Sunday, December 27, 2015

12/27 Links: The only country ISIS fears in the ME is Israel; Police on horseback eliminate terrorist

From Ian:

'The only country ISIS fears in the Middle East is Israel'

A German journalist who spent 10 days with Islamic State says that the radical jihadist group that has captured wide swaths of Syria and Iraq is deterred by only one Middle Eastern country – Israel.
In an interview with the British Jewish News, Jurgen Todenhofer recalls his brief time behind enemy lines during which he spoke with ISIS fighters.
“The only country ISIS fears is Israel,” Todenhofer, a former member of the German parliament, told Jewish News. “They told me they know the Israeli army is too strong for them.”
The writer said that ISIS wants to lure British and American forces into Syria and Iraq, areas where it thinks it has an advantage.
“They think they can defeat US and UK ground troops, who they say they have no experience in city guerrilla or terrorist strategies,” he told Jewish News. “But they know the Israelis are very tough as far as fighting against guerrillas and terrorists.”
Todenhofer said that ISIS was “preparing the largest religious cleansing in history” and that he was “pessimistic” that the threat it poses could be neutralized. He added that the Paris attacks was just the first of “a storm” that is coming to Western cities.
“They are not scared of the British and the Americans, they are scared of the Israelis and told me the Israeli army is the real danger. We can’t defeat them with our current strategy. These people [the IDF] can fight a guerrilla war."

Analysis: The truth behind ISIS leader's threats against Israel and Jews

The Iraqi Army is on the threshold of liberating the key city if Ramadi, which is a strategic crossroads, and sooner or later, it will turn its attack on the biggest city that ISIS holds - Mosul.
The leaders of ISIS, with Baghdadi foremost among them, are on the radar of western intelligence agencies and Russia, and are forced each night to shuttle themselves from one hiding place to another. In such a situation of constant threat, it is natural that their priorities shift to personal survival instead of strategic military planning.
Regardless of this precarious position, the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, as well as the group's "Sinai Province" affiliate, are facing criticism and being mocked in the Arab world because they fight Arab regimes and their Muslim brothers, including those from their own Sunni group, and have forgotten the Palestinian struggle and the Jews in Palestine.
The release of the new recording shows that, despite their brutality, Baghdadi and his helpers are listening to the criticism. The comments were more along the lines of propaganda and boasting, but they must not be taken lightly. ISIS has a presence near Israel's borders in Sinai and the Golan Heights and can attempt to attack from both directions by launching missiles, setting landmines, or even trying to infiltrate into Israeli territory.
However, ISIS also knows that if it makes such an attempt, at least from Syria, the Israel Air Force will respond with greater force than that used in the surgical strikes carried out by the US and the other members of the coalition. Therefore, there is no need to fear: Israel is still a low priority for the Islamic State.

The Real Threat to Palestinian Christians: Radical Islam

The Christians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are no different from their brothers in Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Libya, who face a ruthless campaign of ethnic cleansing at the hands Islamist groups. Yet Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders want the world to blame only Israel for the predicament of Christians.
The PA's decision to cancel Christmas celebrations had nothing to do with Israel or the "intifada." It came after threats by Muslim extremists to target Christians and their holy sites.
On Christmas Day, Muslim Palestinians hurled stones at the car taking the head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land to Bethlehem. It would not surprise anyone if next year the PA decides to cancel Christmas celebrations for "security reasons."
If, in the media and the international community, this strategy of turning a blind eye to the Muslim persecution of Christians continues, next year's Christmas in Bethlehem is sure to be an even less happy one.

In a recent piece for Vocal Europe, Associate Professor of Political Science from DePaul University, Erik Tillman, worries a bit about the possible rise of the "radical-right" due to the immigration crisis. But he does not worry overly much and for very good reason. He writes:

Their message does not appeal to the majority of European voters, even when broader political and social conditions are favorable. Thus, fearful predictions about the ‘specter’ of the radical right hanging over Europe are wide of the mark.

If there is one place on the planet least likely to enamor themselves of nativist, radical-right political trends it is western Europe which, given its bloody and racist history, has no desire for conflict or war and, despite the immigration crisis, remains committed to the progressive principles of social justice and universal human rights. In fact, the Swedish Greens' deputy prime minister, Åsa Romson, literally cried before the cameras upon announcing a tightening up of the Swedish borders although, as it turns out, it is questionable the degree to which such actual tightening-up was undertaken.

I would like, however, to challenge this statement by Professor Tillman:

the refugee crisis is helping to push those voters attracted to the radical right—individuals who value security and social cohesion over individual autonomy and universal rights—to vote for those parties.

While it is true that right-leaning European voters favor security and social cohesion over human rights, it is not the least bit clear that they favor - or the degree to which they favor - such values over individual autonomy.

As for social justice and universal human rights, it might be wise for Europeans to consider the political leanings of the people streaming onto the continent and how those people are likely to effect European politics as they gain their measure of political power going forward.

What Europe will look like in the future, from a social-political perspective, will depend upon the political values of its citizenry. To the extent that those values represent liberal European values then the continent will be liberal. To the extent that those values do not represent liberal European values then the continent will be other than liberal.

One thing that we know with certainty is that the great majority of Middle Eastern immigrants into Europe do not hold liberal values, i.e., the values of ethnic equality of rights, gender equality of rights, free speech, freedom of religion, and Gay rights. On the contrary, the young men streaming into Europe come from parts of the world notorious for holding the most reactionary right-wing, racist politics imaginable.

The tendencies within Arab and North African cultures is to oppress women and free thinkers, while seeking to murder Jewish people, Gay people, apostates, and anyone who says anything unpleasant about Muhammad.

Jews, in particular, are getting more than a little nervous on the European continent and for very good reason.

On December 22 of this year the Times of Israel posted an article by Josefin Dolsten under the headline, Facing death chants and hate crimes, Sweden’s Jews live in a climate of fear:

On a chilly fall day, passersby on a central street in Sweden’s third largest city, Malmö, were greeted with chants in Arabic urging the killing of Jews...

