Friday, April 28, 2017
PMW: Abbas' appointee: Israel uses sex to fight Arabs and Muslims
Abbas-appointed dean of Islamic schools and PA TV host:
Israel uses sex to fight Arabs and Muslims
Imad Hamato, appointed by Abbas as dean of Gaza Al-Azhar schools:
- "Israel's war against the Arabs and Muslims is through sex mania which it distributes globally. Israel had to use this sex mania... to destroy the spirit of Arabs and Muslims"
- "The Jews... believe only in the body, not in the spirit"
- Israel has given the world "moral corruption", "degeneration of values", and the "use of drugs and pills"
PA Shari'ah judge:
- "Drugs are a weapon that the occupation has taken advantage of in order to crush our young"
Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
In March this year, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas posed for pictures in his office with the Antisemitic PA TV host Imad Hamato, who Abbas appointed dean of Gaza's Al-Azhar institutes in October 2016. This month, official PA TV rebroadcast one of Hamato's many Antisemitic hate lessons from 2015, which Palestinian Media Watch has documented.
In this lesson, Abbas' appointee taught viewers of his weekly program This is Our Religion that Israel is waging a "war" against Arabs and Muslims and its most successful weapon is "sex mania which it distributes globally"!
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Imad Hamato, appointed by PA Chairman Abbas as dean of Gaza Al-Azhar schools, host of weekly PA TV program on Islam: "Our conflict today between us and Israel is the conflict between spirit and body. Israel's global media has expanded, and its war against the Arabs and Muslims is through sex mania which it distributes globally. Israel had to use this sex mania, as we mentioned in a previous lesson, in order to destroy the spirit of Arabs and Muslims. Everything among the Muslims has died, except for their lust. Therefore we see filth and immodesty on many satellite channels, pictures and ads for penis enlargement and for all sorts of things. All of these are contrary to modesty. Why? Because the Jews, as it is said in the Quran, believe only in the body, not in the spirit. The Jews, according to our religion, believe only in the body."
[Official PA TV, June 12, 2015 and April 14, 2017]
Among the "bad" things Israel has "given to the world," Hamato listed "the use of drugs and pills," and stated that Israel in cooperation with the CIA spreads "mood enhancers" and "hallucinatory substances" to "destroy what remains of our children's values":
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"What has Israel given to the world in our times, aside from moral corruption and degeneration of values, aside from the use of drugs and pills? I said in a previous lesson that the CIA has a unit called the Unit for Creating the Global Mood. They look at a map: 'What is appropriate for Gaza, or Jordan, or Syria? Tramadol pills (i.e., pain killers)? Mood enhancers? Hallucinatory substances?' They are produced in India, shipped to Israel and distributed in Sinai. Afterwards they are spread in the region, in order to destroy what remains of our children's values."
[Official PA TV, June 12, 2015 and April 14, 2017]
One of the PA's many ongoing libels is that Israel is spreading drugs among Palestinians to destroy Palestinian youth. A PA Shari'ah judge repeated this libel recently, stating that Israel uses drugs as "a weapon" to "crush" young Palestinians. President of the Shari'ah Court of Appeals and member of The [PA] Palestinian Supreme Fatwa Council, Judge Ata Al-Muhtasib said that:
"The drugs are a weapon that the occupation has taken advantage of in order to crush our young. This is by drugging them, disabling their efforts, wasting their potential, and firstly destroying their religion and eliminating their future."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 4, 2017]
Judge Al-Muhtasib also blamed Palestinians for helping Israel accomplish this: "Several immoral people in our society have stretched out their hands to use [drugs], and worse - in order to help the occupier distribute them.'"
The following is a longer excerpt of Hamato's TV speech on the Israel's using "sex mania" in its "war on Arabs and Muslims," and a longer excerpt of the report on the Shari'ah judge's claim that Israel is spreading drugs among Palestinians:
Imad Hamato, appointed by PA Chairman Abbas as dean of Gaza Al-Azhar schools, host of weekly PA TV program on Islam: "Our conflict today between us and Israel is the conflict between spirit and body. Israel's global media has expanded, and its war against the Arabs and Muslims is through sex mania which it distributes globally. Israel had to use this sex mania, as we mentioned in a previous lesson, in order to destroy the spirit of Arabs and Muslims. Everything among the Muslims has died, except for their lust. Therefore we see filth and immodesty on many satellite channels, pictures and ads for penis enlargement and for all sorts of things. All of these are contrary to modesty. Why? Because the Jews, as it is said in the Quran, believe only in the body, not in the spirit. The Jews, according to our religion, believe only in the body... What has Israel given to the world in our times, aside from moral corruption and corrupt values, aside from the use of drugs and pills? I said in a previous lesson that the CIA has a unit called the Unit for Creating the Global Mood. They look at a map: ''What is appropriate for Gaza, or Jordan, or Syria? Tramadol pills (i.e., pain killers)? Mood enhancers? Hallucinatory substances?" They are produced in India, sent to Israel, and distributed in Sinai. Afterwards they are spread in the region, in order to destroy what remains of our children's values."
[Official PA TV, This is Our Religion, June 12, 2015 and April 14, 2017]
Headline: "Drugs - the occupation's weapon in Area C (i.e., areas of the West Bank under full Israeli security and administrative control)"
"President of the Shari'ah Court of Appeals and member of The [PA] Palestinian Supreme Fatwa Council, Judge Ata Al-Muhtasib said that the plague of drugs of all types has crushed whole nations, and threatens existing nations and an active culture. He added that Islam was the first to ban drugs and intoxicating drinks and to warn against them and their dangers...
