Sunday, October 04, 2015
Bassam Tawil: Palestinians: Why Our Leaders Are Hypocrites and Liars
We contaminate our mosques with our own hands and feet, and then blame Jews for desecrating Islamic holy sites. If anyone is desecrating Islamic holy sites, it is those who bring explosives, stones and firebombs into Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Jews who visit the Temple Mount do not bring with them stones, bombs or clubs. It is young Muslim men who are desecrating our holy sites with their "filthy feet."David Horovitz: The impossible Abbas
These leaders, including Abbas himself, are not willing to send their own children and grandchildren to participate in the "popular struggle." They are fully responsible for sending the children of others to throw stones and firebombs at Jews. Sitting in their luxurious offices and villas in Ramallah, they demand that Israel be held responsible for cracking down on "innocent" Palestinians. Their main goal is to embarrass Israel and depict it as a state that takes tough measures against Palestinian teenagers.
These youths are not taking to the streets to fight "occupation." Their main goal is to kill or cause grievous bodily harm to Jews. When someone tosses a firebomb at a house or a car, his intention is to burn civilians alive.
It is as if our leaders are saying that throwing stones and firebombs at Jews in their cars and homes is a basic right of Palestinians. Our leaders believe Israel has no right to defend itself against those who seek to burn Jews driving in their vehicles or sleeping inside their homes. (h/t Effect)
Those who retain some sympathy for Abbas note that he is, at time of writing, maintaining his Palestinian Authority security forces’ coordination with their Israeli counterparts. They say it’s hard for him to condemn the latest acts of Palestinian terrorism because he is already widely seen by his public as an Israeli stooge. They argue that it is not Abbas inciting Palestinian terrorism, but rather Arab media reports and a relentless social media emphasis on alleged Israeli attacks at Al-Aqsa.Honest Reporting: U.S., Russian Air Strikes Put Israeli Actions Into Perspective
But the fact is that Abbas has never sought to counter his predecessor Yasser Arafat’s assertion that there were no Jewish temples in Jerusalem and thus, by extension, there is no historic legitimacy for Jewish sovereignty here. The fact is that Abbas has allowed no sense of Jewish connection to the Temple Mount to complicate the Palestinian narrative of Israeli-Jewish illegitimacy there. The fact is that Abbas never moved decisively to prevent vicious anti-Israeli incitement in the Palestinian media. The fact is that Abbas’s PA continued the practice of honoring terrorists and “martyrs.”
The fact is that Abbas, whom many in Israel have even after 2008 insistently wanted to believe is a partner for peace — including Olmert himself, to this day — has long since failed his people and ours.
The fact is that Abbas has quite deliberately fueled the flames of this latest Al-Aqsa-centered terror wave.
Bleak and bitter, paralyzed between his empathy for the settlement enterprise and his concern at Israel becoming a binational state, Netanyahu is not an easy prime minister for a Palestinian leader genuinely seeking a viable, lasting peace agreement.
But Mahmoud Abbas is no such Palestinian leader.
Israel does not intentionally target civilians. But what about Russia? The commencement of air strikes against targets in Syria have led to accusations that President Putin’s air force is bombing indiscriminately.
A Washington Post analysis of Russian video footage says:
that the first two frames appear to only partially capture the actual strikes. The white puffs on the ground are fragmentation impacts from the bombs exploding off-screen.
While the third strike appears to have hit its target, the other two seem to be missing their intended targets, suggesting that the Russians are using “dumb” ordnance, not precision guided munitions.
And according to the UK’s minister of defense, Michael Fallon:
Our evidence indicates they are dropping unguided munitions in civilian areas, killing civilians, and they are dropping them against the Free Syrian forces fighting Assad.
Thousands attend funerals for Jerusalem terror victims
Thousands of Israelis attended the funerals Sunday of Rabbi Nehemia Lavi and IDF soldier Aharon Banita, who were stabbed to death in Jerusalem’s Old City on Saturday night.Jerusalem attack victims named as Nehemia Lavi, Aharon Banita
The funeral for Lavi, a father of seven who was killed after he rushed to the scene of the attack, began at noon in Jerusalem’s Givat Shaul cemetery. The first victim of the attack, Banita, was laid to rest in the same cemetery at 1:30 p.m.
In his eulogy for Lavi, President Reuven Rivlin urged Israelis to continue to visit the Old City and Western Wall, where Banita was headed at the time of the stabbing, despite the violent attack.
“I grew up in Jerusalem, I was born here, and I was here when we were barred from going to the Western Wall,” said Rivlin. “I was a kid at the time when blowing a shofar at the Western Wall was grounds for arrest by the British. Those days will not return.”
“We cannot stop going to the Western Wall, the remnant of our temple,” he continued. “I urge the pilgrims — don’t forsake the Old City, we must march in the footsteps of Nehemia and Aharon and prove that they [the terrorists] will not harm our way of life.”
