Sunday, October 18, 2015
PMW: Fatah: Kick the Jews off the Temple Mount
A cartoon posted today on the “official Facebook page” of Abbas’ Fatah movement shows a Palestinian child kicking a long-nosed, terrified, ultra-orthodox Jew off the Temple Mount. The Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock appear in the background along with the words "leave our skies." A line from a poem by the Palestinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish, calling for all Jews to leave Israel, is posted with the cartoon:PMW: Al-Aqsa preacher: Jews worship the Devil, will be exterminated by Muslims
“Leave our country, our land, our sea, our wheat, our salt, our wounds. Everything."
[Official Facebook page of the Fatah Movement, Oct. 18, 2015]
The cartoon joins numerous statements by Palestinian Authority and Fatah officials that Jews should not be allowed on the Temple Mount, which they call the Al-Aqsa Mosque plaza, because it is Islamic and Jews “defile it.” As documented by Palestinian Media Watch, PA Chairman Abbas has stated this several times, including last month:
"The Al-Aqsa [Mosque] is ours... and they have no right to defile it with their filthy feet. We will not allow them to, and we will do everything in our power to protect Jerusalem."
[Official PA TV, Sept. 16, 2015 and official website of PA Chairman Abbas, Sept. 16, 2015]
Abbas has also justified the current Palestinian violence and attacks as “protection of the holy sites.”
In his lesson in the Al-Aqsa Mosque this week, Palestinian preacher of Islam Sheikh Khaled Al-Mughrabi taught that Jews are destined to build a Temple outside the area of the Temple Mount, where they will worship the Devil. At the End of Time, Muslims will seek out the Jews everywhere and exterminate them all. The Sheikh also referred to the well-known Hadith foretelling that one day Jews will hide from Muslims, but the rock and the tree will call out: "O Muslim, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him":
Sheikh Khaled Al-Mughrabi, teaches Islam twice a week in the Al-Aqsa Mosque: "The Children of Israel will be forced - they will not concede - they will be forced to change their plans to build the Temple inside the structure of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and will have to build it outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque... A Temple of heresy to worship the Devil. Why? Because the Anti-Christ won't appear unless this Temple is built and the Devil is worshipped there... [At the End of Days] we will follow the Jews everywhere. They will not escape us. They will not be able to escape us. The rock and tree will speak, according to the Hadith (tradition) of the Prophet [Muhammad]... and it is a reliable promise from the Prophet according to which the tree and the rock will speak and say: 'O Muslim, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.' The Children of Israel will all be exterminated, the Anti-Christ will be killed and the Muslims will live in comfort for a long time." [Al-Msjed Al-Aqsa YouTube channel, Oct. 16, 2015]
Channel 1's authentic report
But those who watched the Israel Broadcasting Authority's Channel 1 current affairs program, "Yoman," were able to see what is really going on in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. An authentic report, presented by journalist Riad Ali, told the story that most clearly illustrates what has been going on here in recent decades and in recent weeks. In the broadcast, Ali went into a village in east Jerusalem and revealed the authentic opinions of Arabs who oppose our right to live in our homeland. We didn't hear them complain about any violation of the status quo on the Temple Mount. Not a word about settlers. No complaints about sewage in the streets or ramshackle roads, and no claims of discrimination in anything related to environmental development -- as the two private TV stations would have us believe.Why is Amnesty International Sponsoring a U.S. Tour for a Palestinian Promoter of the Blood Libel?
There was only one crimson thread weaving through the comments again and again: We, the Israelis, have no right to live here. "No, I don't believe so. They should go back to where they came from," was the response from one Arab asked about whether there is room for the Jewish people in his country.
Mohammed Abu Oudah, a Fatah member integrated into Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' system, claimed that he and his family are originally from Al-Barriyya, a village that existed between Ramla and Lod. "I am a refugee here in this camp," he told the reporter, "Of course we want to go back." The yearning to remove us from our homes still fills the hearts of the elderly in Qalandiya, who bequeath their faded memories to the younger generations. "This land will be returned to us in a bloody [struggle]," a man named Hamza said. When asked what would happen if Israel agreed to return to the '67 borders, he replied, "We will agree in principle, but the next generation will demand more." We can only guess that if the reporter were to continue wandering through the Arab villages of east Jerusalem, he would find those dreaming to kill me and my family just to return to Tel Qatra, an ancient hill in northern Gedera -- the town where I live -- which until 1948 was home to the village of Qatra, conquered and destroyed in the War of Independence.
In April, Amnesty International came under fire when it rejected, by a vote of 468-461, a resolution calling for the organization to combat anti-Semitism in Britain. This refusal led many to question Amnesty’s commitment to fighting anti-Jewish prejudice. Now, the group’s American arm has added further fuel to the fire by sponsoring a U.S. speaking tour—including a stop in a third-grade classroom—for a Palestinian activist who promotes anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
On his website, Bassem Tamimi is described as “an internationally recognized Palestinian human rights activist from the West Bank farming village of Nabi Selah” and “a beacon of hope and an inspiration to all who believe in freedom.” Detained repeatedly by Israeli authorities, Tamimi has been dubbed a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty, which subsequently co-sponsored an American speaking tour for him that began in September. Since then, Tamimi has spoken in 10 states, including multiple stops in New York and California and a plenary appearance at the annual conference of the U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation, where he advocated the boycott of Israel.
