Saturday, July 26, 2014
Paris's Kristallnacht
This was the first time since World War II that an anti-Semitic pogrom took place in France.Hamas Killed 160 Palestinian Children to Build Terror Tunnels
Almost all French politicians adopt an attitude of appeasement toward the enemies of Israel and Jews. They act as if they did not see that the hate speech that France finances in the Middle East is now spreading throughout France itself.
No major French television report speaks of Hamas's genocidal Jew-hatred or of the use of Arab women and children as human shields. Criticizing radical Islam on public television is now almost impossible. Members of the Israeli government are never interviewed on French television.
French politicians know that 70% of all the inmates in French prisons are Muslims, and that these prisons have been transformed into recruiting centers for jihadists.
As the death toll of Operation Protective Edge rises, the deaths of children are firmly in the spotlight—and rightly so. It pains all reasonable people to hear of children dying as the consequence of war. Hamas and its supporters display gruesome pictures of dead and wounded children in order to gain sympathy for their portrait of Israel as the villain intent on killing Palestinians. In response, Israel cites the need to stop Hamas from firing thousands of rockets at its own children, who are being forced to live in bomb shelters, as well as the need to eliminate the tunnels that Hamas dug into Israel in order to carry out terror attacks against Israelis. One tunnel opening was found underneath an Israeli kindergarten."Among the Palestinians, they tell you straight out, 'I want to get rich.'"
But who built those tunnels? The answer is Hamas, of course—using some of the same children who are now trapped under fire in Gaza.
The Institute for Palestine Studies published a detailed report on Gaza’s Tunnel Phenomenon in the summer of 2012. It reported that tunnel construction in Gaza has resulted in a large number of child deaths.
“At least 160 children have been killed in the tunnels, according to Hamas officials”
The author, Nicolas Pelham, explains that Hamas uses child laborers to build their terror tunnels because, “much as in Victorian coal mines, they are prized for their nimble bodies”. (h/t Yenta Press)
Another source of wealth for Hamas leaders was taking over land. "They took over land mainly near the sea in good areas, such as the former Gush Katif, then sold it. In effect, they are the cat guarding the cream - the land - so they were able to take over land and loot it for themselves," Elad explains.Times of Israel Live Blog: IDF toll rises to 42 with 2 more deaths; Hamas breaches truce, resumes rocket fire
In addition, there is a system in the Gaza Strip of fictitious recruitment of workers for Hamas for the purpose of obtaining pay slips from people overseas paying for it. "They get the payments from overseas according to the workers' names. It has recently been discovered that there are hundreds of fictitious names of soldiers and officials supposedly in Hamas. Actually, the leaders and officials put the money in their own pockets," Elad asserts.
According to various sources, some of Mashaal's money came from the "Syrian fund." Elad explains: "According to these accusations, following an investigation by the US federal authorities, Mashaal was accused of embezzling the entire Syrian fund. There was a separate fund in Syria for Hamas; Mashaal controlled all the movements in the fund when he lived there. As soon as he left Damascus, he took the Syrian fund, which was worth several billion dollars, and distributed it to himself and others. It is believed that Hamas had $1.5-2.5 billion in assets in Syria, which Mashaal took." (h/t Yenta Press)
Kerry meets int’l counterparts in Paris to push for long-term ceasefire after Jerusalem rejects his previous proposal; Gaza death toll said to climb to 1,000 — including Hamas gunmen — as Gazans stock up, recover bodies during lull
Melanie Phillips: The west’s metaphysical psychosis
Once again, we are living through the hallucinatory, sickening experience of seeing Israel's morally-elevated defence against murderous fanatics provoke a global explosion, of Israel-bashing and naked anti-Jewish hatred, especially in demonstrations across Europe.Sarah Honig Diabolical Jewish bikes
For sure, the current war in Gaza has engendered more sympathy than previous such Israeli military campaigns. More and more people understand that Israel alone is fighting a murderous Islamic aggression which threatens themselves, too. People are less inclined to blame Israel or believe media reports that are often not far off inflammatory incitement against Israel and the Jewish people.
Many in the intelligentsia frame this conflict as if Israelis are the war criminals and genocidal Hamas the victims. They uncritically swallow the Hamas death count, even though it orders all casualties to be described as "civilians" whereas untold numbers are armed killers.
The Hamas strategy is to maximise civilian deaths and give the widest circulation to horrific pictures of mutilated children in order to turn Western opinion against Israel.It works, with commentators spitting venom at Israel as "out of control", guilty of indiscriminate slaughter and even - obscenely - "genocide".
Why did the West turn against Israel? The conventional explanation is that, with the post-1967 "occupation", David turned into Goliath.
Adhering to yesteryear’s time-tried format, a Jew rides the train and sharing the same compartment is a non-Jew – a Russian in some versions and a German in others. The non-Jewish traveler cogitates out loud that “all the wars, bloodshed, wretchedness and ill-will on earth are caused by Jews.” But the Jew across from him objects: “It’s all the fault of bicycles.”Irwin Cotler: The UN, Hamas, and Alice in Wonderland
“Bicycles?” thunders the bewildered Russian/German, “Why? How come bicycles?”
In calm, measured tones his interlocutor inquires: “How come Jews?”
It’s doubtful that the role of bikes in bringing every conceivable calamity upon humankind will be empirically examined in the Arab world. In realms where the Czarist forgery disseminated as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Hitler’s obnoxious Mein Kampf are still runaway best-sellers (for those who at all read), it’s still clear as day that the only blameworthy culprits for whatever are inescapably Jews.
