It's Almost Supernatural

Vote the Supernatural Ticket

Last week Soccer Dad informed me that I have been nominated for a JIB award in the "Best New Blog 2004" category over at IsraellyCool.

A JIB award is a "Jewish and Israeli Blog" poll that IsraellyCool is hosting. There are several categories, and most categories have been divided into two for a preliminary round of voting.

The first round of polls is open until late Sunday morning and you can vote by following this link: JIB Awards: Best New Blog voting.

You can vote once every 24 hours, so if you like what I do then vote for me once a day.

In the News

Here's an analysis of the South African media from 16/01/05-21/01/05. And, it's all quite positive. Thanks to D from an independent media watch team for the summary.

The Sunday Independent gave a very balanced account of events in the Middle East by publishing viewpoints from all sides, pertaining to the election of Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) as the new chairman of the Palestinian Authority.(16/01/05)

Tony Leon's message needs to reverberate not only to government, but also to the prevailing anti-Israel media in South Africa, "When it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, our government must strive to be more even-handed in its dealings with both sides." This message certainly played itself out in the Sunday Independent of last week with a balanced Sapa-AP article by Mohammed Daraghmeh on the state of the conflict following Abbas's appointment. Articles by David Makovsky, Victor Gordon and Shafiq Morton gave their readers a full perspective and showed what journalism should be about in South Africa -fair and balanced. A hopeful letter echoed the window of opportunity all wish to see with the appointment of Abbas.

The Mail and Guardian 14-20 Jan 2005 saw Simon Tisdall, although pro-Palestinian in his emphasis, attempting to give a perspective that encompasses Israel's position as well.

Although the M&G lays the reason for the political impasse with the Palestinians at Israel's feet, criticism of Israel this week was less vitriolic apart from one comment in the editorial.

The Star has adopted a much more positive and balanced approach to the Middle East conflict and on the whole their news items give context to clashes when they do occur between Israeli soldiers and the terrorists. The quote of Israeli Deputy Defence Minister, Ze'ev Boim, "If Abu Mazen does not destroy terrorism, terrorism will destroy him,"( 17/01/05) clearly shows that the Star is making the distinction between those that support a peace deal with Israel and those that are persistently trying to derail any peace process whatsoever.

City Press reported on Muslim attitudes towards Bush and Sharon at "the stoning of the devil" during the Haj and that the trade mission to Israel went ahead despite protest from the Palestinian Solidarity Committee.

The Citizen takes most of its copy from Reuters, AFP and Sapa-AP and remains fair and balanced in its reporting on the Middle East by printing hard news from both sides.

Comment in Business Day is for the time being, credible and balanced. After the election of Abbas, Business Day did a sensible analysis of the conflict and pointed out there are many obstacles...."but that does not mean that they cannot be overcome in the fresh atmosphere brought about by the election of Abbas."

Giving sanity and realism a chance, Business Day recognises that, "It would be foolhardy to expect an outbreak of peace in the next six months. It will take years for trust to be built after decades of hostility."

In the article , "Abbas cannot afford to be timid", Dennis Ross, spells out an end to continued hostilities by clearly and succintly stating "Israeli security for Palestinian freedom." 

Though the past week has been mildly positive, it must be noted that this is in the context of a media who continues to rely on opinions from the Hamas supporters at the Media Review Network, and from polemic "journalists" such as Robert Fisk, John Pilger, and Noam Chomsky.

It's also not to say that the anti-Americanism has calmed down. Zapiro never misses an opportunity to have a go at the US and this week's Sunday Times was no exception. Zapiro is gripped by an unprecedented degree of irrationality, prejudice, and hysteria when it comes to the issues of Bush's election, the Iraq war, Jihad, and Israel. I eagerly await the Zapiro toon that makes a mockery of the persistent human rights abuses perpetrated in Iran.

The Demographic Bomb Dud

Following from last week's entry about the missing 1.5 million Palestinians Caroline Glick wieghs in with this column: The demographic bomb is a dud.
I recommend that you read the whole thing, but here's a snippet.

