Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, November 16, 2012

Illuminating news story from last week

On Wednesday, the government started an offensive against a terrorist group, killing dozens in the next three days.

But not in Israel and not this past Wednesday.

From Reuters, one week ago:

Turkish air force jets and attack helicopters pounded Kurdish militants along the border with Iraq and Iran for three days, killing 42 militants, the local governor's office said on Friday.

The operation, which began on Wednesday, was launched after word was received that a group of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants had been identified in Turkey's southeastern province of Hakkari, bordering Iraq and Iran, the Hakkari governor's office said.

One Turkish soldier was killed, the statement said, while searches turned up quantities of ammunition, food supplies and medication. It said the operation was continuing.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which launched its insurgency in 1984 with the aim of carving out a separate state in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey.

The PKK is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union.

Turkey continued killing Kurds this week.

Did you catch that story?

There have been plenty of articles about Israel's PR push to show the world its side of the story during this current conflict, but not too much about IDF's Arab PR initiative.

The IDF has an Arabic YouTube page where they show the same aerial videos we've seen elsewhere, sprinkled with video interviews of the IDF's Arab spokesperson, Avichai Adraee.

It looks like he has been keeping busy, too.

Al Masry al-Youm quoted him using an Arabic phrase to describe Hamas. The phrase literally means "He hit me and cried, and also went to complain to me," saying that Hamas has no right to whine about a war that they started.

I see him most often quoted in Egyptian media, like Al Ahram and Shorouk News; but Arabic media outside Egypt has not been as obsessed over this operation as they had been in the past. Jordan is busy with its own now-daily (and sometimes deadly) anti-government protests, Lebanon is far more nervous about Syria, and everyone else seems pretty blase about this whole thing.

Hamas shoots missiles at Jerusalem

From YNet:

After Tel Aviv metropolitan area, capital under fire too: An air raid siren was sounded in Jerusalem and surrounding communities early Friday evening. After residents reported hearing blast sounds, security forces confirmed that one rocket had landed in the Gush Etzion area.

This was the first air raid siren sounded in the area since the IDF launched Operation Pillar of Defense in the Gaza Strip. Air raid sirens were sounded in southern communities throughout the day and a barrage of missiles hit the area.

Hamas first announced the missile to Jerusalem a couple of hours earlier, and that report was false.

Similarly, they announced bombing Tel Aviv several hours before the actualattack.

Hamas released this loop video of a rocket, claiming that it is the one shot to Jerusalem. This seems unlikely as it was already nightfall when the rockets hit.

Hamas calls the rocket used a Qassam M75, and claims that it was manufactured in Gaza. They made the same claim about the Tel Aviv rockets. This seems unlikely but it is possible that Iran designed a rocket for Hamas that could go far but not be accurate. (Islamic Jihad said that the Tel Aviv rockets were Iranian-manufactured Fajr-5's.)

While the rockets are reported to have landed in Gush Etzion, it is important to note that Hamas announced the target to be Jerusalem supposedly Islam's third holiest city, and a city that is roughly half Arab. Which goes to show that their concern about the lives of their fellow Arabs is far lower than Israel's.

How many Gazans are killed by Hamas munitions?

Gaza terror groups have fired well over 340 rockets towards Israel since Wednesday - but how many of them exploded in Gaza?

The latest bimonthly Gaza NSO Safety Report notes that in the second half of October there were 59 rockets fired from northern Gaza towards Israel. Of those, eight of them fell short or exploded on the launch sites.

Historically, between 15-30% (sometimes even 40%) of Gaza rockets do not make it to Israel. And many Gazans have been killed or injured as a result of those misfirings. most recently with the death of 18 month old Hadeel Haddad last June and also the previous August.

And in both those cases, the lying Gaza government claimed that the deaths were due to Israeli airstrikes.

Similarly, in the Hamas rocket barrage that immediately preceded Cast Lead (that no one remembers), two girls were killed by a Qassam rocket. A UNRWA school was hit last December. And on and on.

