President of Israel Shimon Peres at Davos:
Victory of Israel is Peace, not War. Hamas must be condemned.
Israel wants peace with the Palestinians. Gazans are not the enemy of Israel.
View Peres' empassioned remarks starting at about :39 minutes into the tape.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
A View from the Target Zone
Haim Harari[Dr. Harari is one of the most prominent physicists in Israel. -- ed.]
January 2009
These words are written a short distance away from the most northern hit, so far, of the Hamas missiles, which are methodically aimed only at civilian population in Israel. You may refer to this message as "A View from the Target Zone".
For eight years, approximately 5000 rockets have been sent deliberately into Israeli population centers, by the Hamas terrorists. The rockets are extremely inaccurate. The good news is that they often hit an empty field. The bad news is that, when they do hit buildings and people, they kill, maim and destroy. It is a very ugly game of Iranian Roulette.
But the most significant fact is that the undisputed purpose of the rockets is to kill civilians in a random manner. Since they miss entire towns, they could not possibly be aimed at military or strategic targets. No claim is made by the Hamas of anything other than a deliberate attempt to kill civilians within Israel. The world knows about the rockets but rarely mentions that they are aimed only at the civilian population and at nothing else.
The Hamas consistently refers to Israel itself as "the occupied territory". It refers to any town in Israel as an "illegal settlement". Its declared aim is to destroy Israel. It has proudly endorsed, initiated and sent numerous suicide murderers into Israeli buses, supermarkets, shopping malls, weddings and other crowded places. It explicitly states that it will continue to do so. Since Israel succeeded in preventing the suicide murders by a combination of the protective wall, other defensive measures and good intelligence penetration, the missiles became the preferred way of killing Israeli civilians.
Hamas is declared to be a terrorist organization, not only by Israel, not only by the US, but also by the European Union, who is not suspected of being pro-Israeli. This is the same European Union that refuses to label the Hizbullah as a terror organization, but repeatedly and officially declares the Hamas as such. Hamas is fully funded and largely controlled by Iran, a country openly and totally committed to the destruction of Israel, while continuing to enjoy trade with much of the western world.
The Hamas media, and especially its independent TV station, carry daily children programs (including programs for kindergarten age) depicting the Jews (and not only the Israelis) as pigs, dogs, scum of the earth and creatures that must be killed. One of these program features a rabbit which eats Jews. There is plenty of documentation of these programs, including animations and programs with child presenters. Major western news media never report on this phenomenon, while some of them publish op-ed pieces by declared Hamas leaders.
The favorite hour of launching the daily Hamas rockets during the last eight years was 7:45 in the morning, but only on weekdays. Why? Because this is the time in which the streets are full of Israeli children, on their way to school. No one wants to waste rockets when no children are in the streets, during the weekend.
Eight year old children in the Israeli town of Sderot, a few miles from the Gaza border, live, since they were born, with these rockets. They know no other life. When the alarm sounds, they have exactly 15 seconds to reach an improvised cover. Eighth grade children, age 13, have never gone to school, since kindergarten, without the real threat of having a rocket hit them on the way. Their parents have never felt safe about sending their child to school. It is very difficult for anyone living in a normal safe place, to imagine what it means to send your child to school, every single day, for eight years, with the fear that he or she may never reach school because of a missile attack, aimed at killing the children. The world seems to accept this.
Israel withdrew from the Gaza strip in 2005. Not one Israeli soldier or civilian remained there. Everything was ready for the people of Gaza to start a new life and economic development. There was no blockade, border crossings were open. Instead came increased shooting of rockets into Israel, a Hamas coup, throwing Fatah Palestinians from roofs of buildings to their death and torturing their own people in their prisons. It is regrettable that Israel did not react with full force to the very first rockets after its withdrawal from Gaza, but there was always the naïve illusion that perhaps talks, discussions, verbal threats and temporary closings of the border crossings, might do the job. What Israel did not take into account was that Iran, directly or through Hizbullah, was paying the Hamas operatives, per rocket launch.
Through the elaborate system of tunnels dug by the Hamas under the Gaza-Egypt border, thousands of tons of explosives and larger and better Iranian missiles have been continuously smuggled into Gaza. The Israeli Government stupidly agreed in mid 2008, to a six-month cease fire. During the "mock cease fire", many rockets were launched into Israel by a variety of real and fictitious Palestinian organizations, with a clear Hamas sub-license, pretending that the Hamas itself is observing the cease fire.
In the meantime, the Hamas could successfully prepare for the next round. It acquired Iranian rockets that were equally inaccurate, but carried larger warheads, had a longer range and contained numerous tiny still balls, in order to increase the civilian casualties over a larger radius. Again, the inaccuracy of the rockets guaranteed that they could only be sent into random civilian targets. But now the rocket range covered a population of close to one million Israelis and the damage is much more significant.
Larger and better rockets were now stored in mosques, schools, hospitals and normal apartment buildings. Mortars were added to the menu of shooting at Israeli civilians. Schools financed by the UN were used in order to launch mortar shells and missiles. The greenhouses left intact by the withdrawing Israelis were destroyed, their metal parts were converted to primitive rockets and their locations became favorite launching areas. Launching rockets at the Israeli population brings a much better income than growing strawberries and flowers in greenhouses.
Whenever Israel opened the border crossings to supply Gaza with basic food and fuel, the Hamas was attempting to blow up the crossing points. Providing too much food and fuel would disturb the flourishing black market totally controlled by the Hamas chiefs and their allies. It would also spoil their propaganda machine. Most supplies were transported through the tunnels from Egypt, under Hamas auspices, creating a lucrative business for the Hamas "families".
The absurd notion that Israel must supply fuel, electricity, food and medication to an outlaw region controlled by a terror organization, became a permanent mantra in the western media. Israel was supposed to provide the Hamas with raw materials for the rockets launched at its citizens, with electricity for the machinery used to produce these rockets, with food for its designers and manufacturers, and with building materials in order to construct safe bunkers for the Hamas leadership under schools and hospitals. On one hand the Hamas was claimed to have been the legitimate democratically elected government of the majority of the population and on the other hand the population, that allegedly elected these thugs, was declared innocent and suffering. The inconsistency was never pointed out.
Once the border crossing was closed, as a result of the repeated Hamas attacks, the international game of a "humanitarian crisis" was successfully played, with full cooperation of the western media. Famous incidents included photographs of poor Gaza residents with candles and (allegedly) no electricity, staged behind black curtains in full outside daylight (visible through cracks between the curtains). Most western media happily used these fake pictures and, when the lie was exposed, never mentioned it. Hamas leaders were never lacking food, fuel, electricity, luxurious private vehicles and all amenities of well to do black market profiteers.
Very few western journalists remained in Gaza, after several were kidnapped by the Hamas. Almost all reports to western media come from Palestinians, who are either sympathetic to Hamas, or afraid of it, or openly active in its ranks, or all of the above. The reader of the New York Times, or the viewer of a European TV network, never notices who provides him or her with the news. All photographs, both stills and videos, are provided by Palestinian operatives, who would stop at nothing in order to support the propaganda machine. On western TV, Hamas rockets are launched only from empty fields, never from a school or a crowded neighborhood, as it is in real life.
United Nation sources in Gaza are often quoted, condemning Israel for the "Humanitarian Crisis". But these sources are normally employees of UNRWA, the UN agency that, since 1948, makes every effort to perpetuate the "refugee" status of the great-grandchildren of the 1948 refugees. The grandparents of these "refugees" were displaced 60 years ago by a distance of a 20 minute drive and were never resettled because they were receiving free food from the UN. The UN objected vehemently to any attempt at settling the refugees, their children and grandchildren. The few real refugees, who remain alive today, and are 80 year old, were 18 year old when they were displaced. All the terrorists are third or fourth generation "refugees" held as such, courtesy of UNRWA.
These UN organizations employ, by their own admission, numerous active Hamas members. When the latter make statements on behalf of "UN sources in Gaza", the Palestinian journalists never mention to us who these "UN sources" are. The public gets the impression that these are truthful objective sources, while being fed with standard Hamas lies. Western media never disclose to us that the jobs of these people depend on perpetuating the misery of the so-called "refugees".
