06/08 Links Pt1: Pierre Rehov: Exposing the Truth About the Gaza Riots; PA Supreme Shari'a Judge: The Jews Have No Connection To Jerusalem; Giuliani: PA a 'renegade group' of 'terrorists and thieves'

From Ian:

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Pierre Rehov: Exposing the Truth About the Gaza Riots

Islamist organizations attacking Israel have always had a propagandist’s keen sense of vocabulary in their communication with the Western world.

Rightly convinced that few of us are able or even interested in deciphering their original speeches — which reveal their true intentions — they have been flooding us for decades with erroneous concepts and false claims, all playing on our desperate desire to do “good” and fight for the oppressed. They try to use our own history and heartstrings to make us react in a way that will be favorable to them.

And over the years, their terminology has been accepted by everyone, including — it must be said — in Israel itself.

For weeks, Hamas and other terrorist organizations have undertaken what they want the world to believe is a peaceful and “pacifist” popular uprising.

Once again, their deceptive use of vocabulary is clever and manipulative. On one level, these “protests” are peaceful demonstrations, thereby serving as cover for multiple attempts to destroy the separation barrier between Gaza and Israel, kidnap soldiers, kill Israeli and Jewish civilians, and launch terrorist attacks.

Why are the Palestinians “protesting” at the fence? The true answer is to destroy and overrun the Jewish state. But according to Hamas, they are simply seeking a “right of return” for the descendants of “refugees.”

Buses chartered by Hamas and Islamic Jihad — decorated with giant keys and illuminated names of missing villages supposed to symbolize this “right of return” — show up every Friday in front of mosques and schools in Gaza. Hamas has created a manipulated population, ready to kill themselves for these cynical or obsolete words and ideas.

MEMRI: Palestinian Authority Supreme Shari'a Judge And Abbas' Advisor Mahmoud Al-Habbash: The Jews Have No Connection To Jerusalem; This Is An Imperialist Myth And Distortion Of History

Mahmoud Al-Habbash, the PA Supreme Shari'a Judge and President Mahmoud 'Abbas's advisor for religious affairs, said at a June 4, 2018 conference that the struggle in Jerusalem is between the rightful owners of the city – the Muslims and Christians – and "some foreign Western imperialists that have no connection to this soil." He added that the state of Israel is an imperialist Western enterprise whose purpose is to weaken and divide the Arab world, and that the claim that the Jews have a historical connection to Jerusalem is nothing but a distortion of history.

The conference at which Al-Habbash spoke, organized by "the Muslim-Christian Council for the Salvation of Jerusalem and the Holy Places" and the Organization for Muslim Cooperation (OIC) under the title "The Monotheistic Religions against the Judaization of Jerusalem and Its Holy Places," was also attended by other PA officials, including the Palestinian Mufti, as well as other Christian and Muslim religious leaders, and ambassadors.

The following are translated excerpts fromn Al-Habbash's statements at the confrence:
"The battle for Jerusalem is not a religious one; it a political battle between the rightful owners [of the city] and the imperialists. This obligates us to raise the Arab and Muslim world's awareness of the Arab, Muslim and Christian identity of Jerusalem...

"We must be careful when using a particular term or word in connection with Jerusalem, for this is not a conflict with the Jews, but a struggle between the [real] residents and owners of Jerusalem, who are Muslim, Christian and Arab, and some foreign Western imperialists that have no connection to this soil. The catastrophe of Jerusalem did not begin in 1967 or 1948, or with the Balfour Declaration. It began much earlier, about 450 years ago, when imperialist calls began to be heard in the West.

"Palestine is not the [Jewish] Promised Land or the land of the [Jewish] forefathers – for if it is, why did they consider it as [only] one of several options when they started looking for a place for their state?...

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01/09 Links Pt1: Netanyahu: Israel thwarted 'major' terror attacks in Europe involving planes; Palestinian Authority paid terrorists nearly $350 million in 2017

From Ian:

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Netanyahu: Israel thwarted 'major' terror attacks in Europe involving planes

Israeli intelligence has thwarted mass terrorist attacks in Europe that “involve civil aviation,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday, in a possible reference to September 11-type attacks planned against European targets using hijacked aircraft.

