Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Egypt quietly and severely restricting travel from Gaza

Hamas' interior minister is complaining that while Egypt claimed to open the Rafah crossings, it is only allowing a limited number of people (medical cases, students) to cross. People, even if they have valid papers, are not being allowed to go into Egypt.

Hamas is requesting clarification from Egypt as to the reasons for the new restrictions.

Lebanese parliament debates giving PalArabs basic rights

MEMRI quotes Arab newspapers Al-Hayat and Al-Safir:

A stormy argument broke out yesterday, June 15, in the Lebanese parliament over several bills calling for expanding the civil rights of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. One bill concerned the refugees’ right to purchase property in Lebanon.

The dispute was between Muslim MPs, who supported the bill, and Christian MPs – from both the opposition and the coalition – who vehemently opposed it, claiming that it would promote the naturalization of the refugees in Lebanon.

During the meeting, Lebanese Prime Minister Sa'd Al-Hariri, who supported the bill, called the issue a humanitarian one.

Al-Hariri warned that the day would come when the entire world would come to Lebanon to remove the siege on the Palestinians in Lebanon,just as today they are sending flotillas aimed at removing the siege on Gaza.

In the end, it was decided to postpone the vote for a month.

In fact, the Lebanese treat Palestinian Arabs far worse than Israel ever did. The Lebanese literally keep the Palestinian Arabs in camps, they allow paramilitary groups to rule over the PalArabs there, they severely restrict their civil liberties and rights, and they steadfastly refuse to allow generations of Arabs born on Arab soil to become citizens of the only country they have ever been in.

In Lebanon, however, party politics are incredibly complex, and the people who vote for or against rights for PalArabs could easily switch sides in an instant based on other alliances and considerations. Chances are, in this case, that the Christians are most concerned over the possibility of hundreds of thousands of new Muslim citizens further diluting the balance of power in Lebanon between different religious groups more towards Sunnis.

All Lebanese political parties agree that naturalizing Palestinian Arabs is anathema to the country, but some seem to be realizing that one day the West will wake up to their institutionalized bigotry. Right now they use Israel as a misdirection to keep the heat off, but all the world needs to do is ask a very simple question: Why do the Lebanese treat their Palestinian Arab brethren worse than Israel does? Exposing that hypocrisy is one of the many dangers to Lebanon.

(h/t Islamo-nazism blog)

A dubious Dutch politician

You might have read about the Dutch parliamentary elections which were held this month. Many newspapers focussed on the Netherlands shifting to the right and the politician Wilders.

One of the parties participating in these elections and winning some seats in the parliament (10 out of 150) was the progressive, left-winged party GroenLinks (GreenLeft). Personally I deeply appreciate its party leader, Femke Halsema, whom I trust to be seriously progressive and left-winged. E.g., concerning the Islamic headscarf she said:

(...) When I come to my children’s school it’s difficult for me – I really come straight out of the feminist movement – that I then sit among all types of veiled women. I will not attack their rights in there. But I can’t wait for the moment when they’ll freely fling off their headscarf. I prefer each woman in the Netherlands to be headscarf-less. And completely free. I don’t believe that any God has clothing requirements too. It was the men who expounded faith.
You don’t coerce women’s emancipation from the top. It must come from the woman herself. I have said that police agents should be able to wear headscarves. I have quarreled with Ciska Dresselhuys [a well-known feminist, Suz.], who did not want to accept any woman with a headscarf for Opzij magazine. That that doesn’t alter the fact that I have difficulties with the headscarf.
I notice it in my neighborhood: Naturally Islam is a problem. Indeed, especially Islam in combination with illiteracy. It is: having few opinions of your own about the good life. Not having much foothold in education and work, fearing our society and thereby being very receptive to what the imam thinks. Who is often very conservative.

Currently the biggest parties (liberal (VVD), Christian (CDA) and the party of Wilders (PVV)) are trying to form a coalition so that they can govern the country. If that fails however, it might be that there will be a more left-winged coalition which might mean that the GreenLeft party will be in the government as well.

As a concerned Dutch citizen, I believe it's my duty to unveil some background information on one of the new members of the Dutch parliament connected to this sympathetic small GreenLeft party: Arjan el Fassed.

