יום רביעי, 9 באוקטובר 2013

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Iran still not blaming Israel for murder of cyber-warfare expert

Posted: 08 Oct 2013 07:31 PM PDT

From Fox News:

When a key Iranian scientist was gunned down last week, many observers figured Israeli spy agency Mossad had struck again. But new signs point to deadly intrigue within the rogue nation's fractious leadership.

In the days since the body of Mojtaba Ahmadi, who worked on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' secretive cyberwarfare unit, turned up in a wooded area north of Tehran, the mystery behind his death has only deepened. As with five previous hits on top scientists, witnesses reported black-clad gunmen seen speeding away on motorcycles. But this time, the regime did not immediately point the finger at Israel. In fact, it hasn't pointed the finger anywhere – despite an exiled group's claim of responsibility.

"In the wake of a horrific incident involving one of the IRGC officials... the matter is being investigated and the main reason of the event and the motive of the attacker has not been specified," read a statement from Revolutionary Guards to the state-controlled Sepah News.

The IRGC specifically ruled out an assassination, curious in light of witnesses who said Ahmadi was shot twice in the chest at close range in a nation where gun crime is virtually nonexistent. The murky circumstances, uncharacteristically deliberative approach of the IRGC and new President Hassan Rouhani's recent overtures to the West have prompted speculation.

Since 2007, five Iranian nuclear scientists, as well as the nation's ballistic missile program director, have been assassinated in attacks the regime routinely blamed on Israel. Typically, Israel has declined to comment on the assassinations, other than to convey off the record to reporters that it was not dismayed by such developments. But Yaakov Peri, former chief of Israel's security agency, Shin Bet, and a current cabinet minister, told Israel Radio Ahmadi's murder has the hallmarks of an "internal dispute."

"The fact that a cyber commander or this or that scientist was wiped out or killed in this or that assassination does not necessarily mean that Israel's hand is in the matter," Peri said.

Other regime watchers have noted that Ahmadi's team launched a cyber attack at the U.S. Navy that coincided with Rouhani's trip to New York for the UN General Assembly, a move that some saw as aimed at undermining Rouhani, a self-styled moderate. Ahmadi's death may have been Rouhani loyalists sending a message to hard-liners within the nation's complex leadership matrix.
Interesting, isn't it?

10/08 Links Pt2: Jacobson ‘Anti-Semites shielded by Israel criticism’, T.A. Prof Awarded Nobel.

