IDF BLOG: Captured Hamas Combat Manual Explains Benefits of Human Shields
IDF forces in the Gaza Strip found a Hamas manual on “Urban Warfare,” which belonged to the Shuja’iya Brigade of Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades. The manual explains how the civilian population can be used against IDF forces and reveals that Hamas knows the IDF is committed to minimizing harm to civilians.
Throughout Operation Protective Edge, Hamas has continuously used the civilian population of Gaza as human shields. The discovery of a Hamas “urban warfare” manual by IDF forces reveals that Hamas’ callous use of the Gazan population was intentional and preplanned.
This Hamas urban warfare manual exposes two truths: (1) The terror group knows full well that the IDF will do what it can to limit civilian casualties. (2) The terror group exploits these efforts by using civilians as human shields against advancing IDF forces. (h/t Yenta Press)
CNN Guest Rips Media For Being 'Used As Dupes' By Hamas [slightly different content at the link vs CNN YT clip]
In a surprising segment, CNN’s New Day discussed the role of the media in the Israel-Hamas conflict and whether they are providing proper context regarding the two sides. In an interview with co-host Kate Bolduan, guest Lee Habeeb, columnist for National Review, slammed the media for its biased coverage of the issue, going so far as to suggest that they have acted as “co-conspirators to Hamas.”Columnist: Media is enabling Hamas
When Bolduan asked where Habeeb believed the media was lacking, he argued that “the point of the spear is the media and dead children and dead women...and I don’t believe the media is covering it.” Toward the end of the segment, Bolduan cited Hamas political leader Khaled Mashal, who claimed that the U.S. has now adopted the Israeli narrative. The New Day co-host wondered how it could go both ways. Habeeb blasted the media again: (h/t dabney)
This War Was Supposed to ‘isolate’ Israel. Instead, the opposite happened
It should come as no surprise that this sort of coverage is coming from the same British media that promoted the bogus Jenin “massacre” story when Israel fought a similar campaign against Palestinian terrorists in 2002. One can only expect yet more award-winning cartoons from British cartoonists showing leaders of the Jewish state devouring Palestinian babies and the like. Some things don’t change.Gaza: Spare Me Your Sick, Manipulative, Dead Baby Propaganda Photos
But some things do. Unlike in similar conflicts in 2002, 2006, 2008 and 2012, this time around, the Arab world has been extremely muted in its support for Israel’s battlefield enemies.
“After the military ouster of the Islamist government in Cairo last year, Egypt has led a new coalition of Arab states — including Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — that has effectively lined up with Israel in its fight against Hamas,” The New York Times reported this week. “The dynamic has inverted all expectations of the Arab Spring uprisings … Instead of becoming more isolated, Israel’s government has emerged for the moment as an unexpected beneficiary of the ensuing tumult, now tacitly supported by the leaders of the resurgent conservative order as an ally in their common fight against political Islam. The diatribes against Hamas by at least one popular pro-government talk show host in Egypt were so extreme that the government of Israel broadcast some of them into Gaza.”
This has led to a bizarre situation whereby some Western newspaper editors are more sympathetic to Hamas than Arabs themselves.
What I loathe about it is its mixture of hectoring presumption and manipulative dishonesty.The New Nazism's First Victim: Truth
Presumption: "If you support Israel, then you clearly don't care about dead children," it says. (Is there anyone in the world who isn't moved by the sight of a dead child? I don't think so. The people who are implying otherwise are beneath contempt).
Dishonesty: other than the truism that war is hell, the photograph actually tells us nothing.
We have no idea whether this boy was actually a victim of the fighting in Gaza - or of the far bloodier and uglier civil wars in Syria and Iraq.
If he was indeed a Palestinian, we have no idea whether he was killed by Israeli fire or by Hamas ordinance.
Nor, even if he was killed by Israeli fire, do we know the circumstances. Maybe it was a tragic mistake; maybe, he was one of those innocents that Hamas likes to use as human shields in its rocket launching sites; maybe he was being used as a "tunnel rat"; maybe he'd tried to flee with his family to a shelter only to be driven back to his apartment by Hamas who recognise the propaganda value of dead children.
