יום חמישי, 9 בינואר 2014

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Video about Israeli Christians joining the IDF

Posted: 08 Jan 2014 11:00 PM PST

With English subtitles:



(h/t Yoel, Sarit)

Tunnel closings cause Israeli goods to disappear from Egyptian markets!

Posted: 08 Jan 2014 06:00 PM PST

The tunnel trade between Egypt and Gaza was two-way.

Marketplace in El Arish
But Gazans weren't exporting their own goods to Egypt - they were exporting Israeli products. You know, the ones that were allowed in despite the "siege."

Egypt's Al Ahram reports that ever since the Egyptian army has cracked down on smuggling tunnels, Israeli products are no longer on the shelves of towns in the Sinai.

The shortages of Israeli goods is felt mostly in El Arish, Sheikh Zuwaid and Rafah.

The Israeli products that were smuggled from Gaza include clothes, foodstuffs, cosmetics and electrical appliances.

This means, of course, that Gaza had a surplus of Israeli goods, not a shortage!

It also shows that there is a demand for Israeli goods in Egypt, and the reason that more Egyptians aren't legally importing Israeli goods is politics, not profits.

In 2012, an Egyptian TV program claimed that Israeli goods found in the Sinai, such as chocolate, coffee, biscuits and yogurt, were causing infertility. One interviewee claimed that Israeli jeans had secret magnets hidden within them that also cause infertility. Now we can see that the goods shown on TV were all from Gaza smuggling tunnels, not from regular trade between Israel and Egypt.

01/08 Links Pt2: This barrier stops fascists, Comparing Islamists and radical leftists

Posted: 08 Jan 2014 03:00 PM PST

From Ian:
This barrier stops fascists: A response to Bethlehem Unwrapped
Some of you may be thinking, well, the Israelis would say the barrier works wouldn't they? OK, so what do the Palestinian terrorists say? They should know. Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdallah Shalah said '[The Israelis] built a separation fence in the West Bank. We do not deny that it limits the ability of the resistance [i.e., the terrorist organizations] to arrive deep within [Israeli territory] to carry out suicide bombing attacks …' (23 March, 2008).'
Why not project that admission onto your pretend barrier?
Demonising Israel and Israelis by being reductive and decontextualising about the conflict – that is how the intellectual separation barrier works. That's how it cuts off so many well-meaning European folk from playing a constructive role in promoting peace. It fosters a style of 'activism' that turns global civil society into a force that hampers the quest for peace.
You have been inviting people to write graffiti on the pretend wall. I'd take my cue from the great US radical, folk singer, and Dylan precursor, Woody Guthrie. He had a big sticker on his guitar: 'this machine kills fascists.' I'd amend that and stick it on your wall – 'this barrier stops fascists'.
Kay Wilson: Ben White's attack on terror victim is "tinny, whinging, and bitter"
Ben White, it is an honour to be called a vandal, I take my new-job description with the utmost gravity. You have inspired me to continue to do whatever I can to sabotage and desecrate every vulgar, cruel, pompous, destructive, arrogant, ignorant, presumptuous, pithy lie and falsification that you, and people like yourself are bent on disseminating.
You have inspired me with your hatred. I will return to Bethlehem and spray my price tag of peace on any wall that I can. I will do it for Pikuach Nefesh, the Jewish injection that calls us to be our brother's keeper. I will do it for all Israeli, Palestinian, Christian and Muslim victim of global jihad. But most of all Ben White, I will do it just for you.
Comparing Islamists and radical leftists (Satire)
Following on from previous posts which looked at the difference between antisemitism and anti-Zionism, and what leftists really believe, it is also worth now looking at the difference between Islamists and radical leftists. As the following table shows there is clearly nothing in common between these two groups.