These types of incidents, where anti-Israel rhetoric turns violently anti-Semitic, have created a climate of fear for Sweden’s small Jewish community, which numbers 15,000. Hate crimes against Jews are on the rise, with 2014 seeing a 38 percent increase in reported anti-Semitic incidents from the previous year, according to a report by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention.

“Right now, a lot of Jews in Sweden are scared. Parents are scared to drop off their kids at the Jewish preschool,” says Johanna Schreiber, a prominent Jewish journalist who lives in the country’s capital, Stockholm. “People of all ages are scared of going to synagogue, there are many people who are taking off their Stars of David because they are too scared to wear it.”

The inclination among Swedes and Germans, if not western Europeans, more generally, to welcome refugees of war into their countries is commendable, but it needs to be done on a moderated basis with eyes wide open.

Given the sheer numbers of young, religiously-conservative, Arab-Muslim men flowing onto the contintent, one must wonder how this will change the face of Europe in the decades to come. What I have argued is that introducing millions of religiously-inclined, conservative Arab-Muslim men into Europe will change the political and ideological nature of the continent and will drive out what little remains of its Jewish population.

It will also erode the liberal democratic nature of European societies... the very sensibility that opened the doors of Europe to begin with.

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

This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 11 years and over 22,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

EU explains that Israeli "occupation" is far different than all others

EoZ reader "Gastwirt" emailed German members of the EU Parliament with these questions (translated from German):

I have a few short questions regarding the labeling of products from non EU countries.
1 .Are products from Tibet, Nagorno-Karabakh, the Kashmir, the Western Sahara or Northern Cyprus being sold within the EU?
2. If so, are the products ladled in a manner allowing the consumer to recognize that they are not from China, Armenia and so on but from occupied and/or disputed territories?
3. If not, why is there no clear designation of origin for such products?
4. Are you for or against a clear designation of origin for products from the occupied/disputed territories listed under 1.?

He has only received one reply so far, from Dr. Dietmar Kostar. Kostar's reply shows the EU's antisemitism in creating specific rules only for the Jewish state.

Here is what he wrote:

Dear Mr …

Our research in the EU Parliament came up with the following:

Due to the differences between the countries you mentioned, they are not suitable as a uniform example for a designation of origin of products from occupied territories. Each of the cases is quite specific. The EU pays attention to comply with international law in each case.

There are no guidelines for designation of origin for the regions you named. Just last week the European Court of Justice ruled that the agriculture and fisheries accords with Morocco cannot be applied to the Western Sahara. The EU always pays attention to the UN position that the benefits of such accords need to be distributed and applied justly.

The S&D faction (SPD deputies-the Socialist Group in the European Parliament) of which Dr Köster is a member favors a binding and enforceable product and resource identification and traceability. This also applies to all third countries in the same manner and thus to the occupied territories too.

I hope that this email helps contribute to the clarification of this difficult issue.

Essentially, the answer is that Israel is different in some unspecified manner and therefore only Israel must be singled out for special labeling requirements. It is too complex to explain in a simple email, but trust us, there are big differences.

What @UNRWA doesn't want the EU to know

On September 11, UNRWA's Chris Gunness asked the UN's real refugee agency this question:

Do any colleagues in #UNHCR @LDUNHCR @melissarfleming or peeps know how many #Palestinians r among those arriving in Europe & elsewhere ? RT
— Chris Gunness (@ChrisGunness) September 11, 2015

UNRWA was trying to formulate a new strategy to gain funds, namely an argument that funding UNRWA would reduce the number of Syrian refugees to Europe. It felt that Europeans, frightened of the influx of refugees, would hang onto any shred of hope that they can significantly reduce their numbers by throwing money at UNRWA.

Gunness never got that answer publicly. But he says that the argument has resonated and UNRWA has received funds from its donors that possibly could have helped other Syrian refugees:

“It costs seven times more to deal with Palestinian refugees once they get to Europe and beyond than for UNRWA to deliver services to them in the region – which is where they would prefer to be. We are seeing a growing acceptance of this argument among our larger donors."

Well, I found the answer to Gunness' question. And it is no wonder he hasn't publicized it.

According to the Action Group of Palestinians in Syria, only 36,000 people of Palestinian ancestry have reached Europe over the past four years. The BBC says that between one and 1.5 million migrants have arrived in Europe in 2015 alone. There were an additional 626,000 applications for asylum in Europe in 2014. I don't have the numbers for 2012 or 2013.

Which means that the most generous estimate of "Palestinians" among migrants to Europe is about 2%.

Throwing money at UNRWA, even if you accept the flawed argument that Palestinians would stay in the Middle East because of UNRWA services, will barely affect the numbers of refugees coming to Europe.

UNRWA knows this very well, but it wants to justify its existence as a separate agency to UNHCR, which actually tries to solve refugee problems and deserves the vast majority of funding.

One more thing: UNRWA worked together with the American University of Beirut on a report on people of Palestinian ancestry in Lebanon and how they are being treated in Lebanon. The AUB press release includes this:

The report analyzes the vulnerability assessment data carried out and comes at a time when this data on this subgroup is crucial. The Palestinian refugees from Syria are a protracted refugee population who do not have access to re-settlement programs or protection offered by UNHCR. As such, and according to the report, without continuing international support, the social and economic conditions of this group will only deteriorate.

Because UNRWA exists, these people cannot expect a real solution to their problems.

The actual report, with UNRWA's name on it, does not mention this fact. UNHCR is not mentioned in the report at all.

UNRWA is trying to sell itself as a solution to refugee problems when even its own research partners realize that UNRWA is only working to perpetuate and forever increase the number of "refugees."

Naked, mentally disabled Gazan gets shot by Egyptian security (video) (update)

A troubled 27-year old Gazan named Ishaq Hassan went to the beach on the Rafah border with Egypt, took off his clothes and waded to Egyptian territory.

Where he was promptly shot, and apparently killed.

The video was shown on Al Jazeera and is causing a minor uproar, with Hamas' interior minister demanding an explanation from Egyptian authorities as to why they shot someone who was clearly not armed in broad daylight.

UPDATE: From Arutz-7:

The family of Avraham (Avera) Mengistu, a mentally ill Israeli who crossed into Gaza back in September 2014 and has been held by Hamas ever since, condemned the terrorist group for its hypocrisy on Saturday.

The criticism comes after Hamas issued harsh criticism against the Egyptian military, which was caught on camera gunning down a naked mentally ill Gazan man who waded into the sea and crossed into Egyptian territory earlier in the day.

"It is infuriating and shocking that the terrorist organization that is holding a mentally ill man, instead of returning him home as expected, dares to cry that 'this is an act worthy of condemnation and opposes the laws and humanitarian agreements,' and demands to put those responsible on trial," said Mengistu's family in a statement on Saturday night.

"This is the worst kind of hypocrisy."

Mengistu's family noted he has been held for a full year and three months by Hamas, after crossing into Gaza under the same circumstances of mental illness as the Gazan man who entered Egyptian territory on Saturday.

"Instead of returning Avera to his family as expected from any person or governmental body, Hamas holds him in their hands and is not prepared to give any information on his condition," added the family.

"Holding Avera Mengistu in Gaza also opposes the laws and humanitarian agreements, and those holding Avera also need to be put on trial."

(h/t Petra)

12/26 Links: There is no shame in being a strong nation; IS: ‘Palestine will be graveyard’ for Jews

From Ian:

'There is no shame in being a strong nation'

Former Defense Minister Moshe Arens, the original "Mr. Security," believes Israel's aerospace industries are at the top of their game • The volatile regional changes are tragic for the Arab world, but they will see Israel emerge stronger, he says.
At 90, Arens has a unique perspective on life, politics and Israel's future.
When looking to Israel's future, one must also look at its past, he says.
"And looking back we've made amazing progress," he says.
"The State of Israel was a country fighting for its life, a poor country, budgeting for every citizen. Today Israel is very strong militarily, and economically it's a rich country. That's nothing to be ashamed of. We're a high-tech state with robust exports.
"Between the [1948] War of Independence and the [1973] Yom Kippur War, we felt we were fighting for our lives. Until that glorious victory [in 1973] we were under the constant threat of an attack by an Arab coalition, and we needed 48 hours to call up the reserves and counter the attack. This threat no longer exists. The Arab armies are deterred. Some of them no longer exist, and we have peaceful relations with Egypt and Jordan, including close defense ties. No one can predict the future, but if we look at where we were and where we are today, there's definitely reason to be optimistic."

Lars Hedegaard: Jihad: "All the Fault of the West!"

As long as we in the West are not prepared to take Muslims at their word when they claim to be waging bloody jihad because it is their religious obligation, we have no chance of repelling the current onslaught on the West.
First to go will be the welfare states. Shrinking native populations cannot generate enough taxes to accommodate masses of immigrants with so few skills as to be effectively unemployable, or who do not want to contribute to "infidel" societies. Well before mid-century, the number of Muslims in Denmark will be large enough irreversibly to have changed the composition and character of the country.
In the United States, a House of Representatives bill, H. Res. 569, has been sponsored that would censor one of the few countries left with freedom of speech. The bill, in accordance with the 10-year plan of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), would criminalize all criticism of Islam, worldwide.
Will Muslim non-integration spell the end of the secular state as we have known it? Probably. Religion – or more accurately, Islamic ideology, which knows no distinction between religion and politics – is on the ascendant.

Sorry Revisionists, Joseph and Mary were Jews, Herod was an Arab

The Roman Empire brought in Arab soldiers as mercenaries to slaughter much of the Jewish population. The slow collapse of the Empire made further Arab and eventually Arab Muslim invasions possible.
Trying to depict the Arabs as Jews and the Jews as Herod is Orwellian stuff when Herod was an Arab and Arab invaders have been terrorizing Jews in Israel since his day.
Joseph and Mary trying to visit Bethlehem would be at risk, not from Israeli soldiers who would be protecting them, but from Herod's Muslim kinfolk, who would try to kill them. If they tried to live in the area, they would be denounced as "settlers". Obama would demand that they leave, the EU would fund "human rights" activists to harass them and the media would dehumanize them.
That is the real outrage and the real apartheid.

12/25 Links Pt2: Scottish anti-Israel activist jailed for acid attack; Anti-Semitic crimes in UK up by 61%

From Ian:

Scottish anti-Israel activist jailed for acid attack

A pro-Palestinian activist who carried out an acid attack against an Israeli-owned stall in Scotland has been sentenced to a year in jail.
Scott Harrison threw the noxious liquid at a woman who was manning a stall in Glasgow owned by the Israeli cosmetics firm Kedem, which activists from the anti-Israel BDS movement have been targeting in a boycott campaign.
His lawyers are filing an appeal against the 12-month sentence for assault to injury, which was handed down by a Scottish court earlier this week. He is currently being held in custody pending the results of his appeal.
Harrison's 18-year-old victim, Greek-born Iona Georgianna, told the Scottish Sun shortly after the attack on October 25, 2014, how she felt her face "melting."
"I was working and then I felt liquid on my head," she said, describing the terrifying attack. "It started to burn. It felt like my face was melting. I was screaming. I couldn't feel my lips and my vision was blurred for two or three minutes."
A quick-thinking colleague poured five liters of water on her head, saving her from the worst effects of the mystery liquid.

Melanie Phillips: Confused Jews and Islamophobia phobia

The accusation of Islamophobia confuses prejudice with legitimate criticism of Islam and concerns about Islamic extremism.
An example of this has surfaced in Britain with the publication by an organization called Hope not Hate (HnH), titled, “The Counter-Jihad Movement: Anti-Muslim Hatred from the Margins to the Mainstream.”
This document profiles 920 organizations and individuals in 22 countries. It says that they make no distinction between moderate Muslims and extremists, that they are “mainstreaming” anti-Muslim hatred, and that their “anti-Muslim rhetoric poisons the political discourse sometimes with deadly effect.”
Outrageously, the document links neo-Nazi and fascist groups with Middle East scholars such as Dr. Daniel Pipes and even with courageous Muslim reformers such as Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, and stellar counter- jihadists such as the Somalian campaigner Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
A number of these counter-jihadists already live under a permanent Islamist threat to their lives. Yet, astoundingly, HnH accuses them of spreading anti-Muslim hatred.
I, too, am included in this grotesque list, even though I have repeatedly acknowledged the many millions of Muslims who are neither extreme nor violent and emphasized that the Islamist perspective is merely one interpretation of Islam. Moreover, I am described as a “supporter of Israel” – as if it is axiomatic that Israel supporters will be Muslim-bashers.

IsraellyCool: AJ+ Exposé Exposes More Than Intended

Perhaps unwittingly, Ms. Takruri begins by highlighting the most contradictory aspect of all Palestinian “refugee” camps: their permanence.
“The crazy thing is you would think that a refugee camp would be a temporary type of thing, but as you’re seeing, these generations are growing up here born and raised. So his family was exiled, they became refugees from Jaffa in 1948. They came here in 1950 and they’ve been here ever since. So it’s become a permanent thing.“
This camp, which is essentially a permanent town in the heart of Palestinian controlled territory, has been running for roughly 65 years. Mr. Khader and (it seems) his father were both born there and yet they are still called refugees. His grandfather moved 53 kilometers from Jaffa to this area just outside of Nablus. This is roughly the same distance between Washington DC and Baltimore, not exactly a long journey. By any definition other than the one cynically used by UNRWA, Mr. Khader and his family are not refugees. They were not forced from their homes, they have citizenship in the Palestinian Authority and even his grandfather, who remained within the boundaries of Mandatory Palestine, would not be considered a refugee. But here is his grandson giving a tour of his pre-packaged misery for gullible Westerners to consume online.
Ms. Takruri says the Khaders were “exiled from Jaffa,” but this is not the case at all. Mr. Khader later in the interview says, “[my grandparents] told me that they were hoping to come back. They just turned off the stove and left.” They were not forced out of their home and soldiers didn’t load them on a truck and drive them out of the city. They took some belongings and left.
What’s more, Jaffa is probably the worst example an anti-Israel activist could cite as an example of “Israeli brutality.” There are several important aspects of the battle for Jaffa that must be taken into consideration.
First, Jaffa was slated to remain as part of the Arab State under the UN Partition Plan. This means that had the Arabs accepted peace from the beginning as the Zionists did, Mr. Khader’s grandfather would never have left his home, there would never have been any refugees – from Jaffa or elsewhere – and this video never would have been made.

From Haaretz:

A left wing NGO's bus was the victim of a rock throwing attack near Hebron in the West Bank Friday, lightly wounding three.

The assailants who carried out the attack in south Mount Hebron were Palestinian children, Breaking the Silence told Haaretz. The three wounded were participating on a Breaking the Silence tour at the time of the attack.

The group, which was founded by veterans of the Israel Defense Force, is involved in exposing claims of army misconduct in the Palestinian territories. The veterans run tours around the West Bank to 'break the silence' or tell of their darker IDF experiences, while returning to areas where similar human rights violations are said to be taking place.

"To everyone's benefit, no one involved was seriously wounded," said the Breaking the Silence spokesperson of the incident.

"This is the reality in the territories and we are working to change it," he said.

Really? How, exactly, does "Breaking the Silence" help make Arabs hate Jews less when they are dedicated to telling the world how horrible (other) Jews are? What does a group that helps fuel incitement against Israelis do to stop the results of that incitement?

Meanwhile, TOI adds something about another stoning attack today:

Palestinian stone throwers also pelted the car of Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fuad Twal as he arrived in Bethlehem for Christmas celebrations. No passengers were injured, but damage was caused to the vehicle.

Muslims stoning Christians? Nah, that's not news.

Yenta adds that the car has diplomatic license plates so it is not as if they assumed that it was an Israeli car. The attackers likely knew who was in it.

12/25 Links Pt1: Glick: Israel’s homegrown enemies; The Myth of ‘Palestinian Security Cooperation’

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Israel’s homegrown enemies

Wednesday, as Israel’s entire rabbinical and political leadership stood as one and condemned the wedding guests who glorified Jewish terrorists on the video, Fatah – the terrorist group and political party led by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas – published a post on its Facebook page praising the terrorist murderers who the same day killed two Israelis and critically wounded a third outside the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem.
For counterterror and law enforcement bodies, fighting Jewish terrorism poses the same challenges as fighting Islamic terrorism. In both cases, the central challenge is to target and arrest terrorists and infiltrate their networks while continuing to respect the civil rights of the surrounding population.
In both cases, when investigators are contending with active terrorist networks, they are sometimes compelled to use unpleasant interrogation techniques.
As numerous courts, ministerial oversight committees and the Knesset have determined, these techniques are not torture. They are legitimate interrogation methods and they are used sparingly and only when they are required to protect the public from terrorists who target the innocent.
This brings us back to the wedding video and the difficulty we experience in accepting that Jewish terrorism exists, support for Jewish terrorism exists, and both need to be dealt with.
There can be little doubt that Jewish terrorism would be far easier to fight today if the Shin Bet and the state prosecutors had not made malicious use of agent provocateurs to demonize the national religious camp in the 1990s. So too, if IDF commanders and the civil administration were less quick to support anti-Israel European-funded NGOs against Jewish communal interests in Judea and Samaria today, community members would have less trouble believing the worst about Jewish extremists at the fringes of society. Indeed it would be far more difficult for overzealous defense attorneys to convince anyone that suspected terrorists have undergone torture.
But while the public has legitimate grounds for suspicion, it is no longer possible to dismiss the allegations of Jewish terrorism. There are members of the nationalist camp that wish to destroy Israel.
They are willing to commit terrorist attacks against Arabs as well as Jews to achieve their goals.
As a consequence, just as the vast majority of the public demands that the government take all necessary measures to destroy Palestinian terrorist groups, so the public must demand that the government destroy Jewish terrorist groups.
Just as we decry apologists for Palestinian terrorism, so we must shun apologists for Jewish terrorism.

JPost Editorial: 100 days of terrorism

A number of media outlets have pointed out this week that we have marked 100 days since the beginning of the present wave of terrorism – some would call it an intifada.
On Rosh Hashana Eve, Alexander Levlovich, 64, of Jerusalem was murdered. Palestinians threw rocks at his car as he was on his way home from a festive dinner. He lost control and died of his wounds.
Ever since, vehicular attacks, rock throwing, firebombings, stabbings and shootings have murdered at least 24 Israelis and wounded at least 260. And no end is in sight.
On Thursday there were several incidents: One Israeli was lightly hurt in an attempted car-ramming near Adam junction; two security guards were wounded, one seriously, in a stabbing in the Ariel industrial park; and soldiers were attacked by a Palestinian wielding a screwdriver in Hebron.
No deterrents seem to exist to stop these lone-wolf Palestinians terrorists, many of whom are very young. At the beginning of this present wave many in the security establishment hoped that potential terrorists could be deterred. The thinking was that if the young Palestinian man or woman contemplating carrying out a terrorist attack were to know that there was a nearly a 100 percent certainty that he or she would be killed either before, during or immediately after the knifing or car-ramming, he or she would refrain from carrying out the attack. Politicians, police officers and IDF officers called on Israelis with guns to carry them and to shoot to kill if they happened upon a terrorist attack. They believed this would strengthen deterrence.
Unfortunately, over the past 100-plus days it has been made abundantly clear that this thinking was hopelessly unrealistic.

2015: A turning point in WWIII

Islamism tested its fire before 2001, with bombings of American and French targets in Beirut in 1983 and of the Paris metro in 1995, but those were not clearly part of a quest to seize history and subdue the world. The September 11 attacks were.
Having that day taken its attack as deep into enemy territory as it could possibly imagine – crossing the ocean and reaching for the sole superpower’s political, financial and military nerve centers – Islamism soon kindled fires around the globe: from Madrid (2004), London (2005) and Moscow (2010), to Bali (2002), Ottawa (2014) and Timbuktu (2015).
In this regard, the elapsing year’s 11 attacks in France, Denmark, Australia and the US; a 12th on a Russian civilian flight; and about a hundred others in Nigeria, the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan, don’t constitute a turning point, since they merely intensified what had been long under way. Rather, the turning point was psychological.
The year that began with the murders of journalists in their Parisian office and ended with massacres of Californian health workers and Parisian rock fans, pedestrians and café sitters has made millions this side of the war understand their role in it: they are targets.
This realization was underscored by the war’s procession from the air, where it was announced in 2001, and the land, where it subsequently spread, to the sea, where a Muslim multitude fleeing a burning Middle East now approached Christendom’s shores.
Conspiracy theories, that this migration was masterminded by Islamist strategists, are far-fetched. Moreover, the exodus is the historic fault of post-colonial Europe, which ingratiated the Arab autocrats who let their societies degenerate and their economies rot.
In 2015 the victims of this legacy came knocking on Europe’s doors only to be suspected as agents of the Islamist wrath that European passivity had helped breed.

Palestinians burn Christmas tree - but that's not the story

From AP:

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian security forces say they arrested two suspected Islamic radicals in the burning of a Christmas tree in the northern West Bank.

A Palestinian security officer said Friday the suspects set fire Wednesday to the tree in Zababdeh, a Christian majority village near Jenin. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he isn't authorized to speak to reporters.

He says both suspects are under investigation for possible ties to extremist Islamist groups. He also says Palestinian security forces arrested Wednesday about a dozen suspected radical Islamists in Bethlehem.

Christians make up about 2 percent of the West Bank population.

First of all, here's what the article didn't say.

Church in Zabadeh

It didn't mention that Christians in the West Bank are being persecuted and forced out by Muslims, and that this attack was meant to continue that practice. That is essential context that AP decided not to mention because it violates the media meme of "Christians fleeing because of Israeli actions" that pop up every year.

But the problem is bigger than that.

If this story hadn't been leaked, it would never have been reported.

The Christians in a Christian-majority town are so frightened of their Muslim neighbors that they did not publicize the burning of a public Christmas tree two days ago.

Palestinian media did not report the story at all.

Palestinian security did not publicly mention this incident, unlike every other police force that is transparent about its actions.

In other words, outside of a single Palestinian security official who wanted the world to hear this story, there is a conspiracy of silence among Palestinians to keep this story of attacks on a Christian symbol by the Muslim majority hidden. Christians don't talk about it because of fear; Muslims don't talk about it because they want the world to believe that their only problem is Israel's existence.

In September, a church in Bethlehem was burned by Muslims, according to locals. The PA claimed it was an electrical fire even though local Christians had been threatened by Muslims. Again, there was a conspiracy of silence - a tacit agreement between Palestinian Christians and Muslims to not publicize these incidents.

How many similar stories happen every day that don't get reported?

.@UNRWA's Chris Gunness again violates his organization's stated neutrality standards

Chris Gunness, UNRWA's spokesperson, tweeted this yesterday:

Demand @BBCNews use the words #IsraeliOccupation in its coverage of #Christmas in #Bethlehem. Amazing lack of context needs correction RT
— Chris Gunness (@ChrisGunness) December 24, 2015

I believe that this is the story that Gunness is referring to, about how the IDF is coordinating with Bethlehem officials to ensure that Christmas celebrations can be successful, despite the Arab violence that is scaring people away:

At the end of the story the reporter indeed says "Palestinians resent Israel's continued occupation of land they want for a future state." But the focus of the report wasn't on Palestinian suffering as every single other media report is, so Gunness found the report to have an "amazing lack of context."

(The BBC itself had such a story on Wednesday about a Bethlehem carpenter who is losing business because of the separation barrier that has now been in place for many years.)

I again quote Gunness about UNRWA's supposed neutrality:

Where we find credible allegations of neutrality violations among our staff, we investigate and where it's appropriate we take disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. And that process is audited by our major donors.

In other words, this person who claims that "UNRWA’s neutrality is the family's silver" has again violated that very mandate.

UN Watch also noticed this and issued a press release (not on their website as of the time of this writing):

GENEVA, Dec. 25, 2015 -- A Geneva-based watchdog agency called on U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power to take remedial measures against UNRWA and its spokesman Chris Gunness for engaging in partisan advocacy—breaching its neutrality promise under the 2015 UNRWA-U.S. Framework for Cooperation—after Gunness, an ex-BBC reporter, published a "demand" last night that the BBC "use the words 'Israeli occupation' in its coverage of Christmas in Bethlehem.""The neutrality breach here is astounding," said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer. "It's also unprecedented, because there is no other humanitarian agency in the world that publicly lobbies the media on what it should say about one party or another. UNRWA is putting at risk the $400 million support they receive from the U.S., which is conditional on UNRWA staying neutral and impartial." UN Watch noted that Gunness has not asked the BBC to mention murder, persecution and ethnic cleansing of Christians in Palestinian areas and throughout the Middle East, as documented before the UN in compelling testimony by Father Gabriel Naddaf, who noted that "Israel is the only Mideast country not persecuting Christians."

New US Islamophobia statistics are shocking - but no one's talking about antisemitism

From Time:

These are difficult times for American Muslims, as anecdotal reports suggest terror fears are sparking a backlash. Trends are worrying. According to one tally, there were 38 U.S. anti-Islamic attacks in since the Paris terrorism. The trend was also bad last year, with the FBI reporting hate crimes decreased for all categories of victims except Muslims. The last month was especially troubling. Vandals tore up pages of the Quran and left it covered with feces at a mosque in Pflugerville, Texas. An Indiana University student allegedly attacked a Muslim woman at a café, choking her and removing her scarf. In Grand Forks, N.D., a Somali business was firebombed after it was defaced with Nazi-like symbols. A severed pigs’ head was tossed at a Philadelphia mosque from a passing pickup truck.

The Islamic Center of Fredericksburg, 65 miles south of Washington, D.C., is not exempt. When the protestor shouted, “Every Muslim is a terrorist!” at the community meeting in late November, other attendees cheered. Soon after, flyers appeared at the local mall, rallying people to fight the mosque’s building project. “No Jihad in Fredericksburg!!” the signs read. “Do we want their Jihad and bloodshed in our streets? NO! … There is no way of knowing how many ISIS agents will be hiding among them!”

No one supports anti-Muslim hate crimes. But what was a spectacularly bad month for American Muslims, with 38 attacks since Paris, is lower that an average month for American Jews.

Here is a list of 42 antisemitic attacks in the US since the Paris massacre:

November 13: Radio show taken off air for claiming Jews killed Jesus and Holocaust was exaggerated
November 15: ‘Zionists out of CUNY!’ ‘Long Live the Intifada!’ Chanted at CUNY student protest at Hunter
November 16th: Antisemitic stickers at the University of Central Florida. One sticker had a Star of David and the words "1%" and "Bankers" underneath. The second sticker had a Nazi swastika depicted on a flag.
November 16: People throw eggs at religious Jews
November 16: Muslim NYC cabbie attacks Jewish passenger
November 18: antisemitic opposition to housing project according to Howell NJ mayor
November 23: Man shouts at Jews on Los Angeles street: “Go back to Auschwitz, you filthy Jews!”
November 24: Antisemitic letters sent to Spring Valley homeowners
November 25: Suspect shouts 'Jews should go back to Auschwitz,' assaults man
November 25: Threatening letter against Jewish school
November 25: New York Ex-cop reveals shocking antisemitic tapes
November 26: City leader says he experienced anti-Semitism after synagogue vote
November 26: Swastika drawn on LaPlata Hall students’ door
December 1: Men stop car to shout “Fuck you, Jews” at 44-year-old and his sons
December 1: A Jewish man was threatened with a knife whilst walking in New York, attacker shouted "Jew"
December 12: >Jewish bookstore manager assaulted outside Manhattan shop
December 3: Antisemitic assault in Brooklyn
December 4: Hateful graffiti targeted towards North Austin Jewish community
December 4: A man yelling anti-Jewish slur tries to enter synagogue
December 4: Swastika found on Jewish man's truck in parking lot in Denver
December 6:FBI busts teen buying machine guns to ‘execute’ Jews
December 7: Chabad Lubavitch synagogue menorah stolen, vandalized night before Hanukkah
December 7: A man in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania reportedly approached a Jewish family at a kosher restaurant and said to their 5-year-old child: “You filthy Jews, I’m going to kill all of you."
December 8: Menorah in NYC knocked over, damaged
December 9: Swastikas carved into dorm room door at Rowan University
December 12: A string of arson attacks appearing to target property owned by Bukharian Jews in the Forest Hills neighborhood
December 11: Menorah vandalized, happy Hanukkah sign stolen from park in Brooklyn
December 12: Menorah in suburban Chicago vandalized
December 13: Man nearly ran over child, made threats against Jews outside Kosher restaurant
December 13: Five men accused in Church, Synagogue attack plot
December 14: Antisemitic notes left at Cooper City (FL) homes
December 15: This Costco lady had some impressive antisemitic remarks while making smoothie samples
December 16: Rabbi receives antisemitic messages after he asked to remove a tree
December 16: NYPD seeks man who punched Hasidic Jew in the head & threw his hat, yarmulke down
December 18: Threatening note with antisemitic graffiti found at woman’s bathroom in Mount Sinai Hospital
December 18: Man makes antisemitic statements to Lakewood resident, breaks his car headlight
December 20: Antisemitic incident in Framingham high locker room
December 21: A comment on an open letter written by an East Ramapo school board member echoes Adolf Hitler’s “Final Solution” for the Jews.
December 24: Jewish temple vandalized with swastika in Olympia, WA
December 24: Orthodox Jew denied federal security clearance because of relatives in Israel
December 24: Antisemitic graffiti, multiple swastikas discovered outside public school
December 24: Man punches Jewish student in Brooklyn, says "I don't like Jewish people"

So where are the anguished articles about how rampant antisemitism is in America? Where are the articles about the fear that American Jews have?

There is a more subtle kind of bigotry at work, too. Most of the people who were attacked for being Jewish wore identifiable Jewish clothing, meaning that they are religious. But while the media is going out of its way to mention how terrible it is when identifiable Muslims are being attacked, there seems to be an idea that religious Jews are not "normal" Jews and the normal ones who are not easily distinguished from any other American are in no danger, only the fanatics who insist on wearing kippot or black hats or visible tzitzit or payos.

A Muslim woman who wants to wear a hijab must be protected but a Jewish man who wants to wear a long black coat is not someone the media wants its readers to identify with. If he gets punched, it's sort of natural.

The media wants readers to identify with fears of Muslims, showing how they are as American as the next person (read the entire Time article) but no one ever writes about the fears of identifiable Jews or how they are just as American as anyone else.

Work accident!

Hamas announced the death of "martyr mujahid Mahmoud Abu Jehjouh" who was killed during "training exercises."

The announcement said that Jehjouh, 31, has a life filled with jihad and sacrifice in the name of Allah.

Hamas expressed the hope that Mr. Jehjouh, who was 31, will go to Paradise.

At least he seems happy.

12/24 Link Pt2: Child killer - new Palestinian superhero; Has the anti-Israel BDS movement peaked?

From Ian:

PMW: Child killer - The new Palestinian superhero

Samir Kuntar who murdered a four-year-old Israeli by smashing her head with the butt of his rifle, is the newest PA - Fatah hero and role model
Samir Kuntar is a Lebanese terrorist who in 1969 infiltrated Israel and murdered four Israelis. Kuntar murdered his youngest victim, four-year-old Einat Haran, by repeatedly smashing her head with his rifle butt.
After being released from Israeli prison in 2006, Kuntar joined Hezbollah and was planning terror attacks against Israel when he was killed in Syria last week.
Child-killer Kuntar is the newest Palestinian Authority-Fatah superhero.
The following are 15 statements by PA and Fatah officials glorifying Kuntar and his “heroic” act of murder:

NGO Monitor: An Irresponsible Civil Society Harms Israel

NGOs that claim to promote peace and human rights are big business in Israel, with dozens of groups competing for money and headlines. One group, Breaking the Silence, or BTS, with a 2014 income of $1 million, may not be the country’s largest, but it’s been making the biggest waves.
With about 10 activists on staff, BTS publishes anonymous and unverifiable testimonies from Israeli soldiers who claim to have witnessed Israeli forces committing war crimes. Representatives of BTS travel the world repeating these stories, appearing in parliaments and before United Nations bodies, university campuses and in the media.
To audiences with no experience in combat with terror groups, the emotional claims of these soldiers can easily appear authentic. Many of the details in these accounts are unreliable or are later proved false. But the accusations go unquestioned, and the political damage is significant.
The bigger problem is that groups like BTS get most of their money, up to tens of millions of dollars, from European governments, including Sweden and Switzerland, either directly or indirectly. The European Union, for instance, is reported as BTS’s largest single donor of 2015. BTS is also one of about 20 similar groups that were built by the powerful U.S.-based New Israel Fund.

UCLA Student Whose BDS-Defeat ‘Meltdown’ Went Viral ‘Deeply Regrets’ Actions; Says Israel Is Great (INTERVIEW)

A University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) student whose angry outburst following the defeat of an anti-Israel vote went viral on the Internet has had a chance to educate herself better, she told The Algemeiner this week, after requesting an opportunity to express her change of heart.
“I don’t believe Israel is evil,” Danielle Dimacali said. “In fact I think it’s a great progressive country that offers a lot of freedom for its citizens.”
Dimacali, originally from the Philippines, was seeking to set the record straight about an incident that occurred in February 2014 during a meeting of the student council, where she still serves as a minutes-taker.
Dimacali attracted media attention at the time for weeping and cursing when a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) motion, initiated by the activist group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), was rejected. A video of the proceedings and Dimacali’s subsequent “meltdown” was shared on social media and reported in this publication.
Dimacali said she was shocked by the angry response her disappointment generated, which was reflected in comments circulating on the web, and in hate mail and even death threats she received.
Dimacali said her intentions were “misconstrued.”

Legal Insurrection: This story’s ending gives me hope that anti-Israel campus hate is doomed

There have been other distrubing incidents at UCLA since then, such as the challenge to a student running for the Judicial Board on the ground that she was Jewish.
But the campus has seen a backlash against these SJP tactics. Last spring, the anti-Israel student slate of candidates was resoundingly defeated and its key members lost their positions in student government.
For me, Danielle Dimacali’s evolution on Israel is a hopeful sign that the anti-Israel venom on some campuses will not last, and that students drawn into it for all the wrong reasons will see the truth through learning.

Who pays for the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades weapons?

On the occasion of the upcoming 51st anniversary of Fatah's first terror attack from January 1, 1964, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades put out a music video:

The Al Aqsa Brigades are under the authority of Fatah, who dominates the PA government.

So where is the money coming from to fund these weapons?

In August JNS reported:

The Gaza-based military wing of the West Bank-based Fatah faction, which is headed by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, has reportedly asked Iran for money to help it fight Israel.

In addition, Fatah unveiled a cross-border tunnel that leads into Israeli territory during an appeal on Iran’s state-owned Al-Alam television channel, Palestinian Media Watch reported. Al-Alam interviewed a masked fighter from the Gaza branch of Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades who showcased the new two-mile-long tunnel.

”We spend all our time trying to get money to fulfill our duty concerning our occupied lands and liberate them from the Zionist entity,” the fighter said.

“This is why we are asking [for money]… especially [from] Iran, which is a known long-time supporter of the resistance and the Palestinian cause,” he added.

The tunnel, according to the fighter, “is approximately 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) long and crosses the border between the Gaza Strip and the Zionist enemy. There are tunnels inside [Gaza] through which jihad fighters pass during war.”

It is unclear if Iran has paid Fatah money; their money usually has strings attached. But if Iran isn't funding them - who is?

I don't think that Gulf states are eager to fund the terror group. They are reluctant to pay their pledges to the PA itself.

The most likely explanation seems to be that some of the billions that go to prop up the PA are diverted towards Fatah which in turn bankrolls the Fatah terror groups.

Vic Rosenthal's weekly column:

This week the new medium-range anti-missile system called “David’s Sling” was declared operational, and is expected to be deployed in 2016. It will join the existing Iron Dome systems for short-range rockets and the Arrow 3 system for intercepting ballistic missiles and satellites in space, to provide a multi-tiered missile defense for the country.

It’s great that we will have these systems. But it’s important to understand what they can and cannot do. In particular, they cannot allow Israel to replace its traditional doctrine of preemption with passive defense.

The systems themselves are astronomically expensive. Each Iron Dome system costs from $50-100 million; I expect that the other systems will prove to be at least equal in cost. The interceptors that they fire are also expensive: The tamir missiles used by Iron Dome cost around $50,000 each, and two are usually fired at a time. The ‘Stunner’ interceptor fired by David’s Sling costs about $2.7 million, and the ones used by the Arrow 3 go for ‘only’ $2.2 million each.

In comparison, Hamas’ short-range Qassams are estimated to cost up to $800 each. Hamas’ rocket warfare therefore has an economic dimension as well.

The greatest weakness of these systems is that they can’t be everywhere at once, and Hezbollah, Iran and Hamas have a massive quantity of rockets. It was estimated in 2013 that Hezbollah could launch “as many as 1,500 short- to mid-range rockets” every day for a month. Given the improvements in accuracy that Hezbollah has made to its rocket arsenal since 2006, it would be difficult to defend all of northern Israel with the 10 Iron Dome systems it presently has (15 are planned), especially if Hamas is firing rockets at the same time.

Israel’s enemies have fewer longer-range missiles, but their range means that there are a greater number of possible targets that need to be defended. Hezbollah has improved its concealment and fortifications for these weapons, so it will be harder to destroy most or all of them before they can be used, as was done in 2006. Hamas, too, has not been standing still.

A further ramification is that Hezbollah’s more accurate weapons will be directed at important military and industrial targets, like airfields, power stations and substations, oil refineries, military bases, radar and communications installations and command centers. These will need to be defended by antimissile systems, leaving civilian areas unprotected. Certainly Ben-Gurion Airport, the Kiriya in Tel Aviv, the nuclear installation in Dimona, and numerous other locations cannot be left unprotected.

It is probably not an exaggeration to say that the majority of our antimissile systems will be dedicated to protecting non-civilian targets. The population will need to depend on shelters for protection. In many areas shelters are inadequate, especially given the high density of fire that is expected. Property and infrastructure damage will also be extremely high.

These defensive weapons are not an unmixed blessing. One reason is that decision-makers could depend too strongly on them and reject (or postpone) the offensive or preemptive strategies that Israel has traditionally chosen. We could end up responding to an attack after it happens as in 1973, instead of preempting one as in 1967.

Another more subtle issue is that a tolerance develops, both in Israel and outside of it, for the provocations of our enemies. It’s often said that “no other country would accept” a rocket bombardment like southern Israel has absorbed from Hamas, but one of the reasons that Hamas has not yet been crushed is that Israel is able to manage its rocket bombardments.

Further, if Israel had not had Iron dome, then retaliation for Hamas rocket attacks – now pro forma – would have been made far more painful. Hamas is therefore encouraged to continue developing, stockpiling and even launching its rockets at Israel. It has little to lose from doing so. So in a sense, Iron Dome degrades our deterrent power instead of enhancing it.

Finally there are psychological effects from allowing bombardments to continue. For our citizens in the target areas, the stress and psychological damage is a serious problem even if all the rockets are intercepted. For the outside world, shooting at Jews becomes the everyday normal – it is nothing to get upset about, or even to report in their media.

The US has been generous in assisting Israel with the development of these antimissile systems, something which President Obama never fails to mention when talking about his “unshakable commitment” to Israel’s security. But he has been less forthcoming when Israel has asked for offensive weapons, particularly those that could be employed against Iran. Of course he has policy reasons for this, but I also believe this is a continuation of the historical tradition – and I mean the one that has persisted for millennia in both the Christian and the Muslim worlds – that a Jew does not have the right to actively defend himself.

I am not suggesting that Israel should not pursue development and further deployment of antimissile systems. Because of the country’s lack of strategic depth, they are absolutely necessary to protect its ability to fight. They can also provide a certain amount of protection for the population, especially in situations short of all-out war. They are an essential part of our strategic posture.

But Israel’s primary defense strategy should continue to be preemption. Because the IDF is numerically weaker and the country physically smaller than its enemies, the element of surprise and the ability to choose a time to fight when the enemy is unprepared are paramount in avoiding casualties among our forces and on the home front. Surprise is also important to provide enough time to achieve our objectives before our ‘allies’ can step in to end the conflict to our disadvantage.

The downside of preemption is that the world, including the aforementioned ‘allies’, will interpret it as ‘aggression’, and try to prevent Israel from obtaining military victory and even penalize us. Much of the world considers Israel’s preemptive attack in June of 1967 to be aggression, despite the blatantly offensive nature of the Egyptian buildup, the expulsion of UN peacekeepers and closing of the Straits of Tiran. And Golda Meir’s failure to preempt in 1973 – because of her fear of US reaction – almost resulted in Israel’s defeat in that war.

I view this, however, not as an argument against the strategy of preemption, which is still the best strategy from a military perspective, but as a reason to accelerate Israel’s efforts to reduce dependence upon the US. That is something that we should do anyway, for a multitude of political and strategic reasons.

In the specific case of Hezbollah, the decision to preempt will not be easy. Hezbollah has embedded its rockets and other targets in the civilian areas of Lebanon, a war crime. An attack on them without warning will doubtless kill many noncombatants. From a humanitarian point of view this would be tragic, and practically would result in worldwide condemnation, even though from a legal point of view these casualties would be Hezbollah’s responsibility.

On the other hand, if we wait for Hezbollah to attack, we will still have to bomb these targets, and in addition we will suffer our own casualties. It’s generally thought that Hezbollah will launch ground incursions (perhaps underground ones as well) as well as rocket and drone attacks, and who knows what else. A preemptive strike may defuse many of these and provide us a great advantage.

I understand that Hezbollah today is in trouble in Syria and does not desire a war with Israel. So maybe now would be a good time to give them one. Or should we wait until Iran’s financial windfall from the nuclear deal allows them to rebuild Hezbollah’s forces? Or until Iran has usable nuclear weapons?

The initial question that we must ask today is “is war with Hezbollah inevitable?”

If the answer is yes, then I think the only thing left to decide is when and how to strike first.