Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Ken Roth uses "antisemite" straw man to avoid answering critics. Time to grow up, Ken.

This interview with Human Rights Watch's Ken Roth on Dutch TV reveals how Roth avoids answering the many substantial, provable criticisms of his clear anti-Israel bias.

He simply claims that all his critics are accusing him of antisemitism.

In the past ten years, I can find only a single serious critique of Ken Roth, by professional pundits or writers, that criticized him for his opinions of Judaism. Here it is, from The New York Sun, July 31, 2006:

Mr. Roth concludes his letter with a slur on the Jewish religion itself that is breathtaking in its ignorance."An eye for an eye — or more accurately in this case twenty eyes for an eye — may have been the morality of some more primitive moment," Mr. Roth writes. The reference is to the phrase "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," found in Exodus 21, in Deuteronomy 19, and Leviticus, Chapter 24. The sages have long made clear that this referred to monetary compensation, as the Talmud points out in Baba Kamma 84a. To suggest that Judaism is a "primitive" religion incompatible with contemporary morality is to engage in supersessionism, the de-legitimization of Judaism, the basis of much anti-Semitism.

The ADL's Abraham Foxman referred to this incident as an aside in a much wider-ranging attack on Roth that same year.

Since 2006, Roth and HRW have been criticized for their obsession with Israel from many quarters besides this blog. Here is a small sample:

Noah Pollak in the Wall Street Journal
NGO Monitor, many times
Natan Sharansky
Israel's Prime Minister's office
CAMERA
The New Republic
David Bernstein in WSJ
Jennifer Rubin in WaPo
David Feith in WSJ,
Ron Kampeas of JTA
Times of London
The JC
Commentary
The original founder of Human Rights Watch, Robert Bernstein

None of these critiques, many of which are quite substantive, accuse Ken Roth or Human Rights Watch of antisemitism.

The reality isn't close to what Roth claims in the video. HRW's critics are not using a charge of antisemitism to silence the organization or Ken Roth. On the contrary, Ken Roth is using accusations of antisemitism charges to avoid answering his many critics!

Roth is playing whatever games he can to avoid facing reality: His over-the-top anti-Israel bias is provable from his own words and from what he doesn't say. There is no impartiality in his organization, whose very moral force is dependent on its appearance of fairness.

Roth has a choice. He can keep trying to weasel out of addressing the valid points made by his critics, or he can take their criticism to heart and revamp his organization to address the very real problems it clearly has. There are specific things that HRW can do to prove to the world that it can be a real force for good, and not filled with the corrupt, self-promoting hypocrisy as it appears to be today.

At this point in time, Roth has chosen to act in ways that are worse than the countries his organization criticizes. There is no transparency in HRW's methodology for fact finding, no transparency in HRW's funding sources, no transparency in how HRW hires employees or chooses researchers, no transparency as to what topics it has actual expertise in and what topics that it doesn't. Despite its clear ignorance of military strategy and forensics - critical fields when evaluating the facts - HRW writes reports suffused with ignorance and hand-waving.

HRW likes to accuse its targets of acting with impunity, but that is exactly what Human Rights Watch does under Ken Roth's leadership, by using childish excuses to avoid self-reflection.

It is not unreasonable to demand that an NGO act with at least the same degree of morality and responsibility that it demands from others. Yet its leader, with a salary of over $400,000, reacts to well-founded criticism petulantly instead of responsibly.

Isn't it time for HRW to stop running away from criticism and to actually address these issues head on? That's what one would expect from a multi-million dollar for-profit corporation, and one should expect no less from an NGO that pretends to be the world's moral conscience.

(h/t Mark)

Incidentally, when Roth claims that he takes antisemitism seriously - that isn't true either. By ignoring the major sources of antisemitic incitement today, namely, the Arab and Muslim world, it is Roth that cheapens the term, not his critics.

Egyptian military expert says Judaism is not a religion but a system of theft

Albawabh News reports that Egyptian general Muhammad Ghabari, head of a military academy, has pronounced Judaism to be nothing more than a scheme for looting.

.Ghabari said that Judaism is not ideological. Its entire purpose is to steal the land from Arish (not the Nile, surprisingly) to the Euphrates.

All of this is in the Talmud, this expert says.

The plan was to create Israel in stages, including espionage, usurping land, expansion. The Iraq war on Kuwait provided them with the means to finish their expansion.

And Hebrew isn't a language but rather a dialect,, and there are no Jews but only Zionists, he added.

This is the country Israel has been at "peace" with for over three decades. And while the guy is nutty, so are a great number of his fellow Arabs.

For all his craziness, Ghabari hates Hamas also. The Egyptian military is what is keeping the border with Israel peaceful.

This is as good as it gets.