The UN Human Rights Council’s vote to launch an international inquiry into alleged Israeli war crimes in “Occupied Palestinian Territory” has a distinct quality of déjà-vu. Indeed, close to 40% of all UN Special Sessions have been condemnatory of Israel. But, it also has an Alice-in-Wonderland feel of “sentence first, verdict afterwards,” because the resolution – which focuses primarily on purported Israeli criminality – establishes a commission of inquiry while presupposing Israeli guilt.Second Variety: terrorists who put children in harm’s way
If precedent – such as the Goldstone Commission following the 2009 war between Hamas and Israel – be the guide, the inquiry will likely marginalize, if not sanitize, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Hamas. Indeed, the impunity enjoyed by Hamas in international forums has only encouraged it to continue flagrant violations of international humanitarian and criminal law.
How do you fight an enemy that is willing—nay, eager—to force you to kill its children even if you don’t want to?Malzberg Caroline Glick -- senior contributing editor of The Jerusalem Post
That’s the situation Israel faces against Hamas. It’s the situation we face against Islamist terrorists, too, because they use such techniques as one of their primary tools, and the liberal west and the MSM all too often play into their hands by demonizing Israel and the US rather than the perpetrators.
This is not new. It began when the west decided that all-out war was something it could no longer in good conscience wage. Civilian casualties in the first half of the 20th Century had reached such huge numbers that we turned in revulsion against them, and the increasing accuracy of weaponry enabled us to entertain the idea—for a short while, anyway—that wars could be fought with “surgical precision.”
That would be true, if the enemy cooperated. But it doesn’t.
Israel and US openly at odds over Gaza ceasefire terms
Kerry, speaking in Cairo, vowed to keep working on a ceasefire, and said Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “committed” to working to narrow the gaps that were preventing a seven-day humanitarian ceasefire intended to lead to a longer-term deal. He also said Netanyahu had accepted an idea, proposed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, of a 12-hour humanitarian time out. Israeli sources said the idea was under consideration.Kerry under fire in Israel for negotiating with Qatar, Turkey, not Egypt, Israel
But Israeli government sources told Army Radio the ceasefire terms proposed by Kerry were “completely unreasonable.” An unnamed senior Israeli government official flatly disputed Kerry’s assertion that his offer was “built on the Egyptian initiative” – which Israel accepted last week and Hamas rejected. In fact, the official was quoted saying, the Kerry offer is not built on the Egyptian proposal and tilts heavily toward Hamas.
The Army Radio report highlighted that the US on Monday signed an $11 billion arms deal with Qatar, and noted that Qatar is championing Hamas’s demands in the ceasefire negotiations, and is also alleged by Israel to be financing Hamas’s rocket production, tunnel digging infrastructure, and other elements of its military infrastructure. The radio report also claimed that Ban Ki-moon “is flying around the region on a Qatari plane.”
Noting that the US secretary chose to hold Saturday’s talks without representatives of Israel, the Palestinian Authority or Egypt, Erdan said this showed “we’re a long way from a political solution.”WATCH: IDF finds explosives-rigged home by Gaza school
Privately, Israeli leaders have signaled deep dismay that Kerry engaged in talks in Paris with representatives of Turkey, whose leadership is openly hostile to Israel, and Qatar, whose leadership is seen by Israel to be representing Hamas’s interests, and not to include Israel, the PA or Egypt.
Israeli government sources also privately contradicted Kerry’s assertion Friday that his ceasefire proposal was “built on” an Egyptian proposal from last Tuesday, which Israel accepted and Hamas rejected. Far from resembling the Egyptian proposal, which urges an immediate ceasefire followed by negotiation, the Kerry proposal leans heavily toward Hamas, the sources said, in tying Hamas preconditions to a cessation of hostilities.
As Israel and Hamas appeared to maintain a humanitarian truce Saturday, the IDF released several videos documenting its activities in the Gaza Strip as part of Operation Protective Edge.IDF Soldiers Uncover House Rigged with Explosives
One video uploaded to YouTube showed troops at a Palestinian house located near a UN school, which had been rigged up with explosives.
“We went inside, the search dog and I, and we found eight bombs connected to each other,” a soldier says. The soldier points out that the house is right by a UN school.
Another soldier then shows explosives rigged inside the basement, masked to look like parts of a chicken coop.
WATCH: IDF detonates terror tunnel in Gaza
IDF Destroys Hamas Tunnel in GazaThe IDF released footage Friday showing the detonation of a terror tunnel built by Hamas operatives in the northern Gaza Strip. The tunnel ran from Gaza’s Shejaiya neighborhood, for hundreds of yards, extending under the border into Israel, military sources said.“Am I clear for countdown?” A soldier can be heard asking in a radio transmission. When answered in the affirmative, the soldier counts down from four, and a massive explosion follows.“This is the commander, give me status report,” the IDF commander says.“Living and breathing,” the soldier answers.“Good job!” the commander concludes, as the video shows the full length of the tunnel.
Nahal Brigade Soldiers Find and Detonate Weapons in Gaza
IDF’s southern commander: Hamas losing morale, but we need more time
Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip are weakening and losing morale “in all parameters,” the commander of IDF forces in southern Israel said Friday, but added that the troops on the ground needed more time to completely root out terror tunnels burrowing into Israel.Palestinians accuse Israel of war crimes at the Hague
“The spirit of the Hamas terrorists is weakening,” Southern Region Commander Maj. Gen. Shlomo “Sami” Turgeman said during a press conference with Israeli media outlets. “I see terrorists in distress, abandoned by their commanders who deserted them at the front and stayed behind… and facing them, our reserve and standing army units led by commanders at the vanguard.”
Turgeman went on to assert that the IDF was claiming significant victories against Hamas on all fronts, and was sufficiently prepared both on the defensive and the offensive side.
“Every day of combat over there is a day of accomplishments for us, both on the issue of tunnels and on the issue of enemy units,” he said.
The Palestinian officials accused Israel of war crimes, which, they say, under the ICC statutes includes “crime of apartheid,” “attacks against civilians,” ‘”excessive loss of human life” and “crime of colonization.”Will Goldstone 2 be as bad as the first one?
