Sunday, August 03, 2014
Richard Kemp: Gaza's Civilian Casualties: The Truth Is Very Different
With few exceptions, reporters, commentators, and analysts unquestioningly accept the casualty statistics given by Gaza's Hamas-controlled medical authorities, who ascribe all deaths to the IDF. We have never seen so much as a glimpse of killed or wounded fighters.How Gaza became one big suicide bomb
Analysis of casualty details released by Qatar-based Al Jazeera indicate that so far most of those killed in Gaza have been young men of fighting age, not women, children or old people.
All Palestinian civilian casualties in this conflict result ultimately from Gaza terrorists' aggression against Israel, and Hamas's use of human shields — the most important plank of Hamas's war-fighting policy.
Gaza is a suicide bomb. It is rigged by its leaders to explode.Hamas's Blood-Drenched Cynicism
This is not a metaphor. It is a war crime. It makes the calculus of proportionality in the use of armed force by the Israeli Defence Forces complex and uncertain.
The Hamas use of suicide bombings is well-developed. A decade ago, it involved the leadership preparing vulnerable Arab individuals to end their lives by blowing up Jews in Israeli cities. The use of Hamas towns and local populations in their entirety as huge suicide bombs to kill Israeli soldiers drawn into them by repeated Hamas provocations is an innovation.
There is clear and abundant evidence of this strategy in leadership declarations of it and in the use of civilian shields, booby traps, refusal of humanitarian ceasefires and lack of civilian protections. In a single street last week, 19 of 28 buildings were found to be booby-trapped. More than 1000 improvised explosive devices have been used by Hamas in Gazan cities so far.
If, however, there is silver lining to the dark clouds hanging above Israel and Gaza it is the belated recognition – by Palestinians, other Arabs and credulous Westerners – that Hamas has nothing to offer Palestinians, Israelis and the region but death and destruction. Already blacklisted as a terror group by the UK, US and EU (for starters), Hamas has now lost its main backer in Iran (the terror group having sided against the Syrian government against Tehran’s wishes), and its Muslim Brotherhood ally that briefly ruled Egypt. Indeed, Egyptian media now denounce Hamas with vitriol once reserved only for Israel.Times of Israel Live Blog Ahead of funeral, PM calls Goldin ‘a great hero’; rockets fired at Tel Aviv
Even among Gazans themselves support for Hamas is plummeting. A new survey by a credible Palestinian pollster shows just 15% support Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Mashal, while an overwhelming 88% want the PA to take over administration of their enclave. Most striking, 70% believe Hamas should maintain a ceasefire with Israel in both Gaza and the West Bank.
Hamas has fired more than 2,000 rockets at Israel, sending millions of Israelis into bomb shelters, and is directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Gazans. As the Gaza fighting enters its third week, it should be clear that Hamas offers neither ‘resistance’ nor national liberation, but blood-drenched cynicism and despair.
The IDF late Saturday night confirmed that Givati Brigade officer Hadar Goldin, who according to initially assessments had been captured in Gaza on Friday morning in a Hamas attack, had been killed, and IDF Chief Rabbi Rafi Peretz and other officials broke the news to the family. Prime Minister Netanyahu announced earlier Saturday that the IDF would redeploy when it completes demolishing Hamas tunnels, but that the operation in Gaza would continue for as long as needed to ensure sustained calm for Israel. He indicated that Israel would not seek ceasefire agreements with Hamas, which he said deliberately breached a truce on Friday morning with the “pre-planned” attack in which Goldin and two other soldiers were killed. The deaths in Rafah brought the IDF toll to 64; three civilians have also been killed on the Israeli side. Gazan health officials put the death toll there at some 1,600. Israel says hundreds of those are Hamas fighters.
JPost Editorial: Red-carding Qatar
The Mouse that Roared was a 1955 literary satire which revolved around a tiny fictional duchy that ends up holding the world to ransom in midst of the Cold War. A sinister variation on yesteryear’s wacky theme appears to be enacted right now with diminutive Qatar – international terrorism’s single greatest bankroller – avidly wooed by the West and getting its own way.The one passage on the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict that the mainstream media will never print
It needs be stressed that Qatar, which sways democracies, is not remotely democratic and its leadership is unelected.
With 11,000 square kilometers, oil-glutted Qatar is about half little Israel’s size. Its native population numbers some 200,000, but it has more than 2 million foreign workers. They lack any civil rights and many of them toil under slave-like conditions.
Qatar has become a particular favorite of the Obama administration, which bolsters Qatari pretensions to parade as an intermediary between Israel and Hamas, regardless of the fact that Doha unequivocally backs Hamas and foots its bills.
Katz makes his argument largely based upon the words of the Western media and Arab leaders themselves during the time of Israel’s founding. Below is the relevant passage:Stand up and take notice
"The Arabs are the only declared refugees who became refugees not by the action of their enemies or because of well-grounded fear of their enemies, but by the initiative of their own leaders. For nearly a generation, those leaders have willfully kept as many people as they possibly could in degenerating squalor, preventing their rehabilitation, and holding out to all of them the hope of return and of “vengeance” on the Jews of Israel, to whom they have transferred the blame for their plight.
The fabrication can probably most easily be seen in the simple circumstance that at the time the alleged cruel expulsion of Arabs by Zionists was in progress, it passed unnoticed. Foreign newspapermen who covered the war of 1948 on both sides did, indeed, write about the flight of the Arabs, but even those most hostile to the Jews saw nothing to suggest that it was not voluntary.
