Female Palestinian cartoonist threatened after critique of Islamic Jihad, Hamas

(CatFur) The cartoon above was drawn by a woman named Majedah Shaheen. Some of you might figure out that the man in the cartoon is Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas (admittedly it does like very slightly like Mohammed Morsy of Egypt). Unless you read Arabic, you probably don't realize that the dog is meant to be Islamic Jihad's al-Quds brigades. Haniyeh is trying to get al-Quds under control. Neither side was amused and Shaheen has been threatened with death by those nice men with the masks over their heads. The cartoon by Majedah Shaheen depicts Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh asking his dog to “calm down.” The dog represents the Al-Quds Battalions. Following strong condemnations and threats, Shaheen published an apology on her Facebook account. “I wish to apologize for the cartoon I published about Hamas and the Al-Quds Battalions,” she wrote. “My intention was to relay a message in a clear and firm manner. But there are many who prefer to deal with the issue in an artificial manner instead of making an attempt to understand the idea behind it.” The apology has failed to calm many Palestinians, who posted abusive comments against her on Facebook, denouncing her has a “Zionist agent,” “traitor” and “prostitute.”

John Kerry expressed “strong support” for Gaza flotilla activists

Thanks to Ma’ariv’s Ben-Dror Yemini (Hebrew) and to Algemeiner.com, we present the following for your enjoyment:

Letter written by John Kerry in 2009,
supporting anti-Israel activists
on their way to join a blockade-breaking
“Gaza Flotilla”

(fresno/h/t JDL UK)Here’s the text:

December 23, 2009
To Whom it May Concern:
I am writing to express my strong support for members of the humanitarian delegation from Massachusetts that will be traveling to Israel and the Palestinian Territories from December 27th to January 15th. The humanitarian delegation from Massachusetts is sponsoring this visit and they plan to meet with non-governmental organizations, assess the health care system and observe human rights and trade union conditions among Israelis and Palestinians.
I respectfully request that every courtesy be given the members of the delegation during their visit. My staff has met with members of this group and is impressed with their ability, dedication and commitment to the peace process. We look forward to seeing them again upon their return and hearing about their visit.
For any questions or concerns please feel free to contact Christopher Wyman in by Boston office at 617-565-8522.
Thank you for your cooperation in this very important matter.
Sincerely
John F. Kerry
United States Senate

Of course there was nothing ‘humanitarian’ about the flotilla, which was an attempt to aid Hamas by breaking the Israeli blockade.

From Algemeiner:

Ma’ariv said the delegation that used the Kerry letter included vocal anti-Israel activists Ali Abunimah and Jodie Evans. The newspaper said that the clout of Kerry, who was then chair of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee and had been a U.S. presidential candidate, was apparently not as esteemed as the group had hoped, as their letter was ignored by Cairo as they tried to cross into Gaza from Egypt.
The team then joined the Mavi Marmara Flotilla, and “the rest is history,” Ma’ariv said.

So this is the ‘even-handed’ mediator whom Israel is expected to trust in negotiations with the Palestinian Authority and Iran!

KFC chicken smuggled through Gaza tunnels

A local Egyptian delivery company has been smuggling KFC meals through the underground tunnels across the Egypt-Gaza border, the Christian Science Monitor (CSM) reported Wednesday. The al-Yamama company has advertised its fast-food smuggling service on Facebook. According to the CSM, the company gets tens of orders a week for KFC meals. Their Facebook page is filled with thanks and recommendations from satisfied Gazan customers, as well as advertisements for potential smugglers looking for delivery work. The price of a KFC family meal is about 80 Egyptian pounds (about 11 US dollars) at el-Arish KFC restaurant, but getting it in Gaza costs as much as 100 Israeli Shekels (30 dollars), with the company seemingly tripling the price of KFC to cover cover transportation and smuggling fees. The deliveries go from the fryers at the neighboring Egyptian city of Al-Arish's KFC joint 35 miles away to customers' doorsteps in about three hours, according to CSM. Mohammed Al-Madani, an accountant at Al-Yamama company, said they started their new business by chance, Xinhua reported. "We ordered and arranged to bring some meals for us and they arrive after four hours," Xinhua quoted him as saying. Then they posted a picture for the fast food on their company's website, and soon got more orders from the people in Gaza." Since late last month, they have made four deliveries of KFC food to Palestinians in Gaza, with every delivery including about two dozens of combos, according to Xinhua.

#UNESCO silent as #Hamas destroys heritage site; #Obama wants to fund UNESCO despite #sequester

(Carl)Hamas has partially destroyed a 3,000-year old seaport in Gaza that is a UNESCO World Heritage site in order to expand a military training facility (Hat Tip: Israel Daily News Stream). UNESCO has greeted the move with silence. Meanwhile, with the United States trillions of dollars in debt and with basic necessities for Americans being subject to automatic sequester, the Obama administration has asked to restore $77.7 million in funding that was taken away from UNESCO when it made 'Palestine' a member (Hat Tip: Monica S).
This is from the first link.

Earlier last month, amid overwhelming criticism from public figures and nongovernmental organizations, the military wing of the Islamic movement of Hamas, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, bulldozed a part of the ancient Anthedon Harbor in northern Gaza along the Mediterranean Sea. The Brigades damaged the harbor in order to expand its military training zone, which was initially opened on the location in 2002, according to Ejla.