If the legal complaint is accepted it could give the Palestinians the first realistic chance of bringing a war crimes case against Israel.
But that’s not a given. To process the complaint, the Hague-based court must first rule if it has jurisdiction in the Palestinian Authority. The territory isn’t a UN member but became an observer in 2012, a status the ICC chief prosecutor said was required for Palestinians to sign up to the court.
Some experts don’t expect the ICC to recognize the Palestinian proceedings.
“This is more of a symbolic thing. I’d be surprised if The Hague accepts the complaint. I can’t see the ICC summoning up the Israeli leaders for evidence,” said Mattia Toaldo, policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
The official took little comfort in the fact that the new fact-finding mission was tasked to “investigate all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” This means that not only Israel’s misdeeds will be scrutinized but also possible war crimes by Hamas and other Gaza-based terror groups (For the EU, this was an important factor in its decision not to oppose the creation of the inquiry, European diplomats told The Times of Israel).Syrian al-Qaeda fighters flee southward toward Israel border
“An inquiry of war crimes by the other side — by whom? Hamas is not mentioned in the Human Rights Council resolution” that set up the fact-find mission, the official fumed.
He predicted that Israel would wait to see the exact language of the mission’s mandate. If it’s anything like the one Goldstone was given, he said, Israel will be declared guilty even before the inquiry begins. “There’s no reasons to think that this time it’s going to be different. Of course we’re going to fight it, but that’s what it’s going to be.”
Thousands of Syrian jihadists affiliated with al-Qaeda’s Al-Nusra Front have recently taken refuge near the Israeli and Jordanian borders fleeing northern Syria, which has fallen into the hands of the more extreme Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).IDF soldiers share food parcels with kids in hospital
Syrian opposition sources informed The Times of Israel that as many as 6,000 members of Al-Nusra have moved south over the past few weeks after being driven out of Deir el-Zour by the Islamic State, which succeeded in wresting control of the oil-rich province from the Assad regime in mid-June.
The spirit of giving has taken hold of Israel. There is no law that calls on citizens to send food parcels to the IDF soldiers serving along the Gaza border but thousands of people have made it their private mission to do just that.Supporting Israel’s Soldiers, One Challah at a Time
Now, a group of reserve soldiers have decided to share the food parcels they were given with hospitalized children.
“We received tons of chocolate, snacks and candies from organized groups as well as private individuals and we decided there’s way too much for just us,” Captain Kfir Amrani, who has been on the front lines since he was called back for duty on July 6, told Ynet news. “We brought everything to Soroka hospital and made our way around all four floors to over 100 children. It’s important to give and not just get.
“We saw children from all ethnicities, Jews, Bedouins, Moslems, we gave something to everyone. A child is a child, and everyone was happy.”
Social media campaigns by private individuals are in full drive to help keep soldiers in Gaza fed, clothed and happy.
I am not a soldier. I am not even a citizen of Israel. Yet Israel is the only place on earth where, whenever war breaks out, I feel a yearning to “be present,” both physically and emotionally, for those whom I view as my people.Terrorist Attack or Accident? Girl Run Over by Arab Car
I clearly remember a beautiful day in mid November 2012, when I sat in a classroom in southern California, unable to concentrate on the lecture. That morning, the IDF launched Operation Pillar of Defense after more than one hundred rockets were shot at Israel in just 24 hours. Although I knew I was safer in America, my heart was in Israel, where I wished to stand with the people of Israel. There are not many places toward which I would gravitate when war breaks out, but Israel is that place for many.
This time, I am in Jerusalem during a period of great conflict. Still, I feel a yearning to support and protect what I view as my home and my people. But again, I am not a soldier and it is likely that those reading this are not soldiers either. Nevertheless, many of us feel the need to act, to support the people of Israel.
In what might have been a terrorist attack, a private car owned by a Palestinian Arab veered on Friday afternoon and hit a Jewish girl who was waiting at a hitchhiking station in Gush Etzion.Mother of Israeli Arab Golani Soldier: Those Who Don’t Accept This State Should Move to an Arab Country
The vehicle fled the scene but a short time later the driver turned himself in to the authorities.
The driver claimed that it was an accident and that he fled the scene because he feared that he would be assailed by the Jews who were waiting at the station.
The incident was caught by security cameras.
Anett Haskia, an Israeli Arab hair stylist and self-proclaimed social activist from the city of Acre, was interviewed on Israeli radio on Thursday and practically shouted at the interviewer when asked whether she identifies as a Palestinian.Tunneling Under the Two-State Solution
“I want to ask you, Anett, many Israeli Arabs say ‘I am an Israeli-Arab, Palestinian.’ Do you also identify as a Palestinian?” host Gabi Gazit of 103.fm asked her. “Has vehalila,” Haskia answered, using a Hebrew phrase that roughly translates as “Good Heavens, no” and – incidentally – one that originates in the Babylonian Talmud.
Haskia, a mother of three who claims to be a proud Israeli, runs an active Facebook page with hundreds of followers. An avid user, she posts pictures with Hebrew status updates encouraging Israel’s soldiers to “keep on fighting in Gaza until total victory.” Among her photos is one of her three children, two boys and a girl, all in IDF uniform.