Anyone who thinks that there can ever be peace between Israel and its neighbors is delusional. But the detente that Israel has with Jordan and Egypt is literally the best it will ever be. And that is the best that can ever be hoped for if there is a Palestinian Arab state.

09/15 Links Pt2: Anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism; Briton encouraged Arab armies to invade Israel in 1948

From Ian:

Ben-Dror Yemini: Anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism

We have yet to witness a military campaign devoid of anomalies, and Operation Protective Edge was no different. Rule of law presides in Israel, and as such, even if Israel's anomalies are far smaller than those of other countries in similar situations, state has a duty to investigate them all.
For two left-wing groups, B'Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories and Yesh Din – Volunteers for Human Rights, the probes to be conducted by the Israel Defense Forces will not do.
And they are already preparing excuses to cooperate with the commission of inquiry set up by UN Human Rights Council, with its findings already a foregone conclusion, and with William Schabas appointed to deliver the goods. According to Yesh Din attorney Michael Sfard, the IDF investigations do not meet the necessary international standards.
I asked the spokeswoman for Yesh Din for information about investigations conducted by countries such as the United States and Britain, which Israel would do well to follow. After all, there have been an endless number of reports pertaining to war crimes on the part of both countries.
I received a vague response to the effect that Sfard was not referring to Britain and the US. Then who was he referring to? After all, these are the two Western countries that over the past decade have been more involved in wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, than any others.

Uncovered: U.K. intel encouraged Arab armies to invade Israel in 1948

September 11, 1947. On the eve of the Arab League’s political committee meeting to decide on the Arab response to the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) report [supporting the end of the British mandate and partitioning the land between Jews and Arabs], the Lebanese newspaper L’Orient published an article. “Bloc Oriental et extension de la Ligue” argued that, like the Greater Syria plan [that aimed to unite Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine], the Oriental Bloc – a French term for Britain’s planned regional defense pact – hung over the independence of Arab countries and the Arab League like the Sword of Damocles, and that its authors were one and the same: [Iraqi Prime Minister] Nuri al-Sa’id and [Jordanian] King Abdullah.
On September 20, the Lebanese newspaper Le Jour reported that after the Arab League meeting in Saoufar, Lebanon, Brig. Iltyd Clayton – whom it defined as “head of the British intelligence in the Middle East” – had left for Damascus. It quoted a Syrian newspaper speculating on whether his visit was connected to the Greater Syria scheme and the tense relations between the Syrian and Lebanese presidents (Shukri al-Quwatli and Bishara al-Khuri) and Jordan’s King Abdullah, or to events in Palestine.
On February 19, 1948, the Lebanese newspaper Le Soir published an article titled “Claytonmade.” Based on “Zionist sources,” it reported that Brig. Clayton – “architect” of the Greater Syria plan, the Oriental Bloc and the bilateral defense treaties with the Arab states – was now advocating a new scheme for the partition of Palestine. The plan proposed that : “Imperialist Lebanon will annex the Western Galilee up to Shavei Zion; Syria the northeastern part of the Galilee and part of its southern region; Egypt will have part of the cake; and Transjordan will swallow up the rest.”
In fact, these and other reports in the Lebanese press on the activities of British secret agents were part of a secret war being waged by French intelligence against the British.
[copy and paste link if you get paywalled]

In Germany a gap between 'Never Again-Jew-Hatred' and real action?

German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivered a characteristically excellent speech against anti-Semitism on Sunday in the heart of the country’s government district.
She lambasted “pretend criticism of Israel” as an “expression of Jew-hatred at pro-Palestinian demonstrations.”
Her contempt for anti-Jewish activists and sentiments was crystal-clear. “It’s our national and civic duty to fight anti-Semitism,” she declared.
During Israel’s Operation Protective Edge to stop Hamas rocket fire, Germany was engulfed with anti-Semitic violence, including the firebombing of a synagogue in the city of Wuppertal and attacks on Jews wearing kippot.
Given the vanishing line between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism in Europe, some German Jews questioned why the rally was not called “Stand up: Israel Hatred – Never Again!” instead of “Stand Up: Jew Hatred – Never Again!” Nathan Gelbart, a prominent Berlin lawyer and chairman of the German branch of Keren Hayesod-United Israel Appeal, told The Jerusalem Post a banner stressing “No denial of Israel’s right to self-defense” would have carried more weight.

Muslims truly threatened by real dialogue with Jews

In June, an American Muslim woman named Rabia Choudry wrote in Time about her experiences in joining a year long fellowship at the dovish Shalom Hartman Institute in Israel.

After a year we built the trust necessary for a needed exchange of admissions. The Muslim fellows understood Jewish fear and the Jews’ deep desire for a homeland after thousands of years of being a mistrusted minority. And Israeli Jews affirmed to us the daily devastation of the occupation and the shattering of Palestinians through which Israel was born. These exchanges between Zionists and pro-Palestinians were monumental.

