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Friday, August 01, 2014

08/01 Links Pt2: Goebbels on the BBC; Beinart's The ‘Myths’ Of Gaza; Obama's Gaza Game

From Ian:

Sarah Honig: Another tack: Goebbels on the BBC
Imagine Josef Goebbels invited to speak his mind on the BBC, smack dab during the Battle of Britain and the blitz. Sound absurd? Sure, but only in the context of normal nations. No sane Briton would have tolerated the notion of the BBC broadcasting German propaganda to Londoners as they ran for shelter from German bombs.
Abetting Nazi belligerence would have been a nonstarter even under the guise of a detached reporter’s interview, part of an evenhanded approach, a sporting consideration for the aggressor’s point of view.
But not so in Israel. Here we operate in an alternative universe. Nothing that would be unthinkable anywhere else is out of bounds for our broadcasters.
The ‘Myths’ Of Gaza
In Haaretz, Peter Beinart imparts readers with some hard truths about the recent history of Gaza. “Much of what we’ve been told about Israel’s ‘withdrawal’ from Gaza,” he contends, is simply not true. The mythology created by Jewish-American leaders, he writes, builds a narrative that does does little more but rationalize Israel’s “wrong” war.
Now, there are a number of problems with Beinart’s predictably distorted version of this conflict’s history—which could use a thorough debunking—but the most obvious glitch is that most of the myths Beinart claims to dispel aren’t ever actually uttered by Jewish leaders, or anyone else, for that matter.
There are three distortions Beinart believes gullible Jewish American use to justify their “skepticism of a Palestinian state in the West Bank.”
Former UN official charged with anti-Semitism, now California academic, takes on Israel in Gaza
Richard Falk, the notorious former United Nations human rights official who was widely castigated for his anti-Semitic statements and aggressively anti-Israeli stance before finally leaving office in May, is at it again.
Falk, formerly the U.N. special rapporteur on the rights of the Palestinian people, is orchestrating a new manifesto accusing Israel of making war against “the people of Gaza as a whole,” calling on the U.N and “in particular the United States of America” to hold Israeli political leaders and military commanders accountable for war crimes, and demanding that the U.N. Security Council refer the entire situation in Palestine to the International Criminal Court.
The manifesto is signed by Falk, who is now at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and 124 other legal academics around the world, including a handful in the U.S. The most prominent signatory aside from Falk is John Dugard, a South African legal scholar who was also widely condemned for anti-Semitic findings as the U.N.’s human rights special rapporteur on Palestine — until Falk took his place.



The Faux Investigations Of Human Rights Watch
One place to start is the pattern of false accusations and invented or totally distorted legal language, which NGO Monitor and others have identified in HRW’s reports on Israel’s actions in Gaza (2012 and 2008-9), Lebanon (2006), and Jenin (2002).
As opposed to rigor and expertise, HRW “investigations” reflect anti-Israel bias, lack of research methodology, and flat-out fabrications.
For instance, during Israel’s November 2012 response to Gaza rocket attacks, an 11 month-old-baby was tragically killed. Citing “news reports and witnesses,” HRW immediately blamed Israel for the child’s death. HRW’s “investigation” was revealed to be faulty when a detailed UN analysis confirmed that, in fact, the death was caused by “a Palestinian rocket that fell short of Israel.” By the time the truth came out, though, HRW’s damage was already done.
Eugene Kontorovich: Does Israel have to give free power to Gaza?
So far we’ve been talking about destroying enemy power installations. This is permitted. A fortiori, simply not giving the enemy from one’s own power stations would not even be a question. But Israel’s action would be even one step away from that. The Palestinians have not been paying for the power they are consuming. Their electrical bill is due. Bombing enemy power plants is ok; not selling them power is a fortiori ok; and thus not letting them take it for free is, for lack of a better term, a double a fortiori.
Some of Bell’s critics argue that Israel is obligated to provide power because it has blockaded Gaza, making it hard for them to build their own infrastructure. I think this is wrong on the facts; plenty of infrastructure has been built in Gaza, but just in the form of infiltration tunnels. In any case, blockade is legal in international law, and not accompanied by any self-defeating duty to give free electricity to the enemy. But the targeting argument takes care of this too. Targeting power plants does not create a self-defeating obligation to provide the destroyed power. Thus a blockade that makes it more difficult to build a plant that would during hostilities be targetable would not create a duty of supply.
The purported duty to provide electricity makes indentured servants of the workers at Israel’s electrical facilities. If those workers went on strike, would Israel be obligated under international law to enjoin it?
Daniel Greenfield: Obama's Gaza Game
Israel’s function within the great halls of diplomacy was always as a lever on the Arab states. It was not an end, but a means of moving them one way or another. When the Arab states drifted into the Soviet orbit, the “Special Relationship” was born. The relationship accomplished its goal once Egypt was pried out of the Soviet orbit. It has lingered on because of the emotional and cultural ties of Israel and the US.
Now Obama is using Israel as a lever to push Egypt back into the Islamist camp. Egypt’s rejection of the Muslim Brotherhood broke the Arab Spring. Political Islam, which seemed to be on the ascendance, is back to being a freak show represented by terrorists and Turkey’s mad mustachioed dictator.
Egypt was where Obama went to begin the Arab Spring. Egypt is still his target. Israel is just the lever. (h/t Canadian Otter)
How Hamas Wields Gaza’s Casualties as Propaganda
Hamas, the terrorist group controlling Gaza, endeavors to turn Israel’s military superiority to its own advantage by portraying the Israeli response to intense rocket and mortar fire as disproportionate and indiscriminate. In doing so, it hopes to turn public opinion against the Jewish state, as well as bolster its own standing at the expense of the Fatah-led Palestinian National Authority in the West Bank.
Fatality figures provided by Hamas and other groups should be viewed with suspicion. Not only do Israeli figures cast doubt on claims that the vast majority of fatalities are non-combatants, but a careful review of Palestinian sources also raises doubts.
Analyses of the casualties listed in the daily reports published by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, a Gaza-based organization operating under Hamas rule, indicate that young males ages 17 to 30 make up a large portion of the fatalities, and a particularly noticeable spike occurs between males ages 21 to 27, a pattern consistent with the age distribution typically found among combatants and military conscripts. Palestinian sources attempt to conceal this discrepancy with their public message by labeling most of these young men as civilians. Only a minority is identified as members of armed groups. As a result, the PCHR calculates civilian fatalities at 82% as of July 26. PCHR provides the most detailed casualty reports of the various Palestinian agencies from Gaza that provide figures to the media and to international organizations like the UN. Its figures closely match those of the Hamas-run Gazan Health Ministry and other groups.
