zaterdag 13 augustus 2011

Hamas raket-ingenieur bekent

Die Mossad toch, in Kiev een Palestijnse electricien kidnappen, mag dat wel? Dat was in februari jongstleden, en Hamas ontkende in april nog dat hij hen geholpen had raketten te ontwerpen om Israel mee te bestoken. Een gotspe: Hamas vroeg mensenrechtenorganisaties om voor Abu Sisi in de bres te springen!

Inmiddels heeft Abu Sisi echter bekend en spijt betuigt van zijn werk voor Hamas.

Wouter

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Hamas claims that charges against Abu Sisi are false and intended to justify kidnapping .

Wednesday, 06 April 2011 12:10 .

http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2212-hamas-claims-that-charges-against-abu-sisi-are-false-and-intended-to-justify-kidnapping

The Islamic Resistance Movement has again denied any relationship with Dirar Abu Sisi, the director of Gaza's power station who was abducted by Israel's Mossad in Ukraine before being taken to Israel two months ago to face charges of developing and upgrading missiles and rockets for Hamas, and establishing a military academy for the movement. Hamas says that the charges lodged against the Palestinian engineer are false.

In a press release, Hamas's spokesman Fawzi Barhoum accused the Ukranian government of "collaborating with Israel in kidnapping Abu Sisi, torturing him and lodging charges against him". According to Barhoum, this is "organized crime" and amounts to "state terrorism". Israel is seeking to indict Abu Sisi in order to justify and cover-up its own crimes, he said.

Hamas demanded that the Ukrainian authorities and human rights organizations "work toward the release of Abu Sisi and end the suffering of his wife, children, and family".

Abu Sisi, a father of six, arrived in Ukraine with his Ukrainian wife and one of his children on January 27 to visit his wife's family, obtain a residence permit (which he got) and register their youngest child with the Ukrainian authorities. The engineer disappeared on February 19 in Ukraine; it was only recently that the Israeli authorities acknowledged that they had abducted him.

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Top Hamas engineer tells all

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4107803,00.html

Nabbed engineer Abu Sisi provides Israel with invaluable information about Hamas' operations, newly released documents reveal; terror group's military academy operated in Gaza mosques, he says

Ilana Curiel

Published:

08.11.11, 17:26 / Israel News

Hamas engineer Dirar Abu Sisi, nabbed by Israeli security forces earlier this year, provided interrogators with priceless information on Hamas' modus operandi, the terror group's readiness for a clash with Israel and attempts to improve its rocket range.

According to interrogation excerpts, cleared for publication Thursday by the Beersheba District Court following Ynet's appeal, the Hamas engineer described the terror group as an orderly hierarchical organization that aims to learn from its mistakes and adapt to changing regional realities.

The engineer told interrogators that following Operation Cast Lead Gaza, top Hamas terrorist Mohammed Deif and the group's military wing commander Ahmed Jabari found Hamas' operations to be lacking and decided to make Abu Sisi in charge of establishing the organization's new military academy.

"An analysis of the war with Israel was undertaken. It found that a large number of Hamas activists ran away from their positions. A failure occurred in decision-making coupled with an inability to use arms during the battle – because of fear," he said. "A program of study had to be created, in order to improve the situation."

Terror studies at mosques

The new academy was tasked with imparting combat methods and tactics to Hamas terrorists, Abu Sisi said. Hamas men were undertaking their studies at mosques, while passing their final exams in known Gaza universities or in mosques.

"The books and academic materials did not bear the Hamas name or logo," he said. Instructors include university lecturers, education ministry officials, merchants and others.

Abu Sisi is believed to be Hamas' rocket expert. He joined the terror group in 2002, despite working for the Palestinian Electric Company, which forbade its employees from joining any group.

"I assisted Hamas in developing their missile capabilities, by identifying and handing over mathematical equations that improve the metal pipe's ability to withstand pressure and heat," he said. "I was present when a missile was test-fired at the sea in Khan Younis."

The terror group was lacking materials that could improve their rocket range and later smuggled it in from Egypt through tunnels, he said.

Rocket info on the Internet

Abu Sisi's interrogation revealed that he acquired plenty of information on improving rocket range via the Internet, including the YouTube website.

"I know nothing about explosives. I only calculated the pressure and heat…I downloaded the formula from the Internet," he said, adding that he also downloaded software pertaining to the rocket's structure.

Hamas would send its activists for further instruction overseas, Abu Sisi said. Selected graduates of the academy reached military academies in foreign countries, he said, including Syria, Yemen, Sudan and Iran.

During his interrogation, Abu Sisi expressed his regret for joining Hamas.

"I greatly regret my affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas Movement, my work to develop the missile range, my part in establishing Hamas' military academy, and all the information I handed over to Hamas that can threaten the security of Israel and its citizens," he said.

"I know the missiles are lethal and take the lives of others, without distinguishing between Arabs and Jews," he said.

Abu Sisi was kidnapped in Kiev and brought to Israel in February. His indictment sheet comprises nine counts, including membership in a terror organization, murder, attempted murder and arms production.