A Headmaster and science teacher of one of the UNRWA schools in Gaza was a leader in the rocket industry of the Islamic Jihad, a satellite terror organization in Gaza, collaborating with Hamas. The UN strongly denied the Israeli accusations that they are employing such a person, until the man was killed by Israel and was eulogized by his friends as a leader of the Islamic Jihad and a designer of rockets.
When Israeli truck drivers were bringing the humanitarian supplies to Gaza, during the period of Hamas rocket fire, they were frequently attacked by Hamas. At least one Israeli truck driver, supplying the Palestinians, was deliberately murdered. No protest was launched by the UN. But, when during the current fighting, an Arab truck driver, employed by the UN, was accidentally killed, the UN became indignant and stopped all its "humanitarian" activity in protest, to the tune of loud denunciations from all "UN sources".
The Israeli defense forces monitor every detail of this fantasyland by using airborne drones and by a very successful intelligence penetration of the Hamas ranks. They know which apartment building serves as a missile storage place, the addresses and phone numbers of Hamas leaders, which school serves as an ammunition depot, etc.
When the six-month "ceasefire" ended, in mid December, Hamas refused to continue it, launching 90 rockets into Israeli towns and villages in one day. In retrospect, this has prevented a much more dangerous future situation. Had there been an additional "ceasefire", Hamas would have acquired rockets covering all of Israel and possibly much more accurate Iranian missiles. The Iranian supply line of explosives and weapons, together with the flourishing business of smuggled goods, went through the tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border with efficiency and regularity. Had such efficiency been attempted in improving the lives of the Palestinians in Gaza, the entire Middle East would have been an entirely different place. But, coupled with the weapon smuggling, it was essential to create the charade of the "Humanitarian Crisis".
During the current operation, when the Israeli Air Force wants to blow up a house which serves as a missile storage, Israel phones every family in the house and gives them 15 minutes to evacuate. The Hamas is then sending the women and children to the roof of the building in order to prevent the Israeli aircraft from making the kill. Israel has now developed a tiny arrow-like missile which can be sent to the corner of the roof, making a loud noise and harming no one, in order to scare away the women and children on the roof, before the real bomb destroys the missile collection or the explosive storage place. Often, the women and children used by the Hamas as a human shield, escape and the house is then blown up, with a spectacular secondary explosion of the stored missiles or other war materials. On other occasions, a Hamas person gets to the roof and prevents the women and children from leaving. In those cases, the operation is not completed by the Israeli Air Force, in order to spare civilian lives, at the risk of having the rockets launched into Israel on the following day.
Never in history, has any country made such an enormous effort to avoid civilian casualties, in fighting against murderers who target only civilians and never anything else. No one in Kosovo, Serbia, Georgia or Iraq, was offered such a courtesy by the bombing and attacking powers. This fact is never mentioned by the western media.
Many of the heroic commanders of the Hamas are hiding in the central hospital of Gaza, in an elaborate network of bunkers, trusting that Israel will not attack the hospital. Hamas spokesmen issue proclamations from the maternity ward of the same hospital, knowing that Israel will not hit them there. Ironically, of all non-Israelis, the Hamas leaders are the only ones who know for sure that Israel never deliberately hurts civilians. They exploit this fact. The rest of the world buys the Hamas lies and blames Israel for hurting civilians.
Repeated claims of "humanitarian crisis" are made from the same hospital. The doctors in charge never tell us that the hiding leaders of the Hamas are using them and the patients as human shields. Whether the doctors are only scared or are deliberate accomplices, we do not know. Probably some are active Hamas members and others are justifiably scared to speak up. We never hear a word from the International Red Cross regarding the use of the hospitals as the headquarters of terror leaders.
One of the most horrible "impartial" testimonies on the humanitarian situation, in the hospital, is delivered repeatedly to the western media by a "Norwegian Doctor" serving there. The man is well known from his 2001 interviews with Norwegian TV, in which he explicitly supported and justified the 9/11 attacks. Needless to say, none of the networks who bring us the righteous doctor, mention this. He is just "A Norwegian Doctor" attending to the wounded.
Palestinian ambulances are routinely used to move terrorists around. This has also been the Palestinian practice in the West Bank during the terror wave in 2001-2002. An ambulance is an ideal method of transporting a suicide murderer across check points. In the unlucky case that the criminal is caught, there is at least a good press photograph of the ugly Israelis attacking or stopping an ambulance. It is a win-win situation. If an ambulance full of healthy Hamas terrorists and explosives is hit from the air, the pictures are even better for the western media and for Al Jazeera.
Several Hamas leaders are moving around Gaza surrounded by children, and often holding a child on their arms. There are well documented cases in which Hamas terrorists were pulling reluctant children by their ears to accompany them when they move from one building to another. None of this is mentioned by the western media.
Several Mosques, which were used as ammunition dumps, were destroyed by Israel. In every one of these cases, the air photographs showed a primary explosion, from the air missile or bomb, and a much bigger secondary explosion, from the stored missiles or other explosives in the mosque. The secondary explosion is an absolute clear proof of what was hidden at the mosque. The normal beautiful carpets in a mosque would not create a secondary explosion. Western media have these videos, but rarely show them or mention their existence.
But the same western media repeatedly show the pictures of injured or dead children, some of whom were indeed accidentally injured or killed by the Israeli attacks on military and terror targets, and some are obviously fake pictures with red paint smeared on children faces. At least in one case, the same child, obviously painted and not injured, has been paraded in front of various TV cameras by several different men, each declared to be his father by a different network.
Children and innocent civilians are, indeed, killed and injured, in spite of all the enormous precautions and efforts of the Israeli forces. This is truly tragic. But the only alternative for Israel is to sit still, absorb the thousands of missiles on its civilian population and wait for bigger, deadlier and longer range missiles to start destroying everything in Israel. Israel is offered a choice between a complete national suicide, on one hand, and an attack on the terrorists, with extraordinary measures to avoid civilian casualties, but with the knowledge that such casualties must occur when the other side is using children as human shields, storing explosives in mosques, shooting mortars from schools and hiding the perpetrators in hospitals.
Most Hamas terrorists hide in safe bunkers, leaving their families in the war zone. They are happy to fight to the last Palestinian civilian, not to the last Hamas terrorist. Women and children are moving within the battlegrounds, with Hamas snipers shooting, using them as cover. The women and children are not allowed into the limited space of the Hamas bunkers. More than once, a woman is observed carrying a suicide belt. Israeli soldiers, who are trying to help these women to move safely away from the fighting area, are at a very serious risk of a suicide murder.
When the Hamas terrorists are killed, they are counted by the "UN Sources" as civilians. That is how the "UN sources" reach the huge numbers of dead civilians they are reporting. Interestingly, Al Jazeera almost never shows dead bodies of young males, and the western media, being fed by Palestinian stringers, follow suit.
The Hamas TV ("Al Aksa TV") and Al Jazeera show, 24 hours a day, repeated video clips with loud music, showing injured bloody children, including some body parts. Some injuries are real, some are not, but the videos are shown nonstop between every two news items. The news items themselves are often lies, but that really does not matter. What do matter are the video clips, edited like commercials, brainwashing a worldwide audience and a new generation of future terror sympathizers.
A video taken several years ago in Gaza, surfaced. The video documents an accidental explosion of a Hamas truck, carrying a large number of missiles, among celebrating Palestinians somewhere in Gaza. Many were killed and injured in this accident, and the pictures were devastating. There is no Israeli involvement whatsoever, and the event happened a few years ago. European networks, including France 2, are showing it now as evidence for the current "criminal" behavior of Israel. The French channel apologized later, but the number of people who heard the apology is significantly fewer than those who saw the horrible pictures and believed the lies. In this case, at least, the hoax was delivered by the Hamas and France 2 was apparently the victim, not the perpetrator, as it definitely was in well known previous cases.
Israel opens the border crossings daily, during the fighting, in order to provide basic food ingredients and medication to the civilian population. No one can remember such a gesture in any other war in history, certainly not toward the side that attacks only civilians and repeatedly announces that its only aim is to totally annihilate its opponent. Most of the supplies are captured by the Hamas terrorists and used for their own troops and their flourishing black market, never providing them in an organized way to the population. "UN sources" claim that not enough food is transmitted.
That the Hamas murderers use these tactics, lies and methods, is not at all surprising. That the international community, with all its investigative reporters, swallows these lies so eagerly, without exposing them, is something which demands an explanation.
