יום שני, 14 באוקטובר 2013

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Anti-Israel stamps from Syria

Posted: 13 Oct 2013 05:09 PM PDT

Latest in a series...

1960: This picture was in a number of Arab stamps. It shows refugees pointing to the area of British Mandate Palestine. Note that Syria always included the West Bank, even though Jordan annexed it; Syria and most Arab countries never recognized that.

1961: What better way to say that Palestine is Arab than to show an Arab?

1965: This same picture was in a number of Arab League country stamps. It is supposed to commemorate the Deir Yassin "massacre." 

1965: commemorating "Palestine Week." In this case, the flags are all in pre-1967 Israel.

1968: "Palestine Day," with a torch, right after Syria's defeat in 1967.

1970: The first anniversary of the fire at the Al Aqsa mosque, blamed on Israel.

1973: 25th anniversary of Israel's rebirth. Well, something like that.

1982: This is one of my favorite stamps, both because it has two misspellings and because it has the oxymoronic characterization of the peace dove and the sub-machine gun, with an Israel-shaped keffiyeh for good measure. . For some reason many Westerners just see the dove. 

1986: The multiculturalism in having all races want to destroy Israel is a nice touch.

1987: Continuing on the keffiyeh theme. The UN was sponsoring the annual Palestine Solidarity Day (on the anniversary of the 1947 partition plan) so the UN logo is quite appropriate here.

1989: Second anniversary of the "first" intifada. Unlike other cases of supposed Palestinian Arab child art, this looks like it might have actually been drawn by a child. 

2001: Celebrating the second intifada. No suicide bombings celebrated in Syrian stamps, alas. 

Israeli firm will design helmet for F-35 pilots

Posted: 13 Oct 2013 02:00 PM PDT

The best part about this story is that it is being reported by Hezbollah's organ Al Manar:
An Zionist company has been selected to take part in manufacturing hi-tech helmets for pilots of the US F-35 stealth fighter, Zionist Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Sunday.

He said in a statement that Elbit Systems and its US partner Rockwell Collins have been chosen by the Pentagon and F35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin to supply helmets for the next generation of the Joint Strike Fighter, the hi-tech warplane that is supposed to serve as the backbone of future American air power.

Elbit Systems designed the helmet for the fighter.

"The new helmet, which is to be manufactured in the United States, is capable of putting flight data as well as data about weapons systems and intelligence before the pilot's eyes," it said, adding that it would be delivered as standard with every F-35 purchased around the world from 2016.
Al Manar is actually overstating Israel's case a bit; the helmet is a joint venture between Elbit and Rockwell Collins. But it sounds like an amazing technical achievement:

Lockheed said the move amounted to a vote of confidence in the main helmet and efforts to
resolve earlier problems. "To date, more than 100 F-35 pilots have flown more than 6,000 flights and 10,000 hours with the helmet, and their feedback has been very positive," said Lorraine Martin, Lockheed executive vice president and F-35 general manager.

...The Gen 3 helmet will include an improved night vision camera, new liquid-crystal displays, automated alignment and software improvements. The Gen 3 helmet to be introduced to the fleet in low rate initial production Lot 7 in 2016 will meet program requirements to complete test and development in 2017. Rockwell Collins ESA Vision Systems LLC also developed the Gen 2 helmet that F-35 pilots currently use, which will meet the needs for the US Marine Corps to declare Initial Operational Capability in July 2015.

The F-35 HMDS provides pilots with unprecedented situational awareness. All the information that pilots need to complete their missions through all weather, day or night is projected on the helmet's visor. Additionally, the F-35's Distributed Aperture System (DAS) streams real-time imagery from six infrared cameras mounted around the aircraft to the helmet, allowing pilots to "look through" the airframe.

10/13 Links: UNESCO Bias, Has Islamism Peaked?, Tarantino Loves Israeli Film “Big Bad Wolves.”

