Swedish blood libeler: "My bad!"

Oops! The Swedish journalist who wrote a controversial article claiming Israel Defense Forces soldiers kill Palestinians in order to harvest their organs is reportedly reconsidering his views after a recent visit to Israel, Army Radio reported on Thursday. Donald Bostrom, according to the report, recently withdrew from participating in an anti-Israel conference to be held in Beirut, citing his recent, and highly contentious, participation in a media-affairs conference in southern Israel as the cause. "The visit to Israel and the fact that I was part of a fair dialogue made me rethink the whole issue," the Aftonbladet journalist reportedly told close aides. No, it wasn't the lack of evidence that made him rethink the issue. It wasn't the fact that it echoed anti-semitic accusations from centuries past. It wasn't because even the Palestinian Arabs he quoted said that they didn't believe that Israel killed their son for his organs. No, it was because he found out, gosh darn it, that some Israelis are nice people who might not do such a thing. Sorry, Donald. When you return the $5000 award you got from Algeria because of your lies, then we might think a little more highly of you. When you publicly apologize for your sick article, then maybe you can start on the road back to being a responsible human being. When you loudly tell the Arab world - which wholeheartedly embraced your blood libel - that you and they are completely wrong, then you can stand up with a tiny amount of pride as having tried to rectify your calumny. Privately admitting to some friends that you might have been mistaken? That is a worthless gesture.

Daily Goldstone 11/12

Jonathan Dahoah Halevi looks at an episode detailed in Goldstone that I had looked at as well: The Goldstone Report about Operation Cast Lead accuses Israel of an air strike on the mosque on January 3, 2009, which caused the deaths of “at least 15 Palestinians” who were in it at the time. During the confrontation with Dr. Gold, Goldstone claimed that 21 Palestinians had been killed, and he presented the attack as a salient example of Israel’s policy of deliberately targeting innocent civilians. However, Israel issued official documents stating that its Air Force did not attack the mosque and that the dead had been killed in fighting the IDF. 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. The fundamental position of the Goldstone Committee was based on fallacious hypotheses. The Committee claimed that it found no evidence that the mosque was used for military purposes, and claimed that Israel presented a “false position” when it issued a Foreign Ministry report denying an attack on the mosque. However, in the same report read by the Committee members, there is unequivocal information supported by photographs of IDF forces seizing weapons in the Salah a-Din mosque in Gaza City during Operation Cast Lead. The photos appended to the Foreign Ministry report clearly show various types of weapons and ammunition, including EFPs for attacking armored vehicles and a machinegun used to attack Israeli aircraft. The Committee did not explain why it chose to disregard the information completely, and its version becomes more entangled and incomprehensible in light of its admission elsewhere in the Report that it only visited two mosques in the Gaza Strip, because they were the two places the de facto Hamas administration permitted the committee to visit, since it wanted to exhibit the damage caused by the Israeli attacks. The Goldstone Committee also failed by thoroughly examining the data. If Committee members had examined the names of the Palestinians killed at the Maqadmah mosque, they would have discovered that their identities and the membership of many of them in terrorist organizations contradicted the “eyewitness” claims that there were no terrorist operatives in the area, and contradicted as well the conclusions of the Report in that respect. 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. Israel made the mistake of not presenting the facts and sources to the public, within the limits of security, to dispel the accusation of war crimes raised by the Goldstone Report. Halevi also looks at the many times mosques were used for storing bombs and weapons, for recruiting terrorists, and for breeding suicide bombers. (h/t t34zakat)

Israeli Arabs trying to take tabbouleh record from Lebanon

Last month, Lebanon made a big deal over the fact that it had broken the world records for the largest tabbouleh dish and the largest hummus plate. It particularly wanted to break these records because the previous hummus record was done in Israel, and Lebanon considers these to be particularly Lebanese dishes. The Lebanese tabbouleh record might be short-lived. Firas Press reports that starting this Friday, the northern Israeli Arab town of Shefa Amr, will have dozens of volunteers working to create a tabbouleh dish five meters in circumference and weighing over 4000 kg. I've never seen the Lebanese complain about Jordanian or Syrian or Egyptian hummus, only Israeli. So it will be interesting to see if Lebanon will be as upset when the record for one of its claimed dishes is broken by Israeli Arabs as it was when the hummus record was broken by Israeli Jews.

Hamas cancels Arafat events, shuts down media

From PCHR: At approximately 19:00 on Tuesday, 10 November 2009, members of the [Hamas] police investigation bureau and the Internal Security Service, who were armed and wearing civilian clothes, broke into the offices of Ramattan News Agency in Shawa and Hussari Building in the center of Gaza City. They prevented a press conference organized by the National Action Commission in Gaza City to publicize the Gaza government’s cancellation of a ceremony that was supposed to be held in Rashad al-Shawa Center on Wednesday, 11 November 2009, in commemoration of the death of the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. The security officers claimed that the conference was unlicensed. They also confiscated recording tapes belonging to Ramattan News Agency and al-Quds Television and ordered members of the National Action Commission to leave the offices. In a press release issued on Wednesday, 12 November 2009, Ramattan News Agency announced the closure of all of its offices throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory pending a further notice. The news agency stated that "this step came following accumulative factors relevant to violations of the law, freedom of expression and press, and harassments against Ramattan, which peaked with the illegal storming of its offices on Tuesday evening, 10 November 2009, by a unit of the Internal Security Services of the dismissed government in Gaza, and preventing the National Action Commission in Gaza from holding a press conference… Ramattan points out that what happened yesterday had been the first time for offices of Ramattan to be stormed (by force) by a security force since its establishment 10 years ago." Since Monday, 09 November 2009, security services in the Gaza Strip have sent summoning notices to scores of activists and leaders of Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip. The summoned persons were questioned about their preparations for the commemoration of the death of President Yasser Arafat, and were then released. I'm sure that all those pro-Palestinian Arab European NGOs are working hard to convince Hamas to allow freedom of expression and freedom of the press. The press releases condemning Hamas are coming Real Soon Now.

