More Gaza terror attempts

IDFSpokesperson

IDF thwarts 2nd terrorist attack along Gaza Strip security fence in less than 72 hours- http://ow.ly/3viFC

Anti-Israel bias and the start of the 2008 Gaza War

It is pure bias against Israel to contend that Israel had no right to defend itself against the thousands of rockets launched into Israel by Hamas. 

 

 It is pure bias to hold Israel responsible for the 2008 Gaza War, when, in fact,  Hamas -- at the time -- even claimed to have started the war.  -- Mark Finkelstein

 

As explained by Elder of Ziyon:

 

Today is the second anniversary of the beginning of [Israel's] Operation Cast Lead - but it is not the anniversary of the beginning of the Gaza War.

On the very first day of OCL, I pointed out something that has been all but ignored by the media (but that I had mentioned earlier): Hamas declared war on Israel on December 24th, a full three days before Cast Lead.

Gaza - Ma'an - The military wing affiliated to Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades released a statement on Thursday morning [ 2008- December 25 ] briefing the group's military activities over the first twenty four hours of an operation they called "Oil Stain" which started Wednesday morning.

According to the statement, a total of 87 shells have been fired at Israeli targets bordering the Gaza Strip including 54 mortar shells, 31 homemade projectiles which Hamas calls "Qassam", and two Soviet-made Grad missiles.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=207221 

 

 Amnesty's history of the war starts on December 27th.  [Amnesty International] 

HRW   [Human Rights Watch]  characterizes the entire war as "Israel’s three-week-long military offensive in Gaza that began on December 27." It isn't even a war - it is simply framed as Israeli aggression. And this is in a report about Hamas rocket fire!

Goldstone's chapter headings  [ in Judge Goldstone's report , adopted by the U.N. ]  show this false framework as well:

III. EVENTS OCCURRING BETWEEN THE “CEASEFIRE” OF 18 JUNE 2008 BETWEEN ISRAEL AND THE GAZA AUTHORITIES AND THE START OF ISRAEL’S MILITARY OPERATIONS IN GAZA ON 27 DECEMBER 2008

VI. OVERVIEW OF MILITARY OPERATIONS  CONDUCTED BY ISRAEL IN GAZA BETWEEN 27 DECEMBER 2008 AND 18 JANUARY 2009 AND DATA ON CASUALTIES

When the very framework of the issue is biased to begin with, anyone trying to take Israel's aide is already handicapped. It loads the dice before the game even starts, and it takes an effort to re-frame the argument - something that Israeli spokespeople have little opportunity to do when giving statements to the press or when answering questions about NGO accusations.

Even though Hamas wants to be known as a masculine defender of Arab rights in Arabic, and it was proud to take credit for starting the war back in 2008, it has realized the immense value of the false framework provided by Goldstone and HRW and Amnesty and the mainstream media. So it has adopted that framework simply because it puts Israel at a disadvantage.

This is one of the biggest issues that Israel faces when speaking to the world. The idea of Israel as aggressor is so ingrained in the fabric of the discussion that it is not easy for even Israel's defenders to recognize it when they see it. It is especially difficult in the heat of a debate to be able to step back and challenge the questioner as to their implicit assumptions.

One fact is clear - Hamas started the war, and they bragged about it. Any narrative of the Gaza War that does not recognize that simple fact is inherently biased from the outset. No mater how prestigious the NGO or media outlet that promulgates this lie - it is still a lie, and that lie must be corrected.

 

Source:  http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2010/12/false-framework-of-gaza-war.html    12/ 27/2010

Escalation of attacks from Gaza

Escalation belies Hamas claim of truce. Arutz 7: IDF Foils Gaza Terrorist Attack; 'Cast Lead 2' Nears http://bit.ly/gWY2up


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SWU: Metro Transit rejects anti-Israel ad campaign in Seattle

Breaking News.  Stand With Us reports tonight that the anti-Israel "Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign" group's bus billboard ad campaign  that was supposed to begin next Monday, December 27, was rejected today.

Citing the potential for disruption to transit service, King County Executive Dow Constantine today approved an interim policy from Metro Transit that calls for a halt to the acceptance of any new non-commercial advertising on King County buses.

Also, and most importantly, under provisions of the previous policy, Metro officials today rejected the proposed ad from the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign.

This decision came following yesterday's meeting of Jewish community leaders with senior members of the King County Executive's office and Metro Transit management about the potential threat to the Seattle-area Jewish community, after over 2,000 emails, and after numerous organizations, including StandWithUs, announced plans to run ads either countering this ad and/or promoting the positives of Israel.