Free Gaza Column: Rid it of Hamas
Say Islamic Jihad replaced Hamas tomorrow. Would we be able to tell the difference? How would its rhetoric be more genocidal, its propaganda more manipulative, its aims more maximalist, its tactics more barbaric than what Israel experiences now? Would Islamic Jihad have two Palestinian Mickey Mouses exhorting schoolchildren to kill Jews, rather than one?
It’s the same argument made against intervention in Syria: The devil we know is better than the devil we don’t. So for three years America has done nothing. And look at what’s happened: We now have to worry about both devils.
Yes, there would be costs to regime change in the Gaza Strip. But the choice is not between a costly policy and a cost-free one. The choice is between the costs of removing a terrorist group from power and the costs of leaving it injured but able to fight another day. To prevent a fourth war, to bolster ties with the Sunni powers, to improve the chances of a two-state solution, to help the Palestinians, above all to secure Israel, the decision is clear. Destroy Hamas. End the war. Free Gaza.
Pillay's dastardly 'doublethink'
"It is completely unconscionable that the proportionality and precaution that international law requires is being ignored," Pillay declared. "We cannot allow impunity. We cannot allow this lack of accountability to go on."
Indeed.
Had she said the above about Hamas, she would have been doing her job. Instead, the person charged with promoting and policing global human rights has been actively abetting global jihad. Go figure.
But George Orwell would not have been the least bit surprised.
"The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation," he wrote in his prescient novel, 1984. "These contradictions are not accidental, nor do they result from ordinary hypocrisy: they are deliberate exercises in doublethink."
Fear and trembling: Western media and Hamas
Occasionally, though, the truth slips out, often almost accidentally. Take for example the July 15 story in the Washington Post, headlined, “While Israel held its fire, the militant group Hamas did not.” In the seventh paragraph we suddenly read that the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City had “become a de facto headquarters for Hamas leaders, who can be seen in the hallways and offices.”
This is reported almost in passing, without further analysis. It seem neither the journalist nor his editors realized the enormity of this information. The leadership of one of the warring parties is hiding in a hospital, a clear war crime validating Israeli accusations. But instead of this becoming headline news, triggering further reporting by other journalists, we get nothing but silence.
Or take this July 8, New York Times story, “Israel Warns Gaza Targets by Phone and Leaflet.” In one of the rare instances the media bothered to detail to what extraordinary length Israel goes to protect Palestinian civilians, Gaza resident Salah Kaware tells the reporter that he received a personal call from Israel urging him to leave the building.
The second paragraph contains this bombshell: “’Our neighbors came in to form a human shield,’” he said, with some even going to the roof to prevent a bombing.”
With one hand behind our back
Yet there is no evidence since Oslo (1993) that largesse bestowed upon the Palestinians moderates their political goals or behavior.
The additional hallucination is the nonsensical belief, now being revived in some left-wing corners, that Mahmoud Abbas and his so-called Palestinian Authority can be Israel’s salvation.
Abbas is part of the problem, not the solution, as the past decade has shown over and over again. His “security services” cannot guarantee Israel’s security, neither in the Jordan Valley nor on the Samarian mountaintops overlooking Ben-Gurion Airport nor at the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
Until this country’s leadership rids itself of the hallucinatory belief that a Palestinian state in the West Bank or Gaza is going to rescue Israel from its security and diplomatic dilemmas, it is not going to make hard-nosed decisions about using the military to truly rout and/or deter the Palestinian terrorist armies on our borders.
Clifford May: Israel must endure the world’s slander, and end the Hamas threat
In recent days, demonstrators in a list of Western cities have targeted not just Israeli embassies but synagogues — seven in Paris alone — as well as shops and other properties owned by Jews. In Boston, there were shouts of “Jews back to Birkenau,” and “Drop dead, you Zio-nazi whores.”
Imagine the outrage if French Jews, in response to a terrorist attack against Israelis, were to storm a mosque in Paris, or if Italian Catholics, in response to the Islamic State’s persecution of Iraqi Christians, threw stones at Islamic worshippers in Rome.
“The world is a mess,” former U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright mused last weekend. Among the primary reasons: Bellicose, supremacist, jihadist ideologies, movements and regimes have arisen from within the decreasingly diverse Muslim world. Hamas is such a regime, participates in such a movement, and subscribes to such an ideology — its Charter is explicit in this regard as well.
Western nations cannot make peace with jihadists. They can attempt to appease them but doing so only serves to reinforce the impression that they are weak horses. Israelis have few options — none of them appealing. Some, however, are worse than others, as I suspect most Israelis don’t need me to tell them.
When The Obvious Is Oblivious
Now, the world has proof Hamas created a network of tunnels leading from Gaza into Israel. The underground tunnels are designed for kidnapping and pursuing mass murder of innocent Israelis. The world also has undeniable proof that Hamas forces their own citizens to serve as human shields in the line of fire against the Israeli Defense Forces. This wretched, cowardly and cold-hearted abuse of human beings is nefariously designed to gain sympathy from a disgraced biased media. And just as frightening and pathetic as the revolting act of Islamic terrorism is the support of the thousands who should know the obvious but prefer to be oblivious when defining the lines between good and evil.
How could all those people across the globe, let alone here in the U.S.? In Florida, Texas, California and New York they march in support of terror shouting ugly venomous anti-Semitic diatribes not heard by most people since the Nazis almost succeeded in exterminating the Jewish population of Europe a mere seven decades ago. The Arab propaganda, incitement and lies are without limit, boundless and threatening. The mind-numbing vociferous blood libel against Jews across the world is a startling reminder of that dark era not so long ago.
Israel, a besieged small country of freedom and protectorate of individual rights for all its citizens is now fighting for its survival against nothing more or less than bloodthirsty terrorists whom too many inexplicably support. But two things are obvious; Israel is justified in her defense against this barbaric terrorist organization. And the other point is obvious; history proves good will defeat evil. Just as Nazism met its destructive end, so too will Hamas – and not soon enough.
