A video well worth watching, in which a very articulate envoy tells it like it is on a variety of pertinent topics:
Saturday, 30 April 2011
Friday, 29 April 2011
Intimidation and Abuse of Journalists in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East (video)
In contrast, of course, to the situation in democratic Israel.
And on the sexual assault in February on journalist Lara Logan in Tahrir Square as she remembers it see http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/29/business/media/29logan.html?_r=1
Hamas: The Hard, Hateful Facts
It contains the hard, hateful facts about Hamas that the BBC and similar media outlets conceal:
The Government of Israel hopes that the Palestinian Authority chooses peace with Israel and not a pact with Hamas.
In conjunction with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s comments regarding this, he also stated that:
“The Palestinian Authority needs to choose between peace with Israel and peace with Hamas. Peace with both is impossible because Hamas aspires to destroy the State of Israel and says so openly. It fires missiles at our cities; it fires anti-tank rockets at our children. I think that the very idea of this reconciliation shows the weakness of the Palestinian Authority and causes one to wonder if Hamas will seize control of Judea and Samaria like it seized control of the Gaza Strip. I hope that the Palestinian Authority chooses correctly, i.e. that it chooses peace with Israel. The choice is in its hands.”Hamas is an Iranian-backed terrorist organization, whose charter calls for the annihilation of Israel. Hamas terrorists have fired thousands of rockets on Israel’s cities. Only two weeks ago, it fired an anti-tank rocket at a school bus which killed a 16-year old boy.
The Quartet (United States, Russia, EU and the UN) has placed clear conditions for what is required of a legitimate negotiating partner with Israel: recognition of Israel’s right to exist, renunciation of terrorism, and abiding by previous agreements.
Hamas unequivocally rejects these conditions, as it reiterated in yesterday’s press conference that “the quartet has become obsolete”, and makes clear that it will never change its ideological opposition to the existence of Israel.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rightly told the U.S. Congress in April 2009 that the United States “will not deal with, nor in any way fund, a Palestinian government that includes Hamas unless and until Hamas has renounced violence, recognized Israel and agreed to follow the previous obligations of the Palestinian Authority.”
Israel expects similar clarity from all responsible members of the international community and from all those who hope to advance peace in our region.
The President added: “The United Nations cannot accept or recognize a terrorist organization as a state in September. It is not too late. Let’s take the road of peace. Let’s not create an impossible situation – neither for the Palestinians, nor for us.”
The foundations upon which Hamas was established are plainly problematic. Accordingly this document outlines elements that make-up the Covenant of Hamas
The Covenant of the Hamas: Main Points
The Islamic Resistance Movement, also known as the HAMAS, is an extremist fundamentalist Islamic organization with de-facto control over Gaza and a strong presence in the West Bank. Its Covenant, issued on August 18, 1988, is a comprehensive manifesto comprised of 36 separate articles, all of which promote the basic HAMAS goal of destroying the State of Israel through Jihad (Islamic Holy War). The following are excerpts of the HAMAS Covenant:
Goals of the HAMAS:
“The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.” (Article 6)On the destruction of Israel:
“Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” (Preamble)The exclusive Moslem nature of the area:
“The land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf [Holy Possession] consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgment Day. No one can renounce it or any part, or abandon it or any part of it.” (Article 11)
“Palestine is an Islamic land… Since this is the case, the Liberation of Palestine is an individual duty for every Moslem wherever he may be.” (Article 13)The call to jihad:
“The day the enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In the face of the Jews’ usurpation, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised.” (Article 15)
“Ranks will close, fighters joining other fighters, and masses everywhere in the Islamic world will come forward in response to the call of duty, loudly proclaiming: ‘Hail to Jihad!’. This cry will reach the heavens and will go on being resounded until liberation is achieved, the invaders vanquished and Allah’s victory comes about.” (Article 33)Rejection of a negotiated peace settlement:
“[Peace] initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement… Those conferences are no more than a means to appoint the infidels as arbitrators in the lands of Islam… There is no solution for the Palestinian problem except by Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility.” (Article 13)Condemnation of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty:
“Egypt was, to a great extent, removed from the circle of struggle [against Zionism] through the treacherous Camp David Agreement. The Zionists are trying to draw other Arab countries into similar agreements in order to bring them outside the circle of struggle….Leaving the circle of struggle against Zionism is high treason, and cursed be he who perpetrates such an act.” (Article 32)Anti-Semitic incitement:
"The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: ‘O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.” (Article 7)
“The enemies have been scheming for a long time … and have accumulated huge and influential material wealth. With their money, they took control of the world media… With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the globe… They stood behind the French Revolution, the Communist Revolution and most of the revolutions we hear about… With their money they formed secret organizations – such as the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs and the Lions – which are spreading around the world, in order to destroy societies and carry out Zionist interests… They stood behind World War I … and formed the League of Nations through which they could rule the world. They were behind World War II, through which they made huge financial gains… There is no war going on anywhere without them having their finger in it.” (Article 22)
“Zionism scheming has no end, and after Palestine, they will covet expansion from the Nile to the Euphrates River. When they have finished digesting the area on which they have laid their hand, they will look forward to more expansion. Their scheme has been laid out in the ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion’.” (Article 32)
“The HAMAS regards itself the spearhead and the vanguard of the circle of struggle against World Zionism… Islamic groups all over the Arab world should also do the same, since they are best equipped for their future role in the fight against the warmongering Jews.” (Article 32)
Mutely in the Mall: Boycott Derangement Syndrome in Auckland, New Zealand (video)
Hat tip: reader Shirlee
BDS Rapper (video)
At Hampshire College, Massachusetts, cheering the Boycott Derangement Syndromers at the University of California Berkeley and San Diego along. An assault on the intelligence as well as on truth, of course. By the way, the good news, just in, is that the "Students' for Justice in Palestine"-sponsored BDS motion at the UCSD has been defeated:
Louis Farrakhan's Judeophobic Rant at Howard University (video)
Here is as sickeningly poisonous an antisemitic speech as any that is likely to assail our ears. It comes from that incorrigible American judeophobe Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam. Note the appreciative noises from his audience.
