NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2003 News Archive

Saturday, December 20, 2003
IRAN/ISRAEL NUCLEAR CONFLICT
The web site Debkafile is reporting on an interview with Shaul Mofaz and Iranian radio listeners about Israeli actions on Irans nuclear weapons program:

"This week, Israel’s Iranian-born defense minister Shaul Mofaz made the unique gesture of answering questions from listeners in Iran – in their own language - in a live broadcast over Israel Radio’s Farsi-language service.
The questions came thick and fast.

In answer to one, he promised everything would be done to protect the environment against radioactive fallout should Israeli forces destroy Iran’s nuclear capability. "

Incidentally Iran's nuclear program seems to have suffered a blow from Libya, according to news from the Washington Post.

Libya's stunning decision yesterday to surrender its weapons of mass destruction followed two decades of international isolation and some of the world's most punishing economic sanctions. In the end, Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gaddafi was under so much pressure that he was forced to seek an end to the economic and political isolation threatening his government -- and his own survival, according to U.S. and British officials and outside experts.

ISRAELI CRIME CRACKDOWN
The Jerusalem Post is reporting on a major effort to curtail mob-financed illegalities in Israel:

"Local crime generates income of more than NIS 100 billion a year, a figure equal to almost 20 percent of of Israel's gross domestic product, according to criminologists' estimates.

Friday, December 12, 2003
GERMANS "ANNOYED" OVER HOLOCAUST
The UK Guardian has a story on a poll showing that a vast majority of Germans are tired of being blamed for the holocaust in Europe:

"The survey by Bielefeld University showed 69.9% were irritated at still being held responsible today for crimes against Jews.
A quarter of 3,000 people surveyed also agreed with the statement: "Many Jews try to use Germany's Third Reich past to their advantage and want to make Germans pay for it." A further 30% said there was "some truth" to the statement.

GETTING VOTES
Another UK Guardian story covers election tactics at a West bank University:

"The campaign for the student government council at Bir Zeit University near Ramallah featured exploding models of Israeli buses and claims of prowess based on Israeli casualties.

At a debate, the Hamas candidate asked the Fatah candidate: ``Hamas activists in this university killed 135 Zionists. How many did Fatah activists from Bir Zeit kill?''

The Fatah candidate refused to answer, suggesting his rival ``look at the paper, go to the archives and see for yourself."

Tuesday, December 9, 2003
ANTI-SEMITISM IN EUROPE
Andrew Stuttuford at National Review has a story about the changes in European anti-semitism:

"The fact that, six decades after Auschwitz, there is, once again, anxiety about rising anti-Semitism in Europe is proof enough of that. Vandalized synagogues, desecrated graveyards, torched schools, tales of beatings, bullying, and thuggery in the streets bring a touch of the pogrom to 21st-century headlines."

"...While it is, alas, true that Europe has seen some recurrence of "classic" (if that's the word) anti-Semitism, the idea that the continent is somehow moving towards a repetition of the nightmare of 60 years ago is an exaggeration even more absurd than France as chicken supreme. For proof, look no further than the furor over what is still a relatively small number of violent incidents. Despite this, however, there can be no doubt that something wicked is indeed afoot."

SADDAM HUSSIEN, NOVELIST
The UK Spectator has a story on Saddam Hussien's tranlator, who say the dictator was busy writing his fourth novel when he was thrown out of power by the U.S./U.K. attack:

"Less than a month before the invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein was focusing on his latest novel. Be Gone, Demons! told the story of Ibrahim and his three grandchildren, Ezekiel, Aissa and Youssef, who symbolised Moses, Jesus and Mohammed, the prophets of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Ezekiel was portrayed as evil, obsessed with money and sexually deficient. Ezekiel becomes a moneylender and arms dealer whose machinations pit tribes against each other. He falls in love with a woman who resists him. He tries to rape her but she escapes. In the novel’s climax, Ezekiel is killed by ‘just men’ in a battle on the plains of Mesopotamia. The demon is gone and Iraq can flourish."

PALESTINIAN EDUCATION
The Shark Blog has scans and translations of Palestinian school primers showing that, at least in their school system, Israel doesn't exist:

"The map at left is from a 7th grade Palestinian textbook called "The Geography of Palestine". The map shows that Palestine includes the Galilean Hills, Haifa, Jerusalem, Beersheba and Ashkelon, as well as well known Arab towns. Tel Aviv is omitted totally."

Thursday, December 4, 2003
ARAFAT TO BE BURIED ON TEMPLE MOUNT?
Frontpage Magazine has an article about plans to bury Arafat (when he is dead, apparently) on the Temple Mount:

"He's not dead yet, but some Israelis already worry about where Yasser Arafat will be buried.

An Israeli parliamentarian has proposed a law that would prevent burials in the Old City of Jerusalem, including the Muslim cemetery on the Temple Mount, where Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat is hoping to be buried.

