Elder of Ziyon Daily News

11/15 Links Pt2: Baby 'Israel' born in IDF Field Hospital, David Duke Praises Blumenthal
Short story Friday: "Kaddish for the Last Survivor"
11/15 Links Pt1: Israel - Helpless in the Homeland, The PA's Double Standards on Prisoners
Israel hosts major cyber war simulation
ICRC shows again how inconsistent its definition of "occupation" is
Most popular Egyptian paper accuses Jews of using Freemasonry to take over world
UN interpreter accidentally tells the world the truth (video)

11/15 Links Pt2: Baby 'Israel' born in IDF Field Hospital, David Duke Praises Blumenthal

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 01:00 PM PST

From Ian:

The Muslim Brotherhood thrives in Britain

The Muslim Brotherhood aren't doing so well in Egypt at the moment. Happily they are making some gains in Britain.
On Tuesday the organisation's dauphin – Tariq Ramadan, famous Islamist ideas man, grandson of the Brotherhood's founder and prominent double-speaker gave the Orwell prize's annual 'Orwell lecture'. I wonder which direction Orwell's body is spinning in?

'Muslim Brotherhood' protesters storm London university lecture on Egypt

A guest lecture at a London university was abandoned when protesters backing Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood chased the speaker from the stage.
Speaker Mohamed El-Nabawy had to be ushered off stage by security guards when around 30 demonstrators stormed a lecture theatre at Bloomsbury's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), which is part of the University of London.
They were said to have targeted the public discussion, focusing on the challenges facing Egypt, because of Mr El-Nabawy's ties to the Tamarod group which opposed ex President Mohammed Morsi.

Christians 'face extinction' amid sectarian terror, minister warns

"Christian populations are plummeting and the religion is being driven out of some of its historic heartlands. In Iraq, the Christian community has fallen from 1.2m in 1990 to 200,000 today. In Syria, the horrific bloodshed has masked the haemorrhaging of its Christian population," she says.
Terrorists are subjecting Christians in the Middle East to "collective punishment" for American foreign policy. Worshippers are now regarded as newcomers and agents of the West, despite having lived there for centuries. (h/t MtTB)

Guardian columnist blames the persecution of Mid-East Christians on Israel's creation

Of course, the one country in the region where the Christian population is growing in total numbers is Israel.
Yet, the Guardian blogger not only ignores this statistical evidence, but views the disturbing news broadcast daily of Coptic churches being burned, Christians arrested for 'blasphemy', and clergy kidnapped and killed in Muslim dominated countries in the region, and somehow sees the root cause in Israel's very creation.

Senior US official blames settlements for talks impasse

Echoing Palestinian complaints, National Security Adviser and former US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice's remarks to a Washington think tank came a day after lead Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat resigned for what he said was a lack of Israeli integrity, as ostensibly demonstrated by continued building activity in the West Bank.
"We have seen increased tensions on the ground. Some of this is a result of recent settlement announcements. So let me reiterate: The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity," Rice told the Middle East Institute, echoing similar comments made by US Secretary of State John Kerry last week.

John McCain: Kerry a 'Human Wrecking Ball' in Middle East

Republican Senator John McCain on Thursday sharply criticized the Obama administration's policy in the Middle East.
"We lost influence, we lost power. We are seen as helpless," McCain said in an interview with the Arabic language Al-Hurra TV. He specifically criticized US Secretary of State John Kerry, saying he was disappointed with the way Kerry has dealt with countries like Syria, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the Israeli-Arab conflict.

BBC's Knell skirts over Israeli security concerns in Jordan Rift Valley

Knell does not bother to elaborate in terms of history – which shows that the border running along the Jordan Rift Valley has been breached by foreign armies belonging both to states neighbouring Israel and from further afield on past occasions. Neither does she expand on the subject of the uncertain future of the already turbulent Middle East and the far-reaching implications for Israeli security.
Clearly, BBC audiences have learned little from this feature which will contribute to their understanding of the strategic importance of the Jordan Rift Valley or enhance their ability to "participate in the global debate on significant international issues".

Crooner Sir Tom Jones Condemns Boycotts of Israel by Musicians After Playing Tel Aviv

British crooner Sir Tom Jones condemned boycotts of Israel by musicians after playing two sold out shows in Tel Aviv last month, the UK Jewish News reported.
"I was in Israel two weeks ago where a lot of singers won't go (because of the boycott campaign). I don't agree with that. I think entertainers should entertain. They should go wherever, there shouldn't be any restrictions. That's why I went there. I did two shows in Tel Aviv and it was fantastic," he said.

Brandeis Plans 'Detailed Discussions' With Palestinian Partner School After Nazi-Style Rally

Two Brandeis University faculty members will have "detailed discussions" with administrators at Al Quds University, a Palestinian school Brandeis partners with, regarding "a number of troubling allegations" in the aftermath of a Nazi-style military rally at Al Quds, Brandeis Senior Vice President for Communications Ellen de Graffenreid told JNS.org on Thursday.

ADL 'Deeply Troubled' by Brooklyn College Departments' Sponsorship of Events Featuring 'Unabashed Haters of Israel'

The Anti-Defamation League says it is "deeply troubled" by the fact that two events at Brooklyn College this week featuring "unabashed haters of Israel" are co-sponsored by the institution's political science and sociology departments.
"While we are strongly committed to the principles of academic freedom and free speech, we believe that official college sponsorship of a program featuring speakers who use vitriolic rhetoric to condemn Israel and who do not recognize the Jewish state's right to exist is beyond the pale," said Evan R. Bernstein, the ADL's New York Regional Director.

Praise for Max Blumenthal's 'I hate Israel handbook' from David Duke and the usual suspects

Naturally, Blumenthal's "I Hate Israel Handbook" was also warmly praised by his trusted comrades from Mondoweiss and The Electronic Intifada. And unsurprisingly, Blumenthal's work is also much appreciated by Gilad Atzmon and David Duke.
Here's a passage of praise from Duke's site:
"Blumenthal's writings and videos are extremely valuable in the study of Jewish extremism, as he is not shy about using his Jewish name and looks to gain access to Jewish extremists in order to document the ugliest side of Zionism…as it pertains to Israel."

German Cartoon Demonizes Israel — On Kristallnacht Anniversary

The Badische cartoon shows traditional anti-Semitic depictions of Jews as "poisoners" or "saboteurs" or a "danger for world peace."
Feuerherdt says the cartoon ignores Iran's threat to obliterate Israel through its nuclear weapons program. He added it is "disgusting" that the Badische paper published the illustration on Kristallnacht, the 1938 pogrom launched by Germans and Nazis to kill Jews and destroy their businesses.

First baby born in IDF field hospital in Philippines named 'Israel'

"It's a boy!" wrote IDF Spokesman Peter Lerner on Friday, "amazing news coming out of the IDF field hospital. First baby delivered. The thankful mum named him Israel."
The IDF humanitarian mission completed the set-up of the hospital earlier Friday, after departing for the storm-ravaged city of Daanbantayan, in the northern province of Cebu, late Wednesday with about 100 tons of supplies. Casualties were already being brought in for treatment, according to reports. (h/t Yoel)

First baby was born in the field hospital established by the IDF the Philippines

IDF's Rescue Mission to the Philippines: First Day Recap

109-year-old survivor may be headed to the Oscars

A film about the life of the world's oldest Holocaust survivor has reached the shortlist of eight films competing for an Oscar in the documentary short subject category, at the 86th Academy Awards next March. The final nominations will be announced in January.
"The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life," directed by Oscar winner Malcolm Clarke, recently received its UK premiere as part of the UK Jewish Film Festival. It tells the story of 109-year-old Alice Herz-Sommer, a Prague-born concert pianist who was in Theresienstadt. Number 6 refers to the north London apartment where she lives.

