me what was happening with trafficking in women. I didn't understand what he wanted, and I had no data on it. In response, he told me that he must bring it to my attention because our situation is not good, and that we're on the same level as Sudan and Somalia. Of course, I was insulted and said it couldn't be because we're a democratic country.
In retrospect, of course he was right. When we began to study the subject, we understood that most of the women were brought from Russia, Ukraine and Moldova. Law-enforcement personnel in those countries were sometimes part of this food chain, and looked the other way in exchange for bribes. When we researched it in depth we found mafias that had sprung up in these regions.
Israel became a destination because of the arrival of criminal elements who established a foundation for trafficking here, and also because of the peaceful border with Egypt, which was then porous. The Bedouins, who became a link in the smuggling chain, understood that they could make a good living out of it. And so developed a phenomenon that bordered on slavery. Israel became a prime destination. We were busy then with the terror of the second intifada, and we didn't notice what was happening under our noses.
Al-Monitor: So we woke up only because of the Americans?
Tsur: If I were a seasoned and professional politician, I would say that the decision to act was not related to the Americans, but the reality was that without the whip of the State Department, we would not have taken serious steps. We understood that if we didn't address the problem, aid funds would be stalled, and very quickly we would have a new center of criminal activity on our hands.
Al-Monitor: So what did you do?
Tsur: When the US State Department reports put us on the blacklist in those first years, we understood the extent of the problem. At first it was placed in the jurisdiction of the central units in the police districts, and later an administrative body was created at the Ministry of Justice and the victims were treated a bit differently.
From the point of view of law-enforcement authorities, the women were prostitutes and were treated as part of the problem, not as victims who live in fear and don't have enough to eat. We understood that if this had continued to be the approach, they would not agree to file complaints and testify and we would not be able to incriminate the traffickers. Simultaneously in 2006, the Knesset passed a draconian law against the traffickers, which set a 20-year jail sentence for a human-trafficking violation, and the message was very clear.
Women who filed complaints were treated at special shelters, where the state invested a lot of money in rehabilitation. Slowly, the phenomenon diminished. Of course, the closing of the border with Egypt helped a great deal with the disappearance of the problem. We handled it very aggressively, with cooperation among all law-enforcement agencies and the Ministry of Welfare.
Al-Monitor: In Israel 2013, there's no longer trafficking in women?
Tsur: In the last three years, the phenomenon hardly exists. Actually, I can say that trafficking in women from Eastern Europe stopped entirely, and that it's very rare to find a woman who was imported to Israel by a party or person. We know that according to the US State Department reports, the phenomenon of trafficking no longer exists in Israel. It disappeared. This was continuously verified by data and testimonies — not just data from the authorities, but also from external, critical parties. (h/t Yerushalimey)  |
| Police promise no more soccer on Temple Mount! Posted: 12 Sep 2013 12:00 PM PDT Fantastic news from Arutz-7. We will see if it pans out:  Jews have long complained about the activities by Muslims on the Mount deemed inappropriate to a holy place, such as barbecues, picnics, and political demonstrations. One of the worst desecrations, say many Jews involved in the issue, are the soccer games that take place in the open areas of the mount, with the attendant cursing, fighting, and other unholy behavior. The High Court several years ago banned the practice, in response to several petitions – but police have never enforced the law.
That will now change, said Ahronovich.
Responding to a Knesset query filed last June by Feiglin, in the wake of an incident in which Jews grabbed a soccer ball being used for an illegal game, and gave it to police – who promptly returned it to the players – Ahronovich said that the police are obligated to uphold the law, and they will.
