Tuesday, May 11, 2021

05/11 Links Pt1: The "Al-Aqsa Is in Danger" Lie that Sets Jerusalem Alight; Israel MFA: Palestinian Rocket Attacks on Israel Are War Crimes

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: What you won't read in western media about the Jerusalem riots
As I write here in Jerusalem, sirens have sounded and explosions have been heard. It appears that rockets were fired by Hamas at the city. I am posting this now before finding out what is happening.

Further to my piece here yesterday about the Jerusalem riots, here’s some more information you won’t read in the venomously slanted media coverage which continues to obscure the Palestinian Arabs’ incitement and attacks that sparked these disturbances and which continues falsely to blame Israel instead for its behaviour. In this twisted reporting, much of the British and American media continue to parrot the Palestinians’ narrative which, as always, seeks to obscure their own murderous and bigoted aggression by pretending that their Israeli victims are the aggressors while the Arabs are merely defending themselves.

While the Israeli police have struggled to contain the continued Arab rioting, as you can read in these accounts here and here, this is what the senior Hamas Official Fathi Hammad tweeted:
People of Jerusalem, we want you to cut off the heads of the Jews with knives. With your hand, cut their artery from here. A knife costs five shekels. Buy a knife, sharpen it, put it here and just cut off (their heads). It costs just five shekels. With those five shekels, you will humiliate the Jewish state. You shall find the strongest in enmity towards the believers to be the Jews and the polytheists. The Jews have spread corruption and have acted with arrogance, and their moment of reckoning has come. The moment of their destruction at your hands has arrived.

Anyone spot the little word here that the British and American media somehow always miss? Yup, he’s inciting against the Jews. Not Israelis — Jews. Because the Palestinian Arabs’ war against Israel is a war against the Jews, as it has been for the past hundred years. This is something that liberal media and politicians simply refuse to acknowledge or report. When they refer to Palestinian “resistance”, they are describing Palestinian Jew-hatred; and when they talk about Israel’s “disproportionate” responses, they are describing Israel’s determination to defend its people against the intended mass murder of Jews.
The "Al-Aqsa Is in Danger" Lie that Sets Jerusalem Alight
In the riots on the Temple Mount, everything is coordinated: The ideological line is that of the Muslim Brotherhood. The operation on the ground and the incitement is handled by Hamas, the Islamic Movement, and some Arabs in eastern Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority, as usual, is along for the ride. The goal is to move the conflict onto religious lines after the nationalist issue turned out to be insufficient for a conflagration. The way to do this is through the same old lie, "Al-Aqsa is in danger."

This claim has served as the catalyst for terrorist attacks, rioting, and now a semi-uprising whose purpose is to weaken Israel's hold on and sovereignty over the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. The discourse that radical Islam drags the world into focuses almost entirely on the Temple Mount's holy status for Muslims. No one mentions that the state of the Jewish people, which recaptured the holiest place in Judaism in 1967, then placed it in the hands of a competing religion, Islam, for which it is only the third-holiest site. There is no example of another concession like this in interfaith relations anywhere in the world.
Yisrael Medad: The Roots of the ‘Al Aqsa is in Danger’ Myth: Alfred Mond and a Speech Distorted
Introduction

Today, one often hears the false charge that Israel is ‘building tunnels under the Temple Mount‘, or that, ‘The Al-Aqsa Mosque is in danger of being bombed and destroyed. This is a true and serious Zionist threat’. There are dire warnings about how the ‘Jews invade the Mosque’ and even that Jews are ‘injecting chemical substances into the walls of the mosque in order to cause its corrosion’. This article examines one of the lesser-known origins of these myths and legends: remarks of the British politician Alfred Mond in 1921 which, though he subsequently clarified them, were purposefully distorted by the Arab leadership as a justification for violence for decades after. Who was Alfred Mond?
Sir Alfred Moritz Mond (1868 – 1930), industrialist, plutocrat, politician and philanthropist, knighted as the 1st Baron Melchett, was born to parents who had immigrated to Great Britain from Germany. Although both his parents were born of Jewish parents, they did not consider themselves practicing Jews and he was not raised as a Jew. His wife, Violet (sister of the Foreign Office muralist Sigismund Christian Hubert Goetze), was also of Jewish heritage but her parents had converted. They were married in the Anglican Church and the children were raised as Christians.

Mond’s father, Ludwig, was a chemist and had emigrated from Germany to England in 1862. He developed a process for processing soda ash and later, another for extracting nickel. After founding a chemical engineering firm he became extremely wealthy in that he discovered that adding 3.5 per cent nickel to steel greatly increased its strength. Alfred was a director in his father’s businesses and expanded them. In 1926, he brought about the merger of four separate companies to form Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), one of the world’s largest industrial corporations at the time and became its first chairman. He was one of the wealthiest Englishmen at the time.