The Anthedon seaport, which dates back over 3,000 years to the Mycenaean era, is considered one of the most important sites in the Middle East and is the oldest harbor in Gaza.

It was designated an international heritage site by UNESCO in 2012. The location was discovered in 1997 on the space of 180,000 square meters. It contains mosaic floors with historical pillars from the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic ages.(Read the Complicated Details. Of course Hamas said they would do otherwise and then changed their mind)

The administration argued that the defunding legislation “runs counter to U.S. national security interests by allowing the Palestinians to isolate the United States and prevent the active U.S. engagement necessary to pursue U.S. policy objectives in international organizations.”
“In turn, the United States would lose influence and eventually voting rights in international organizations,” it added.

....as if all the money we have spent on Palestine so far has given influence?

Israeli planes strike #Gaza for first time since Pillar of Defense

via timesofisrael.com

#Females on #Gaza aid convoy sexually assaulted in #Libya | #Feminism

It doesn't just happen in Gaza and Egypt. Three female Leftists riding a Gaza aid convoy have been sexually assaulted in Libya.

[Quoting from al-Guardian]:

Three women who were part of an aid convoy passing through Libya on the way to Gaza have been sexually assaulted in Benghazi, after a group of five British nationals were briefly kidnapped.

The three women, two of whom are sisters, were part of a large aid convoy travelling to the Gaza Strip. It is thought that they were part of a group of five people who were briefly kidnapped near Benghazi in the early hours of Tuesday and they were released some hours later. The group is currently safe in the Turkish consul in Benghazi and is expected to return to the UK.

Libyan security officials said the attacks happened in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Abdul Barghathi, commander of preventative security in the Libyan defence ministry, said the women had been sexually assaulted, but not raped. "There was no rape, just touching (sexual assault)," he said. "Because there is no British consulate here they were handed to the Turkish consulate." The three women are not badly wounded and are being attended to by consular staff from the UK, he added.

The women were part of a large convoy taking vehicles and aid to the Gaza Strip on a journey that had taken them through France, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and then Libya. It had intended to cross the border with Egypt but was prevented from doing so by Egyptian authorities. The 10-vehicle convoy is still stuck at the border but the five British nationals returned to Benghazi in eastern Libya late on Monday night in order to return home.

I wonder whether these do-gooders will try to make their way back to Gaza again, or maybe this will finally be a wake-up call about the 'respect' that Arab Muslims give women.

via israelmatzav.blogspot.com

...just waiting to hear from Western feminists claiming that all men are like this

Hey #Feminists, Who needs @CodePink? I'm glad the Jews have #Porn on our side.

When Muslims in Islamic Countries Watch a Lot of Porn, Disasters Occur in Gaza

From MEMRI:

Muhammad Raed: You talked about freedom. Is this the freedom you would like to lead us to? [In the West], most of the sons and daughters don’t know who their fathers and mothers are.
We want these [Islamic] countries to live a normal life. I know that you are my father and that you are my mother.
Interviewer: I understand we have a report that you did on the screen. Can you explain to us what these statistics mean?
Muhammad Raed: Yes. It’s about the Muslim countries. [The study covered] seven or five years, [and found that] the eight weeks in which people watched the most porn sites were six weeks after we finished Ramadhan, and during the summer holidays.
There were punishments from Allah in our countries during these days. The guy who did this [study] found whole reasons – like what happened to Gaza, in Palestine, on this day, and what happened…
Interviewer: You found a correlation between people watching a lot of pornography, and disasters happening…
Muhammad Raed: Yes. I wondered… It was a video in Arabic: “Gaza and Sin.” I wondered: Oh my God, it’s really like what Allah told us in the Koran – “Corruption has appeared on land and in sea, because of what the hands of men have wrought,” because of what you are doing. He said: “because of what the hands of men have wrought” – to give them a taste of sin, so they will go back to Allah.
Interviewer: I would just like to clarify that presumably, most of this pornography was watched in the other Arab countries, not in Gaza itself. I would just like to make this distinction to show that the Muslim nation is being collectively punished for this sin, but it is not the people in Gaza, who are lucky to get water and food, of course. But it is because of all the actions of the Muslim nation that we can have this kind of extreme disasters. That’s what you are saying.
Muhammad Raed: Yes, it’s a punishment for us. It’s not a punishment for you to see the kids killed and the women raped? It’s a very bad punishment. And it’s not only in Gaza – a lot of accidents happened in Egypt on the same days.

via the-eyeontheworld.blogspot.com

Jews: We likey the porn.