Bisschop Tutu geen heilige als het om Joden gaat

Ik neem het vaak niet meteen aan wanneer iemand weer eens een antisemiet wordt genoemd, vraag bronnen, citaten en wijs op het feit dat ook felle en onredelijke kritiek op Israel nog niet perse antisemitisme is. Maar wat betreft Desmond Tutu is dit etiket helaas geheel op zijn plaats. Onderstaande citaten spreken voor zichzelf, hoewel antizionisten er vast wel weer een draai aan weten te geven, waarmee ze laten zien hoe dicht antizionisme en antisemitisme bij elkaar liggen.

He has said that "the Jews thought they had a monopoly of God: Jesus was angry that they could shut out other human beings." He has said that Jews have been "fighting against" and being "opposed to" his God. He has "compared the features of the ancient Holy Temple in Jerusalem to the features of the apartheid system in South Africa." He has complained that "the Jewish people with their traditions, religion and long history of persecution sometimes appear to have caused a refugee problem among others." He has implied that Israel might someday consider as an option "to perpetrate genocide and exterminate all Palestinians."

He has complained that Americans "are scared…to say wrong is wrong because the Jewish lobby is powerful—very powerful." He has accused Jews—not Israelis—of exhibiting "an arrogance—the arrogance of power because Jews are a powerful lobby in this land and all kinds of people woo their support."

When confronted with his double standard against Jews, he has justified it on phony theological grounds: "Whether Jews like it or not, they are a peculiar people. They can't ever hope to be judged by the same standards which are used for other people." There is a name for non-Jews who hold Jews to a double standard: It is called anti-Semitism.

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Bishop Tutu Is No Saint When it Comes To Jews

http://www.hudson-ny.org/1742/bishop-tutu-is-no-saint-when-it-comes-to-jews

by Alan M. Dershowitz
December 20, 2010 at 12:18 pm

Among the world's most respected figures is South Africa's Bishop Desmond. His recognizable face—with its ever present grin—has become a symbol of reconciliation and goodness. But it masks a long history of ugly hatred toward the Jewish people, the Jewish religion and the Jewish state. Bishop Desmond Tutu is no mere anti-Zionist (though Martin Luther King long ago recognized that anti- Zionism often serves as a cover for deeper anti-Jewish bigotry). He has minimized the suffering of those killed in the Holocaust. He has attacked the "Jewish"--not Israeli--"lobby" as too "powerful" and "scar[y]." He has invoked classic anti-Semitic stereotypes and tropes about Jewish "arrogance", "power" and money. He has characterized Jews a "peculiar people," and has accused "the Jews" of causing many of the world's problems. He once even accused the Jewish state of acting in an "unChristian" way.

Were he not a Nobel laureate, his long history of bigotry against the Jewish people would have landed him in the dustbin of history, along with a dishonor roll of otherwise successful people, whose reputations have been tainted by their anti-Semitism such as Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, Patrick Buchanan and Mel Gibson. But his Nobel Prize should not shield him from accountability for his long history of anti-Jewish bigotry, any more than it should for Yassir Arafat, Jimmy Carter and Jose Saramago.

Let the record speak for itself, so that history may judge Tutu on the basis of his own words—words that he has often repeated and that others repeat, because Tutu is a role model for so many people around the world. Here are some of Tutu's hateful words, most of them carefully documented in a recent petition by prominent South Africans to terminate him as a "patron" of the two South African Holocaust Centers, because he uses his status with these fine institutions as legitimization for his anti-Jewish rhetoric.

He has minimized the suffering of those murdered in the Holocaust by asserting that "the gas chambers" made for "a neater death" than did Apartheid. In other words, the Palestinians, who in his view are the victims of "Israeli Apartheid," have suffered more than the victims of the Nazi Holocaust. He has complained of "the Jewish Monopoly of the Holocaust," and has demanded that its victims must "forgive the Nazis for the Holocaust," while refusing to forgive the "Jewish people" for "persecute[ing] others."

Tutu has asserted that Zionism has "very many parallels with racism," thus echoing the notorious and discredited "Zionism equals racism" resolution passed by the General Assembly of the United Nations and subsequently rescinded. He has accused the Jews of Israel of doing "things that even Apartheid South Africa had not done." He has said that "the Jews thought they had a monopoly of God: Jesus was angry that they could shut out other human beings." He has said that Jews have been "fighting against" and being "opposed to" his God. He has "compared the features of the ancient Holy Temple in Jerusalem to the features of the apartheid system in South Africa." He has complained that "the Jewish people with their traditions, religion and long history of persecution sometimes appear to have caused a refugee problem among others." He has implied that Israel might someday consider as an option "to perpetrate genocide and exterminate all Palestinians."

"You know as well as I do that, somehow, the Israeli government is placed on a pedestal [in the U.S.] and to criticize it is to be immediately dubbed anti-Semitic, as if Palestinians were not Semitic."

He has compared Israel to Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Soviet Union and Apartheid South Africa, saying that they too were once "very powerful" but they "bit the dust," as will "unjust" Israel.

He has denied that Israel is a "civilized democracy" and has singled out Israel—one of the world's most open democracies—as a nation guilty of "censorship of their media." He has urged the Capetown Opera to refuse to perform Porgy and Bess in Tel Aviv and has called for a total cultural boycott of Jewish Israel, while encouraging performers to visit the most repressive regimes in the world.