Yehezkel Lavi, the victim’s father, praised his son’s bravery
The two Israeli men who were killed Saturday evening in a terror attack in Jerusalem’s Old City were named by police as Nehemia Lavi, 41, and Aharon Banita, 22.Stabbing victim Aharon Banita was IDF soldier, army confirms
The two died of their wounds shortly after being stabbed in Jerusalem’s Old City by a Palestinian terrorist.
Banita’s wife was in serious condition and their two-year-old baby was lightly wounded. She was taken to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem and was undergoing surgery. The toddler was taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center for treatment where he remained in stable condition.
Lavi, a Jerusalem resident, leaves behind a wife and seven children. A rabbi at the Old City’s Ateret Cohanim yeshiva who lived nearby, he had rushed to the scene when he heard screaming in the street.
His funeral was scheduled for Sunday at noon at Har Hamenuhot in Jerusalem, also known as the Givat Shaul cemetery.
French-born Banita and his family lived in Beitar Illit. He was set to be buried Sunday on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
Lavi and Banita were stabbed in the upper body and were unconscious when paramedics arrived at the scene.
Stabbing victim Aharon Banita, 21, who was killed on Saturday night in Jerusalem’s Old City was an IDF soldier, the army said on Sunday.In second attack, Israeli teen stabbed near Jerusalem’s Old City
The ultra-Orthodox French-born recruit will be buried on Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl military cemetery at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, the IDF said.
However, his family reportedly asked that he not be given an army burial, in keeping with ultra-Orthodox customs, and be laid to rest on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives instead. Most ultra-Orthodox do not serve in the Israeli army.
Banita, a resident of Beitar Illit in the West Bank, was posthumously promoted to corporal.
He is survived by his wife, who was badly injured in the stabbing, and two children, the IDF said. One of his children, a two-year-old, was lightly injured in the attack. Adele Banita and the baby were both said to be in stable condition by Sunday morning.
A Palestinian man stabbed an Israeli teen outside Jerusalem’s Old City early Sunday morning, in the second such attack in the past day.Hatzalah Volunteer on Scene Recounts Saturday Night Terror Attack
The suspected assailant was reportedly shot dead by Israeli security forces.
The 15-year-old victim, later named as Moshe Malka, was moderately injured and received treated on site by paramedics. He was taken to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Hospital in stable condition with wounds to the chest and back.
The attack took place near the Old City’s Damascus Gate.
Zev Sofer, EMT and head of United Hatzalah’s ambucycle unit, a veteran in mass casualty incidents and terrorist attacks, responded with other United Hatzalah volunteers to last night’s (October 3rd) terror attack near Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City. After arriving on the scene Sofer and his team performed a quick survey of the area and immediately began treatment.Jews Injured in Old City Stabbings On the Mend
Zev Sofer described the scene in his own words:
“I arrived to Damascus Gate three minutes after the call and entered through the gate. Everything happened really fast. 50 meters inside I saw a man on the floor not breathing. He didn’t have a pulse and had a stab wound over his heart. We immediately began CPR. Next we found a toddler who was alive, awake and crying. He had a penetrating wound on his right leg, we bandaged the wound and he was taken to be transported by ambulance to the hospital. Then we found another man with a stab wound next to his heart who we started CPR on. Right after that we found the body of the terrorist, he had a gun next to his body and he was clearly dead. Then we saw a policewoman holding a little baby. She was about six months old, and thank God I saw she was uninjured. Then we saw a woman, she was conscious and awake but in shock and had multiple stab wounds. We treated her wounds, gave her oxygen, and started an IV for blood loss.
Three Jews wounded in Saturday night's stabbing attacks are on the mend Sunday, as funeral arrangements are being made for two Israelis murdered by Palestinian Arabs.‘I yelled for help and they spat at me,’ says victim of Jerusalem attack
Adelle Banita, the wife of murdered 21 year-old Aharon Banita Bennett, underwent an operation overnight and is now listed in moderate-to-serious condition.
Banita's two year-old son, who was also injured in the attack, was transported to Jerusalem's Shaarei Tzedek hospital and is now listed in light condition. Miraculously, the Banita-Bennett's infant daughter escaped the attack uninjured.
On Saturday night, Aharon Bennett and Rabbi Nehemia Lavi, 41 were killed in a brutal stabbing attack in the Old City. Rabbi Lavi will be laid to rest at 12:00 p.m. at Har Hamenuchot in Jerusalem.
Hours later, a 15 year-old was stabbed near Damascus Gate; earlier Sunday morning, Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld confirmed that the teen's condition has improved from 'moderate to serious' to 'moderate.'
Adele Banita, one of the victims of Saturday night’s terror attack in Jerusalem Old City, gave a harrowing account of how the deadly stabbing assault unfolded and how her cries for help were ignored as her husband lay fatally wounded on the floor and she herself was stabbed.Thousands Defiantly Attend Early Morning Service at Kotel
“I yelled ‘please help me!’ and they just spat at me,” said Banita of the surrounding Palestinian shopkeepers whom she said looked on and did nothing as Palestinian terrorist Muhannad Halabi attacked her and her family in an alleyway near Lion’s Gate in the Old City.
