Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Palestinian Columnist: Hamas Did Not Win The War, Only Brought Suffering Upon Gazans
In an August 7, 2014 article titled "We Did Not Win," which was posted on the Amad.ps website, Palestinian columnist Dalia Al-'Afifi challenged Hamas' claim that it won the Gaza war. She wrote that Hamas had shown ignorance of Israel's rationale, had caused innumerable losses and damage to the Palestinians, and had erred in rejecting the Egyptian initiative. She added that the immense destruction in Gaza cannot be called a victory by any standards, and that Hamas' tactics are not likely to bring about an improvement in the Gazans' living conditions, not to mention promote the larger political goals of the Palestinian people.Khaled Abu Toameh: The Real "Siege" of the Gaza Strip
Egypt has not only turned Gaza into an "open-air prison." It has prevented the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip before and during the war.Times of Israel Live Blog: Defense chief says Gaza op not over, unclear if deal will be reached
Last year, more than 100 Muslim scholars signed a petition accusing Egypt and Arab countries of participating in the siege of Gaza by keeping Egypt's Rafah border crossing with Gaza closed and preventing medical and humanitarian aid.
Egypt does not want anyone to talk about its blockade of Gaza. At the cease-fire discussions taking place in Cairo, the Palestinians have been asked not to talk about the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
The Egyptians want the world to blame only Israel for the "siege" on the Gaza Strip, and turn it into an Israeli, and not an Egyptian, problem.
While Egypt continues to impose strict restrictions, hundreds of trucks of food and basic supplies — and ambulances and medical staff from Israel — are being transported into Gaza through border crossings with Israel.
Whatever is ultimately decided, Hamas's leaders will find ways to smuggle weapons into Gaza: their goal is to destroy Israel.
Despite Gazan claims, IDF ships fired warning shots at boat, not Rafah; ceasefire deal expected tomorrow, says Islamic Jihad source, others contend that gaps remain; UN investigator Schabas defends record; new flotilla announced
Yair Lapid: The Betrayal of the Intellectual
Too many American and European intellectuals have taken moral relativism to its absurd extreme, falling back upon the ‘validity of every narrative’ and repeating the mantra that ‘every story has two sides.’ They treat those who have a clear moral stance as primitive. For them, if you take a moral stand or choose a side in a conflict you must lack the necessary tolerance to “see the other side.”Gantz: 'Rocket Trickling' is Unacceptable
It seems a distant memory but not long ago intellectuals did the exact opposite. They were the ones who helped us differentiate between good and evil, between right and wrong, between justice and injustice. They didn’t delve into the childhood of Senator McCarthy or ask whether the Germans felt a genuine sense of hardship. The debate wasn’t over feelings but the essence of truth.
The betrayal of the intellectuals was especially noticeable during the days of the operation in Gaza. Ostensibly, there should be no question as to who enlightened people should support; on one side of the conflict stands a western democracy, governed by the rule of law, which warns civilians before striking legitimate terrorist targets. On the other side stands an Islamist terrorist organization, homophobic and misogynistic, committed to killing Jews, which does all in its power to murder innocent civilians and hides behind its own women and children when carrying out its vicious attacks.
But those intellectuals see it differently. For them, the Palestinians are suffering more and so they must be right. Why? Because they have turned suffering into the only measure of justice.
Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz visited the Gaza Belt on Sunday, where he met and spoke with IDF officers and local mayors.Bennett: Giving Hamas money in exchange for quiet is 'political extortion'
During the visit, Gantz made clear that a “trickling of rockets” from Gaza towards Israel was unacceptable.
"We dealt a serious blow to Hamas," he said. "Over the past 48 hours we attacked between 130 and 140 targets in Gaza. The trickling of rocket fire is unacceptable.”
Gantz made clear that “even if it takes another week, two weeks, or three more weeks," the calm to the south will be restored. He said that the achievements of the IDF in recent weeks have been significant.
"Hamas was hit very hard and so have the other terrorist organizations,” he said, adding that “we are attacking dozens of targets on a daily basis and we insist on continuing until there is absolute quiet in the south.”
Economy Minister Naftali Bennett (Bayit Yehudi) addressed reports that Israel was considering agreeing to a Hamas demand to pay the back salaries of thousands of its employees in Gaza. "The 'money for Hamas in exchange for quiet' formula is political extortion," he wrote on his Facebook page.IDF to field-test two tunnel-seeking technologies
"Let's tell the truth: the money will go to terrorists who are digging [tunnels] beneath us, to those producing missiles and to the people shooting at us," the minister warned.
Bennett argued that the Hamas "extortionists," were essentially saying, "Pay us, and we will shoot at you later; don't pay us, and we will shoot at you now."
He said that the "money to terrorists in exchange for quiet" formula would allow Hamas to recuperate after Operation Protective Edge and rearm itself for the next round of fighting.
"We can't fight Hamas with one hand and fund them with the other," he argued.
