Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: justifying terror

Showing posts with label justifying terror. Show all posts

Monday, August 07, 2023

The shopping malls of Jenin show the "despair" of the youth

News articles like to talk about how the youth of Jenin and other places are so desperate, so hopeless, how they have nothing to look forward to in their miserable lives except death as martyrs.

These news stories never show photos of the malls of Jenin.

The Jenin City Center Mall has an array of high-end shops.

A cosmetics store features a brand new Barbie photo booth for the hopeless girls of Jenin to pose in.

It has seven stories of gleaming architecture.

It opened a year ago, providing jobs for hundreds of the same youths that we are told have no choice but to die.

And that isn't the only high end mall in Jenin. There is also the Taj Mall.

Look at these desperate youth celebrating a birthday party.

Clearly, these kids have no choice but to grow up and become terrorists.

The media has a narrative, and they don't want you to see anything that contradicts that.

(h/t Imshin)

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Terrorists covering streets in camps with tarps to hide their movements from drones

From Palestine Times:

When you cross the long market street in Balata camp, east of Nablus, you can hardly see the sky, after the resistance fighters, with the help and initiative of the youth of the camp, covered the main streets and alleys with plastic sheets and fabrics. This is done in order to protect the resistance fighters, facilitate their movement, and reduce the possibility of them being monitored by the occupation reconnaissance planes.

The same idea was done by the resistance fighters in the Jenin camp, and it achieved great success, which prompted the "Balata Battalion" to repeat it, due to its success in protecting the resistance fighters and neutralizing the threat of the occupation, its planes and snipers.

Regarding the importance of the step, a fighter from the Balata Brigade told Palestine Today that the introduction of drones by the occupation in its pursuit of the resistance fighters, and later their use in bombing sites, homes and moving vehicles, as happened in Jenin, prompted them to expedite the installation of these barriers.

Who cares that thousands of residents in crowded camps won't see the sky? Terrorists' lives are at stake! And, as always with Palestinians, what the majority wants is not nearly as important as what the self-appointed leaders decide.

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A @NYTimes essay by @TareqBaconi justifies, and ultimately cheers, murdering Israeli civilians

How many ways can one minimize and then legitimize terror attacks against Jews?

Tareq Baconi, former senior analyst for Israel/Palestine at the International Crisis Group and the author of “Hamas Contained” who is now president of the board of al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network, displays a lot of them in New York Times guest essay.

Purportedly an analysis of Jenin, he breaks new ground in first obfuscating, and ultimately justifying, Palestinian attacks on civilians.

At a Fourth of July event in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Israeli Army had attacked “the most legitimate target on the planet — people who would annihilate our country.” He was referring to months of armed resistance against Israeli settlers by young men in the Jenin refugee camp.

To Baconi, people like brothers Hallel and Yagel Yaniv, shot to death by a Hamas resident of Jenin while doing the crime of driving, are mere "settlers," and their murder was "resistance."

He conveniently doesn't mention that the terror wave that gripped Israel even within the invisible line that somehow differentiates between human beings and "settlers" also came from Jenin. Three civilians in Tel Aviv were murdered in April 2022 by a terrorist from Jenin - either they don't exist or are also "settlers." The terrorist who killed five Israelis in Bnei Brak shortly beforehand was from the Jenin area, and the murders were celebrated in Jenin. The murderers of four Israelis on Yom Haatzmaut 2022 in Elad were also from the Jenin area.

They don't count. Or, as we will see, perhaps they are "settlers" as well.

More than 20 years ago, another right-wing prime minister, Ariel Sharon, led an extensive military campaign against the same refugee camp. It was two years into the second Palestinian uprising. Palestinian suicide bombers, some of whom hailed from Jenin, had rocked Israeli streets. In response, the Israeli Army invaded the West Bank and ravaged the Jenin refugee camp, then, as now, a center of Palestinian resistance.

Scores of Palestinians who detonated bomb belts in the midst of crowds of Jews didn't kill anyone, you see. They merely "rocked Israeli streets." It was practically a music festival! But Israel's response "ravaged" a camp that was merely a "center of Palestinian resistance" - not a terrorist hotbed.

With the absence of any hope for statehood, and with no viable political leadership to lead the struggle, some take matters into their own hands through armed and unarmed forms of resistance,

Amazingly, in this entire essay, Palestinians simply never kill anyone. They just engage in "armed and unarmed forms of resistance." Murdering Jews with axes and bombs are simply a form of protest, and a quite understandable one.

Like Jenin, the Gaza Strip also has a history of resistance against Israeli occupation.

Shooting tens of thousands of rockets towards Israeli civilian targets, killing many, is again merely "resistance against Israeli occupation." To Baconi, and the New York Times editors who approved this essay, there is no distinction between the two sides of the Green Line - all of Israel is "occupied."