Anti-Israel George Mason group plays race card on Pres for opposing boycott
The propaganda-named Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) now is playing the race card against GMU's President, who tweeted his opposition to the academic boycott of Israel:
There's no racism in those tweets.
Except that the SAIA say that the reference to "blowing up" relationships is a racist referral to all Palestinians as bombers, GMU President Cabrera's Racist Tweet Opposing Academic Boycott:
U Texas at Dallas terminates membership in American Studies Association
Most universities which were listed as Institutional Members of the American Studies Association have left it up to particular departments which took out the membership to decide whether to continue.
Of the 83 Institutional Members listed by ASA, at least 11 deny being members, as detailed in the List of Universities rejecting academic boycott of Israel.
Prior to today, an additional 5 members had withdrawn, and the University of Texas at Dallas today makes 6 withdrawals.
Anti-Israel 'lessons' in American classrooms
Anti-Israel and anti-Semitic curricular materials have now become endemic in American public schools. Examples abound and are surfacing from Massachusetts to California where concerned and sometimes angry parents are reacting.
At issue is not only the insidious nature of materials that inculcate anti-Israel biases disguised as history and multicultural lessons, but also – just as has been the case too often on American campuses – the often flaccid response by educators, elected officials and sometimes the mainstream Jewish community.
American Jewish organizations came late to the problem of anti-Israelism on the campuses. If this same poison spreads to the entire public school system, America will become a very different place for its Jews.
Academic conference from Hell
It looks to be a veritable festival of post-modernism, post-colonialism and academic gobbledygook– with no shortage of anti-Zionism and Israel-bashing.
OK. You got your pinkwashing and your redwashing. But where's the session on bluewashing? (According to The Electronic Intifada, that's when Israel provides humanitarian assistance to disaster victims and then dares to publicize the fact.)
NGO Monitor: How European Governments Propel the Boycott War
For example, the group calling itself "Coalition of Women for Peace" runs a BDS framework that targets Israeli businesses and other institutions, as well companies that work with the Israeli firms. They are active throughout Europe, largely financed by two grants from the European Union, German political foundations, Holland, Norway and Sweden. In most cases, the funding process is hidden behind a heavy wall of secrecy. (CWP's Facebook page features pictures of officials holding a PFLP flag — the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian is a terrorist organization, as recognized by the EU, and is responsible for numerous attacks against civilians.)
Beyond these widespread BDS attacks, every battle has a specific externally-funded NGO dimension. For example, the MLA boycott campaign is paid for, in part, by the Dutch Government. For a number of years, the Dutch have been a major source of income for an organization known as Electronic Intifada (EI), which is run by a Palestinian activist — Ali Abunimeh.
Breaking the Silence is part of the problem in the Israel debate
As detailed research by NGO Monitor has shown, in its books and presentations, BtS tailors the accounts of low-ranking soldiers to fit a predetermined conclusion that Israeli policy is the "intimidation, instilling of fear, and indiscriminate punishment of the Palestinian population." The discredited Goldstone Report on Israeli "war crimes" is quoted repeatedly on such unsubstantiated allegations.
This political agenda is widely supported by blatantly anti-Israel groups such as the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which hosted a "special event" in co-operation with BtS on October 21 2013. Jewish Voice for Peace, which promotes boycott, divestment, and sanctions, and seeks to "drive a wedge" within the Jewish community, co-sponsored a BtS event in California.
MEMRI: Professor At Al-Quds University: The Holocaust Must Be Taught In PA Schools
Prof. Muhammad Al-Dajani Al-Daoudi, a political science lecturer at Al-Quds University and founder of the Wasatiyya ("Middle Way") movement in Palestine, called in an article he published on November 26, 2013 on the website fikraforum.org to teach about the Holocaust in Palestinian schools.
The following are excerpts from the article:
Anti-Semitism Links Boycott of Israel to Quenelle
The truth is that it's nowhere near that simple. Here's why: In the post-Holocaust era, there isn't a single example of something defined as "anti-Zionism" that hasn't been contaminated by anti-Semitism. When the Arab League launched its "anti-Zionist" boycott in 1945, three years before Israel's creation, its target was the besieged Jewish community in British Mandate Palestine. When the Soviet Union threw in its lot with the Arab regimes during the Cold War in the name of "anti-Zionism," the primary victims were Soviet Jews. When Poland's ruling communists launched an "anti-Zionist" campaign in the late 1960s, the people whom they purged were Jewish. And when left-wing German terrorists hijacked an Air France plane in 1976, they demonstrated their "anti-Zionism" by separating the Jewish passengers from the non-Jewish ones.
Today's boycott activists need to be reminded of this sordid history. They need to be asked why the cause of Israel's elimination is a magnet for individuals like Dieudonné, as well as for the myriad others who warn darkly about the power of the so-called "Israel Lobby," or the existence of an "Israel Firster" mentality among Jews. Is it just a coincidence? Or are we dealing with a situation in which anti-Semitism is acceptable so long as it calls itself by some other name? Are we really so dim as to be fooled by an exercise in rebranding? After all, if the anti-Semitic Nazi salute were not illegal in France, there would be no need for the "anti-Zionist" quenelle.
Several French cities ban Dieudonne performances
Shows were banned by mayors in Marseille, Bordeaux, Tours and Nantes, the opening venue of the comedian's national tour that was to launch Thursday, Reuters reported.
Interior Minister Manuel Valls in a circular on Monday sent the non-binding recommendation to French mayors to cancel Dieudonne performances.
Ex-British Footballer Collymore Calls for Police Response to Online Anti-Semitism From Football Fans
Stanley Collymore, a popular former British footballer and now sports broadcaster, called for police and Twitter to take action against online hate speech targeting Jewish fans and Tottenham Hotspur, a British team from a historically Jewish neighborhood, whose fans are often referred to as "the Yids."
On Monday night, Collymore posted a collage of the hateful tweets, mostly from supporters of rival team Arsenal, including, "Every Tottenham fan can be put back in the gas chambers and gassed on to death!" and "I laugh at your oven baked ancestors."
New movie about murder of Jew in Paris comes amid renewed focus on French anti-Semitism
Halimi was kidnapped in Paris in January 2006 by a gang of at least 16 men and women led by Youssouf Fofana, a professed anti-Semite of Ivorian descent who had Halimi starved, mutilated and beaten for 24 days in a cellar before dumping him in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois. Fofana was sure he would be paid ransom because Halimi was Jewish. Halimi died on his way to the hospital.
Israel Venture-Capital Technology Disposals Jump to Decade High
Israel's technology industry showed signs of maturity as the value of disposals by venture capital firms in 2013 soared to the highest in a decade as the proportion of smaller deals declined, IVC Research Center said.
Sales of technology companies backed by venture-capital investors totaled 35 transactions worth a combined $4.2 billion, the Tel Aviv-based industry-research group said in a report published today. The average $120 million value was more than double the $55 million 10-year mean, amid a "dramatic decline" in deals of less than $10 million.
Sleep apnea detector saves lives
For many patients, detecting severe apnea episodes is expensive and complicated – unless they are using a small, sleek device by Israeli biotech company, Itamar Medical, whose WatchPAT uses a novel technology to measure cardiovascular stress in patients who suffer from apnea episodes, and alerting medical or rescue personnel in time to save them.
3D holograms help Israeli heart surgeons
RealView Imaging LTD says it has recently completed a successful clinical study in which surgeons used live-action 3D holograms of their patients' beating heart to help them operate.
To illustrates the technology, the company has produced a video it says most accurately shows the system's capabilities. Developers say a live observer really would see a 3D hologram of a patient's beating heart or other organs floating in mid-air in real time. Images shot by conventional 2D cameras cannot convey the imagery as it would be seen by a surgeon.
'Safe City' gives town's residents more protection, free connection
To the growing list of Israeli cities with free wifi networks for citizens and visitors add Ramat Hasharon, a city of 40,000 in central Israel.
After several successful pilot days, the city plans to roll out the network over the next few months, covering 80% of the area of Ramat Hasharon.
What's unique about this network is how it was born – not as a specific decision by the municipality to set up a wifi network, but as a byproduct of its "Safe City" project, designed to allow officials to quickly respond to catastrophes and emergencies, as well as ensure civil safety, through a network of cameras and sophisticated communications. And Ramat Hasharon's Safe City program is garnering attention from places as far away as Taiwan, with a Taiwanese delegation visiting several weeks ago to check it out.
Filipino caregiver a favorite to win 'X-Factor Israel'
Israeli viewers of the country's myriad of reality shows have grown accustomed to successful candidates from various backgrounds, including black-clad ultra-Orthodox Jews, Ethiopian immigrants and a German convert to Judaism who became a celebrity chef. But they've never seen someone like Rose Fostanes before.
The diminutive woman with a booming voice has taken "X-Factor Israel" by storm and emerged as a national phenomenon. Known simply as "Rose," she is mobbed by fans wherever she goes.
Jewish refugees from Arab lands slowly gain recognition
However, after "The Forgotten Refugees," those who had been affected began to speak up. Soon enough, places as far off as Canada were shining a spotlight on the Jewish refugee conflict. There was even interest in the Arab world, a point that's illustrated in "Shadow in Baghdad."
At some point, Menuhin's story attracted the attention of an Iraqi journalist who wanted to know more about her father's disappearance. This development provided a compelling narrative to Dror's film and he decided to structure the documentary around Skype conversations between Menuhin and the young anonymous reporter.

Latest Rafah crossing news that "human rights" organizations ignore

Posted: 08 Jan 2014 01:00 PM PST

The Rafah crossing is open today, after 12 days of being closed.

Even during the days that it is open, very few people have been allowed to cross.

Human rights organizations are almost completely silent.

Here's the Rafah crossing calendar for the past few months:


S
M
Tu
W
Th
F
S
Oct 27
28
29
30
31
Nov 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Dec 1
2
3
4
5
6
7

8
9 (only one bus)
10 (computer problems)
11
12
13
14

15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24 (very few)
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Jan 1
2 (Italian delegation allowed into Gaza)
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
34 Gazans who flew into Cairo airport were deported from Egypt through Rafah today. No human rights organizations said a word.

Two youths who were caught sneaking into Egypt were shot by Egyptian security. No human rights organizations said a word.

I am not sure if the Italian delegation that was stuck in Gaza managed to leave today. Here's another photo of one of its members helping the poor Gazans posing for a photo to prove what a humanitarian she is. 

The "Miles of Smiles" convoy was allowed to enter Gaza today, though.

The PLO acknowledges the Jewish "right of return"

Posted: 08 Jan 2014 11:00 AM PST

When the Palestine Papers were released by The Guardian and Al Jazeera in 2011, only stories that fit the narratives of those papers were published. I went through them at the time and found many astounding memos that the media ignored  (and still ignore today.)

One of the biggest bombshells was a draft memo from the PLO's Negotiations Support Unit that detailed Jewish land ownership in the territories. I covered it here, but it is worth revisiting because it explicitly says that Jews have the "right of return" to areas they lived in before 1949.

Legally, the "right of return" doesn't exist in the way that the Palestinian Arabs and NGOs claim it does nowadays. However, the PLO realized that if they are going to claim the "right of return,", then Jews must have the exact same claims in the other direction:

Jews who were habitually resident before 1948 in the areas that became the OPT enjoy a right of return. It should be noted that the right of return extends not only to those persons who held the nationality of the prior sovereign, but also to persons who had a substantial connection to the prior state and who, therefore, were entitled to its nationality.3 The right also extends to the descendents of such Jews.

Furthermore, the right of return is separate and distinct from any property right the holder may also enjoy.4 That is, a person may have a right of return even if he does not own property in the home country. Conversely, a person may not necessarily enjoy a right of return even if he owns property in the country.

As of 1948, there were 500,000 to 600,000 Jews in Palestine. Most of them were not nationals of Palestine. Of the 400,000 or so Jews who immigrated to Palestine between the two World Wars, 100,000 were naturalized. So, probably fewer than half of pre-1948 Jews were nationals, but most were probably permanent residents.5 According to international law, Such Jewish Palestinian nationals or permanent residents have a right of residency in the future Palestinian state if they were residents of the areas that became Gaza and the WB.

To be sure, the memo tries to find reasons why it wouldn't apply (and it even mentions that if the PLO recognizes that Jews who were expelled from their homes are entitled to compensation, then Arab countries would have the same obligation  - and this could affect relations between the PLO and Arab nations!)

Still, it would be difficult for the UN, Amnesty and Human Rights Watch to disagree with the main point - if the RoR exists, it exists for all. Even UNGA 194, touted as the source for the "right of return," doesn't distinguish between Jewish and Arab refugees of Palestine.

What this means is that, if the UN and EU and NGOs are to be consistent, they cannot regard some Jewish settlements as illegal.

For example, the PLO memo admits that Jews owned Atarot and Neve Yaakov and were expelled in 1948. It mentions parts of the old city of Hebron owned by Jews. Much of the Etzion bloc and areas near Maale Adumim are admitted by the PLO to be owned by Jews. And, of course, Jews owned land and lived in the Old City of Jerusalem. Significant portions of Gaza also belonged to Jews who became refugees in 1948.

Yet I have not seen any of these NGOs distinguish between land owned by Jews, land that Jews were expelled from, and any other land in the territories. I've never seen any of them call for the PLO (or Egypt or Jordan) to compensate Jews for land stolen from them in 1948.

On the contrary: the EU has condemned Israel allowing building in Neve Yaakov. The UN has called Gush Etzion "illegal."

So why do the NGOs that advocate the bogus "right of return" not recognize the symmetric rights of Jews?

The answer, as we've seen many times, is that the UN and EU and "human rights" NGOs set their policies irrespective of international law or logic or consistency. They then try to shoehorn bizarre interpretations of international law to their predetermined outcomes.

If they aren't going to be consistent about the application of actual international law, why should we expect consistency when they apply incorrect interpretations of that same law?

01/08 Links Pt1: The Middle East at the Beginning of 2014, When is Incitement “Incitement”?

Posted: 08 Jan 2014 09:00 AM PST

From Ian:
Barry Rubin: The Middle East at the Beginning of 2014
The Egypt-Muslim Brotherhood-Hamas conflicts, the Syrian civil war, the conflict between the Shi'a and Sunni blocs (the latter including Saudi Arabia), and Turkish-Arab friction are all signs of this. If the West is willing to keep Asad as dictator of Syria, the Sunni rebels will never accept this, and the Syrian civil war will only be intensified in the coming year.
Ammar Abdulhamid, a respected analyst on Syria, has pointed out that "re-legitimating the Assad regime today, after all it had done, will green light genocidal ventures elsewhere in the world." Of course, if the United States helped to overthrow the Asad regime in Syria, there would also be a risk of genocide against the Alawites and the Christians (who make up about 30% of the population).
I hate to say it, but it is almost as if the Obama administration simply wants to keep the supposed "deal" alive until after the 2016 elections, so it can boast a great diplomatic triumph in the Middle East by resolving all problems, only to then let the deal collapse. This could explain why President Obama said there was only a 50-50% chance that the deal would go through. Usually, the president and secretary of state do not talk about the certainty of deals before they are much closer to being completed.
Why Is There Really No Palestinian State: The 1-State Solution
The difference between radicals and moderates was well represented by the remark of the Palestinian Arab delegates in their May 1939 meeting with Egypt's leaders, "We cannot now tell our people, 'Stop the revolution because we got some high posts. . . .'"But that was precisely what moderate Arab politicians wanted: not a revolution in Palestine but a solution to Palestine. And they viewed that as having been achieved in the London negotiations because Palestinian Arabs would obtain "high posts" and thus would be running the country.
The story of al-Husaini and the 1939 London Conference would be reenacted by Arafat at the Camp David meeting in 2000, when Arafat rejected getting a Palestinian state through negotiations because he preferred the illusory hope of getting it all by violence.
Jews, lies and Christian victims
In late December, The Independent published an article about the bleak situation of the Christians in the Middle East. It had the right idea. The Christians in the Middle East are in trouble. They're being slaughtered in dozens of different places and millions have become refugees or been forced to flee. Amazingly enough, however, the article was devoted almost entirely to their sad situation in Israel, of all places. "Will Prince Charles, the 'Defender of Faiths,' stand up for Christians in Israel?" read the astonishing headline.
Blogger Elder of Ziyon has enumerated lies so egregious – and there are many – in this manifest masquerading as an article. They saved me the trouble of having to refute the lies myself. Not a single Christian in Israel is being persecuted because of his religion. There has been no pogrom. Israel's Christians are fully integrated at the top of their professions as physicians, lawyers and judges. The Israeli Christian community is a minority that in many areas, such as higher education, has made remarkable achievements. Even more so than the Jews. They do not need any Prince Charles or The Independent to defend them. But somehow, the author of the article and the newspaper have managed once again to turn the situation on its head and make truth lies and lies truth.



