Why aren't they protesting in "Palestine"?

So why aren't they really protesting in "Palestine" (the 2 parts on this side of the Jordan, not the one on the East Bank).

It's not exactly a question with a simple answer. I was talking with Jameel and we came up with a number of explanations.

The first one is economics. Egypt is dirt poor, Tunis is dirt poor. But Jordan is only regular poor, while, as Palestinian Authority officials have stated, life isn't bad in Palestine. Whatever their flaws and corruption, the Arabs under PA/Fatah/Hamas rule aren't starving, they have jobs (some in the settlements), and they have a growing economy.

No democracy? Obviously that's not the end of the world.

The second explanation is where it gets more more complex.

In Gaza, they actually had their revolution. Hamas took over. The people got Sharia law. It seems they got in Gaza exactly what they wanted. They don't need a second revolution.

In Judea/Samaria the desire for Hamas/Islamic rule exists, perhaps just as strong, but the PA/Fatah is actively suppressing any organized attempts by Hamas to raise its head through use of its military, by controlling the content in the mosques, and presumably torture (see below).

Alternatively, the West Bankers may not want Hamas, so why rise up, if that will be what you get instead?

Another point to consider is that the Egyptian government is not the Palestinian government. And the Egyptian people's culture is not Palestinian culture.

Relatively speaking, while Egypt is ruled by a repressive third world government, it is (relatively speaking to "Palestine") still a civilized country/government.

Hamas and Fatah on the other hand are in reality brutal regimes (like Syria) that have no compunction against torturing or killing as many people as they need to maintain control. We saw what Hamas did to Fatah members in the Gaza revolution and during Cast Lead, and stories come out all the time of Fatah secret prisons where civilians are tortured.


It's one thing to blow yourself up or get yourself killed trying to kill the Jews. But it's another thing to risk dying for a vague concept like democracy that isn't even an ideology for you.


Last, is that the many "spontaneous" Palestinian protests we see against Israel are instigated by and involve the Israeli Left. For a variety of reasons, you're simply not likely to see Israeli leftists instigating Palestinian crowds and working them up to demand democracy.


I suspect it's going to take a lot more to get the "Palestinians" on this side of the Jordan to start rioting for change than a domino effect that may perhaps be petering off.




In the meantime, watch this video of a small protest in Ramallah against Abbas. You can see PA security people in the middle arresting protesters.




It does make you wonder if there perhaps are more small protests like this happening in "Palestine" and the news of them isn't getting out.

So perhaps there aren't many large protests yet, but could they be just around the corner?


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Chareidi Taliban Women

A rather scary article appears in ynetnews, describing the growing cult of Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem's Chareid Taliban "Burqa" women, who cover themselves from head to toe out of a misguided notion that Sharia-extreme modesty is somehow connected to the Judaism.

Not only are women fully burqa'd in this fast-growing cult, but it includes dressing girls in them from age 6.

Here's a bit of the article...you can read it all at YNET.

The fact that most of the "Taliban women" are newly-religious does not help either. "It's unacceptable that that the newly-religious will tell us that our women aren't modest and good enough," a senior haredi businessman explained.

It does make sense however that these women are newly-religious. Extremism is very common amongst people who change their lifestyle in a radical manner, from a secular life to a religious one and vise-versa.

"Similar to those who search for meaning in their lives or feel lost and seek help, these girls are inspired by a dominant figure," said a father of a newly-religious girl who now belongs to a cult. "I personally feel that in both cases it's a matter of exploiting weaknesses, but ultimately my daughter is happy and pleased with the life she has chosen, so I have to accept it."

His daughter, however, sees nothing wrong with her unusual appearance. "I think that seculars, who are used to seeing girls dressed in minimal clothing, are the weird ones," she said. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm following the rules of modesty which are also meant to save men from themselves. A man who sees a woman's body parts is sexually aroused, and this might cause him to commit sin. Even if he doesn't actually sin physically, his impure thoughts are sin in themselves."

But what about little girls? Why do 6-year-olds need to walk around covered head-to-toe? "There are enough men who look at them as sexual objects. Such values must be taught at an early age," she explained.

Husbands of the "Taliban women" usually accept the way their wives dress. "Some of them do it out of weakness and lack of choice, others claim they put up with it because of a higher calling and purity. I think they are simply weak. If we're being honest, haredi men are not involved with what goes on at home. They spend most of their days in their yeshivot."

The ultra-Orthodox "Jewish Taliban" cult is one of the most extreme groups ever established in Israel. Established over six years ago, when haredi women tried to fight immodesty in Israel, the group's members decided to wear a robe covering their bodies from the shoulders down.