If only 20% of the rockets fired now - very hurriedly - are landing in Gaza, that means that we can estimate over 65 rockets have fallen in Gaza over the past three days alone! And the number can easily be much higher.

How many killed people? How many leveled houses? How many injuries?

We'll never know, because Hamas will do everything they can to ensure that all deaths are blamed on Israel, just like they did with the death of Hadeel Haddad.

Similarly, look at the secondary explosions from this Israeli airstrike:

Israel is targeting munitions and rocket depots that are often hidden in civilian neighborhoods. The secondary explosions are often at least as large as the initial airstrike. So it is likely that shrapnel from these secondary explosions of Hamas munitions are responsible for injuries and deaths.

This means that before reporters automatically say that children are killed by Israeli missiles, they should verify the facts first. And if they cannot do that, they should say so. Because the chances are quite high that many of the civilians being killed are dying from terrorist rockets or munitions.

Israel's MFA slams UN Human Rights Council

From Israel's MFA:

Has the High Commissioner for Human Rights gone mute?
15 Nov 2012
Israelis do have human rights. The High Commissioner simply does not care about them.

(Communicated by the Permanent Mission of Israel to UN Geneva)

Since the beginning of 2012, more than 800 rockets were launched from Hamas-controlled Gaza into Israeli cities, over 200 of them just this the past week.

The lives of one million Israelis are threatened, and daily life in southern Israel has been severely disrupted. Children do not attend school; civilians sleep in shelters. Only this morning, three Israeli civilians were killed in their home in the town of Kiryat Malachi, when a Hamas rocket hit their building. Others, including a 4-year-old boy, where injured. This has been the bitter reality of one-seventh of Israel's population for the past years.

This terrorist activity is carried out by Hamas and other terrorist organizations that operate under Hamas protection.

And yet the High Commissioner has gone mute. Not a word of sympathy, not a word of concern for the violation of the human rights of Israeli citizens. Just a ringing silence.

Israelis do have human rights. The High Commissioner simply does not care about them.

Zing.

(h/t Omri)

"Collaborator" murdered in Gaza City

From Islamic Jihad's website Palestine Today:

Apparently a file photo, not the actual victim. Pic taken from PalToday site

The Palestinian resistance executed an agent who instructed the Zionist enemy of resistance movements and rocket launching sites.

Our correspondent said that the resistance executed agent "P" with gunfire and threw him in "Victory" Street in central Gaza, and placed next to his body a paper indicating confessions he made about his participation in 15 assassinations of resisters and faction leaders.

Lets see if any "human rights" organizations issue any condemnations over this extrajudicial killing.

Want to bet that this guy will end up on lists of victims of Israeli aggression?

(h/t jump for photo caption)

Hamas war crimes, illustrated

Geneva Conventions

Protocol IAdditional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, 8 June 1977

Article 51:

2. The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited.

A volunteer goes through the apartment in Kiryat Malachi were three where killed Thursday, and looks for remains. November 15 2012. Photo by Yossi Zeliger/Flash90

4. Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited. Indiscriminate attacks are: (a) those which are not directed at a specific military objective; (b) those which employ a method or means of combat which cannot be directed at a specific military objective; or (c) those which employ a method or means of combat the effects of which cannot be limited as required by this Protocol; and consequently, in each such case, are of a nature to strike military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without distinction.

Rockets being fired from Gaza indiscriminately towards Israeli communities

5. Among others, the following types of attacks are to be considered as indiscriminate: ... an attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.

Ultra Orthodox Jewish men gather around the body of Mirah Sharf who was killed in the southern town of Kiryat Malachi by a rocket thought to have been fired [!] by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip, during her funeral in Jerusalem, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012.

6. Attacks against the civilian population or civilians by way of reprisals are prohibited.

Tel Aviv residents bracing themselves as rocket alarm sirens sound Thursday

7. The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favour or impede military operations.

A rocket launched by Palestinian militants towards Israel [from a heavily populated area of Gaza] makes its way from the northern Gaza Strip, seen from the Israel Gaza Border, southern Israel, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

How many times has Hamas "opened the gates of hell"?