The Israel Defense Forces is set to conduct field trials with two technologies that it hopes will prove successful at revealing tunnels, offering a possible means to detect subterranean passages dug by Hamas under the border with Gaza, a senior army officer revealed on Monday.Sixty Days Later, Parents of Abducted Teens Speak
Both systems have already passed laboratory tests paving the way to more extensive trials that are already being set up, revealed the officer, who was not named, Israel Hayom reported.
If the tests prove that the systems work, it would take about a year to install them all along the border with the Gaza Strip, at a cost of NIS 1.5-2.5 billion ($430-720 million), he estimated.
The IDF official explained that, in recent years, more than 700 ideas have been tested in thousands of trials to find a solution for detecting tunnels, but that they all failed. The two projects that are now facing more-extensive tests also failed in the past, but have since been improved to the point of offering a realistic solution.
The parents of the three yeshiva boys who were abducted and murdered - Eyal Yifrah, Naftali Frenkel and Gilad Sha'ar, hy"d - gave a moving interview to Israel Hayom on Tuesday on the days of waiting, the moments of difficulty and hope - and the news of finding the bodies.'I also cried'
"Immediately after the funeral, the [media] spotlight [was] directed south, rightly, but people [still] stop us in the street and tell us that our story is still in their hearts," said Ofir Sha'ar, father of Gilad. "Everywhere we hear, 'we have not forgotten you.' We are not IDF Chiefs of Staff but we see a direct connection between the abduction and the war."
"It started as something private and made the journey to something public," Iris Yifrach, Eyal's mother, stated. "I look back and to the sides and I see all the people of Israel standing with me."
"The fact that we reached a state of war after a state of solidarity was a preparatory phase for a difficult war," Rachel Frenkel, mother of Naftali, added. "The bereaved families we have met from Operation Protective Edge have been amazing. [Oron] Saul's family, [Hadar] Goldin's family. This lowers the pressure of us being 'role models.' Here's the proof, it's not [just] us, the whole nation is like this."
Soldiers of the 7th Brigade uncovered a number of Hamas attack tunnels.Angry locals near border: IDF left Gaza too early
“One day found a huge tunnel, very impressive looking; from the top of it you do not see either its beginning or its end,” said Adar.
“You realize that whenever you find a tunnel like this, you prevent attacks and save lives.
“At that moment there is some concern. You understand that terrorists can appear from an underground tunnel that is unseen and hidden, and not only do you need to scan the streets to look for them, but also to take into account what is happening underground. They do not fight face to face, but they tail you. They are trained well at entering and leaving tunnels, but not at fighting like soldiers. In battle they pop their heads out of a tunnel, shooting and ducking repetitively or shooting and escaping back through the tunnel.
“ One of the most shocking finds found by the team was a tunnel discovered in a mosque. “We found a large amount of weapons and managed to remove the pulley through which they shifted the materials,” said Shaul. “I could not help but think how a place that should be innocent was turned into a killing factory.”
Having been informed by the state late last week that it was safe to return to their homes, many residents of the southern communities bordering Gaza who traveled northward to escape the threat of rockets, mortars and terror tunnels returned to their dwellings over the weekend only to come under fire once again.Gaza-Area Israelis: We Are ‘Not Sure We Can Raise Kids Here’
The next morning there was a polite message by the moshav’s pool saying, “Due to our neighbors, the swimming pool will not be open today because of a technical problem,” a wry reference to the fact that one of the incoming mortars had put it out of action for a while.
Netiv Ha’asara is the closest Israeli civilian community to Gaza, and the community has felt the harsh reality of the conflict with the Hamas regime there for many years, having been the target of hundreds of rockets and mortar bombs
Despite a second 72-hour cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza that went into effect overnight, residents of normally placid and productive Jewish communities alongside the Islamist-held coastal enclave are wondering if it’s a good place to raise kids anymore, Israel’s NRG News reported Monday.What War? Christian Zionists Help Israeli Farmers in Tough Times
Interior Minister Gideon Saar, and ministry Knesset committee chief, Miri Regev on Monday met with frustrated and frightened residents and regional leaders at Kibbutz Nahal Oz, and at the rural Eshkol Regional Council to hear them out.
“The residents mostly spoke about their fears, and uncertainty over the future of the kibbutz – which had been on a demographic and economic roll,” before Operation Protective Edge, one resident said – even with the pervasive terror threat.
At a time when some visitors to Israel have been rethinking their travel plans to Israel in light of ongoing hostilities with Gazan terror groups, some 500 Christian volunteers will be traveling to the Jewish state to support farmers in Judea and Samaria this summer - and they say they're coming no matter what.Rocket-ravaged Ashkelon to throw its annual summer bash
Members of the HaYovel organization say that far from making them reconsider their yearly plans to help farmers work their land, the war has left them more committed than ever to supporting Israeli farmers at such a difficult time.
One of the group's organizers, American Zac Waller, said he was "really excited" to be bringing hundreds of volunteers over next three months.
After being postponed twice due to continuous rocket fire from Gaza, Ashkelon’s annual pop music festival Briza was confirmed for August 24-30.Police prepared for increased attacks in east Jerusalem
“It might look crazy to bring thousands of people to Ashkelon for Briza,” said Efi Maimon, one of the festival organizers, on Monday. “But people need this festival. The children of the south have lost their summer.”
The festival is celebrating its 23rd summer, and will be two days longer this year, said Maimon.
“We need to make it even more fun this year,” said Maimon at the press conference, held facing the nearly empty Ashkelon Beach. “We owe this festival to our soldiers and to the people of Ashkelon. They have suffered too much.”
The majority of the assaults – typically propagated by masked youths and young adults throwing powerful firecrackers, rocks and firebombs at the homes and cars of Jewish residents living among the Palestinian population – have not resulted in serious injuries, police said. However, last week tensions peaked when a terrorist commandeering an excavator killed a Jewish pedestrian in the Shmuel Hanavi neighborhood, and an IDF soldier was shot in the stomach at a bus stop in a separate incident hours later in nearby French Hill.Hair Product Company (With Nazi Past) Flakes Out on Giveaway to IDF Soldiers
In response to the alarming rise of attacks, Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said more than 500 officers and an elite anti-riot patrol unit had been intensively patrolling flash-point neighborhoods – including Isawiya, Shuafat, French Hill, Abu Tor, A-Tur and Sur Bahir – around the clock.
“Most of the incidents take place... between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m.,” Rosenfeld said, “so apart from the 500 officers doing patrols we have an elite special patrol unit called YASAM that can arrive anywhere incidents take place throughout east Jerusalem within minutes.”
Now comes Garnier Hair Care Products, bowing and scraping and hoping all the terrorists and their enablers will forgive the company and its parent, L’Oreal Cosmetics, for having been revealed as an entity that somehow, somewhere, allowed its products to be delivered for free to women serving in the Israel Defense Force. Given L’Oreal’s history of enthusiastically supporting Nazi collaboraters and participating in the Arab League Boycott if Israel, it is on a familiar and ugly path.Israel Defense Forces Establishing New Mixed-Gender Battalion
The message on Garnier’s Facebook page wilts of its own pathetic weight. Garnier posted the following:
Garnier USA is aware of recent activity in social media. It is very important to us that our fans know that “Garnier worldwide promotes peace and harmony and has a strict policy of not getting involved in any conflict or political matter. Garnier was astonished to discover this in social media. After investigation, the hand-out of about 500 products appeared to be part of a one-time local retailer initiative. Garnier disapproves of this initiative managed strictly at local level and is very sorry to have offended some of its fans.”
In recent months, Israel Defense Force officials have held intensive discussions aimed at setting up a second mixed-gender infantry battalion, similar to the Caracal Battalion, established in 2000, Israel’s NRG News reported Monday.Yankees President Hosts 40 Youths Headed to Join Israeli Army
“As part of the needs of the Ground Forces, it was decided to split off the Lavi Battalion from the Kfir Division, and turn it into a mobile battalion, like Caracal,” the army spokesman told NRG.
About 70 percent of Caracal’s soldiers and officers are female. The battalion is tasked with patrolling the border with Egypt, and nine years ago this month took part in the controversial “disengagement” from the Gaza Strip, uprooting close to 9,000 Israelis.
New York Yankees President Randy Levine and his wife Mindy hosted some 40 young men and women at Yankee Stadium on Sunday who are making aliyah (emigrating to Israel) and plan to serve in the Israel Defense Forces.New US, Canadian Immigrants Arrive, Unmoved by Gaza Terror
The group of young Jews took an aliyah charter flight and will arrive in Israel on Tuesday with other new immigrants. Among a total of 338 youths that are arriving in Israel from the United States and Canada, 108 of them will be joining the IDF.
North Americans are ignoring the largely skewed news coverage they are being fed by mass media abroad and continuing to ‘come home to Israel’ regardless of the grim news headlines around the conflict with Gaza.'Superman' Jumps to Israel's Defense
One of the special Nefesh B’Nefesh aliyah flights from New York that takes place each summer arrived bright and early Tuesday, bringing 338 new “olim” to Ben Gurion International Airport on the wings of Israel’s national carrier, El Al Airlines.The 38 new Israeli families included 107 children and 108 young men and women who are soon to become soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces.
In the Gaza conflict, it's Israel that best represents "truth, justice, and the American way," says Dean Cain, the actor best known for his role as Superman on ABC Television.How much has Israel’s war against Hamas cost?
Speaking on the Fox-TV talk show "Outnumbered" on August 8, Cain said that Israel, like the United States, is a democracy that is threatened by terrorists, and deserves America's wholehearted supported. "Clearly Hamas are terrorists," Cain said. "And if rockets were being fired from Mexico into my home town of San Diego, Americans wouldn't accept that for a minute, we'd be taking over that part of Mexico and making it part of California."
Cain, who played Superman on ABC's "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" in the 1990s, is the latest in a growing list of Hollywood celebrities who are speaking out in support of Israel.