In the three months during which the major part of the flight took place – April, May, and June 1948 – the London Times, at that time [openly] hostile to Zionism, published eleven leading articles on the situation in Palestine in addition to extensive news reports and articles. In none was there even a hint of the charge that the Zionists were, driving the Arabs from their homes."
The 900 people on the pro-Israel side of the street sang O Canada to start their event. There were three speakers: Sun columnist Tarek Fatah (a Muslim), Metis activist Ryan Bellerose (a Christian), and me (a Jew).As Israel withdraws troops from Gaza, a dilemma for Hamas
That’s Canada – people from various backgrounds united by our common values of peace, democracy, tolerance and freedom.
And on the other side, the new Nazis. Literally, chanting the Nazi slogan. That’s about as newsworthy a story as it gets. But there is a great effort in Canada – and around the world – to not notice things.
Two weeks ago, at the exact same location in Calgary, a massive mob of pro-Hamas protesters had another chant, “death to the Jews.” And they almost got their wish; about 50 of them attacked a handful of pro-Israel activists across the street, including several women, sending six Jews to hospital.
The IDF will most likely complete its redeployment along the Gaza border Sunday, after concluding the process of neutralizing the Hamas tunnels extending toward Israel. The IDF will not withdraw entirely from Gaza, but it will leave the populated areas and keep troops deployed in a narrow area inside the Palestinian territory.Rabbi Abraham Cooper: When will Europe stand up for the Jews?
This decision gives Hamas a certain legitimacy in the eyes of the Palestinian public to continue attacking the Israeli troops. But eventually, the IDF will pull out of those areas as well and then the organization will face a difficult dilemma – what should it do now?
On the one hand, the Gazan public is pressing Hamas more every day to hold its fire. The destruction in the Gaza Strip is unprecedented. This refers not only to the 1,700 Palestinians killed (including hundreds of gunmen) and more than 9,000 injured, but also to the inconceivable damage: the thousands of homes destroyed, the power cuts, the dearth of drinkable tap water, the hundreds of thousands of displaced. All these have made Gaza a place of great distress, desperate for a few days of quiet and rehabilitation. Therefore, an IDF withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip will harm Hamas’s legitimacy in the eyes of the Gazan public to continue the rocket fire and attacks. It’s possible the organization will be satisfied, in such a case, with firing a few rockets and releasing victory statements, and to transition bit by bit into an undeclared long-term ceasefire.
From the start, Hamas knew there was one battlefield in its asymmetrical genocidal war against the Jews it could win. No, not in the teeming alleyways of Gaza City, or the seething confines of the Jabalya Refugee camp, but on the broad boulevards of Paris, the ancient streets of Rome and even in the shadow of Amsterdam’s Anne Frank House.Saudi King Condemns Gaza Conflict, But Not Israel
For some three weeks Hamas has been providing “martyrs on demand” from Gaza to fill the 24-hour news cycles and social media platforms. The searing visuals of dead babies are more than enough to send young Arabs and Muslims into Europe’s streets, delivering Hamas’ genocidal message, hate and violence to The Enemy.
And “the enemy” is? Jews. Jews and their synagogues, their community centres, their kosher butcher shops, their religious leaders. But the hateful situation didn’t start with Hamas; they just heaped fuel on an already growing bonfire.
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah on Friday broke his silence on the Gaza conflict, which started in early July, by condemning the conflict and the inaction of the international community.Maher Defends Israel: 'It's a War Hamas Started … People Die in Wars'
“This [international] community, which has observed silently what is happening in the whole region, was indifferent to what is happening as if what is happening is not its concern,” Abdullah said in a statement on Saudi state-run television.
Despite describing the situation in Gaza as “war crimes against humanity,” the Saudi monarch stopped short of calling for action against Israel.
On his Friday HBO show, Bill Maher took on the Israeli-Hamas conflict by offering a point of view that antithetical to the view that Israel was the bad actor in that conflict.Auschwitz Guards Arrest Rabbi for Singing Jewish Songs
Maher argued that it is time to cut off nations dependent on the United States for defense funding, including NATO and Israel.
But Maher took issue with his guest Reza Aslan who charged Israel shouldn’t receive U.S. aid for its role in defending itself against hostile Palestinian groups. Maher pointed out the double standard, where a group like ISIS, which employs brutal tactics on civilians in Iraq, avoids the scorn of the world while Israel is pilloried the court of public opinion for civilians casualties in its conflict.
"It's a war," he said. It's a war that Hamas started and somehow when Israel reacts to this they have to do everything that doesn't kill any civilians. People die in wars. Now, I've said this before on this show, if the situation was reversed, Hamas would kill every single person in Israel. The reason why that is not happening is because they can't. Because they can't doesn't make them good, it makes them weak."
On Friday, August 1st, local police arrested Rabbi Rafi Ostroff, the leader of a group of visiting Australian and South African students, for singing the same songs Jews sang as they marched to their deaths. Security officials at Auschwitz I twice requested that the group cease their singing. Auschwitz-Birkenau officials again requested they cease singing and subsequently summoned police.Mark Steyn: Taking Sides in a New Middle East
Auschwitz-Birkenau marks the height of World War II anti-Semitism. The final resting place of over one million victims, Auschwitz today is a common pilgrimage site for Jews from around the world. Jews and non-Jews alike come to pay tribute to the dead and to assert that never again will the world stand idly by in the face of genocide. It seems that the new wave of Auschwitz security guards, little better than their 1940’s predecessors, have a different agenda. For the first time since January 1945, it seems that proud Jews are no longer safe at Auschwitz.