Haim Harari[Dr. Harari is one of the most prominent physicists in Israel. -- ed.]
January 2009
These words are written a short distance away from the most northern hit, so far, of the Hamas missiles, which are methodically aimed only at civilian population in Israel. You may refer to this message as "A View from the Target Zone".
For eight years, approximately 5000 rockets have been sent deliberately into Israeli population centers, by the Hamas terrorists. The rockets are extremely inaccurate. The good news is that they often hit an empty field. The bad news is that, when they do hit buildings and people, they kill, maim and destroy. It is a very ugly game of Iranian Roulette.
But the most significant fact is that the undisputed purpose of the rockets is to kill civilians in a random manner. Since they miss entire towns, they could not possibly be aimed at military or strategic targets. No claim is made by the Hamas of anything other than a deliberate attempt to kill civilians within Israel. The world knows about the rockets but rarely mentions that they are aimed only at the civilian population and at nothing else.
The Hamas consistently refers to Israel itself as "the occupied territory". It refers to any town in Israel as an "illegal settlement". Its declared aim is to destroy Israel. It has proudly endorsed, initiated and sent numerous suicide murderers into Israeli buses, supermarkets, shopping malls, weddings and other crowded places. It explicitly states that it will continue to do so. Since Israel succeeded in preventing the suicide murders by a combination of the protective wall, other defensive measures and good intelligence penetration, the missiles became the preferred way of killing Israeli civilians.
Hamas is declared to be a terrorist organization, not only by Israel, not only by the US, but also by the European Union, who is not suspected of being pro-Israeli. This is the same European Union that refuses to label the Hizbullah as a terror organization, but repeatedly and officially declares the Hamas as such. Hamas is fully funded and largely controlled by Iran, a country openly and totally committed to the destruction of Israel, while continuing to enjoy trade with much of the western world.
The Hamas media, and especially its independent TV station, carry daily children programs (including programs for kindergarten age) depicting the Jews (and not only the Israelis) as pigs, dogs, scum of the earth and creatures that must be killed. One of these program features a rabbit which eats Jews. There is plenty of documentation of these programs, including animations and programs with child presenters. Major western news media never report on this phenomenon, while some of them publish op-ed pieces by declared Hamas leaders.
The favorite hour of launching the daily Hamas rockets during the last eight years was 7:45 in the morning, but only on weekdays. Why? Because this is the time in which the streets are full of Israeli children, on their way to school. No one wants to waste rockets when no children are in the streets, during the weekend.
Eight year old children in the Israeli town of Sderot, a few miles from the Gaza border, live, since they were born, with these rockets. They know no other life. When the alarm sounds, they have exactly 15 seconds to reach an improvised cover. Eighth grade children, age 13, have never gone to school, since kindergarten, without the real threat of having a rocket hit them on the way. Their parents have never felt safe about sending their child to school. It is very difficult for anyone living in a normal safe place, to imagine what it means to send your child to school, every single day, for eight years, with the fear that he or she may never reach school because of a missile attack, aimed at killing the children. The world seems to accept this.
Israel withdrew from the Gaza strip in 2005. Not one Israeli soldier or civilian remained there. Everything was ready for the people of Gaza to start a new life and economic development. There was no blockade, border crossings were open. Instead came increased shooting of rockets into Israel, a Hamas coup, throwing Fatah Palestinians from roofs of buildings to their death and torturing their own people in their prisons. It is regrettable that Israel did not react with full force to the very first rockets after its withdrawal from Gaza, but there was always the naïve illusion that perhaps talks, discussions, verbal threats and temporary closings of the border crossings, might do the job. What Israel did not take into account was that Iran, directly or through Hizbullah, was paying the Hamas operatives, per rocket launch.
Through the elaborate system of tunnels dug by the Hamas under the Gaza-Egypt border, thousands of tons of explosives and larger and better Iranian missiles have been continuously smuggled into Gaza. The Israeli Government stupidly agreed in mid 2008, to a six-month cease fire. During the "mock cease fire", many rockets were launched into Israel by a variety of real and fictitious Palestinian organizations, with a clear Hamas sub-license, pretending that the Hamas itself is observing the cease fire.
In the meantime, the Hamas could successfully prepare for the next round. It acquired Iranian rockets that were equally inaccurate, but carried larger warheads, had a longer range and contained numerous tiny still balls, in order to increase the civilian casualties over a larger radius. Again, the inaccuracy of the rockets guaranteed that they could only be sent into random civilian targets. But now the rocket range covered a population of close to one million Israelis and the damage is much more significant.
Larger and better rockets were now stored in mosques, schools, hospitals and normal apartment buildings. Mortars were added to the menu of shooting at Israeli civilians. Schools financed by the UN were used in order to launch mortar shells and missiles. The greenhouses left intact by the withdrawing Israelis were destroyed, their metal parts were converted to primitive rockets and their locations became favorite launching areas. Launching rockets at the Israeli population brings a much better income than growing strawberries and flowers in greenhouses.
Whenever Israel opened the border crossings to supply Gaza with basic food and fuel, the Hamas was attempting to blow up the crossing points. Providing too much food and fuel would disturb the flourishing black market totally controlled by the Hamas chiefs and their allies. It would also spoil their propaganda machine. Most supplies were transported through the tunnels from Egypt, under Hamas auspices, creating a lucrative business for the Hamas "families".
The absurd notion that Israel must supply fuel, electricity, food and medication to an outlaw region controlled by a terror organization, became a permanent mantra in the western media. Israel was supposed to provide the Hamas with raw materials for the rockets launched at its citizens, with electricity for the machinery used to produce these rockets, with food for its designers and manufacturers, and with building materials in order to construct safe bunkers for the Hamas leadership under schools and hospitals. On one hand the Hamas was claimed to have been the legitimate democratically elected government of the majority of the population and on the other hand the population, that allegedly elected these thugs, was declared innocent and suffering. The inconsistency was never pointed out.
Once the border crossing was closed, as a result of the repeated Hamas attacks, the international game of a "humanitarian crisis" was successfully played, with full cooperation of the western media. Famous incidents included photographs of poor Gaza residents with candles and (allegedly) no electricity, staged behind black curtains in full outside daylight (visible through cracks between the curtains). Most western media happily used these fake pictures and, when the lie was exposed, never mentioned it. Hamas leaders were never lacking food, fuel, electricity, luxurious private vehicles and all amenities of well to do black market profiteers.
Very few western journalists remained in Gaza, after several were kidnapped by the Hamas. Almost all reports to western media come from Palestinians, who are either sympathetic to Hamas, or afraid of it, or openly active in its ranks, or all of the above. The reader of the New York Times, or the viewer of a European TV network, never notices who provides him or her with the news. All photographs, both stills and videos, are provided by Palestinian operatives, who would stop at nothing in order to support the propaganda machine. On western TV, Hamas rockets are launched only from empty fields, never from a school or a crowded neighborhood, as it is in real life.
United Nation sources in Gaza are often quoted, condemning Israel for the "Humanitarian Crisis". But these sources are normally employees of UNRWA, the UN agency that, since 1948, makes every effort to perpetuate the "refugee" status of the great-grandchildren of the 1948 refugees. The grandparents of these "refugees" were displaced 60 years ago by a distance of a 20 minute drive and were never resettled because they were receiving free food from the UN. The UN objected vehemently to any attempt at settling the refugees, their children and grandchildren. The few real refugees, who remain alive today, and are 80 year old, were 18 year old when they were displaced. All the terrorists are third or fourth generation "refugees" held as such, courtesy of UNRWA.
These UN organizations employ, by their own admission, numerous active Hamas members. When the latter make statements on behalf of "UN sources in Gaza", the Palestinian journalists never mention to us who these "UN sources" are. The public gets the impression that these are truthful objective sources, while being fed with standard Hamas lies. Western media never disclose to us that the jobs of these people depend on perpetuating the misery of the so-called "refugees".
A Headmaster and science teacher of one of the UNRWA schools in Gaza was a leader in the rocket industry of the Islamic Jihad, a satellite terror organization in Gaza, collaborating with Hamas. The UN strongly denied the Israeli accusations that they are employing such a person, until the man was killed by Israel and was eulogized by his friends as a leader of the Islamic Jihad and a designer of rockets.