Sayeh Hassan: Hamas is a threat to Palestinians
Many who have watched the conflict over the past few weeks have made the fundamental error of viewing it as a national struggle between Israelis versus Palestinians. In reality, an extremist segment of the Palestinian leadership – Hamas along with other terror groups – has effectively hijacked the Palestinian national movement in the name of Islamism.
The agenda isn’t about securing Palestinian rights or opposing Israeli policies; it’s about securing an Islamic state and opposing Israel’s existence. The vision offered by Hamas, and paid for by Iran, cannot be detached from what has happened in Iraq and Syria, and the ongoing battle between Sunni jihadis and Shia jihadis across the region.
Having lived under the sort of regime Hamas intends to create in Gaza, I know firsthand that Hamas is foremost a threat to the Palestinians themselves. And I know that, while Israelis may be Tehran’s sworn enemy, the Palestinian people are nothing more than pawns in the radical scheme of Iran’s ayatollahs.
Geneva Convention IV (1949) for Dummies….
This short (and horribly simplified) entry is a brief summary of the pertinent points of the Geneva Convention of 1949. It must be pointed that Israel is not a signatory to Protocols I, II, III of the Geneva Convention. There are those who differ with the assessment I have laid out above, and I must admit the erroneous assumption the writer on this piece (The laws of war — Gaza and Israel; Hamas and IDF ) shows how a simple error in outlining the Parties to the Gaza conflict leads the writer to believe that Israel alone, is bound by the Convention as the Palestinian Authority is not attacking Israel. He also says this is a non-international war, yet he at one point refers to the PA as the “State of Palestine”. He also ignores the Hamas/PA “unity government, announced publicly a few days before the 3 lads were kidnapped and murdered. By partnering with Hamas, this means the ruling authority of Gaza is attacking Israel. Not complicated, a simple error, that leads to a totally incorrect assessment.
Should Americans Feel Guilt For “Disproportionate” Casualties in WWII?
Of all the stupid and malicious arguments against Israel’s self-defense war in Gaza the most ridiculous of them all involves the purportedly “disproportionate” nature of the conflict. According to this charge, the indisputable fact that more than 1,000 Palestinians have died in the fighting while Hamas has succeeded in killing “only” 60 Israelis somehow disgraces the Jewish State for brutal, bloodthirsty policies.
Why does Israel’s success at protecting its citizens count as an indictment of their cruelty while the Hamas success at sacrificing hundreds of their own civilians as human shields qualify them for virtuous victimhood?
To place the issue in historical perspective it would be worthwhile to recall America’s utterly one-sided war against Japan between 1941 and 1945. The Japanese lost more than 3 million people in fighting the USA, including an estimated one million civilians. Meanwhile, total American losses in the Pacific Theatre remained well below 200,000, with virtually all of them military personnel.
Hamas, ISIL, and Boko Haram Wage the Same Islamic Jihad. So Why Does U.S. Policy Treat Them Differently?
Hamas. ISIL. Boko Haram. Many know that these terror groups for their brutality. However many may not know they are also bound together by the common rule of Shariah Law.
This system of governing condones a wide variety of abuses. Sharia-ist men are righteously entitled to own women and girls as sex slaves. Men or women of any culture or religion who refuse to submit to their version of Islam are subject to fines, imprisonment, or murder.
A quick primer: Shariah Law is not associated with the Prophet Muhammad. And it is found nowhere in the Koran. Rather, it was written hundreds of years after the death of Muhammad by power hungry men eager to control the Prophet’s followers for political gain. This was the beginning of Sharia-ism, the political movement of Radical Islam.
Proportionality? For Whom?
The day may come when Israel throws up its hands in despair and dismay and decides that its warning measures that endanger its soldiers, which they do, are not worth it, because Israel gets no credit for them.
Though it would be most un-Israeli behavior, despite the outlandish charges—on that day of exasperation, the Israeli military might plow through Gaza with no regard for civilian casualties, killing tens of thousands—just as Truman did in Japan, just as the U.S. did for the most part in Iraq.
It could happen if world bodies, journalists and columnists continue to parrot the “proportionality” mantra without thinking about what they’re writing.
Never Again: Jews Don’t Need Lessons in Morality From John Prescott
While his concentration camp comparison is contemptible, the “they-of-all-people” argument – the suggestion that Jews, having faced unimaginable persecution during the Holocaust, should know better than anyone not to be oppressors – is arguably much, much worse.
As Howard Jacobson argued, about critics who lecture Jews on their sub-par post-Shoah morality:
“[For such people] the Holocaust becomes an educational experience from which Jews were ethically obliged to graduate summa cum laude, Israel being the proof that they didn’t.”
But, I think the most eloquent refutation of such criticism leveled at Jews was written by Chas Newkey-Burden, who argued that those who employ the “they of all people” argument are essentially saying that, following the systematic extermination of six million, it is Jews, and not the anti-Semites, who have lessons to learn – that it is Jews, not the anti-Semites, who need to clean up their act.
To put it simply, Jews certainly do not need lessons in morality from John Prescott.
UK Politician Abuses the Holocaust to Attack Israel
John Prescott was formerly the UK’s Deputy Prime Minister during the Labour government of 1997-2007 and is now a member of the House of Lords.
Back in 2001 on the campaign trail, Prescott was hit by an egg thrown by a protester. In response, he grabbed the protester and punched him during an unedifying scuffle. This is the man who now lectures Israel about proportionality in an outrageous opinion piece in the tabloid Sunday Mirror.
Among the literary punches leveled at Israel, Prescott abuses the Holocaust:
Lord "No Brain" piles in against Israel
The worst thing about Prescott's diatribe is its manifest hypocrisy. He was a key figure in the Labour government's decision to launch the 2003 war in Iraq. He will know that a vastly larger number of Iraqi combatants were killed compared to British troops. He will also know that tens of thousands of civilians died in this war, many the (accidental) victims of coalition action.
Leaving aside the rights and wrongs of this conflict, who is he to lecture Israel on taking military action? Did he condemn the 'disproportionate' casualty count in Iraq or accuse the British army of war crimes when civilians were inadvertently attacked, in some cases because they were used as human shields? It is appalling that he can have such a moral blind spot.
Unlike his former boss, Tony Blair, John Prescott shows that he barely understands the dynamics of the Middle East conflict. Yet he does demonstrate that the demonisation of Israel, far from being a fringe phenomenon, is firmly part of the political mainstream.