IDF Arabic flack roasted in Egypt

Avichay Adraee, the IDF's Arabic-language spokesman, gets plenty of attention in the Arab world, boasting over 100,000 Facebook followers.
But he was surprised, if not amused, when an Egyptian satirist mocked him recently on a popular web-based show.

'Israel and South Korea could be economic powerhouse'

That latter country was in the spotlight this week, as a delegation led by the Korean ambassador to Israel, Kim Il-soo, participated in the first-ever Korea-Israel Creative Economy Forum. Israeli creativity, Kim told The Times of Israel, was much admired in his country, "and has special strengths and capabilities that, when joined together with the strengths of the Korean economy, can create an economic powerhouse."

'Lazy eye' glasses help kids overcome amblyopia

An Israeli doctor's revolutionary invention for treating a childhood eye condition won a prize for industry innovation at the fourth annual International 3D Society Awards at Paramount Pictures Studios in Hollywood.
The award will undoubtedly raise worldwide interest in Amblyz Glasses, based on a patent owned by Dr. Omry Ben-Ezra, a family physician who was determined to find a more kid-friendly treatment for amblyopia – commonly known as "lazy eye," a neural disorder affecting three to five percent of all children.

Israeli researchers develop revolutionary alternative fuel process

Israeli university researchers say they have discovered a revolutionary method for producing alternative liquid fuel from two of the most common substances on earth, hydrogen and carbon dioxide.
The new process will become the dominant technology by which liquid fuel is produced, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev's Prof. Moti Herskowitz, the Israel Cohen Chair in Chemical Engineering and VP and dean of R&D, said in a statement, as such techniques as "carbon dioxide capture from various sources including air and water splitting, become technologically and economically feasible."

Israel Daily Picture: The Porat Yosef Yeshiva in Jerusalem's Old City,the Leading Sephardic Seminary Was Destroyed and Rebuilt

The site for the seminary was purchased 100 years ago; the cornerstone was laid in 1914, and the building was inaugurated in 1923. The building contained study halls, a synagogue, classrooms and apartments.
It was all destroyed by the Jordanian army in 1948, along with all of the synagogues and homes in Jewish Quarter. The photos of the war in the Old City and the destruction of the Jewish Quarter were taken by Life Magazine's John Phillips.

Short story Friday: "Kaddish for the Last Survivor"

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 11:00 AM PST

Two summers ago, for several Fridays I would post a short story - often science fiction - with a Jewish theme. (1, 2 and 3)

A story in the next linkdump reminded me of this science fiction story by Michael A Burstein set in the not too distant future. It was nominated both for the Hugo and Nebula awards.

KADDISH FOR THE LAST SURVIVOR by Michael A. Burstein (2000)

"The deniers' window of opportunity will be enhanced in years to come. The public, particularly the uneducated public, will be increasingly susceptible to Holocaust denial as survivors die....Future generations will not hear the story from people who can say 'this is what happened to me. This is my story.' For them it will be part of the distant past and, consequently, more susceptible to revision and denial."

-- Deborah Lipstadt, Denying the Holocaust (1994)

#

Sarah Jacobson's hands shook as she parked her clunky Volkswagen across the street from the old suburban house in which she had grown up. She sat there, breathing in the gas fumes from the idling engine, as she watched the reporters swarm all over the front lawn.

Her boyfriend, Tom Holloway, sat next to her in the passenger seat. He stared at her for a moment, then asked, "Ready?"

Sarah nodded. As she turned off the car's engine, Tom jumped out of the front seat, dashed around the front of the car, and opened the driver's side door for her. For once, she was grateful for the old-fashioned Southern charm. To think, when she'd first met him, she'd resented it.

Well, she didn't resent it now. Tom was positioning himself to fend off the horde of reporters, and she was grateful for that too. Fortunately, no one had noticed, or else they had not yet connected Sarah to the biggest news story of the week. Tom gave Sarah his hand, and she allowed him to help her out.

She stretched as she got out of the car, feeling the warmth of the spring sunlight on her back. How strange that she could enjoy it, on this morning of all mornings. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, listening to a bird singing in the distance.

Tom's voice intruded upon her brief peace. "Shall we?"

She gave him a small smile. "I guess so."

"OK." Tom looked around, concentrating his gaze at the sea of reporters. "Lot of excitement for a small town on Long Island," he said. Sarah noticed that he was making no effort to suppress his Southern accent; he knew how endearing she found it. "Hard to believe your grandfather's attracting all this attention."

"Yeah," Sarah replied. "I know." She cocked an ear toward the reporters. "Listen."

One radio reporter, close enough to be heard, was speaking into her thumbnail recorder, taping commentary for her story. "This is Paula Dietrich, reporting from Lawrence, Long Island, where Joshua Cohen is dying. Born in Warsaw in the 1920s, Cohen--"

Tom whistled. "He's become a celebrity. Finally got his fifteen minutes of fame."

Sarah shrugged. They'd both studied Warhol. After all, they had both graduated from Harvard with honors. "As far as I'm concerned, he's just my grandfather."

"Yeah, I know," Tom said softly. "Sorry. You sure you're ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be, I guess. If I can survive this, I can survive anything." Sarah grabbed Tom's hand. They walked off the sidewalk onto the path leading up to the front door. She braced herself for the barrage.

One of the reporters glanced in their direction, and recognized Sarah. "It's the granddaughter!" he yelled, and began running towards them. In seconds, all of the shouting, sweating journalists had descended upon Sarah and Tom. The way they jostled at each other, trying to get better positions for recording their images, reminded Sarah of a plague of locusts come to feed.

"We'd like to ask you--"

"May I ask you--"

"I have a question--"

"How do you feel?"

"Did you ever think--"

Tom shouted above the Babel of voices. "Please, everyone! Sarah just wants to get inside."

Obviously that was not good enough for the reporters. Instead, they used Tom's interruption to create some semblance of order to their questioning. One reporter took the lead, and the others fell silent.

"Ms. Jacobson, Trevor Hunt, USNA Online. Could you tell us what you're going through at the moment?"

Sarah glanced at Tom and shrugged. It would be easier to answer a few of their questions first, she decided, and then go inside. She looked directly into Hunt's right eye, which glowed red with the lens of an implanted camera. "What anyone would go through when her grandfather is dying, I guess."

"But, Ms. Jacobson!" interjected the radio correspondent they had been listening to earlier. "The circumstances of your grandfather's position--"

Sarah interrupted her. "Listen. I know what my grandfather is to the world, but to me, he's just my grandfather. Now let me go say goodbye to him in peace. I promise I'll talk to you--all of you--later."

Apparently chastened, the reporters parted in front of Sarah and Tom, clearing the path to the front door. As they walked up the path, a background murmuring began, like cats growling at each other over their food. The reporters chatted with their colleagues or recorded views for their broadcasts. Tom whispered to Sarah, "I'm really surprised. They're being more courteous than I would have guessed."

No sooner had Tom said that, when a small man stepped right in front of them, blocking their way. He brushed back his sandy blond hair, and asked, "Ms. Jacobson, why does your family continue to perpetrate this hoax?"

The growling noises of conversation cut off, leaving nothing but the sounds of the cameras and recorders.

