Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, May 27, 2022

There was gunfire before Abu Akleh was killed - including one towards reporters, seemingly from the southeast

Middle East Eye released an entire seemingly unedited video of the scene in Jenin before and during Shireen Abu Akleh's death. (They mislabeled it as May 13, but it is clearly May 11.)

It provides additional evidence that the Jenin militants to the southeast shot and killed Abu Akleh, not IDF soldiers.

Here is a crucial 90 second excerpt that ends about three minutes before Shireen is shot:

It starts off with three gunshots that the reporters don't seem too concerned about (2:41 in MEE video). There are occasional gunshots audible throughout the video, so the widespread reporting that there was no gunfire in the area before she was shot is not true.

At 0:15 (2:55 in MEE) the camera looks up the street. There is the lead IDF armored car there, although a little hard to see.

At 0:21 (3:01) we hear a gunshot. The reporters duck, unlike the earlier three gunshots, so they heard the bullet shockwave.

This gunshot has a similar audio signature as the gunshots that were analyzed in the Bellingcat and CNN reports that they claim came from the from the IDF. But the sound gap between the shockwave and muzzle shot is a bit longer.

Although we have not verified that the militants to the southeast were videoed at this exact time, they were walking north. Also, they were coming down a hill - it looks like higher up the hill was a pretty good line of sight towards the reporters.

Without a real reporter going to Jenin and photographing this street and the surrounding areas, we cannot know for sure if there was a line of sight. But the next thing that happens in this video is most interesting.

Unlike the later gunshots, the reporters seem amused at this gunshot. You can hear them laughing. Then, at 0:34 (3:14) one points to the southeast, where we have seen the militants, apparently to show where the gunshot came from.

My source tells me that the journalist is saying that there are both IDF snipers and "shebab" - the "youth" militants - shooting.

My other source thinks that they are talking about Israeli snipers in a building, but the other one corrects him and says, no, those are Palestinians.

It sure looks like he is pointing to militants who are in their line of sight (otherwise, why point?) at that time. And when the reporter is pointing, he is referring to the "shabab" according to my source.

If they are referring to someone in a building, presumably on an upper floor - and there were no Israeli troops in that direction - then there was definitely line of sight from a building to the reporters.

Other gunshots are heard in the seconds after this as you can hear them again say "shebab."

Afterwards, they return to the street Shireen ended up on, and zoomed in on the IDF vehicles. I'm still not certain that the lead vehicle had a clean shot at where Shireen was, here's the best I could do from the angle of where the tree is, compared to what it looked like from the middle of the street. In the first picture from the street corner, even the taxicab was not visible, and I cannot see the IDF vehicle unlike the shot from slightly further east. It doesn't look like we can even see the corner of the block in the first shot. (There are artifacts from the camera moving.)

I'm not as certain that the IDF had no angle - we don't know how far in the street Shireen was, although we know where the tree is, and of course bullets could go through foliage but I'm still convinced that the bullet hole at the top of the tree (see my previous post, update 1) would not look like that from that angle.

There is at least one other gunshot to be heard in the MEE video, whose source seems to be more than twice as far away as these, at 5:02 of the MEE video, with 800 ms between the shot and the muzzle blast. There may be an additional gunshot at 6:38, less than 30 seconds before the shots we've all seen.

In short, this video shows that:

* There were other audible gunshots in the minutes before Abu Akleh was killed, not as wass reported.

* At least one was recognized by the reporters as being shot near them, and it came from around 220 meters away.

* There were no IDF soldiers anywhere near the reporters, which means that it is entirely possible that the militants saw figures moving, perhaps some with helmets, and took a shot directly towards them.

* The reporter referred to the "shebab" and pointed towards the southeast, seeming to point where the shots came from. (And any reporter and witnesses who know this will never, ever admit it to CNN.)

The idea that Shireen was shot by trigger-happy terrorists to the southeast is not only plausible - it is likely.

(h/t Ibn Boutros, DigFind, Gail Ellis)

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05/27 Links Pt1: Palestinian Arabs Never Qualified as “Refugees”; Ruthie Blum: The Abu Akleh report is CNN's latest anti-Israel hit job; The Real Purpose of the Iran Nuclear Deal

From Ian:

Mark Regev: Do Palestinians prefer united Jerusalem under Israeli rule?

THE PALESTINIAN leadership sees all of formerly-Jordanian Jerusalem, including the Western Wall, as territory illegally occupied by Israel and demands recognition of east Jerusalem as its capital, while contending that the status of west Jerusalem is a matter for permanent status peace talks. And although the Palestinians have signaled a theoretical willingness to accept west Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, whenever the issue arose in actual negotiations – Israeli prime ministers Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert tabling concrete ideas to redivide the city – such proposals never proved acceptable.

To buttress its position, the Palestinian leadership claims that Jerusalem’s Palestinians are united in demanding an end to Israel’s rule. But though widely accepted across the globe, this narrative is not reflected in a series of public opinion surveys of Palestinian Jerusalemites.

In December 2021, the Palestine News Network (SHFA) released a poll that found an astonishing 93% of Jerusalem’s Palestinians prefer Israeli to Palestinian rule.

These results were significantly higher than a previous survey done by the Bethlehem-based Palestinian Center for Public Opinion released in August 2015, which found that 52% of Jerusalem Palestinians would choose “Israeli citizenship with equal rights,” while only 42% would want to become citizens of a future Palestinian state.

Do Palestinians want to move to Jerusalem?
A November 2011 poll by the same organization discovered that an amazing 42% of Jerusalem Palestinians would want to relocate into Israel if their present neighborhood became part of a Palestinian state.