"The officers acted in contradiction to the law and their obligations," Ahronovich said. "The query by MK Feiglin is definitely appropriate. Police will from now on conscientiously enforce the law, and I have ordered police commanders to do so. Police are already working through several channels that the sanctity of the site is preserved," he added. Mrs. Elder took video of one of the games last February: It will be most interesting to hear the outrage from Muslims at not being allowed to treat their "third holiest site" as a playground. But AP has already given them one excuse, saying that since there are so open spaces in the Old City, Muslim kids have no choice but to use it for soccer and volleyball and snowball fights. But Jews walking and trying to pray there? That, you see, is "desecration." (h/t OBoZ)  |
| Al Jazeera insults Arafat; PalArabs seethe Posted: 12 Sep 2013 10:30 AM PDT From YNet: Palestinian riot police prevented dozens of angry protestors from breaking into a building where the offices of Al Jazeera TV channel are located in the center of Ramallah.
The Fatah Youth movement called for a demonstration against Al Jazeera after a guest attacked the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
Ibrahim Hammami, a pro-Islamist writer and head of the Palestinian Affair Center said that Abu Ammar, another name Arafat is known by, is a traitor. Arafat, who died in 2004, is still seen a symbol for the Palestinian people.
Two days before the show, on the 20th anniversary of signing the Oslo agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Hamami wrote on his Facebook page that Arafat accomplished the Israeli dream 20 years ago.
A few days before that, Al Jazeera published a documentary called "The Price of Oslo," unveiling what they called new historical information showing that the PLO recognized Israel and turned its back on the "revolution."
At the demonstration, protestors held signs and pictures of the late Arafat, while chanting slogans.
"Yasser Arafat is a red line," said employee Nibras Hussein, after she was not allowed to leave her job to partake in the demonstration. "Most people are working at this time. I am sure much more people wanted to protest Arafat's insult but can't leave their jobs."
In front of the building, more protesters came to participate in the demonstration. Amna Mustafa was one of them: "I came to say I reject the Zionist-American conspiracy that is being waged through Al Jazeera channel by insulting and distorting the national figures and symbols," Mustafa, a 33-year-old protester, said.  | | See how peaceful he is? | Notice the nature of the insult - not that Arafat was a terrorist, but that he was too peaceful! This is what gets the Palestinian Arabs upset. Similarly, Al Jazeera coverage of the Oslo anniversary concentrated on how the PA was too conciliatory towards Israel. You will not have to look hard to find Israelis or Jews willing to call Sharon or Begin or Shamir "terrorists." But you will never find any Arab in an Arab country who would publicly say the same about Arafat. Both the insults and the defenses in the Arab world consistently come from the perspective that "my side is more anti-Israel, more intransigent, than your side is." Arafat's family is threatening to sue Al Jazeera unless Hamami apologizes.  |
| 9/12 Links Part 1: Worshipers attacked at Joseph's Tomb, UN Watch Slams UN on Syria Posted: 12 Sep 2013 09:00 AM PDT From Ian:
Hinting at dismay with Obama, PM says Israel can rely only on itself In remarks whose content and timing implied criticism of President Barack Obama's handling of the Syrian chemical weapons crisis, and a concern that Israel could not depend on the US to thwart Iran's nuclear drive, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday declared that nations that use weapons of mass destruction must pay a price, and said that his own actions as leader of the Jewish state revolved around the conviction that ultimately Israel had no one to rely on but itself when facing enemy threats.
Speaking at an Israeli Navy graduation ceremony, Netanyahu cited a 2,000-year-old saying by the Jewish sage Rabbi Hillel, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me?" And he said this rule "is more relevant than ever these days in guiding me, in my key actions as prime minister." Its practical application, he said, "is that Israel will always be able to protect itself, and will protect itself, with its own forces, against all threats." Khaled Abu Toameh: Analysis: PA campaigns against Jews at Temple Mount What is the PA trying to achieve through this campaign? First, the PA leadership is trying to show Palestinians and all Muslims that it is keen on defending Islamic holy sites against Israeli "conspiracies" at a time when the Arab and Islamic countries are doing nothing.