The generals and admirals of all the US service branches are both listened to and admired. Their opinions hold great weight — especially, of course, on the conduct of war in relation to military honor and the rules of engagement. Civilian populations and their safety have become a special concern of the US armed forces. On this score, ex-US Marine Commandant General James T. Conway has written a brilliant opinion piece in the July 25th edition of the Wall Street Journal.Michael Oren: Israel must be permitted to crush Hamas
General Conway is certainly NOT an Israeli sycophant. As the top man in the Marine Corps, The General “calls ‘em like he sees ‘em”, and when it comes to war he sees things very clearly indeed. In his essay, entitled “The Moral Chasm between Israel and Hamas”, General Conway builds the realistic case for the IDF’s legitimate conduct against an enemy embedded deeply within its own civilian population. The General’s case is so well laid out, and with such cogency, that refutation by the spin masters of the media and intellectual Left is near impossible. Of course none of this is news to the Israeli population, but here in the US the General’s essay and voice need to be read and broadcast across the nation. The American people understand the difference between their democratic ally Israel and a national movement (Hamas) bent on the destruction of its innocent children. Their use of human shields for the sake of internal politics and anti-Jewish propaganda is worse than craven. I truly wonder about the American Liberal media elites. From some of the coverage here in the US, the deliberate bias against Israel smacks of the worst simplicity of the old Soviet Union.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary of State John Kerry and the foreign ministers of Great Britain and France all are rushing to achieve a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Their motive — to end civilian suffering and restore stability to the area — is noble. The images of the wounded and dead resulting from the conflict are indeed agonizing. However, these senior statesmen can be most helpful now by doing nothing. To preserve the values they cherish and to send an unequivocal message to terrorist organizations and their state sponsors everywhere, Israel must be permitted to crush Hamas in the Gaza Strip.Jonah Goldberg: A U.N. with Standards
This is the lesson of previous rounds of fighting between the Israeli Defense Forces and terrorist strongholds. In Lebanon in 2006 and in Gaza in 2008 and again in 2012, Israel responded to rocket attacks on its cities with fierce counteroffensives. Fighting against a deeply dug-in enemy that both blended in with the local population and used it as a shield, Israel’s best efforts to avoid civilian casualties invariably proved limited. Incensed world opinion generated immense pressure on governments to convene the U.N. Security Council and empower human rights organizations to censure Israel and stop the carnage. These measures succeeded where the terrorists’ rockets failed. Israel was compelled to back down.
I understand that abolishing or quitting the U.N. is a lost cause. The idea of a world without a club that any nation can join is too horrifying for transnational elites and the pundits who hobnob with them. And the childish dream of a Parliament of Man will never die, even though an institution that meaningfully lived up that idea would spell the doom of the United States of America.UNHRC: Empowering Terrorism and Deteriorating Human Rights
But the existence of one club with low or no standards does not preclude the creation of another with higher standards.
So I return again to an old hobby horse of mine (and many others). Let us set about to create a new League of Democracies. The standards for entry wouldn’t have anything to do with race or geography or even wealth (though wealthy countries tend to be democratic countries, so long as the wealth is derived from broad prosperity and not merely natural resources exploited by oligarchs). The standards would be simple: democracy, the rule of law and respect for individual liberty. A formal consensus among such countries would actually have the moral authority the U.N. only pretends to have.
Such an organization might inspire nations to better themselves on the grounds that it would be an honor to be a member rather than an entitlement that comes with mere existence.
Pillay says Israel is to blame that Gazans are "prevent[ed]… from rebuilding their lives and communities after repeated military operations." She also blames Israel for damaging Gaza’s water and sanitation facilities and of Gaza's shortage in fuel, medicine and electricity.UNRWA Lies Continue To Backfire In The Disgraced Agency's Face
Pillay and her pathetic organization are simply detached from reality.
The reality is this –The world has stood idly by as Hamas spent millions of Qatari dollars and international aid on weapons and tunnels, draining all resources and directing them towards terror instead of construction and welfare.
Israel supplies Gaza with fuel and electricity, and allows the entry of hundreds of truckloads of goods into Gaza. Israelis risk their lives every day to facilitate all this even during the operation, as the crossings and facilities are constantly bombarded by Hamas.
So basically, the international community and Israel works hard to support the people of Gaza, while Hamas betrays them and dooms them to a miserable life.
Having already been exposed twice in recent days for using their Gaza "schools" to hide Hamas terror weapons, UNRWA's top liars are at it again.Israel has the right to defend itself against brutal foes that are hell-bent on destruction
Yesterday, Israel called UNRWA out on an abject lie that had nothing to do with weapons caches, but rather a scandalous new UNRWA allegation that Israel did not allow Gaza civilians an opportunity to evacuate a school before Israel bombed it. (The school was being used as a Hamas terror center.)
This time, it was UNRWA spokesman and long-time rabid Israel hater Chris Gunness who told the UNRWA lie heard around the world.
Gunness - you will note - has been a long-time supporter of "jihad camps" for the children of Gaza, in which they learn to explode themselves among Israeli civilians.
Most of the debate about the campaign so far has centred on whether the Israeli response to the Hamas rocket attacks and the attempt to smuggle Hamas fighters into Israel via underground tunnels is proportionate.Of friends and foes
Proportionate does not mean one dead Palestinian for every dead Israeli.
If Israel could destroy the rockets and the tunnels without killing any Palestinians then even one dead Palestinian would be too many.
What 'proportionate' really means is doing enough to destroy the rockets and the tunnels but no more.
It is absolutely clear that Hamas is happy to locate its rockets in built-up areas and therefore is absolutely happy to expose the citizens of the Gaza strip to mortal danger.
I simply don't know whether the rockets and tunnels can be destroyed by Israel while causing significantly fewer civilian casualties than at present.
However, it is certain that Hamas could reduce civilian casualties by placing the rockets further from the most built-up areas.
The adage is so very true: You discover who your real friends are in times of crisis. The war with Hamas has made it very clear who Israel’s friends, and foes, are, and who skulks in a morally dubious middle ground.Why Gaza must go
THE LIST of Israel’s friends is shorter, but significant and powerful.
It starts with hundreds of young Jews, from North America and France in particular, who made aliya over the past two weeks, despite the war. The best line of the week belongs to Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky who said, “We’ve had more immigrants than missiles.”
(Not quite, but close).