While Hamas has placed its emphasis mainly on the terrorist aspect of the post-modern battlefield, the PLO has placed an equal emphasis on the psychological component of the war. In fact, it could be said in retrospect that the greatest single victory the PLO has scored in its 46-year-old war with Israel was the publication of a single report in 1997. That report, "Demographic Indicators of the Palestinian Territory, 1997-2015," is based on a census carried out by the PA's Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) in 1997. It projects that the Arab population west of the Jordan River will by 2015 outnumber the Jewish population. BUT WHAT if the numbers are wrong? What if the doomsday scenarios we hear on a daily basis, arguing that Israel is about to be overrun by the Arab womb, are all based on fraudulent data – part of an ingenious Palestinian plan to psychologically manipulate Israel into capitulating?

Last week however, a team of researchers presented a study which revealed the calculated Palestinian psychological strategy for the deceptive hallucination that it was.

You can view the entire report at www.pademographics.com.

The summary shows that rather than the claimed 3.8 million Arabs living west of the Jordan, there are actually only 2.4 million.

The researchers found that:

The million-and-a-half person gap occurred because the PA numbers are based on Palestine Bureau of Statistics (PBS) 1997 projections, not on actual population counts. The PBS used the PA’s official 1997 census as a base population and assumed the population would grow at 4 to 5% a year, one of the highest growth rates in the world. When the research team reviewed PA Ministry of Health birth data and actual border entry/exit data, they found that the PBS’ expectations were not met in any year between 1997 and 2004. “There were dramatically fewer births and lower fertility rates, and instead of immigration, the Territories experienced a steady net emigration,” reported project leader Bennett Zimmerman. “When the PBS’ incorrect assumptions were applied over many years, the error in population forecast compounded exponentially.” Some Findings: · Fewer births: PA Ministry of Health birth reports were substantially lower than the number predicted by the PBS. · Lower Fertility Rates: Palestinian fertility rates declined from the mid-90’s through 2003, according to PA Ministry of Health, consistent with the trend occurring in other Middle Eastern Arab societies. · Net Emigration: Instead of the large immigration originally projected by the PA, the Territories experienced a steady net emigration averaging 10,000 a year. · Double Counting: 210,000 Jerusalem Arabs who are already counted in Israel ’s population survey were included in the PA survey. · Inclusion of non-residents: Palestinians with IDs living abroad for over one year were included in the PA Census & Projection. · Internal migration: 150,000 PA Arabs who have legally relocated to Israel since 1993 are still counted by the PA.. · Retrospective Alterations of Recorded Birth data.

You can view the press release here.

Civil War: The Only Answer

It's becoming increasingly clear that a Palestinian civil war will be a necessity if the lives of ordinary Palestinians are to improve.

Last weeks suicide bombing near the Karni crossing highlights this fact. (5 were killed and 10 wounded) The explosion did tremendous damage to the hub of agricultural trade where Palestinians are able to sell their goods to the Israeli market. Hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza are now unable to make a living off their main industry.

Bruce Thornton at Victor Davis Hanson sums it up

Quite simply, those Palestinians sincerely committed to the “two-state solution” must go after and kill those Palestinians who are committed to the destruction of Israel, and whose murders provoke Israel’s legitimate responses that unfortunately make life hard for the Palestinians. And yes, that means there must be a civil war. The so-called “moderate” Palestinians have to recognize that their aspirations are subverted by those among them who want to kill Israelis more than they want to live in freedom and prosperity, and that their suffering is caused by the actions of such terrorists that compel Israel to do whatever it can to protect its citizens, which after all is the primary obligation of any state.

Mahmoud Abbas needs to act. The most recent suicide attack was perpetrated on Tuesday night at the Orhan outpost in Gaza. Ariel Sharon promised a decisive response, but has since lowered the stick, giving Abbas what seems to be one last chance to prove his willingness to fight terror. Abbas does not need to end terror in one magic sweep. He needs to convince Israel that he is TRYING to end the terror.

With these incidents being so regular, it's difficult to fathom the thinking of the left when they question the need for checkpoints.