Considering that the hegemonic political environment among Palestinians would tend to discourage the overt expression of such views, these results speak to a grossly under-reported reality. Though by no means Israeli patriots, Jerusalem’s Palestinians – like Arab Israelis – see the advantages of living in a successful, pluralist democracy with a Western standard of living and social services, over those of the authoritarian, corrupt and poorer Palestinian alternative.

In contrast to the much-propagated narrative, while not publicly celebrating 55 years from to the unification of the city, most Palestinian Jerusalemites would nonetheless elect to remain under Israeli jurisdiction. Of course, those who champion Palestinian rights are under no obligation to take into account the views of Jerusalem’s Palestinians.

Happy Jerusalem Day!

Caroline Glick: Time to stop lying to ourselves about Qatar

On the one hand, Doha plays a pivotal role in waging the global jihad against the US and the free world. On the other hand, it showers them with gifts. Qatar opened campuses for US universities and think tanks in Doha. It opened factories that hire thousands of American workers in key states. It regularly invites influential communal and thought leaders on all-expenses paid luxury tours of Doha. It spends millions on lobbyists in Washington.

During the George W. Bush administration, the US's dependence on Al Udeid base saved the regime from criticism and sanction after the 9/11 attacks and during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. During the Obama administration, ties reached new heights as Barack Obama and his advisors worked to realign the US towards the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran and away from the US' traditional allies, Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

The Trump administration had a golden opportunity to cut off ties with Qatar. In 2017, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain cut off ties with Qatar and blocked all air and land traffic to the emirate due to its alliance with Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, which both pose existential threats to those countries. Rather than side with its allies, the Trump administration first sat on the fence and later mediated "peace" between the sides. The Biden administration, which is restoring the Obama administration's sought for realignment towards Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood is also expanding US-Qatari ties.

This brings us to Israel. This month, Al Jazeera used the death of its journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during a firefight between Palestinian terrorists in Jenin and IDF forces to create a new blood libel against the Jewish state. The network's actions served as a reminder of the just how poisonous a role Qatar plays in the war against Israel. Yet rather than respond with a full-throated assault on the jihad network and at the regime that controls it, Israel's government is following the Biden administration's lead and treating Qatar as a "moderating force" in relation to Hamas and more generally.

Later this year, Qatar will host the World Cup Soccer Championship. Qatar allegedly paid FIFA officials millions in bribes to buy their votes to beat the US in the contest to host the games. Rather than tell Israeli soccer fans that with all due respect to their love of the game, Qatar is Hamas' headquarters and Iran's best friend, and they should watch the games on TV rather than risk a trip to the terror capital, Israel is trying to organize direct flights to Doha during the games. Moreover, government official enthusiastically parrot the absurd claim that Qatar may soon join the Abraham Accords, despite the fact that the Qataris have done everything possible to undermine Israel's peaceful ties with its neighbors.

Reaboi notes, "But for Qatar's sponsorship, the Muslim Brotherhood movement would be dead in today's Islamic world."

It's all as clear as day. Qatar is a bitter enemy and a danger to Israel. It is time that we see the light and act accordingly.

Palestinian Arabs Never Qualified as “Refugees”

An Obama-era report found that, years ago, there were only about 20,000 Palestinian Arab refugees from the 1948-1949 Arab war against Israel – instead of the 5.3 million that UNRWA was falsely claiming at that time, by fraudulently padding numbers and improperly including descendants. (See “U.S. Report Finds Only 20,000 Palestinian Refugees in the World,” Israel Hayom, July 18, 2018.) The alleged numbers are even fewer or non-existent today – yet Rashida Tlaib’s resolution now absurdly claims that there are 7 million Palestinian Arab refugees today – including 5.7 million (illegitimately) supported by UNRWA. (See also “Morton Klein: Trump Wisely Ends U.S. Funding to UNRWA,” by Morton Klein, Breitbart, Sept. 6, 2018.)

Tlaib’s resolution also ignores the Egyptian, Syrian, Algerian and other Arab national origin of “Palestinian Arabs.” Arabs flooded into Israel in pre-state years to enjoy Jewish pioneers’ development of the previously barren land; to escape Egyptian military drafts and Algerian wars; and to work for the British mandatory government (which discriminated against Jews and instead imported Arab workers). Common “Palestinian” Arab last names are al Masri (meaning from Egypt) and Mughrabi (meaning from North Africa).

Under the U.S. and International Definitions of “Refugees,” Palestinian Arabs Never Qualified as “Refugees”: UNRWA’s unique definition of Palestinian Arab “refugees” counted any Arab who lived or worked in Israel for a mere two years as a “refugee.” UNRWA’s definition is contrary to U.S. law (8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)) and all other international definitions, which require that a refugee must have “habitually resided” in a country to count as a refugee; two years of residence or work does not qualify. In addition, corrupt UNRWA added to its relief rolls hundreds of thousands of Arabs who never lived or worked in Israel, to try to justify contributions to UNRWA and protect thousands of UNRWA jobs. Under a normal definition of refugees, which does not include descendants, there are virtually no Palestinian Arab refugees today.

In addition, the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act’s “persecutor exception” (also known as the “persecutor bar”) declares that “The term ‘refugee’ does not include any person who ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in the persecution of any person on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.” 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101(a)(42). International refugee law contains a similar persecutor bar. Thus, no Arab who participated in, incited or assisted in persecuting, attacking or inciting hatred against the Jewish people, at any time, qualifies as a refugee. Arab rioters who attacked their Jewish neighbors in pre-state Israel; government officials, Imams, and teachers who incite or pay Arabs to murder Jews cannot legally be refugees. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists who fire rockets at Jews indiscriminately cannot be refugees. Nor can tens of thousands of Hamas-incited Gazans who attempted to breach the border fence with knives and maps showing the routes to Jewish kindergartens in their hands, who were attempting to slaughter Jewish children.