It continues with Jewish communal leaders and amcha (everyday Jews) around the world, who have either come to visit on solidarity missions, energetically gone to battle for Israel on the airwaves and social media platforms, or launched chain-mail prayer campaigns.
It continues with Christian colleagues and friends everywhere, from many (but not all) denominations, who are praying, advocating and demonstrating for Israel. I pleased to say that I’ve been inundated with emails of support from Christian friends this week.
Then come the governments of Canada, Australia and to a certain extent France and Germany, too, who backed Israel’s defensive operation, and provided Jerusalem with diplomatic space to conduct the just war against Hamas. Nobody surpasses the moral clarity of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
If Hamas comes out weaker from this round of fighting, it is only a matter of time before it will be replaced by an even more violent extremist-successor – and thus, once more, only a matter of time until the next, probably more deadly, round breaks out.Palestinians must defeat Hamas death cult
The only durable solution requires dismantling Gaza, humanitarian relocation of the non-belligerent Arab population, and extension of Israeli sovereignty over the region.
That is the only approach that can solve the problem of Gaza.
That is the only approach that will eliminate the threat to Israel continually issuing from Gaza.
That is the only approach that will extricate the non-belligerent Palestinians from the clutches of the cruel, corrupt cliques who led them astray for decades.
Hamas claims it rejects the ceasefire proposal brokered by Egypt because it wants a better life for its citizens.The Hate-Wave All Over the Islamicized West
It will therefore accept no less than the lifting of Israel's seven-year Gaza blockade.
The resultant fighting continues to hammer Gaza's citizens.
They are dying by the hundreds.
Yet Hamas, for all its rhetoric, doesn't really care.
The reasons for this callousness may be doctrinal: Hamas celebrates death.
In the Islamist's perverse lexicon, martyrdom is the highest goal a devout Muslim can attain.
As occurred numerous times before, Israel, under non-stop missile attacks by Hamas is presented as a very bad cop; as always, the die-hard left is indulged in calling white black and preaching to Israel to make peace with a cannibal. What’s new in all those anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activities all over the world this time, is the substantially larger number of demonstrators – just everywhere; their determination; their rather high level of confidence and aggressiveness; and largely prevailing Arab and Muslim presence among the attackers and demonstrators.No, Supporting Hamas is Not 'Feminist'
What we are experiencing today in Europe and the West, is a wave of articulated hatred towards Jews, and Israel, in that order; and also a substantially higher arrogant confidence on the part of the attackers and demonstrators. They are acting in a much bolder way, also demonstrating to us all quite intentionally: we are here, it is within our rights to do whatever we want – and they are indeed allowed to spread all this hate and conduct all these attacks by the European and Western governments who remain largely meek towards racial violence peaking up in their countries.
It was only a matter of time. Today, Ali Abunimah’s Electronic Intifada published a piece titled “Ending Zionism is a feminist issue.”Obama’s Israel legacy: A hostile Democratic Party
I would say just the opposite is true: “Supporting Zionism is a feminist issue.”
Today must be the day assigned to organize feminists for Hamas in Gaza. Another such article also just appeared—just as I was writing about Electronic Intifada’s offering.
Zionism is a liberation movement of oppressed and persecuted Jews-- but it is so much more than that. Israel is a Western-style democracy in which free speech, freedom of inquiry, freedom of conscience, as well as women’s and gay rights movements flourish. Both women and Arabs hold seats in Parliament, government, city councils, and the Israeli Supreme Court. Israel also tolerates a large and very vocal left, dissident movement which wields power in the universities, the media, and in not-for profit and human rights groups.
It’s a the-chicken-or-the-egg question. Which came first: the Obama administration’s public contempt toward our allies in Jerusalem, or liberal Democratic animosity toward Israel?Denazification in Gaza
Either way, when Barack Obama steps down as president in January 2017, the Democratic Party he leaves behind will be one whose sympathies no longer embrace the Jewish state.
It’s an extraordinary legacy. And it’s underscored by the more or less constant snubs President Obama has directed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Allies did not stop their Liberation of Europe until the enemy was defeated. They pushed deeper into Nazi ruled Europe house-to-house as casualties mounted both militarily and, tragically, amongst the civilian population. They did so knowing they faced an evil yearning for their racial and political destruction; they knew defeat would bring the annihilation of the free world. Israel, the epitome of the free world in the Middle East, understands this.Academic Lies and Distortions in the Cognitive War Against Israel
The leaders of the Allied nations and forces did not take the decision to launch Operation Overlord into Fortress Europe with ease; nor has Israel in Operation Protective Edge. Yet, in these parallel worlds, the aerial bombardments by the enemy grew too much. In Southern Israel, the central focus of Hamas terrorism, one third of children suffer from trauma related learning conditions and the whaling of sirens, reminiscent of the Blitz, is an unsustainable way of life for families. In 1940, Hitler famously said he would drop 400,000 kg of bombs a night on Britain and raise their cities to the ground; Hamas has come close, dropping a bomb every 4 minutes into the heart of Israel. If it was not for the Iron Dome, Israel would be obsolete.
Supporters of the Palestinian cause have come to accept the fact that Israel will not be defeated through the use of traditional tools of warfare. Instead, the Jewish state’s enemies in the Middle East, abetted by their supporters in the West, have begun to use different, but equally dangerous, tactics to delegitimize and eventually destroy Israel in a cognitive war. By dressing up old hatreds against Jews, combined with a loathing of Israel, and repackaging them as seemingly pure scholarship, Israel’s ideological foes have found an effective, but odious, way to insure that the Jew of nations, Israel, is still accused of fostering social chaos and bringing harm to non-Jews—in the bright “lights of perverted science” Winston Churchill feared might well be unleashed by a Nazi victory in the Second World War.HSBC Bank to Close Muslim Charity Accounts as Gaza Protests Escalate
HSBC bank is to follow its competitors Barclays in closing the bank accounts of the Ummah Welfare Trust (UWT), a Muslim-run charity which has previously been accused, though cleared, of having links to terrorism. The non-profit, which describes itself as an "international relief and development charity", has perviously given money to Interpal – an organisation designated by the US Treasury in 2003 as one of several groups providing "support" to Gaza-based terrorist outfit Hamas.Anti-Palestinian hyperbole hits new heights in Egypt
The UWT announced this week: "As the attacks intensify in Gaza and innocent people continue to be killed, HSBC Bank has issued a two-month notice to Ummah Welfare Trust to close down its accounts. This is similar to what Barclays did to Ummah Welfare Trust during the previous Gaza war in 2008. A notice then was also served for the charity to close its accounts."