IDF officials assessed that the suicide bomber was headed for Gush Katif to perpetrate an attack there when he was detained at a checkpoint by security staff. Shortly before the attack, security forces received a tip that the suspect was headed for the checkpoint, and upon his arrival, soldiers recognized him and ordered him out of his car. At this point he was searched by Shin Bet agents, but they failed to find the explosives, which were hidden in his underwear. The bomber detonated his explosives as he was being led by soldiers to a trailer for a second round of searches, according to procedure, three meters from the building's entrance.

People watch documentaries like checkpoint, recently screened in South Africa, and react with horror and dismay when a Palestinian is led away to be searched. The array of incidents similar to Tuesdays attack are conveniantly forgotten as their selective pity for the Palestinians being searched overcomes any sense of context and reason.

I say selective because I haven't heard any outcry for the damage done to the Palestinian's agricultural trade centre destroyed in last week's suicide bomb.

MRN is Outraged, Lies

The Media Review Network recently disseminated a press release accusing the SA Zionist Federation of promoting the city of Modi’in, which they described as “a West Bank settlement built on stolen Palestinian land”, whose rapid expansion is “illustrative of Israel’s ongoing theft of Palestinian land”.

The MRN response only serves to reveal their own weaknesses and hallucinations. The SAZF have responded and here's my summation.

Modi'in is firmly WITHIN Israel's 1948 borders, within the Green Line, but close to it. All the land on which the town has been built and on which new neighbourhoods are slated to be built was Israeli territory BEFORE the 1967 Six Day War. The city of Modi’in today is located in the picturesque foothills of the Jerusalem mountains midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. It is not and has never been in the West Bank – it is sited on pre-1967 land within the Green Line and has always been Jewish land within the Jewish state. The nearest Arab village to it is Beit Sira. The land between Modi’in and Beit Sira was controlled by Jordan and was part of the area designated ‘no-man’s land’ between 1948 and 1967. During that time no claims to the land were made by the Arabs or the Jordanians.

Since 1967 Modi’in (and before its establishment, the land on which it has been developed) has been recognised by the members of the United Nations as an Israeli city built on the border-line but not inside the West Bank. Between 1949 until the early 1980s, the land on which Modi'in stands today was state land used by the army as a firing zone and training base.

The claim by the MRN that Modi’in annexed part of the land of the Arab village of Budrus is spurious and false given that Budrus is 8 km away from Modi’in on the northern side of the city and on Palestinian land in the West Bank. Budrus has always been in Palestinian hands and has neither an emotional nor a geographic relationship to Modi’in.

Modi'in itself DOES NOT have any direct Palestinian neighbours. Modi'in is bordered on one side by a JNF forest and on another by the highway. On the other two sides Modi'in is adjacent to the older and smaller Israeli towns of Re'ut and Makkabim, and the fields of Makkabim.

The Media Review Network is an unashamed supporter of Hamas, according to its website. It purports to be an Islam Advocacy group, yet the majority of what is posted on the site takes the form of hatred for Israel and “the Zionists”. Like the terrorist organisation it supports, and those who would destroy any chance of peace in the Middle East, it is determined to create dissension and division within South Africa under the banner of “rights for Palestinians”. The organisation has been discredited by some of the media and scorned by others as being fundamentalist and anti-Jewish. Its pronouncements and press releases are characterised by pure hatred of anything Jewish or relating to Israel. Those who believe its rantings and accusations would be wise to investigate the accuracy behind them before drawing conclusions and presenting their facts as the truth.

One of the clauses of the Hamas charter calls for the destruction of Israel as follows:
"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."

Click the Continue reading link for some background info on Budrus as well as the historical history of Modiin.

Jenin, Jenin

The destructive lies about what happened in Jenin in 2002 have never stopped rearing their ugly heads, but a new film called Jenin, Jenin is perpetuating those lies, ensuring maximum incitement around the Arab world.

After an investigation into claims that a huge massacre took place, the UN confirmed that the accusations were false.