Further, in order to legally qualify as a refugee, one must have left a country due to “persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution.” (8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)) Because Palestinian Arab refugees left Israel at the request of Arab leaders and governments, to enable the slaughter of Jews, and because while Israel urged the Arabs to remain and live together in peace, the “Palestinian refugees” also do not meet this legal requirement.

In sum, there are no valid Palestinian Arab refugees today.

There have been a wave of antisemitic attacks in Brooklyn over the past few years, and for the most part the media has been ignoring them - because the attackers don't fit the racial profile of white supremacists.

We've seen these videos way too often - a Hasidic man, walking along the street, being randomly attacked by a Jew-hater.

Like this one that seem to have happened yesterday:

Luckily, we have video of what happened right afterwards, thanks to a Hasidic truck driver on the scene:

This needs to happen more often. And in such a way that there is active disincentive for the potential attackers, who think they can punch and hit Jews with impunity.

I'll definitely buy more Golden Taste dips and salads!

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Remember when the Palestinian coroner said that Shireen Abu Akleh was shot in the forehead?

The results of the initial forensic medicine report indicate that the direct cause of death was brain damage caused by a high-velocity bullet. The bullet penetrated the skull cavity causing an entry wound and then exited from the cavity causing another wound. Following that, the bullet hit the internal side of the protective helmet, ricocheted and lodged in the damaged tissues inside the skull.

The bullet hit her in front, exited the back, hit the helmet from inside and ricocheted back into her brain.

Al Jazeera even said she was shot in the face.

Apparently, the Palestinian prosecutor didn't like that story. Because the "investigation" has concluded something different:

Palestinian Attorney General Akram Al-Khatib said today that based on the Public Prosecution’s report on the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, it was established that the veteran Al Jazeera journalist was killed by an armor-piercing projectile fired directly at her head by an Israeli sniper.

According Al-Khatib, an autopsy and forensic examination conducted in Nablus after Abu Akleh’s death showed she was shot from the back, indicating that she was attempting to flee as Israeli forces continued to fire towards the group of journalists.

Apparently the coroner didn't know what he was talking about. Or the Palestinian Authority decided that shooting her from the back makes Israel sound worse.

No wonder the Palestinian Authority doesn't want anyone to see her helmet, either.

Another indication that this report is filled with lies:

He added that the bullet had general and specific markings that match a Mini Ruger semi-automatic sniper weapon.

The IDF doesn't use Rugers.

One more thing that they claim:

Al-Khatib said the facts on the ground confirm the absence of any armed clashes at the time when the crime occurred, stressing that the investigation carried out by the Public Prosecution will be the cornerstone in the prosecution of the Israeli killers. “The only source of firing was by the occupation forces with the aim to kill,” he said.

I plan to prove that this is a lie in the next post.

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Al-Alam of Iran starts off an article in a notable way:

The occupation yields to threats and prevents Jews from performing their rituals in Al-Aqsa

The threats made by the Palestinians not to allow the Jews to perform their rituals in Al-Aqsa Mosque have paid off.

In addition, the US embassy warned its citizens not to reach the Old City of Jerusalem on Sunday, in conjunction with the flag march, according to the Hebrew channel Kan.

The channel said that the US embassy in Israel decided to prevent US government officials, diplomats and their families from visiting the Old City of Jerusalem, starting from this evening until next Monday, due to the holding of the flags march next Sunday.

The message is clear: When Palestinians threaten violence, the weak Israelis cave.

The secondary message they are trying to tell all Palestinians: Not only is threats of violence effective, but you can win as long as you keep hammering away at the insecure, spineless Jews.

The article ends off with another threat:

It is noteworthy that the Islamic Jihad and Hamas have threatened the "Israeli" occupation of the consequences of allowing the flags march to be carried out on Sunday.

Palestinian groups have threatened attacks for Sunday's Jerusalem Day for over a week now. It is almost like they would lose face if they don't manage to kill a Jew or shoot some rockets.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

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05/26 Links Pt2: Kontorovich: "Israel Apartheid" Is the New "Zionism=Racism"; In 1925: The Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound's 'Identity With The Site Of Solomon's Temple Is Beyond Dispute'

From Ian:

Prof. Eugene Kontorovich: "Israel Apartheid" Is the New "Zionism=Racism"

The coordinated reports by European government-funded NGOs accusing Israel of the crime of apartheid are an example of a "Big Lie." The Amnesty International apartheid report claimed that Israel since its founding was an apartheid state. Thus, it is not any policies of Israel's but the idea of a Jewish state that is apartheid.

The reports treat the Palestinians as silent objects, rather than political actors who have shaped their own destiny. In particular, the reports ignore the reality of Palestinian self-government and systematic Palestinian efforts to murder Israeli Jews. Since 1993 the Palestinians have had their own government, which regulates almost every aspect of their lives. Unlike South African Bantustans, the PA government is recognized by most countries of the world and functions outside of Israeli control.

Under the Oslo Agreements, the PA government and Israel agreed on a framework for dividing authority and jurisdiction in areas where their governments and populations are intertwined. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) report cites those very features as evidence of apartheid - in effect saying that the internationally-backed Oslo Accords, for which several Nobel Peace Prizes were awarded, is equivalent to apartheid.

All of the movement restrictions and the separation wall were established not as part of a policy of racial separation, but only in response to the murderous wave of terror unleashed by the PA in 2000, which killed over 1,000 Israelis. HRW tries to paint self-defense as subjugation, and thus makes no mention of the mass-murder of Israeli civilians.

"Israel apartheid" is not just a lie, it is an inversion of the truth. In all areas controlled by Israel, Jews and Arabs mix freely and openly. Yet all the areas under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority are Jew-free. The Palestinian constitution defines "Palestine" as an exclusively "Arab nation," makes Islam the official religion and Arabic the sole official language.

