Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, July 17, 2014

07/17 Links Pt1: Hamas: playing a dangerous game with Gazan lives; 20 Rockets in UNRWA School

From Ian:

The UN agency for Palestinian Arab "refugees," the UNRWA, said Thursday it was investigating after finding 20 rockets hidden in one of its vacant schools in Gaza, AFP reports.
It condemned the incident as a "flagrant violation" of international law and said the rockets had been removed and the "relevant parties" informed.
"Yesterday, in the course of the regular inspection of its premises, UNRWA discovered approximately 20 rockets hidden in a vacant school in the Gaza Strip," the agency said in a statement.
"UNRWA strongly condemns the group or groups responsible for placing the weapons in one of its installations," it continued. "This is a flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under international law." (h/t Bob Knot)

Globe and Mail: Palestinian Rockets Launched Near UN School in Gaza

“Heading toward the exit, we were overwhelmed by the jet-like sound of two rockets being launched from somewhere near the school. Hamas, or some or militant group, clearly is hoping the Israelis won’t strike at the launchers, which are kept underground until the moment of firing, because they’re close to the school and so many refugees.
As the Hamas-made missiles screamed off into the sky, leaving a white vapour trail, the kids all cheered. One older boy of maybe 12, shouted in Arabic “They’re R160s,” named for the late Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi who was assassinated by Israel in 2004. These are the big, long-range rockets usually reserved for Tel Aviv, Jerusalem or the airport in between.”

Gaza Beach Shelling Eyewitnesses

Let's review eyewitness accounts of yesterday's sheeling of the beach when four Arab youngsters were killed:
The IDF seems to have targeted a specific structure, not an open area or the boys.
The area, having been attacked "at least three times" previously, would seem to indicate a terrorist target. You don't waste ordnance on children.
UPDATE of an acknowledgement from The Guardian:
"A witness who identified himself only as Abu Ahmed said the boys had been scavenging for scrap metal when the first shell hit a nearby shipping container used in the past by Hamas security forces. He said the boys fled but a second projectile "hit all of them"."
There you have it --- one, two, three.
And because of Hamas terror, four young kids lose their lives.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Why Hamas Said No to Egypt's Sisi

Hamas leaders complained this week that President Sisi did not even bother to consult with them before drafting his cease-fire proposal. "We heard about the cease-fire proposal through the media," said a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip.
The official claimed that Sisi chose to negotiate with Israel and PA President Mahmoud Abbas instead of with Hamas and the other terror groups in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas is also suspicious of Sisi's true intentions. Leaders of the movement are convinced that the Egyptian president's ultimate goal is to disarm the movement and other terror groups and hand the Gaza Strip back to Abbas's PA.
Some Palestinians believe that Qatar and Turkey exerted pressure on Hamas to reject Sisi's cease-fire plan. Relations between the two countries and Egypt have deteriorated as a result of their continued support for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
Hamas is probably interested in a cease-fire, but not one that would bolster the standing of Sisi. This war is not only between Hamas and Israel. It is also a war also between Hamas and Sisi's Egypt.

Hamas is playing a dangerous game with Gazan lives

SO FAR Hamas’s military campaign against Israel has been a dismal failure. Thanks in part to Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system, some 1,200 rockets fired at Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities have caused only one Israeli death and a few other casualties. Attempted commando attacks via the sea and a tunnel were stopped short, and a drone that ventured into Israel was quickly shot down. Yet Hamas on Tuesday rejected an Egyptian cease-fire proposal that was supported by Western governments and the Arab League and had been accepted by Israel.
Why would Hamas insist on continuing the fight when it is faring so poorly? The only plausible answer is stomach-turning: The Islamic movement calculates that it can win the concessions it has yet to obtain from Israel and Egypt not by striking Israel but by perpetuating the killing of its own people in Israeli counterattacks. More than 200 people, including a number of children, have already died in Gaza; Hamas probably calculates that more deaths will prompt Western governments to pressure Israel to grant Hamas’s demands. (h/t Zvi)

Times of Israel Live Blog: Rockets target Tel Aviv area as fighting renews after humanitarian timeout

Israeli officials deny reports that sides have reached ceasefire deal; all clear given after security scare; IDF thwarts cross-border attack, killing Hamas gunmen as they emerge from tunnel; Israel, Palestinian teams in Cairo for negotiations

Hamas' legal experts decide that targeting Jewish civilians is A-OK

Hamas sent texts to Israelis today:

Your government claimed yesterday that it stopped the battle, but without our consent and meeting our conditions - and it thought we were rash enough to [agree to a] cease-fire. On the contrary, we hurried to strike anywhere in Israel - from Dimona to Haifa - and we made you hide in shelters like mice. . .