He continued: 'It is everyone's responsibility to fight this dangerous plague in order to build a state whose people and institutions are strong, so that we will rebuild what the Israeli occupation has destroyed, repair what it has ruined, and plant what it has uprooted...'
Al-Muhtasib added: 'The drugs are a weapon that the occupation has taken advantage of in order to crush our young. This is by drugging them, disabling their efforts, wasting their potential, and firstly destroying their religion and eliminating their future. Despite everything we have mentioned above, several immoral people in our society have stretched out their hands to use [drugs], and worse - in order to help the occupier distribute them.'"
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 4, 2017]
Elder of Ziyon: PLO says calling Jerusalem Jewish is "incitement"
The dictionary definition of incitement is "something that encourages people to be violent or commit crimes, or the deliberate act of encouraging violence or crime."
Writers like me, organizations like Palestinian Media Watch and MEMRI, and the State of Isael itself have accurately and effectively documented thousands of cases of incitement in Palestinian media and from Palestinian leaders, directly encouraging their people to act violently and encouraging terror by praising and paying the terrorists and their families.
The PLO has no defense, so they are trying to accuse Israel of incitement as well.
But the evidence of Israeli incitement to violence against Palestinians is thin. So they have to simply change the definition of incitement to fit with their purposes.
The Negotiations Affairs Department of the PLO published a document that accuses Israel of having an official policy of "incitement."
In this document they portray legitimate political positions and policies as "incitement". Here is every category of "incitement" they list:
One specific example of "incitement" listed is saying that Marwan Barghouti is a murderer.
Another is a statement from the Prime Minister's office that "We are in the land of the Bible, in the city of Jerusalem. Everything that happened there happened here. This is our land, our heritage, our book, our story, our faith and our hope."
Yes, the PLO officially claims that mentioning that the Bible is the story of the Jewish people is "incitement."
That mentioning the importance of Jerusalem to Jews is "incitement."
That noting that prisoners who tried to, or succeeded in, murdering innocent civilians are terrorists is "incitement."
That making legal claims on parts of the Land of Israel is "incitement."
They know that they are lying. But that is what the PLO does.
Writers like me, organizations like Palestinian Media Watch and MEMRI, and the State of Isael itself have accurately and effectively documented thousands of cases of incitement in Palestinian media and from Palestinian leaders, directly encouraging their people to act violently and encouraging terror by praising and paying the terrorists and their families.
The PLO has no defense, so they are trying to accuse Israel of incitement as well.
But the evidence of Israeli incitement to violence against Palestinians is thin. So they have to simply change the definition of incitement to fit with their purposes.
The Negotiations Affairs Department of the PLO published a document that accuses Israel of having an official policy of "incitement."
In this document they portray legitimate political positions and policies as "incitement". Here is every category of "incitement" they list:
"Israel's incitement against the two state solution"
"Expand existing settlements"
"'Land Theft Law'"
"Jerusalem: 'Eternal and Undivided Capital of the Jewish People'"
"Incitement against Palestinian prisoners"
Another is a statement from the Prime Minister's office that "We are in the land of the Bible, in the city of Jerusalem. Everything that happened there happened here. This is our land, our heritage, our book, our story, our faith and our hope."
Yes, the PLO officially claims that mentioning that the Bible is the story of the Jewish people is "incitement."
That mentioning the importance of Jerusalem to Jews is "incitement."
That noting that prisoners who tried to, or succeeded in, murdering innocent civilians are terrorists is "incitement."
That making legal claims on parts of the Land of Israel is "incitement."
They know that they are lying. But that is what the PLO does.
Elder of Ziyon: The very definition of physical intimidation by anti-Israel thugs at SOAS
The Daily Mail reported on the protest by some 500 Israel-haters at SOAS as Israeli ambassador Mark Regev spoke.
Inside the university, security was heightened with specialist police and dogs patrolling the corridors as well as plainclothes security personnel.This small section was, to me, chilling:
Nory, a student, told MailOnline: 'I support Palestine. I am against the occupation and the oppression. In 2017, a country like Israel should be ashamed. I hope there is not violence here today but if there is, I could maybe understand it.
'I'm a Malcolm X supporter. I believe that in certain circumstances, violence is justified. A revolution never happened without violence.'
Ben Paul, 46, a former Jewish Society president, was wearing an Israeli flag around his shoulders.
'I'm here with my flag saying talk to me,' he said. 'I don't care what side you're on, talk to me.
'I've had a few people bump into me quite hard. I get it, I'm wearing an Israeli flag. But I hope it doesn't get any worse than that.'
It is the very definition of intimidation to "bump into" people "quite hard." Imagine that happening to you in any public venue, especially one patrolled by police.
But even worse is Ben Paul's acceptance of that fact. "I get it." This means that the idea of publicly supporting Israel on a college campus is expected to be met with physical intimidation.
This anecdote should send chills down the backs of anyone who cares about freedom of expression.
The final irony is that the anti-Israel thugs are the ones claiming that a low-key talk is intimidating - to them. The harassers are claiming that the existence of a Zionist anywhere on campus is provocative, and that their rights are somehow being threatened by the existence of free speech.
