יום שבת, 15 במרץ 2014

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

A new incident on the Lebanese border

Posted: 14 Mar 2014 02:46 PM PDT

From Naharnet:

The Israeli army said it shelled a Hizbullah position in southern Lebanon on Friday after an explosion targeted an Israeli patrol on the border, as the Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant reportedly claimed responsibility for the bomb attack.

Agence France Presse quoted a Lebanese security source as saying that Israel shelled southern Lebanon after an explosion on the Lebanese-Israeli border.

The Israeli army confirmed that report, saying that it had acted after a border patrol was attacked with explosives.

The Lebanese source said "10 Israeli rockets hit an uninhabited border area" and that "there were no casualties."

"In response to the explosive device activated against IDF (Israeli army) soldiers, the IDF fired towards a Hizbullah terror infrastructure in southern Lebanon. A hit was confirmed," the Israeli army said in statement.

Earlier, the Israeli army radio said "artillery fired at southern Lebanon in retaliation for the explosion of a concealed device targeting a patrol."

"The device exploded near soldiers on the border in the Har Dov area," the statement added, using Israel's term for the occupied Shebaa Farms.

Meanwhile, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said "a 107 mm rocket struck an Israeli army post on the al-Ramta Hill inside the occupied Shebaa Farms." It did not elaborate and it was not immediately clear if it was referring to the same attack on Israeli forces.

Media reports later said that the Qaida-inspired ISIL claimed responsibility for the bomb attack on the Israeli patrol.
The ISIL claim would seem to be nonsense, but there have been rockets to Israel in the past that were claimed by Sunni terror groups. I would think that Hezbollah is the more likely culprit.

But this incident, together with the similar on on the Syrian border last week and the Islamic Jihad rocket escalation, indicates that Iran is directing its satellite terror groups to keep Israel on edge. It is not clear why; perhaps to divert attention from what is happening in Syria (there have reportedly been heavy Hezbollah losses recently). If Israel attacks Hezbollah, then Iran might be gambling that public opinion would swing towards Hezbollah and against the Sunnis fighting in Syria.

Haaretz' Amos Harel thinks that this is a deliberate response to Israel's last airstrike on the Lebanon/Syria border.
Friday's incident in Har Dov points to a gradual change in the rules of the game on the northern front, after years of almost complete calm. Slowly, Hezbollah and the Assad regime are taking the gloves off in their struggle against Israel. The attacks they both attribute to the IDF are answered with terror attacks from the other side, even if for the time being the targets are limited and the operations are low-profile, and no public claims of responsibility are voiced in their aftermath.

Last December, shortly after the mysterious assassination of Hezbollah commander Hassan al-Laqis in Beirut, an IDF jeep was targeted by an IED in an area controlled by the Syrian Army around Mt. Hermon. In early March, immediately after a Hezbollah convoy was attacked in Lebanon, rockets from Syria were fired toward the Israeli side of the Hermon. Last week the IDF thwarted an attempt to plant an IED on the Syrian border, hitting Hezbollah operatives or militants loyal to Assad. The incident on Friday is the latest in this series of events.
It is possible that this is a face-saving gesture, but it seems a stretch that even Arab pride would think that these tiny attacks are any sort of retaliation.

Anyway, things are heating up in Lebanon, slowly, and Hezbollah knows quite well that it can be a wild card in whatever happens.

03/14 Links Pt2: Israelis don’t care that we hate them. But they’d like to know why

Posted: 14 Mar 2014 01:00 PM PDT

From Ian:
Brendan O'Neill: Israelis don't care that we hate them. But they'd like to know why
'The lesson many in the West took from the Holocaust is that nationalism is bad; the message Jews took from it is that nationalism is necessary.'
This cuts to the heart of today's fashionable disdain for little Israel. What many Westerners seem to find most nauseating is that Israel is cocky, confident and committed to preserving its national sovereign rights against all-comers. In short, it's a lot like we used to be before relativism and anti-modernism. I think that Israel reminds us of our older selves, our pre-EU, pre-green days, when we, too, believed in borders, sovereignty, progress, growth.
Now that it's de rigueur in the right-thinking sections of western society to be post–nationalist and multicultural, to be fashionably uncertain about one's national identity, the sight of a border-fortifying state offends and outrages us. In the words of George Gilder, author of The Israel Test, Israel is now hated more for its virtues than for its political or militaristic vices. It's hated for remaining devoted to 'freedom and capitalism' when we're all supposed to be snooty about such things.
If Israel is unofficially being made into a pariah state, it isn't because of its foreignness, or even necessarily its Jewishness, but rather because it is too western for our liking. We loathe it because we loathe ourselves.
Italian MEP Raises Tough Questions over Anti-Semitism in the Arab World
Fiorello Provera, the EU's Vice Chairman on the Committee on Foreign Affairs has written to the European Commission and its High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton, to express his concerns about anti-Semitism in areas of interest to the EU.
Provera wrote yesterday: "In 2012 during the 8th Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean, which was held in Morocco, a demonstrator outside the parliament in Rabat dressed as an orthodox Jew rode a person wearing a donkey's head. It was supposed to symbolise the subservience of Arab regimes to Jews. Unfortunately there is a widespread belief in many Arab countries that Jews play a role behind the scenes when it comes to politics and economics. In Morocco, for example, the secretary general of the Istiqlal party, Hamid Chabat, claimed that the Arab Spring was the result of a Zionist conspiracy, comparable to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion."
The hell with peace
Mr. Black is currently promoting his latest book Financing The Flames of Hate. While he was speaking, at a breakfast meeting, organized by the David Horowitz Freedom Center, about the content of his book, here is what went through my mind:
Political narcissism is cancer,
The result of forgetting the word truth, the world is experiencing stannic control,
Anti-Semitism is now in abundance… anti-Semitism means that Jews must not have a state of their own and thus must never have genuine human rights… the anti-Semites of today are all in cahoots to bring the Jews back to the exilic status from which they got freed 66 years ago, LAST,
Western societies are willingly paying to kill Jews and the outcome, the more Jews killed the richer the killer and his family become.
To understand that sickening phenomenon, here is what I heard and share, some in Mr. Black's own words: (h/t Bob Knot)