Who are Miles of Smiles?

Today, after a month long delay, Egypt allowed a convoy of medical aid to arrive in Gaza: The European medical aid convoy “Miles of Smiles” arrived in Gaza late night Wednesday night after spending 25 days waiting on the Egyptian side of the crossing. Hamdi Sha’th, head of the committee against the siege, told Ma’an over the phone that the convoy will stay in Gaza only 48 hours and will leave on Friday after the noon prayer. The short trip was part of the terms negotiated by Egyptian border officials. The group brings into the Strip 100 small trucks loaded with medical aid and nearly 260 wheelchairs in addition to a number of ambulances, 102 cars for transportation of the disabled and computers for schools damaged during the last war. Their visit is not only humanitarian but also political: Sha’th said the convoy consisted of 60 individuals from 10 different European countries, who would travel to the northern Strip where they would meet with members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, then head to the Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, which bore the brunt of casualties from Israel's last war on the area in December and January. Later in the day the delegation will meet families of prisoners being held in Israel, and finally a meeting with de facto government officials. Minister of Labor and Social Affairs in the de facto government Ahmad Al-Kurd said in a news conference after the convoy arrived in Gaza that it was carrying a moral message to the world, demanding they “stop besieging one and a half million Palestinians," and will carry the "devastating humanitarian impact” of the siege back to their countries and spread the word. Both Hamas and Miles of Smiles seem to be on the same page that, like Free Gaza, their goal is not to help Gaza children but to spread Hamas propaganda. Miles of Smiles is run by a group called Partners for Peace and Development for Palestinians (PPDP), and it was created specifically as a political organization: Our mission is to establish a continuously expanding Palestinian network made up of a number of sectors from various professional committees and operating from different international centres. Through strategically managed programmes of co-ordination and co-operation, PPDP will be the umbrella organisation that facilitates exchanges of information and enhances knowledge and expertise between the established committees. The ultimate objective will be to create a situation where PPDP can contribute substantially to peace and development for a free Palestine. It is not an NGO created to deliver aid. It delivers aid to further the political goals of Hamas. They are associated with a Swiss group called "Driot Pour Tous" which says that it has admirable, universal goals: It aims at long term, to address injustice throughout the world and wants to contribute to the application of international law in all parts of the world. It wants to fight against all forms of racism, antisemitism and discrimination. It even states specifically: We wish to establish clearly a difference between [anti-]Zionism and antisemitism and to vehemently condemn those who support the crimes of Hitler and who advocate anti-Jewish doctrines! Yet DPT's activities are all centered on one topic: Palestinian Arabs. While it claims to be against "all forms of terrorism," I could not find a single article on their site that was against Arab terrorism (or against anti-semitism.) To its credit, it does not call for the wholesale destruction of Israel via a "right of return" and does not seem to go beyond UN resolutions. DPT does, however, repeat the Arab trope that there can be no "peace without justice," which is a keyword meaning the expulsion of a half million Jews from their homes and no Jewish sovereignty over any Jewish holy place. It also links to at least one article that compares Gaza to the Warsaw Ghetto (article no longer available.) Although these groups do not seem as transparently deceptive as Free Gaza and the ISM, they both make it appear that they have a more universal focus than this one issue. PPDP, in particular, seems to be far more pro-Hamas than pro-PA.

Proof of Iranian lies

For some reason, the entire story of the intercepted Iranian arms ship to Hezbollah seems to have disappeared from the radar of the world's leaders. In the meanwhile, Israel has been meticulously documenting the links - and the deception. From Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we can see: A copy of the ship's manifest, showing that the cargo was being shipped by the Iranian company IRISL (Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines) and that the description of the goods was "poly ethelyne" (click to enlarge) IRISL's stated vision starts off by saying "By trusting in Almighty's grace & eternal power, inspired by the long-term visions of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran...." It is clearly not an independent company. Even more explicit were labels for explosives that say "Ministry of Sepah," which is a branch of Iran's armed forces: The bags of polyethelyne were also manufactured in Iran: Behind the polyethelyne, Iran labeled the rocket containers as "bulldozer parts" or "construction equipment": (click to enlarge) The cases for the mortars (both 81mm and 60 mm) detailed the fuse type as being one that is manufactured in Iran specifically for the Iranian Army: Iran had denied Israel's claims about the ship. If Iran goes to such lengths to hide its illegal shipments to Hezbollah terrorists, what do you think they are doing to hide their nuclear weapons program?