Regarding this speech, see http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/10180
Regarding this speech, see http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/10180
While Fatah and Hamas Cosy Up, Al Beeb's Man Suggests to Bibi's that Israel Abandon "Old Nostrums" Regarding Hamas
Nevertheless, Myrie interrupted a tad too readily and sounded distinctly too emotively involved in his argument when in strident, passionate tones he suggested to Regev that Israel should cease to "follow old nostrums" and take Hamas to its bosom now that Fatah has accepted Hamas "as a partner for peace".
Determined to stand his ground, the stolid Regev managed to state that Israel does seek peace and is willing to negotiate but that Hamas is an authoritarian oppressive organisation that wants Israel destroyed, that advocates the killing not only of Israelis but of Jews worldwide, that tramples human rights in Gaza, including those of women and gays, and is hardly trustworthy as a negotiating partner.
That's the same Al Beeb, of course, which is presently on the defensive over Wikileaks information which appears to show that certain pro-Taliban detainees at Guantanamo Bay were found to be in possession of the telephone number of Bush House, headquarters of the BBC World Service, leading to speculation that someone at Al Beeb is rather partial to Al Qaeda: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2011/04/bbc_world_service_and_afghanistan.html
It would be too much to ask, of course, that Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen and his henchmen also educate themselves - and by extension viewers and listeners - regarding the devious nature of Fatah, and ventilate the entire question of whether the Arab-Israeli conflict really revolves around a fight for territory - or whether Arab rejectionism and Palestinian intransigence is in fact rooted in something that might in fact prove insoluble short of Israel's destruction.
As an article by Yonatan Silverman states:
'The PA's nationalistic hate promotion also includes Islamic messages. It seems to have adopted what was once thought to be only Hamas ideology, that the conflict with Israel is a Ribat – an uncomprising religious war....
The fact is the Palestinian national ethos is brazen malicious deceit and Jew-hatred. Their aim is not peace with Israel but Israel's resting in peace or Israel piece by piece.This is the reality, but the world’s governments have agreed en masse to vote for recognition of a Palestinian State in the UN in September.
Abbas’s appointed minister of religion, Mahmoud Habbash, has taught repeatedly that the conflict with Israel is not territorial but is in accordance with Islamic law: “Allah has preordained for us the Ribat on this blessed land. We are committed to it by Allah’s command. Let no one be mistaken or under the illusion that Ribat is a choice and nothing more. It is a commandment.”
He has also preached that the conflict against Israel – over all of Israel – is cited in the Koran: “The catastrophe, in truth, did not begin in 1948, but began perhaps in 1917 with the cursed [Balfour] Declaration, which gave a promise to those who did not deserve it... Since that date, resolute people, fighters and Ribat fighters have not ceased upon our blessed land... This conflict is explicit in the Koran and our obligation with regard to it is clarified by the Koran.”
In short, the PA, like Hamas, is telling its people that Islam does not allow for reconciliation with Israel.
Let’s stop pretending.' (See more: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/10178)
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Those Diabolically Hypocritical Leftists and Israel: A Devilishly Delicious Dialogue
However, I've never denied that the paper has some magnificent regular and guest contributors - that courageous prophetess for our time Melanie Phillips, the combative historian and academic Geoffrey Alderman, and the fine investigative journalist Martin Bright being among my favourites.
In the issue immediately before Passover the paper carried a wonderful satire by journalist and author Nick Cohen (who, despite his surname, isn't Jewish, though of course he's generally assumed to be), entitled "Dialogue with a Western Leftist".
Concentrating on leftist attitudes to Israel, his piece captures so well that essential hypocrisy and self-righteousness to which the Left is so incorrigibly prone.
"You say you support the Palestinians?" is the opening question.
"Yes," the leftie, a gem of a pastiche of the genre, replies.
"Which Palestinians?" comes the challenge.
"All right, stop there. You still have to choose. Do you support the Fatah leadership in the West Bank, which may be corrupt and unpleasant but is at least presiding over an economic boom and allowing some freedoms, or Hamas, which tortures its enemies and tramples on the rights of women."
"Hamas won Gaza in free elections. Palestinians must unite against the colonial enemy and the Israel Lobby in the West."
"It is not for us to intervene in Palestinian affairs. Hamas is an issue the Palestinians must resolve themselves."
"Listen to yourself. 'It's not for us to intervene?' You and your friends intervene all the time. You close down Jewish shops, oblivious to the ghosts of Kristallnacht that thuggish policy raises from the grave. You lobby to stop Israeli academics visiting our universities, and don't worry that the last movement to ban Jewish intellectuals was - "
"I agree it can be sometimes. But when you will not condemn Islamist movements that lift Jewish conspiracy theories direct from the screeds of European fascism, I am entitled to suspect that you suffer from a severe case of Judeophobia at the very least. Your repeated references to the 'Israel Lobby' and 'Zionist-controlled media' don't reassure me on that score either."
"I am a left-winger, how dare you accuse me of racism? I have fought racism all my life, and don't ignore the Islamophobic racism of Israel and her friends, as you do. If there are antisemitic elements in the Islamist movement, they are a rational response to Western oppression. You would hate Jews if Israelis were doing this to you."
"I worry that a two-state solution will not be full and just. The expelled refugees must have a right of return."