Celebrated Israeli war hero Meir Har-Zion dies at 80
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said that he was "one of the greatest warriors in the history of the IDF — an audacious, distinctive commander whose influence in molding generations of fighters and units was pivotal."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called him "one of our greatest heroes," a man who "was steeped in love for the nation and the land."
Har-Zion, who rose to fame as a leader in Israel's first commando force, Unit 101, was born in Herzliya. As a teenager living in Kibbutz Ein Harod, he set out for a hike into Syrian territory with his sister Shoshana and they were taken captive by the Bedouin in the area.
Brighton rocks against anti-Israel bigotry
The actions of the Norwegian Line and the citizens of Brighton are a lesson in courage and illustrate the value in fighting back. The Norwegian Line and the SFI have gone beyond political and intellectual pronouncements and taken action against the hatred, bigotry, and perhaps antisemitism they encounter.
Only firm, challenging actions can end the bigotry of boycott. It is encouraging in his admirable speech in the Israeli Knesset on March 12, 2014, British Prime Minister Cameron spoke both of the "poisonous ideology of Islamist extremism," and of the prejudice of the UN General Assembly which in 2013 passed three times as many resolutions critical of Israel as on Syria, Iran, and North Korea combined.
Perhaps that clear message will lead to action.
On Israel, the intellectuals are driving the students mad
Galway's President Browne – no doubt horrified that the You Tube video has been seen by 41,000 people so far and has associated the university with thuggery – is appalled. He has promised an immediate investigation followed by action to ensure the campus public square is protected for all.
Perhaps some of those students at Galway will be disciplined. Perhaps one of them deserves to be. But I blame the parents; the intellectual parents, that is.
The real culprits are the anti-Israel intellectuals who are driving those students mad. They tell the students that Zionism is racism, while its creation, Israel, has "ethnically cleansed" the Arabs, built an "apartheid state" and is now carrying out a slow "genocide" in Gaza. Stuff a young idealist's head with that kind of rubbish and do not be surprised if the result is hatred and thuggery.
Anti-Israel student group suspended at Northeastern for vandalism, intimidation, disruption
Northeastern provided me with the following statement (emphasis added): "The temporary suspension of SJP was handed down only after a careful and thorough review of the facts. Despite repeated efforts by university officials to work with the leadership of SJP, the organization has repeatedly shown a disregard for university policies over an extended period of time. Specific violations include—but are not limited to—vandalism of university property, distribution of flyers in residence halls without prior approval, and disrupting the events of other student groups.
Contrary to the assertions in the petition, SJP leaders have not been banned permanently from participation, and the organization has had many opportunities to discuss its conduct with university officials. Further, reports that expulsion procedures have been initiated against students affiliated with SJP are false.
The issue here is not one of free speech or the exchange of disparate ideas. Instead, it is about holding every member of our community to the same standards, and addressing SJP'S non-compliance with longstanding policies to which all student organizations at Northeastern are required to adhere."
Report From Members of the Academic and Labor Delegation to Palestine 2014
An event at San Francisco State University last week had several Jewish organizations deeply concerned.
Our friend, Emunah attended. Here is her report:
The March 6 discussion at San Francisco State University "Report and Discussion From Members of the North American Based Academic and Labor Delegation to Palestine 2014," had no pretense of objectivity. Although promoted on the official SFSU website of the College of Ethnic studies, the presentation was hardly academic in nature. Rather it was a series of biased and unsubstantiated observations, devoid of history and context, by an admittedly biased panel. The College of Ethnic Studies houses the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative, (AMED), a co- sponsor of last years notorious rally that featured placards glorifying murder. The department has never condemned the glorification of violence expressed at that rally, or expressed regret for their role in the event. They have made no attempt to distance themselves from the psychotically violent writings of the former president of the General Union of Palestinians Students, Mohammad Hammad. To those attending the discussion, the reason is now obvious. The panel's cavalier attitude towards violent threats on campus was reflected by their attitude towards violent threats abroad.
My BDS Questions
Isn't it strange that of all the human rights violators, the only state that is targeted by the BDS also happens to the world's sole Jewish state?