Second, the PA is probably trying to divert attention from its controversial decision to resume the peace talks with Israel. The PA has come under heavy criticism for dropping its preconditions for returning to the negotiations, including a full cessation of settlement construction.
Third, the campaign is designed to depict Israel as a country that has no respect for other people's religion and holy sites. This would make it easier for the PA to demand control not only over the Temple Mount, but also over east Jerusalem, under the pretext that Israel is violating international laws and conventions in the city. Arab Rioters Open Fire on Jewish Worshippers at Joseph's Tomb A large contingent of worshipers who visited the Tomb of Joseph (Kever Yosef) in Shechem Wednesday night were attacked by gangs of Arabs, who threw rocks and bricks at them.
The worshipers were accompanied by a large number of IDF soldiers. The Arabs attacked the soldiers with rocks as well. Troops used anti-riot techniques to quell the mob.
At one point, one of the attackers opened fire at soldiers with an automatic weapon. Troops and civilians took cover, and soldiers fired back in the direction of the gunfire, hitting the terrorist who had opened fire on them and injuring him seriously. He was taken to a hospital in an Israeli city for treatment. Joseph Tomb Attacks Spark Renewed Calls for Israeli Sovereignty Ben-Dahan's plea was echoed by other MKs and local leaders at the site. "It's outrageous that Jews who come to pray at the tomb of the righteous Joseph have to sneak in like thieves in the night, just because the Israeli government is afraid to exercise its sovereignty under the Oslo Accords," said Gershon Mesika, head of the Samaria Regional Council. IDF Blog: Terror Attacks & Attempts You Never Heard About: Jan-Sept 2013 The Israel Defense Forces deals with terror on a daily basis. This year, an Israeli civilian was murdered as a result of terror, and many more were injured in attacks ranging from stabbings to rockets. There were over 20 attempts to hit Israeli civilians with rocket fire alone. These attacks seem small, and don't normally make it to the news headlines. But they effect Israeli civilians every day. The IDF will continue to do everything in our power to prevent them. Hevron Hills: Arab Gang Caught with Firebombs in Hand Soldiers caught four young terrorists on Wednesday night, just moments before they could attack Israelis on a nearby highway.
The dramatic capture took place in the Hevron Hills in the Judea region, south of Jerusalem.
Soldiers with the Kfir Brigade noticed four suspicious figures hiding near a heavily used junction. They approached the four, who attempted to escape into the nearby Arab town of Kfar Awa. The soldiers were faster, and managed to apprehend them. Terrorism Disguised as Charity The Jerusalem District Court convicted three men today (Wednesday) for running a Hamas terrorist network in Israel's capital city, under the guise of charity work.
The men, Yaaqub Abu Asab, Kifah Sarhan and Ahmed Ali'an, are accused of managing Hamas' "Advisory Council" in Jerusalem, and were tasked with a diverse range of activities aimed at boosting Hamas' presence in the Jerusalem area and expanding its membership base, including propaganda, social welfare and religious services. Fatah Activists Demonstrate Against Al Jazeera Over Arafat Slur The protesters had to be physically prevented from storming the building by Palestinian Authority (PA) police, and were forced to make do with hurling epithets including allegations that the Qatari-based network was pursuing a "Zionist" agenda.
The activists were incensed by remarks made by a certain Ibrahim Hamami during a heated debate broadcast by the network, in which he branded former Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat a "traitor," due to having signed the Oslo Agreements in 1994, and thus implicitly agreed to a compromise with Israel. IDF Discovers Bomb, Rifles at Gaza Checkpoint The Israel Defense Force's "Taoz" Battalion on Tuesday uncovered a bomb and a cache of rifles and cartridges in separate inspections at a Gaza border control checkpoint, Israel's Channel 2 reported, citing the battalion commander Lt. Col. Amir Zuber.