"That is a recipe for war without end. Israelis will never allow millions of Palestinians to swamp their state. Your trouble is that you are a voyeur. The violence of bearded reactionaries with a Koran in one hand and a Kalashnikov in the other excites you. You prefer the thrilling intransigence to the arguments of boring men in suits in Ramallah, who are willing to compromise for a better life. You need the burning corpses of Palestinians and Jews to bring light to your empty life."
"Don't worry, there are millions more like you out there, and I'll be having this conversation for the rest of my life. Send in the next one on your way out."
Yes, a great pastiche from Nick Cohen that certainly rings a great many bells for me!
Update: Below is Nick Cohen's "Dialogue" in video form:
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
The Palestinian Authority Wipes Israel Off the Map
This ambition is further underscored in the following report, entitled "PA Carries out Ahmadinejad’s Threat and Wipes Israel Off Map" by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu:
'The Palestinian Authority has carried out Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s threat to “wipe Israel off the map” and literally has done so by displaying maps of “Palestine” covering all of Israel at the same time its leaders talk about “two states for two people.”
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Fatah movement that controls the PA in Judea and Samaria, has in effect established a “one-state” solution in Fatah offices and in Palestinian Authority schools and offices.
The Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) has documented that professional unions and private PA groups display maps showing a rifle and a quill over “Palestine,” from the Lebanese border in the north to Eilat in the south and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River.
The maps have been circulated at the same time Abbas campaigns for international recognition of the Palestinian Authority based on the borders of Israel as they existed between 1949 and 1967, during which time Jordan was mandated by the United Nations to rule part of Judea and Samaria but then overtook and occupied the entire region, including large swaths of Jerusalem, after the War of Independence in 1948.
Jordan surrendered the areas in the Six-Day War in 1967, and Egypt and Syria did the same in Gaza and the Golan Heights respectively.
The maps declare Abbas’ intentions of making the “1967 borders” the temporary outline of a would-be Palestinian Authority country, even though – as PMW noted – U.S. President Barack Obama has criticized such maps as a security threat to Israel, in the same category as the threat from terrorist groups who want to destroy Israel.
"I will never compromise when it comes to Israel's security,” he told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in 2008. “Not when there are still voices that deny the Holocaust. Not when there are terrorist groups and political leaders committed to Israel's destruction. Not when there are maps across the Middle East that don't even acknowledge Israel's existence."
Nevertheless, the PA’s version “Palestine,” as illustrated on the map with a rifle and quill, was displayed last week at a meeting of the General Union of Palestinian Writers, PMW reported.
The policy has continued unchanged despite statements by Abbas to President Obama that the PA has ceased anti-Israel incitement. Earlier this year, a map in principal’s office in a PA school erases Israel and replaces it with "Palestine", with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flag flying over Israel.'
Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/143714
Read about and see many more PA maps and logos that are Israel-free: http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=4932
and
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=413&fld_id=558&doc_id=2560&sort=d
Cruelty Continues Against Egypt's Copts
Written by Mary Abdelmassih of the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA), it's entitled "Punishment of Egyptian Christians For Death of Two Muslims":
'After the death of two Muslims on April 18 sectarian violence broke out in the southern Egyptian town of Abu Qurqas El Balad, in Minya Governorate, 260 KM south of Cairo. One Christian Copt was killed, an old woman was thrown out of her second floor balcony and ten Copts were hospitalized. Coptic homes, shops, businesses, fields and livestock were plundered and torched.
Christians lived in terror, anticipating a blood bath on Friday, April 22 because Muslims as announced their intention to avenge the death of the two Muslims. Rumors spread throughout Abu Qurqas of many strangers and of trucks loaded with weapons coming into the village to carry out the threats during the Easter week. The terrorized Christian villagers sent pleas everywhere, asking for protection, even to Coptic groups in Europe and the U.S.
"Muslims threw my old mother out of the second floor balcony and torched my home," said Adel Abdulllah to Hazem Refaat of Free Copts advocacy. His business and home were torched and his father and three brothers were arrested on suspicion of killing the two Muslims.
Copt Eid Roshdy, was stabbed during the violence and later died in hospital.
According to Bishop Makarious twenty Coptic families had their homes and businesses looted by Muslims then torched, and their livestock was stolen. "One shop was only 50 meters away from the police station," he said. He also confirmed the story of the mother of Adel Abdullah who was thrown out of the second floor balcony.
Curfew was imposed in the village on Tuesday and Wednesday evening, from 7 PM until 6 AM to control the violence but various sources reported that looting and destruction of Coptic property continued after the curfew, even in the presence of the army and police.
According to the villagers a fight broke out on Monday, April 18 between the two Muslim families, Abdel-Kader and el-Gazzar which resulted in the death of two Muslims. Meanwhile an altercation took place in front of the villa of Coptic attorney Alaa Reda Roushdy between a minibus driver and passengers and the guards of the villa over a speed hump built in front of the residence, which the driver claimed was damaging busses. People congregated and the villa guards shot into the air to disperse the crowd. The Copts were accused of killing the two Muslims.
Bishop Makarious of Minya and Abu Qurqas said the first version of the story was the Muslims were killed during the fight between two Muslim families, then the story changed to accuse the Copts.
Ayad Shaban, a local villager told Al Karma TV the two Muslims were killed in the Eastern side of village where the majority of the Muslims live. "Then the story of the speed hump came and Muslims connected the two together and accused the Christians of the killing. There is no proof the Christians killed the Muslims." He added that relationship between Muslims and Christians are usually good and believes whoever created this story came from outside the village and incited the Muslims.
In retaliation, Muslims attacked and looted two tourist coffee shops belonging to attorney Roushdy. One coffee shop was turned into a mosque called the "Martyrs" and the second one was destroyed.