Yisrael Medad: 'You Do to Us What the Nazis Did to You'

One of the central propaganda lines of the pro-Arab Palestine school of misleading misinformation is that the establishment of the state of Israel was made, and ageed to by Europe and America, as a form of an assuaging of their guilt for their responsibility for the Holocaust.

The line continues that the Arabs are being forced to pay for the sins of Europe which is unfair. Europe wants to placate their consciousness over the year 1939-1945, do it somewhere else.

Of course, that ignores 3000 years of Jewish national identity bound up with the Land of Israel - which the Arabs turned into 'Palestine" after conquering it and then occupying it.

But I have now found a pre-war claim on that theme in the Palestine Post's review on January 26, 1939 of Arnold Toynbee's volume Survey of international Affairs, 1937 in which he asserts the Mandate of Palestine "pays for Europe's sins".

MEMRI: Jerusalem's Supreme Muslim Council, Headed By Grand Mufti Hajj Amin Al-Husseini, In 1925: The Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound's 'Identity With The Site Of Solomon's Temple Is Beyond Dispute'

The Haram Al-Sharif Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the old city of Jerusalem, known to Christians and Jews as the Temple Mount, is a focal point of tensions between Israel and the Palestinians.

In 1925, the Jerusalem-based Supreme Muslim Council,[1] which was headed by Grand Mufti Hajj Amin Al-Husseini, published a 16-page informational booklet about the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound titled A Brief Guide to Al-Haram Al-Sharif. The booklet establishes that the site is holy to Jews and that the ancient Jewish temples had stood there (contemporary Palestinian figures often reject such claims about the Temple Mount and about its historical and religious significance to Jews – see Appendix I).

Following are the quotes from the booklet (see Appendix II for the full booklet).

Excerpts From The Booklet
Page 4:
"The site is one of the oldest in the world. Its sanctity dates from the earliest (perhaps from pre-historic) times. Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to the universal belief, on which 'David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings [2 Samuel 24:25].'"

"[The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound's] identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute."

Page 16:
"Little is known for certain of the early history of the chamber itself. It dates probably as far back as the construction of Solomon's Temple."

"[The Solomon's Stables chamber] dates probably as far back as the construction of Solomon's Temple."

The Jordanian Government Erases Mention Of The Temples In The 1966 Updated Version Of The 1925 Booklet

It should be noted that in 1966, the Jordanian Ministry of Awqaf (to which the Supreme Muslim Council's functions were transferred in 1951) published a new version of the Supreme Muslim Council's booklet, titled A Brief Guide to the Dome of the Rock and Al-Haram Al-Sharif.

In this new version, there are very few mentions of the compound's pre-Islamic history, and not one mention of the Jewish Temples. The term "temple" was only used twice in the 1966 booklet, on pages 20 and 60, in reference to when the Crusaders dubbed the Dome of the Rock "Templum Domini" ("The Lord's Temple") and the adjacent Al-Aqsa Mosque "Templum Solomonis" ("Solomon's Temple," a term that also refers to the First Temple).

Today, construction started on an elevator at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.

It took years any many court cases. The Jewish community offered to work with the Hebron municipality on the design, only to be refused. The elevator will be available to Jews and Muslims. Up until today, people who are wheelchair bound had to be literally carried up in order to see the holy site.

In other words, this is a no-brainer.

Except - anything Jews do is automatically awful.

Palestine Today describes it this way:

The attempts of the “ Israeli ” occupation to Judaize in the Ibrahimi Mosque in the city of Khalil al-Rahman never stops. The installation of the metal structure of the electric elevator comes within the framework of strengthening the comprehensive Jewish grip on the city, including the Ibrahimi Mosque , and transforming the Islamic aspect into a Jewish one.

The Mufti of Jerusalem also says this is a Judaization crime:

The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories and the preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, affirmed that the occupation authorities yesterday removed parts of the Ibrahimi Mosque, the “White Staircase”, as a “racist Judaization crime.”

In a press statement, Sheikh Hussein said: "What is happening comes within the framework of the occupation authorities' plans to change the landmarks of the archaeological site and complete the "electric elevator" project, which it intends to build to serve the settlers' incursions."

He explained that these measures of the occupation authorities lead to depriving Palestinian citizens of performing their religious rites in their mosques....

The funny thing is that the exact types of people who support disability rights will be the ones who are the most adamantly against this.

In the hierarchy of social justice issues, Jew-hate is at the top.

UN Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons

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Tantalus Glad At Least He Not Yair Lapid Chasing Premiership (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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Tantalus Tartarus, May 26 - A Greek demigod sentenced to have the objects of his fondest desires always eluding his grasp took solace today upon realizing that the fate of Israel's current Alternative Prime Minister outstrips his own in intensity: whereas the demigod suffers the constant deprivation of the delicious fruit above and the refreshing water below him always moving away when he reaches for them, the head of the Yesh Atid Party suffers even more, by having the helm of the Jewish State within his reach twice already, only to have the government collapse once and on the verge of doing so again - when the coalition agreement calls for him to assume the office of prime minister late next year.

Tantalus, the forever-tormented son of the god Zeus and the nymph Plouto, conceded Thursday that he does not envy Yair Lapid, who will, it appears, be denied his long-coveted opportunity to become Prime Minister of Israel because the current government of Naftali Bennett hangs by a thread that weakens each day.

"Oh, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes," remarked the mythological figure whose name gave English the word "tantalizing." "That level of seeing something you've been working toward for years and years, only to watch, helplessly, as it slips away from you not once, but twice, perhaps more... Well, as Count Rugen put it in The Princess Bride, when he thinks he's just fatally wounded Inigo Montoya and foiled the lifelong vendetta, 'I think that's the worst thing I've ever heard.'"

