Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Natan Sharansky: Don’t set a double standard for Israel on norms of war
The pictures of destruction and mourning in Gaza that have filled media around the world for the past several weeks have been very painful and sad to view. One would be hard-pressed to find an Israeli who does not sympathize with the suffering of Gaza’s victims.Decorated Army Chief Accuses Hamas of War Crimes, Praises Israeli Restraint
Yet there are also few Israelis who feel we are responsible for this suffering. For us, the tragedy of Gaza is inseparable from the tragedy of the entire Middle East. Over the past three years, in countries around our tiny state, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed in the most horrific ways. This wave of terror recognizes no official borders. The only border at which the savagery stops is Israel’s.
Hamas and Hezbollah are doing their best to change this. So what protects us? The United Nations or human rights groups? No. Only the military power of the Israel Defense Forces. In response to our enemies’ relentless campaigns, the army is constantly developing new ways to defend us. One new weapon, Iron Dome, has in the past few weeks protected civilians from almost 3,000 missiles.
But while Israelis have developed missile shields to protect children, Hamas has been using children as shields to protect missiles. This perverse strategy is the brainchild of a society that hails death. For Hamas, using living shields serves the double function of increasing the number of martyrs and galvanizing a free world that values life to pressure Israel to stop fighting.
A highly respected and decorated Army chief, Col. Richard Kemp, has accused Hamas of multiple war crimes including the targeting of Israeli civilians and the use of Palestinian children as human shields and suicide bombers.UN Watch: Col. Richard Kemp on the 2014 Hamas-Israel War
Speaking at the National Rally for Israel and Peace in Brighton yesterday, Col. Kemp gave a comprehensive account of the conflict in Gaza, drawing from first-hand experience to accuse Hamas of war crimes whilst praising Israeli restraint and desire for peace.
He said: “I’ve been there [in Israel and Gaza] for four weeks. I’ve watched closely what’s happening [in this conflict]. Hamas have used the two weapons at their disposal, and they have only two weapons. Those weapons are not rockets and are not attack tunnels ... they could not hope to defeat the might of the state of Israel with her allies around the world using rockets and attack tunnels. They did not intend to defeat the State of Israel, they know they couldn’t. So what were their weapons? Human shields – their own old men, women, babies and children to be sacrificed for their own purposes. And lies and propaganda. Those two weapons combined are what they used to try to exert international pressure on Israel to get concessions for them as part of their ongoing campaign to ultimately exterminate the state of Israel and to annihilate every Jew around the world as called for by their charter. … Their agenda is an agenda of genocide. That’s all it is.
Douglas Murray: Britain’s anti-Semitic whiff of Weimar
There is a whiff of Weimar in the air in Britain. Barely a week now passes without some further denigration caused by anti-Semitic, sorry, pro-Palestine demonstrators targeting businesses run by Jews/stores selling products produced by the Jewish state. You know, like Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Marks and Spencer, Starbucks and so on. Most of this fairly random targeting of whatever business sounds a bit Jewish goes unnoticed. Sometimes protestors manage to get the business closed – as with the Ahava store in liberal, enlightened Brighton. Generally they just succeed in intimidating shoppers and making it easier for people to shop elsewhere in some non-Semitic store.The Letter From A Jewish Londoner That Went Viral
Sometimes the protestors, like this young man in Manchester, are open about their feelings and taunt any nearby Jews by telling them, for instance, how highly they think of Hitler (‘I love Hitler. I’m big on my boy Hitler’ says this nicely integrated young man):
I work in an office. I go to football. I like eating out. I enjoy the arts. I am a proud family man. I give up time for charity work. I try to be a decent contributing member of society. I pay my taxes honestly. But there appears to be something that sets me and my kind apart.
At park gates in East London a friend of mine gets told to f**k off for photographing a flag. At a pub in Bath my wife gets called scum when she mentions her background. In a student hall in Manchester a friend’s son is asked to leave as the specially prepared food he chose to eat is not permitted because it carries a label written in a language used by a country that is “banned” by the student union.