When the Turkish neighbors of Leah Rabinovitch, a Jewish woman in Amsterdam, adorned their apartment with a Palestinian flag, she did the same with an Israeli flag. Leah lives in a neighborhood where 48% of the population is of non-Western origin – many of them Muslims. Stones were thrown through her windows, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at her balcony and an anonymous letter was put in her letter box. "Hitler will be back. Death to the Jews," it said.Alan Dershowitz's realization
Fifteen different policemen, Rabinovitch says, advised her to remove the flag. She refused. She also received a letter from Rochdale, the Dutch company owning the apartment block. "Rochdale has noticed the Israeli flag on your balcony. This is a provocation," the letter said. The company then urged her to remove the flag and warned that otherwise she would have to cover all costs of vandalism herself. Did the neighbors with the Palestinian flag receive a similar letter? No, they did not. In Europe, displaying the Israeli flag is a provocation, displaying the Palestinian flag is not.
Seraphina Verhofstadt, another Jewish woman in Amsterdam, also reacted to the many Palestinian and Hamas flags in Amsterdam by displaying the Israeli flag. She received threats that her throat would be slit. When she left her apartment, she was assaulted by youths wearing Palestinian shawls and severely beaten.
At the height of Operation Protective Edge, prominent American lawyer and pro-Israel advocate Alan Dershowitz penned a largely overlooked article titled "Has Hamas ended the prospects for a two-state solution?" (Gatestone Institute, July 22.)Hamas' crushing defeat
His ostensible motive was Hamas' targeting of Ben-Gurion Airport with a rocket that fell some 2 kilometers away, an act which he designated as a war crime.
Overall, Dershowitz's article is an apparent major shift from positions he expounded just over two years ago in a widely cited Wall Street Journal piece, which opened with the sentence, "Now that Israel has a broad and secure national unity government, the time is ripe for that government to make a bold peace offer to the Palestinian Authority."
There was a particularly uplifting moment on Sunday. Despite the harrowing tales they told of the protracted fighting against a brutal enemy, despite being covered in dust, Israeli soldiers could be heard lamenting that their mission had been cut short, that they should have been allowed to get the job done.A New Dictionary of the Current Conflict in Gaza
They saw what death looks like; they lost their brothers in arms; they witnessed ostensibly U.N.-operated schools become Hamas strongholds. Their lamentations echoed what our sages said, that once you begin to perform a mitzvah, you have the duty to see it through.
This sentiment is a positive one. It explains why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's approval ratings, which were 80 percent at the height of the campaign, are now just above 60 percent.
People had high hopes, with expectations that could never materialize. Such is the way of the world.
Calculated rhetoric is used in many ways – to support, to oppose, to demonise, to suggest. Some terms are being repeatedly used in the context of this conflict, and I believe they’re being used either out of naivety (at best) or with nefarious and dubious intent (at worst). In the words of the writer Howard Jacobson… “Rhetoric is precisely what has warped report and analysis these past months. I watched demonstrators approach members of the public with their petitions. “Do you want an end to the slaughter in Gaza?” What were those approached expected to reply? – “No, I want it to continue unabated.” ”NY Times Supports Demilitarization, But Not in Gaza
So I’ve decided to pick three terms widely used exclusively in the condemnation of Israel, and give an alternative context to how they can be used. Of course, we know that words can have more than one meaning, nobody is denying this, but here goes:
Traditionally, the New York Times has always been on the side of international disarmament. Even when doing so would have given the Soviet Union military advantages over the United States, the Times could be counted on to hail the glories of demilitarization. But when it comes to choosing between demilitarization and championing the Palestinian cause, well, demilitarization has to give way.Hypocrisy of the first order
And so the editors at the Times are left flailing their arms in frustration, watching world leaders and prominent newspapers endorsing Israel’s call for the demilitarization of Gaza, while all the Times can do is run misleading headlines and hope to fool those who aren't paying close attention.
Another lesson of the Gaza war: Ignore the New York Times and disarm Hamas. That is the real way to peace.
Jews around the world are being blamed for Israel’s actions in Gaza. Despite some 200,000 killed in Syria, no one refuses service to Syrians; no European professors call on people to kill Syrians who support Assad. No doctors, upon hearing someone is an Arab, tell them to “go to Damascus.”Israel Needs A Ceasefire From the United Nations
Many commentators are conflating all Jews with Israeli actions and some Jewish commentators have internalized this. Richard Gizbert at Al-Jazeera, formerly of ABC, writes an op-ed titled “Gaza, Israel and the company we keep,” in which he notes, “I’ve tried to figure out how my Jewish friends and any supporter of Israel who has a brain can back this.” In his op-ed he identifies all Jews with Israel’s actions, noting he “asks Canadian Jews” when he wants to critique Israel. His Arab friends are individuals, but Jews are one massive group, conspiring together, all marching in lockstep. No other group is subjected to this view; Italians in America or Argentina are not blamed for Italy’s actions; no one bashes their “Chinese friends” because of Tibet, or some random Indian at a motel for “what are you doing in Kashmir.”
