The "Run Over Intifada" - The Same Futile Aim

...But, as they have demonstrated consistently since the time of the mufti, what they want to shake off is not the supposedly oppressive rule of Israel (which, as even Rudoren notes, allows a Palestinian prosperity that makes many of them reluctant to contemplate another destructive and pointless war), but the presence of the Jews altogether and intolerance for their presence. Once again a new generation of Palestinians are taking up gasoline bombs and even using cars as weapons in order to kill or injure Jews to further that same futile aim and in the name of this ancient hatred.

Jonathan S. Tobin..
Commentary Magazine..
06 October '14..

In the wake of the latest acts of terror against pedestrians in Jerusalem, Palestinian public opinion is again reacting with the same sensitivity that it displayed back in June when a popular campaign mocked the plight of three Jewish teenagers who were kidnapped and murdered by Hamas terrorists. Support for the “run over intifada” is endemic on Palestinian social media in much the same way as it cheered the prospect that the lives of the three boys might be bartered for the freedom of captured terrorists. But instead of pondering whether support for the spate of attacks is, as the New York Times speculates today, a new intifada “for the 21st Century, foreign observers would do well to understand that this violence is merely a symptom of the same refusal to accept Israel’s legitimacy that has fueled the conflict for many decades.

Though she recycles Palestinian myths about the reasons for the outbreak of the first two intifadas (including the infamous lie that it was Ariel Sharon’s walk on the Temple Mount rather than a calculated response by Yasir Arafat to Israeli peace moves), Times Jerusalem Bureau chief Jodi Rudoren didn’t find many who thought this outbreak was likely to result in a repeat of the carnage of the second intifada that took thousands of lives on both sides. Indeed, she did her readers a service by reminding them that the security fence built to stop suicide bombers makes a return to the horror of that episode problematic for the architects of terror.

But if she really wanted to explain the origins of the current round of violence revolving around Palestinian anger about the efforts of a minority of Israeli to reverse the ban on Jewish prayer on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount — the holiest site in Judaism as well as the home of the Al-Aksa Mosque — she would do well to go back further in history than 1987 or 2000. Conspiracy theories about Jews planning to blow up the mosques on the Temple Mount go back to the efforts of Haj Amin el-Husseini, the mufti of Jerusalem and Nazi ally who led the Palestinians throughout the 1920s, 30s and 40s, to foment anti-Jewish pogroms long before there was a State of Israel, let alone an “occupation.”

Though Rudoren quotes Palestinian Authority Leader Mahmoud Abbas as saying that he doesn’t want another intifada, she fails to mention his efforts to follow in the mufti’s footsteps by urging his people to resist Jews by any means and calling a terrorist who attempted to murder a Jewish activist rabbi, a martyr who went straight to heaven. Yet it’s true that Abbas doesn’t want an intifada since a collapse of security cooperation between Israel and the PA might result in a Hamas coup that could cost him life or at least his control of the West Bank. Despite his incitement of violence, it is still he Israelis who guarantee his personal security. What Rudoren also fails to note is that it is Hamas that wants an intifada for the same reason it rained down thousands of missiles on Israeli cities this past summer even though it created more destruction for Palestinians in Gaza. Their goal is keep Palestinians focused on “resistance” — a synonym for endless war that won’t be solved by Israeli territorial concessions or even greater sensitivity for Muslim desire to deny Jews rights in Jerusalem.

The killers among us

"The current of violence is an organized campaign orchestrated by the Palestinian Authority and its president, precisely as stated by Israel's prime minister—but the prime minister is not a commentator. His government's job is not to make declarations, but to take action!" he added.

Poster of the "blessed martyr" Mu'taz Hijazi,
praising the attempted murderer for his life
of "jihad and sacrifice", appears on the
Arabic-language website of the "Rachel Corrie 
Palestinian Center for Human Rights" here

Frimet/Arnold Roth..
This Ongoing War..
06 November '14..

From today's Jerusalem Post, a startling report that highlights glaring gaps in the approach taken by Israeli law enforcement officials to the growing threat from jihad-minded terrorists living and working inside Israeli society:

Almagor Terror Victims Association is preparing a database of released terrorists so businesses can look up potential employees, accusing the Justice Ministry and Israel Police of negligence for not doing so themselves.

The initiative comes a week after Mu’taz Hijazi, a terrorist released from Israeli prison, attempted to assassinate Temple Mount activist Rabbi Yehuda Glick, outside the Menachem Begin Heritage Center. Hijazi worked in Terasa, the restaurant in the museum, where Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin and other senior officials have dined. Terasa's management said after the attack that they did not know Hijazi had been in Israeli prison for multiple stabbings and murder attempts. "We checked, and the police and Justice Ministry do not have any system of warning workplaces," Almagor director Lt.-Col. Meir Indor explained, demanding that [they] establish one to limit terrorists' easy access to Israelis.

Families of terror victims have already begun voluntarily providing the organization with details about the terrorists and who they killed or injured, and requested that the Justice Ministry provide them with information about the terrorists' locations. Indor pointed out that the Justice Minister does give information about pedophiles freed from jail...

(More here)

Link: http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.com/2014/11/06-nov-14-killers-among-us.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 as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Check-it out!
.