In Belfast a historic blue plaque is removed to deny part of my history. In theatres in Edinburgh and London I am told to denounce my opinions or lose the right to perform. A sportsman in Ireland tweets if he sees my kind he’ll punch us in the face and recommends others follow suit.
Protesters across the country show no shame in shouting that my historical persecutors were right and social media is rife with vitriol towards me (even from so-called friends). And in Bradford I’m told that I am not even permitted to enter the city.
What is this? Racism. Where is this? Britain and Ireland. When is this? Now. Who am I? I am a Jew.
Never again, we say, never again.
Times of Israel Live Blog: Netanyahu pulls envoys out of Cairo after rocket fire resumes
Tuesday, August 19, the 43rd day of Operation Protective Edge. After a five-day truce expired on Monday at midnight, the sides agreed a 24-hour extension, amid conflicting reports on the progress of talks in Cairo on a long-term Israel-Hamas deal. But rockets from Gaza broke the truce on Tuesday afternoon.Ben-Dror Yemini: When it comes to Hamas, we must let go of illusions
It's clear that there is no need for illusions or false promises about a calm and deterrence. When our trio adopted the rational paradigm, it also adopted the appeasing paradigm.Israel is held to an impossible standard
If Hamas is indeed using the carrot and stick approach, ,as the trio's comments indicated, and as the international community and part of the Israeli left claim, then Hamas should be given a carrot. Not one, many. Because only then, Hamas will savor the delicacy, maybe even become addicted, and the calm will come to Zion.
The problem is that Hamas has a different logic. The Hamas spokesman made it clear that every ceasefire is only a timeout for the purpose of arming. So the truth must be told: There is no such thing as "once and for all." There is a long and difficult battle.
Hamas can be defeated, but two more things are needed for that: The first is patience, a lot of patience. The second is letting go of illusions.
Americans massacred as many as 500 unarmed Vietnamese civilians at My Lai in 1968. In wartime, Americans have killed other Americans either by accident or otherwise — and sometimes covered up what had happened. Americans have killed children while attempting to kill their fathers and made all sorts of mistakes in wartime, but none of this changed the nature of the society. We ought to be measured by our intent, not by what went astray.Israel's UN Envoy: Condemn Hamas, Not Israel
The same holds for Israel. It is not a child-murdering community, although Syria, next door, most certainly is. I await Steel’s clever column on the Bashar al-Assad regime’s purposeful gassing of civilians, including children.
Israelis make mistakes. For instance, the number and extent of Hamas’s tunnels into Israel were apparently a surprise to Israeli intelligence. Israel also seemed unprepared for Hamas’s offensive battlefield tactics, and almost certainly the occasional soldier lost his head and committed what might be a war crime. But the truth — the prosaic truth — is that Israel is neither as good as Ronald Reagan once believed nor as bad as its critics insist. Israelis are only human. If you prick them, they will bleed.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, suggested on Monday that the UN condemn Hamas - not Israel - over the goings on in Gaza.
“This morning during a press stakeout I held at the UN, I talked about the word 'disproportionate'. I can tell you that the only ‘disproportionate’ thing is the accusations being made against Israel by the UN and others,” wrote Prosor on his Facebook page.
When it comes to the UN’s bias against Israel – this is just the tip of the iceberg. The organization chose an outspoken critic of Israel – William Schabas – to lead its Gaza inquiry. This makes about as much sense as choosing Count Dracula to run a blood bank,” he added.
“I also noted that Hamas has been able to get away with its crimes thanks to the support and sponsorship it receives from Qatar,”.
Amb. Power: UNHRC “Incapable of Engaging Constructively on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”
The Times of Israel reported today that the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, questioned the impartiality of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) when it deals with Israel.Schumer Calls for US to Defund UNHRC if Schabas Not Dismissed
"Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the United Nations, criticizes the world body’s panel created to investigate the recent conflict in Gaza.
At a private meeting on Friday with American Jewish communal leaders, Power says the UN’s Human Rights Council “has shown itself incapable of engaging constructively on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” according to one attendee of the meeting."
In an apparent reference to the UNHRC’s panel to investigate alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza, Power said that the panel was “wildly unbalanced” and that “the process for the appointment of the commissioners was ill conceived, poorly executed and does nothing to dispel the perception of bias within the council.”
If the UNHRC doesn’t rescind the appointment, Schumer called on the United States government to stop funding the council.Jonathan Kay: William Schabas’ casual anti-Israeli bias makes him a perfect fit for a UN ‘fact-finding’ inquiry
“[A]llowing Mr. Schabas to head the U.N. Gaza Commission is like allowing a biased prosecutor to be the judge,” Schumer said in his statement. “[T]hat’s why I’m urging the United States to both stop all funding and pull out of the U.N.’s Human Rights Council if Mr. Schabas is not removed. Any investigative findings from Schabas on Israel will be completely subjective and a sham.” …
The United States provides the UNHRC $1.5 million annually, which makes up 22 percent of the agency’s annual budget, according to Schumer’s release.
Not too long ago, Canadians would have been beaming with pride at the news that one of their own — renowned international human-rights law expert William Schabas — had been appointed to head up a UN commission that will investigate possible war crimes committed by Israel and the Gaza-based terrorist group Hamas during their recent military conflict.IDF strikes in Gaza after 3 rockets fired at Beersheba despite cease-fire
But times change: Our government now maintains a consistent, pro-Israel stance. And the mere fact that Mr. Schabas happens to be Canadian does nothing to change the fact that he seems to embrace the casual anti-Israel bias that permeates the left-wing NGO and academic circles in which he circulates. Foreign Minister John Baird responded negatively to the news, correctly criticizing the UN Human Rights Council (under whose auspices Mr. Schabas will operate) as “a sham,” and denouncing the investigation as “an utter shame [that] will do nothing to promote peace and dignity in Gaza for the Palestinian people.” As for Mr. Schabas himself, a Canadian Foreign Ministry statement declared: “His opinions against Israel are known to all, and prove without a doubt that Israel cannot expect justice from this body … The report has already been written and the only question is who signs it.”
Three rockets fired from the Gaza Strip landed in open areas near Beersheba on Tuesday, violating a temporary cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and prompting an IDF response.IAF Strikes Gaza in Response to Rocket Fire 'Ordered by Meshaal'
The attacks came despite a temporary cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that was extended on Monday night and was not scheduled to expire until midnight.
Diplomatic sources said that in light of the rockets fired on the South and the violation of the cease-fire, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon instructed the IDF to resume its attacks on terror targets inside the Gaza Strip.
The IDF said that it responded to the rockets with strikes on Gaza and was prepared for the possibility of renewed hostilities.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri accused Israel of sabotaging indirect talks in Cairo aimed at brokering a longer-term ceasefire. "We don't have any information about firing rockets from Gaza. The Israeli raids are intended to abort the negotiations in Cairo," Abu Zuhri told AFP.From the eyes of a paratrooper
But in a potentially explosive development, an unnamed security source told Walla! news site the rocket attack was ordered directly by Hamas's Qatar-based head Khaled Meshaal. The source claimed Meshaal had bypassed Hamas's official "military wing", the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, and ordered a specially-assigned unit of Hamas operatives answerable directly to him to launch the attack.
The source claimed Meshaal was aiming to sabotage negotiations for a long-term truce in Cairo, which were not going his way.
Instead of building houses, schools and hospitals many of these resources are used to kill Israeli civilians. The UN does not say a word about this.Police seeking missing US-born IDF soldier
The UN itself has built plenty of schools in Gaza. During the current operation, Hamas rockets were fired from and found inside of three of these schools. When the UN discovered these rockets, it gave them back to Hamas, knowing they would be used to attempt to murder Israeli civilians.
Another UN school was booby trapped, and yet another had a tunnel under it leading straight into Israel.
A hospital in Gaza was used to fire rockets into Israel, with Hamas leaders hiding on the ground floor.
So please stop comparing the number of people who have been killed in Gaza to the number of people who have been killed in Israel. We are not obligated to let our people die to convince you.