Abbas Praises Hitler-Supporting Mufti, Terrorists in Anniversary Address

(algemeiner.com)

Fatah supporters wave flags at the 48th anniversary celebration. Photo: Screenshot.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas paid tribute to World War II era Hitler-supporting Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini as well as several known terror leaders responsible for the deaths of Israelis at a rally in Gaza City Friday that marked the 48th anniversary of the political party Fatah.
During the televised speech, made to a crowd of hundreds of thousands, Abbas made mention of, among others,  Abdel Aziz Rantisi, Sheik Ahmed Yassin–both former leaders of Hamas assassinated by Israel for their role in terrorizing the Jewish state-and Marwan Bargouti, who is currently serving time in an Israeli prison for his role in the deaths of five Israelis.
This was Fatah’s first such rally in the territory since a 2007 coup by Hamas ousted the party from power. In his speech Abbas addressed the division, saying that reunification was near. “Soon we will regain our unity,” he said of the two sides, which have drawn closer since the end of the eight-day November conflict, Operation Pillar of Defense, that pitted Israel against Hamas.
“The success of the rally is a success for Fatah, and for Hamas too,” said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri. “The positive atmosphere is a step on the way to regain national unity.”
Abbas, who is not allowed to enter Gaza, but who was given permission by Hamas to stage the rally and address the crowd, said he would soon return to Gaza and that unification with Hamas would be  “a step on the way to ending the (Israeli) occupation.”
A number of Fatah activists and officials did make the trip to Gaza for the rally, including Jibril Rajoub, who formerly headed the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank, Fatah cofounder Abdul Aziz Shaheen and Fadwa Barghouti, the wife of jailed activist Marwan Barghouti.
In the West Bank Thursday, Abbas signed a presidential decree changing the name of the Palestinian Authority to the “State of Palestine,” following the Palestinians’ upgraded status at the United Nations to a non-member observer state.
According to the decree, reported by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, all stamps, signs, and official letterhead will be changed to bear the new name.

Mashaal: Tomorrow Ramallah, then Jerusalem

Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal and Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh

Reuters

Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal, on his first visit to Gaza on Friday, told crowds he hoped his next visit would be to “Jerusalem, Ramallah and a liberated Palestine,” the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency reports.
After passing through the Egyptian border crossing, Mashaal knelt on the ground to offer a prayer of thanks and was then greeted by dozens of officials from an array of competing factions, the report said.
Mashaal praised the people of Gaza and was welcomed by Gaza's Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.
He said his visit to Gaza was his "third birth", referring to an assassination attempt by Israeli Mossad agents in 1997 as his previous "re-birth."
"I pray to God that my fourth birth will come the day we liberate Palestine," Mashaal said, according to Ma’an. "Today is Gaza. Tomorrow will be Ramallah and after that Jerusalem then Haifa and Jaffa.”
Haniyeh welcomed Mashaal's arrival as a historic moment. Hamas denied seeking guarantees via Egyptian contacts with Israel that Mashaal would not be targeted for assassination in Gaza, reported Ma’an.
There was massive security for his arrival, with gun-toting, black-masked guards from Hamas patrolling the streets in open-topped trucks and motorbikes, the report said.
On Thursday it was reported that the leader of the Islamic Jihad terror organization, Ramadan Shalah, cancelled his visit to Gaza after Israel threatened to assassinate him.
Mashaal will visit the home of the founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was assassinated by Israel in 2004, and the homes of Ahmad al-Jaabari, Hamas’s “chief of staff” and his bodyguard Mohammad al-Hams, who Israel killed on November 14 at the start of Operation Pillar of Defense.
Mashaal will stay for a little more than 48 hours in Gaza, which Hamas has ruled since taking over the region in a bloody 2007 war with rival Fatah. Hamas politburo members Mousa Abu Marzouq, Izzat al-Rishq, and Saleh al-Arouri accompanied him, reported Ma’an.
Hamas plans an open-air rally on Saturday to promote what it claims was last month's victory over Israel and at the same time commemorate the 25th anniversary of the terror group's founding.
In an interview he gave to CNN several weeks ago, Mashaal claimed that Hamas would accept a Palestinian state along the indefensible pre-1967 borders but would refuse to recognize Israel’s right to exist.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)

via israelnationalnews.com

I like the smell of......in the morning?"Palestinian perfume dedicated to terrorist missiles.

"I like the smell of......in the morning?"Palestinian perfume dedicated to terrorist missiles.(Examiner).BY: Timothy Whiteman."Pleasant and attractive, like the missiles of the Palestinian resistance..."
Robert Duvall's character of Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore in the film "Apocalypse Now" told the world how much he loved the smell of napalm in the morning because "it smelled like [sniffing, pondering] victory..."
If the fictional Cavalry Officer had been with the Israeli Defense Forces during the recent thumping meted out to the Hamas forces, the surf-addicted warrior may have considered the smoking wreckage of Palestinian missile and command sites as a "fragrance" that could be described as "pleasant and attractive."
That's how Shadi Adwan, Gaza City resident and owner of a local cosmetics shop is describing his newest fragrance "M-75."
Of Questionable Accuracy...
M-75 also happens to be the designation of the Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigade's missile recently used against the Jewish State.
With a maximum range of 75 kilometers (42 miles), the deadly M-75 is capable of striking the Israeli city of Tel-Aviv.
The missile, not the perfume.
As reported by The Times of Israel, Adwan describes his potent Palestinian potion as;
"Pleasant and attractive, like the missiles of the Palestinian resistance, and especially the M-75."
Possibly positioning his company for overseas expansion even unto the Mysterious East, the purveyor of paramilitary parfum added that he wants his product;
"To remind citizens of the victory wherever they may be, even in China."
Strong Enough For A Suicide Bomber, But Made For A Woman...
Adwan says he was inspired to name his fragrance to;
"Honor the victory of the Palestinian people and the resistance during the eight-day war."
Reportedly, M-75 is available in both masculine and feminine scents, but is double the price of other perfumes due to the "special ingredients it contains."
But malodorous-conscience Palestinians may not mind shelling out a few Shekels more.
After all, Adwar ensures consumers that it's "worthy of the victory in the Gaza Strip."Hmmm.....The Fragrance of Palestine.Read the full story here.