Watching CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Sunday night was a sickening experience as “Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process”, Robert Serry - as usual - blamed Israel for the violence in the Middle East.Brandis denounces
This comes 2 days after America force-fed Israel a cease-fire, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu advised the White House that the Obama administration “not ever second guess me again” regarding Hamas, and the UN continues their drivel.
Serry also issued a statement which called for Israel to negotiate with Hamas – a terrorist organization. What CNN and others ignore is that the most senior leaders of the Israeli Government, including Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman have demanded Serry’s evction from Israel.
Serry has worked to funnel $20 Million Dollars to Hamas prior to this crisis – a crime to provide funds to terrorists.
He has a long history of anti-Israel activities, having expressed “deep concern” over Israel’s arrest of wanted terrorists.
THE [Australian] Attorney-General, George Brandis, has accused Fairfax Media of publishing anti-Semitic coverage of the Middle East, and denounced a cartoon in The Sydney Morning Herald depicting a Jewish man with an exaggerated nose as comparable to propaganda from Nazi Germany.Australian daily apologizes for ‘anti-Semitic’ cartoon
In an extraordinary attack, Senator Brandis said coverage in Fairfax papers of the Gaza conflict was “overtly anti-Semitic”.
“I… would have thought that a responsible media organisation would have a very good look at itself when it publishes cartoons (of) the kind we haven’t seen since Germany in the 1930s."…
The Sydney Morning Herald apologized “unreservedly” for publishing a cartoon that Jewish leaders called “crudely anti-Semitic.”Andrew Bolt: How Mike Carlton writes to a reader accusing him of writing anti-Jewish material
Jewish leaders had threatened legal action if the daily did not publish an apology for the July 26 cartoon by Glen Le Lievre.
The cartoon depicted a hook-nosed Jewish man wearing a kippah and sitting on an armchair emblazoned with a Star of David pressing a remote control to detonate buildings, presumably in Gaza.
“The Herald now appreciates that, in using the Star of David and the kippah in the cartoon, the newspaper invoked an inappropriate element of religion, rather than nationhood, and made a serious error of judgment,” its editors wrote in Monday’s edition. “It was wrong to publish the cartoon in its original form. We apologize unreservedly for this lapse, and the anguish and distress that has been caused.”
I have avoided calling Mike Carlton an anti-Semite, even after his foul column a week ago, decorated with the disgusting cartoon discussed below. He seems to hate far too many people to accuse him of such particularism.Andrew Bolt: Wake up Labor, smell the threat
But then I read this exchange - and note very well Carlton’s final email:
From: Mike Carlton
Date: 28 July 2014 7:17:21 AEST
To: Yury Glikin
Subject: Re: Irrelevant
You’re the one full of hate and bile, sunshine. The classic example of the Jewish bigot. Now f..k off.
Mike Carlton
Our cultural and political institutions have also surrendered our values, or made them seem no better than some we’ve imported so recklessly.Anti-Semetic abuse at Perth shopping centre
Just last week, the NSW Community Relations Commission chairman, Vic Alhadeff, a Jew, had to resign for simply noting Palestinian terrorists were firing rockets at Israeli civilians, and Israel would naturally “do whatever is needed to defend its citizens”.
Yes, supporting a Western democracy against an Islamist terrorist tyranny now makes you unfit to foster proper community relations.
Sick, but what undid Alhadeff were the greatest viruses weakening our defence of Western culture — demographics and the cheapest form of democracy.
Import people and you import a culture. You also import voters, and Muslims now outnumber Jews here by five to one.
And look where those voters are — in the lap of a Labor Party now so debased that it will sell out our civilisation for seats.
Labor frontbencher Tony Burke, for instance, represents the Sydney seat of Watson, which now has an astonishing 20 per cent of Muslim voters. In fact, of the 20 seats with the most Muslim voters, many in western Sydney, Labor holds all but one.