When Israeli truck drivers were bringing the humanitarian supplies to Gaza, during the period of Hamas rocket fire, they were frequently attacked by Hamas. At least one Israeli truck driver, supplying the Palestinians, was deliberately murdered. No protest was launched by the UN. But, when during the current fighting, an Arab truck driver, employed by the UN, was accidentally killed, the UN became indignant and stopped all its "humanitarian" activity in protest, to the tune of loud denunciations from all "UN sources".
The Israeli defense forces monitor every detail of this fantasyland by using airborne drones and by a very successful intelligence penetration of the Hamas ranks. They know which apartment building serves as a missile storage place, the addresses and phone numbers of Hamas leaders, which school serves as an ammunition depot, etc.
When the six-month "ceasefire" ended, in mid December, Hamas refused to continue it, launching 90 rockets into Israeli towns and villages in one day. In retrospect, this has prevented a much more dangerous future situation. Had there been an additional "ceasefire", Hamas would have acquired rockets covering all of Israel and possibly much more accurate Iranian missiles. The Iranian supply line of explosives and weapons, together with the flourishing business of smuggled goods, went through the tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border with efficiency and regularity. Had such efficiency been attempted in improving the lives of the Palestinians in Gaza, the entire Middle East would have been an entirely different place. But, coupled with the weapon smuggling, it was essential to create the charade of the "Humanitarian Crisis".
During the current operation, when the Israeli Air Force wants to blow up a house which serves as a missile storage, Israel phones every family in the house and gives them 15 minutes to evacuate. The Hamas is then sending the women and children to the roof of the building in order to prevent the Israeli aircraft from making the kill. Israel has now developed a tiny arrow-like missile which can be sent to the corner of the roof, making a loud noise and harming no one, in order to scare away the women and children on the roof, before the real bomb destroys the missile collection or the explosive storage place. Often, the women and children used by the Hamas as a human shield, escape and the house is then blown up, with a spectacular secondary explosion of the stored missiles or other war materials. On other occasions, a Hamas person gets to the roof and prevents the women and children from leaving. In those cases, the operation is not completed by the Israeli Air Force, in order to spare civilian lives, at the risk of having the rockets launched into Israel on the following day.
Never in history, has any country made such an enormous effort to avoid civilian casualties, in fighting against murderers who target only civilians and never anything else. No one in Kosovo, Serbia, Georgia or Iraq, was offered such a courtesy by the bombing and attacking powers. This fact is never mentioned by the western media.
Many of the heroic commanders of the Hamas are hiding in the central hospital of Gaza, in an elaborate network of bunkers, trusting that Israel will not attack the hospital. Hamas spokesmen issue proclamations from the maternity ward of the same hospital, knowing that Israel will not hit them there. Ironically, of all non-Israelis, the Hamas leaders are the only ones who know for sure that Israel never deliberately hurts civilians. They exploit this fact. The rest of the world buys the Hamas lies and blames Israel for hurting civilians.
Repeated claims of "humanitarian crisis" are made from the same hospital. The doctors in charge never tell us that the hiding leaders of the Hamas are using them and the patients as human shields. Whether the doctors are only scared or are deliberate accomplices, we do not know. Probably some are active Hamas members and others are justifiably scared to speak up. We never hear a word from the International Red Cross regarding the use of the hospitals as the headquarters of terror leaders.
One of the most horrible "impartial" testimonies on the humanitarian situation, in the hospital, is delivered repeatedly to the western media by a "Norwegian Doctor" serving there. The man is well known from his 2001 interviews with Norwegian TV, in which he explicitly supported and justified the 9/11 attacks. Needless to say, none of the networks who bring us the righteous doctor, mention this. He is just "A Norwegian Doctor" attending to the wounded.
Palestinian ambulances are routinely used to move terrorists around. This has also been the Palestinian practice in the West Bank during the terror wave in 2001-2002. An ambulance is an ideal method of transporting a suicide murderer across check points. In the unlucky case that the criminal is caught, there is at least a good press photograph of the ugly Israelis attacking or stopping an ambulance. It is a win-win situation. If an ambulance full of healthy Hamas terrorists and explosives is hit from the air, the pictures are even better for the western media and for Al Jazeera.
Several Hamas leaders are moving around Gaza surrounded by children, and often holding a child on their arms. There are well documented cases in which Hamas terrorists were pulling reluctant children by their ears to accompany them when they move from one building to another. None of this is mentioned by the western media.
Several Mosques, which were used as ammunition dumps, were destroyed by Israel. In every one of these cases, the air photographs showed a primary explosion, from the air missile or bomb, and a much bigger secondary explosion, from the stored missiles or other explosives in the mosque. The secondary explosion is an absolute clear proof of what was hidden at the mosque. The normal beautiful carpets in a mosque would not create a secondary explosion. Western media have these videos, but rarely show them or mention their existence.
But the same western media repeatedly show the pictures of injured or dead children, some of whom were indeed accidentally injured or killed by the Israeli attacks on military and terror targets, and some are obviously fake pictures with red paint smeared on children faces. At least in one case, the same child, obviously painted and not injured, has been paraded in front of various TV cameras by several different men, each declared to be his father by a different network.
Children and innocent civilians are, indeed, killed and injured, in spite of all the enormous precautions and efforts of the Israeli forces. This is truly tragic. But the only alternative for Israel is to sit still, absorb the thousands of missiles on its civilian population and wait for bigger, deadlier and longer range missiles to start destroying everything in Israel. Israel is offered a choice between a complete national suicide, on one hand, and an attack on the terrorists, with extraordinary measures to avoid civilian casualties, but with the knowledge that such casualties must occur when the other side is using children as human shields, storing explosives in mosques, shooting mortars from schools and hiding the perpetrators in hospitals.
Most Hamas terrorists hide in safe bunkers, leaving their families in the war zone. They are happy to fight to the last Palestinian civilian, not to the last Hamas terrorist. Women and children are moving within the battlegrounds, with Hamas snipers shooting, using them as cover. The women and children are not allowed into the limited space of the Hamas bunkers. More than once, a woman is observed carrying a suicide belt. Israeli soldiers, who are trying to help these women to move safely away from the fighting area, are at a very serious risk of a suicide murder.
When the Hamas terrorists are killed, they are counted by the "UN Sources" as civilians. That is how the "UN sources" reach the huge numbers of dead civilians they are reporting. Interestingly, Al Jazeera almost never shows dead bodies of young males, and the western media, being fed by Palestinian stringers, follow suit.
The Hamas TV ("Al Aksa TV") and Al Jazeera show, 24 hours a day, repeated video clips with loud music, showing injured bloody children, including some body parts. Some injuries are real, some are not, but the videos are shown nonstop between every two news items. The news items themselves are often lies, but that really does not matter. What do matter are the video clips, edited like commercials, brainwashing a worldwide audience and a new generation of future terror sympathizers.
A video taken several years ago in Gaza, surfaced. The video documents an accidental explosion of a Hamas truck, carrying a large number of missiles, among celebrating Palestinians somewhere in Gaza. Many were killed and injured in this accident, and the pictures were devastating. There is no Israeli involvement whatsoever, and the event happened a few years ago. European networks, including France 2, are showing it now as evidence for the current "criminal" behavior of Israel. The French channel apologized later, but the number of people who heard the apology is significantly fewer than those who saw the horrible pictures and believed the lies. In this case, at least, the hoax was delivered by the Hamas and France 2 was apparently the victim, not the perpetrator, as it definitely was in well known previous cases.
Israel opens the border crossings daily, during the fighting, in order to provide basic food ingredients and medication to the civilian population. No one can remember such a gesture in any other war in history, certainly not toward the side that attacks only civilians and repeatedly announces that its only aim is to totally annihilate its opponent. Most of the supplies are captured by the Hamas terrorists and used for their own troops and their flourishing black market, never providing them in an organized way to the population. "UN sources" claim that not enough food is transmitted.
That the Hamas murderers use these tactics, lies and methods, is not at all surprising. That the international community, with all its investigative reporters, swallows these lies so eagerly, without exposing them, is something which demands an explanation.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Anti-Semitism on the Rise in Europe
Anti-Semitism on the Rise in Europe
Anti-Semitism is on the rise in Europe, especially since Israel started to defend itself against the Hamas rocket attacks launched from Gaza. According to an article in the WSJ Opinion Journal by Daniel Schwemmenthal:
There have been arson attempts on synagogues in Britain, Belgium and Germany. Police last week arrested Muslim protesters who wanted to enter the Jewish quarter in Antwerp. Several Danish schools with large Muslim student bodies say they won't enroll Jewish kids because they can't guarantee the children's safety. In France, a group of teenagers attacked a 14-year-old girl last week, calling her "dirty Jew" while kicking her.