He involved himself in politics and sat as Liberal Member of Parliament from 1906 to 1923, becoming a member of David Lloyd George’s government as First Commissioner of Works from 1916 to 1921 and Minister of Health (with a seat in the cabinet) from 1921 to 1922. He then switched party and sat in Parliament from 1924 to 1928. Upon his death the obituary of The Times noted he had triumphed over ‘a bad voice, a bad delivery, and a presence unimpressive to all but the caricaturists’.

Although not identifying as Jewish, nevertheless, Mond was frequently the victim of antisemitic attacks in Parliament. T.S. Elliot’s poem, ‘A Cooking Egg‘, published in 1920, includes these lines: ‘I shall not want Capital in Heaven, For I shall meet Sir Alfred Mond: We two shall lie together, lapt / In a five per cent Exchequer Bond,’ and he was targeted by Henry Hamilton Beamish (an early promoter of the Madagascar Plan for Jewish deportation to that island of the east coast of Africa) and his The Britons group which, in a poster, ‘The Jews’ Whose Who’, attacked Mond as a traitor to England.
Israel: Palestinian Rocket Attacks on Israel Are War Crimes
Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza fired a salvo of rockets on Monday at Jerusalem, and additional salvos on Ashkelon and Israeli communities along the border with Gaza. Hamas launched an indiscriminate attack on a civilian population - a war crime.

Israel will take any action necessary to protect its citizens and will not allow the terrorist organizations to attack the civilian population of Israel without a response. It is the right and the duty of every state to protect its citizens. We call on the international community to condemn the rocket fire and Palestinian terrorism targeting Israeli citizens, and to support Israel's right of self-defense.

Prior to these attacks, Israel sought to achieve calm in Jerusalem and took every measure to prevent conflict and allow freedom of worship. Complete responsibility for the situation rests with the terrorist organizations and on the unrestrained incitement by the Palestinian Authority.


Palestinians: Our True Goal is to Destroy Israel
The Palestinians are upset because Jews are being permitted to tour the Temple Mount. The Palestinians do not want to see Jews visiting their holy site; they do not want to see Jews in Jerusalem, and they do not want to see any Jew at all in the land that stretches from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

No one is disputing the Palestinians' right to protest Israeli policies. Yet when the protests turn into large pro-Hamas demonstrations, with calls for bombing Tel Aviv and killing Jews, they expose the true deadly intention of the protesters.

When thousands of Palestinians chant "We are all Mohammed Deif" they are saying that they see themselves as terrorists ready to attack and destroy Israel. They are saying that Deif is their role model because he managed to murder many Jews and remains at large, despite Israeli attempts to apprehend or kill him.

Hamas owes its growing popularity to the anti-Israel inflammatory campaign waged in the Palestinian media, especially social media platforms, the mosques and public rhetoric of Palestinian leaders. Hamas also owes its popularity to the ongoing corruption and incompetence of the Palestinian Authority and its autocratic president, Mahmoud Abbas.

The demonstrations in favor of Hamas should also sound alarm bells with the Biden administration and serve as an accurate indicator as to Palestinian priorities. The Biden administration is talking about reviving the stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinians on the basis of the "two-state solution." Hamas and the thousands of Palestinians who chanted slogans in support of Hamas and Deif, however, have a different solution in mind: the annihilation of Israel and the deaths of Jews -- the more the merrier.
What is Hamas trying to achieve by fighting Israel? - analysis
Regardless of how the current round of fighting between Israel and Hamas ends, the Gaza-based terror group believes it has already managed to obtain a number of achievements, especially with regard to scoring points with the Palestinian public.

First, Hamas succeeded in hijacking the protests that erupted between Palestinians and Israel Police in Jerusalem at the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan.

The protests over the police barriers at Damascus Gate, the planned eviction of a number of Palestinian families from their houses in Sheikh Jarrah and visits by Jews to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the Temple Mount have turned into large demonstrations in support of Hamas.

When Mohammed Deif, the overall commander of Hamas’s military wing, Izzadin al-Qassam, issued a rare threat against Israel over the Sheikh Jarrah dispute, many Palestinians in Jerusalem began chanting slogans praising him and Hamas.

Second, Hamas’s decision to fire rockets at Jerusalem on Monday has enabled it to present itself as a credible “resistance” group that is prepared to do anything to support the Palestinians in Jerusalem and stop Israel from carrying out its purported scheme to “Judaize” the city and “change the historical and legal status” of the Aqsa Mosque compound.