They are also an affirmation that there is still hope for dialogue and relationships that can actually make a difference. Until now, both parties have been speaking inside their own bubbles, safe in dialogue with people that agree with them. The walls have been built so high that breaching them to reach out to the other side is tantamount to treason. Hartman and the participants both took huge risks in being part of this program with hopes to forge a new way forward. This fellowship proves that building relationships between people who fundamentally disagree can uncover empathy and mutual recognition that despite differences, everyone deserves dignity, security, prosperity and self-determination.

Now, an UK-based Arab site has slammed not only Choudry, but the entire idea of dialogue with Jews.

According to the article, her article is proof that Israel's foreign ministry is trying to brainwash American Muslims. Choudry, we are told, is the first fruit of the project, where she now outrageously believes that Zionism means,as she writes,

The Jewish people’s longing of thousands of years for a homeland, a return from exile, a sanctuary from being a hated minority in the diaspora, an opportunity to establish Jewish values and honor God, a Biblical promise, a chance for redemption. As someone with years of interfaith experience I should have known all this, but I didn’t.

This shows, we are told, that Choudary "shows complete ignorance on Zionism itself."

The Arab article also notes that the majority of the Muslims who went on the fellowship did not go public, no doubt because of the fear of backlash by bigots like this author. But he uses this proof of Arab intolerance as proof that the program "betrays the trust and transparency that are supposed to govern relations between the activists and leaders of the Muslim communities."

Finally, the Arab author says, the entire concept of "dialogue" with Jews is flawed, because the Jews use it to push the idea that Zionism is not a wholly evil concept. This proves that they aren't interested in dialogue but in pushing their viewpoints.

Projection, anyone?

Hamas, Islamic Jihad stress importance of using media as "resistance"

Ismail Haniyeh gave a speech on May 25 (translation from BBC Monitoring, received via email) describing Hamas' views of the media:

We have to develop a media strategy that supports resistance and jihad on the land of Palestine. The resistance person who carries a rifle must have another resistance person standing behind him and carrying a pen so as to provide the media and political cover for this resistance and to embrace this blessed jihad. This is the necessary integration between the resistance of the bullet and the resistance of the word. This is essential and necessary so that we can accomplish the project of national liberation, God willing.”
(Al-Aqsa Satellite TV, Gaza)

This makes his words after the war that I had noted a bit more understandable:

[T]he Palestinian people has won the war on the military front, the political front, and the media front. Our narrative has gained the upper hand in the media and was the more credible. Our image in the media was the more effective.

The media analysis and the men of the [Palestinian] media everywhere constituted the river from which the global media quenched its thirst for information about what was happening on the ground.

In a similar vein, the Islamic Jihad terror group just gave out awards for the reporters from satellite channels and media agencies who were the best at spouting jihadist propaganda during the war.

[An Islamic Jihad delegation praised the reporters for] their generosity in giving over the image of the resistance, and to highlight the sacrifices of the Palestinian people, and expose the crimes of the Zionist enemy during the battle.

..The journalists stood side by side next to the gun battle in the operation, and achieved a great victory over the Zionist media machine.

The delegation said that the media battle with the enemy isno less important than the battle in the battlefields, and that both complement each other.

They also praised the media members who died, calling them "mujahadin."

(h/t Asher)

Israel appoints its first female ambassador to Arab country

From i24:

Currently heading the international division of the Foreign Ministry's diplomatic research center, Einat Schlien will replace Daniel Nevo in Jordan as Israel's ambassador. Schlien has been with the Foreign Ministry for 22 years and she was posted in Amman at the beginning of her diplomatic career, after which she also served in Israel's embassy in Washington.

This marks the first time that a woman has been appointed as an Israeli envoy to an Arab country.

During Israel's Operation Protective Edge, enmity was boiling over in Jordan against Israel with a number of demonstrations where Israeli flags were burnt in front of the embassy. A plot against the Israeli embassy in the Hashemite Kingdom was foiled by Jordanian forces in May of last year. The suspects in that case included a Syrian and the suspects are also accused of trying to recruit people to Hezbollah as well as plotting to attack US soldiers.

Haaretz adds that Schlein is fluent in Arabic.

I know that Egyptians created crazy rumors around the female US ambassador to that country, and I always wondered if it was because she was a woman. I have a feeling that there will be far more vitriol against Schlien in Jordan than there were was for her predecessor, Daniel Nevo.

She won't start for ten months.