Letter to my MP about the Gaza crisis and the new funding going to Hamas
In the light of the evidence I am astonished to hear today that the Government is rewarding "Gaza" with yet more millions of pounds of British cash. If that money stood a chance of going to the genuinely needy civilians of Gaza then I would not have a problem. But every penny that goes to Gaza from charities or in aid goes either to Hamas directly or through UNWRA which is 100% staffed by Hamas people or people approved by Hamas. That is why they were able to build one of the world's the most sophisticated network of tunnels under the whole of Gaza (some of which
lead two kilometres into Israel) for the sole objective of murdering Israeli civilians. Just the tunnels that are known of so far are estimated to have cost over $1billion. All that was funded by aid money and much of the concrete was actually provided by Israel after the "International Community" forced Israel to do so 'to help build the civilian infrastructure".
German Jews Warned To 'Hide Your Jewishness'
Knoblauch, who is now the president of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria, said: "What we're witnessing is the most difficult and most threatening time since 1945. There are constant insults and hate slogans by phone, but also via e-mail. The mailboxes flows."
She added that Jew-hatred is back in Germany and it must never be accepted: "I could never have imagined that we would have to experience such a thing in Germany again. Unrestrained, the Jew-baiting in our country has reached a new level. And it's time for all those responsible to ask: 'What must we do to protect Jewish citizens?'"
Knobloch also spoke about the lack of support for German Jews from her non-Jewish neighbors: "I do not hear the cry: 'That's it!' We long for a broad front of resistance against this Jew-baiting. But the masses are silent. He who is silent now, affirms what happens."
Jon Stewart: Israel 'Running Out Of Sh*t To Blow Up'
Leading into his slanderous insults, Stewart highlighted the recent 72-hour cease-fire deal brokered between Hamas and Israel, a cease-fire the comedian celebrated shortly before cutting to a CNN report suggesting Israel only accepted the cease-fire to "restock" its ammunition supplies.
"They're just running out of sh*t to blow up," Stewart said, "maybe what happened here is the diplomats tackled Israel while they were reloading."
Stewart then professed false hope the United States will take the chance to make this peace deal work only to have his false hope thwarted by cutting to yet another CNN report saying the United States will resupply Israel with "120 millimeter mortars and grenades." Stewart did not take the news lightly, throwing his hands up in the air while expressing faux outrage.
"We had this," Stewart exclaimed! "Why are we giving them more with the blowing...Guys we cannot be Israel's rehab sponsor and its drug dealer. It's not going to work. Just say 'no'."
NBC Reports on Terror Israelis Face from Hamas Tunnels
Correspondent Martin Fletcher showed viewers what it was like inside one of the “dozens” of tunnels Hamas uses to kill and kidnap Israelis, walking inside one that was six feet high, two feet wide and equipped with electricity and telephones. They caused one Israeli he interviewed to describe being nearly nauseous from her anxiety.
“We can live with the shelling, but not with the threat of tunnels,” she said.
Fletcher also reported on Israeli fears of envisioning a Hamas fighter springing out to hurt or kill them if the tunnels weren’t destroyed.
“There’s always fear of rockets, and now the tunnels. Will Hamas fighters suddenly pop out of the ground?” he asked.
NBC: Israelis face terror from Hamas tunnels

National Writers Union Shills for Hamas
Today, the NWU has about 1,200 members. It is simply no longer the force for writers it once was and as a result, it is struggling to maintain relevance. Predictably enough, one way it has struggled to achieve this relevance and energize its base is by attacking Israel. It's a strategy that the leaders of mainline churches adopted during the last decade.
On July 29, 2014, the NWU posted an article by its president Larry Goldbetter condemning Israel that states in part: “As of this writing, more than 700 Palestinians have been killed, almost all civilians. Mosques, schools, and medical centers have been destroyed. Thirty-two Israelis have been killed, almost all soldiers.”
What Goldbetter omits from his condemnation is that mosques schools and medical centers that have been hit have been used by Hamas to store weapons and as staging grounds for attacks against Israel. The Washington Post reports that Shifa Hospital has “become a de facto headquarters for Hamas leaders, who can be seen in the hallways and offices.”
So far, there have been three documented instances of UN schools being used to store Hamas rockets.
NYT answers why not publishing photos of Hamas fighters
Here’s what Eileen Murphy, the Times’ vice president for corporate communications, says:
"Our photo editor went through all of our pictures recently and out of many hundreds, she found 2 very distant poor quality images that were captioned Hamas fighters by our photographer on the ground. It is very difficult to identify Hamas because they don’t have uniforms or any visible insignia; our photographer hasn’t even seen anyone carrying a gun.
I would add that we would not withhold photos of Hamas militants. We eagerly pursue photographs from both sides of the conflict, but we are limited by what our photographers have access to."

Now, I’m no war reporter. It’s a risk I’m not willing to take, and I commend those who do. So I’m hesitant to question the work of reporters in Gaza right now.
But here’s what I don’t get: With the hundreds of journalists there, including numerous photojournalists with experience covering bloody conflicts in Syria, Ukraine, Iraq and Afghanistan, how is it that they aren’t able to get any images of Palestinians fighting the Israelis?
CNN's Martin Savidge Supports Hamas Claims on Tunnels
The correspondent's understanding of Hamas is shallow and illogical if he truly believes that the video provides "compelling" evidence that Hamas' tunnels are legitimate war tactics.
Hamas has consistently targeted civilians inside Israel with suicide bombings and other terror attacks as part and parcel of its mission to kill Jews, destroy the Jewish State and wage jihad against civilians. Any claim that Hamas is fighting Israel's "occupation" is belied by the continued targeting of Jews well within Israel's pre-67 borders.
Hamas' charter proclaims that its ultimate mission–"no matter how long it takes"-- is to "fight the Jews and kill them" and to replace the Jewish state with an Islamic caliphate.
Journalists Fearing Retaliation From Hamas Tell of Gaza Horror On Return Home
With the mainstream American and International Press desperately looking to find a moral equivalency between the U.S.-deemed terror organization Hamas and the State of Israel, media reports have been quick to point the finger at the Jewish State for Palestinian civilian causalities, especially the tragic deaths of children in Gaza.
But journalists who haves left the Hamas-controlled territory – no longer fearing retaliation from the militant group – are confirming Israel’s claims that Hamas is operating out of hospitals and firing rockets from civilian neighborhoods – using their citizens as human shields – killing their fellow Palestinians when rocket attacks don’t reach Israel and detonate in Gaza.