Tamimi’s tour and its sponsorship by Amnesty have already drawn substantial criticism, given his radical views. In particular, objections were raised when Tamimi was brought in to address third-graders at the Beverly J. Martin School in Ithaca, New York. Luvelle Brown, Ithaca’s superintendent of schools, later denounced Tamimi’s remarks as “politically skewed, inflammatory, and not endorsed by the Ithaca City School District.” Amnesty, however, defended Tamimi’s appearance, dismissing the criticism as a “smear campaign” and “bullying and intimidation.”
But while perhaps that controversy could be chalked up to differences of political opinions, the latest one swirling around Tamimi cannot. On Wednesday, as reported by Cornell’s William Jacobson, Tamimi reposted a viral anti-Semitic meme on his Facebook page, alleging Israelis detain Palestinian children to steal their organs, and that Zionists control the media to suppress this information:
Khaled Abu Toameh: Erekat reiterates call for inquiry into 'Israeli war crimes'
PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat on Saturday again accused Israel of carrying out summary executions of Palestinians and called for an international inquiry into Israeli “crimes.”Quds News and Ali Abunimah cheer terrorist disguised as media member
Erekat said he sent a letter to Christof Heyns, UN special rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, asking him to open an immediate investigation into the killings of Palestinians over the past few weeks.
Referring to the case of 13-year-old Ahmed Manasra, the east Jerusalem boy who took part in the stabbing of two Israelis in the Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood last week, Erekat claimed that police left him bleeding on the ground without medical treatment.
Erekat said that although Mansara did not pose a threat to anyone, he was nevertheless attacked with “axes and clubs by settlers.”
Mansara is currently receiving medical treatment at Hadassah-University Medical Center.
Concerns that this abuse of press credentials might endanger members of the media were also expressed on Twitter by the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg: “Palestinian knifemen disguising themselves as journalists are going to get actual reporters hurt.”6 terrorists killed in series of weekend attacks on Israelis
The Reuters report on the incident included a photo by Bilal al-Taweel with the caption: “A Palestinian (R) posing as a journalist runs after a wounded Israeli soldier to continue stabbing him before being shot dead near the West Bank city of Hebron October 16, 2015.
The same photo was shared on Facebook by Quds News without any context, and proved extremely popular because it seemed to show an unarmed Palestinian chasing an Israeli soldier. Twelve hours after it was posted, it had garnered more than 23,600 “Likes” and had been shared almost 12,000 times. In case Quds News regrets this deplorable post, the page has been archived here.
Veteran anti-Israel activist Ali Abunimah was among those who really liked the image and shared it on Twitter – where Quds News had also shared it repeatedly – presenting it as “Photo of Palestinian pursuing armed occupation soldier in Hebron.”
Perhaps next time Al Jazeera gives Ali Abunimah a platform to air his views, they could ask him why he cheered this abuse of media credentials that are meant to protect staff working in conflict zones. No doubt Abunimah will come up with some excuse, and of course his sympathies for terrorism have not been a secret.
Four Border Police posts attacked by Palestinians Saturday, troops mildly hurt • Palestinian posing as foreign reporter stabs soldier in Judea • Civilian kills terrorist near Hebron • Defense Minister Ya'alon: War on terror requires patience, resolve.Israel dismisses PA claim that Hebron attacker was left to die
Tensions remained high over the weekend, as Palestinian terrorists continued to targets Israeli security forces and civilians across Israel. Defense officials said all incidents were minor, resulting in mild to moderate wounds to the troops, while six terrorists were killed.
Saturday morning saw a border policewoman sustain mild injuries when a 16-year-old Palestinian girl attempted to stab her. The policewoman shot and killed her assailant.
The Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa said Saturday that a Palestinian teenager shot dead as he tried to carry out at stabbing attack in Hebron earlier in the day had been “left to bleed to death” by IDF troops who prevented him from receiving medical treatment. The IDF swiftly rejected the claim.Jews attacked at Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus, extracted by IDF
The attacker was identified by Palestinian and Hebrew media reports as Fadel Muhammad Kawasmeh, 18, from Hebron.
According to initial reports, Kawasmeh approached his would-be victim, an Israeli Jewish resident of Hebron, pulled out a knife and lunged; he was shot by the armed Israeli man, who was not hurt in the attempted attack.
But, reported Wafa, “witnesses and security sources” said that Kawasmeh was shot by the Israeli from the settlement of Beit Hadassah after the settler verbally abused and cursed him. Wafa said the teen was shot four times as he tried to walk away from the encounter.
Five Jewish Israelis were lightly wounded overnight Saturday in a confrontation with Palestinian police in Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus. They were eventually extracted from the compound by IDF troops.UN-Believable: Ban Ki-Moon Actually Condemns Joseph’s Tomb Arson
The five were among a larger group of about 30 people who entered the holy site without first obtaining security clearance, police said. Palestinian police then came to the Tomb and a confrontation with the worshipers quickly turned violent.
Palestinians pulled them from their cars and then torched one of the vehicles, reports said.
