Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Caroline Glick: Ignoring the elephant
Three Jewish boys were abducted by Palestinian terrorists while trying to catch a ride home from school Thursday night. And as far as the foreign press is concerned, it’s their own damned fault.IDF Blog: #EyalGiladNaftali: What if it were your child?
As Honest Reporting documented, everyone from The Guardian to CNN, to Sky News to the Christian Science Monitor blamed Eyal Yifrach, Gil-Ad Shaer and Naftali Frankel for their victimization.
The boys deserve whatever they get, according to the media, because they are Jews and Jews have no right to be located anywhere that the Palestinians demand be cleansed of Jewish presence. And the Palestinians demand that Gush Etzion be emptied of Jews. So the boys, who dared to be located in Gush Etzion, had it coming.
And the blame doesn’t end with the victims. In trying to rescue them, the Israeli government is also committing an unpardonable crime – against Palestinian unity, no less.
NGO Monitor: Kidnapping, human rights and hypocrisy
In a moral and just world, where universal human rights was more than a slogan to be exploited when politically convenient, the kidnapping of three Israeli teens would have produced immediate and widespead outrage, demands for action, and even demonstrations at the United Nations demanding their release.NGO Monitor: NGO Statements on Kidnappings
But in the real world, three days after the kidnapping became public knowledge, those who claim to promote moral causes are largely silent.
The United Nations Human Rights Council has not called an emergency meeting or appointed an investigation to be headed by a highly respected international figure.
Similarly, the network of powerful non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive hundreds of millions of dollars annually, ostensibly to advocate for human rights, again show their disdain for the rights of Israelis. The only significant exception is the International Committee of the Red Cross, which issued an immediate and clear statement demanding “the immediate and unconditional release of the three teenagers.”
As was the case with the Gilad Shalit kidnapping, many NGOs that claim a human rights mandate and comment frequently on the Arab-Israeli conflict have been silent. Most of the NGOs that have released statements have created an artificial balance by also criticizing Israel and/or blaming Israel for the kidnapping.Human Rights Watch: Even Jews in ‘Illegal Settlements’ Should Not Be Violently Abducted
The following is a list of statements, made in press releases or social media, by NGOs and their officials. Official statements by country and international organizations follow:
In multiple tweets about the kidnapping, Roth equated it with so-called “arbitrary arrests” by the Israelis and forcefully criticized the Jewish state for what he claimed is the intentional killing of Palestinians.
The series of tweets drew outrage from pro-Israel activists who slammed Roth and HRW for skirting their mandate and being beholden to a deep anti-Israel bias.
“Why does [Roth] feel uncomfortable criticizing the kidnapping on its own?” asked Gilead Ini, a senior research analyst for CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America.
“Ken Roth can’t seem to avoid the word ‘but’ when posting on Twitter about the kidnapping of Jewish Israeli teenagers,” Ini said.
With 5 days having gone by since kidnappings, Prosor turns to int'l community: Where are you?
Israel’s ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor gave a short statement to the press on Tuesday morning, publicly addressing the kidnapping of the three Israeli teenagers for the first time since their disappearance on Thursday evening.Anne Bayefsky: Three teens kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists: Time to stop playing nice and paying the bills
“It has been five days since our boys went missing. I ask the international community – where are you? Where are you?” Prosor demanded. “The kidnapping took place just 10 days after Fatah and Hamas formed a unity government. All those in the international community who rushed to bless this marriage, should look into the eyes of the heartbroken parents and have the courage to take responsibility by condemning the kidnapping.”
Israel is now paying for the “bad deal” that the international community bought when it supported the newly formed Palestinian unity government, Prosor said. “It’s worth recalling that the Palestinians recently signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child. They obviously signed without reading it.”
Palestinian barbarians have kidnapped an American boy and President Obama is making every American an accomplice.Palestinian Authority Raid Exposes Hamas Dungeon for Hiding Israeli Captives (VIDEO)
Ittael Fraenkel, a 16-year-old with American and Israeli citizenship, and two other Israeli teens, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrah, were kidnapped on June 12 on their way home from school. The president of the United States has said nothing.
Secretary of State John Kerry waited three days to issue a press release in which he identified the boys only as “Israelis,” letting us know he was praying for them.
Many other countries – led by Canada’s foreign minister – issued condemnations before Kerry, even though none of their citizens were involved.