The Israel-hating drones, by the way, were instructed by their leaders not to engage in any discussion about Israel. Haaretz notes:
Organizers handed out leaflets urging demonstrators to keep to a code of conduct: “Don’t talk to cops,” “don’t talk to media,” and “don’t interact with Zionists,” were the main suggestions. “Consider covering your face to shield your identity from haters,” was another.A modern college campus spawns students who are explicitly against freedom of speech, who are against dialogue and debate, and who are encouraged to hide their very faces to give them freedom to physically harass anyone who disagrees with them.
The most shameful part is that the world does not consider this shameful.
(h/t Zvi)
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Where Are the Moderate Muslims? PragerU
After every new Jihadist attack against the West, politicians reassure us that the atrocity does not represent the true nature of mainstream Islam. Of the 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, they constantly reassure us, the overwhelming majority are as law abiding as any members of any other monotheistic faith. Only a tiny fraction engage in terror. And Islam is a religion of peace. Furthermore, we are told, the great majority of Muslims hold moderate views.
But what does that mean? How moderate are moderate Muslims? Given the threat of radical Islam, it would seem to be a fair question. Let me start to answer it by telling you something of my own story.
I was raised in a middle class Muslim home in Cairo, Egypt. Growing up, I was told, among many other things, the following: That every day that passes on the Islamic nation without a caliphate is a sin. That the failures and miseries of the Muslim world started the moment we Muslims gave up conquests and wars against the infidels. That our prosperity depended on conquering new lands and converting new believers. That anyone who leaves the faith must die. And I also remember how my teachers and my mosque imams reacted to the news of 9/11 when it happened: joy.
My experience was typical, and there is data to prove it: According to the Pew Research Center, 88% of Muslims in Egypt, 62% in Pakistan, 86% in Jordan and 51% in Nigeria believe that any Muslim who choses to leave Islam should be put to death. Similar, if not identical, numbers are in favor of stoning people who commit adultery, severely punishing those who criticize Muhammad or Islam, and chopping off hands for theft.
All of these practices are a part of the penal code of Islamic law, which is known as Sharia. And 84% of Muslims in South Asia, 77% in Southeast Asia, 74% in the Middle East and North Africa and 64% in Sub-Saharan Africa support Sharia as the law of the land. Less drastic, yet significant, percentages are to be found even among Muslim communities in the West.
So, too, most of the world's Muslims believe that any acts of violence against Israel, including suicide bombers in buses and restaurants, are justified. Now, does any of this sound moderate to you? Yet if anyone raises these inconvenient truths here in the West, he is sure to be called an Islamophobe, a hater of Islam. Again, my own story is instructive.
In February of 2015, I was yelled at, cursed at, and successfully prevented from speaking at Swarthmore College by students and others who did not agree to what I was saying. Some of them were Muslim women who fit the image of the unveiled, perfect English-speaking, moderate Muslim young woman. Other seeming “moderates” tried and failed to do the same during my speech at Temple University the next day. Some of them, sadly, were students of journalism.
For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/courses/polit...
Palestinians: This is How We Intimidate Journalists by Bassam Tawil
- In the world of the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership, a journalist's loyalty to his leaders and their cause supersedes his loyalty to the truth. In a word, it is the truth vs. Abbas's security forces.
- As the international media relies heavily on Palestinian journalists and "media assistants" in covering Palestinian affairs, this intimidation of Palestinian journalists heavily colors the reporting of Western journalists. The stories Palestinian journalists tell their Western colleagues are limited to ones that will not endanger their own lives. This censorship, whether by the Abbas's security forces or self-imposed, explains why one rarely reads or sees a story in Western mainstream media about negative things happening in the PA-controlled territories.
- Even when their Palestinian colleagues are beaten and arrested by Abbas's security forces, these "journalists" fail to report such incidents. This makes some sense: should they open their mouths with the truth, Abbas and his cohorts might indeed stop inviting them to press conferences and banquets in the fancy restaurants of Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jericho.
Seven Palestinian journalists are the latest victims of the Palestinian Authority's (PA) continued crackdown on the media.
The repressive measures are aimed at silencing critical voices among the journalists and deterring others from reporting stories that reflect negatively on the Palestinian leadership in particular and Palestinians in general.
In the view of President Mahmoud Abbas and his PA, Palestinian journalists exist to write stories slamming Israel or praising PA leaders. Media, for them, is defined as a mouthpiece for Abbas, the PA leadership and the Palestinian cause.
Any journalist who dares to think outside this checkpoint is subject to severe punishment. Under Abbas and the PA, there is no room for an independent media.
The three major Palestinian newspapers -- Al-Quds, Al-Ayyam and Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda -- are controlled, directly and indirectly, by the PA.
Although Al-Quds, the largest Palestinian daily, is privately owned and published in Jerusalem, it too serves as a mouthpiece for the PA. The newspaper's publisher and editors know that if they publish any story that is critical of Abbas or the PA leaders, they will face punitive measures, such as banning the distribution of Al-Quds in PA-controlled territories. As such, the editors and journalists have long resorted to self-censorship. This forced silencing explains the absence, for example, of any news items about Palestinian corruption or human rights violations in Al-Quds and the two other newspapers.
Al-Quds suffered heavy financial losses after Hamas banned its distribution in the Gaza Strip several years ago. The newspaper was banned from sale in Gaza because of its affiliation with the Palestinian Authority and criticism of Hamas.