Posted: 08 Oct 2013 03:00 PM PDT

From Ian:
Howard Jacobson: 'Jews Will Never Be Forgiven the Holocaust'
At the conclusion of Jacobson's speech, he said that "Jews are considered to have forgone their right to own even a part-share in defining anti-Semitism, or to judge the extent to which they are, or indeed ever were, its victims.
"Thus, has the shame of thinking anti-Semitic thoughts been lifted from the shoulders of liberals. Since there can be no such thing as anti-Semitism - Jews having stepped outside the circle of offence in which minorities can be considered to have been offended against - there is no charge of anti-Semitism to answer. The door is now wide open, for those who truly believe they have nothing in their hearts but love, to stroll guilelessly through to hate."
Isi Leibler: Candidly Speaking: J Street is not a 'pro-Israel' organization
In the past, Labor leaders, including Yitzhak Rabin, considered it unconscionable for Jews living outside Israel to publicly meddle in issues impacting on Israeli security, the life-and-death consequences of which would be borne by neither them nor their children.
That such an erosion of the Zionist ethos was sanctioned during the term of office of a government purporting to represent the national camp reflects its dysfunctionality and failure to maintain collective responsibility.
With the current unprecedented global escalation of anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism, we must divorce ourselves from the enemy within. There is plenty of room in the Jewish tent for legitimate dissent and freedom of expression. But "pro-Israel" Diaspora Jews are morally barred from intruding and in particular from lobbying governments to pressure Israel to take actions which impinge on its national security.
Allegations of Palestinian Scorched Earth Campaign After UNESCO Targets Israel
The same dynamic played out in the context of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Palestinians ascended to UNESCO in 2011 over U.S. objections. The U.S. reacted by freezing funding for UNESCO, financially crippling the organization and sending it into what its director general called its "worst ever financial situation." Palestinian diplomats almost immediately moved to orient UNESCO in an anti-Israel direction, launching an initiative revolving around the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem that also drew broad condemnation for politicization.
Fears that Palestinian officials would continue to politicize the once-credible United Nations organization deepened last Friday when UNESCO passed no less than six anti-Israel resolutions. Nimrod Barkan, Israel's envoy to the body, called the resolutions part of UNESCO's recent "obsession" with Israel.
Peres appeals European threat to circumcision
President Shimon Peres sent a personal appeal to the secretary general of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, on Monday, asking him to intervene against a recent European ban on the practice of circumcision.
Peres called for a rethinking of a resolution passed by Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe at the beginning of the month that declared male ritual circumcision a "violation of the physical integrity of children."
IDF chief says next war will feature array of threats
Israel's wars of the future could include an al-Qaeda attack on the Golan Heights, rockets on Eilat and a Hamas assault on the Erez crossing with Gaza, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz said Tuesday.
"The morning of the war could open with a missile on the Kirya building [the Defense Ministry's HQ in Tel Aviv], with a cyber attack on banks, with a mass charge on a border town, or a tunnel packed with explosives that reaches a kindergarten," Gantz told attendees at a conference at Bar-Ilan University's Begin-Sadat Center
"These organizations, like Hezbollah," warned Gantz, "possess abilities that countries lack."
Gül says Israel's apology to Turkey 'too late'
Gül, responding to a question by the Yedioth Ahronoth daily after a meeting of the İstanbul Forum last week, said: "In order to end this conflict and the difference of opinion between us, we had certain expectations of Israel. Israel responded to part of our expectations when it apologized. But this step was taken at a late stage; Israel apologized too late. Some of our expectations have not yet been met," the daily reported Gül as saying.
Persecuting Christians? Or demonising Israel?
It continues to be a source of amazement that the mainstream Christian churches in the West and in the Middle East pay so little, if any, attention to the plight of Christians and the destruction of their churches in Arab and Muslim countries.
Rather, they prefer to focus on the "oppression of Palestinians" so completely that they are blind to the real tragedies. This myopic lack of perceptiveness has been typical of a significant part of the Anglican Church; the Presbyterian Church, USA; the National Council of Churches; the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation; the World Council of Churches; and some Christian NGOs whose shortsightedness is limited to divestment from Israel or condemnation of it.
Danish Jewry dwindling due in part to anti-Semitism
The Jewish Community in Denmark, or Mosaisk Troessamfund, currently has 1,899 members compared to 2,639 in 1997, Mosaisk President Finn Schwarz told the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten in an interview published last week.
"For young people that are considering how to live their lives, it is of course tempting to choose to live in Israel or the United States, where to be Jewish is not considered something negative," Schwartz is quoted as saying.
Israel and India, a Match Made in the U.S., Develop Their Own Military Romance
Last year, Israel topped the list of arms suppliers to India—just as India officially became the globe's largest arms importer. And it's not just missiles and drones: India has increasingly leaned on Tel Aviv for high-tech warfare, scooping up the Phalcon airborne radar and advanced electronic surveillance systems along with equipment to retrofit now-rickety Soviet-era weaponry. In New Delhi, Israel is seen not just as a ready and competent supplier, but as a kindred nation. "India and Israel both imagine themselves as democracies under siege," said Bhairav Acharya, a legal analyst with the Centre for Internet and Society, a Bangalore think tank. "Relationships are extremely one-sided and based almost solely on combat weapons."
Bennett Says Israel's Trade With India Could Double in Next 5 Years
The value of Israel's trade with India could double in the next five years, Israel's Economics Minister Naftali Bennett told reporters on Monday, according to the Economic Times.
Speaking on the sidelines of an economic conference in New Delhi, India, Bennett said, "The bilateral trade (between India and Israel) is $5 billion, at present. I think it could easily be doubled in the next five years, if we take this FTA forward," referring to the discussion of a Free Trade Agreement between the two countries.
Greek Prime Minister Visits Israel
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras visited Israel on Monday with eight Cabinet ministers and 100 business leaders for a series of meetings with Israeli officials to discuss potential agreements for cooperation in security, energy, tourism and more.
Christians pray in Jerusalem for Israel and the Jews
They were cheering the Jews in the audience, singing in Hebrew, and proclaiming God's love for the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
From Malaysia and the Philippines, the Netherlands and Ireland — even the West Bank — hundreds of Christian Zionists gathered in the Clal Building on Jaffa Road Sunday night. They had come for the 10th annual Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem, broadcast around the world by God TV, which reaches 900 million homes, according to its founder.
Tel Aviv University professor shares Nobel Prize in physics
Physicists François Englert of Belgium and Peter Higgs of Britain won the 2013 Nobel Prize in physics for their discovery of the Higgs particle, it was announced on Tuesday.
Englert, 80, is a Sackler Professor by Special Appointment in the School of Physics and Astronomy at Tel Aviv University, among other appointments, and is a Holocaust survivor.
Israeli chips for the 'Internet of everything'
Watch out, Qualcomm. An Israeli startup thinks it can make an end run around your core business of providing chipsets to smartphones. Altair Semiconductor, located in the Tel Aviv suburb of Hod HaSharon, aims to beat Qualcomm, as well as the other big semiconductor makers like Intel, Broadcom and Marvell, by eschewing the phone entirely and looking beyond to the "Internet of everything."
That's the Internet that very soon will be embedded in digital cameras, gaming devices, car entertainment systems, video surveillance, traffic control and all manner of sensors.
Israel Daily Picture: Where Were These People Marching 100 Years Ago in Jerusalem? To a Funeral, Apparently
As we post this feature, the funeral of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef is taking place in Jerusalem with more than half a million mourners.
To mark the sad event, we are reposting a two year old feature. The pictures here were photographed more than 100 years ago in Jerusalem. What was the occasion?
Video of IDF Army Radio Announcing Start of 1973 War