Richard Cohen writes, "Arab nations have shamefully been granted an exception to the standards expected of the rest of the world, as if they were children. If I were an Israeli, I'd be worried. If I were an Arab, I'd be insulted. If I were a critic only of Israel, I'd be ashamed."
You would think that academics would know better.
Yet, the offensive and patently unjust vote by the American Studies Association (ASA) in February of this year to boycott Israeli academic institutions violated the most basic tenets of academic freedom, open exchange and the sharing of ideas.
"Bravery is to be a Zionist on campus"
The previous year, Oxford students had effectively mobilised to defeat a motion to mandate the University's student union to join the BDS movement. It was the efforts of a handful of students – led by the indefatigable Eylon Aslan-Levy – who in a private capacity, spent enormous amounts of time and energy fighting for Israel on campus.
Having recognised that there was no official society uniting pro-Israel students – both Jewish and non-Jewish – we reinvigorated the existing but somewhat dormant, Oxford University Israel Society. Following an excellent start, I decided to build upon our successes with a transparent, democratic and inclusive constitution, reflecting the views of our diverse membership as much as possible.
Open letter to the Presbyterian Church from an Iraqi Jew
Some of your members, under the banner of human rights, have demonized one country. According to them, the one country that destabilizes the Middle East and creates much pain and suffering to the Arab world, is not Iran, Syria, or Lebanon. It is Israel. They believe the root of the problem is Zionism and the return of the Jews to Israel.
Your group has just published a booklet entitled "Zionism Unsettled". The booklet claims that if it weren't for the Zionist movement that established Israel, the Jews from Arab lands would still be living in peace and harmony among the Arab nations.
Plight of Palestinians in Syria Ignored at First Night of Christian Conference
The opportunity came on Monday night's opening of the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference, currently taking place at the Jacir International – a five-star hotel in Bethlehem. This conference, organized by Bethlehem Bible College, has attracted more than 500 Evangelical Protestants from around the world, mostly from North America and Europe.
If a Palestinian leader such as President Mahmoud Abbas or Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah had made a plea at the conference for the people dying in Yarmouk, it probably would have gained traction and made a media splash. It would also have raised awareness about the plight of Palestinian refugees in Syria, who are suffering on a horrific scale.
But during the first night of the conference, when Palestinian political leaders addressed attendees, no one said a word about what was happening to Palestinian refugees in Syria.
Student journalists attacked for challenging homophobic preachers
Last week both Yusuf Chambers of the Islamic Education and Research Academy (IERA) and UthmanLateef appeared at the University of Nottingham as part of 'Discover Islam Week'.
Given that both these speakers have a record of expressing homophobic sentiment, student journalists both approached LGBT Network members and questioned the two men on their beliefs.
Calls for intolerant speakers to be allowed to speak in order for their bigotry to be exposed are common from students, so you would think that this would have been acceptable behaviour.
Instead a statement has been released by theLGBT Network and the Islamic Society at the university which targets those journalists for trying "to provoke an antagonistic atmosphere" on campus.
Shocker in London: Guardian reporter refers to some Palestinians as 'terrorists' (without quotes)
The Guardian – like other UK papers – seems to have an unwritten rule against using the term 'terrorist' to characterize Palestinians – even those affiliated with groups designated as 'terrorists' by the US and Europe – except when safely surrounded in quotes. Typically, the word 'militant' is used instead – reflecting the sage advice of their Style Guide which counsels their journalists that "the most important thing is that, in news reporting, we are not seen – because of the language we use – to be taking sides".
Indeed, banish the thought that Guardian journalists may be taking sides in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict!
BBC can't tell its Hamas from its Islamic Jihad?
Instead, this report continues in the vein of its predecessor by amplifying the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's flimsy propaganda, according to which the barrage of dozens of terror attacks with military-grade missiles on the civilian populations of towns and villages in southern Israel is a "response" to the IDF's targeting of three paramilitary terrorists who launched a mortar attack on soldiers carrying out routine work near the border fence on March 11th.
Also in common with the previous report, this one too downplays Hamas' responsibility under the terms of the November 2012 ceasefire agreement to prevent missile fire and other terror attacks from the Gaza Strip – and its proven ability to do so when it so wishes.