...a few families hold burial plots in the Muslim cemetery on the Temple Mount, and one of them has promised a plot to Arafat, Eldad said.

The late Jordanian King Abdullah, the great-great grandfather of the present King of Jordan is buried there.

The last person to be buried in the Muslim cemetery was Palestinian Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Faisal Husseini, who died suddenly of a heart attack while traveling abroad two years ago. "

CARTOON CONTROVERSY CONTINUES
The award for "best cartoon" to an anti-Sharon piece which has been denounced for anti-Semitism continues to cause trouble for the man who drew it. The Forward carries a piece on the story and quotes the artist:

"Do I believe, or was I trying to suggest, that Sharon actually eats babies?" Brown wrote. "Of course not. ... My cartoon was intended as a caricature of a specific person, Sharon, in the guise of a classical myth."

Brown went on to say: "I also omitted certain things. I might have drawn Israeli insignia on the tank or helicopter to set the scene. But not only did I have no intention of being anti-Semitic; I had no desire to make an anti-Israel comment."

Wednesday, December 3, 2003
AWARD FOR CARTOON
The British Editorial Cartoon Society awarded its top prize to an anti-Sharon cartoon that has accusations flying about anti-Semitism. The UK Telegraph attacks the award:

Up-to-date anti-Semitism awards the British cartoon-of-the-year prize to an illustration from the Independent that could happily have graced the pages of Der Sturmer: a vicious caricature of the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, naked, eating a Palestinian infant.

Even further into the article, the writer (Barbara Amiel) comes more to the point:

...in the 21st century, after several millennia of the problem, many people are exasperated with the "Jewish question". Even more to the point, some Jews themselves are exhausted with being Jews.

The Jerusalem Post carries an opinion column similar in theme to the Telegraph article here. The "American Jewish Committee" denounced the award in a press release that can be viewed here. Israel Insider has an opinion article on the award here. The Forward has a page on the controversy here.

DON'T GO BACK TO EGYPT
The Middle East Media Research Institute has a story on the UNESCO-funded manuscript museum that recently opened in Alexandria, Egypt. On display in the exhibit for "holy books of the monotheistic religions" is a The Protocols of the Elders of Zion coupled with a Torah:

...the museum's director, Dr. Yousef Ziedan, ... explains why he decided to add the "Protocols" to the exhibit:

"When my eyes fell upon the rare copy of this dangerous book, I decided immediately to place it next to the Torah. Although it is not a monotheistic holy book, it has become one of the sacred [tenets] of the Jews, next to their first constitution, their religious law, [and] their way of life. In other words, it is not merely an ideological or theoretical book.

"Perhaps this book of the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' is more important to the Zionist Jews of the world than the Torah, because they conduct Zionist life according to it…"

The article goes on to quote the museum director and his articles which purport to explain how the Nazi's only killed 1 million or so Jews, versus the generally agreed upon 6 to 7 million. As has been pointed out elsewhere, this exhibit, the museum, and the museum director are all funded by the U.N. through its UNESCO "cultural funding."

ISRAELI SECURITY CLAIMS 25 ATTACKS STOPPED
The Jerusalem Post is carrying a story claiming that security forces stopped 25 different attack attempts in Israel for the month of November:

Israeli security forces have thwarted more than 25 terror attacks in the month of November, Army Radio reported Monday.

The attacks foiled included suicide bombings, roadside bombs, and shooting attacks.

A Fatah Tanzim cell was caught before it could carry out a planned attack on Jewish worshippers visiting Joseph's Tomb in Nablus.

Saturday, November 29, 2003
NOT EXACTLY A SURPRISE
The UK Telegraph is reporting on investigations about EU funds provided to Palestinaian organizations which then used the money to mount suicide bombing attacks:

European Union funds may have been channelled to Palestinian militant groups responsible for the deaths of scores of people in suicide bombings.

The EU's anti-fraud unit and Belgian police are investigating claims that money earmarked for aid was paid to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades through Belgian and German affiliate organisations.

Accusations about this kind of activity with EU funds has existed for years, but in post 9/11 the connection between EU money and terrorist attacks is less than flattering for a governmental body that calls itself neutral.

Confirmation that a formal investigation is going ahead is acutely sensitive for the European Commission, which pays subsidies to the Palestinian Authority of around €10m (£7m) a month. Worries have been growing for some time that EU aid has been diverted to groups engaged in terrorism or pocketed by corrupt Palestinian officials.

With the Palestinian economy in freefall, the International Monetary Fund is appealing for £700m for 3.2m Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The funds are also for the Palestinian Authority which is the main employer and economic mainstay in the occupied territories.

The web site EU Funding has a much more involved analysis of this issue, along with a number of other articles covering the financing of Palestinian projects that have been used for anti-Jewish efforts.