Netanyahu, speaking in Jerusalem to ambassadors of NATO countries, said that the world is threatened by radical Sunni groups, initially led by al-Qaeda, but now by Islamic State, and radical Shi'ites led by Iran.

“When we talk about ISIS, it's important to understand that Israel helps Europe in two fundamental ways,” Netanyahu said.

“The first is that we have, through our intelligence services, provided information that has stopped several dozen major terrorist attacks, many of them in European countries. Some of these could have been mass attacks, of the worst kind that you have experienced on the soil of Europe and even worse, because they involve civil aviation. Israel has prevented that, and thereby helped save many European lives.”

He did not elaborate. Netanyahu has said numerous times in the past that Israeli intelligence has helped thwart numerous terrorist attacks in Europe.

JPost Editorial: Shut down UNRWA

The US under the leadership of President Donald Trump is rightly reconsidering the logic of funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine – at least as it operates presently.

Some $125 million, which makes up about a third of the United States’ annual support for the organization, has already been frozen.

Judging from a tweet by Trump that preceded the decision to freeze aid, it seems the US president wants to make funding conditional upon Palestinian cooperation in helping to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Trump’s concern is legitimate. UNRWA, which has been around since 1949, was supposed to be a temporary solution, until the “Palestinian refugee problem” was sorted out. But with the Palestinian Authority refusing to cooperate with the US in solving the problem, there is little reason for the US to continue footing the bill for the agency indefinitely.

We can think of a few additional reasons why UNRWA – which employs 11,500 employees in Gaza alone – should be radically revamped, if not disbanded altogether.

The first problem is that UNRWA perpetuates the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. While the original Palestinian refugees from 1948 – both those who left their homes willingly and those who were forced – might legitimately have deserved refugee status, why should their grandchildren or great-grandchildren share that status? Most other refugees are cared for by the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees, and their status is not passed on to grandchildren or great-grandchildren. The Palestinians, on the other hand, have their own agency.

This leaves millions of Palestinians in a state of limbo. Instead of getting on with their lives, the Palestinians in places like Gaza continue to grasp a false dream of one day returning to Jaffa, Haifa or Jerusalem. This also allows the kind of apartheid that takes place in Lebanon, where more than one million Palestinians live without official status. They do not have Lebanese citizenship and are confined to dismal refugee camps where terrorism and crime thrive. But because they are refugees, the Lebanese government can wash its hands of having to integrate them into society.

All this can change if UNRWA is reformed or shut down. While UNRWA is an organization that nominally is dedicated to transforming refugees into fully self-sufficient individuals, it has allowed the myth of the “right of return” to persist. Within UNRWA it is heretical to say that repatriation to Israel is unrealistic.

Palestinian Authority paid terrorists nearly $350 million in 2017

The Palestinian Authority paid terrorists and their families over $347 million last year, according to its own records, the Defense Ministry reported to the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Tuesday.

The average income of a Palestinian is $580 per month, which is what the PA pays terrorists who are sentenced to three to five years in prison.

The PA pays terrorists who are sentenced to 20 years or more in prison – in other words, those who committed more severe crimes, and likely were involved in killing Israelis – five times that each month for the rest of their lives.

Terrorists who are Israeli citizens receive a $145 bonus, which, when added to the amount PA pays for the most severe crimes, comes to over $2,900, more than the average Israeli income of around $2,700 per month. There are also increases in pay for being married and for each child a terrorist has.

Palestinian terrorists' income per month. (JPOST STAFF)Palestinian terrorists' income per month. (JPOST STAFF)

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said, “The PA pays over a billion shekels a year to terrorists and their families, thus encouraging and perpetuating terror.”

“The minute the amount of the payment is decided according to the severity of the crime and the length of the sentence – in other words, whoever murders and is sentenced to life in prison gets much more – that is funding terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens. There is nothing that better illustrates the PA’s support for terror. We must stop this,” Liberman said.

Defense Ministry drafts bill to cut PA funds over terrorist stipends

The Defense Ministry on Tuesday publicized a draft bill that would deduct welfare payments paid out by the Palestinian Authority to Palestinian prisoners and their families from the tax revenues Israel transfers annually to the PA.