Lapid, the son of the late kingmaking centrist politician Yosef Lapid, and a former television personality, launched his political career during the previous decade and in the interim has formed a series of alliances that he parlayed into a succession of power-sharing arrangements, the latest of which has him assuming the premiership in late 2023 - but, like the previous governments that Yesh Atid has helped form, the current one drifts ever-closer to collapse: a razor-thin majority in the 120-seat Knesset degraded even further last month when one lawmaker defected to the opposition; the only reason for the government's survival lies in the fractured nature of that opposition and its inability to unite around an alternative. Continued dissatisfaction among the Coalition members, whose ideologically-diverse composition prevents significant legislation on a range of critical issues facing the country and contributes to mounting frustration that experts predict will topple the government within the next several months - and deprive Lapid of yet another opportunity to rule that he has coveted for so long.

"Yeah, I've got it bad, but Zeus must really, really have it in for old Yair," mused Tantalus. "I wonder what Lapid did to rouse such Olympian ire?"

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05/26 Links Pt1: As Israelis, we should march proudly in our capital; CNN’s Farcical Investigation Concludes Israel ‘Targeted’ Al Jazeera Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

From Ian:

Israel Confronts Iranian Aggression and Renewed Palestinian Terror

The most important and most dangerous challenge for Israel is the progress in the Iranian nuclear military program. There has been a sharp increase in the pace in which the Iranians are developing their program and the pace in which they are enriching uranium.

The Iranians are moving very fast towards having the capability to have enough fissile material for several bombs within a very short period of time. This means Iran is deep into the area where it can be called a threshold nuclear country.

There is a big debate among the experts about how much time it is going to take before the Iranians have the weapon itself. Some think it's going to take two years. I'm much more pessimistic because I think that the Iranians don't work in a linear way to first produce the enriched uranium and then start worrying about how to turn it into a bomb.

While Israel doesn't see eye-to-eye with the Americans on returning to the Iran nuclear deal, it does cooperate with the Americans on trying to convince the Iranians that moving forward is going to be dangerous. We are in the midst of a big military exercise in which Israel cooperates with the Americans in the modeling of an attack on the Iranian nuclear facilities.

Israel has been facing an increase in the number of Palestinian terror attacks in the last couple of months, which have gone beyond the usual level of terrorism. This has forced Israel to launch Operation "Break the Wave" and act in ways beyond what it was doing before, mainly in the Jenin area and the northern part of Judea and Samaria.

Perhaps the most disturbing issue that's happening in Israel is the rise of Palestinian nationalistic feelings and religious Islamic feelings among Israeli Arabs. The Arabs living in Israel don't go into the streets because they have some economic difficulties. This is a very minor element in the equation.

As Israelis, we should march proudly in our capital

Someone has to stop the insanity. Just like every other capital around the world, Jerusalem hosts mass marches. Of those held in the capital, the Flag Dance march is one of the oldest and most beautiful. Tens of thousands of religious Zionist youths, usually dressed in white, walk the streets of the eternal city, the same city generations of Jews have prayed toward. There is nothing wrong with that.

The only ones angered by the march are the last remnants of the Arab nation who continue to dream of wiping out the Jewish state. A majority of them reside in Israel and refuse to accept the ruler of the land. That is why they depict a beautiful march that represents the love of a people for their land as a provocation.

Unfortunately, too many Israelis are falling for this garbage. Instead of rejecting the threats of violence outright, they take them into consideration and are even willing to surrender to them. Worse still, for some reason, the diplomatic echelon discusses considerations for holding the march and on what route with foreign countries. That is unacceptable.

Does it sound reasonable to you for a country to ask its neighbors for permission to hold a march in its capital? Do Jordan, Egypt, or Qatar, update Israel on mass events in their territories? Does London, Paris, or Madrid receive authorization in advance from Washington for their marches, parades, and celebrations? When it comes to the flag march, things have gotten downright bizarre. And it's not paying off for us either.

US Embassy bans employees from Old City during Jerusalem Day, and previous Friday

The US Embassy in Jerusalem has issued restrictions to its employees and their families on entering the Old City ahead of Sunday’s contentious Jerusalem Day Flag March.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the embassy banned all US government employees, as well as their families, from entering the Old City at any time on Sunday, May 29, the day the march is slated to occur, and on the previous Friday, when there is higher Muslim turnout of prayers.

The embassy also told employees and their families that — at least through Monday — they cannot enter the Old City after dark. In addition, the statement said, employees cannot use Damascus, Herod’s, and Lions’ gates.

The ban is being instituted due to “ongoing tensions and potential security issues,” the embassy said, without explicitly naming the Flag March. The embassy also urged all US citizens in Israel to “remain vigilant and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness” at this time.

Report: US Asked Israel to Reexamine Jerusalem Flag Parade Route

Senior US officials have asked the Israelis to reexamine the route of Sunday’s Jerusalem Day flag march through the Old City, Ynet News reports.

The Americans are concerned that the current route, which passes through Damascus Gate and the Muslim Quarter, could raise tensions and cause a flare-up.

Gaza-based terrorist groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have issued warnings to Israel about the parade.

Opponents of the flag march see the route through the Old City’s Muslim Quarter as a provocation, with supporters seeing it as an expression of Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem.

Organizers of the event on Tuesday said that attendance would be limited at specific points of the march, including at Damascus Gate and the Western Wall.

Attendance at the Western Wall will be limited to 16,000 participants.