Just one day before the boys were kidnapped, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki, at the daily press briefing said the Hamas/PLO Palestinian unity government was a “technocratic government” and that “nothing has changed as it relates to our assistance” – notwithstanding that Hamas is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
Video footage released on Tuesday showed what Palestinian Authority (PA) security officials said was an underground dungeon Hamas had prepared meant to hide abducted Israelis.HAMILTON: Palestinian Propagandists Show Their True Inhumanity
The underground facility, with electricity, piped-in air, running water and waste disposal, served as a bunker intended to not only hold hostages, but also to serve as a command center to hold negotiations over their release, according to the officials, Israel’s Channel 2 reported.
PA officials said the footage was shot in September, 2013, during a raid conducted in the West Bank village of Tzurif, between Hebron and Jerusalem.
Palestinian propagandists must stop referring to themselves as "human rights activists." Most of these so-called "activists" are too busy spewing anti-Semitic propaganda to act as human rights activists profess to do. Human rights activists stand against injustice. When human rights are violated, people take to the streets and/or social media to call for justice against the perpetrators. When LGBTQ members are brutally beaten and lynched, or when women are genitally mutilated and/or are "honorably" murdered by male members of their family, these activists condemn the parties involved and ask the world to join in the movement to end the brutality.Israeli Cops: Palestinians Flooding Emergency Call Center With Fake Kidnapping Alerts
Unlike true human rights activists, Palestinian propagandists sink to the lowest levels of common decency to push their agendas and their rhetoric to the main stage. Their response to the kidnapping of three Yeshiva boys by Hamas exemplifies their blatant hypocrisy.
Police officials in Israel say that some 42 percent of all #100 (911) emergency calls they field in Samaria and Judea (the West Bank) are false, and are being placed by Palestinians intentionally trying up tie up the lines, hobbling response time to real alerts, Israel’s Ma’ariv reported on Tuesday.Defense Minister Tells Parents: Rescue Operation is 'Unlimited'.
“It was really insufferable, and the dispatchers dealt with insults and abuse on a daily basis,” said a former police official who was in charge of the region until 2009. (h/t Alexi)
Besides the parents, representatives from the Israel Police and IDF who are in touch with the families took part in the meeting.Israel Re-arrests 51 Palestinians Freed in Gilad Shalit Swap
"We are meeting so that I can bring you up to date on where we are at present,” he said. “I want, first of all, to express my support for you. You radiate strength and resolve. In events like this, one of the most important things is your ability to remain strong, and this arouses respect.
"We are in the midst of an operation to reach the abductors and free the boys. The operation is constantly evolving, day and night, and there are many operations being carried out on the ground, and as long as we have no proof that shows otherwise, our working assumption is that the boys are alive. Up until now, there has been no claim of responsibility, and no demand was directed at us.”
Fifty-one prisoners released in the 2011 deal that secured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit’s freedom were re-arrested Wednesday among a group of more than 65 Palestinians detained by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as part of the search for three Jewish teens believed to have been abducted by Hamas, the IDF said.Rearrested Shalit Deal Terrorists to have Pardons Revoked
MK Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) explained Wednesday that many of the terrorists released in the Shalit deal and re-arrested in the last few days will have their pardons anulled and will go back to jail, to serve out the remainder of their sentences.IDF widens clampdown to civilian Hamas institutions
"We are starting to change the equation so that abductions do not pay,” she wrote on her Facebook page.
"Of the terrorists freed in the Shalit deal who were arrested, a large part violated conditions of their pardon (for instance, going out of a specified area), and therefore their pardon will be anulled and they will go back to serving their full sentence. This is not just administrative detention, but turning back the wheels of the pardon.”
The military is expanding its activity in the West Bank to target Hamas’s civil infrastructure, a senior IDF officer said Wednesday, amid reports that Israeli forces were looking to widen a crackdown on the group in the wake of the kidnapping of three teenagers.Hand-launched drone watches over troops in search for teens
On Tuesday night, Israeli forces raided 10 Hamas institutions across the West Bank, confiscating documents and computers. The institutions include Hamas-linked charities in Hebron, Nablus and Jenin, as well as the offices of Hamas’s Al-Aqsa radio station in Ramallah and Hebron.