“The Palestinian Authority pays over a billion shekels a year to terrorists and their relatives, thereby encouraging and perpetuating terrorism,” Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said in a statement. “The moment the payments are set based on the severity of the crime and the prison sentence, namely that those who murder and are sentenced to life receive a lot more, this is [tantamount to] funding terror attacks against Israelis.”

The bill, which targets cash payments by the PA to jailed or injured terrorists and their relatives, will also apply to Palestinians who committed other crimes for which they are being compensated by the PA, the ministry said in a statement.

The Palestine Liberation Organization gives monthly payments to all Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel, no matter the reason for their incarceration, and also to families of so-called “martyrs” — a term used by the PLO to refer to anyone killed by an Israeli, whether the person was killed attacking Israelis or an innocent bystander.

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The Darwin Award, Hebron-edition (updated)

Here is how Palestine Press Agency reports the shooting of a 17-year old in Hebron yesterday:

When a child is born no one knows what will happen to him from the hassles and difficulties of life, but the most beautiful thing is the feeling that Allah has prepared for martyrs who believed in their covenant with God.

This is what happened with the young Muhammad Ziad Awad Salamiyah, 17, of the city of Hebron, when an Israeli soldier with no concept of humanity and whose vocabulary is filled with hatred shot the martyr Salamiyah near the Ibrahimi Mosque on Wednesday to receive the martyr certificate while smiling as he was at birth.

The martyr, according to the statements of those close to him, was going to buy sweets to celebrate his birthday, carrying with him a lighter pistol, but Israeli hatred did not differentiate between reality and illusion and their goal is to kill by any means and with any justification.

The Palestinian president strongly condemned the crime and accused Israel of trying to drag the region into a spiral of violence by killing innocent and defenseless of our people.

Salamiyah in fact pulled out the fake pistol and threatened the soldiers with it.

Here is a photo of the pistol:

The only question is - was Salamiyah a complete idiot for pulling this out in front of soldiers who have been subject to daily attacks , or was he actively looking for martydom as a birthday present?

While the death is tragic, the gene pool is a little better today.

(h/t CHA for photo and Alya Express News for the idea)

UPDATE: No, it wasn't stupidity - it was terror:

The officer, a 20-year-old from Tel Aviv, recounted the events in interviews with Israeli media late Tuesday night, saying that she and two border police soldiers under her command were manning a checkpoint near the Cave of the Patriarchs when the young Palestinian approached them.

“Following the standard procedure, the soldier who was with me asked him for an ID,” she said. “The Palestinian handed him his documents and I entered the room to run a background check.”

While inside, she continued, she looked out and saw that the Palestinian had charged the soldier and drawn what appeared to be a pistol.

“With one hand,” she related, “he grabbed the soldier’s neck and pressed against him, and with the other he put the pistol to the soldier’s temple. In that situation, the soldier couldn’t break free or react.”

The female officer, who was only a few meters away, cocked her weapon.

“I was looking for an angle from which to fire without hurting the soldier,” she said, and it was only after she ascertained that his life was in danger that she pulled the trigger.

“After the first shot, he continued to hold the pistol to the soldier’s temple, so I fired two more bullets,” she said, at which point the Palestinian fell to the ground, and she quickly kicked the gun away.

“It was my first time in a combat situation,” she said, explaining that she had reacted “exactly like I was taught.”

With a gun being held to the soldier’s head, there was no way she could fire a warning shot, the officer said. “My subordinate’s life was in immediate danger,” and it was important to fire without hitting him, she said.

She rebutted the notion of her being a hero, saying: “Any soldier in my position would have done the same.”

(h/t 1Biodegradable1)

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Work accident! (correction)

From Ma'an:

A Palestinian was killed on Monday morning and four others were injured in a mysterious explosion in the northern Gaza Strip, medical sources reported. One Palestinian, identified as Rajab Usama Subuh, 25, was killed in the blast, while two of four others injured in Beit Lahiya were in critical condition just before noon on Monday.

Earlier, Gazans had claimed this came from an Israeli artillery shell, but the IDF denied any activities in the area. The PalArab self-death count in 2009 is now at 29. UPDATE: This was not a work accident, just an apparent case of stupidity:

Palestinian hospital officials say a 25-year-old Gaza man has been killed and five people have been wounded in a blast along the border with Israel.

Palestinian security officials say the explosion in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya was caused when people who were melting down scrap metal for recycling inadvertently threw an explosive device into the fire.