Posted: 13 Oct 2013 12:00 PM PDT

From Ian:
In the Middle East, the Muslim Brotherhood is in retreat
Whether or not it turns out that the reports regarding Mashaal's relocation are true, Hamas is being forced to reposition itself, and to go back to Iran with cap in hand. The reason is because this movement, too, had placed its bets on a Qatar-financed alliance of Brotherhood-oriented states – which will now not come into being.
The Brothers are by no means finished. Their politics retain a natural purchase in the conservative, Sunni Arab Middle East. But the moment when everything seemed possible has decidedly passed. What looked like the potential beginning of a new age ended up as a brief moment in the sun.
The sun is now setting on the Muslim Brotherhood's hopes of regional domination.
Has Islamism peaked in the Middle East?
Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum, spoke at the conference held by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies this week at Bar-Ilan University, and presented the original thesis that the events over the past few months may mean that Islamism has peaked in the region and has begun its decline.
He cited the popular opposition to Islamist-led governments in Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Tunisia, and Sudan.
"The more you know it, the less you like it," he said in reference to Islamism. "It is not popular in the long-term."
UNESCO and bias against Israel
The theater of the absurd was highlighted in March 2012 when, at a moment that the atrocities committed by the Syrian regime in the civil war raging there were being investigated by the Red Cross in Syria, UNESCO voted in favor of keeping Syria on the human rights committee.
Irina Bokova was on October 4, 2013 nominated by the Executive Board of UNESCO to serve a second term as Director-General. She oversees an organization that spends more than 80 per cent of its budget on staff costs, travel, and operating expenses. Very little has been spent on projects except castigation of Israel.
New York Times: Netanyahu on 'Messianic Crusade'
Ten days after publishing a front-page editorial blasting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's speech at the UN General Assembly as "combative" and sarcastic, the New York Times has published an interview-profile that portrays Netanyahu as a "shrill" voice on a one-man "messianic crusade" against Iran's nuclear weapons program.
In the piece, the Times says Netanyahu's long campaign against Iran is "a Messianic crusade" according to "critics and admirers alike."
13 years on: BBC website still misleads over 2000 Ramallah lynching
Under the sub-heading "Rising anger", Asser transparently tries to 'contextualise' the lynching by presenting readers with a set of 'explanatory'
circumstances. He first suggests that the murdered soldiers may have been members of an undercover unit, inventing a very creative interpretation of a picture of one of them being dragged off by a member of the mob after his eyes have been covered with a kefiya placed back to front. Asser also presents the fact that the two soldiers were wearing civilian clothes rather than army uniform (as is quite normal for reservists who have not yet reached their base) as though it were relevant.
In addition, Asser tries to 'explain' the lynching by patronisingly portraying it as an inevitable reaction to previous Palestinian casualties.
A new kind of terrorism
In the aftermath of the murder overnight Thursday of retired IDF colonel Seraiah Ofer in the Jordan Valley, early indications suggest that the incident was the latest in a series of sporadic terror attacks carried out by assailants using improvised weapons rather than by organized terror groups. Monique Mor, Ofer's wife, who heard the assailants speaking outside their home in the Brosh Habika vacation village late Thursday, said they used axes and iron bars to carry out the killing — not "classic" murder weapons.
The suspicion, when looking at what have now been four terror attacks in the West Bank in the past month, is of a new phenomenon: Terrorism that is not carefully premeditated by an organization such as Hamas or Islamic Jihad — rather, attacks by Palestinians acting independently, bent on murdering Israelis, be they soldiers or civilians.
Victim's Widow: 'He was Cut Down by Low-Lives, Just Like That'
The widow of Sariya Ofer, who was brutally murdered in the Jordan Valley Friday, told reporters at week's end that the Jordan Valley (Bik'a) is one of the safest places in Israel. She added that the state must give protection to all of its citizens, including those who live in secluded spots.
Speaking from her hospital bed at Afula's Ha'emek hospital, she said Sarya "was simply an amazing character who knew how to help, make others laugh, make others happy, and offer help. An amazing man who was cut down by two low-lives, just like that."
Abbas to lobby EU to support sanctions against West Bank settlements
The PA leadership fears the EU may delay action against settlements under pressure from the US administration out of fear it could harm the current peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel.
The US has already asked the EU not to move forward on the matter.
Abbas, who is expected to visit Germany, Italy and Belgium, will urge the leaders of the three countries to go ahead with the EU plan to impose sanctions, a Palestinian official in Ramallah said.
Mortar shells hit near chemical inspectors' hotel in Syria, killing child
An 8 year old was killed and 11 people were hurt in the blasts in the upscale Abu Roumaneh area of Damascus, the SANA news agency said. One shell fell near a school and the other on a roof, damaging several shops and cars.
The blasts struck some 300 meters (1,000 feet) away from the Four Seasons Hotel where the chemical inspectors and U.N. staff are staying. A U.N. employee staying there said it did not appear that the hotel was affected by the twin explosions. The hotel remained open after the blasts, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
Twitchy: Garry Kasparov surprised Nobel committee didn't give Assad the award for chemistry

