CAMERA - Ha'aretz's Lousy Headline

TS..
CAMERA/Snapshots..
04 April '12..




Yet again, Ha'aretz provides an example of how its distorted coverage provides fodder to anti-Israel writers abroad. Yesterday Ha'aretz's Web site published the following headline:

This dismal headline implies that the Israeli army is seeking to upgrade means in which to harm civilian populations. Indeed, one must read the article itself several times to understand the new brigade's actual purpose: to increase precision of attacks on combatants so as to minimize harm to civilians. But the dismal online headline, coupled with the lack of clarity in the article itself, points falsely instead to IDF intentions to massacre, a notion that anti-Israel blogger Richard Silverstein jumps on.

One need only look at the English print edition for a straight-forward headline: "IDF plans to set up first short-range rocket battalion." Ha'aretz editors take note: an accurate subheadline would read: "New rockets would reduce casualties among non-combatants during strikes against terrorist targets in populated areas."

Link: http://blog.camera.org/archives/2012/04/haaretzs_lousy_headline.html

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page. Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand 
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Hanson - Iran’s Win, Win, Win Bomb

Victor Davis Hanson..
National Review Online..
03 April '12..

Iran, if not stopped, will join the nuclear club, probably within two or three years. It may be stupid to try to preempt Iran; it may be even stupider not to try. But the stupidest assumption of all is that either Iran is not enriching uranium in order to obtain a weapon, or it might through negotiations or sanctions be persuaded to give up trying.

Why? In Iran’s way of thinking, nuclear-weapons capability has no downside. Diplomatic grandees who assure us that nukes are prohibitively expensive, counterproductive, a guarantee of pariah status, always disruptive to regional peace and prosperity, and never popular with the public are lying, even if they wish they were not.

There is no Iranian worry over the cost. Tehran currently exports almost half a billion dollars’ worth of natural gas and oil every day. Porous sanctions and embargoes won’t stop much of that income stream in an oil-hungry world. Unlike dirt-poor nuclear Pakistan and North Korea, Iran has the potential not just to join the nuclear club, but to do so in a big way, with hundreds of expensive bombs and delivery systems. When we speak of a nuclear Iran, we mean not something like North Korea’s five or six nukes of dubious reliability, but an entire petrodollar-fed strategic arsenal. A nuclear Iran will some day be analogous to China or India, not North Korea.

Who would be able to deter a bellicose nuclear Iran? Pakistan is deterred by its archenemy, the far larger India. Tiny North Korea is corralled by China, which enjoys the mischief Pyongyang’s few nukes cause the West — but only up to the point of not causing too much trouble in its own neighborhood.

But when it comes to deterring Iran, nuclear Israel is tiny — and is ostracized by most of the world. America is growing tired of its role as Middle East watchdog, and until recently President Obama was begging the Iranians for a new “reset” relationship. The rival Sunni Gulf sheikdoms are not known for their martial prowess. Would France step up to warn nuclear Iran not to point its missiles at Berlin? Would the EU band together to fund missile defense?

Hornik - Peter Beinart, Zionist Pioneer

P. David Hornik..
frontpagemag.com..
04 April '12..



At least Peter Beinart is original. In his recent New York Times op-ed and his new book The Crisis of Zionism, the American Jewish pundit and author calls for a new form of Zionist activity. As he says in the op-ed, “call it Zionist B.D.S.” Since BDS stands for “boycott, divestment, and sanctions” directed at Israel, for short we can call Beinart’s new type of Zionism “boycott Zionism.”

Historically, the three main streams of Zionism were Labor (socialist), Revisionist (nationalist), and Mizrachi (religious) Zionism. Zionists belonging to these streams (and others, or no particular stream at all) engaged in activities like: coming to live in Israel, settling it including particularly dangerous areas, serving in its security forces, smuggling arms, smuggling refugees, and so on. Israelis today, of course, continue to live in Israel, settle it including particularly dangerous areas, and serve in its security forces; fortunately, because it’s now an established state, they need no longer smuggle in arms or refugees.

But boycott Zionists don’t have to do any of those things. Indeed, boycott Zionism need not be an activity at all; all one need do to be a boycott Zionist in, say, New York City (where Peter Beinart lives) is see an Israeli product on a shelf and not buy it. Thus, so long as the nonbuying is intentional and not just accidental, just about anyone can be a Zionist now—that is, anyone who lives anywhere that Israeli products are sold, which is a lot of places.

Shoval - When the Jews leave Jerusalem

Ronen Shoval..
Haaretz..
04 April '12..

Former prime minister Ehud Olmert said a few days ago: "It breaks my heart to initiate relinquishing sovereignty over the Temple Mount but there is no other choice." However, conceding the Temple Mount means opting for a one-way road that leads straight to the annihilation of Zionism. And the heart that will be broken will not be that of Olmert but rather that of the Jewish people. There is only one meaning to giving up the Temple Mount: the end of the State of Israel. [The late defense minister] Moshe Dayan was mistaken when he declared that Sharm el-Sheikh without peace was preferable to peace without Sharm el-Sheikh. But the Temple Mount is not Sharm el-Sheikh.

No one gives up their heart in return for peace. If the aim was peace at all costs, the safest and most immediate way to achieve it would be simply to convert to Islam. Just as, for the sake of peace, even the most ardent left-wing activists would not be prepared to convert to Islam, not even in a symbolic way, so it is impossible to concede the symbols that express identity. Peace is merely a means for the Jewish people to exist and thrive.

Many Zionists support the establishment of a Palestinian state and with that end in mind, they are prepared to make far-reaching concessions. The argument within the Zionist movement is between those who believe that it is possible to forgo [the outpost of] Migron and perhaps even Ariel, and those who believe we must build in Judea and Samaria. The argument is between the issue of reducing the scale of the demographic problem versus the benefits of remaining in territories that are vital from the national-historic and security points of view.

But you cannot be a Zionist if you are prepared to yield the place that provides us with the moral, historic and religious right to this land - the Temple Mount. It is not by chance that the Palestinians are demanding an Israeli withdrawal from the Temple Mount. The leaders of the Arab world and the Palestinian national leaders understand the significance of symbols.