This no longer falls into my definition of self-death (although, as Richard from Augean Stables points out in the comments, it is a Darwin Award candidate,) so we are back down to 28, unless more information comes out.

(h/t PTWatch)

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PalArab Self-Death count: A grim milestone

Those wacky Palestinian Arabs just keep killing each other! Here's the result of that nastiness between Hamas and Fatah as each tries to out-terrorize the other:

On Sunday morning, 6 August 2006, unknown gunmen shot Major Mohammed Mousa al-Mousah, 40, from Habalya refugee camp, chief of the Palestinian Military Intelligence in the northern Gaza Strip. He died later from his wound. Tow other persons were also wounded in the same attack.

A nominee for a Darwin Award, that this Palestinian Arab site tries hard to put a good spin on:

On Wednesday, 9 August 2006, a Palestinian was killed in the north of Gaza by an explosion of an artillery shell, and three were injured in the center of the Gaza Strip by mishandled weapons. PCHR's preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 14:30 on Wednesday, 9 August 2006, Emad Abdallah El-Sharatha (22) was killed by the explosion of an artillery shell fired by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) that did not explode at the time it was fired. At the time of his death, Emad was trying to dismantle the shell in his house, located in the Shusha'a area, east of Jabalia refugee camp. Emad's body was torn to pieces, and extensive damage was inflicted on the house.

Yes, we are all sure that he was trying to dismantle the shell in his house! Here's a nice example of extra-judicial killings that no one cares about because the killers are Arab:

Basem Radi El-Mallah (a 29-year old resident of Faqou'a village east of Jenin) was killed by a Palestinian armed group in Jenin refugee camp. The killing was an extra-judicial execution for suspected collaboration with Israeli security services. PCHR's preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 13:00 on Sunday, 13 August 2006, an armed group led Basem El-Mallah from his place of residence in the village of Faqou'a to Jenin refugee camp. He was bound and his eyes were covered. They fired at him, killing him instantly with bullets to the upper part of the body.

The "human rights" website this was taken from condemned the killing but still referred to it as an "honor killing"! Finally, we have a few examples of what PCHR refers to as "misusing weapons." The third example doesn't look too accidental to me:

Over the past two days, one Palestinian was killed and two others were injured in Gaza City, including an officer in the General Intelligence Apparatus, in incidents of misusing weapons. PCHR's preliminary investigation reveals that at approximately 08:00 on Sunday, 13 August 2006, the body of Tamer Anwar Hilles, a 19-year old resident of Sheja'eya Quarter in Gaza City, was found in the yard of the Sheja'eya School in the Jabal neighborhood, east of the city. It was learnt later that Hilles was handling a weapon with a friend in the school at approximately 21:00 on Saturday, 12 August 2006. A bullet was accidentally fired, hitting Hilles in the chest. He was killed instantly. At approximately 22:00 on Saturday, 12 August 2006, Dr. Maher Issa Ayyad, a 55-year old resident of Gaza City, was injured by a bullet from an unknown source as he was in El-Diera Hotel on the Gaza City beach front. The bullet hit Dr. Ayyad in the shoulder from above, indicating that it was fired in the air, most probably during a wedding celebration in one of the nearby wedding halls. Dr. Ayyad was taken to Shifa Hospital for treatment, where his injury was listed as light. At approximately 22:00 on Saturday, unknown gunmen in a car fired at an officer in the General Intelligence Apparatus. The officer is Mahmoud El-Ghazzawi (42). The incident took place near El-Shaf'i mosque in Zaitoon Quarter in Gaza City. The officer was hit by several bullets in the feet. He was taken to Shifa Hospital for treatment, where his injury was classified as moderate.

These four deaths puts the PalArab Self-Death count since the start of Israel's incursion at an even 50. No virgins for these guys, though, and no tearful feature stories on the BBC either, because they were unfortunate enough to have been killed by their fellow Arabs who would all live in peace if it wasn't for "occupation." UPDATE: Judeopundit notices a riot at a PalArab wedding, with knives and clubs, when one guest offered a somewhat unpopular opinion. But, no one died, so the count is still at 50. Maybe this was one of those rare weddings that didn't involve machine guns as part of the celebration.

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