Again, we warn you - if your government does not agree to all of our conditions, then all of Israel will legally remain open to our weapons fire.

Izz - Eddine al-Qassam Brigades

See how moderate they are? They recognize Israel!

I searched high and low for the international legal principle of "do what we demand or else we kill you." After much effort, I think I found the source:

Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

Quran 9:29.

Since so many Muslim countries refer to the Sharia as the basis of their judicial systems in their constitutions, that makes it by definition "international" law!

But there is still a problem. That Quranic verse doesn't support killing Israeli Arabs, only Jews. So how can they shoot rockets into Israel that might hurt Arabs?

The answer, of course, is magic rockets that only target "the Hebrews."

Following are excerpts from an interview with Hamas Spokesman Fawzi Barhoum, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on July 11, 2014:

We say to [Israeli Arabs], living in Haifa, Jaffa, Acre, Lod, Ramla, and the Negev: The rockets fired by the Al-Qassam Brigades will not hit you. We know those parts. We are familiar with the geography and with the history. Not a single Arab Palestinian child will be hit by one of our missiles. Our rockets are aimed at the Hebrews, the murderers, the Israelis, the criminals. Don't be afraid. Go on with your everyday life, and celebrate our victory, just like we will celebrate it here, in Gaza....We say to our people in Haifa: The missiles of Al-Qassam will not hit any Arab home. Rest assured, our missiles accurately target the homes of the Israelis and the Zionists. As Arabs, Muslms and Christians, you must support Gaza in the streets, by demonstrations, with slogans. You must besiege consulates of European countries supporting the occupation.

Yes, Hamas is bragging about performing war crimes. NGOs' are responding like they always do.

Why I think the IDF is undercounting rockets launched from Gaza

On Wednesday, I received word from the IDF spokesperson that so far in the current conflict, 106 rockets had fallen short in Gaza. This was after they had released this graphic:

In their daily roundup, the IDF adds detail:

Since the start of the operation:

Over 1350 rocket have been launched at Israel.
1027 of those rockets hit Israel
Approximately 265 rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.

Unfortunately, these numbers indicate only 58 rockets falling short in Gaza, so I don't know how to explain the difference.

I have been counting rockets launched from Gaza based on bi-hourly reports that the Gaza NGO Safety Office has been issuing on certain days during the fighting. Their numbers indicated far more rockets launched from Gaza than what the IDF is reporting.

Normally, I trust the IDF. But the Gaza-NSO has been doing these rocket counts for years, and they have no real incentive to exaggerate the numbers.

Moreover, the terrorists themselves are claiming far more rockets being fired than the IDF says, and while they are admittedly terrorists, their statistics seem pretty detailed.

Hamas claims to have shot 1002 rockets so far as of Wednesday. Islamic Jihad claims 864 rockets. Fatah's Al Nidal Brigades averages about 7 rockets a day, and the PRC a few more, and many other smaller groups who join in, so altogether there seem to have been about 2000 rockets fired from Gaza according to the armed groups. This seems roughly what the Gaza-NSO is reporting as well.

I know the Gaza-NSO counts rockets that explode on the launchpad, as well as those that fall short.

The divergence between the two sides is still quite large. My guess is that Israel is mostly only counting rockets that get close enough to the border, or high enough over the horizon, to be registered by Iron Dome radar, and there have been hundreds that simply did not get detected, mostly (I imagine) because Iron Dome is tuned to ignore false positives. The IDF map seems to show far more rockets near the borders than within Gaza, but I don't know if it is showing where rockets are launched from or where they land.

Whether it is 100 rockets that have fallen short in Gaza so far or closer to 800, it is a statistic that is still being roundly ignored by the many foreign correspondents who are in Gaza right now.

Terrorists shooting long-range rockets from near UNRWA school/shelter

From The Globe and Mail:

Because of the threat of Israeli bombardment – and because the Israelis have been sending out warning notices to some neighbourhoods of impending attacks – there are close to 20,000 Gazans who have sought refuge with relatives in safer districts or in United Nations schools.

The Fakhoura School is one of them, offering temporary housing to about 1,200 people who arrived last week after receiving an Israeli warning. That works out to about 30 people in each of the school’s 40 classrooms – a pretty tight fit when you consider everyone has to find room to sleep there.