Haniyeh pretends to be peaceful

When the audience is willing to believe what he dishes out, Hamas' Gaza leader is all too happy to serve: De facto Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh told a delegation from the International Committee of the Red Cross that Gaza is "not looking for more violence," but that he was sure Israel has "plans to target the Gaza Strip once again.” During a meeting with the delegation on Wednesday, Haniyeh said he "hopes what he said would not prove to be true, that the world will stop Israel from killing more children." If Israel does decide to attack, he added, "our people will not surrender, they will fight back," a statement from his office said. Only last month, Haniyeh told his people that the Goldstone report will not affect Hamas' "resistance" plans.

Afternoon open thread

Got things to do this afternoon, so comment freely. If you don't have anything to talk about, check out this post from Treppenwitz.

Daily Goldstone 11/11

Yaacov Lozowick finally puts his thoughts on paper after spending weeks reading Goldstone. His full article is 12 pages long. Here's a small part: These representative examples – they are representative, not cherry-picked – show that the authors approached their investigation with a one-sided and tendentious understanding of the conflict, eager to embrace bogus depictions of facts which could have been easily checked, and with an image of Israeli society unrecognizable to most Israelis. This is crucial, as the single most important finding in the Report is that Israel purposefully targeted the population of Gaza. Even before reading the descriptions of events, it is reasonable to wonder "what Israel" it is the investigators were investigating; it certainly isn't the one its citizens recognize. Even more baffling than the willingness of the investigators to invent Israeli motives, which at least is not denied, is their refusal to seek evidence of the actions and intentions of the defenders. They made a few feeble enquiries of what they call the Gaza Authorities about the fighters, were rebuffed with the odd response that these authorities had no knowledge of what the fighters of their own side might have been doing, and that was all. Yet in dozens of cases described in their report, the question demands to be answered: if the IDF was firing in this direction, what do the Hamas commanders have to tell about their forces? Had they booby trapped the building? Were they firing from here? Had they laid mines in this field? Were they congregating in this mosque, and for what purpose? Was this farm intended as a line of defense, or that zoo as a trap for advancing IDF troops? In many cases the investigators asked local civilians, but they never asked the fighters or their leaders. Bizarre as it may sound – and it is truly bizarre – the investigators came to what had been the scene of a war, and tried to piece the events together without talking to either of the warring sides. They asked the Israelis, and the Israelis refused to talk. They didn't ask Hamas, so Hamas never even had to refuse. Yet they had the arrogance to tell what had happened. Read the whole thing.

The easy and false analogies of walls

The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall allows lazy journalists and pundits to weigh in on the evils of that "other" wall that has saved the lives of countless Jews. Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell, who has been obsessed with vilifying Israel with often anti-semitic images, weighs in with a cartoon that says that Israel's wall is "twice as high and four times as long." CiF Watch discusses the absurd (and factually incorrect) analogy and links to many of Bell's previous anti-Israel cartoons. One of the commenters mentions the "Peace Wall," a barrier up to 25 feet high that separates Protestants from Catholics in Belfast and elsewhere. The Guardian is certainly aware of it. Somehow, that and other walls don't bother Bell as much as a wall that is meant to save Israeli lives. HonestReporting Canada also notes journalists who are making this ridiculous analogy.

Today's PalArab news 11/11/09 - Arafalooza!

It's the fifth anniversary of Yasir Arafat's super-timely demise (in the sense that it happened way too late.) PalArab papers are filled with articles about him, and about various events and rallies commemorating his "departure" (or "murder," depending on the paper.) This article, for example, recalls how Arafat symbolized unity, as it recalls how Arafat mourned the assassination of Hamas leaders Rantisi and Sheikh Yassin, as well as terrorist Yahya Ayyash. It also points out that when Arafat was holed up in the Muqata that he would accept gifts of "candy or medicine" from all visitors and this could be how Israel supposedly poisoned him. Islamic Jihad newspaper Palestine Today darkly hints that Arafat's death was the result of a huge conspiracy between Israel, the US, and the current PA leadership. Even Suha Arafat, his wife, is mentioned as part of the cover-up. Islamic Jihad leader Sheikh Khaled al-Batsh praises Abbas for his unwillingness to compromise, and warns that he may face assassination the way Arafat did. Even though Hamas had banned some celebrations of Arafat in Gaza, it came out with a statement that highlighted Yasir's terrorist cred. Hamas was pleased that Arafat spurned negotiations and went back to his terror roots in 2000. In other news, Ma'an interviews various Palestinian Arab leaders (including plenty of terrorists) as to the wisdom of unilaterally declaring a state on the 1967 borders, which many suspect is what prime minister Fayyad is planning to do in 2011. Such a state was already declared in 1948 (for Gaza, briefly) and in 1988, and both of those are now remembered as bad jokes. Gaza tunnel smugglers ambushed an Egyptian patrol. Egypt stopped a number of leaders of terror groups from going to Hajj along with some 4000 other Gazans who have been streaming through the Rafah crossing in recent days (flying out of El Arish to Saudi Arabia.) I originally thought that this was from a request from Israel, as terrorists going to Hajj tend to take detours to Iran to pick up cash and military training. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case, as Egypt relented and allowed them to continue on their journey(s) this morning. Someone has anonymously placed billboards in the West Bank saying that Al Jazeera was half owned by Israelis. Al Jazeera is upset. Jordan admits to cooperating with Israel on preparations for natural disasters, but denies a "joint military exercise" with the IDF on that issue as had been reported in Israeli media.