With all due respect @USAmbIsrael Nides, Israel does not tell you where to march or not in Washington DC, so please do not tell us we cannot walk in our own capital, Jerusalem. https://t.co/Q5smUaMklQ
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) May 26, 2022

Nasrallah, speaking from his bunker, says Israel has been frightened ever since his 2000 "spider web" speech

Hezbollah's mouthpiece Al Manar has a bizarre analysis of Israeli psyche:

22 years after Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah delivered the victory speech in Bint Jbeil town, Southern Lebanon, during which his eminence described ‘Israel’ as weaker than the spider web, ‘Israel’ is suffering from the repercussions of those words.

The Zionist analysts considered that the “Spider Web” Speech has imposed itself on the collective mind of the Israelis and pushed the experts to study it thoroughly.

The Israeli analysts added that Sayyed Nasrallah’s words have been pounding the pillars of the Zionist entity since 2000, noting that they psychologically influenced the Israeli mind.

It is a shame that Al Manar didn't name these "Zionist analysts" who claim Israel is suffering from psychotic fear of Lebanese might.

Nasrallah has made the spider web analogy many times since 2000, and in a Hezbollah museum the centerpiece exhibit is called the Spider's Web with photos and models of damaged Israeli weapons and dead IDF soldiers.

By an incredible coincidence, Nasrallah made a speech Wednesday night, where he parroted what this article said!

Sayyed Nasrallah labelled the “Spider’s Web” speech as a one that has engraved a deep scar among the leaders of the ‘Israeli’ entity and its army, leading them to live in a psychological disorder of the entity’s 8th decade.

It will be noted that when Nasrallah made that speech in 2000, he was outside. This week's speech showed him in a secret underground bunker where he can hide from an Israeli airstrike.

That has been the site of every one of his speeches since 2006.

If he wants to speak about psychological scars inflicted by the enemy, perhaps he should start with his own. Even Hamas leaders give speeches in public, but our Mr. Nasrallah seems to have a mental aversion to public speaking that must have some source.

(The spider web analogy comes from the Quran, 29:41: "Those who take protectors other than Allah can be compared to spiders building themselves houses- the spider’s is the frailest of all houses- if only they could understand.")

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Jordan names a street after a terrorist who murdered over 20 students at a school

As the world mourns the young victims of the mass shooting in Uvalde, it is worth looking at how Palestinians and Jordanians regard another shooting at a school in Israel 48 years ago this month.

On May 15, 1974 - what is now celebrated as "Nakba Day" - three Palestinian Arab DFLP terrorists went on a shooting spree in Ma'alot, Israel, where they killed many - including shooting a 4 year old boy and his pregnant mother dead. The attack culminated in them taking 105 hostages at the Netiv Meir Elementary School, their target, where high school students from Tzfat (Safed) were staying during a field trip. They placed explosive charges between the students forced to the floor at gunpoint.

During a rescue operation, the terrorists sprayed the students with machine gun fire and tossed grenades at another group of girls. A total of 31 people were killed, including 22 students.

Palestinian websites recall this attack fondly. The Palestinian Encyclopedia calls it the Tarshiha Operation and calls the three terrorists "martyrs," proudly noting that they made it through Israeli security.

One of the terrorists, Muhammad Muslih Salim Dardour, has a street named after him in Ramtha, Jordan, his birthplace:

But this street wasn't named after him in 1974, or indeed at any time before Jordan's peace treaty with Israel. Dardour received this posthumous honor in August, 2020! He was praised as a heroic martyr. Even though the goal of the DFLP to force the release of over 20 hostages was unsuccessful, the attack is still regarded as a success, because so many Jews were murdered.

Yes, the kingdom of Jordan sees fit to honor the murderer of 31 Israelis - the Jordanian version of Uvalde shooter Salvador Ramos - today.

Perhaps this story flew under the radar in 2020, but Israel should strongly protest this obscene honor given to one of the most notorious terrorists in history.

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UPDATES: It appears that the gunshot that killed Abu Akleh came from Jenin militants

On Tuesday night, I wrote up an analysis that explained why I felt that it was likely that the IDF had accidentally killed Shireen Abu Akleh.

I was very bothered all day, because I simply couldn't figure out a plausible way for Palestinian militants in the areas we knew them to be to have fired the shots that was consistent with the audio analysis I had been doing, calculating the distance of the gunfire using the roughly 300 millisecond difference in time between the shockwave from the bullet and the muzzle sound (the bullet is much faster than sound.)

After I wrote it up, I realized something that bothered me far, far more. Two of the gunshots that were heard later on in the video had a similar audio signature, and those were the ones that seemed to be aimed at the reporters trying to retrieve Shireen's body. That appears to be targeted fire towards the reporters, not a mistake from aiming elsewhere. There is simply no way the IDF would be deliberately aiming at the reporters as CNN and Bellingcat and AP believe - but I could not find a plausible alternative theory.

But thanks to Jon C., writing at Israellycool, there is not only a plausible theory - but a far better one.

He notes that there was another group of militants that were in the area at roughly the same time, to the southeast, as seen in this video taken facing north:

They were located in this tweet. Light blue is the position of the photographer, yellow is the direction they are walking, purple is where they are, red is where Abu Akleh was killed.

Ground-level photos of the area are not complete. The ones I have seen show a wall, one reason I didn't look closer at this yesterday, and also because I assumed that they would be firing towards the IDF convoy directly to their west - a very visible target. The audio analysis did not support that scenario.

However, that video is only a point in time. Further north, for example, there is an opening in the wall to the north and there are very possibly others. And sometimes there are holes in the walls of the area that can be used for firing positions.

Furthermore, we know from other video that at least some militants were firing from roofs. There are plenty of buildings there that could be used as a firing position, either from a roof or from windows. The video above, after all, was clearly made from an upper floor or a roof.

The point is that the area of the militants in this video are at the correct distance to fit the audio analysis.