People excited about Thanksgivnukah

Posted: 08 Oct 2013 02:15 PM PDT

The mainstream media has finally noticed:
It's a turkey. It's a menorah. It's Thanksgivukkah!

An extremely rare convergence this year of Thanksgiving and the start of Hanukkah has created a frenzy of Talmudic proportions.

There's the number crunching: The last time it happened was 1888, or at least the last time since Thanksgiving was declared a federal holiday by President Lincoln, and the next time may have Jews lighting their candles from spaceships 79,043 years from now, by one calculation.

There's the commerce: A 9-year-old New York boy invented the "Menurkey" and raised more than $48,000 on Kickstarter for his already trademarked, Turkey-shaped menorah. Woodstock-inspired T-shirts have a turkey perched on the neck of a guitar and implore "8 Days of Light, Liberty & Latkes." The creators nabbed the trademark to "Thanksgivukkah."
(I refuse to spell it with two "k"s.)

That article included an image from a funny poster by ModernTribe.com:

So before someone else came up with this similar idea, I decided to do a little Photoshopping myself, although it is more subtle:

Iranian MP warns foreign minister over saying "Israel"

Posted: 08 Oct 2013 12:30 PM PDT

From Trend.az:
Iranian MP, Mojtaba Rahmandoust has addressed a written notification to Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif due to his repeatedly use of word "Israel", Mehr news agency reported.

According to the report, Rahmandoust has stated that Zarif should use phrase "Zionist regime" instead the Israel.
He underlined that "Israel is a fictitious word".