Arjan el Fassed was born in the Netherlands to a Dutch mother and a PalArab father (Walid el Fassed). He had lived for a while in ar-Ram and in Nablus (The boring truth, Jerusalem Post, Aug 21, 1998). He is best known for his book "Niet iedereen kan stenen gooien" (Not everyone can throw stones) and being an editor for and co-founder of the Electronic Intifada. He worked as a program manager for Oxfam Novib, an organization which he himself considers not impartial.

El Fassed is not in favor of a two state solution, contrary to what GreenLeft stands for!

Arjan el Fassed is the one behind the Mandela-Hoax. He, himself, made up that Mandela had said the following:

“Apartheid is a crime against humanity. Israel has deprived millions of Palestinians of their liberty and property. It has perpetuated a system of gross racial discrimination and inequality. It has systematically incarcerated and tortured thousands of Palestinians, contrary to the rules of international law. It has, in particular, waged a war against a civilian population, in particular children.”

Jimmy Carter even cited the letter. But Mandela never said, wrote or endorsed those words. Nevertheless, this quote started to live an own life and Israel-haters continue to use this fabricated Mandela-quote. Thanks to Mr. el Fassed.

Arjan el Fassed is connected to the organization al-Awda (The Palestinian Right to Return Coalition). That Mandela-memo he published on al-Awdas mailing list.

A "lovely" organization which talks about "Israel" rather than Israel:

Al-Awda's 2004 convention adopted by an overwhelming consensus a number of "points of unity", among which were included Al-Awda's vision, objectives and strategies. The "points of unity", which were later adopted by Al-Awda, advocated, first, the establishment "of an independent, democratic state for all its citizens in all of Palestine ... which encompasses present-day 'Israel', the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

And last, but definitely not least. Arjan el Fassed worked for LAW: the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights, the PLO legal advocacy lobby:

Ascherman identified the LAW organization, the PLO legal advocacy lobby. Yet a call to LAW revealed that LAW does not deal with the question of uprooting of trees. The LAW spokesman, Arjan El Fassed explained, that while LAW is not a humanitarian organization per se. He mentioned that monies that they receive from the Rabbis for Human Rights go to the families of the "martyrs" who have been killed over the past ten months. Asked to define what he means by "martyrs", El Fassed described the various attacks in which Palestinians have died in attacks on Israelis. In other words, the Rabbis for Human Rights have been providing funds for the families of Suicide Bombers.

Hezbollah, Iran behind this weekend's "aid" ships. Is a bloodbath planned?

Ya Libnan reports on the women's "aid" ship that is supposed to sail from Lebanon to Gaza this weekend:

An aid ship transporting medical supplies to Gaza will leave Lebanon in the coming days with dozens of women activists on board, one of the organisers told AFP on Tuesday.

“We are all independent women who believe in breaking the siege on Gaza and are committed to the enmity of the Zionist entity,” said Samar Hajj, who is coordinating the trip.

She stressed the women were not affiliated with the militant group Hezbollah, or any other political organisation.

“This has nothing to do with Hezbollah even though it is an honour for us to be supporters of the resistance,” said Hajj, whose husband Ali Hajj was one of four generals detained for nearly four years in connection with the 2005 car bombing that killed then Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri and 22 others.

Ali Hajj, who was domestic security chief, was released from prison in April last year after a UN-backed tribunal said there was insufficient evidence against the generals.

As I reported yesterday, the Palestinian Arabic media was reporting that Hezbollah was behind the ship. For for more direct proof, just go to the Syria Truth website.

In one article, written back on June 6th, it describes how Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah publicly said he will be supporting many ships to be sent to Gaza, and hinting that Turkey was coordinating its efforts to break the blockade by coordinating with Hezbollah, saying that "the red flag is making decisions based on the yellow flag."

That article also quoted sources saying that Nasrallah was planning to hide Hezbollah's actions by pretending that the ships are being sent by NGOs - some pre-existing and some to be invented by Hezbollah. For example, one of the weekend's ships is sponsored by "Reporters Without Limits" but it is not, as some reported, Reporters Without Borders, rather an organization completely made up by Hezbollah and employing Hezbollah reporters!

These deceptions are being made, according to that article, "in full coordination with Damascus and Tehran," in order to embarrass Israel.

More worryingly, the article says that Hezbollah was dismissive of the Free Gaza organizers of the "Rachel Corrie" ship, saying they were naive and silly for giving up meekly without a fight. This gave Israel a propaganda victory by contrasting their actions against those of IHH. The implication is that Hezbollah and its Iranian sponsors plan to provoke another Mavi Marmara response.