Al-Ayyam and Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda were founded by the PA after the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the PLO, more than two decades ago. The PA appoints the editors and reporters, who receive their salaries from the Palestinian government. The two dailies are the Palestinian version of Pravda ("Truth"), the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
But the truth is hardly on the minds of the Palestinian editors and journalists employed by the PA. Their only truth concerns stories that blast Israel. The pages of the two newspapers are packed with reports of Israeli "wrongdoings." The Palestinians, it seems, are rather blameless from their point of view. A glance at the PA newspapers leaves one with the impression that President Abbas is the greatest leader of the greatest regime on earth.
Abbas's television and radio stations are no different. They too serve as a modern version of the Soviet Union's Pravda. They too specialize in anti-Israel rhetoric, striving to depict Israel as a war-mongering "racist" and "apartheid" country. The anti-Israel incitement in the PA media has radicalized Palestinians to a point where many of them are no longer willing to accept any form of compromise with Israel.
We like to think that things can get better over time. Yet, a new generation of Palestinian journalists is being raised on the notion that their entire reason for being is to serve as spokesmen for their leaders and government. In the world of the Palestinian Authority leadership, a journalist's loyalty to his leaders and their cause supersedes his loyalty to the truth. In a word, it is the truth vs. Abbas's security forces.
Last month, four Palestinian journalists came to learn the hard way what happens when you defy the PA leadership.
During a peaceful anti-PA protest in Ramallah on March 12, Palestinian security officers brutally assaulted four journalists who were covering the event. The four are Hafez Abu Sabra, Mohammed Shusheh, Jihad Barakat and Ahmed Milhem.
Shusheh said security officers in plainclothes approached him and tried to snatch his camera. When he resisted, he was beaten with clubs, he said. When his colleague, Abu Sabra, came to his help, he too was beaten on the face with fists and clubs. The other two journalists recounted undergoing similar assaults.
The assault on the four journalists was aimed at preventing them from reporting on the demonstration in Ramallah, which was organized in protest against the Palestinian Authority's decision to prosecute three Palestinians on charges of illegal possession of weapons.
The journalists would not have been beaten had they arrived to cover a rally in support of President Abbas and the PA leadership.
In a bid to contain the anger of Palestinian journalists over the assault on their colleagues, the PA promised to launch an investigation into the police brutality. No one in Ramallah, however, is expecting the PA to punish those responsible for the assaults on the journalists. Moreover, PA leaders have rather poor credibility among Palestinians on the issue of defending freedom of speech and the media.
Why should anyone believe the PA leaders when their actions go against their words and promises?
After the Ramallah incident, where the four journalists were roughed up by Abbas's officers, the Palestinian Authority security forces detained three more journalists: Amer Abu Arafeh, Sameh Manasrah and Qutaiba Qassem. The three were interrogated for "incitement" against the PA on social media -- meaning that they had voiced criticism of Abbas and his security forces. The journalists crossed the red lines by daring to express their opinion in a way that angered Abbas and his PA officials.
Abbas's policy of intimidation seems to be working. Palestinian journalists living under his rule in the West Bank are afraid to report stories that are not favorable in the eyes of the PA leadership.
As the international media relies heavily on Palestinian journalists and "media assistants" in covering Palestinian affairs, this intimidation of Palestinian journalists heavily colors the reporting of Western journalists. The stories Palestinian journalists tell their Western colleagues are limited to ones that will not endanger their own lives.
This censorship, whether by the Abbas's security forces or self-imposed, explains why one rarely reads or sees a story in Western mainstream media about negative things happening in the PA-controlled territories.
The Palestinian journalists, like their leaders, give Western journalists only the dirt on Israel. Many Western journalists, for their part, have adjusted themselves to this reality and are willing partners in the bash-Israel campaign.
Even when their Palestinian colleagues are beaten and arrested by Abbas's security forces, these "journalists" fail to report such incidents. This makes some sense: should they open their mouths with the truth, Abbas and his cohorts might indeed stop inviting them to press conferences and banquets in the fancy restaurants of Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jericho.
The repressive measures are aimed at silencing critical voices among the journalists and deterring others from reporting stories that reflect negatively on the Palestinian leadership in particular and Palestinians in general.
In the view of President Mahmoud Abbas and his PA, Palestinian journalists exist to write stories slamming Israel or praising PA leaders. Media, for them, is defined as a mouthpiece for Abbas, the PA leadership and the Palestinian cause.
Any journalist who dares to think outside this checkpoint is subject to severe punishment. Under Abbas and the PA, there is no room for an independent media.
The three major Palestinian newspapers -- Al-Quds, Al-Ayyam and Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda -- are controlled, directly and indirectly, by the PA.
Although Al-Quds, the largest Palestinian daily, is privately owned and published in Jerusalem, it too serves as a mouthpiece for the PA. The newspaper's publisher and editors know that if they publish any story that is critical of Abbas or the PA leaders, they will face punitive measures, such as banning the distribution of Al-Quds in PA-controlled territories. As such, the editors and journalists have long resorted to self-censorship. This forced silencing explains the absence, for example, of any news items about Palestinian corruption or human rights violations in Al-Quds and the two other newspapers.
Al-Quds suffered heavy financial losses after Hamas banned its distribution in the Gaza Strip several years ago. The newspaper was banned from sale in Gaza because of its affiliation with the Palestinian Authority and criticism of Hamas.