09/15 Links Pt1: ISIS targets Israelis, Jews abroad; Compromise with political Islam is impossible

From Ian:

ISIS may target Israelis, Jews abroad, Counter-Terrorism Bureau warns

The National Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Bureau released a biannual travel advisory on Monday, ahead of the High Holy Days, warning that Western Europe may become the scene of Islamic State terror attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets.
"During this period, the potential threat has grown," the Counter-Terrorism Bureau warned.
The Bureau referred to the May 4 deadly shooting attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels, in which a French-Muslim gunman killed four people – two of them Israelis. The gunman had returned from Syria, where he fought alongside radical rebel groups.
"There are concerns about additional attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets around the world, with an emphasis on Western Europe, by global jihadi elements (including the Islamic State), particularly by veterans of Syria and Iraq who return to their countries," the Bureau stated. Recent combat in Gaza has also led to a rise in anti-Israel demonstrations, it added.
At the same time, Iran and Hezbollah continue to wage a global campaign of terrorism, targeting Israeli and Jewish targets, with an emphasis on soft targets such as tourists, rabbis, Chabad homes, and heads of Jewish communities, the communique said.
Iranian and Hezbollah terrorists are also seeking to target Israeli business people and senior former officials for kidnapping or murder.

Hezbollah could advance into Israel in next war, official warns

A senior IDF official warned Sunday that while Hezbollah has no immediate plan to attack Israel, a minor security incident could erupt into a full-fledged war on Israel’s northern front during which the terror organization would likely try to capture swaths of the Galilee.
“The situation in the north is quiet; we don’t assume we are headed toward war,” the Northern Command official said, according to Channel 2. “On the other hand, there are many developments, there are small things that can create larger events. The instability can develop and erupt into war.”
The army also distributed pictures Sunday showing armed Hezbollah members near the border with Israel.
In the event of a confrontation with Hezbollah, the fighting would likely last some four months, would have the Israel Defense Forces face some 30,000 troops, would incur extensive civilian casualties on the Lebanese side, and may see infiltration into northern Israeli towns to carry out attacks, the IDF official predicted.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Why Many Arabs and Muslims Do Not Trust Obama

Many Arabs and Muslims identify with the terrorists' anti-Western objectives ideology; they are afraid of being dubbed traitors and U.S. agents for joining non-Muslims in a war that would result in the death of many Muslims, and they are afraid their people would rise up against them.
Many Arab and Muslim leaders view the Islamic State as a by-product of failed U.S. policies, especially the current U.S. Administration's weak-kneed support for Iraq's Nuri al-Maliki. Some of these leaders, such as Egypt's Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, consider the U.S. to be a major ally of the Muslim Brotherhood. Sisi and his regime will never forgive Obama for his support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
Also, they do not seem to have much confidence in the Obama Administration, which is perceived as weak and incompetent when it comes to combating Islamists.

NYC "Muslim Day" parade was really a Muslim Brotherhood parade

Yesterday in Manhattan was the 29th annual Muslim Day parade.

The theme was "Islam and America Share Common Values."

The image that the organizers want you to see look like this, with American flags prominently displayed.:

However, there was a significant anti-American Muslim Brotherhood presence at the parade. (All photos and videos from Urban Infidel site.)

Here is a vehicle sporting the "Rabia" symbol of the Brotherhood:

A representation of Egypt's president Sisi in "Pharaoh's Golden Chariot" was featured:

Here are actors representing Kerry, Obama and McCain:

Here are MB members - some masked - with toy guns pretending to arrest Sisi, I believe:

This clip shows a banner showing where Islamists took over various Middle Eastern countries for a time, including Israel. It also shows the Muslim Brotherhood with a float showing a woman being lynched to symbolize how they were taken out of power in Egypt.

Common values!

More here.

(h/t Jeremy, who was at a separate rally in Manhattan against anti-semitism.)

Human Rights NGOs, including the UN, refuse to adopt anti-bias standards

There has been a long history of international standards on fact-finding missions dating back to at least 1907.

While nearly all of the standards pay lip service to the idea of impartiality, only recent attempts have been made to ensure that the fact-finders themselves are unbiased.

The most comprehensive set of fact-finding standards written to date are the Lund-London Guidelines. They include these sections:

The mission’s delegation should comprise individuals who are and are seen to be unbiased.

The NGO should ensure that all members of the delegation are aware that they must, at all times, act in an independent, unbiased, objective, lawful and ethical manner.

The NGO should ensure that all persons associated with a mission [including interpreters - EoZ] and/or a report are aware that they must, at all times, act in an independent, unbiased, objective, lawful and ethical manner.

The NGO should ensure that the members of the delegation understand the need to be unbiased and not pre-judge any issues during the mission.

In order to enhance the overall quality and credibility of the report, it must be accurate, clear and drafted objectively so that the processes of the mission are transparent. It should fairly reflect all the information gathered and must refrain from bias. It is good practice to identify the standards against which the delegation members weigh the information obtained.