Iranian media and officials speak of Israel in the news and statements as "Zionist regime" and "Occupied Palestine".
Rahmandoust seems unaware that Supreme Leader and Grand Poobah Ayatollah Khamenei has used the word "Israel" in 29 separate articles on his English website.

Saudi preacher who raped, tortured, murdered 5 year old daughter gets 8 years

Posted: 08 Oct 2013 10:30 AM PDT

From AFP:


A Saudi court sentenced a preacher convicted of raping his five-year-old daughter and torturing her to death to eight years in prison and 800 lashes, a lawyer said Tuesday.

In a case that drew widespread public condemnation in the kingdom and abroad, the court also ordered Fayhan al-Ghamdi to pay his ex-wife, the girl's mother, one million riyals in "blood money," lawyer Turki al-Rasheed told AFP.

Blood money is compensation for the next of kin under Islamic law.

The girl's mother had demanded 10 million riyals.

Ghamdi's second wife, accused of taking part in the crime, was sentenced to 10 months in prison and 150 lashes, said Rasheed, who is the lawyer of the girl's mother.

Ghamdi was convicted of "raping and killing his five-year-old daughter Lama," he added.

The girl was admitted to hospital on December 25, 2011 with multiple injuries, including a crushed skull, broken ribs and left arm, extensive bruising and burns, activists said. She died several months later.

Ghamdi, a regular guest on Muslim television networks despite not being an authorized cleric in Saudi Arabia, had confessed to having used cables and a cane to inflict the injuries, human rights activists said earlier this year.

Randa al-Kaleeb, a social worker from the hospital where Lama was admitted, said the girl's back was broken and that she had been raped "everywhere".

Reportedly, Ghamdi had tortured and raped his daughter after he had doubted her virginity.
Oh, why didn't you say that he tortured and raped her repeatedly to maintain family honor? Now the sentence makes sense! Those slutty five year olds, turning on their fathers like that. How dare they!

In fact, this sentence is an improvement over what originally happened in this case.

Last February, Ghamdi was released from prison altogether because a judge figured the blood money was enough punishment for him. Apparently, an international outcry caused this re-sentencing.

This also shows the importance of shaming Arab countries into causing them to act like normal human beings, even if they fight it all the way.

10/08 Links Pt1: 2 Pals arrested for Terror Attack on Girl, Abbas Again Fails to Condemn Terror Attacks