Al-Ayyam and Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda were founded by the PA after the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the PLO, more than two decades ago. The PA appoints the editors and reporters, who receive their salaries from the Palestinian government. The two dailies are the Palestinian version of Pravda ("Truth"), the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
But the truth is hardly on the minds of the Palestinian editors and journalists employed by the PA. Their only truth concerns stories that blast Israel. The pages of the two newspapers are packed with reports of Israeli "wrongdoings." The Palestinians, it seems, are rather blameless from their point of view. A glance at the PA newspapers leaves one with the impression that President Abbas is the greatest leader of the greatest regime on earth.
Abbas's television and radio stations are no different. They too serve as a modern version of the Soviet Union's Pravda. They too specialize in anti-Israel rhetoric, striving to depict Israel as a war-mongering "racist" and "apartheid" country. The anti-Israel incitement in the PA media has radicalized Palestinians to a point where many of them are no longer willing to accept any form of compromise with Israel.
We like to think that things can get better over time. Yet, a new generation of Palestinian journalists is being raised on the notion that their entire reason for being is to serve as spokesmen for their leaders and government. In the world of the Palestinian Authority leadership, a journalist's loyalty to his leaders and their cause supersedes his loyalty to the truth. In a word, it is the truth vs. Abbas's security forces.
Last month, four Palestinian journalists came to learn the hard way what happens when you defy the PA leadership.
During a peaceful anti-PA protest in Ramallah on March 12, Palestinian security officers brutally assaulted four journalists who were covering the event. The four are Hafez Abu Sabra, Mohammed Shusheh, Jihad Barakat and Ahmed Milhem.
Palestinian Authority police assault journalists at a protest in Ramallah, on March 12, 2017. (Image source: Roya News video screenshot)
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Shusheh said security officers in plainclothes approached him and tried to snatch his camera. When he resisted, he was beaten with clubs, he said. When his colleague, Abu Sabra, came to his help, he too was beaten on the face with fists and clubs. The other two journalists recounted undergoing similar assaults.
The assault on the four journalists was aimed at preventing them from reporting on the demonstration in Ramallah, which was organized in protest against the Palestinian Authority's decision to prosecute three Palestinians on charges of illegal possession of weapons.
The journalists would not have been beaten had they arrived to cover a rally in support of President Abbas and the PA leadership.
In a bid to contain the anger of Palestinian journalists over the assault on their colleagues, the PA promised to launch an investigation into the police brutality. No one in Ramallah, however, is expecting the PA to punish those responsible for the assaults on the journalists. Moreover, PA leaders have rather poor credibility among Palestinians on the issue of defending freedom of speech and the media.
Why should anyone believe the PA leaders when their actions go against their words and promises?
After the Ramallah incident, where the four journalists were roughed up by Abbas's officers, the Palestinian Authority security forces detained three more journalists: Amer Abu Arafeh, Sameh Manasrah and Qutaiba Qassem. The three were interrogated for "incitement" against the PA on social media -- meaning that they had voiced criticism of Abbas and his security forces. The journalists crossed the red lines by daring to express their opinion in a way that angered Abbas and his PA officials.
Abbas's policy of intimidation seems to be working. Palestinian journalists living under his rule in the West Bank are afraid to report stories that are not favorable in the eyes of the PA leadership.
As the international media relies heavily on Palestinian journalists and "media assistants" in covering Palestinian affairs, this intimidation of Palestinian journalists heavily colors the reporting of Western journalists. The stories Palestinian journalists tell their Western colleagues are limited to ones that will not endanger their own lives.
This censorship, whether by the Abbas's security forces or self-imposed, explains why one rarely reads or sees a story in Western mainstream media about negative things happening in the PA-controlled territories.
The Palestinian journalists, like their leaders, give Western journalists only the dirt on Israel. Many Western journalists, for their part, have adjusted themselves to this reality and are willing partners in the bash-Israel campaign.
Even when their Palestinian colleagues are beaten and arrested by Abbas's security forces, these "journalists" fail to report such incidents. This makes some sense: should they open their mouths with the truth, Abbas and his cohorts might indeed stop inviting them to press conferences and banquets in the fancy restaurants of Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jericho.
Bassam Tawil is an Arab Muslim scholar based in the Middle East.
© 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
PMW: PA cuts salaries to Gaza workers, but not to terrorist prisoners
PA cuts salaries to Gaza workers,
but not to terrorist prisoners
- With deepening economic crisis, PA government cuts salaries to productive workers in Gaza but not to non-productive terrorists in prison
PLO Director of Prisoners’ Affairs:
“The cuts approved by the [PA] Palestinian government to the salaries of the state employees in Gaza will not harm the released prisoners or the prisoners in the Israeli occupation’s prisons”
o
PA Prime Minister calls for release of Palestinian murderers:
We need “to release all of the prisoners without exception”
Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
As the Palestinian Authority’s economic warfare with Hamas continues, the PA announced it is cutting salaries to state employees in Gaza, but is not cutting the salaries it pays to terrorist prisoners including murderers and released terrorists who will continue receiving their full salaries.
This was announced by the Director of PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Karake yesterday. Karake’s announcement shows again what Palestinian Media Watch has been documenting to legislators around the world in its report The PA's Billion Dollar Fraud: That it is the PA government which determines and pays the salaries to terrorists:
“Director of PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Karake... said in an exclusive statement... that the cuts approved by the [PA] Palestinian government to the salaries of the state employees in Gaza will not harm the released prisoners or the prisoners in the Israeli occupation’s prisons, and noted that the cuts in the employees’ salaries are related to the existing situation in the Gaza Strip.”
[Donia Al-Watan, independent Palestinian news agency, April 26, 2017]
In addition to preserving the high amount of the payments, the PA leadership continues defend its policy of rewarding terror. Earlier this month Spokesman for the PLO Commission of Prisoners and Released Prisoners' Affairs Hassan Abd Rabbo “emphasized... that it is the right of all of the prisoners and Martyrs who have struggled and sacrificed for Palestine to receive their full salaries from the PA.” [Ma’an, independent Palestinian news agency, April 5, 2017]
This statement was made in response to a bill submitted by Israeli Parliament members which would deduct the amount the PA pays to imprisoned terrorists and families of “Martyrs,” from transfers by Israel to the PA, from PA tax money Israel collects.
The PA’s support for terrorists and murderers was also emphasized by the PA’s Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah who during this week’s government meeting stated that the prisoners are “prisoners of war,” and that “their cause is the cause of all of us.” He added:
“The title of the [current] stage is the need to release all of the prisoners without exception and without discrimination.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 26, 2017]
Earlier this month, PA Prime Minister Hamdallah explained the cuts in salaries in the Gaza Strip, which were made due to the PA’s financial crisis caused by the 70% drop in foreign aid this year and because Hamas is spending money only on itself and not on the people:
Headline: “'$17 billion were transferred over the last 10 years in order to provide for the needs of the Gaza Strip’ - Hamdallah: Some of the wage additions were cut in the salaries of the Gaza employees; Hamas is taking all of the revenue and spending it only on itself”
“The [PA] government has decided to take austerity measures on the expenses since last year [2016] in the West Bank. The first sector in which they began was the security sector, whose expenses were reduced by 25%. In addition, the budgets of many sectors were reduced due to the 70% drop in foreign aid. We are suffering from a large financial crisis... The base salaries of the [public] employees in the Gaza Strip were not harmed, but rather some of the wage additions were cut, while some of them were left intact. This is so that we will be able to manage the financial crisis from which we are suffering... We demand that Hamas give the Gaza Strip to the legal leadership (i.e., Fatah), as Hamas is taking all of the revenue and spending it only on itself, while we are fulfilling all of our obligations towards the members of our people in the Gaza Strip.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 8, 2017]
The following are longer excerpts of the articles mentioned above:
Headline: “Karake: The cuts in the Gaza salaries will not harm the released prisoners”
“Director of PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Karake... said in an exclusive statement to [independent Palestinian news agency] Donia Al-Watan that the cuts approved by the [PA] Palestinian government to the salaries of the state employees in Gaza will not harm the released prisoners or the prisoners in the Israeli occupation’s prisons, and noted that the cuts in the employees’ salaries are related to the existing situation in the Gaza Strip.Karake explained that the government has approved these cuts because there is money that is going to the Gaza Strip and taxes that are collected in the Gaza Strip [by Hamas], but which do not reach the [PA] government coffers. He noted that this problem - for which Hamas bears the responsibility - is not related to the matter of the released prisoners.”
[Donia Al-Watan, independent Palestinian news agency, April 26, 2017]
Headline: “The government: The unity of the prisoners calls to us to complete the reconciliation [between Fatah and Hamas] and thwart the occupation’s plans”
“[PA] Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah emphasized during the weekly government meeting held in Ramallah under his leadership... that the fact that Israel continues to hold thousands of prisoners, in addition to the racist incitement campaign and the criminal, racist, direct, and explicit calls of the occupation leaders to kill the prisoners (PMW has found no such calls, see below for more details -Ed.) necessitate the urgent intervention of the international community...
He added that their (the prisoners’) cause is the cause of all of us, and that this is a national and personal cause that touches every Palestinian home...
He emphasized that we will not forget our prisoners and will not forget our land, and that the time has come to establish their status as prisoners of war in a way that will allow us to work with international institutions in order to enlist more support for their release. He also noted that the title of the [current] stage is the need to release all of the prisoners without exception and without discrimination. Hamdallah added that the loyalty to the prisoners also requires us to act to unite the homeland and provide a fitting life for their families, and that instead of the blackmail, pressures, and incitement that Israel is using to force us to stop supporting the prisoners and Martyrs’ families, it must stop the organized state terror that it is using.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 26, 2017]
PMW could find no calls by Israeli ministers to kill prisoners. The Palestinians have referred to statements by Israeli Minister of Intelligence and Transportation Yisrael Katz and Israeli Minister of Defense Avigdor Liberman as such, however in both cases that was not what they actually said.
On March 6 and 7, 2017, Katz said that terrorist Marwan Barghouti should have been sentenced to the death penalty rather than life imprisonment.
In 2015, when serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Liberman said regarding a prisoner hunger strike at the time that those wishing to hunger strike should be allowed to do so, and that their lives are their responsibility. He referred to Irish hunger strikers in Britain in 1981 who starved themselves to death when then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher refused to give in to their demands, saying: "What's good for the birthplace of democracy, England, is good enough for us."
Headline: "Will Israel succeed in stopping the salaries of the prisoners and Martyrs?”"Signs of a new 'confrontation' between the PA and Israel are seen on the horizon due to a new bill submitted by Israeli Parliament members to deduct the amount of financial aid that the PA provides to the families of the Martyrs (
Shahids) and prisoners from the tax money collected by Israel and returned [to the PA].