Police said the five worshipers suffered bruises all over their bodies, and were treated at the scene by army paramedics. They were set to be transferred to a hospital for thorough examination and then brought to court to be remanded. They are suspected of violating security regulations by going to the site without prior coordination.
The incident occurred only two days after a large group of Palestinians set fire to Joseph’s Tomb.
Israel police said that the group, students at a yeshiva in Jerusalem, claimed that they had entered the site in order to paint it after the fire there overnight Thursday.
In what is a very rare occurrence, on Friday, UN Secretary General (UNSG) Ban Ki-Moon singled out the Palestinian side for censure, and condemned the “arson attack by Palestinian protesters against Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus.”Arab-Israeli Doctors Suspected of Denying Treatment to Jewish Terror Victims
This “reprehensible act is yet another example of the escalating violence in the region, threatening to further inflame sensitivities owing to the religious significance of Joseph’s Tomb,” he added.
It is extremely rare when the United Nations, or the UN Secretary General himself, singles out Palestinian terrorism or explicitly recognizes the Jewish “religious significance” of any holy site, let alone one located in Judea and Samaria.
UNSG Ban’s exceedingly unusual condemnation of a Palestinian terror act on its own, and not merely as part of the “cycle of violence,” came hot on the heels of Israeli UN Ambassador Danon’s truth-to-power exposure of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s virulent non-stop campaign of incitement of the Palestinian masses, and his indoctrination and exhortation of Palestinian children to stab and murder Jewish Israelis by claiming their “dirty Jewish feet desecrated” the Temple Mount.
It is still the United Nations after-all, however, so UNSG Ban additionally welcomed “President Abbas’ immediate condemnation of the attack and his announcement that a committee has been established to conduct a full investigation of the crime.”
Arab doctors working for Israel’s health system are suspected of having declined to treat the Jewish victims of a stabbing attack that took place outside the clinic, Israel’s Channel 2 News reported on Thursday.Schools Ban, Limit Arab Workers In Light of Security Situation
The attack occurred in the Old City of Jerusalem, right near a Clalit Health Services facility on October 3.
It was carried out by 19-year-old Mohammad Halabi, who murdered Rabbi Nehemia Lavi (41) and Aharon Banita-Bennett (22), and wounded Bennett’s wife, Odele, and their two-year-old son, Natan.
The suspicion that the doctors stood idly by as Bennet and Lavi lay dying in the street, despite being fully capable of providing crucial medical assistance, has given rise to a comprehensive probe into the clinic’s conduct at the time of the attack by Israeli Health Minister Yaakov Litzman.
If the suspicions prove to be true, Litzman says, those who refused to treat to Bennett and Lavi should be brought to justice.
Several cities across Israel have banned Arab maintenance workers from entering municipal school grounds during the school day, Channel 2 reports Sunday, following pressure from concerned parents over the wave of Arab terror.Government approves expanded stop-and-frisk law in wake of terror
In Givatayim, outside Tel Aviv, education boards are checking the legality of replacing all Arab workers with Eritrean-born illegal aliens, the report says, and the issue has already been sent to the Givatayim legal advisory for review under laws regarding illegal workers in central Israel. In addition, one school - the Shimoni school - has halted renovations for the time being, as the entire construction staff hails from Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem.
In Hod Hasharon, in the Sharon region, all non-pedagogical faculty members were banned from school grounds during school hours last week, including electricians, gardening, and janitorial staffs.
Even Tel Aviv has taken precautions.
A bill expanding the meaning of probable cause for searching a suspect’s person for weapons was approved by the cabinet Sunday.Security forces arrest Jaffa man, 2 minors for firebombing police
“Following recent terrorist attacks, there is an urgent need to give the police authority to conduct body searches in order to better deal with knife terrorism,” Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, who proposed the amendment, explained. “This is another step I am promoting in a series of decisions to strengthen the police and its authority to increase personal security in the streets.
The existing law allows police officers to search a person’s body, clothing and things he or she is carrying if the officer has a reasonable suspicion that the person is carrying a weapon, which essentially means that the police officer had to see something he or she thought could be a weapon in order to conduct the search.
If the bill passes three votes in the Knesset, police officers will be able to search anyone in a place prone to violence if they think have reason to think he or she may use a weapon– for example, if someone is brawling or if someone spoke threateningly - without a visual cue that the person may be carrying a weapon, and allow evidence found in such a search to be admissible in court.
The Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency together with the Israel Police announced the arrest of a Jaffa man on Sunday on suspicion of a firebombing attack on police earlier this month.Palestinians Immediately Respond to Call by Hebron Muezzins to Attack Jews by Stabbing, Torching
According to the investigation, 18-year-old Arab Israeli Jaffa resident Mahmoud Galush confessed to taking part in a Molotov cocktail attack on police on October 8, together with two minors.
Both minors are also under arrest.
The suspects allegedly assembled Molotov cocktails, and hurled them at a police patrol car that was parked on Yeffet Street in Yaffo, as police officers stood nearby. There were no injuries in the attack.
The investigation found that the attackers acted "out of an identification with the Palestinian struggle surrounding al-Aksa Mosque," the Shin Bet said. "The incident joins a long list of terrorism incidents that occurred in the shadow of general security tensions. This tension can harm the fabric of life that exists between Jews and Arabs in the cities," the agency warned.