This is the world we live in. The malign alliance of the Jew-hating Euro-left and a restive Muslim population is likely to be an ever uglier feature of Continental and British politics in the years ahead: in that sense, "the European Street" is a portent of troubles to come - not for Israel but for domestic tranquility in France, Germany, Belgium et al.Israel Begins Withdrawal of Troops From Gaza; Will Complete Destruction of Tunnels Sunday
Not only are there no takers for Obama's "peace plan" in Israel, there are no takers for it in Cairo, Amman or Riyadh either. Do you think General Sisi wants Hamas running an open border into Egypt? No more than King Abdullah wants Israeli immigration officials to cede control of the west end of the Allenby Bridge. And after the last three years, surrounded by al-Qaeda affiliates and Iranian proxies and Turkish meddlers, Egypt and the Sunni monarchies grasp something that the American blunderers don't: Israel is a force for stability, and, with everything else up for grabs in a way it hasn't been since 1922, that's what these guys are looking for right now. Nobody wants to be the next Libya or Syria or Iraq. And helping Hamas only feeds regional destabilization. As I said to Ed:
"MS: It's an interesting development in this hideous Israel-Palestine stalemate, because in effect now, Israel is on the Sunni side of the Sunni-Shia split in the Middle East."
The IDF has destroyed Hamas's flagship terrorism project; its network of cross-border tunnels that snuck under the border into Israel. The military also began to pull its forces out of the Gaza Strip on Saturday evening.IDF Blog: Everything You Need to Know About Hamas’ Underground City of Terror
Hamas has spent five years preparing this strategic threat; the IDF wrecked 31 tunnels in two weeks. By Sunday, all of the tunnels the IDF knew about, or discovered during the offensive, will be destroyed. A few tunnels that Israel doesn't know about may remain intact.
Since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge, the IDF has uncovered dozens of terror tunnels in Gaza. The threat that these tunnels pose to Israel’s civilian population would not be tolerated by any other nation. Here are answers to the most important questions about these tunnels.
1. What exactly is the “tunnel threat”?
Hamas’ tunnel network is in fact a vast underground city with dozens of access points located throughout Gaza. Hamas uses these tunnels as weapons caches, bunkers, command centers and a concealed transportation artery for terrorists and weapons, including rocket launchers.
Gazan Hospitals as Terror Centers
The New York Times describes in detail the scene at medical facilities in Gaza during the conflict. There is no question that the hospitals are overwhelmed and some have been subject to attack by the IDF. However, in between the detailed descriptions of inhuman suffering, the Times should have made a few points to put the issue in context.Dermer on Including Hamas in Govt: Is Solution for Iraq to Include ISIS in Govt?
1) The Use of Gazan Hospitals as Terror Centers
Throughout Gaza, Palestinian medical centers have been used by Hamas as command centers, safe havens for the leaders of the terrorist organization, and even rocket launching sites.
Israeli ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer told David Gregory on Meet the Press, “You have to fight terror. You can’t embrace terrorists. That’s unfortunately what President Abbas has done.”
When Gregory asked Dermer if there really is a military solution to the conflict with Hamas, Dermer replied, “Take the case of Iraq. Do you think the solution of Iraq is to have the Iraqi government just simply include ISIS as a member of the government? Because that’s what the Palestinian government just did.”
“We were very much opposed to it and very upset when the international community basically said, ‘hey, this is a good thing for peace,’” Dermer continued. “It’s a terrible thing for peace. The road to peace goes over Hamas, it doesn’t include Hamas.”
On Gaza border, an Israeli field hospital stands empty
Israel: Nearly half of people killed in Gaza were combatantsOn July 21, the IDF opened a military field hospital in the enormous border terminal, meant to provide emergency treatment for civilians injured in Gaza and unable to seek medical care in the Strip’s failing medical installations. Two weeks later, the Government Press Office invited a busload of foreign journalists to view the hospital for the first time, striving to show the efforts of the Israeli army to protect Palestinian civilians’ lives.With a permanent staff of 20 doctors, nurses and medics on location, the Erez field hospital boasts advanced resuscitation equipment, a delivery room, a pharmacy, and lab services. Specialists include a pediatrician, an ophthalmologist and a gynecologist. Yet despite the apparent eagerness of the Israeli professionals to treat Palestinians in need, on Friday the hospital was completely empty.
Israel has evidence that almost half of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip during the nearly four-week-old Operation Protective Edge were civilians, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzachi Hanegbi said on Saturday, refuting international allegations of a heavy civilian death toll in Gaza.Motorbikes, protective vests found in cross-border Gaza tunnel
"There is research being done in the military, very professionally and reliably, (whose) conclusion is that at least 47 percent of the fatalities are terrorists, with photographs and names," Hanegbi told Channel 2 television, adding that the data would be presented to investigators. Hanegbi did not elaborate.
As the Israel Defense Forces neared completion of its goal of destroying terror tunnels leading into Israel from Gaza, Israeli forces discovered several motorbikes and other equipment in one of the tunnels, apparently intended to be used to transport a kidnapped Israeli into Gaza quickly.Another UNRWA Gaza School Fake-Out in the Making?
In addition to the motorbikes, the items included protective vests and food, a senior defense official reported. The gear was discovered in the tunnel leading into Nahal Oz, where Gaza terrorists killed five Israeli soldiers and tried to abscond with a body last Monday.