The Israeli bill, submitted by Israeli Parliament members led by Elazar Stern of the Yesh Atid party, has met with much resistance from the Palestinian [PLO] Commission for Prisoners' Affairs that considered the bill 'an Israeli political escalation against the symbols of the Palestinian resistance and national struggle, the prisoners and the prisoners who have been released from the occupation's prisons.'
Spokesman for the [PLO] Commission of Prisoners and Released Prisoners' Affairs Hassan Abd Rabbo emphasized to the [independent Palestinian news] agency Ma'an that it is the right of all of the prisoners and Martyrs who have struggled and sacrificed for Palestine to receive their full salaries from the PA.
He also emphasized that all of their salaries are paid by the PLO-affiliated Palestinian National Fund, and not by the Palestinian [PA] government.
‘Approximately 7,000 prisoners within the prisons and thousands of released prisoners receive monthly salaries of more than 1,400 [Israeli] shekels, in addition to canteen money that the prisoner receives in order to buy food and essentials within the prison,' said Abd Rabbo.
The prisoner's salary changes according to the years of imprisonment, social situation, and the number of his family members, as the salary of some of the prisoners reaches 10,000 shekels, particularly those who have served more than 10 years of imprisonment.Abd Rabbo denied that there are clauses in the Oslo Accords signed between the Israeli government and the PLO that forbid providing salaries to prisoners and the Martyrs' families. In the past the prisoners received their salaries from the Prisoner and Released Prisoner Training Program, before they were transferred to the [PA] Ministry for Prisoners' Affairs, and afterwards to the PLO Commission [of Prisoners’ Affairs] whose source of funding is the Palestinian National Fund...
PLO Executive Committee member [and Secretary-General of the Palestinian Liberation Front] Dr. Wasel Abu Yusuf emphasized that the PA and the Palestinian leadership will not neglect the Martyrs, prisoners, and wounded who have made sacrifices for Palestine and its cause.
He said that the Israeli bill is a continuation of the war that the occupation is waging against the Palestinians. He also emphasized that it is necessary to find clear tools for the struggle against this bill that harms the rights of the families that have been anchored by the PA.In addition, he said: 'If this decision is implemented, serious and urgent steps must be taken, including turning to the international institutions and the [International] Criminal Court and revoking all agreements with the occupation.'
Those who submitted the bill claimed to the Hebrew (i.e., Israeli) newspaper
Yediot Aharonot that the PA budget of 2016 showed that it transferred an amount of 1.1 billion shekels to the Martyrs and prisoners' families."
[Ma’an, independent Palestinian news agency, April 5, 2017]
Headline: “'$17 billion were transferred over the last 10 years in order to provide for the needs of the Gaza Strip’ - Hamdallah: Some of the wage additions were cut in the salaries of the Gaza employees; Hamas is taking all of the revenue and spending it only on itself”
“[PA] Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said: ‘The [PA] government has decided to take austerity measures on the expenses since last year [2016] in the West Bank. The first sector in which they began was the security sector, whose expenses were reduced by 25%. In addition, the budgets of many sectors were reduced due to the 70% drop in foreign aid. We are suffering from a large financial crisis.’He added: ‘The base salaries of the [public] employees in the Gaza Strip were not harmed, but rather some of the wage additions were cut, while some of them were left intact. This is so that we will be able to manage the financial crisis from which we are suffering.’
Hamdallah continued: ‘We demand that Hamas give the Gaza Strip to the legal leadership (i.e., Fatah), as Hamas is taking all of the revenue and spending it only on itself, while we are fulfilling all of our obligations towards the members of our people in the Gaza Strip. In the last 10 years approximately $17 billion have been transferred from the [PA] coffers to the Gaza Strip, and we emphasize that the Palestinian leadership led by [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas insists that there will be no [separate] state in Gaza, and there will be no state without Gaza.’”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 8, 2017]
Shurat HaDin: PALESTINIAN TERRORIST CONVICTED OF US IMMIGRATION FRAUD; Rasmea Odeh, responsible for the 1969 Jerusalem supermarket bombing that killed two people, will be deported to Jordan.
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A Palestinian woman who perpetrated an infamous 1969 supermarket bombing in Jerusalem, and who later immigrated to the US, has been convicted in a plea deal of immigration fraud by a US federal court in Detroit and is expected to be deported to Jordan.
The conviction was handed down late Tuesday, but no date has been set yet for deportation.
In 1970, an Israeli military court convicted the woman, Rasmea Odeh, of participating in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine bombing.
The terrorist attack killed two people – Hebrew University students and roommates Leon “Arie” Kanner, 21, from Netanya, and Edward Jaffe, 22, formerly of Cape Town, and living near Tel Aviv – at the SuperSol supermarket on Agron Street in Jerusalem.
Odeh was sentenced to a life term.
She served 10 years of that sentence before getting an early release in 1980, in a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and the PFLP. She immigrated to the US in 1995, but lied to the US on her immigration form, omitting her Israeli murder conviction from answers about any criminal record.
Shurat Hadin director Nitsana Darshan- Leitner, who represented Edward Jaffe’s brother Harold, and assisted the US Department of Justice with compiling evidence, responded to the conviction saying, “There was never any doubt that Rasmea Odeh was the same PFLP member who was convicted by the Israeli court for the supermarket bombing.”
“Despite her efforts to conceal her past, continuously lie about her identity and blur the reasons for falsifying her immigration application, her terrorist activities have caught up with her,” Darshan- Leitner continued.