Muezzins at mosques in Hebron are suspected of inciting Muslims to commit terrorist attacks against Jews, Israeli site 0404 News reported on Sunday.Disappointed in ‘Failure’ of Stabbings, Hamas Calls on Palestinians to Drop Knives, Commit Car-Rammings for Higher Jewish Casualties
At around midnight (Saturday night-Sunday morning), muezzins at the mosques called on worshipers to carry out violent attacks against Israelis, and the “Palestinian street” immediately responded by throwing Molotov cocktails and rocks, and burning tires, while chanting “Allahu akbar,“0404 reported.
An Israeli citizen was stabbed in Hebron and a pharmacy was torched, after 29 Molotov cocktails were thrown at it by the rioters, placing police on high alert of more attacks.
One Hebron resident told 0404 News that, “the situation here is very sensitive and there’s a fear that at any moment it will erupt.”
Following a string of stabbing attacks on Saturday that resulted in more harm to the terrorists than to their Jewish-Israeli targets, Hamas called on Palestinians to stop the stabbing attacks and aim for a far greater numbers of casualties, Israel’s Channel 2 reported on Sunday.'France is rewarding Palestinians for terrorism'
Six stabbing and attempted stabbing attacks committed by Palestinian residents of Hebron took place over the weekend — four of them in the West Bank city itself, and one at the Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem – which ended unsuccessfully where the perpetrators were concerned.
Hamas, the Palestinian terror organization that rules the Gaza Strip and has ambitions to take over the West Bank, as well, immediately bemoaned this “failure.” Via social media and sympathetic Arab TV stations, Hamas has begun a campaign to promote vehicular terrorism instead of stabbing as a preferred method to murder more Jews.
Israeli officials reacted harshly over the weekend to a French proposal to station international observers on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.Netanyahu: Israel is solution, not problem, on Temple Mount
An official from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office called the proposal "baseless," while a Foreign Ministry official said the proposal would reward the Palestinians for their anti-Israel incitement.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said, "Those who want to put international observers [on the Temple Mount] are rewarding the Palestinians for violence and weakening Israeli sovereignty."
Israel and the U.S. are working to thwart the French proposal, which is expected to be submitted to the U.N. Security Council for discussion. The French-proposed Security Council presidential statement, which would not be a binding resolution, calls for international observers to be stationed at holy sites in Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount.
While the statement would be merely declarative, Israel views it with grave concern, given the precedent it would set regarding Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday reiterated his rejection of a French proposal to deploy international monitors at the Temple Mount amid a recent spate of violence, saying Israel is “not the problem” at the volatile Jerusalem shrine, but rather the “solution” there.Amb. David Roet delivers remarks at UNSC's emergency meeting on the Situation in the Middle East
“Israel cannot accept the French draft at the [UN] Security Council. It doesn’t mention Palestinian incitement, it doesn’t mention Palestinian terrorism, and it calls for the internationalization of the Temple Mount,” Netanyahu said at the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting.
France submitted a draft proposal on the issue to the UN Security Council on Friday evening, which Netanyahu on Saturday slammed as “absurd.”
The French proposal “calls for the internationalization of the holy places in the Middle East,” he said on Sunday. “Well, we’ve seen across the Middle East – in Palmyra, in Iraq, throughout Iraq and elsewhere — how militant Muslims blast each other’s mosques sky-high. We’ve just seen it in a Jewish holy site, Joseph’s Tomb. Only Israel, Israel alone, is the guarantor of the holy sites on the Temple Mount.”
Palmyra is an internationally recognized world heritage site in Syria where Islamic State terrorists blew up several monuments dating back to ancient times. On Friday, Palestinians torched Joseph’s Tomb, a Jewish holy site in the West Bank city of Nablus.
“Israel is not the problem on the Temple Mount,” Netanyahu continued. “Israel is the solution. We keep the status quo, we are the only ones who do so, and we will continue doing so responsibly and seriously.”
"Let me be crystal clear: Israel will not agree to any international presence on the Temple Mount, such a presence would be a change in the Status Quo.
Since 1967 Israel has been doing everything in its power to preserve the sanctity of this site, out of a deep and abiding respect for the principle of freedom of religion, and the historic connection of the three monotheistic faiths to the Temple Mount.
Yet, it is clear that this respect is not mutual. "
Israel's Deputy Permanent Representative, ambassador David Roet, delivered remarks at the emergency Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East.
Columnist Krauthammer: Obama's remarks on Israel are 'shameful'
Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer slams U.S. President Barack Obama's bid to draw moral equivalent between Israel and Palestinian terrorism • Krauthammer calls Obama "most unfriendly president to Israel since the founding of the state."Dermer: Linking settlements to terror wave ‘very foolish’
U.S. President Obama is drawing moral equivalence between habitual Palestinian incitement to terrorism and "extremely infrequent" Israeli attacks, thus downplaying the severity of Palestinian actions, veteran Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer said Friday.
Krauthammer's statement came in response to Obama's remarks Friday that "it is important for both Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and Israeli elected officials, and [Palestinian Authority] President [Mahmoud] Abbas and other people in positions of power, to try to tamp down rhetoric that may feed violence or anger or misunderstanding."