State Department funds Palestinian Arab media

I received an email from one of the commenters here that pointed out this article in Ma'an from last week: US Consul General to Jerusalem Daniel Rubinstein made a tour of Bethlehem organizations and institutions on Thursday, visiting Ma'an Network's headquarters and Bethlehem University, among others. Several Ma'an TV Network projects, including talk shows and Ramadan cooking programs, receive funding from various bodies of the US State Department. "Frankly, we were afraid America would try to control Ma'an through its financial support," editor-in-chief Nasser Lahham told the consul. "But now I can say with confidence that you did not try to intervene in Ma'an's objectivity and I say that Ma'an News will always be professional and keep the same strategy." Ma'an was somewhat objective before the Hamas coup in Gaza, but it has shown itself to be very afraid to criticize Hamas since Hamas threatened them two years ago. So what is the State Department doing funding slanted Palestinian Arab media? Ma'an still routinely refers to Palestinian Arabs killed as "martyrs" in Arabic. And more importantly, the point of the State Department is to try to influence other countries and people towards opinions that are more pro-American. What good is sending money towards Palestinian Arab media if there is no benefit to the US? I can think of other causes that might need the money a bit more.

Abbas "resignation" theatre

The papers are filled with Abbas' threats to resign as president of the Palestinian Authority. (Today he added a threat to withdraw as head of the PLO and Fatah as well.) Daled Amos shows that this is Abbas' equivalent of a temper tantrum, and that he has made these threats numerous times before: March 18, 2008 Exclusive: Abbas threatens to quit peace talks, revive Fatah terror (OK, Abbas is not threatening to resign--but we're just getting warmed up...) Jan 17, 2008 Abbas threatens to quit if 'escalation' continues June 12, 2007 Fatah movement threatens to quit Hamas-led unity gov't February 26, 2006 Abbas threatens to quit over Hamas (Feb 28, 2006 Abbas: I did not threaten to quit) 30 January 2006 Abbas to resign if Hamas fails to work with foreign powers January 25, 2006 Palestinians Vote in First Legislative Elections in a Decade Abbas is "a touchy man of dark moods, who often threatens to quit, as he quit as prime minister after four months in 2003 when Mr. Arafat did not allow him enough power." Jan 17, 2006 PA head Abbas threatens to quit December 16, 2005 Palestinian Chief Threatens to Quit Over Rival Fatah Slate March 30, 2005 Palestinian Abbas threatens to quit unless Fatah groups cooperate. Wed 09 Sep 2003 Abbas threatens to quit unless he gets more authority Thursday, September 4, 2003 Abbas threatens to quit over leadership Aug. 21, 2003 Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas threatens to resign unless Yasser Arafat approves a crackdown on Hamas July 9, 2003 U.S. Supports Abbas After Palestinian Leader Threatens to Quit April 08, 2003 Moderate Palestinian PM threatens to quit as Arafat hinders change. The scenario is the same. Abbas feels insecure (as well he should - his leadership abilities are nil) so he regularly stages these threats, and in response he gets lots of adulation from diplomats and "spontaneous" demonstrations from his people. In this case, the idea that he is resigning is equally absurd. John Podhoretz thinks it is a gambit to overshadow Netanyahu's meeting with Obama, but I think it is a bit more that that. Abbas thought he had Obama on his side in his (brand new) demand that all Jewish building to the east of the old Green Line stop completely before negotiations resume. Then, Hillary Clinton told him that they got Israel to curtail settlement building but not stop it completely. From Abbas' perspective, he needs to raise the stakes to get America to adhere to his position and pressure Israel - and, more importantly, take the pressure off himself. His threats to resign means he is saying to play his way or he'll make sure that no one gets to play at all. This is entirely consistent with Abbas' leadership style, or lack of it. He is deathly afraid of making an unpopular decision - yet negotiations require compromise. He simply says "no" to everything and pretends that this is what a strong leader does. The threat to resign is just a gambit that he has used in the past to shore up support. And boy has he been getting that support! Hillary said she loves working with him, and his own Fatah organized rallies to support him. Meanwhile, he continues to press the US on the settlements, which is not something you would expect from someone who is a lame duck. The idea that he would give up leadership of Fatah is even more absurd. Abbas managed to successfully cement his leadership of that organization in August at the Fatah conference, and he is not going to throw all that away in a fit of pique. It is theatre.

Today's blackmail threat by the PA

The passive voice is wonderful for making threats: The Palestinian Authority on Monday warned that violence could once again convulse the region if the United States fails to get Israel to halt settlements as part of a resumed peace process. “If America remains unable to assume its required role there will be a destructive effect for which Israel and the United States will be held responsible,” presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP. “Violence will rush in to fill the void left by the failure of efforts to relaunch the peace process if the US administration does not hurry up and exert pressure on the Israeli government,” he added. Violence will erupt! Just like a volcano, it will be a natural phenomenon, one that mere people are powerless to stop - unless you do what they demand. No, Rudeina cannot say that Palestinian Arabs will accelerate terror attacks against Jewish civilians because of incitement - like he just demonstrated. If he would use the T word that may make Westerners think that perhaps human beings are responsible for their own actions. That cannot be. PalArabs have no responsibility for their actions. Their rage is normal and accepted, and must be managed by the frightened West doing their bidding before they turn into an army of mini-Incredible Hulks. You can't blame them if they decide to put on a bomb belt and blow up an ice cream shop or a cafe. They have no control over their emotions, no free will to stop terror, no ability to think and reason like normal human beings. The only people who can act rationally are Westerners - Arabs will just rush to fill the void with violence. If you accept the words of the PA presidential spokesman. In fact, if you try to treat them like normal people - if you ask them to compromise, to work towards a win-win scenario, to come up with reasonable proposals that wouldn't place certain other parties in mortal danger - that might just be enough to set them off. So don't ask them to take responsibility or act like sane adults, because that just ticks them off. Just do what they say, and everything will be OK. Until their next list of demands.