Beneath this evolving context is a singular constant: Israel’s ability to sustain its settlement of Palestinian territory without accountability, while equating Palestinian resistance to terrorism. That this framing has long been accepted among the major Western powers is particularly galling for Palestinians in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where resistance to illegal occupation is hailed as heroic and supported by Western weapons and military training.

Here the sheer immorality of Baconi and the New York Times comes into sharper focus. Not only do they dehumanize all Israelis as mere "settlers," which is sickening enough - they show no differentiation between attacking an army and targeting civilians. That principle of distinction is the entire basis of the Fourth Geneva Convention, but to apologists for murder like Baconi, Palestinians butchering rabbis while praying are equivalent to Ukrainians defending themselves from Russian soldiers and mercenaries.

Residents of the Jenin camp, some of whom had fled from their homes in what is now Israel in 1948, are refugees once again. And some of the toddlers who were in the camp in 2002 are now the young men of the Palestinian resistance. As the history of other struggles against apartheid and colonial violence have taught us, today’s children will no doubt take up arms to resist such domination in the future, until these structures of control are dismantled.

This essay is the intellectual equivalent to handing out sweets after a terror attack.

Baconi is not only justifying but actively cheering terrorism against Jews. He portrays the most despicable and disgusting murderers as heroic "resistance" - and he is doing it under the pretense of caring about human rights.

Any real human rights activist should be horrified at this paean to murdering civilians. But instead of condemning the twisted, immoral essay of Baconi, the "human rights" community is tweeting it.

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Amnesty and HRW won't say a word about this Jenin war crime

Times of Israel reported on Monday:

The Israel Defense Forces says troops located hidden underground storage sites with weapons and explosives inside a mosque in the West Bank city of Jenin.

After lengthy gun battles with armed Palestinians who were holed up inside the mosque, Israeli forces managed to break in, the IDF says.

The IDF says that on the ground floor, troops found two underground storage sites containing explosives, weapons, and other military equipment.

Using a mosque as a military site is a war crime.

Article 53 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I says:

Without prejudice to the provisions of the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 14 May 1954, and of other relevant international instruments, it is prohibited:
…
(b) to use such objects [historic monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples] in support of the military effort

Additional Protocol II has identical language.

It was Hamas and Islamic Jihad that turned a mosque into a military target by firing from it and storing weapons within.

The fact that most Muslims are not upset at Palestinian terror groups for treating their mosques that way indicates that hate for Israel is more important to most Muslims than the sanctity of the mosque.

I don't see any fatwas on the topic, but my guess is that the Islamists pretend that this is a case of "defensive jihad" - defending Islam as a whole from destruction - which gives them wide latitude to even violate normative Islamic principles of war. It appears to be the justification for suicide bombings, and female suicide bombers, for example. Under that mindset, using mosques for war transforms from something reprehensible into an obligation.

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The double standard: Only Palestinians are allowed to be angry

There is a subtext behind all reporting out of Israel. This subtext is both bigoted against Arabs and antisemitic at its core - at the same time. And it is a subtext that is accepted not only by the media but by many Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs as well.

The unwritten rule of all media coverage is that only Arabs are allowed to be angry. Only Arabs are allowed to act irrationally. Only Arabs gain sympathy for reacting to things that upset them with violence.

After every terror attack, without fail, the terror groups and Palestinian apologists say as a chorus, "This attack was a natural reaction to their suffering at the hands of Israelis."

Yet when Jews act with 10% of the irrationality and anger that the Palestinians are expected to act with all the time, it is proof that there is something deeply wrong with the Jews.

From Times of Israel:

Israeli settler vigilantes tore through several Palestinian towns in the West Bank following a deadly shooting attack on a nearby settlement Tuesday night, setting cars and fields on fire, vandalizing homes and terrorizing residents in a grim repeat of an incident some termed a pogrom earlier this year.

Palestinians in Luban a-Sharqiya, Huwara, Beit Furik, Burin and other towns south of Nablus in the northern West Bank said carloads of settlers rampaged through the villages Tuesday night, hurling stones and setting cars, fields, homes and other property ablaze.

Three Israelis were arrested over the attacks, Israel’s Ynet news reported.

The rampage was set off by an attack hours earlier in which two Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a hummus restaurant and gas station in the settlement of Eli, killing four people, including two 17-year-old boys, and injuring four others.

I want to be crystal clear: these vigilante actions are wrong and should be condemned.

But both Jews and Palestinian Arabs should be judged the same way. When Palestinians riot, it is just as wrong as when Jews riot. When Palestinians attack civilians, it is just as wrong as when Jews attack civilians. While Jews are expected to hold themselves to a higher standard and not attack random Palestinians, Palestinians should be held to the exact same standard and not excused when they attack random Jews.

