Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, December 29, 2008

Fatah militant accidentally kills another in WB

It is not easy to understand the Arabic Ma'an news story, but it appears that a Fatah Presidential Guard member "accidentally" killed a colleague - and wounded two others.

I can understand a single accidental bullet, but three?

It seems that a woman threw something out of her window that might have caused the soldier to fire. So she was arrested.

The 2008 PalArab self-death count is now 230.

Once again, Iran makes it explicitly clear that it wants to destroy Israel, despite the claims of its apologists.

Iran's Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar (R) stands under a banner as he takes part in an anti-Israel rally in Tehran in support of Palestinians in Gaza, December 29, 2008.

Maybe those words translate into Persian as "We love flowers and cute cuddly animals." You can't really be sure, can you?

Islamic Jihad claims to have shot IDF soldiers in West Bank

I have not seen this confirmed anywhere. From Palestine Today:

Saraya al Quds, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, stated that it shot at Israeli occupation soldiers in the Jenin province, on Thursday evening, and confirmed casualties among the soldiers.

There is no doubt that Islamic Jihad and Hamas would love to see this conflict expand to the West Bank, so this is an arena that needs to be watched.

On the other hand, this could be from a slingshot, as was so artfully photographed by an AP photographer.

There are more Gazans alive today than on Saturday morning

The word "genocide" is being bandied about a lot in the Arab world and far left-wing media outlets to describe Israeli actions in Gaza.

One editorial in the Gulf News that caught my eye doesn't use the word explicitly but implies it, as it castigates Arab governments for not doing anything:

While Gaza is burning, Arab officials are busy working the phones in an attempt to arrange an Arab emergency meeting. The earliest date possible, we are being told, is Friday.

By then though, there will be fewer Gazans in Gaza.

Putting aside all issues about how many of the dead are terrorists or civilians, let's examine this statement.

According to the CIA World Factbook, there are 1,500,202 people living in Gaza as of July 2008. The population growth rate is 3.422%, with the birth rate outpacing the death rate by more than ten to one.

This means that some 51,000 Gazans are born every year - and that translates to 141 more Gazans every day than the day before.

So, while on Saturday night there were indeed fewer Gazans than there were in the morning, that gap has been made up by Sunday night.

This also means that Saturday was the only day - ever - that Israel killed more people in Gaza than were born.

The Zionists can't even do genocide right!

To Israel's critics who pretend to want "peace"

There has been no shortage of criticism of Israel for finally deciding to do something about incessant rocket attacks against its citizens. From the U.N. Secretary-General calling Israel's actions "excessive" to French President Nicolas Sarkozy saying that Israel is using a "disproportionate use of force" to the EU's Javier Solana saying "There is no military solution" to the situation in Gaza, down to the more reliably anti-Israel crowd from the "progressive" Left who decry the deaths of civilians, a large segment of the world seems to agree that israel has no right to act as it has been for the past few days.

Certainly, no one wants to see innocent people die in a massive military operation. But before you criticize Israel you need to answer a simple question:

What is the alternative?

It is easy to mindlessly repeat the comforting words "peace" and "truce" and "practice utmost restraint." Mantras require no thought. They are just soothing, comforting sounds with no meaning and no depth.

But calling for "peace" without a plan is not only shortsighted; it is counterproductive to the idea of peace itself. Certainly terrorists are not subject to international pressure nor to criticism by peace activists; their goals are inherently antithetical to peace. By calling on "both sides" to halt "hostilities" you are equating terror with self-defense, you are legitimizing terrorism and you are calling on the terrorized side to turn the other cheek and become the passive recipient of death and destruction - because the terrorists are unlikely to be swayed by your arguments. A vague desire for "peace" is not only meaningless, but it helps embolden terror.

The most common plan is never stated but it is implied by "peace activists." This plan is for Israel to do nothing - to accept rockets in the Negev as an ugly but permanent fact, perhaps to move residents further north for their own protection; to continue to provide Gaza with aid and to medically treat Gazans, to open the borders for unlimited trade with Gaza, to allow Hamas to import as many weapons as it wishes - because anything less than that is still considered "occupation." These so-called peace activists are nothing of the sort - they just want Israel to be destroyed as much as the Arab terrorists do. Their real plan is to replace the Jewish state with another Arab state where terror attacks against Jews can again become a daily occurrence in Tel Aviv and Haifa and Jerusalem. If this describes you, sorry for wasting your time - I suggest that you volunteer as a human shield for Qassam rocket launchers.

Some have called for another "truce." The idea seems appealing - let both sides stop attacks and bring things back to the status quo.

However, the status quo was completely unacceptable. Let's look at the last "truce." While Israel sent hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid, building materials, food, fuel, clothing and many trucks full of other essentials, Hamas eliminated any vestiges of freedom, arrested scores of Fatah members who survived the coup, imported Katyusha rockets and tons of weapons and explosives, built hundreds of Qassams, built up its cash reserves by indirectly using money that the international community sent to build up the PA, and started building tunnels for the express purpose of kidnapping Israelis. Even the rocket fire didn't halt until September and it restarted only two months later.