Third, Hamas now appears, at least in the eyes of many Palestinians as the only Palestinian faction that is willing to stand up against Israel to “defend” Islam’s third-holiest site and “thwart” Israeli “conspiracies” against the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem. This, at a time when the reactions of the Palestinian Authority and the Arab and Islamic countries are restricted to paying lip service to al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestinians in Jerusalem.

Fourth, by commandeering the Jerusalem protests, Hamas has drawn attention to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s incompetence in dealing with the crisis. Abbas is now being depicted by Hamas and other Palestinians as a weak leader who has failed to stop Israeli “aggression” on al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem.
David Harsanyi: Jerusalem Riots: What the Media — and Rashida Tlaib — Ignore
Israel does not "attack" the Al-Aqsa mosque - though it is impelled to quell riots occasionally. Israel does not even occupy it. The country handed custodianship of the site to Jordan's Hashemites to avoid conflict. By contrast, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is peaceful because local Christians tend not to hurl stones at praying civilians nearby.

The recent rioting in Jerusalem was sparked by the culmination of a long legal battle involving Palestinian families living on land that had been taken from Jewish families after 1948. Palestinians are upset that the case was adjudicated by a court of law rather than by the UN or a mob. Then again, it's a convenient excuse for more violence.

It is the Palestinians who demand a Judenfrei West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. There is no other region in the world, no other conflict - involving no other ethnicity, race, or faith - in which Americans accept this kind of prejudice.

Indeed, the real reason for Palestinian anger is that Israel is again celebrating Jerusalem's reunification this week. From 1948 to 1967, Jews had been banned from their holy sites in the city.

An average American probably needs a translator to make sense of the coverage of this conflict. When the media say "settlers," they mean "Jewish homeowners." When they say "ultranationalist Jews," they mean "Israelis with yarmulkes." When they say "Palestinian protesters," they mean "rock-throwing rioters." When they say, "Israeli car hits Palestinian," they mean "Palestinians throw rocks at Israeli car until it loses control and crashes - and then attempt to lynch the people inside."

And when someone says "provocation," they mean "the Jewish presence in Jerusalem," where Al-Aqsa sits on the rubble of an ancient Jewish temple in a city with a permanent Jewish presence.
JCPA: Who Is Behind the Disturbances in Jerusalem?
From within Hamas – a Standout or Man who Surrendered his Authority?

It should be noted that the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar remains relatively silent. Today, the loudest Hamas spokesman is Mohammed Deif, head of the Hamas military wing, who is joined by members of Hamas residing outside of Gaza like Ismail Haniyeh. They seek to lead the operation to “defend al-Aqsa” through terrorism in Israel, Judea, and Samaria, while Sinwar “settles for the action” of firing rockets at Israel to send a message that Gaza, not Jerusalem, is the main objective. He wants to put Gaza at the center, while the Muslim Brotherhood wants to put Jerusalem at the epicenter. For Sinwar, Gaza is more important than Jerusalem, and he wants to prove that Gaza is leading the Palestinian problem, not leaders in the West Bank.

After the elections were postponed, the issue of Jerusalem became Mahmoud Abbas’ source of authority, and therefore he would not let it go.

It is also the source of the legitimacy of the King of Jordan, as the Guardian of the Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, including the Haram el Sharif (the Temple Mount), a title held by the Hashemite kings since 1924. If he cannot protect Jerusalem, the Hashemite crown has no legitimacy to rule over Jordan, either.

King Abdullah and Mahmoud Abbas have become allies, and they hope that the events of Jerusalem will undermine the Abraham Accord agreements between Israel and other Arab countries.

It should also be noted that the Al-Aqsa plaza has become a source of tension between the two parts of the Islamic movement in Israel. Through the defense of the al Aqsa mosque, each side wants to prove its superiority over the other. While the southern branch headed by Mansur Abbas cooperates with the religious authority on the Mount, the Waqf, Raed Salah’s northern stream challenges the Waqf. Members of the northern branch curse moderate MK Mansur Abbas and carry the Palestinian flag with the Turkish crescent affixed.
Video: Hamas, Not Israel, Is Responsible for the Violence - Amb. Dore Gold
Amb. Dore Gold told BBC on Monday: "If you have violent individuals from Hamas going into a mosque and using it to attack Israelis, you have to bring that to an end. I don't care where you are. If you are in St. Peter's Cathedral or if you are in some other religious site, violence has to be brought to an end."

Q: People from the outside will see a march that goes through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City and will see that as the reason why tensions were so high.

Gold: "I know that the march of Israelis with the national flag is something which has occurred for many years now and I don't see that as some new factor that's been poured onto the situation that has created the problem."