It should come as no surprise that these standards have been rejected by every major "human rights" NGO, including the United Nations.

It is obvious that the appointment by the UNHRC of William Schabas as the main investigator of the Gaza war violates these standards. He admits that he is biased, but he claims, improbably, that he can set his strong anti-Israel opinions aside for the purposes of the investigation. This is absurd. No judge could claim that he has a strong opinion on a case but then declare that he can set those opinions aside, and a fact-finding mission report is essentially a judgment.

Human Rights Watch has a webpage dedicated to its research methodology. It has no language to ensure that its investigators are unbiased at the outset. In fact, the document doesn't mention the word "bias" at all. Amnesty's methodology is similarly prone to abuse by biased researchers. Indeed, these organizations hire - and even seek out - employees who are already biased.

By ignoring the basic pre-requisite that researchers are unbiased at the outset, all of these organizations are fooling the world into believing that they are objective.

There is a relatively easy way to help ensure objectivity when choosing investigators. Choose human rights experts from other parts of the globe. Instead of choosing people who say they specialize in the Middle East, for the purposes of a fact finding mission they should choose human rights experts that deal with Southeast Asia or South America or former communist regimes.

In fact, NGOs should rotate their entire human rights staff among different areas of the globe. That way they aren't only using people who went into the field with a pre-existing political agenda and who truly care about gloabl human rights.

Rotating employees to different areas is a well-established practice in many organizations to help them see things from different perspectives and to ultimately improve their work. Why don't human rights NGOs adopt this very effective practice?

Can you imagine anti-Israel activists like HRW's Sarah Leah Whitson or Amnesty's Deborah Hyams being re-assigned to cover China? They would quit in less than an hour. Because they only joined these NGOs to demonize Israel, not because of a love of human rights.

Unfortunately, the real problems of bias in NGOs are not going to be addressed as long as the heads of these NGOs show that they aren't really interested in an unbiased organization. And their refusal to adopt the Lunn-London Guidelines show that politics is more important than impartiality.

From Al Jazeera America:

Fifteen Palestinian migrants attempting to flee the besieged and war-torn Gaza Strip died Saturday after their boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of northern Egypt, media sources said.

The migrants' bodies were pulled from the water by the Egyptian military after they received a distress call from the vessel, Palestinian news website Maan News reported. Egyptian navy and border guards rescued at least 72 others, among them Egyptian and Syrian citizens.

As political instability widens in the Middle East and North Africa, increasing numbers of undocumented migrants have attempted to reach Europe in boats and makeshift rafts — many drowning along the way.

Sources told Maan that the Palestinians who drowned on Saturday fled Gaza into Egypt through underground tunnels, after which they boarded the ship bound for Italy.

An estimated 10,000 Palestinians have so far fled Gaza in 2014, sources told the Palestinian News Network (PNN).
...
With nearly 2 million people living on 139 square miles of land, Gaza is one of the world’s most densely populated territories — where economic opportunity and even safety are in short supply.

Since 2006, when Hamas swept parliamentary elections, Israel has imposed a debilitating economic siege on the territory, restricting the flow of civilians and goods – including food, medicine [this is a lie - EoZ] and building supplies – for stated security purposes. Coupled with numerous deadly military incursions, including “Operation Cast Lead” in 2009 and “Operation Pillar of Defense” in 2012, residents have found it necessary to escape.
...
PNN reported that the average cost to be smuggled into Egypt through a tunnel and to Europe on a raft is about $4,000 per person, and that the journey is extremely dangerous — with families encountering criminals and treacherous conditions along the way.

Egypt blocks their fellow Arabs in Gaza from crossing their border. Egypt also blocks food, medicine, and nearly all other goods from being imported into Gaza.

The Gazans cross illegally and then are taken advantage of by smugglers who fleece them for thousands of dollars.

They are given dangerous boats to go to Europe where they will also not be welcome because of strict European immigration laws.

The ones that are caught in Egypt will be deported back to Gaza.

And Israel is the party that is primarily to blame. Not Egypt, not the smugglers, not the European countries who discourage their immigration.

On the other hand, when Eritreans and Sudanese sneak out of their countries because of severe economic and social conditions, and they go through Egypt (where they are often tortured, raped and killed by smugglers, or shot dead for the crime of existing) to Israel where they are not exactly welcome, and Israel pays them to go back to their homes - Israel is again the party that is primarily to blame. Not Eritrea, not Sudan, not Egypt, not the smugglers - Israel.

Who says there is a double standard? The standard is very clear - as long as Israel can be blamed, no matter how tangentially, it must be the prime culprit!