He has claimed that his God sides with Palestinians, whom he compares to the Israelites under bondage in Egypt, and has sought to explain, if not justify, how Israeli actions lead directly to suicide bombings and other forms of terrorism.

He has been far more vocal about Israel's imperfections than about the genocides in Rwanda, Darfur and Cambodia. He repeatedly condemns Israel's occupation of the West Bank without mentioning the many other occupations in the world today. While attacking Israel for its "collective punishment" of Palestinians—which he claims is worse than what Apartheid South Africa did—he himself has called for the collective punishment of Jewish academics and businesses in Israel by demanding boycotts of all Jewish (but not Muslim or Christian) Israelis. (This call for an anti-Jewish boycott finds its roots in the Nazi "Kauft Nicht beim Juden" campaign of the 1930's.) When confronted with his double standard against Jews, he has justified it on phony theological grounds: "Whether Jews like it or not, they are a peculiar people. They can't ever hope to be judged by the same standards which are used for other people." There is a name for non-Jews who hold Jews to a double standard: It is called anti-Semitism.

Tutu has acknowledged having been frequently accused of being anti-Semitic," to which he has offered two responses: "Tough luck;" and "my dentist's name is Dr. Cohen."

I am confident that President Obama was not aware of Tutu's sordid history of anti-Jewish rhetoric and actions when he awarded him the Medal of Freedom in the White House in 2009. The sad reality is that Bishop Tutu's beneficent look is the new face of the oldest of bigotries.

The decent people of South Africa have become aware of Tutu's bigotry, because they have seen and heard it up close. It is time for the rest of the world to recognize that the Bishop is no saint. When it comes to Jews, he is an unrepentant sinner.

Though he is now retired, he still has the opportunity to repent and to end the sordid history of applying an unacceptable double standard to the Jewish state, the Jewish people and the Jewish religion.

vrijdag 12 augustus 2011

Het gras is groener thuis in Gaza

Je zou het niet zeggen, maar het gras in Gaza kan ook groen zijn. Groener dan de media je doen geloven. En er zijn alweer nieuwe luxe restaurants geopend, oh sorry, concentratiekamp restaurants waar je alleen droog brood krijgt want verder kan er niks Gaza binnenkomen...

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The green grass of Gaza

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2011/08/green-grass-of-gaza.html#disqus_thread

The Palestine Times has an article about how a Gaza man, frustrated at the price of grass from Israel, decided to cultivate grass on his own in Gaza and sell it to other Gazans. Gaza resorts and other businesses are buying the grass to beautify their public spaces.

This is admirable on a number of levels. Coming up with a business, gaining independence from imports, and beautifying where you live are all nice things.

But doesn't Gaza have a water problem?

Grass needs a lot of water, and when a Gaza resort decides to make a lush, green lawn it is committing itself to using a great deal of water - water that Gaza is woefully short of.

Not to mention that grass is a luxury. In a place that is supposedly fighting to survive, grass doesn't seem to be the highest priority.

Now, it is possible that the grass used in Gaza is a special breed that can be watered with saltwater or with wastewater, which would be wonderful - but if this is ordinary grass, and Gazans can afford this luxury, then Gaza can hardly be considered a land in crisis.

But what do I know? Maybe there are carefully tended lawns in Somalia, also.

Two more concentration camp restaurants

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2011/08/two-more-concentration-camp-restaurants.html

Last month, the Sahara restaurant opened on the Gaza coast.

So once again I feel compelled to share with you some of the wrenching photos:

It isn't far from another prison restaurant, the Gaza Lighthouse Restaurant and Cafe, which also has a Facebook page.

But it is difficult to look at so much suffering at once.

Witte Huis haalt Jeruzalem uit Israel

Stel je wordt geboren in Jeruzalem en verhuist later naar de VS en neemt de Amerikaanse nationaliteit aan. Je geeft bij de gemeente op dat je geboorteplaats Jeruzalem, Israel is, maar men weigert dat te noteren, want Jeruzalem ligt volgens de VS niet in Israel. Je moet kiezen: of je woonplaats is Jeruzalem of je geboorteland Israel, allebei kan niet. Het lijkt op een sick joke, maar is werkelijkheid in het land dat wordt gezien als grote beschermer en bondgenoot van Israel. En ondertussen blijven mensen maar zeggen dat de VS zo onder de plak zit van de Joodse lobby met haar mythische krachten. Niet dus. Onder de blog staat een link naar de website van het White House waar je je ongenoegen hierover kunt uiten.

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White House erases "Jerusalem, Israel" from its website

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2011/08/white-house-erases-jerusalem-israel.html

From Daniel Halper at The Weekly Standard:

Quick question: According to the State Department, what nation is the city of Jerusalem in? If you answered Israel, you'd be wrong. The State Department just issued the following press release:

QUESTION: What is the State Department’s position regarding American persons born in Jerusalem who wish to have passports issued that indicate their place of birth as Israel?

ANSWER: Current U.S. Government policy is that U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem may not have “Israel” listed in their passports as their place of birth. See the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Affairs Manual 7 FAM 1300 Appendix D for further details.

Hmm. You kind of have to wonder why no one thought to inform the White House! When Vice President Biden visited Jerusalem, Israel last year, the White House helpfully provided the following caption: "Vice President Joe Biden laughs with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem, Israel, March 9, 2010."