Ben Shapiro: Ignorant Media Suggest Both Sides to Blame for Recent VIOLENCE in Jerusalem



U.S. Blocks UN Security Council Statement on Jerusalem
After the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on the subject of Jerusalem, the U.S. Mission to the UN prevented the release of a joint statement on Monday, a diplomat involved told the Times of Israel.

14 of the 15 Security Council members backed a draft statement, but it failed to move forward after the U.S. asked for more time to deliberate the matter, adding that such a step might not be useful at this time, two diplomats present said.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Mission said, "The United States is engaging constructively to ensure any action by the Security Council is helpful in de-escalating tensions."
State Department Walks Back Criticism of Israel
The State Department walked back comments from controversy-prone deputy spokeswoman Jalina Porter, who last week singled out Israel for criticism and blamed the Jewish State for inflaming tensions with the Palestinians.

The State Department distanced itself Friday from Porter's remarks, noting that "we have consistently called on both Israel and the Palestinians to avoid unilateral steps that exacerbate tensions and make it more difficult to preserve the viability of a two-state solution."

The dust-up comes after Porter was asked at a press briefing about unverified and later discredited reports claiming Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian farmlands. Porter said Wednesday that it is "critical for Israel to refrain from any unilateral steps that certainly would exacerbate tensions or take us further away from peace"—a statement that seemed to break with longstanding U.S. policy calling on all sides in the conflict to move toward peace.

Asked whether the State Department believes the Palestinians should refrain from actions that hinder peace, Porter dug in. "My response [to the question] is correct as it stands," she said.

Porter's public misstep and the State Department's ensuing clarification are the latest controversy to hit the spokeswoman, who came under intense criticism earlier this year for a slate of social media postings attacking American police officers. Critics said her anti-cop views are at odds with the State Department's traditional mission of advancing America's image and countering global extremism.

It is unclear if Israelis played any role in last week's violence.


Two Israelis killed in Ashkelon rocket attack as Netanyahu threatens escalation
Two Israeli women were killed in Ashkelon on Tuesday as barrages of rockets struck the southern city and the IDF continued to target Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist sites throughout the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the intensity and rate of attacks will increase following a visit to the IDF's Southern Command headquarter.

People run for shelter as air raid sirens are sounded in Jerusalem, May 10, 2021 (Reuters)
"We are in the midst of a campaign," he said. "Since yesterday, the IDF has been attacking hundreds of Hamas and Islamic Jihad sites in Gaza. We have neutralized commanders, we have hit many of their quality targets. Hamas will be struck in ways that it did not expect."

The Israelis were killed - one woman in her 60s and the other in her 80s - when rockets slammed into their homes in Ashkelon. Minutes later the IDF reported that it had killed two top PIJ commanders responsible for rocket fire in Gaza.

Over 90 Israelis have been injured as close to a dozen buildings in Ashdod and Ashkelon were hit by rockets, according to Israel Police. One of the buildings was a school.

One of the Palestinian terrorists killed was identified as Samah Abed al-Mamlouk. The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said that he was attacked in a hideout together with a number of additional Islamic Jihad operatives. Al-Mamlouk, the IDF said, was in charge of PIJ's rocket arsenal.

The IDF also eliminated the head of the Hamas anti-tank missile unit Tuesday evening in an airstrike.
Inside Israeli Home Hit by Hamas Rocket Fire

Rocket Hits School in Israel’s South: ‘On a Normal Day 450 Students Study Here’
A yeshiva school in Israel’s southern city of Ashkelon, which is the home of 450 students, took a direct hit from the heavy barrage of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip over the past day.

The yeshiva building was empty due to the ongoing attacks, and as the residents followed Israel’s Home Front Command instructions to remain in protected areas until further notice. As a result, no casualties were reported.

Moshe Weizmann, director of Ashkelon’s Zvia national religious yeshiva, told Walla News that the event is a “miracle which stems from wisdom. The government knows how to prepare.”

At the same, Weizmann reported that the building was hit badly and that there was a lot of damage.

“Unfortunately we are used to such events. We will not break. We will continue to progress, we will not stop because of rockets,” Weizmann said.

In the operation Guardian of the Walls, which started 24 hours ago, the IDF has been striking terror targets and operatives in Gaza, as Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups have launched more than 300 rockets towards civilians, mainly in Israel’s South. Two Israelis were killed on Tuesday due to direct rocket hits in Ashkelon.


Israel kills Islamic Jihad rocket, Hamas anti-tank commanders
The IDF killed two top Islamic Jihad terrorists on Tuesday, striking a blow to the terror group's rocket infrastructure. The IDF also eliminated the head of the Hamas anti-tank missile unit Tuesday evening in an airstrike.