Iraq arrests Saudi who joined ISIS "to free Iraq of Jews"

From Arab News:

The Iraqi Civil Defense has released a six-minute video showing the arrest of a 21-year-old Saudi national, who reportedly left Syria to join the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq to “free the land of Jews.”

Hamad Al-Tamimi had allegedly been ordered to leave the front lines in Syria and go to Iraq by the head of one of the IS battalions.

The video shows Al-Tamimi being questioned by a member of the Iraqi Army about his motives for coming to Iraq, to which he responded that he was “eager to go to Iraq after fighting in Syria.”

I don't have the translation, but here's the video:

Given that there are approximately 0 Jews in Iraq, this is an interesting perspective.

In fact, Iraqi TV claims that ISIS is Jewish, as this video showing the terror group being born from a union of the Devil and a Jewish woman shows:

That video would confuse poor Hamad even more than he already is.

As we all know, however, both Hamad and Iraqi TV really aren't talking about Jews, but about "the occupation," since that is the root cause of everything from cancer to tsunamis.

(h/t VultureTX)

Prank video of Lebanese man threatening to behead terrified Syrian refugee kids

Candid Camera, Lebanon-style:

From Naharnet:

A man who staged a sick prank by filming himself threatening to behead three Syrian refugee children has confessed that he was amused by their weeping and their mother actually loved the video, a police statement said on Saturday.

Meanwhile, a security official told Agence France-Presse that the video proved to be a "sick joke," and that the children had been left in the man's care by their mother, his neighbor, while she went to buy groceries.

“He started filming because he liked the scene of the crying children, and that happened in the presence of Lebanese 14-year-old minor M. T.,” the ISF said in its communique.

In a surprising twist, the kids' mother arrived during the last moments of filming and she actually “loved the scene” and asked that the video be sent to her phone.

The knife man, M. F., was referred to the relevant judicial authorities while the minor M. T. was released after his father signed a pledge.

The mom was also freed after she pledged to take good care of her children, the ISF said.

The man had been arrested Friday by ISF Intelligence Bureau agents in the southern town of Ebba in the Nabatiyeh province.

The video, which was posted on YouTube Friday and shared widely, shows the three terrified children crying as a man standing behind a camera waves a knife and asks: "Whom do we behead first?"

“Put your hand here or else I will sever your head,” he tells one of the terrified boys, who cry their lungs out throughout the video.

“You, come here … Do you belong to Daesh?” the man says, using an acronym for the full Arabic name of the extremist Islamic State group, which has recently beheaded two Lebanese soldiers.

Adding to the pathos of the incident, the crying children respond by pointing at each other.

From Palestine Press Agency:

Nabil Abu Rudaineh, the spokesman for the president, said that without resolving the Palestinian issue there will not be there any solutions to the problems of the region.

He added that any regional alliances must lead to ending the occupation and the preservation of the national rights of the Palestinian people. What happened in the Gaza aggression is the biggest proof of the need for immediate action to restore the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

He said with that all that is seen in the explosion of violence and civil wars and the collapses of states and entities in the region makes it imperative for regional and international powers to work hard to address the issue of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and the establishment of an independent state with its capital in East Jerusalem.

Abu Rudeineh said that the States United States of America and all of us must be aware that this solution which will lead to drying up the sources of terrorism and will give the region to regain the balance necessary to create a climate of peace and stability of the region and the world.

In other words:

"We aren't on the front pages anymore, and that means less money and less attention to our issues. Forget Libya and Syria and Iraq and ISIS and the Kurds and Yezidis and Yemen - we are the center of the universe and our priorities must be ahead of everyone else!"

ISIS beheading are ruining the long-running Palestinian pity party.

It is scary how many people actually still believe this absurd "linkage" logic. Then again, most of them have an ulterior motive.

09/14 Links: ISIS/Hamas? One Beheads, The Other Shoots People's Heads; Hollywood backs Israel

From Ian:

A new anti-Semitism? Why thousands of Jewish citizens are leaving France

Brussels Jewish Museum reopens four months after shooting that killed four

Four months after a shooting that killed four people, the Brussels Jewish Museum opened its doors to the public again on Sunday in a solemn ceremony attended by Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo.
The museum in central Brussels had been closed since the May 24 attack by a gunman who opened fire in the museum with a Kalashnikov rifle, killing an Israeli couple, a French woman and a Belgian man.
French national Mehdi Nemmouche is suspected of having carried out the attack after spending most of 2013 fighting in Syria with Islamist rebels, French prosecutors have said.
"We are fighting and will continue in our fight against terrorism," Di Rupo said at the opening ceremony marked by tight security.
"Belgium has strengthened and will intensify further its European and international cooperation to combat more effectively the networks and individuals that threaten our democracies."

