Sunday, July 28, 2013

The Sickening List of Palestinian Heroes

One of the demands made by Abu Mazen in order to be willing to return to the negotiating table to discuss having a Palestinian state has been that Israel release Palestinians who have been in Israeli jails since before the beginning of the Oslo process. Apparently Israel is about to accept this demand, and in my position as a civil servant I have no opinion on the matter one way or the other. However, a quick glance at the list should make any decent person blanche. Are these the heroes the Palestinians wish to celebrate? As a service to the public, I"m translating the list Y-net posted in Hebrew this evening (there's a short English-language summary here).

Karim Younes, murdered Avraham Bromberg in 1981.
Maher Kadr Younis, same murder. They are both Israeli citizens.
Issa Adb Rabo, murdered Revital Serri and Ron Levy, a young couple walking in the hills to the south of Jerusalem.
Ahmed Shehade, murdered a Palestinian suspected of collaborating with Israel.
Rafa Karage, murdered Aharon Avidar.
Mustafa Ganemat, murdered Meir Ben Yair and Michal Cohen.
Ziad Mahmoud, same murder.
Othman Bani-Hassin, murdered Leah Almakais and Josef Eliyahu.
Haze Saadi, same murder.
Mohamad Tos, a member of a group which murdered 5 Israelis.
Faiz Hur, murdered two Israelis.
Mouhamad Ashour, murdered David Caspi, an Israeli cab driver.
Ibrahim Abu Mouch, kidnapped and murdered Moshe Hamam. Israeli Arab.
Roushdi Abu Mouch, same murder. Israeli Arab.
Walid Daka, same murder. Israeli Arab.
Ahmed Jaabar murdered David Shaltiel.
Afou Shakir, same murder.
Mohamad Daud, murdered Ofra Mozes and her son Tal.
Yassin Hadir,murdered Yagal Shahaf.
Bashir Hatib, murdered Haim Taktuk and buried him under the floor of his store. He's an Israeli Arab.
Mahmoud Jabarin, murdered a suspected collaborator.
Jouma Adam, firebombed a bus and burned to their deaths Rachel Weiss, her three sons (one an infant), and David Delarosa, a soldier who tried to extract them from the burning bus.
Mahmoud Harbish, same murder.
Bilal Demara, murdered 70-year-old Holuocaust survivor Friedrich Rosenfeld.
Moustaffa Outhma, same murder.

I've had enough. The rest of the list contains men who murdered their employers, or murdered women, children, old men.

Update: Gideon Shaviv of CAMERA sends a link to a webpage where they've put up the entire list, in English.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Jerusalem doesn't have the advantages of Tiberius

It's been ages since I did a "daf yomi" post. (The idea was presented and explained here). So here's a quick one, about Jerusalem, from the Pesachim tractate we're currently crossing (page 8b, to be precise).

Rabbi Abin son of Rabbi Ada said in the name of Rabbi Itzhak: "Why aren't the fruit of Jerusalem as good as those of Genosar? (North of Tiberius, famous as the source of the best fruit of Erez Israel). So that the pilgrims won't say they've come to Jerusalem to eat its fruit, and there will be doubt if they came for the mitzva of the pilgrimage itself". Rabbi Dostai son of Rabbi Yannai said: "Why are the hot-springs of Tiberius not in Jerusalem? So that the pilgrims won't say they've come to Jerusalem to enjoy the hot-springs, and doubt will be cast on their motivation for the pilgrimage".