via mfs-theothernews.com

...probably a huge hit among the chic Europetrash

Video: Following Gaza Ceasefire, Cleveland Rally Calls For The Destruction Of Israel

via weasel

Another New York Times double standard

(Carl) Consider The New York Times reporter who was fooled by Hamas into thinking that a terrorist was a journalist. Alana Goodman adds another data point.

Samir Khan was the editor of al-Qaeda’s Inspire magazine until he was killed in a CIA drone strike, but the New York Times has yet to accuse the Obama administration of “using war as cover to target journalists.” Apparently, Israel is the only country that’s expected to treat terrorists-posing-as-reporters the same way it treats actual reporters.

 I'm sure you're all shocked by that double standard.

Hamas, now 'in play', could sway Saudis

a little white girl grab ass? yeah... we know what goes down with the journalists...

is glad to be quote in this fine new story by the excellent @dickinsonbeth: Hamas, now 'in play', could sway Saudis - thenational.ae/news/world/mid…
— Hussein Ibish (@Ibishblog) November 26, 2012

Hamas's exiled leader Khaled Meshaal (left) with Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud Al Faisal at a meeting in Riyadh in January 2010. Saudi Arabia’s support or cold shoulder could have a decisive impact on Hamas’s political role.Paul Handley / AFP

Hamas, now 'in play', could sway Saudis
Elizabeth Dickinson

---

After Hamas signed onto an Egypt-brokered ceasefire with Israel last week, Khaled Meshaal, the organisation's leader in exile, had a message that would have seemed impossible a year ago.
He thanked Iran for its role in arming the Sunni-Islamist group that rules Gaza and he called on Arab Gulf states to provide arms in the future.
The statement laid bare Hamas's fluid regional position. After breaking with the Syrian regime over its brutal crackdown, vacating offices in Damascus and clashing with Iran over continued support for the president, Bashar Al Assad, Hamas has moved tentatively away from the so-called "Axis of Resistance" toward the patronage of Sunni Arab states such as Egypt, Turkey and Qatar.
Missing from the stage so far has been Saudi Arabia, whose support or cold shoulder could have a decisive impact on Hamas's political role.
For the last decade, Riyadh has preferred to support the secular and US-backed Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank. Now, analysts say that Hamas's rising profile - and the possibility that it could move away from the patronage of Riyadh's arch rival, Tehran - may entice Saudi Arabia to cultivate stronger ties.
"Hamas is in play," said Hussein Ibish, senior fellow at the Washington-based American Task Force on Palestine. "The Saudis have to ask themselves whether they want to simply stick with the PA or also get involved in the game of trying to court Hamas. And that raises the same question everyone is going to have to answer - particularly the United States and Israel: which group of Palestinians do they want to empower?"
A shift in Saudi policy would probably come slowly, but it could affect both the political dynamics of the region and the prospects for reopening the Arab-Israeli peace process.
Saudi Arabia has the region's deepest pockets, arguably the closest relationship with the US and a long history of behind-the-scenes involvement in efforts to find peace in the Middle East."The Saudis have become domestically focused, plus, they're trying to deal with the Arab Spring," said Kamran Bokhari, the London-based vice president for the Middle East and South Asia at Stratfor, which provides security analysis. "But the Gaza conflict will push the Saudis to say, 'We've been out of this for a while; it's time we go back in'."
In the lead-up to the Iraq war in November 2002, Saudi's then-Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz sent a letter to George W Bush asking the US president to "confirm to us that you will be seriously engaging in solving the Middle East problem" in exchange for his support.
Saudi Arabia did not always favour Fatah over Hamas in Palestinian politics. In the early 2000s, US law enforcement officials estimated that as much as half of Hamas's operating budget, about US$10 million, came in cash from Riyadh.
But in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US, Washington put heavy pressure on Saudi authorities to steer clear of Hamas, which the US calls a terrorist organisation. Saudi funding for Hamas dried up around 2004, according to testimony before the US senate by a treasury official a year later.
In the years since, Riyadh has repeatedly come to the financial aid of the PA in Ramallah. In July, Saudi Arabia announced that it would inject $100m (Dh367.31m) in emergency cash to the PA, which relies heavily on external budget support. Last year, Saudi Arabia contributed at least $200m.
But Riyadh has never abandoned its relationship with Hamas, said Ghassan Al Khatib, a former PA spokesman who now teaches at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank.
Despite receiving international support, the PA has seen its public support among Arabs drop in recent years over a failure to win concessions from Israel. Its continuing attempt to win recognition at the United Nations has so far only lost it financial backing; the US put a months-long hold on funding to the PA over the issue.
Hamas, by contrast, seems to be gaining leverage. A Muslim Brotherhood-inspired organisation, Hamas seems at ease dealing with ideological allies who now run the governments of Egypt and Tunisia.
Its armed resistance secured real gains in the latest clashes with Israel, despite a heavy cost. In the recent ceasefire, Mr Meshaal won a minor relaxing of the economic blockade on Gaza. "This last escalation between Gaza and Israel increased dramatically the political prominence of Hamas, not only among Palestinians in the Occupied Territories but also among Palestinians everywhere and Arab people more generally," said Mr Al Khatib. "The PA has taken the peace negotiations approach, which seems to be not working to Israel and US. Hamas went about things using the resistance approach which, at least this time, wasn't defeated."
Riyadh would likely struggle to completely displace Iran as a Hamas benefactor, since close ties to the US would preclude Saudi Arabia from arming the organisation. Still, the regional balance would almost certainly be altered if Hamas's patrons were largely allies of the West, rather than foes.
Mr Ibish argues that Hamas itself may change if it won broad international backing.
"If Hamas inherits or comes to dominate the Palestinian movement, the question is, will they adapt, and in what way?" he asked.
"Will they moderate? Will they become even more extreme? Will other radical forces emerge? It's in the least not clear. But the point is that there is a decision for everybody, especially the traditional backers of the PA, about whether they want to make that kind of open-ended gamble."
edickinson@thenational.ae