This was not the first time that terror organizations used motorbikes to fight Israeli forces in Gaza, but it was the first time that such vehicles have been found in a tunnel. Last week, media outlets reported that an IDF unit thwarted a suicide bombing in Khan Younis when it killed a terrorist riding a motorbike who was trying to charge at Israeli soldiers.
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists have deliberately fired rockets and mortar shells at IDF soldiers from within UNRWA civilian structures in order to draw Israeli fire towards the innocent Gaza civilians who are sheltering within the buildings.Hamas TV: Every Muslim mother "must nurse her children on hatred of the sons of Zion"
Three UNRWA schools have so far been proven to be weapons ‘warehouses’ for Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist groups. A former International Red Cross building packed with explosives built into the very walls of the structure was deliberately ‘dressed up’ with an UNRWA sign to appear to be a United Nations facility, within which a tunnel shaft was hidden, and booby-trapped.
It’s impossible to know how many more United Nations buildings have been commandeered by Hamas and are hiding terrorist weaponry. There has been no comment from the IDF. After the last such incident, Israel was roundly condemned by the United Nations, despite the fact that the IDF was returning fire to the source of an unprovoked attack.
It remains to be seen how the United Nations Human Rights Council will react this time.
A Muslim Brotherhood leader in Kuwait, Tareq Al-Suwaidan, said Muslims "hate" the sons of Zion. He called for Muslim mothers to nurse their infants on this hatred and to plant it in Muslim children's "souls," so that the new generation "will erase the (sons of Zion) from the face of the earth." Last week, Palestinian Media Watch documented a similar Hamas sermon calling for the extermination of Jews.Hamas TV: Every Muslim mother "must nurse her children on hatred of the sons of Zion"
The Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood speaker also reiterated the MB belief that death for Allah - Shahada (Martyrdom) - is the loftiest goal a Muslim can achieve. Turning to residents of Gaza he said:
"Death for Allah is the highest wish...you received the death you wanted."
French-Moroccan Imam Criticizes Hamas: It Uses Palestinians as Human Shields
Hadar Goldin, IDF officer killed in Gaza, had stressed his commitment to Israel
Hadar Goldin, kidnapped by Hamas in Gaza on Friday morning, and whose death was announced by the IDF on Saturday night, was a Givati Brigade officer who was engaged to get married.Former IDF Rabbi Speaks on Deaths of IDF Soldiers
Two other Givati Brigade soldiers were killed in the same attack — Major Benaya Sarel, 26, from Kiryat Arba, and 1st.-Sgt. Liel Gidoni, 20, from Jerusalem. One terrorist blew himself up near the group, while other gunmen kidnapped Goldin and escaped into a tunnel.
2nd Lt. Goldin, 23, was one of four children, and was raised for part of his childhood in England while his parents taught at Cambridge University. He got engaged, to Edna, just weeks before Operation Protective Edge sent him to the Gaza Strip.
Former IDF Chief Rabbi Brigadier General Rabbi Avihai Ronski spoke to Arutz Sheva about the soldiers who have fallen in Operation Protective Edge on Sunday, noting that he officiated Major Benaya Sar-El's funeral on Saturday night despite having supposed to have officiated at the soldier's wedding in just a few weeks' time.Slain soldier Hadar Goldin related to defense minister
Rabbi Ronski notes that he was not involved in the decision regarding the death announcement for Second Lt. Hadar Goldin, hy"d, who was missing and presumed murdered by Hamas terrorists during a battle in Rafah on Friday afternoon.
Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was pronounced dead by the IDF overnight Saturday-Sunday, was a second cousin once removed to Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.WATCH: In foiled attack, cop jumps through car window
“Lt. Hadar Goldin was my relative,” Ya’alon said in a Facebook post on Sunday. “I’ve known him since he was born.”
Security camera footage of a thwarted terror attack last week south of Jerusalem shows that a fast-thinking border policeman jumped into the moving vehicle, which proved to be packed with explosives, after it raised suspicions.Memorial Gathering in Outpost Dedicated to Three Israeli Teens
In the recently uploaded video of the incident, the car can be seen stopped at a checkpoint adjacent to Beitar Illit, and an officer approaches the vehicle for inspection.
The perpetrator, a Palestinian male, was said to have been wearing a wig.
Rabbi Baruch Efrati, head of the Derech Emuna rabbis, and Women in Green hosted a gathering in Giv’at Oz veGa’on Friday, to commemorate thirty days since the burial of the three abducted youths, Gilad Sha'ar (16), Eyal Yifrah (19), and Naftali Frenkel (16), hy"d.The Beautiful Story of a Soldier’s Cup of Joe
Rabbi Efrati opened his words with an expression of thanks to Women in Green, Yehudit and Nadia, in the name of the land.
“It is impossible to imagine how Gush Etzion would look without Women in Green," Rabbi Efrati said. "How many hills here would be empty!"
On Wednesday he was sent by his unit to visit a wounded comrade at the Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. He says that throughout the duration of the visit a constant stream of strangers continued to enter the room, wishing the wounded soldier well, thanking him for his service and offering him gifts. He was already loaded with food and gifts.The maverick thinker behind Iron Dome
His story only gets better. On the way back to his unit he stopped with another friend for a short break at a coffee shop. They were instantly presented with bread and antipasti, ‘on the house’. Later on they were served with a desert, paid for by a woman who had already left. When they asked for the bill they received instead a note that read: “It’s moving and delightful to see you! Thanks for everything! Your bill has already been paid for, with much love!”