With the recent expiration of a temporary cease-fire, the operation may not be over. (Another temporary cease-fire was put in place starting at midnight Monday.) But through last week, including both direct military expenses and indirect hits to the Israeli economy, the total cost of the four-week conflict is estimated at $2.5 billion to $3.6 billion.Israelis’ quandary: How to aid Gazans but not Hamas
The government has maintained radio silence on the war’s military costs and estimates vary, but Israeli media report that they range from $1.2 billion to $2.3 billion. Lost economic activity amounted to an estimated $1.3 billion, with the tourism sector in particular taking a massive hit.
“Along with soldiers, we won’t spare a shekel in reimbursements to residents of the south and reservists,” Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid said at a news conference Thursday. “From our perspective they’re all soldiers, and all deserve special treatment from us.”
When the Rev. Raed Abusahliah, director of the Catholic humanitarian aid group Caritas Jerusalem, sought donations of food, clothing and other vital supplies for Gazans, he hoped for generous support from Christians and Muslims eager to help their beleaguered brethren recover from the destruction left by Israel's conflict with Hamas militants.Israel, U.S. Reject UN's Gaza Panel
What Abusahliah didn't anticipate was the outpouring of support from Israeli Jews, who he said constituted about half of the 600-700 donors to the campaign. "I admit that I am somewhat surprised," the Palestinian Catholic priest said. "Many Jews have also sent us messages of solidarity and offers of everything from baby clothes to blood donations."
As a new cease-fire was holding Monday while Israel and Hamas seek a longer-term truce, the casualties of the war have confronted many Israelis with a dilemma: how to help Gaza's civilians without boosting Hamas.
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry noted that the appointment of Canadian professor William Schabas, who is known for his anti-Israel positions, means that the panel’s report has already been written.UN Watch: NGO: William Schabas must recuse himself from UN Gaza inquiry
Schabas has in the past called for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to be prosecuted for war crimes.
"The results are known in advance," a Foreign Ministry official said on Monday night.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor added, "If any further proof was required, the appointment of the chairman of the committee, whose views and positions against Israel are known to all, proves beyond any doubt that Israel cannot expect justice from such a body, and that the panel’s report has already been written and all that is left is to determine who will sign it.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department joined in on the criticism on Monday, with deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf telling reporters that any investigation related to Gaza should be done in a way that is non-biased.
“We’ve always said that if there are specific incidents that need investigation, that we think they should be. We said that with UNRWA schools and we’ve said that in other cases as well,” she said.
At the same time, she added, “there’s a way to investigate things that’s not one-sided and biased, and there’s a way that we don’t support.”
A Geneva-based human rights group called on William Schabas to recuse himself from the UN’s new Gaza inquiry, saying that he is legally disqualified by prior statements expressing his wish to see Prime Minister Netanyahu and former President Shimon Peres indicted before the International Criminal Court.New Head of UN Gaza Probe: Syrian Chemical Weapons Not Technically a War Crime
“Under international law, William Schabas is obliged to recuse himself because his repeated calls to indict Israeli leaders obviously gives rise to actual bias or the appearance thereof,” said Hillel Neuer, an international lawyer and executive director of UN Watch, accredited to the United Nations as a non-governmental organization mandated to monitor the world’s body’s adherence to the UN Charter.
“You can’t spend several years calling for the prosecution of someone, and then suddenly act as his judge,” said Neuer. “It’s absurd — and a violation of the minimal rules of due process applicable to UN fact-finding missions.”
William Schabas, who was appointed Monday by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to head an investigation into Israel’s conduct during Operation Protective Edge, argued in a blog post last year that the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government would not constitute a war crime.New UN "expert" on UN's new Israel-bashing "inquiry" says anti-Zionism is not antisemitism.
Schabas argued that since Syria is not a party to the Rome Statute—which governs “non-international” conflicts—and since chemical weapons are not explicitly included among prohibited weapons, Syria would not be guilty of war crimes if it used chemical weapons.
"At the Kampala Review Conference, held in June 2010, amendments were adopted extending the same provisions to non-international armed conflict. The amendments have only been ratified by a few States and obviously not by Syria, which is not a State Party to the Rome Statute, nor by some of the States that are accusing Syria of committing war crimes through the use of chemical weapons in a non-international armed conflict. But they also haven’t been ratified by some of the States that are now condemning Syria.
Even assuming that these provisions do apply, in a general sense, to the conflict in Syria, – the consequence of a Security Council resolution, for example – do they prohibit chemical weapons?"
Doudou Diène has just been appointed as a member of the UN's newest anti-Israel "inquiry" which was commissioned in July to condemn Israel's exercise of the right of self-defense in Gaza. Diene's anti-Israel bias is well known to the UN - undoubtedly one of the reasons he was selected by the President of the UN Human Rights Council, (who is himself a Muslim from a member state of the Islamic bloc of states, Baudelaire Ndong Ella from Gabon). Back in 2008, Diene was the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. Diene produced a report in which he claimed anti-Zionism is not anti-semitism. In fact, he said, anti-Zionism is a trumped-up charge intended to subvert criticism of Israel. To the UN, the supposed right of self-determination is all about Palestinians. Anti-Zionism is, of course, the self-determination of the Jewish people:Amal Alamuddin says will not serve on UN Gaza probe panel
Amal Alamuddin, a British-Lebanese lawyer, who is also the fiancée of American Hollywood actor George Clooney, said on Tuesday she would not be serving on the three-member UN Gaza probe panel.What does Israel really expect to get out of the Cairo talks?