Next day during the funeral of the Muslims hundreds of Muslims from neighboring villages joined and notes were distributed among them saying the Christians were the culprit. After burying the dead the Muslim mob shouted for revenge for their two "martyrs" and attacked Christian homes while shouting "Allahu Akbar." (video shows Muslims looting Coptic property before torching it while chanting "Allahu Akbar." Army soldiers are seen passing through the looters).
Father Rofail of the Saints Church in Abu Qorqas said "It was terrible, the people who were in the funeral left and started shooting in the air and throwing Molotov cocktails at homes and fields belonging to Copts; some homes were demolished. Anything belonging to Christians was destroyed."
According to Coptic activist Nader Shoukry, fifteen Copts and eight Muslims have been detained for the murder of the two Muslims. No one has been detained for the attacks against the Copts. "None of the Muslims who looted and destroyed Coptic property was questioned," said Bishop Makarious. He added it was a miracle that the Copts were not harmed when their homes were torched. "They had to jump over the roofs of the neighboring houses to escape the flames. In one instance a wall had to be broken between two houses to get the people out as they could not escape otherwise." He criticized the police and the army for not bringing the situation under control. "We expected more from the police and army, but they were not impartial."
The new Governor of Minya appeared on Egyptian Hayat TV and said the incidents in Abu Qurqas El Balad was not sectarian but a fight over a speed hump which escalated, and denied the loss of property.
Security forces prevented TV stations from filming inside the village and Muslims also attempted to prevent Christians from filming, but many video clips have been uploaded to youtube (video showing Coptic homes after looting).
Coptic attorney Dr. Ihab Ramzy called on Copts who have had their property damaged or lost to file a complaint with the police in order for him to represents them for compensation. He said they had to name the assailants in their report, but this may be not be possible because the victims were threatened by Muslims not to mention their names.
Attorney Roushdy was arrested by the military two days ago and accused of provoking riots which led to the death and injury of citizens. Today the military ordered him to be detained for 15 days pending investigations.'
http://www.aina.org/news/2011042521399.htm
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
The Palestinian Arab Assault on Non-Muslim Holy Places
He observes, inter alia:
"A major strategy of the Palestinians in their goal of ultimately taking over all of Israel is to deny Jewish and Christian ties to the land. That’s why they hold on to the Temple Mount and destroy artifacts. It is why they burned down Joseph’s Tomb (and tried twice since), it was it is why they are targeting Rachel’s Tomb calling it the Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque. Its also why they tried to build a latrine on top of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre....
In 2000, after hundreds of years of recognizing the site as Rachel’s Tomb, Muslims began calling it the “Bilal ibn Rabah mosque.” Members of the Wakf used the name first in 1996, but it has since entered the national Palestinian discourse. Bilal ibn Rabah was an Ethiopian known in Islamic history as a slave who served in the house of the prophet Muhammad as the first muezzin (the individual who calls the faithful to prayer five times a day).When Muhammad died, ibn Rabah went to fight the Muslim wars in Syria, was killed in 642 CE, and buried in either Aleppo or Damascus. The Palestinian Authority claimed that according to Islamic tradition, it was Muslim conquerors who named the mosque erected at Rachel’s Tomb after Bilal ibn Rabah, belying the fact that a vast amount of literature written by pilgrims – Jewish, Christian and Muslim – documents the site as Rachel’s burial place....
It had to be one of the most flagrant desecrations of a holy site in the history of humankind, on October 7, 2000, after Israeli troops retreated from a post just outside the northern West Bank city of Nablus, or Biblical Shechem, following coordinated, deadly attacks against Jews there, scores of Palestinians stormed Joseph’s Tomb and nearly destroyed the site believed to be the burial place of the biblical patriarch Joseph – the son of Jacob who was sold by his brothers into slavery and later became the viceroy of Egypt....
What makes today’s attacks particularly significant is that it occurs during the holiday of Passover, which celebrates the Israelites' Exodus from Egypt. One of Moses’ lasts acts in Egypt was to retrieve the body of Joseph so his bones could be brought into the holy land...."Read all of Dunetz's article here: http://bigpeace.com/jdunetz/2011/04/24/palestinians-shouted-allahu-akbar-as-they-desecrated-josephs-tomb-with-murder-and-fire/#more-109480
Monday, 25 April 2011
Bannerless in Berlin: A Queer Kind of Pride
They're afraid of jeers and insults from antisemites and the Israel-bashing crowd.
Who are, of course, so often one and the same.
Strange, that gutless attitude, is it not?
They have no problem in avowing their homosexuality - they take pride in it.
But they are ashamed to avow their citizenship of their country, the only country in the Middle East which does not persecute gays.
I call that perverse.
And craven.
As another commentator remarks, it's
"Ironic because, when it comes to what pride is all about, there's no better symbol than Israel. It's the Middle East's one safe nation for LGBT people — a place where Christian, Muslim, and Jewish gay people are able to live with rights and dignity. On the other side of its borders and throughout the rest of the region, homosexuality is illegal and punished with humiliation, imprisonment, and death.
Isn't it also a bit ironic these Israeli marchers would deny their flag in Berlin, of all places? They're going there, after all, as representatives of a country created as a result of Nazi Germany's murder of 6 million Jews in World War II. These people don't have enough pride in themselves, nor enough respect for the dead, to announce themselves as gay Israelis." http://www.advocate.com/Society/Commentary/Michael_Lucas_on_the_Israeli_Flag_at_Gay_Pride/
Passover: "The Holiday of Apes"
There's something about Easter, with its imagery of the Crucifixion, which kindled, and occasionally still kindles, primitive antisemitism, despite the fact that the Romans, not the Jews, sentenced Jesus to death.