Saudi Vice, episode 30: That old black magic

From the Saudi Gazette: After a two-year trial, a Madina court sentenced a Lebanese man, 47, to death Monday for practicing black magic. The court held 10 hearing sessions to review the list of charges presented by the general prosecutor including using black magic, fraud, and breaking up marriages, which the man admitted. The man, who had appeared on satellite channels practicing black magic, was caught red-handed in a hotel room in the Central Area in Madina two years ago with herbs, talismans, and some papers with strange drawings and writings. The man has the right to appeal the sentence within 33 days. The Court of Cassations will review the sentence for approval. I couldn't find anything in amnesty International about this specific type of sentence in Saudi Arabia, although it does mention Saudi Arabian judges have wide discretion and can hand down death sentences for vaguely-worded and non-violent offences. Some migrant workers are reported to have even been unaware that they had been sentenced to death until the very morning of their execution. See how efficient the Muttawa is? Too bad their Facebook page isn't more popular. Could be because they censor anyone who insults them (the heckler I mentioned this morning has disappeared from their Facebook wall.) Lance Burton, stay out of the Middle East!

A bizarre Photoshop of Arafat

Firas Press has a regular feature where people send in cute pictures of their kids to be published. This one is a first, though. The parents took a picture of Yasir Arafat, eating some hummus (not sure if Lebanon complained when he ate it,) and stuck pictures of their kids next to him to make it appear a little like he was eating his meal with them. If I was the boy, I'd be nervous....

I guess I'm wrong then

Just saw this in The Dissident Voice: In the extended interview (not broadcast on Comedy Central but available on The Daily Show website) with Dr. Mustafa Barghouti and Anna Baltzer, [Jon] Stewart made up to twenty factual errors. These can be broadly grouped into about half a dozen myths: Jews “returned” to Palestine after 2,000 years in exile; Israel provided a haven for Jews suffering persecution in Muslim countries; Iran is developing nuclear weapons, with which it wants to “wipe Israel off the map”; Israel is unfairly singled out for criticism, mainly due to Arab anti-Semitism; both sides are equally to blame for the conflict; and Palestinians can’t agree among themselves, so you can hardly blame Israel for not making peace with them. Many of these myths – all of which serve Zionist interests well – are so transparently false that it is hardly necessary to debunk them all here. Well, you can't argue with that sterling logic!

Arafat poison probe oh-so-close

Nasser al-Kidwa, Yasir Arafat's nephew who has been trying mightily since April to prove that Arafat was poisoned by evil Zionists, took the opportunity of the fifth anniversary of the old fart's death to announce...that he doesn't quite have the evidence yet. But he's almost there! He expects to obtain evidence soon to confirm that the Palestinian leader was poisoned. Kidwa, who is currently chairing the ' Arafat Foundation,' said in a press conference held Sunday that 'his death is not normal and the reason most likely is a poison, but we have no definitive evidence yet'. He said "The case will not be solved until we have evidence that he was poisoned." Sounds like Richard Goldstone took some lessons of objective fact-finding from Nasser al-Kidwa.

Saudi Vice Squad on Facebook!

From al-Arabiya: A group of Saudi's launched a group on a popular social networking website called The Facebook Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice and have so far to attracted more than 500 members. The group, named after the kingdom's Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice also known as the religious police, aims to introduce people to the religious police, the London-based al-Hayat reported Friday. The group's administrators have set several conditions for membership, including, no foul language or slandering officials, only serious topics open for discussion and posters should be tolerant and open-minded. If members insult Islam they will be allowed three warnings before they are deleted from the group. Many Saudis were keen to join the group and a large portion of members praised the role the committee plays in the Saudi society and the way they protect citizens and imposes order. The group has only 12 members at the moment, not 500, and at least one person (Betty Boopah) is mercilessly heckling them, all in Arabic.

Hamas blocks IFJ meeting on Ethical Journalism

Palestine Press Agency reports that the International Federation of Journalists scheduled a videoconference meeting on the topic of Ethical Journalism, a worldwide initiative that the IFJ has been pushing. The videoconference was to have included journalists in Ramallah and Gaza, where dozens of journalists had gathered. After the Gaza journalists arrived, the venue's management apologized and told them that Hamas stopped the transmission. Who would have thought that Hamas would feel threatened by ethical journalism? Meanwhile, Israel's journalist federation seems to be on its way back to re-joining the IFJ after the IFJ expelled them over the summer, when the IFJ may have been acting for political reasons.