There have been rallies in Germany and the Netherlands over the past couple of weeks, with protesters shouting "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the Gas." Two prominent citizens joined in the protest in Amsterdam: Harry van Bommel, who is a Socialist lawmaker and Greta Duisenberg, who is the widow of the first European Central Bank president. Bommel and Duisenberg marched at the front of the demonstration and called for "civil disobedience" against Israel and Israelis. Even some so-called 'celebrities' got in on the anti-Israeli bandwagon. Ex-Eurythmics singer Annie Lennox and Bianca Jagger, comedian Alexei Sayle and former London mayor Ken Livingstone, held a news conference in London demanding Israel halt the onslaught.
Does the whole of Europe think it's okay for Hamas to launch rockets into Israel, but not okay for Israel to retaliate? Schwammenthal says:
Most of the anti-Jewish violence and protests in Europe come from immigrants. In what may have been a Freudian recognition of the changing face of Europe, CNN two weeks ago used footage of anti-Israeli protesters in London in a report about the growing anger in the "Arab and Muslim world." The mythical Arab Street now reaches deep into Paris, London, Berlin and Madrid.
The Islamist variation of Jew hatred is now being reimported to Europe. Muslims in Europe, watching Hamas and Hezbollah TV with their satellite dishes, are being fed the same diet of anti-Semitism and jihadi ideology that Palestinians and much of the Middle East consume.
Nevertheless, this anti-Semitism is not solely due to the Gaza attacks by Israel. A study by Pew which was released in October (before the Israeli attack was launched against Gaza) found that 20% of French and 25% of Germans held anti-Semitic sentiments. In Spain, it's even worse, with 46% holding unfavorable views of Jewish people. Coincidentally, Spain was the sight of a huge anti-Israel rally on Sunday, with as many as 100,000 people in attendance in Madrid.
The research by Pew mentions several possible reasons for this xenophobia: negative views of Israel certainly play into the mix, as well as Palestinian sympathy. However, increasing anti-Americanism and a "backlash against globalization and immigration" also have a role in the rising trend.
The Pew pollsters do point out that compared with other regions of the world, Europe remains relatively tolerant. After all, anti-Jewish sentiments run as high as 95% unfavorable of Jews in Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon. However, the most important element to consider is that the growing tide of anti-Jewish emotion in Europe, especially considering the history of anti-Semitism, is a "troubling trend that it would be unwise to ignore."
Thursday, January 15, 2009
UJC Summary 1/15/09
Operation Cast Lead: Latest Developments A Summary from UJC 1/15/09
- An IAF aircraft hit targets in
- Palestinians reported that an IDF tank shell struck one of the wings of the Al-Quds hospital in
- The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said its compound was hit twice by fire and three staff members were wounded. The IDF maintained that gunshots and an anti-tank missile were fired at IDF troops near the UN compound, to which Israeli soldiers returned fire.
- Another explosion blasted a tower block that houses the offices of Reuters and several other media organizations.IDF officials said Hamas operatives had barricaded themselves inside the press office in
- In total, IAF aircraft struck some 35 targets in the Strip throughout the morning, including armed cells and rocket launch positions.
- IAF planes attacked five armed Palestinians in
- IDF forces operating in
The IAF attacked approximately 70 terrorist sites, including:
· A mosque in Rafah used to stockpile rockets that served as an assembly area for senior operatives involved in launching rockets.
· 14 cells of armed gunmen.
· 14 sites used to launch rockets and mortars at Israeli communities and cities.
· Five weapon storage facilities located in houses of Hamas operatives.
· One tunnel located under the house of a Hamas operative.
- 11 IDF soldiers were lightly wounded during Wednesday night’s operations.
- Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met Thursday with Red Cross President Jacob Kellenberger and demanded he urge his people in the region to visit kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.
The Home Front
· Over 20 rockets landing in
· Another rocket landed in Gderot Regional Council limits and was followed by yet another shooting at Eshkol. No injuries or damage were reported.
· Thursday afternoon saw a rocket fired at Ofakim. The projectile landed in an open area, causing no harm.
· On Wednesday, at least 15 rockets were fired at
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
OPINION: January 13, 2009 Wall Street Journal
The No-State Solution
Hamas cares more about Shariah than 'Palestine.'
By BRET STEPHENS
Of all the errors in the West's understanding of Hamas, none is more fundamental than the routine characterization of the group as a Palestinian movement. It is nothing of the sort.
This isn't to say that the Islamic Resistance Movement -- to use Hamas's proper name -- isn't led by Palestinians, or that it's unpopular among them. On the contrary: Even before the current fighting, Hamas was almost certainly more popular than its secular rival Fatah throughout the Palestinian Authority, including the West Bank. The only difference with Gaza is that Israel remains a presence on the West Bank, able to prevent Hamas from gaining sufficient strength to rout Fatah in an armed contest.
Hamas's claim on Palestinian hearts has only gained force in the last three weeks, though whether the feeling lasts will depend largely on how it emerges from the war. But the test of Hamas's Palestinian-ness, as it were, has nothing to do with its popularity. The test is whether it actually believes in something called Palestine. There is scant evidence that it does.
Bear in mind that there has never previously been an independent state by that name; politically, it remains a notional place. The idea of a Palestinian people, referring to the Arab inhabitants of the land, is also of relatively recent vintage. (The late, great Israeli pianist David Bar-Ilan, my predecessor as editor of the Jerusalem Post, was known, as a Jewish child during the British Mandate, as the "Palestinian piano prodigy.")
This isn't to deny, as Golda Meir famously did, the existence of a Palestinian people. But it is to say that a Palestinian people -- as opposed to merely an Arab one -- exists only as a kind of counterpart, perhaps a twin, to the Israeli people. Put simply: No Israel, no Palestine.
That's why the creation of the Palestinian Authority, on the basis of the 1993 Oslo Accords, could only happen once Yasser Arafat's PLO had recognized Israel's right to exist. Israel later learned, at great cost, that Arafat's "recognition" had been a lie. Yet the principle remains valid regardless of the lie.
Hamas, to its perverse credit, does not lie, at least not on fundamental issues. It has never accepted the Oslo Accords. It is sworn to Israel's destruction. Its charter is nakedly and aggressively anti-Semitic; no fig leaf of "anti-Zionism" there. The closest it has ever come to terms with the Jewish state is the offer of a long-term hudna, on the model of the Prophet's 10-year truce with the tribes of seventh century Arabia. "Anyone who thinks Hamas will change is wrong," said supreme leader Khaled Mashal in 2006. Could he be any clearer?
Of course, Hamas enjoys "democratic legitimacy" by virtue of its parliamentary victory in January 2006. And with the quiet expiration last week of Mahmoud Abbas's presidential term, it is the only Palestinian party that enjoys such legitimacy. But this turns out to be no legitimacy at all, since Hamas refuses to recognize the legal basis of the Authority it purports to represent. And this is to say nothing of the putsch through which Hamas came to power in Gaza.
Still, it isn't merely Israel's right to exist, or the Palestinian Authority's, that Hamas denies. It denies Palestine's as well.
The Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is merely an affiliate, has never been keen on the concept of the nation-state. Hamas's charter describes the land of Palestine as an "Islamic Waqf," or trust, "consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgment Day." Hamas's charming slogan -- "God is [Hamas's] target, the Prophet is its model, the Quran its constitution: Jihad is its path and death for the sake of God is the loftiest of its wishes" -- is tellingly silent on the subject of Palestine.
This isn't so different from the old Soviet model, which disdained nationalism in theory even if it made use of it in practice (and sometimes vice versa). It is nearly identical in its totalitarian aspirations. Above all, Hamas is a revolutionary movement, similar in spirit, if not theology, to Khomeini's revolution in Iran, or Lenin's in Russia.
It's easy to understand why so many Palestinians would be keen to join the movement: What comparable form of moral and political transcendence can a little Palestinian state offer? But in choosing Hamas and the fantasy of pan-Islamism over secular Palestinian alternatives, they are also choosing to abandon Palestine itself. Good luck to them with their corner of the caliphate.