Anything else is bigotry - bigotry that says that Arabs are naturally violent, and bigotry that says Jews must not show anger when their friends are murdered.

When Jews get targeted and murdered by Palestinians, the media shows lots of photos of crying Jews at the funeral. When a Palestinian dies and Jews are blamed, it shows angry crowds. Jews are expected to rise above such base emotions as anger and vengeance while Arabs are not.

Double standards for Jews and for Palestinians is bigotry, by definition. It is a bigotry that is embraced by the media as well as by Palestinians and terror supporters who justify every terror act, no matter how heinous, as natural and acceptable and part of a "cycle of violence." . And to an extent Israelis are guilty of it as well, priding themselves on being on a different moral plane than Palestinians are. For the most part, that is true, but that attitude also helps keep the status quo of Palestinians being expected to act like animals.

Both sides should be expected to act morally and according to the law. Neither side should target civilians, ever. Neither side should celebrate the deaths of innocents on the other side (and only one side ever does that.) And each side should strive to always be better, to improve, to be more moral.

It is up to the players themselves to choose to act morally, to rise above the desire for blind vengeance. It is not for the world to impose one set of morality on one side and a completely different set of standards, or no standards whatsoever, on the other.

By the same token, it is human to get angry when something truly outrageous occurs, and Jews have that right as much as Palestinians do. Chanting "Death to Arabs" is unacceptable, but "Death to Hamas" is appropriate. It is antisemitic to insist that Jews react to Palestinian atrocities with nothing but coolness, logic and restraint.

All of this should be obvious. But the reality is that expectations are very different for the two sides. The world tolerates and encourages this bigotry, and the violence is partially a result of these double standards. The Western world, by accepting Palestinian irrationality as normal, encourages more terror.

Judge everyone equally. Be more critical of the side that acts with less regard for human life and that literally celebrates death.

Why is that such a difficult concept?

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As usual, Palestinians celebrate. The murderers are treated as victims. "Human rights" groups are silent. Jewish lives don't matter.

It is a depressingly familiar scene:

Four Israelis were killed and another four were wounded in a shooting attack by two terrorists at a gas station outside of the West Bank settlement of Eli on Tuesday afternoon.
"Two terrorists entered a restaurant near the gas station [where they] shot and killed three civilians. They then came out and fatally shot a civilian who was refueling his car. Another citizen who was at the gas station opened fire and managed to neutralize one of the terrorists, the other apparently fled the scene," ZAKA (rescue and recovery organization) spokesman Moti Bookchin said.

I'm not talking about the attack, although that is sadly familiar as well. I'm talking about the things that happen after these attacks.

The script is identical, yet the media avoids describing it.

1. One terrorist was killed immediately and Israel tracked down and eliminated the remaining terrorist. Palestinian media and anti-Israel social media report on those deaths as if they are the main story.

2. Palestinians celebrate dead Jews.

Here is a photo of handing out sweets in Gaza, and video of a mosque in Gaza celebrating the murders.

3. Human rights groups refuse to condemn the targeting of Jewish civilians, and they won't say a word until Israel retaliates = and then when they condemn Israel, they might mention something briefly about the murders.

As a reminder,. Jews living in Judea and Samaria are civilians according to international law. They must be protected like any other civilians are. Their choice of living in their ancient Jewish homeland also claimed by some Arabs does not mitigate their right to life in the least.

But the human rights community treats them as subhuman, at best as if they are to blame for their deaths, when their murders are even mentioned. They are consistently referred to by "human rights" leaders as "illegal" - a term never used for those who murder them.

This always happens,. The media ignores it. And it proves that Jewish lives don't matter.

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UN Rapporteur Francesca Albanese again says that Jews do not deserve human rights

There was a most interesting communication between Israel's Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli and Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian territories.

Albanese had recently tweeted that "Israel has a right to defend itself, but can't claim it when it comes to the people it oppresses/whose lands it colonizes." The clear implication is that Jews who are killed by Palestinians have no right to self defense as long as the murderers can claim that they are oppressed by Israel.

Chikli wrote a pointed and detailed response to the UN, demanding that Albanese be fired.

Over 3000 years ago, the moral imperative not to kill was established as the most fundamental commandment given to humanity within the framework of the Ten Commandments - one of the most authentic human rights charter. Throughout history, the importance of the right to life and the prohibition of murder have been developed by philosophers such as John Locke, and has been incorporated into many official documents. One of the most prominent milestones in this context is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, whose Article 3 declares that ''Everyone has the Right to life, liberty and security of person."

Against the background of this long process of establishing the universal right to life for all individuals, I am writing to express my profound shock, condemnation and dismay at the recent comments made by formal UN employee and special rapporteur, Ms. Frances. Albanese. Ms. Albanese's reprehensible, irresponsible and terror-inciting remarks made earlier this week called into question Israel's very right to defend the lives of its citizens.