October rocket calendar

Q=Qassam (may include Katyusha-style rockets) QS=Qassam landing short in Gaza M=Mortar (G)=Grad (included in Qassam count, not consistent yet) MS=Mortar landing short P - unnamed "projectiles" (Paren) indicates unconfirmed Palestinian claims K=Katyushas from Lebanon October 2009 Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 2Q _ 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1Q 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1Q 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 2Q _ 1Q 3MS 25 25 27 28 29 30 31 1K 1Q 1 2 3 4 1Q

Where did the day go? open thread

Don't you just hate it when real life intrudes on blogging time? I'll sleep on that weighty question.

Illegal Palestinian Arab immigration to Europe

Last week, a boat carrying illegal immigrants bound for Europe sank off the coast of Turkey - and at least four of the dead were Palestinian Arabs. From Haber: BODRUM (A.A) - 06.11.2009 - Death toll reached six, including a Turkish citizen and three children, after a boat carrying illegal immigrants capsized off the Aegean coast of Turkey late Thursday, Turkish authorities said. Coast guard and rescue teams recovered bodies of an Afghan illegal immigrant and a baby off Bodrum on Friday, officials said. The Europe-bound boat was carrying illegal migrants from Palestine when it capsized off Bodrum's Akyarlar coast late Thursday. Four bodies were found earlier, while one was reported missing. Coast guard is still searching for the missing woman. The number of immigrants rescued was reported 13 early on Friday. The story of Palestinian Arabs risking their lives to illegally immigrate to Europe is one that gets swept under the rug. If it is mentioned at all it is assumed that Israeli policies are forcing this to happen, as this sickening Independent report said in 2007: Sixty-five years ago, the rickety boats fighting through the towering waves of the Mediterranean towards a new home were crammed with Jews escaping Nazi persecution. Today the boats are plying in the opposite direction, towards Europe, and increasingly their cargo is Palestinians - fleeing the living hell of Palestine. Go down a few paragraphs and you will see the "hell" that the Palestinian Arabs were escaping was not Israeli "occupation" but rather daily life under the PA: Later Abdelsiih Mohammed Ecsim (as the authorities recorded his name), a boy who marked his 14th birthday during the crossing, said through a Palestinian interpreter, "It was dark, I was shaking with fear - but only at the end, before that I was shaking with cold." "I ran away from Ramallah," he went on, "that's where my parents live. At Ramallah I went to school in the morning and worked as a bricklayer in the afternoon." By his reckoning the sea journey took nine days. With the other Palestinians he had fled his home town by lorry, hidden under tarpaulins, driving for many hours before arriving in some kind of reception centre, where they were joined by Sudanese from the Darfur region. So while the Independent is comparing life in Ramallah with European death camps, it is clear that a lot of Palestinian Arabs really don't want to live in Palestine to begin with. These are not isolated cases. According to Frontex, an organization that monitors Europe's borders, The 1st phase of operation Poseidon 2007 took place on 15 May – 3 June 2007. During the sea part of the operation 910 illegal immigrants were intercepted, 194 forged or falsified travel documents were detected, 88 illegal immigrants were diverted to the country of departure and 13 facilitators were arrested. Main nationalities of illegal migrants identified during the operation were: Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq and Albania. As for the land part of the operation, during this phase there were 70 refusals of entry at border crossing points, with the highest at the Bulgarian green border. Moreover there were 52 administrative offences at the border crossing points. At the green borders, 657 illegal migrants were apprehended. The main apprehensions took place at the Turkish-Greek border and the Albanian-Greek border. The main nationalities of those apprehended were Albanian, Iraqi, Palestinian, Afghan and Georgian. Europol describes the phenomenon of illegal immigration into Europe and accurately describes the fact that people choose to make such a move more because off the "pull" of a better life rather than the "push" of how bad their lives are now: The reasons why migrants leave their home countries are commonly referred to as ‘push factors’ and can include conflicts, dissolution and/or disintegration of multicultural states, natural disasters or other environmental problems, discrimination, political instability or poor economic situations. Although poverty, conflict and disasters are all powerful push factors, they tend to cause local or regional migration, not international facilitated illegal immigration. Poor and war-torn states are less interesting for the facilitators of illegal immigration since people in these states usually cannot pay the huge fees these facilitators demand. Paired with the push factors are the so called ‘pull factors’, those criteria that make a destination country attractive to a prospective migrant. These factors may include the need for a labour force, a positive economic situation, democratic governance with political and social stability, and various historical or cultural links between the source and destination country, but especially the presence of large communities from the source countries in the destination countries. The economy in the West Bank is as attractive as the economy in most Arab countries. They aren't being "pushed" out by horrendous living conditions - if they were, they would tend to want to move to neighboring states. The answer can be seen in an Arabic Palestine Press Agency article about this tragedy: Turkey is an important route of illegal migration from Asia to Europe because of the refusal of Arab states to absorb them. The illegal immigrants come from Africa and the Middle East, especially Palestinians. A combination of their statuses of perpetual statelessness, forced on them by their Arab brethren (which makes living in other Arab countries no more attractive than staying put,) and the possibility of financial success in Europe, cause them to want to leave. This is enormously embarrassing to Palestinian Arab leaders. They want to push the myth of a deep, historic connection between their people and Palestine, when in fact historically Arabs moved freely between all lands in the Middle East in response to economic and social conditions. The small but significant number who risk it all to leave their supposed homeland is not proof of how bad their lives are. By any reasonable standard, West Bank Arabs have better living conditions than the majority of the Arab world and the world at large. Rather, this is proof that even after years of indoctrination with a made-up history of specifically "Palestinian" culture and yearning, many just don't feel any emotional ties with the land. It also shows that if Arab countries would stop their discriminatory policies against Palestinian Arabs - the only group of Arabs that cannot become naturalized citizens in Arab countries - that a flood of Palestinian Arabs would happily trade their mythical dreams of "Palestine" for the opportunity to resettle and start their lives anew among their own people. As a result, tragic stories like this one tend to be minimized and ignored by Palestinian Arab leaders themselves. If the world sees how much Palestinian Arabs want to leave their beloved homeland, it will start to question why a state will solve anything. The question might also arise of why no "diaspora" Palestinian Arabs are risking their lives to move to Palestine.

A small terrorist get-together

This picture was taken at an Islamic Jihad festival that took place in Damascus over the weekend. It was yet another gathering to honor the anniversary of the death of its founder, Fathi Shakaki. I'm not great at recognizing faces, but we certainly have Khaled Meshal of Hamas there, as well as Ziad Nakhala of Islamic Jihad. It seems that there are also some PFLP leaders there as well. That's what I call a target-rich environment! Just something to keep in mind the next time someone claims that the different terrorist groups hate each other and don't cooperate.

Obama's Rabin speech justifies terror

Am I the only person who finds this sentence outrageous? Remarking on Rabin's quest for peace during his life, U.S. President Barack Obama said in a video message that "Israelis will not find true security while the Palestinians are gripped by hopelessness and despair." No one is saying that anyone should live in "hopelessness and despair" but the clear implication is that as long as Palestinian Arabs are pissed off, Israelis need to watch their backs. People are responsible for their own happiness. Like it or not, not everyone gets everything they want. Plenty of Jews have very good reasons to want to gain back control of biblical Judea and Samaria and are frustrated that they cannot do that - but can anyone imagine Obama saying that as long as Jews are "frustrated and angered" by their inability to freely visit, say, Joseph's Tomb or the Temple Mount, that Palestinian Arabs will never have security? Or would Obama say that US citizens cannot find true security while native Americans live in squalor and despair, or that Turks cannot find security while Armenians are stateless? This is liberalism run amok, where the for one's happiness is found not from within but is rather the responsibility of the Western world. Where personal responsibility simply doesn't exist, and where terror is justifiable. It is an attitude like this that gives cover to terrorists and their apologists, as they play on this insane thought process and use it as ammunition to blackmail the West into giving in to their ever-increasing demands. I have not seen the entire speech and perhaps there was a context there, but the fact that the leader of the free world said that sentence is incredibly frightening. And that one sentence is already being quoted in the headlines of the Palestinian Arabic media.

Arab report: Extremists use sex to recruit suicide bombers

Al Arabiya is presenting an Arabic language TV show about suicide bombers tonight. In the show, they reveal that terrorist leaders explicitly use the lure of sex in Paradise as a means to recruit young men: An analysis of the content of SMS messages sent by the bombers before they blew themselves up showed that more than 80% of the suicide bombers mention a wish to meet virgins as one of the reasons that compel them to carry out these operations. [One man interviewed] said they refers to a button that, once pressed and activating the bomb, will come nymphs welcoming him to heaven. While there is another beautiful girl waiting for him that has prepared for him a buffet full of food and drink. Psychologists say that the content that appears in the tapes clearly reflects on the way in which [terrorists] recruit, selecting young people and placing them in isolation for long periods in the mountains, exposing them to physical training and teaching violent extremist ideas about women, which would aggravate their sexual frustrations, and ultimately promise a legitimate means to unload this repression as a sure way to get them to implement what the organization's leaders tell them without discussion.

Lebanese school bans Anne Frank

From AFP: Anne Frank's diary has been censored out of a school textbook in Lebanon following a campaign by the militant group Hezbollah claiming the classic work promotes Zionism. The row erupted after Hezbollah learned excerpts of "The Diary of Anne Frank" were included in the textbook used by a private English-language school in western Beirut. Hezbollah's Al-Manar television channel ran a report slamming the book for focusing on the persecution of Jews. "What is even more dangerous is the dramatic, theatrical way in which the diary is emotionally recounted," said the report aired last week and also published on the station's website. It questioned how long Lebanon would "remain an open arena for the Zionist invasion of education." A member of the school board, Jimmy Shoufani, told AFP the school dropped the textbook from its curriculum after the controversy erupted. He asked that the school not be identified. Hezbollah officials could not reached for comment. In the Al-Manar report, party MP Hussein Hajj Hassan had criticized the school for showing poor judgement in picking out its textbooks. "These respected, established schools are teaching the so-called tragedy this girl lived, and yet they are ashamed to teach the tragedy of the Lebanese people, the tragedy of the Palestinian people... the tragedy of the people of the south under the hands of Zionist occupation," he told Al-Manar. But Allah forbid you should call them anti-semitic. They love Jews! Just as long as the Jews are dead or subjugated into silence. Notice also how a private school in Lebanon must do what Hezbollah says, giving Islamic fundamentalists effective absolute power over the entire country just by using threats.