In an interview with Fox later that day, Krauthammer called Obama's statement "shameful" and "a disgrace."
The current wave of violence rocking Israel has nothing to do with West Bank settlement building, Israel’s Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer said Saturday night, taking a veiled jab at US Secretary of State John Kerry, who recently linked the two.PreOccupiedTerritory: Kerry Calls On Nazis, Jews To Stop Cycle Of Violence (satire)
Speaking to the Israeli American Council at the organization’s second annual conference, Dermer said Palestinian incitement was the root cause of the conflict, and despite his apparent pushing back at Washington, stressed that US-Israel relations were picking up where they left off before ties took a nosedive over nuclear talks with Iran.
“When it comes to the Middle East, you find very smart people believing in very foolish things,” Dermer complained. “There are some people who believe that these attacks are happening because of the territories that Israel captured in the Six Day War or because of the peace process.”
US Secretary of State John Kerry reprimanded Nazi Germany and European Jewry today, calling on both sides to put an end to the violence gripping them.Hamas Appeals to Russia to 'Stop Israeli Aggression'
At a press conference at the State Department, Kerry said the killing and incitement must stop, and demanded that both Jews and Nazis settle their differences at the negotiating table. He said the president has been in touch with various world leaders on the matter, and they are working to develop a framework that will help the two parties come to a final status agreement.
“Both Jews and Nazi Germany must stop looking for excuses to prolong the attacks, and must cease the unconscionable incitement to violence that is an everyday feature of this conflict,” said the secretary. “I intend to travel to the region in the near future to try to get leaders on both sides to take the bold steps necessary to calm the situation.”
Kerry said he had conducted long, detailed conversations with various foreign leaders, including those of Britain, Vichy France, Romania, and the Mufti of Jerusalem, looking for ways to prod the two parties to reduce the bloodshed. “Just today I spent at least two hours trying to broker contacts among many of these important players in the region, and I’m optimistic we’ll have something to show for those efforts within a short time.”
Amid ongoing Palestinian Arab attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces, Hamas has called on Russia to intervene and stop Israeli "aggression" against Palestinians.Gaza Soccer Commentator Hails Goals as Knives Stabbing Israelis, Axes Tearing Their Veins
According to a statement released to the terror group's website, Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal spoke with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov on Saturday evening.
Mashaal blamed the recent spate of terror attacks against Israelis on the Jewish state's "policies of oppression" toward Palestinians as well as its attempts to "damage the Al-Aqsa Mosque."
He then urged Russia to use its influence as a global power to demand that Israel stop its "aggression" against "our people and our holy sites," primarily in Judea-Samaria and Jerusalem.
According to the Hamas statement, Bogdanov expressed "discontent" over Israeli actions and promised that Moscow would implement measures against the Jewish state.
PreOccupiedTerritory: Hamas To Stab Children, Blame Israel, In Solidarity With W. Bank (satire)
If implemented, the program will represent a step beyond the customary Palestinian use of noncombatants as human shields. Previously, Hamas strategy involved placing women and children in or next to military positions likely to be attacked by Israel, either to deter such attacks or to capitalize on the resulting civilian casualties by claiming that Israel indiscriminately kills them. The new policy will test whether Agence France-Presse, AP, CNN, the BBC, The Guardian, The New York Times, and other media outlets continue to uncritically parrot Palestinian claims of Israeli brutality and culpability even when the killings are committed by Palestinians.Hezbollah Calls for Intifada to 'Save Al Aqsa'
Testing the boundaries of media complicity in the propaganda became an option, said Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar, when blatantly false versions of the ongoing attacks were repeated in some of those media. “It is one thing for Ma’an, which is run by Fatah, to insist that Sunday’s bomb attack on the Jerusalem-Maale Adummim highway was just a car fire, despite ample video evidence,” he explained. “We expect Palestinian media to invent eyewitnesses who say the stabbings were self-defense, or that there was no stabbing at all, and the alleged stabber was executed in cold blood – that’s par for the course. What we didn’t expect is for supposedly respectable, objective Western media to give equal weight to Palestinian propaganda even as Israelis were being attacked. That phenomenon made us realize we might be able to push the boundaries even further, and not actually have to provoke Israel into actions that harm our children in order to reap the benefits of their doing so.”
Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, has expressed support for the wave of Arab terror attacks targeting Israeli civilians and security forces across the Jewish state.IsraellyCool: WATCH: The BDSHole Who Boycotted Her Own Brain Cells
In a speech delivered on Sunday, Nasrallah called on both the Palestinian people and all Islamic nations to mobilize and demonstrate support for the "Palestinian struggle."
"The renewed Intifada is the only way to free Palestinians from the occupation and to save Al-Aqsa - it is incumbent on everyone to help them," Nasrallah asserted.
"Today there are generations who believe in resistance, in the holy places and Al-Aqsa, which is why they are ready to fight with knives those [Israelis] who barricade themselves in tanks or arm themselves with rifles."
The Hezbollah leader praised the terrorists "carrying knives and rocks," calling them "the strongest army who instills in us the belief that the horizon is open and there will be no future for Israel."
This video was taken at today’s anti Israel protests in London.Anti-Israel protesters stop traffic in London
Make sure you watch until the end.