A news report in the Palestinian Authority's official newspaper tells that:
"The spring carnival has retained its [Palestinian] flavor in towns such as Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and Ramallah... with the demonstrations of the Scouts, songs, dances, and popular Palestinian hymns about Christian-Islamic unity and internal Christian unity. These hymns carry meaningful messages, in response to the Israeli prohibition [to enter Jerusalem], as seen in the calls of the youth who lead the procession of light, waving swords and not caring if anyone accuses them of anti-Semitism: ... 'Our master, Jesus, the Messiah, the Messiah redeemed us, with his blood he bought us, and today we are joyous while the Jews are sad,' and, 'Jews, Jews! Your holiday is the Holiday of the Apes, while our holiday is the Holiday of the Messiah.'"Although this ditty is reportedly in retaliation for that "Israeli prohibition", it has (hat tip: Elliott Green) earlier echoes. Elliott Green found that Saul S Friedman reports a similar ditty sung at Eastertime in the 19th century in his Land of Dust: Palestine at the Turn of the Century (Washington DC: University Press of America 1982), pp 115-116. The original version runs in part:
"Oh Jews! Oh Jews! Your feasts are goblin feasts. . . ."Friedman cites the Palestinian Arabic-speaking Christian, Gamahliel Wad el-Ward in Palestine through the Eyes of a Native [New York: Fleming H Revell 1907]. pp 60-64.
Read more on the PA report: http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=4924
And for more examples of antisemitism in the PA invoking the "apes and pigs" definition of Jews see: http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=786
Sunday, 24 April 2011
A Second Greens-Controlled Sydney Council Eyes BDS
The Australian newspaper reported last week that an analysis by Leichhardt Labour councillor Darcy Byrne has found that over the past the two and a half years since the Greens took power in Leichhardt almost 57 out of a total of 118 motions pushed by the Greens have been devoted not to normal local government issues but with state, federal and international matters of no relevance to the council's brief. Moreover, the council has spent hundreds of thousands of ratepayers' money on sponsored protests dear to the Greens' heart.
Says the newspaper:
'A Labor-sponsored motion in Leichhardt that ruled out support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign was defeated on Tuesday evening, at the same time as the backdown in Marrickville.
The Greens Mayor of Leichhardt, Jamie Parker, was elected to state parliament last month while his Marrickville counterpart, Fiona Byrne, was defeated after making contradictory statements on whether she planned to push for the BDS campaign to be adopted across NSW.'It quotes Darcy Byrne (presumably no relation to the ardent BDSer Fiona Byrne, Marrickville's Green mayor) who moved the successful motion against BDS, as claiming the defeat showed that Parker is still bent on an anti-Israel boycott.
Said Darcy Byrne:
"One of the reasons I put the motion up is that Parker's position has been less than clear. They're still hoping, once the public outcry has died down, they can slip it through quietly."
"Council has put the human rights of the Palestinian people on the national agenda - that's success to me.
This is an ethical purchasing policy. Every organisation, every individual, has a right to decide who they'll do business with.
There's been an avalanche of criticism and pressure, I think from those who put politics before principles."Source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/second-sydney-council-takes-aim-at-israel/story-e6frg6nf-1226042451278
Hat tip: reader Shirlee
For more on Marrickville and pictures of the BDS meeting on 19 April see: http://savingourtrees.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/report-from-the-gallery-%E2%80%93-19th-april-2011/
The Bears' Bare Truth on Israel (video)
(Hat tip: Elder of Ziyon)
Yep, it's pitched at a level even the Greens on Marrickville Council might understand ...
Essentially Siegeless in Gaza: "No Humanitarian Crisis" There Admits International Red Cross
The news should, but almost certainly won't, act as a red light to the "siege" mentality of the Israel-delegitimising brigade.
It will come as decidedly unwelcome, and no doubt unheeded, news to this rowdy mob in London at the end of last month, protesting Shimon Peres's visit, when he spoke at Chatham House (the Royal Institute of International Affairs).
Like all good Israel-demonisers, they have their "End the Siege on Gaza" placards and their "Palestine Shall be Free From the River to the Sea" chants, and they throw in "We Charge You With Genocide" for added drama:
For on Wednesday the Red Cross, via its deputy director in Gaza, Mathilde Redmatn, said in an interview that acknowledged what anyone not taken in by anti-Israel propaganda has known for some time: that there
The problem here, of course, is that these building materials have been used by Hamas and its cohorts to construct bunkers, and while missiles and mortar shells are launched into southern Israel from civilian areas by a terrorist regime utterly impervious to the welfare of its own people, it's surely Hamas rather than Israel which is depriving Gazans of that desirable "normal and dignified life."
Mathilde Redmatn also said:
She noted that the Red Cross has requested (in vain) meetings with kidnapped Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit:
It will come as decidedly unwelcome, and no doubt unheeded, news to this rowdy mob in London at the end of last month, protesting Shimon Peres's visit, when he spoke at Chatham House (the Royal Institute of International Affairs).
Like all good Israel-demonisers, they have their "End the Siege on Gaza" placards and their "Palestine Shall be Free From the River to the Sea" chants, and they throw in "We Charge You With Genocide" for added drama:
However, the International Red Cross has now confirmed what those who haven't swallowed anti-Israel propaganda hook, line and sinker already know: that talk of hardship in Gaza is much exaggerated. There is to all intents and purposes no longer a siege. It's certainly not that "open prison" that David Cameron eagerly claimed it was when he was striving to impress his Turkish hosts last year.
The Red Cross has never, so far as I'm aware, been particularly friendly towards Israel. All the more reason, then, to heed its current announcement that the "humanitarian crisis" which is so often talked of in the media and by the chattering classes, and taken for granted in the public mind as a result, does not, in fact exist.