PM urges European leaders not to lift Iran sanctions
According to the officials, Netanyahu also warned Hollande and Cameron that Iran had ignored UN Security Council resolutions in the past, and that Tehran has been directly involved in terrorist activities across the globe.
The prime minister added that Iran has provided Syrian President Bashar Assad with military assets that have been used to "slaughter" civilians in the country.
The West cannot afford to be the global village idiot
Western delusion over Middle Eastern pretentions of democracy is nothing new. Although initial hopes were high, the Arab Spring has surely shattered any illusions that the region stands at the dawn of a new age of freedom. President Barack Obama eagerly proclaimed hopes of "genuine democracy" in Egypt following the downfall of Hosni Mubarak, lapping up initial talk of real reform. When free elections ensued, they proved to be a mirage, instead paving the way for an attempted Islamist power grab. A return to military repression soon followed. In Tunisia, the cradle of the Arab Spring, stability hangs in the balance following opposition assassinations and government resignations.
Iran said to ready 'three-stage' nuclear compromise
The Iranian delegation to an upcoming round of nuclear talks with the P5+1 nations plans to present a three-stage compromise proposal that would entail Western recognition of the legitimacy of Iran's controversial uranium enrichment program.
The first stage of the proposal includes a motion that would commit the P5+1 nations – the US, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France and Germany – to defining "the recognition of the uranium enrichment right on Iran's soil" as a goal of the negotiations, Xinhua reported Sunday.
Iran says 'Israeli spy network' put on trial
A news agency in Iran said a group of suspected Israeli spies have gone on trial in the country's southeast.
Judge Dadkhoda Salari was quoted Saturday by the semiofficial Mehr news agency as saying that the group was led by three people who recruited some 60 Iranians to conspire against Iran's ruling Islamic government and passed information on to Israel.
Egypt not expected to be hit hard by US aid cuts
The US decision to suspend delivery of tanks, helicopters and fighter jets to Egypt is more of a symbolic slap than a punishing wound to the military-backed government for its slog toward a return to democratic rule.
Egypt is awash in the tanks and planes it would need to fight a conventional war, and spare parts from US manufacturers will continue to be delivered.
Qaradhawi's Friend: Israel Planted a Chip in His Brain or Uses a Double; the Real Qaradhawi Is Dead