A later Syria Truth article states that Samar Hajj, the spokeswoman of the women's ship, came up with the idea for that ship after hearing Nasrallah speak at a rally for the victims of the flotilla raid saying that he wanted to send ships from Lebanon. She contacted Hezbollah leaders who quickly coordinated the logistics of what she referred to as a ship of "Women's Resistors" - something that an individual could not possibly do in such a short time period (it takes Free Gaza months to arrange even a single boat.)

As we saw from the "freedom flotilla' incident, while Free Gaza and others offer de facto support for armed "resistance," they had no intention to start a fight with the IDF - it was the IHH, in almost certain coordination with Turkey, that planned a violent confrontation. Hezbollah is no less violent that IHH. Given the fact that Hezbollah views these ships as military, with the sole goal to provoke another Mavi Marmara incident, a women's ship may be the perfect way to accomplish that. We already see that the media even today refers to the flotilla as an "aid" flotilla when even its own organizers admit that the aid is a ruse to gain a political victory.

Nothing would make Israel's enemies happier than to see women being killed aboard this ship. I don't know how they might try to provoke the IDF into violence - maybe explosive booby traps on some areas of the ship that the women will lead the soldiers to. Or maybe equipping the "humanitarians" with paintball guns or toy guns that look real to provoke a deadly response.

The "reporter" ship might be an even bigger problem, with Hezbollah fighters and members masquerading as reporters secure in the knowledge that the media will be naturally sympathetic to their own people. The people on that ship must be identified and exposed immediately.

Hezbollah already has a history of trying to imitate and outdo other successful operations against Israel. Their kidnapping of Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, provoking the 2006 war, came only weeks after Gilad Shalit was kidnapped in Gaza - a major embarrassment for Israel at the time. The first Syria Today article indicates that Hezbollah has the same itch again.

Let's hope that the cameras are rolling from many different angles when the ships are intercepted.

UPDATE: YNet Hebrew reveals the ties between the "Free Palestine" movement that is organizing the weekend's ships and Hezbollah - and publishes a picture of Samar Hajj with Hassan Nasrallah:

UPDATE 2:

Added paintball scenario above.

Who is the biggest danger to world peace?

From MEMRI TV:

Following are excerpts from a Friday sermon delivered by a Hamas-affiliated preacher from Jabalya, Gaza, on June 11, 2010, and aired on Al-Aqsa TV.
Preacher: Whoever believes that our battle with the Jews and the Crusaders has subsided or is dormant is living in delusions. Do you know why, oh distinguished people? Do you know why the conflict continues and will continue until the Day of Judgment? Because the Communist East and the Capitalist West fear nothing as much as they fear the proclamation that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His messenger. They fear nothing as much as they fear the words “Allah Akbar.”
[...]
The Jews are convinced that their annihilation and the destruction of their state will never be accomplished by secular, reactionary, pan-Arab, or Ba’thist regimes. Their annihilation and the destruction of their state will only be achieved through Islam, by those who bow before Allah.

This is what I mean when I say that political Islam is truly evil.

And the political dimension as an integral part of Islamic belief. That will never change. Even so, I believe that the West can fight Islam as a political philosophy while not fighting it as a personal belief system.

In this case, the sheikh is not acting as a religious figure in the modern Western sense; rather he is a political activist inciting against Jews, Christians, Israel and the entire Western world. He is engaging in hate speech and he is inciting to genocide. He shows no more love for Western leftists than he does for Jewish Zionists - they are all the same enemy to him.

Supposedly, a mere 7% of Muslims worldwide are considered "extremist" even by Islam's biggest fans - which comes out to over 100 million people. The same poll found that 300,000,000 Muslims consider 9/11 "mostly or fully" justified.

Who is more dangerous to world peace - 6 million Jews in Israel who hold every possible political and religious opinion, or 300 million Muslims who fully agree with this preacher?

Islamic leaders about to pass "Islamophobia" resolution at the UN

From Al Arabiya:

Muslim states said on Wednesday that what they call "islamophobia" is sweeping the West and its media and demanded that the United Nations take tougher action against it.

Delegates from Islamic countries, including Pakistan and Egypt, told the United Nations Human Rights Council that treatment of Muslims in Western countries amounted to racism and discrimination and must be fought.

"People of Arab origin face new forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance and experience discrimination and marginalization," an Egyptian delegate said, according to a U.N. summary.