Asher told Tazpit News Agency that he was simply awed by the VIP treatment they received. “I was shocked”, he said, “We didn’t expect such an outpouring of love. We received a real hero’s welcoming. It felt good to know that the Israeli nation is behind us.”
The Israeli defense establishment thought Brig. Gen. Daniel Gold was absolutely crazy when he broached the idea for the missile-defense system that came to be known as Iron Dome (Kippat Barzel in Hebrew).Cleveland Cavaliers Israeli Head Coach David Blatt: ‘This War is Israel’s Most Justified War I Can Remember’
Several years later, Iron Dome turned out to be the surprise hero of the 2012 Gaza war. When Operation Protective Edge began in July 2014, it gained superstar status for shooting down a large proportion of the rockets fired from Gaza at Israeli population centers.
ISRAEL21c asked Gold where he got the nerve to persist with the project in the face of strong criticism back in 2005, when he headed R&D at the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
“My incentive was saving human lives,” he replies. “I saw what was going on and I said to myself, with all the technology that exists in Israel we must use it to protect human life. We will find a way. It always takes the political and military echelons a long time to think about what they want to do, and in the meantime we started to create a solution.”
David Blatt, the new head coach of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, and the first Israeli to lead a professional U.S. basketball team, said Israel was justified in its war against Hamas and the other terrorist groups in Gaza, in an interview with Israel’s Globes published on Friday.IPS foils attempt by Islamic Jihad prisoners to tunnel out of Israeli jail
When asked if he supports Israel’s Operation Protective Edge, Blatt said, “Absolutely. In my opinion, this war is Israel’s most justified war I can remember in recent years.”
“I‘m really sorry about what’s happening in Gaza, but there’s no doubt that we had to act there, so that Israel will have quiet there once and for all, and we can live in peace,” Blatt said, who added that he is “uncomfortable” not being in Israel during this war.
The Israel Prisons Service on Sunday foiled an attempt by Palestinian security prisoners to tunnel their way out of Gilboa prison, according to a statement the IPS put out Sunday.How Israel’s tech sector keeps humming with 86,000 reservists called up
According to the IPS, the eight prisoners, all affiliated with Islamic Jihad, and some of whom are serving lengthy sentences, had begun building a tunnel in the bathroom of the cell.
At the moment the IPS is trying to figure out where the destination of the tunnel was meant to be, though for now they suspect that it was to be used for an escape.
When the air raid sirens went off at Tel Aviv’s Hagana train station last week, venture capitalist Ben Wiener found himself standing shoulder to shoulder in the bomb shelter with the founder of one his portfolio companies.Anti-IDF demonstrators in Galilee hoist Palestinian flags
The man was wearing his army uniform and was so tired he didn’t notice Mr. Wiener, even though they had planned to visit a potential investor together that morning. In between the booms of Iron Dome intercepting incoming rockets from Gaza some 50 miles away, he explained he’d been doing reserve duty with an elite intelligence unit at night and sleeping only a few hours on the floor of the bunker before heading to work meetings.
After waiting a few minutes for any rocket debris to fall, the two exited the shelter and boarded a train for Herzilya to meet with the venture capital fund. The investors offered the company its next round of funding on the spot; the founder went back to his bunker and Wiener went back to Jerusalem.
As the fighting in Gaza continued over the weekend, the northern branch of the Islamic Movement held a series of demonstrations against the government and the Israel Defense Force's operation in the Gaza Strip.Poll: 5 Times More Religious Americans Support Israel than PA
The main demonstration was held on Saturday in the western Galilee Arab city of Tamra. More than 10,000 demonstrators took part. Protesters waved Palestinian, Hamas and Islamic Movement flags and banners and called out slogans against the Israeli government and the IDF, claiming that "genocide is being committed in Gaza."
At the head of the protest marched the northern branch of the Islamic Movement's firebrand leader, Sheikh Raed Saleh. Marching alongside Saleh were several children holding baby dolls draped in shrouds stained with blood-red paint, symbolizing attacks against children in Gaza.
Gallup polls show that church-going Americans are significantly more likely than other Americans to be sympathetic to Israel, as opposed to the Palestinian Authority.British FM: Anti-Semitism likely to rise due to Gaza op
The polling company has released aggregate results of polls taken over the past 14 years. They indicate that that over this time-span, an average of 66% of Americans who attend church weekly or almost every week are sympathetic to the Israelis. This, as compared with 13% who are sympathetic to the Arab side. Sympathy for Israel drops to 46% among those who never attend church, still twice as much as the 23% sympathetic to the PA.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond warned on Saturday that the country could see a rise in anti-Semitic attacks as a result of the fighting in Gaza.'Mujahideen’ in India threaten attacks in Mumbai in response to Israeli Gaza ops
“Of course it’s a concern and we have already seen certainly an upturn in anti-Semitic rhetoric,” he said.
Hammond, speaking to the Sunday Telegraph in his first interview since being promoted to top diplomat last month, said that anger was growing in Britain over Israel’s actions in Gaza.
“The British public has a strong sense that the situation of the civilian population in Gaza is intolerable and must be addressed — and we agree with them,” he said. “What has struck me most looking at my own constituency in-box as well as the thousands of emails that I’m receiving from the general public here is that it isn’t just the Muslim community that’s reacting to this. It’s a broad swathe of British public opinion that feels deeply disturbed by what it is seeing on its television screens coming out of Gaza.”