For on Wednesday the Red Cross, via its deputy director in Gaza, Mathilde Redmatn, said in an interview that acknowledged what anyone not taken in by anti-Israel propaganda has known for some time: that there
"is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. If you go to the supermarket, there are products. There are restaurants and a nice beach."She acknowledged that Israel has eased the siege on Gaza and partly lifted export bans, and identified the main drawback for Gazans as Israel's remaining partial embargo on such items as cement.
"Israel has the legitimate right to protect the civilian population, [but] this right should be balanced with the right of 1.5 million people living in the Gaza Strip...difficulties in importing building materials [has] hampered sustainable economic recovery and dashed any hope of leading a normal and dignified life."
Mathilde Redmatn also said:
"Rocket fire from the Gaza Strip is against international law because it is directed at civilians. We conduct confidential or bilateral dialogue with Hamas on the matter. As time passes, the dialogue also develops."
"When a person's freedom is taken away, he deserves at least contact with his family. We will continue to ask but we do not have the capability to force anything on Hamas. Hamas' refusal is based on security reasons. Hamas is afraid of the IDF's advanced technological capabilities and believes that allowing contact will lead to the location of Gilad."Remarks Ryan Jones in the Israel Today magazine (22 April) regarding all this:
'But, despite the reality, painting Gaza as a squalor-filled prison is just too good a propaganda tool for most to give up.
A few brave journalists over the past few years have bucked the media trend of portraying Gaza as the most destitute place on earth, and have provided written and photographic evidence that Gaza is not nearly as bad off as most reports make it out to be.
Last year, National Post reporter Tom Gross lambasted his colleagues in the international media for focusing solely on those parts of Gaza that are impoverished in a deliberate attempt to suggest that the entire region lives that way, because of Israeli security measures.
"We could produce the same effect by selectively filming seedy parts of Paris and Rome and New York and Los Angeles, too," Gross wrote at the time.
Even Hamas has admitted that there is no Israeli-created starvation in Gaza.
"There is no starvation in Gaza. No one has died of hunger," Khalil Hamada, a senior official at Gaza's Ministry of Justice, told London's Daily Telegraph last year.
The claim, reiterated by Redmatn, that Israel is not allowing enough building materials into Gaza is also dubious.
In November, Gaza Housing Minister Yousef Alamanti confirmed to United Press International that construction had been started on a massive high-rise apartment project. The project includes three apartment buildings with a total of 25,000 apartments, a mosque, playground, shopping center and schools.
It is difficult to understand how such an expansive project could be built if Israel is not letting Gazans get their hands on even basic building materials.
The truth revealed by all of these acknowledgements and reports is that Gaza is not under siege. Yes, Israel is closely monitoring and restricting the entry of certain goods in order to limit the terrorists' capabilities. But the influx of goods into a territory that is actively engaged in terrorist warfare against the civilians of its neighboring territory is unprecedented in Gaza.' http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/22757/Default.aspxAnd for essential reading on the IDF's ethics see: http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=217479
Saturday, 23 April 2011
"Spartans, Prepare for Glory!": A Memento of Marrickville (video)
Here's Father Dave, the Anglican Boycott Derangement Syndromer of Marrickville, throwing his hands around and using hyperbole to exhort the "militia" to battle on:
Turbulent priest though he evidently is, the good clergyman's attitude to the truly oppressive and cruel regimes of the Islamic world seems for some inexplicable reason to wallow in obscurity.
Turbulent priest though he evidently is, the good clergyman's attitude to the truly oppressive and cruel regimes of the Islamic world seems for some inexplicable reason to wallow in obscurity.
Friday, 22 April 2011
Death of an Activist
Here, in translation, is part of her article:
'To understand the death of this Italian activist, one important fact must be grasped: his death was triggered by the spurious way he mixed his humanitarian ideals with the cause of fundamentalist Gaza, by the fact that he mixed his life with that of his potential enemies, that he thought about as his best friends. But fundamentalists do not have stable affinities. Only their interpretation of Quran counts. Hamas Gaza, where Arrigoni has been killed, is for us a land ruled by awful and distant laws. Arrigoni loved the Palestinians, but he remained a total foreigner for them. It is for us unconceivable, even if you are a militant like Arrigoni, to live alongside those who fire missiles on civilians, wear belts packed with explosives and hand out sweets when an Israeli family is killed in Itamar, including a three months baby, a four year old child and another of nine.
This is a crucial issue: when you go to Gaza, or Afghanistan, you have to realise that our conception of life, is completely different from any Islamic political conception of life. You can die because you are Jewish, because you are Italian, or Christian, because you are an apostate, or a corrupt Westerner... the extremist mentality, make no bones about it, cancels out friends and allies. No matter how much you have worked against the "Zionist power" or that you have called Zionists "rats" (and Arrigoni did this), nothing is of any worth if you break their rule, a rule which will remain unclear until the knife blade comes. Arrigoni was fan of political Islamism because he was an enemy of the Jews, but this did not save him from a cruel execution in front of the camera, just as the one of many others friends or enemies of Hamas or the Islamic Jihad, never mind.
So it is intellectually sad and even dangerous that a demonstration in front of the Italian Parliament blamed Israel and Italy for Arrigoni’s death; or that the ISM, the pro-Palestinian NGO Arrigoni belonged to, attributed «moral responsibility to the State of Israel». These reactions seem to be triggered only by ideological hatred. But what is more striking still, with sincerest respect for the figure of the President of Republic, was the statement of condolences which Giorgio Napolitano rightly delivered; instead of laying the blame on Islamic fundamentalism, he asked that "a negotiated solution be found to the conflict which sees bloodshed in the region". With the same coherence, he could have invoked any good cause: the fight against world hunger, or child prostitution. Yet instead, Israel is being summoned to face some mysterious responsibility. But the fault is only of Islamic fundamentalism; what is the point of dragging the pained witness and victim of Hamas terrorism into the question?'Read all of her article here: http://fiammanirenstein.com/articoli.asp?Categoria=5&Id=2578
Thursday, 21 April 2011
Sun setting for Jews in the Land of the Midnight Sun?