You remember how Hamas promised on Wednesday to "open the gates of hell" in response to Ahmed Jaabari's killing?

It is a habit with them.

Longtime blogger Meryl Yourish used to do a "Open the Gates of Hell" watch so I decided to do a quick search of when else Hamas and other terror groups made that same promise.

November, 2001 - in response to Israel's killing of Mahmoud Abu Hanoud

January 2002 - Fatah warning Israel not to hurt a terrorist in custody

September 2003 - after an unsuccessful attempt to kill Sheikh Yassin

March, 2004 - after the successful attempt to kill Sheikh Yassin

July 2005 - after Israel killed 7 Hamas terrorists

November 2005 - After Israel killed a member of Fatah and Hamas

February 2006 - when Israel withheld money transfers to Gaza

June 2006 - by the PRC after their founder was killed

April 2007 - a general warning against an Israeli invasion of Gaza

May 2007 - after Israel fired at the house of Ismail Haniyeh

August 2008 - Islamic Jihad general warning against Israel

December, 2008 - Hamas threatened this before Cast Lead

March 2011 - threat against UNRWA if it started teaching about the Holocaust in Gaza schools

It looks like every time the terrorists "open the gates of hell," they fall right in.

(h/t Omri)

Video: Iron Dome taking out 12 rockets at once...

...taken from a Beersheva wedding on Wednesday.

It might not be perfect, but it has already saved a lot of lives.

(h/t O)

Wildcard in Syria: Kurds take over several towns

From Al Arabiya:

Kurdish militiamen and residents have wrested control of yet another town in northeastern Syria near the Turkish and Iraqi borders, in what an activist said was part of an anti-Turkey “dirty game” by the regime.

Hundreds of people gathered Tuesday outside the town of Derik’s security headquarters, the last building abandoned by the army and police, blasting out Kurdish music and hearing speeches in the officially banned Kurdish language.

“We tried to tell Assad's people to leave peacefully. We are a peaceful people”, said Abdi Karim, a 56-year-old officer in the People’s Defense Units (YPG), the militia involved in regaining the town.

The takeover came just days after Kurdish residents backed by militia from the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) took control of three other towns near the border with Turkey as pro-government forces pulled out without a fight.

North and northeast Syria are home to most of the country’s two million-strong Kurdish minority, whose militias operate independently of the rebels’ Free Syrian Army (FSA).

“There are differences between Kurdish anti-regime forces and the Arab opposition, mainly over the question of Kurdish nationalism and recognition of Kurdish as Syria’s second most widely spoken language,” independent Kurdish activist Massud Akko said.

On the ground, YPG member Karim made clear the separation. “If the FSA comes as a guest, we will allow them,” but the non-Kurdish rebels would not be permitted to take over the town, he said.

“We will protect our people from the Turkish, the FSA and Assad,” said Karim.

Akko said Assad's regime forces were handing over territory to the PYD deliberately, saying this explained the relatively peaceful takeover of towns in the region.

“The regime’s handing over of institutions to the PYD is a dirty game,” he said. "It is a message to Turkey, because Turkey is helping the Syrian opposition.”

“I am not saying the party is collaborating with the regime. But the two sides do tolerate each other,” Akko added.

“The Kurds do not have the military capacity to take control of the Kurdish areas. The province of Hasakeh, for one, is Syria’s second-largest region (after Homs).”

Kurdish civilians backed by militia have quietly taken control of a string of towns in Hasakeh, leaving just two of its main cities under the control of President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

So Syria is tacitly giving Kurds their territory, just to upset Turkey? More likely they are thinking that they can use their troops better elsewhere.

Even so, it looks like the Kurds may be the one winner in the Syrian mess, and they are playing all sides well against each other.

Will they try to unify with Iraqi Kurdistan?