The Banitas’ two-year-old son was also lightly injured in the attack. Their infant girl was unharmed.
Banita was taken in serious condition to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem where she underwent emergency surgery overnight Saturday-Sunday. She regained consciousness on Sunday. Her husband died of his wounds at Shaare Zedek Hospital shortly after the attack.
Thousands of Jews prayed the early Vatikin morning service at the Kotel (Western Wall) on Sunday morning, in a show of faith and defiance on Hoshanah Rabbah, the last day of the Sukkot holiday.
Worshipers entered the Kotel complex via the Jewish Quarter, and with a police escort, in light of Saturday night's string of stabbings in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Early Sunday morning, Israel Police announced it would limit access to the Old City to restore calm to the area - but the terror did not prevent Israeli Jews from attending the traditional service.
The gathering fulfilled calls from Israel's most prominent rabbis to keep visiting the site despite the deterioration in the security situation.
After stabbings, police bar Palestinians from Old City
The Israel Police announced Sunday it would limit access to Jerusalem’s Old City and the Temple Mount compound over the next two days, following two terror attacks which left two Israeli men dead and injured three other people.US government bans employees from Jerusalem’s Old City
Meanwhile, the army was reportedly heavily deployed in the West Bank city of Jenin to apprehend a Palestinian terror leader. The IDF opened fire on the suspect’s home, according to the Ynet news website. It was not immediately clear if the suspect was arrested or hurt, and the operation was ongoing.
In a separate operation, the army was said to be circling the West Bank home of the Muhanad Shafeq Halabi, 19, the terrorist who killed two men on Saturday before police shot him dead.
The police on Sunday said only Israeli citizens, local residents, students, employees who work in the area and tourists will be allowed entry into the Old City through Tuesday.
On the Temple Mount compound, “Muslim prayer will be limited to males aged 50 and above while there will be no age limitation on female Muslim worshipers,” police said in a statement.
The US government on Sunday barred its employees from entering Jerusalem’s Old City, hours after two Israelis were stabbed to death there by a Palestinian man, and three more Israelis were injured.PMW: Terrorist murderer's motivation echoes PA incitement
It also recommend that all US citizens “take into consideration” this restriction.
In a security message warning of “Potential for Violence and Unrest in and Around Jerusalem Old City,” the State Department noted: “Due to heightened security conditions and the potential for violence in the Old City, US government employees are restricted from entering the Old City from Sunday, October 4 through Tuesday, October 6 without prior approval from the U.S. Consulate.”
The Palestinian terrorist who stabbed two people to death on Saturday night in Jerusalem posted on his Facebook page his motivation to murder. Muhannad Halabi's words echo the hate and terror promotion of the PA leaders and show the direct connection between the murderer's actions and the PA leaders' incitement.What do we know about Jew-Killer Muhannad Shafeq Halab?
Palestinian terrorist Muhannad Halabi wrote:
"According to what I see, the third Intifada has begun. What is happening to the Al-Aqsa Mosque is what is happening to our holy places and the way of our Prophet [Muhammad] and what is happening to the women of Al-Aqsa and our mothers and sisters. I do not believe that the people will succumb to humiliation. The people will rise up (literally "make intifada"), it will indeed make intifada."
[Facebook page of Muhannad Halabi, Oct. 2, 2015]
The calls for Palestinians to act violently to "protect" and "defend" the Muslim holy sites have been led directly by Mahmoud Abbas himself, who blessed "every drop of blood that has been spilled for Jerusalem" and presented violence in "defense" of holy sites and against the Jews' "filthy feet" as a religious imperative:
"We bless you, we bless the Murabitin (i.e., those carrying out Ribat, religious conflict/war to protect land claimed to be Islamic), we bless every drop of blood that has been spilled for Jerusalem, which is clean and pure blood, blood spilled for Allah, Allah willing. Every Martyr (Shahid) will reach Paradise, and everyone wounded will be rewarded by Allah. The Al-Aqsa Mosque is ours, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is ours, and they have no right to defile them with their filthy feet. We will not allow them to, and we will do everything in our power to protect Jerusalem."
[Official PA TV Sept. 16, 2015]
What do we know about 19 year old Muhannad Shafeq Halabi, the murderer of Nehemia Lavi and Aharon Benet?Thousands 'Like' Facebook Page Honoring Jerusalem Terrorist
We know he targeted his victims because they were Jews, living Jewish lives in Jerusalem.
Was it poverty and despair that caused 19 year old Muhannad Shafeq Halabi to become a murderer?
Maybe not.
We do know he was a member of the terrorist group Islamic Jihad
We know that his peers praised the unprovoked attacks targeting Jews
We know that not a single Palestinian leader has condemned the attack
A Facebook page set up in honor of the Palestinian terrorist who murdered two people and injured three others - including a mother and her two-year-old baby - has already gained more than 2,000 likes.Watch: Police Arrest Jerusalem Stabber's Father
19-year-old Islamic Jihad terrorist Mohammed Shafik Halabi attacked a young Jewish family in Jerusalem's Old City, repeatedly stabbing the parents and their infant child before snatching another civilian's weapon and firing on police and tourists in a frenzied attack.