Stand With Us offered thanks to....

AJC, Federation, ADL and various other organizations and individuals for their work on the Anti-BDS Task Force.

The metropolitan Seattle community's rabbis, synagogues and organizations for sending out to their members and supporters our alert this week.

And the thousands of community members who have written, called, and created the political pressure that has led to the County and Metro's reject the anti-Israel ad.

Stand With Us, a pro-Israel organization is online at http://www.standwithus.org

(hat tip: Jill Marks)

CUFI: Stop anti-Israel incitement!

From:   Christians United for Israel

 Stop Anti-Israel Incitement:

Incitement?  In Gaza? No.  In Seattle.

Anti-Israel ads are scheduled to run on Seattle buses next week. Join us in speaking out against anti-Israel Incitement by emailing King County officials to stop these ads.

The following is the text of the message that Christians United For Israel encourages you to endorse.

Stop Anti-Israel Incitement.

Dear [Decision Maker],

I understand that on Monday, December 27th, an advertisement accusing Israel of war crimes is scheduled to run on Seattle buses.

I believe that this advertisement is more than a mere political statement. It is an ugly slander of Israel. And it's dangerous. While I support the First Amendment right to free speech, I believe that this ad clearly violates your own policy against running ads that "insult specific groups to the point that a riot could be incited, vandalism could occur or public safety could be threatened."

Please remember that it was only four years ago that Naveed Afzal Haq walked into the Jewish Federation building in Seattle and shot six women, one fatally. Witnesses reported that Haq began shouting "I'm a Muslim American; I'm angry at Israel" before he began his shooting spree.

I believe that peace and reconciliation between Arabs and Israelis will not be furthered by screaming advertisements. Peace will come only by sitting together, building bridges, and reaching mutual understanding.

I therefore ask that you do everything in your power to block an advertisement that clearly violates your own policy, and which presents a danger to safety here at home and peace in the Middle East.
--------

For more information and to send an electronic message in opposition to the content of the incendiary and anti-Israel ads, click here:  http://www.cufi.org/site/R?i=vDLl5vwWceJ-7GHSxWGUYg

Christians United For Israel is online at http://www.cufi.org

ADL: Reconsider allowing anti-Israel bus ads

ADL Urges King County Metro to Reconsider Allowing Anti-Israel Ads on Seattle Area Buses

Seattle, WA, December 23, 2010 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today urged King County Metro Transit to reconsider its decision to allow anti-Israel advertisements to be affixed to the outside of the city’s public buses.

 

The advertisements, due to run for one month on the sides of 12 King County Metro Transit buses starting December 27, allege that U.S. tax dollars support Israeli “war crimes.” Purchased by the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign, the ads are intended to coincide with the 2-year anniversary of Israel’s operation in Gaza.

 

Hilary Bernstein, ADL Pacific Northwest Community Director, issued the following statement:

Using city run buses to propagate dangerous anti-Israel propaganda is an abuse of the free speech rights we all hold so dear.  Calling the state of Israel war criminals is not mere criticism of Israel but, as demonstrated around the world in recent years, it is incitement against the Jewish community.

 

While the community is not of one mind on the subject of Israel, and serious debate takes place over Israeli policy, the messages of the bus ads are not within the parameters of that debate.  In fact, they are a lot closer to racist ads which we believe should be rejected as inappropriate for public buses.

 

Extreme anti-Israel activity and rhetoric have become the new anti-Semitism, sometimes with intent, but if not, at least in terms of the consequences.  Only a few years ago an individual forced his way into the Seattle Jewish Federation building and murdered an employee on the grounds that he was “angry at Israel” and blamed Jewish people for all these problems.

 

In Europe, virulent propaganda flourished against Israel during the war in Gaza in 2008 and led to 220 anti-Semitic incidents in a three week period in the United Kingdom and 113 anti-Semitic incidents in France.

 

King County Metro Transit already has a policy banning ads “so insulting, degrading or offensive” that they can lead to a “breach of public safety, peace and order.”

 

We believe that is reason enough for the county to reconsider its placement of these ads on metro buses.

J Federation of Seattle's response to anti-Israel bus ads

Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle's  Response to Anti-Israel Bus Ads
Posted on Monday Dec 20, 2010 5:40 PM

As you may be aware, an anti-Israel ad campaign is scheduled to begin on Dec. 27. The ads, which accuse Israel of war crimes and purport that $30 billion is given each year to Israel in foreign aid, will run on twelve Seattle-area buses for the next month.

We believe that this campaign must be stopped.

The campaign features a photo of alleged war crimes and contains a strong anti-Israel message. The clear intent is to incite an emotional response by attacking Israelis. While we respect and support the first amendment right to free speech, we feel that this particular ad violates Metro Transit's own policy against running ads that "insult specific groups to the point that a riot could be incited, vandalism could occur or public safety could be threatened." The ad in question is clearly meant as a strong insult to the almost 50,000 members of the Seattle Jewish community, including the thousands of Israelis who call Seattle home. Additionally, this ad is not even accurate in its claims. Israel has never been tried or convicted of war crimes, and to claim that taxpayers fund these alleged crimes is an insult both to Americans and to our government.

We encourage Metro Transit, King County and Seattle officials to refuse to run these ads, based on a violation of their own policy.

We also encourage those who feel strongly to speak up and contact local officials by phone or email today stating your position. To send your message to King County Executive Dow Constantine and the King County Council, Metro Transit management and the local manager of transit advertising, click here.

The Jewish Federation firmly believes this type of inflammatory campaign is destructive to the peace process and undermines efforts to build positive relationships both in the Middle East and within our local community. This kind of demonization of Israel is contrary to reconciliation and does not contribute to furthering the peace process. Our core values mean we seek ways to build bridges, not to destroy them.

All parties in the Middle East want, need and deserve a peaceful cooperative coexistence. We encourage the public to become educated on all aspects of the Middle East conflict and to work for a peaceful resolution through which all parties can find a way to live and work together with respect and in peace.

Source: http://www.jewishinseattle.org/news-events/news/federation-response-anti-israel-bus-ads
 

Jasser: CAIR in denial

Jasser: CAIR "In Denial That There Is No Islamic Threat"- Counterterrorism Training On Political Islam "Very Relevant" http://wapo.st/esnpsM


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Morris: Palestinian leaders unwilling to compromise; they want it all.

Palestine: Tergiversation Nation

Historian Benny Morris:  Palestinian leaders are not interested in a two-state settlement.  But also: "Successive Israeli governments, since 1967, should never have bowed to right-wing messianic pressures and launched the settlement enterprise in the core, hill country of the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip. The enterprise has served the Palestinians well."


Benny Morris | December 9, 2010

The Americans still don't get it: the Palestinian leadership, Fatah and Hamas, are not interested in a two-state settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; they want all of Palestine, and are willing to shadowbox and dissemble and feint and bamboozle in order to defer the moment in which they must say "no,” for they will say "no,” to a realistic, historic compromise.

President Obama foolishly played into Palestinian hands when, early in his administration, he demanded that Israel freeze its settlement activity in order to shoe in a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations (in abeyance since 2008, when former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas a generous two-state package and he rejected it). Abbas jumped on the gift horse and fell into step—no talks until there was a complete settlement freeze.

And when at last the Netanyahu government agreed to a one-year freeze, the Palestinians tergiversated and hemmed and hawed until the year was almost up before actually deigning to start talking. Naturally, no progress was achieved. And then the bell rang, the year was over, and Netanyahu refused to renew the freeze, despite a generous American package in return for a mere 90-day freeze.

Now the White House has announced that it has given up on persuading Israel to renew the freeze, throwing the ball back into the Israeli-Palestinian court—and the Palestinians will continue to link a resumption of the talks to a settlement freeze. Meaning, no talks anytime soon and Israel pilloried by the international community. Which, on both counts, is what the Palestinian leadership wants.

Successive Israeli governments, since 1967, should never have bowed to right-wing messianic pressures and launched the settlement enterprise in the core, hill country of the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip. The enterprise has served the Palestinians well: It has tarnished Israel's image, framing the Jewish state as an expansionist, land-grabbing "imperial" power (no matter that the settlements were physically constructed by Palestinian laborers). And, more recently, it has served the Palestinians as an excuse for not joining a peace process that they feared might channel them toward a two-state settlement which they utterly reject.

And how do we know that they reject such a compromise? Because they say so, loudly and clearly to their own audiences, in Arabic, and occasionally, but more obliquely, to Westerners, who prefer not to hear what they are being told.

Hamas, the fundamentalist terrorist organization based in the Gaza Strip, has the virtue of relative honesty: the organization's constitution, or charter, of 1988 says that Israel must die and Islam, through jihad, will bring this about. Last month, Hamas's number two, Mahmoud al-Zahar, interviewed on Hamas's TV station, repeated the (anti-Semitic) credo: The Jews, because of their evil character, have been kicked out of every country hosting them, beginning with medieval Britain and France and ending, more recently, with Germany, and this is the fate that awaits them in Palestine as well.

And the supposedly secular Fatah party (note: captured failed suicide bombers from Fatah often spoke about the seventy-two virgins they hoped to meet up with in heaven), the main constituent of the PLO and of the Palestine Authority "government,” says the same thing but more subtly.

The Fatah's constitution from the 1960s, to be found on its website, is anything but subtle. It frankly calls for Israel's "disestablishment." And the PLO's "National Charter" of the 1960s, which the previous Palestinian national leader, Yassir Arafat, promised in the 1990s to amend and replace with a new charter, one which does not call for Israel's destruction, remains on the books—unreplaced. And Mahmoud Abbas, while saying "yes, yes" to two states, continues flatly to oppose the Clintonian formula of "two states for two peoples,” one for the Arabs and one for the Jews. Instead, he says, one for the Arabs, and the other for whoever lives in the territory of pre-1967 Israeli territory, while unwaveringly demanding that Israel accept the refugees' "right of return" and allow the return to Israel of the 1948 refugees and their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. These number 4.7–7.5 million, depends who's counting. Such a return would mean that the territory of pre-1967 Israel would swiftly or gradually acquire an Arab majority. Meaning, no Jewish state. Not really a "two-state solution.”

So Abbas, like Arafat—who in December 2000 rejected President Clinton's formula for a two-state solution—focuses on, and deploys the red herring of, "settlements,” knowing that such a focus will indefinitely postpone discussion of the real issue, an agreement to establish a Palestinian state alongside a Jewish Israel. And the Netanyahu government, rejecting a settlement freeze, falls into the Palestinian PR trap—and the Obama administration is left with the equivalent of diplomatic scorched earth.

But not all is necessarily lost. Perhaps the time has come for Washington to put on the table an outline of a fair peace plan or how it envisions a final settlement, which will be, to be sure, no different in principle from the Clinton proposals (or "parameters") of 2000. If America applies the thumbscrews, perhaps the two sides will even respond, and the world will be a little wiser about what Abbas (and Netanyahu) really wants.

Source:  http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/palestine-tergiversation-nation-4538

YouTube closes down site exposing Palestinian hate speech

YouTube closes down PMW account

[From Palwatch.org ]

PMW needs your help. YouTube has closed down PMW's main video account - PALWATCH - for "violating YouTube terms of use", by supposedly propagating hate speech. Of course PMW does not promote hate speech, but exposes the hate speech of the PA and the Hamas, in order to bring about its elimination.



YouTube stated that the account was henceforth terminated "due to repeated or severe violations of our Terms of Use" and they specified the following PMW videos from Palestinian sources, promoting the killing of Jews:



1. "Hamas TV teaches kids to kill Jews" formerly at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwN2M6ZIIRU
Removed for violating our Terms of Use on 10/02/2009.



2. "Jews are a virus like Aids" formerly at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYaGl3KjPUw
Removed for violating our Terms of Use on 01/18/2010.



3. "Farewell video before suicide attack of Hamas suicide bomber Adham Ahmad Hujyla Abu Jandal" formerly at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYdTudQhWM4
Removed for violating our Terms of Use on 06/10/2010.



4. "Hamas suicide farewell video: Jews monkeys and pigs; Maidens reward for killing Jews" formerly at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryc7RqXlVdE 
Removed for violating our Terms of Use on 08/14/2010.



5. "PA cleric: Kill Jews, Allah will make Muslims masters over Jews" formerly at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjuDTO8fgqM
Removed for violating our Terms of Use on 12/12/2010.


6. "Hamas suicide terrorist farewell video: Palestinians drink the blood of Jews" formerly at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSftYIGH6-w
Removed for violating our Terms of Use on 12/15/2010.



PMW urgently seeks to have this account reopened, since some of these videos have accumulated hundreds of thousands of viewings and the exposure is critical to our ongoing work.


 

Abu Toameh: WH and State hear 'yes' when the Palestinians are saying 'NO.'

"Americans need to listen to what the Palestinians are saying not only in English, but also in Arabic. And in Arabic, the message coming out of Ramallah remains no and no and no -- no to resumption of peace talks unconditionally, no to accepting Israel as a Jewish state, no to any solution that does not include all the territories captured by Israel in 1967. These no's are apparently being translated by the White House and State Department as one big yes."

--Khaled Abu Toameh     source: http://bit.ly/ftbJor

TIP: U.S. Supports Israel's Pursuit of Peace Negotiations

U.S. Supports Israel's Pursuit of Peace Negotiations

• Netanyahu prepared to discuss all core issues 
• House: PA unilateral actions detract from peace process
  
  http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=hsJPK0PIJpH&b=689705&ct=8972585  The Israel Project.org

Secretary of State Clinton meets with Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu at the beginning of peace talks, September, 2010

Washington, Dec. 16 - The United States House of Representatives has passed a resolution (Dec. 15) affirming the importance of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and rejecting unitaleral moves by the Palestinians to declare statehood.

Israel says a Palestinian unilateral declaration of independence would be meaningless since it avoids direct negotiations as a means to lasting peace, delaying the possibility of agreement on critical issues. Several countries in Latin America have recognized a Palestinian state that would occupy all territory captured by Israel in 1967 - but the United States and the European Union have rejected the move.

The House resolution supports a "negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict" and condemns "unilateral measures to declare or recognize a Palestinian state."

A negotiated solution, it says, is the only way to create two democratic states living side by side in "peace, security and mutual recognition."

Palestinians abandoned directed talks with Israel in September after a 10-month Israeli moratorium on building in the territories expired. The United States is now trying to get indirect negotiations going between the parties - but the Palestinians are resisting even that.

Key questions between the Israelis and Palestingians regarding security, borders, refugees and Jerusalem are still unresolved.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu committed the U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell on Tuesday (Sec. 14) that he is ready to discuss all the core issues in American-led indirect talks.

"The expectation is that borders and security arrangements will be the first two issues to be tackled," according to Haaretz, an Israeli daily.

Mitchell proposed bilateral talks on Wednesday (Dec. 15) - meaning parallel but separate American-led talks with the Israelis and Palestinians - as a means of restoring the negotiations.

Arab nations came out against any talks between Israel and the PA, "direct or indirect," unless the U.S. delineates what the future borders of a Palestinian state would be.

House passes resolution opposing unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state

The House passed a resolution tonight calling on the PA leadership to return to direct talks with Israel and to stop circumventing the peace process by lobbying for support for a unilaterally declared Palestinian state. No Member spoke in opposition to the resolution. The resolution was brought to the floor by Reps. Berman (D-CA), Poe (R-TX), Berkley (D-NV), Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ackerman (D-NY) and Burton (R-IN).

NYT: Declassified papers detail how Nazi anti-Semitism was transmitted to the Arab world after WW II

According to the New York Times, declassified papers detail "how [ after WW II ] high-ranking Nazis escaped from Germany to become advisers to anti-Israeli Arab leaders and “were able to carry on and transmit to others Nazi racial-ideological anti-Semitism.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/us/12holocaust.html?_r=1&_r

 The NY Times article is based on a U.S. government report published Friday, December 10, 2010 by the National Archives  http://www.archives.gov/iwg/reports/hitlers-shadow.pdf

From the NYT article:

In chilling detail, the report also elaborates on the close working relationship between Nazi leaders and the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, who later claimed that he sought refuge in wartime Germany only to avoid arrest by the British.

In fact, the report says, the Muslim leader was paid “an absolute fortune” of 50,000 marks a month (when a German field marshal was making 25,000 marks a year). It also said he energetically recruited Muslims for the SS, the Nazi Party’s elite military command, and was promised that he would be installed as the leader of Palestine after German troops drove out the British and exterminated more than 350,000 Jews there.

On Nov. 28, 1941, the authors say, Hitler told Mr. Husseini that the Afrika Corps and German troops deployed from the Caucasus region would liberate Arabs in the Middle East and that “Germany’s only objective there would be the destruction of the Jews.”

The report details ... how high-ranking Nazis escaped from Germany to become advisers to anti-Israeli Arab leaders and “were able to carry on and transmit to others Nazi racial-ideological anti-Semitism.”

“You have an actual contract between officials of the Nazi Foreign Ministry with Arab leaders, including Husseini, extending after the war because they saw a cause they believed in,” Dr. Breitman said. “And after the war, you have real Nazi war criminals — Wilhelm Beisner, Franz Rademacher and Alois Brunner — who were quite influential in Arab countries.”

Abu Toameh: Arab incitement must stop

The Palestinians: What Is Really Destroying the Chance for Peace

by Khaled Abu Toameh
December 7, 2010 at 5:00 am

http://www.hudson-ny.org/1715/palestinians-peace

It is sad and abhorrent to see how many Arabs have rejoiced over the big forest fire in Northern Israel, calling it a "divine punishment" for Israelis and wishing that the blaze would spread to destroy all Jews.

The messages of hate are the result of decades of incitement against Israel and Jews in the Arab media and mosques throughout the Arab and Islamic world.

The comments serve as a reminder that many people in the Arab and Islamic countries still have not come to terms with Israel's right to exist in this part of the world. Even worse, many of the talkbacks show that many Arabs and Muslims would welcome another Holocaust.

These reactions were posted on Web sites of major Arab media outlets, such as the popular Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya TV networks, and the Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

What is troubling is that these repugnant comments appeared on Web sites that are not necessarily associated with radical Islam.

Al-Arabiya and Asharq Al-Awsat are owned by members of the Saudi royal family, which, ironically, has been frequently targeted by Muslim fundamentalist groups like Al-Qaeda.

The overwhelming majority of talkbacks that appeared on the Web sites of these three powerful media organizations in the past few days showed how many Arabs and Muslim continue to dream about the destruction of Israel.

True, some readers and viewers did not join in the "celebration" of the fire that killed more than 40 people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of trees. Some even expressed sympathy with Israel, and some even criticized Arabs and Muslims who rejoiced over the fire.

But these "positive" comments reflected the opinion of a tiny minority. For example, out of 123 comments posted on one of the Web sites, less than 15 seemed to be rational.

The hateful postings did not only come from Arab and Islamic countries and the Palestinian Authority-controlled territories, but also from Arabs living in North America, Australia, Sweden and Europe.

Ahmed Abdallah from Australia wrote the following comment on Al-Jazeera's Web site: "O' God, how generous you are! Bring happiness to the heart of every Palestinian mother who lost her son or whose son is in prison."

Writing from Berlin, Germany, a reader who identified himself as Sarrawi commented: "Thank God and 1,000 congratulations [for the death of 42 Israelis]. O' God, give us more!"

From the UK, Zuheir Dabbagh wrote: "Thank God, we bring the good news to the Muslims that the land has gotten rid of 40 criminals."

Arabs who agreed to help Israel put out the fire also came under attack. The Palestinian Authority leadership and the Egyptian and Jordanian governments were strongly denounced as "traitors" for sending firefighters to Israel.

What is also worrying about the thousands of comments is that many Arabs and Muslims see Israel's appeal for international assistance in putting out the fire as a sign of weakness.

Many of those who expressed joy over the fire urged Iran, Hizbullah and Hamas to seize the "golden opportunity" and try to eliminate Israel for once and for all. Others wrote that if Israel cannot handle a fire, there is no reason to believe that it could win in any war.

There is good reason to believe that the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish attitudes expressed in these comments reflect the views of many Arabs and Muslims. With attitudes like these, it is hard to see how real peace can be achieved in the Middle East in the near future. Unless this incitement stops, the prospects of moving forward with the "peace process" between Israelis and Arabs are as bleak as ever.

Donate online to Israel Forest Fire Disaster Relief Funds

Here are two examples of Israel Relief Funds to which one may donate online:

The Jewish Federations of North America  http://www.bit.ly/israelfiredonate

ARZA and the Union of Reform Judaism:   http://www.arza.org/news/israel/fund/

Arson suspects apprehended rekindling forest fire in Israel

Coastal District Police Commander Roni Attia said Friday that two arson suspects were apprehended in the North, near Kiryat Bialik.

The suspects were allegedly attempting to rekindle a fire in the forest with the use of Molotov cocktails. Police are not connecting the arsonists at this stage to the massive fires in the Carmel and Atlit but rather to the fire which broke out earlier at the Tzur Shalom area of Kiryat Bialik


Attia added that arson is suspected in a number of separate fires, including Kiryat Bialik and Kiryat Tivon.

Earlier on Friday, police found a bike, a bag, and a wig inside near a fire center in Tzur Shalom, leading them to believe that the fire was caused by an arsonist or arsonists.

Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told the Post that there are 3 fire centers - Tzur Shalom, the Atlit - Tirat Hacarmel area, and the Carmel hillsides. In one, Tzur Shalom, north of Haifa, "we located suspicious items pointing to arson. As for the other two major fires, it is too early and the incidents are to large in scale to know their causes at this stage." The death toll in the fires rose to 42 on Friday, according to Army Radio.

Galillee police were spread out over the area searching for suspects.

 

Source: Jerusalem Post,  12.3.2010   http://www.jpost.com/VideoArticles/Article.aspx?id=197845