2 Turkish students detained for using Nazi salute on concentration camp visit
Two Turkish students were taken into custody in Poland after they allegedly greeted an Israeli student group with a Nazi salute during their visit to a former Nazi concentration camp, the Turkish media reported on Friday.
According to a report by Polish television station TVN24, the incident occurred in Majdanek, a former Nazi concentration camp near the city of Lublin, on Sunday.
Barclays Capital: Israel Could See Several Billion-Dollar Deals in Coming Year
Israel could be the beneficiary of several multi-billion dollar deals in the coming year, Barclays Capital technology M&A manager Richard Hardegree told Israel's Globes.
"It's possible that we'll see two to three $1 billion-plus deals (in Israel) a year. We think that this is the direction, and that we'll also see many transactions in the hundreds of millions," Hardegree said ahead of his participation in the Globes-Ernst & Young Israel Journey Conference in Tel Aviv on October 17. "This is definitely a change from the sizes of the past. I think that it's because Israeli companies are turning in the direction of bigger opportunities and the success of companies which have become market leaders."
Israel Engineering Co Wins Lockheed Martin Contract to Supply 'Smart Helmets' for New F-35 Fighter Jets
Israeli engineering company Elbit Systems Ltd., in partnership with U.S. firm Rockwell Collins Inc., won a new contract to supply "smart helmets" for Lockheed Martin's next generation F-35 fighter jet, Israel's Channel 2 reported Friday.
The Elbit-designed "Helmet Mounted Display System" projects real-time images onto its visor, allowing a pilot access to more computer-based information, from weather conditions to night vision. The screen also projects images from six infrared cameras around the fuselage, providing the pilot with access to what's usually unknown once the jet is airborne.
Tarantino: Israeli flick 'best of 2013'
Quentin Tarantino is certainly not afraid of the "Big Bad Wolves." In fact, the neo-noir kingpin was so enamored with the Israeli thriller after viewing it at a South Korean film festival over the weekend that he took to the microphone and declared it the best film of 2013.
"Big Bad Wolves," from directors Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado, is a gritty story of a vigilante cop (Lior Ashkenazi) chasing a child murderer. It's one of the darkest films to ever come out of the Israeli film industry, and it's been praised for its sophistication and subtlety.

Surprise! EU auditors find billions of euros missing in WB/Gaza

Posted: 13 Oct 2013 10:00 AM PDT

From the Sunday Times:

BILLIONS of euros in European aid to the Palestinians may have been misspent, squandered or lost to corruption, according to a damning report by the European Court of Auditors, the Luxembourg-based watchdog.

Brussels transferred more than £1.95bn to the occupied territories between 2008 and 2012 but had little control over how it was spent, the auditors say in an unpublished report seen by The Sunday Times.

EU investigators who visited sites in Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank noted "significant shortcomings" in the management of funds sent to Gaza and the West Bank. Gaza is controlled by Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organisation by the EU.

The auditors complained about the lack of measures to mitigate "high-level" risks, such as "corruption or of funds not being used for their intended purpose".

A spokesman for the court declined to comment.
No way! You mean that the PA under super-PM Salam Fayyad hasn't shed its decades-long reputation of corruption and theft of international funds? You mean that the hundreds of NGOs in Gaza and the West Bank aren't responsible with all the money being sent to them?

But...but...they are so moderate! They wear ties! They are modern, Western-style institutions, only interested in building a nation! We've been told this dozens of times by politicians and pundits - what possible incentive do they have to downplay corruption and theft in the PA while they blame Israel for everything under the sun?

Say it ain't so!

In a completely unrelated story, France just pledged €24 million to the PA the day after the PA honored the murderer of a French tourist. I'm sure that money will go to good use - like paying the salaries of other terrorists and their families, which takes up 6% of the PA budget.

(h/t Arsen)

Polish Mufti plans to slaughter sheep for Eid al Adha to challenge ban

Posted: 13 Oct 2013 08:00 AM PDT

The leader of Poland's Muslim community, Mufti Tomasz Miskiewicz, has been in the forefront of challenging the ban on kosher and halal slaughter that went into effect this year in Poland.

While Jewish groups in Europe have campaigned to overturn the ban, Miskiewicz has been more outspoken and innovative in his opposition. In June he noted that eastern European Catholics have a inhumane practice of bashing the heads of carp to kill them for traditional Christmas dishes, and no one is calling to ban that practice.

In September, the Mufti claimed that legal experts agree that EU law trumps domestic Polish law and that the ban was not legal. I cannot vouch for that legal argument, but he's giving it a shot.

Now, in the days before the major Muslim feast of Eid al Adha, where families traditionally slaughter sheep (in a more painful way than kosher slaughter), the Mufti has said that he will publicly slaughter a sheep himself to challenge the ban.
.