When is Incitement "Incitement"?
The most recent example (January 7) is instructive. The story headline reads: "Israeli Officials Point to an Intensifying Campaign of 'Incitement' by Palestinians." Nothing new about that, to be sure – except for the quotation marks surrounding "Incitement," which imply that it is a figment of the Israeli imagination. To be sure, Jerusalem Bureau Chief Jodi Rudoren offers several compelling – and disgusting – examples of the phenomenon. The website for Palestinian Authority schools carries quotations from Hitler. A young girl appears on Palestinian television to describe Jews as "barbaric monkeys, wretched pigs." Palestinian maps do not show Israel. A Fatah video featured masked fighters singing "With these rockets we will crush the Zionist enemy." And so it goes.
One might imagine that such evidence, which flourishes in abundance in Palestinian media and among Palestinian Authority officials, including President Mahmoud Abbas, would qualify as incitement, not "incitement." But not for the Times. What "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others call 'incitement' as a prime obstacle to peace" is, by Rudoren's strong implication (and liberal use of quotation marks), merely fanciful rhetoric.
Journalists Press State Dept. Over Silence in Response to Anti-Israel Incitement by Chief Palestinian Negotiator
Harf responded by delineating between public and private conversations, prompting journalists to ask whether Washington, as a declared "honest broker," had "an obligation to speak out when someone says something that is not honest, when something is dishonest." Harf eventually said that she had not yet seen Erekat's comments and would examine them further. By the end of the afternoon Associated Press reporter Matthew Lee noted that that State Department was continuing to resist taking a public position on the incident specifically or more broadly on Israeli complaints regarding Palestinian incitement. A spike in Palestinian terrorism against Israeli civilians has deepened Jerusalem's concerns regarding statements and actions made by top Palestinian figures that demonize Israel and celebrate violence. Abbas, for instance, has embraced Palestinian terrorists freed in both December and October as "heroes." Israel's cabinet this weekend blasted what Israeli officials described as the Palestinian "culture of hate."
Liberman defends his population transfer plan
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman on Wednesday defended his promotion of a controversial plan to transfer jurisdiction of some Israeli Arab towns to a future Palestinian state by saying their residents have never wanted to part of the Jewish state. He further noted that those who oppose the idea didn't object when Jews were relocated from the Gush Katif settlements in the Gaza Strip in 2005.
President Shimon Peres on Wednesday rejected the idea of a population transfer as "impractical," adding that "Israel cannot take away its citizens' citizenship simply because they're Arab."
Hotovely Challenges Ahmed Tibi: Admit It, You Want to be Israeli
However, she said, "The Palestinians' objection to a land swap reveals their true face, and their intention to benefit from both worlds. On the one hand, they want a Palestinian state, on the other hand, they want to be citizens of Israel and to enjoy the benefits offered here."
"No Arab state gives its citizens rights like the state of Israel gives its citizens," she added.
Temple Mount Report Fuels Concern About Future of Holy Site
A recently revealed Israeli State Comptroller's report that remains under a government gag order has ignited concern over the Muslim Waqf's attempts to erase Jewish ties on the Temple Mount—Judaism's holiest site—and Israeli authorities' neglect of those activities.
The classified document, whose contents were published by the New York-based newspaper The Jewish Voice, details ongoing illegal excavations being carried out on the Temple Mount by the Muslim Waqf (trust) and places blame on those responsible for overseeing the site—namely the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Jerusalem Municipality, and the Israeli police. The report suggests that those Israeli bodies have been turning a blind eye to the damage caused by the Waqf pertaining to ancient Jewish archeological findings.
Palestinians Take Shelter in Jewish 'Settlement'
The two approached Israeli residents at the gates of the community and explained that they were being pursued by members of the Palestinian Authority security forces. The PA officers were planning to kill them, they said.
Residents called security guards to the scene. The guards searched the two men for weapons and then brought them into the town.
Security forces then searched the area for the alleged would-be killers. They found four Palestinian Arab men waiting nearby with loaded weapons; the four presented themselves as members of the PA police special forces.
Former Fatah Strongman Mohammed Dahlan Plotting to Oust Mahmoud Abbas From Power
Former Fatah Central Committee member Mohammed Dahlan has been plotting to overthrow Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, according to Major General Majid Faraj, head of the Palestinian General Intelligence Service, Israeli daily Ma'ariv reported on Tuesday.
Dozens of men loyal to Dahlan, the one-time Gaza strongman, recently attacked Faraj's forces inside a Palestinian-Arab refugee camp located in the PA-controlled city of Nablus, Ma'ariv said.
YMedad: They Keep Getting Shot
There are complaints that Israel doesn't treat Gaza Arabs who are near the security fence properly.
I am fairly sure we're doing better than Egypt, however:-
Egyptian army shoots 2 Palestinians crossing through Gaza tunnel
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Egyptian army shot and wounded two Palestinian youths as they exited a tunnel from the Gaza Strip.
Fifty US senators line up behind new Iran sanctions bill
50 senators across party lines now co-sponsor the Nuclear Weapons Free Iran Act of 2013, according to multiple Senate aides, who expect support to increase in the coming days. That amounts to half of all Senate members, just one shy of the number required for a bill to pass.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Robert Menendez introduced the bill just before Christmas with 25 co-sponsors. The move was an affront to the Obama administration, which fears the bill could derail fragile nuclear talks among Iran, the US and world powers.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz Blocking Bipartisan Iran Sanctions
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D., Fla.) has become a major obstacle to a new bipartisan Iran sanctions measure, according to multiple sources on Capitol Hill and in Florida.
Wasserman Schultz has broken with leading pro-Israel Democrats like New York Senator Chuck Schumer and New Jersey Senators Robert Menendez and Cory Booker, privately urging her fellow Democrats to follow the White House's lead by opposing a bipartisan House resolution backing new sanctions on Iran, according to multiple congressional sources close to the debate. (h/t MtTB)
Iran's Double Talk on Iraq is Disgraceful
Iran has reportedly offered to help the Iraqi government fight "al Qaeda terrorists" in the Anbar province, where radicalism and sectarian fighting have reared their ugly heads. Western media outlets have reported on this story without comment, as if Iran was simply offering to help a neighbor in need, or trying to play a responsible role in the international community.
U.S.: Iran Helping Assad 'Brutalize' His People
The United States on Tuesday accused Iran of helping "brutalize" Syria as Secretary of State John Kerry prepared to talk to Russia about Tehran's potential role at a peace conference, AFP reports.
Kerry will meet in Paris on January 13 with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss whether Iran should take part in the conference later this month in Switzerland aimed at ending the nearly three-year-old war in Syria, the State Department said.
First Batch of Chemical Weapons Shipped Out of Syria
Syria has moved the first batch of chemical weapon materials out of the country after transporting it from two sites to the port city of Latakia and onto a Danish vessel, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said Tuesday, according to Reuters.
"The vessel has been accompanied by naval escorts provided by Denmark and Norway, as well as the Syrian Arab Republic," the OPCW said in a statement.
New Evidence of Sanctions-Busting Iran-Turkey Cooperation Complicates White House Sanctions Position
The Daily Beast assessed in late December that the open political warfare shaking Turkey – which has pitted elites in the ruling Justice and Development (AKP) Party against followers of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen – "could destabilize [President Barack] Obama's nuclear deal and threaten the government of Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan." Judiciary figures linked to Gulen are pursuing a corruption probe that has already ensnared AKP elites, and that unearthed an oil-for-cash scheme between Tehran and Ankara that – per the Daily Beast – "may only be start of more uncomfortable disclosures about Iranian dealings in Turkey." Fully one-sixth of companies that began investing in Turkey in 2013 were backed by Iranian money, and Turkish outlet Zaman outlined over the weekend how Turkey and Iran building mechanisms to further boost their cooperation in the coming weeks and months.
Turkey dismisses 350 police officers in Ankara
Claiming that it is the target of a conspiracy, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has dismissed hundreds of police chiefs and officers since police launched raids targeting close Erdogan allies on December 17. He has alleged that followers of an Islamic movement led by US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen have infiltrated the judiciary and police and are using their powers to attack the government.
Police units in southeastern city perform 'moral profiling' of students' private lives
The profiling targeted students studying at faculties and schools of higher education affiliated to Gaziantep University and located in the Islahiye district, which lies 80 kilometers west of Gaziantep's urban center.
The profile details on students provided even the most intimate and trivial information about their private lives, some of the files obtained by daily Milliyet showed.
Brotherhood Leader Planned an Egyptian 'Revolutionary Guard'
One of the leaders of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood planned to establish a "Revolutionary Guard" modeled after Iran's elite military unit, Al Arabiya reported on Monday.
The report cited a former member of Al-Qaeda who spoke to an Egyptian TV channel.
Egyptian Novelist Youssef Ziedan: Our Politicians Curse Israel to Gain Popularity

Guardian writer blames Czech diplomat's death on Israel

Posted: 08 Jan 2014 07:00 AM PST

This took longer than I thought. But it didn't come from an Arab journalist but from a freelancer who has written for The Guardian and The Telegraph

From Colin Randall, writing in The National (UAE) on Sunday after the Palestinian Czech diplomat was killed by a bomb in a safe:

[A]s the diplomat's daughter cast doubt on explanations that her father died in a bizarre accident, the manner of his death – reportedly caused by an old embassy safe exploding – recalled murky days of special operations blamed on Israeli agents in European cities and beyond.

...Then the mystery grew with comments in Ramallah by Al Jamal's daughter, Rana, 30, alleging that her father had been deliberately killed. "The Palestinian official account is baseless," she told Associated Press. "The safe box has been in regular use — my mom [who lives there] told me that."

In another interview, by telephone with Reuters, she added: "We believe my father was killed and that his death was something arranged and not an accident. How? We do not know and that is what we want to know."

She said the safe had also been in use when her father served at the mission for two decades from the mid-1980s. "The safe was emptied and moved to the house. My father had been putting documents inside it and it was open. The explosion took place while he used it."

Since the 1950s, the fingerprints of Israel's national intelligence agency Mossad and the internal security service Shin Bet have been detected in a string of attacks and assassinations ranging from targeted shootings to bombings and kidnappings. Allegations of such activities have become rarer in recent years but nevertheless persist.

Although Israel never formally claims responsibility, such events have been seen by critics as acts of revenge and by official sources in Tel Aviv as measures designed to prevent future incidents they classify as terrorism

The history of espionage provides ample reason for observers to keep an open mind until conclusive proof is available.

In 1972, Mossad agents or special forces were suspected of being responsible for the assassination, using an exploding telephone, of Mahmoud Hamshari, the alleged coordinator of the Palestinian group Black September's killing of 11 Israeli athletes at that year's Munich Olympics, at his Paris apartment.

Two other Palestinians believed by Israel to have been implicated in the Munich attack were also killed in Paris, in 1973.

And in 1996, Yehiya Ayyash, described as "the engineer" and reputedly the chief Hamas bombmaker, was killed by an explosive device planted in his mobile phone in Gaza in a plot attributed to Shin Bet.

Mossad is also strongly suspected of carrying out the torture and murder in 2010 of Mahmoud Al Mabhouh, a Hamas commander, in his Dubai hotel room. Dubai police said Israel was responsible for the killing, which involved at least 26 agents travelling on false European and Australian passports.

As long ago as 1956, Mustafa Hafaz, an Egyptian agent in the Gaza, was assassinated when a booby-trapped book delivered by a double agent exploded. Israel reportedly believed he was responsible for sending Palestinian combatants into southern Israel.
So the Mossad went after Jamal by secretly putting explosives in his safe, not knowing who would open it? And by sheer coincidence an arsenal of weapons were found?

Of course, Colin Randall doesn't say explicitly that the Mossad was behind it. He just says that Jamal died in a weird way and the Mossad kills people in weird ways. The reader can put two and two together without Randall having to worry about pesky lawsuits.

Since this article was published, the idea that the safe was tampered with during its move into the new residence has been shot down:
No explosive could get into the safe of the Palestinian embassy in Prague during its transport to a new residence of ambassador Jamal al Jamal who died after the safe had exploded on January 1, transport firm head Martin Sousek told Monday's issue of the Blesk tabloid.

The transport of the safe was under a constant supervision and Jamal was present during it all the time, said Sousek.

Jamal's daughter Rana claimed that her father had been murdered and that the explosive could have got into the safe deposit during the move to the new residence.

Sousek ruled it out as complete nonsense.

"The safe was being constantly watched. It was closed all the time," Sousek told Blesk.

People from the Palestinian embassy decided on the safe's placement directly on the spot. The ambassador alone was there, giving instructions where concrete items should be placed in the residential part of the house, including the safe, Sousek said.
The reflexive instinct to automatically blame everything on Israel is quite strong in British journalists.

Work accident! But you wouldn't know it from Arab media... (plus - clan clash)

Posted: 08 Jan 2014 05:00 AM PST

Ma'an "reports:"
Man killed by Israeli strike east of Gaza City

A man was killed on Wednesday in the Gaza Strip after an Israeli strike targeted the al-Shujaiyeh neighborhood in Gaza City, medical sources said.

Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra told Ma'an that the "remaining body parts" of 32-year-old Muhammad Salamah al-Ijah were taken to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.

Al-Ijah was killed by an Israeli drone strike, al-Qidra said, although earlier reports said that Israeli tanks had fired into Gaza.

Locals said al-Ijah was affiliated with Islamic Jihad.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said there were "no strikes" in Gaza.

Islamic Jihad media says it was an artillery shell.

Ma'an Arabic says it was a shelling and doesn't mention Israel's denial.

Hamas media, hedging its bets, says that al-Ijah was killed by shells, machine gun fire and that there were Israeli aircraft in the area at the time.

AFP says:
The Israeli military denied carrying out any strike on Gaza and said its troops had not been involved in any other shooting incidents.

"We did not strike in Gaza today and we are unaware of any incident involving tanks or other shooting," a spokeswoman told AFP.
Israel never denies attacks on terrorists in Gaza, and the dead man is very much a terrorist - and a senior member of Islamic Jihad as well.

A hint as to what happened comes from Islamic Jihad itself, which says he was killed while performing his Jihadist duty.

Clearly, al-Ijah blew himself up.

It will be most interesting to see how PCHR and OCHA describe this incident in their weekly reports.

At the same time, two others were killed in Gaza - a nine year old boy and a 20-year old woman - in a dispute between two families.  Sometimes these reports are covers for honor killings, but this one seems to be a real clan clash. There are many of these in Gaza and easy access to guns means that they often turn fatal.

(h/t PTWatch)

Israeli rifle wins awards - and also innovates in ammo

Posted: 08 Jan 2014 02:00 AM PST

From Ammoland:
IWI US, Inc. a subsidiary of Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) Ltd., announces the TAVOR SAR has received the 2014 Golden Bullseye Award for American Rifleman Rifle of the Year.

The prestigious award, now in its twelfth year, acknowledges the finest products available in the shooting sports. Winners are selected by a seven-member committee and must meet or exceed the evaluator's expectations. Since its introduction earlier in 2013, the TAVOR SAR received exemplary reviews on its performance, innovation in design, styling and function.

The TAVOR SAR was reviewed and chosen over thousands of other products reviewed by the American Rifleman staff to receive the most highly anticipated and regarded award in the shooting sports industry.

The Tavor was also named by Guns.com as one of the top ten guns of the year:



But Israel also innovates in - ammunition!

IMI Small Caliber Ammunition Division has developed a new and special 5.56 mm cartridge
designed for use with a wide range of standard 1:7 barrel twist rifles. The new ammunition has a trajectory match similar to standard ammunition without requiring zeroing of the weapon and can be used with both short and long barrel weapons, such as the M4 and M16.

The new "Razor Core" cartridge is made for the use of snipers and Special Forces and has superior accuracy, effective stopping power and extended range of up to 600 meters.

(h/t Ian)
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