One of the terrorists was identified as Samah Abed al-Mamlouk. The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said that Mamlouk, attacked in a hideout together with a number of additional Islamic Jihad operatives, was in charge of Islamic Jihad's rocket arsenal.

In another strike, Hassan Abu al-Ata, deputy commander of Islamic Jihad's Gaza Brigade, was also killed when the IDF struck an apartment in an eight-story building in Gaza's Rimal neighborhood. He was the brother of Baha abu Al-Ata who was killed by Israel in 2019. Both brothers were known senior members of Islamic Jihad and were behind many of the group's rocket attacks against Israel in recent years.

Islamic Jihad said that the response to the killings of its operatives would be harsh.

Earlier Tuesday, Hamas and the IDF expressed opposition to efforts by Egypt to mediate a ceasefire on Monday night and Tuesday, with terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip firing over 480 rockets and killing two Israelis as the IDF carried out strikes on Gaza in response.

Approximately 150 failed rocket launches fell back into the Gaza Strip and Air Defense Artillery combat soldiers intercepted approximately 200 rockets.


Palestinian woman amid riots: “I’m prepared to die, [as are] my six children”

Fatah calls for violence in Jerusalem: “Continue the uprising and struggle”

“We’ll sacrifice our lives for the sake of Jerusalem,” says Fatah spokesman

Jerusalem Day: Palestinians cheer rocket fire at Damascus Gate
Hundreds of Palestinians gathered at Damascus Gate on Monday afternoon in the wake of weeks of clashes and tensions. As the day wore on, some clashed with police.

In general, Israel’s security forces kept areas around the Old City closed so that no Palestinians could reach the restive Damascus Gate in large groups and so that Jews who had come for Jerusalem Day would not arrive either.

Around 6 p.m., as Hamas had threatened to target Jerusalem with rockets, there was a noticeable silence that swept the dozens of young men sitting on steps facing the Old City.

Suddenly, as sirens became audible in the far distance, a cheer erupted from the cloud. The young men seemed to clap in unison with the sirens. As they cheered, some jumped up to see if they could see interceptions. A flock of birds erupted from a tree as the “boom” of interceptions was heard in the distance.


IDF: Head of PIJ's rocket unit killed in Gaza attack
In what could be the most significant military development in Operation Guardian of the Walls so far, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Tuesday that it had killed a senior commander in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, one of the terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip.

The announcement comes after hours of intense bombardments by terrorist groups on southern Israel, resulting in multiple casualties and even at least one dead Israeli.

Sameh Abed al-Mamluk was assassinated in an operation conducted jointly with the Shin Bet security service. Several other senior rocket officials were also killed, the IDF said.

Earlier in the day Palestinian media reported on a targeted killing of two PIJ activists in Gaza City after they were detected by an Israeli drone that followed their cars in the dense neighborhood of Sujaiya.

The Palsetinians also reported two additional dead in an Israeli airstrike that resulted in two senior PIJ officials dead.


Ignoring rocket fire, most foreign media focus on Israel’s airstrikes
The coverage of the clashes in Jerusalem and the rocket fire that followed has focused disproportionately on Israel’s actions, either on the airstrikes that occurred or the threatened evictions in Sheikh Jarrah and clashes in al-Aqsa Mosque.

This may not be surprising, but it also has helped frame the current conflict as largely a product of Israel’s alleged aggression, as opposed to a cycle set in motion partly by Hamas.

The most anti-Israel coverage, unsurprisingly, is in the Iranian and Turkish media. Iran and Turkey both support Hamas.

Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, a state-run news agency, has about a dozen stories on Israel, and each is more anti-Israel than the last. One says Israel has killed 24 civilians, and another says Israel arrested Arabs who protested in Jerusalem and reports about “Israeli attacks on al-Aqsa Mosque.”

Ankara has stoked protests against Israeli diplomatic posts in Turkey, even though the regime has prevented other protests, such as the recent May Day ones.

Turkey uses the COVID-19 pandemic to shut down all critics, but then it encourages anti-Israel protests, the flames being fanned by pro-government media. Turkey has vowed to “defend” the Palestinians. Anadolu also says its journalists were attacked in Jerusalem.
New York Times, Washington Post, BBC, Etc. Blame Israel for Hamas War Crimes
Palestinian terror groups in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip have made good on their threat to turn southern Israel, in particular, “into hell,” by firing hundreds of rockets and mortar shells at the Jewish state over the last 24 hours. Dozens of these were intercepted by Iron Dome missile defense system, whose batteries successfully downed more than 90 percent of the projectiles that were headed towards populated areas.