At first Sarah thought he was a private citizen, and not a member of the media, as he carried no recording devices and his eyes appeared normal. But a second glance exposed something far more sinister. This man wore a memory recorder implant behind his right ear. His audience, whoever they were, would be able to directly interface with his memories of confronting Sarah, over and over again.

As calmly as she could, Sarah said, "Excuse me?"

The man smiled. "I asked, given the fact that your grandfather, who lived a long and healthy life, is now on his deathbed, why does your family feel the need to perpetuate the hoax of the Holocaust?"

Tom stepped forward, shouting, "Now, listen here, you--"

Sarah gently reached out and grabbed Tom's shoulder. "Tom, stop." She turned to the man. "Excuse me, but I didn't catch your name."

"Sorry. Maxwell Schwab, from the Institute for Historical Revision. I'm doing an article for our academic journal." He waved his hand at the other reporters. "We'd like to know why your family has gone to the trouble of inviting the mass media here, pretending to the world that the Holocaust actually happened and that your grandfather was a victim of this fictional event."

Tom pulled at her arm. "Come on, Sarah, we don't need to listen to this shi--this crap."

Sarah resisted. "No, wait." She pivoted her body to face the reporter. "Mr. Schwab?"

"Yes?"

Sarah slapped him on the face, hard, glad she'd studied self-defense. He staggered back, and fell onto his backside. Sarah hoped it was painful enough to keep people from playing this memory.

Schwab sat there, unmoving, just staring at Sarah. No one bothered to pick him up.

She turned to Tom. "Now, let's go inside."

No one else stopped them.

#

The first thing that hit Sarah as she entered the house was the smell. The odor of stewing meat and potatoes from the kitchen mixed with the old, musty smell that the house always seemed to have whenever Sarah had returned from college. The living room seemed dark, and it took her a moment to realize that all the shades were drawn, probably to keep the reporters from looking in.

She called out to her parents. "Hello? Dad? Mother?"

Her father called back, "In the kitchen, honey, be right out."

Sarah turned to Tom. "Are you going to be OK?"

Tom smiled, shrugged, and took Sarah's hand briefly. "Yeah, I've dealt with her before. It's not too bad."

"She's not your mother, though."

The door to the kitchen swung open. Sarah's parents, Paul and Anna Jacobson, entered the living room. Her father looked calm, cool, and collected, the way that he always looked. He wore a jacket and tie, in stark contrast to the polo shirts and jeans which Tom and she were wearing. Sarah couldn't remember a time when her father wasn't dressed so impeccably. Her mother, on the other hand, wore a sweatshirt and sweatpants, as if dressing well was currently her last priority. She appeared frazzled, with her hair all askew.

Tom greeted them with a simple hello. Sarah's father smiled at Tom, but her mother barely glanced in Tom's direction.

There was a moment of silence, which her father broke. "Come, Tom, I need your help in the kitchen. You can tell me how your family's doing back in Durham. And how about those Mets?"

The two men went through the slow swinging door, which creaked loudly until it finally shut, muffling their awkward conversation about baseball. Sarah and her mother watched the door for a few seconds after it had closed, and then Sarah turned to look at her mother. "I guess," Sarah said, "I ought to go upstairs and see Grampa."

Her mother sniffed. "Sure, go ahead. Do you want to bring your goyische boyfriend upstairs too?"

Damn, Sarah thought, she wasn't going to be reasonable. Surprise, surprise. "Mother, please--"

"And now you're living with him."

Shocked, Sarah took a deep breath. "I never told you that! How did you find out?"

Her mother grinned. "Just now, Sarah. You may be my smart Harvard daughter, but you're not smarter than me."

Sarah felt furious, but more with herself than with her mother. Anna Jacobson had done it again, pretending to know something so as to trick the information out of Sarah. Damn! How could she have been so stupid? Well, as long as Mother had figured it out, Sarah might as well get everything out in the open.

"I was going to tell you anyway, Mother. Today, in fact. Tom and I are living together We have been for a while now."

Her mother glared at her and Sarah said, "I don't care how you feel about it. And anyway, things are different now."

"Such defiance," her mother said, making clucking sounds with her tongue. "And things being different isn't an excuse."

"You're right, Mother," Sarah said as sarcastically as she could. "An economic depression is no excuse for being unable to afford my own apartment."

"Now Sarah--"

"'Now Sarah,' what?" Sarah slammed the doorframe with her palm. "It's not like you have the money to help out; you still live here, in the oldest house in the neighborhood. You can't even afford automatic doors. Well, I can't afford to live by myself. No one right out of school can, not with our loans. And as it is--" She paused for a moment, then took the plunge. "As it is, Tom and I will probably be getting married soon anyway."

There. The big secret was out. Sarah studied her mother's face carefully; it seemed completely shut down. Her mother just stared at her, stonily, not reacting. Finally, Sarah couldn't take the silence any longer. "Well?" she asked. "Aren't you going to say something?"

Her mother sighed. "Sarah, it isn't Tom. He's a nice boy, and I do like him. But I�-and your father�-would prefer that you marry someone Jewish."

"Why?"

"Why? What do you mean, why?"

"Exactly what I said, Mother." She spoke crisply, trying to imitate the Cambridge accent of some of her professors. "Why?"

Her mother looked over Sarah's shoulder. Was it possible she had never really considered this question before? After a few seconds, Sarah's impatience got the better of her again. "Is it because of Grampa? Because he's the last one?"

Her mother immediately replied, "No! It's because you're Jewish. And it surprises me you'd even think of marrying someone who isn't."

Sarah shook her head and sighed. "You know, Mother, you shouldn't be so surprised. You never raised me as Jewish."

Her mother's eyes, filled with shame and fear, locked onto Sarah's. "That's not true," she said softly.

Sarah nodded and went back to being sarcastic. "Yeah, Mother. Matzoh ball soup on Passover, and Chinese food and a movie on Christmas. Should have been enough for me, right? That didn't make me Jewish; it just made me a different type of American. And that's how you and Dad raised me, as an American."

Her mother stood still for a moment, then sank onto one of the cushioned chairs. It sighed, sending dust into the air. "I can't believe it," she said, shaking her head. "I'm doing what I said I never would."

Confused, Sarah asked, "What are you talking about?"

Her mother seemed to go through an internal struggle, and when she spoke next, her words were chosen with care. "Sarah, I guess you were right, in a way. It is because of Grampa that I want you to marry someone Jewish, but it's also because of Grampa that I never really made that clear. Because--because I wanted to protect you."

"Protect me?" Sarah felt surprised; the only things her mother had ever tried to protect her from were strangers and bad grades.

"Yes, Sarah, protect you. I mean, just look outside at that mob of reporters. You don't know what it's like growing up as the only child of a survivor. I had to grow up listening to all these stories over and over, all this pressure on me from your grandfather. Because of the Holocaust. All that pressure you're feeling from me--I felt it from him. He's dying now, and I still feel it." Her voice trembled, but she clamped her mouth shut.

"Because of the Holocaust? Mother, Grampa was never very religious; you told me that yourself. And I don't see how the Holocaust is a reason to marry someone Jewish."

"Why not?" she asked softly.

Sarah considered the question. "I know something of our religion," she said without conviction. Somehow, that was the one thing she had never gotten around to studying while at Harvard. "The Holocaust is not exactly a--a defining event in Judaism."

Her mother shook her head. "Oh, yes it is. After all, Sarah, by intermarrying, aren't you denying what it is about you that made the Nazis try to wipe us out? Some would say that you're letting Hitler win. After all these years."