Erekat: Compromise is not "realistic"

From Palestine Press Agency: Dr. Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said that the option of two countries on the borders of June 1967 is the only realistic option of making peace in the Middle East. In other words, the idea of compromise is anathema. The idea of any Jews living in the West Bank is unrealistic. The idea that a single Jew should remain in the Old City is horrendous and an obstacle to "peace." The very thought that Jews should have free access to their holy places or be able to live in towns on the east side of a border that Arabs rejected before 1967 is simply not "realistic" and therefore must be shot down. Thus spoke the "moderate." Erekat stressed that the shortest way to peace is ending the Israeli occupation that began in 1967, and away from a state with provisional borders and a long-term interim agreements. Because we all remember how peaceful things were between Arabs and Jews before 1967!

Palestinian Arabs are unique in international law

The Guardian says that accused Fort Hood murderer Nidal Hassan was "the son of Palestinians from a village near Jerusalem." The New York Times says, "His mother’s obituary, in The Roanoke Times in 2001, said she was born in Palestine in 1952." This got me to wondering about a contradiction in the standard pro-Palestinian Arab narrative that the world has swallowed whole. We all "know" that Israel is considered the legal occupier of the West Bank. It was declared as such by the UN and the ICJ, among others. The definition of occupation, however, is straightforward: "Military occupation occurs when a belligerent state invades the territory of another state with the intention of holding the territory at least temporarily." The original definition from the Hague Conventions of 1907 states: Military authority over the territory of the hostile state Art. 42. Territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army. The occupation extends only to the territory where such authority has been established and can be exercised. The question that remains murky is, what is the state that Israel is occupying? It cannot be Jordan, because Jordan relinquished control in 1988, and the international community never recognized Jordan's annexation of the West Bank. It seems clear, from the aforementioned sources, that this "state" is "Palestine." In other words, according to the UN and the ICJ, there is a legal entity called "Palestine" and it has existed since at least 1967, probably since 1948. This is remarkable in itself that international law is implicitly recognizing a state that was never declared or recognized. As a matter of fact, it may be against international law to prematurely recognize a state (note 26.) (The ICJ takes the position that the intent of the Fourth Geneva Convention is not only between High Contracting Parties and that the intent of the drafters was to protect civilians even if they were not in a state beforehand. This is probably true: the Fourth Geneva Convention is specifically concerned with civilians. The advisory opinion is being extended way beyond treatment of civilians - the responsibility of which Israel voluntarily accepted in 1967 - and into the legal status of the territories themselves. That isn't defined by Geneva, but by the Hague. This brings up an entire other set of anomalies as Israel ceded day to day control of large parts of the territories to the PA, as a strict reading of "occupation" would imply that Israel has a much greater responsibility over West Bank Palestinian affairs than it exercises now, a position that would horrify the UN and ICJ.) If we ignore these anomalies and assume that there is a legal entity called Palestine that is under occupation, then we come up to another problem: the definition of "refugees." We have discussed a number of times in the past how Palestinian Arab "refugees" are the only ones in the world whose definition includes the descendants of the original people who fled a war. The UNRWA's operational definition has somehow become the legal definition. But this definition has another dimension of exceptionalism: if one considers the West Bank to be legally "Palestine," then the original "refugees" who are there would normally be considered "internally displaced persons." After all, they just moved from one part of "Palestine" to another - if one accepts that "Palestine" is "occupied." This analysis shows that the only way for the worldview of "occupation" and "refugees" to both be accurate and not contradictory is to redefine both words to accommodate a specific circumstance. To say that normal legal terms must be redefined for Palestinian Arabs - and only Palestinian Arabs - is to make a mockery of the idea of law itself.

Marriage in Somalia

An interesting article in Al Arabiya discusses how marriage has turned into a legal way of sleeping around for young Somalians, helped by random calls on inexpensive cell phones: Bile Farah, 25, said marriages nowadays have become more of an "entertainment." "I don't think I'd be sane if it were not for the 'Qudbasiro', free-of-charge secret marriages," the unemployed secondary school graduate told Reuters, sitting cross-legged on a ragged mattress and sending a text message with his phone. "I've divorced nine women already. Voluntary brides and cheap phone services, it is the only life we have." Unsurprisingly, such behavior is frowned upon by hardline Islamist Shabaab insurgents who rule over much of central and southern Somalia and want to impose their own austere version of Sharia law on the whole country. They have banned elopement in the areas under their control. But for Halima Osman, a Mogadishu mother-of-three, the mobile phone helped her run away with the love of her life. I am very proud. I would not have these three kids if it were not for the cheap calls and elopement," the 20-year-old told Reuters, covering her face with a scarf. She said her sister lived a "dog's life" being beaten for seven years after being married to an old man against her will. "She suffered. But you can just dial a number or pick up a ringing phone. You make an appointment then elope. Life is so easy if you are lucky." Aden, the shop owner, said he was shocked when his own daughter eloped and gave birth to a child with a young man he had never met. But he also had a confession. "I enjoy this lifestyle myself, to some extent," he said. Apart from an older wife in a "far away" region, he said he had three younger spouses in the capital: one through an arranged marriage and the other two "secretly." "I call them day wives, because we usually have to meet discreetly during the daytime, the other one will take it out on the children if I'm missing from her nightly roll call," he said. "But the recent insecurity has favored us. You hear gunfire, and you have an excuse to be absent." The article started off with that same shop owner describing how things were in the good old days: Somali courtship was different in Hassan Aden's day. When he was a teenager, you gave the girl's parents 11 camels and an AK-47 assault rifle as bride price and then waited respectfully.