Border police reacted quickly to the attack and shot him dead.
As usual, Arab support on social media and on the street flooded in for the brutal murders, including in the form of a Facebook page set up in his memory just a few hours after the attack.
The page features pictures of Halabi along with various slogans in support of his crime, many of which have received hundreds of likes.
Security forces arrested the father of the Arab terrorist who wounded an Israeli teenager in a stabbing attack last night near Jerusalem's Damascus Gate.Dramatic Footage: Police Eliminate Knife-Wielding Terrorist
Arab media identified the terrorist as Fadi Alwan, from the neighborhood of Issawiya in Jerusalem.
Alwan struck just hours after an Islamist terrorist from the Islamic Jihad terror group murdered two Israeli civilians and wounded several others - including a two-year-old girl - in a frenzied stabbing and shooting attack.
Alwan's victim was 15-year-old Moshe Malka, who on Sunday morning described to Israeli media how he only survived "through a miracle."
In video footage posted online early Sunday morning, Israeli security forces can be seen surrounding Alwan's house in Issawiya, before arresting his father on suspicion of involvement in the attack.
Dramatic footage has emerged showing the moment an Arab terrorist stabbed a Jewish teenager Saturday night, mere hours after a previous deadly stabbing and shooting spree by another Palestinian terrorist.Jerusalem Terror Attack: BBC Headline Shocker
In the video, the terrorist can be heard screaming "Allahu Akbar," above the shouts of shocked onlookers.
Police quickly arrive at the scene and shoot him dead, several gunshots ringing out and putting an end to the carnage.
In the following seconds someone can be heard shouting "where are the casualties?!"
Two Israeli men were fatally stabbed in Jerusalem’s Old City on Saturday evening. The Palestinian attacker was shot dead by security forces after he opened fire on them. The wife of one of the victims and their two-year-old baby were lightly wounded.Israeli Press Office Reprimands BBC for Outrageous Headline
How did the BBC initially report on the attack?
"Palestinian shot dead after Jerusalem attack kills two"
Notice how the main focus of the headline is the death of the Palestinian perpetrator who is “shot dead,” effectively turning the terrorist into the victim.
And what is a “Jerusalem attack?” Cities don’t attack people. In this case, the BBC cannot bring itself to apportion responsibility to a Palestinian. Nor does it state that the actual victims of the attack were Israeli Jews.
But to the shock and anger of many readers - who took to social media to vent their outrage - the BBC's initial headline read: "Palestinian shot dead after Jerusalem attack kills two".Al Jazeera apologizes for Jerusalem terror attack tweet
The channel later changed its headline to the more accurate "Jerusalem: Palestinian kills two Israelis in Old City," but GPO head Nitzan Hen nevertheless reprimanded the BBC for its biased reporting Sunday.
"There is a limit to the lack of objectivity in press coverage, and this time we are talking about an outrageous title which reminds one of the headline given by the CNN TV station after the slaughter at the synagogue in Har Nof, which introduced the attack as 'an attack on an Israeli mosque,'" said Hen Saturday night, referring to a series of equally shocking headlines given by the American news network in its coverage of that deadly attack.
"While the BBC corrected its title later this evening, tomorrow I intend to reprimand the head of their office in Israel and to warn him directly that we do not intend to let this pass unchallenged," Hen added.
Al Jazeera English on Sunday said it regretted "the wording of a tweet posted regarding an attack in Jerusalem" after receiving a wave of criticism from their audience.Breaking silence, PA condemns Israel for killing Jerusalem assailants
"Palestinian shot dead after fatal stabbing in Jerusalem; 2 Israeli victims also killed," read the tweet posted on Saturday, which the news site said was "written under the pressure of breaking news."
Al Jazeera noted that "many people in our audience pointed out" that the tweet diminished the killing of the two Israeli victims and "leaves out the context that the Palestinian man was the attacker," according to Al Jazeera.
The Qatar-based news agency said that the criticism it received from their viewership was "valid," and later amended the story when it was updated.
After days of silence amid a string of terror attacks and skyrocketing tensions in Jerusalem and the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority on Sunday condemned Israel for its “policy of escalation,” after two Palestinian assailants were killed as they carried out terror attacks.UN Chief Appeals for Calm after Jerusalem Terror Attack
In a written communique published on the official news agency Wafa, PA government spokesman Ihab Bseiso called on the international community to intervene following “the killing of two young men in occupied Jerusalem and the series of incursions into cities and villages in the West Bank.”
The statement made no mention of the fact that the two dead Palestinians had been killed while carrying out stabbing attacks against Israeli civilians.
On Saturday night Palestinian Mohammad Halabi carried out a stabbing spree in Jerusalem’s Old City, killing Nehemia Lavi, 41, and Aharon Banito, 21, and wounding Banito’s wife and 2-year-old baby, police said.