Western pundits and policy experts are now in full-throat about the threat that Israel's war in Gaza poses to the possibility of a two-state solution. It's a shopworn lament. That solution always depended on the willingness of Israelis and Palestinians to treat their conflict as a territorial one, amenable to the drawing of borders, rather than a religious one. Israel made its preferences clear with its Gaza withdrawal. As for the Palestinians, the people who never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity have missed one, again.
Write to bstephens@wsj.com
The No-State Solution
Hamas cares more about Shariah than 'Palestine.'
By BRET STEPHENS
Of all the errors in the West's understanding of Hamas, none is more fundamental than the routine characterization of the group as a Palestinian movement. It is nothing of the sort.
This isn't to say that the Islamic Resistance Movement -- to use Hamas's proper name -- isn't led by Palestinians, or that it's unpopular among them. On the contrary: Even before the current fighting, Hamas was almost certainly more popular than its secular rival Fatah throughout the Palestinian Authority, including the West Bank. The only difference with Gaza is that Israel remains a presence on the West Bank, able to prevent Hamas from gaining sufficient strength to rout Fatah in an armed contest.
Hamas's claim on Palestinian hearts has only gained force in the last three weeks, though whether the feeling lasts will depend largely on how it emerges from the war. But the test of Hamas's Palestinian-ness, as it were, has nothing to do with its popularity. The test is whether it actually believes in something called Palestine. There is scant evidence that it does.
Bear in mind that there has never previously been an independent state by that name; politically, it remains a notional place. The idea of a Palestinian people, referring to the Arab inhabitants of the land, is also of relatively recent vintage. (The late, great Israeli pianist David Bar-Ilan, my predecessor as editor of the Jerusalem Post, was known, as a Jewish child during the British Mandate, as the "Palestinian piano prodigy.")
This isn't to deny, as Golda Meir famously did, the existence of a Palestinian people. But it is to say that a Palestinian people -- as opposed to merely an Arab one -- exists only as a kind of counterpart, perhaps a twin, to the Israeli people. Put simply: No Israel, no Palestine.
That's why the creation of the Palestinian Authority, on the basis of the 1993 Oslo Accords, could only happen once Yasser Arafat's PLO had recognized Israel's right to exist. Israel later learned, at great cost, that Arafat's "recognition" had been a lie. Yet the principle remains valid regardless of the lie.
Hamas, to its perverse credit, does not lie, at least not on fundamental issues. It has never accepted the Oslo Accords. It is sworn to Israel's destruction. Its charter is nakedly and aggressively anti-Semitic; no fig leaf of "anti-Zionism" there. The closest it has ever come to terms with the Jewish state is the offer of a long-term hudna, on the model of the Prophet's 10-year truce with the tribes of seventh century Arabia. "Anyone who thinks Hamas will change is wrong," said supreme leader Khaled Mashal in 2006. Could he be any clearer?
Of course, Hamas enjoys "democratic legitimacy" by virtue of its parliamentary victory in January 2006. And with the quiet expiration last week of Mahmoud Abbas's presidential term, it is the only Palestinian party that enjoys such legitimacy. But this turns out to be no legitimacy at all, since Hamas refuses to recognize the legal basis of the Authority it purports to represent. And this is to say nothing of the putsch through which Hamas came to power in Gaza.
Still, it isn't merely Israel's right to exist, or the Palestinian Authority's, that Hamas denies. It denies Palestine's as well.
The Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is merely an affiliate, has never been keen on the concept of the nation-state. Hamas's charter describes the land of Palestine as an "Islamic Waqf," or trust, "consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgment Day." Hamas's charming slogan -- "God is [Hamas's] target, the Prophet is its model, the Quran its constitution: Jihad is its path and death for the sake of God is the loftiest of its wishes" -- is tellingly silent on the subject of Palestine.
This isn't so different from the old Soviet model, which disdained nationalism in theory even if it made use of it in practice (and sometimes vice versa). It is nearly identical in its totalitarian aspirations. Above all, Hamas is a revolutionary movement, similar in spirit, if not theology, to Khomeini's revolution in Iran, or Lenin's in Russia.
It's easy to understand why so many Palestinians would be keen to join the movement: What comparable form of moral and political transcendence can a little Palestinian state offer? But in choosing Hamas and the fantasy of pan-Islamism over secular Palestinian alternatives, they are also choosing to abandon Palestine itself. Good luck to them with their corner of the caliphate.
Western pundits and policy experts are now in full-throat about the threat that Israel's war in Gaza poses to the possibility of a two-state solution. It's a shopworn lament. That solution always depended on the willingness of Israelis and Palestinians to treat their conflict as a territorial one, amenable to the drawing of borders, rather than a religious one. Israel made its preferences clear with its Gaza withdrawal. As for the Palestinians, the people who never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity have missed one, again.
Write to bstephens@wsj.com
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
On dialogue w/ Hamas and use of weaponry
Clinton: No talks with Hamas before group recognizes Israel
US Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton told the Senate confirmation hearing that President-elect Barack Obama would not engage in dialogue with Hamas as long as it refuses to renounce violence and recognize Israel’s right to exist. (AFP)
Red Cross: Israel's use of white phosphorus not illegal
| Published: | 01.13.09, |
The International Red Cross said Tuesday that Israel has fired white phosphorus shells in its offensive in the Gaza Strip, but has no evidence to suggest it is being used improperly or illegally.
The comments came after a human rights organization accused the Jewish state of using the incendiary agent. (AP)
Hamas uses children as human shields
How noble of Hamas to use children as human shields.
(h/t Http://www.theisraelproject.org )
(h/t Http://www.theisraelproject.org )
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Looking beyond the body count; letters to DMR
Below the following Op Ed, links to letters in today's DM Register.
Looking beyond the body count
The Arizona Republic January 11, 2009
To Israel's harshest critics, nothing is more fraught with meaning than body counts: Do the simple math and you'll see many more Palestinians have died than Israelis. Case closed. Israel is guilty of bloodlust.
"Cheap" isn't a strong enough word to describe this distortion. It is a way of turning off the brain, to spare yourself from thinking hard about the real cause of today's crisis in Gaza, or more likely, to tilt the board so Israel cannot win - no matter what it does.
All you have to know about the Israelis is this: If their enemies had the same weapons they have, there would be no Israel today. There would be a second Holocaust. Palestinians and their apologists in the international community actually know this as they weave their fictions that Israelis are wanton aggressors and killers of children.
This is stratagem. Condemn Israel every time it defends itself and you demoralize and ultimately de-legitimize the Jewish state.
But one brave New York Times reporter has gone beyond the shallow logic of body counts to give a glimpse of what is really at work in Gaza. In his Friday story, Taghreed El-Khodary described the crush of critically injured patients at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City that was momentarily intruded by a Hamas fighter.
The fighter demanded doctors treat his less serious leg wound. "Hurry, I must get back so I can keep fighting," he said, smiling broadly. "When we fire we run, but (the Israelis) hit back so fast. We run into the houses to get away."
"Why are you so happy?" El-Khodary asked. "Look around you." There was an elderly man soaked in blood. A wounded baby looking about "helplessly." A teenage girl screaming in pain. A family wailing. "Don't you see that these people are hurting?"
Smiling radiantly, the fighter said, "But I am from the people, too. They lost their loved ones as martyrs. They should be happy. I want to be a martyr, too."
The real perversion of the body-count slander is that it hides a larger truth - that Israel actually cares more about the physical well-being of Gaza's civilians than do their own brothers who call themselves Hamas.
----------------------
Links to Letters to the Editor, Des Moines Register, January 11, 2009
Hamas doesn't allow room for negotiation
On Jan. 3, your front-page headline "Hamas Resilient Despite Israeli Onslaught" had to bring joy and comfort to all of those who want to see Israel destroyed. Let us not forget that the Hamas charter document calls for destruction of the Zionist entity. More
Israel must finally destroy Hamas So-called leaders from around the world, along with the usual caterwauling liberals, want a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. With ground forces now in Gaza after days of aerial attacks, Israel seems unwavering in its resolve to end the terror of Hamas. Hamas must be destroyed. More.