The not quite so ancient roots of the "Palestinian People"

TY to Martin Kramer for taking note of the following on his FB page:

Hamas minister of interior and national security vents anger at Egypt for not supplying Gaza with adequate fuel. He says Palestinians deserve better, because they wage jihad on behalf of all Muslims. But then he switches gears: “Every Palestinian, in Gaza and throughout Palestine, can prove his Arab roots—whether from Saudi Arabia, from Yemen… Half of the Palestinians are Egyptians and the other half are Saudis.”

And the drum roll, please!

March 23, 2012 Clip No. 3389
Hamas Minister of the Interior and of National Security Fathi Hammad Slams Egypt over Fuel Shortage in Gaza Strip, and Says: "Half of the Palestinians Are Egyptians and the Other Half Are Saudis"



Following are excerpts from an address by Hamas Minister of the Interior and of National Security Fathi Hammad, aired by Al-Hekma TV on March 23, 2012.
Fathi Hammad : Is Egypt incapable of supplying fuel for 1.5 to 2 million people in the Gaza Strip?
[...]
If you do not point your compass toward Palestine, Al-Aqsa, and Jerusalem, in order to uproot the Zionist enemy, the US will trample you underfoot. It will besiege you with its conspiracies and will finish you off.
Therefore, you must hoist the banner of Jihad, the banner of "there is no god but Allah."
[...]
Brothers, there are 1.8 million of us in Gaza. In Egypt, there are about 90 million people. We equal merely two percent of the Egyptian population. [Supplying us with fuel] would not burden you at all.
[...]

A nuclear Iran is too much to risk

Alan J. Kuperman..
Los Angeles Times..
0 April '12..

As calls mount, especially in Israel, for military action against Iran's nuclear program, the main counterargument has been seductively simple: Iran is rational. Indeed, our country's top military official, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, recently rejected the need for airstrikes because, as he put it, "We are of the opinion that the Iranian regime is a rational actor."

By this logic, we should not risk war to prevent Iran from going nuclear because even if Iran acquired nukes, it would never use them offensively, never share them with terrorists and never utilize them as a shield for regional adventurism. To do so would risk nuclear retaliation, which would be irrational.

Although I disagree with the general's conclusion that we shouldn't take action, I do believe his underlying assumptions are mainly right. The Iranian regime is mostly rational most of the time. Its rhetoric is blustery, but its actions typically are moderated to avoid provoking retaliation.

For example, Iran has so far avoided kicking out international inspectors and launching a crash program to build nuclear weapons, the steps most likely to provoke airstrikes. Instead, Iran permits inspectors to verify that it is enriching uranium to a significant degree, in direct contravention of U.N. Security Council resolutions, in amounts for which it has no civilian need but that would facilitate a bomb program.

Tobin - Why Did the Administration Leak the Israel-Azerbaijan Story?

Jonathan S. Tobin..
Commentary/Contentions..
03 April '12..



Veteran Israeli journalist Ehud Yaari has written in the Times of Israel claiming last week’s bombshell from Foreign Policy magazine about Azerbaijan’s willingness to allow Israel to use its air bases to strike Iran was pure fiction. Yaari excoriates the editors of Foreign Policy, the Israeli press (including, presumably, the Times of Israel, which prominently reported it) and anyone else (including, presumably, me) for taking it seriously. But though Yaari presents some good arguments why it might not be true, unlike magazine author Mark Perry, he offers no sources or reporting to back up his assertion.

But even if we assume Yaari is right and Perry’s piece is wrong, there are some interesting questions to be posed about the piece. Unless you are willing to believe, as perhaps Yaari and others disputing its authenticity do, that Perry is lying about the fact that senior officials in the Obama administration leaked the story to him, it’s still important to ask why they did so. What possible motive could they have had?

The answer is simple. Whether the air base angle was true or not, publicizing the ongoing close cooperation between Israel and Azerbaijan (something Yaari actually concedes is factual) can only make it more difficult for that relationship to continue. Because, as Yaari rightly notes, Perry is no friend of Israel, the willingness of Obama’s minions to circulate the tale speaks volumes about the off-the-record malevolence that lurks beneath the surface of the president’s current charm offensive aimed at Jewish voters.

(Video) The Qalandiya 3 Ring Circus

Love of the Land..
03 April '12..

Posted a few days ago, this Youtube is rather typical of a genre of Pallywood heroic protest films, that with an army of photographers in tow, resembles something quite close to a 3 ring circus. One can choose whatever one finds to be most interesting, one time the photographer behavior, the next time, aggressively non-violent rock throwers shielding themselves with Red Crescent Ambulances, during the loading of purported injured. Also, not to be upstaged, a group of silly American/Europeans chanting their slogans during an impromptu moment before the cameras. The choices are virtually unlimited, hence the title, The Qalandiya 3 Ring Circus.

A few highlights:

00:15 Photographers assemble for the pre-game show

00:24 Throw and get behind that Red Crescent Ambulance

00:28 Photographers accompany rock-throwers on their first foray. About a 1:1 ratio

01:47 Quite a bank of photographers on the left-side getting the action photos

05:42 Any idea who this character is?

06:51 Another great photo-op, kneeling in front of van.

08:59 and 09:32-09:35 Those Red Crescents Ambulances really make the perfect shield, while they load up their customers.

10:20-10:45 The American/Europeans, wishing they had been born 3rd world, make their contribution to the revolution.


Uploaded by yisraelpnm on Mar 31, 2012

Benson - Lies, Damned Lies, and the Columbia Journalism Review’s Statistics

Pesach Benson..
Honest Reporting..
03 April '12..





As Mark Twain put it, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.”

No kidding. It’s amazing what one can do with numbers. Take for example, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which published its annual census of imprisoned journalists.

Justin Martin, a blogger at the Columbia Journalism Review seized on the CPJ’s findings to create a new “statistic,” which he calls jailed journalists per capita.