Hmmm. Refusing goods and services to someone because of their creed or ethnicity.
Where have we seen that occuring before?
And what would the taxi-drivers say (they'd scream "Islamophobia! no doubt) if the same were to happen to them?
The girl also reveals how increasingly in Norway "Jew" is used in a derogatory fashion as both noun and verb, as a casual insult, irrespective of whether the person suffering the abuse is or is not a Jew.
In fact, as the scholar Dr Manfred Gerstenfeld has shown, Norway (which most people probably think of, when they think of it at all, as a crisp cold land of fir trees and fjords, and fair-haired blue-eyed children toboganning carefree down snow-covered slopes) has been for some time a haunt of some of the worst antisemitism in Europe. It comes, as you might guess, from leftwing political sources and also from Muslim immigrants, thus replicating a situation not unfamiliar in other parts of Europe.
These pictures shows anti-Israel demonstrators in Oslo in 2009; note Kristin Halvorsen, leader of the Israel-loathing Hamas-loving Socialist Left Party (the junior party in government) in one and the Hezbollah flag the other.
The BDS movement is alive and well in Norway, as you might guess from all this. There are initiatives for cutting ties with Israeli universities.
Exacerbating the hostile atmosphere is the Norwegian state broadcaster NRK, since it's seemingly biased against Israel.
Emblematic of the malaise is graffiti on an Oslo building, referring to "the Jew-parasite" and April 9, upon which day in 1940 the Nazi occupation of Norway began.
Writer Benjamin Ivry, has noted, inter alia:
'Along with a national neurosis over finite wealth based on exhaustible reserves of oil and herring, Norway is currently experiencing a stiff-necked rebirth of nationalism. Oslo’s paltry Jewish population, only 800 by one count, is the time-honored target.
One symptom was the bizarre government decision to celebrate Norwegian author Knut Hamsun, once a taboo subject for his wartime Nazi collaboration. In 2009, among other honors, a Hamsun postage stamp was printed, shocking many observers.
When I visited Oslo myself a couple of years ago, I noticed a poster of a man in a downtown bookshop and asked if it was advertising an author’s appearance. “No,” a Norwegian told me cheerily, “That’s Quisling!,” referring to the notorious Nazi collaborator Vidkun Quisling, whose face happened to be on the cover of a Norwegian history magazine that month.' (See all of Ivry's piece here: http://blogs.forward.com/the-arty-semite/127726/#ixzz1K4QVdsZ7)Read more: http://tundratabloids.com/2011/04/norway-muslim-taxi-drivers-refused-elderly-jews-ride-to-synagogue.html and http://tundratabloids.com/2011/04/israeli-embassy-says-norwegian-state-broadcaster-nrk-is-biased-against-israel.html
See also the interview in the Jerusalem Post with American literary critic Bruce Bawer on this whole topic of antisemitism in Norway. He believes that the time has come for Norwegian Jewry to consider seriously packing their bags and move to Israel: http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=217194
Since that midnight sun seems to be setting on Norway's little Jewish community, he might be right.
Passover at the White House, 2011 (video)
This comes from the We Are for Israel organisation, founder and president Rabbi David Jay Kaufman of Des Moines, Iowa:
It was originally posted at: http://weareforisrael.org/2011/04/18/passover-at-the-white-house-2011/
It was originally posted at: http://weareforisrael.org/2011/04/18/passover-at-the-white-house-2011/
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
Marrickville Council Meeting Rescinding BDS Resolution (videos)
Mayor Fiona Byrne in chair.
More details in my previous post.
As for Byrne, the unrepentent Green said:
"We have created a little egg which is support for the plight of the Palestinian people and a sledgehammer is being used to break that.
Certainly we have put BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) on the national agenda, whatever that means."I sniff the whiff of antisemitism.
And here's that woman with the shoe again:
Marrickville Council Calls on Israel to "End the Occupation of All Arab Lands" but Backs Down over Boycott
Faced with the sack by New South Wales Premier Barry O'Farrell, Sydney's Marrickville Council has backed down on its ludicrous and outrageous Greens-led BDS venture, but certain councillors still fail to realise that they are in the "roads, rates and rubbish" tier of public life and that their business is emphatically not Australian foreign policy.
You see, despite voting on Tuesday 8:4 in favour of this motion:
According to The Australian, Councillor Cathy Peters, who intoduced the original motion that committed the Council to the BDS Movement, was the most passionate speaker in favour of retaining BDS. She, it seems, is Jewish, to boot; her grandparents reportedly were incarcerated in Terezin.
As a taste here's local Anglican cleric and anti-Israel agitator Father David Smith (aka "Father Dave"), talking emotively about the "forces of darkness" (the voice calling for order is Fiona Byrne's):
For more see: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/councillors-withdraw-support-for-boycott/story-e6frf7jx-1226041833870 and http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/marrickville-council-drops-israel-boycott/story-fn59niix-1226041840517
(Hat tip: reader Shirlee)
On hand to boost the Boycott Derangement Syndromers' cause was that nice Jewish boy Antony Loewenstein, whose strange hatred for the Jewish State has lent aid and comfort to anti-"Zionists" galore.