Our partner, Fatah, also fought Israel in Pillar of Defense

Gaza-based armed groups tied to Abbas's Fatah party claim they fired 516 rockets at Israel during recent conflict.

PHOTO: REUTERS/MOHAMMED SALEM

Khaled Abu Toameh..
JPost..
24 November '12..
Several armed groups belonging to Fatah in the Gaza Strip claimed Saturday that they had also fired various types of rockets and missiles at Israel during Operation Pillar of Defense.
A spokesman for the groups, which are affiliated with Fatah’s armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs’ Brigade, told reporters that his men fired 516 rockets and missiles at Israel during the conflict.
The spokesman warned that the Fatah groups would “continue to defend the heroic Palestinian people against Israeli crimes and massacres.”
According to the spokesman, Fatah gunmen fought alongside members of other groups in the Gaza Strip during the recent escalation.
He urged Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to “head immediately to the Gaza Strip to put an end to the state of despicable state of division [between Hamas and Fatah].”

The Fatah groups also “welcomed” last week’s terror attack against a civilian bus in Tel Aviv, in which 28 people were hospitalized.
The masked Fatah spokesman revealed that a member of his group, Mohamed al-Zaini, who was responsible for launching rockets and missiles at Israel, was killed in an IDF air strike.
Abbas Zaki, a member of the Fatah Central Committee, was quoted over the weekend as praising Hamas and Islamic Jihad for “deciding to die for the sake of the Gaza Strip.”
Zaki said in an interview with a Palestinian TV station in the West Bank that Abbas was not against the “resistance” in the Gaza Strip.
“We gave legitimacy to the rockets and provided them with a political cover,” he added. “I have tremendous sympathy for Hamas. God bless them. They told Israel that the war was not a picnic. God bless Hamas and Islamic Jihad and all the other resistance groups which decided to die for the sake of the Gaza Strip.”
Link: http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=293297

via calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.co.il

Arabs in Gaza Have Destroyed Jewish Antiquities

Arabs in Gaza Have Destroyed Jewish Antiquities

An Arab propagandist in the guise of an American academic threw all academic objectivity to the winds in a relatively recent book, which she seems to hope will qualify her for tenure at Columbia University. One Nadia Abu al-Haj [also "Nadia el-Haj" & "Nadia Abu el-Haj"] has written Facts on the Ground: Archaeological Practice and Territorial Self-Fashioning in Israeli Society (University of Chicago Press, 2001), which makes a number of outrageous claims. Such as no Jewish past in the land of Israel, such as only a minority of Jews in Jerusalem in Herod's time, etc. One of her claims is that Israeli archeologists systematically disregard artifacts and remains of cultures other than Jewish and that Israeli archeologists may even systematically --or out of habitual negligence-- destroy non-Jewish remains. In fact, the reality is the opposite. One notable case is that of a Jewish inscription in the Hebrew and Greek alphabets that still existed as recently as 20 years ago but has since been destroyed, apparently by Islamic fanatics shortly after the start of the hate movement called the First Intifada [according to Haggai Huberman; the first "intifada" started in December 1987].

This stone carving was found in 1870, apparently by British travelers. It was discovered in the Great Mosque of Gaza on a stone column which was the upper tier of a double-tiered support for the roof and walls of the mosque. The mosque structure was originally a Crusader church, built after Baldwin I, the Crusader king of Jerusalem, decided to rebuild the city in 1149, after it had lain in ruins since before the Crusader conquest as a result of wars between Seljuk Turks and other Muslim factions, or may have been destroyed at some point by the Crusaders themselves [according to Michael Avi-Yonah]. In this light, it would seem that the Crusaders reused parts --including pillars-- of wrecked earlier buildings that were lying around in the ruined city. The Hebrew and Greek inscriptions together with the decorating medallion/wreath, described by Hershel Shanks as "Hellenistic," indicate that the pillar was part of a synagogue built during the late Roman or the Byzantine periods. The Hebrew and Greek are identical in meaning. They are a man's name, Hananyah son of Jacob,

Hananyah bar Ya`aqob [in Hebrew writing חנניה בר יעקב ]. The Greek inscription is Anania giyo Iako, meaning the same thing. Giyo [in today's Greek yiyo] means son or son of. Other features of the bas-relief include a seven-branched, three-footed menorah, a shofar [used in the synagogues on Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur], an etrog[citron] and a lulav [palm frond].