...When it came time to distribute the UNRWA food, a patrol of clean-cut Boy Scouts, around 16 years of age, marched into the compound dressed smartly in khaki shirts and purple neckerchiefs with the white fleur-de-lys Scout emblem. They were volunteers from Jabalia and organized themselves in front of the distribution doors so as to make sure people stayed in line and there was no pushing or shoving.

To help people just like these, Israel announced Wednesday that it would facilitate a five-hour humanitarian truce on Thursday to allow people who fled their homes to return to them to pick up supplies. During these hours, Israel said it cease all operational activity in Gaza and hold its fire.

Heading toward the exit, we were overwhelmed by the jet-like sound of two rockets being launched from somewhere near the school. Hamas, or some or militant group, clearly is hoping the Israelis won’t strike at the launchers, which are kept underground until the moment of firing, because they’re close to the school and so many refugees.

As the Hamas-made missiles screamed off into the sky, leaving a white vapour trail, the kids all cheered. One older boy of maybe 12, shouted in Arabic “They’re R160s,” named for the late Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi who was assassinated by Israel in 2004. These are the big, long-range rockets usually reserved for Tel Aviv, Jerusalem or the airport in between.

There is approximately zero chance that any UNRWA spokespeople will condemn the firing of rockets from near their facilities, endangering the people they pretend to care about.

(h/t Honest Reporting Canada)

07/16-17 Overnight Links: My Jewish family's roots in Gaza; JVP: No empathy for Israel; The ‘Unsustainable Status Quo'

From Ian:

My Jewish family's roots in Gaza

Gaza is all over the news headlines - but here's one story you won't hear about. Read Steven Plaut's heartwarming article from the Jewish Press, first published in 2009. (With thanks: Eliyahu)
My family has roots in Gaza. We were there a century ago.
OK, technically it is my wife’s family. I am married to the granddaughter of Nissim Ohana, the rabbi of Gaza City.
But let’s back up a bit here.
In Genesis, Gaza is explicitly listed as part of the Land of Israel promised to the Jews. It was conquered by the tribe of Judah during the era of the Judges, though it was later recaptured by the Philistines. It was captured again by the Jews during the time of the Maccabees, only to be seized by the Romans, who handed it over to King Herod.
Gaza had a small Jewish community during the era of the Talmud. A synagogue was erected near the Gaza waterfront in 508 CE. A survey of the town in 1481 found about 60 Jewish households there, many producing wine. Later, quite a few followers of Shabbtai Zvi lived there, including the famous Natan of Gaza. There was a thriving Jewish community in Gaza when Napoleon arrived in 1799 via Egypt, but a plague followed his troops and the Jews abandoned the city.

JVP: No empathy for Israel

This is the latest solicitation I ‘ve received from the self-proclaimed wedge group, Jewish Voice for Peace.
Not a word- not a single word about the thousands of rockets launched from Gaza. Not a single word about the millions of Israeli civilians spending their nights in bomb shelters. Not a single word condemning Hamas for its indiscriminate shelling of civilians. Not a single word of compassion for the Israeli Jews, Christians and Muslims living under constant threat of Hamas’s long range rockets targeting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Not a single word of empathy for the families of our boys murdered by Hamas.
Its as though 8 million Israelis simply don’t matter to JVP. Perhaps because 8 million Israelis don’t actually matter to JVP.

Stop American Jewish Extremists

An organization called the Jewish Voice of Peace (JVP) has issued a letter which says that the issue in the Middle East is “rooted in the idea that Jewish lives matter more than Palestinian lives.” The note – which they plan to place in ads in Jewish newspapers including The Forward – continues “I’ve seen terrified Palestinian children in Hebron and Halhul, sitting on the ruins of their homes.”
Their so-called “Open Letter” claims that the Israeli government “created this situation. For weeks, the government knew that the three kidnapped teenagers were dead. But they instituted a gag order on the media, lied to Israelis and the world, and falsely claimed the mass arrests and collective punishment of Palestinians was all in the hopes of finding the teenagers alive.”
Shameful, hateful rhetoric. Akin to blaming America for the WTC bombing, these conspiracy theorists must be rejected. While this shameful organization does not reveal the source of their funding, they have previously described themselves as the “Jewish wing” of the Palestinian solidarity movement.

Latest Fatah video shows more rocket fire from populated areas

Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah groups (Abu Nidal Brigades of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades) continue to fire rockets at Israel, and the world continues to pretend that they simply don't exist.