I am surprised she did not answer “Isn’t that a Swedish pop group?”
It makes sense. You cannot be in command of the facts and be anti Israel. Unless you are just straight out antisemitic. (h/t Yenta Press)
The demonstration was organized by a group calling itself the London Palestine Action. Layla White, one of the members of the group, said the UK government should stop selling weapons to Israel.In London, The Man Who Would Be Mayor Joins The Anti-Israel Throng (video)
“By selling Israel weapons, the UK government is providing material and political support to Israel’s violent oppression of Palestinians,” she told the Guardian.
“Human rights organizations are warning that Israel is using live ammunition against Palestinian protesters, carrying out summary executions and allowing illegal settlers to attack Palestinians,” she claimed.
White told another British paper, the Daily Mail, that the group had “taken disruptive direct action today to draw attention to the Palestinian popular resistance, which is defying curfews and reclaiming the streets of Palestine against military occupation every day.”
Over the past month, seven Israelis were killed in attacks by Palestinians, most of them in stabbing incidents, while 35 Palestinians were killed by Israeli weapons. More than a dozen of them were terrorists shot during stabbing attacks. Others were killed in clashes with security forces or were Gazan Palestinians who breached the border fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip and were shot.
Here's footage of the nauseating raucous anti-Israel demo yesterday in Britain's capital, with mayoral candidate Gorgeous George (that's him above) in characteristic loquacious mood:Fans of Palestinian Terrorism Rally in Toronto, Want Harper Out
Below, typical behaviour of totalitarian leftist rabble and rabble rousers (at least one Australian city has witnessed comparable conduct on recent Friday afternoons at rush hour, causing traffic chaos and disruption): demonstrators at London's busy St Pancras station in favour of admitting vast numbers of Islamic invaders "refugees" to Britain and deliberately preventing the travelling public from going about their lawful business unhindered.
While the Middle East is burning and hundreds of thousands of Muslims, Christians and Yezidis are being slaughtered, the left in Canada is silent, but when even the slightest opportunity to trash Israel presents itself, they take it. Yesterday’s rally at the Israeli Consulate in Toronto was a prime example of that.Secretary of Fatah movement in Canada supports the “Palestinian Intifada”; calls to vote for Trudeau
In the ragtag group of attendees you could see the usual suspects – angry Arabs, hysterical girls in hijabs or niqabs, ancient hippies, self-hating Jews, communists, fake rabbis, a Scotsman in a kilt and other unidentifiable characters. For several hours they kept screaming “Viva, viva Palestina, viva, viva intifada,” “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free” (leaving no place for Israel). The twist this year was that, close to the election, the crowd was determined to get rid of Stephen Harper’s government as an obstacle to normalizing Muslim extremism in Canada (a task which Justin Trudeau and his Muslim advisers are willing to accomplish).
In between the praises of the intifada, the participants didn’t forget to chant against Harper and even had signs calling for his ouster.
The Mississauga-based Arab Palestine Association expressed its official support of the “Palestinian Intifada” against Israel.Thousands at Tehran Rally Chant ‘Death to Israel, US’ (VIDEO)
The Arab Palestinian Association is described by Meshwar newspaper as “a cover for the regional branch of the Palestinian Fatah movement” in Canada. Fatah is the parent movement of Aqsa Brigades, which are designated by Canada as a terrorist organization.
In a interview to the newspaper, Fadlu Michael, the President of the Palestine House who holds a senior leadership role in Fatah movement, mentioned the names of two senior operatives affiliated with the Arab Palestinian Association: Rashad Saleh, the Secretary of Fatah movement in Canada, and Samir Nayfa Abu Haytham.
On October 15, 2015, Rashad Saleh posted on behalf of the Arab Palestine Association a public invitation to participate in a pro-Intifada demonstration in Toronto:
“The Arab Palestine Association calling all to participate in a demonstration to support the Palestinian Intifada in all of Palestine. Friday 5 – 8 pm at the Israeli consulate located at 180 Bloor st west.”
Thousands of Iranians gathered for an anti-Israel rally in Tehran on Friday.Iranian Foreign Ministry Official: Islamic World Must Unite Around Palestinian Resistance
Footage posted on YouTube by Ruptly, an international video news agency headquartered in Berlin, shows protesters marching the streets of Tehran chanting “death to Israel” and “death to America.” Some are seen holding banners reading “Down with U.S.A.,” while others wave green, red or black flags, representing the colors of the Palestinian flag.
The massive gathering attracted men, women and children. The video shows some children holding their parents’ hands, while others are seen sitting on their father’s shoulders.
An Iranian deputy foreign minister said the wave of terrorism in Israel indicates that a new intifada is on the horizon, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.‘When you are attacked, so are we,’ New York mayor says in Jerusalem
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab-African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Thursday that the “resistance of the youth” is a defensive response on the part of the Palestinian people to the “atrocities and infanticide [committed] by the Israeli regime.”
He added that Israel’s “systematic infringement of human rights, desecration of Al-Aqsa Mosque,” and other assorted “evil acts,” were only possible because the Islamic world is busy infighting.
However, Amir-Abollahian stressed, despite combating ISIS and others in Syria and Iraq, Iran and the rest of the “Resistance Axis will not allow the issue of Palestine and rights of Palestinians to be marginalized.”