These data are very helpful, but I think we can consider them under a new lamp by taking into account each country’s size. China and Eritrea, for example, have about the same number of journalists rotting in prison, 27 and 28 respectively. But the population of China is over 250 times that of the small dictatorship.

After crunching the numbers, Martin concludes that Israel ranks behind only Eritrea for jailing the most journalists per capita.

Martin’s point?

Israel, though, wants to be called a modern democracy and gets cranky when critics point out that it is not. Turkey, too, is a country that has responded to external pressure about its human rights record. Noting that these nations imprison more journalists for their size than Yemen and Iran is a powerful statement.

But there are two big problems here.

Ceren - With Eye on Iran, Israel Warns Palestinians

Omri Ceren..
Commentary/Contentions..
03 April '12..

The Iranian proxies in the Gaza Strip have not been shy about their eagerness to renew hostilities, preferably but not necessarily at their convenience. Hamas’s Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh recently reiterated that Hamas will never cease trying to destroy Israel, and to make sure everyone was on the same page the Palestinians fired rockets into Israel while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was in town. All of which lead to a military flare-up last month, leaving some Palestinian groups badly damaged but not even scraping Hamas’s military infrastructure.

So naturally attacks on Israeli troops, especially around the southern Gaza border, are again on the rise. IDF patrols are being targeted with 50 kg explosives, more than 50 mortar attacks have been launched at Israeli soldiers, and anti-tank missiles are a constant threat. Israeli leaders are describing the attacks as an escalation, and have apparently had enough:

Israeli planes dropped pamphlets in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday morning, warning Palestinians not to enter a no-go zone on its southern border. The leaflets, signed by Israeli forces general command, include a map of the zone, a Ma’an correspondent said. An Israeli army spokeswoman said the leaflets were dropped in several locations, and “reiterated to the citizens of the Gaza Strip to keep a 300-meter distance,” from the border area.

The IDF expects the situation to get worse before it gets better:

Shragai - Thanking Hebron’s Jews

Nadav Shragai..
Yisrael Hayom..
03 April '12..

In a normal Jewish state, the government would have encouraged the Jewish settlement enterprise in Hebron, the city of our forefathers, the city that Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, viewed as a sister to Jerusalem.

However, for generations, Israeli governments, including the current one, have actively “dried up” and frozen the settlement in Hebron. To the best of our knowledge, there was nothing faulty about the acquisition of Beit Hamachpelah, the disputed house in Hebron that the Defense Ministry has ordered be evacuated. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a golden opportunity before him to thaw this freeze, and to put Defense Minister Ehud Barak – who overstepped his authority – in his place.

The Jewish community in Hebron will continue to exist even if a final-status agreement is reached with the Palestinians – and for that reason, it is preferable the community remain strong, well-founded and recognized. Moreover, the existence of the Jewish community in Hebron, and particularly around the Cave of the Patriarchs, embodies a founding principle we seem to have forgotten: The Land of Israel is not only our physical house, but also our historic and religious one, where our patriarchs and matriarchs are buried, and where the Jewish community in Hebron has existed for hundreds of years. These are inextricable parts of Israel.

The commandment “And you shall tell your son,” which we will fulfill around the Seder table in a few days, is essential today so that we don’t view the state of Israel only as a refuge and a homeland. We must understand that the Jews’ story did not begin with the establishment of the Zionist movement and its continuation, the state of Israel.

The Jews’ earlier roots are firmly grounded in the Cave of the Patriarchs, Rachel’s Tomb and the Temple Mount. The settlers in Hebron, although sometimes difficult, deserve great thanks for reminding us of this every once in a while.

Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=1673


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Elder - Next hearing on Palmer murders on April 18th

Elder of Ziyon..
03 April '12..






I received an email from Michael Craig Palmer, father and grandfather to Asher and Yonatan Palmer, who were murdered last year in a terror attack.

The next significant public hearing for the murderers of Asher and Yonatan Palmer הי"ד will be on Wednesday, April 18, 10:30 a.m. at Machane Ofer.

The strong public support at the hearing on March 11 demonstrated strongly that terror victims and Israeli society at large expect justice from the justice system. This was not the message at the February hearing where there was barely any Jewish presence and the murderers openly received encouragement from their supporters in the courtroom! It is, I believe, very important to show the prosecution and the court that Asher and Yonatan, and all victims of terror, are remembered and that we demand justice for their murderers.

Please do what you can to get the word out about the April 18 hearing. Anyone interested in being there should contact me at mcpfiveone@gmail.com [so he can submit the names to the army for security clearance - EoZ.]

Regards,
Michael

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Balint - We want images of ....

Judy Lash Balint..
The Times of Israel..
01 April'12..



The so-called Global March on Jerusalem and the annual Land Day ritual that took place last Friday fizzled to a predictable end. But the non-event did produce yet another series of images that reinforce the world’s perception of Israel as a place of conflict and violence.

I’m an occasional stringer for a photo news site based in the U.K–here’s what the assignment editor sent out to his Israeli contacts on Friday:

We want images of

Bethlehem:

- Palestinian TV ‘Jawwal’ distributing bottled water to protesters at Qalandia checkpoin (sic)

- demonstrators burning tires, chanting and waving flags

- fire at Israel watchtower

- human wall at checkpoint

Nationwide:

- Israeli forces firing tear gas, rubber pullets

- IDF spraying chemical water

- IDF using ‘scream’ acoustic device

- youths throwing stones

- IDF troops deployed at the borders

Like almost every other news editor, he isn’t interested in seeing Israelis in all their complexity and color, it’s just so much simpler to portray us as tear-gas firing,helmet-wearing, faceless aggressors.

So, for the record, here are some faces of Israel and her security forces that may shed a little light on just who we are as we approach Passover 2012.

(Continue to photos)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page. Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand 
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Roth - When you march for the rights of prisoners, what does it mean for the rights of their past and future victims?

Frimet/Arnold Roth..
This Ongoing War..
02 April '12..

