Elder of Ziyon Daily News |  |
- A rainbow over Israel
- Meanwhile, in Turkey....
- 12/30 Links Pt2: ASA: Buried by the ‘Times’, Reflections of a one-armed warrior
- Hamas can't do math very well
- 2013 sees Jordan go from coddling Hamas to spurning it
- 12/30 Links Pt1: Hamas calls Abbas Illegitimate, 20 Threats by Iranian Leaders Against Israel in 2013
- Saudi gift to Lebanese army :The beginning of a game-changer
- The truth about fishing in Gaza
- A violent video to celebrate Fatah's terror anniversary
| Posted: 30 Dec 2013 08:30 PM PST This photo was taken by Niece of Ziyon, who recently made aliyah with her new husband, from her apartment window on Monday. One end of the rainbow is at Har HaMenuchot.            | ||
| Posted: 30 Dec 2013 05:00 PM PST Turkish riot police have blasted opposition protesters with water cannons, tear gas and plastic bullets in Istanbul in scenes reminiscent of the summer's mass anti-government demonstrations.Sometimes a small side story illuminates the bigger picture: Amazingly, not one university association is calling to boycott Turkey, or is even publishing a statement about its corruption, arbitrary arrests, denial of freedom of assembly or any other violations of human rights. They must have overlooked it.      | ||
| 12/30 Links Pt2: ASA: Buried by the ‘Times’, Reflections of a one-armed warrior Posted: 30 Dec 2013 03:00 PM PST From Ian: Sherri Mandell: I'm glad my son's murderers have not been found Please, Israeli government, I beg you: Don't go looking for my son's killers. The ones who cruelly beat Koby and Yosef to death with rocks, the barbarians who attacked two eighth grade boys — my son and his friend — who were on a hike near our home in Israel. Please don't find them. Don't apprehend them and put them in jail and make my family and me sit through a long trial and sentencing, where my heart will quake and my stomach will constrict and I will feel that I am about to faint.Fogels' Son Asks: Why Are they Releasing Murderers? 11-year-old Roi Fogel, whose parents and three siblings were brutally murdered by Arab terrorists in the Shomron town of Itamar in 2011, wants to know why the Israeli government is releasing terrorist murderers.Unreported by the Guardian: Details on latest Palestinian prisoners to be released (& their victims) On December 28th the Israeli Prison Service published the list of prisoners scheduled for release later this week, representing the third round of four scheduled releases agreed upon by Israel's prime minister as a 'goodwill gesture' to get the Palestinians to resume peace talks. Terror victims organization petitions High Court against Palestinian prisoner release As the Israeli government prepares to release 26 additional prisoners convicted of acts of terrorism before the signing of the Oslo Accords, the relatives of terrorism victims are also planning a large-scale demonstration in faint hopes of foiling the move.Protest to Take Place Outside Home of Jerusalem Terrorist Khalaf is an Arab resident of Jerusalem who holds Israeli citizenship, who was arrested in 1992 for his role in attempting to carry out a terror attack with two other terrorists. Besides, Khalaf, four other Jerusalem Arabs are set to be released.US deal will trade off 'Jewish' Israel for 1967 lines — report US Secretary of State John Kerry will offer Israeli and Palestinian negotiators a political trade-off: Israeli recognition of the 1967 lines as a basis for the future Palestinian state, in return for Palestinian recognition of Israel as the state of the Jewish people, Palestinian sources told the Saudi daily Al-Watan on Sunday.Khaled Abu Toameh: Erekat: Peace talks have failed, PA should seek statehood recognition Chief PLO negotiator says Israel foiled talks, adds denying Jordan border for Palestinian state "is clear step towards apartheid."It's going to get bad fast between Israel and the US As Israel faces concerted pressure, lethal violence and international opprobrium because of the failure of US-generated talks that themselves have brought violence, the Jewish state can perhaps take some solace that at least one neighbor understands their predicament — their new kindred spirits in the Saudi royal family.Ya'alon: EU boycott preferable to rockets on Ben-Gurion Airport Assailing the West as "paternalistic," Ya'alon said that instead of them explaining to him, with all of his experience on the ground, how he misunderstands the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we need "to explain to Europe why they're wrong."Buried by the 'Times' Here is how propaganda works: It gives