A visiting Hasidic Jewish leader has been the target of anti-Semitic abuse and threatened with physical violence outside the Morley Galleria.Cartoon Implies Israel Targeting Civilians
The Rebbe, who is in Perth on a lecture tour, and his 21-year-old assistant were taunted by a group of six teenagers outside the shopping centre in broad daylight on Monday, a friend of the two men said.
Danny Mayer had come to pick up the pair about 1.30pm when he saw the Rebbe being accosted.
When Mr Mayer ushered the visitors into his car the youths began banging on it.
“They were telling us to ‘F*** off’, that we were killers and they wanted to ‘fix us up’,” Mr Mayer said.
“They literally wanted us to come out and fight with them.
Although casualty counts published in the media since the start of the conflict have relied heavily on reports from Hamas, some people look at the raw numbers and conclude that Israel is not being careful enough to avoid Palestinian civilians.Where is the Hamas Offensive?
But a cartoon by Gary Barker in the Times of London takes the point to an extreme. It shows an Israeli rocket apparently aimed at a Palestinian family that has no way to seek shelter other than under a battered umbrella. The title of the cartoon: The Palestinian Defense Dome, a reference to the Israeli Iron Dome.
The problem is, while Barker tries to build sympathy for the Palestinians, he turns the story on its head. In actual fact, it is Hamas, not Israel, that’s intentionally firing rockets at civilians. And while it’s true that Israelis are under the protection of the Iron Dome while the Palestinians are not, the lesson to learn is the opposite of what the cartoon is depicting.
We get constant news of the “Israeli offensive” and the “Gaza offensive” but both refer to action by Israel. What about the Hamas offensive?Piers Morgan Defends Against Charges of Anti-Semitism After Blasting Israel
This phrase does not exist in mainstream media. It doesn’t come up in a Google search. And without the concept of “Hamas offensive,” the fact that Israel is fighting a defensive war stays out of focus.
American and UK media report on IDF soldiers and Palestinian civilians. Hamas fighters are invisible.
On Thursday morning Morgan wrote, “Israel’s making a massive mistake with this monstrous child-slaughtering military strategy. Someone needs to rein @netanyahu in… fast.” Minutes later he added, “You deliberately shell a UN facility full of women & children – you lose any moral high ground. Enough, Mr @netanyahu ….ENOUGH.”AP Grossly Understates Iron Dome Interceptions
Breitbart columnist Ben Shapiro responded on the micro-blogging site charging Morgan with anti-Semitism.
Shapiro wrote, “You have to be intelligent, @PiersMorgan, before you can be patronizing. I hope your forced retirement is going swimmingly.” He added, “Blaming Israel for defending her citizens is anti-Semitic. That’s what you’re doing.”
In an Aug. 1 Associated Press article, Bradley Klapper grossly understates the number of Palestinian rockets fired at Israel that have been intercepted by the Iron Dome. He wrote:French Gaza Reporter Ducks for Cover as Hamas Rocket Interrupts Broadcast
"The money will go to restocking Israel's Iron Dome, which has been credited with shooting down dozens of incoming rockets fired by Palestinian militants over three and a half weeks of war."
As of Saturday (Aug. 2), the Iron Dome has shot down 552 rockets, the army reported.
Journalists reporting live on the scene from Gaza face the innumerable challenges of daily life for Palestinians there, including the constant threat of errant rocket fire from the terror group Hamas, which operates deep in the infrastructure of the area. On the news network France 24, reporter Maha Abu Al-Kas had her broadcast interrupted by a shock of white light and the unmistakeable sound of a rocket.Gaza Reporter Startled by Palestinian Rocket Launch during Live Broadcast
Al-Kas was reporting live on the French television network, updating viewers on the daily developments in Gaza on July 31. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) translated the clip, in which Al-Kas reports, among other updates, the deaths of three journalists who had been injured reporting from the area. Amid detailing the dire state of Gaza's al-Shifa hospital, Al-Kas can be seen ducking as the light of a rocket illuminates the camera frame.
‘Don’t Use Me’: Reporter Admits Seeing Rocket Fired from Gaza Hospital, then Blasts Pro-Israel Media for Quoting Her
Following the posting of her report on pro-Israel blogs, Zidan took to Facebook this weekend, writing, “Don’t use me as your propaganda weapon.”Did an official Guardian editorial justify Hamas’s use of human shields?