EU: COME TO THE RIGHT CONCLUSION, OR ELSE
The UK Telegraph has a story on the EU 'anti-racism body' and its war of words with the Berlin Technical Institute, which it had commissioned to conduct a study on the increase in attacks on Jews in Europe. However, the study didn't report what was wanted:

"Researchers who found that young Muslims were to blame for many attacks on Jews were told several times by the European Union to change their conclusions, they said yesterday."

"...The report's authors responded yesterday by saying their findings had been shelved because criticism of Muslims did not fit in with the centre's agenda."

Thursday, November 20, 2003
SAME OLD SONG & DANCE
Middle East Media Research has been covering the Al-Manar satellite television channel broadcast of "The Diaspora" 30-part TV-miniseries which purports to show the true history of Zionism:

The series purports to tell the story of Zionism from 1812 to the establishment of the state of Israel and depicts a "global Jewish government" similar to that described in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

The funding for the program is apparently from the Syrian government:

According to a November 11, 2003 report by the Syrian daily Syria Times, it is "a Syrian TV series recording the criminal history of Zionism."

The MEMRI report details some of the programs elements, which seems to include every medieval era libel used against Jews, such as the killing of Christian babies in order to make matzah for Passover. MEMRI also has an older October report on the program here.

POLITICS & DEMOCRACY
The New York Times carries an article about four former heads of the Shin-Bet security organization condemning current Israeli government strategies on dealing with Palestinian terrorism:

"We are taking sure, steady steps to a place where the state of Israel will no longer be a democracy and a home for the Jewish people," said Ami Ayalon, the Shin Bet chief from 1996 to 2000.

The Jerusalem Post was not impressed by the international media response (which echoed the charges made by the four):

This is manufactured news, but the artificiality of it is not our complaint. It is certainly legitimate for newspapers to pull together and creatively package a message from newsmakers under the rubric of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Yet the local and international attention this "story" has garnered is nothing to be proud of, either on the journalistic or national levels.

The reason is that all four of the former Shin Bet heads are either politically identified or discredited, or both. It is as if The New York Times had gathered former secretaries of defense who served under Democratic presidents to jointly criticize President George W. Bush. Mildly interesting, perhaps. Material for global front page coverage – not on the basis of any straight news judgment.

EU: IT'S ISRAEL'S FAULT
The Scotsman has a story about the recent EU denunciation of Israeli efforts to defend itself:

"...Foreign ministers from the 25 current and soon-to-be EU countries said Israel had a “right to protect its citizens.”

But they urged the Israelis to “exert maximum effort to avoid civilian casualties,” to abstain from assassinations and demolishing houses as “punitive measures,” and to stop trying to remove Yasser Arafat as the Palestinian leader.

They warned that the humanitarian situation in Palestinian areas was “sharply deteriorating ... making life increasingly intolerable for ordinary Palestinians and fuelling extremism and support to fundamentalist groups..."

To the credit of these ministers, for whatever it's worth, they condemned (undefined) 'terrorist attacks' against Israel:

The EU ministers condemned terrorist attacks on Israel. They demanded Arafat’s Palestinian Authority “concretely demonstrate its determination in the fight against extremist violence” and take “immediate, decisive steps” to consolidate all Palestinian security services under the prime minister.

The fantasy is that Arafat is not involved in this "extremist violence.' How can he take 'concrete steps' against something he directly funds through the PA?

Monday, November 10, 2003
The 65th Anniversary of Kristallnacht is today.

On the nights of November 9 and 10, rampaging mobs throughout Germany and the newly acquired territories of Austria and Sudetenland freely attacked Jews in the street, in their homes and at their places of work and worship. At least 96 Jews were killed and hundreds more injured, more than 1,000 synagogues were burned (and possibly as many as 2,000), almost 7,500 Jewish businesses were destroyed, cemeteries and schools were vandalized, and 30,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps...

The passivity of the German people in the face of the events of Kristallnacht made it clear that the Nazis would encounter little opposition—even from the German churches.

ARAFAT'S ISRAELI BANK ACCOUNT
The CBS television program 60 Minutes has a story on the money Yassar Arafat has accumulated over the years:

The stockpile went well beyond the portfolio. Arafat accumulated another $1 billion with the help of -- of all people -- the Israelis. Under the Oslo Accords, it was agreed that Israel would collect sales taxes on goods purchased by Palestinians and transfer those funds to the Palestinian treasury. But instead, Indyk says, "that money is transferred to Yasser Arafat to, amongst other places, bank accounts which he maintains off-line in Israel."

Until three years ago, Israel put the tax revenues into Arafat's account at Bank Leumi in downtown Tel Aviv, no questions asked.

All told, U.S. officials estimate Arafat's personal nest egg at between $1 billion and $3 billion.

Arafat has always lived modestly, which you can't say about his wife, Suha. According to Israeli officials, she gets $100,000 a month from Arafat out of the Palestinian budget, and lives lavishly in Paris on this allowance.

VATICAN/MUSLIM RELATIONS COOL
Columnist Diana West has an article at the Jewish World Review on changes in the Vatican over Muslim/Christian relations:

For the first time in almost 30 years, a source close to the heart of the Catholic Church (articles in La Civilta Cattolica are approved by the secretary of state of the Vatican) has published what Vatican-watcher Sandro Magister calls "a strikingly severe" account of the Christian condition under Islamic rule. The article may represent a shift, if not a break, in the long-standing Vatican policy of silence on the persecution of Christians in Muslim countries.

The article highlights the "seemingly rather curious fact" that wherever Islam has imposed itself by conquest — in what is now Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Turkey, and in the regions of historic Mesopotamia and Palestine — "Christianity, which had been extraordinarily vigorous and rooted for centuries, practically disappeared."

Tuesday, November 4, 2003
EU POLL: ISRAEL THREATENS THE WORLD
The UK Telegraph has a story about the EU poll that found the majority of Europeans view Israel as the world's largest threat to "peace."

The Eurobarometer poll of 7,500 EU residents found that 59 per cent deemed Israel "a threat to peace in the world", with the figures rising to 60 per cent in Britain, 65 in Germany, 69 in Austria and 74 in Holland.

Franco Frattini, Italy's foreign minister, apologised for the results on behalf of the EU, saying they sent "a false signal" and would not shape Middle East policy.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre said the poll was proof that Europe has swallowed the media's vilification of Israel "hook, line and sinker". The EU has long been accused by hardliners in America and Israel of tilting to the Arab side.

The EU Observer has a story about the Israeli reaction to this:

Following the publication of the poll, which formally came out today, the Israeli foreign minister, Silvan Shalom has made several phone calls with his European counterparts, including the Italian government which currently chairs the European Council.

"I cannot deny that there has been damage done", said Mr Eran.

Earlier, in an exceptionally tough statement, his government said that they were "not only sad but outraged" by the poll, adding that "Europeans seem blind to Israeli victims and suffering".

The UK Telegraph carries a report about Natan Sharansky's reaction to the poll:

Natan Sharansky, the Israeli cabinet minister and former Soviet refusenik yesterday denounced the "new anti-Semitism" in Europe.
He said the results of an opinion poll showing that most Europeans regard Israel as the greatest threat to world stability - ahead of "rogue states" such as North Korea, Iran, Syria and Libya - was a sign that Europe had lost its moral compass.

While Israel's foreign ministry tried to play down the importance of the poll, Mr Sharansky insisted during a visit to London: "It's a clear phenomenon, where Israel has taken the place of Jews to become the collective Jew."

He said: "Anti-Semitism in the past was obvious in the double standard adopted towards Jews and gentiles.

"In Russia there were a thousand special laws for Jews. After the Holocaust this is no longer acceptable."

Instead there is a clear double standard in attitudes to the Jewish state."

Monday, November 3, 2003
IF ONLY THE JEWS WOULD "DISAPPEAR"
National Review has a story by Victor Davis Hanson about the "pesky Jews" being used as whipping-boys around the world:

The latest lunatic rantings from Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad are nothing new, and we should not be surprised by his mindless blabbering about Jews and his fourth-grade understanding of World War II and the present Middle East. But what was fascinating was the reaction to his madness: silence from the Arab intelligentsia, praise from Middle Eastern leaders ("A brilliant speech," gushed Iran's "president" Mohammad Khatami), and worry from France and Greece about an EU proclamation against the slander. Most American pundits were far more concerned about the private, over-the-top comments of Gen. Boykin than about the public viciousness of a head of state. Paul Krugman, for example, expressed the general mushiness of the Left when he wrote a column trying to put Mahathir Mohamad's hatred in a sympathetic context, something he would never do for a Christian zealot who slurred Muslims.

CHARLES DICKEN'S "FAGIN" REMODELED
The Miami Herald has a story on cartoonist Will Eisner's "revision" of Charles Dickens classic anti-semitic character Fagin (from Oliver Twist):

Eisner feels that the Jewish stereotype in Oliver Twist was ''a thorn in the side of Jewish culture.'' Through research he came to the conclusion that Dickens was misinformed but not necessarily anti-Semitic; he was merely operating under the common understanding of the time in which Jews were portrayed as swarthy. But the Jews Dickens was talking about in the early 1800s, Eisner explains, were the Ashkenazi and they should have been fair.

``I felt that something had to be done with that. It excited me that I could use this medium to do it.''

ARCHIVE OF OLD NEWS
2006 January - March here
2005 January - April here
2005 May - Sept here
2005 October - December here
2004 January - February here
2004 June - December here
2003 January - October here
2003 November - December here