Indian media reported that Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria received a letter threatening a terrorist attack “to take revenge for Gaza.”The Importance of Josh Being Earnest
The Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor of MEMRI (the Middle East Media Research Institute) uncovered the story and exclusively provided The Jerusalem Post with a report, quoting the letter signed simply as “Mujahideen” and targeting the police chief.
“We will take revenge for Gaza. In 1993, you [Maria] got a chance. This time you won’t. Stop us if you can,” read the letter published in the Daily News & Analysis (DNA) newspaper on July 27.
I read this after hearing it on CNN but I wanted to be sure my ears weren't playing tricks on me:Dubai security chief slams Hamas leader's lavish lifestyle in Qatar
“The shelling of a U.N. facility that is housing innocent civilians who are fleeing violence is totally unacceptable and totally indefensible,” Earnest said. “And it is clear that we need our allies in Israel to do more to live up to the high standards that they have set for themselves.”
That Earnest is Josh Earnest, named White House press secretary less than two months ago.
Dubai police commander Dhahi Khalfan, who gained fame for alleging Mossad involvement in the assassination of Hamas official Mohammed al-Mabhouh at a Dubai hotel in 2010, has strongly criticized Hamas' conduct and its close ties with Turkey and Qatar, in addition to its abandonment of the Egyptian-Saudi Arabia alliance.Hamas to ‘Continue Until Goals Achieved’
"Hamas must cease firing rockets at Israel and accept the Egyptian cease-fire proposal, accept the Saudi leadership and abandon Qatar," Khalfan wrote, who is known as a prolific contributor to the social media realm through his Twitter handle.
A vocal Khalfan also criticized Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal lavish lifestyle in Qatar as the Gaza war was underway.
"He who lives in luxurious five-star hotels in Qatar cannot meet achievements for the Palestinians. The Palestinians must unite around Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas]," he tweeted, exhorting Palestinians in a later tweet to "vote Fatah" in future elections.
The Hamas terrorist organization made clear Saturday night that its spirit was far from broken and its goal of annihilating the Jewish State remain unchanged.Hamas Releases First Video Glorifying Fighters in Gaza War (VIDEO)
“We will continue our resistance until our goals are achieved,” spokesman Fawzi Barhum told international media in a news briefing.
[Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin] “Netanyahu wants to falsely claim a victory of his government and his army,” Barhum observed in a response following the prime minister’s news conference after the Sabbath.
Gaza-based Islamist terror group Hamas released its first video tribute to dozens of its fighters who have been killed fighting Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip.Hamas Releases First Part of Video Commemorating Dozens of Comrades Killed in Gaza Fighting
The clip, published on YouTube last Saturday by The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), shows images of the jihadists smiling while brandishing weapons and even posing next to rocket launchers. Many of the men shown in the video are wearing combat uniforms and head-bands marked with Hamas insignia.
War in Gaza: 5 Tips For Sorting Through the News and Sharing Responsibly on Social Media
Rockets are flying. Israel’s responding with air strikes and a call-up of reservists. The army named this mission Operation Protective Edge.Independent posts reflections of witty Brit who likens Israel to ‘child murdering community’
The conflict isn’t only being fought over the skies of Gaza and the Israeli home front. It’s also being fought in the media. We’re going to see all kinds of news reports, photos, and video. People are already posting observations on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms.
As we all want to be informed, and inform others, how do we sort through the information overload? And what’s our own responsibility for what we choose to share?
Since the start of Israel’s war with Hamas, the Independent has been competing with the Guardian to see who can most effectively demonize the Jewish state while excusing or ignoring the reactionary Islamist group running Gaza. And, though today’s commentary in the Indy may not represent the defining contribution in this race to the moral bottom, it should at least be noted in the category of great achievements in modern manifestations of ancient anti-Jewish calumnies.CiF Watch prompts Guardian correction to anti-Bibi smear by Chris McGreal
Leave it to Mark Steel, a commentator and comedian, to even outdo fellow British comedian cum anti-Israel activist Alexei Sayle – who had compared Israel to a child rapist, in a video highlighted by both the Indy and Guardian – in an op-ed titled ‘How silly of me to assume it was Israeli bombs causing all the damage in Gaza‘.
However, after a modest amount of research – evidently more than McGreal put into his own column – we were able to establish that the banner in question, at a right-wing rally in Jerusalem in 1994, did not read ‘Death to Arabs’ but, rather, death to the father of modern terror – Yasser Arafat.Geraldo Rivera Distorts the Truth on Gaza War
After contacting Guardian editors, they acknowledged McGreal’s error, revised the passage in question and added the following addendum to the article:
Appearing on the FOX-TV daytime talk show “Outnumbered,” Geraldo was asked to respond to a clip of a Hamas spokesman saying that “the Israeli occupation” was the root cause of the war.Media bias in Australia veers to anti-Semitic tropes
Anybody with the slightest knowledge of recent Middle Eastern history would not have been fooled by that Hamas lie. But not Geraldo. His response was to dramatically announce that he could solve the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict “in thirty seconds.” His solution: “The Hamas spokesman was right – Israel has to end its occupation.”
It’s as if Geraldo is trapped in a time capsule of his own that was sealed in 1994.