Hamas hides behind civilians and uses them as human shields, and boasts openly about “admiring death more than life,” while we defend our people with our own lives.
Israeli police issued a request on Tuesday for assistance in locating IDF soldier David Menahem Gordon, 21, who was last seen at an army base’s medical facility at the beginning of the week.In Sderot, Netanyahu Urges Steadfastness
Gordon, a lone soldier originally from the US, was last seen at around midday in the Medical Corps facility in the Tzrifin army base outside Rishon Lezion.
Police said there was particular concern because Gordon, who served with the Givati infantry unit in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge, is an exemplary solider who did not have any disciplinary issues.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Sderot on Monday and delivered a message of steadfastness, as the latest ceasefire between Israel and Hamas drew to a close.Poll finds almost no support for accepting Hamas's demands
He met with representatives of the various youth movements that volunteered to work with local children in the shelters during Operation Protective Edge. Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi also attended the meeting.
Prime Minister Netanyahu said, "The public's resilience, and yours, gives us considerable strength to use considerable strength. We are in the midst of a diplomatic campaign and in a diplomatic campaign, one needs the same thing – one needs much strength, patience, persistence and wisdom as well. And we are in a combined military-diplomatic campaign in which our unity and our steadfastness are what will be victorious. This is what must be understood – much patience is needed here. In the Middle East in which we live it is not enough only to be strong, [and] we are strong, we must also have patience. We do, in abundance, and it is you who prove it.”
“The Eternal People does not fear a long road and the citizens of Israel, and you among them, prove this," he said.
The poll of 600 respondents who constitute a representative sample of the adult population of Israel was taken last Monday and Tuesday and has a margin of error of 4.1 percent. It found that 58% of Israeli Jews think Israel does not have to meet any Hamas demands and should continue to fight until Hamas surrenders, and 41% think Israel should respond positively to Hamas’s demands that are reasonable in terms of Israel’s national security.Cairo talks: Everyone wants the truce to continue, except Khaled Mashaal
Among Israeli Arabs, 54% think Hamas’s demands consistent with Israeli national security should be accepted, 32% think Israel should accept Hamas’s demands in order to stop the rockets, and only five percent said Israel should not accept Hamas demands and fight until their surrender.
Asked whether to deal with Hamas militarily or diplomatically, 66% of the Jewish public said a combination of military and political-diplomatic efforts, 26% exclusively through military means and seven percent through exclusively political-diplomatic means. Among Israeli Arabs, 72% said Hamas should be dealt with through political-diplomatic efforts, 15% think through a combination of military and political-diplomatic means, and 3% think through exclusively military means.
Seven hours before the five-day cease-fire was scheduled to expire, when everyone wanted to know what would happen at midnight on Monday, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) dropped a bombshell.Israeli Official Denies Agreement to Lift Gaza Blockade
In a briefing to journalists, a senior official in the organization revealed that a massive Hamas terror network had been uncovered in the West Bank and Jerusalem, which planned to carry out terror attacks in Israel, start a third intifada and build the infrastructure for a possible military overthrow of the Palestinian Authority, like that which Hamas carried out in Gaza more than seven years ago.
Despite this, all eyes were on the talks which carried on until the late hours in Cairo, and everyone was asking, "What is going to happen?"
The problem was that no one knew - not even the prime minister or the defense minister. And if they had an idea, they weren't going to run and share the information with the others - not with the cabinet ministers and not with the public through the media.
Contrary to reports by the joint Palestinian delegation to Cairo, Israeli representatives have not left Egypt after agreeing to lift the blockade on Gaza, according to a senior Israeli official involved in the negotiations.Amnesty and HRW Attempt Pseudo-Investigations in Gaza
Talks are still continuing over core issues, including if and how the Israeli blockade of the Hamas-controlled territory could be eased without compromising Israeli security, as a 24-hour extension of the temporary ceasefire agreed between the sides on Monday gets underway.
The official - who spoke to Channel Two on condition of anonymity - said that no comprehensive agreement for a long-term truce had been made, and that the Israeli delegation had remained in Cairo to as not to undermine the Egyptian initiative.