A friend has alerted us to the fact that political rallies are being organized in Europe (including Paris) and elsewhere this week in support of yet another UN-sponsored conference about the“plight” of the Palestinian Arabs being held in Israeli prisons.

We want those who march for them and against administrative detention and imprisonment to ask themselves and the organizers some tough and perhaps unpleasant questions - about these prisoners, about what brought them there - before they turn to good, liberal-minded people for support.

When they march, are they marching for the young cousins Amjad and Hakim Awad?

These boys are mere teenagers. And in the world in which most Europeans and Americans live, we know that boys in their teenage years are prone to getting into mischief. As an enlightened society, we treat them a little more gently so that we can encourage them to grow to mature manhood and become constructive members of our societies.

But this is not Europe or America. Yes, the Awad cousins are young. Amjad Mahmad Awad is 19, and was a student at Al-Quds Open University. Hakim Mazen Awad is 18. The Awad clan makes up about half of the population of Awarta, the village to which they fled after they carried out the crime for which they were convicted in an Israeli court. Last year, when they were arrested, Hakim Mazen Awad was a high school student whose father, Mazen, is active in the PFLP terrorist organization and had served a five-year prison sentence, imposed by the Palestinian National Authority, for murdering his female cousin and cremating her body.

It’s a family with some history. The boys had an uncle Jibril, also a PFLP terrorist. This Awad uncle participated in an earlier attack on the neighbouring community of Itamar back in 2002. A mother called Rachel Shabo and three of her children, Neria (16), Zvi (13), and Avishai (5) were shot to death inside their home, and the head of the neighborhood preparedness team, Yosef Twito (31), was also shot to death. Uncle Jibril’s career in terrorism came to a premature and fatal end in a 2003 clash with Israeli forces.

It is perhaps not surprising that the Awad clan had elaborate and quite complete arguments why their beautiful young sons had nothing to do with the horrible crime of which they were convicted last year. (Note also that several early media reports said the perpetrator might have been a Thai agricultural worker, though their services are generally not used in that part of Israel.) The crime was cold-blooded and horrifying even to observers who are hardened by the difficult acts of terror that happen in Israel with sickening frequency. Wikipedia’s report [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itamar_attack] says:

Ottolenghi - Re: Beinart’s Slippery Slope on Boycotts

Emanuele Ottolenghi..
Commentary/Contentions..
02 Aril '12..



This weekend Jonathan weighed in on the letter signed by a number of UK artists calling for a boycott of Israel’s Habima theatre company.

Had the letter not contained the names of celebrities Emma Thompson and Mike Leigh, I doubt it would have made the splash it did – and, to further Jonathan’s point about Peter Beinart and the role he plays in delegitimating Israel, the letter’s signatories include the usual suspects among the Jews-for-Justice-for-anyone-but-the-Jews, whose fame, in the world of the performing arts, is more closely linked to their anti-Zionist crusades than their artistic talents.

Still, one point deserves to be added to Jonathan’s excellent take-down.

The “artists” explain their call to target Habima on the grounds that Habima performed in the Territories and that “By inviting Habima, Shakespeare’s Globe is undermining the conscientious Israeli actors and playwrights who have refused to break international law.” The inference here is that giving a stage to Habima will undermine those in Israel who refused to go along and perform in Ariel and other settlements.

But it also suggests that performing in the Territories is a breach of international law.

Now that’s something else. There is no clause in the Fourth Geneva Convention forbidding theatre companies from performing a play in Territories under military occupation as a result of a conflict still waiting to be settled.

As an international law scholar whom I turned to in order to confirm the absence of such a rule from the annals of international law said with reference to the boycotters – “for them it is not international law, it is ‘my’ law.”

Same with Beinart and others afflicted by the same selective moral indignation – they make up facts and rules as they go along, which they then invoke to prove their hatred for Israel right.

Link: http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/04/02/beinart-slippery-slope-on-boycotts/#more-789623

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page. Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand 
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Sion - The curse of the false peace

Prof. Abraham Sion..
Israel Hayom..
02 April '12..

Eighteen and a half years have passed since the signing of the Oslo Accords, known to some as “Gaza and Jericho First” (because it called for an Israeli withdrawal from those territories as a first stage), and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is still the most important issue Israel will face in the coming decades.

True, the nuclearization of Iran is the immediate danger occupying Israel’s leadership, but the Palestinian threat, in the long run, is the real existential threat. Now that the children who were born in 1993, when the Oslo Accords were signed, are 18 years old, it may be worthwhile to re-examine how beneficial, or detrimental, the various peace agreements have been to Israel over the years.

First of all, under these peace deals, Israel has relinquished sites important to our heritage, historically holy Jewish sites. Let us recall that during 2,000 years of exile, the Jews yearned not for Tel Aviv or Netanya, but for Jerusalem, Hebron and Bethlehem, precisely the territories that Israel handed to the Palestinians on a silver platter.

Secondly, in the wake of these peace agreements, a Palestinian terror organization gained international legitimacy. PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, who up until then needed special authorization to address the U.N. and was whisked back home immediately afterward, suddenly began appearing at the U.N. and in world capitals flanked by an honor guard.

(Video) Moses was a Muslim who led Palestinian Muslims out of Egypt and liberated Palestine

palwatch..
Apr 2, 2012..





Interview with Dr. Omar Ja'ara, lecturer at Al-Najah University in Nablus, and specialist in Israeli affairs on PA TV:

"We must make clear to the world that David in the Hebrew Bible is not connected to David in the Quran, Solomon in the Hebrew Bible is not connected to Solomon in the Quran, and neither is Saul or Joshua son of Nun [of the Bible]. We have a great leader, Saul, [in the Quran] who defeated the nation of giants and killed Goliath. This is a great Muslim victory.

The Muslims of the Children of Israel went out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses, and unfortunately, many researchers deny the Exodus of those oppressed people who were liberated by a great leader, like Moses the Muslim, the believing leader, the great Muslim, who was succeeded by Saul, the leader of these Muslims in liberating Palestine. This was the first Palestinian liberation through armed struggle to liberate Palestine from the nation of giants led by Goliath. This is our logic and this is our culture."
[PA TV (Fatah), Feb. 15, 2012]

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page. Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand 
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Kushner - From Israel: With the Approach of Pesach

Arlene Kushner..
02 April '12..