Noting the main purpose of her report was to cover the “Palestinian civilians who were victims of war,” Zidan wrote, “During the night someone launched a rocket somewhere behind the hospital. Now this sentence from my article is spreading in the pro-Israeli medias. I mentioned this in my article because I’m a professional journalist. I try to cover the events truthfully as I see them and I strongly condemn these kind of actions.”
“But I find it very disgusting how this one sentence was taken out context to be used as an excuse to target civilians in Gaza. My story became quickly a tool of propaganda. The people sharing this story are not even trying to understand the situation as a whole. They are just looking for excuses to Israeli actions in Gaza,” she added.
“I refuse to be part of this kind of propaganda,” she concluded.
Shifa Hospital where the rocket was launched is also where a Hamas rocket aimed at Israel fell short last week, slamming into the outpatient clinic, the Israel Defense Forces said, backing up its claim with aerial images showing the launch and impact points of the rocket. Hamas officials did not allow the media to take photographs of the impact area.
Several other reporters including from the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post have noted that the hospital is being used as Hamas’ headquarters, with press briefings and interviews being held there.
Here are the opening paragraphs of the July 31st Guardian editorial, with the most important sentences emphasized in bold.This is what it looks like when the BBC waives its fourth estate role
"Wars kill people, including teachers in their classrooms, nurses in their hospitals, and farmers in their fields. But when children die in the hail of steel soldiers direct at one another there is a special kind of obscenity. Children have no agency, not even the slightest shred of the responsibility or complicity that adults to one degree or another may possess.
They know nothing of propaganda, they did not cheer in angry rallies, they did not send off their menfolk to fight with a blessing, they did not sit at meetings where the pros and cons of making war were gravely discussed by middle- aged men. No, they just die. Or lose their little legs, their arms, their eyes. The scenes at Jabaliya elementary school had seasoned United Nations officials, who have seen and endured much, in tears. The rapid transference of images to the world soon made this tragedy everybody’s property and everybody’s burden. Then, of course, a familiar game begins. Mournful spokesmen explain that the other side is to blame, because it has hidden its fighters, mortars and rockets in populated areas. They take great care, but mistakes can happen. They do not explain why that other side might be reluctant to put its fighters into, say, the local soccer stadium so that they could be mown down without risk to civilians."
If you read that last underlined sentence carefully, it’s difficult to avoid concluding that the Guardian is essentially acknowledging the Hamas use of civilians as human shields, but then asking: ‘however, given the group’s limited alternatives, who can really blame them?‘!
The first of the BBC’s “disputed” events is the explosion in the Shati area of Gaza on July 28th in which a missile fired by terrorists hit a playground killing ten people including eight children. As readers no doubt recall, soon after the incident took place the IDF stated that it had not been operating in the area at the time and publicized aerial photographs showing the trajectories of that missile and three others fired at the same time as recorded by IDF radars and sensors.BBC’s Martin Patience tells TV audiences that Israel attacks UN schools
The BBC’s presentation of that incident, however, places data gathered from sophisticated tracking equipment on a par with the unverified verbal claims of assorted bodies all ultimately run by a proscribed terrorist organization.
The incident is currently under IDF investigation but already the various BBC claims of an attack “on” or “at” a UN school in Rafah – rather than in the vicinity of that building – are clearly less than accurate and Martin Patience has obviously breached BBC guidelines with his knee-jerk claim of a “third deadly attack on a United Nations school” by Israel. Unless he can prove that this school itself (along with the other two he mentions) was the intended target of an attack – rather than terrorists operating in the area near those UN schools – the BBC should issue a prompt and prominent correction.Exclusive: Palestine Solidarity Campaign complaint to the BBC about its pro-Israel bias (satire)
EXCLUSIVE. Following on from the mass demonstration the Palestine Solidarity Campaign staged three weeks ago outside the BBC in London to complain about its pro-Israel bias, I have managed to get hold of a copy of their latest letter of complaint to the BBC:Tokyo Stands With Israel
UK Israel Activists Stage 'Siren Flash Mob' in Trafalgar Square
Activists in the UK found a creative way to raise awareness for the plight of Israelis, holding a "siren flash mob" in London's Trafalgar Square "to show the public what it's like to live under rocket fire."Air Raid Siren "FlashMob" in Trafalgar Square, London
A similar demonstration was held in Vienna last month. Both flash mobs sought to draw attention to how many Israelis have as little as 15 seconds to run to bomb shelters as Hamas and other Gazan terrorist groups indiscriminately bombard their communities with rockets.