In the morning, the battalion uncovered a bomb placed on an agricultural gate, and, in the evening, two "Carl Gustav" rifles and cartridges in a vehicle at the checkpoint. US is 'floundering' over Syria, says ex-Mossad chief Shabtai Shavit, who served at the helm of Israel's overseas intelligence service from 1989 to 1996, accused the administration of President Barack Obama of "floundering" over Syria. He noted witheringly that the US had "balked" at firing "half a dozen Tomahawk missiles" at the Syrian regime in the wake of the August 21 alleged chemical weapons attack by Assad, that the US says killed 1,429 Syrians.
Replacing the Assad regime was a clear Israeli interest, he said, as it would significantly weaken Hezbollah, leaving Israel to confront Iran without its regional proxy.
Israel's biggest gain in any action involving Syria would be to break the "axis of evil" between Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah, Shavit added in the rare interview Wednesday, on the sidelines of the World Summit on Counter Terrorism at Herzliya's International Institute for Counter Terrorism (ICT) which he chairs. Israeli President Peres: 'Assad Cannot be Trusted' to Honor Agreement on Chemical Weapons Speaking at the Israeli Navy graduation ceremony Wednesday, Peres said, "Assad cannot be trusted to honor the agreement" but expressed optimism that Washington and Moscow could impose conditions on the Syrian president that would force him to give up his chemical weapons.
"I know both President Obama and President Putin and I am convinced that if an agreement is reached it will be reliable, explicit and significant. The agreement must ensure that Assad has no chemical weapons," he said. Leaked UN Inspectors' Report: Attack Looks Like Assad's Work Excerpts of a report by international inspectors on Syria's chemical weapons use was leaked Thursday, and claims that the government of Bashar al-Assad was almost certainly responsible for the deaths of some 1,400 people in an August 21 chemical attack on a Syrian suburb.
The UN inspectors were sent to the country to assess the Syrian chemical weapons program, and were not expected to lay blame on any specific party for the attack. Western observers said that if the leak was accurate, it showed how overwhelmingly involved Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was in the attack. UN Watch Slams UN 'Apathy, Banality' on Syria The UN Watch watchdog group has slammed the United Nations for its "apathy" in the face of chemical weapons attacks in Syria.
UN watch executive-director Hillel Neuer slammed the Human Rights Council in a meeting this week.
"Three weeks have passed since Syria gassed to death hundreds of its own men, women, and children — and still the council closes its eyes, refusing our call for an emergency session," he accused.
"Madam President, why is this monstrous crime being treated here with such apathy, banality and triteness? Where is this council's moral outrage? Where is its sense of urgency?" he demanded. UN Watch: UN Rights Council Ignores Syria Poison Gas Attack, Slams Israel Iran is Using Syria as a Testing Ground To be sure, the security problem posed by jihadis is no laughing matter. As they continue to raid weapons storehouses once owned by the Syrian army, Israel must think ahead about a scenario involving a raid by al-Qaeda on a chemical weapons facility controlled by the Assad regime.
A reality in which al-Qaeda is armed with chemical weapons can never be accepted.
But right now, Iran is just a few months away from a working nuclear weapon, should it decide to obtain one. Its ally in Damascus massacred more than 1,400 civilians with sarin gas, and its ally in Lebanon stockpiles more rockets and missiles than any arsenal in the hands of most modern militaries.
For all of these reasons, a failure to deter the Iran-Syria-Hezballoh axis now could result in a future security deterioration, the outcome of which would be more extensive than any immediate threat posed by jihadis in Syria. Khaled Abu Toameh: Egypt's War On Hamas Until recently, Hamas leaders were careful not to engage in a direct confrontation with the new rulers of Egypt. But in recent days several Hamas officials are beginning to regard Egypt's security measures as an act of war against the Gaza Strip.
For now, the Egyptians do not want to admit that they are at war with Hamas, preferring instead to describe their measures as part of a campaign against terror. Hamas, for its part, has internalized the fact that it is at war with Egypt.