And Pakistan, speaking for the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said the council's special investigator into religious freedom should look into such racism "especially in Western societies".

Acting for the OIC, Pakistan has tabled a resolution at the council instructing its special investigator on religious freedom "to work closely with mass media organizations to ensure that they create and promote an atmosphere of respect and tolerance for religious and cultural diversity".

The OIC -- and its allies in the 47-nation council including Russia, China and Cuba -- dub criticism of Muslim practices and linking of terrorism waged under the proclaimed banner of Islamism as "islamophobia" that pillories all Muslims.

Diplomats say the resolution, which also tells the investigator to make recommendations to the Human Rights Council on how its strictures might be implemented, is bound to pass given the majority the OIC and its allies have in the body.

The UN Human Rights Council, already a cesspool of hypocrisy, is now turning into a rubber-stamp body for the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

And, as usual, they are accusing the West of crimes that they are far more guilty of.

Hamas makes "collaborator" accusations against Gaza NGOs

From the Palestinian Center for Human Rights:

In its issue no. 1096, published on 10 June 2010, Palestine Daily quoted the Mr. Al-Ghussein, spokesman of the Ministry of Interior in a press conference on Wednesday, 9 June 2010 as saying: "Influential figures in non-governmental organizations gave up to security services in response to the deadline specified by the Palestinian government in the context of efforts of the national campaign against collaboration with the occupation." Mr. Al-Ghussein added: "We were surprised as a number of these figures assume leadership and important positions in non-governmental and civil society organizations." "A number of veteran collaborators who were not suspected gave up to security services."

PCHR is incensed at the implication that its members might be people who actually help save Jewish lives and fight terrorism. They indignantly demand:

[The PCHR}:

Strongly rejects these unprofessional statements, especially the ambiguous generalization adopted by the Ministry of Interior, which characterize non-governmental and human rights organizations as sanctuary for collaborators. These statements are completely unacceptable and must be withdrawn. PCHR demands the Ministry of Interior publish the available data regarding the identity of persons alleged to collaborate with the Israeli occupation forces in accordance with the applicable legal standards and to bring those persons to justice. PCHR further stresses that it rejects and condemns the generalized accusations practically and legally;

Renews its firm position regarding the duty of the Palestinian Authority to prosecute collaborators, bring them to justice and hold them accountable in accordance with the provisions of the law. Collaborators are an integral part of the occupation and one of its most dangerous tools implanted in the body of the Palestinian people.

PCHR never, ever condemns terrorist acts - even between Palestinian Arabs - in such strong terms.

This Hamas accusation comes in the context of Hamas' recent closing of at least a half-dozen NGOs and charities in Gaza, something that most Western media never really got around to reporting.

Administrivia open thread

Things are starting to calm down a little from the craziness last week, but it is still a very busy time here at EoZ.

This has already been my second-busiest month ever, with 76,000 hits. And there are still two weeks to go! (January 2009, during Cast Lead, was the busiest, at 83K.)

I need to apologize to anyone who sent me an email that I didn't respond to, or that I responded to tersely. I very much appreciate feedback and links and acknowledge the ones that I can, but I know I didn't reply to everyone (and I just noticed that some ended up in my spam folder.) It is just that with the little free time I have, I would rather communicate with thousands of people than with one. Nonetheless, many of the best posts of the past couple of weeks have been from links that people sent in email. (I am biased towards links I have not seen on other blogs, and links to stories that are from that same day's news.)

I also have to occasionally do my day job. And, oh yes, sleep.

Suzanne has been a great help in that regard, posting great stuff.

I also added the "Share" button at the end of every post. If you like something posted here, and you have an account on one of the social networking sites listed (Twitter, Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, or any of the hundreds of others listed there,) please just spend the few seconds it takes to click on the appropriate icon and forward it on. You never know which post will go viral or hit a nerve, but many good posts (IMHO) don't get the publicity they deserve because they never hit that elusive critical mass. If you want to help out the blog, that's the single best thing you can do.

Anyway, here's an open thread....