It's Just "Tit-For-Tat" For the Financial Times
While its actual article doesn't employ such terminology, the Financial Times' subhead on its Middle East news page raises some eyebrows:
"Tit-for-tat" expresses a false moral equivalence between Palestinian terrorists initiating the firing of rockets towards Israeli civilian targets and Israeli counter-measures to protect its civilians.
Suspiciously similar to the all too familiar "cycle of violence."
Tokyo police make arrest in Anne Frank vandalism
The suspect, identified in the announcement Wednesday of his arrest as an "unemployed man in his 30s," in a statement admitted to some involvement in the vandalism of the books in February, according to Rocket News 24, citing the Japanese-language MSN Sankei News.
Police arrested the man on March 7 for entering a bookstore in the Ikebukuro district to hang a poster without permission. It is not known what the posters said.
Footage from the store's security cameras reportedly showed the same man wandering back and forth inside the same bookstore through sections dealing with the Holocaust, including the day that some of the damage occurred.
Toronto bookstore removes inappropriate sign over Holocaust volume
A leading Canadian bookstore chain has taken down a sign hawking a large Holocaust volume with the slogan "Oy Veh! Can't believe I read the whole thing!"
The Indigo chain removed the signs Wednesday at one of its Toronto stores after customers posted pictures of them on Twitter.
The signs were placed over racks holding the 768-page "The Holocaust Chronicle," an encyclopedic treatment of the Jewish war-era experience in Europe published in 2000.
Anti-Semites Attack ZAKA Official in Ukraine
Cohen was treated at the scene by medical staff trained only two weeks ago by the organization, and has been hospitalized with a stab wound to his leg; he is currently in mild to moderate condition.
Recent reports indicated that extremists have been targeting the Jewish community in Ukraine, and that the extremists include a member of the opposition. A synagogue was firebombed last week by unknown assailants in the embattled country; at least one synagogue in Crimea has also been defaced.
New Gas Chambers 'Hoax' Film on YouTube
The way the Anti-Defamation League describes a newly-released Holocaust denial film, "The Jewish Gas Chamber Hoax," released by serial Holocaust denier Eric Hunt, it sounds pretty much like old lies repackaged in a new format.
Apparently Holocaust deniers, taking a page from master Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels (wait – was he real or a hoax?), just love to hear the same impossible evidence, over and over, expecting it to either become "true," or have enough people believe it that the truth becomes irrelevant.
'Did the Mossad Blow Up the Malaysian Airlines Jet' Article on Hoax Website Viral
A website is claiming that the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, blew up Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, but it's a hoax.
The article, "Did the Mossad Blow Up the Malaysian Airlines Jet?" was posted to NoDisinfo.com, which only publishes fake news.
"It is their exclusive system, that is these rabid Zionist Jews, who plot and commit great crimes against humanity, murdering people outright through the means of deception – assisted through the reliance on forged identities," it reads.
At the top of the page, it says the article is published in the "Other Hoaxes" section.
Joint Israel-UK stem cell research wows Peres, Cameron
President Shimon Peres showed off some of Israel's latest medical achievements to visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday. The two leaders viewed an exhibition prepared for the British leader that showcased collaborative stem-cell research between Israeli and UK scientists.
Scientists from the two countries have been working together for the past two years on stem cell projects under a program directed by BIRAX, the British Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership Regenerative Medicine Initiative. The projects are funded jointly by Israel and the UK.
Enemies? No, patients, say Israeli doctors treating Syrians
The West Galilee Hospital in Nahariya is no stranger to war. Located only six miles south of the Lebanese border, it took a direct missile hit during the 2006 conflict with Hezbollah. But the Syrian war has pervaded these halls and wards in a much more personal way: through wounded Syrians, who are picked up at the border and brought here by the Israeli military for free treatment
Since the first two Syrian patients arrived nearly a year ago, the hospital has treated more than 220 Syrians, out of around 600 who have been brought to Israel. About a third of those treated in Nahariya have been children, some of whom arrived unconscious or unaccompanied by a relative.
"Something explodes and next thing, they open their eyes in a foreign country, and everyone is speaking Hebrew," says Dr. Tsvi Sheleg, the hospital's assistant director general. "They are in an enemy country – that's how they see it."

Purim music video: "What Does Haman Say?"

Posted: 14 Mar 2014 11:00 AM PDT

Cute:

)

(h/t Yerushalimey)

03/14 Links Pt1: Abbas Rejects U.S. Plan; What Obama furtively furthers; A pilot in Noah's Ark

Posted: 14 Mar 2014 09:00 AM PDT

From Ian:
Abbas Uses Fatah Speech to Reject U.S. Plan
The day after the speech, Fahmi Zaarir, vice-chairman of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, stated on Radio Palestine on March 11 that Abbas had reported on "a framework plan to perpetuate a number of principles in a final agreement," and that Abbas remains faithful to Fatah's founding principles. Zaarir did not quote Abbas directly, but said, "Everyone knows what these principles are: Palestine's borders from the Jordan River to the 1967 lines and no compromise regarding all of Jerusalem based on the '67 lines." Regarding refugees, "They themselves will agree based on UN decisions and the Arab Initiative." Abbas spoke of the "right of return" of refugees – of all refugees – into the State of Israel itself. Even those who elect not to move to Israel would all receive compensation, Zaarir said. States which housed the refugees – Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria – would also be compensated for their hospitality. Zaarir emphasized that Abbas repeated emphatically that he would under no circumstances accept the "Jewish state" principle and that he would bring any agreement – if one was reached – to the entire Palestinian people, wherever they may be, for their approval. (h/t Bob Knot)
Elliott Abrams: Abbas and 'right of return' will defeat Kerry
By making the "right of return" a personal right for each Palestinian, Abbas is saying the PLO has no right to negotiate over it and no right to sign a agreement that defeats or even limits that "right." If that's really the PLO position, there will never be an agreement.
Second, if Abbas doesn't really mean it, he is narrowing his own negotiating room to near zero and obviously not preparing his own people for the compromises peace will entail.
Third, his definition of "refugee" is as broad as it could possibly be. According to Abbas, a Palestinian who left Israel in 1948 or 1967 has the right to move to Israel or to decline, but his "no" does not even bind his own foreign-born children. His son, and presumably grandson, who have never set foot in Israel and may well have citizenship in (for example) Canada have their own separate rights to move to Israel. Five million separate choices, says Abbas.
Sarah Honig: What Obama furtively furthers
One outrageously insolent remark was remarkably ignored in the hullaballoo generated by US President Barack Obama's Bibi-bashing interview on the eve of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's latest White House visit.
Wedged into the presidential malarkey was a new allegation against the Mideast's sole democracy. Obama accused Israel of no less than continuing to "place restrictions on Arab-Israelis in ways that run counter to Israel's traditions."
Huh? Really? What restrictions? And does Obama now also presume to pass judgment on what are indisputably our domestic affairs? Is there no limit to his meddling and hubris?



Judge Calls On Govt. To Adopt Levy Report Immediately
Uri Shtruzman, retired judge of the Tel Aviv District Court, spoke to Arutz Sheva about Supreme Court Judge Edmond Levy z''l, who passed away this Tuesday. Shtruzman, who knew Levy personally over the course of many years, called on Israel to adopt the Levy Report.
The report, authored by a commission headed by Levy in 2012, proves that Judea and Samaria are not "occupied territories" according to international law, and argues the legality of Israel declaring sovereignty over the region.
"There are political reasons why it isn't applied," said Shtruzman, noting the government effectively shelved the report. "I support the report...I've written similar opinions even before the report."

Kerry: Netanyahu wrong to insist Palestinians recognize Israel as Jewish state
Secretary of State John Kerry told members of Congress on Thursday that international law already declares Israel a Jewish state, and called Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu's insistence on a public declaration of Israel's Jewish character from the Palestinians "a mistake" in the diplomatic process.
"I think its a mistake for some people to be raising it again and again as the critical decider of their attitude toward the possibility of a state, and peace, and we've obviously made that clear," Kerry told the House Foreign Relations Committee, in a hearing on budget matters.
Yesterday, Kerry told a Senate panel that Israel and the Palestinians had less trust in one another than at any point in over nine months of negotiations. (h/t MtTB)
Ministers Tell Kerry 'Condemn Terror, Not Jewish State'
Deputy Education Minister Avi Wortzman called on Kerry to condemn the rocket barrage from Gaza on Israel's south, in which over 100 rockets have been fired since Wednesday.
"In days when citizens of the state of Israel are attacked by rockets, I expect clear statements from Kerry against the terror organizations instead of undermining the basic rights of the Jewish people to their land," stated Wortzman.
Get this: Kerry is not pro-Palestinian enough for leftist US Jews
Here is the emerging hard-left line on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's peace process: It's not good enough; not accommodating enough to the Palestinians. It's even dangerous, because Kerry is "caving" to Netanyahu and demanding "unjust" concessions from Abbas that were never raised in previous rounds of negotiations.
The American Jewish bête noire Peter Beinart, darling of the J Street crowd and Obama administration circles, has now taken up this line. Beinart is savaging Kerry for -- get this -- "slavishly ginning up" an "unworkable and unjust" peace plan that just doesn't meet "rightful" Palestinian expectations.
EU envoy to Israel: You shouldn't have released prisoners
In an interview, Lars Faaborg-Andersen said that "had the EU been asked to advise Israel on which of the three positions [sought by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] to accept as the basis for discussion — accepting to discuss [Palestinian statehood] on the [basis of the pre-] '67 lines; accepting a settlement moratorium, or releasing 104 pre-Oslo prisoners — I know which two of those the EU would have pointed the Israeli government to take. You didn't do that," he said. "That's your own sovereign choice. You also have to deal with the consequences."
Bolstering the critique, Faaborg-Andersen said, "The fact that these pre-Oslo prisoners are being released and coming back and being treated as heroes, is at the outset facilitated by you, because you are releasing them."
Israeli jets hit 7 targets in Gaza early Friday
The Israeli Air Force struck seven targets in the Gaza Strip early Friday morning in response to a second day of rocket fire on southern Israel.
According to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, IAF aircraft hit four sites in the southern Strip and three in the north.
"We will continue to retaliate to the aggression emanating from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip," said IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner. "Militants attacking Israel from the Gaza Strip will not feel safe, will pay the price and will find that their actions are futile."
Sporadic rocket fire from Gaza continues to hit South despite 'ceasefire'
A rocket fell in the Ashkelon Coast Council area around 5 p.m. Wednesday and just before 8 p.m. three rockets fell in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council area. No injuries or damage were reported in the attacks.
After the rockets fell in Sha'ar Hanegev, the Iron Dome rocket defense system intercepted a rocket headed for the Southern town of Netivot.
Later in the evening another 2 rockets fell, one in Sderot in an open area of the city and another in the Eshkol Region, in an open area. No damages or injury were reported in that attacks.
IDF deploys more Iron Domes, calls up air reserves
Earlier Thursday, an emergency air defense reservists call-up was issued by the IDF.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon green lighted the call-up during a security cabinet meeting, Haaretz reported. IDF officials told the news outlet the emergency measure would be of "limited" scale for the time being.
An emergency call-up must typically be approved by the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee before it officially takes effect, though some past call-ups have been ratified retroactively after reservists were already en route to their bases.
A pilot sailing in Noah's Ark
Last week's raid on the Iranian ship Klos-C solved the mystery, and took me back to January 3rd 2002, when the IDF intercepted the ship Karine-A, 500 kilometers from Israel.
While I was serving as head of helicopter operations at the Air Force Headquarters, Navy officials requested our assistance in capturing a ship which had been purchased by the Palestinian Authority, loaded with weapons in Iran, and was heading towards Gaza.
The operation was code named "Noah's Ark".
Abbas Calls Israeli Defense Against Gaza Rocket Attacks 'Cold Blooded Murder'
Today, after meeting with Cameron, Palestine's unelected dictator was obviously prodded to say something. And he did. He condemned 'all military escalation, including rockets' to make sure that Israel's self defense against his Hamas friends was included in the 'condemnation'. And then he went on to rant about how Israel killing three members of that Islamic Jihad mortar team firing rounds into Israel was 'cold blooded murder', repeating his earlier nonsense.
Who killed Arafat? Abbas suggests it was rival Dahlan
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has accused one of his main rivals, Mohammed Dahlan, of involvement in six murders, hinting that he might also be behind the death of former leader Yasser Arafat.
Dahlan, who lives in exile in the Gulf, denied the allegations of his arch foe Abbas, their bitter row now playing out publicly across the Palestinian media and on social media.
Once a prominent official in Abbas's Western-backed Fatah movement, Dahlan was ousted from the group in 2011 following accusations of corruption. He denied the charges and remains a powerful figure on the sidelines, forging ties with numerous Arab leaders and maintaining links with the splintered Fatah.
Allah will gather Israelis so Palestinians can kill them, says senior Palestinian official Abbas Zaki
Senior Palestinian official Abbas Zaki said in an interview broadcast yesterday on official PA TV that Israelis "have no belief, no principles" and that they "are an advanced instrument of evil." Therefore, "Allah will gather them so that we can kill them," he explained:
Palestinian official: "Allah will gather [the Israelis] so we can kill them"


Hamas in worst cash crisis since seizing Gaza
Gaza's Hamas rulers have been hit by the worst economic crisis since seizing the territory seven years ago and face growing discontent, even among core supporters, because there's no sign of relief from a blockade enforced not only by Israel but also by a suddenly hostile Egypt.
Hamas government employees have complained publicly about getting only partial salaries for the past four months. Bus drivers have staged a strike over soaring fuel prices. Laborers have lost jobs as construction has dried up. Hamas' own surveys show its popularity plummeting.
Egypt Army Says 1,370 Smuggling Tunnels to Gaza Now Closed
The Egyptian Army said on Wednesday that it has destroyed 1,370 smuggling tunnels under its border with Gaza, Lebanon's Daily Star reported, citing AFP in Cairo.
The tunnels, many under the border town of Rafah, are used to transfer food, fuel and consumer products, as well as arms and money for Hamas, the militant political party that rules Gaza.
Egypt Ignores Hamas, Talks with Islamic Jihad
Hamas was fuming on Thursday upon discovering that Egypt had communicated with the Islamic Jihad directly to broker a ceasefire with Israel, while intentionally ignoring Hamas.
The Ma'an news agency noted that the decision to coordinate directly with Islamic Jihad, which launched the vast majority of Wednesday's rocket barrage on Israel, and not with Hamas, which rules Gaza, highlights the continuing tension between Egypt's military and the group.
Hamas and Iran admit increased cooperation
Iran's parliament spokesman, Ali Larijani, told Lebanese news channel Al-Mayadeen on Sunday that Iran's relations with Hamas have returned to normal. Iran, he said, supports Hamas as a "resistance organization."
Relations between the Islamic Republic and the Palestinian organization deteriorated following Hamas's decision to abandon its headquarters in Damascus in January 2012, a move Iran considered particularly hurtful to its close ally Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Sarah Honig: Jordan's bizarre jurists
The truth is that the free-Daqamseh drive by Jordanian lawyers is hardly new and considerably preceded the latest pretext to revive it. The very fact that Daqamseh is accorded succor from Jordan's legal hierarchy is, in and of itself, cause for grave concern.
Daqamseh was sentenced to seven life terms, which in the Jordanian context means 25 years in prison. Yet he is far from denounced and disowned by his compatriots. The reverse is true. Three years ago then-Justice Minister Hussein Mjali didn't hesitate to hector blatantly for Daqamseh's release and to portray the cowardly killer of defenseless children as a laudable role model.
Moreover, Daqamseh is no chastened penitent. He boastfully told a Jordanian weekly that "if I could return to that moment, I would behave exactly the same way. Every day that passes, I grow stronger in the belief that what I did was my duty."
Iran blames 'Zionists' for new evidence it ordered Lockerbie blast
The film, "Lockerbie: What Really Happened," broadcast on Al Jazeera on Tuesday night, featured testimony from a former Iranian intelligence officer that Iran's leaders ordered the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in retaliation for an accidental US navy strike on an Iranian commercial plane six months earlier. The blast, which killed 270 people, was the worst terrorist attack on American citizens with the exception of 9/11.
The Iranian officer Abolghasem Mesbahi, who once reported directly to former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani but defected to Germany in the 1990s, told Al Jazeera, "Iran decided to retaliate as soon as possible. The decision was made by the whole system in Iran and confirmed by [supreme leader] Ayatollah Khomeini."
Iranian Negotiators Double Down on Red Line Against Negotiations Over Ballistic Missile Program
Politically an outright Iranian refusal is likely to erode confidence in the Obama administration's diplomatic nimbleness. Iranian negotiators had managed to exclude mention of Iran's missile program from the interim Joint Action Plan (JPA), an omission that White House figures justified to lawmakers and journalists as justified for the sake of building momentum. Lead U.S. diplomacy, including lead negotiator Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman, instead insisted that Iran's ballistic missile program would be addressed in comprehensive negotiations.
Turkey: Death of Young Protester Triggers Outrage
The death of 15-year-old Berkin Elvan sparked violent clashes between protesters and riot police across the country.
Berkin was hit in the head by a teargas canister after going out to buy bread during the anti-government Gezi Park protests last year. The boy had been in a coma for 269 days.
The double edged sword of Jihad
Islamic nations are again learning that the jihad is a volatile instrument of war that can easily backfire on those who preach it; that "holy war" is hardly limited to fighting and subjugating "infidels" -- whether the West in general, Israel in particular, or the millions of non-Muslim minorities under Islam -- but can also be used to fight "apostates," that is, Muslims accused of not being Islamic enough.
In an unprecedented move and following Egypt's lead, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain recently withdrew their ambassadors from Qatar, largely due to its Al Jazeera propaganda network which, since the ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood, has been inciting chaos in the region.
Saudis ban kids named Benjamin
Saudi Arabia released a list of 50 names, including Binyamin, Maya, and Linda, that parents are forbidden from calling their children, the Gulf News reported.
The banned names are either blasphemous, non-Arabic or non-Islamic, or contradictory to the kingdom's culture or religion, said the Saudi interior ministry.
Some of the banned names seem not to fall under any of those categories, however. Abdul Naser is most decidedly a Muslim name, but it is also the name of the 1950′s and '60s Egyptian president Gamal Abdul Nasser who was a rival of Saudi Arabia's. Banned names Amir (prince), Malika (queen), and Mamlaka (kingdom) are all Arabic, but have to do with royalty, which may be a reason for their inclusion on the list. Binyamin just so happens to be the Arabic (and Hebrew) pronunciation of Benjamin (as in Israel's current Prime Minister Netanyahu).

The best shadchan in the world

Posted: 14 Mar 2014 07:00 AM PDT

This comes from a 1990 Usenet post by the late Dr. Eliot Shimoff, who had one of the best senses of humor of anyone I have (virtually) known. Around Purim time every year, he posted many great jokes, and this is one of them.

(Shadchan=matchmaker, shidduch=match, shtetl=small Jewish village)
The shadchan in a small shtetl went to the wealthiest man in the shtetl and offered to arrange a shidduch (match) for the man's son. The wealthy man was scornful: "I am the wealthiest man in this entire shtetl, and in the surrounding four shtetlach. I have four cows and a horse, and my own barn. I need someone like you to make a shidduch for my son???!!!"

The shadchan explained: "This is not just any young lady. The girl I have in mind is Baron Rothschild's daughter."

The wealthy man was suddenly interested: "If you can arrange that, it's worth 100 rubles!"

The shadhan then went to Paris. After great difficulty, he finally got an appointment with Baron Rothschild himself. "Baron, I have a wonderful shidduch for your daughter."