Pesach begins on Friday night, April 6 and continues through the following Saturday night. Time for celebration and time to do little day trips (tiyulim) with family will allow me scant opportunity to post during the course of that week. I do hope to post at least once more before the holiday starts, but I wanted to extend my wishes here and now to all:

Pesach marks our redemption from Egypt and the direct intervention of the Almighty in the process that lead to receiving of the Torah and the entering of the Land of Israel. Its messages are inspiring and all-important.

May we be ever be mindful of the power of the Almighty in our lives. May he watch over us at this time and always. And may each of you, with your families, have a joyous, meaningful and kosher Pesach.

~~~~~~~~~~

In the spirit of Pesach, and mindful of my prayers above, I share this magnificent and moving video, "V'hi She'amdah":



(With a very special thanks to Malka H.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Little Zakkai (Rephael Zakkai Avraham ben Yakira Avigael) will undergo surgery on his spine and thoracic cavity this Wednesday, April 4. His grandmother asks for the following prayers:

"No one has prayed for the doctors...pray that they will be healthy, and brilliant and very capable, and have nimble hands on Wednesday...and may they be blessed with being able to accomplish more than they ever thought they could when they try to remove as much as possible of Zakkai's tumor...May they do no damage..."

For those wishing to participate in a tehillim cycle: http://tinyurl.com/7hka5ey

~~~~~~~~~~

Last night I attended an Anglo Likud event at the Begin Center that featured two speakers who truly understand what's what. Their message, too, brings illuminates the theme of what is possible when we believe in ourselves, our strength, and what we are intended to be.

The first to speak was Professor Moshe Sharon, professor of early Islamic history at Hebrew University and the author of several books.

Credit: FrontpageJerusalem 

Sharon was the only Arabic speaker at the negotiations between Israel and Egypt. At that time, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, said to him in Arabic, "This is a market. Tell your prime minister." He was telling us, explained Sharon, to learn the language of the Arab bazaar, but we never have.

Professor Sharon then outlined the key principles of that bazaar. The Arabs, he declared, use language with more sophistication than almost any other people, and have been doing so for 2,000 years. But they use this skill in order to lie, and it works for them. "Lying is the salt of a man," goes an Arabic saying: as if man's merit is in his ability to lie successfully. And here they are attempting to sell something they don't truly possess, for there is no peace in the Arab.

And yet Israel is ready to pay a great deal for that peace that doesn't really exist. Some rules:

Deitch - Migron: A View from Within

Aviela Deitch..
JewishPress.com
02 April '12..

I go by the name Aviela Deitch, but back when I graduated Nicolet High School in 1990, it was Andrea Krissman. Yep, even though I’m the fifth Milwaukee-area generation of my family on my mother’s side, I picked up about twenty years ago and made aliyah. Fast forward to August 29 of 2011, and my husband and I picked up ourselves, our six children, and our lots and lots of stuff and moved from our two-floor home in a larger, established community to a mobile home a third the size in Migron.

And why? Largely because I wanted my children to learn what I learned growing up in Milwaukee – knowing that they not only have the opportunity but also the responsibility to take a hand in building a community.

Migron is located about twelve minutes north of Jerusalem and is currently comprised of 48 families. The adults here work mostly, but not exclusively, in areas concerned with helping others, occupations like social work, various therapies, teacher, special education, elder care, and guidance counselor. Additionally, there is a bank executive, a few computer programmers, a mechanical engineer… you get the drift. As there is child care from daycare through senior kindergarten in the community, the smaller children stay here, while the older kids are bussed to top-quality schools in nearby communities.

The community, in some circles titled a “settlement”, was established in 1999 as a result of an archaeological expedition done here that revealed conclusive signs of a Jewish past. It didn’t take long for the first few dozen families to move in. All were and continue to be housed in government-provided mobile homes. A synagogue and mikveh were built, as well as a horseback riding therapy clinic, petting zoo, playgrounds, a daycare center, kindergartens, and eventually eight families built their own homes. Practically at its inception, the government put up an electric line, telephone service, and set up running water and a functioning sewage system. After seven years of hard work, a suit was suddenly filed in the Israeli Supreme Court, claiming that the land was under private ownership of a number of local Arabs.

Odd.

Roth - More darkness in and from Hamas-controlled Gaza, and this time the price is paid in the silent, unnoticed deaths of children

Frimet/Arnold Roth..
This Ongoing War..
02 March '12..


Stand by for another urgent session of the United Nations Security Council. The suffering must end. Or must it?

As a result of totally unnecessary and tragic circumstances, three very young children of a Gazan Palestinian Arab family called Bashir died in their beds at some time in the past 24 hours. (The report is unclear as to exactly when, other than that their bodies were found on Sunday - yesterday.) The children aged 6, 5 and 2 lived with their parents in the town of Deir Balah, in the center of the coastal strip. A fourth child, a baby of six months, is badly burned and is being treated in an unspecified hospital.

Adham Abu Selmiya, the frequently-quoted spokesman for the Hamas-controlled emergency services authority in the Gaza Strip, said their deaths were caused by a candle being used due to lack of electricity in Gaza. "A fire broke out in the children's room," he said. "The candle was being used after the electricity was cut".

Was cut, is the phraseology. But why was it cut? Did the cuts fall from the sky? Is there a cause for these cuts?

(Read full "More darkness in and from Hamas-controlled Gaza,...")


Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page. Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand 
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Tobin - Emma Thompson Illustrates Beinart’s Slippery Slope on Boycotts

Jonathan S. Tobin..
Commentary/Contentions..
01 April '12..