Israeli music video about world reaction to the raid

Lyrics:

Chorus x 2:
When the world's gone lost
We're gonna help you find the way
Too much drama in my eyes that I can't hide
When the world's gone lost
I don't plan to fall with it

Verse 1 - Ruff:
I'm on the wrong side of the map, activists with knifes got me trapped
Surrounded by hostility, trying not to react
Flotillas of hatred, ‫we're‬ caught in the matrix
I'm trying to survive, they're pulling the same tricks
This international hypocrisy won't get us far
One-sided media puts us behind bars
Nations with no minorities, judging ‫with no‬ authority
They're gonna tell me how to deal with what's in front of me
What about Sudan and North Korea? Could they care less?!
They wanna boycott us, they're gonna share less
We're lying on the fence for the rest of the world
Provide a buffer zone ‫while‬ overseas they get us sold
I know my people can be divided at times
Got too many opinions with too much shit on our minds
You can hate us now, we ain't gonna fight it
You're only making us stronger and more united

Chorus:
When the world's gone lost
We're gonna help you find the way
Too much drama in my eyes that I can't hide
When the world's gone lost
I don't plan to fall with it

Verse 2 - SHI 360:
‏But I‪'‬m already home and the media distorts your vision
‏Got blind followers here in full submission
‏Provocateurs,‬ they just wanna instigate
‏And create the image you love to hate
‏You can talk about humanitarian aid
‏Politically affiliated IHH
‏Guess who's more popular? Erodgan
‏Fuck left and right‪,‬ we should all stand as one
‏You really thought we were gonna let ‪'e‬m in?
‏When yesterday they tried to bring Karine
‏A - was that aid or to arm Jihad?
‏Wanna talk about aid‪?‬ What about Gilad‪?‬
‏Because the horse is trojan, doors not open
‏I gotta do whatever to protect my home and
‏I‪'‬m a peace dealer, my flow killa
‏But no peace came at me on the flotilla

Chorus x 2:
When the world's gone lost
We're gonna help you find the way
Too much drama in my eyes that I can't hide
When the world's gone lost
I don't plan to fall with it

עם ישראל חי

(h/t Yerushalimey)

An offensive comment - with a tiny grain of truth

Viiit comments on my posting on the fundamental problem with Israel's PR:

Actually there is a solution, especially in regard to the third group, the leftists.

Their need is to dress their hate in acceptable, "revolutionary", "progressive" dress.

Their hatred can and must be re-directed towards Arabs and Muslims.

Their psychological need is to hate, and they don't necessarily need to hate Jews.
Speaking openly about how disgusting Arabs and Muslims are, will shift their hatred.
I am speaking from my personal experience. I have converted several leftist by teaching them about Islam:

Muhammad the pedophile, mass-murderer, etc. Is the best point. Additionally Arab and Muslims oppression of women. Beating of wives as commanded by Koran, FGM, "honor" killings etc.

Let's defer to the master of propaganda, Goebbels: Chose just a few points and repeat them endlessly.
1. Arabs and Muslims are liars.
2. Muhammad was as subhuman liar, pedophile and mass-murderer.
3. Muslims sexually abuse their boys and girls in huge numbers and this is the basis of their personality.

Zvi correctly responded:

Creating hatred is NEVER the right answer.

However, there is a tiny grain of truth in viiit's comments, distasteful as they are.

Negative propaganda will always get more press, more publicity, and greater receptivity than positive counter-propaganda. It's just the nature of humanity. Tabloid headlines rarely celebrate good news.

While disparaging Islam as a religion is not a desirable nor effective tactic, we should not be shy about denouncing as loudly as possible the human rights abuses endemic in Arab and Muslim countries. The perception that Israel is uniquely evil, when it is surrounded by countries who are infinitely worse by every possible metric, can only be changed by educating people about that reality.It wouldn't directly counter anti-Israel rhetoric but it would dilute it greatly - as well as expose the hypocrisy of the haters.

More importantly, we need to speak forthrightly about political Islam - and make a clear distinction between that and the personal choice to practice Islam.

Islam as a religion may be offensive to some, but as long as its adherents are not forced to practice it (i.e., the religious police in Saudi Arabia who arrest retailers whose shops are open during prayer times, Iran kicking women off of planes for not being "properly dressed," Dubai authorities jailing couples who kiss) there is nothing wrong.

But Islam is not merely a personal belief system; it is a political movement as well - one as dangerous as Communism or Nazism. People, especially on the left, are skittish to recognize this fact because they don't want to give the appearance of impinging on religious freedom or of disparaging Islam, but the fact is that global Islam is political and not religious in the Western sense.

And political Islam is truly evil.