Hours later, Palestinian Fadi Aloon stabbed an Israeli teen near the Old City’ Damascus gate.
Both Halabi and Aloon were shot and killed at the scene.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday warned of a dangerous escalation in Jerusalem and Judea-Samaria following a recent spate of attacks and appealed for calm.Palestinian Authority Calls on UN to Act against ‘Israeli Violence’
Ban strongly condemned the violence that left two Israeli men dead in the Old City, triggering clashes overnight that left scores injured.
The two men were murdered by a Palestinian Islamist terrorist, who also wounded a woman and a toddler in a knife and gun attack in the Old City.
"Recalling the recent deadly attack on another Israeli family in the occupied West Bank, and in light of the wave of extremism and violence sweeping the region, the secretary-general is deeply concerned that these latest incidents signal a dangerous slide toward escalation," said a statement.
Ban said he was "deeply troubled" by statements from Palestinian terrorists, including Hamas praise for the attacks.
The Palestinian Authority has finally issued a condemnation of violence, but it restricted its statement Israel and called on the United Nations to act to stop what it called Israeli violence.George Galloway Calls for 'New Intifada'
A statement on the Palestinian Authority’s official WAFA website said in Arabic:
The government demanded in a statement on Sunday, the international community and organizations of the United Nations, to intervene to compel Israel to cease its violations in the Palestinian territory, the latest of which was the killing of two young men in the occupied city of Jerusalem, and a series of incursions into the cities and villages of the West Bank, and settler attacks last night on the villages of the West to the protection of the occupation army , and wounding a number of citizens.
Without one word of denunciation of the two Arab terrorist attacks Thursday and Saturday night that killed four Jews, Palestinian Authority spokesman Ihab Accord Bseiso charged on WAFA that Israel’s “escalatory policy comes within the framework of the efforts of the Israeli government aimed at undermining the Palestinian and international political efforts and the efforts of the destruction of the two-state solution, and dragging the region into a new spiral of violence.”
Former member of the UK Parliament George Galloway is encouraging Palestinians to begin a third intifada.Senior Hamas Official: Time Ripe for 3rd Intifada
Earlier today (Sunday) Galloway tweeted, "A new intifada may have begun in Palestine. Or won't be long delayed. Whenever it comes I will support it with every breath God gives me."
Galloway served as an MP from 1987 until this past March, with the exception of two years between 2010 and 2012. Throughout this time he has cultivated a reputation for loudly expressing extreme views. He supported both the Soviet Union (he told the Guardian that its collapse was "the biggest catastrophe of my life") and Saddam Hussein.
In recent years he has hosted a show on Press TV, an official channel of the Iranian government.
Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas official, said that the conditions are ripe for a new intifada against Israel, but, unfortunately, the Palestinian Authority prevents it and uses its security forces to block the emerging uprising. In an interview with Hamas’ website, Al-Zahar said that the only way to protect the Al Aqsa mosque would be with the Arabs in Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem taking up weapons, but, as he put it, the sad reality is that these weapons are being used to protect the settlers.PreOccupiedTerritory: The Existence Of Jews Violates My Religious Rights By Mahmoud al-Zahar (satire)
“The image of Palestinians from the West Bank and Jerusalem throwing stones and Molotov cocktails has dealt a blow to the occupier,” Al-Zahar said.
So far, no Palestinian Authority officials have condemned the murders of Jews by Arabs in the past three days in Jerusalem.
Saeb Erekat, one of the Palestinian Authority negotiators of the Oslo accords and chief of the PLO Steering and Monitoring Committee until 2011, told Radio Palestine Sunday, following the lethal stabbing incidents in Jerusalem: “The events remind us of September 2000. Israel’s isolation is causing it to take forceful measures. Experience shows that you cannot deprive the Palestinians of their freedom by force.”
You Western people talk a lot about religious tolerance, but everyone knows it’s nothing but a sham. You show absolutely no consistency when it comes to the religious rights of Muslims, such as their right to live in a Jew-free world. Hypocrites.A Henkin brother's lament - and warning
If the West genuinely cared about religious freedom, it would pay more than lip service to Muslims’ fundamental human right to violently exclude Jews from the Temple Mount. If the West had any shred of consistency, it would condemn the existence of Jews and their state as a grievous breach of the rights of Muslims. Jewish sovereignty is profoundly blasphemous under Islamic law, which requires all non-Muslims to pay the jizya tax, to defer to Muslims in all affairs, and a host of other mandated indignities. This situation must obtain in all lands once conquered by a Muslim army, no matter how long ago, and whether or not the current rulers of the place follow Islam. Perforce, the existence of the Zionist Entity violates Islamic law, and thus violates the religious rights of Muslims to enjoy legal sanction for the oppression and extermination of Jews.
Some of your organizations and media outlets do understand this, which is why they studiously ignore the daily rock-throwing, firebomb-hurling, and occasional fatal shooting that Muslims direct at Jews. Only when Israeli police or military forces respond does that become newsworthy, because at that point it is objectionable. But the awareness of, and support for, the Muslim right to treat Jews as subhuman and to deny them, among all people, a sovereign state, sadly remains wishy-washy at best among your chief policymakers. This must change – because it is our right to have things as we demand. Our willingness to kill you (and one another) to see that happen proves how right we are. QED.