The UNHRC president named Alamuddin as one of the members to take part in the commission.
"I am horrified by the situation in the occupied Gaza Strip, particularly the civilian casualties," Alamuddin said in a statement, "and strongly believe that there should be an independent investigation and accountability for crimes that have been committed."
She said she was contacted by the UN for the first time on Monday evening, and that while honored to be offered the position, she had to turn it down due to "existing commitments – including eight ongoing cases." (h/t Bob Knot)
Hamas did not acquiesce to Jerusalem’s requirements during last week’s three-day truce, which suggests that the organization has not been deterred by the month-long war and has enough stamina to continue fighting until its demands are met.Hamas: We’ll let the PA monitor Rafah crossing
Israel knows that. So what does Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu really expect to get out the Egyptian-brokered talks? A thorough demilitarization of Gaza, for which he has repeatedly advocated, seems an unrealistic pipe dream, as Hamas will never agree to lay down its weapons. (Though not for lack of trying, as evidence by a new diplomatic push by Finance Minister Yair Lapid announced Monday night.)
Moreover, Hamas vows to continue attacking Israel until the blockade on Gaza is entirely lifted, a stipulation that Israel resolutely rejects. In light of these facts, some are predicting that the Cairo talks are doomed to fail and that Israel will find itself unable to escape the loop of tit for tat, forced to wage an ongoing war against Hamas.
For the first time since its men seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Hamas announced on Monday it would not oppose the return of forces loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to the Rafah border crossing.Hamas official: This is second and final cease-fire with Israel
The announcement came during the first day of a 72-hour cease-fire as Israel and Hamas launched indirect talks in Cairo in a bid to reach an agreement over a longer-term truce.
The announcement also came following unconfirmed reports that the Egyptians would agree to the deployment of some 1,000 PA policemen along the border between Gaza and Egypt.
A senior Hamas official said on Tuesday that his group was locked in "difficult" talks in Egyptian-mediated efforts in Cairo to forge a lasting cease-fire in Gaza with Israel.Egypt: Israeli blockade ‘inhumane’
"We are facing difficult negotiations. The first truce passed without notable achievements. This is the second and final cease-fire," Palestinian news agency Ma'an quoted Mousa Abu Marzouk as saying in light of the three-day halt in fighting that started Sunday.
Zvi Mazel, who served as Israel’s sixth ambassador to Egypt and is a fellow at The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs as well as a contributor to The Jerusalem Post, said that this effort by Egypt is no more than an effort to satisfy Arab and international public opinion by accusing Israel of aggression toward the Palestinians.Iran slams Egypt for stalling to green light aid shipment
“It is a kind of reaction to what is being said in Israel and in the international and Arab media that Egypt sides with Israel against Hamas,” Mazel said.
Egypt perceives Hamas-ruled Gaza as a threat to its security, and a logistical base for jihadi terrorism in Sinai where it has around 15,000 soldiers stationed, he said.
The Egyptian media has paid scant attention to the Gaza conflict on the whole and has instead been focusing on domestic and economic issues – such as the initiation of digging of the new Suez canal and the building of industrial and touristic zones between it and the old Suez canal – Mazel said.
Iran blamed Egypt for stalling to grant permission for the delivery of supplies to the Gaza Strip, Iranian state-run Press TV reported on Tuesday.Director of Anti-Israel Human Rights Watch Thrown Out of Egypt
Iranian official Hossein Amir-Abdollahian charged Egyptian officials of refusing to approve Tehran's request to transfer, via Egypt, a shipment of what the Islamic Republic said was medical and humanitarian aid for Palestinians injured in Israeli strikes.
To get aid across, Iran would have to fly its shipments to Egypt and then cross by land through the Rafah border into Gaza. The only other option would be to go through Israel, an unlikely scenario for Iran.
The Iranian deputy foreign minister said more than two weeks after the the request was made for the delivery of 100 tons in aid supplies, Egypt had still not positively responded to it.
Ken Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) and another member of his senior staff, Sarah Leah Whitson, have been disallowed from entering into Egypt. The two were detained at Egypt’s Cairo International airport for 12 hours before security officials deemed it necessary to send them out of the country on another flight.Arab Party Calls to Investigate Netanyahu for 'War Crimes'
Whitson said that Cairo authorities told her their detention and deportation was for “security reasons.”
Human Rights Watch said it was set to release a report Tuesday that “documents how Egyptian police and army methodically opened fire with live ammunition on crowds of demonstrators” after the Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi was forced to step down in a regime change demanded by the Egyptian people.
Roth said from Cairo via Twitter that the “Rabaa massacre numbers rank with Tiananmen and Andijan,” but Egypt “wouldn’t let me in to present a report on it.”
The Ra’am-Ta’al party has sent a letter to Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, asking him to launch a formal investigation against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and Chief of Staff Benny Gantz over "war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza” during Operation Protective Edge.Iran Calls on West Bank Palestinians to Take Up Arms Against Israel, Encourages Violence
Ra’am-Ta’al includes MKs Ahmed Tibi, Ibrahim Sarsour, Taleb Abu Arar and Masud Ghnaim.
In the letter, the party accused Israel of violating international law during its operation in Gaza, claiming that the IDF was disproportionate in distinguishing between combatants and civilians.
Brigadier General Massoud Jazzayeri, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, on Monday called for Palestinian Arabs living in the Israel’s regions of Judea and Samaria, dubbed the West Bank, to take up arms against Israel, according to semi-official state news agency Fars.Reality according to Hamas: Hamas fighters are civilians, but all Israelis are soldiers
Much of the region’s sovereignty is in the hands of the Palestinian Authority government and its local mayors and city councils, but Israeli border police behind its security barrier, erected in 2005 to end the suicide bombing attacks that killed hundreds of Israelis each year since the Palestinian Intifada began in 2000, continue to be a visible point of contention.
According to Hamas TV broadcasts, all Israelis "are soldiers" and therefore legitimate targets to be massacred. On the other hand, all Palestinians are civilians: even the "Jihad fighters" are "actually civilians... [Hamas has] no real military targets."Hamas TV denies Israel hit Hamas' military
In accordance with this belief Hamas actively targets Israeli civilians and celebrates the murder of Israeli civilians as heroic. Likewise, Hamas presents high numbers of killed Palestinians in Gaza, which include terrorists, as civilian casualties.
The claim that all Palestinians are civilians including the "Jihad Fighters" was made by a Hamas TV host yesterday:
Hamas TV- have no mercy on any Israeli civilian
Did Hamas Win? Not Exactly.
The hope within Israel’s Defense Ministry is that the devastating damage done to Hamas’s infrastructure will mean that it will be years before the terrorists think about starting another round. But considering that with Hamas seemingly determined to keep the rockets flying until it gets want it wants in negotiations, it is far from certain that this war is really over. Hamas is hoping to keep up a war of attrition and that is the sort of conflict that is hard for any democracy, even one, like Israel, that understands it is locked in a battle for the survival of their homeland, to win.Fatah Threatens to Kidnap Soldiers
Moreover, Bergman’s conclusion about Hamas improving its status in negotiations with Egypt and Israel is inarguable. By surviving this war of choice that it started, Hamas can claim a victory of a sort. No matter how badly its forces are whipped in the field or how pathetic its rocket offensive has become with almost no real damage done to Israel despite thousands of attacks, as long as it is still standing when the shooting stops, it hasn’t entirely lost.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the “military wing” of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party, has threatened to carry out terrorist attacks against Israel, including the kidnapping of IDF soldiers.Reports from foreign correspondents in the Gaza Strip vis-à-vis the limitations Hamas placed on media coverage of the military aspects of the fighting
In a newly released video filmed in Gaza, members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades are seen in a warehouse where weapons and dozens of rockets are stored.
One of the activists, who is wearing a mask, tells the camera that the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades supports the demands of the Palestinian delegation for talks on a ceasefire with Israel, adding that Israel must accept all these demands.
He further stresses the organization’s determination to carry out "quality attacks" against Israel, including the kidnapping of soldiers in order to free all the "prisoners" who are serving time in Israeli prisons.
8. Regardless of the journalists' reasons, Hamas' media policy was clearly successful, as far as Hamas is concerned. A foreign correspondent, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Yedioth Aharonoth's Daniel Batini (August 7, 2014) that "First, Hamas said its spokesmen could only be interviewed in the courtyard of the Al-Shifa'a Hospital in Gaza City. That meant there were long lines of correspondents waiting for interviews, and as a result they watched the bleeding wounded arriving at the hospital for treatment. That [system] created exactly the impression Hamas wanted, of an immediate emergency situation and a human and humanitarian catastrophe. Second, Hamas never allowed foreign correspondents access to military sites attacked by Israel, whether they were bases, rocket launching sites or other targets. The organization's dead and wounded operatives were not photographed and therefore, from a media point of view, they do not exist. All that serves Hamas' objective of representing all the casualties as civilians. Third, it was obvious that Hamas was firing rockets from civilian areas, but Hamas operatives forbid camera teams from filming them, because they did not want to reveal the tactic or the locations of the launch sites" (ITIC translation from Hebrew and emphasis throughout).Defending Hamas, Jodi Rudoren Suggests Foreign Press Association Spreads "Nonsense"
A New York Times reporter is apparently unhappy with with the Foreign Press Association's criticism of Hamas.Al Jazeera's Hamas Rocket Launch Video Disappears
In response to today's FPA statement that slams "the blatant, incessant, forceful and unorthodox methods employed by the Hamas authorities and their representatives against visiting international journalists," Jodi Rudoren, the New York Times bureau chief in Jerusalem, tweeted:
"Every reporter I've met who was in Gaza during war says this Israeli/now FPA narrative of Hamas harassment is nonsense"
It is unclear which and how many reporters Rudoren has met. Presumably she didn't have a chance to meet with Radjaa Abu Dagga, a French-Palestinian reporter who documented Hamas's harassment in an article for Liberation.
An Al Jazeera America video report by correspondent Nick Schrifin describing a Hamas rocket launching site in the middle of a residential Gaza neighborhood, and also showing an Israeli attack near that site, has apparently disappeared from the Al Jazeera site. While the report, which aired on August 1, 2014, is no longer there, the tweet describing the report is still available.CTV Retracts Claim of 1,900 Palestinian Civilians Killed
Yesterday, we called on CTV.ca to correct an article it published the same day which erroneously claims that all dead Palestinians killed during the recent Israel-Hamas conflict were civilians.BBC Breakfast’s Jenny Hill enables PSC antisemitism washing
The CTV Montreal article incorrectly reported the following: “Over the past month more than 1,900 Palestinian civilians have been killed, many of them civilians.”
Remarkable too is the fact that the report includes an interview with Hugh Lanning of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign – one of the organisers of several demonstrations in the UK during the last few weeks. Lanning says:Germans Stage Pro-Islamic State Rally
“We’re very clear that…err… antisemitism or any form of racism isn’t tolerated on any of our protests and actually be a distraction from the main purpose. Our opposition is to what the Israeli government with the support of the US and the UK government is doing and that’s where we want the focus to be.”
Leaving aside the issue that the PSC’s logo itself eradicates the one and only Jewish state from the map, the fact that the BBC provides Lanning with an unchallenged platform from which to airbrush the antisemitism which has been seen (not for the first time by any stretch of the imagination) at three London demonstrations it helped organise which took place prior to this interview is obviously a problem.
Supporters of the genocidal Islamic State, formerly ISIS, violently attacked Kurdish Yazidis living in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, according to Soeren Kern of the Gatestone Institute. German police say Muslim extremists stormed a restaurant in the German town of Herford last Thursday afternoon.Marching for Hamas in Boston
They tried to remove a poster calling for support of thousands of Yazidis in Iraq, who face the choice of converting to the Islamic State’s brand of Islam or death. Some 500 Yazidis have been killed by the Islamic State thus far, including some who have been buried alive, according to Iraqi authorities.
Recently, hundreds marched against Israel in Boston. They marched, exercising their First Amendment rights, against Israel and in support of Hamas, which bans free speech. From the steps of the oldest free public library in the United States, they marched to the oldest city park in the United States, the Boston Common.Frankfurt Jews quit interfaith council over anti-Israel statements
They marched chanting in support of terrorism.
They marched with false accusations of genocide.
They marched holding swastikas.
They marched in support of Hamas.
The Jewish community of Frankfurt dropped out of the German city’s interfaith Council of Religions, saying it failed to condemn anti-Israel statements by local Islamic leaders.Rome posters call for boycott of Jewish shops
Leo Latasch, the head of social affairs for the Jewish community, cited the council failing to censure statements made by members of the Islamic Religious Association of Hessen.
“These are not people with whom we can continue to work,” Latasch told Germany’s Jewish weekly, the Juedische Allgemeine.
Renzo Gattegna, the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, issued the warning after fliers urging a boycott of Jewish-owned stores in the capital were discovered plastered on walls in several districts of Rome on Saturday.To the Weekend Protesters
The fliers were signed by an extreme-right group, “Vita Est Militia,” but its pro-Palestinian text echoed slogans of the far-left.
“We are witnessing with concern the solidifying of the extremist underworld in the name of a common anti-Jewish and anti-Israel hatred, whose most violent mode of expressions, still partially latent, risks forming a danger to the entire national collective,” Gattegna said.
This weekend, there have been large protests on the streets of London, Cape Town, and Santiago, and smaller demonstrations in Paris and New York.Old Hatreds In New Zealand Protest
Were they marching in support of the tens of thousands of Yazidis and Christians in Iraq who face imminent murder and starvation on a mountaintop at the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)?
Were they marching in support of the non-Muslims in the path of ISIS, who are confronted with a hauntingly similar edict to what Russian Jews faced under Czar Alexander III, namely, one-third will convert, one-third will be compelled to emigrate, and one-third will be killed?
A few days ago, I posted the eloquent pro-Israel speech by Maori Sheree Trotter.Anti-Zionists-Not-Antisemites Of The Day
Here’s the flipside to that: an anti-Israel rally in New Zealand.
Meet the protesters whose English language skills are about as good as their ability to hide their hatred of Jews.Pro-Palestinian activists call for anti-semitic boycott of Jewish businesses
Because there’s a thin line between dumbass and Hamas.
Coming of age with Hamas, at the White House
I turned 18 last week. In the weeks leading up to the end of my statutory childhood, I decided to do what I could to make each of its remaining days as meaningful as possible. But I never anticipated how it all would end: being attacked outside the White House for standing up for Israel.Swedish Government Gives $300,000 for Jewish Community Security as Anti-Semitism Rises
When I first heard that there was a pro-Hamas rally scheduled to take place outside the White House, I was dubious. How, in the capital of the free world, can people support a terrorist group that stands for the destruction of Israel and the annihilation of the Jewish people as well as the oppression of women, gays, Christians, political opponents and just about everyone who disagrees with them? I figured it was a garden variety pro-Palestine hate fest and took note of the fact that groups like Code Pink were among the co-sponsors.
