Monday, January 04, 2010

  • Monday, January 04, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
I already mentioned how PA president Abbas celebrated the this weekend the 45th anniversary of Fatah's first terror attack, not the 45th anniversary of Fatah, proving that for Palestinian Arabs, Fatah is synonymous with terrorism - and celebrating one is to celebrate the other.

More evidence for the tautology between Fatah and violence can be seen in this Reuters picture showing a woman celebrating the same anniversary:
A Palestinian woman (L) holds a rifle during a rally marking the anniversary of the founding of the Fatah movement, in the West Bank city of Hebron January 3, 2010.

Remember when Abbas told the world back in 2005 that he had made the public display of weapons illegal?

Sunday, January 03, 2010

  • Sunday, January 03, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
My cell phone contract runs out in mid-January, and I was already looking at Android phones to replace my old Blackberry. (I was leaning towards the Motorola Cliq on T-Mobile.)

But this week Google is planning to announce their own branded mobile phone, and it looks sweet. So for once I might get to be at the bleeding edge of technology, at least for a week or two until Apple's tablet comes out.

(I would have gone for the iPhone, as I already have an iPod Touch and like it, but I hate AT&T. T-Mobile seems to be the best combination of low cost and reliability, and with a family plan it gets very inexpensive for unlimited voice and data.)

You are never too old for toys.

Anyway, I'll be busy the rest of the day, so feel free to take a break from the usual stuff and go crazy on discussing your favorite high-tech gadgets.
  • Sunday, January 03, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Arab News:
Allegations about maids casting spells and being involved in black magic has driven fearful housewives to call on the help of investigators. The main purpose of calling these women is to investigate maids before they go back to their countries.

The majority of investigators are non-Saudis who have lately been joined by some Saudi graduates unable to find proper jobs. The job of the investigators involves checking the personal property of maids in search of sponsors’ photographs, hair or clothes that can then be used for magic when the maid returns home.

Googling “maid investigator” in Arabic brings up over 1,800 results of women looking for maid investigators. Housewives exchange names and contact details on Internet forums, and warn each other about maids who do magic.

Most Saudis, it seems, are more concerned with maids dabbling in black magic rather than stealing valuables. Suad Afif, a sociologist and professor at King Abdulaziz University, asked why housewives use people who they do not know to investigate their maids, adding that such women are not even specialists in such work.

Afif said that Islamic morals prevent women from checking their maids’ personal stuff and that they look for others to do this. Some also fear their maids may lash out or have little experience in how to check on their maids. Afif said if checking maids before their final exit has become a necessity then there needs to be an official body that can do this job. This would ensure housewives remain safe.

“Black magic and the evil eye are there, but in the end it is as Allah says. Nothing can ever reach us except what Allah has destined for us,” said Afif, adding, “We should not become anxious all the time. Not every maid comes into our homes to perform black magic.”

I am not certain why the pampered housewives (who typically have multiple maids) are concerned only over black magic that might occur after the maids go back home and not for any spells they might be casting in their very houses.

I wonder if I can cast any spells from this blog?
  • Sunday, January 03, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
As I previously mentioned, Iran's football federation accidentally sent New Year's greetings to Israel, causing the author to panic when he found out ("This is a mistake, this is a mistake!")

Well, the horrendous crime of wishing a Happy New Year to Israelis is being appropriately handled:
A top official in the Iranian Football Federation (IFF) was forced to resign after an email was accidentally sent to the Israeli Football Association wishing them a Happy New Year, Iranian press said on Sunday.

The official in question is the IFF's director of foreign relations, Mohammad-Mansour Azimzadeh, who was shamed after the email was sent on his behalf to Israeli officials, prompting the federation's president, Ali Kafashian, to express "deep remorse."

"The Iranian Football Federation has said that messages of congratulations are sent each year to all members of FIFA except the Zionist regime, which is why it was removed from the list of addresses for New Year messages," an IFF statement published by the Fars news agency said.