Hamas, as it is being pushed to the wall and increasingly isolated, faces two options: either to initiate a new confrontation with Israel to create Arab and Islamic pressure on Egypt to halt its war, or to confront the Egyptian army in a direct military engagement by joining forces with the jihadis in Sinai. Hamas seeks to lower tension with Egypt The Hamas Islamist group ruling Gaza sought to ease tensions with Cairo on Wednesday by ordering Muslim preachers to mute their criticism of the Egyptian government over what some of the clerics have called its war on Islam.
"Preachers should avoid speaking of the internal affairs of Egypt and focus on our Palestinian national issues and our struggle for the liberation of our land and the freedom of our prisoners (held by Israel)," said Ismail Rudwan, the Hamas-appointed religious affairs minister in Gaza. Eye on Sinai The sad fact of Egyptian reality is that Sinai is only nominally Egyptian and Cairo's rule barely extends to it.
It was always nearly extraterritorial, an anarchic expanse whose Beduin tribes feel exempt from the jurisdiction of any central government. Their insubordination went chronically unchecked, under all Egyptian regimes. Any attempt to control them was met by violence.
Sinai's disorderly domains irresistibly beckon jihadist militias including al-Qaida and its allies, to say nothing of Hamas across the line in Gaza. Egypt's internal strife had opened new vistas for the forces of obdurate Islam and enhanced existing ones. Foreign firebrands, whose strings are pulled from Gazan control centers, flock in. 86 hotels closed in the Red Sea due to tourism recession Five hotels were shut down in Hurghada, and four others in Marsa Alam and Safaga on Tuesday, bringing the total number of hotels that have been closed in the Red Sea Governorate, due to the tourism recession, to 86 hotels out of 248 hotels.
As for the hotels that managed to stay open, the occupancy level has declined to 24 percent, making use of the domestic tourism, as well as the Czech Republic, whose administration decided to end its travel ban to Egypt.
Some Russian tourists have also been keen on visiting Egypt, via Ukraine, despite the official ban imposed by their country.  |
| Bizarre Israeli ruling that PA does not practice incitement (UPDATE) Posted: 12 Sep 2013 07:00 AM PDT From Ma'an: A Tel Aviv district court has rejected legal claims against Palestinian officials accusing them of incitement against Israel which led to "terrorist" attacks against Israel and Israelis.
Judge Dalia Gannot strictly rejected the testimony of the founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli media watchdog group which monitors Palestinian media outlets and publishes reports about incitement against Israel.
Marcus was summoned as an expert witness by the complainant, an Israeli family whose son was killed in a shooting about 10 years earlier. But the judge deemed Marcus an "incompetent" witness.
The family's attorney accused senior Palestinian officials including President Mahmoud Abbas of incitement against Israel which encouraged Palestinians to carry out attacks against Israelis, one of which led to the killing of a member of the family. The attorney claimed in his pleading that senior PA officials were indirectly responsible for the killing.
Lawyer Joseph Arnone, who represented the PA, argued that the challenge was completely false as the incitement theory was based on quotes taken from unofficial and unpopular news outlets.
In her decision, the Israeli judge said that "there were remarks reflecting incitement against Israel and the Jews in Palestinian media, but there was no evidence of deliberate incitement."
The witness, Itamar Marcus, presented to the judge reports he and his watchdog group translated from Palestinian media outlets as well as video footage. He argued that through his work running a media watchdog he reached the a conclusion that "the PA follows an explicit policy of incitement against Israel and the Jews."
However, the judge decided that the evidence Marcus gave could not prove his claims about incitement.
The judge argued that Marcus quoted newspapers such as al-Hayat al-Jadida, al-Ayyam and al-Quds as well as the Voice of Palestine radio station, but he ignored very popular Palestinian news outlets.
