Saturday night links

From Ian:

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Colonel Richard Kemp: Special Interview: Former Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan VIDEO



Leave Israel Alone!

"Jews are not promoting brainwashing children in military training camps, teaching them how to blow themselves up and cause maximum deaths of Jews and other non-Muslims. Jews don’t hijack planes; they don’t kill athletes at the Olympics; or blow themselves up in restaurants. There’s not a single Jew who has destroyed a church; there’s not a single Jew who calls for the death of infidels.
Perhaps the world should examine the respective values which exist in the Middle East. As Netanyahu said: ‘If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel.”

Charles Krauthammer: Why Was There War in Gaza?

"Hamas considers all of Israel occupied, illegitimate, a cancer, a crime against humanity
Why was there an Israel–Gaza war in the first place? Resistance to the occupation, say Hamas and many in the international media.
What occupation? Seven years ago, in front of the world, Israel pulled out of Gaza. It dismantled every settlement, withdrew every soldier, evacuated every Jew, leaving nothing and no one behind. Except for the greenhouses in which the settlers had grown fruit and flowers for export. These were left intact to help Gaza’s economy — only to be trashed when the Palestinians took over."

Sarah Honig: Another Tack: A-Dawla ma’ana
Our successive confrontations with Gaza are an explicit acknowledgement that disengagement has failed, that we are not disengaged.

"When the blood-curdling battle cry exhorting the masses to slaughter the Jews, “Itbach al-Yahud,” was first shouted on April 4, 1920, by Arab marauders rampaging through the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City, it was accompanied by another mantra: “A-Dawla ma’ana” – the government is with us.
That was the first brazen reverberation of the trust that Jews can be attacked with impunity, that no deterrence exists. It was since oft-chanted during the perpetration of other atrocities during the British Mandate era masterminded by Haj Amin el- Husseini, most notably the hideous Hebron massacre of 1929."

Hamas: Truce agreement says nothing about stopping the flow of weapons into Gaza
Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the terror group’s political bureau, says Israel is trying to protect its image after defeat

IDF chief of staff: As the dust settles, Hamas will realize the price it has paid
Benny Gantz pays hospital visit to soldiers injured by Gaza rocket fire, says all aims of Pillar of Defense were achieved

‘Taking down Hamas is a necessity, not just for Israel, but for humanity,’ says
estranged son of terror group’s founder
‘We need to educate the Palestinian public that Israel is not the enemy,’ Mosab Hassan Yousef tells Israel’s Channel 2

Richard Millett: Palestinian Ambassador to Britain: “The only solution is one state”

He finished his speech with this:
“We (the Palestinians) are the only, the only, country in the Middle East that are practicing democracy par excellence.”
and
“I think they (Israel) should be lucky to have the Palestinians as their neighbours.”

A View From Israel: Truth will prevail

"Netanyahu said that Hamas was committing a “double war crime, by indiscriminately targeting Israeli civilians while they hide behind their own.
"The moment we draw symmetry between the victims of terror and the unintended casualties that result from legitimate military action against the terrorists – the minute that false symmetry is drawn, the terrorists win,” he said.
No matter what happens, foreign governments must be made to understand this. Israel’s future depends on its ability to stand up to pressure and fight for what is right. Citizen journalists can surely assist and the last few days have proven that diligence online is not only useful, but influential in spreading the truth.

Israel Hatred at the Huffington Post

"In recent months, the Huffington Post entered the world of video news with its debut of “HuffPost Live.” One might suspect that it was little more than a video version of the leftist website founded seven years ago by Arianna Huffington. Yet a blog known as HuffWatch has been documenting the content at both websites and has discovered a grim, though unsurprising reality: both Huffington Post and HuffPost Live are repositories of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel vitriol. Leading the charge at HuffPost Live is host/producer Ahmed Shihab-Eldin."

BBC Watch: BBC Radio 4 gives Durban architect Mary Robinson free rein

"Nobody mentioned the Bar Ilan speech or numerous subsequent occasions upon which representatives of the current Israeli government have confirmed its commitment to a two-state solution and nobody pointed out to Mary Robinson the considerable irony of her making baseless accusations against a democratically elected Israeli government during a discussion on democracy."

BBC’s Donnison suggests (Gaza) rioters may be farmers… or scrap metal collectors

Indonesian Hard-Liners Register Volunteers to Wage Jihad Against Israel
The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) distributed registration forms to volunteers willing to wage jihad against Israel at a protest in front of the US Embassy on Friday.

Tel Aviv creeps up on Silicon Valley as top start-up center
The Startup Genome project crunches the numbers — lots of them — and concludes that the TA metro area is a great place to found a new venture

"While missiles pounded southern Israel and the IDF prepared to rout Hamas terror in a ground campaign, Israeli technology was once again proving its versatility. The world was stunned last week at the effectiveness of the Israeli-developed Iron Dome anti-missile system as it began shooting down Hamas rockets — and it was stunned again a few days later, when an international study declared Tel Aviv to be the second best place in the world for start-ups."