Political Islam as a philosophy is expansionist, colonialist, oppressive, racist, intolerant, supremacist - and murderous. It openly advocates violence against those who do not submit to its superiority. It is thoroughly against everything that liberals hold dear.

Moreover, political Islam is a threat not only to Israel but to the entire world. While Western-backed "moderate" Muslim governments carefully and soberly denounced 9/11, the fact is that their people cheered - and they reflect the reality of what political Islam has taught them for generations. Heroes in the Arab and Muslim world are not those who pretend to follow a Western-style liberal program but rather those who stand up to the West. There is no comparison between the popularity of a Mubarak and a Nasser. The World Trade Center terrorists were a product of "moderate" Saudi Arabia.

If people want to call Islam a "religion of peace," let them. But it is also a political philosophy of never-ending war between Dar al Islam and Dar al Harb - between Muslim countries and everyone else. That fact must not be swept under the rug because of fears of being labeled an "Islamophobe."

These are the facts that must be repeated over and over again. Not coincidentally, they mirror almost exactly Muslim lies about Judaism and Israel. In other words, institutionalized Muslim anti-Zionism and anti-semitism is, in no small way, a massive redirection to keep Westerners from noticing the hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy of the accusers to begin with.

It is well past time to remediate this.

Israeli PR redux (Zvi)

Zvi, commenting on my post on how the hasbara problem is more fundamental, writes:

Israel (and Israel supporters) also need to learn that

1. Israeli PR must not only address those who already understand the conflict, but also those who do not; for all that there is heavy news coverage of Israel, it is, in much of the world, short on facts and long on libels and deliberately mind-narrowing boilerplate. Israeli PR often assumes that you understand the lingo and that you already identify Hamas as a terrorist organization. But if you're talking to a young, moderate left-leaner from the UK or Norway or Spain, it's unlikely that this person "gets" the references made by Israel or that anyone has been telling them the truth about Hamas.

2. The Israeli government's PR team (I'm not talking about unaffiliated supporters of Israel) needs to mobilize quickly. PR battles are typically won within the first 24 hours of the news cycle, and Israel almost always loses them during that period.

3. Israel, nevertheless, needs to remain scrupulously truthful.

4. Israel's PR team needs to take the initiative rather than being mostly reactive. One of the reasons for #2 is that Israel is far too reluctant to take the initiative. And by "take the initiative," I do NOT mean putting up paper ads in the UK tube system so that they can be torn down or removed via lawfare. Israel's detractors and enemies publish a constant stream of anti-Israel fluff & libel, complete with multimedia, reports, ads, etc. that are treated as objective reports and hard news by media around the world. They are funded by Israel's enemies and so-called friends. Israel's enemies manufacture a lot of imaginary humanitarian crises. Israel's enemies spend a lot of time in the media creating and repeating shameless lies. Israel spends a lot of time reacting to this stuff. And it should. But it also needs to spend a lot of time communicating the reality of Israel, and it is not doing that.

If you were going to design PR for Israel, what are some of the things that you might include in a PR campaign? How about some short stuff that would actually break the mold, that would actually inform people? Here are a few thoughts, none of which are likely to be particularly original.

* the true story of an Iraqi or Yemenite or Iraqi Jewish family living in Israel. Also, maybe people who lived in the refugee camps near Sderot

* I can also imagine ads featuring a variety of ordinary Israelis talking about ordinary, daily-life things, also about aspirations. Voiceover at the end providing context, possibly surprising context.

* life in Sderot - rockets = hundreds of thousands of military hand grenades (Michael Yon)

* This week, Israel delivered X amount of aid to Gaza. Why do so many news services deny that this is happening?

* use metaphors, starting with cops trying to stop gunmen and only afterward identifying the cop and gunman with the middle east: if a cop trying to stop a gunman from shooting at civilians hits another person by accident, after trying hard to avoid this, it's a tragedy. The gunman was the criminal (and the cop may be crying over the civilian death without being a war criminal). Hamas fighters are the gunman, Israeli soldiers the cop. I can imagine this as a TV or print ad as well as an online video. Break out of the prejudices of the middle east conflict and the crazed lies that accompany it in order to allow people to be openminded before coming back to it. Israel's position is the rational one here.