Note that the Hebrew inscription uses the Aramaic word bar בר, meaning son or son of, instead of the usual Hebrew word ben בן. Aramaic was the predominant spoken language of the Jews in Israel in the late Roman and Byzantine periods. Hananyah was probably a major donor to building the synagogue, and he was honored with a stone carving in his name, just as Jews today honor major donors with stone or metal plaques in synagogues.
To summarize the history of the inscription of the bas-relief: 1) the synagogue with the carving in Hananyah's name was erected in the late Roman or Byzantine periods; 2) the synagogue may have been destroyed at the time of the Arab conquest or in one of the inter-Muslim wars in the early Muslim period before the Crusades, or when the Crusaders destroyed the city of Gaza --according to Michael Avi-Yonah [in the Encyclopedia Judaica, vol 7]--; 3) in 1149, Baldwin I decreed that Gaza be rebuilt; the column from the ruined synagogue was reused to build a Crusader cathedral; 4) after the Muslim reconquest of Gaza, the cathedral was made into a mosque, called the Great Mosque of Gaza; 5) 1870 the bas-relief with its Hebrew and Greek inscriptions was rediscovered on an upper tier of columns supporting the mosque structure; 6) shortly after the start of the hate movement called the First Intifada [December 1987], the bas-relief was destroyed by Muslim haters, apparently because this remnant of ancient Jewish civilization in the Land of Israel was intolerable to them both as Muslims and Arab nationalists. In order to destroy it they needed long ladders, or maybe a scaffolding, in order to get up to the height of the stone carving on the pillar.
Sources:
Michael Avi-Yonah, "Gaza," Encyclopedia Judaica, vol 7.
Haggai Huberman, יהודים בעזה (Netsarim: the Center for the Heritage of the Jews of Gaza 1993)
Hershel Shanks, Judaism in Stone: The Archaeology of Ancient Synagogues (New York: Harper & Row; Washington, DC: Biblical Archaeology Society, 1979).
Nadia Abu al-Haj's denial of the Jewish past in the Land of Israel seems to work by the rule of Article 20 of the PLO Charter:

Claims of historical or religious ties of Jews with Palestine are incompatible with the facts of history. . . [from Article 20 of the PLO Charter; Harkabi trans]

Since the PLO Charter denies any Jewish history in the Land of Israel, then those who support the aims of that Charter and those who devoutly believe in it, are likely to deny [or, if under pressure to admit some Jewish link to Israel, then minimize] Jewish history in Israel, which is what Abu al-Haj does, no matter what the actual facts are as attested by archeological findings, by ancient writings, whether pagan writings in Greek or Latin, whether Jewish writings in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek, or even as attested in the Quran and Arab historiography [see our earlier post on the Quran's Zionist passages, as well as Arab historians writing before invention of the "palestinian people" notion]. Since Abu al-Haj is interested in building up a mystique of the newly invented and supposedly put-upon "palestinian people," it is unlikely that her book reports that the centuries-old Jewish community of Gaza was brought to a violent end in 1929, as the Gaza Jews were driven out by Arab pogroms.
It is noteworthy that Abu al-Haj's tract was published by the University of Chicago Press, proving once again that academic standards among the academic publishers are down.
UPDATING: The Biblical Archeology Review published an article about the destruction of this bas relief stone carving in its issue of January/February 2001. It also reports Arab destruction of other Jewish archeological remains in Gaza and elsewhere [including the Sinai under Egyptian control]. Most notably, perhaps, it shows an Arab mob happily wrecking the Tomb of Joseph in Sh'khem and desecrating Jewish holy writings. For more on Joseph's Tomb seehere.
Also see on Joseph's Tomb & its wrecking by an Arab mob:
Sharon Waxman, "They Knew Not Joseph," Jerusalem Post, 24 November 2000.
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Here is a relevant page from the blog of Paula Stern who awakened us to Columbia's support for historical falsification to Israel's detriment.
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http://ziontruth.blogspot.co.il/2007/09/arabs-in-gaza-have-destroyed-jewish.html

via israeljewsjudaism.blogspot.com

Lynched "Israeli collaborator" was really rival Islamist

You mean, Hamas used the war as an excuse to brutally kill political rivals?
But we keep getting told that Hamas is so peaceful, pragmatic and responsible!
From the Daily Mail (UK):