Jon C. makes a very salient point:

I have been extremely curious about the possibility that Palestinian gunmen could have mistaken Abu Aqleh and her team for IDF soldiers. If they saw helmets just above the wall, from the side, through the brush, it could be easy to mistake them for soldiers.

We know that the militants from the south shouted out that an IDF soldier was down. They might have themselves seen Abu Akleh fall from the roof, but they might have also heard it from a cellphone or walkie talkie from the militants we are looking at.

This is what the scene looks like from where Abu Akleh was towards the southeast. The tarp and brush across from her would seem to allow lots of partial views of her and the reporters - reporters that made sure the IDF knew where they were but who didn't tell the other side.

From a distance of 170 meters, without a scope and in the heat of battle, and with bushes and trees partially obscuring the view, it is very plausible that trigger happy Palestinians were shooting at anything that looked vaguely military - meaning reporters in flak jackets with helmets. And if they were convinced that they shot a soldier, then they would also want to shoot at anyone who went to help that downed soldier.

This is exactly what Palestinian terrorists would do. This is not what the IDF would do.

Also, I was bothered by the speed of the volleys of gunshots - that did not appear to fit the IDF pattern of one shot at a time. I couldn't figure out any alternative explanation. Palestinian terrorists with the same M16 guns, though, would squeeze off as many shots as they could. And this also explains the inaccuracy of the bullet holes in the tree next to Abu Akleh - a professional soldier from 200 meters away would not shoot so wildly.

B'Tselem had someone on the scene within hours to debunk the theory that they (falsely) claimed the IDF floated that the gunman in one video was actually shooting at Abu Akleh. But there are no NGOs or reporters who have gone on the scene in the past two weeks to look at evidence that Palestinians could have shot Abu Akleh, including from AP or CNN. They went to confirm their biased ideas, not to look objectively at the possibilities.

The firing patterns, timing, and evident aiming at helmeted figures by non-professionals fit this pattern better than what I had written. We are missing pieces of the puzzle - namely finding a line of sight from the southeast and then measuring exact distances - but this is a far better and more likely theory than my earlier thoughts that only the IDF was the appropriate distance away.

UPDATE: CNN shows the location of the bullet holes in the tree that was next to Abu Akleh. The top one could not have easily come from the direct south where the IDF was, it came more from the east. The only way all three bullet holes make sense is firing from the southeast, not due south.

UPDATE 2/3: Adin Haykin noticed something that makes it seemingly impossible for the IDF to have shot the bullets at the tree.

The tree is behind a building from the south!

Here's the tree from the north in one of the last scenes where Abu Akleh is alive:

It is hard to tell from that photo that the trunk is set back from the street and behind the building, but this Bing satellite view makes it very clear:

There appears to be no angle to allow a shot from where the IDF was to hit that tree!

This is not 100%. This screenshot shows the tree and an IDF armored vehicle (h/t DigFind.)

But from this angle it is hard to tell where the building edge is - it is behind the foliage. We cannot assume that the center of the tree in the satellite image is the trunk. But between this and the bullet hole on the east side of the tree, chances of IDF fire hitting it are low.

UPDATE 4: Here's the best angle I can find of the tree, and it still isn't clear if the tree could be hit by IDF fire (but people in the street certainly could.)

UPDATE 4A: Parts of the trunk do seem to be line of sight (although the angle is suspect), so until I find out more this is not a fruitful avenue.

UPDATE 5: Bellingcat's analysis of the distance from the gun to Shireen says that the gun was between 177 and 184 meters away, and it draws this picture that showed that the IDF position is about 20 meters outside that radius:

They don't address that discrepancy, saying, "This estimate more closely aligns with the approximate distance between the IDF position and the site of the journalist’s killing than between the latter and the location of the armed groups."

In other words, since it is a relatively small discrepancy and they cannot think of anyone else who might be in that range, we have to accept that the scientific calculation is a little bit off.

However, the distance that they should be measuring is from the camera (whose microphone captures the sounds) and not from Shireen. Moreover, they need to extend the radius to not only include the street going south, but all potential places that terrorists can be.

So their map should look like this:

The IDF is now some 40 meters outside the range. The differences in muzzle velocity and temperature would not account for that large a discrepancy.

But the range does include the places we saw the militants in the video above.

UPDATE 6: Like the first few seconds of this video, showing at least 15 militants in that exact area shown above. Do they look like a disciplined crew, or do they look like people who are hunting soldiers and who will shoot at anything they see with a helmet? (h/t Jonah B)

We still don't have proof of line of sight, but all we need for that is someone from a major media company to go and check it out, because they are sworn to uphold objectivity and to dig for the truth, no matter where it takes them.....right?

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05/25 Links Pt2: How Jewish support for ‘anti-racism’ empowered anti-Semitism; Caroline Glick: Radicals at war against Judeo-Christian roots of Western society

From Ian:

Jonathan Tobin: How Jewish support for ‘anti-racism’ empowered anti-Semitism

While the idea that black lives matter was never up for debate, it was in that atmosphere that so much of the organized Jewish world felt impelled to sign on to support for the movement itself. That seemed like a cost-free gesture that allowed Jewish groups to virtue signal their opposition to racism. What they didn’t count on was the way this effort helped intersectional ideology, which falsely analogizes the Palestinian war on Israel to the struggle for civil rights in the United States, to become the guiding force behind an increasingly powerful left wing of the Democratic Party.

In this way, the catechism of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) became not just pervasive on college campuses but the official policy endorsed by President Joe Biden on his first day in the White House in January 2021. Biden’s equity agenda, which is now being implemented in every government department, isn’t about promoting equality. In this context, equity means the opposite. It mandates racial discrimination while promoting the “white privilege” narrative in which Jews are transformed from a minority that is under attack from anti-Semites on both the left and right into part of an oppressor class. It allows an anti-Semitic BDS movement to similarly play the victim while the objects of its discriminatory campaign are treated as villainous opponents of “people of color,” despite the fact that the majority of Jewish Israelis trace their origins to the Middle East and North Africa.