Think Hollywood Is Anti-Israel? Page A7 of Saturday’s New York Times Might Make You Reconsider

Hollywood may be a famously liberal place, and liberals may be turning against Israel, but a significant chunk of the entertainment industry is standing up for the Jewish state.
In a massive full-page ad in Saturday’s New York Times, the Creative Community for Peace (CCFP) reiterated their support of Israel — and, according to the organization, the group’s ranks of Hollywood backers have swelled from under 200 in late August to more than 300.

Creative Community for Peace in the New York Times

The text of the ad, and the signatories follow:
We, the undersigned, are saddened by the devastating loss of life endured by Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza. We are pained by the suffering on both sides of the conflict and hope for a solution that brings peace to the region.
While we stand firm in our commitment to peace and justice, we must also stand firm against ideologies of hatred and genocide which are reflected in Hamas' charter, Article 7 of which reads, “There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!” The son of a Hamas founder has also commented about the true nature of Hamas.
Hamas cannot be allowed to rain rockets on Israeli cities, nor can it be allowed to hold its own people hostage. Hospitals are for healing, not for hiding weapons. Schools are for learning, not for launching missiles. Children are our hope, not our human shields.
We join together in support of the democratic values we all cherish and in the hope that the healing and transformative power of the arts can be used to build bridges of peace.

In Arutz Sheva we read the following:

Israel on Wednesday dismantled a newly erected wooden access ramp to Jerusalem's Temple Mount compound that would have increased access for non-Muslims but which angered Jordan, according to AFP.

The half-built structure was erected by Israel in the midst of the Gaza conflict in early August, triggering outrage from the Jordanian government, which oversees Muslim sites in Jerusalem.

It ran alongside a bigger wooden structure - the Rambam (Mughrabi) ramp - that leads from the Western Wall plaza up to the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem's Old City. The ramp is the only access to the Temple Mount for non-Muslims, including Jews - an arrangement which has angered many Jewish groups given the fact that the site is the holiest place in Judaism.

Apart from only being allowed one access point (compared to several for Muslims), Jews are also controversially forbidden from praying or conducting any forms of worship on the Temple Mount in an attempt to appease Muslim leaders who have regularly threatened violence if Jews are granted the freedom to worship there. Despite several court rulings stating such practices are illegal and discriminatory, Israeli police and Waqf authorities continue to enforce the prohibition on Jewish worship, with those who disobey facing arrest.

Jewish groups are also sometimes harassed by Islamists on the Mount, which today is the site of several Islamic mosques and shrines built atop the ruins of the Jewish Temples.

I find this kind of story rather demoralizing and have never really reconciled my admiration for Moshe Dayan with the fact that almost immediately upon taking the area in '67 - "The Temple Mount is in our hands!" - Dayan forked it over to the Jordanian Waqf... whatever exactly a Waqf is.

I am simply not satisfied with my understanding of that decision. Or, more precisely, I am simply not satisfied with that decision, period.

Nonetheless, Jewish-Israeli weakness in the face of Arab-Muslim hostility is almost never a good idea. I am not particularly religious, but the Temple Mount has been at the center of Jewish history for over 3,500 years. It is, in a sense, the birthplace of the Jewish people as the Jewish people.

Yet Israel allows the Hashemites to push it around on the holiest place to the Jewish people in the entire world. It takes no greater a force than the Hashemites to push us off of Jewish holy land under what should be Israeli sovereignty.

It is both embarrassing and unnecessary.

In fact, maybe it is time to switch things around. Ever since 1967 non-Muslims have faced a variety of restrictions in access to the Mount and what we are allowed to do there. The last time that I was there, in January 2012, I forgot about some of these restrictions and had to temporarily relinquish a little shofar that I had purchased in one of the small shops in the Old City.

Perhaps Israel should institute similar restrictions for Muslims on the Temple Mount. I do not think that this would be unfair, do you? Israel can restrict access and can make it illegal for Muslims to pray on what is the holiest site for the Jewish people, just as Jews are not allowed to pray in Mecca. Of course, Jews are not only not allowed to pray in Mecca, but we are not even allowed to poison Meccan dirt by trodding that dirt with our filthy Jewish feet.

Or, I tell you what, here's a better idea:

Why not remove any and all religious distinctions in access to the site and make all regulations concerning behavior fair and equal to everyone?

Now, there's a novel thought!

Can you imagine Bahá'í praying on the Temple Mount?! Oh, my goodness. Rosicrucians and Mormons and Theosophists cheek-by-jowl with Rastafarians, Presbyterians, and Unitarian Universalists!

No?

Why the heck not?

In any case, the current arrangement should be entirely unacceptable to any Jew who has anything resembling a spine. And, of course, it is not just discriminatory toward Jews, but is discriminatory against all non-Muslims. Period.

From the comments:

Hoshea Allen · Top Commenter · Bet Shemesh, Israel

Don't you just love it when our illustrious government exercises sovereignty over our land?