Reports today indicate that the "documentary" is not the product of crazed hallucinations; rather it is the product of deliberate lies. The film's producer, Muhamed Bakri, has admitted in a deposition that many of the violent scenes were fabricated and that the film was funded by the PA: Palestinian Producer - False Film was Funded by PA

A Palestinian filmmaker who produced a documentary alleging Israeli troops committed war crimes in a refugee camp admitted in a deposition last week to falsifying scenes, using inaccurate information and obtaining financing for the project from the Palestinian Authority, WorldNetDaily has learned. Muhammad Bakri, producer of “Jenin, Jenin,” a documentary that claims Israel committed genocide in the Jenin refugee camp in April 2002, admitted in a deposition to inaccuracies throughout his film. The filmmaker is being sued by five Israeli soldiers visible in still footage in the film, which alleges IDF troops killed a “large number” of civilians, mutilated Palestinian bodies, randomly executed and bombed women, children and the mentally and physically impaired, and leveled the entire refugee camp, including a wing of the local hospital. The documentary doesn’t show footage of the alleged atrocities, but in some scenes, faces of the soldiers now suing Bakri were superimposed over “eyewitness testimony,” and it was indicated they had committed “war crimes.” But Bakri, in a deposition obtained by WND, admitted he “believed” selected witnesses but didn’t check the information they provided. “I believed the things that I’ve been told. What I did not believe was not included in the film,” said Bakri. When asked about a scene in which it is implied Israeli troops ran over civilians, Bakri admitted to constructing the footage himself as an “artistic choice.” He also answered “no” when asked if he believed “that during the operation in Jenin, the Israeli soldiers killed people indiscriminately.” In perhaps the most explosive element of the deposition, Bakri admitted his documentary, which was screened in theaters around the world, was financed in part by the Palestinian Authority. He said Yasser Abed Rabu, Palestinian minister of culture and information and a member of former PLO leader Yasser Arafat’s executive committee, “covered a part of the film expenses.”

The Usual Suspects

PA security officials are suspected of being involved in last week's double suicide attack which has thwarted chances of a short term meeting between Sharon and Abbas.
(Thanks Cynic)

PA security officers are suspected of involvement in the multi-pronged attack Thursday evening that killed six at the Karni Crossing, according to senior defense officials quoted in the Washington Post. The bombers and gunmen who carried out the attack were let through several levels of PA security to reach the targeted area, according to the officials. Preliminary results of an IDF and Israel Port Authority inquiry show that the terrorists were given forged entry permits and granted entry to the Karni facility by members of the PA security force. The terrorists arrived by truck, with a bomb and guns hidden beneath produce. The three terrorists attached the bomb to the heavy gate between the PA and Israeli sides of the Karni facility. After the bomb went off, knocking out the power in the terminal, the terrorists passed though to the Israeli side and began shooting at Israeli drivers and security guards before they were themselves killed. Videos of the explosion and the terrorists were broadcast on PA TV stations in Gaza later that same evening.

Q & A

Here's a small Q&A excerpt that has been doing the rounds on the Net recently.

Question (original spelling and grammar) … to the South African Mufti Ebrahim Desai, the imam of an “Ask the Imam” feature at a Muslim question and answer site:

“The west is often criticised by Muslims for many reasons, such as allowing women go to work. But shouldnt the west also recieve praise because its always them who intervene when muslims r being tortured, they stopped Milosovic kiling muslims and sent their own troops to the country, they r usually the first to send aid when theres a flood, they r also intervening in Isreal and condeming them killing Muslims, so should we appreciate their efforts or not?” Answer. Desai’s answer was brief: “In simple terms, the Kuffaar [unbelievers] can never be trusted for any possible good they do. They have their own interest at heart.”

I have seen this passed around wrongly in reference to the Tsunami disaster, yet this exchange took place more than a year and a half ago. That said FrontPageMagazine may be onto something when they use the exchange as an example of why Colin Powell may be suffering from wild hallucinations when he comments

So I think if people will look at our actions and look at the subsequent results of those actions, and we see a democracy in Afghanistan and hopefully one in Iraq as well, people will judge us by what we end up accomplishing, and the anti-American feeling that we have seen in various parts of the world over the past year and a half will start to dissipate.

More Terror in Gaza

Unlike the PA, Hamas keep their promises. Earlier in the week we saw Hamas promising more suicide attacks.

Last night they delivered: 5 Dead, Ten Wounded in Double Gaza Suicide Attack

The Demographic Threat

The claim that Jews will soon be a minority in the Israel, Gaza, and West Bank region may not be true after all.