He's the subject of this early post of mine: http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/2010/07/dirty-doings-down-under.html
Here, he posts John Pilger's missive to the meeting: http://antonyloewenstein.com/2011/04/18/john-pilger-to-sydneys-marrickville-council-stand-up-for-palestine/
And there have been, evidently, more dirty doings Down Under, since an Australian citizen of Saudi birth has been arrested in Israel as a spy for Hamas: http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=217190
You see, despite voting on Tuesday 8:4 in favour of this motion:
“Cancel resolve not to pursue the GBDS against Israel in any shape or form, as called for in the Dec 14 resolution”the Council passed this, introduced by Councillor Dimitrios Thanos, one of the four recalcitrant Greens, who included Marrickville mayor Fiona Byrne:
“The Council remain concerned about Palestinian human rights and calls on Israel to end the occupation of all Arab lands; dismantle the wall, and to ensure the fundamental rights of Palestinians to full equality”The three-hour meeting was raucous, with eruptions from the public gallery that entailed swearing in Arabic; a few pro-Palestinians were asked to leave, three were ejected, and outside on the stairs there were altercations that were broken up by police. All 12 councillors spoke, as did no less than 17 members of the public.
According to The Australian, Councillor Cathy Peters, who intoduced the original motion that committed the Council to the BDS Movement, was the most passionate speaker in favour of retaining BDS. She, it seems, is Jewish, to boot; her grandparents reportedly were incarcerated in Terezin.
As a taste here's local Anglican cleric and anti-Israel agitator Father David Smith (aka "Father Dave"), talking emotively about the "forces of darkness" (the voice calling for order is Fiona Byrne's):
For more see: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/councillors-withdraw-support-for-boycott/story-e6frf7jx-1226041833870 and http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/marrickville-council-drops-israel-boycott/story-fn59niix-1226041840517
(Hat tip: reader Shirlee)
On hand to boost the Boycott Derangement Syndromers' cause was that nice Jewish boy Antony Loewenstein, whose strange hatred for the Jewish State has lent aid and comfort to anti-"Zionists" galore.
He's the subject of this early post of mine: http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/2010/07/dirty-doings-down-under.html
Here, he posts John Pilger's missive to the meeting: http://antonyloewenstein.com/2011/04/18/john-pilger-to-sydneys-marrickville-council-stand-up-for-palestine/
And there have been, evidently, more dirty doings Down Under, since an Australian citizen of Saudi birth has been arrested in Israel as a spy for Hamas: http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=217190
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Have You Affixed Your John Hancock Yet?
Anything that turns up the heat on the oh-so-biased BBC just has to be worthwhile.
See http://blog.camera.org/archives/2011/04/a_bbc_petition.html
Hey, Hey, it's ...
(almost) Passover. So to everyone to whom it's relevant, Chag Kasher v'Sameach.
And, hey, hey, I've just spotted an Australian "Jewish interest" movie newly uploaded to YouTube. It's about an adolescent girl called Esther Blueburger, who's played, incidentally, by an actress of Italian extraction.
I must confess, I've never seen the movie, and it had what might tactfully be termed "mixed reviews". From what I've read about the movie, which I believe offended some people, I'm not at all sure that it would be my cup of tea.
However, if you like the first part, there are another eleven on YouTube to enable you to see the entire thing:
And, hey, hey, I've just spotted an Australian "Jewish interest" movie newly uploaded to YouTube. It's about an adolescent girl called Esther Blueburger, who's played, incidentally, by an actress of Italian extraction.
I must confess, I've never seen the movie, and it had what might tactfully be termed "mixed reviews". From what I've read about the movie, which I believe offended some people, I'm not at all sure that it would be my cup of tea.
However, if you like the first part, there are another eleven on YouTube to enable you to see the entire thing:
Monday, 18 April 2011
Al Beeb's pro-Palestinian Boss Patten Talks Up Turkey
He explained that. given the new role,
"I have to take a Sicilian vow of omerta on controversial issues for the term of my chairmanship. That makes for boring commentary: better to put down my pen."The article in question is entitled "Turkey and the Future of Europe" and it inspires no great confidence for expectations that Al Beeb, so doggedly anti-Israel, will desist in its other biases towards British membership of the European Union and towards Islam anytime soon.
For Patten demonstrated, like that other Conservative Party "wet", David Cameron, that he's gung-go about securing Turkey's admission to the European Union. His article concluded:
'So what is the point of Europe today? .... Europe’s moral purpose today is an existential question that all Europeans must consider.
For me the answer is to be found in Turkey. Europe with Turkey as a member would naturally be a more dynamic economy. Turkey is a regional energy hub. It has clout and respect in its own region with formidable fighting forces. And, above all, Turkey is now a role model for other Islamic societies striving to accommodate democracy, civil liberties, the rule of law, an open economy, pluralism, and religion.
As an EU member, Turkey would add a new dimension of massive historic importance. Europeans would show that we could embrace an Islamic democracy and build a strong bridge between Europe and Western Asia.
That, in turn, would create a new European identity and narrative, a new reason for the EU to exist in this century, a way of rejecting the divisive politics of old. I hope that by the time I take up my pen again, we will be on our way to this destination. If not, then many of us will find it increasingly difficult to see Europe as anything more than a glorified customs union with political ambitions that are far too big for its boots.'(http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/patten39/English; hat tip: Biased BBC)
Personally, the thought of millions and millions of Muslims from Turkey's Islamic hinterland in Asia being eligible for immigration to Britain and other lands inside the EU fills me with dread, for reasons delineated by a former UKIP parliamentay candidate in his blog a couple of years ago:
http://paulweston101.blogspot.com/2009/07/review-of-bridge-too-far-by-philip.html
Given Patten's predilections, the Turkish case for EU entry, like zeal for the Palestinian cause, is certainly unlikely to diminish at Al Beeb.
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