This cult now has hundreds of members all over the country. Their motto is clear: Cover up as much as you can in the name of modesty.

This initiative was received positively by many haredi circles and was even accompanied by an enthusiastic letter of support signed by Badatz rabbis, the ultra-Orthodox court of justice, and Eda Haredit leader Rabbi Yitzchok Tuvia Weiss.

Slowly but surely more women began joining the cult, covering their heads so only their faces were showing. This turned into a popular trend and in the past three years has turned into full face coverage.

"It all started with three women who covered their entire bodies," said a senior haredi businessman. "Then eight more joined in Jerusalem and 12 in Beit Shemesh, almost all of them newly-religious. Together with their daughters they are a group of about a 100 women. The rest of the 'cult' members expose their faces, and consist of roughly 500 women."

These days its not uncommon when taking the #2 bus to the Old City of Jerusalem to see women and girls dressed like this.

And its scary that Sharia law is making inroads into Chareidi Judaism.

hat-tip: Mom in Israel


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New Israeli Invention to Save Airlines Billions.

From Globes: The Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) (TASE: ARSP.B1) passenger jet towing vehicle, capable of handling even the largest planes in service, has successful completed a series of trials. The "taxibot" tows planes from passenger gate to the runway, rendering it unnecessary for the planes to operate their jet engines.

IAI estimates the cost of the taxibot at $3 million, and the company expects to sell 1,500 taxibots to airlines by 2020.

At many airports, the passenger gates are several miles from the runways, and the drive to the runway consumes huge quantities of jet fuel. For example, a Boeing 747 consumes a ton of jet fuel every 17 minutes.

"The good news about the taxibot is that a plane's crew does not have to use the engines to taxi from the passenger gate to the end of the runway," IAI taxibot project manager Ron Brayer told "Globes". "This is no small thing nowadays. Airlines will save billions of dollars on fuel. Plane safety will improve, because when the engines are off, the risk of sucking in items on the ground is reduced. In addition, noise at airports will lessen, and there will be fewer pollution emissions. In effect, the plane's crew will only have to operate the immense jet engines for less than five minutes before takeoff."

Now if only we could have an automated cabin crew that manages to keep people in their seats till the plane fully stops...



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Who will be the Cholent King?

Liberally translated from the Hebrew, here.

Residents of the Zayit neighborhood in Efrat have decided to organize an evening for "guys' night out."

The Program: Who will be the Cholent King of Efrat?

20 kinds of Cholent will compete for the coveted title.

Who will be the judges? Rabbi Shlomo Riskin -- the Chief Rabbi of Efrat, MK Uri Orbach, and Chairman of ZAKA, Yehuda Meshi-Zahav

The women of the Zayit neighborhood in Efrat, Gush Etzion organized a "womens'-only" evening that included visiting Rachel's Tomb and more. Their husband's felt discriminated against and decided to organize a special evening for men only: An "Iron Chef" competition for the ultimate Cholent: Approximately 20 men will prepare this classic Jewish dish, and they will compete for the coveted title, the "Cholent King of Efrat."

What types of Cholent will they be preparing? Each contestant will cook his recipe from his own personal tradition. Some types include "Chulent in a "Poike", South African Cholent, and Egyptian "Dafini" Cholent.

And the prizes? The first place winner will receive a special apron, captioned "Cholent King of the Zayit Neighborhood of Efrat," while the second place winner will receive a premium bone steak.

Yechiel Fishman, chairman of the Zayit synagogue said: "The "Zayit Ra'anan community is a young, dynamic and vibrant community, and this is just one of many activities throughout the year showing the variety of the human mosaic of our synagogue. This initiative was to test men's cooking skills in the community, for the once a month Kiddushim. The women are the big winners, and we prove that we can also be "Iron Chefs."


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Muslim Brotherhood wants end to Egypt-Israeli peace deal

Received the following news tidbit...

12:46 03/02/2011

Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood movement has unveiled its plans to scrap a peace treaty with Israel if it comes to power, a deputy leader said in an interview with NHK TV.

Rashad al-Bayoumi said the peace treaty with Israel will be abolished after a provisional government is formed by the movement and other Egypt's opposition parties.

"After President Mubarak steps down and a provisional government is formed, there is a need to dissolve the peace treaty with Israel," al-Bayoumi said.

Egypt was the first Arab country to officially recognize Israel and sign a peace agreement with the Israeli government in 1979. It is also a major mediator of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Muslim Brotherhood has recently come to light amid mass anti-government protests in Egypt. Some media voiced concerns that the banned Islamic movement could eventually take power in the riot-hit Arab country.

The deeply conservative Islamic movement, which wants to move Egypt from secularism and return to the rules of the Quran, failed to win a single seat in the 2010 Egyptian parliamentary election.