The self-inflicted massacre at Shijaiyah
I decided to not wait until the Israel Defense Forces released an official statement about what happened in the Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City on July 30, 2014. You’ll see for yourself that the self-inflicted massacre at Shijaiyah should never have happened. Hamas is entirely to blame.
Every news outlet on the planet is calling this “an air strike on a crowded/busy market street” and a deliberate followup attack on the ambulances that came to help. Both accusations are entirely bogus.
A self-inflicted massacre
That burning warehouse was full of Hamas rockets. The series of concussions you hear are secondary explosions, not the primary explosions of aerial munitions. When you bomb a warehouse full of fueled rockets, each rocket will explode separately. What happened was the empty marketplace next to the burning warehouse became the set for a Pallywood production, but then the rockets started exploding, killing and maiming the people who tried to exploit this situation.
I know they’re secondary explosions because they’re causing no destruction. No fountains of earth or clouds of dust appear with each loud BOOM! And the Palestinians also sent out a photo of a damaged rocket cone, calling it an “unexploded Israeli missile.”
It’s not. And it’s not a drop tank either. The fact that it’s unpainted means it’s part of a Hamas rocket.
Huffington Post Takes its Propaganda War Against Israel Into Outer Space
On July 24, 2014 the Simon Wiesenthal Center again condemned The Huffington Post, this time for “taking the art of lying and self-delusion to new depths,” in regards to its latest act of anti-Israel bias and incitement. That incident was merely the latest in a long string of exposes by the SWC, Huff-Watch, HuffPostMonitor and others of HuffPost’s pathological incitement of hatred against Israel and Jews, and whitewashing or legitimizing the Palestinian narrative.
On July 25, however, HuffPost broke the bonds of gravity and took its propaganda war against Israel into the heavens – literally. Specifically, it gave top coverage to a “news” story that had been debunked by multiple sources 24 hours earlier – that the explosions and rocket fire in Gaza are so massive, that they can be seen from space.
How many Jews must die for Israel to claim the moral high ground?
Here’s the latest Peter Brooks cartoon published at The Times (of London)
First, note that the pile of dead Israeli bodies shows a mix of soldiers and civilians, while the Palestinian pile seems to depict only civilians. Evidently, Brooks is uncritically accepting figures provided by the Hamas run Gaza Health Ministry (cited uncritically by the media) claiming that up to 80% of those killed in Gaza have been civilians, rather alternative figures suggesting that the number may end up being closer to 50% civilians.
However, more interesting than his statistical assumption is his specious moral calculus, one which seems to rest upon the argument that the disparity in casualties between Gaza and Israel demolishes Israel’s claim to the moral high ground. This faulty assumption is refuted by examining the disparity in casualties in other just wars, such as the Kosovo Campaign, in which NATO forces suffered no casualties during their 77 days of bombings, while over 500 Yugoslav civilians and another 500 or so combatants were killed.
Chris McGreal: The worst Guardian journalist
Interestingly, the claim in the tweet – that the Israeli Prime Minister once led a rally under the banner “death to Arabs”, and the broader argument that this wish to kill Arabs motivated his decision to attack Hamas in early July, was repeated in a July 31st Guardian op-ed by McGreal titled ‘American media’s new pro-Israel bias: the same party line at the wrong time‘.
The banner, at this anti-Yasser Arafat rally, reads, in Hebrew, “Death to the master murderer“, referring of course to Arafat, and the English to the right (though admittedly unclear) reads, based on multiple media reports at the time, “Death to Arafat“. It didn’t read, as McGreal claims, “Death to Arabs”, but “Death to Arafat” – the Palestinian leader dubbed the father of modern terror due to his role in scores of deadly Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians. (Indeed, Arafat’s war on Israeli mean, women and children continued in the 90s and early 2000s’, even after the Oslo Agreement)
The Toronto Star's pathological anti-Israel bias
But the Toronto Star's report deceitfully, almost maliciously, characterized the pro-Israel rally as violent, though the scuffle was so small and so brief, it went unnoticed by all but a few of the attendees. Instead, The Star was fixated on giving the anti-Israel extremists prominence, particularly featuring a fanatic by the name of Yves Engler who showed up to hurl abuse at the pro-Israel demonstration.
The Star's David Rider reported that "Engler, an atheist from B.C. who said he has no ties to the conflict, called the event 'a pro-war rally dressed up with lots of talk about peace.' "
If The Star's reporter, or one of its fact-checkers had bothered to spend about 10 seconds doing a Google search, they would have instantly learned that Yves Engler, who "has no ties to the conflict," is a hard-core anti-Israel zealot who has written books accusing the Jewish state of apartheid. Another five seconds of looking would have showed them that Engler was removed from office as Vice President of Concordia University's student union for disrupting a speech by Israel's current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Jews Forbidden As Reporters
How many openly Jewish reporters are covering Gaza today on the ground there? Or for that matter, how many Jewish reporters are on the ground in other conflict-ridden areas in the Middle East: Libya, Iran, or Syria? I would venture to say that the answer would be the same as the amount of Jews in those countries: precisely zero. The same goes for homosexuals and others deemed undesirable in many areas of the Middle East. Imagine the uproar among the liberal press if Israel forbid Muslims or Christians from reporting from or in Israel.
There is, as usual, the simple despicable double standard: Jews are simply forbidden as reporters in many of these regions (and for good reason as their safety would be in danger). Why is that story ignored? As the media claims "double standard", why ignore the fact that Jews are simply forbidden in the Middle East? This fight isn't about settlements, it is really quite simple. The Palestinians seek a Middle East free of a Jewish state.
Why the Media Are Freaking Out over Israel
The reason for the hysterics is that Israel is refusing to play by the usual script. The media are used to a familiar pattern: terrorists attack Israel, Israel fights back for a while, a major civilian casualty event happens, the U.S. pulls its support, and Israel stops whatever it is doing. That pattern has been the same across Republican and Democratic administrations--from the Second Lebanon War to Operations Cast Lead.
This time, however, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ignored White House exhortations as well as international criticism, and has vowed to continue to destroy Hamas terror tunnels, with or without a ceasefire. The media are incredulous: Israel has not just defied the UN and the U.S., but it has defied them. And the media are not used to anyone pushing back--least of all Israel, which journalists believe can be bullied with impunity.