“Our campaign is aimed at Hamas all across the West Bank, targeting both its civilian and its military operations,” the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
For soldiers operating at night in an urban environment full of right angles and unseen alleys, there are few tools as useful as the hand-launched Skylark unmanned aircraft, which has played a central role in the five-day-old search for the three missing Israeli teens.Skylark UAV Tracks Troop Movements on the Ground
“The advantage of the Skylark is that it is small, it can fly very close to the ground, and because of that I can see very, very well on the roofs and the open areas,” said the unit’s deputy commander Maj. Aviv Koltunoff.
Three-Fingered Palestinian Values
Abbas, who personally embraced many of the murderers he helped liberate, claimed when speaking to Western audiences that kidnapping and other acts of terrorism are “not part of our culture.” But everything we have seen from the Palestinians the last few days, as well as during the last two decades of peace processing, tells us that it is very much part of Palestinian culture and national identity. So long as that is the case, and no matter what the Israelis do or offer, the conflict will go on.Leftist Groups Slam 'Invalid' Crackdown on Hamas
The extreme-left NGO B'Tselem lost no time Tuesday in condemning the Knesset Security Cabinet's decision earlier in the day, which gave the internal security minister a freer hand to harshen prison conditions for jailed Hamas terrorists.Druze Leader Sends Message of Solidarity to Teens' Families
B'Tselem Director Hagai Elad struck out at the decision, calling it "a typical example of invalid collective punishment, whose main goal appears to be silencing the demands with a heavy hand by the Israeli political system," reports Walla!.
The Sheikh stressed that the Druze community views Hamas as terrorists, and that the kidnapping was a terrorist act.Solidarity Campaigns for Kidnapped Girls in Nigeria, Boys in Israel, Converge in New York
"As the leader of the Druze community in Israel, I want to give you strength in the face of this violent criminal act of terrorism, as there is no other way to define [this kidnapping]," he said.
Sheikh Tarif also said that many members of the community are currently part of the IDF operation to rescue the boys. Israeli Druze Arabs, unlike other Arabs or Bedouin, have made a communal commitment to join the IDF.
Two solidarity campaigns for kidnapped youth converged in New York City on Monday, when a group of Jews, including the Riverdale rabbi who founded ‘Open Orthodoxy,’ joined a rally in front of the Nigerian consulate, where the rabbi was invited to offer the closing speech.Int’l Mayors Call for Boys Release
The rally was organized to show solidarity with the 300 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram, in Nigeria, and was down the street from another prayer session for the three Jewish yeshiva students kidnapped last week by Hamas.
When the rabbi, Avi Weiss of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, spoke, he highlighted that only by the whole world insisting on each person’s human right to dignity would the Nigerian girls and the Jewish boys be returned to their families.
Dozens of mayors from around the world have called on the kidnappers of Eyal Yifrah, Gil-Ad Shayer and Naftali Frenkel to release the hostages “immediately and without condition.”Rally for kidnapped teens held at World Cup
In an open letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu, more than 30 mayors, representing Berlin, Frankfurt, Buenos Aires, Sarajevo, Marseilles, Nice, Entebbe and farther afield, the mayors condemned the abduction, saying “the boys’ abduction as kidnapping as well as taking hostages is a violation of the international law.”
Dozens of Brazilian Jews held a demonstration at the site of the World Cup in Rio De Janeiro on Tuesday, calling for the release of kidnapped Israeli teens Gil-Ad Shaer, Eyal Yifrach and Naftali Fraenkel.Tony Blair: World is repulsed by kidnapping
The rally was one of many held around the world but it was considered more symbolic, because there were fears that the plight of the kidnapped teens would be overshadowed by the soccer in Brazil.
“We condemn without any hesitation at all the kidnapping of those three young people,” Blair said on Army Radio, speaking on behalf of the Quartet, which comprises the United Nations, US, Russia and Europe. “It’s a wicked and terrible act, and our thoughts are with the families of those young people and we send them our heartfelt sympathies and solidarity at this time.MK Lavie Appeals to Michelle Obama to Help Kidnapped Teens
“I can assure you that there is nothing but revulsion in the international community for this act,” he said.