Remember rockets fired into Israel Thank you for printing Richard Cohen's Jan. 6 column, reminding everyone that a steady stream of Qassam rockets fired into Israel is what started this whole mess. I'm amazed at how many commentators who condemn Israel overlook this fact. More.
Looking beyond the body count
The Arizona Republic January 11, 2009
To Israel's harshest critics, nothing is more fraught with meaning than body counts: Do the simple math and you'll see many more Palestinians have died than Israelis. Case closed. Israel is guilty of bloodlust.
"Cheap" isn't a strong enough word to describe this distortion. It is a way of turning off the brain, to spare yourself from thinking hard about the real cause of today's crisis in Gaza, or more likely, to tilt the board so Israel cannot win - no matter what it does.
All you have to know about the Israelis is this: If their enemies had the same weapons they have, there would be no Israel today. There would be a second Holocaust. Palestinians and their apologists in the international community actually know this as they weave their fictions that Israelis are wanton aggressors and killers of children.
This is stratagem. Condemn Israel every time it defends itself and you demoralize and ultimately de-legitimize the Jewish state.
But one brave New York Times reporter has gone beyond the shallow logic of body counts to give a glimpse of what is really at work in Gaza. In his Friday story, Taghreed El-Khodary described the crush of critically injured patients at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City that was momentarily intruded by a Hamas fighter.
The fighter demanded doctors treat his less serious leg wound. "Hurry, I must get back so I can keep fighting," he said, smiling broadly. "When we fire we run, but (the Israelis) hit back so fast. We run into the houses to get away."
"Why are you so happy?" El-Khodary asked. "Look around you." There was an elderly man soaked in blood. A wounded baby looking about "helplessly." A teenage girl screaming in pain. A family wailing. "Don't you see that these people are hurting?"
Smiling radiantly, the fighter said, "But I am from the people, too. They lost their loved ones as martyrs. They should be happy. I want to be a martyr, too."
The real perversion of the body-count slander is that it hides a larger truth - that Israel actually cares more about the physical well-being of Gaza's civilians than do their own brothers who call themselves Hamas.
----------------------
Links to Letters to the Editor, Des Moines Register, January 11, 2009
Hamas doesn't allow room for negotiation
On Jan. 3, your front-page headline "Hamas Resilient Despite Israeli Onslaught" had to bring joy and comfort to all of those who want to see Israel destroyed. Let us not forget that the Hamas charter document calls for destruction of the Zionist entity. More
Israel must finally destroy Hamas So-called leaders from around the world, along with the usual caterwauling liberals, want a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. With ground forces now in Gaza after days of aerial attacks, Israel seems unwavering in its resolve to end the terror of Hamas. Hamas must be destroyed. More.
Remember rockets fired into Israel Thank you for printing Richard Cohen's Jan. 6 column, reminding everyone that a steady stream of Qassam rockets fired into Israel is what started this whole mess. I'm amazed at how many commentators who condemn Israel overlook this fact. More.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Writings of a Hamas theologian exemplify classical Islamic anti-Semitism
In an upcoming discussion about explicit Islamic anti-Semitism we will make reference to the following text by Salah al-Khalidi whose work was published in 1991 by the Hamas publishing house. In heaping approbation upon modern-day Jews, the extremist Al-Khalidi draws upon Qur'anic verses that are interpreted to characterize Jews as eternally evil and deserving of eternal humiliation and punishment.
In addition to illustrating the basis of much and arguably most of modern Islamic anti-Semitism, Al-Khalidi's theology demonstrates that the clash between Hamas (along with other religious-based elements in the Middle East) and Israel is religious. This theory of the conflict goes against those who would rather the conflict be seen as simply about borders or conflicting nationalisms. The implications of Hamas being unable to accept permanent peace with a Jewish state -- ever, regardless of boundaries -- has tremendous implications as to the prospects of making peace. //Mark Finkelstein
From "Koranic Facts Regarding the Palestinian Issue” by Salah al-Khalidi. [*Excerpt abstracted from an article by Andrew Bostom to whom appreciation is expressed.]
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*Extracts from Salah al-Khalidi's work (translated from the original Arabic by Dr. Michael Schub in Andrew Bostom's The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism) are provided from Khalidi’s major work Haqa’iq Koraniyya al Qadiyya al-Filastinniya [“Koranic Facts Regarding the Palestinian Issue”] which was first published in 1991 by the Hamas Publishing House Manshūrāt Filastin al-Muslima, and translated into Urdu, Hindi, Turkish, Russian, and English.
In an upcoming discussion about explicit Islamic anti-Semitism we will make reference to the following text by Salah al-Khalidi whose work was published in 1991 by the Hamas publishing house. In heaping approbation upon modern-day Jews, the extremist Al-Khalidi draws upon Qur'anic verses that are interpreted to characterize Jews as eternally evil and deserving of eternal humiliation and punishment.
In addition to illustrating the basis of much and arguably most of modern Islamic anti-Semitism, Al-Khalidi's theology demonstrates that the clash between Hamas (along with other religious-based elements in the Middle East) and Israel is religious. This theory of the conflict goes against those who would rather the conflict be seen as simply about borders or conflicting nationalisms. The implications of Hamas being unable to accept permanent peace with a Jewish state -- ever, regardless of boundaries -- has tremendous implications as to the prospects of making peace. //Mark Finkelstein
From "Koranic Facts Regarding the Palestinian Issue” by Salah al-Khalidi. [*Excerpt abstracted from an article by Andrew Bostom to whom appreciation is expressed.]
al-Khalidi: Humiliation is attached to the Jews for their entire lifetime: they were humiliated in Egypt, and when they arrived in [sic] Palestine, and when they were exiled from Palestine, and when they dispersed into the valleys of the earth. What concerns us here—in our discussion of the Jewish character—is to indicate that this humiliation is to be considered as an inveterate Jewish character trait, and a destructive Jewish perversion. Humiliation is one of their historical attributes, a fixed fact of their existence, and a qaa`ida, basis of their life… (Koran 2:61) The Jews are humiliated because they disbelieved in God, killed His prophets, disobeyed His emissaries, transgressed His prohibitions—all of this is humiliation. They are humiliated—and this is why they search out lustful indulgences, and have become their slaves. All of this is humiliation.
It is impossible that the Jews could not be cursed. How could they not be accursed when they are attributed with such degenerate inveterate character traits, twenty of which we have demonstrated above. (Note: Khalidi earlier states, ‘We have extracted from Koran twenty Jewish traits. The Jews are: liars, perverters (of the Text), envious, tricky, fickle, mercurial, sardonic, treacherous, in error, causing others to be in error, merchants, fools, humiliated, dastards, misers, avid for (this) life, disloyal to their firm contracts, rush into sinful aggression, concealers of true evidence, corrupters in the earth, and obstructors in God’s path.’ [For specific Koranic citations confirming his litany see here]. They are worthy of eternal curse because of the villainous traits they display and the corrupt evils they have perpetrated.
The Jews are in a condition of mal`ana, i.e. everyone pours out curses on them; God has cursed them, the angels have cursed them, their prophets have cursed them, the good people among them have cursed them, and everyone has cursed them. They are deserving of this eternal and continual damnation until the day of resurrection when they will encounter God’s wrath, fury, and punishment. They were accordingly exiled from God’s mercy, and kept afar from His goodness.
Many Koranic verses were revealed emphasizing…the judgement upon them of cursed damnation, and exile from His mercy, e.g. Koran 5:13: “For breaking their covenant, We curse them, and have made their hearts hard.” And Koran 5:60…And Koran 5:64…And Koran 5:78…
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*Extracts from Salah al-Khalidi's work (translated from the original Arabic by Dr. Michael Schub in Andrew Bostom's The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism) are provided from Khalidi’s major work Haqa’iq Koraniyya al Qadiyya al-Filastinniya [“Koranic Facts Regarding the Palestinian Issue”] which was first published in 1991 by the Hamas Publishing House Manshūrāt Filastin al-Muslima, and translated into Urdu, Hindi, Turkish, Russian, and English.
Friday, January 9, 2009
House Adopts Measure Backing Israel on 'Durable' Gaza Truce
The House and Senate have now passed separate resolutions in solidarity with Israel.
Jan. 9, 2009 – 1:43 p.m.
House Adopts Measure Backing Israel on ‘Durable’ Gaza Truce
By Adam Graham-Silverman, CQ Staff
The House overwhelmingly adopted a resolution Friday to express solidarity with Israel and condemn the Islamist group Hamas for its role in the conflict in Gaza and southern Israel.