Posted: 08 Oct 2013 09:00 AM PDT

From Ian:
Two Palestinians held in connection to Psagot attack
The two men, who are related, live in the Palestinian town of el-Bireh, Israel Radio reported.
On Saturday night, an attacker, thought to be from el-Bireh, reportedly infiltrated Psagot and shot Noam Glick, 9, lightly wounding her.
Troops searched the area for the attacker after the incident, at one point entering el-Bireh, according to Palestinian media sources.
Terror Attack Leaves Psagot Residents Doubting Peace Process
It was a frightening Saturday night for the residents of Psagot, a community of 1,800 people located in Judea and Samaria, north of Jerusalem. A Palestinian terrorist broke into the community, firing from point-blank range at nine-year-old Noam Glick, who was playing on the balcony of her home. The girl was lightly wounded, and was hospitalized in Jerusalem.
"It was the first time that something like this happened in Psagot," said Liat Ofer, a 26-year-old resident of the community, who teaches in Jerusalem.
Noam's father, Yisrael Glick, told Israel's Army Radio that Noam managed to get back into the house after she was shot. "Noam told us there was an Arab man out there. I realized that this was a security incident. It's the scariest thing that can happen here – to have a terrorist enter your home," he said.
Abbas Again Fails to Condemn Terror Attacks
Weeks after they were killed, Abbas discussed murders of IDF soldiers Gabriel (Gal) Kobi and Tomer Hazan, as well as the shooting of nine year old Noam Glick on Saturday night. Abbas has not condemned the murders and attacks, much less sought to capture the terrorists who committed them, as is his obligation under the Oslo Accords. He did say, however, that he condemned "violence on both sides," adding that he believed Israel and the PA could achieve an agreement in a matter of months.
Abbas said that security cooperation between Israel and the PA was "good," but added that IDF entries into areas under PA control was "damaging."
Vehicle Attacked by Rocks on the Way to Funeral
A vehicle from central Israel was attacked by rock-throwing Arabs as it was making its way to the funeral of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef on Monday.
The attack took place in the Beit Hanina neighborhood of Jerusalem.
Missing from Abbas meeting with MKs: Israeli flag, Palestinian journalists
Conspicuously absent from all these photographs, indeed absent from the entire room during the entire visit, was the Israeli flag. Not so much as a little one on the table. It made for quite a contrast to the scene on July 31, when members of Bar's Knesset Caucus to Resolve the Arab-Israeli Conflict, hosting PA politicians in the Israeli parliament at a meeting attended by 33 MKs from parties representing 77 of the 120 MKs, held their talks with the Palestinian flag alongside Israel's behind them — a much-headlined Knesset precedent.
Also largely absent from Monday's meeting were Palestinian journalists. Labor invited a busload of Israeli reporters to document the initial, public section of the meeting, and several of Abbas's advisers were present too. But while an aide to Abbas said that Palestinian journalists were present, and a solitary one was espied, they proved hard to find.
PMW: PA award to writer of poem that includes words "Zion is Satan"
Last week during a performance given in the PA, the Egyptian writer of the poem, Hesham El-Gakh, recited this and other poems, after which the PA Minister of Culture Anwar Abu Eisheh and PA District Governor of Ramallah Laila Ghannam venerated him with a plaque of honor. The event was broadcast on official Palestinian Authority TV Live.
To warm up the audience, a young girl recited a small part of the same poem, the stanza including the words "my enemy, Zion, is Satan with a tail":