The email was sent on Friday, New Years Day, and prompted Israel to respond with a letter saying: "We thank you for you Happy New Year greeting and wish all of the good people in Iran a happy new year" with a wink added in the email.
For some strange reason, I have not heard about any Israelis being punished for responding to Iran with their own New Year's greetings.
  • Sunday, January 03, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
Last week, noted pro-terror sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi issued a fatwa saying that Egyptians are forbidding from building an iron wall to stop smuggling between Gaza and Egypt. Yemeni sheikh Abdul Majid agreed.

The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood is planning legal action to stop the construction of the wall as well.

But Al Azhar University held a sharia council to discuss the matter, and announced that Egypt is perfectly within its rights to build the wall, and even said that those opposing the wall are going against Islamic law.
  • Sunday, January 03, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
  • Sunday, January 03, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
Ma'an is providing a series of articles about Operation Cast Lead that looks at events through the prism of the Goldstone Report one year after they occurred. Today they are reproducing and embellishing Goldstone's extremely flawed analysis of the incident at the Al Maqadmah Mosque from January 3rd, 2009.

All of the news stories from the time claimed that Israel bombed the mosque itself, although a careful reading of the Goldstone report and other sources shows that the IDf bombed the entrance to the mosque and that most of the casualties occurred on the outside.

I have already noted some severe problems with Goldstone's account. Besides the fact that it appeared that the countthat Goldstone used of 15 victims may be an exaggeration,
Goldstone doesn't bother to point out that 6 of the dead were actually terrorists: (numbers are PCHR list numbers)

458 ‘Umar Abdul Hafez Mousa al-Silawi Al Qassam Brigades
459 Ra’ed Abdul Rahman Mohammed al-Msamha
462 Sa’id Salah Sa’id Battah Al Qassam Brigades
478 Muhannad Ibrahim ‘Ata al-Tannani Al Quds Brigades member
484 Ibrahim Mousa Issa al-Silawi Al Qassam Brigades
987 Ahmed Hamed Hassan Abu ‘Eita Al Qassam Brigades

It seems to be very unlikely that 6 of the 15 known dead in a mosque crowded with hundreds of civilians would be terrorists. Either the mosque itself had a hundred terrorists or so, or something else is going on.

And where exactly did the blast hit? Apparently, it hit outside the mosque, not inside as Goldstone implies. So it seems more likely that the IDF hit a gathering of terrorists outside the mosque rather than a few hundred worshipers.

Unfortunately, fairness does not seem to have been a part of the Goldstone mandate, and when the evidence supports the commissions preconceived notions of the truth, they have had little incentive to look beyond the biased testimonies they eagerly accepted.

Testimony from people like the sheikh of the mosque - who happens to share the same last name as two of the Al Qassam Brigades members listed above.
Jonathan Dahoah Halevi has a more detailed analysis: (he came up with a slightly different list than mine.)
An examination of freely accessible Palestinian sources shows that the casualties in this incident were terrorist operatives and included members of the al-Silawi family, who were represented to the commission as innocent civilians.

The terrorists killed in the attack included:

  • Ibrahim Moussa Issa al-Silawi, an operative in the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military-terrorist wing. Born December 1, 1946, in Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip. According to the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades website, Ibrahim "received his love of jihad and hatred for the Zionist enemy with his mother's milk." In 1984 he joined the Islamic Movement (which later became Hamas) and was a Muslim Brotherhood operative. He had close relations with Nizar Riyyan, a senior Hamas terrorist operative, and joined the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades in 2003, at the age of 38. He was posted to the northern Gaza Strip brigade and participated in military missions: manning front-line positions in Jabaliya, fighting IDF forces, and digging and preparing tunnels for Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades use.3
  • Omar Abd al-Hafez Moussa al-Silawi (Abu Souheib), an Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades operative. Born in Saudi Arabia on September 29, 1981, and joined Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2004 he joined the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades and was posted to front-line positions on the eastern border of Jabaliya. He also prepared and planted IEDs, participated in fighting the IDF, and launched mortar shells and Kassam rockets at Israeli towns and villages.4
  • Sayid Salah Sayid Batah, an Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades operative. Born on April 7, 1986, in Jabaliya. A Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood operative, he joined the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades and was deployed in the northern Gaza Strip brigade. He was posted to front-line positions in Jabaliya, prepared and planted IEDs, and dug and prepared tunnels for Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades use.5
  • Ahmed Hamad Hassan Abu Ita, an Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades operative. Born in Saudi Arabia on February 15, 1984. A Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood operative, he joined the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades in 2006 and was posted to front-line positions. He fought the IDF in the Jabaliya, al-Salatin and al-Atatra regions, prepared and planted IEDs, was deployed in the suicide bombers' unit, and regularly participated in ambushes against IDF soldiers. The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades website reported that he was one of the operatives who received instructions, after the initial Israeli air attack on December 27, to deploy in accordance with previous instructions. According to the website report, on January 3 he went to the Ibrahim al-Maqadma mosque to meet "young people" and was killed in the IDF attack there.6 [Note: The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades version clearly shows that Hamas uses mosques as meeting places for its operatives to coordinate their fighting against the IDF.] His father said that during the first week of the fighting his son launched rockets into Israeli territory every day.7
  • Muhanad Ibrahim al-Tanani (Abu Islam), an operative in the Al-Quds Battalions, the military-terrorist wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, born April 23, 1988. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad website reported that his parents brought him up to love jihad. When the Second Intifada broke out he was 12, and often went to the Erez crossing with other children to throw rocks at the IDF post and confront the soldiers. In 2002 he joined the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and later its military-terrorist wing. He underwent military training and was posted to front-line positions on the northern border of the Gaza Strip. In addition to his military activities he participated in Palestinian Islamic Jihad meetings and events, and led the organization's Internet forums.8
  • Rajah Nahad Rajah Ziyyada, 18, an Al-Quds Battalions operative.9
  • Ahmed Assad Diyab Tabil, 16, a Hamas operative, was a member of the Hamas student organization, which recruited him into the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.10
Halevi wrote a different article on YNet that looked at the case further:

What really happened at the Ibrahim al-Maqadmah mosque, named for one of the heads of Hamas’ military-terrorist wing? The Goldstone Committee version is problematic because of its many essential failures and weak spots. The committee members relied exclusively on reports from “eyewitnesses” who did not see what was happening outside, especially at the entrance where the missile hit. Moreover, the committee was aware that all the Palestinian witnesses deliberately did not give any information about the activities of the terrorist organizations, because they were afraid of Hamas.

Therefore it is logically impossible to determine unequivocally that the Palestinian statements were “credible and reliable.” Another source of wonder is the dubious methodology used by the Committee in examining the circumstances of the event. The recorded statements of the Palestinian “eyewitnesses” posted on the UN website reveal that Committee members did not ask the Palestinians even one question about armed men or weapons in the mosque, or about what was happening in the open space in front of it.

Without noticing it, Committee member Desmond Travers exposed (harpers.org) the political agenda when he said that the claims regarding the use of mosques for military purposes reflected the Western perception in certain circles that Islam was a violent religion: “We also found no evidence that mosques were used to store munitions. Those charges reflect Western perceptions in some quarters that Islam is a violent religion… If I were a Hamas operative the last place I’d store munitions would be in a mosque.”

He is apparently saying that it is wrong to even mention the claim without examining the facts. The facts, which he and the rest of the Committee never examined, contradict his position. For Hamas, the most important function of the mosques in the jihad against Israel is repeatedly mentioned, beginning with its charter, through the remarks made by the organization’s senior figures, to the documentation of the military-terrorist activities of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

During the first and second Intifadas the mosques were used to identify and recruit suicide bombers and operatives for the various military-terrorist wings, to store weapons, and as meeting places for terrorist operatives, for pre-attack briefings and as stations from which to attack IDF forces.

Two particular events which were widely covered by the media should have been a heads-up for the members of the Goldstone Committee. In August 2007 Hamas “police” attacked the Ard al-Ribat mosque, located in the Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza City and controlled by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Two years later, and one month before the Report was issued, Hamas “police” and Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades operatives attacked the Ibn Taymmiyah mosque in Rafah, where armed operatives of the Jund Ansar Allah, a network affiliated with the global jihad, were located. The two attacks caused the deaths of dozens of Palestinians.

Moreover, the mosques in the Gaza Strip are engaged in a “suicide bombing competition” to determine which one bred the greatest number of bombers. The dubious title is held, apparently, by the Al-Khufla al-Rashidoun mosque in Jabaliya (not far from the Maqadmah mosque), which for years has been called the “fortress of the suicide bombers fighting for the sake of Allah.” According to the official Hamas forum, among the members of the mosque who were killed in 2000, 12 were Hamas suicide bombers and between 50 and 90 were Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades operatives. One of the most famous was Ibrahim Nizar Rayyan, who was trained and sent by his father the imam to carry out a suicide bombing attack in Israel. The Goldstone Committee also closed its eyes to that information.

Seven of the 15 Palestinians killed at the mosque were members of terrorist organizations who had participated in fighting the IDF, most of them members of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military-terrorist wing, and a few of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Regarding one of them (Ahmed Abu Ita of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades), it was reported that he had gone to the Maqadmah mosque to meet “friends,” i.e., other armed terrorist operatives.

In light of the foregoing information, there is another scenario which can explain the circumstances of the attack on the mosque and bridge the gap between the positions of the IDF and the Goldstone Committee: Israeli intelligence discovered the intention of Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades operative Ahmed Abu Ita to go to the Maqadmah mosque to meet other terrorist operatives there or nearby. The Israeli Air Force drone located him as he and the others arrived, but did not spot the civilians because they were inside the mosque praying.

During the narrow window of time the decision was made to attack the groups of armed terrorists near the mosque entrance. The missile launched hit them, killing some outright and damaging the mosque wall, killing Palestinians inside.


The Goldstone Committee, which did not accuse Hamas of war crimes (rather, it mentioned “Palestinian armed groups”) and rocket attacks, also did not examine the aforementioned scenario , which can easily be found in open sources, and did not even try to ask Palestinians witnesses if such a possibility could exist. Based on partial, biased information and without making an attempt to reach the truth, the Committee accused Israel of the deliberate murder of Palestinian civilians.

Ma'an, whose reporters do read Yediot Aharonot, doesn't bother to look for any evidence that could contradict the deeply flawed Goldstone fact-finding procedures. And of course it does not mention any of the victims as being known terrorists.

Saturday, January 02, 2010

  • Saturday, January 02, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
From AP:
Gaza's Hamas parliament approved a government budget of $540 million for 2010, legislators said Saturday, suggesting that a tight border blockade isn't stopping the cash flow to the Islamic militants.

Up to $60 million stems from local taxes and the rest from "gifts and outside assistance," said legislator Jamal Nassar. Iran is believed to be one of Hamas' main financial backers, with cash assistance hauled through smuggling tunnels under Gaza's border with Egypt.

...The Abbas government's budget for 2009 was $2.78 billion, funded in large part by foreign aid. Abbas' Palestinian Authority continues to pay the salaries for tens of thousands of Gaza civil servants and security officers who were sent home after the Hamas takeover. It also pays for fuel to run Gaza's power plant and supports hospitals and schools.

The Hamas government is also relieved of much responsibility because the United Nations runs dozens of schools, health clinics and gives food aid to around 1 million Gazans.
So Hamas has a budget of over a half billion dollars, mostly from Iran.

But we already know from numerous statements by Mahmoud Abbas that 58% of the PA budget goes to...Gaza.

That means that poor, impoverished Gaza is getting over $2 billion annually, not counting the money and other aid it gets from UNRWA and other NGOs.

And Hamas' hundreds of millions are free for buying weapons because they have never taken financial responsibility for the actual running of Gaza's infrastructure. The West still does that via the PA.

I wonder if those people who claim they hate Israel because it is a drain on their tax dollars are equally concerned with Gaza?

Friday, January 01, 2010

  • Friday, January 01, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Al Arabiya:
The Iranian Football Federation accidentally sent a New Year’s greeting to its Israeli counterpart, which responded wishing “all of the good people in Iran a happy new year,” Israeli media reported late on Thursday.

Mohammad Ali Ardebili, head of Iranian football union’s foreign relations, told Israel’s Army Radio he sent the letter to all football unions around the world but he did not intend to send it to the Israel Football Association.

Ardebili sent the greeting letter by email and the Army Radio managed to reach him for comment by phone.

"This is a greeting sent to the entire world," he said, then he inquired quickly, "Are you speaking from Israel? I can't speak to you. This is a mistake, this is a mistake."