Thursday links

From Ian:

Restoring Israeli deterrence by Gerald Steinberg

"Israel owes its survival to effective and continuous deterrence. Confronted with uniquely narrow borders and destructive threats from all directions, the threat of large-scale response has been Israel’s most effective insurance policy. When the IDF has acted effectively to deter the threats of conventional attacks from large armies, mass terror campaigns and missiles aimed at cities, Israeli citizens have been protected."

Douglas Murray: Who started it?

"If you read most of the British media that may well be what you think. After all there has been barely any previous mention in the British papers of the massive escalation in rocket fire into Israel in the last month or the even swifter escalation this week. Certainly no British paper or broadcaster has come close to giving these attacks the front-page publicity they grant to Israel’s response today."

We must back Israel over Hamas terror chief killing

"The Foreign Office came out with the standard, dithering rubbish effectively refusing to take sides. The FCO tweeted:
"We continue to call on all sides to exercise restraint to prevent a dangerous escalation that would be in no one’s interests. #Gaza"
It could have been worse, of course. It could have been a response from the BBC."

IDF Disperses Warning Leaflets Over Gaza Strip, in Effort to Limit Civilian Casualties (VIDEO)

IDF Warning to Hamas: Don't Show Your Faces Above Ground
IDF spokesman said there will be further military operations in the coming days and said he expects more rockets from Hamas

Missiles Fired on Nuclear Reactor in Dimona

The New York Times Dismissing Palestinian Rocket Attacks on Israel?

The Times wrote that those attacks were "called rocket attacks" by Israel as if the Israeli's were simply making unsubstantiated claims about the attacks.

Guardian ‘Live Blog’ on Gaza accuses IDF of “chest thumping” over killing of Hamas terror chief

Protesting Israel’s Gaza operation, Egypt withdraws ambassador from Tel Aviv
Atef Salem arrived less than a month ago, telling President Peres he came to work for ‘mutual trust and transparency’

Aid amid austerity: Egypt to receive over $6bn in aid from EU

How "Moderate" Palestinians Succumb to Threats by Khaled Abu Toameh

"This radicalization — to a point where they are not ready to hear about any concessions to Israel — is the direct result of decades of anti-Israel incitement and indoctrination, spearheaded, ironically, by the "moderate" Palestinian Authority leadership that is publicly talking about making peace with Israel."

Palestinian Authority unable to pay salaries, even as it pursues statehood
The Palestinian drive for non-member state status at the UN could trigger Israeli economic retaliation that would end the viability of the Palestinian Authority.

Beinart banned from Atlanta’s Jewish book festival
"Beinart was then scheduled to speak in a smaller venue in downtown Atlanta, nearly 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the festival site at the suburban community center. The 200 seats allotted for his talk quickly sold out."

Talk-show host grabs local trivia show
Ellen DeGeneres liked Dror Refael’s ‘Anybody Home?’ show so much, she bought the concept for her own program

Stem cells could be used to make biological pacemaker for heart patients
Injections of heart muscle created from patients’ own skin cells could save them from needing surgery to implant artificial pacemakers that regulate their heartbeat, following new research.

A breakthrough in bone marrow failure?
Pluristem’s PLX placenta-based cell therapies may provide hope for patients who have reached the end of the line.

Israel Pioneers New Type of Liver Cancer Treatment

"The method applies a direct flow of high-voltage electrical currents to the malignant tumor and has raised new hope for patients diagnosed with the disease. Until now, a cancerous growth in the liver has been considered a death sentence."

Wine Enthusiast Names Golan Heights Winery “New World Winery of the Year”

"Winemaker Victor Schoenfeld added: “Our proudest achievement is our ongoing effort to work in tune with our natural elements, making high-quality wines that are a true reflection of our unique combination of latitude, high altitude and beautiful volcanic soils. We continue to realize what an amazing region we have, and how much the potential seems limitless.”

Why Hamas named their operation "Shale Stones"

Since I discussed yesterday the Jewish source for the Hebrew name of the current war, which translates to Operation Pillar of Cloud, it i snow time to explain why Hamas chose its own name, Operation Shale Stones.