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio visited victims of a recent terror wave in Jerusalem Saturday as part of a “solidarity visit,” saying that pain felt by Jerusalem was also being felt by his city.Arab-Israeli Journalist ‘Not Afraid of Repercussions’ After Blasting Israeli-Arab Leaders
De Blasio and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat visited three victims of stabbing attacks in Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center, including one American citizen, telling a press conference afterward that what he saw was “life affirming.”
“We feel extraordinary closeness, our people, by blood, by history,” de Blasio said. “So when you are going through pain, we feel pain too. When you’re under attack, we feel under attack, and I’m honored to be here in that spirit of solidarity and sense of common destiny.”
“The stories I’ve heard, in the midst of this pain, in the midst of this challenge, can only be described as inspiring. and somehow life affirming,” he added. “It’s a hard thing to imagine at this difficult moment, but what’s happening here reminds us what could be and will be one day.”
In an interview with Channel 2 last week, Aharish accused Israeli-Arab leaders of not working towards mutual understanding between Jews and Arabs.54% of Israeli Arabs: Arab MKs Do Not Represent Us
In addition, she vigorously denied that Israel was attempting to change the status quo on the Temple Mount — the ostensible reason for the recent wave of Palestinian violence. However, she added, even if the status quo had been broken, “Does that allow someone to go and murder someone else because of a sacred place? Why, because of God? What God are they speaking of? One that allows for children to go out and murder innocent people?”
Calling Israeli-Arab leaders “weak,” and doubting the sincerity of their indignation over the Temple Mount, Aharish ended by blasting them for their part in the violence.
“You are inciting thousands of young people to go to the streets,” she said. “You are destroying their future with your own hands.”
As a result of her public positions, Aharish has been receiving a stream of hate-filled messages, including calls to have her killed or dismembered; and others calling her a “whore,” a “pig” and a “dog of the Jews.”
Aharish told Channel 2 that she will nevertheless continue to spread her message.
Listening to Arab Knesset members, it seems that they are dealing exclusively with the Palestinian issue, and not at all with the everyday problems of their sector. Israel’s Channel 2 News decided to investigate whether this impression was correct. A special survey conducted for Channel 2 by Mano Geva and Mina Tzemach of the Midgam research institute, in cooperation with Stat-net, reveals that this is not just a feeling.A Ray of Light Amid the Terror
54% of Israeli Arab respondents believe that the Arab MKs do not represent them, 25% say that Arab MKs represent them fairly well, and only a minority of 16% say that they represent them “very much.”
Survey participants were asked what they think can be done to end the wave of terror, and to choose froma number of options. 64% said Israel should clarify unambiguously that it would not harm the Temple Mount, 60% said Israel should announce the opening of negotiations with the Palestinians, and only 23% thought that the Palestinian Authority or the Arab sector leaders possessed the tools to end the wave of terror, and that the responsibility for it is not Israel’s.
It’s hard to find any silver lining in a situation where Palestinians are perpetrating multiple stabbing attacks against Jews every day, and most of the “international community” is siding with the perpetrators. Yet this dismal situation may finally have produced something Israel desperately needs: An Israeli Arab political leader who represents his community’s sane majority. The 65 percent who are proud to be Israeli, the 55 percent who identify with the Israeli flag, the ones who genuinely want to live in peace with their Jewish neighbors.Facebook Refusing to Delete Arab Hate Messages
For decades, Israeli Arab leadership at the national level has been an unmitigated disaster. The community’s current Knesset members, elected on a joint ticket called the Joint Arab List, span the gamut from the “moderate” Ayman Odeh to the “firebrand” Hanin Zoabi, to borrow the media’s favorite misnomers. The former merely refuses to condemn Palestinian terror, saying, “I cannot tell the nation how to struggle … I do not put red lines on the Arab Palestinian nation.” The latter may face criminal investigation for actively inciting it, having allegedly told a Hamas publication that the current terror needs more “national support,” because “If individual attacks continue without national support, they will be extinguished within the next several days, and therefore hundreds of thousands are needed to start a real intifada.” In between are MKs who spew a wide variety of anti-Israel libels; my personal favorite was Ahmed Tibi’s 2014 op-ed in The Hill claiming that Israeli Arabs are subject to Jim Crow treatment – signed, without a trace of irony, by his then-title of deputy speaker of the Knesset.
Clearly, this is terrible for Jewish-Arab relations, and the Arab community suffers doubly: Not only do their MKs spend most of their time and effort promoting such libels rather than trying to solve their community’s real problems, the antagonism they generate among the Jewish majority actively hinders solutions. First, it’s hard to lobby the government for, say, better bus service while simultaneously accusing it of apartheid and genocide. Even worse, such rhetoric encourages many Jews to view all Israeli Arabs as enemies to be shunned: After all, Israeli Arabs have overwhelmingly voted to reelect these same MKs for decades, giving this conclusion an obvious logic.