While experts have shown that kosher slaughter is far more humane than Muslim slaughter, in either case the religious requirements should not be trampled by people who often use "humanity" as a way to disguise their xenophobia (see the end of this post.) The focus should be on improving existing methods of ritual slaughter, not banning it.

Kudos to Mufti Miskiewicz for standing up to the haters.

PFLP-GC claims 23,000 Syrian Palestinians have fled to Sweden

Posted: 13 Oct 2013 06:00 AM PDT

The PFLP-GC claims that some 23,000 Palestinian Arabs from the Yarmouk camp in Syria have fled to Sweden during the civil war.

Yarmouk camp
The group, which supports the Syrian regime, blames the opposition for setting up their forces in the camp.

I couldn't find verification of the numbers, but they are not unrealistic. In 2012 there were over 2000 Palestinian Arabs along with some 8000 Syrians who sought asylum in Sweden, and things have gotten far worse this year.

There is of course one additional factor: Arab nations have been treating the Palestinian Arab refugees from Syria like garbage, either turning them back at the border (Jordan, Egypt) or putting inhuman restrictions on them (Lebanon.) (I have been unable to determine if Iraq is letting any Palestinian Arab refugees into its camps.)

Oil-rich Gulf countries don't want any of them, either. 

It is not surprising that the ones that make it successfully to Sweden will communicate with their relatives and friends and tell them that Europe is far more friendly to Palestinians than their Arab brothers are.

For some reason, "pro-Palestinian" groups are silent as to how their pets are being treated by Arab countries. No rallies, flotillas, or other campaigns against Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon.  And the last time there was a Palestinian Arab refugee crisis - when they were expelled from Iraq by the thousands - Arab leaders were dead-set against them becoming naturalized in the West, because happy European Palestinian Arabs are no longer useful as cannon fodder against Israel.

It is remarkable how much the very people who pretend to love the Palestinian Arabs the most are the ones who care about them the least. Even more remarkable is that the Western media and "human rights" organizations all but ignore the discrimination and hate by Arabs for their own. 

Gaza terror tunnel discovered near Israeli communities

Posted: 13 Oct 2013 03:38 AM PDT

From JPost:

The IDF recently uncovered a Palestinian terrorist tunnel leading from the Gaza Strip to Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, they announced on Sunday.

The tunnel was dug in order to either kidnap civilians and soldiers, or to infiltrate the community and carry out an atrocity in it, the army believes.

The tunnel was over 120 meters in length and represents a grave attempt by Palestinian terrorists to perpetrate an attack, army sources added.

The entrance of the tunnel on the Israeli side was reportedly dug near a kindergarten.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu praised the IDF for unearthing the tunnel, his spokesman said.
YNet adds:
According to defense establishment estimates, the tunnel was set up in order to execute a large-scale attack on one of the nearby villages. The starting point is located in a village between Gaza Strip's Khan Younis and the border fence. Several spaces were located within the tunnel, which were designed to store and detonate explosives in large quantities. The tunnel also contained tracks with carts and lighting tools. In addition, the tunnel contained advanced technical means to allow its functioning and prevent its collapse.
Here is a satellite map of the area.


Israel recently started allowing iron and concrete to be imported into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossings, after years of NGOs and governments complaining that it is a human rights violation to not allow these sorts of dual-use materials into the Hamas-controlled sector. Up until a few weeks ago, Israel only allowed such materials if they were earmarked for specific projects for known organizations like UN agencies.

From September 29 to October 5, Israel allowed 153 trucks of cement and 77 trucks of iron to enter Gaza.

Reportedly, the tunnel was built with Israeli cement.

You can be certain that none of these organizations or governments will now agree that Israel should be concerned that the material it is allowing is being used for construction of terror tunnels.

These  groups and governments who claim to be acting on the basis of the human rights of Gazans rarely extend their concern to the human rights of Israeli kindergartners not to be kidnapped and held hostage.
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