Rio Jews rally for peace in Israel
Some 2,500 people rallied at the Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro for peace in Israel and the Middle East.San Francisco: 3,000 Strong in Solidarity with Israel
Participants of varying ages and types — Jews and non-Jews — marched along the promenade and in the street. They sang Hebrew songs, as well as the Brazilian and Israeli national anthems.
Huge signs in Portuguese and English called for peace in the Middle East and condemned anti-Semitism. The blue and white of the Israeli flag flew alongside the Brazilian flag’s green and yellow, symbolizing the Jewish community’s integration in Brazilian society. Signs, flags and T-shirts carried pro-peace slogans and a rejection of terrorism perpetrated by Hamas.
There was an amazing show of solidarity at todays pro-Israel rally at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco Thousands gathered to sing, to pray, and to listen to elected officials, community leaders and clergy, who proudly identified, as so many of us do, as pro-peace ZionistsRabbi, congregant attacked in Malmo days after synagogue vandalized
A rabbi from the Swedish city of Malmo was attacked by men who hurled objects at him from a car and used anti-Semitic pejoratives.South Africa: Armed 'Palestinian' Arrested Near Pro-Israel Demo
Rabbi Shneur Kesselman was assaulted on Saturday night along with a member of his congregation, the Sydsvenskan daily reported Sunday.
The attack, which resulted in no physical injuries, came two days after the southern city’s main synagogue was vandalized, when unidentified individuals smashed three of the building’s windows by hurling objects at them.
South African police arrested a "Palestinian" man in possession of several illegal firearms outside a pro-Israel rally in Johannesburg on Sunday, potentially preventing a violent attack on thousands of peaceful protesters.Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s forced to close stores after pro-Palestine demonstrations
The event saw more than 12,000 supporters of Israel, ranging from religious and secular Jews to Christians and other South Africans of all persuasions, turn out in support of the Jewish state's efforts to protect itself against Gazan terrorist groups. Participants heard speeches, waved flags and sung songs in a robust demonstration of pro-Israel sentiment in a country often associated with militant anti-Zionism.
But some opponents may have had a less then peaceful response in mind.
Protesters called on the British firm to boycott goods sourced from Benjamin Netanyahu’s country with some people seen laying down on the floor inside shops.Anti-Israel attacks by Venezuela could prove dire for Jews, AJC warns
Once the supermarkets were closed demonstrators were seen gathering outside the stores as they continued their protest.
The activists sparked the closure of Sainsbury’s branches in Birmingham, Brighton, Whitechapel and Brixton.
Speaking about the Birmingham store closure, a Sainsbury’s spokesman said: “On the advice of the police we temporarily closed the store. It was re-opened for customers shortly after and trade was not seriously disrupted”...
Since the start of Israel’s operation against Gaza in early July, Venezuelan Jewry has been subjected to attacks and intimidation from government officials and the media, according to the AJC.VIDEO: Pro-Israel Marine Corp Vet Harassed by Mob at DC Pro-Palestine Protest
The Jewish group said President Nicolas Maduro has publicly accused Israel of pursuing “a war of extermination against the Palestinian people” and has compared Gaza to Auschwitz.
“President Maduro is playing with fire and, if left unchecked, his incitement of state-sanctioned hatred against Jewish citizens could easily ignite with profoundly tragic consequences,” AJC Executive Director David Harris warned in a statement issued Sunday. “Ensuring the safety and security of Venezuela’s Jewish citizens should be a government priority, but President Maduro seems intent on outdoing the hostility towards Israel of his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, and that’s saying a lot.”
On Saturday, Breitbart News reported on U.S. Marine Corps veteran Manny Vega’s lone counter protest against a pro-Palestine rally in Washington, D.C., and how a protestor tried to light his Israeli flag on fire while he was holding it. However, the dustup between Mr. Vega and the protestors did not end there.Pro-Israel U.S. Marine Manny Vega Attacked by Pro-Palestinians in Washington, DC - #2DC4Gaza
After Breitbart News left, Mr. Vega found himself surrounded by angry pro-Palestine protestors, and was kicked, spat on and punched by the demonstrators. The police finally showed up to stop the situation around a minute and a half into the video.