UN: Four million Syrians to flee homes in 2014
More than two million Syrians have already fled the country, with the number of registered refugees expected to be 3.2 million by the end of 2013. And millions more are displaced within Syria's borders.
The UN estimates that more than 100,000 people have been killed as a result of fighting between forces loyal to President Bashar Assad and myriad opposition groups.
Erdogan calls Assad a 'terrorist,' blasts Kerry
"I don't regard Bashar Assad as a politician anymore. He's a terrorist carrying out state terrorism. A person who killed 110,000 of his people is a terrorist. There's state terrorism — I'm speaking frankly," Erdogan said at a press conference Sunday after a meeting with India's president, Hurriyet reported. "I'm having difficulty understanding those in the Turkish media who defend this."
Erdogan has been one of Assad's harshest critics since Syria's uprising erupted in March 2011. On Monday he also denounced US Secretary of State John Kerry for praising Syria's compliance with the international community in relinquishing its chemical weapons.
Assad Places War Jets in Iran for Safety
Iran has given permission to Bashar Assad's regime to keep his war planes in their territory to protect them from possible attack, according to a report by the German newspaper, Der Spiegel.
Iran: Peace-Dripping Nuclear Lamb
Unfortunately, along the Potomac, there seem to be sick men as well, who mistakenly think the Iranians, after having spent so much on their nuclear bomb project -- and after suffering international economic sanctions, cyber attacks, and the loss of scientists under suspicious circumstances -- will actually give it up, rather than envisioning the Shi'ite apocalypse; the return of the Mahdi; control of Arab oil; occupying the Arabian Peninsula and the Persian Gulf; taking over the Middle East and after it, possibly world domination. The sick men of the Potomac seem mistakenly to think that the Iranians, captivated by Obama and possibly motivated by the Syrian fiasco, will suddenly decide they do not want a nuclear bomb or world domination, after all.
There are, along the Potomac, people who actually think that one bearded ayatollah at the United Nations means the Iranians have waived these desires. They ignore the worlds of the Ayatollah Khamenei, who defined statesmanship as fraud and deceit hidden in smiles, and then sent Rouhani off to negotiate with the West.
America is likely to get so caught up in words that it believes the legend it has created for itself.
Barry Rubin: Is Iran a Lunatic State or a Rational Actor?
So is Iran a lunatic state or a rational actor? A hell of a lot more rational than U.S. foreign policy is today, as apparently has been the Muslim Brotherhood's policy and trickery. After all, the UN just elected Iran as Rapporteur for the General Assembly's main committee on Disarmament & International Security without Tehran having to do anything. And Obama will blame Congress for diplomatic failure if it increases sanctions. In fact diplomats doubt Iran will actually do anything anyway.
That's not moderate but radical in a smart way.
More politely, Iran is a rational actor in terms of its own objectives. The issue is to understand what Iran wants. Policy is always best served by truth, and the truth is best told whether or not people like it. Iran is an aggressive, rational actor.
78 Congressmen Demand More Iran Sanctions
A bipartisan group of 78 U.S. Representatives told U.S. President Barack Obama that additional Iran sanctions are needed until the Islamic Republic "takes meaningful steps to stop and reverse its illicit nuclear activities."
There is "no substantive evidence to suggest that Iran is slowing, or even considering slowing, its nuclear pursuit" since the election of new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the legislators wrote in an Oct. 4 letter spearheaded by U.S. Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Luke Messer (R-IN). Obama and Rouhani recently spoke over the phone in the first direct contact between leaders of their respective countries since 1979.
Iran's FM Insists on 'Absolute Right' to Enrich Uranium
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif insisted on Monday that his country has the "absolute right" to enrich uranium on its soil, the ISNA news agency reported.
"The mastery of civil nuclear technology, including the enrichment of uranium, on Iranian soil is the absolute right of Iran," Zarif said at a meeting in Tehran with the visiting Swiss deputy foreign minister, Yves Rossier, according to the AFP news agency.
Attacks surge in Egypt, a day after deadly clashes
A string of attacks killed nine members of Egypt's security and military forces and hit the country's main satellite communications station Monday, in an apparent retaliation by Islamic militants a day after more than 50 supporters of the ousted president were killed in clashes with police.
The attacks show a dangerous expansion of targets, including the first strike against civilian infrastructure in the heart of the capital. They also blur the lines between the wave of Islamist protests against the military ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, and an insurgency that had been previously been largely confined to the northern Sinai Peninsula.
October 1973: Panorama and Myopia
In Cairo and Damascus, the October 1973 war with Israel is celebrated by museums of similar design and purpose. At the center of both attractions is a panorama (or cyclorama): a 360-degree depiction of the key battles of the war. The concept is to immerse the visitor in a "surround" view of a battle—in Egypt's case, the crossing of the Suez Canal, in Syria's, the battle for the Golan Heights—with visual and sound effects, stirring narration, and martial music. Both sites have adjacent grounds for the display of captured and destroyed Israeli hardware, alongside examples of the Soviet-made Egyptian and Syrian armament of the day. The construction of panoramas has become a North Korean specialty, and the Egyptian and Syrian panoramas are of North Korean design and execution.
Egypt's Al-Sissi: Morsi's Ousting Prevented a Civil War
Sissi, who also serves as Egypt's Defense Minister, made the comments in an interview with the Arabic daily Al-Masry Al-Youm. The comments were translated by Al Arabiya.
"The army's move was dictated by the national interest and national security necessities and the anticipation that the country would reach a civil war within two months if the situation we were at continued," he said.
Egypt's Brotherhood Challenges Verdict That Seized Group Funds
The lawsuit, which was filed by the group's legal representative Othman El-Khateeb with the administrative court, also challenges the establishment of a panel to administer its frozen assets until an appeal has been heard on the ruling.
Egyptian Accused of Spying for Israel after Surfing on Israeli Websites


Taliban renews assault on Pakistani polio vaccination teams, killing two
Two people were killed and up to 20 more injured after Taliban militants used a bomb to target a team delivering polio vaccination drops to children in north-west Pakistan.
In the latest of a series of assaults on volunteers, nurses and police officers involved in efforts to confront the country's polio problem, the bomb was set off outside a health clinic on the outskirts of the city of Peshawar. A police officer and a member of a local anti-Taliban group were killed.