Keen observers of Egyptian-Palestinian relations have a hard time remembering such high levels of vitriol spewed from both publicly and privately owned TV channels, representing the anti-Brotherhood sentiment currently prevalent in mainstream Egyptian media.Iran’s role in the Gaza war
Addressing the nation on the anniversary of the 1952 Egyptian Revolution on Wednesday, President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi referred to the crisis in Gaza.
“Egypt sacrificed 100,000 martyrs for the Palestinian cause throughout the history of this conflict,” Sissi said, before tacitly criticizing Hamas’s strategy of armed struggle. “Isn’t it time, after 30 or 40 years of a certain direction, to stop for a moment and consider what has been achieved? To check if we have progressed and succeeded in realizing what we want?”
To confront the radical organization Hamas, the United States and the international community must first confront the Palestinian group’s military sponsors, specifically the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Lebanese organization Hezbollah and Syria.Hezbollah leader: Gaza has defeated Israel
Hamas launched a war against Israel — a key U.S. ally in the Middle East — in early July. The United States and the European Union list the extremist Islamic entity Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Hamas could swiftly end its bloody conflict with Israel (and against the values of Western democracies) if it chose to internalize former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir’s famous comment in 1957 to the National Press Club in Washington: “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”
Sadly, Hamas continues to use UN schools to house rockets and young children as human shields to insulate its combatants from Israeli defensive missile fire.
Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip have defeated Israel in the 18-day conflict, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah asserted Friday, saying the Jewish state has failed to stop rocket fire and stamp out the group’s operatives in the Palestinian enclave.Son of PA President Mahmoud Abbas calls IDF a ‘Nazi army’
In his first remarks on the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian fighting that erupted on July 8, Nasrallah warned Israel that its efforts to wage war in the Gaza Strip would falter if they were to continue.
Nasrallah’s speech was reported to be a rare public appearance before a crowd of supporters, though TV footage which only showed the Hezbollah leader alone in extreme close-up made the claim dubious. The speech was given to mark “Al-Quds Day,” a day of solidarity with Palestinians that Arabs traditionally observe on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Al-Quds is Arabic for Jerusalem.
The terror group’s leader claimed that, as in the 2006 Second Lebanon War, Israel used a kidnapping as a pretext to engage in combat, “thinking it had a golden opportunity to open a war on Gaza."
In an interview with Palestinian TV while donating blood at a Palestinian hospital, Abbas’s son said “Israel can defend itself with tanks, planes and the Iron Dome, and what about us? Israel is shooting at [civilians'] homes. That’s a crime. Israel is behaving like the Nazis and the IDF is a Nazi army.”Low support among younger Americans for Israel in Hamas war
“So far, many of our people have died. What people can tolerate such a thing?” he asked, according to Channel 2.
Yasser Abbas promised that the Palestinians in the West Bank would not remain quiet about the operation in Gaza, after six Palestinians died in various clashes in the West Bank Friday.
The poll posted on the pollster’s website Thursday showed a statistical dead heat between those who believe Israel’s actions against Hamas are justified, 42 percent, and those who believe they are unjustified, 39 percent. The difference was within the poll’s margin of error of four percentage points.Facebook Page Publishing Identities of French Jews to Encourage Attackers; 15 Men Assault a Jew in Paris Suburb After Confirming Photo (UPDATE)
Reactions to Hamas were lopsided, with 70 percent calling the group’s actions unjustified and just 11 percent describing them as justified.
Older Americans were much likelier to say Israel’s actions were justified: 55 percent of those over 65; 53 percent of those between 50 and 64; 36 percent of those 30-49 and just 25 percent of those 18-29.
The Facebook page, ‘Jeunes Révolutionnaires Français’, JRF, or ‘Young French Revolutionaries’, posted the names and photos of 32 Jews. The assault on one of those listed took place on Thursday night in Bobigny, Seine-Saint-Denis, a Paris suburb. The assailants were armed with iron bars.Boston Islamist: The Jews Better Learn How to Swim, Moses Ain't Coming [VIDEO]
On the ‘Secret Tel Aviv’ Facebook page, Daniel Cohen called the group anti-Semitic, and exhorted Facebook users to report the JRF page to site administrators for removal.
On Facebook, Cohen wrote, “An anti-Semitic page is publishing names and pictures of French Jews in order to target them physically! A few have already been attacked at their homes, one last night by 15 people on one Jewish guy. We need to remove this page!”
UPDATE: Facebook has removed the Jeunes Révolutionnaires Français page, which was no longer hosted on the social media platform, as of late Friday evening.
A reader of The Algemeiner reported the group to Facebook, which sent him a message to say that it has recognized JRF’s “credible threat of violence” and removed its page. (h/t Jewess)
In footage obtained by TruthRevolt, an Islamist at a Boston rally made deeply disturbing remarks about Israel and Jews.Protesters across Muslim world denounce Israel in al-Quds Day rallies
The man, wearing a kaffiya and a "Palestine" shirt, begins by referring to pro-Israel individuals and says, "They are not here and they will not be here, Inshallah (God willing)."