“Zionist scum” daubed on the wall of a Jewish school in Perth. A Jewish man in Melbourne beaten up in the street while wearing a T-shirt with Hebrew writing.The Unbearable Darkness of Australian Blood Libels
As shocking as these incidents are, they have been the only “attacks” on the Jewish community in Australia since the launch of Operation Protective Edge.
Yes, there have been the pro-Palestinian rallies through our major cities where thousands march decrying Israel, while brandishing banners and placards that equate the Jewish State’s actions with those of the Nazis.
But while the community remains on high alert and fearful of the worst, Australia so far has been spared the anti-Semitic violence and vandalism witnessed on the streets of Europe.
The Carlton article is no less repulsive. It accuses Israel of genocide, ethnic cleansing and having a wanton desire to kill Arabs. Carlton produces no evidence for this because it doesn’t exist. He doesn’t produce one of those famous Fairfax scoreboards of deaths to give his readers an idea of how many Arabs were killed by other Arabs in the past week (1,700 in Syria alone, many others in Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan and elsewhere in places where they don’t have a CNN or BBC World talking head on every street corner) which he deigns not to mention.Daphne Anson: Carlton Cornered: “The lies & bigotry of the Israel lobby”
Carlton’s descent into his own cesspit of race hatred comes when he invokes the Holocaust which by any measure does not even sit remotely close to the situation in Gaza in either its scope or breadth. The Jews of Europe never provoked the Nazis with rockets fired at German homes, schools and hospitals; they never used their own children as shields against the storm troopers and they never threatened to annihilate the German people. Carlton knows this and he also knows that the only commonality between this and Gaza is the fact that the aims of Hitler and Hamas are identical.
Bolstered by the incitement against Israel emanating from sections of the Australian press (including the leftist-dominated ABC, Oz’s answer to the BBC and similarly prone to flout the objectivity incumbent upon it) Far Left ratbags marched yesterday in the Sydney suburb of Newtown, invading the local Max Brenner outlet, while in Melbourne the customary Israel-haters defied driving rain and hail to screech their usual denunciations of and chants against that little country.An Open Letter to Ross Burns
I read your article in The Australian. I don’t suppose that your world view is going to change any more than mine. But you are wrong. Dead wrong. The record needs to be set right, and with sufficient detail for the sake of your readers.Unholy War out of kilter
I normally commend the Australian for providing multiple perspectives, and in the process exposing odious and bigoted views such as yours. However if the editorial policy of the Australian is in the interests of balance, then it must place one truth against another. The moment that a truth is juxtaposed to a lie, then the net effect is neither balance or neutrality. The Australian has further tarnished itself through its online site by running the feeds of AP and other foreign news agency reports that lack honesty, integrity, and balance.
To rebut your shameful diatribe, I reproduce your article with some salient points that both you and your objective readers may wish to consider:
Whilst The “Unholy War” segment shown on 60 minutes on Sunday 27 July, might have been intended as a human interest story, focusing on the innocent victims caught up in the current fighting in Gaza, we and our State constituent bodies in New South Wales, Victoria, the ACT, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia have received numerous complaints to the effect that the content of the above program lacked accuracy, fairness and balance.BBC Reporter Blames Israel for Collapse of Ceasefire
The long-running conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians and between Israel and the wider Arab world are of course matters of wide public concern which are quite properly the subjects of intense media coverage. Palestinian political organizations have made no secret of the fact that they seek to harness that coverage whenever possible in support of their cause as a tactic in their long-term struggle against Israel’s existence. This makes it all the more important for journalists to maintain the highest professional standards when reporting on any aspect of these conflicts.
Regrettably, there were some notable lapses in those standards in Sunday’s program. Whilst there were numerous factual errors and omissions, the most egregious of them cannot pass without comment.
Ian Pannell, an International Corresponent for the BBC, blamed Israel for the collapse of the 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire on Friday:BBC widens its distortion of the reason for the collapse of the August 1st ceasefire
Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was thought to be kidnapped, was killed by Hamas terrorists in violation of the ceasefire. Two additional soldiers were killed as well when a Hamas suicide bomber detonated himself in violation of the cease-fire. Hamas terrorists also fired missiles from the Gaza strip only hours after the cease-fire was announced, before Israel took military action.
Pannell promotes two inaccurate pieces of information here, the first being that “militants denied it from the start”.BBC continues to promote Hamas supplied Gaza Strip casualty figures
In fact, Hamas’ Al Qassam Brigades originally claimed to have abducted an Israeli soldier and killed two others – albeit with the addition of deliberately false information concerning the time of the attack – as can be seen on their Twitter timeline.
Reports across the full range of BBC platforms, along with official BBC Twitter accounts, have consistently promoted figures sourced from what is usually described as the Gaza health ministry – or sometimes merely “health officials” – but without clarification of the fact that the Gaza health ministry is actually the voice of Hamas. To a lesser extent, figures attributed to the UN have also been quoted but without audiences being told where the UN gets its information or anything of the political motives of the organisations which are the sources of UN OCHA statistics repeated and promoted by the BBC.BBC presentation of the August 1st ceasefire breakdown – part one: BBC News website
Neither have BBC audiences been told about the guidelines put out by Hamas at the beginning of the hostilities which instruct social media activists to describe all casualties as ‘innocent civilians’ and to stress the number of women and children killed and injured. We can of course assume that staff at the Hamas-run “Gaza health ministry” which supplies the BBC with daily updates on casualty figures also received that memo.