Friends of Israel have been able to take some satisfaction in the fact that Peter Beinart’s intellectually vapid attempt to promote what he has the temerity to call “Zionist BDS” (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against the Jewish state has been panned by liberals as well as conservatives across the political spectrum. Few outside of the far left have been convinced by his call for a boycott of Jews who live in the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem so as to save Israel from itself and bring about Middle East peace. Unlike the foolish Beinart, most Americans — like the overwhelming majority of Israelis — understand the obstacle to a resolution to the conflict comes from the Palestinians’ inability to make peace with a Jewish state no matter where its borders are drawn.

All this eludes Beinart, but the writer, who has assumed the pose of the self-appointed conscience of American Jewry, also misses another key point. He fails to comprehend that his distinction between boycotts of the settlements and of the rest of the country inside the green line (which he tells us he loves passionately) is not one that the rest of the world is necessarily going to respect. As Oscar-winning actress and writer Emma Thompson proved this week, efforts to stigmatize West Bank Jews have a curious habit of morphing into boycotts of other Israelis, including those who, like Beinart, are not part of the settlement project.

As the Times of Israel reports today, the much-loved Thompson joined with 36 other prominent figures in the English theater (including Jews like playwright and director Mike Leigh and director Jonathan Miller) to demand the exclusion of Israel’s prestigious Habimah Theater Company from a dramatic festival taking place at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London next month. The excuse for this crude act of anti-Semitic incitement: the fact that Habimah has not joined in efforts to boycott theater productions in the settlements.

Roth - From terrorist to talk-show host: a letter to Netanyahu

Frimet Roth..
The Times of Israel..
01 April '12..




Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu,

We could say “I told you so.” But we will pass; the words offer no comfort. One of the terrorists you freed last October in the Shalit deal, our daughter’s murderer, Ahlam Tamimi, has resumed her terrorist activities. And she is flaunting them before the world.

She is not alone. Earlier this month, Haaretz learned from the IDF’s Central Command, Maj. Gen. Avi Mizrahi, that prisoners freed in exchange for Shalit are plotting to abduct Israeli civilians or soldiers and hold them hostage outside the West Bank.

But those freed prisoners are obviously on the IDF’s radar screen. Israel has arrested and re-imprisoned some for terrorist activities.

Tamimi, on the other hand, was repatriated at your command to her home in Jordan, where she is beyond Israel’s reach. “Exile” is what you called this arrangement, Mr. Netanyahu.

Last month, Tamimi began hosting a weekly show on the Hamas satellite TV station Al Quds, which is beamed to every Arabic-speaking country. She says the program, Nasim al-Ahrar (Breeze of the Free) will champion the cause of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. Airing on Friday nights, it enables Tamimi to incite others to attacks similar to the one she perpetrated – the massacre of 15 men, women and children at Jerusalem’s Sbarro restaurant.

Upon learning, while imprisoned, that her efforts as strategist, scout, bomb transporter and escort had killed eight children, Tamimi said she had presumed there were three. “Eight?” she asked, smiling broadly, when she heard. “Eight then,” she repeated.



This child-killer’s hour-long TV shows are posted on YouTube. Seated in the Al Quds studio, composed and measured, Tamimi fields phone calls from prisoners’ families throughout the Arab world and hosts studio guests. She revels in her newfound celebrity.

CAMERA - Ha'aretz Online Short on Space?

TS..
CAMERA/Snapshots..
01 April '12..

Usually, if there are differences in the lengths of online and print versions of the same article in a news outlet, it's the online edition that's longer. After all, while space is finite in print, editors do not have to deal with that restriction online.

So why is it that the online version of a Ha'aretz article about Jews moving into a building in Hebron is much shorter than its print counterpart? Notably, details about the Jews' alleged purchase of the property which appear in the print edition do not appear online. For instance, the print edition includes the following, which does not appear online:

The Palestinians who owned the two buildings died, leaving them to his two sons. One son took the renovated, three-story house and half of the second story of the adjacent house, whilehis brother received the rest.

The first brother is the one who allegedly sold his part in the compound to the settlers. His brother, who lives in the adjacent building, said the deal was carried out under false pretenses and is therefore invalid. He said a third party had purchased the property from them, without telling them he represented the settlers.

(Hat tip: IMRA and Yisrael Medad)

Link: http://blog.camera.org/archives/2012/04/haaretz_online_short_on_space.html

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page. Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand 
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The "experts" were wrong.

Love of the Land..
02 April '12..






Ten years ago, 01 April 2002, one more day, in a week, that was to be seared into our consciousness, as James Bennet of the New York Times wrote about the day:

The Matza restaurant was one of those rare places in Israel where Jews felt they could find refuge in the company of Arabs.

But it turned out, none of them were safe. Although the restaurant's proprietors and many of its staff members are Arabs, a suicide bomber from the Islamic group Hamas walked through the door today and detonated his charge in the middle of the room, blasting screws and other shrapnel into people eating a late lunch.

He killed himself and 14 others, blowing the roof off the restaurant and spraying blood against the chrome table legs and glass out into the parking lot.

Witnesses described a wreckage of burning bodies and jumbled furniture, in which one woman bent over a wounded son, beside the bodies of her husband and another child. The dead included Israeli Arabs, the police said, but the authorities were still trying to identify some of the remains tonight.

And yet more ...

Medad - This Is Called "Low Intensity"

Yisrael Medad..
My Right Word..
01 April '12..



I have been sent this and it's about time material like this is available:

These reports are courtesy of Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron and are approved by the IDF. Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron is a voluntary emergency rescue organization that works along with the IDF, 669 Airborn Rescue, the security forces in the various communities of Yesha, and the Jordan Valley and is on call 24/7 on a strictly voluntary basis.