Activists, actors, musicians and other public figures have rushed to adopt the #BringBackOurBoys slogan to raise awareness for the kidnapped teens' plight; and now Yesh Atid MK Aliza Lavie has also gotten in on the act, taking to YouTube in an appeal to the United State's First Lady, Michelle Obama.At kidnapping site, Jews and Muslims join in prayer
Addressing her "mother to mother, woman to woman", Lavie appeals to Mrs. Obama to help push for the teens' freedom.
In the video, Lavie emphasizes that children are simply not legitimate targets: "boys have to be out of the game," she said.
Melchior told the audience that he had spoken to Islamic clerics who expressed their concern over the fate of the youths, demanding their immediate release “without any debate or negotiation.”Honest Reporting: Kidnapping of Israeli Teens: Accurate Media Coverage?
“Not only are the people of Israel in distress, but they [the Palestinians] are in great distress as well. They feel that a crime has been perpetrated. All that is left to do is to pray for God’s mercy,” Melchior said.
That sentiment was expressed by Ziad Sabatin, 42, a Palestinian peace activist from the village of Husan, west of Bethlehem.
“Any person of faith should be here today,” Sabatin told The Times of Israel. “Man is holier than land.”
UN 'Unsure' If Kidnapping Really Happened
A spokesperson for United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said Tuesday night that the UN has no "concrete evidence" that Eyal Yifrah, 19, Naftali Frenkel, 16, and Gilad Sha'ar, 16, were "actually" kidnapped by Hamas terrorists last Thursday.PMW: PA daily: Israel is exploiting kidnapping for self-interest
The spokesperson, Farhan Haq, was quoted by Voice of Israel public radio as saying the UN does not have an independent investigative unit that could confirm the kidnapping.
Making Haq's words more confusing is the fact that Ban already condemned the kidnapping on Saturday, noting particularly that two of the kidnapped Israeli students are minors.
An op-ed in the official PA daily accuses Israel of not caring about the three kidnapped teenagers and of exploiting the kidnapping as an excuse for military actions. Since the kidnapping, the Israeli army, police and intelligence have undertaken a massive house-to-house search in the Hebron region, where they suspect the three youths may be held. The op-ed, written by the former editor of the official PA daily, refers to the extensive searches and arrests of Hamas leaders by the Israeli military as Israel's "war carnival." The op-ed even claims that if the youths were released Israel would be "in a panic.UK media coverage of the kidnapping of three Israeli teens – a CiF Watch review
Today, we’re reviewing the coverage of the abduction by the Guardian and other major UK news sites (The Telegraph, Independent, Times of London, and Financial Times), to determine if other reports include tendentious, biased reporting or misleading claims.A fourth BBC report on kidnapping refrains from reporting Palestinian celebrations
On June 17th the BBC News website published its fourth article about the search for three Israeli teenagers who were kidnapped last Thursday night on its Middle East page. The report is titled “Israel detains dozens more in search for missing teens” and after three opening sentences, two examples of ‘last-first’ reporting appear.BBC’s Evan Davis promotes notion that search for kidnapped teens is ‘collective punishment’
The item ends at that point, with Radio 4 audiences none the wiser about how the kidnappings took place, who the kidnapped boys and their families are, how the incident is being dealt with at an operative level or what is the reaction of the Israeli public. Neither, of course, are listeners told anything about the celebratory reactions on the Palestinian street and the inflammatory statements made by Hamas and Fatah officials – as has indeed been the case in all BBC coverage of this incident so far.Abbas: Kidnapped youths ‘must be returned’
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas spoke out Wednesday against the kidnapping of three Israeli teens and demanded their immediate release.Hamas Attacks 'Harmful' Abbas for Condemning Kidnappings
“Those who perpetrated this act want to destroy us [the Palestinians],” Abbas, who is visiting Saudi Arabia, said. “The three young men are human beings just like us and must be returned to their families.”
Israeli forces, aided by PA security, have been engaged in a widespread operation against Hamas in the West Bank since the kidnapping Thursday night south of Jerusalem of Eyal Yifrach, 19, Gil-ad Shaar, 16 and Naftali Frankel, 16. Israeli officials have blamed Hamas for the abduction, as have Western officials including US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Abbas, in his address, also vowed not to resort to arms or allow Palestinians to launch another uprising, or intifada, against Israel.
“It is in our interest to have security coordination with Israel because that would help protect us,” he said.
“I say it frankly, we will never have another intifada — that would destroy us,” he added.