I am a fan of concision.

Gila Rut Rina Wittow · Top Commenter · Works at Composer

This is an appalling decision. Would Saudi Arabia cave into pressure - if any existed! - to remove access to Muslims to their holiest places in Mecca? What a ridiculous suggestion! The Temple Mount is our very holiest site and we should have open access 24/7 through ALL the entrances to be able to pray there in peace (so long as Jews follow halacha in their preparations and where they walk there). It is the MOST IMPORTANT national treasure that we have - or should have. What business is it of Jordan? Noone is going to stop Muslims from continuing to pray there as well.

Indeed. I agree. But I have to wonder what it is like going through life with a name like Gila. Rut. Rina. Wittow?

Look, I know that I am an ignorant and crude American but, really, Gila Rut Rina Wittow?

I do not mean to insult the woman, but that is really quite some name!

I am kind-of hoping that on some off-chance she will catch wind of this comment and berate me before the entire Elder of Ziyon-speaking world.

peretz1
This bridge going to Har Habayis is for what purpose? So Jews ignorant of Jewish law can risk "careis" or spiritual excommunication by treading on holy ground they are not allowed to be on? Their are parts of the Temple mount forbidden to all Jews except the Kohein Gadol on Yom Kippur, and if they step there its lights out from heaven, so what is so bad?

For those who are religious these restrictions are not necessarily a problem.

Oh, and, "lights out from heaven"?

Well, that sounds rather unpleasant, doesn't it?

Y'know, I almost never discuss religion in these pages, or almost anyplace outside of the bedroom. But as a semi-former-progressive-leftist-counterculturalist-guy I respect religion at least, in part, because it was the Christian religion in the form of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) that firmly established the mid-late twentieth century Civil Rights Movement in the United States.

This is to say, one need not be religious to respect religion and religious people.

The problem, of course, is when people in the name of religion cross the bounds of normal human decency and start doing little things like - oh, I don't know - chopping people's heads off in the name of Allah?!

I may be rambling a bit - and G-d only knows that I need a stalwart editor - but this popular head chopping fad that we have been reading about is ghastly... horrific... mind-bogglingly revolting... there are no words and it leads one to wonder the extent to which this kind of thing has been going on all along....that is, if I may wonder aloud without insulting anyone's religious faith, for chrissake.

Although I do respect people's religious traditions, this particular practice, for some strange reason, crosses a line for me, particularly when it is practiced on children as we saw with the Fogel family attack. Your mileage may vary, but I find myself in the nay-saying camp when it comes to chopping off people's heads in the name of the deity.

This is ritualized murder in the name of G-d and it is as unacceptable as cannibalism and normative Islam or moderate Islam needs to stand up and say very clearly one word.

NO.

And speaking of decapitation, in The Middle East Quarterly, from awhile ago, Timothy Furnish writes:

The February 2002 decapitation of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, true to its intention, horrified the Western audience. Chechen rebels, egged on by Islamist benefactors, had adopted the practice four years earlier, but the absence of widely broadcast videos limited the psychological impact of hostage decapitation.

The Pearl murder and video catalyzed the resurgence of this historical Islamic practice. In Iraq, terrorists filmed the beheadings of Americans Nicholas Berg, Jack Hensley, and Eugene Armstrong. Other victims include Turks, an Egyptian, a Korean, Bulgarians, a British businessman, and a Nepalese. Scores of Iraqis, both Kurds and Arabs, have also fallen victim to Islamist terrorists' knives.

The new fad in terrorist brutality has extended to Saudi Arabia where Islamist terrorists murdered American businessman Paul Johnson, whose head was later discovered in a freezer in an Al-Qaeda hideout. A variation upon this theme would be the practice of Islamists slitting the throats of those opponents they label infidels.

This is what happened to Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, first gunned down and then mutilated on an Amsterdam street, and to an Egyptian Coptic family in New Jersey after the father had angered Islamists with Internet chat room criticisms of Islam.

At least the logic behind the guillotine was humanitarian, strangely enough to contemporary western sensibilities, but this Islamic head-chopping thing is no one's idea of representing human decency. Or am I wrong? Do the head-choppers think that they are doing the head-choppees a spiritual favor of sorts?

My guess is, probably not so much.

In any case, ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for your indulgence today, because I am well and truly disgusted and horrified. In fact, as soon as I drag myself away from this insidious laptop I will plunge head-first into the nearest washroom for purposes too unsightly to imagine on the written page.

Oh, and by the way, I very much recommend NOT keywording "decapitation" in Google images.

Please take my word on it.

Michael Lumish is a blogger at the Israel Thrives blog as well as a regular contributor/blogger at Times of Israel and Jews Down Under.