Yet, while each and every launch constituted a war crime, The New York Times, BBC, Washington Post and other news organizations attempted to draw a moral equivalency between Iranian-backed Hamas and Islamic Jihad — both designated as terrorist organizations by the United States and other Western countries — and the Middle East’s only democracy: namely, Israel.

Media all-too-often attempt to obfuscate what should be clear moral distinctions between annihilationist Palestinian terrorist organizations and the Jewish state by confusing the root causes of outbreaks of violence and their resulting effects.

Consider the headline above produced by the NYT. To begin with, it effectively blames a fully decontextualized Israeli ‘raid’ on a Muslim holy site for the ensuing military escalation. In reality, Palestinians had for days on end been rioting in the eastern part of Jerusalem, including atop the Temple Mount, clashing with police who were attacked with, for example, rocks and firecrackers that were stashed inside the mosque itself.

Notably, The New York Times repeatedly refers to such wanton violence as ‘protests.’

Moreover, the headline does not make clear that rocket fire from Gaza prompted Israel to respond with airstrikes. Additionally, by including in the title a mention of the ‘raid’ on al Aqsa, the NYT is suggesting that Israel’s weeks-long defensive actions to thwart Palestinian violence was the mitigating factor in Hamas’ decision to open fire.
Not fit to print: The NY Times on Sheikh Jarrah
In a nearly full page article entitled “As Court Decision Nears, Battle Over Evictions Spikes in East Jerusalem,” the New York Times manages to describe Jews as “settlers” – in Jerusalem (!) – nine times; as “far right” or “right-wing” twice; as “right-wing settlers” once (in case we did not already get this point); as “provocative,” as engaged in both “ethnic cleansing,” and “racism” once each.

THUS, JEWS ARE DESCRIBED NEGATIVELY
AT LEAST FIFTEEN TIMES.
NOT SO THE ARABS, INCLUDING HAMAS.

As for the Arab “protestors”—we are not told whether they are “violent” or “Islamist,” “provocative,” or “armed,” nor are we told whether they (or Martians, perhaps) set fire to the burning cars, or have drawn guns.

The reporter, Patrick Kingsley, and contributors, Irit Pazner Garshowitz and Iyad Abuhweila, overlook or disappear that information.

However, the article leads with the Israeli police spraying “skunk water, a noxious liquid used to deter demonstrators.” They do not describe this as the use of non-lethal force.

The words these reporters use to describe Israelis: “Jewish settlers” and the Israeli police are buzz words, guaranteed to inflame readers and to encourage them to believe that “Israeli right-wing settlers” are white racist supremacists bent on “ethnic cleansing,” and as similar to white supremacists in America.

This is an example of propaganda, not objective reportage. It is certainly not fit to print.
NPR DESIGNATES EASTERN JERUSALEM “PALESTINIAN”
Twice in recent days, NPR’s Daniel Estrin erroneously referred to Israel’s 1967 capture of “Palestinian areas” of Jerusalem. For instance, on yesterday’s “Morning Edition,” Estrin cited “Jerusalem Day, a day that that celebrates Israel’s capture of Palestinian areas of the city” (“Violence Between Palestinians, Israeli Police Draws Global Concern“). Earlier, on the May 8 “Weekend Edition Saturday,” he referred to “an annual day celebrating Israeli capture of Palestinian areas” (“Conflict Between Israelis and Palestinians Continue in Jerusalem“).

No part of Jerusalem was ever Palestinian territory. From 1948 to 1967, eastern Jerusalem was occupied by Jordan. Before, that it was part of the British Mandate. The Nov. 29, 1947 partition plan had called for Jerusalem to be a corpus separatum, an international city administered by the UN for 10 years, at which point the city’s status was to be decided in a referendum. Before the British Mandate, the city was under Ottoman control, and so on. Going back through history, at no point was any part of the city “Palestinian territory.”

AP commendably corrected in 2018 after an article erroneously referred to eastern Jerusalem as Palestinian territory.
ABC ERRS:150 ROCKET ATTACKS A FIRST IN LAST 7 YEARS
In a basic factual error, ABC’s David Muir, last night erred on his program, “World News Tonight with David Muir,” incorrectly stating: “Hamas firing more than 150 rockets into Israel for the first time in seven years.”

In fact, in the last seven years, terror groups have fired over 150 rockets into Israel on multiple occasions.

In November 2019, Gazans fired some 450 rockets at Israel in less than 50 hours. On Nov. 15, 2019, ABC’s news site reported: “Palestinian militants fired more than 450 rockets toward Israel . . .”