The Swedish government has approved a two million krona (£200,000/$300,000) donation for increased security for Jewish congregations.Sun News: Canadians, Americans Boost IDF-Made Rifle Sales To Support Israel
Despite being recently ranked as the least anti-Semitic country in Europe by the Anti-Defamation League, the country has seen a rise in anti-Jewish attacks and threats in the wake of Israeli action in Gaza.
Integration Minister Erik Ullenhag said: "Open anti-Semitism is worse than it has ever been. Swedes who are part of the Jewish minority are suddenly being held responsible for the state of Israel's actions.
In 2005, boycotts of Israel and divestments from companies with ties to Israel began in earnest.JDL-Canada and Friends Confront Hamas Fans at the Israeli Consulate
In 2014, Sun News Network reports that Israeli supporters are countering these movements by buying Israeli products--especially the civilian version of IDF's new battle rifle, the Tavor.
According to Sun News, "boycotts have cost [Israel's] agricultural sector over 100 million Shekels" and products like Israel-based Soda Stream have become "whipping boys" for leftists reacting to Israel's latest attempts to defend themselves against attacks from Hamas.
But these and other boycott efforts aimed at crippling Israel's economy are being countered by the "buy-cott" efforts of Israel's supporters. This means Israel's supporters are going out of their way "to purchase products marked 'made in Israel.'"
The big pro-Hamas demonstration in Toronto took place today in front of the Israeli Consulate. As I mentioned in my previous post about the event, Barry Hussein’s administration issued a letter to the US citizens in Toronto to stay away from the place, because over 8,000 Muslims were expected to show up.Facebook Decides Pro-Israel Satire Offensive, Anti-Israel Hate OK (not satire)
As I correctly predicted, Barry’s wet dream of seeing 8,000 Muslim fanatics in Toronto didn’t materialize. There were much less than 1,000 people and the bulk of that number consisted of the usual downtown losers, who fight carbon, poverty, Illuminati, and any other stupid cause you can imagine. Even the speakers were the same, led by parasites like Judy Rebick and Sid Ryan, who wastes the dues of his union’s members on that type of events.
No notice was given to the site administrators of any impending shutdown, and they were therefore unable to prevent or appeal the action.Bolivia Reinstating Ambassador to Israel In Order To Recall Him (satire)
The appeals process, if one exists, can only begin after a tedious verification process of the administrators’ identities, meaning that any remedying of the situation will necessarily deprive the fledgling operation of crucial time in its quest to establish and maintain an audience. The outcome of that appeal also remains unknowable at this stage. By contrast, the bigotry-laden pages of pro-Palestinian activists remain untouched.
It is unknown how many of those pages have been reported.
Hector Alito departed Tel Aviv in November 2012 during Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense, which, like the recent Protective Edge, featured strikes on the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas rockets on Israeli cities. Eager to display solidarity with Palestinians, various Latin American countries on both occasions recalled their ambassadors to Israel. Unlike its neighbors, however, Bolivia did not subsequently reinstate the diplomat, and was therefore left unable to repeat the gesture when Protective Edge began claiming Palestinian lives.If We Catapulted People At Sderot The Media Would Still Blame Israel (satire) By Khaled Mashal
Bolivian President Evo Morales therefore decided yesterday to send Alito back to Tel Aviv and wait to be recalled within a day or two. Alito is scheduled to arrive this evening, whereupon he will unpack, spend a day recovering from the trip, and resume his duties as ambassador on Thursday morning, by which time Morales or his Minister of Foreign Affairs will make the grandiose announcement that Alito has been recalled in protest of Israel’s “barbaric” “collective punishment” of “the Palestinian people.” Alito will again make the return trip, perhaps pausing to pose for cameras and hold a press conference before boarding the plane.
You’ll have to pardon me for quoting a Jew, but it’s good to be the king.
Our efforts to control the flow of information out of the Gaza Strip have been more successful than we’d imagined. Not only did Western reporters fail to let their readers and viewers know they were being fed misinformation, the editors back in New York, Washington, and London let out not a peep about the distorted picture we’d arranged for them to paint. At this point, if we set up catapults and started launching people instead of missiles at Israel, those news outfits would still parrot the Hamas line blaming Israel for their deaths.
Whatever the political or diplomatic results of the current negotiations, you can rest assured that the next round of fighting – there’s always a next round of fighting; we’re Hamas – will see us adapt our tactics to sidestep Israeli technological innovation. They can shoot down missiles, sure, but they’ve shown they won’t shoot a target if they know there are children nearby. So all we have to do is fling explosives-laden children – any civilian, really – at Israel, and watch as the BBC, CNN, the Guardian, and whoever else lay into Israel for the cruelty of it all. When all is said and done, the body on the ground is Palestinian, and we all know who always gets blamed for dead Palestinians no matter who did the actual killing.
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