Calgary pro-Palestinian protesters chant “Heil, Heil Hitler”
You can add this to the growing list of grossly anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi outbursts around the world, as we noted in Just more “pro-Palestinian” protests: Nazi salutes in Paris, “death to all Jews” in the Hague‘Hail Hitler’ chanted at Israel supporters, media ignores [video]
In Calgary, pro-Palestinian protesters confronted pro-Israel protesters.
After some shouting back and forth, the pro-Palestinian protesters started chanting (at 0:40) “Heil, Heil Hitler.”
Calgary Herald reporter Erika Stark failed to mention that Palestinian supporters protesting a pro-Israel rally chanted “All hail Hitler” to the Jewish crowd. Stark apparently heard it but tweeted only that she “shouldn’t tweet” what they were saying.Netherlands Bans ISIS Flag After Anti-Semitism Surge
If Stark included the “Hitler” chant in her article it didn’t make it past Calgary Herald editors.
In anticipation of an anti-Israel rally organized for Sunday in Amsterdam, the government of the Netherlands added the flag of the terrorist group Islamic State to its list of banned political hate paraphernalia. Flying the flag in the nation will be considered a crime.Mayim Bialik likes Jon Voight’s letter shaming pro-Hamas celebrities
The Irish Times reports that a police spokesman announced that individuals protesting Israel's Operation Protective Edge against the terrorist group Hamas will be prohibited from displaying the black flag of the jihadist group, which has made significant gains in conquering land in Syria and Iraq. “Nazi symbols, Hitler salutes and burning flags will not be tolerated," the spokesperson said in a statement. "The same applies to the ISIS flag. Demonstrators may not carry it.”
Supporters of the Islamic State has been particularly problematic in the Netherlands after an ostensibly "pro-Palestine" rally in The Hague prominently featured the group's distinctive black flag. The crowd displaying a number of Islamic State flags also reportedly chanted "Death to the Jews" and promoted jihad.
Plenty of celebrities have taken the side of Hamas in the current conflict in Gaza. Many co-signed a letter with Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem condemning Israel for taking military action against Hamas. Mayim Bialik shared a letter written by Jon Voight, calling on Cruz, Bardem and others to “hang their heads in shame”Sudanese Woman Sentenced To Death For Christian Faith Heads To America
Ibrahim was eight months pregnant when the Sudanese government sentenced her to death for refusing to renounce her Christian faith. She later gave birth in shackles at Omdurman Federal Women’s Prison in North Khartoum, Sudan.'Islamism is the Nazism of our time'
After an appeals court reversed a lower court's death penalty sentence, Ibrahim and her husband traveled to the airport in Khartoum to flee the country. They were arrested at the airport and accused of using forged travel documents. The United States Embassy was their only sanctuary for eight months until they finally reached safety in Italy due to the efforts of pro-life Rep. Chris Smith and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. During her stay in Italy, she had a visit with Pope Francis she described as "very tender."
They will arrive in Philadelphia and be heavily shielded by the FBI and TSA.
Swedish party leaders traditionally hold summer speeches on their home turf during the holiday season and Saturday was the turn of the Sweden Democrats' Jimmie Åkesson.The Palestinians: A nation or a satellite of one?
A crowd of a few hundred people had gathered in Åkesson's home town of Sölvesborg in Sweden's far south to hear the 35-year-old launch the party's push towards the general election in September.
Following a sweeping review of the current global conflict zones, Åkesson shifted focus to Islam.
"Islamism is the Nazism and Communism of our time," he said, prompting the most generous applause of the afternoon.
Palestine, it would seem, was a fluid concept rather than a historical nation aspiring to establish a state for its people. Otherwise, the Palestinians would not have written Article 24. They would have left it in the open or claimed those lands from Jordan and Egypt.Times of Israel removes an unacceptable blog post
Conveniently, Article 24 vanished in the 1968 version of the charter when Israel took over those areas.
All this points to a false national movement, whose existence has always been, and always will be to obliterate Israel.
The Palestinians would submit to any Arab state’s rule, if an Arab state were to invade Israel.
They are not a nation. They are the satellite of one.
The Times of Israel on Friday removed an unacceptable blog post, entitled “When genocide is permissible.”The Dreams at Camp Koby
This blog post, which was described by our Ops & Blogs editor as both damnable and ignorant, blatantly breached The Times of Israel’s editorial guidelines.
We have discontinued the writer’s blog.
The Times of Israel maintains an open blog platform: Once we have accepted bloggers, we allow them to post their own items. This trust has rarely been abused. We are angry and appalled that it was in this case, and will take steps to prevent a recurrence.