"They'll be back to the sea and this time Moses is not going to be here to open the sea," he declared. "They better learn how to swim."
The crowd around the Islamist man then began to chant "Allahu Akbar."
Demonstrators call for "Death to Israel" and "Death to American" while expressing solidarity with Palestinians.In Berlin, Al Quds Day marchers steer clear of anti-Semitism
Demonstrations took place across the Muslim world on Friday in support of the Palestinians and in protest of Israel and its ongoing campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
In Iran, rallies took place in Tehran and more than 700 towns and cities across the country during marches marking annual "al-Quds Day" or Jerusalem Day, which was launched in 1979 by the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomenei to show support for Palestinians and opposition to Israel.
"The Islamic world must in unison declare this day one of anger, hatred, unity and resistance against Israel," AFP quoted Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as saying at the demonstration in his country's capital.
Protesters carried carried placards emblazoned with the slogans "Death to Israel" and "Death to America," AFP reported.
“Nobody is allowed to say the word ‘Jew’ here, only ‘Zionist.’ Shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ is forbidden. This is not good for publicity,” warned Jurgen Grassmann, the chief organizer of Berlin’s Al-Quds Day March on Friday. “Keep Allah in your heart, but don’t say so out loud.”Quds Day Berlin, July 25th
Suddenly, amid the yellow Hezbollah banners and tri-colored Palestinian flags, a group of men began to shout “Allahu Akbar.” They were soon quieted by organizers of the march.
Throughout his pre-march speech, Grassmann emphasized that the march was not against Jews, only Zionists.
“The Zionists will try to provoke us. Jews are our brothers, Zionists are our enemies,” said Grassmann.
As youngsters tried to defame Israel and the pro Israel counter-demonstration some dozen meters away, the situation almost escalated as eye witnesses and videos prove.An Epic Flag-Burning Fail in Iraq
According to Berlin Tagesspiegel, a group of 20 to 30 people claimed “Gas Israel”, which could not be confirmed by the Police.
Previously to the Quds demonstration in Berlin, the chaiman of the German-Israel parliamentary group at the German Bundestag, Mr Volker Beck (Greens), called the Quds day an event of hatred in an interview to the Deutsche Welle broadcasting. Beside every criticism to the Israeli policy towards Gaza, the aggressive and hateful tension which is claimed against Israel by organizers and participants of such manifestations is absolutely unacceptable, Beck said.
There was dancing and clapping as men marched across a large, freshly painted flag of Israel on the street. Someone brought two homemade Israeli and American flags out, and dozens of men jostled with lighters, trying to torch the symbols of their two great enemies. When the flags failed to ignite, the flustered men tore the flags to shreds and stomped all over them in front of a gaggle of Iraqi television cameras. Everyone cheered.Antisemitism in Australia's left-liberal Fairfax press: Mike Carlton and Glen Le Lievre cross the line
Scenes like this are common across the Middle East and become even more frequent when fighting erupts between Israelis and Palestinians. But today’s parade was a bit more ominous. Iraq is falling apart, and these militias—which have been called upon to rescue the country’s faltering army and save the capital from Sunni Muslim militants—roam the streets with impunity and operate their own checkpoints. For better or worse, the country’s future may depend on these ragtag bands of men with guns and little or no government oversight.
By veteran Aussie journalist Mike Carlton in today’s [Melbourne] Age and Sydney Morning Herald, newpapers in the left-liberal Fairfax stable, accompanied by an unmistakably antisemitic cartoon by Glen Le Lievre for good measure:Robert Mackey Pulls New York Times to Extremes of Bias
“….Yes, Hamas is also trying to kill Israeli civilians, with a barrage of rockets and guerilla border attacks. It, too, is guilty of terror and grave war crimes. But Israeli citizens and their homes and towns have been effectively shielded by the nation’s Iron Dome defence system, and so far only three of its civilians have died in this latest conflict. The Israeli response has been out of all proportion, a monstrous distortion of the much-vaunted right of self defence.Carlton’s is a false analogy. He should remember that in the Second World War the United States dropped more bombs on Germany (millions of tons) than Germany dropped on the United States (zero).
It is a breathtaking irony that these atrocities can be committed by a people with a proud liberal tradition of scholarship and culture, who hold the Warsaw Ghetto and the six million dead of the Holocaust at the centre of their race memory….”
Does Carlton think that this was a disproportionate use of American power?
To understand why Mackey would turn to Shaindlinger and mislead readers about her goals, it helps to his long history of citing some the most extreme anti-Israel voices around.Half a picture, half a story: how the BBC compromises its own impartiality in Gaza
Since last May, Mackey has written 12 pieces related to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Seven of them cite the radical Electronic Intifada or its radical founder, Ali Abunimah.
Think about that. There’s no shortage of people with interesting things to say about the Arab-Israeli conflict. Qualified people. People who empathize with both Israel and the Palestinians. People whose geopolitical understanding is nuanced enough that they’d never dream of calling Israel the “Zionist butcher regime” and its army the “cowardly, murderous rabble of a psychotic apartheid settler-colony,” as does Abunimah. But if you close your eyes and pick a recent Mackey article out of a hat, you’re more likely than not to end up with a piece that plugs Abunimah and his organization.
The rhetoric that comes from the Electronic Intifada clique will sound familiar. Just as Noa Shaindlinger saw the death of Israelis as “good news,” Electronic Intifada’s Rana Baker literally cheered when three Israeli teens were abducted in June 2014. “Wonderful wonderful news that three settlers have been kidnapped,” she said on Twitter. “Celebrations celebrations. Cheers everybody (Zionists excluded!)” Ali Abunimah came to his writer’s defense when she was criticized for this tweet. It was ultimately discovered that the three Israeli boys were immediately murdered by their Palestinian abductors.