Publicly executed minutes earlier as an alleged ‘spy for Israel’, his body was dragged through Gaza City by men on motorcycles, waving pistols triumphantly in the air.
Substitute horses for bikes, noted one witness, and it could almost have been a scene from the Crusades.
Along with five others, the ‘collaborator’ was killed on Tuesday for allegedly providing intelligence to enable Israel to pinpoint attack targets. He was shot twice and then ‘finished off’ with a blow from a heavy rock.
Amid dizzying confusion at the height of the eight-day conflict, there were sketchy reports that the traitors were caught ‘red-handed’ with ‘high-tech filming equipment’.
The Mail on Sunday can today reveal that the dead man in the picture is 37-year-old father-of-five Ribhi Badawi, a Palestinian prisoner in Gaza.
His family, neighbours and friends believe the notion that he spied for Israel is absurd – and there is much that supports their view, not least that as a prisoner Badawi was under armed guard during last week’s conflict.
Badawi was a member of the Islamist group Jaljalat – Thunder – which takes its inspiration from Al Qaeda and is more hardline than Hamas.
He had been in prison since 2009 when he was arrested on terrorism charges. It was alleged he was one of several fighters planning to launch attacks on Hamas.
Badawi’s family claim that while in prison, he was tortured until he confessed to being a traitor.

‘Ribhi was a proud Palestinian. He loved his country with a rare passion and he was more opposed to Israeli occupation than Hamas is,’ said his widow Kholoud.
‘To see the body of my dear husband dragged through the streets like an animal is truly terrible. The men who did this were wild.’
Sitting in her cramped home with three-year-old daughter Baraa (whose name means Innocence), Kholoud then reveals another irony – that her husband was wanted by an Israeli military court for conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism following a foiled bombing mission.
The dead man’s family insists his execution had nothing to do with espionage but was rooted instead in political and tribal rivalry. ‘His enemies used the war as an excuse to kill him,’ said his widow, who alleges the man who arrested her husband had once been involved in a dispute with him.
Badawi told his family he was tortured by Hamas in the months after his arrest. For days on end, he said, he was suspended upside down and beaten. ‘They also put a machine gun in his mouth and threatened to shoot unless he signed a blank piece of paper,’ said his widow.
‘He is a tough man and he resisted but after 55 days he succumbed and signed. He was later charged with espionage and terrorism. He was sentenced to death and had been in jail ever since.’

This is how Hamas treats its Islamic rivals.
Just imagine how they would treat Jews if they were in power.
(h/t Adloyada)

via elderofziyon.blogspot.co.il

Netanyahu agreed to ceasefire after Obama promised US troops in Sinai next week?

President Obama promises to put U.S. troops in the Sinai without asking Congress? you ready for a real f'n disaster? Welcome to a bloodbath of Americans.

(RT) Israel and Palestine are momentarily at a ceasefire, but the potential reasoning behind the recess could have some real international implications. Israel’s Debka reports that the pause in fighting comes after the US promised to send troops to Sinai. According to Debka, US troops will soon be en route to the Sinai peninsula, Egyptian territory in North Africa that’s framed by the Suez Canal on the West and Israel on the East. In its northeast most point, Sinai is but a stone’s throw from Palestinian-controlled Gaza, and according to Debka, Hamas fighters there have been relying on Iranian arms smugglers to supply them with weaponry by way of Egypt. Debka reports this week that Sinai will soon be occupied by US troops, who were promised by President Barack Obama to Israel’s leaders as a condition that a ceasefire be called. Once deployed, the Americans will intervene with the rumored arms trade orchestrated by Iranians, ideally cutting off supplies for Hamas while at the same time serving as a thorn in the side of Iran. “Once the missile and arms consignments depart Iranian ports or Libyan arms bazaars, Tehran has no direct control of their transit from point to point through Egypt until they reach Sinai and their Gaza destination,” Debka reports. “All the same, a US special forces operation against the Sinai segment of the Iranian smuggling route would count as the first overt American military strike against an Iranian military interest.” The decision to send US troops to Sinai in exchange for a ceasefire was reportedly arranged early Wednesday morning after Pres. Obama made a deal over the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In the days prior, Israel was relentless in targeting Gaza, killing more than 100 persons — including civilians — during a renewed assault on Hamas. A ceasefire has since been called after a week of fight, but more military action could soon occur, claims Israel, if the flow of weapons to Gaza is not stopped. Netanyahu has been adamant with his pleas for the United States to strike Iran in an effort to disrupt its nuclear enrichment facilities, a demand which up until now has been brushed aside by Pres. Obama. The White House has up until now insisted on diplomatic measures in order to make an impact on any Iranian output, but Debka’s sources suggest that US troops may now have to intervene in Sinai if any smugglers should attempt to move weapons into Gaza. “By opening the Sinai door to an American troop deployment for Israel’s defense, recognizes that the US force also insures Israel against Cairo revoking or failing to honor the peace treaty Egypt signed with Israel in 1979,” adds Debka. According to their sources, US troops are expected in Egypt early next week. Meanwhile, American forces have all but surrounded Iran and are stationed in countless bases across the Middle East.

This is rich: Russia accuses US of preventing Security Council action on Gaza

This is truly rich. Russian UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin is accusing the United States of preventing UN Security Council action on Gaza.

The Security Council held heated closed-door negotiations on a possible statement, but diplomats said a sticking point was that the text did not mention Hamas missile attacks on Israel. Israel said it was these attacks that prompted its major offensive against Gaza.