We will not countenance blog posts that incite to violence or criminal acts.
The counselor says that he realizes that the bereaved children of Camp Koby are like the paper that was turned over. You can not see anything on the side that is unmarked. They look like everybody else. But when you turn over the paper you get the inner story: one of longing and loss. Bereaved children don’t often share their loss and pain. They keep it hidden.State Department's Rebuke of Egypt Undermines War on Terror
This summer, when we are in the middle of a war, camp is even more crucial because at least half of our children are from the south and areas that are under constant attack from missiles. A little girl from a moshav on the Egyptian border tells me that a missile fell in the back of her house, that they are constantly under bombardment.
These kids need our help so that they will feel safe, so that they won’t grow up hateful and shattered but rather resilient and hopeful, protected by a community that comforts them, cares for them, and supports them in expressing and realizing their dreams.
Last Thursday, during a press briefing in Washington, DC, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf accused Egypt of using military weapons "against their own people." Badr Abdel-Atti, spokesman for Egypt's Foreign Ministry, fired back, describing the comments as "sheer fantasy," noting that they "fall short and are completely ignorant of realities of matters in Egypt."Turkey ‘really wants’ ties with Israeli tech: Entrepreneur
He asked for specific examples of "the suppression of protestors using U.S. military aid."
Just two weeks ago, 21 Egyptian soldiers were killed by Islamist militants in the western desert region near Libya. Almost everyday there is an attack from militants against the Egyptian security forces. Over 500 Egyptian military and policemen have been killed by Islamist militants since the removal of Morsi. The Egyptian military and security risk their lives everyday to protect the civilians of Egypt. The Egyptian military need the Apaches and military support from the United States to fight an Islamist insurgency-- the same terrorist groups, with the same ideology, as Hamas, ISIS, al Nusra, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda.
A letter was sent to President Obama in July signed by over twenty national security experts asking the President to send the Apaches and support Egypt in their war on terrorism. Egypt has been America's strongest ally in the Arab world for almost 40 years. Ms. Harf's ignorant comments further jeopardize the strategic relationship between the two countries. She should either provide the evidence to back up her remarks or apologize for the mistake.
Lavish praise for Israel’s tech sector is coming from an unexpected place — Turkey. Unexpected, because Turkey’s leaders have become among the most vocal and strident critics of Israel during the Gaza conflict. Less unexpected, perhaps, because of the rule that tech people don’t pay attention to politics.IsraAID disaster relief in Pateros, WA
The burgeoning Turkish tech entrepreneurial community admires Israel and sees Tel Aviv as a source of start-up inspiration, according to Gizem Koç, a Turkish entrepreneur with her own industrial design start-up — and a leading force behind Startup Istanbul, set to be the first major event for start-ups, both local and international, in Turkey’s biggest city.
War at home did not stop the Israel-based humanitarian relief agency IsraAID from sending experienced volunteers to help in the wake of a disastrous wildfire on the West Coast of the United States.50 years of bringing brilliant ideas from lab to market
“Our team is working hard alongside residents who lost their homes in Pateros, [Washington State], USA,” reported IsraAID Founding Director Shachar Zahavi. “The local community is amazing and receiving us with open arms.”
Upon arrival following what has been dubbed the Carlton Complex — the worst fire in Washington State’s history, destroying some 300 homes — IsraAID joined forces with Team Rubicon to help residents remove debris from the ruins of their homes and sift through the ash to recover personal items. They’ll also help in rehab efforts.
The many groundbreaking products that came out of the labs of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) – including the blockbuster drugs Exelon and Doxil, as well as the hardy cherry tomato – may never have moved from academia to market without Yissum Research Development Company, founded in February 1964 to protect and commercialize HUJI’s intellectual property.
Products based on HUJI inventions generate more than $2 billion in annual sales. Yissum has registered more than 8,500 patents and licensed out 700 technologies. The 90 companies spun out from Yissum over the years include many that ISRAEL21c has featured: Mobileye, ClearJet, CollPlant, Avraham Pharmaceuticals, NasVax, BioCancell and Tiltan Pharmaceuticals, to name a few.
In celebration of Yissum’s 50th anniversary, ISRAEL21c spoke with CEO Yaacov Michlin about how this technology-transfer company earned a place among the top 15 globally in terms of income.