BBC television audiences have not seen any footage of those “large turnouts” at Hamas funerals which Knell has apparently witnessed and have not been provided with combatant casualty figures. Although interviews with Hamas spokesmen at Shifa hospital have been aired, audiences have not seen any real reporting of the fact that the Hamas leadership is in hiding in that hospital. Apart from a couple of brief mentions by Lyse Doucet of those “masked men hurrying down the streets and talking furtively into walkie-talkies on street corners”, BBC audiences have not seen any footage or read any accounts of the actions of Hamas terrorists.BBC Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis to Israeli spokesman: “You killed them”
They have not seen or been told anything of the fierce battles between terrorists and the IDF: no images of Hamas members firing RPGs, anti-tank missiles or mortars at Israeli troops have been aired. They have not seen footage of the launching of even one of more than 2,350 missiles which have been fired at Israeli civilians since July 8th or of the effects of the 10 to 15% of missiles which fall short and land in the Gaza Strip itself. Neither have they seen any reporting on the topic Hamas’ use of child soldiers.
Yolande Knell would apparently have us believe that not one of the plethora of BBC reporters on the ground in the Gaza Strip in the last nineteen days has witnessed or recorded any of the above.
BBC Two ‘Newsnight’ presenter Emily Maitlis however did not need to wait until investigations had been completed in order to determine whether the UN facility was hit by an errant IDF shell, a shortfall terrorist missile, terrorist mortar fire aimed at IDF troops or any combination of the above. Interviewing Israeli spokesman Mark Regev just hours after the incident – and clearly completely misunderstanding the nature and intention of IDF warnings to evacuate because of fighting in the area – she emotionally charged Regev with the following:Israeli Government Spokesman Mark Regev speaks to Emily Maitlis
“But you said you were going to hit it. You hit it. You killed them.”
Beyond Maitlis’ distinctly unprofessional demeanor throughout this interview, her repeated interruptions and her obvious urgency to promote her own version of events to audiences, one patronizing statement she makes is extremely revealing and actually captures the essence of much of the BBC’s reporting of the current hostilities in a nutshell.
More BBC amplification of Hamas ‘siege’ propaganda
Now obviously Khaled Masha’al is lying (unhindered) through his teeth in every single answer here and – difficult as it must be to interview a compulsive liar so disconnected from reality – if the BBC is not going to challenge Masha’al’s blatant falsehoods and cut through his propaganda, then the obvious question must be what journalistic value does such an interview have in the first place?Lebanese journo: ‘Iran should send its nuclear weapons to Hamas’
Questions Stephen Sackur could and should have asked Masha’al in order to provide BBC audiences with some insight into this issue include:
Christine Habib is a Lebanese news reporter and anchor who has a solution — a final solution — to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (h/t MtTB)A Letter of Thanks From Hamas to the International Media
Dear Members of the Mainstream Media,Thousands take to NY streets to protest Israeli offensive in Gaza
You’ve been awesome! Everyone knows that we start unwinnable wars with Israel because the real victory happens when you predictably side with us each time. And you’ve been so supportive of our strategy that we really want to acknowledge your helpfulness. In particular, we thank you for:
-Focusing so much more on our suffering than anyone else’s. Nigerians must die in far greater numbers before you take notice, so we’re glad that you value our lives so much more.
-Emphasizing our civilian death toll without explaining that (1) our casualty reports are hasty and inflated, and (2) we maximize that total by using Palestinians to shield our weapons and by urging them to stay in the very areas that the IDF – in its annoying effort to minimize our civilian deaths – warns Gazans to evacuate.
housands of people took to the streets of New York City on Friday evening to protest Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip and demand an end to the violence that has reportedly killed nearly 850 Palestinians.Over 10,000 march against Israel in London, Paris
Police scrambled to corral the demonstrators, which officers estimated numbered between 2,000 and 3,000, as they flooded into the busy streets around Times Square.
Waving Palestinian flags and signs condemning Israel for the offensive, many called for an end to US aid to the country
Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched in London and Paris on Saturday, calling out against Israel’s military operation in the Hamas-controlled Palestinian enclave.Rule 1: Talk About Anything Political in Hollywood ... Except Gaza
At least 10,000 protesters marched through central London for the second week running on Saturday. A police source estimated the crowds at 10,000, but an AFP photographer suggested the number could be far higher, forcing the closure of roads around Britain’s parliament.
While these sentiments are strong and widely shared, few will discuss them on the record. Israel-raised billionaire mogul Haim Saban, whose largesse to Democratic candidates is contingent on support for Israel, was asked for comment on pro-Palestinian tweets by pop diva Rihanna and NBA star Dwight Howard. He produced a statement so strong that it was sent to his publicist for review, who then opted for Saban not to comment at all.David Draiman has a kick-ass message for the MSM and anti-Semites [pic]
In fact, Rihanna and Howard managed to offend all sides by first sending out identical tweets — "Free Palestine" — then retracting them. L.A.-based political consultant Rick Taylor called on Hollywood publicists to better school clients on social media. "Celebrities have every right to express an opinion, but they've got to weigh what they say and understand that there will be a backlash," he says. Tennis Channel CEO and top Democratic fundraiser Ken Solomon, whose grandparents lived in Israel, tells THR: "I think there's a place for celebrities to get involved, whether it's the environment or social issues. But getting involved in foreign-policy debates? It doesn't make a lot of sense. … With all due respect to Rihanna, unless she's been studying this, she shouldn't be talking about it."
Disturbed and Device vocalist David Draiman has devoted his Twitter feed to supporting Israel and smacking down Hamas propaganda. And he’s had it with all the b.s. from the “mainstream media, anti-Semites, propagandists, and attackers of Israel.”#IsraelUnderFire 1. MAINSTREAM MEDIA 2. ANTI-SEMITES 3. PROPAGANDISTS 4. ATTACKERS OF ISRAEL.
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