"Eitam and Naama were not killed by 'terror'...Human beings driven by hatred went out to the road in order to murder Jews, and they succeeded" • Yagil Henkin, a Mida contributor, in the eulogy he delivered at the funeral of his brother and sister-in-law • May justice for them be swift'No One Bothered to Tell Us My Brother Was Murdered'
Eitam and Naama were not killed by “terror.” They are victims of an act of hostility. It was hostility behind the murder. Human beings driven by hatred went out to the road in order to murder Jews, and they succeeded. They took my brother from me and from my siblings; from Yishai they took his sister Naama; from my parents and from Naama’s parents they took their children; from the children—Matan, Nitzan, Neta and Itamar—they took their parents, they took the right to grow up in a family, with the experiences and memories of a warm, unified, and loving family. They took from you, who stand here, a talented and optimistic couple, who were destined to greatness. And they continue to take from everyone their sense of security. They were Arab murderers, backed by a too-large segment of Arab society, with far too little principled opposition to murder. An enemy. An enemy who utilizes Terror.
Do not degrade their memory by turning them into victims of a force of nature. Debate about policy, not about the murdered. Do not find justification and sympathy for murderers. Keep your empathy for the children who were left orphans, to the parents who were left bereft. And for the people of Israel, who still have a long way before being able to sit peacefully beneath their vines and fig trees.
There can be no compensation for our loss. It is a personal loss, an open hole which will never be filled. Most of you are not here because of it. You are here because, as the Babylonian Talmud says, “when permission is given to the destroyer to destroy, he does not distinguish between the righteous and the evil." And how can he distinguish? The destroyer is so evil, he has no clue about what is good. He is evil to the bone, “and all of the thoughts of his heart are only evil all day," what can he know about goodness? And he also does not care.
Eitam and Naama, few and good were the years of your life, but they did not reach those of your fathers in their homeland. Woe to a generation where parents are burying their children!
There is a verse from Isaiah that is customarily quoted in funerals: “He will swallow up death forever, and God will wipe away tears from all faces.” The conclusion of this verse is no less important, nationally and not just personally. Here is the full verse: “He will swallow up death forever, and God will wipe away tears from all faces; and He will remove his people’s shame from upon the entire earth, because God has spoken.”
And He will remove his people’s shame from upon the entire earth, because God has spoken!
Dr. Yagil Henkin, the brother of Rabbi Eitam Henkin, posted a Facebook status on Sunday, upbraiding police officials for not speaking with families of terror victims to announce their loved ones' deaths.The Henkin z”l Children Tzedaka Fund
Rabbi Eitam Henkin and his wife Naama were brutally murdered in front of their four children on Thursday night in a shooting attack between Itamar and Elon Moreh in Samaria.
"Nobody officially informed us about the murder," Henkin revealed. "I was really surprised by this. I did not expect the officer [who informs families of soldier's deaths] to come for civilians, but like everyone who lost a family member before, I assumed that the police would at least call relatives when their loved ones die. But no, not at all.
"Almost *all* of the family members, from both sides, received the news in the form of calls or text messages from people who know us," Henkin explained. "In some cases, in the form of text messages from friends or acquaintances with good intentions, who did not realize we didn't know yet."
OneFamily has set up a fund to help the Henkin family orphans. The One Israel Fund is a recognized charity with a long record of helping terror victims.Na’ama Henkin: In Her Own Words
Eitam and Na’ama Henkin of Neria, were murdered in a drive-by shooting attack on the road between Itamar and Elon Moreh on October 1st 2015.
Their four children were in the car during the attack:
Matan Hillel 9,
Nitzan Yitzchak 7,
Neta Eliezer 4 and
Itamar, a nursing child only 4 months old.
They have a lifetime ahead of them without parents to care for them.
If the task of the enemy is to erase the Jewish presence, our task is to preserve it for an eternity. So what you want to do, when someone’s life is cruelly snuffed out, is find a way to remember that person so that the loss feels like a loss, and so that the person—the essence of that person, who he was—stays with us. As it turns out, Na’ama Henkin wrote a blog a couple of years ago, in Hebrew, and my friend, Avital Macales, took the time to translate that blog into English, so that the wider world might get a sense of Na’ama, who she was, and the nature of the loss we have all sustained.What US Jews Can Do in Response to the Henkin Murders
What did Na’ama write about? She wrote about what it felt like to go to a business meeting in Tel Aviv as a religious woman, among secular people, her head adorned with a kerchief. She wrote about her reticence to let them know she lived on a settlement in Samaria, but hoped they might get to know her first and know she’s not some crazy, wild-eyed right wing fanatic. She hoped they might find out that her headscarf was not who she was.