Those voices raised against Jews—whether in academic settings where DEI has become inextricably linked to increased anti-Semitism, on the floor of Congress where the left-wing “Squad’s” embrace of lies about Israel has led to violence on American streets or in the mainstream media where anti-Zionism acts as a cover for anti-Semitism—have grown louder and more accepted in the last two years.

Legitimizing such a movement may not have been the intention of the Jewish leaders who signed declarations supporting BLM. Racism is terrible and opposing it is laudable. But by going along with the mob mentality that embraced the “1619” lies and legitimized a heretofore radical BLM movement, that’s exactly what they helped foster. That many of them also attacked and sought to treat those Jews who spoke up against it, such as the Zionist Organization of America, as beyond the pale is even more disgraceful.

The organized Jewish world needs to take a hard look at its mistakes and admit that its desire to play the fashionable “anti-racist” card strengthened forces that are inimical to Jewish interests, as well as to the cause of equality and racial harmony for American society. If the Jewish community is to successfully confront the rising tide of anti-Semitism on the left that the BLM moment empowered, there must first be a reckoning about why these groups failed to stand their ground against this dangerous trend in 2020.

Gil Troy: Zionist behavioral therapy can end antisemitism

Psychology of bigotry
Psychologists have long shown how perverse perceptions imprison people in misanthropic misconceptions. CBT – cognitive behavioral therapy – helps patients reframe their understandings of reality. Beware mental filters, therapists warn, brain fritzes blocking or shrinking the good, the generous, the comforting, while locking in and overinflating the bad, the negative, the unnerving. Such reframing, such brain fixes, reprogram what people see to be more accurate and constructive.

Instead, regarding Israel, many prefer de-framing – reframing reality to defame. Popular anti-Zionist perversions include:
Stretching: Anti-Zionists love “kitchen-sinking,” throwing everything at Israel, including the kitchen sink. As bogeymen rise and fall, fanatics try hogtying Israel to the big crime of the moment or the latest, trendiest ideological sin, like the Great Replacement theory, just as Israel is forever accused of racist, imperialist, colonialist crimes other powers committed, not Israel.

Indicting: Any mistake any Israeli makes, or any crime any Israeli commits, supposedly justifies Israel’s permanent place in the dockets of the UN, the International Criminal Court, and much of the human rights community. Somehow, mini-Israel looms super-large in the craziest worst-case scenarios of the far Left and the far Right.

Catastrophizing: It’s all black-and-white, totally bleak, regarding Israel. Too many conversations about Israel become no-nuance and complexity-free zones. Anything Israel does ends up integrated into some systematic conspiracy against the always blameless Palestinians. A journalist can die accidentally in a firefight, yet anti-Israel congresswomen declare that Israeli snipers targeted her, as though these 20-year-old soldiers fighting for their lives knew who she was – or cared.

Calcifying: For anti-Zionists making up twistory, time stands still, nothing ever changes, progress must be ignored. It’s too much fun to keep shrieking about “Deir Yasin” and the supposed “Nakba,” as though it’s still 1948. And it’s too tempting to ignore Israel’s many attempts to make peace with Palestinians, its breakthroughs with Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, Morocco, and the Sudan, let alone countries like Saudi Arabia, which informally cooperate with the “Zionists.”

The 'Nakba' - catastrophe or success? - comment

In the intervening 70+ years the Nakba, or catastrophe, which Zurayk emphatically defined as the failure of ineffectual Arab states, who sought “the abolition of partition and the eradication of Zionism” only to “leave the battle having lost a not inconsiderable portion of the soil of Palestine” has been disingenuously redefined as the expulsion of Palestinians from part of the proposed State of Palestine.

In fact, in his book Zurayk made no mention of the Palestinians as a people or the formation of the State of Israel. The Nakba was the self-inflicted wound of the Arabs, not of Israel.

The politicized hijacking of a term the Nakba which bemoaned the absence of pan-Arab unity and castigated Arabs for their failings, into a term of abuse against Israel is a calculated and continuous act of deception, designed to absolve Arab states of blame and condemn Israel for successfully defending itself against attack.

Zurayk’s dismal conclusion on the outlook for Arab youth was as prescient as it was depressing. He accurately predicted that the absence of Arab unity would cause future generations to “fall prey to some destructive movement and find their consolation in uproar and disturbance for its own sake, regardless of the result”. Seventy years later, the pointless brutality of Hamas, Hezbollah and the PLO shows just how devastating the Nakba, or Arab failure, has been for Arab hope and Arab lives.

Unwilling to establish lasting peace
The recent treaty known as the Abraham Accords, which saw the four Arab Gulf states, the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, formally establish diplomatic relations with Israel, left the Palestinians looking isolated in the Middle East. Sadly, their isolation is self-inflicted. The Sunni Arab world is moving on and refusing to accept a veto from the West Bank or Gaza in the face of a growing threat from Iran.

In the absence of any movement on peace talks or willingness by Palestinians to negotiate, standing by the Palestinians is no longer a priority for the Gulf States, as protecting themselves from Iranian aggression is.

While most Palestinians are weary of their corrupt, ineffectual leaders and would welcome the chance of elections and a fresh start, neither seems to be on the agenda. 87 year old Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas probably isn’t the solution to constant factional infighting and endemic corruption, so in all likelihood, the Palestinian politics of grudge and grievance will continue.

Today, Palestinians and their apologists worldwide should stop to consider these realities and face up to the fact that the Nakba describes their failure, not Israel’s success.