It is a well-established rule that it costs much less to solve a problem earlier rather than later. The "truce" - as well as the one that preceded it in late 2006 and early 2007, when Israel likewise refrained from military actions while Gaza terrorists continued to shoot rockets and arm themselves - is not a solution to any problem; it is a postponement of a much bloodier clash that is inevitable when we are dealing with one side that wants no less than the utter destruction of the other.

Another alternative that peace activists like to trot out is "end the occupation." Somehow, it is hoped, Israel's giving up land will magically make Hamas and Islamic Jihad and the PFLP and DFLP and PRC and Al Aqsa Brigades and Free Galilee Brigades and all the other terror groups put down their arms and happily accept Israel's existence.

Not only is this wishful thinking, but all evidence proves the exact opposite. Israel quit Gaza and it only emboldened terrorists to do more. What can explain thousands of rockets towards Sderot if you think that Arab terrorists do not have any land ambitions beyond the "territories"? In Arabic, they call Sderot and Ashkelon and Netivot "settlements," which means that the careful distinction that the world laboriously makes between "Israel proper" and the "territories" is completely meaningless to one side of this conflict.

Some say they understand Israel's motivation, but call for Israel's response to be "proportionate." What they don't recall is that Israel has had that policy for years now. Rather than respond immediately and devastatingly to rocket attacks, Israel has counseled its Negev residents to grin and bear it; it built shelters and installed sirens; it occasionally responded with targeted attacks against rocket launchers or terrorist leaders. This did not stop the rocket fire - rockets that have no purpose other than to terrorize civilians. For Israel to slowly increase the level of response is the guaranteed way to start the dreaded "cycle of violence."

A single attack by Israel to shut down the kidnap tunnel in November resulted in hundreds of rockets in response. A massive attack is meant to stop the "cycle of violence," and it has a much better chance of doing so.

Of course Israel needs to ensure that a minimum of civilians are hurt - and it is doing so. If you have any suggestions of how Israel can do a better job in that respect, I'm sure that the IDF is more than willing to listen. But keeping Hamas in power, unchecked, is not a formula for peace.

Criticizing is easy. Solving a problem is much harder. If those who say they want peace can offer better and realistic alternatives, where Israeli citizens as well as Gazans can both be safe and secure, please offer them.

Becuase if you can't, then the best advice is the crude but effective STFU.

Hamas, PIJ playing games with Gaza lives

Despite the fact that Egypt offered to take in as many injured people as it could, Hamas has been forcibly blocking Gazans from getting medical help. So far, only 8 people were allowed through Rafah to get medical treatment.

Meanwhile, Islamic Jihad took credit for shooting mortars at Nahal Oz this morning. Nahal Oz is where Israel transfers fuel to Gaza, so by bombing the crossing Islamic Jihad is consciously trying to stop any fuel from reaching Gaza.

Once again we see that Hamas and Islamic Jihad are more interested in politics than in the people they pretend to be defending.

Anti-Israel and anti-semitic propaganda in overdrive

The Free Gaza terror supporters are going nuts over Operation Cast Lead, furiously writing pro-Hamas spin in their website and sending another clown boat to Gaza to bring "aid" - which comprises less than 1% of the aid that Israel itself has sent to Gaza in the past two days.

They are unabashedly to make statements like "On Saturday, December 27, Israel began Operation "Cast Lead," a military onslaught against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip that has - so far - massacred more than three-hundred men, women, and children, and seriously injured over a thousand."

The Free Gaza website is almost completely devoid of the mention of Qassam rockets. (The only mentions are when they say that "Israel claims that they are responsind to rockets" or when they quote B'Tselem, which for all its bias at least has a tiny understanding of context.) To read the rantings of the Free Gaza terror-supporters - people who smilingly meet with Hamas leaders while they pull no stops in blaming Israel foir "genocide" - one would assume that Israel is just a regime that has nothing better to do than to torture small animals and kill Palestinian Arab children for fun.

They are beneath contempt.

Their political bedfellows are also fuming, spinning and lying. An editorial in Pakistan Daily says "Israeli F-16 bombers have unleashed their full fury at innocent Palestinians and over 280 civilians have been reported dead" and concludes with "May God damn these Zionist forces to hell."

And a Greek newspaper blames the Gaza situation squarely on "the Jews" - and adds helpfully that Jews are also responsible for the worldwide recession.

The anti-Zionist and anti-semitic continuum is unbroken, and there is really no difference between the naked Jew-hatred that we see in message boards and videos and the absurdly one-sided anti-Israel rantings of the so-called "progressive" supporters of terror against Jewish women and children.

Latest disinformation: "Shalit wounded in airstrike"

The Islamic Jihad-linked Palestine Today website reports that "informed sources said that the Israeli soldier captive in Gaza, Gilad Shalit, was wounded in a raid by Israeli planes."

Further reading shows that these "informed sources" was some website called Islam Today (not sure which of those it was), and there is no confirmation by anyone who would know the truth.

It is pretty obvious that this is just a disinformation campaign to try to get Israel to stop attacking terrorist targets, but it is one that at least some Palestinian Arab journalists are eager to be a part of.