In response, Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri released a statement criticizing Abbas.Donor meeting for Palestinians delayed in wake of abduction
"President Abbas's statements on security coordination with Israel are unjustified, harmful to Palestinian reconciliation...and a psychological blow to the thousands of Palestinian prisoners suffering a slow death in the occupation's jails," Zuhri, reports AFP.
"These statements are based solely on the Israeli narrative, without presenting any true information," Zuhri claimed.
Norway said Tuesday a planned meeting of an international donor group for the Palestinians had been delayed, with tensions running high after the abduction of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank.Speech by Hamas chief Mashaal might have been signal for kidnapping, say security sources
The Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), which is responsible for coordinating international support for the Palestinians and is chaired by Norway, was set to meet in Oslo on June 25.
But Norwegian foreign ministry spokesman Frode Andersen said: “The situation is not conducive to having an AHLC meeting at this point.”
Speaking on the sixth day of an IDF operation to retrieve three youths abducted in the West Bank, one senior source said he believed the kidnappers did not receive an official "operational order" to kidnap the Israelis, adding, "based on my knowledge of them [Hamas in the West Bank], they do not receive such orders."Watch: Hamas Official Heaps Praise on 'Heroic' Kidnap Operation
Instead, he said, "they heard a speech by Mashaal at the end of May, in which he read out a letter" sent by a Hamas prisoner speaking of his hardships. After reading the letter, Mashaal said he is aware of the prisoners' difficulties, adding that this will be solved by the Izzadin Kasssam Brigades, Hamas's military wing.
Hamas in Hebron likely interpreted that as a demand to "carry out an operation," according to the source.
Speaking during an interview on Hamas's official Al Quds TV station, Muhammad Nazal - a member of the group's "political wing" - hailed "the heroic capture operation".Member of Hamas Praises the Kidnapping of the Three Israeli Teenagers
During the interview, which took place on Monday, Nazal claims the abduction "marked a milestone in the history of... the Palestinian struggle - a struggle that is filled with such heroic [sic] operations", as it "hunted, all at once, three from among the settlers' herd and Israeli soldiers".
Zoabi unapologetic, repeats that kidnapping is not terror
MK Haneen Zoabi (Balad) defended and repeated her assertion that the abduction of three Israeli teens was not an act of terror Wednesday.Zoabi's Party Backs Her Comments, Blames the 'Occupation'
"I can't call this act terrorism, even if I don't agree with it - and I don't," Zoabi told Army Radio. "This incident is a result of [Israeli] war crimes."
The Balad party, of which MK Hanin Zoabi is a member, dismissed on Tuesday evening the criticism that was leveled at Zoabi after she justified the kidnapping of three yeshiva students by Hamas.Hamas embraces MK Zoabi for saying kidnapping not terror
In a statement, the party also blamed the “Israeli occupation” for recent violence.
“The mad cries of revenge by Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, the Jewish Home, MK Miri Regev and others, are proof of the Israeli political system, which does not want to hear a different voice that is not aligned with the nationalist consensus, which sanctifies aggression, occupation and settlements,” said the party.
"Balad and MK Hanin Zoabi see the Israeli government as responsible for the continuing violence and bloodshed. The occupation is the source of violence, and the way to prevent violence is to end the occupation and to take a path of serious dialogue on the basis of UN resolutions,” Balad’s statement read.
Hamas came out in support of MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) on Wednesday, praising the controversial parliamentarian who has come under fire in Israel for saying that the kidnappers of three missing Israeli youths were “not terrorists.”Mohammad Zoabi’s mother defends son, scolds critics
“We in Hamas bless Hanin Zoabi for standing her ground,” a spokesman for the terror organization said, “and we hope that the leadership of the Palestinian Authority will follow her example in supporting the homeland, citizens, and the Palestinian problem rather than the disappearance of soldiers, or boasting about security coordination” with Israel.
The mother of Mohammad Zoabi, an Arab Israeli teen who posted a video on YouTube expressing solidarity with kidnapped Israeli youths, defended her son Wednesday and castigated those who criticized and threatened him for expressing his views.
“You know what?” she said on Tel Aviv Radio. “Maybe I taught my son to fight for justice, my son got up and had the courage to speak. In my life, I have never spoken like this. Maybe I felt it inside, but I never dared [to speak out]. He had the courage.