Last night, sources within the Palestinian delegation claimed that a "major breakthrough" had been made in talks. But the head of the delegation, Azzam al-Ahmad, quickly played down the claims.
Media reports indicate that officials from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have attempted to enter Gaza in order to conduct “independent investigations” into the July 2014 conflict. These reports (see Amira Hass, “Israel bars Amnesty, Human Rights Watch workers from Gaza,” Haaretz, Aug. 18, 2014 and Noah Browning, “Rights groups say Israeli ban hinders Gaza investigation,” Reuters, Aug. 18, 2014) repeat NGO claims to the effect that they possess “the requisite professional military knowledge to independently evaluate claims being made by both the Palestinians and Israelis.”Israeli ambassador defies UK MP’s boycott in Bradford
In contrast, the evidence clearly demonstrates that neither Amnesty International nor HRW is capable of conducting independent, unbiased, and credible investigations, particularly in the context of intense conflict, and environments where information is strictly controlled and manipulated by groups like Hamas. Neither NGO abides by international fact-finding standards such as the Lund-London Guidelines adopted by the International Bar Association. In addition to the lack of objectivity, their research processes are entirely non-transparent and not subject to accountability or independent verification. (h/t Yenta Press)
The Israeli Ambassador to the UK, Daniel Taub, defied Bradford MP George Galloway’s declared ban on all things Israeli when he visited the northern city Monday, at the invitation of community leaders.Buy potatoes for peace
After meeting with Bradford councillors, Jewish community representatives, religious leaders and members of the public, Ambassador Taub said: “Bradford prides itself on dialogue, tolerance and cooperation and this is genuinely what I felt. Everyone there said that Galloway’s declaration was not the voice of Bradford — they made it clear that they distance themselves from it and this is not the true spirit of the city.”
Taub said he found it strange that Galloway had singled out the only country in the Middle East where he would be allowed to speak so objectionably yet still be allowed to live to see another day.
Gershon Baskin, the founder and co-chair of the Israeli/Palestine Center for Research and Information and one of the negotiators responsible for securing the release of Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit in 2011, was contacted last week by agriculturalist Hillel Adiri, who had an idea: The Israeli Vegetable Growers’ Association had a surplus of nearly 5,000 tons of potatoes, and as part of Israeli agricultural law, they would be paid .50 NIS per kilo to destroy the surplus by Sunday in order to make room in the market for fresh crops.UN envoy: Gaza needs houses and schools, not rockets and tunnels
Rather than let the farmers be paid to destroy their potatoes, why not buy them at the exact same price and then donate them to Gaza?
The idea, Baskin says, was a win-win for everyone. In Israel, the farmers couldn’t sell the potatoes, because it would flood the market and cause a massive slash in prices. The farmers would collect the same payout that they would otherwise be guaranteed by Israeli law, which offers the fee of NIS .50 per kilo in order to protect them from market conditions just like this one. And in Gaza, where there is no bumper crop of potatoes – indeed, acres upon acres of farmland have been destroyed in the month-long battle between Israel and Hamas – hungry civilians would receive food aid.
Serry said the UN-Israeli system to import construction materials has been used “for years.”Abbas: Hamas Coup Has 'Implications' for the Palestinian People
“This system has demonstrably worked, prevented diversion of materials, allowed successful implementation of crucial projects, and built trust,” he said. “Reconstruction of the magnitude which is now needed can only be addressed with the involvement at scale of the Palestinian Authority and the private sector in Gaza, meaning larger quantities of materials are required to enter Gaza.”
He said the United Nations is ready to explore how it can be expanded to monitor a Palestinian Authority-led private-sector reconstruction program in Gaza.
Norway and Egypt announced plans on Monday to co-host a donor conference once a durable cease-fire is in place and once adequate access conditions have been established, he said.
Serry said a system to import building materials should be agreed on before the conference because “donors will want to be assured that they can bring construction materials inside Gaza.”
“Right now, Gaza urgently needs houses, hospitals, and schools — not rockets, tunnels, and conflict,” Serry stressed.
Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas commented on Monday evening for the first time about the Israel Security Agency’s (Shin Bet) revelation that it foiled a Hamas network's plot to carry out a coup in Judea and Samaria.Hamas Coup Should Change Truce Equation
In a statement quoted on Channel 2 News, Abbas said that the implications of the revealed plot “will be serious for the Palestinian and regional situation, especially after Israeli officials published a list and pictures of confiscated weapons."
Abbas stressed that the reports endanger the unity of the Palestinian people as its leadership tries to form a unity government.
"We are living in the shadow of the war in Gaza and under the shadow of the presence of a unity government, which is why this new information is a real danger to the unity of the Palestinian people and its future," he said, according to Channel 2 News.
This ought to change the conversation about the terms of the truce that the United States has been pushing Israel to accept to formally conclude the recent hostilities in Gaza. If, as reported, the West has pressured Israel to accept a loosening of the blockade on Gaza — the key Hamas demand throughout the fighting — then we can be sure that this summer’s bloodshed will be repeated before long. While it is hoped that easing the isolation of Gaza will ameliorate the suffering of Palestinians and perhaps even help Abbas gain back control of the strip, so long as Hamas is still armed and in power there, these hopes are in vain. Open borders for Gaza means an inevitable resupply of the Hamas arsenal, more building materials for tunnels and the rest of the underground city that enables the Islamist movement to continue fighting while its human hostages above ground continue to die every time they pick another fight with Israel.Meshaal, Abbas to Meet in Qatar Despite Hamas Coup Attempt
But the decision to acquiesce to any of Hamas’s demands will have consequences for more than the future of Gaza. The assumption that Abbas can continue to hang on to the West Bank and maybe even assume some power in Gaza is based on the idea that Hamas is on the ropes and without options. But once the resupply of Hamas in Gaza begins, it will have serious implications for Abbas’s future.
Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will travel to Doha on Wednesday and hold talks the next day with the emir of Qatar and Hamas exiled leader Khaled Meshaal, the Palestinian ambassador in Qatar told AFP Tuesday.Hamas Excited At Chance To Oust Fatah From Gaza Again (satire)
Abbas's visit to Qatar was initially announced for Monday by Palestinian officials who are in Cairo for indirect talks with Israel on a lasting truce in Gaza.
Abbas will on Thursday discuss separately with Meshaal and Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani latest developments in the negotiations in Cairo and "aid and reconstruction" in Gaza, Palestinian ambassador Monir Ghannam told AFP.
International mediators have been working to coax Israel and a collection of Palestinian armed groups toward an agreement to officially end the recent round of hostilities that has left nearly 2,000 Palestinians and more than 60 Israelis dead. To allay Israeli concerns that leaving Hamas capable of rearming means inevitably repeating the violence in the next few years, a key Israeli demand has been to grant control over imports and crossings to Hamas rival Fatah, which has at least nominally committed itself to settling grievances with Israel through non-violent means. The demand that the Gaza Strip be demilitarized, however, was dropped, leading Hamas to start planning for a second takeover of Gaza, and an eventual recurrence of rocket fire and other attacks on Israel.Turkey's Erdogan raises millions for Gazans
“This gives us something to work towards,” said Ismail Haniyeh, a Gaza-based Hamas leader. “Fatah has demonstrated that it is no match for our capabilities or motivation, so while relinquishing control of the border crossings to them is annoying, it is obviously only a temporary measure, considering all that we still have at our disposal.” Israeli strikes and ground incursions saw the depletion of Hamas’s rocket arsenal by three quarters, but weapons such as RPGs, guns, and ammunition, which remain in significant numbers, should prove more than enough to overcome the demoralized, weakened Fatah personnel who have somehow managed to remain free and unmolested during seven years of Hamas rule. By comparison, while Hamas lost as many as a thousand low-level fighters to IDF fire and its own misfires, the organization’s command structure remained largely intact.
A Gazan aid campaign, initiated by Turkish Prime Minister and president-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has raised $20.8 million according to a senior government official.New York Times Misleads over 'Righteous Gentile' Gaza Anger
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Emrullah Isler released a written statement on Sunday revealing the amount of aid raised, the Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak reported.
A front-page story in Friday's New York Times reported that an Israeli-honored Righteous Gentile had returned his award because of an Israeli airstrike that "flattened a house in the Gaza Strip, killing six of [his] relatives by marriage."Jodi Rudoren Muddies the Waters Regarding a Hamas Port
The Times quoted a surviving relative saying that "none of his family members were militants." The tone of the report was that though Israel "says" it takes precautions to avoid killing civilians, "it has offered no information on [justification for the] strike that killed six civilians."
However, research by blogger Elder of Ziyon suggests that the newspaper could have, it if wished to, found out that in fact, one of the people killed in the attack was a full-fledged Hamas terrorist – a valid military target by all accounts.
And the Times also adds that the port was "first promised by the Oslo Accords in 1993."Independent posts op-ed by Ilan Pappe calling Israel a ‘supremacist’ Jewish state
Got the picture? The port was promised in 1993, and when construction began in 2000 Israel, for some apparently mysterious reason, almost immediately sent its tanks and bombs to destroy it, but it remains the embodiment of Palestinian aspirations.
Now here is what the Times omitted:
The Gaza port construction was indeed destroyed in 2000, but the Times neglects to tell its readers that this was in fighting that was part of the Second Intifada, the violent Palestinian war against Israel that followed Yasir Arafat's refusal of the Clinton peace proposals.
There are other enormously problematic elements of Pappe’s op-ed, but the charge leveled against Israel that those Jewish Israeli women who want the father of their children to be Israeli soldiers reflects some sort of endemic Jewish racism should briefly be put in context.Orla Guerin’s parting shot breaches BBC editorial guidelines
The term “Jewish supremacism” – an especially vile form of the ‘Zionism = Racism” charge – has been popularized by extreme antisemites such as former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke and a neo-Nazi style extremist named Gilad Atzmon. Indeed, the doctoral thesis written by Duke was titled ‘Zionism is a form of ethnic supremacism’.
But, at the heart of Pappe’s charges is something much darker than merely a commentary on Zionism. If you recall, back in 2011 the Guardian’s Deborah Orr achieved well-deserved notoriety for complaining that so many Zionists believe “that the lives of the chosen are of hugely greater consequence than those of their unfortunate [Palestinian] neighbors” – “Zionists” of course being a euphemism for “Jews”.
They have no idea, for example, that one of the people involved in producing and publicising the video upon which her report is based is Joe Catron of the ISM who was given equally opaque promotion on the BBC World Service on July 31st when he was interviewed about his role as a human shield at Gaza hospitals. They have no idea that one of Catron’s fellow human shields at Wafa hospital was the 32 year-old optical dispenser from the West Midlands Rina Andolini and that both Catron and Andolini have peviously lied to the media about Hamas’ use of that hospital. Viewers are also not told that Ms Andolini’s activities in the Gaza Strip include distributing aid funded by a British charity called Al-Fatiha Global (featured by the BBC in the past in connection to convoys to Syria) which is currently under investigation by the Charity Commission due to “serious concerns about the governance and financial management of the charity”.Another Code Pink Tantrum: Operation Annoy Barbara Boxer
And of course most importantly, as a result of all Guerin’s gross omissions viewers are unable to grasp that what she is actually doing in this report is promoting and amplifying the agenda of an organization which since the early days of the second Intifada has been providing financial, logistic and PR support to terrorist organisations which attack Israeli civilians. That information is obviously critical to viewers if they are to be able to put Guerin’s none too veiled accusations of Israeli ‘war crimes’ into objective perspective.
This report’s serious omissions, however, would suggest that neither Guerin nor her producer were keen to allow BBC audiences the privilege of making up their own minds.
The Middle east is exploding. The deaths in Syria number in the hundreds of thousands- millions have been displaced. The atrocities committed by ISIS in Iraq rival those of the Third Reich. There have been reports of the beheadings of children, the wholesale slaughter of members of ethnic minorities, the selling of women and children into sexual slavery.Anti-Israel Protesters Demand End to US Military Aid to Israel
But Code Pink is determined not to let the real suffering in the world distract you.
Only Gaza matters.
Did you miss that?
ONLY GAZA MATTERS
Code Pink is planning another one of their shrill self-serving temper tantrums. California Senator Barbara Boxer is now in their cross-hairs. Sen Boxer, once desribed by Code Pink as "our beloved Senator Boxer" apparently isn't toeing their party line on Israel, and therefore must be made to suffer. The group that once wrote "We THANK Barbara Boxer yet again for being a true representative of the people and for standing up to the bullies in the White House and Congress" has turned on her.
The group included members of Jewish Voice for Peace and American Muslims for Palestine, as well as some clergy members. The protesters staged a sat-in Feinstein’s office and refused to move until their demand was met. They demanded a meeting with Feinstein.French Jewish leader: Anti-Israelism is the new anti-Semitism
It took more than four hours during which the protesters stayed in the senator’s office before police were called in to remove them. During that time two different Feinstein staffers spoke with the group, but the protesters insisted they would only leave if the senator came to listen to them.
The group was demanding a meeting with the senators because they want to prohibit any further U.S. military aid to Israel, and the senators had both recently supported such a measure, Senate Resolution 498.
The same hatred that is directed by Jihadists against Israel is directed against the Jews of France, Joel Margi, the President of Consistoire, the umbrella organization of French Jewry told President Reuven Rivlin on Tuesday.British Supermarket Sainsbury’s Apologizes for Decision to Remove Kosher Food
Margi, who is heading a Consistoire solidarity delegation to Israel, said in reference to Operation Protective Edge: “We understand that the war in which Israel is engaged is one that should be fought by every democracy, because what is happening today, is in some respects similar to Nazism.”
The Consistoire is continually lobbying mayors and government ministers to create more awareness of anti-Semitic manifestations, said Margi. “The new anti-Semitism in France is also anti-Israelism. This is both your war and our war.”
The British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s apologized Monday for its decision over the weekend to remove kosher food from the shelves of the chain’s London branch.Denmark: 100s March Through Muslim Area to Protest Anti-Semitism
A manager at the store’s Holborn branch in central London initially made the decision out of fear of looting and violence by anti-Israel protesters calling for a boycott of Israeli goods. But not all of the kosher foods sold at the store were made in Israel, and the decision garnered heavy social media backlash.
Former Tory MP Louise Mench tweeted: “Dear @Sainsburys kosher is JEWISH food. Israel is a COUNTRY. How DARE YOU equate Jews’ food to ISRAEL, how dare you #EverydayAntisemitism.” Some witnesses also said that a staff member at the store said, “We support Gaza.”
Hundreds of protesters wearing yarmulkas, Stars of David and other Jewish symbols marched through a predominantly Muslim neighbhorhood of the Danish capital of Copenhagen, in a march against anti-Semitism late last week.That there’s some corner of a Brighton park that was briefly Israel
Demonstrators included both Jews and non-Jews, and were protesting an alarming rise in anti-Semitism in the country which, like the rest of Europe, has seen simmering anti-Semitism boil over during the past few weeks as Israeli forces battle terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
Rasmus Yarlov, a Copenhagen city councillor said he joined the march in protest of the fact that the situation in Demark had gotten so bad that Jews were forced to hide their identity to avoid being attacked.
"We need to show that Jewish symbols and Jewish clothing is part of the streets in Copenhagen and should be allowed to move around freely, and not be seen as something that is abnormal and does not belong in the streets," he told CCTV-America news.
My first sight of the pro-Israel rally organised by Sussex Friends of Israel on Sunday was quite impressive: Israeli flags as far as the eye could see. For a moment I wondered whether the antisemites are right and Victoria Park represents just the tip of a giant Zionist conspiracy that controls the whole of Brighton. But then I remembered Caroline Lucas and my excitement subsided.
My mood was further sobered by the sight of the small but dignified counter demonstration by what I suppose we are entitled to infer to be the Sussex Enemies of Israel. Please note the presence of the Palestinian flag bearer, whom we shall meet again in a contrasting setting.