The Muslim Brotherhood joined the anti-government protests in Egypt last week. The unrest, seen by many analysts as a major threat to repressive governments in the region, has already claimed the lives of at least 300 people and injured several thousand.

TOKYO, February 3 (RIA Novosti) (Source)

In case you thought al-Bayoumi is a nobody or minor player in the MB, Wikipedia reports:

Cairo University professor Rashad al-Bayumi is one of the heads of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, his appointment pending approval by the Islamist organization's guidance bureau.

He's not a nobody, and it's unfortunate that the majority of the West is treating the MB as a great Democratic hope for Egypt. I guess Bill Clinton thought the same of Yassir Arafat.

If the MB and Egypt breaks the peace treaty, do we get our Mossad-trained shark back?



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SandMonkey arrested

Rumor has it that SandMonkey got arrested and his blog closed down (somehow) by the Egyptian authorities.

No new twitter updates from him either.

Uh-oh.

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Class Action Suit Against President Carter

PRESS RELEASE

FORMER PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER NAMED IN CLASS ACTION SUIT FILED IN NEW YORK COURT ALLEGING DECEPTIONS AND FRAUDULENT MISREPRESENTATIONS IN BOOK ATTACKING ISRAEL

NEW YORK: An historic class action suit has been filed against former President Jimmy Carter and the Simon & Schuster publishing company alleging that Carter’s book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, contained numerous false and knowingly misleading statements intended to promote the author’s agenda of anti-Israel propaganda and to deceive the reading public instead of presenting accurate information as advertised. The suit, captioned Unterberg et al. v. Jimmy Carter et.al (11 cv 0720), filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeks compensatory and punitive damages.

The plaintiffs, who hope to have the case certified as a class action, are members of the reading public who purchased Carter’s book expecting that they were buying an accurate and factual record of historic events concerning Israel and the Palestinian Arabs. The lawsuit contends that Carter, who holds himself out as a Middle-East expert, and his publisher, intentionally presented untrue and inaccurate information and sought to capitalize on the author’s status as a former President to mislead unsuspecting members of the public. The complaint alleges that the defendants’ misrepresentations, all highly critical of Israel, violate New York consumer protection laws, specifically New York General Business Law § 349, which makes it unlawful to engage in deceptive acts in the course of conducting business. While acknowledging Carter’s right to publish his personal views, the plaintiffs assert that the defendants violated the law and, thus, harmed those who purchased the book.

The suit is the first time a former President and a publishing house have been sued for violating consumer protection laws by knowingly publishing inaccurate information while promoting a book as factual.

The plaintiffs are represented by attorney David Schoen, Esq. of Montgomery, Alabama and attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, Esq. of Tel-Aviv, Israel.

The complaint notes that after the book’s publication some of Carter’s closest aides, including distinguished public officials and scholars personally involved in the events described, condemned the book as untruthful. Despite being presented with irrefutable proof that many of representations in the book are false, the defendants have refused to make any corrections.

Attorney Schoen stated that:

“It is, indeed, a sad day for all of us as Americans, when a former President demeans the dignity of his office by intentionally misstating critically important facts concerning events of great historic significance and public interest, simply to advance a personal anti-Israel animus and to foster the agenda of the enemies of Israel who pump so much money into the Center which bears his name.”

Attorney Darshan-Leitner stated that:

“The lawsuit will expose all the falsehoods and misrepresentations in Carter’s book and prove that his hatred of Israel has led him to commit this fraud on the public. He is entitled to his opinions but deceptions and lies have no place in works of history.”

A copy of the complaint is available here:

For more information please contact:
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner (516) 684-9983,
Email: nitsanad@zahav.net.il

David Schoen: (334) 395-6611
Email: David@Schoenlawfirm.com

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The IDF Chief of Staff Fiasco

In one of the most embarrassing episodes in the history of the IDF, the appointment of the IDF 20th incoming Chief of Staff, Major General Yoav Galant has been rescinded, and a "temporary replacement, fill-in" has been hastily appointed instead, Major General Yair Naveh.

From the outset, Galant's candidacy was mired in controversy because of tensions between Galant and the current chief, CoS Ashkenazi, as well as Galant's connections to politicians and businesspeople. An undercurrent media campaign against Galant was brewing at the same time, including the alleged hiring of an ad company (the same one used by the Kadima party) with details on how to besmirch Galant. Ehud Barak favored Galant, and put the whole weight of his position as Defense Minister to push forward the candidacy. The government decided on Barak's recommendation, and Galant was hailed as the new Chief of Staff.