In May 2019, terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired nearly 700 rockets at Israel. At the time, ABC’s web site reported: “Gaza militants fired hundreds of rockets into southern Israel on Sunday, killing at least four Israelis and bringing life to a standstill across the region in the bloodiest fighting since a 2014 war.”

In November 2018, terror groups in the Gaza Strip fired 460 rockets at Israel in three days. On Nov. 14, 2018, ABC’s Molly Hunter reported: “On Monday, hundreds of rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza . . .”

In August 2018, terrorists in Gaza fired some 200 rockets at Israel.

In July 2018, terror groups in Gaza fired some 200 rockets and mortars at Israel within two days.
FOX NEWS MANGLES REPORTING ON SHEIKH JARRAH
NGO Monitor explains that, “according to a 1989 High Court decision, and re-affirmed repeatedly in subsequent cases, as in the case of any tenant living on someone else’s property, residents … were required to pay rent to the organizations that owned the properties. Their failure to do so, along with instances of illegal building and illegally renting properties to others, resulted in the current legal proceedings against them, culminating in the District Court decision.”

And the Kohelet Policy Forum notes, “the leasehold and trespass legal issues at stake are similar to those found throughout the world, other than the unusually strong rent control and tenant protections given to the protected tenants (Palestinian Arabs in this dispute).”

Yet, Trey Yingst’s May 8 report, which aired on FOX at about 1:57 PM Eastern time, claimed that the court decision to evict certain residents of that neighborhood was based on “an obscure Israeli law.” Yingst also quoted the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs claiming that the residents are at risk “if the [Israeli] Supreme Court sets a new standard.” Of course, there is nothing “obscure” about the requirement that tenants pay rent, nor is it a “new standard.”

While Yingst interviewed two residents of the neighborhood on camera, he did not interview anyone who could reliably give an accurate legal perspective.

As the Kohelet Policy Forum explains, “the legal rights of the parties themselves were resolved decades ago, in favor of the property owners…. No one seriously disputes the validity of the transactions through which the current owners acquired rights from their predecessors in title.” Some of the residents are tenants who agreed, in 1982, to pay rent to the owners in order to stay, but who have failed to do so; others in fact are squatters who have no legal rights at all.


Israel Under Attack: Globe Analysis Misses the Forest For The Trees
On May 10, the Globe and Mail published an analysis piece by former Mideast reporter Mark Mackinnon to its website about recent hostilities between Israel and the Palestinians. The report was also featured on the front page in the Globe’s print edition on May 11.

As violence erupts in Jerusalem and Gaza, can Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas – two politicians facing the ends of their careers – stop the escalation? Do they even want to? My take on a chaotic day in the Middle East https://t.co/9tT8wkSb4i

— Mark MacKinnon (@markmackinnon) May 10, 2021

HonestReporting Canada was concerned with many aspects of this report which we felt wast unfair, lacked context and contained information that has not been independently verified. Accordingly, we communicated these concerns directly to senior editors:

1) Mackinnon wrote: “On Monday alone, at least 330 Palestinians and 21 Israeli police officers were injured – a chaotic day that saw Israeli security forces use stun grenades and tear gas to storm al-Aqsa Mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam, for the second time in less than a week to break up a sit-in protest.”

In the interests of balance and context, we feel it’s incumbent upon Mr. Mackinnon to acknowledge that several hundred Palestinians (perhaps even thousands) engaged in violent riots by throwing rocks, molotov cocktails and shooting firecrackers. If Mr. Mackinnon is going to describe the riot dispersal means of the Israeli police (stun grenades and tear gas) at the very least, he should explain that they were used to repel violent rioters using deadly weapons. This is a significant omission and it’s important to note that none of the photos show any Palestinian rioters.


Siding with Terrorists AGAIN: Nets Decry Israel Defending Itself from Hamas
Over the years, NewsBusters has extensively documented how the liberal broadcast networks had thrown their support behind terrorist groups that wanted to wipe Israel off the map. Well, they were back at it again Monday after Hamas had indiscriminately launched over 150 rockets at Israeli civilians and Israel justly responded by targeting their attacker. Between ABC, CBS, and, NBC they decried Israel’s effective response after the Iron Dome saved lives and the latter suggested Israel was the escalator.

The report on NBC Nightly News was arguably the most egregious as correspondent Matt Bradley blamed Israel for the military exchange. “Tonight in the Holy Land, one of the most dangerous escalations in years. After Israeli missiles killed at least 20 people in the Gaza Strip,” he said

Only after the fact did he admit that “Israel's attack [was] retaliation for these rockets. As many as 150 of them. Launched at Jerusalem by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Sparking alerts that sent Jerusalem residents scrambling.”