Because closing your eyes and ears and yelling "Hamas bad! Fatah peaceful!" over and over is such a great political strategy.

As usual, the rockets are being shot from urban areas.

To their credit, their graphics have improved since yesterday. To their detriment, they feel they must show each firing twice, the second time in slow motion.

Remember that it is highly unlikely that Fatah smuggled these rockets into Gaza themselves. Hamas controlled all the tunnels when Egypt was still turning a blind eye, and Hamas was attacking Fatah as late as a few months ago.

This means that Hamas has been providing Fatah, and other terror groups, with their rockets for the current fighting.

Who said that the Hamas-Fatah unity didn't bear fruit?

07/16 Links Pt2: Test: Are you pro-human rights, or anti-Israel?; Islamist Jew-haters and leftist enablers

From Ian:

UN Watch: Test: Are you pro-human rights, or anti-Israel?

If in the past year you didn’t CRY OUT when thousands of protesters were killed and injured by Turkey, Egypt and Libya, when more victims than ever were hanged by Iran, women and children in Afghanistan were bombed, whole communities were massacred in South Sudan, 1800 Palestinians were starved and murdered by Assad in Syria, hundreds in Pakistan were killed by jihadist terror attacks, 10,000 Iraqis were killed by terrorists, villagers were slaughtered in Nigeria, but you ONLY cry out for GAZA, then you are not pro HUMAN RIGHTS, you are only ANTI-ISRAEL.

Pro-Palestinian and Pro-Hamas Have Become Oxymorons

Over the years, we at the Investigative Project on Terrorism and many others have called on American Islamists to condemn Hamas as a terrorist organization. They have steadfastly refused.
Fine. But if Palestinian advocates really want a better life for the people of Gaza, today's events make it clear they must condemn Hamas for making the plight of the people there demonstrably worse.
For six hours, Israel stopped bombing Gaza, accepting a cease-fire put forth by Egypt. All Hamas had to do was stop firing rockets at Israeli civilians and the people of Gaza could start trying to resume their lives, confident that the latest conflict had ended.

Douglas Murray: The West has drifted away from Israel — and itself

What I am coming to is that it seems to me — from many visits there, and seeing the country in peace and war — that it is Israel that remains the truly western country. It is Israel which takes its history seriously, thinks deeply about where it is going and what it exists for. It is Israel which takes western values seriously and fights for the survival of those values rather than sitting back and assuming they are simply part of some birthright. Israel’s questions and dilemmas are not the stuff of North London or other parts of western Europe these days, though they remain febrile in much of the US. In conclusion, and despite my admiration for his frankness, I cannot help thinking that Hugo has got this wholly wrong and upside-down. Geography aside, it is Israel that is still truly a western country. Far more than many parts of western Europe now are.
A gap may well be emerging. But not because Israel has drifted away from the West. Rather because today in much of the West, as we bask in the afterglow of our achievements — eager to enjoy our rights, but unwilling to defend them — it is the West that is, slowly but surely, drifting away from itself.

Analysis of the latest developments in the Israel-Gaza conflict

Media treats Gaza war as a sporting event

A number of TV news shows have been publishing graphics comparing Israel and Hamas during the current events. Here's an example from MSNBC a couple of days ago, but CNN has done it as well:

The implication is that this is some sort of game.

When viewers see a graphic like this, they automatically think that the comparison is a fair one. To the uninformed viewer, this is a sporting event, and Israel is "winning."

Everyone loves a winner, but not when that winner is unsportsmanlike. What could be more unsporting than to keep running up the score and humiliating your opponent?

Any gentleman on the playing field would allow the other side to score some points. Or, in this case, to kill some Jews.

The comparison is wrong for a very basic reason: Israel wants to minimize casualties on both sides, and the Gaza terror groups want to maximize them.

Sports don't work that way.

Every dead Palestinian civilian is a loss for Israel and a gain for Hamas. But that fact - which underpins the entire conflict - is nowhere to be seen in these simplified visual shortcuts. All the viewer sees, no matter what is being said by the analysts, is that Israel is a bully picking on their poor neighbors who can't defend themselves.

It's no wonder that the anti-Israel crowd loves these sorts of graphics.

More from the humor site PreOccupied Territory:

New York, July 16 - New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet expressed surprise today upon discovering the word "terrorist" in the dictionary, to the point that he repeatedly showed the entry to every other person in the newsroom he could find.

Baquet was looking for a precise definition of the pottery term terra cotta, and in turning the pages of the book his eye fell upon the curious new word. "A person who uses violent acts to frighten the people in an area as a way of trying to achieve a political goal," he recited aloud, and repeated, with a disbelieving look on his face.