The source is, naturally, the Quran. The 105th chapter is called Sūrat al-Fīl, The Elephant.

Background:

It describes the Ethiopian army attacking Mecca in the year 570, the year in which Muhammad was born. In verse 4 it says that Allah sent birds against the people/owners/companions of Elephants (depends which translation of the Koran you listen to), a reference to the Ethiopian army. These birds dropped "sijjil stones" on the Ethiopian army - most English translations translate this as "baked clay stones", as can be seen here:

Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with the People of the Elephant? [1] Has He not turned their plan into nullity? [2] And He sent upon them flying birds in flocks, [3] throwing upon them stones of baked clay, [4] and thus He turned them into an eaten-up chaff.

Here's an unintentionally funny video illustrating the chapter.

Although the translation "Shale Stones" is the exact translation, the Arabic "Hijjarat As-sijjil" implies this Quranic meaning.

Gawker and "Jewish Voice for Peace" managed to find nefarious, offensive meanings in the Hebrew title that is - as any Jewish schoolchild knows - a reference to a story where the Israelites are saved by a miraculous cloud that defends them.

Will they have anything bad to say about Hamas' clear choice of naming their war after an episode where Allah attacks and destroys the enemy with projectiles until the adversary is nothing but chaff?

(thanks to Al-Gharqad)

Videos of Ron Prosor at UN, Avital Liebovich on AJ

Israeli ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor making a statement yesterday and taking questions at a press conference:

IDF spokesperson Avital Liebovich to a hostile interviewer on Al Jazeera:

(h/t Josh)

Lost in translation: Islamic Jihad's religious glee at shooting at civilians

While the media try to keep things "even-handed" or even emphasizing (as the BBC did) "the total disparity of force between the two sides," no one is reporting the actual words of the terrorists.

Yes, as JPost notes, Islamic Jihad took credit for shooting rockets at Tel Aviv. But you cannot understand the conflict unless you understand the mindset of the Islamic supremacists who rule Gaza, and you cannot understand their mindset without reading their actual words.

So here is Islamic Jihad's announcement of responsibility for shooting rockets at Tel Aviv:

The Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, announced the bombing of the occupied city of Tel Aviv with a Fajr-5 rocket for the first time in the history of the conflict between the Islamic Jihad military wing with the Zionist enemy.

The Al-Quds Brigades said that its rocket unit managed by the grace of Allah Almighty the bombing of the occupied city of Tel Aviv, which has heard a huge earthquake-like blast with the city sirens still reverberating after the holy jihad bombing.

Quds Brigades confirmed that it will teach the enemy a lesson in the art of jihad and fighting.

The earlier announcement of when it shot rockets at Rishon LeZion referred to them as "blessed resistance missiles."

The Western media rarely report on the fanaticism and hate behind the terrorists. The leftist narrative that everyone is pretty much the same with similar desires and goals and world outlook is so ingrained in the minds of the reporters that they believe that reporting on the words of hate and Islamist supremacy is vaguely Islamophobic or racist. So instead, we are treated to vanilla descriptions, often in passive voice, watering down the seething hate and fanaticism that drives the haters of Israel.

They are not motivated by land, nor conflict, and certainly not to defend their people's lives. Their motivation, as their words indicate clearly, is simply pure seething hate for anyone who is not a Muslim extremist and who does not willingly submit to the rule of Islamists.

When journalists dilute the motivation, they are not reporting the story, but rather what they hope the story is. And that is not only a disgrace to journalism but it is a major disservice to the public.

Arab students at Haifa U. hold vigil in memory of Jaabari

Arab students at the University of Haifa, and reportedly at other Israeli universities, held a moment of silence in memory of arch-terrorist Ahmad Jaabari today.

While a million Israelis are worrying about their loved ones being killed by rockets, these Haifa students then started singing songs about how "Palestine" is their homeland:

Zionist students responded by singing Hatikva, and some held a counter-demonstration: