Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Fatah says it kidnapped a soldier. Soldier disagrees.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades came out with a video where they claim to have abducted an Israeli soldier named Yaron Snitman:

For proof, they show this nameplate:

Meanwhile, Snitman is on Facebook telling people he is OK.

Apparently, according to one of the YouTube commenters who is a friend, Snitman's shoe plate was lost in battle in Gaza.

(h/t Bob Knot)

Donald Macintyre (Independent, New Statesman) corrects a Gaza lie with another lie

From The New Statesman, in a long report by Donald Macintyre:

[T]en-year-old Mohammed Badran... was blinded in an Israeli air strike but at the hospital he seemed unaware that his entire family had been killed when a missile destroyed their home at the Nuseirat refugee camp. Not understanding the nature of his injury, he repeatedly asked staff, “Why have you switched the lights off?”

But there is a correction:

Update, 12 August: Mohammed Badran’s family turned out not to have been killed in the strike on his home, as had been reported here. In the confusion of a packed Shifa Hospital, the doctors treating him in the burns unit thought he had lost his parents and all his siblings. In fact, although seven of the Badrans’ nine children were also injured in the attack, including their 17-year-old daughter Eman, who is now also in Shifa with serious leg injuries, Mohammed’s parents Tagorid and Nidal Badran both survived to take care of him. That is until Nidal, 44, a policeman, was killed in another air strike, this time on the Qassam mosque in Nusseirat refugee camp, in the early hours of Saturday, 9 August, as he prepared to attend dawn prayers.

So the bloodthirsty Israelis, not satisfied with only injuring members of this upstanding family, ruthlessly murdered the patriarch as he was innocently preparing for dawn prayers.

However, Nidal was not at the mosque for dawn prayers. He was there at 3:30 AM meeting together with two other senior Hamas members, as my story earlier today showed. It is clear that the destroyed mosque held some other secrets that Hamas was trying to keep reporters away from.

The three terrorists killed in the mosque were Nidal Badran (نضال بدران), Maaz Zayed (معاذ زايد) and
Tariq Jadallah (وطارق جاد الله).

Suddenly, the targeting of the Badran house seems a little less random, doesn't it?

By the way, the Arabic media never refers to the three Hamas members killed at the mosque as being anything other than civilians. PCHR and AP mentions that they were militants but doesn't mention their names.

Macintyre mentioned Nidal Badran's death in an earlier story for the Independent, describing the strike this way:

Israeli bombing this morning destroyed one of the largest mosques in central Gaza, killing at least three Palestinians preparing for dawn prayers, including the father of a severely injured ten year old boy blinded in an earlier strike on their home a week ago.

Two bulldozers are searching through the mountain of rubble left by the F16 air strike on the Al Qassam mosque in the heart of the crowded Nusseirat refugee camp for the last of four men who had been in a room set aside for customary washing before prayers when the bomb struck shortly after 3am.

Among the three bodies recovered was that of Nidal Badran, 44, who had been desperately hoping that his son Mohammed, who is currently in Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital suffering from serious cranio-facial injuries, including the loss of his sight, would be transferred for urgently needed surgery to Europe.

The PCHR article describing the men killed as being "members of an armed group" was already published at that time, so Macintyre did not bother to do even the least amount of fact checking about the terrorist Nidal Badran before describing him sympathetically - twice.

Macintyre did report that Israel issued a warning before destroying the mosque, but that it did not reach the Hamas members in time.

And it wasn't as if Macintyre didn't have a clue. He knew Badran was a policeman, and every decent reporter in Gaza should know that the vast majority of policemen have traditionally also been members of the Al Qassam Brigades.

Just another media whitewash of Hamas.

Oh, and check this out:

{T]he dead man’s brother Kemal Badran, 45, who works for the information office of the UN refugee agency UNRWA, said that his brother had had 20 years’ service as a policeman in Gaza... “He was a religious man,” he added, saying that he frequently went early to the mosque before dawn prayers to wash and read the Koran. “Maybe [the Israelis] did not know that there would be anyone at the mosque at this time,” he said.

PCHR clearly knew that Nidal was a terrorist...and so did his UNRWA brother.

You cannot trust anything Gazans tell a reporter. Too bad reporters are so eager to believe the lies.

(h/t Honest Reporting, Bob K)

"The Qualities of Jews in the Quran"

Muslims never tire of saying to the Western media that they have no problem with Jews, they have wonderful Jewish friends and supporters, and all they are against are Zionists.

In Arabic, the story is a little different.

Dubai-based pan-Arab news site Moheet interviews a professor who discusses how Jews are portrayed in Islam's foundational text, the Quran.

Among the attributes of Jews that Muslims memorize every day:

Jews steal money
Jews use usury to enrich themselves and impoverish non-Jews
Jews don't care about human life
Jews are cowards, hiding behind fortified walls
Jews betray all agreements and covenants
Jews distort words of holy books
Jews are killers of prophets and other fine people
Jews want to extinguish the light of Allah
Jews bring corruption to the lands they are in

Just in case you think that the article is really talking about Zionists and this was all a big mistake, here is their illustration:

As usual, this article did not cause a ripple of disagreement ot an ounce of discomfort in the Arab world. No condemnations, no distancing, no quibbles.

And, in the West...no coverage.

Because it would be really awkward to notice that Arabs are far more antisemitic than anyone else, and that the antisemitism has nothing to do with Israel. If that was true, peace would be impossible, and to say that is sacrilegious - since holding on to the unfounded belief of this being a purely political conflict than can be solved with diplomacy is as irrational, and as irrationally defended, as any religion is.

Al Qassam Mosque with a conveniently placed child

From AP:

Only the minaret still stands after an Israeli airstrike reduced Gaza's Al-Qassam Mosque to a heap of concrete, iron rods and dust. Hours after the pre-dawn attack, rescue workers searched in the rubble, residents gathered — and plainclothes Hamas security agents mingled among them.

Also known as the Grand Mosque, it was one of 63 that Israel has destroyed in its monthlong war with Hamas, according to Palestinian officials. The reason, Israel says, is that Hamas is using mosques to stockpile weapons and rocket launchers, and to hide tunnels used to infiltrate into Israel and carry out attacks.

Gaza's Hamas rulers deny the accusation, saying Israel is waging a war against Islam. On the ground, many Gazans react the same, saying Israel is attacking their faith.

In its determination to go after what it says are militant arsenals, Israel is throwing aside any reluctance it had in the past to hit religious sites for fear of a diplomatic backlash. In Israel's week-long 2012 air campaign in Gaza, not a single mosque was hit. In the three-week 2008-2009 war with Hamas, Israel shelled 17 mosques and toppled 20 minarets, saying they were used as Hamas military antennas.

During recent visits by The Associated Press to a half-dozen Gaza mosques destroyed by Israeli strikes, residents categorically denied they were used by Hamas as hideouts for its fighters or as storage places for its hardware.

"None, absolutely none," or "I never saw members of the resistance anywhere here" were the most common responses to queries about whether the militants used them for military purposes.

And, indeed, most of the targeted mosques did double as social, education and health centers for residents, offering them medical care, classes to memorize the Quran and eradicate illiteracy, as well as sports events like soccer and table tennis tournaments.

...Standing atop the ruins of the Al-Qassam Mosque in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp, Abu Bilal Darwish, the director of Islamic Endowments for central Gaza, echoed the same argument.

"This is aggression against Islam," he declared. "The occupiers realize that our mosques raise men and people who desire martyrdom for the sake of God."

Then, in paragraph 18, after the reader was exposed to information of how mosques are important to gaza's social fabric as well as perfunctorily mentioning that Israel says they are often used for terror, AP actually reports some facts - the only paragraph in the entire article that indicates the slightest deviation from the theme of Israel attacking mosques to hurt Gazans:

Of the mosques visited by the AP, Al-Qassam stood out as the most suspicious given that three senior Hamas officials perished in the pre-dawn airstrike Saturday and judging by the heavy security presence in the aftermath of the attack. Underlining the tension, an AP reporter was briefly detained by plainclothes Hamas security men after he took down the names of two religious books recovered from the rubble.

The strike was at 3:30 AM, according to PCHR.

Not too many table tennis tournaments happening then.

But instead of a story about how it proved that Hamas indeed uses mosques for military means - why else would Hamas security be detaining the reporter - AP buried that fact and highlighted how Israel seems to be targeting them for no reason, or as an attack on Islam itself.

EoZ lecture at Manhattan Jewish Experience (video)

Last night I gave a lecture at the Manhattan Jewish Experience. The venue was standing-room only, which was cool.

The topic was "New Media and the Gaza War."

It was a 45 minute talk, but for some reason I lost about 10 minutes when I accidentally turned off my recorder at some point. Despite that, I hope you enjoy the talk:

There were a full 45 minutes of questions afterwards, and given that the questions were what was between the audience and the wine and cheese - that's a lot of questions! If there is a lot of interest I can upload that too.

08/13 Links Pt2: It's Anti-Semitism, Stupid; Israelis Infiltrate 'Israeli-Free' Bradford; Lauren Bacall RIP

From Ian:

Efraim Karsh: It's Anti-Semitism, Stupid

The truth of the matter is that since anti-Semites have never really distinguished among Zionists, Israelis and Jews (notwithstanding repeated protestations to the contrary), and since Israel is the world's only Jewish state, it has been tacitly construed as epitomizing the worst characteristics traditionally associated with Jews and has attracted the full brunt of anti-Jewish bigotry and hatred hitherto reserved for individuals and communities, not least because it has reversed the millenarian Jewish condition of dispersal, minority status and powerlessness. If prior to Israel's establishment Jews were despised because of their wretchedness and helplessness, they have hitherto been reviled because of their newly discovered physical and political empowerment.
So much so that 64 years after its establishment by an internationally recognized act of self-determination, the Jewish state remains the only state in the world whose right to self-defense, indeed to national existence, is constantly challenged.
In Lord Byron's memorable words: "The wild dove hath her nest, the fox his cove, mankind their country – Israel but the grave."

Hamas manipulated and intimidated the media in Gaza. Why was that kept from us?

Let's review what we know.
Indian television station NDTV broadcast and posted on its internet site on 5 August a report by Sreenivasan Jain showing rockets fired from a tent next to his hotel. In the accompanying text on NDTV’s website, Jain wrote that it was published "after our team left the Gaza Strip – Hamas has not taken very kindly to any reporting of its rockets being fired. But just as we reported the devastating consequences of Israel’s offensive on Gaza’s civilians, it is equally important to report on how Hamas places those very civilians at risk by firing rockets deep from the heart of civilian zones." In an article published subsequently, Jain wrote of "the fear which hobbles the reporting such material: fear of reprisals from Hamas against us", asking "how long do we self-censor because of the fear of personal safety in return for not telling a story that exposes how those launching rockets are putting so many more lives at risk, while the rocket-makers themselves are at a safe distance?"
The long Hamas record of shutting down news bureaus, arresting reporters and cameramen, confiscating equipment and beating journalists has already been documented by the Committee to Protect Journalists. In the latest conflict Hamas wanted to reduce the reports coming out of Gaza to what Reinhold Niebuhr once called "emotionally potent over-simplifications". Journalists from India, America, Norway, Italy, Spain, Australia, Canada and elsewhere are complaining. Will we now hear from the Brits?

Doublas Murray: Are "Integrated Muslims" Integrated?

Examples such as these seem to demonstrate what many people had already begun to observe on the streets among the anti-Israel crowds: that the protestors, who turn out in their thousands to spend weekend after weekend screaming hatred against Israel and Jews, are perhaps not, in fact, Islamists. Certainly, some of them are, but many are simply enraged Muslims. Some – just like Zayn Malik of One Direction – are people whom you would ordinarily have described as models of integration. Yet if it comes to any action of Israel's, they behave in a way no ordinary British person does or would.
This of course makes the challenge vastly bigger than many people may have thought. The problem is that a whole generation -- perhaps several -- has been taught to hate. What is notable, though, is that in a country such as Britain, most Muslims are descended from the Indian sub-continent. What is "Palestine" to them? It should have been nothing, or at least no more concern of theirs than anywhere else. But they do care differently about it. Perhaps it is part of the anti-Semitism that one British Muslim recently admitted to being "rife" and "the dirty little secret" among British Muslims.
What seems clear is that these otherwise '"integrated" people hate Israel and Jews because they have been taught to. They have been trained to carry over a bigotry and a bias that they may not even be aware of. It is a lot of hate to tackle, but it needs to be tackled, and it is important to start. The best place might be by tackling the lies and defamations that are allowed to go on underneath everyone's noses, such as the wholly frivolous -- and false -- accusations of Israeli "genocide," "war-crimes" and the like. It is going to require a lot of work, leadership, and the realization that the problem is worse than anyone had thought.

Noa Tishby: Artists without borders. Or facts.

It is challenging for someone who did not grow up in the region, as I did, to decipher what the hell is going on over there. However I wonder if Cruz and Bardem got a chance to read the Hamas Charter before signing their letter. They would’ve found that when Radical Political Islam reaches Spain – and we all know that it eventually will – Ms. Cruz and Mr. Bardem may find themselves on the very wrong side of history. After all, folk singer Pete Seeger and actor Paul Robeson did find Stalin to be highly admirable at first, and when American POWs claimed to have been tortured by the North Vietnamese, Jane Fonda rushed to publically call them hypocritical liars. They were in fact brutally tortured. And I don’t think I need to get into Stalin.
Media is to blame as well: it covers Israel and Palestine obsessively, largely because Israel, as a flourishing democracy, provides a safe place from which to do that. You won’t see Selena Gomez make fact-finding tours in, say, Syria or Iraq. Skewed coverage results in skewed perception and artists are as susceptible to misinformation as much as everyone else.
Should public personalities choose to get acquainted with the facts, they will also find out that Israel is the only Western Democracy in what is effectively a whole region of failed states. More so, they may actually decipher values from propaganda. What do these people you say you support stand for? What do they want? How naked does Rihanna think she can get if Political Islam achieves its international goals? (h/t Yoel)

More reporters notice Gazans criticizing Hamas

Once again...after the fact but at least a little bit of belated reporting, from the Washington Post:

Ziad Abu Halool says he is tired of seeing his neighborhood destroyed. He’s tired of having no running water for 10 days, no electricity for even longer. He’s tired of watching Hamas and other Palestinian militants fire rockets into Israel from his neighborhood — and tired of praying that Israeli retaliation won’t obliterate his house.

So, after more than a month of war and devastation, Abu Halool speaks words that once seemed unthinkable: He says that although he despises Israel, he also blames Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups for his woes.

They have “committed many mistakes,” said Abu Halool, a government employee. “All the Palestinian factions should stop firing rockets. It’s enough. We’ve been suffering.”

As the Palestinian death toll tops 1,900, more and more Gazans are questioning the decisions and strategies of Hamas, the militant Islamist group that tightly controls the Gaza Strip and is known to intimidate — and sometimes harm — those critical of its policies. Most of the disapproval is still beneath the surface, hinted at only in private conversations. But in battered enclaves such as Beit Lahiya, discontent is bubbling up openly, fueled by a sense of helplessness and fatigue.

The criticism does not necessarily reflect a loss of support for Hamas. Most Palestinians, even Hamas’s biggest detractors, say they back the current war against Israel, believing it is the only way to achieve the short-term Palestinian demands of lifting the Israeli and Egyptian economic blockades of Gaza and opening the strip’s border crossings. No Beit Lahiya residents accuse Hamas of using them as human shields, as Israel claims, even as they acknowledge that militants are firing rockets from their neighborhoods.

Yet the growing frustration among Palestinians suggests that, despite their fervent nationalism, many hold Hamas partly accountable for the humanitarian crisis. That resentment could build if Hamas reignites war during the 72-hour cease-fire — one of several truces in the conflict — that was holding for a second day Tuesday.
...
When Hamas and other Palestinian militant factions rejected an Egyptian-crafted cease-fire a week into the conflict, a cessation that Israel accepted, there was no public criticism from Palestinians, but only a sense that Hamas was on the right track toward pressuring Israel into accepting Palestinian demands. In the days after, as Israel launched a ground invasion, Hamas’s popularity soared.

Now, some Palestinians are questioning the decision to reject the first truce. Roughly 200 Palestinians had been killed in the fighting at that time. Today, amid another Egyptian-led truce effort, the death toll is nearly 10 times greater, and Gaza is a wasteland of destruction that exceeds that left behind after the previous two
Israel-Hamas conflicts, in 2009 and 2012.

“All the people are whispering, ‘Why didn’t Hamas accept the Egyptian initiative in the beginning of the war when the casualties were still low?’ ” said Hani Habib, a Palestinian journalist and political analyst.

Those sentiments can be heard around Beit Lahiya, a sprawling, hilly enclave of large houses abutting the border with Israel. Many residents said they were exhausted from bearing the brunt of the war, noting that the fighting had done much less damage to Israel.

“They should have accepted the cease-fire,” said Hathem Mena, 55, a teacher, referring to Hamas and other Palestinian militants. “It would have stopped the bloodshed. We are the ones affected by the war, our houses and our lives. The destruction is over on this side, not the Israeli side.”

Other residents said they wanted the militants to stop shooting rockets from their neighborhoods because that often brought a far more forceful reaction from Israel.

“When they fire from here, Israel repays us with an F-16 airstrike,” said Rafaat Shamiya, 40, adding that he largely blames Israel. “We are tired. We don’t have the power to fight the Israeli. While he is sitting in his office in Israel, he can destroy all of Gaza by remote control.”

Abu Halool, the government employee, said Hamas should have foreseen the consequences for the Palestinian people of supporting Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is an offshoot.

“Now we don’t have relations with any other Arab country,” he said. “We should have stayed out of it.”

Some residents said they don’t expect Hamas and other Palestinian militant factions to help rebuild Gaza.

“They just fight Israel, and then they leave everything,” said Mahmoud, 20, who asked that his last name not be used. “The people will pay the price.”

The New York Times sees a few glimmers of grumbling too:

After more than a month of war, the people of Gaza are sad, of course, at 1,900 lives lost. They are angry, too: at Israel for destroying some 10,000 homes, at the Arab leaders who seem unmoved, the Western ones who seem unable to move, and even, quietly, at the Palestinian militants who built tunnels under their neighborhoods.

...Lima Diab, 27, said that under Hamas’s rule of Gaza over the past seven years “everything went bad,” and she sees the movement as “failed in politics.” But though she would prefer that rockets be fired from open areas to reduce risk to civilians, Ms. Diab described as “genius” the tunnels through which Gaza gunmen attacked Israeli soldiers and shook an entire society with new fear.

A Hamas rally on Thursday during the temporary cease-fire drew only a few thousand people, and few have raised the movement’s green flags during the fighting. Open dissent, though, is seen as dangerous.

When Suhair al-Najjar, 32, said, essentially, “I curse both sides,” and described Hamas as “shoes,” a sharp insult, an older man strode over to scold her. “Don’t say ‘Hamas,’ say ‘the Arab leaders,’ ” he yelled.

Ms. Najjar, who lost 30 relatives along with her home in Khuza’a, a village of 10,000 on Gaza’s eastern border that was demolished, was not deterred. “I’m angry at the two sides,” she repeated. “I’m angry at everybody, all the countries.” The bearded man in a gray jalabiya came closer and demanded, “You need someone to teach you how to talk?”

...Mr. Abu Asun, 34, is a barber and father of six who loves to play soccer. The Israelis left behind food cans and other detritus at his home, too. He thinks they slept in his bedroom, whose outer wall was blown out; he found earphones, and figured they wanted to block the sound of their own bombs.

“It’s not worth it,” he said as he surveyed the damage. But a relative, Mahmoud Barbah, 28, countered: “The destruction is not important, the importance is that we kill Jews and capture them. Those who kill our children must be killed.”

Mr. Abu Asun complained that the tunnels were made from “the cement that we are demanding for our home.”

More from the humor site PreOccupied Territory. Please remember to support that site since Facebook took away their page.

Paris, August 12 - High-ranking officials in countries such as Britain and France are openly siding with Palestinians against Israel in an effort to maintain political power by appealing to Muslim immigrants, recalling the pre-World-War-II days when appeasing the uncompromising demands of Nazi Germany was so successful in stemming Hitler's expansionist ambitions.

A coalition of left-wing and immigrant elements across Europe has unequivocally voiced demonization of Israel against the backdrop of recent fighting in the Gaza Strip between Hamas and the IDF. Israel has conducted artillery and airstrikes against Hamas fighters launching rockets at Israeli towns and attempting to infiltrate Israeli communities through tunnels, with the fighting taking the lives of nearly 2,000 Palestinians.

Though roughly half the death toll represents Hamas and allied militia members, the images of dead and injured civilians have aroused fierce anti-Israel passions around the world and prompting European leaders to condone, if not outright endorse, the outpouring of anti-Israel vitriol, in the hopes that siding with the Muslim population on the issue will render the establishment immune to the stated aim of Islamists in Europe to expand Muslim hegemony throughout the Continent and undermine the same liberal values ostensibly underlying the solidarity between the groups. As precedent, they cite the 1938 agreement to grant Hitler the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, thereby satisfying his territorial ambitions and securing peace in Europe for that entire era.

"Our own history demonstrates the wisdom and prudence of this approach," said George Galloway, a British politician who has taken a staunch anti-Israel stance. "It was only when Europe stopped resisting Nazi Germany's rightful territorial claims that all the tension melted away and the continent enjoyed an unprecedented period of prosperity." He noted that just a few years later, American investment in Europe skyrocketed, highlighting the advantages and growth that await a Europe willing to sell out its liberal values for vague promise of avoiding further unrest.

08/13 Links Pt1: UN Audit Finds Construction Funds “Black Hole”; Is Carter's Support of Hamas a Crime?

From Ian:

UN Audit Shows “Black Hole” in Supervision of Gaza Construction Prior to War

Fox News reported yesterday that an internal United Nations audit of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Gaza found that UNDP “allowed at least five non-staff contract employees to handle ‘core’ procurement processes that only staffers are supposed to handle, including those for ordering up ‘significant’ civil construction activities.”
The report notes a number of other irregularities that that the audit turned up, included charges for construction projects “at far less than … full value,” allowing the projects to avoid scrutiny, as well as failure to track receipts and expenditures properly.
"Taken together, the findings in the carefully manicured audit report — which was vetted by UNDP management at the affected office — point to a possible black hole in the supervision of civil construction, and perhaps other programs in Gaza and the other Palestinian territories for at least a year before the current explosion of terrorism."
The upshot of all of these irregularities, according to Fox, is that they lend “credibility to Israeli accusations that internationally-managed relief supplies to Gaza were diverted into construction of the elaborate and highly-engineered tunnels under the territory that were used by Hamas terrorists to launch and coordinate rocket attacks and incursions into Israel that dramatically escalated in March.”

Senators want UNRWA investigated over 'troubling' Gaza role

Accusing UNRWA of maintaining active and extensive ties with Hamas— and of supporting its activities throughout the month-long war— Senate Foreign Relations Committee members Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) wrote a letter this week to US Secretary of State John Kerry accusing the UN agency of bias and characterizing its role in the conflict as "troubling."
UNRWA, an ostensibly neutral agency tasked with administering aid to Palestinian refugees throughout the region, adopted a political role in the heat of the conflict, during which at least four of its facilities were badly damaged and many of their inhabitants killed. During the deadliest days of the war, UNRWA officials went on record accusing the Israeli government of violating international humanitarian law.
UNRWA also publicly declared the discovery of three caches of rockets stored in Gaza schools during the July battle. The organization did not identify a responsible party for the crime, however, noting that the schools used as weapons depots were "mothballed" for the summer months.

Dershowitz Asks: Does Jimmy Carter's Support for Hamas Constitute a Criminal Offense?

While Jimmy Carter was busy accusing Israel of war crimes and encouraging greater international support for the terrorist group Hamas, a noted legal expert and civil rights advocate claims the former American president may have committed several criminal felonies that ban the provision of material support to terrorist organizations.
Recently retired Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz told J.D. Hayworth at Newsmax TV that Carter’s recent article in London’s Guardian Newspaper, urging international recognition for Hamas, may have constituted recruitment for an organization classified as ‘terrorist’ under US law.
Dershowitz accused Jimmy Carter of being "an all-out supporter of Hamas," warning that if his advocacy turns into material support for the terrorist Hamas, Carter will be committing a felony.
"Jimmy Carter wants the United States and the European community to legitimize Hamas," said Dershowitz. “It's against the law in the United States, even if you're a former president, it's against the law to provide material support to a listed terrorist organization."
Dershowitz claims that Carter’s call for the recognition of Hamas as an equal with Israel “defies logic. But leave it to Jimmy Carter,” said Dershowitz to defy logic. “It's as if one would want to recognize and legitimate the Mafia or al-Qaida or the Taliban," he said.

David Horovitz: When the history of this war is written

It will not reflect well on Britain, journalism, and the struggle against anti-Semitism
Britain abandoned Israel.
The principled initial position of Prime Minister David Cameron in support of Israel was gradually eroded to the point where, on August 12, the British ministry of trade announced that if Hamas attacked Israel again, it would halt some of its arms sales to Israel. No, you did not misread that. If the terrorist government of Gaza, sworn to destroy Israel, initiated new violence against Israel, Britain will stop selling Israel some of the arms it needs to keep its people safe.
It goes without saying that the UN mustered all of its skewed forums to harm Israel, and that most of the Arab world piled on energetically too — even those countries who know to their own bloody cost the sheer inhumanity of Islamist terrorist organizations. The hostility demonstrated elsewhere in the international arena was shocking, but not surprising either. But Britain, central to the revival of the Jewish homeland in the last century, took a step that, were it not for Israel’s own capabilities and other alliances, would begin the process of rendering Israel helpless in the face of those who seek to annihilate it. And that is beyond reprehensible. It is a moral failure of the first order. It should shame all those who played a part in producing such a move. And quite apart from the impact on Israel, it must profoundly trouble all those of us who love and appreciate Britain and who care for Britain’s future.

British government threatens Israel with arms halt

What’s most astonishing here is that the suspension is not conditioned on which party breaks a ceasefire. If Hamas starts firing rockets at Israel again, it seems, the UK’s position is that Israel should not respond, lest this lead to “a resumption of significant hostilities.”
Even as an outsider, I could see something like this coming from the moment the Tory-Lib Dem coalition came into office.
By contrast, and despite the well-publicized tensions between Obama and Netanyahu, military cooperation between the US and Israel remains strong, and continued military aid to Israel is one of the few matters on which most Democrats and Republicans in Congress, as well as Obama, agree.

Why would Hamas allow civilians - and journalists - near unexploded bombs?

From AP:

An Associated Press video journalist has been killed in an ordnance explosion in the Gaza Strip, together with a Palestinian translator and three members of the Gaza police.

Simone Camilli, 35, died Wednesday when Gaza police engineers were neutralizing unexploded ordnance in the Gaza town of Beit Lahiya left over from fighting between Israel and Islamic militants.

Ma'an adds:

At least five people were killed and another six were critically injured after an unexploded Israeli missile blew up in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, witnesses and a health ministry spokesman said.

Ashraf al-Qidra identified three of the dead as Bilal Muhammad al-Sultan, 27, Taysir Ali al-Hum, 40, and Hazem Ahmad Abu Murad, 38.

Hazem Abu Murad was the head of Hamas' bomb disposal unit.

He achieved a bit of celebrity last week as he showed off his skills in front of other journalists and Gazans.

An anxious crowd watched on Thursday as Hazem Abu Murad and his team stood over a unexploded one-tonne Israeli bomb in a field of tomato and potato plants.

The tension increased as Mr Abu Murad calmly approached the bomb, seemingly unfazed by the task. Moments later, he reassured the crowd in a rather dramatic fashion.

“It’s already been disabled! Don’t worry – it won’t explode!” he shouted, jumping up and down on the bomb.

Why is there a crowd only a short distance from an unexploded one ton bomb?

If Abu Murad wanted to do his job without a protective suit or specialized materials, that's his problem. But the news stories about him before his death indicate that he - and, by extension, Hamas security - was very cavalier about the lives of Gazans that he is pretending to protect.

I don't think it is purposeful, but it is an indication of how little Hamas prioritizes the safety of the people it is supposed to protect. And that should be a big deal.

The AP reporter is dead because of Hamas' disregard for the value of human life.

One other small fact revealed in the late Abu Murad's showing off to reporters last week:

Mr Abu Murad said his team has also dealt with “tens” of rockets launched at Israel by Hamas and other militant groups that failed to reach their target, falling instead back onto Gaza.

Really? because judging from Western media dispatches for the past month, there were no such thing! Every civilian was killed by Israel, without exception!

Tens of unexploded terror rockets translate to hundreds of exploded terror rockets in Gaza.

(h/t Gary, Bob K)

UNHRC declares Israel the aggressor - BEFORE the inquiry

Here is the statement from the UN Human Rights Council establishing a "commission of inquiry:"

The President of the Human Rights Council, Ambassador Baudelaire Ndong Ella (Gabon), announced today the appointment of Amal Alamuddin, Doudou Diène and William Schabas to serve as members of the independent, international commission of inquiry to investigate all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip, in the context of the military operations conducted since 13 June 2014. William Schabas will serve as Chair of the three-person commission mandated by the Council at its last special session.

June 13th? Operation Protective Edge began on July 8. So why is the UN choosing June 13th?

The answer tells you all you need to know about how biased the UNHRC is.

Hamas kidnapped and murdered Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaer and Eyal Yifrah on June 12th.

Israel started searching for them in the Hebron area on June 13th.

The commission is being given a framework where they are supposed to believe that the kidnapping and murder were not acts of aggression, but Israel's response was.

While it is true that the next paragraph tries to stave off this criticism by saying "whether before, during or after," the very mention of that date and not the day before shows that its mandate "to establish the facts and circumstances of such violations and of the crimes perpetrated and to identify those responsible, ...all with a view to avoiding and ending impunity and ensuring that those responsible are held accountable, and on ways and means to protect civilians against any further assaults" is directed only at Israel and not Hamas.

Hamas has never been accused of "impunity." That is a NGO keyword that only applies to Israel in the context of this conflict.

This is not a mistake. Diplomats are very careful with statements like this, and using the words "military operations conducted since 13 June 2014" shows that the UNHRC does not consider the kidnapping and murder of the teens to be within the mandate of the commission - only the Israeli response.

Kidnapping and targeting civilians is a war crime, by the way, so the choice of June 13 is a very deliberate attempt not only to portray Israel as the initiator of the hostilities but to whitewash Hamas war crimes.

The mandate for the Goldstone inquiry was more explicit in blaming Israel for starting the 2008-2009 war, calling to "dispatch an urgent, independent international fact-finding mission, to investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law by the occupying Power, Israel, against the Palestinian people, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip" - even though Hamas had declared war on Israeli civilians two days before Cast Lead.

Creating a false framework is a favorite methodology of diplomats to stack the deck against Israel without having to lie. When a commission is told what to look for, they will generally not expand that mandate to look elsewhere. And this commission is being told clearly that Israel's response to terror is not a response at all, but a military aggression for no other reason besides Israel being inherently aggressive.

Of course, it also means that the commission can include the West Bank in their kangaroo court so as to maximize Israel's perceived aggression and minimize any importance of Hamas rockets and terror tunnels.

The UNHRC knew exactly what it was doing when it created this commission, and its anti-Israel bias is built in to whatever the report says just from the mandate itself, without even going into the obvious bias of a chair who refers to defenders of Israel's right to exist as his "enemy."

Some videos from Mahmoud Abbas' peaceful Fatah movement

From MEMRI, a video from Lebanon showing the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades [Fatah] showing off their weapons as well as some Israeli gear they claim was left behind in Gaza:

Studio anchor: Abu Muhammad, spokesman for the Nidal Al-Amoudi Battalion of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, said that the Brigades are prepared to fend off any aggression against Gaza. Mayadeen TV has obtained exclusive footage from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, displaying booty taken during clashes with an elite unit of occupation forces, several days ago in eastern Beit Hanoun, as well as locally-manufactured rockets with a range of 45 km.

Abu Muhammad: Our conditions for a lull were conveyed by our delegation, headed by Azzam Al-Ahmad, but our engineering and manufacturing units are continuing to operate as usual. They provide supplies on a daily basis to the brothers fighting throughout Gaza. The units supply them with the ammunition they need – rockets and explosive devices. The engineering unit continues to operate, and is capable of providing supplies for several months, Allah willing.

[…]

Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades member: We would like to show you, the viewers, the Palestinians, and the entire world these imported French missiles, obtained by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, to attack Zionist armed vehicles.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades member: The only effective course of action against the enemy is armed struggle – kidnapping soldiers, striking the enemy, and martyrdom operations. We in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades promise you that we are preparing a high-profile attack against the Zionist enemy: kidnapping Zionist soldiers and imprisoning them, in order to empty the Zionist prisons of our commanders and comrades held there.

[…]

Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades member: We are going to transfer this [missile] to a position from where we will target [the enemy].

Footage of Israeli military equipment claimed to have been seized by Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades

Studio anchor: This exclusive footage, obtained by Mayadeen TV from the Nidal Al-Amoudi Battalion of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, shows equipment that they took as booty from the Israeli occupation forces, during clashes several days ago in eastern Beit Hanoun. We are showing you this equipment, along with footage of locally-manufactured rockets with a range of 45 km. This exclusive footage was provided to Mayadeen TV by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades.

Here's a music video also produced by Abbas' party:

Not once has Abbas denounced the terrorist groups that operate under his own party. This is one of the biggest unreported stories of the war - the Israelis don't want to mention it because they are cooperating with the PA on security and don't want to embarrass Abbas, and the media stays away from the topic because it contradicts their meme of Abbas being a man of peace.

Rockets being smuggled from Gaza back into Egypt for firing into Israel

Walla reports:

Egyptian security forces seized today (Tuesday) in northern Sinai a launcher with three Grad rockets that were ready to be launched into Israel. State security officials told the site Al Masry al Youm that according to intelligence officials the plan was for radical Islamists to shoot the rockets to Israel from the launcher located south of Rafah. According to the source, the rockets have been smuggled through tunnels from Gaza to Sinai, and Egyptian forces now surround the area.

A very similar story was reported on Sunday by Masrawy:

Army forces were able on Sunday to destroy a large store of missiles in central Sinai using airstrikes. Sources confirmed to Masrawy that the information received by the security services, confirmed the smuggling of large quantities of Grad and Katyusha missiles through the tunnels, stored in an abandoned house on the outskirts of the village of Wadi Al-Amr in central Sinai.

Egyptian helicopters bombed the missile storage and a car transport loaded with rockets, killing two militants.

It is not hard to imagine the appeal to jihadists of firing from the Sinai to Israel. They would like to try to drag Egypt into a situation it doesn't want to be in, without worrying about Israeli return fire.

(h/t @Jschanzer via Josh Korn)

08/12 Links Pt2: Ryan Bellerose: One Week As A Jew; Robin Williams R.I.P.

From Ian:

Ryan Bellerose: One Week As A Jew

First off let me explain something. I am Metis [indigenous Canadian]. My family has experienced firsthand, the abuses you read about when you study residential schools and generational abuses. I understand very well what racism and bigotry mean. Again, I personally have experienced it first hand. But it was the reaction of people to the attack on some of my Jewish friends at a political demonstration that really sent it home to me. I already explained, I’m not converting, I even explained why, albeit in a humorous (yet truthful) way.
I decided that in order to really understand what Jewish people go through, I was going to “become a Jew”. Unlike that dude who tanned and took some pills to become black in that movie, I didn’t really have to do anything difficult. All I had to do to incur the hatred and enmity that comes along with being Jewish, was put on a hat.

“Yarmulke March” planned for Copenhagen to protest anti-Semitic violence

For years we have been documenting the rise of anti-Semitic violence in Europe masquerading as anti-Zionism, in a coalition of Islamists and Leftists in places like Malmö, Sweden.
Copenhagen, Denmark also has this history, so much so that the small (6,000-8,000) Jewish community all but stopped showing Jewish symbols in public. In 2012, the Israeli Embassy advised Israelis visiting Denmark not to wear a Yarmulke (aka Kippah or skull-cap) or other similar religious symbols in public.
The threat on the streets continues, with a Jewish school in Copenhagen just this month forbidding its students from wearing yarmulkes in public:
In Copenhagen it was more of the same, including a Palestinian woman who shouted “Heil Hitler”:
"In Copenhagen it was more of the same — only it wasn’t solely Muslims who confronted us. Danes wanted to know where we stood on the Israeli-Gaza conflict, and they weren’t shy to ask. I don’t mind a healthy debate, but this was loaded. Our answers were irrelevant. They wanted an excuse to rage, and in a country with very few Jews — especially ones so easily identifiable — we became the perfect victims…."

Michael Oren says he left CNN of his own accord

CNN had hired Oren as “a Middle East contributor” in January. According to his contract, he was not allowed to appear on other channels.
Mondoweiss, a pro-Palestinian website, quoted sources “knowledgable [sic] of the situation” saying that Oren was stripped of his job “after internal dissent within CNN that Oren’s classification as an ‘analyst’ was not suitable.”
But a spokesperson for CNN confirmed Oren’s version of the events. “Michael Oren requested that CNN suspend his agreement with the network so that he would be free to support and defend Israel before the international community during the current Gaza upheaval,” the spokesperson told The Times of Israel.
“CNN agreed to Ambassador Oren’s request to suspend the contract and he has continued to appear on our air as a guest.”
Oren said he would consider reinstating his contract with the network after Operation Protective Edge ends.

Gaza writer tells journalists and activists to f*** off (update)

I thought that this was interesting: a rant from a Gaza writer, Lina Alsaafin, who loves Hamas, loathes Israel but also hates how Gaza is a trendy topic being used by idiots:

- Do not infantilize it by God-awful chants such as the morbid “Gaza Gaza don’t you cry/We will never let you die.”

- Gaza is no more an “Arab cause” than it is a “Muslim/Islamic ummah cause.” The former are collaborators with the Zionist regime, the latter does not exist. So save your takbeers (unless it is to cheer on the resistance) and empty rhetoric on saving al-Aqsa mosque (it’s not the one with the shiny golden dome by the way) for when Salah al-Din emerges from his grave.

- Gaza is not a charity basket case. Use those bake-sales to attain something oh so slightly pettier. We don’t want money to ameliorate the disastrous conditions. We want an end to the siege and a border crossing we can be in charge of. We want dignity.

- Gaza is not a cool warzone for you to add on your CV and Facebook albums. So pseudo journalists, fuck off. Orientalist journalists, the same applies to you. Foreign journalists who love reporting about the location of resistance rockets fired-endangering whole neighborhoods- the darkest depths of hellfire await you.

- Gaza is not a cool slogan. Gaza is not cool for you to parade your activism shamelessly. Gaza is not an acceptable mainstream easy activist protest where flags of parties who are actively involved in killing civilians such as Hezbollah can be waved around.

- Gaza is not a platform to use for your political and public speaking career, George Galloway. Gaza is not for bigots, no matter how “good” of a speaker they are.

- Gaza is not a “feel-good call of duty even though I am so angry by all the killings there.” If you want to protest, do it right. Do not hold hands for the umpteenth time in front of the Israeli embassy chanting “Free Free Palestine” like a broken record. Do occupy or smash up the embassy. Quality over quantity.

- Gaza is not for selfies.

- Gaza is not to be used for people to further their own careers and star-studded personalities who support oppression elsewhere. Gaza is not for hypocrites, like Abby Martin.

- Dear West Bank especially, and the rest of Palestine in general: Gaza is not a neighboring country. Do not protest in “solidarity” by holding candles and gathering at city centers. Rise up against the slavemaster’s puppets, the Palestinian Authority. Rise up against the slavemaster, Israel. Shove your solidarity to somewhere where the sun don’t shine.

- Dear the rest of Palestine: do not internally Orientalize Gaza. That includes describing singer Mohammed Assaf as “dark-skinned but with a great personality.” Perhaps it is too much to ask to get rid of your colonized minds.

- Gaza is not for your own fetishization. Do not fetishize Gaza.

- If you do not understand what is meant by “Gaza is Hamas, and Hamas is Gaza” as Israel relentlessly bombards it with thousands of tons of heavy weaponry and massacres then do not even torture us with your senseless analysis.

She's a completely off the wall terror supporter, but in order to understand the Middle East, you need to understand people like her.

I wonder what the pro-terror crowd - demonstrating daily - thinks when they read stuff like this.

(Newsflash for Lina: Israel doesn't need the media to tell it where rockets are launched from. Less than a second after they are fired, Israel knows the exact location. But nice to know that you, so outspoken to the rest of the world, meekly follow the rules of your beloved Islamist masters who want you to remain a second class citizen.)

UPDATE: Looks like she isn't really from Gaza, but Ramallah/London. She just really, really identifies with Hamas, I guess. (h/t R Burns)

The UN announced that the chair of the new UNHRC commission to damn Israel - essentially, Goldstone II - is William Schabas.

UN Watch already describes why William Schabas is biased against Israel. And, as Legal Insurrection notes, he was a participant in the kangaroo court "Russell Tribunal on Palestine" along with many anti-Israel crackpots like Roger Waters and Cynthia McKinney.

Schabas's words at the Russell proceedings are quite instructive. Even as he tried to portray himself as merely an advocate of international law, his statements made it clear that he wanted to expand the scope of international law in ways that it was never meant to go, specifically to go after Israel.

His talk was on something called "sociocide." one of the new terms created specifically to damn Israel, this time for supposedly destroying a Palestinian society that never existed. Schabas was clearly uncomfortable with creating such a new category.

Schabas starts off by saying:

I would have been inclined to speak about crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression, all of which I think it can be shown have been perpetrated at various times during the history of the state of Israel.

He goes on to say that he feels that this new idea of "sociocide," and another one later called "ecocide" that was also made up to damn Israel, fits better under existing interpretations of international law - and under the concept of "genocide" itself - rather than to become new categories.

Schabas goes on to happily admit that he wants to change existing international law standards, by finding the right judges in the right venues to issue the right decisions that would all be used to extend existing laws in ways to go after Israel.

At the very end he agreed with John Dugard - another racist who twists concepts of international law against Israel. Dugard expressed concern about using a new concept instead of stretching existing international law concepts in ways to specifically damn Israel.

Schabas said:

I recognize the value of enriching the debate with the use of "sociocide" but I am very concerned as John Dugard has mentioned that this opens up the chance for our enemies to attack us by suggesting that we're acknowledging or admitting that the existing law is inadequate to describe the horrors that are being committed, and I don't want to do that.

Here, when not reading his prepared statements, Schabas reveals his bias for all to see. Anyone who disagrees with the aims of the Russell Tribunal - which is, anyone who says that Israel has the right to exist - is considered "our enemies."

And now he will get a chance to judge the very people he considers, in his own words, to be his enemies.

That's UN objectivity for you.

But, hey, he says now he is not anti-Israel, so never mind what else he ever said.

(See also My Right Word.)

08/12 Links Pt1: Palestinian Columnist: Hamas Did Not Win, Only Brought Suffering Upon Gazans

From Ian:

Palestinian Columnist: Hamas Did Not Win The War, Only Brought Suffering Upon Gazans

In an August 7, 2014 article titled "We Did Not Win," which was posted on the Amad.ps website, Palestinian columnist Dalia Al-'Afifi challenged Hamas' claim that it won the Gaza war. She wrote that Hamas had shown ignorance of Israel's rationale, had caused innumerable losses and damage to the Palestinians, and had erred in rejecting the Egyptian initiative. She added that the immense destruction in Gaza cannot be called a victory by any standards, and that Hamas' tactics are not likely to bring about an improvement in the Gazans' living conditions, not to mention promote the larger political goals of the Palestinian people.

Khaled Abu Toameh: The Real "Siege" of the Gaza Strip

Egypt has not only turned Gaza into an "open-air prison." It has prevented the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip before and during the war.
Last year, more than 100 Muslim scholars signed a petition accusing Egypt and Arab countries of participating in the siege of Gaza by keeping Egypt's Rafah border crossing with Gaza closed and preventing medical and humanitarian aid.
Egypt does not want anyone to talk about its blockade of Gaza. At the cease-fire discussions taking place in Cairo, the Palestinians have been asked not to talk about the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
The Egyptians want the world to blame only Israel for the "siege" on the Gaza Strip, and turn it into an Israeli, and not an Egyptian, problem.
While Egypt continues to impose strict restrictions, hundreds of trucks of food and basic supplies — and ambulances and medical staff from Israel — are being transported into Gaza through border crossings with Israel.
Whatever is ultimately decided, Hamas's leaders will find ways to smuggle weapons into Gaza: their goal is to destroy Israel.

Times of Israel Live Blog: Defense chief says Gaza op not over, unclear if deal will be reached

Despite Gazan claims, IDF ships fired warning shots at boat, not Rafah; ceasefire deal expected tomorrow, says Islamic Jihad source, others contend that gaps remain; UN investigator Schabas defends record; new flotilla announced

"We Are Willing to Sacrifice Two Million Martyrs"

There are only about 1.7 million Gazans, so they'll have to borrow some to get their goal..

In a Friday sermon delivered among the ruins of the Al-Sousi Mosque in Gaza on August 8, 2014, the cleric said: "The Palestinian nation is ready to sacrifice two million martyrs." The sermon was broadcast by the Al-Jazeera network.
Following are excerpts:

Unnamed cleric: Oh sons of Judaism, oh sons of slavery [i.e., Arab rulers], no matter how much you kill us, we will not let go of our weapons.

We will not let go of our weapons, even if the number of martyrs exceeds two million, not just 2,000. The Palestinian nation is ready to sacrifice two million martyrs, for the sake of the holiest and most just cause on the face of the Earth. We are ready to sacrifice all the sons of the Palestinian people for this holy cause.
[...]
Oh Allah, destroy the Jews. Oh Allah, destroy the Jews, those who support the Jews, those who side with the Jews, cooperate with the Jews, trade with the Jews, or open a gateway for them into the land of Islam.

So he is pretty much calling for the death of all Europeans, Americans, Indians, Egyptians, Jordanians, Moroccans and the many others who trade with Israel publicly or privately.

Amazingly, this brave man is willing to have millions of his own people killed, yet he is apparently not willing to do any fighting himself.

To the haters, Israel has only one right: the right to be destroyed

I mentioned last week that the anti-Israel crowd has latched onto a new meme: that Israel, under international law, has no right to defend itself.

One of the most-quoted "proofs" of this comes from Noura Erekat, writing in Jadaliyya, in a post that was "liked" nearly 20,000 times on Facebook.

Her argument is similar to John Dugard's argument I had responded to, claiming the nonsense that Israel is occupying Gaza and therefore cannot claim self-defense against an area that is occupied. As with Dugard, her own words prove otherwise:

Occupation Law is part of the laws of armed conflict; it contemplates military occupation as an outcome of war and enumerates the duties of an occupying power until the peace is restored and the occupation ends. To fulfill its duties, the occupying power is afforded the right to use police powers, or the force permissible for law enforcement purposes. As put by the U.S. Military Tribunal during the Hostages Trial (The United States of America vs. Wilhelm List, et al.)

International Law places the responsibility upon the commanding general of preserving order, punishing crime, and protecting lives and property within the occupied territory. His power in accomplishing these ends is as great as his responsibility.

Erekat, who teaches international law, allows that an occupying power is allowed to use police powers, and her own quote defines police powers as "preserving order, punishing crime, and protecting lives and property within the occupied territory." This is true: and it is proof that Israel cannot be occupying Gaza, because Israel does not have the ability to perform the duties required of an occupier, of setting up functioning security and judicial structure. By definition, if a state cannot exercise that level of control over an area, it cannot be considered an occupier. (This is derived from the Hague conventions, article 43.)

International law does not require a nation to be placed in an impossible situation where it cannot defend itself, either by policing or by war, but Noura Erekat and her ilk are actively trying to create a legal framework where Israel, and only Israel, is not legally allowed to defend itself under any circumstances (except, ironically, by forcibly conquering Gaza which would involve a death toll in the tens of thousands.)

The real agenda is clear. None of these people care about human rights. They simply want Israel to be destroyed.

This can be seen on a much more basic level by this recent incident in Sweden:

Social Democrat leader Stefan Löfven has been flooded with thousands of negative comments after he posted on Facebook that "Israel has the right to defend itself" in a post about the ongoing Gaza crisis.

The election favourite posted the comment on Saturday night and within minutes he was on the receiving end of angry replies from users of the social network.

"Israel must respect international law but obviously has the right to defend itself. It is a huge tragedy that the violence escalates," Löfven wrote.

Most of the comments were critical of the political party leader's stance with one user posting; "Israel kills right now Palestinian children every day. Is that self-defence?"

Several other people said they had no intention in voting for Löfven in September following the remark.

Löfven's comment appears to clash with a statement released by the Social Democrats' foreign policy spokesperson Urban Ahlin. In a press release issued on Thursday Ahlin stated that the party needed to be clear in its reaction against the Israeli bombing of Gaza.

He also condemned the Hamas rocket fire against Israel and called for a peaceful two-state solution.

"It's very surprising (what Löfven wrote) as it differs from what the party's foreign policy spokesperson Urban Ahlin said the other day," Ulf Bjereld, a professor of political scientist at Gothenburg University, told Aftonbladet.

Yes, saying that Israel has the right to defend itself while respecting international law is considered hugely controversial to large swaths of Sweden's citizenship.

This is a human rights issue.

The entire purpose of the State of Israel was to afford Jews the right to defend themselves. Noura Erekat and John Dugard and the Swedish protesters and many, many others want that right to be stripped away, and to bring back the old days where Jews could be slaughtered without protest.

(h/t Yoel)

Paralyzed girl has been used as a political pawn for weeks (update)

I wrote yesterday that Sky News reported the tragic story about Maha Sheik Khalil, the 7-year old girl from Gaza.

Sky News wrote that

The family has been told there are three hospitals willing to treat Maha - in Germany, Turkey, and the US - and a sponsor has agreed to cover the cost.

But they need to get her our of Gaza first, and they are still waiting for permission from Israel.

I noted that according to the IDF, no such request had been made, which means that it wasn't Israel keeping Maha from live-saving treatment - but Gaza officials.

It turns out that Maha has been a literal poster child for supposed Israeli atrocities for weeks, with many stories about her.

AP had a photo of her in the hospital on July 28:

Palestinian Maha al-Sheikh Khalil, 7, left, receives a present by a charity worker dressed as a bear for the Eid al-Fitr holiday on a hospital bed in Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, July 28, 2014. ... According to the family, the doctors informed them that there is nothing that they can do and they have to seek treatment and spinal cord surgery abroad. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

AFP published a photo of her as early as July 23.

On July 28, WSJ wrote:

Her surviving relatives say they are awaiting permission from Israel to let her leave Gaza to receive medical treatment in Germany. Due to the fighting, they aren't holding out much hope.

So was there any formal request to transfer Maha to Israel so she could be treated abroad?

Not until after the Sky News story was aired, and two weeks after media first reported they were waiting for permission from Israel!

Channel 3 New Zealand reported on her Monday at the same time as the Sky News article, indicating that officials at Shifa Hospital have been pushing her story to every reporter that walks in:

And while Maha has received offers of treatment from Germany, Turkey and the United States, she is stuck in the warzone.

Her transportation will take longer to organise than the current three-day ceasefire allows - and also requires Israeli cooperation.

Her doctor told Sky News every day she waits Maha's chances of nerve recovery fade.

That reporter did a follow-up today:

3 News met Maha days after the strike. Nearly three weeks later she is still in hospital, unable to receive the advanced treatment she needs.

But her family has just been told there might be some good news. They've got Maha's passport and there's a possible flight from Tel Aviv to Turkey – but they have to get her into Israel first.

A mobile phone sits at Maha's bedside and her uncle prays quietly – the family has been told the call could come at any minute.

Maha is listening to everything that's being said around her.

"They told me that I'm going to travel but until now they didn't let me go," she says.

"I want to go outside so fast so I can get well."

Maha's family is waiting for travel permission from Israel, but Israel says it hasn't received the request.

A check with the hospital confirms Maha's name is on a list that was sent a day earlier. But because of the political situation in Gaza the hospital has had to send it to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah first, and on from there into Israel.

The urgent request had not been made until yesterday!

Maha's crime is that she is a cute 7-year old girl who can be used for anti-Israel propaganda - and as such she is far more valuable being shoved in front of reporters than abroad.

Now that there were indications of malfeasance by the administration of the hospital in getting her specialized treatment, her value has changed. Now it makes more propaganda sense for her to be treated abroad where more stories can be written about her. A British hospital, for example, is seemingly vying to treat Maha, but there is something a little off about that:

Dr Abdul Razzaq, chairman of North West directors of public health, has been working to have the little girl brought to Alder Hey.

He said: “I’ve been trying to see what’s possible. She’s very poorly.

“This is not political, this is a humanitarian issue with helping young innocent children to get better.”

If Maha, injured by shrapnel, can be operated on at Alder Hey, she will need to stay in Britain whilst she recovers.

Does it sound like Dr. Razzaq is working to treat her or is he working to use her to generate more news stories about Israeli atrocities? Especially since there are already hospitals in three countries willing to take her, why is he pretending that his hospital is in the running? When he says this isn't political - it sure sounds political.

Remember that Shifa Hospital is Hamas' de facto headquarters. The administration at the hospital knowingly protects and cooperates with a terror group. Terrorists set up shop next to the emergency room.

Finally, one must wonder if there aren't any Israeli hospitals that could treat Maha. The country has a fair share of medical expertise and an unfortunately high percentage of the population who have been paralyzed in war. Why is no one trying to get her treated in Israel, and instead concentrating on moving her to where even more stories can be written about her?

Doctors and hospital officials, possibly in cooperation with Hamas, are sacrificing Maha's well-being in order to demonize Israel.

This entire episode is an exercise in anti-Israel PR, and Maha is the star of the production - very possibly at her own expense.

(h/t Bob Knot)

UPDATE: Sky News reports that Maha may leave Gaza, but gives a somewhat different story about the circumstances of her permit:

The family of paralysed seven-year-old Maha Sheik Khalil have been told she will be able to leave Gaza.

The Al Shifa hospital is now working to co-ordinate her transfer for specialist treatment abroad.

It comes as Israel issued a statement saying it had originally authorised a request for her evacuation abroad 16 days ago, but the permit was not used.

A spokesperson for the Co-ordination of Government Activities in the Territories (Cogat), a branch of the Israeli Ministry of Defence which co-ordinates entry and exit of people and goods to Gaza, said the permit was issued on July 26.

However, until Tuesday morning, neither the Director of Patient Transfers at Al Shifa Hospital nor the family had been made aware the application had been received, or authorised.

On Monday, in response to a Sky News report on Maha's situation, Israeli military spokesperson Lt Col Peter Lerner tweeted that a "preliminary investigation" had shown that no request had been made for Maha to be able to leave Gaza.

The reason for the confusion is not clear, but the process for patient evacuation requires a chain of communications, from the doctors in Gaza sending a request to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, which is then communicated to Israel.

Sky News was shown a list of requests for evacuation sent by the Al Shifa hospital's patient transfer office on Sunday, which included Maha's name, but they did not know whether the list had reached Israel.

In a statement to Sky News, Major Guy Inbar, from Cogat, said he had on Tuesday sent messages to both the Palestinian Authority and the World Health Organisation, urging them to resubmit an application, which would be authorised immediately.