Council members were consulting with their capitals on the draft statement, which needs to be approved by consensus, but several diplomats said it was unlikely an agreement would be reached by a Tuesday morning deadline.

Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said that if the council could not agree, he would put a resolution - a stronger move by the council than a statement - to a vote on Tuesday to call for an end to the violence and show support for regional and international efforts to broker peace.

"One member of the Security Council, I'm sure you can guess which, indicated ... they will not be prepared to go along with any reaction of the Security Council," Churkin said earlier in a thinly veiled reference to the United States.

"Somehow, allegedly, that could hurt the current efforts carried out by Egypt and the region," he said.

A resolution is passed when it receives nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the five permanent council members - Russia, China, Britain, the United States and France. Some diplomats said a vote on the Russian resolution would likely be tight and could force a veto by the United States.
...
Council diplomats, who did not want to be identified, said the United States' UN delegation had been instructed by Washington not to engage in consultations on a statement by the Security Council.

France, Germany and Britain submitted amendments to the draft Security Council statement earlier, diplomats said, but Churkin said too many changes had been proposed.

"Unfortunately it looked like a little bit of a filibustering attempt. Maybe I am mistaken, maybe it's just a laid-back attitude in a situation where we cannot afford procrastination," Churkin told reporters after consultations.

One council diplomat described the filibustering accusation as "utter nonsense."

Hey Ambassador Churkin, how many Syrians have been killed since the start of this operation (hint: many more Syrians than 'Palestinians' have been killed) and why has your country been blocking Security Council action against Bashar al-Assad for months? At the very least, sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander!

via israelmatzav.blogspot.com

Seriously Wounded Soldier's Life in Danger

Four Gaza terror groups -- PFLP, DFLP, PRC, and Islamic Jihad -- take "credit" for firing rockets into #Israel tonight.

Dr. Michael Sharf, head of the Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva, said on Saturday evening that the wounds of the IDF soldier who was hit in a terrorist attack on a jeep near Gaza were life threatening.

“Whenever someone is seriously wounded there is a danger to his life,” Dr. Sharf told Channel 2 News.
"The soldier who was seriously wounded suffered injuries to his head and eyes,” he said. "He is currently undergoing surgery and will require intervention that will continue into the night. We are making efforts to stabilize him and I believe that in the next 24 hours we will have an updated report on his condition.”
Another soldier who was moderately wounded, said Dr. Sharf, “also has an eye injury as well as a shoulder injury. He is also in the operating room and his wounds were due to shrapnel."
Two other soldiers who were wounded in the attack were in light to moderate condition, suffering from shrapnel wounds. They were evacuated to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.
The IDF responded with heavy tank fire at the eastern part of Gaza and at an area east of Khan Younis. There were also reports of artillery fire and fire from helicopters.
By 9:00 p.m., reports said three Arabs were killed and 29 were wounded in Israeli counterstrikes on Gaza.
Also on Saturday evening, Gaza terrorists fired a barrage of at least 30 rockets at southern Israel. In all attacks there were no physical injuries. One vehicle sustained damage in a rocket attack in the western Negev. As well, one rocket that exploded between two houses in the Eshkol Regional Council hit a power line. Part of the area lost power as a result, but there were no physical injuries.
The Home Front Command has ordered residents of communities near Gaza to stay within 15 seconds of a protected space.
IAF aircraft attacked on Saturday night a terrorist squad in northern Gaza that was in the midst of an attempt to fire rockets at southern Israel.
The IDF said in a statement that a direct hit was detected. Sources in the Palestinian Authority said that a terrorist from the Islamic Jihad group was killed in the airstrike.

via israelnationalnews.com

This Ongoing War: A Blog: 10-Nov-12: 11:00pm update on the firing in southern Israel

Running for cover in Ashkelon tonight as Tzeva Adom missile
warning is heard [Source: AFP]  

Based on reports from Times of Israel, Ynet and other sources

• Rocket fire barrages have been crashing into southern Israel for the past several hours. Twenty-four Qassam and GRAD rockets, as well as mortar shells, have been fired from northern Gaza at Israel so far tonight. 
• A car took a direct in a town in the Sha’ar Hanegev region adjacent to the Gaza Strip.
• Schools have been ordered closed tomorrow (Sunday) in the town of Gan Yavne, and a decision about the neighbouring city of Ashdod will be made at first light tomorrow morning. 
• Commercial traffic through the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel into Gaza has been canceled until further notice.
• A rocket crashed into the Ashkelon area while we were writing this post (11:10 pm). Numerous regions of southern Israel have heard Tzeva Adom incoming missile warnings in the last few minutes.

The night is not yet over.

via thisongoingwar.blogspot.com

A short while ago, the IDF targeted a rocket launching squad in the northern Gaza Strip moments after it fired rockets towards southern Israel. A direct hit was confirmed.

 

Over the past few hours, 25 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip hit southern Israel. An additional rocket was successfully intercepted by ‘Iron Dome’.

 

The IDF will not tolerate any attempt to harm Israeli civilians, and will operate against anyone who uses terror against the State of Israel. The Hamas terror organization is solely responsible for any terrorist activity emanating from the Gaza Strip.

via idfblog.com