A sleeping beast hides in the depths of the nuclear agreement, but... by Dror Eydar

...The 2015 nuclear agreement is a clear example of those elites' irresponsible perception – a product of self-persuasion – that in front of them is not in fact a labyrinth housing a monster that requires human sacrifices, but rather a normal country that makes rational decisions. The shame and the imminent war have now been joined by deception.

Dror Eydar..
Israel Hayom..
04 May '18..
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/2018/05/04/the-sleeping-iranian-beast/

1.

On May 28, 1987, a Cessna 172 plane landed in the heart of Moscow, in Red Square. The aircraft was piloted by West German amateur aviator Mathias Rust, who managed to breach the air defenses around the Soviet capital and embarrass the Soviet leadership. His smooth landing in the middle of such a sensitive area exposed the Soviet empire's impotence, making it look ridiculous in the eyes of its allies and its citizens. Above all, it lifted the curtain to reveal the lies behind the Kremlin's longtime propaganda.

The blow to the leadership's prestige was devastating. It prompted then-President Mikhail Gorbachev to replace his security team and unwittingly expedite the collapse of the Soviet Union.

It is safe to assume that Monday's unprecedented unveiling of Iranian nuclear documents, obtained by Israel's Mossad agency in a daring operation in Tehran, had the same effect on Iran. It exposed the leadership's weakness both to Iran's own citizens and to the world. Every mullah in the Iranian regime is now both a suspect and suspicious of others. The Arab world is laughing at Iran's bravado. The country's economic and social chaos is now compounded by this severe blow to the respect once commanded by the ayatollahs' regime.

The thought that now hounds them is this: If Israel managed to transport half a ton of confidential materials from the heart of the Iranian capital to Israel, what would it be able to do in a state of active war?

The unveiling was also intended to demonstrate to the Arab countries that fear Iran that Israel is strong and they should consider what that means for their own security. This knowledge will encourage them to seek closer relationships with Israel without having to pay a price in the form of abandoning parts of the homeland.

2.

Unfortunately, the revelation, which could have been a strong psychological warfare move, was dampened by Israel's own commentators and journalists. They rushed to downplay the value of the seized materials and essentially aligned themselves with Iran's propaganda. They dismissed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's contribution to the operation, even though he had ordered it and assumed sole responsibility for its success or failure.

"There is no smoking gun," the commentators declared triumphantly upon studying the seized documents. They were promptly quoted by the Iranian and Hezbollah media channels, as well as by Hamas and other scourges, to prove that "nothing happened." They can always count on the Israeli media and its pathological hatred of Netanyahu to sacrifice Israel's security on the altar of this hate. As in the fable in which the scorpion stings the frog and dooms them both, it is simply their nature. They can't help it.

In Israel, when the ‘fringe’ becomes mainstream

In Israel, the problem is not in the “fringe” but the mainstream. Here is a recent example of how those who possess a radio microphone or who stare at you from the television screen control and slant the news we receive.

Yisrael Medad/Eli Pollak..
Media Comment/JPost..
08 June '16..
Link: http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Media-Comment-When-the-fringe-becomes-mainstream-456282

Paul Farhi, the Washington Post’s media reporter, wrote two months back about “a kind of self-reinforcing information loop” that affects the media. He sees this as a problem found in the “fringe,” which is “the murky swamp of rightwing, libertarian and flat-out paranoid sources” of the social media’s “alternative information ecosystem.”

In Israel, the problem is not in the “fringe” but the mainstream.

Here is a recent example of how those who possess a radio microphone or who stare at you from the television screen control and slant the news we receive.

On the morning of May 26, Kol Yisrael’s veteran news anchor Aryeh Golan referred almost a half-dozen times in three different items and interviews to what he claimed was the US State Department’s opinion on the result of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s negotiations to form a new government, which was that it was “the most right-wing coalition in Israel’s history.”

Golan is surely aware of the makeup of Yitzhak Shamir’s government, Israel’s 24th, from June 1990 to July 1992.

It included the Likud, the National Religious Party, Shas and Techiya. And when Techiya bolted, Tzomet and Moledet filled in. But more importantly, he misquoted the State Department spokesman. What Mark Toner actually said was, “We’ve also seen reports from Israel describing it as the most right-wing coalition in Israel’s history.” Golan first misquoted his source, then, based on that, asked the politicians he was interviewing for their opinion. Their statements then provided further headlines.

Golan seems to be a good student of strategic communication adviser Ben Rhodes, who did the same for the White House, pushing the Iran Nuclear deal. Golan impugned Israel’s government without any factual base.

This is a corollary of what we termed the “media boomerang effect” in our December 21, 2011 column, where we related to local media figures who exploit their connections with the foreign press to impact Israeli society.

Golan, we presume, was convinced no one had actually read or listened to Toner’s statement and felt free to “interpret” it to suit his own personal world view.

This was a prime example of a media “misquotation maneuver.” The main difference between this and the phenomenon Farhi spoke of is that Golan is not a “fringe” character but firmly in the mainstream of Israel’s media.

As is Roni Daniel.

There won't be any military revolution, and no remedy is needed, either - by Dr. Gabi Avital

...So what do we do about large sections of society going back to their roots? What remedy does Barnea intend to give against people holding fast to the main source of strength in holding on to the country we came to from the Diaspora -- the Bible and its main character, God? I won't be taking much of a risk if I say that there won't be any military revolution, and no remedy is needed, either.

Dr. Gabi Avital..
Israel Hayom..
15 May '16..

Columnist Nahum Barnea's piece in Yedioth Ahronoth on Friday, about his fear of religiously observant IDF soldiers' and commanders' faith taking over, can be summed up by these sentences: "It could be that 10 years from now, the entire General Staff will look like [Col. Ofer] Winter. We need to act before it's too late." This continues Barnea's fear over the process of "heroization" taking place in the IDF.

A large picture hangs on the wall of the offices of the major general Barnea visited, which shows three of our air force jets flying over a Polish death camp. Barnea can't help himself, and launches what he calls an "embarrassing" conversation about why it was even necessary to fly over Auschwitz. To him, it's vital that we understand the message, so he quotes an academic, Professor Yehuda Bauer, who deemed the flyover "childish and unnecessary. Cemeteries are for weeping, not for holding showcase flyovers." We should mention here that the commander of the flight was Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel, today head of the Israeli Air Force, and it was then-IAF commander Maj. Gen. Eliezer Shkedi who distributed the image. Neither of them is observant.

What irks Barnea? And how does this relate to Tzvi Bar'el's battle cry in Haaretz about the necessity of a military revolution, despite that the two calls contradict each other? Let's go back to the days Barnea is talking about, the days of Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014. The deep worry for the soldiers' safety was expressed in many ways. Some of us, obviously, prayed, while others paced like caged lions. And there were officers, like Winter, commander of the Givati Brigade, who chose to encourage and spur on their troops before heading into battle through prayer: "I lift my eyes to heaven and call out, together with you: Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 'Lord God of Israel, grant success to the path on which we walk and stand to fight for Your nation Israel against the foe that blasphemes Your name. In the name of IDF soldiers and especially the soldiers and commanders of this brigade ... together, and only together, will we win."

The Real Lessons from Birzeit’s Expulsion of Haaretz’s Amira Hass

...Palestinian universities’ unwillingness to confront students with any perspective that might challenge their preexisting views has also hindered Palestinian economic development, because students aren’t developing the critical thinking skills necessary for success in today’s high-tech economy. But that’s the Palestinians’ problem. Birzeit’s education to hatred and prejudice, in contrast, ought to be the problem of anyone who claims to care about Israeli-Palestinian peace. Unfortunately, most of the world would rather look the other way.

Evelyn Gordon..
Commentary Magazine..
01 October '14..

If the world hasn’t yet grasped that Palestinians aren’t interested in peace, it’s certainly not because Palestinians haven’t been working hard to make it clear. Mahmoud Abbas’s “genocide” speech at the UN last week did get momentary attention, being too public to ignore completely. But an even more telling incident has been almost completely overlooked: the expulsion of Haaretz reporter Amira Hass–a woman who has spent decades promoting the Palestinian cause–from a conference at Birzeit University near Ramallah, solely because she is an Israeli Jew.

Nobody, in Israel or outside it, is more pro-Palestinian than Hass. To the best of my knowledge, she’s the only Israeli reporter so dedicated to the Palestinians that she has made her home among them for decades, first in Gaza and then in Ramallah. She reports relentlessly on Palestinian suffering under the “occupation regime” and is a tireless apologist for unattractive Palestinian habits such as stone-throwing. Her latest op-ed, for instance, was an apologia for Abbas’s genocide speech, and her report on her expulsion from Birzeit was similarly forgiving of the bigoted policy that bans all Israeli Jews–though not Israeli Arabs–from the campus simply because they are Israeli Jews. So if students and faculty at Birzeit, the Palestinians’ flagship university, can’t even tolerate having Hass on their campus, what does that say about Palestinian readiness to make peace with the Israeli majority, which doesn’t share her belief that their own country is evil and all justice is on the Palestinians’ side?

After all, universities are where the next generation of leaders is nurtured; this makes Birzeit’s position far more important than that of the 79-year-old Abbas, now in the tenth year of his four-year term. Abbas will soon be gone. But Birzeit’s students and graduates will be an influential force in Palestinian society for decades to come.

When looking into the gaping jaws of hell, maybe you should reassess reality

...While I, and I assume many others, believed that we were holding negotiations with the end goal of reaching a deal, Hamas was busy preparing to do its best to take out the State of Israel. This operation has made it clear that Gaza truly is hell. And when you're looking into the gaping jaws of hell, maybe you should reassess reality.

Aharon Lapidot..
Israel Hayom..
22 July '14..

In English, people like this are called "clueless" -- cut off from reality with no idea of what's happening around them. The term came to mind when I was watching foreign correspondents (what network they were from doesn't matter) reporting from Gaza. With their bullet-proof vests, they stand there in the middle of the street against a background of the ruins left as a result of IDF strikes, as women, children, and wounded scurry around them. Difficult images, undoubtedly, and the reporters pepper their reports with even harsher words.

But none of these people notice that the scenes described above are missing a key component. If, God forbid, any rocket were to fall in a populated area in Israel, who would be the first ones to swamp the scene? Correct -- the rescue forces: police officers, soldiers, firefighters, paramedics -- people in uniform. No one in uniform is seen in any of the reports from Gaza. And it seems to me that there is no shortage of uniforms there: We see them in the thousands in constant parades and protests, in propaganda films, in training caps, and even in children's sizes.

Where are the Hamas soldiers and where are the police in Gaza when an Israeli bomb falls? Why don't they direct the stream of displaced people to shelter instead of letting them roam the streets aimlessly? This is probably part of a sophisticated propaganda campaign: Television loves heart-rending, truly heart-rending, scenes like these. On the other hand, we cannot avoid the conclusion that they are hiding underground in the immense tunnel system constructed beneath the city, in Underground Gaza.

Need irresponsibility, lack of factual information, or unfair ethical biases be tolerated?

Discussion and debate in Israel are robust and free-wheeling, as they should be in a democracy. On the other hand, irresponsibility, lack of factual information or unfair ethical biases practiced by journalists, especially those in our public broadcasting system, need not be tolerated.

Yisrael Medad, Eli Pollak..
Media Comment/JPost..
20 March '13..

Rino Tzror is a much-admired journalist. He has been an editor and has also directed award winning documentary films. He is currently the moderator of the Army Radio station (Galatz) Thursday news show Ma Boer? (What’s Burning?).

Two week ago he dealt with the question of the new bus service for Palestinians who are permitted to enter Israel. The Transportation Ministry claims that to alleviate the problem of Arabs resident in Judea and Samaria who wish to wish to work in Israel having to pay exorbitant prices to taxi drivers or other “transporters,” as well for security reasons, it decided to take action. The assistance was in the form of providing bus service into Israel, for a reduced fee of five to 10 shekels, depending on the destination.

Haim Levinson claimed in Haaretz on March 4 that the true motivation for these bus lines was complaints by Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria against the presence of Palestinians on their buses. The residents were afraid of the security consequences of such mingling. The Transportation Ministry heeded their request, according to Levinson, and created the new bus service. Levinson did note, though, that the new service is a “hit” and that thousands of Palestinians are using it.

Ido Benbaggi, the “territories” correspondent for Galatz, provided the background to Tzror’s program. He interviewed some Palestinians who were upset with the new bus lines.

Benbaggi did not provide any information about Palestinians who were actually thankful for the savings in time and money. In fact, the service, which initially had only 12 weekly buses, was increased by the Transportation Ministry to 40-60 buses per week. The ministry spokesperson claimed that neither Benbaggi nor the editors of the Ma Boer program had requested any ministry response.

Tzror continued the item with a long interview with Prof. Yedidya Stern of the Israel Democracy Institute.

Stern had only very sharp criticism for these new bus lines. Tzror not only did not even attempt to ask tough questions, or act as a “devil’s advocate,” as a professional journalist would, he “helped” Stern by repeatedly referring to the new bus lines as “apartheid lines.”

Medad/Pollak - Respect for the law?

Yisrael Medad/Eli Pollak..
Media Comment/JPost..
06 June '12..

Faced with the evidence, the attorney-general made the decision to charge the journalist with criminal action. He had been found to be in possession of stolen government documents. That is a felony, and, if convicted, he could be sent to jail. The formal charge in court was that the investigative reporter did “unlawfully receive, conceal and retain... government documents... and records, with intent to convert the said property to his own use or gain,” knowing the documents had been stolen.

Uri Blau, Israel, 2012? No, Les Whitten, 1973. And there were other cases, such as Thomas Drake, 2010, or James Risen, 2011. The United States government decided to prosecute all three for willful retention of national defense information or other security-related documents.

The first instance, of course, is not fully comparable. Whitten never went to court, his arrest was a result of a vengeful president and the documents were not security- or military- related. Another important element is that the US Constitution was amended to include a prohibition to abridge the freedom of the press.

Israel has no constitution.

Nevertheless, both cases are linked to the passionate debate over whether, how and to what extent journalistic privilege should be protected versus the issue of journalistic liability for violating the law. In this connection, the name Julian Assange could also be mentioned, or even Winston Churchill’s Regulation 2d during World War II, which severely limited the press.

The dilemma, which we also face in Israel, is: Should a journalist who acts in concert with a source who has stolen classified government documents, or who solicited the source to misappropriate classified documents, be immune from criminal prosecution? A secondary aspect of this debate in Israel is that the parameters of the debate and how it is being debated is being directed here mainly by other journalists, who understandably have quite a vested interest in the case.

Shine - The watchdog that bit democracy

Dr. Haim Shine..
Israel Hayom..
31 May '12..

The attorney-general's decision to try Haaretz reporter Uri Blau for the unauthorized possession of confidential material was good, and brave. In a country where the media dictates the national agenda on many issues, courage is required to stop the reckless behavior of journalists who, under the protection of freedom of expression, put Israel in real danger. It is not the attorney-general's job to dictate codes of behavior — that job is reserved for the legislative and judiciary branches of government. The attorney-general's job is to ensure that well-founded indictments are heard by the court. The attorney-general is supposed to treat everyone equally: rich and poor, elected official and common citizen, journalist and any other professional.

The message communicated by the attorney-general's decision to indict Blau is important: Freedom of speech is not freedom to commit national suicide or freedom to abandon judgment. Journalists can be expected to display a fair amount of responsibility and regard for the security of the state and its values. Anat Kamm and Uri Blau are not heroes. Efforts by the radical left-wing media to portray them as such are absurd: They portray an enemy as an ally, liberation as occupation and cowardice as civilian courage.

Eydar - Welcome to the Politburo

Dror Eydar
Israel Hayom
09 December '11

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=988

1. When the Eilat conference on Israeli media ended and people began to leave, a certain veteran "Mr. Television" left the stage and quipped sarcastically, "Hilltop Youth for government," addressing several conservative journalists who stood there. When I heard his words, a Latin phrase came to mind: "Sic transit gloria mundi." Thus passes the glory of the world.

The journalism conference in Eilat this week provided another opportunity for people of the old order and their spiritual descendents to come face to face with the Israeli reality, a reality that is asking for change in the traditional power bases in which the general public never had a say - in the media.

It would have been interesting to see the journalists' reactions to the results of surveys organized by the conference sponsors. A majority of the Jewish public in Israel views the large media outlets - including Channels 2 and 10, Army Radio, Israel Radio, and most newspapers - as Left-leaning, and even extremely left-leaning. The average reaction to that would surely be, "That can't be true," "They don't understand," and "We need to replace the nation."

Israeli Journalist: “Bomb the next Gaza flotilla–with flyers”

Asaf Stein
Jewish News from
World of Judaica
22 July '10

In an almost shocking departure from his usually controlled tone, Ma’ariv columnist Ben-Dror Yemini recently penned a blog for the newspaper’s website entitled “The New Empire.” Yemini, normally associated with Israel’s center-left, warned, in a scathing and arguably alarmist tone, of a “new empire” threatening to destroy the Jewish State. Surprisingly enough, he claims that famous Israeli author Amos Oz is a part of it.

World of Judaica brings you an exclusive translation of parts of the article. To see it in its entirety and Hebrew original, click here. All bold is copied from the original.

The New Empire

The Soviet Union collapsed. The United States of Barack Obama has become a kingdom of appeasement. And the New Empire, more than just a small force, is growing before our very eyes. Last weekend (June 1st) it decided to call for international monitoring of Israel’s nuclear weapons program. Pay attention. The monster, excuse me, the Empire, didn’t even mention Iran, the very purpose of its gathering. The Empire mentioned Israel.

Now, as it is bursting forth before our eyes in full force, we can already try to define it. The New Empire is a union of international public opinion springing from college campuses and among cultural elites, and the automatic majority of non-democratic countries in every international forum. This is deadly combination. Because the free world’s elites are going through a process of disintegration. They no longer believe in themselves. They believe in the “other,” the victim of colonialism, which never ended according to them. These elites have established an anti-globalization movement, taken control of human rights organizations, as well as a part of, or perhaps even a majority of, environmental groups. They are broadcasting a new world order that dares speak in the language of rights…

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EU funding to promote the Arab Peace Initiative among Israeli journalists

NGO Monitor
22 April '10

1) An April 18, 2010 article on the News1 website (Hebrew) discusses a European Union project to promote the Arab Peace Initiative among Israeli journalists. As noted below, this is part of EU efforts to "Influence Institutions/ Decision makers, Public opinion and Media" outside of diplomatic channels, and under the guise of Israeli "civil society."

2) The project is entitled "Simulating the Arab Peace Initiative," and is part of the Partnerships for Peace (PfP) program (€298,422 in 2010-12). The official link on the EU website is: http://www.delisr.ec.europa.eu/english/content/cooperation_and_funding/3.asp

3) The recipients are Neve Shalom School and Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation (CCRR). CCRR, a Palestinian NGO, calls for the boycott of Israeli academics or Israeli academic institutions that support the occupation ("for more than 50 years," i.e. Israel as a Jewish state), as well as those that do not take a position on it.

4) In contrast to the track record of CCRR, the PfP website claims: "The project aims to promote tolerance and better understanding between Israeli and Palestinian societies by engaging core representatives of the media in a process of reflection on the past treatment and historical background of the API and simulate the adoption of API and its potential consequences in the media; Moreover, the project will facilitate critical discussions on the journalist-editor relationship in uni-national settings, on the one hand, and establish open and sustained channels of communication between Israeli and Palestinian journalists and editors, on the other" (emphasis added).

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