And then the author posted this a little later:

Within two hours of posting, the White House has apparently gone through its website, cleansing any reference to Jerusalem as being in Israel.

The caption now reads: "Vice President Joe Biden laughs with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem, March 9, 2010."

Sure enough, according to Google's cache, at least 7 references to "Jerusalem, Israel" have been changed now to show "Jerusalem" alone.

is now:

The only remaining reference to "Jerusalem, Israel" that I can find on the White House site is in this announcement:

This is beyond outrageous.

Go to the White House website contact page and let them know.

Bisschop Tutu en de campagne tegen Israel

Tutu geldt als een held en een oude wijze man net als Nelson Mandela, iemand die verzoening predikte toen zijn eigen volk zo onder druk stond en zoveel onrecht werd aangedaan. Dus wat hij over andere conflicten zegt moet dan ook wel kloppen. Helaas hebben mensen die op een gebied aan de goede kant stonden niet per definitie gelijk wanneer het om een andere zaak gaat. Juist doordat Tutu door de bril van de Apartheidsstrijd in Zuid-Afrika kijkt, ziet hij niet dat het Israelisch-Palestijns/Arabische conflict hier fundamenteel van verschilt. Het gaat niet om ras maar om land en om zelfbeschikking. Het gaat niet om Joodse kolonisten tegenover ontheemde Palestijnen, maar om het recht van het Joodse volk op een staat en de strijd van (een deel van) de Arabische wereld daartegen. Het gaat ook om extremisten aan beide kanten die tegen een compromis zijn en om politici die geen ‘bold moves’ durven maken en hun eigen hardliners niet confronteren. Zie over deze vergelijking ook: De Apartheidsvergelijking

Tutu proclaimed, many years before Iran’s Ahmadinejad, that the West had muted criticism of Israel because of guilt over the Holocaust. He has accused Israel of acting in an “un-Christian” way. He has complained of “the Jewish monopoly of the Holocaust” and has demanded that its victims must “forgive the Nazis for the Holocaust,” while refusing to forgive the “Jewish people” for “persecuting others.”

Tutu has asserted that Zionism has “very many parallels with racism.” He has compared Israel to Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union, saying that they too were once “very powerful” but they “bit the dust,” as will “unjust” Israel. Tutu has claimed that the Christian God sides with the Palestinians, whom he compares to the Israelites under slavery in Egypt.

Binnenkort opent een conferentie over het Palestijnse Kairos document met een videoboodschap van Tutu. Het zegt veel over wat er van die conferentie valt te verwachten.

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Tutu's war on Israel, Jews

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4107913,00.html

Special: Archbishop Tutu leads vile, racist campaign against Israel and Jewish people

Giulio Meotti

Published:

08.11.11, 21:47 / Israel News

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whose role in the fight against South African apartheid in the 1980s gained him the Nobel Peace Prize and global fame, is among the world’s most respected figures.

Barack Obama awarded him the US highest honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Tutu has been called “an inspiration" and was compared to Albert Schweitzer and Gandhi. The Wall Street Journal labeled him “the best known priest in the world.” Tutu was even asked to donate his genome to scientists to discover the African roots of mankind.

With Nelson Mandela in jail, it fell to Tutu to steer the struggle against institutionalized racial oppression in a nonviolent direction. From his church in segregated Soweto, Tutu urged the imposition of economic sanctions against the white government. Since then, Tutu’s face has become the symbol of tolerance and goodness.

However, the Archbishop’s iconic voice has also found another cause no less popular: The global campaign against Israel and the Jewish people. Tutu just promoted an appeal to the US pension fund of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association for cutting the partnership with Israeli companies. He also helped the Australian Marrickville Council approve a boycott of Israel's goods.

Recently, Tutu convinced the University of Johannesburg to end its relationship with Ben-Gurion University as part of a boycott against Israeli academic institutions, resembling the dark time when German universities banned famous Jewish intellectuals such as T.W. Adorno and Albert Einstein. Archbishop Tutu also promoted the boycott of all Israeli goods by the US Food Co-Cop and he became the poster leader of the Western NGOs promoting campaigns for divestment and sanctions against the Jewish State.

Last week, the Archbishop sponsored a call for an arms embargo against Israel. Next November, Tutu will open in Cape Town the third session of the anti-Israeli Russell Tribunal, a standing organization that held two tribunals against Israel last year in Barcelona and London. During this event, Tutu will seek to determine whether Israel’s policies fit the international legal definition of the crime of “apartheid."

Tutu has ideologically built this conceptual mousetrap of “Zionist apartheid," where the Jewish question is the cheese and the victim. The Archbishop perfectly knows that charging Israel with apartheid is simply a blood libel, as Arabs and Jews live and work together in Israel, while sharing all public facilities (hospitals, schools, malls, buses, cinemas, parks.)

'Forgive the Nazis'

Making apartheid accusations against a state that undertook major operations to save black Jews in Africa is ludicrous. But the Christian Archbishop is not interested in preaching the truth, but rather, in promoting the liquidation of Israel, creating a new, horrible Jewish Diaspora. On university campuses worldwide, in the mainstream media and in large parts of Western public opinion, Tutu’s analogy is a very popular cause and “Zionist apartheid” is already the new codeword for racist evil.