Joe Scarborough Turns On Israel: These Attacks are ‘Asinine,’ ‘Indiscriminate’
Apparently Scarborough believes that Hamas is nothing more than a “power hungry corrupt people” that hates Israel, rather than the terrorist group many Western nations – including the United States – have labeled them. The Morning Joe host went so far as to say that Israel “has made them not only relevant again, but champions of the Palestinian people.” There was no mention of Hamas’s role in starting the conflict and no mention of their use of human shields to protect their caches of rockets, including their habit of muscling their way into UN hospitals and schools to turn them into weapons depots.
Morning Joe contributor and Republican strategist Nicolle Wallace offered a slight rebuttal, stating the obvious fact that Israel would “quibble” with the notion that their air strikes on Gaza are indiscriminate.
Scarborough then refused to back down from his point, once again asserting that the attacks were indiscriminate. He questioned just how long America could continue to support the state of Israel if these air strikes continued: “But you know what? The United States of America, you know, we cannot be associated with this if this continues. This is so bad, not only for the Israeli people, but for us.” (h/t MtTB)
Joe Scarborough's False Argument: Whatever Replaces Hamas Will Be Worse
Joe Scarborough advanced a popular meme of critics of Israel on Thursday's Morning Joe program when he said, "As much as we all hate Hamas, what is going to replace Hamas is going to be much worse. It's going to be a radical Islamist group instead of power-hungry corrupt people that despise Israel." Scarborough omitted that Hamas is a radical Islamist group with the stated goal of a worldwide Muslim caliphate living under Sharia law. (h/t MtTB)
NY Magazine’s contribution to the propaganda war against Israel
This “lone cell” or “rogue” group theory was not news in late July — there had been much press coverage of the possible lack of central Hamas command involvement for weeks. For example, in late June Al Monitor documented the Hamas group involved and referred to it as “rogue,” Accused kidnappers are rogue Hamas branch.
Whether rogue or not, a “lone cell” or not, such speculation was not new or news at the time of the NY Magazine article.
It’s only when NY Magazine converted the alleged lack of a central Hamas (Gaza) command directive into a word game of whether “Hamas” was involved that the anti-Israel propagandists had the headline they wanted.
But there was no basis in NY Magazine’s report or sources for claiming no Hamas involvement at all.
Channel 4's Jon Snow in Biased, Weepy Gaza Rant
Channel 4's Jon Snow abandons broadcasting impartiality and indulges his left-wing guilt with a long, weepy rant about the situation in Gaza.
Only for a fleeting moment does Snow admit any wrongdoing on behalf of Hamas, the dictatorial, terrorist regime that runs the Palestinian-inhabited area.
Instead, Snow reserves his ire for Israel and the United States.
Update: Daily Beast Columnist Apologizes for Saying Conservatives 'Love Seeing Arabs Get Killed’
Late last week Daily Beast columnist Dean Obeidallah tweeted out his belief that conservatives "love seeing Arabs get killed." Just hours after Breitbart News reported the tweet Tuesday afternoon, Obeidallah deleted the tweet in question and apologized:
Saudi king condemns Gaza war — but not Israel
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah condemned the war in Gaza Friday as a “collective massacre” and a crime against humanity, but stopped short of directly condemning Israel for its ground campaign against Hamas.
Unlike past Gaza wars, including the devastating 2008 offensive, the Saudi monarch did not condemn Israel outright for the conflict, which officials say has killed at least 1,500 Palestinians, mainly civilians, since it began on July 8. Israel says 63 of its soldiers and three civilians in Israel have been also killed. It says hundreds of the Gaza dead are Hamas gunmen.
Instead King Abdullah appeared to suggest that both Israel and Hamas were responsible, saying that the violence in Gaza has led to “various forms” of terrorism whether from groups, organizations or states.
Block the Boat Interruptus: Blockade of Zim Ship at Oakland Docks Postponed
If anything, the enemies of Israel excel at self-promoting. A proposed plan by Islamists and anarchists to march on the Oakland port to prevent a Zim ship from off-loading was widely publicized, with the San Jose Mercury news and other media outlets picking up the story. Zim is one of the leading carriers in the global container shipping industry, and was targeted because of its close ties with Israel. The Zim fleet’s illustrious history began by transporting refugees from war-torn Europe back home to the land of Israel.
This tactic was tried before in 2010, with mixed results. The Father’s Day action in 2010 ultimately claimed to have prevented a Zim liner from off-loading, though the claim of ‘victory” was issued well before the ship had actually docked. Again, the mainstream media was complicit in the spread of misinformation, printing verbatim press releases issued by activists.
Israeli show cancelled at Edinburgh Fringe
Anti-Israel protestors have forced the cancellation of ‘The City’, a show produced by Jerusalem-based Incubator Theatre, and part-funded by the Israeli government. The campaign was led by several leading Scottish writers, including Alaisdair Gray and Liz Lochhead.
"Dozens of members of the Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign showed up to picket the performance, demonstrating against Israel’s policies in Gaza. It is understood that up to 15 other shows were affected by the noise from the protests with some forced to offer refunds."
Anti-Israel Protester Proudly Proclaims Palestine Kidnaps Israeli Citizens
In the course of explaining how the story of kidnapped and murdered Israeli teens Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaer, and Eyal Yifrah was entirely fabricated, this pro-Palestine protester offered the proof that Hamas always claims responsibility when they kidnap people.
"When did ever any Palestinian organization kidnap somebody and they never claimed it? They always do. They're not afraid. If they do it, they'll come out and say it."
Spanish Anti-Semitism is Alive and Well
"There is no territory more occupied than the body of a Palestinian woman, or a strip... severed by the violent imposition of the superstitions of Allah and the followers of Mohammed. We had better not even mention the situation of Palestinian homosexuals. This selective outrage by top progressives when it involves Israel is indeed anti-Semitism." — Alberto Moyano, Spanish newspaper editor.
"It is possible legitimately to criticize Israel. But it smells fishy when all of the blame is attributed to Israel, without even mentioning the small detail that a terrorist and jihadist group that rules Gaza has infringed on every conceivable humanitarian principle, by using civilians as human shields, and launching missiles from apartment blocks, while their leaders are living comfortable in Qatar, guests of a sheik." — Ángel Mas, Spanish analyst.
There has been virtually no public outcry whatsoever in Spain over the deaths of more than 160,000 people during three years of fighting in Syria; the decimation of ancient Christian communities at the hands of Islamists in Iraq; the kidnapping of 300 girls by Islamists in Nigeria; or the downing of a civilian passenger plane in Ukraine.