"Ha," the baron exclaimed, "I need a shadchan like you from some tiny shtetl to get a shidduch for my daughter? I am Baron Rothschild; my daughter can have her choice of young men from any major city on the Continent!"

The shadchan replied: "Ah, Baron, this is not just any young man. The young man I have in mind for your daughter is a vice-president of Chase Manhattan Bank." The Baron replied: "If you can arrange that, it would be suitable, and worth thousands of francs."

So the shadchan traveled to New York. Again, after great difficulty, he managed to get an appointment with David Rockefeller of Chase Manhattan Bank.

"Mr. Rockefeller, I have a wonderful candidate for a vice-presidency of your bank."

Rockefeller was shocked. "I have executive training programs, and recruitment programs, and one of the finest personnel offices in the entire finance industry. Do you think I need suggestions from some shmendrik from the shtetl?"

"Ah," replied the shadchan, " this is not just any young man I am proposing to you. This is Baron Rothschild's future son-in-law!"

And that, my friends, is the definition of a good shadchan.

"Jews are scum of the earth": Jew-hatred in Arab media this week

Posted: 14 Mar 2014 04:30 AM PDT

Virulent antisemitism continues in the Arab media, completely unreported in the West.

As is often the case, Jordan is the source of a great deal of this incitement, and the killing of a Jordanian judge (who was apparently attacking Israeli soldiers) at the Allenby Bridge this week fueled it even more.

Al Madenah News has a column from a woman, Dalida al-Utti, who says that Jews are even worse than "descendants of apes and pigs" - they are actually "children of dogs." 

 Another woman, Magda Atallah writing in Assawsana, says that any Jew who does not kill a non-Jew in his lifetime faces the wrath of God, according to the Talmud. She also says the Holocaust is a lie and that "Jews are the murderers of the prophets and apostles and have been the basis of the scourge everywhere from Khyber to Jerusalem to Beirut and Cairo."

Fayez Da'jah in JordanZad laments that Jordan sometimes saves Israeli tourists who get into trouble while hiking, even though they are only in Jordan to plant fake Jewish archaeological treasures to later claim them - or to steal real archaeological artifacts.  He is sorry that such a policy of saving lives is being implemented for these Jews.

Dr. Ahmad Shawabkeh in Assabeel is upset that Jews continuously kill and destroy, while Arabs only condemn them. He states simply that "Jews are the scum of the earth." Twice.

Dr. Mohammed Al-Majali in Al Ghad discusses the Quranic quote that the people most hostile to Muslims in the world are the Jews. Jews, we are told, regard all non-Jews as beasts who must serve them. He helpfully adds that Jews "are people of treachery and deceit" and he compares them to the Devil.

On a more "scholarly" note, Ahmad Samih has written a book about Jewish schemes to take over Africa. Its actual title is "Jews and Judaism in the modern era in Africa."

Another new book, reviewed in a couple of articles and written by a Palestinian Arab, is called "Zionist schemes of the 21st Century." Here's the cover:


Finally, Al Manar discusses a new organization meant to allow Jews in France to defend themselves from constant attacks. They headline the story as saying that the organization trains Jews to break Arabs' bones.

Any single one of these articles would make instant headlines and result in full-throated condemnations had they been written for Western media. But no one expects Arabs to adhere to the same standards of decency that they expect from anyone else. This expectation of Arab hate is, frankly, racism.

The writers of these articles and books are often academics. The newspapers publishing these are mainstream. The pushback against this antisemitism is nonexistent. The NGOs that supposedly are against antisemitism are silent. And the world thinks that Arab hatred of Jews is natural, and not worthy of being mentioned.

There are many terror groups under Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah

Posted: 14 Mar 2014 02:03 AM PDT

Fatah's Facebook page has this:


In the middle is Fatah's logo. Yes, the logo of Mahmoud Abbas' political party includes weapons.

The upper left logo is for the Abu Rish Brigades of Fatah.

The lower left logo is that of the Brigades of the Martyr Abdul-Qader al-Husseini.




The upper right is the logo of the Fatah Hawks. They were active before and during the second intifada, collaborating with Hamas on several attacks, but have been mostly quiet since 2005.

The lower right is the logo of the Ayman Memushuda (sp?) Brigades. Here are photos of their "martyrs."

The Nidal Brigades uses the same logo, as does the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, which may be the umbrella group of these last two.

With the exception of the Fatah Hawks, each of these groups claims to exist today and they have never been asked to put down their guns by Fatah's leaders. They are not pretending to be PA security or police - these are terrorists through and through.

And some of them fired rockets at Israel in the past couple of days.

Yet the media and politicians dance around these easily proven facts, and don't stand up to Abbas for breaking his promise of dismantling these groups.

Abbas, in charge of some 4 or 5 separate terror organizations, is still hailed as the most moderate leader Palestinian Arabs are ever likely to have. That may be true, but he is also in charge of proud terror groups.
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