The Israeli Football Association (IFA) received the letter with surprise but did not hesitate to send a response, the union’s spokesman Gil Lebanony told the radio station.

The Iranian letter was received by the head of the IFA’s legal department, Amir Navon.

"He came into my office and asked me if it was a mistake. I said, 'I don't know, but let's send a response'," Lebanony said.

"So, we responded, 'We thank you for you Happy New Year greeting and wish all of the good people in Iran a happy new year,' and added a wink in the mail," Lebanony said. "We also expressed our hopes that they will have a good year for soccer."
The first comment on Al Arabiya's English site wishes for Iran to destroy Israel in this new year.
  • Friday, January 01, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
A Palestinian Arab agency says that the number of Arab prisoners in Israeli custody has decreased this year to 7350.

6124 are from the West Bank, 768 from Gaza and 458 from within Israel.

3600 of the prisoners are affilitated with Fatah, 1840 with Hamas, 1150 from Islamic Jihad, 450 from the PFLP, and 110 from the DFLP.

In July, the group Adalah reported that there were some 13000 Arabs in Israeli prisons. However, looking at their data a little closer it appears that if we only count the prisoners who are classified as security prisoners (as opposed to criminals) the numbers are pretty close. (In fact, Adalah mentions that there are 6500 Jewish prisoners as well.)

In June, 2008, the Israeli Prison Service said that there were 10,000 security prisoners.
  • Friday, January 01, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
Firas Press has a lengthy article on how Gazans are taking advantage of poor Egyptian families.

Acting as middlemen, Gazans offer to smuggle underage Egyptian girls through tunnels to Gaza to get married to the better-off Gazans. For this service, they charge $1000.

Once the girls come over, more often than not they get married as second or third wives to Gaza men who treat them as maids for their extended families. These are the lucky ones: others are forced into prostitution or to work for drug dealers. One smuggler who was interviewed is getting so wealthy from the slave trade that he has bought a house in Rafah to facilitate the smuggling of more Egyptian girls.

The article claims that hundreds of girls have been taken advantage of this way, and they cannot afford to pay to escape back to Egypt.

Clearly, the poor, starving Gazans are being driven by sheer desperation to resort to taking advantage of even poorer Egyptian girls.
  • Friday, January 01, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
It turns out that the major speech that Abbas was to deliver last night commemorating the 45th anniversary of the first Fatah terror attack had nothing new. He reiterated that peace would be impossible without Jerusalem becoming the capital of a Palestinian state and that "there is now no country in the world, including the United States of America, defending the positions of the Israeli government."

He also again rejected the idea of a Palestinian Arab state with temporary borders and mentioned yet again that 58% of the PA budget goes to Gaza (where it effectively but indirectly bankrolls Hamas.)

In Gaza, meanwhile, Fatah activists who also wanted to commemorate the anniversary were beaten and arrested by Hamas.

I have just been looking over the Time magazine archives, and they mention that what really happened on January 1, 1965 was the creation of a "military wing" of Fatah, called Asifa, or "stormtroopers." As we have seen countless times, history shows that there is no real distinction between Arab terrorist group "political wings" and "military wings" and the fact that Asifa has not existed since the 1960s while Fatah terrorist attacks still happen today shows this to be the case. (It is interesting to note that Asifa was helped by a fifth column of Israeli Arabs called "Al Ard" in 1965.)

Fatah's penchant for lying has not changed either in the past 45 years. Here is how Time described them in 1968:
El Fatah has publicly taken credit for blasting the garage of former Israeli Chief of Staff Itzhak Rabin, even though he has no garage, and for wounding Defense Minister Moshe Dayan last March, who was actually hurt in an archeological cave-in. After Israel's independence day parade last May, El Fatah crowed that "a suicide force managed to reach the rear of the parade and shell it with rockets and mortars. Our forces destroyed a number of tanks that were seen to go up in flames." This remarkable event was entirely invisible to Israelis and foreign dignitaries watching the parade. When a $1,000,000 fire damaged Tel Aviv's Lydda Airport in October, El Fatah promptly took credit for setting it. The Israelis insist that the blaze was started accidentally by a welder's torch.

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