Ms. Albanese's statement is not only outrageous but also explicitly denies the right to life and personal security of many Jewish citizens of the State of Israel. Her comments contradict the basic core foundational human rights upon which the United Nations is built, setting a dangerous precedent. It is also unacceptable for a UN representative to make such a statement, even if she thinks that part of the country is disputed territory.

I would like to draw your attention to a concerning matter regarding Ms. Albanese's recent remarks. It appears that her words may have been intentionally influenced by the recent horrific terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians: Just last week, a British-Israeli mother, Lucy Dee, and her two teenage daughters, Maia and Rina Dee, were brutally murdered in the Jordan Valley by a Palestinian terrorist who deliberately rammed their vehicle and then shot them at point blank range. Ms. Albanese's statement seems to suggest that Lucy Dee and her daughters, three innocent human beings driving on a holiday, were not deserving of the right to be protected by the State of Israel.

This statement is especially troubling, as it casts a dark shadow on Ms. Albanese's basic human compassion, and her ability to uphold the principles of the United Nations and carry out her duties as a representative on its behalf.

Regrettably, this is not an isolated instance of Ms. Albanese's relentless, systematic and irrational bias against Israel and display of antisemitism. As a representative who should be applying intemational law equally for all, irrespective of their faith, background or geographic locality, this is deeply concerning.

A particular, troubling example is her speech at a Hamas-sponsored conference in Gaza in November 2022, during which she urged her audience to "resist". Moreover, in recent years, Ms. Albanese has also accused the "Jewish Lobby" of controlling United States and Europe, supported the BDS campaign against Israel, compared Israelis to the Nazis and refused to condemn Palestinian terrorism.

Ms. Albanese's actions and statements clearly violate the impartiality and objectivity requirements outlined in the UN Code of Conduct for Special Rapporteurs. Her clear and persistent display of antisemitic rhetoric, hostility and prejudice towards Israel demonstrates that this particular rapporteur does not uphold these values. The United Nations is failing to uphold its own commitment to protecting fundamental human rights for all and applying equal treatment of all its member states by allowing Ms. Albanese to continue to spew hatred, antisemitism and incite violence. Her blindly one-sided anti-Israel mandate is unacceptable and clearly goes against the principles of the United Nations.

Therefore, I strongly urge you to take prompt action and terminate Ms. Albanese, position's permanently. It is s essential that the United Nations uphold its own principles and convey a resolute message that antisemitism and support for violence and terrorism have no place within its organization. In this context, I would like to refer to Chaim Herzog's powerful speech at the United Nations General Assembly on November 10, 1975, stating that "It is indeed fitting that the United Nations, which began its life as an anti-Nazi Alliance, should, 30 years later, find itself on its way to becoming the world center of anti-Semitism". We very much hope that it is still possible to change this sad situation.

Yours respectfully,
Amichai Chikli
Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism

Albanese did not respond to any of these points. Instead, she composed the equivalent of a schoolyard taunt:

I wonder how the 3000-year-old "moral responsibility [sic] not to kill" can be reconciled with the thousands of Palestinians killed since 2007 in oPt (4k out of conflict; 4.4k in-conflict, i.e. in Gaza: 2008/9, 2012, 2014, 2018/9, 2021, 2022).

She is saying that Israel is hypocritical on two levels: one by not adhering to the same human rights standards that Chikli is saying she is guilty of violating, and secondly of not upholding Jewish laws itself in killing Palestinians.

Even though Albanese has already distinguished herself with her blatant bias and tacit support for Palestinian terror, this is fairly astonishing. By not defending her own words justifying Palestinian "resistance," she is saying that Palestinian terror is not even worth discussion - because Israel is worse.

In her moral universe, two wrongs make a right.

It is clearly a false charge. The vast majority of those killed by Israel were either legitimate targets or collateral damage when Israel was attacking legitimate targets in wartime. Some were tragic accidents.

One is not liable for those deaths under either Torah law or the Geneva Conventions.

Palestinian terrorists, including the killers of the Dee mother and daughters, are guilty of murder in their deliberate targeting of uninvolved civilians; And Palestinian terror is illegal under both of them.

Albanese ignores or condones Palestinian murders while condemning Israel's defensive wartime actions - and she cynically invokes Jewish law to make her case, including that Jews (and only Jews) do not have the right to defend themselves against those who claim "oppression."

In Albanese' perverted moral calculus, Israeli Jews cannot claim to be oppressed by those who daily call for them to be ethnically cleansed from their homes. Only Palestinian lives matter and Palestinian murders are "legitimate resistance;" Jewish Israelis do not have the right to claim either self defense or oppression, which is the golden ticket needed to kill anyone on the other side.

This is another case where Albanese's own words cross the line from "anti-Zionism" into antisemitism.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!