Well, it was and it wasn’t. Wearing that headscarf to a secular business meeting proved her sincere faith that she was just a Jew living on land promised to all Jews by God. It’s in the Bible and it’s in the Quran. There are artifacts to prove that Jews were not only there but were there before Jesus and Mohammed were gleams in their Mamas’ eyes.
But then again, she wasn’t just a Jew. She was Na’ama Henkin. She was a special person. Sincere in her faith and brave enough to face the secular world without artifice, apologies, or pretension.
Urge President Barack Obama to put Fatah on the official terror listKhaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians celebrate while leaders withhold comment on Henkin terror attack
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is the military division of Fatah, has publicly boasted that it committed the murders. Fatah is the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which is the parent body of the Palestinian Authority. (Mahmoud Abbas is chairman of all three: Fatah, the PLO, and the PA.) When the State Department first created its official list of “Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations” in 1997, it left Fatah off—otherwise, it would have been illegal for the U.S. to keep sending $500 million to the PA every year.
Support the Meehan bill for terror victims
The House of Representatives last week overwhelmingly approved legislation to take $43 billion from frozen Iranian assets and give it to American victims of Iranian-sponsored terrorism who were awarded that amount by U.S. courts. The Obama administration would like to just give the money to the Iranians. The bill now heads to the Senate. American Jewish organizations should be making it their top lobbying priority.
Advocate for action against killers of Americans
Rabbi Eitam Henkin was the son of the renowned educators Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbanit Chana Henkin, both of whom grew up in the U.S. More than 100 Americans have been murdered by Palestinian terrorists since the 1960s, most of them in recent years. The U.S. government has a special legal and moral responsibility when American citizens are victimized by terrorists. Yet in all these years and after all these Palestinian attacks, not a single Palestinian murderer of Americans has been indicted by the American government or extradited to the U.S. America has not even taken symbolic steps, such as insisting that the PA stop naming schools, parks, and sports tournaments in honor of killers of Americans. We must demand that the Obama administration take action.Yes, this is a time for tears and prayers. But it must also be a time for action by American Jews. Let’s contact our Jewish leaders and our elected representatives, and make it clear that the time for business as usual is over.
Palestinian Authority leaders refrained over the weekend from commenting on the terrorist attack Thursday in which Eitam Henkin and his wife, Naama, were murdered in a drive-by shooting near Nablus.Fatah Brigade That Murdered Couple Hands out Candy
Meanwhile, PA and Fatah officials warned Israel against stepping up its crackdown on Palestinians following the attack.
A Fatah-affiliated armed group claimed full responsibility for the shooting attack.
Fatah spokesman Osama Qawassmeh said that his faction has decided to “defend the Palestinians against attacks by Jewish settlers and Israeli soldiers.”
He did not say whether Fatah was indeed behind the attack.
Mahmoud al-Aloul, a senior Fatah official, announced that Palestinians have chosen “martyrdom as their option toward the establishment of a Palestinian state and ending occupation.”
Fayez Abu Aitah, another Fatah spokesman, warned that Israeli retaliatory measures could also target PA President Mahmoud Abbas. “The operation came in response to continued Israeli violations in Jerusalem and other West Bank cities,” he said. “The Palestinian response will be equal in size to the Israeli response.”
Not only did the Martyr Abdul-Qader al-Husseini Brigades - an "armed wing" of Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction - claim responsibility for the murder of a young couple last Thursday, now they're openly celebrating the "commando operation."IDF Uncovers Weapons Cache During Jenin Raid
The Brigades gloated over their responsibility for the murder of Rabbi Eitam and Naama Henkin in front of their four young children outside Itamar in Samaria shortly after it took place, and their claim was confirmed by senior Fatah official Mahmoud Al-Aloul on Friday.
On Saturday, on their same Arabic-language internet page where they first took credit for the murder, the Martyr Abdul-Qader al-Husseini Brigades posted no less than 17 pictures of their members passing out sweets in Gaza to celebrate the attack.
In the pictures, the terrorists wearing black t-shirts with the Brigade's logo on it can be seen handing out candies to smiling Gazans in cars and on the streets, and walking or riding around in trucks waving their terror group's flag.
Along with the candy, they can be seen passing around papers, likely containing their original declaration claiming responsibility for the "Nablus commando operation" as they termed the attack that took place not far from Shechem (Nablus). The declaration was first posted on their site.
The IDF's elite Duvdevan unit (Unit 217) carried out a raid on Palestinian Arab terrorists in Jenin overnight Saturday night/Sunday, arresting two suspects.Two Children Shot in Sukkahs, Lod Takes to the Streets
Security forces surrounded a building during the raid, concerned that one or more terrorists may have barricaded themselves in the building with weapons. A Palestinian Arab mob began throwing rocks and firebombs at them upon arrival.
The resulting exchange in gunfire saw terrorists throw explosives at security forces and eventually caused the structure to be set aflame.
After extinguishing the blaze, soldiers found a weapons cache which included even more explosives and an M-16.