Sarah didn't know what to say to that; it made her angry and upset, and choked her up. But her mother continued. "Sarah, these were all the things I had to grow up with from your grandfather. I don't know what it was like firsthand to be in the camps, thank God, and God forbid that anyone ever will again. But to your grandfather, his experience there was always more real than the rest of his life. More real than the people in his life."

Her mother paused for a moment, than said, "It was even more real to him than me."

"Oh," Sarah finally managed to say.

"Your grandfather felt that every minute of life had to be devoted to reminding the world. Except instead of bothering the world, he bothered your grandmother and me. When you were born, I promised myself that I wouldn't let him warp your life the way he warped mine."

"But your life isn't--" Sarah cut herself off.

Her mother chuckled bitterly. "It isn't warped? Sarah, compare your life to mine; you've always had more choices than I did. In my day, there was still so much women couldn't do, or wouldn't be allowed to do. Things were good for a while, but then when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, it was like the clock turned backwards for all women. And for a Jewish woman, the only daughter of a survivor--" She stopped.

"Yes, Mother?"

"Let's just say that your father was not the first man I wanted to marry. But your grandfather, well..." She trailed off.

There was nothing Sarah could think of in reply, and her mother gave her a sad smile. "Now maybe, you understand," she whispered.

"And maybe you do too," Sarah whispered back, a question and a statement at the same time.

Mother and daughter regarded each other for a moment, and then Sarah spoke. "I'm going upstairs to see Grampa, Mother. It's my last chance."

Her mother sighed. "Go. I've already made my peace with him. We'll talk more later, after--when there isn't so little time."

#

Grampa looked so weak lying in the hospital bed that U.S. Hospice had provided. Where was the strong man of Sarah's childhood, the Grampa who had carried her on his shoulders at the playground, who had comforted her on her first frightening day of school, who had attended her high school graduation just five years ago? This old frail shell of a man, lying in bed with blankets around his thin body and snoring weakly--Sarah couldn't reconcile him with her memories of her grandfather.

Then, tattooed upon his left arm, she saw the number: 110290. It had always been there. She remembered that first time she had asked Grampa about it. She'd been six years old. He had taken her to the playground near the house, on a hot summer day. Grampa took off the raincoat he always wore, sat on a bench with other old people, and let Sarah run off and play while he "snoozed and schmoozed," as he liked to call it. She never understood how he could sleep with all the noise from all the children playing, but Grampa seemed able to sleep anywhere. It might have scared her, but he always woke up when she called him.

When she returned, she was shocked to see that Grampa had rolled up his sleeves because of the heat. Grampa never rolled up his sleeves.

"Grampa," Sarah had asked, "what's that?" Her little fingers reached out to touch the number.

He woke instantly. "What is what?"

"That number. What is it?"

Grampa saw what she was looking at and quickly rolled down his sleeve. "Better you shouldn't ask," he said, and glared at her. Then his face softened. "Saraleh, how old are you again?"

She laughed. "Six, silly!"

"Six." He looked into the distance for a moment. "I had a sister who was six, once. She never got to be seven."

Grampa had had a sister? Sarah had never heard of this before. "What was her name?"

"Sarah. You were named for her." He looked at his left arm, and rolled the sleeve back up, displaying the tattoo. "I was sixteen; that was when I got the number. Sarah, forget what I said before. It is better that you ask. You must ask. And remember."

He had told her of the horrors of the camp. Of how his own grandfather had disappeared one night. Of how he, his parents, and his little sister were taken away in cattle cars from their home to a place called Auschwitz, where they were separated, and how he never saw them again. Of how he had very little to eat, all of it bad. Of how he had to endure the beatings of the guards. Of how he got sick with typhus and thought that he would be sent to the gas chambers and turned into smoke and ash. Of how they marched him to Buchenwald, and how he almost collapsed and died along the way. Of how he was barely able to move when the Americans came to liberate them, and how two righteous Gentiles whose names had sounded Jewish, Sergeant Rosenthal and Corporal Glaub, had attended to him and nursed him back to health.

His stories had seemed so incongruous in the bright, sunny playground filled with the laughter of little children, and at first Sarah thought he was making them up. But as the stories continued and got more horrible, Sarah became mesmerized. When he finished, Grampa had tears in his eyes. She hugged him, and he trembled just like Sarah did when she woke up from a nightmare.

That night, so many years ago, the rain had pounded on Sarah's bedroom window like gunshots. It was a hot, humid night, and as Sarah drifted off to sleep she thought of all her grandfather had told her. She dreamed of being stuffed into a gas chamber, the stink and sweat of human flesh pressing on her from all sides, Nazi stormtroopers shooting people outside, human flesh burning, going up in sweet-smelling smoke--

And she awoke, screaming and crying. Her mother had come in and held her for a long time. When she found out about Sarah's dreams, she promised Sarah that she would never have such dreams again. From that day on, Grampa never took Sarah to the playground alone. And the nightmares had faded away and disappeared, except for the memory of the number on Grampa's arm: 110290.

Sarah shook her head, clearing away the memories of that long ago night, and looked at the bed. The frail old man wrapped in blankets had that same number, 110290, tattooed on his arm. There was no question in Sarah's mind now, that this man was her grandfather, lying in his bed.

And dying.

I shouldn't disturb him, Sarah thought, and had turned around to leave the room when she heard his voice. "Who's there?" Even when he was dying, he woke to the sound of her.

She turned back; her grandfather's eyes were open. "It's Sarah, Grampa."

He smiled. "Saraleh, it's good to see you." He struggled to sit up in bed, and coughed. "Here, come sit next to me, on the bed. We'll have one last chance to snooze and schmooze before I go."

"Grampa! Don't talk like that." She moved his blankets over and sat down.

"Sarah, Sarah. Years ago, it would have been tempting the evil eye to say such things, but now...now I am dying. And I am looking forward to peace. I have not had a peaceful life, mameleh."

"I know."

"So nu. Tell me, how are things? What are you doing with yourself?"

Sarah shifted around. "Well, I'm living in New York City now, you know. I'm working for a web publisher. Editing."

"And are you enjoying it?"

"I suppose, although what I'd really like to do is write."

"Eh. And are you seeing anyone? I want great-grandchildren, you know."

He laughed, and Sarah joined in. "You remember Tom, don't you? We're living--I mean, he's now at NYU, in law school."

Grampa fixed Sarah with a long gaze. "So, you're living together?"

Sarah blushed. "Yes. Um, I tried to keep it a secret. I'm sorry."

"What is there to be sorry about?"

"Well, it's just..." Sarah trailed off.

"It's OK, Saraleh. I understand your generation. It is not that much different from mine."

"But you don't approve of Tom, do you?"

Grampa sighed. "Tom's a good boy, a fine young man. I would have preferred if you had met someone Jewish, but I can't fault you for your choice. He will make a good husband."

Sarah thought for a moment. "Grampa, can I ask you something?"

"Anything, mameleh. But you'd better hurry." They both smiled at that. Sarah blinked hard, to stop the tears.

"Why is it so important to you that I marry someone Jewish? It's not like you were ever religious or observant."

Grampa closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "You ask such a difficult question, like the simple child's question about the Passover seder. It's true, I never was observant, not before the camp, or after. But, Sarah, because of where I was--Auschwitz-- your children have to remember, they have to know what they are and understand where they came from. I need them to be Jewish, and not just because you are. They have to know that they are Jewish."

"But why?"