"The most anti-Semitic people are supposedly the most educated and well-informed." — Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs report on anti-Semitism in Spain.
More Backpedaling: Javier Bardem Clarifies His Israel Slam
The power couple signed a statement earlier this week that decried Israel's military actions against Hamas, equating the efforts to genocide. Cruz released a statement yesterday attempting to do some damage control. Now, it's Bardem's turn, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Bardem, through his representative, released a four-paragraph statement on Thursday. "While I was critical of the Israeli military response, I have great respect for the people of Israel and deep compassion for their losses," the actor wrote. "I am now being labeled by some as anti-Semitic, as is my wife — which is the antithesis of who we are as human beings. We detest anti-Semitism as much as we detest the horrible and painful consequences of war."
An Open Letter to Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem
I am writing this not as a journalist, but as a regular person, an Israeli citizen, in response to the letter you signed condemning Israel for ‘genocide’ in Gaza. I am, like many around the world, a big fan of your work. You’re both very talented, and two of the most gorgeous people in Hollywood.
But let me be clear. While you’re sitting in your cushy living room, your family members—and especially your children—are not running to bomb shelters several times a day while thousands or rockets rain down on them, not just in the past few weeks, but for years. My family is. Even when the Iron Dome system is neutralizing those rockets, shrapnel can still fall and cause injuries. Your babies don’t have to worry about that, nor do they have to worry about a terrorist crawling out of a tunnel and butchering them in their sleep.
Amsterdam woman assaulted over Israeli flag
A woman was assaulted for displaying an Israeli flag from her balcony in Amsterdam, in the second such incident reported this week.
Seraphina Verhofstadt suffered a concussion, fractured ribs and contusions to her face in an attack Tuesday on the street in eastern Amsterdam by men who called her “bloody Jew,” the AT5 television channel reported Thursday. They also threw a burning stick at her and hit her in her stomach. AT5 reported Verhofstadt is Jewish.
Verhofstadt sprayed her attackers with red paint from a can that she began carrying with her because she had received threats in the past by young men who said they would slit her throat.
Coldplay, U2 Producer Brian Eno: Israel's Attacks on Hamas Equal 'Ethnic Cleansing'
Music lovers may not know the name Brian Eno, but they know his music.
The veteran producer has helped some of the biggest acts in modern music, thanks to his collaborations with U2, Coldplay and David Byrne.
The producer posted an open letter on Byrne's web site this week blasting the U.S. for supporting Israel in its current offensive against Hamas, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The letter went much further in its criticism of the Jewish state.
Pro-Palestinian Protests Turn Violent in UK; Anti-Semitism on Rise
As in many European countries, the United Kingdom has seen many pro- and anti-Israeli protests over the course of Operation Protective Edge. While the rallies supporting Israel are about peace for people on both sides, the pro-Palestinian demonstrations are filled with vitriol and in some cases violence. All of this has been accompanied by a surge in anti-Semitic attacks throughout Britain.
Police in Cardiff, Wales, are searching for three men after a protest there turned violent. Video footage makes clear how participants left the marchers to attack onlookers.
In one protest in London, a man was seen carrying a sign which stated “Hitler you were right!”
Pro-Palestinian Thugs Threaten Israeli Store in Manchester
Owners and staff at Kedem have received hundreds of phone calls - at one point one every five minutes, according to JC - from callers threatening to burn down the store and beat or kill its staff.
Facebook posts express sentiments like "I hope he burns in hell like the rest of the Jews," in a reference to the store's owners, or other threats to decimate the store.
Hundreds of Palestinian supporters rallied outside the shop on Saturday, with one later arrested for making a Nazi salute at the pro-Israel counter-protest.
Meanwhile, pro-Palestinians told the Manchester Evening News that their intentions are to start (or expand) a cultural phenomenon against Israel.
“I’m part of a movement that’s trying to show the British people and hopefully all communities that they need to get rid of the Israeli state," Pia Feigh, a member of Jews For Justice for Palestinians, stated. "They need to put pressure on their Government, their companies and companies like Kedem.”
After Preston, Now Controversial Mayor Of Tower Hamlets Flies Palestinian Flag Over Town Hall
The Mayor of the east London borough of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman, has flown the Palestinian flag over his town hall in an act of solidarity with Gaza. Rahman proudly posted a photo of the flag on his twitter account along with the message "Palestinian flag flying at Town Hall in solidarity with #Gaza and in support of a #ceasefire & peace."
The flag has now been taken down, with a council spokesman suggesting the removal of the flag was a "perceived act of vandalism". It had already been condemned this morning by campaign group YadbYadUK, who said it was "incitement and danger to the Jewish community".
Despite the outrage of Jews and Christians in the area, the move is likely to improve Rahman's chances of election. Since he was first elected in 2010, the Mayor has been accused of putting funding in Muslim groups and Mosques at the expense of other organisations that are aligned to other faiths or are secular.
Massive Attack make Gaza statement using headline stage at Longitude Festival
Award-winning band and veteran political activists Massive Attack used their headline slot at Longitude Festival this weekend to highlight their solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
The musicians played at Marlay Park, Dublin, on Sunday, kicking off their set with ‘Battlebox’ before using their backdrop to send out messages to the packed audience.
As the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) continues to bombard Gaza with air strikes while Hamas fires rockets into Israel, Massive Attack used its position to show its long-time support of Palestinian freedom.
A lit-up message behind the performers said: “Gaza has been ocupied [sic] or under restrictions since 1948.”
Toronto Rally against the Israeli Jews with Sid Ryan, CUPE Fred and NDP Communists
Another rally was held yesterday in Toronto with the demand to stop Israel’s actions against the Hamas terrorists in Gaza. The use of the phrase “against the Israeli Jews” in the title would probably cause a fierce reaction from the participants – after all, they’ve worked hard for years to master the little trick of attacking “Zionists” in public to distance themselves from the classical anti-Semitism. They even employ token Jews to enforce their point (like the kapos in the Warsaw ghetto under German control).
The situation reminds me of what Jesus said: “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” (Matthew 7:20) Regardless of how hard those people try to use the “anti-Zionist” trick, it is more and more difficult to hide their animosity against the Jews at large, which is the true nature of their views. Israel is the home of over 6,000,000 Jews and if all the demands of the demonstrators against the Jewish state are fulfilled, the latter would quickly disappear.