Thanks to Tutu, the World Conference against Racism, held by the United Nations in Durban in 2001, was transformed into a racist conference against Israel. In the same city where President Mbeki held his festival of victory against apartheid, another death sentence for the Jews was being pronounced under Tutu’s umbrella and that of the United Nations.

Tutu has demonized the “Jewish lobby” as too “powerful” and “scary," resorting to a vile myth rooted in anti-Jewish stereotype, whereby the Jews control Washington. According to Tutu’s horrific and false accusation against the Jewish people, Israel is a sadistically colonialist entity, a blind persecutor of children, and a mad builder of apartheid walls.

Tutu is also responsible for the “apartheid wall” mythology that has been one of the most repugnant propagandistic manipulations that Israel has ever suffered, because it is based on ignoring of the cause-effect nexus. All decent people know that Israel is not Soweto. But Tutu resembles those Christian bishops who fomented the Final Solution by the idea that the wandering Jew is the symbol of God's rejection of the Jewish people.

Tutu's cassock masks a long, hateful history of ugly intolerance toward the Jewish people and Israel. Under a new guise, the Nazi appeal “Kauft nicht bei Juden…” (Don't buy from Jews) is back.

Giulio Meotti, a journalist with Il Foglio, is the author of the book A New Shoah: The Untold Story of Israel's Victims of Terrorism

Extreme uitspraken Iran nr. 101: "geen bewijs Joodse geschiedenis in Jeruzalem"

Waar halen ze het toch vandaan? Misschien moet De Pers haar Pinokkio eens op de Perzen afsturen?

Wouter

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Iranian news: "No evidence of historic Jews in Jerusalem" (updated)

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2011/08/iranian-news-no-evidence-of-historic.html

The always fascinating Iranian news agency IRNA reports:

Renowned Zionist archeologist Israel Wanklestein claimed Monday despite Israel’s claims there is absolutely no historic proof for presence of Jews in Jerusalem (occupied Holy Qods) in the past.

According to IRNA Audiovisual Monitoring Service, the Qods-Press News Agency which has quoted the Israeli archeologist has further reiterated:

Wankelstein who is considered as the father of archeology in occupied Palestine further stressed that the Jewish archeologists have thus far presented no historic proof for some stories quoted in the Old Testament on deportation of the Jews from the city, and their wandering in Sinai Desert, or victory of Joshua the son of Nunn in war against the Canaanites.

The Jewish archeologist focusing on Solomon’s Temple issue, said, “There is absolutely no historic proof over the existence of that temple where Israel says it is located.”

They are referring to Israel Finkelstein, a Tel Aviv University archaeologist who is known to be critical about the accuracy of Biblical history.

The story they are quoting comes from Middle East Monitor (MEMO), a UK-based Islamist-oriented news site. MEMO, in turn, claims that they got this information from an interview Finkelstein gave to The Jerusalem Post.

I cannot find any such interview in the Jerusalem Post.

However, I found an article about an interview with Finkelstein from last year in Biblical Archaeology Review. According to that article, Finkelstein - despite his skepticism - admits that Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, a stone was found with an engraved image of a menorah, along with a sword and scabbard that belonged to a Roman soldier.

And then there's this.

UPDATE:
Finkelstein, skepticism and all, writes pretty much the opposite of what Iran claims in this piece in The Forward:

Contrary to Palestinian claims, there is a scholarly consensus that the Temple Mount was indeed the location of the two Temples. Orthodox Jewish and Muslim sensitivities, however, have prevented modern archaeological work on the Temple Mount, which for the past 1,300 years has been the site of two Islamic holy places, the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Archaeological attention has therefore been diverted to the ridge to its south, where remains dating from the Bronze and Iron Ages were detected as early as the mid-19th century.

From the outset of modern exploration, the City of David produced exciting discoveries. Truly thrilling finds include the Siloam Inscription, a late-8th-century BCE Hebrew inscription that commemorates the hewing of a water tunnel under the ridge. Other important recent discoveries are the Pool of Siloam, dating from the Roman period, and the monumental street that connected it with the Temple Mount — places that were frequented by thousands during the three pilgrimage festivals each year.

Extreme uitspraken PA nr. 1002: de "vermeende Joodse Tempel in Jeruzalem"

Het is moeilijk onderhandelen en concessies doen en elkaar vertrouwen als continu je geschiedenis wordt ontkend en belangrijke symbolen uit het verleden. Volgens de Palestijnen is er geen Joods volk, alleen een religie, en daar is vaak ook van alles mis mee, Jeruzalem is eigenlijk een Arabische stad waar de Joden pas na de stichting van de moderne staat Israel eens een kijkje kwamen nemen, en ook Tel Aviv was oorspronkelijk een Arabische stad. Alles wat de Joden verder doen of wat hun eigen is, is geleend van de Arabieren, ze hebben geen identiteit en geen enkele binding met het Midden-Oosten. Het is een extreme vorm van revionisme, van geschiedvervalsing, zoals in de Sovjet Unie alles wat de machthebbers niet beviel – soms letterlijk – werd weggeretoucheerd. Zolang de Palestijnen dit spel spelen kunnen ze natuurlijk niet verwachten dat Israel land aan ze overdraagt en een Palestijnse staat erkent, al erkent Israel al langer de noodzaak van een tweestatenoplossing, van een Joodse Israel naast een Arabisch Palestina.