Saudis hire BDS target - for Hajj security!

Posted: 08 Oct 2013 07:00 AM PDT

One of the biggest targets of the BDS movement is a huge security conglomerate called G4S. We've discussed before how the pathetic boycotters pretended that the EU Parliament dropped G4S because of their efforts; as usual, they were lying.

Guess who Saudi Arabia hired to provide security for Hajj pilgrims?


From Al Akhbar:
This year, the mandatory Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, or hajj, will compound the Palestinians' woes. Palestinian pilgrims will be greeted by a company that assists in their repression – and even torture – under the Israeli occupation regime. Indeed, hajj this year will be brought to you by none other than G4S.

This is not the first time that the Saudi government has hired the private security firm, which has recruited a staggering 700,000 to provide hajj-related services this year, according to exclusive information obtained by Al-Akhbar. Most of the leaked reports indicate that security for the hajj season since 2010 has been entrusted to al-Majal G4S, an affiliate of the parent company G4S.
Didn't the BDSers lobby Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations to drop G4S? They know about the huge contracts given, since the G4S website shows that they operate in Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Yemen, Egypt and Morocco.

The article says that BDS tried to complain, but Saudi Arabia obviously didn't give a damn:
The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign has not been sitting idly by. In a press conference on Wednesday, October 2, the campaign sent a clear message to the Saudi government, urging it to terminate the contract with the company that happens to provide equipment and security services to protect Israeli settlements, occupation checkpoints, and police facilities. The private security contractor has also been implicated in enabling the torture of administrative detainees in Palestine, including children, according to BDS activist Zaid Shuaibi.
And Saudi Arabia isn't the only one to utterly ignore the European-based BDS movement:
Shuaibi, speaking to Al-Akhbar, said that the BDS campaign contacted the Palestinian Ministry of Economy, being the competent authority in the issue of boycotting settlements, such as the ones serviced by G4S. But according to Shuaibi, "The ministry did not bother to respond or take action to stop the abuse, even as the company violates Palestinian law by continuing to provide services to the settlements."
Poor BDSers. Not only are Arab nations completely ignoring them, but they can't even get Palestinian Arab leaders to speak to them.

(h/t WarpedMirrorPMB)

Gulf states to consider "clinical tests" to ban homosexual visa seekers

Posted: 08 Oct 2013 05:00 AM PDT

From Kuwait Times:
Gulf states plan to study a project which will identify homosexuals and transgender individuals through a 'clinical test' which will be added to the list of medical tests one has to undergo to obtain a visa. If individuals are revealed to be homosexual or transgender, they will be denied entry into the country, a local daily reported yesterday, quoting a senior official in Kuwait's Ministry of Health.

"Homosexuals and 'third-sex' individuals can be detected through clinical tests during the routine medical examination for visa", Public Health Department Director Dr Yousuf Mendakar said. 'Third-sex' is a common term used in Gulf states to refer to transsexuals or people with gender identity disorder. The senior official added that an individual who is identified as homosexual will have 'unfit' stamped on his medical report; a term often used for people who fail medical tests which will automatically disqualify their visa application.

Dr Mendakar's statements did not specify the test or the people targeted in the new project. It was also unclear whether this excluded cross-dressers or included all homosexuals in general. He also did not explain how medical examiners intend to determine a visitor's sexual orientation. "Expatriates undergo medical tests at local clinics, but the new procedure includes stricter measures to find out homosexuals and transgenders so that they are banned from entering Kuwait or any GCC state", he added.
Dr Mendakar could not be reached immediately for further clarification. The new proposal will be discussed during a 'Central Committee for Expatriate Labor Forces Program in the GCC' meeting set to take place on November 11 in Oman, said Dr Mendakar. The meeting is expected to focus on regulations' adjustments and the Kuwaiti official said that his proposal will be included in the list of amendments.
The elusive "G" chromosome!