The non-binding measure (H Res 34), adopted 390-5, calls for a “durable and sustainable” cease-fire.
During floor debate, some supporters of the resolution sought to balance Israel’s right to self-defense with the loss of life on both sides.
“I have no trouble justifying the war Israel has undertaken. I am deeply troubled, however, by the suffering, destruction, and loss of innocent life that war inevitably entails,” said Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard L. Berman , D-Calif. “It is imperative that a way be found to stop the killing on both sides – but in a manner that will ensure that this round will be the last round.”
Others were less measured.
“While Israel seeks to lie aside a Palestinian state, Hamas seeks to kill or expel every Jew in the Middle East,” said Rep. Brad Sherman , D-Calif., chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Nonproliferation, Terrorism and Trade. “Hamas proudly holds the flag of ethnic cleansing.”
Democrats Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio and Lois Capps of California, and Texas Republican Ron Paul spoke against the measure. Paul, the lone GOP “no” vote, said the resolution was not in U.S. or Israeli interests and arming Israel leaves the United States with a moral responsibility for Palestinian deaths.
“There’s a political liability which I think is something that we fail to look at because too often there’s so much blowback from our intervention in areas that we shouldn’t be involved in,” Paul said.
Twenty-two members voted present, including Keith Ellison , D-Minn., one of two Muslim members. Ellison said he supported Israel’s rights but the measure did not do enough to encourage peace.
“Hopefully we can urge this Congress to not simply declare its support of its ally but . . . actually move its ally and the rest of the region toward a more durable, sustainable, final solution to this conflict,” he said.
In March 2008, the House voted 401-1 to condemn rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza. In that case, Paul was the only vote against, while four Democrats voted present.
Friday’s measure calls for a “durable and sustainable” cease-fire, which American and Israeli officials say must prevent Hamas from rearming and continuing attacks.
The resolution calls on Hamas to end its rocket attacks, but makes no mention of Israel’s bombing or ground attacks. It says the humanitarian situation in Gaza is “becoming more acute” and humanitarian needs should be addressed “promptly and responsibly.” It offers condolences to all victims and says “the lives of innocent civilians must be protected to the maximum extent possible.”
It also calls on countries to place blame on Hamas for ending a six-month cease-fire and for the resulting casualties, and to condemn the group for embedding itself among civilians. It urges Egypt to stop the smuggling of arms and other goods across its border into Gaza.
The Senate adopted a similar measure (S Res 10) by voice vote Thursday.
The language is a sort of mirror image of a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire. That measure, approved 14-0 Thursday with the United States abstaining, emphasizes humanitarian issues and makes no direct mention of Hamas.
“As the ancient rabbi stated, those who are merciful to the cruel, as the U.N. has been, will end up being cruel to the merciful — in this case, Israel,” commented Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Affairs panel.
Sidney Jacobson: For peace, Hamas must recognize Israel
For peace, Hamas must recognize Israel
In 2005, the Israeli government unilaterally withdrew from the entire Gaza Strip with the expressed hope that a constructive government would be put in place.
An infrastructure of sophisticated agricultural greenhouses was left in place as an economic start. The result was a total destruction of the greenhouses. In addition, literally thousands of Qassam rockets launched from Gaza have rained down on the civilian population of southern Israel.
Where has the outrage of the world been as the Hamas-led government of Gaza either launched rocket after rocket or encouraged other terrorist groups under their protection to launch rockets specifically targeting a civilian population? Targeting a civilian population is a war crime.
The Israeli government should and will be held accountable for its actions. I do not believe the Hamas terrorist entity is being held or will be held accountable for its actions and crimes against humanity. Until such time as the Palestinian people and governmental entities that represent them recognize the legitimacy of the state of Israel, there cannot be peace in the Middle East.
- Sidney Jacobson, Des Moines
- Sidney Jacobson, Des Moines
Judy Deutch: Rocket attacks on Israeli civilians must stop
Judy Deutch: Rocket attacks on Israeli civilians must stop
Rocket attacks create constant fear in Israel
In November, I took my first trip to Israel. I spent time in Sderot, a low-income community of roughly 15,000 people. It is 1.5 miles from Gaza.
I learned firsthand that rockets from Gaza have been falling on Sderot's civilians for eight years.
Some of the schools have been reinforced to withstand Kassam attacks because buildings in Sderot have been badly damaged by the rockets. People have been killed and injured. Children have been traumatized because of the frequent attacks. When a warning sounds, the children have about 10 seconds to run to a safe place. Teachers have tried to help students ease their fears by teaching a song they can all sing together. Nevertheless, they live in constant fear.
It is obvious that these attacks on civilians must stop. Israel has no choice but to prevent Hamas from smuggling in, from stockpiling and launching rockets.
- Judy Deutch, Clive
- Judy Deutch, Clive
Neil Salowitz: Israel must defend itself, but it still desires peace
 January 9, 2009 Guest column: Israel must defend itself, but it still desires peace "If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I would do everything to stop that, and would expect Israel to do the same thing." How would you react? Would you want the U.S. government to "negotiate" with the people threatening your family? Would you want our government to respond "proportionately," whatever that means? Would you want our government to put a stop to the rocket attacks by whatever means necessary? The agreement was formally broken by Hamas in December, and the rocket attacks against innocent civilians intensified until Israel took its recent steps to defend its citizens, first with an air campaign and now with ground forces. Israel took this action only after warning Hamas repeatedly that it would not continue to tolerate deliberate attacks on its citizens. Contrast this behavior with that of Hamas, which callously uses innocent Palestinians as human shields and stores weaponry (much of which is supplied by Iran) in houses, schools, hospitals and mosques. In these circumstances, civilian casualties, always tragic, are inevitable. Hamas bears the responsibility for those casualties by deliberately putting Palestinian civilians in harm's way. In May 1948, the state of Israel declared its independence. Within hours, the combined might of five Arab armies attacked the nascent state. Israel defeated those armies in battle. Since that time, Israel has been attacked again and again, and has been forced to defend itself. The current situation is no different. Israel's actions are designed to change the security equation in order to make Israelis safe. Israel is not fighting the Palestinian people; it is fighting the terrorists who have hijacked Gaza, terrorists whose intransigence harms Palestinians as well as Israelis. Once Israel has met its security objectives and a more robust, verifiable cease-fire has been put in place to protect innocent Israeli citizens, Israelis and Palestinians of goodwill can continue on the road to true peace. |
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Iowa Congressional Support for Israel
From the Israel Emergency Committee (IEC) of the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines Contact: jcrc@dmjfed.org
As of
On a national level, statements in support of
News: The
HARKIN STATEMENT ON THE SITUATION IN
“Clearly any sovereign nation has the right and the duty to defend its borders. And I understand and support
“Unfortunately, this action has escalated the violence and suffering by innocent people on both sides and this crisis will have no winners. An open-ended conflict does not serve the long-term interests of the Israelis, Palestinians nor the international community. A ceasefire and honest negotiations for long-term peace and stability is the best way forward. The Palestinian people deserve leadership that is committed to bringing about an end to the violence that will allow for a viable and independent Palestinian state living in peace with the State of Israel.”
Senator Charles Grassley on Hamas' provocation.
The essence of Senator Grassley's response to a reporter's question on "The Talk of Iowa" broadcast
Question: Is
Sen. Grassley: Hamas presumably doesn't want peace with
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Congressman Leonard Boswell’s Statement on the Gaza Situation
“I strongly support
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------------------------------------------------------------------------U.S. Congressman Steve King
http://www.house.gov/steveking/
_____________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Matt Lahr
King Statement on
"We all want peace in the
“When Hamas chose to abandon a six-month peace agreement in favor of rocket attacks against
“Hamas should immediate suspend its attacks and pledge to work with
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*Partial listing of statements ( as of
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, House Minority Leader John Boehner, Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Christopher Bond, Chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission Alcee Hastings, Ranking Member of the Senate Subcommittee on State-Foreign Operations Judd Gregg, Sen. Benjamin Cardin, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Howard Berman, Chairwoman of the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee Nita Lowey, Incoming Republican Whip Eric Cantor, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Vice-Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East Ron Klein, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Europe Robert Wexler, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade Brad Sherman.
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