* Creation of a professional quality web site, with interesting and constantly refreshed content, including youtube videos, integration with social networking, etc. This needs to provide content that the media, bloggers, etc. can use. It needs to be a go-to site for information and it needs to provide content if Israel's cynical enemies get that content banned on youtube (at which point the youtube video should be replaced with a video of a person who tells viewers where to go to find the video, plus a clickable link for those who have half of a clue). I'm sorry, but the MFA web site doesn't cut it. This one requires a serious ongoing commitment.

* One thing on that site (while I generally favor proactivity) should be a set of SIMPLE, CONCISE myth/fact pages, clearly laid out by native English speakers. Better yet, myth/fact/recommended action. I'm talking about 2 PowerPoint slide's worth of content or 1 minute of video. People who want more info can be directed to more detailed info, but the 2 slides or video need to be clear, concise & professional. The Israel/apartheid thing can be exploded very concisely, and aid to gaza or rockets falling on sderot can have some short briefs too.

* Video: Israel's invitation to Iran to abandon a completely pointless conflict. To Turks, with whom there should literally be no conflict of interest and with whom there has been friendship. Whatever. Israel's position is rational and sane, but it gets mischaracterized and filtered through distorting channels. Bibi is quite capable of acting as Israel's spokesperson for public statements like this. Invitation to the Pals, though there is no chance that Abbas will accept it, or to the Arabs, particularly if Netanyahu thinks that he can provide an Israeli Peace Plan (an even more critical area where Israel has ceded the initiative to others).

And I know that Israel is a small country, with small budgets, but it's got a big problem and it needs to address that problem with speed, creativity, clarity and wisdom.

A counter-review of "Palestine Betrayed" (Aaron)

I asked one of my non-Zionist commenters, Aaron Carine, who is critical of Israel but very well-read about Israel's history, to write up a review of the Ephraim Karsh book "Palestine Betrayed" that I reviewed and excerpted last month. Here is Aaron's review and my comments:

Karsh presents a wealth of new information on Zionist-Arab-British geopolitics,as well as what was going on among Palestinians in 1948. But his boast of having refuted the New Historians is premature.

Take his account of 1948. Karsh offers nothing to support his claim that there were only a few expulsions--and it needs support,considering that over a hundred expulsions are recorded in Israeli archives. He deals with Arab and Jewish terrorism,but leaves out most of the massacres of Arabs by Israeli infantry,and even expresses skepticism about the Deir Yassin massacre. He records the Israeli offers at Lausanne,but omits the initiatives by Egypt and Syria(first uncovered, I think, by Simha Flapan). He also makes it sound as though Ben-Gurion's offer to take back 100,000 refugees was unconditional,which it wasn't.

Karsh's insistence that there was no conflict between Zionism and Arab interests strikes me as naive. He constantly quotes Zionist statements about coexistence,but doesn't see the inconsistency between this and a Palestine "as Jewish as England is English". The statements of Herzl, Ben-Gurion and others about transfer are left out, as is the eviction of Arab peasants and shepherds.

There are little errors, such as his claim that the Zionists accepted the Peel partition plan---the World Zionist Congress rejected it(cf. Christopher Sykes, Crossroads to Israel). Sometimes,when he differs with a New Historian they both cite contemporary sources, so we have no basis,beyond our prejudices, for choosing.

The quote of Palestine as "Jewish as England is English" was from Chaim Weizmann, testifying before the Peel Commission in November 1936. Here is the Palestine Post article that mentions it:

In that same testimony, however, Weizmann emphasizes both his hopes for Arab-Jewish cooperation as well as the frustrations Jews had in being discriminated against by the Arabs and his feelings that the Arabs were treated badly - by Great Britain! (click to enlarge)

From my own readings of contemporaneous Jewish Palestinian sources, it is clear to me that the quotes about "transfer" and other quotes that indicate bigotry against Arabs by the Jewish leadership have been taken out of context (not to mention the many that are wholly fiction.) Here is just one example - Weizmann spoke about Arabs at length to the Commission, yet only one sentence makes it into the "New Historians' " books. Karsh contextualizes it more accurately while the "New Historians" emphasize only the anti-Arab sounding statements and ignore the far more numerous ones that indicate sympathy and the desire for cooperation. Whether Karsh goes to far in the other direction is an open question, but his viewpoint is clearly ignored by the revisionists.

As far as how the Jews responded to the Peel Commission recommendations, it appears that the Zionist Executive of the WZO accepted it in theory but rejected the specific borders and they were charged with further negotiations concerning the matter. The absolute Arab rejection made that point moot.