Later in the report, Bradley actually seemed to be more concerned about the situation forcing President Biden to take a side. And he pushed the myth of an Israeli “occupation” in the process:
‘FOR NO LOGICAL REASON’, SKY NEWS DENIES PALESTINIAN VIOLENCE
Here’s Sky News Jerusalem corespondent Mark Stone reporting from Jerusalem on Sunday night, May 9, amidst the ongoing violence:

“For the past several nights” and “for no logical reason”, Stone tells Sky viewers, police moved in to control the crowed – a narrative repeated in Stone’s May 10th article on the Sky News website:

Let’s examine Stone’s assertion:
In the 48 hours prior to the Sunday night police activity Stone was reporting on, there were large and extremely violent Palestinian riots in the Old City, including the Temple Mount. In addition to the violence, there was increasing Palestinian incitement for further attacks. At the Temple Mount on Friday Palestinian extremists were waving Hamas flags and chanting “In spirit and in blood, we will redeem al-Aqsa”.

At Al-Aqsa Mosque, Palestinians had stored rocks, fireworks and other weapons, which were used against Israeli security forces over the weekend.

Times of Israel reported on Sunday morning that police and the military were expecting an escalation of violence on Sunday night and Monday, due to Ramadan celebrations and the scheduled Jerusalem Day parade.
BBC NEWS CONTINUES TO MISLEAD ON SHEIKH JARRAH AND JERUSALEM RIOTS
While the BBC chose to uncritically amplify that canard concerning prayer, it did not bother to inform readers that:

“Police said they stopped the buses because they had intelligence indicating some of the passengers were planning to riot on the Temple Mount. They said only “suspicious” passengers would be forced off, while others would be allowed to drive on. The blockages were eventually opened up after some three hours.”

The same BBC report states:
“In a separate development on Saturday, Israel’s military said a rocket was fired by Palestinian militants from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip into Israel.”

The two later reports failed to mention that additional rocket attacks took place on the evening of May 9th and the morning of May 10th.

In article c) readers are told that:
“Confrontations between Palestinians and Israelis were also reported in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, and near the West Bank city of Ramallah.”

However no mention is made of the fact that on May 9th no fewer than 39 fires on agricultural land and a nature reserve in south-west Israel were cause by balloon-borne incendiary devices launched from the Gaza Strip and that such attacks had been launched on previous days too.

While all strongly playing into the Palestinian narrative concerning the dispute in Sheikh Jarrah, none of the four BBC reports published so far has made any effort to explain to audiences how and why Hamas, other terror groups, the PA and interested parties are trying to escalate tensions in Jerusalem and elsewhere. Rather than provide BBC audiences with an accurate and objective view of events and their background, the BBC has to date produced four reports all promoting the same one-sided narrative.


PreOccupiedTerritory: Group Confined To Narrow Strip Next To Sea Sure It Will Push Jews Into Sea (satire)
Members of an Islamist movement that Israel and Egypt restrict to a narrow section of land along the Mediterranean coast voiced confidence today that their endeavors will find Allah’s blessing and they will succeed in driving the people who surround them into that body of water.

Hamas fighters and spokesmen repeated their people’s seven-decades-old ambition of driving the Jews into the sea, a rallying cry that Arab leaders first invoked as the Palestinian Jews of 1947 and 1948 prepared to establish their own state, and again in 1967 when the Arab nations surrounding Israel again attempted to undo their losses of 1948. Both times the Jews defending their homes gained territory from the forces attacking them, but this time, vowed the Hamas members, with the situation reversed and the Jews outgunning them, the stage is set for total victory.

“We have them exactly where we want them,” assured Kufar Al-Qilya of the group’s Izzedin al-Qassam Brigades. “From here, on this narrow coastal territory, with no tanks, no air force, and no reason to fight other than that we cannot abide Jews having the temerity not to live as an underclass dominated by Muslims, we will prevail, because Allah is with us, as He has been with us since… well, it’s obvious He is with us because He is with us! Why else would He favor us with nothing but the glory… of losing to a ragtag bunch of Holocaust survivors despite outnumbering and outgunning them ten to one in 1948? I haven’t thought this one totally through, so bear with me.”

Other militants echoed Al-Qilya’s bravado. “The time is ripe to wipe the Jewish scourge from Palestine forever,” declared field commander Sittin Duq. “Our sponsors in Tehran have been generous with rockets that we can lob at the enemy, and maybe only a third of them will fall short and kill our own children this time! The moment is upon us when we exploit our strategic position, with our backs to the sea, and, uh, I don’t know, maybe sneak around behind the Jews and push them the other way? Ahmad, what’s the plan here?”









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