Daniel Pipes: How Islamic are Muslims?
Scheherazade S. Rehman and Hossein Askari of Georgetown University provide an answer in a 2010 article, "How Islamic are Islamic Countries?" In it, they establish the Islamic teachings and then calculate how well these are applied in 208 countries and territories. They posit four separate indices (economics, the law and governance, human and political rights, international relations); then they combine these into a single overall index, which they call the IslamicityIndex.
Perhaps surprisingly, the ten countries that top the list of Islamicity turn out to be, starting at the top, New Zealand, Luxemburg, Ireland, Iceland, Finland, Denmark, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Netherlands. The bottom ten are Mayotte, the West Bank and Gaza, Somalia, the Isle of Man, Eritrea, Sudan, the Channel Islands, Iraq, the Comoros, and Angola. Put differently, none of the top ten "Islamic" countries has a Muslim-majority, but in seven of the bottom ten, one-half or more of the population is Muslim.
Jewish groups file briefs in Jerusalem passport case
A number of Jewish groups have filed friend of the court briefs in a Supreme Court case considering whether Americans born in Jerusalem may list “Israel” as their birthplace on their passports.
Among the groups filing in recent days on behalf of Menachem Zivotofsky in his lawsuit against the US State Department are the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the Zionist Organization of America and the Louis D. Brandeis Center, a rights advocacy group.
The court in April said it would hear the appeal of a lower court decision that struck down a law passed by Congress in 2002 that would have allowed such a listing.
Israel delivers shocking blow to Bank of China terror victims' families case
New York Federal Court Judge Shira Scheindlin issued the ruling late Monday against the family of Daniel Wultz, with the ruling applying to another 22 families represented by Shurat Hadin – Israel Law Center.
The ruling is a significant blow to the case because the testimony of the agent, Shaya – a unique eyewitness to critical dealings with the bank – was considered a smoking gun that would prove the bank had known it was involved in terror financing.
It is surprising because until now, Scheindlin has issued several favorable rulings for terror victims’ families in both this and other cases, including implying at earlier dates that she might compel Shaya to testify.
$540K judgment for Chicago cop in anti-Semitic harassment case
A Jewish Chicago police officer was awarded a $540,000 judgment against a former superior who allegedly taunted him for years with anti-Semitic and racist remarks.
On Monday, a federal jury found in favor of Detlef Sommerfield, a German-Jewish immigrant who had accused retired Chicago Police Sgt. Lawrence Knasiak of calling him a “f*cking Jew boy,” waving a swastika at him, and engaging in other harassing behavior while Knasiak was Sommerfield’s superior between 2000 and 2007, according to a report by the Chicago Sun-Times.
The Outburst of Dutch Anti-Semitism and Anti-Israelism
The best way to make an interim assessment of the major aspects of the recent outburst of anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism in Europe is by focusing on a single country. The Netherlands serves as a good example of this for various disparate reasons. In France, for instance, the extreme violence against Jews, mainly by Muslims, overshadows all other aspects of Jew-hatred. It is there far more difficult to get a grip on its many aspects.
The non-selective massive immigration of Muslims in the Netherlands, like elsewhere in Europe, is the most negative event for Jews that has occurred in the post-war period.
The explosion of anti-Semitism in The Netherlands so far has mainly manifested itself in threats and hate on the internet. Physical hatred has also been seen on the streets. According to a source which deals with the safety of Jewish citizens cars in South Amsterdam have been vandalized with swastikas. Many Jewish families have removed their mezuzah – a roll of parchment which makes them identifiable as Jews – from their doorposts, in order to avoid becoming targets of violence. Various Jews have told media that they live in fear.
Dutch watchdog reports 17-year high of online anti-Semitism
Meldpunt Discriminatie Internet, or MDI, said the current volume of reports on punishable hate speech against Jews is unparalleled during the organization’s 17 years in existence, the AT5 television channel reported Monday.
“Usually, we get three to five reports [of incidents] per week, but now we have received 73 reports,” MDI cofounder Suzette Bronkhorst told AT5.
“We are talking about 200-300 incidents of anti-Semitic hate speech within 10 days,” Bronkhorst added. The jump is connected to Israel’s offensive in Gaza, she said, and largely consists of statements on Twitter.
Moroccan jailed for killing Jewish surgeon in Ukraine
A Moroccan man who killed a Jewish physician in Ukraine was sentenced to 15 years in jail after a court of appeals reversed his acquittal.
Shakeeb Otman from Casablanca was sent to jail on July 22 for the premeditated murder of Leon Fraifeld, an orthopedic surgeon from the city of Lviv in western Ukraine on Oct. 19, 2012.
Nano-sized propellers could revolutionize medicine
Nano-sized devices and robots that could be deployed inside the body to deliver medicine or clear out cholesterol would make medical treatment faster and more effective. The challenge is to deliver the devices to the right spot in the body. That would require a nano-sized propulsion system — and now that’s in the realm of the possible.
Researchers from the Technion and from two German institutions have come up with a nano-sized propeller that could, when attached to a device, make its way through the viscous materials that make up the human body, like blood and fat.
The derring-do of LightCyber CEO Gonen Fink
Gonen Fink made a daring career move after 12 groundbreaking years at Israel’s renowned Check Point Software Technologies. He founded Pythagoras Solar, an innovator of power-generating, energy-efficient windows.
Though Pythagoras won international attention and awards, the idea proved to be ahead of its time. Fink put the window on the back burner, dissolved the company and joined LightCyber, an Israeli company founded in 2011 to provide a new approach to protecting against cyber breaches.
Chutzpah, resilience and thinking out of the box: This is the skillset Fink absorbed during seven years in the elite intelligence unit of the Israel Defense Forces and as a strategic planning consultant to the Ministry of Defense.
Israel Among World Leaders in Cyber Defense
A new report confirms Israel’s role as one of the top cyber defense exporting countries in the world. According to the Israel National Cyber Bureau (INCB), Israel exported an astonishing $3 billion worth of cyber related products so far in 2014. This places Israel second only after the US in cyber export.
The number of Israeli cyber-defense companies stands at over 220. In early 2014, multinational players IBM, Cisco, EMC, Lockheed Martin RSA and Deutsche Telekom all announced plans to set up cyber-research facilities in CyberSpark, Israel’s new cyber-security technology park in Beersheva.