Colleagues relate that Baquet first consulted several online sources, each time with increasing disbelief that the word had escaped his knowledge until now. His confusion was compounded upon further discovering that the term is not, as he had initially suspected, an obscure or obsolete word, and he immediately began consulting other personnel over whether they had ever encountered the term.

"He had this excited look on his face," recalled Deputy Managing Editor Lawrence Ingrassia. "He showed me his paperback dictionary and this strange new word, and I was just as shocked. Here was this term that perfectly and cogently describes half of the people involved in the Middle East stories we report, and we've been using bland, namby-pamby 'militant' instead. Frankly, I'm kind of embarrassed this perfectly suited word was available and current the whole time, and it never occurred to us to use it."

From Ingrassia, Baquet continued to Andrew Rosenthal, the Editorial Page Editor. The latter admitted some awareness of the term, but only as vaguely associated with the Bolsheviks, and occasionally bandied about on the internet. "I seriously had no idea there were still such people," he confessed. "I mean, fighters, yes, and even freedom fighters, but people who employ violence, especially against civilian targets, to sow fear and thus bring about political change - I mean, who does that anymore?"

Baquet has already had a prolonged conversation with crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz about perhaps including the term in a puzzle, and that is likely to be the only section of the paper that features it.

07/16 Links Pt1: There's something very ugly in this rage against Israel; Hamas gets Hebrew grammar 101

From Ian:

Times of Israel Live Blog: Rocket hits near Ashkelon house; Hamas said to offer 10-year truce

The Times of Israel is liveblogging events as they unfold through Wednesday, the ninth day of Operation Protective Edge. On Tuesday, while Israel accepted an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire, Hamas rejected it and continued its rocket fire into Israel. An Israeli was killed by mortar fire. In mid-afternoon, Israel resumed attacks on Hamas targets, as Foreign Minister Liberman called to retake full control of the Strip, an idea Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects. After targeting Hamas leadership in a number of overnight strikes, the death toll in the Strip rose to over 200.

Israeli civilian killed by Gaza mortar fire

A Beit Aryeh resident succumbed to his wounds Tuesday after being hit by Gaza mortar fire near the Erez Crossing, marking Israel's first fatality during Operation Protective Edge. Dror Hanin, 37, was a civilian who had come to bring food and drinks to soldiers serving on the Gaza border.
Hanin suffered severe injuries to his chest, and despite efforts to save his life, he was pronounced dead after arriving at Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon. A friend who was standing beside him when the mortar struck was lightly injured.

Brendan O’Neill: There’s something very ugly in this rage against Israel

Anyone possessed of a critical faculty must at some point have wondered why there’s such a double standard in relation to Israeli militarism, why missiles fired by the Jewish State are apparently more worthy of condemnation than missiles fired by Washington, London, Paris, the Turks, Assad, or just about anyone else on Earth. Parisians who have generally given a Gallic shrug as French troops have basically retaken Francophone Africa, stamping their boots everywhere from the Central African Republic to Mali to Cote d’Ivoire over the past two years, turned out in their thousands at the weekend to condemn Israeli imperialism and barbarism. Americans who didn’t create much fuss last month when the Obama administration announced the resumption of its drone attacks in Pakistan gathered at the Israeli Embassy in Washington to yell about Israeli murder. (Incredibly, they did this just a day after a US drone attack, the 375th such attack in 10 years, killed at least six people in Pakistan. But hey, Obama-led militarism isn’t as bad as Israeli militarism, and dead Pakistanis, unlike dead Palestinians, don’t deserve to have their photos, names and ages published by the concerned liberals of Twitter.) Meanwhile, hundreds of very angry Brits gathered at the Israeli Embassy in London, bringing traffic to a standstill, clambering on to buses, yelling about murder and savagery, in furious, colourful scenes that were notable by their absence three years ago when Britain sent planes to pummel Libya.