Meanwhile, in "liberal" Lebanon, a documentary about gays was banned.
Lebanon has banned the screening of a film about homosexuality and another on short-term "pleasure marriages" practiced in some Muslim communities, in a blow to its reputation as a bastion of tolerance in a deeply conservative region.

The films, which had been due to be shown at the Beirut International Film Festival that opened last week, were blocked by a government censorship committee, festival organizers said.

Confirming the bans, an Interior Ministry spokesman cited a Lebanese news report which attributed the decision to "obscene scenes of kissing between gay men, philandering, naked men and sexual intercourse between men" in one film and "sex scenes that offend public opinion and obscene language" in the other.
Wow, it is almost as if you cannot find a tolerant, liberal state in the entire Middle East.

(h/t Ian)

World Bank (accidentally) reveals how little the settlements matter to PA economy

Posted: 08 Oct 2013 02:39 AM PDT

The World Bank just came out with another voluminous report on the PA economy. This time, instead of painting an inaccurately rosy picture to encourage Abbas to declare statehood, as it did in 2010, it is concentrating on pressuring Israel to hand over most of Area C, coincidentally (?) a major European initiative.

Reading between the lines, however, reveals an interesting fact.

Here are the bullet items in its executive summary:

  • Restrictions on economic activity in Area C of the West Bank have been particularly detrimental to the Palestinian economy.
  • Mobilizing the Area C potential would help afaltering Palestinian economy.
  • This slowdown has exposed the distorted nature of the economy and its artificial reliance on donor-financed consumption.
  • Area C is key to future Palestinian economic development.
  • This report examines the economic benefits of lifting the restrictions on movement and access as well as other administrative obstacles to Palestinian investment and economic activity in Area C.

One problem off the bat is that the World Bank ignores the obvious: for a small area like the PA, just like Israel or Singapore or Taiwan, it is necessary to move from a land-based economy towards one where physical area is not that important. So the World Bank notes disapprovingly that " The manufacturing sector, usually a key driver of export-led growth, has stagnated since 1994, its share in GDP falling from 19 percent to 10 percent by 2011." It then adds "Nor has manufacturing been replaced by high value-added service exports like Information Technology (IT) or tourism, as might have been expected." That is key - the Palestinian Arabs are better educated than their Arab neighbors and high tech would be a natural area for growth, as well as one that Israeli tech companies would love to be able to help. Checkpoints mean little as long as data can cross them. The most obvious area for growth has not been encouraged by the PA, and the World Bank - instead of pushing for that - instead politicizes the issue to blame Israel.

Indeed, Israel's manufacturing percentage of GDP (if I am reading this correctly) had dropped from over 20% to around 14% in the past 20 years. Agriculture is only 2.5% of the GDP. Like it or not, when your country is small, you don't whine about how little land you have - you make up for it in other areas.

The report makes a strong case, however, that as percentage of  its current GDP, access to Area C would be a big boon to the lackluster PA economy.

Here's the funny thing: The report specifically excludes all existing Jewish communities and their farms in its analysis!

In other words, it isn't the "settlements" that is hurting the PA economy - it is the PA's refusal to compromise. If they would have accepted the Clinton parameters in 2000, then all the benefits noted here would have been theirs for over a decade now. As long as they continue to insist on that extra 2% or 3% of land for their pride, they are immensely hurting their people.

Perhaps there are things Israel could do to help in the meanwhile without compromising security. I personally don't understand why the Israeli government is stingy with helping the PA build its 3G/4G mobile and ADSL telecom infrastructure, which I believe would help both sides.

But this report shows quite convincingly that the PA has shot itself in the foot time and time again by refusing to compromise for peace.

(h/t Ilya)
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