March 22, 2012
3 Molotov cocktails thrown on Israeli vehicle next to the border check on the Jerusalem- Gush Etzion Tunnel Road

March 23, 2012
Massive rock attacks against Israeli vehicles Gush Etzion-Hebron Highway near Halhul. Damage to vehicles.
Arab terrorists tried to damage IDF checkpost near Kiryat Arba

March 24, 2012
IDF spokesman: an attempted stabbing was thwarted during Shabbat near Elon Moreh in the Shomron . 4 Arabs apprehended armed with knives admitted that they came to murder IDF soldier.
IDF checkpost south of Shechem Arab arrested armed with gun.
IDF spokesman: Previous week 5 Arab terrorists were arrested by IDF special forces in the Ramallah region
Arab terrorist arrested in Ramallah region suspect for the shooting incident against IDF soldiers two years ago.
El Bira, Ramallah, 2 Arab terrorists members of Hamas arrested for shooting incidents, planning of terror, and hiding weapons.
Rock attacks against Israeli vehicles south west of Hebron near Zif causing damage.
Rock attacks against Israeli vehicles north west of Ramallah .
Rock attacks against IDF soldiers near Yitzhar Junction in the Shomron.

Bryen - U.S. Complicit with Palestinian Authority Budgeting Mischief

Picking apart their finances, and how U.S. aid ends up with Hamas.

Shoshana Bryen..
pjmedia.com..
01 April '12..

The Palestinian Authority is crying poverty again, complaining about a decrease in expected levels of foreign aid that will force Palestinians into penury or — heaven forbid — tax increases. The Palestinian public is in no mood for that, according to the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research.

In a recent poll, 48% of the respondents rejected solving Palestinian fiscal problems by increasing taxes or by forcing the early retirement of public sector employees. Asked what they would do, 27% would dissolve the PA itself and 52% would enter negotiations with Israel “in order to obtain greater international financial support.” The poll notes, however, that half of those choosing negotiations would do so only if Israel agreed first to a settlement freeze and the 1967 borders.

The PA is unlikely to dissolve itself and Israel is unlikely to acquiesce. So a look at the phantasmagorical system of Palestinian budget building — and American complicity — is in order.

Last summer, the U.S. Congress withheld nearly $147 million of the planned $513 million in aid due to the Palestinian Authority’s unilateral UN statehood bid. (Another $113 million in U.S. funds for the PA security forces and $232 million for the UN Relief and Works Agency were unaffected.) Under pressure from the State Department — which enlisted the Israeli government’s help — Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Ileana Ros-Lehtinen announced that $88.5 million will be released. She retained her hold on the other $58.6 million:

I am disappointed that the administration would employ hardball tactics against Congress and threaten to send, over congressional objections, U.S. taxpayer dollars to the Palestinian Authority.

Rubin - Being an Israeli and a Jew in 2012: Let's Face Reality Without Illusion, Shrug, and Move Forward

Barry Rubin..
The Rubin Report..
01 April '12..



It is the year 2012, which seems to be going by very fast and is already one-fourth finished. People are walking around with smart phones and all sorts of electronic devices undreamed of not long ago. There has been what is called an “Arab Spring” stoking fantasies about instant democracy. An African-American was elected president of the United States, and that was after his party’s nomination, and thus probably the White House, almost went to a woman!

Times have changed.

Yet the hysterical hatred for Israel in the Arabic-speaking world and among Muslims in general has only increased; the philosophy of rejectionism is as strong as ever or, put another way, even stronger. Indeed, it is no longer safe, and certainly isn’t comfortable, for Jews in much of Europe and even, for those who support Israel, on American college campuses.

Two examples of how the lynch mobs are out in force in places where formerly they were least present.

In previously moderate Tunisia, now under Muslim Brotherhood rule, thousands of Salafists paraded, chanting to kill the Jews in order to enter paradise. The new Tunisian constitution contains a provision that the country could never recognize Israel. Almost a half-century ago, Tunisia’s then leader was the first Arab politician to call for recognizing Israel. We’re still waiting.

In Morocco, perhaps the overall most moderate country in the Arabic-speaking world, a meeting of the Mediterranean Parliamentary Union was held. Israel, which has a parliamentary system and is on the Mediterranean (I can see the sea from my roof), is a member of this group. Consequently one Israeli attended the meeting. The result was a riot in which thousands of Moroccans assaulted the building and the leader of the ruling Islamist party complained at how the country's soil had been tainted.

Marquadt-Bigman - Not only on Land Day: the Palestinian blood and soil fixation

Petra Marquadt-Bigman..
The Warped Mirror..
01 April '12..



“Palestinian blood, Palestinian flesh, the Palestinian national anthem on Palestinian territory. It’s good. It makes me feel proud.”

This is a statement by Jibril Rajoub, president of the Palestinian football federation, quoted in a BBC report about a World Cup qualification game from July last year.

Given the fact that soccer often brings out fierce nationalistic sentiments, this statement by the president of the Palestinian football federation is perhaps not particularly noteworthy.

However, the theme of blood and soil is unfortunately quite dominant in Palestinian nationalism – though the vast army of activists who agitate for the Palestinian “cause” online in English are doing their dedicated best to create a “narrative” tailored to politically correct Western sensibilities.

The image below – used as an illustration in the Wikipedia article on the Palestinian Land Day – perfectly visualizes both the blood and soil fixation of Palestinian nationalism and the carefully constructed message of the supposedly peaceful character of Palestinian activism: In the colors of the Palestinian flag, this poster for Land Day includes a beautiful flower sitting on a layer of green, rooted in black soil, fed by a blood-red river, releasing a blood-red tear or a drop of blood.

Kerstein - Is All Criticism of Israel Antisemitic? Put Simply: Yes

Benjamin Kerstein..
pjmedia.com..
29 March '12..



(Well written and interesting point. To say that this produced some negative talkbacks would be a bit understating it. Y.)

“But surely you believe,” they always ask you, “that you can criticize Israel without being antisemitic?” It is an obnoxious and patronizing question in and of itself, of course, in that it is obviously an admonition that all civilized, thinking people must answer “yes” or “of course” or “naturally.” It is important, however, because of its true answer, which is unequivocally, unquestionably, and objectively “no.”

Before the remonstrations on the “silencing of dissenting voices” and “attack on free speech” begin, it seems necessary to point out the reason for this: All criticism of Israel is antisemitic because of the specific historical moment in which we live. The circumstances in regard to Israel and the Jews in the world today render any non-antisemitic criticism of Israel impossible. And most ironically of all, it is entirely the fault of the antisemites.