UPDATE: It looks like the IDF predicted such a scheme.

On Sunday I received the wonderful news that EoZ frequent commenter, occasional blogger and one-time guest poster Yerushalimey is getting married iy"h this coming Wednesday night!

His kallah (bride) is also a blogger, but her blog is not 100% anonymous so I am not linking to it without permission. I will tell you that she is a relatively recent immigrant to Israel from California and that she is as passionate about Israel, Judaism and Jerusalem as Yerushalimey is.

Their wedding will be in a gorgeous hall on Har Ziyon in Jerusalem - the same venue that Elder Brother of Ziyon had his own beautiful wedding!

Mazel tov to them both, and I wish them many years of sheer joy and happiness together!

Evening PalArabic news roundup

I mentioned this morning about a Saudi cleric who called for Muslims to attack Israeli interests everywhere.The Firas Press headline said that he called to shed the blood of Jews everywhere, although the article doesn't. I cannot yet find the original fatwa at Islam Online to check to see what the cleric actually said.

Earlier today, a large number of Palestinian Arabs crashed past the Rafah crossings and attempted to enter Egypt, some successfully. During these clashes a Hamas member shot and killed an Egyptian policeman. Mahmoud Abbas condemned this murder. This is besides the Gazan who was reportedly shot and killed by an Egyptian police officer. Apparently the fighting there was heavy, with Gzans throwing Molotov cocktails and the Egyptian forces firing into the crowd.

Israel plans to open the Kerem Shalom and Karni crossings on Monday for 53 trucks of humanitarian goods, including many trucks of aid for UNRWA.

Hamas shot a Fatah member during a funeral for another Fatah member (who died in a Hamas prison during an Israeli air raid) on Saturday. There were a number of accusations that Fatah members were left to be killed in the prisons while Hamas guards ran to safety.

A number of Fatah prisoners managed to escape during some of the air raids, and Hamas shot one of them dead while running away.

Hamas is claiming that they called up a thousand "reserves" to be ready for the next round of fighting.

Jordanian members of parliament burned an Israeli flag inside their chambers.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the terrorist arm of Fatah, finally joined Hamas and shot a couple of rockets at Israel, in an operation they call "Storm Volcano." Well, it's more catchy that either Oil Stain or Cast Lead.

The Palestinian Journalists Union showed its objectivity by calling on the international press to "objectively" support Gazans, to "objectively" report that most of the victims have been the elderly and women and children, and to "objectively" refer to the operation as "massacres" and "genocide." They slammed the Israeli press for not agreeing with this representation of the facts.

The 2008 PalArab self-death count is now at 229.

Hamas leveraging Gazan lives for political gain

Ma'an reports that Hamas has stated that it refuses to let injured Gazans go to Egypt for treatment unless Egypt opens up the Rafah crossings completely.

Hamas has also explicitly stated that, as a result of the current Israeli airstrikes, the Arab world must cut all ties with Israel - and open up the Rafah crossing.

In other words, Hamas is explicitly playing politics with the lives of the people it pretends to protect.

This is nothing new, for either Hamas, Palestinian Arabs or for the Arab world at large. Using people as political pawns, as cannon fodder, and as human explosives has been a long-standing tradition in the Arab world.

What is slightly newer is the desire to use the concept of the sanctity of all human life as a weapon itself. In other words, in Hamas' calculus, the public relations value of the media reporting that Gazans are dying due to lack of medical supplies is far more important than keeping the people alive. (It is notable that the English-language Hamas website now speaks of a "humanitarian crisis" but the Arabic-language version does not.)

Hamas has wanted Egypt to open its borders since the coup last year. The reason is that Hamas wants to be recognized as the legal government of Gaza, and Egypt refuses to recognize them as such - and it tries to adhere to existing agreements with the PA and Israel regarding Rafah.

Hamas is now looking at this operation as a means to gain political points. It will hold its own people hostage, knowing full well that the West and even Egypt values the lives of Gazans more than Hamas does, and using the hostages to gain legitimacy from Egypt, and then the rest of the world.

Even under attack, Hamas is trying to ensure that it will be more powerful, politically, after this operation than it was before. In this way Hamas is copying Hezbollah's playbook from 2006: Hezbollah lost many fighters and Southern Lebanon lost many civilians who lived under de facto Hezbollah rule, but in the end Hezbollah gained admiration, adoration from the Arab world, a full replenishment of the rockets it lost, a de facto control of much of Lebanon's army and a much higher profile in Lebanese politics.

Israel's campaign must therefore not stop at Hamas' infrastructure and military capability. Israel must use PR in ways much better than it has in the past. It must hammer away at the fact that Hamas has been a disaster for Gaza residents by any rational measure, that Hamas happily plays games with Gazan lives, that Hamas has all but driven out the Christian community in Gaza, that Hamas has cynically manipulated shortages while giving its own people plenty, that Hamas is nothing more than a terror group that holds innocent Gazans hostage. Israel must stress that a return to the status quo is not an option, and that Hamas is outside the pale of acceptability by moderate Arabs and those who claim they want peace.

Winning a war is less than half the battle nowadays.