Caroline Glick: The popular Palestinians

And even as Palestinian officials acknowledge the nature of this war, rather than rethink their support for genocidal terrorists anti-Israel activists in the US and Europe redouble their support for the Palestinians, by among other things engaging in violent assaults on local Jews. In so doing, they demonstrate that they share the Palestinians’ ultimate objective.
These activists are in turn supported by the leftist academia.
Their efforts are buoyed by the media which, at a minimum, fail to report on the nature of the campaign against Israel and generally, actively strive to obfuscate it. Leftist Jews, while compelled to condemn Hamas rocket fire, (but not rocket fire by Fatah militias), nonetheless make clear that at a minimum, Israel is also to blame for the Palestinian assault because it doesn’t give other Palestinians its heartland and capital city.
Finally, as we see with US-led Western demand that Israel reach a cease-fire with Hamas without first defeating the Palestinian terror machine in Gaza, the activists, the professoriate and the media are joined by political leaders who all agree that inciting and acting on behalf of the genocide of Jewry is not a disqualifying offense.

Alan Dershowitz: Media death count encourages Hamas to use human shields

Proportionality is not judged by the number of civilians actually killed by Hamas rockets, but rather by the risks posed to Israelis. These risks have been diminished, but not eliminated by the Iron Dome system. They have also been considerably diminished by Israel’s counterattacks on the missile launchers and those who employ them. Without these counterattacks, it is highly likely that more Hamas missiles would have made it through the Iron Dome system which has been approximately 85% effective. Israel has every right under the rules of proportionality to attack these military targets, so long as they take reasonable efforts to reduce civilian casualties. They have done so by leafleting, by calling, and by other methods of warning civilians to leave target areas. Hamas leaders, on the other hand, have urged, and sometimes compelled, their civilians to remain in harm’s way as human shields.
The media, by emphasizing the comparative body counts without providing the reasons for the disparity, play into the hands of Hamas, and encourage that terrorist organization, to continue to pursue its dead baby strategy. So the next time those in the media promote a body count without explanation, they should point a finger at themselves for contributing to this deadly count.

Antwerp store refuses to sell to Jews, and other Belgian antisemitism (video) (UPDATE x2)

From JP Updates:

A 29-year-old Orthodox Jewish woman went shopping at the Coton store in the Keyserlei area of Antwerp, Belgium, but was told that she could not buy anything there because she is Jewish.

The woman, who asked not to be identified, told police that she went to purchase cotton at the store at 3:00 on Monday afternoon, and the woman at the register told her that “we don’t sell to Jews at this moment due to the ongoing situation in Israel.”

After the woman returned home and told her husband about the humiliating incident, he went to the store with a friend. Employing a hidden camera to record the exchange, the two asked a saleslady about the alleged snub.

Translated from Flemish, the conversation went as follows:

> He: “A friend of mine wanted to buy something today and was not allowed to buy.”
> Lady at the register answers, “Eh, Yeh.”
> He: “What was the story?”
> She: “A protest, I think. My boss was here and he was protesting.”
> He: “Can I buy something?”
> She: “Yes, go ahead.”
> He: “Where is the boss?”
> She: “He’s not here.”
> He: “So he doesn’t sell to Jews?”
> She: “That’s how he said it.”
> He: “Can I call him or talk to him?”
> She :”No.”
> He: “Were you here also?”
> She: “I wasn’t here but they told me the story.”
> He: “Can I have his number?”
> She.: “I can’t give it out.”
> He: “It’s a strange story no?”
> She:”Yes.”

After police came to the store and asked the boss about the story, she denied the incident and said that a lot of her wholesales are Jewish, so she has nothing against Jews. Police told the victim they will investigate the incident since the conversation confirming it was captured on video by her husband.

A number of Antwerp residents told JP that they were shocked when they heard about the incident, as the store is located in the middle of the Jewish neighborhood.

Also:

Figen Erol is an intercultural facilitator at St. Francis hospital in Heusden-Zolder. But some recent comments she posted online suggest she shouldn't be employed in a position which requires contact with people, and especially not with foreigners.

For example:

"Hitler said" a day will come when you will curse me for leaving over a few heads

She later removed this comment, but another one is still online:

On the facebook page of Knack Magazine, a user named "Zafer Aksoy" posted a comment saying: 'When all Jews are dead... then there will be a ceasefire'. Erol responded: "Quite right, and the rest can get lost. Or to Israel!! If it happens to still exist."

Those posts were made during work hours.

(h/t Bob Knot)

UPDATE: (h/t sophie44)

Approximately 500 people attended Saturday’s protest in the capital of Belgium’s Flemish region, where one of the speakers used a loudspeaker to chant a call in Arabic that means “slaughter the Jews.”

UPDATE x2: The hospital worker was fired (h/t Akiva who received email from the hospital.)

The REAL statistics of those killed in Gaza

Times of Israel reports:

The truth is that the number of casualties, and the percentage of civilians among the dead, comes exclusively from Palestinian sources. Israel only publishes its version of the body count — which is always significantly lower than the Palestinian account — weeks after such operations end. Meanwhile, the damage to Israel’s reputation is done.