When she asked him about al-Fajr newspaper, Marcus said he was not familiar with that paper. The judge also highlighted that a majority of the newspaper quotes were taken from al-Hayat al-Jadida which is among the least popular Palestinian newspapers, while only very few quotes were taken from the most popular newspaper al-Quds.
Asked to explain, Marcus said he did not care how popular his sources were as long as these sources represented the PA.
"I don't care if only 8,000 people read al-Hayat al-Jadida, all I care about is the messages this paper disseminates," the lawyer quoted him as saying.
The judge noted that Marcus ignored the more popular Palestinian news outlets, and thus his theory of incitement was unacceptable. She wondered why he did not use any quotes from major Arab channels such as Al Jazeera and Al Arabiyya which are very popular in the Palestinian territories.
The judge concluded that the complainant could not prove incitement by PA officials. "If that was true, the PA would have used the most popular news outlets to disseminate its messages to as many Palestinians as possible," she noted.
She noted that there was still "disgusting" incitement in some Palestinian outlets.
The judge also pointed out that the complainant presented only 76 news reports and articles documented in 15 years from 1995 to 2010. This is very few, the judge said, given the large number of news reports published in 15 years. She added that many of the reports reflected the writers' own opinions.
"There is no doubt some Palestinian news outlets incite against Israel and the Jews, but it is clear this is not an official policy of the PA," the judge concluded. Based on this article, it is the judge who is incompetent, not Itamar Marcus. First of all, her thesis is ridiculous. The PA has an official newspaper, Al Hayat al Jadida. If it is publishing incitement, which the judge agreed it did, then that incitement is essentially incitement from the PA itself. The same goes for the official PA TV station. To say that the relative lack of incitement at Al Jazeera, a pan-Arab newspaper, or Al-Quds, which is not an official PA paper, as evidence that the PA does not practice incitement is nonsensical. The PA cannot dictate the contents of Al Jazeera; it does dictate the contents of Al Hayat al Jadida and PA TV. Secondly, the judge asks about al Fajr. Al Fajr is not listed in any list of Palestinian Arab media I am aware of. It used to be the official PLO newspaper. As far as I can tell, it has not been published since 1993. It doesn't have any online presence nor does it have a Wikipedia entry. If Judge Gannot is trying to use that as evidence that Marcus is incompetent, she ended up proving that her criticism of Marcus is based on her own ignorance. Thirdly, it is obvious that the report that PMW submitted was only a small sample of the examples of incitement that Marcus and his team have documented. Their website is an encyclopedia of Palestinian Arab hate, although it is not only exposing PA incitement but Hamas and unofficial media incitement as well. The TV archives they have are more than enough to show that the PA endorses terror today. In short, this ruling reveals more about how Israel allows activist judges to go way beyond their normal mandate to do or say whatever they want, without regard to facts or even the law. I would agree that it is (and should be) a tough case to prove legally that incitement in the media is responsible for terror, but from this article it is obvious that Judge Dalia Gannot made up her mind before evaluating the evidence. Gannot is the one who should be investigated - for slander, incompetence and bias. UPDATE: Commenter Yenta Press sends the link to the actual ruling (Hebrew.) It isn't as bad as Ma'an states - the judge clearly ruled that the PA incites to violence and she is very disturbed by some of the evidence Itamar Marcus showed. However, she said that there is no evidence that PA incitement resulted in that specific terror attack. UPDATE 2: I am told that the family plans to appeal, based partially on the same arguments I used here.  |
| Egypt besieges Gaza; NGO blames Israel Posted: 12 Sep 2013 05:00 AM PDT Yesterday I reported that private Gaza buyers were planning to purchase fuel from Israeli companies because of the Egyptian siege on Gaza that shut down almost all smuggling tunnels. COGAT tells me that Gazans already started buying fuel from Israel in August, for the first time in a year: Indeed, the private sector in Gaza in fact started to buy petrol from Israel with the closing of the tunnels. The quantities are listed below.
Normally, Hamas prefers to smuggle fuel to the Gaza Strip via the illegal tunnels from Egypt. Transferring fuel from Israel happens only in exceptional cases, for the obvious reason that it's more expensive. Before June 2013, we rarely saw fuels coming through Kerem Shalom, only when there was something that was preventing them from going through the tunnels.
Between March and July of 2012, 2,261,323 liters of diesel and 678,684 liters of gasoline were transferred for the private sector. After that period, Hamas went back to smuggling the fuels through the tunnels.
Starting June 2013, the private sector began purchasing fuel from Israel and transferring it via Kerem Shalom again. During the last month (since the beginning of August) 3,802,971 liters of gasoline and 263,014 liters of diesel were transferred for the private sector, in addition to the fuel transferred for the use of the international organizations operating in the Gaza Strip.
The fuel bought from Israel is used freely in Gaza- It may be used for the power plant, as well as other purposes. This is an internal Palestinian matter, we only coordinate the transfer of fuels - not the price or the quantity. They can decide when and what to purchase, and from whom. I also asked how much electricity and water Gaza buys from Israel: As for the electricity and water provided by Israel to Gaza- it's paid for by the PA, as determined in the Oslo Accords. Israel transfers 5MCM of water to Gaza yearly and 125 MegaWatts via 10 electrical lines daily. Meanwhile, over 750 people crossed over the Erez crossing from Gaza into Israel last week, the week of Rosh Hashanah, while Egypt continued to only allow a trickle of people to cross the Rafah crossing. Egypt once again closed Rafah completely yesterday after the latest jihadist attack in the Sinai. There really is a siege of Gaza - and it isn't by Israel. Al Ahram gives details: Thousands of Palestinians that need to travel for health, education and other reasons are still stuck at Rafah Crossing, waiting their turn to go through.
Gaza needs 400,000 litres of fuel every day. Most of the supply used to come from Egypt, through the tunnels. Egyptian gasoline was sold at 3.6 shekels (about $1) per litre compared to 7.1 shekels for Israeli gasoline. Egyptian diesel oil cost 3.6 shekels per litre, compared to 6.5 shekels for the Israeli equivalent.
The Palestinian Authority imports fuel from Israel in accordance with the 1994 Paris Agreement, but since Hamas took power in 2007, Gaza mainly relied on smuggled fuel from Egypt. Mahmoud Abdallah, who owns a gas station in Gaza, says that Egyptian fuel is no longer available. He sells Israeli fuel instead, but says drivers cannot afford it because of its high price. Even businesses buy it only when they have no other choice.
In Rafah, hundreds of travellers are waiting their turn to cross into Egypt. According to the Gaza government, nearly 10,000 are waiting for permission to pass the border.
Rafah Crossing operates six days a week, four hours per day — down from nine hours per day in the past.
Permission is only granted to foreigners, people with exit visas, and patients going for treatment abroad. Even though the Kerem Shalom crossing is not operating at capacity because there simply isn't enough of a demand for goods at normal market prices, "humanitarian" NGOs continue to primarily blame Israel for Gaza's troubles. The Euro-Mid Observer in a report on Gaza this month almost completely blames Israel for the Gaza problems, with four of its five demands given to Israel and no blame at all given to Egypt. Ironically, this report downplays any security concerns that Israel has for selling dual-use items to Gaza but doesn't have a word to say about Egypt's security concerns that have caused it to all but shut down Rafah altogether as well as the tunnels. Which tells you all you need to know about the objectivity of "human rights" NGOs.  |
| Search and replace "Jews" with "Zionists". Presto! Posted: 12 Sep 2013 02:00 AM PDT This is a 1962 British Nazi flyer that was sent to me by a reader: Of course, it is way out of date. We need to update it to fit right in with the times: Ah, much better! The new, improved version can be proudly distributed on any modern campus without anyone blinking an eye! (h/t Judy)  |
אין תגובות:
הוסף רשומת תגובה