Haaretz wrote at the time:

Galant, 51, joined the navy commandos in 1977 and held a series of command positions in the elite Shayetet 13 unit. During that period he managed to spend two years on leave from the army, traveling to Alaska and worked as a lumberjack. On his return to the IDF, he completed naval officer training and served as second in comman of a missile boat. Afterwards, he returned to the Shayetet, was appointed commander of a company and promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

A lumberjack?!

And then, just when it looked like all was well...the Environmentalists got into the act. And rightfully so. (Galant's home pictured on the right)

According to the State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss' report, designated Chief of Staff Yoav Galant seized public land near his home in Moshav Amikam after his request to lease it was denied.

He planned for the entrance to the property and the driveway to be on public land, and therefore situated his home and the entrance to it in an area that was not included in the original building permit," the report says. "Galant confirmed this was his intention on a number of occasions."

The report also mentions that in 2007 the State Prosecutor's Office said Galant "did not act innocently throughout the affair."

After Lindenstrauss determined Thursday that Galant withheld the truth in depositions he signed, seized public land and only requested permits after the fact, it appears as though the newly published details move him further away from the chief of staff's office. (YNET)

So Galant, lied, stole land, and tried to get away with it. Also annoying was the report in this past weekend's Makor Rishon newspaper. Galant requested that the olive trees he planted on the land he stole which surrounds his home, not be uprooted, "so as not to uproot what is planted" (אל תעקור נטוע).

Galant, who was the military attache for Ariel Sharon during the 2005 "Disengagement from Gaza" had more sympathy for his own personal olive trees (planted on stolen land) asking that they not be uprooted, than any opinion he ever publicly expressed concerning the uprooting of 8000 Jews from their homes.

Israel's attorney general announced he wouldn't be able to adequately defend Galant's appointment if challenged in Israel's Supreme Court...and Galant's candidacy was discarded by Ehud Barak.

The fiasco doesn't end there -- Barak despises current CoS Gabi Ashkenazi so much, that instead of simply requesting that Ashkenazi extend his term by another 6 months to a year, Barak has decided to hastily fill the position with Major General Yair Naveh.

With major security challenges facing Israel; from Egypt to Iran to Lebanon to Gaza to the PA...now is not the time for a temporary band-aid solution. Ashekanzi should remain, Ehud Barak should try to keep his ego in check, and a proper IDF Chief of Staff should be found.



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Will the USA Abandon Israel?

An interesting opinion piece on ynet caught my eye, entitled "Could US Abandon Israel too?"

I disagree with adding the word "too" as part of the title, since no comparison can be made between the situation in Egypt and the democracy in Israel.

I don't believe the US "abandoned" Egypt, but is desperately trying to find a delicate balance in case Mubarack retains power (after all the billions of aid the US gave Egypt) or in case the Muslim Brotherhood takes over (Egypt's flavor of Hamas) with Mohamed ElBaradei as their puppet Prime Minister.

Yes, the US could theoretically "abandon" Israel for a number of reasons, and after all, we're constantly reminded that "nations don't have friends, they have interests."

YNET writes:

The United States sided with protesters over the weekend, threatening to stop aid to Egypt if President Hosni Mubarak does not promote reforms in the country. Washington also added that the Egyptian public's grievances require an immediate response from the government

"The possibility of being abandoned over interests is always possible," says Hebrew University Professor Michal Pomerantz, an expert on international law and US foreign policy.

According to Pomerantz, "The United States is not completely committed to a state, and what happened in Egypt as well as in Iran – with which it had such close relations at one point, that Carter was considering transferring it nuclear technology – proves that it is always possible, especially when there are changes in the administration, as has happened in the United States."

Myopic Presidents like Carter prove that anything is possible, and Carter to this day still tries to prop up the Mubarakesque President of the PA, Mahmoud Abbas.

In a conversation with Ynet, Prof. Eytan Gilboa, an expert on US policy from Bar Ilan University, recommended to take precautionary measures and "think over" our relations with Washington, despite the support in congress and positive public opinion.

According to Prof. Gilboa, Barack Obama stabbed Mubarak in the back and has already turned his back on Israel once, and therefore we must "take a good look into the future. We must develop our foreign relations with the rising powers – India, with whom we already have military cooperation, and China. However, we must also focus on improving our complex relations with Europe," he added.

Israel needs to be aware that despite favorable public opinion in the USA -- American Presidents and the State Department could abandon Israel while attempt to force Israel to make suicidal concessions. The USA is already courting Chin, so it shouldn't be considered a back stab for Israel to foster better relations with China and India.

I'm not writing off the USA, but putting all our eggs in one basket is never a good idea. In fact, the sooner Israel weans itself from US foreign aid, the better for all of us.


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