But in recent years, this logic has increasingly been contradicted by other polling data, like the figures I cited in the first paragraph. Particularly telling was a poll published in February regarding Arab attitudes toward their own MKs. It showed that 70 percent wanted their MKs to focus on their own community’s socioeconomic problems instead of the Palestinian cause. Additionally, 61 percent wanted their MKs to join the government, where they would have more influence over such issues, and almost half that figure favored joining regardless of who became prime minister (the Joint Arab List, by contrast, vowed before the election not to join any government). Unsurprisingly, therefore, almost half the respondents weren’t happy with their own MKs.
“I reported it to Facebook,” DoubleTapper wrote in an email to JewishPress.com. “They said it’s not a violation of their community standards. I subsequently received a slew of private messages threatening me, all directly quoting the post.”'Blood on Your Hands'; Facebook's Offices in Israel Vandalized
DoubleTapper continued: “I carefully documented All of the above and shared with my 300k Facebook fans who reported the offending page and post to Facebook. They all received the same response as I did.”
Which leads him to the conclusion that “Facebook is dangerous and slanted against Jews.”
We checked the Facebook Community Standards section, and it states clearly:
“We remove content, disable accounts, and work with law enforcement when we believe there is a genuine risk of physical harm or direct threats to public safety.” Is it possible that the atrocious grammar skills of the Jordanians dispensing death threats made it difficult for the Facebook execs to take action? Could this, possibly, be a new approach for terrorists: you can get away with hate messages, as long as they’re misspelled and hard to figure out?
Facebook's offices in Israel were vandalized overnight Saturday/Sunday amid growing anger over the slew of pages on the social media site inciting and encouraging violence against Jews and Israelis.Dan Bus Blaze Electrical, Not Terrorism
Despite being flagged by users as offensive, Facebook has reportedly declined to take down many such pages.
In response, a poster of giant red hand was pasted onto a wall outside the company's offices on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv, along with the graffiti "BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS" and "STOP_FB_TERROR."
The initiator of the graffiti, Rotem Gaz, spoke with Channel 2 on Sunday morning, asserting he wished to pass a message to the heads of the social media giant.
"Facebook does not remove pages of incitement which call to murder Israelis," Gaz charged. "They don't like to take down these pages because the more bells and whistles there are, the more time people spend on the site which is worth money to them."
A massive fire at a Dan bus platform that burned 32 buses to the ground was an electrical fire, not terrorism, Israel Police and Fire and Rescue confirmed Sunday morning.Report: Abbas Controlling Multi Billion Dollar Fund that Hasn’t Had a CEO in 15 Years
Israel Police reviewed security camera footage from buildings adjacent to the lot overnight and saw no evidence that an external source entered the compound before the fire broke out, they said.
Instead, the fire appeared to emanate from a single source, which spread quickly due to two buses being parked too close to one another in the overcrowded lot.
Police continue to investigate the exact source of the fire Sunday, and note that the investigation is ongoing.
The Palestinian National Fund has existed since the 1960s, but its leaders keep its operations out of the limelight. It manages billions of dollars, has not appointed an active CEO for 15 years to allow the PA Chairman to retain control over it. Part of the money is funneled to PA officials and funds anti-Israel activities, including organizing rallies in support of the boycott against Israel, Calcalist reported Sunday.Israeli sailors rescue Syrian, Iraqi refugees after boat capsizes
Israelis tend to view Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) as a gray and weak leader who lost his control and influence on the Palestinian street, and therefore may no longer be relevant. That may be true, but at least one area in the Palestinian arena the veteran, 80-year-old leader continues to hold tremendous power — he effectively controls the billions of dollars of the Palestinian National Fund, the most important economic institution in the PA, whose activity is conducted mainly in the dark and which has been linked in recent years to a near-complete lack of transparency and widespread corruption. Abbas decides where Palestinian money is directed in the domestic arena, be it for the benefit of the PA resident or to other, more clandestine activities.
Pursuant to the PLO rules, the Palestinian National Fund should be managed by a special council, and its chairman should be a member of the PLO executive committee. In practice, over the past 15 years the fund has been run without Chairman, in violation of PLO rules. A decade ago, then PLO chairman Abbas appointed Ramzi Khouri, head of the office of Yasser Arafat, as CEO. With Arafat gone, Khouri has been a sworn Abbas loyalist. This means that in practice Abbas controls the fund money, and the flow of its funding for anti-Israel propaganda and activities is being carried out with his knowledge and approval.
A group of Israeli sailing club members out for a leisurely sail on Sunday morning quickly found themselves leading a dramatic rescue operation to save the lives of 11 Syrian and Iraqi refugees whose boat had capsized in the Mediterranean Sea. The Posidon Sailing Club members pulled eight adults and four children – among them tragically a dead baby still cradled in his mother’s arms — out of the water.
The dramatic rescue, first reported by Ynet, took place near the tourist town of Kas in Turkey, not far from the Greek island, Kastelórizo.
“I’ve been at sea for 40 years and this is the first time something like this happened to me. I heard ‘save me’ from the waters, we stopped the boat and saw a youth with a life jacket. We brought him out of the water and he told us his brother had gone missing and was probably dead,” Shlomo Asban, captain of the Israeli yacht, told Ynet.
The young refugee told his saviors that he was from a town in Syria.
“He spoke Arabic and said he was from Syria. We asked him if he was with other people, and he began to cry and point all over the place,” Gal Baruch, one of the rescuers/sailors from the Ashdod club, told Ynet.