He sighed. "Because if they do not realize who they are, they will be the first to go to the gas chambers the next time there is a Holocaust."

Sarah was shocked. "Grampa, you can't seriously believe that it could happen again. The Holocaust is a distant memory from the last century. Even if it did happen--"

"If it happens...when it happens, God forbid, again, the first Jews to die will be the ones who don't realize they are Jewish. The German Jews saw what Hitler was doing. They were Germans, they said, not Jews. What Hitler is doing doesn't apply to us. They never believed it would...until it was too late."

"But it couldn't happen again. Could it?"

Grampa was silent for a moment. "Sarah, your generation grew up in a world that felt much safer than mine. We made it that way. Maybe it really wasn't so safe, maybe we weren't so bright, but your parents and I certainly tried to protect you from the world outside. Maybe we succeeded too well.

"It is because you feel so safe and because the Holocaust is so distant, that your generation is in danger. People are forgetting. The Holocaust Museum in Washington lost its funding and is gone now, after only thirty years, because no one thought it was important anymore. Auschwitz--Auschwitz is now a side attraction for people going to the VR mall across the way." Straining, he bent his head over and spit on the floor. "There are even people who claim the Holocaust never happened in the first place, people who are being taken far too seriously."

"I know what you mean. Just outside--" Sarah bit her lip.

But it was too late. "What? What happened outside?"

Sarah shrugged. "A reporter. He--he accused us of making it all up."

Grampa frowned, his voice bitter. "Always," he said. "Always the big lie. Well, they wouldn't let me live in peace. Why should I expect then to let me die in peace?"

"It was only one, Grampa," Sarah said, dismissively. "The other reporters are--I mean, they know it's for real."

"Even one person denying the truth is one person too many." He sighed. "The deniers are everywhere, Sarah. They started when I was just out of the camps, telling me that the horrible things I had seen with my own eyes never existed. Telling me I was crazy. But there were always enough of us around, to educate, to lecture, to write, to bear witness for the world. But now--"

He coughed, loud, long, and hard. Sarah stood up. "Grampa, you must rest. You're letting yourself get all worked up. I'll go get you some water."

He shook his head and waved for her to sit back down again. "Please, Sarah, wait. I don't have much time, and this is far too important."

She sat down again. "Yes, Grampa, what is it?"

"Sarah, you must promise me. After I am gone, there will be no one to bear witness. I am the last of the survivors. You must bear witness for me--for all of us, the six million who died and those who survived to tell the world." He took her left hand in a grip that was surprisingly strong.

Now the tears welled up in her eyes, past her strength to hold them back. She began to weep. "Yes, Grampa, I will."

Her tears blurred her sight, and Sarah wiped them away. As her vision cleared, Sarah noticed Grampa staring directly into her eyes.

"Sarah, listen carefully. I want you to open that drawer over there." With his right hand, Grampa pointed to the top drawer of the bureau. Sarah let go of his left hand, dutifully walked over to the bureau, and pulled the drawer open. It contained only one item, a shiny small metal box with the logo MEMVOX printed across the side. She pulled it out and turned it around, studying it.

"My God, Grampa," she said. "Is this what I think it is?"

He nodded. "A memory recorder. The chip is inside."

Sarah hesitated before asking her next question. She feared she already knew the answer. "Grampa...what's on it?"

He coughed. "Me. When I am gone, I want you to play it."

Sarah now understood what Grampa had meant about her bearing witness. She shook her head. "I can't do this, Grampa."

"You will do the right thing, I am sure of it. Sarah, you must. You're young, you're strong, you can handle it. When you play that chip, you will be the last survivor." He coughed. "Zachor. Remember. Bear witness, from generation to generation." He turned away from her, and began to recite the Jewish affirmation in the existence of God, "Sh'ma Yisroel..." His voice trailed off. His breath faded. Then it ceased entirely.

Sarah wiped the tears from her eyes. She stood up, then covered her grandfather's face with the blanket. She finished reciting the Sh'ma for her grandfather in English; she hadn't realized that she remembered: Hear, O Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord is One. She turned off the light and left, closing the door silently behind her.

#

That night, Sarah sat alone in the bedroom of the two-room Manhattan apartment she shared with Tom. She had asked Tom for some privacy, and he had readily agreed; so he was in their living room, watching TV or logged onto the Internet, Sarah wasn't sure. Tom had assumed that the stress of the quick late afternoon funeral and burial was what had prompted Sarah to ask for some time to herself, and she had chosen not to correct him. She was glad that Jewish tradition held that a funeral and burial should take place as soon as possible after death; she had a lot to think about, and didn't want to have to worry about seeing her mother again so soon after Grampa's death.

On the small night table in front of her sat the memory recorder and the chip. She picked up the chip and turned it over and over in her hands. Grampa had labeled it in black ink with his name and date of birth. Sarah had written in today's date at the bottom of the label, in blue ink, but that was all she had done so far. Tom had given her the privacy she requested over half an hour ago, and Sarah still wasn't sure what to do.

A wastebasket sat next to their second-hand full-size bed. Sarah could just drop the chip into it, and never think of it again. Or she could take it to a recycling center, and get some small amount of money for it. As for the memory recorder, although used, it was valuable, and could easily pay the rent for the next few months.

But that would almost be like desecrating her grandfather's grave. Grampa had given her the recorder and the chip for a reason. He wanted her to play it, to share those experiences with her. She thought about those experiences, the stories he had told her about the Holocaust when she was six years old; and she realized that she would never want to live through it herself, even vicariously through someone else's memories. She held the chip above the wastebasket, ready to let it fall--

--And then she remembered the reporter from this morning.

She had to fulfill her promise; her grandfather had depended on it. Quickly, so she would not be tempted into changing her mind again, she inserted the chip into the recorder, attached the wires to her head, and hit PLAY.

An hour later, when the chip had finished playing, she slowly removed the wires. She shuddered and began to cry, but softly, so as not to alert Tom. She removed the chip from the recorder and stored it safely away. The memories from her grandfather's Holocaust experiences precipitated in her a decision, a choice; she just hoped that Tom would understand. She knew that she would have to find someone knowledgeable about computers and recorders, someone sympathetic to her position who could hack the Internet and force Grampa's memory records to be played by anyone plugging in, at least for a short while. Sarah would come forward and take responsibility, once she was assured that no one would ever take the revisionists seriously again. But...if she went forward with this plan, to bear witness for her grandfather, there was one other step she needed to take first.

#

Sarah walked into the tiny store, a remnant of the old Times Square, struggling against the gentrification of the past thirty years. Most places of this sort had moved to the outer boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn, but this one was still here. The sign above the glass bore the one word ADULT, in large black letters, and hanging in the window Sarah could see signs promising things like fake ID chips and real tobacco cigarettes.

She strode in purposefully, ignored the grime of the floor and shelves, and walked through to the room in the back, where the guy she was looking for worked. The room was small, empty at the moment except for the artist, who was reading a newstape as she entered. His appearance repulsed her, as he had rings through his nose, ears, and eyebrows, and he also sported tattoos on his arms and face. She would never see a person like this socially, but she was here for something else. The guy looked up at her inquisitively as she approached.

"Hello," she said. "I'd--I'd like to get a tattoo. Can you tattoo on a number?"

"Sure," he said, putting down the newstape. "I can do anything."

"Good." Sarah sat on the long chair meant for his clients and rolled up the sleeve of her left arm. "I want you to tattoo the number 110290 right here."

The man looked askance at her. "Like a Holocaust victim?"

Sarah nodded, pleased that the guy recognized what she wanted. She would still go through with her plan, but for the first time since her grandfather died, she thought that perhaps there was still hope for the world to remember its history after all. "Yes," she said. "Exactly like that."

11/15 Links Pt1: Israel - Helpless in the Homeland, The PA's Double Standards on Prisoners

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 09:00 AM PST

From Ian:

Helpless in the Homeland: Israel Has Effectively Surrendered

An IDF soldier is murdered by his Arab coworker, and his body is dumped in a village well. Another soldier is shot dead by a sniper in Hebron. A young girl is shot in her backyard in Judea and Samaria. A husband is murdered by a pair of Arab assailants, and the man turns out to be a family friend of Netanyahu himself. Yet another soldier is stabbed to death while sleeping on a bus. Hundreds of bloodstained Arab terrorists are released as a goodwill gesture to stimulate "peace" talks.
These are the recent headlines from Israel, and they all point to the same problem: Israel is being dismantled piecemeal by its enemies, who recognize that Israel has lost the will to defend itself on a day-to-day basis. Lives are being brutally snuffed out on a weekly schedule, with little to nothing being done about it.

Israel files UN complaint over Palestinian Authority incitement

"Terrorists do not start off by stabbing soldiers on buses or attacking people in their homes," he said, referring to the murders of Atias and Ofer. "This is the result of education that teaches people to hate. Prejudice and intolerance begin in kindergarten and school and continue on television and in the mosques. The most recent murder [Atias'] is further proof of the destructive results of the PA's goring incitement."
Prosor urged the Security Council to condemn the PA, saying these attacks had taken place while Israel and the Palestinians were trying to negotiate a peace deal.

Jihadist murder of soldier: spot the difference

There was one important non-Israeli reaction to the story. The Palestinian Press celebrated the murder and the Hamas spokesman Fawzy Barhoom announced on his Facebook page "Congratulations to the Palestinian West Bank hero who killed an Israeli soldier in Afula this morning". Can you imagine what the reaction would have been in the UK - and the rest of the world - if the Muslim Council of Britain had congratulated Lee Rigby's murderer for his heroism?

Teen Terrorist: I Intended to Stab a Soldier

The terrorist, according to the report, said that he was fully aware of his actions. "Yes, I know I killed the soldier. I boarded the bus with the intention of stabbing someone. I saw that everyone had gone off the bus while he stayed on, so I chose him. I stabbed him twice and even a third time," he declared.

Israel Focuses on Palestinian Incitement After Murder of IDF Soldier

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya'alon said Israel "will respond aggressively toward organizations that aim to launch institutionalized terrorist attacks against us."
"We must remember that the terror of individuals unaffiliated with an organization mostly derives from the hard incitement of the Palestinian Authority, which even now, as we sit alongside their representatives at the negotiating table, continues to educate the young generation to look up to terrorist murderers of Jews, preaching hatred, and unwilling to recognize our right to exist within any boundaries," Ya'alon said.

Suspects admit to killing IDF colonel 'as a gift to the Palestinian people'

Two weeks before the attack, the murder suspects arrived at Ofer's home in the vacation resort of Barush to surveillance the area ahead of a violent robbery they were planning, according to their testimony.
"After learning that a senior army officer lived there, who might be armed, they decided to carry out a murder 'as a gift to the Palestinian people and to Hamas prisoners for the festival of sacrifice [Id al- Adha],'" the suspects said during questioning, according to the Shin Bet.

Col. Ofer's Widow: 'These Low-Lives Only Understand Force'

Monique Ofer, whose husband, Col. (res.) Sraya ("Ya-Ya") Ofer was brutally murdered by Muslim Arab terrorists in October, was not the least bit surprised by the news that the attackers were motivated by religion and nationalism.
"Of course it was nationalistically motivated," she told reporters from the hospital bed where she has been recovering from injuries she sustained while fleeing the terrorists. "Of course these people came to murder Jews. Of course their intention was to kill a man with a very respectable past, which for them is a matter of great pride. 'Look, we killed a former IDF colonel.' It's shocking and it's terrible.

'My Brother Said: I Want Gilad Schalit #2'

Abd el-Salaam Amar, the accused killer's brother, instructed him in late 2012 to abduct a soldier. He believed that by doing so, he could bring about the release of a third brother, Nur a-Din, who is serving a 29-year sentence.
"I want Gilad Schalit #2," Nur a-Din said. "I want you to abduct a soldier." He told him to hide the victim in a cave. "A live soldier is preferable," he added, "but it doesn't matter… If need be, murder him, as long as I go free."

Khaled Abu Toameh Palestinian Authority's Double Standards on Prisoners

The daily Al-Quds al-Arabi recently revealed that dozens of Palestinians have been held in Kuwaiti prisons since 1991. The families of these prisoners do not know anything about their conditions. The Palestinian Authority ambassador to Kuwait, Rami Tahboub, refused to comment on the plight of the prisoners there. Reached by phone, the ambassador first said he was busy with a meeting. He later stopped answering the phone.
As far as the Palestinian Authority leadership is concerned, the only "heroes" are those prisoners who are held in Israel. For the Palestinian Authority, Palestinians who are being tortured and killed in Arab prisons are not worth even a statement.

IDF destroys two rocket launchers in North Gaza

The Israeli Air Force destroyed two hidden rocket launchers in northern Gaza Thursday in response to high trajectory fire aimed at IDF soldiers earlier in the day.
"Launching rockets against Israel and its civilians is a breach of our sovereignty. We maintain the right to operate against those who are involved in terror," Lt. Col. Peter Lerner of the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said in a statement.

Police arrest 70 Palestinians illegally residing in Israel

Sixty-seven of those held will be transferred to the Palestinian Authority, Maariv reported Friday morning, and the rest will be brought before a judge for a remand extension.
The operation came two days after an Israeli soldier was stabbed to death while he was asleep on a bus in Afula Wednesday morning by a 16-year-old Palestinian youth illegally residing in Israel, according to reports. Eden Atias, 18, was buried Wednesday night in Nazareth Ilit.

Jerusalem Bomber Gets Life + 60 Years

Kawasme was the terrorist who initiated and planned a murderous attack that was executed on March 23, 2011, in Jerusalem. An explosive charge was detonated near Binyanei Hauma, the International Convention Center, near the western entrance to the city. The explosion killed Mary Jean Gardner, a British tourist. Another 67 people were injured.
The terrorist was convicted of a slew of other offenses, which he admitted to. After the Binyanei Hauma attack, he planned a suicide attack in the Pisgat Ze'ev neighborhood of Jerusalem, for which an explosive device was brought to Jerusalem. The attack never took place because of the arrest of two of the members of the cell that was to carry it out.

Sewage swamps Gaza streets as Egypt tunnel closures cut off power

Egypt's months-long crackdown on cross-border smuggling tunnels that used to bring fuel in cheaply has already forced Gaza's only power plant to stop, meaning two weeks of daily 12-hour blackouts for the territory's 1.8 million residents.
"This is the start of a catastrophe and unless the world listens to our cries, a real disaster may hit Gaza and its people," Gaza municipality's Sa'ad El-Deen Al-Tbash said.

Iranian consensus does not necessarily mean a good deal for the West

In high-profile speeches, Khamenei has been laying the groundwork to walk away from any deal by warning that the West is untrustworthy and will not deliver on its promises — the same reasons he gave for walking away from the earlier nuclear deals. Israel has good reason to worry that the economic sanctions will be eased, reducing the pressure on Iran such that whatever the West presents as the first temporary step is never followed by another step, meaning that Tehran never accepts more limits on its nuclear program.
Saudi Arabia has equally solid grounds to worry that, in return for a nuclear deal, Iran would get a free hand to pursue its hegemonic agenda in the region and consolidate its influence in Syria and Iraq. And Iranian democrats are right to fear that any accord with the West would herald renewed vigor for the Islamic Republic. After all, Rouhani has done little to improve human rights, as evidenced by the increased pace of executions since he took office.

PM: Iran already has wherewithal to build nuclear weapons

Responding to an International Atomic Energy Agency report claiming that Iran had substantially cut uranium enrichment since the election of President Hassan Rouhani last June, Netanyahu said he was "not impressed," and that Iran still strives to acquire nuclear weapons.
"Iran is not expanding its nuclear program because it already has the foundations needed for nuclear weapons," the prime minister said. "The question is not whether they are expanding the program, but how to stop the Iranian military nuclear program."

Kerry: Any Iran nuclear deal will be 'failsafe'

Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday that any deal negotiated with Iran will be "failsafe" and will guarantee that Tehran will not have the capacity to develop nuclear weapons.
Trying to reassure skeptical lawmakers and US allies, Kerry told MSNBC that the Obama administration wants time to negotiate a deal with Iran that would protect Israel, US interests and the region and "guarantee failsafe that Iran will not be able to have a nuclear weapon."

Iranian FM: Talks doomed if Iran 'nuclear rights' not recognized

Mohammad Javad Zarif said in comments carried by the semi-official Fars news agency on Friday that there is no chance for the upcoming round of talks to succeed if the West ignores Iran's demand for formal recognition of its right to enrich uranium.

Obama: Military strike could lead Iran to 'pursue nukes more vigorously'

US President Barack Obama said Thursday that no matter how powerful the American military, a strike against nuclear facilities in Iran could lead the Islamic Republic to "pursue even more vigorously nuclear weapons in the future."
"No matter how good our military is, military options are always messy," Obama said. "Any armed conflict has cost to it."

Senator Cruz tells 'Post': Obama is degrading the US-Israel relationship

The Obama administration is giving away its leverage with Iran through a bad deal in negotiations in Geneva, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) told a group of congressmen on Thursday afternoon.
This is the time for more sanctions, he said, claiming US President Barack Obama is degrading the US-Israel relationship by grasping for "any deal" it can achieve.

TV Ad Warns: 'Obama's March to War'

Emergency Committee for Israel to run new US TV ad highlighting reasons to doubt Obama's promises to stop a nuclear Iran.

Al-Qaeda-linked rebels apologise after cutting off head of wrong person

Militant Islamist rebels in Syria linked to al-Qaeda have asked for "understanding and forgiveness" for cutting off and putting on display the wrong man's head.

Israel hosts major cyber war simulation

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 07:30 AM PST

This entire article is fascinating:

Israel hosted a major cyber-war simulation. The CYBER-simulation was held at the Tel Aviv University's SIMLAB unit. This is the unit's first simulation.

The SIMLAB simulation unit, headed by Dr. Haim Asa, is a part of the Yuval Neeman Workshop for Science, Technology and Defense. The unit was established in order to assist decision makers and recommend foreign and defense policies, with an emphasis on strategy and foreign relations. Top military, defense and academy figures took part in the simulation, divided into groups representing different countries. The simulation scenario was a future war in which CYBER-warfare capabilities played an important part.

The U.S. was represented by General Wesley Clark (retired U.S. Army General and NATO Commander during the war in Kosovo) as the President, Ambassador Zalman Shuval, Erez Kreiler (one of the founders of the Information Security Authority) and others. Israel was represented by Maj. Gen. (Res.) Ami Ayalon, Eitan Ben-Eliahu, Michael Aman, Shlomo Brom and others. Iran was represented by former Mossad chief and CEO of Mer Systems, Shabtai Shavit; Al Qaeda was represented by Prof. Boaz Ganor, executive director of the International Policy Institute for Counter Terrorism at the Inter-Disciplinary Center; Hizballah was represented by Dr. Eitan Azani, ICT deputy executive director; Russia was represented by Dr. Fima Adamski; and China by former Knesset member, Col. (Res.) Doron Avital.

The scenario, created by Dr. Haim Asa, took three months to design and included two stages of escalation. In the opening stage Al Qaeda, mired in the Syrian civil war, tried to incite a war between Hizballah and Israel in order to divert the world's attention. At a later stage Iran tried to deceive the United States by faking an Israeli attack on its networks. The simulation ended with a Russian presence on Syrian territory in order to protect Assad, effectively dragging Russia into the Middle Eastern conflict, opposing the United States.

A few of the simulation participants summed up the main conclusions:

Dr. Yitzhak Ben-Israel:
The main problem in the CYBER arena is still one of origins – where did the attack come from? The targeted victim remains unsure and frustrated, also affecting the level of response.
Decision makers tend to naturally rely on open sources of information, even though some of the reports are wrong or based on disinformation.
CYBER weapons and their effects are not virtual! They cause very real damage in the very real world.
The distinction between the civilian and military dimensions in the CYBER arena (even though Ben-Israel dislikes the use of the term dimension as it relates to CYBER) is unclear and very blurred, if it even exists.
Even though we naturally assume the traditional and CYBER fighting arenas are similar, they require different decision-making processes.

General Wesley Clark:
The difference between an attacking state or an attacking organization is highly relevant.
The physical damage caused by a CYBER attack is very real.
CYBER-prepardeness has to include detection and damage mitigation capabilities.
Such preparedness has to include intelligence on each enemy's capabilities – in order to rapidly identify the origins of an attack.
The level of certainty needed to justify a counter-attack needs to be discussed, whether it's a traditional or a CYBER-attack. What's the "smoking gun", exactly? An IP address in a hostile country?
More exercises have to be held, and there has to be cooperation between allies. This is problematic due to states being unwilling to share information about their capabilities.
CYBER-defense is more important than CYBER-attack. An effective defense allows decision makers some breathing room to consider proper offensive responses, while otherwise they might attack blindly out of distress.
Dr. Haim Asa:
We knew that CYBER "messes things up", but we didn't realize how much.
The main issue of this simulation was "CYBER warfare in an international-regional military campaign."
We must be prepared and develop powerful CYBER-identification tools.
Communications and trust between partners have to be developed. The fact that the U.S. didn't believe that the Israeli team is the one attacking it made Iran's gambit pointless.
International relations play a very important part in the CYBER-arena.
We have to develop a tool box of technical and strategic abilities, in order to properly handle situations such as those simulated.

Erez Kreiler (founder of the Information Security Authority):
The CYBER-world belongs to the young generation.
Meni Barzilai (head of information security at HaPoalim Bank):
Social networks are an information goldmine for intelligence agencies.

I'd love to sit in on one of these things.

A similar cyber-attack war game, this one on banks in the UK, was performed this week. I assume that the SIMLAB exercise was similar. It was described this way:

Hundreds of staff from the UK's financial institutions will take part in a simulated cyberattack today.

The exercise, the details of which have been kept top secret, will be overseen by officials from the Bank of England, Treasury and Financial Conduct Authority, and will be monitored by the Government's cyber agencies.

It will concentrate on how investment banks would cope with a sustained attack on essential shared and company-specific systems, such as clearing and risk management tools.

The cyber war game, called Waking Shark II, will be led by a team from Credit Suisse, who have designed a scenario to be released to the participants in stages, as if the situation is unfolding in real time.

The test will take place in one room, with various companies and organisations sitting on different tables interacting as the situation gathers momentum.

The aim is to help in-house IT security experts and fall-back operations planners to practise making swift decisions and communicate effectively with the regulator and industry partners to contain the problems thrown at them.

ICRC shows again how inconsistent its definition of "occupation" is

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 05:32 AM PST

Yesterday's post about the Red Crescent-branded ambulances being part of the Hamas terror convoy brought a reaction from Juan-Pedro Schaerer, ICRC Head of delegation for Israel and the Occupied Territories, on Twitter.

these ambulances do not belong to the PRCS [Palestinian Red Cross Society]

I asked:

So Hamas is misusing the Red Crescent symbol? Is anything being done to go after them?

He responded:

not so simple responsibility for authorising use of RC emblems rests with State & use regulated by domestic law... As far as I remenber there is no law in #Palestine for the protection of the emblem (see here.)

He appears to be right. In previous cases of the Red Cross complaining about the misuse of its symbol, it was the national Red Cross societies that lodged the complaints, not the ICRC. Even so, since the PA Red Crescent is not likely to lodge its own complaint, it would seem to behoove the ICRC to publicly dissociate itself from Hamas' use of these ambulances with their logo.

Schaerer also implies that these Hamas ambulances, by not being authorized, would lose their protection in any military campaign. I asked him if he would agree, but he has not yet answered.

The document he referred me to, however, has a very interesting section on how the Red Cross/Red Crescent symbol should be used in occupied territories.

Last month, I pointed out that the ICRC's definition of Gaza as being "occupied" made no sense and contradicted even the defintions of the international legal scholars gathered by the ICRC itself. The same Juan-Pedro Schaerer responded by saying that the ICRC uses a "functional theory" of occupation, a position that is patently absurd.

Briefly, the "functional theory" states that occupation law applies even when the occupation is only partial, and it applies to those areas that it is possible to be applied. So the definition of "occupation" is no longer "boots on the ground" and "effective control" of the area, but...something else that is not very well defined. Needless to say, this "functional theory" is only applied to Israel. And needless to say, this vague theory allows people to twist international law against Israel because now organizations like the ICRC can define what parts of Gaza Israel is responsible for and what parts aren't.

This Red Cross document shows, again, how that theory makes no sense.

It says:

If the competent body of the Occupied State is still functioning, it should be allowed by the Occupying Power to continue granting official recognition and the authorization to display the emblem. If it is no longer functioning and cannot grant official recognition, the Occupying Power has to substitute itself for the authorities of the Occupied State and issue the documents granting recognition and the right to display the emblem, to civilian hospitals (in particular, new ones), and to civilian medical units, personnel and transports.103 The Occupying Power is ultimately responsible for ensuring that recognition and authorization to display the emblem are properly granted,104 and for issuing identity cards and armlets to the staff of civilian hospitals.105 The Occupying Power should grant official recognition and authorization to display the emblem only to the hospitals, staff and medical transports that fulfil the conditions laid down in Articles 18, 20 and 21 of GC IV.106

The note 104 says:

"the distinctive emblem should not be affixed without the consent of the competent authority of this Party (which may also be an adverse Party for that matter, particularly in the case of occupied territory)."

The document makes it appear that Israel would be "ultimately responsible" for the proper use of the symbol if is is considered the occupying power of Gaza. This is just one absurdity with the unique "functional theory " of occupation put forth by the ICRC in regards to Israel.

Schaerer answered with the same "functional" definition:

Israel continues to be bound by occ.law Gaza but since the control exercised today is limited, so are the responsibilities.

I don't know how that jives with being "ultimately responsible." That wording appears to me to blow apart the "functional theory" because if Israel is the occupier, as ICRC claims, then it is "ultimately responsible" no matter whether the occupation is traditional or "functional." Obviously in this case Israel cannot be considered responsible, which means it cannot be considered the occupier.

I responded

P. 45 says occupier is "ultimately responsible" for use of symbol. You are saying Israel isn't, but is still occupier?

He didn't answer that either.

One additional point: The ICRC considers Israel responsible for the hospitals in Gaza by insisting that their being stocked with medicines (for example) is a responsibility under occupation law. So according to this theory, the hospitals are under Israeli effective control but the ambulances are not?

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 03:30 AM PST

Al Ahram is the most widely circulated newspaper in Egypt.

Here is the photo accompanying a story today about Jews, Freemasons, and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion:

Most of the article is the usual antisemitic stuff we're used to seeing, but it has some new twists.

Freemasonry started in Egypt in the late 18th century and, we are told, it is manipulated by Jews to create Israel and to ultimately build a new Temple. The Jews place Freemasons in major political roles to guide all nations towards their nefarious goals. The Jewish love of money also contributes to their decadence.

Freedom House, which promotes democracy worldwide, is really a Jewish Freemason organization that trains Egyptian youths in how to revolt. The Muslim Brotherhood is an arm of the Jewish Freemasons. Jewish billionaire George Soros is funding many of the activities to destroy the Arab world through revolutions.

The philosophy of the Freemasons comes, of course, from the Talmud.

One of the "experts" being interviewed is not certain that the Protocols are used by the Freemasons, and he says that some Freemasons might not be Zionist. But the professor of Hebrew literature at Ain Shams University says that the Jews are definitely the beneficiaries of the Masonic plots, though.

UN interpreter accidentally tells the world the truth (video)

Posted: 15 Nov 2013 12:54 AM PST

Hillel Neuer of UN Watch writes:

On Thursday a United Nations interpreter, unaware that her microphone was on, uttered words of truth in reaction to the General Assembly's adoption of nine politically-motivated resolutions condemning Israel, and zero resolutions on the rest of the world.

Under the mistaken impression that she was speaking only to colleagues, the interpreter uttered the following words into the headphones of every UN delegate, and before a live webcast audience worldwide:

"I think when you have… like a total of ten resolutions on Israel and Palestine, there's gotta be something, c'est un peu trop, non? [It's a bit much, no?] I mean I know… There's other really bad shit happening, but no one says anything about the other stuff."

Laughter erupted among the delegates. "The interpreter apologizes," said the unfortunate truth-teller, moments later, followed by her audible gasp. I sincerely hope she won't get fired.

Because the one who should really apologize today is the UN. Founded on noble ideals, the world body is turning the dream of liberal internationalists into a nightmare.

For by the end of its annual legislative session next month, the General Assembly will have adopted a total of 22 resolutions condemning Israel—and only four on the rest of the world combined. The hypocrisy, selectivity, and politicization are staggering.

Today's nine resolutions, adopted by the GA's 4th committee, which is comprised of all 193 UN member states, condemned Israel for violating the human rights of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, of Palestinian refugees, and even of Syrians in the Golan Heights.

That's right: the UN adopted a resolution today that mentions the word "Syria" no less than 10 times—yet said nothing of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's massacre of more than 100,000 of his own people.

Keep in mind that this is not the UN Human Rights Council, which is known for its one-sided anti-Israel agenda. This is the United Nations General Assembly.

The video of the vote, a scene repeated with mind-numbing regularity at the UN, is what should be shocking, not the interpreter telling the truth. Every European country routinely votes for every anti-Israel resolution.

And outside of a very few exceptions, no diplomat even takes the UN to task for routinely and obviously subverting its own mission.

It takes an anonymous interpreter to tell the world that the emperor has no clothes.

יום שבת, 16 בנובמבר 2013

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

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