She added, “It’s regrettable that she is merely being deported to Jordan and not serving more jail time, as this is a Palestinian terrorist with no respect for the rule of law... and [who] continues to pursue her own interests without any remorse or pause.”
In March, when Odeh agreed to the plea bargain, but before it had been made binding by court endorsement, Harold Jaffe told The Jerusalem Post that he was concerned that Odeh could renege on the deal.
“It’ll be done when it happens, when it’s done, it’s done,” he added.
Jaffe speculated that Odeh finally agreed to deportation once she faced the possibility of up to another 20 years in prison.
In February, the US Attorney’s Office in Michigan announced it would seek the Palestinian Authority’s permission to depose two Palestinian women who conspired with Odeh to perpetrate the 1969 supermarket bombing, in an effort to deport her and debunk her defense that she only confessed to the bombing after being tortured by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).
Absent the plea deal, Odeh’s retrial had been scheduled for May 16 in which the US would argue that she lied and covered up her terrorist past on a US immigration form, actions that justify her deportation.
In November 2014, a Detroit federal jury convicted Odeh of concealing her life imprisonment in Israel, and in March 2015 she was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison, have her US citizenship canceled and be deported to Jordan.
But in February 2016, a US appeals court threw out Odeh’s original US conviction, saying the trial court should have allowed expert testimony that she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder due to Shin Bet torture in prison and did not know her statements to immigration officials were false.
Wednesday’s conviction ends Odeh’s legal saga in the US.
Copyright © 2016 Shurat HaDin, All rights reserved.
Elder of Ziyon: UNRWA-USA lies again to fundraise, falsely blaming Israel for Gaza power woes (UPDATE)
UNRWA-USA sent out a fundraising email entitled "Your Gaza electricity crisis questions answered."
It fails any fact check.
The reason for the Gaza electricity shortage is summarized in this recent Washington Post article:
Until now, the Palestinian Authority received fuel from Israel and sold it to the power station in Gaza, which is under Hamas’s authority. The Palestinian Authority even reduced the taxes. But financial difficulties meant other countries occasionally had to step in to cover the cost. In January, after public unrest over power cuts, Qatar and Turkey donated three month’s worth of fuel to Gaza.
But that arrangement has ended, and the Palestinian Authority has said that as long as Hamas remains in charge in Gaza, it should be responsible for paying the electricity bill — at the full cost.
The political fighting between the two Palestinian factions has left Gazans to survive with between four and six hours of electricity a day.
UNRWA-USA doesn't want to talk about the infighting between Palestinian leaders over who pays for the fuel. No one will donate to help a dysfunctional "state" which can't even get it together to help their own people.
So UNRWA-USA blames - well, you know who.
What caused the blackouts in the first place? The electricity crisis in Gaza has been ongoing since June 2006, when an Israeli airstrike hit the GPP. It was targeted with another airstrike in July 2014, temporarily shutting it down. The damage sustained in these airstrikes, combined with the chronic fuel shortage due to the blockade, has forced the GPP to operate at half its normal capacity for years.
What is the current energy crisis caused by? On April 17, the GPP was forced to shut down completely due to exhaustion of all fuel supplies and a complete lack of funds to replenish them. On April 20, the fuel supply from Egypt was also cut off due to a technical malfunction that has not been repaired.Actually, the Gaza power plant never reached anything close to full capacity since it was built in 2002, because Gaza power lines couldn't handle that amount. The most it ever generated was 90 MW out of 140 MW capacity; recently it was generating around 70 MW while Israel supplies 120 MW directly to Gaza.
And Israel has not limited the amount of fuel to Gaza in years. The "blockade" has nothing to do with why the power plant has no fuel.
UNRWA-USA goes on to deceive would-be donors:
No matter what, UNRWA remains the largest humanitarian provider for Palestine refugees in the Gaza Strip, and the Agency will stop at nothing to provide critical education, health and mental health care, social services, and emergency response to the 1.3 million refugees who remain trapped under siege.UNRWA does not buy or provide fuel for Gaza. This fundraiser is meant to appeal to the donors by saying how terrible those sieging, blockading Israelis are for making Gazan lives awful, without noting that UNRWA is not even helping them get electricity or fuel.
And all without saying a negative word about Hamas and the PA who every Gazan knows are the ones to blame for this problem.
Of course, we already knew that UNRWA-USA workers are rabidly anti-Israel.
UPDATE: JPost reports
The Palestinian Authority informed Israel that it is stopping all payments for electricity that enters Gaza through 10 electrical lines, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories said on Thursday.Of course UNRWA will be silent about this as well, and only blame Israel for shutting down the electricity if it gets to that point.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas has warned over the past two weeks that he will take “unprecedented measures,” if Hamas does not concede some of its control over Gaza to the PA.
Hamas has said that it will not give in to “the threats” of the PA president.
The electrical lines entering Gaza from Israel account for some 120-125 megawatts, more than half of Gaza’s current electrical output. An electrical line from Egypt provides 27 megawatts and a power station, when fueled, delivers between 60-80 megawatts. The power station has not been working for almost two weeks for lack of fuel. Gaza needs a total of 420 megawatts.
Without the 10 electrical lines from Israel functioning, Gaza will almost certainly face a major electricity crisis.
If Israel were smart, it would continue to send electricity to Gaza for humanitarian reasons and withhold the equivalent tax payments to the PA the way it has done in the past.
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