For Operation Protective Edge, the only data published so far comes from the health ministry in Gaza. This ministry is run by Hamas, therefore rendering the number of casualties and injuries it reports more than unreliable, said Maj. Arye Shalicar of the Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson’s unit. “Hamas has no shame about lying. We know they’re a terrorist organization that makes cynical use of casualty numbers for propaganda purposes. You can’t trust a single number they publish.”

And yet, the figures from the Gazan ministry are routinely adopted, unquestioned, by the United Nations. “According to preliminary information, over 77 per cent of the fatalities since 7 July have been civilians, raising concerns about respect for international humanitarian law,” states a situation report published Tuesday by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Once given the stamp of approval of such an important body, these numbers are quoted everywhere else.

While the IDF does not publish their statistics in a timely manner, the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center does. They use similar methods that I and my team used in 2009 when we exposed the lies on casualties from Cast Lead.

In order to ascertain who was killed and whether the victim is a terrorist or a civilian, the center’s staff looks up their names on Palestinian websites and searches for information about their funerals and for other hints that could shed light on a person’s background.

Foe example, when they are referred to as "mujahadin" in terrorist supporting message boards, or if there are photos of them in terror gear and with weapons.

So here are the most accurate statistics as of Tuesday at noon:

According to (initial) ITIC information, the distribution of those killed is as follows:
1) 72 terrorist operatives:
A. 35 Hamas operatives(most of them from its military-terrorist wing)
B. 27 PIJ operatives
C. Ten operatives from other terrorist organizations
2) 80 non-involved Palestinians
3) 41 Palestinians whose identity still cannot be ascertained.

Of the victims that are known, nearly half are confirmed to be terrorists. This is roughly in line with what we saw during Cast Lead, a 1:1 ratio of terrorist to civilian, a ratio that is unknown in any other military operation in urban areas in history outside Israel.

It is outrageous that NGOs trust the Gaza authorities, who have been proven liars time and time again, for their information.

Here's an example of "civilians", as reported by Ma'an:

When their next-door neighbors received a "warning call" from Israel to evacuate a home in Jabaliya refugee camp, Yousef Qandil and his son Anas fled their property, fearing that they could be killed or injured by shrapnel.

Both men took refuge under a tree near the site, awaiting the imminent airstrike which they expected to hit the house, or neighboring properties.

Yousef had already sent his wife and younger children to their parents' house to protect them from harm.

Moments later, both Yousef and Anas were killed in an airstrike that targeted a group of Gazans sheltering under a tree for protection.

"Anas was a high school student and Yousef was a tailor. What threat or danger were they to Israel sitting under a tree?" Yousef's brother told Ma'an.

Yet Islamic Jihad says that Yousef was a leader in the Al Quds Brigades and that one of the others killed with him, Sweilem Mohammed, was also a mujahid. And so was his 17 yer old son Anas, who his father did not send to safety with his younger children but took with him to meet with other terrorists.

This is proof that you cannot trust the information that comes from Palestinian Arab sources with a vested interest in inflating the number of civilians.

I've mentioned before that the Goldstone Report found three separate international treaties that he said Israel violated when chickens were killed during military operations. The UN report concluded, without any military experience, that Israel killed the chickens deliberately, and therefore it violated "article 1 the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and article 12 (2) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women."

Of course, the IDF did have a valid military reason to destroy the chicken coops:

123. The command investigations conducted with regard to this incident reveal that the Sawafeary chicken coops were destroyed for reasons of military necessity.

124. Specifically, the investigations revealed that the area around the Sawafeary chicken coops was occupied by an IDF ground force beginning on 4 January 2009, as part of the ground maneuver, with the intention to take control of rockets and mortar launching sites and reducing the number of terror attacks on Israeli territory. The force took positions in several houses, including one house that was adjacent to the chicken coops. This positioning was necessary to secure the area for military operations against Hamas and to protect the IDF troops in those operations. The IDF’s defense plan for this area needed to meet three serious threats to the safety and security of the IDF troops: the firing of anti-tank and RPG missiles on IDF positions; sniper fire; and infiltration of terrorist operatives into the immediate vicinity of the forces in order to plant and detonate explosive devices, including by suicide bombers.