pride of place to certain articles and omits or minimizes – buries – others; presents opinion pieces as if they are objective news – and then supports such "news" with opinion pieces in the very same issue; presents compelling but often misleading and wrongly captioned photos to accompany the biased news; and it does so every single day.Trinity College Profs issue letter rejecting anti-Israel academic boycott As mentioned last week, a group of 21 professors issued a highly pejorative letter excoriating the President. The letter was reported as reflecting faculty opposition to the boycott opposition.Anti-Israel academic boycotters play victim ASA decided to make itself a weapon in the worldwide BDS war on Israel, a war which seeks Israel's delegitimization and destruction.Israel's Christian Awakening The Christian awakening in Israel goes beyond joining the IDF. Some Israeli Christian leaders now demand that their history and heritage be taught in state schools. "Children in Arab schools in Israel learn only Arab-Muslim history," says a report prepared by Mr. Khaloul and submitted to Israel's Ministry of Education, "and this causes the obliteration of Christian identity."Islamic groups call for NYE to be cancelled A Malaysian Muslim group has called for New Year's celebrations to be cancelled because they reflect Jewish culture and will cause Muslim youths to commit sins.New York Times probes anti-Semitism in Hungary The survey, published online Tuesday, asks respondents whether they experienced anti-Semitism and considered emigrating as a result, among other questions.Jerusalem Set to Approve Program Aimed at Bringing Thousands More French Jews to Israel The Israeli government is expected to approve a program aimed at bringing thousands of French Jews to the country over the next three years, Israeli daily Ma'ariv reported on Friday.PwC: Israeli tech exits worth $7.6b in 2013 This is divided between mergers and acquisitions totaling $6.45 billion and IPOs (in Tel Aviv and New York) totaling $1.2 billion.Israeli IPO Wave Expected in 2014 "I think 2014 will be the year for more IPOs," said Nimrod Kozlovski, a partner at Jerusalem Venture Partners. "The home run in Israel is if you go IPO on Nasdaq, and I think that more companies in Israel now are lining up, trying to go to Nasdaq."Elbit gets $229 mln Australian battle management system deal Israeli defence electronics firm Elbit Systems said it was awarded follow-on contracts worth $229 million to supply battle management systems to Australia's Department of Defence.IDF Blog: 13 Inspiring IDF Stories from 2013 2013 is coming to an end, but it leaves behind hundreds of stories to remember. In honor of the new year, we bring you the 13 most moving IDF stories that we told in 2013.Reflections of a one-armed warrior It is nearly four years since the loss of my dominant arm, which was taken from me by rocket near the border of Gaza when I was a fresh-faced IDF recruit.      | ||
| Posted: 30 Dec 2013 01:00 PM PST Hamas tweeted: #Data: 75% of the detainees in #Israeli jails are #children http://t.co/1TRxwHXIoV #Humanrights #StopIsrael #Terror #Palestine And indeed the headline of the linked article says:  But if you actually read the article, it says Department of Statistics in Ramallah, in a report on Friday, showed that 75%is of the detainees in 2013 were children under the age of 18 and young people between 18 and 30 years old.Yes, in fact most of those "children" are adults! This all ignores if these statistics are accurate to begin with. Their objectivity is a bit suspect: Head of the Census Department, Abdul-Nasser Farawna, said that Israel deliberately targets young Palestinians, including children, because they are the core of the society, and its moving factor.Ah, a mind-reader! It cannot possibly be because most terrorists are under 30, could it? PCHR counts far less than half these numbers. Unfortunately, they don't add them up in their annual reports, but a rough guess shows that they document perhaps 1000 arrests a year. I couldn't find the actual report on the Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainee Affairs website or Facebook page, so the entire report may be fictional for all we know. But it is fun to see that Hamas will twist even already twisted data. Somehow, I don't think an email campaign asking them to correct their "error" would be too effective.      | ||
| 2013 sees Jordan go from coddling Hamas to spurning it Posted: 30 Dec 2013 11:00 AM PST In January, Jordan's king was publicly trying to mainstream Hamas to the world. At the World Economic Forum he claimed that Hamas was "more open than ever" to dialogue with Israel, and a few days afterwards he claimed that Hamas accepted a two-state solution. Of course, Hamas immediately and vehemently denied both reports, but it shows that King Abdullah was trying to mainstream Hamas as it was being propped up by Egypt and actively supplanting the PA diplomatically. Things are quite different today. The chairman of Jordan's Foreign Affairs Committee in its parliament said that Jordan has no intention to normalize relations with Hamas, and that its political leader Khaled Meshal was unwelcome in the kingdom. In January, moderate Arab states were afraid that Islamists would ride the Arab Spring wave and take over all of the Middle East, so acting in a conciliatory way seemed to be a wise move to stay alive politically. Now, after Egypt's popular coup, the Islamists are the ones running scared and being marginalized again - as they were in the 20th century. Reverberations echo widely. Too bad that same lesson is not being learned in the West as far as Shiite fundamentalism is concerned.      | ||
| Posted: 30 Dec 2013 09:30 AM PST From Ian: Football Jihad: The media misses the key point over Anelka's antisemitic gesture However, most reports avoid the background on the antisemitic French 'comedian' and holocaust denier Dieudonne M'bala M'bala** (see, e.g. here and here). He is the one who invented 'la quenelle', and he has a string of convictions in French courts for antisemitism, including just last week being found guilty of incitement to hatred and racial discrimination - a conviction which apparently triggered Anelka's response. Hence, not a single report has pointed out the curious nature of the 'defence' used by Anelka (and his club) that he was 'only making a dedication to his comedian friend'. On that basis any public figure doing a Nazi salute could justify it by claiming it is only a dedication to their friend Adolf Hitler for the unjust treatment he got from the media.The Guardian whitewashes antisemitism of Nicolas Anelka pal, Dieudonné The Guardian stands alone in whitewashing the "comedian's" clear record of anti-Jewish rhetoric – another antisemitic sin of omission at the "liberal" broadsheet which has, by now, achieved a well-earned reputation for such curious moral blind spots.French NBA star Tony Parker also panned for Nazi-like salute "As a leading sports figure on both sides of the Atlantic, Parker has a special moral obligation to disassociate himself from a gesture that the government of France has identified as anti-Semitic," Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Wiesenthal Center's told the website Algemeiner.More after the jump. Headline Fails Over Lebanon Rockets Early Sunday morning, five Katyusha rockets were fired from south Lebanon, two of which landed in northern Israel near the town of Kiryat Shmona. Israel launched some 20 artillery shells at the source of the rocket fire – a firm yet limited response. So how then did Israel's limited retaliation morph into these headlines?Faux equivalence, 'last-first' reporting in BBC report on rocket attack from Lebanon The IDF responded to the attack with artillery fire directed at its source near Marj Ayoun and lodged a complaint with UNIFIL.80% of December missile attacks from Gaza Strip ignored by BBC Not all missiles fired by terrorist groups from the Gaza Strip land in Israeli territory: a significant proportion of them (some estimates say as many as 40%) fall short, landing in the Strip itself and hence endangering the local civilian population. Even if they eventually fall short, missiles fired do however trigger the early warning sirens which give residents of the area fifteen seconds to find cover from the incoming attack and of course for the local population, every sounding of the 'Colour Red' siren is a real incident which demands an instant and rapid response at whatever time of night or day.Wary of rockets, IDF beefs up security on Golan Heights The IDF, bracing for an increased threat of rocket attacks along the border with Syria, has begun installing air raid sirens and fortified safe zones in all its bases on the Golan Heights.Hamas Stresses it Views Negotiations, Abbas as Illegitimate Hamas declared Sunday, on the 5th anniversary of Operation Cast Lead, that it would continue to "fight the Israeli occupation" and "advance national goals," no matter what the outcome of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) might be.Elliott Abrams: Mohamad Chatah, RIP That Hezbollah/Assad alliance continues to plague Lebanon and to take the lives of political leaders and journalists who resist their control. Mohamad Chatah bravely criticized the Assad regime and Hezbollah, even tweeting what proved to be his last critique on the day of his death: "Hezbollah is pressing hard to be granted similar powers in security & foreign policy matters that Syria exercised in Lebanon for 15 yrs." Surely he knew the risks he was taking, which makes his courage and patriotism remarkable.Anti-Hezbollah Chants at Funeral of Former Lebanese Minister Friday's attack on Shatah, a Sunni who was a vocal critic of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and his Lebanese ally Hezbollah, has once again stoked sectarian enmities exacerbated by the spillover of Syria's conflict.Lebanese TV Host Instinctively Blames Israel After Hearing Blast While on Air (VIDEO) A Lebanese TV host instinctively blamed Israel after hearing a bomb blast while on air. The incident happened on Friday in the Beirut studio of Lebanon's Future TV, and a video of the incident was published online on Sunday by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).UN troops vow to catch Lebanese rocket launcher Early Sunday morning, at around 7:30 a.m., at least two Katyusha rockets fired from South Lebanon landed west of the northern Galilee town of Kiryat Shmona. So far, no one has assumed responsibility for the attack.Media Council: Seeking Israeli comments is illegal Local media outlets are not allowed to seek comments from Israeli officials, the government's media monitoring and licensing arm reminded local outlets Friday.Officials: Lebanese forces fire on Syrian planes Security officials say Lebanese forces have fired on Syrian aircraft that violated the country's airspace.Sworn to Destruction: 20 Threats Iranian Leaders Made Against Israel in 2013 The danger of the Iranian regime is not confined to the rhetoric of its leaders. As demonstrated in the above quotes, Iran's desire to see Israel destroyed is clear, but even more worrisome is the fact that the Islamic Republic is developing the capabilities that will enable it to carry out its intentions.Iran negotiating with Russia over construction of new nuclear plants Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, announced on Iran's Channel 1 on Saturday that the new plants will help solve the country's energy needs, Iran's Mehr News Agency reported.Egypt arrests Al-Jazeera TV's 4-member crew The ministry says only two Al-Jazeera staff were arrested, an Australian journalist and a second person, a Brotherhood member. It says they were meeting at a five-star Cairo hotel that is used to "spread rumors harming national security."Egypt's Interim President Promises Elections Within 7 Months The timetable means that Egypt would have an elected government by next summer to replace the interim government installed by the army after it ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July.Turkey Leaders Blame Jews, Foreign Conspiracies as Political Warfare Rocks Country Erdogan and his AKP allies have during previous crises sought to link domestic unrest to foreign conspiracies. Their scapegoating has at times been explicitly anti-Semitic, at other times has targeted the United States, and occasionally has implied that Jews are driving anti-Turkish American policies.'Middle East has become a killing field for journalists' At least 70 journalists were killed on the job around the world in 2013, including 29 who died covering the civil war in Syria and 10 slain in Iraq, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.      | ||
| Saudi gift to Lebanese army :The beginning of a game-changer Posted: 30 Dec 2013 07:30 AM PST From WSJ: Saudi Arabia pledged $3 billion to bolster Lebanon's armed forces, in a challenge to the Iranian-allied Hezbollah militia's decadeslong status as Lebanon's main power broker and security force.This is a huge story for a number of reasons. First of all, it is a power play by Saudi Arabia against Iran. Lebanon was considered a lost cause because of Hezbollah's military dominance and the West's lack of engagement in Syria. This gift instantly creates a powerful foil to the Iran/Hezbollah military axis in Lebanon and Syria. Secondly, it shows that Saudi Arabia has decided to partially fill the vacuum being left by the current US hands-off policy in the Middle East (except, of course, "peace process" in which the White House has seemingly embraced the bizarre and discredited concept of "linkage.") Since no one can rely on America anymore in the Middle East, the Gulf countries are deciding to take matters into their own hands. Thirdly, it shows that money can be just as important for power politics as military might. Saudi Arabia has cash, and now it is showing that it is willing to use it. Fourthly, it might actually give a chance for the Lebanese army sometime in the future to enforce UNSC 1701 which is meant to disarm Hezbollah. This won't happen anytime soon; the Lebanese understandably have no stomach for another civil war, but Lebanon now has a chance to re-assert its sovereignty over its Iranian-controlled south. The psychological effect of this move can be seen almost immediately: The Lebanese army opened anti-aircraft fire on Monday at Syrian warplanes that hovered the eastern border town of Arsal.Would this have happened before the announcement of the aid? It seems unlikely. As US influence fades, the pieces are moving and alliances are shifting into what will probably be a complicated balance of Shiite, Sunni moderate, Sunni radical and Israeli spheres of influence in the region. Russia and some EU countries will probably want to be involved to some extent as well., and there are plenty of wildcards like Turkey. The sheer number of possible moves makes every specific move far more significant - and potentially dangerous - than during the era of US hegemony. The biggest loser is the US, and its missteps in the region will take decades to repair, if ever.      | ||
| The truth about fishing in Gaza Posted: 30 Dec 2013 05:00 AM PST One of the most-mentioned anti-Israel topics is how Israel, by enforcing a six nautical mile sea blockade on Gaza, is stopping Gazans from being able to catch the fish that is so critical to their food supply. We are told that the best fish are past the six-mile zone and Israel is trying to starve Gazans. A new report from PCHR reportedly claims says that Gaza fishermen income has gone down 85% because of Israeli restrictions. As usual, the truth is a bit different. In fact, the entire Mediterranean has seen a marked downturn in the number of fish available. The main reason is simple - overfishing. Traditionally, most fish have been caught within one mile of shore. Overfishing and bottom-trawling have turned large parts of the Mediterranean into virtual deserts, as the fishing methods used smooth out the natural spots for fish to lay eggs. After mature fish disappear from an ecosystem, overfishinggoes after the young fish and further disrupt the ability to naturally restock. In Gaza, the number of fishermen are not regulated and thousands of boats are engaged in destroying the fishing ecosystem. In other words, the reason that the fish supply in Gaza is so low is because Gaza fishermen are depleting the supply much faster than they can be replenished. This has nothing to do with Israel and it is a problem throughout the region. Gaza has an additional problem in that raw sewage is being poured into the sea, which also destroys fish. NGO bias against Israel ensures that they will ignore the actual biological facts about the Mediterranean and instead blame Israel, as always. The irony is that a smart fishing policy could, over years, help bring biodiversity - and fish - back to the coast of Gaza. But instead, these NGOs who could be helping find a solution are instead trying to ensure that the few fish remaining will disappear altogether - a very real prospect - because they would rather blame Israel than help fix the real underlying problem. There is another unreported angle to this story. Israel is helping keep Gaza supplied with fish.
While the haters love to charge Israel with arbitrarily and capriciously destroying Gaza's fish supply, the truth is quite different.      | ||
| A violent video to celebrate Fatah's terror anniversary Posted: 30 Dec 2013 02:30 AM PST As I've mentioned before, January 1 is the 49th anniversary of Fatah's first terror attack. No one seems to know the anniversary of Fatah's founding - Fatah terrorism is all any Arab cares to celebrate. In honor of the occasion, a Palestinian Arab singer created this video highlighting - what else? - Fatah militarism and violence. The lyrics are nothing special: I'm proud of the sons of Fatah/The coat of arms of which is the keffiyeh/with the olive branch and gun/I'll protect the homeland with weapons in my handBut the visuals show the importance of violence for the culture of Fatah. I like the tiny nod to Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) among the dozens of video clips of Arafat while calling him a "weapon." Also the shooting at the ground is a nice touch. (h/t Ibn Boutros)      |
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