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PMW Bulletin

August 11, 2011

Click here to view PMW's website

The PA denies Jewish history in Jerusalem

The Jewish Temple is "the alleged Temple"

Examples from April - July 2011

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=5452

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Earlier this week, on the Jewish day of mourning known as Tisha B'Av, which commemorates the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple, the official PA daily denied the Temple's existence, referring to it as "the destruction of the alleged Temple" and "the so-called destruction."

For years, Palestinian Authority leaders have actively denied Jewish history both in ancient Judea/Israel and in Jerusalem in particular. Palestinian Media Watch has documented this ongoing PA policy of historical revisionism, which centers on the denial that a Jewish Temple ever existed in Jerusalem. PA political and religious leaders, officials, and even academics consistently refer to the Temple as "the alleged Temple." [Arabic: Al-Haikal Al-Maz'oom].

The Palestinian claims that the Temple never existed and that Jews have no history in the Land of Israel not only contradict Jewish sources, Christian sources, and the archeological record, but contradict the Quran as well. The Quran in Sura 17:2-7 mentions the "Children of Israel's" two periods of independence in the land and the destruction of both the First and the Second Temple: "...to enter the Temple even as they entered it for the first time, and to lay waste..."

The PA accuses Israel of forging a false Jewish history in the land while at the same time stealing Palestinian history, culture, and heritage. The Palestinians refer to these actions as "Judaization." The main target of this "Judaization" is the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which Israel purportedly conspires to destroy in order to build the Jewish Temple.

Advisor to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Ahmad Al-Ruweidi, recently denied the existence of the Temple while commenting on an Israeli excavation of a tunnel:

"I personally visited the entrance to this tunnel, and it is clear that they [the Israelis] have built it modeled on the alleged Temple, as a basis for transferring the Temple in the future into the Al-Aqsa Mosque."

The following are examples from the PMW archives from April to July 2011. The examples are arranged in two categories: PA leaders refer to the Jewish Temple as "the alleged temple" and PA denial of Jewish history in the land and accusations of heritage theft.

PA leaders refer to the Jewish Temple as "the alleged temple"

PA daily news report: "The destruction of the alleged Temple."

"Since Monday morning, groups of extremist Jews have been roaming the courtyards of Al-Aqsa mosque (i.e., the Temple Mount) one after the other, under heavy police protection, on the occasion of the [week of the] so-called "destruction of the Temple"... This Sunday, the occupation's police handed the shop owners in the Market of the Cotton Merchants... which leads to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, an order forcing them to close their shops on Monday afternoon (i.e., the eve of the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple - Tisha B'av), in order to facilitate the arrival of the settlers to the Market, for the sake of holding special Talmudic rituals on the occasion of the destruction of the alleged Temple."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 9, 2011]

Abbas' advisor: Israel wants to transfer the alleged Temple into the Al-Aqsa Mosque

PA TV News broadcast, main report the Committee to Protect Silwan's report concerning the Israeli excavation of a tunnel.

PA TV newsreader: "[The Committee to Protect Silwan] noted that some of the Israeli sources had said that a gold bell had been found in the tunnel, belonging to what they call the Second Temple Period. This once again highlights the efforts of the Israeli side to forge the history of the holy city."

Interview with Ahmad Al-Ruweidi, advisor to President Abbas, on the Committee's report:

Abbas' advisor, Al-Ruweidi: "I personally visited the entrance to this tunnel, and it is clear that they [the Israelis] have built it modeled on the alleged Temple, as a basis for transferring the Temple in the future into the Al-Aqsa Mosque."

[PA TV (Fatah), July 26, 2011]

Chairman of the Palestinian National Council calls Temple "alleged temple"

"Chairman of the [Palestinian] National Council, Salim Al-Za'anoun, yesterday demanded a halt to the works to Judaize the city of Jerusalem, ...in the vicinity of the [Al-Aqsa] Mosque, turning them into ritual baths for the 'alleged temple', and turning the surroundings of the Mosque and the Old City of Jerusalem into biblical parks."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 19, 2011]

Jews visiting the Temple Mount are "invasion," and all Israelis are "settlers"

"Israeli MP Michael Ben-Ari invaded the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday heading a group of settlers, who were on a tour of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, listening to Ben-Ari's explanations about the alleged Temple... Chairman of the Supreme Council for Shari'a Law, Sheikh Yusuf Ida'is, said that the invasion of Al-Aqsa had been carried out under the protection of extensive occupation (i.e., Israeli) police forces. He warned of a most dangerous plot of the Israeli establishment, including its various branches, to seize control of [the Mosque], in order to destroy it and establish the alleged Temple in its place."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 9, 2011]

Official PA daily: Israel's "Judaization plans... serve the myth and legend of the alleged Temple"

"It should be noted that the decisions to destroy and remove the Al-Bustan neighborhood were meant to realize the Judaization plans, according to which Talmudic parks would be established in its stead, serving the myth and legend of the alleged temple."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 12, 2011]

PA TV: The "alleged Temple" is "myth and legend"

"In occupied Jerusalem, the so-called 'Israel Supreme Court of Justice' is expected to rule on the fate of 88 homes in the Al-Bustan neighborhood. Member of the Silwan and Al-Bustan Neighborhood Defense Committee, Fakhri Abu Diab... emphasized that occupation forces [Israel] are trying to remove the neighborhood altogether and to expel its residents, numbering more than 2,500, with the aim of building Talmudic parks which serve the myth and legend of the alleged Temple."

[PA TV, May 11, 2011]

Official PA daily: "The legend and fable of the alleged Temple"

"The Committee for Protection of Silwan Land and Assets warned of accelerated work in the area... [Member of the committee Fakhri] Abu Diab drew attention to the fact that the occupation authorities (i.e., Israel) are acting to falsify facts and history, by 'planting' alleged graves in the area, claiming that they are Jewish ones, and thereby conclusively seizing the area... He stated that the results of the [construction of] very prominent works being carried out by the occupation's instruments, are changes in the area's landmarks, with the aim of falsifying its history and its heritage, and [bringing about] its complete Judaization, as a service to the legend and fable of the alleged Temple. As to the parks... they will belong to the Temple, which the occupation authorities and groups of extremist Jews are hurrying to build in place of the Al-Aqsa Mosque."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 7, 2011]

Former Minister of Religious Affairs: The "alleged Temple" never existed on the site of Al-Aqsa Mosque

"'Quds.net Center for Research and Communications' recently published the book, 'The Guide to the Al-Aqsa Mosque', by speaker at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and former Minister of Religious Affairs, Sheikh Yusuf Salameh. The book... deals with the Al-Aqsa Mosque, its importance, and the religious importance of the city of Jerusalem, in order to refute what the Israelis disseminate, claiming that the Al-Aqsa Mosque was built on the ruins of their temple. Sheikh Salameh said that the book was published at this sensitive time, with the holy city in general and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in particular being subjected to brutal occupation attack, aimed at forging reality, culture and history... The book refutes the Israeli claims that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is situated upon the ruins of the alleged Temple, and states that the Al-Buraq Wall (i.e., the Western Wall) is an authentic part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and is not the 'Wailing Wall', as the occupiers falsely refer to it."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 2, 2011]

Former PA Chief Justice of Religious Court: Israel plans destruction of Al-Aqsa Mosque to build "alleged Temple"

"Former [PA] Chief Religious Justice, Sheikh Tayseer Al-Tamimi... warned against negligence of the nation in fulfilling its obligation to defend Jerusalem, which would allow the Israeli occupation to carry out its plans - its transformation into a Jewish city and the destruction of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in order to establish the alleged Temple in its place."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 28, 2011]

Official PA daily: "Alleged Temple"

"The Al-Aqsa Institute for Islamic Trusts and Heritage said that the Israeli occupation had replaced several stones from the wall with stones carrying Talmudic Jewish symbols, such as a stone with a model of the alleged Temple."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 13, 2011]

PA denial of Jewish history and accusations of heritage theft

PA TV News: Israel steals Palestinian identity and cultural heritage

PA TV News on a Debka folkdance festival held in Safa, in the Ramallah district:

PA TV reporter: "[The groups] are directing a message to the entire world, that the Palestinian nation still retains its identity and its cultural heritage, while Israel attempts to steal this heritage."

[PA TV (Fatah), July 15, 2011]

PA distortion: Jews changed original Arabic name "Al-Buraq Wall" to "the Wailing Wall"

Official PA daily's columnist on religious affairs, Is'haq Feleifel: "The great and exalted Allah commanded the angel Gabriel to place Muhammad upon the riding beast [named] Al-Buraq, which was a cross between horse and donkey. The night journey was both physical and spiritual... Once he [Muhammad] reached the Al-Aqsa Mosque, (PMW note: the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem was not yet built in the time of Muhammad. The "night journey" mentioned in the Quran is dated to 621 CE. The mosque was built on the Temple Mount by the son of Ummayad Caliph Abd Al-Malik 84 years later in 705 CE.) the angel Gabriel removed Muhammad from upon Al-Buraq's back, and then he tied the beast to the Al-Buraq rock, which was called the 'Al-Buraq Wall'. The Jews changed its name to the 'Wailing Wall', because the Jews are always trying to change Arabic names into Hebrew names, especially when it comes to prayer sites or names of towns and villages. For example, they call Al-Quds 'Jerusalem'; Al-Khalil [they call] 'Hebron'; Atara - 'Atarot, Nablus - 'Shechem', Tel Al-Rabi'a - 'Tel Aviv'(PMW note: 'Rabi'a' is the Arabic translation of the Hebrew word 'aviv', meaning 'spring'); Askelan - Ashkelon. There is not enough room to list all the names which have been replaced with false names. Even the 'Torah' falsified, changed and forged; this is the way of the Jews - they always try to change the real names to other, false names, in order to erase the [historical] facts."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 1, 2011]

It should be noted that all six Hebrew names of cites appear in the Bible long before the Arabic names existed.

Palestinian distortion: "If I forget thee, oh Jerusalem" was Crusader expression usurped by Zionists

Palestinian researcher Dr. Hayel Sanduqa on PA TV claims that the Hebrew Bible's psalm was actually first said by a Crusader:

"[The Israelis] have acted to change Jerusalem's character. Even the expression (Psalm 137:5) 'If I forget thee, oh Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember thee.'

This statement, said by the Frankish [Crusader] ruler of Acre shortly before he left, was borrowed by the Zionist movement, which falsified it in the name of Zionism."

[PA TV, June 2, 2011]

Jewish presence in land of Israel 2,000 years ago "represents... nothing more than invention and falsification"

"The Zionists must acknowledge publicly, in front of the world, that the Jews have no connection to the Palestinian Arab land, upon whose ruins arose the colonialist settler Zionist plan that settles and expels, represented by the Israeli apartheid state. That which occurred two thousand years ago (i.e., the Jewish/Israeli presence in the land), assuming that it is true, represents in the book of history nothing more than invention and falsification and a coarse and crude form of colonialism."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 27, 2011]

Israel stole Palestinian heritage, including clothing, keffiyeh, falafel and humus

Columnist Muwaffaq Matar, commenting on the cheap products from the Far East flooding the Palestinian market:

"The Israelis have already stolen our clothing, our keffiyeh, our falafel and our humus, so why should we [now] allow produce from China and Taiwan to burn our olive tree (i.e., destroy the local economy)?"

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 26, 2011]

PA mayor: "The Zionist enemy" is trying "to create a history" at the expense of Palestinian history

Ahmad Budheir, Mayor of Kufr Al-Hares: "We are suffering from the Zionist enemy, from the visits of the settlers - or the incessant invasions of the settlers - into the town, from the harassment and repeated assaults on citizens, on homes and on the land. They are trying to create a history that doesn't exist on our land, as usual, to steal the history and to steal the culture. They are trying to build history at the expense of our own history."

[PA TV (Fatah), May 23, 2011]

Abbas denies Jews have history in Israel

Abbas' speech in Gaza, delivered in his name by his advisor and representative Abdallah Al-Ifranji, in honor of "nakba" day - "catastrophe" day, the day the PA mourns the creation of the State of Israel:

PA moderator of PA Gaza event: "The speech of President Mahmoud Abbas, Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee and President of the Palestinian Authority, will be delivered by the comrade, the great fighter, Abdallah Al-Ifranji, representative and advisor of the President."

Mahmoud Abbas, (delivered by his representative, Abdallah Al-Ifranji):

"National reconciliation [between Hamas and Fatah] is required in order to face Israel and Netanyahu. We say to him [Netanyahu], when he claims - that they [Jews] have a historical right dating back to 3000 years BCE - we say that the nation of Palestine upon the land of Canaan had a 7000 year history BCE. This is the truth, which must be understood and we have to note it, in order to say: 'Netanyahu, you are incidental in history. We are the people of history. We are the owners of history.'"

[PA TV, May 14, 2011]

Official PA daily: Israel not only steals land but also history of Jerusalem

Headline: "Jerusalem is capital of Arab civilization"

"[Jerusalem] is the religious, historical, cultural and scientific capital of the Palestinian people in particular, and of the Arab nation in general. It is the pinnacle of civilizations of the entire world. When the Arab Jebusite king Malkizedeq built the city of Jerusalem, naming it Jebus and designating it the capital of his country six thousand years ago, none of the world's capitals existed yet... The veteran families which lived in ancient Jerusalem... lived a life of culture and civilization in the full sense of the word, to the extent that other cities which arose thousands of years ago attempted to imitate Jerusalem, the unique wonder, but none of them succeeded in building [a city] like Jerusalem. This is Jerusalem, the city which is closer to God's royal throne than any other part of the globe...

Therefore the invaders [Israel/the Jews] desired it, despite its small area... because this is the place which the Creator blessed, along with its environs. The invaders [Israel/the Jews], who steal the city's geography, are trying to also steal its history."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 14, 2011]

Official PA daily: Israel resorts to forgery to create evidence for Jewish history in Jerusalem

Headline: "Personalities living in Jerusalem: The occupation authorities (i.e., Israel) are forging the wall of Jerusalem by inserting stones engraved with a model of the alleged Temple"

"Respected Jerusalem bodies and personalities warned of suspicious forgery activities accompanying the extensive rehabilitation works which the occupation authorities [Israel] are carrying out... Chairman of the Jerusalem Association of NGO's, Hazem Gharabli, told WAFA...: 'What intensifies the concerns of Jerusalem bodies and individuals - even regular people - is the fact that the occupation authorities have completely covered the area where the rehabilitation works are being carried out, not allowing anyone to see which activities are actually going on there.

Their aim may be to remove original stones and to replace them with stones with Talmudic drawings or engravings, alluding to the existence of a Jewish heritage in the city.'... The Al-Aqsa Institute for Islamic Trusts and Heritage said that the Israeli occupation had replaced several stones from the wall with stones carrying Talmudic Jewish symbols, such as a stone with a model of the alleged Temple, and a stone with a Star of David."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 13, 2011]

Deputy Minister of Culture: Israel steals Palestinian culture

"Deputy Minister of Culture, Musa Abu Ghreibeh, spoke about the role of his Ministry in reviving the Palestinian memory, especially in light of Israeli measures aimed at erasing this memory from the minds of Palestinians and specifically of the youth. He also noted with approval the role of the Eve Center (i.e., center for women's issues) in strengthening culture, resolve, and activity aimed at preventing the occupation from stealing Palestinian culture."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 4, 2011]