125. The terrain in the area made this location more dangerous for IDF forces. The area was agricultural in its original use and thus included many orchards, groves, and greenhouses, located between and around the houses occupied by the IDF. This made it harder for the IDF to identify Hamas positions and fighters. The threat was not theoretical—on 5 January 2009, an RPG missile was launched at one of the IDF positions in that area. In addition, several shooting incidents occurred originating from the orchards located to the south of the chicken coops.

126. In order to overcome these threats, the IDF decided to create a security zone around each of the IDF positions with a perimeter of 20–50 meters around each post, which would allow uninterrupted observation and firing capabilities for the force in each position, as well as joint protection among the different IDF outposts. These security zones allowed IDF forces to anticipate at an earlier stage the approach of terrorist operatives.

127. The Sawafeary chicken coops were located only a few meters away from one of the key IDF positions. The IDF position was, itself, dictated by the lay of the terrain in the area. As the command investigation determined, this IDF position could not be adequately secured if the chicken coop structures were left intact. The demolition of these structures was needed to allow a clean line of sight for protection of IDF forces. The investigation also determined that the decision to destroy the coops was consistent with the demands of the principle of proportionality: there was a compelling military need for the area to be cleared for the safety of the IDF forces and for the success of IDF operations against the Hamas forces operating in the area. The local commanders determined that these advantages outweighed the damage to private property that would result from the demolition. The commanders avoided the destruction of residential buildings or other facilities in the area, when such destruction was not required by military necessity or appeared to be disproportional.

Will human rights groups say that Hamas is violating the same treaties they accuse Israel of violating?

No, and for good reason: Hamas wasn't aiming at the cows. It is aiming at Israeli civilians. So the food supply was only accidentally destroyed in pursuit of murdering people.

Hamas is safe from worrying about the UN going after it.

Incidentally, this shows a small example of what many populated sites in Israel would look like if Iron Dome wasn't protecting people. And this was a small rocket.

(h/t Yoel)

44 terror rockets fell short in Gaza Tuesday

Tuesday was the first day since last Thursday that the Gaza NGO Safety Office did a full hour-by-hour count of rocket fire originating from Gaza. In this case, they counted 192 rockets being shot.

The IDF counted 122 rockets hitting Israel and 26 intercepted by Iron Dome.

Which means that 44 rockets fell short on Tuesday somewhere in Gaza, landing on who knows who, much fewer than the 150 I calculated that fell short on Thursday.Of course, 44 rockets can do a lot of damage and kill a lot of people. Reporters on the scene in Gaza have yet to talk about this or even admit the possibility that some of the casualties they are highlighting may have been killed quite directly by Hamas or other terror groups.

The PCHR has also not yet admitted a single errant rocket.

They counted at least 7 "militants" killed on Monday, however:

At approximately 19:30, an Israeli drone fired a missile at a member of a Palestinian armed group in the north of al-Nussairat refugee camp, killing him. He was identified as Mohammed Yasser 'Ali Hamdan, 24.

At approximately 12:50, an Israeli drone fired a missile at a motorbike in al-Qarara village, north of Khan Yunis. As a result, a member of a Palestinian armed group, 'Abdullah Mahmoud Baraka, 24, from 'Abassan village, who was riding the motorbike was seriously wounded. He was pronounced dead at 14:35.

At approximately 15:55, an Israeli warplane launched a missile at a room on an agricultural plot in 'Abssan village, east of Khan Yunis. The room was destroyed and a member of a Palestinian armed group, Tamer Salem Musallam Qudaih, 37, was killed.

At approximately 22:05, an Israeli drone fired a missile at a number of members of a Palestinian armed group in al-Mawasi area in the west of Khan Yunis. As a result, 2 members were killed: Kamal 'Aatef Yousef Abu Taha, 19; and Ismail Nabil Ahmed Abu Hatab, 21.

At approximately 20:50, an Israeli drone fired 2 missiles at a number of Palestinians in al-Satar al-Gharbi area. As a result, 2 members of a Palestinian armed group were killed: Mohammed Younis Suleiman Abu Yousef, 30, and Mohammed Shakib al-Agha, 23. Two civilians were wounded, one of them, Ahmed Younis Suleiman Abu Yousef, 28, died a few hours later.

Note that the "civilian" is the brother of the terrorist, hanging out with other terrorists.

Thirty five students from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance's (JAMD) Community & Youth Project played a flowing series of events in the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. Starting with a concert in the hospital lobby, and taking a classical approach to the Beatles evergreen hit song "Here Comes the Sun" , the students continued and played in various locations throughout the Medical Center as doctors, patients and passers-by joined in the fun.