In the coastal town of Lod on Shabbat eve this Friday night, Arab gunfire reportedly wounded a five-year-old child as he was in a sukkah, the festive booth Jews are commanded to dwell in during the holiday of Sukkot - the same night a girl was shot in a sukkah north of Jerusalem.Brendan O'Neill: Why are students now cheering about the massacre at Charlie Hebdo?
Several gunshots were fired apparently by Arab assailants in Lod on Friday night, with one of them entering the balcony of the Shiloh family and hitting their five-year-old son Maoz, according to Yafit Haikin, a community leader and social worker in the coastal city.
The bullet caused a fracture to the young boy's skull, and currently he is in intensive care following a complicated surgery.
"We aren't prepared to live in a reality like this, and therefore we will go out in protest and read Psalms in front of the police station," announced Haikin. "We must stop and demand the police to act and clear the city of illegal weapons."
The protest began at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday night in front of the police station.
I witnessed something genuinely disturbing at Trinity College Dublin last night: trendy, middle-class, liberal students cheering and whooping a man who had just given the closest thing I have yet heard to a justification for the massacre at Charlie Hebdo.Inside the Mind of a J Streeter
It was as part of a debate on the right to offend. I was on the side of people having the right to say whatever the hell they want, no matter whose panties it bunches. The man on the other side who implied that Charlie Hebdo got what it deserved, and that the right to offend is a poisonous, dangerous notion, was one Asghar Bukhari of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee.
Bukhari defamed Charlie Hebdo as racist, the same dim-witted claim made by every Charliephobe who has clearly never seen an issue of this magazine that rails against the far right and prejudiced politicians.
He then offered us a potted history of French imperialism and brutality in Algeria. Why? As an explanation for why the murderers of Charlie Hebdo’s staff — who were of Algerian descent — did what they did.
J Street, the movement funded by George Soros, is growing in the United States. Strongly aligned with the Democratic Party, J Street is known for its constant criticism of Israel, strong support for the Iran Deal, and lying about being “pro-Israel.” They are seen as a leftist alternative to AIPAC, for people who feel alienated from the mainstream Jewish “unquestioning support for Israel.” Sadly, in the last few years, J Street has become the mainstream Jewish voice – it has infiltrated many Hillels across America, and some Jewish Federations have even started adopting their principles. The typical J Streeter was raised in an academic or intellectual family, on a strong diet of New York Times, BBC, and other anti-Israel outlets who take both “narratives” at face value and believe they deserve equal consideration despite endless proof that one side is lying. It is part of the same leftist “love thy enemy” culture that brought you young American USSR supporters during the Cold War, but now it’s become the norm among young students who are politically engaged.Real Time with Bill Maher: Richard Dawkins – Regressive Leftists (HBO)
This is what will happen if we don’t instill a strong sense of Jewish identity in our children.
Consider the following in the context of my Hasbara Guide. Could you keep track of which of my tips and tricks we used and when?
L = Me, Lex.
AD = Age 26, an Israeli who is a very close friend of mine and worked in intelligence while serving in the IDF.
MR = J Streeter. An old friend of mine from Summer Camp (a camp in Upstate New York that was mostly Jews), MR is 24, a graduate of NYU, and represents the typical viewpoint of an assimilated American Jew (I should know, I live here).
Roger Waters, you stand shoulder to shoulder with terror
Dear Roger Waters,Empathetic Jon Bon Jovi dedicates song ‘We Don’t Run’ to Israel
Often in the past you have written detailed letters to colleagues in the music business, encouraging them not to perform in Israel because it supposedly is an apartheid state.
Having read your latest letter to Bon Jovi, I won’t waste my time drawing the differences with Apartheid South Africa and the moral stand that so many artists took then, and the immoral stand some artists are taking now in the face of decades of Israeli attempts to protect themselves. I know you cannot be convinced.
Attempts to protect again and again against the Arab violence while successfully maintaining the only democracy in the Middle east. A democracy which ensures freedom of speech, women rights, gay friendly society, and minorities equality – an island of sanity in an ocean of madness, violence and hate for all of these things.
So the die is cast, you are determined to proceed with your attempts to isolate Israel by blaming artists for any and every act of violence.
You are making your stand, so with whom do you stand shoulder to shoulder?
You stand shoulder to shoulder:
With the ‘passover massacre’ suicide bomber who killed 30 and injured 172.
Jon Bon Jovi’s kicked off his band’s first-ever performance in Israel Saturday evening by telling 50,000 cheering Israelis “I’ve waited a long time for this!”
A few songs into the show, he underlined his empathy with Israel by introducing a new song called “We Don’t Run,” released earlier this summer, with the comment: “This should be the fight song for Tel Aviv.”
And later in the performance, the New Jersey-born rocker name-checked his keyboard player, the Jewish musician David Bryan (Rashbaum), by saying that “your father would be proud of you” for being in Israel pounding the piano.
Probably unbeknown to the band, the concert began minutes after a terrorist attack in Jerusalem 60 kilometers (some 40 miles) away, when a Palestinian man stabbed two Israelis to death in the Old City, and injured two others.
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