Whether one wants to admit it or not, we are living in an age in which a global campaign exists for the sole and specific reason of legitimizing the destruction of Israel and the expulsion or annihilation of its Jewish population. Iran’s own president is straightforward about wiping Israel off the map. Islamists call for it every five minutes somewhere in the world. Western academics and activists regularly hint at it with such euphemisms as the “one-state solution” (an Arab state, in case you were wondering), and their constant apologetics on behalf of anti-Jewish terrorism. And as the recent atrocities in Toulouse have shown us, the Jews of the Diaspora are not and will not be spared the bloody consequences.

Al-Tamimi/Smyth - Can my enemy's enemy be my friend?

Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi/Phillip Smyth..
Middle East Forum..
Ha'aretz..
March 30, 2012..

A recurring question of the past year has been whether Israel can come out of the unrest of the "Arab Spring" with any new allies. The point is hardly immaterial: The future of Israel's peace treaty with Egypt hangs in the balance, as Egyptian political parties call for a referendum on the Camp David Accords. Observers also point to the possibility of a revolt against Hashemite rule in Amman instigated by Bedouin tribes and/or Palestinians in Jordan. This too could derail that country's peace treaty with Israel.

Conventional wisdom has generally said that Israel can attain regional support by way of an alliance or coalition of minorities. From the 1950s through the 1980s, Israel engaged in the so-called "strategy of the periphery," forging ties with minority groups in enemy states ‏(such as the Maronites in Lebanon and Kurds in Iraq‏). Additionally, Israel entered into a military alliance with Turkey, and a number of sub-Saharan African countries were engaged by Israel to counter the threat of pan-Arabism.

The concept of an alliance among regional minorities sounds like an attractive proposition. But is it realistic?

The evidence appears to suggest otherwise.

Kushner - From Israel: Handwriting on the Wall

Arlene Kushner..
01 April '12..





Motzei Shabbat (after Shabbat)

First, an update for little Zakkai from his parents:

"After an agonizing few days (on top of the 6 agonizing weeks since this nightmare started), we have made a decision to have Zakkai undergo surgery at Children's Hospital Boston. The surgery is scheduled for this coming Wednesday, April 4. We will be heading to Boston on Tuesday, April 3, since he has to undergo pre-op testing in order to be cleared for surgery.

"Given this week's MRI images, the top priority is to clear his spinal canal from tumor (to prevent paralysis) because that is where the tumor is rearing its ugly head. As of this writing, it is unclear whether the surgeons plan to also remove the tumor that's in the chest cavity, since that piece does not appear to have grown (pending confirmation from the NIH). We are anxiously awaiting their recommendation due to the different implications either way. In the end, we feel very confident that we are in great hands."

Rephael Zakkai Avraham ben Yakira Avigael

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/zakkai

~~~~~~~~~~

It's a very ugly handwriting we see on the wall in France. Since the attack at the Toulouse school, anti-Semitic incidents in France have increased, not diminished. Anti-Semites apparently see the attack as "inspiration," or legitimization.

One 12-year old boy near the school where the murders occurred was attacked and lightly injured. His attackers called him "dirty Jew." The school itself has received a spate of anti-Semitic messages via e-mail and phone calls.

I sat at the Shabbat dinner table last night with a well-known academic expert on European anti-Semitism. Perhaps, I said, France was waking up a bit -- after all President Sarkozy has now refused to allow certain radical imams into the country. He scoffed, saying this action was purely political, and that it would take something in the nature of an atomic bomb to wake them up to a situation they really don't want to deal with seriously.

Rennert - WaPo's trifecta

Leo Rennert..
American Thinker..
31 March '12..




The Washington Post today hit a trifecta when it comes to anti-Israel spin.

Picking up the March 31 edition of the Washington Post, readers immediately would be shocked to see above the fold on the front page a dramatic, four-column photograph of Israeli soldiers using pepper spray in Jerusalem to subdue an Arab protester who's writhing in pain.

The photo, under the headline "Protesters, Israeli forces at odds on Land day," imparts an irresistible impression that Israel is using brute force against a hapless Palestinian. The bad guys are the Israeli border police; the victim is an Arab, described in the first line of the caption as an "injured protester."

Buried in the third line of the four-line caption is a brief mention that Israeli security forces confronted "stone-throwers" during an anti-Israel rally. But that's hardly sufficient to convey the real truth and sequence of events.

Israeli police were confronted by a hail of lethal stones hurled at them by protesters. Israeli police responded to this violence by using rubber bullets and tear gas against the violence-bent Arab crowd. Aggressive behavior in this case originated with the Arab demonstrators, while Israeli police responded with non-lethal means to overcome an Arab riot -- the very opposite of what the dramatic photo, attributed to Reuters photographer Ammar Awat, purports to report.

Had the Arab crowd staged a non-violent protest, there wouldn't have been any harsh Israeli response - and no photo like the one on the front page.

At a minimum, the Post should have used two photos - not just one of Israeli police subduing an Arab protester, but also another one showing Arab demonstrators hurling lethal rocks at Israeli police. That would have given readers a more accurate view of what actually happened instead of just another instance of the Post tipping the scales against Israel.

Sherman - Square circles, aerodynamic pigs and two states

Martin Sherman..
Into the Fray/JPost..
29 March '12..

Goals: Complete liberation of Palestine, and eradication of Zionist economic, political, military and cultural existence. Method: Armed struggle is a strategy and not a tactic… in uprooting the Zionist existence, and this struggle will not cease unless the Zionist state is demolished.... Opposing any political solution offered as an alternative to demolishing the Zionist occupation in Palestine.
– Fatah Constitution

Israel will exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it…. Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement…. The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight [kill] the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslim, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.
– Hamas Charter

When somebody says they want to kill you, you should believe them.
– A Holocaust survivor

In his endeavor to rebut my recent column “Disputing Dershowitz,” Alan Dershowitz displays a regrettable tendency to embrace the self-contradictory and the disingenuous, rather than concede error.