As we see, none of the six items above adequately clarifies to BBC audiences the actual sequence of events. The incidents in Rafah are presented in a disjointed, context-free manner which fails to clarify to readers the connection between them and the preceding attack against Israeli soldiers. As usual, no attempt is made by the BBC to determine whether any of the casualties in Rafah were terrorists.BBC presentation of the August 1st ceasefire breakdown – part two: BBC television news
Hamas claims are presented to audiences as though they were plausible versions of events and the promotion of Hamas propaganda appears in several of the reports. Notably, no attempt is made to provide audiences with any perspective concerning the possible connection between Hamas’ obviously false claims and its need to placate its Qatari and Turkish backers as well as other parties which took part in brokering this latest humanitarian ceasefire.
Significantly, neither Brain nor any other BBC journalist reporting on this issue bothered to clarify to audiences that the Israeli soldiers who were attacked were in the process of decommissioning one of Hamas’ attack tunnels at the time – in line with the terms of the ceasefire.If you thought there were no sharks left for the BBC’s Orla Guerin to jump…
As we see from this selection of filmed reports shown to viewers of BBC television news, the majority of them – like the BBC News website’s written reports discussed in the previous post – come nowhere near to informing audiences clearly, accurately and impartially of the event which breached the humanitarian ceasefire of August 1st. That failure is exacerbated by the amplification of Hamas propaganda which only serves to further prevent audiences from properly understanding why this latest ceasefire failed.
Guerin interrupts: “Well wouldn’t it be better if you stopped bombing the civilians rather than offering them medical aid later?”Evening Standard: anti-Israel lies and Hamas propaganda
Omri: “Well Israel has always opted for a diplomatic solution.”
Guerin: “I mean some people might say, you know, how do you sleep at night?”
Omri: “Well I sleep very well at night because I know that what we’re doing is saving lives the way I see it because whenever….”
Guerin interrupts again: “Saving Israeli lives.”
Omri: “No, no. I know how many attacks I have already called off and I’m talking about numerous attacks so I know as a fact that I’ve saved dozens of lives.”
Of course some people might ask how do BBC executives sleep at night when Orla Guerin is returning to form by once more openly flouting supposed BBC standards of accuracy and impartiality in her coverage of Israel.
I have avoided reading the Evening Standard during the current conflict because of its well known anti-Israel bias. But I ended up looking at it today and, unsurprisingly, it followed all the media guidelines for reporting about Israel. Note the following:Is the Media’s Patience with Hamas Running Out?
The headline "Gaza truce shattered by deadly Israeli tank fire" and associated story is a complete lie. Even the anti-Israel UN has stated that the ceasefire was broken by Hamas within minutes when it killed two Israeli soldiers and kidnapped a third after a suicide bombing. Moreover, Hamas rockets never stopped firing at Israel.
We might finally be getting an answer to the question of whether Hamas can exhaust press sympathy. Yesterday, upon the announcement of the 72-hour cease-fire, journalists took to Twitter to trade jokes about what they would do with all their newfound free time. The jocular tone was not only because of the length of the cease-fire, but because it left the impression that the war might indeed be over. A three-day cease-fire, during which Israel was permitted to continue neutralizing the terror tunnels when the Israeli government’s own estimates had the IDF days away from completing the task, meant there might be no reason to resume fighting after the cease-fire. The war, it is now clear thanks to Hamas, is not over.Opposition Leader: I Could Mishandle War Better Than Bibi (satire)
Both the coverage of this conflict and the diplomacy around it by the West have been poorer than usual. The press has shown about as many pictures of Hamas fighters as unicorns, and have mangled even basic international laws and conventions in order to absolve these invisible Hamasniks of the war crimes they are unambiguously committing. Because “human rights” groups have also fabricated their own version of international law, and these reporters rely on such groups, it’s easy to see how the misinformation ends up presented as straight news.
“But a truly incompetent leader would go much further,” he told those in attendance. “A leader with a vision of how to make the situation truly FUBAR would also ensure that there is no way to remove the threat of a better-armed, re-energized Hamas. A truly incompetent leader would ignore the reality that Abu Mazen lacks the ability to deliver on any compromises, and nevertheless pursue far-reaching, irreversible concessions to him. A truly incompetent leader would do everything in his power to strengthen the so-called ‘moderate’ Palestinian leadership irrespective of the fact that ‘moderate’ in that context means seeking the destruction of Israel gradually rather than instantly.”HaZorfim To Supply Silver Platter On Which To Hand Hamas Victory (satire)
“I am that leader,” said Herzog. “The movement I represent possesses an alternative to the current government, whose officials remain dangerously effective, competent, and patriotic. And I will do everything in my power to bring down the current government to replace it with leadership that knows the real meaning of screwing up.”
“Mine is the party that gave us Oslo,” he reminded everyone, and the applause grew appreciably louder.
Proposed designs for the platter varied widely, but the winning selection will be oval, with ornamental handles and a pattern in bas-relief that spells out “Death to the Jews” in one direction and “In blood and fire, we will free you, Palestine.” The size will exceed twelve meters in diameter along the platter’s longest dimension, and slightly more than eight meters across at its shortest.
The exact amount of the impending transaction was not disclosed, but sources close to the Prime Minister’s Office placed it at about 10 million shekels (about $3M). Manufacture of the platter, which will be handmade, is expected to take approximately two weeks, with delivery to occur via the Kerem Shalom crossing along with several truckloads of dual-use cement that can be incorporated into more tunnels into southern Israeli communities for purposes of kidnapping or massacres.
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