Arab media uses cartoons to blame Israel for Gaza infighting
Inter-Palestinian fighting in the Gaza Strip has unleashed a barrage of virulently anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic cartoons in the Arab and Muslim media, according to the Arab Affairs desk of the Anti-Defamation League Israel.
Cartoons and caricatures in the recent Arab press depict Jews in stereotypical fashion, as manipulative and conspiratorial and with hooked noses, long beards and black hats. Also, Jews are shown as encouraging, mocking and enjoying the conflict between Hamas and Fatah.
“Once again the Arab media have gone out of their way to accuse the Jews and Israel for their plight. In the part of the world when editorial cartoons have great impact, it is not surprising that there is so much animosity toward Israel and the Jews in the Arab street,” the ADL Israel office said in a statement.
One cartoon from Al-Watan in Qatar shows Israel, in the form of an Orthodox Jew, laughing out loud as he reads a newspaper headline reading “The Palestinian Struggle.”
Another cartoon from Al-Khabar in Algeria shows a Jew rubbing his hands in delight as he watches the Palestinians fight. He says, “May ‘God’ give them health. This is the true diversity.”
A third from the Akhbar al-Khalij in Bahrain shows an American arm using an Israeli hammer to strike the head of a Palestinian, splitting it into two. — ynetnews.com
Report: Israel has invasion plan for Gaza
Israel reportedly has drawn up imminent plans to invade the Gaza Strip.
Britain’s Sunday Times reported that Ehud Barak, Israel’s incoming defense minister, has a plan to send 20,000 troops into Gaza “to destroy much of Hamas’ military capability in days.”
According to the report, the order would be given in the event of a surge of Hamas cross-border rocket salvos or suicide bombings. Israeli officials declined to comment.
Hamas, which has an estimated 12,000 militiamen in Gaza, has not shown signs of seeking a confrontation with Israel since it purged the rival Fatah faction last week. — jta
Takeover spurs hope for Shalit’s return
Hamas’ takeover of the Gaza Strip is spurring hope for the safe return of an Israeli soldier kidnapped nearly a year ago by the fundamentalist Islamic group, even as it issued a terse warning to Israel not to harm its leaders or they could forget about Gilad Shalit.
Shalit, then a 19-year-old army corporal, was captured last June 25 during a cross-border raid and smuggled into Gaza. He has been held by Hamas and two other organizations involved in the attack, in which two other Israelis were killed.
Israeli officials and family members are hoping that with Hamas now in control of Gaza, having prompted their rivals in Fatah to flee to the West Bank following a bloody conflict, Hamas alone will be able to decide Shalit’s fate.
“There is a new situation and I hope Prime Minister Olmert will know how to take advantage of it,” Noam Shalit told journalists at a graveside ceremony Sunday marking a year since his son was captured and his son’s comrades were killed. — jta
Can Hamas take control of W. Bank?
Israel’s foreign minister voiced concern that Hamas could take over the West Bank.
Tzipi Livni said Monday, June 18 that after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, Israel has to be careful not to allow a similar shift of power in the West Bank, where Mahmoud Abbas’ more moderate Fatah still holds sway.
“We have to take this into account, of course,” she told Israel Radio, adding that any further moves to establish a Palestinian state “must be predicated on waging war against terror.”
Livni also blamed the fall of Hamas on Abbas’ “weakness” as Palestinian Authority president and said Israel should not rush to accommodate him unless he “proves himself through actions.”
Livni lobbied her European Union counterparts in Strasbourg later that day not to abandon their sanctions against Hamas. — jta
Fuel supply restored in Gaza
An Israeli energy company reversed a decision to cut back fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip. Dor Alon announced Monday, June 18 that it would fully supply fuel to the Hamas-controlled territory following appeals by the Palestinian Authority.. — jta
Some Gazans granted passage to Israel
Ehud Barak, newly appointed defense minister, instructed Israeli officials to allow “humanitarian cases” from Gaza to cross into Israel.
About 200 Palestinians, petrified by the chaos in Hamas-controlled Gaza, have been camped out since last week in a tunnel on the Palestinian side of the Erez crossing, pleading with Israeli authorities to grant them safe passage to the West Bank.
As a result of Barak’s order, which took effect Wednesday, June 20, 55 people reportedly were transferred to Israeli hospitals.
Israel, concerned about militants getting through, is only letting through the staff of international organizations and people with special permission. Israel’s Supreme Court began hearing a petition by a human rights group demanding that Israel offer immediate medical treatment to 26 critically ill Palestinians hospitalized in Gaza. The court will rule next week. — ap
Victims’ assets published on Net
The society for restitution of property belonging to victims of the Holocaust published a list of 3,500 bank accounts and real estate properties located in Israel, worth more than 100 million shekels ($25 million), that belong to Holocaust victims.
The list was published Wednesday, June 20 on the Internet site www.hashava.org.il. Relatives of the victims can examine the list to locate assets that legally belong to them.
The society said this is only an initial list that includes assets that were under guardianship of the General Custodian, the Jewish National Fund and a list of bank accounts that was published at the Knesset.
Descendants of the owners of assets that do not appear on the list can submit a request to a service center formed for this purpose. —ynetnews.com
Israel singled out for rights abuses
The U.N.’s new human rights watchdog last week formally agreed to continue their scrutiny of Israel while halting investigations into Cuba and Belarus — a move that immediately drew fire from Canada and the United States.
The council passed the compromise package despite objections from Canada over plans to continue singling out Israel.
The large Muslim and African groups, which dominate the council, had lobbied hard to minimize the scope for naming and shaming countries over their human rights records, but make an exception for Israel, the only government explicitly criticized so far by the body.
Censure by the council brings no sanctions beyond international scrutiny. — ap
Report: Syria getting MiG-31s
Russia reportedly plans to supply advanced MiG-31 warplanes to Syria.
The Russian newspaper Comersan reported this week that Moscow and Damascus signed for the $1 billion sale of the jets at the beginning of the year, and that the shipment is being assembled.
The MiG-31 is considered among the most sophisticated fighter-interceptors in the world. It would give Syria a potential equalizer in the face of Israel’s air force.
There was no immediate comment on the report from Moscow or Damascus. — jta
Egypt moves embassy to W. Bank
In a stark sign of its rejection of Hamas’s takeover of the Gaza Strip, Egypt announced it was moving its embassy from Gaza to the West Bank, headquarters of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, a foreign ministry statement said last week.
A group of Egyptian diplomats have already left for the West Bank town of Ramallah. — jps
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