UN Counts Ten Million Stateless People. None Are Palestinians

...Nevertheless, there is a bit of poetic justice in this story: In a rare lapse from the UN’s usual two-faced behavior, UNHCR said it couldn’t include the Palestinians in its list of stateless people because the UN General Assembly has recognized Palestine as a state. Of course, since no such state actually exists, many Palestinians really are stateless. But having demanded that the world recognize their nonexistent state, the Palestinians are discovering that even at the UN, you can’t simultaneously be a recognized state and a stateless people.

Evelyn Gordon..
Commentary Magazine..
05 November '14..

The UN chose a poor moment to unveil its latest campaign; the American media have little attention for anything outside the midterm elections this week. And that’s a pity, because this particular campaign deserves massive attention. The goal is to eliminate statelessness, a problem that affects some 10 million people worldwide, according to the UN high commissioner for refugees. But here’s the really noteworthy point: Not one of those 10 million people in UNHCR’s tally is Palestinian.

This point deserves emphasis, because even ardent Israel supporters often buy the false claim that Palestinians are the only people worldwide who lack citizenship in any country, making the Palestinian problem unique. But in truth, as UNHCR’s figure shows, even if every Palestinian in the world were stateless (which they aren’t), they would still constitute a minority of the world’s stateless population.

Nor are Palestinians overall the most miserable of the world’s stateless peoples, by a long shot. Granted, there are exceptions: Palestinians in war-torn Syria, for instance, definitely rank high on the misery scale (as do other Syrians). But many of the world’s stateless people would be thrilled to enjoy the conditions of stateless Palestinians in, say, the West Bank.

For real misery, consider the Rohingya, a Muslim community living mainly in Buddhist-majority Burma that accounts for about 1 million of UNHCR’s 10 million stateless people. The UN dubs them “one of the world’s most persecuted peoples.” For starters, most live in real refugee camps–not permanent towns like those in the West Bank, with real houses, schools, medical clinics, electricity, running water, and all the other amenities of civilized life.

Moreover, since Burma expelled Doctors Without Borders in February, many Rohingya have had no access to medical care at all, and deaths due to the lack of such care occur almost daily, as the Washington Post reported in May. Even when local Buddhist doctors are available, many Rohingya won’t use them; after the violence they have suffered from Buddhist mobs, the distrust runs too deep.

By contrast, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have access not only to their own fairly well-developed medical systems–including a network of hospitals built, it should be noted, entirely by the “Israeli occupiers”–but also to Israel’s world-class hospitals. And needless to say, Palestinians have no fear of using Jewish doctors; even senior Hamas officials routinely send their relatives to Israel for treatment. Just last month, for instance, Ismail Haniyeh’s daughter was hospitalized in Israel, making this the third time over the last year that Israel has treated a close relative of Hamas’s leader in Gaza.

Quite Frankly, Terror Attacks Don’t Just Happen

...Why does the US, whose administration officials express “red-hot anger” against Israel and its Prime Minister for announcing plans to build a few apartments in places that couldn’t possibly become part of a Palestinian state even if the Palestinians were capable of making peace, stay silent about a Palestinian ‘President’ and media that encourage murder and terrorism?

Vic Rosenthal..
Abu Yehuda..
05 November '14..
Link: http://abuyehuda.com/2014/11/terror-attacks-dont-just-happen/

There was another automotive terror attack in Jerusalem today, when Ibrahim al-Akari of Jerusalem’s Shuafat neighborhood plowed his van into a crowd waiting at a light rail station on Shimon Hatzadik Street. This time one person was killed and 14 injured, some seriously, including a border patrol officer. After the van struck an obstacle, al-Akari jumped out of the vehicle and attacked police with a metal bar. He was shot and killed by Border Patrol officers.

This follows the very similar incident a couple of weeks ago in which 3-month old Chaya Zissel Braun was murdered, and the attempted assassination of Rabbi Yehuda Glick last week.

This attack and others like it didn’t just happen. Official Palestinian media and the leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, called for Arabs to ‘defend al-Aqsa by any means’ against the nonexistent Jewish plan to destroy the mosque and replace it with a third Temple. The first two murderers were praised — again by the official media and Mahmoud Abbas — as heroes and martyrs, and doubtless al-Akari will get the same treatment.

In the first two cases, the US State Department spokesperson deplored the violence (it happens that both Braun and Glick were US citizens), and then called on “both sides” to exercise restraint.

Hateful incitement to murder appears every day in the Palestinian media, as the cartoon at the top of this post illustrates. I’ll quote Palestinian Media Watch:

The Train Ride that I will Never Forget

...Lately, with all the sad news that we hear and all the problems each one of us may have, it is inspiring to see how just one single security guard on a late night train ride can change the world. I saw it tonight and had to tell others.

Jacob Richman..
jr.co.il..



05 November '14

Hi Everyone!

Tonight, I paid a visit to a friend recovering from surgery in Shaarei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem. His recovery is going well and tomorrow they may let him go home.

I left the hospital after 9:30 pm and walked over to the light rail station opposite Yad Sarah. As is my habit from riding the subways in Brooklyn (coming home from school), I entered the very beginning of the train. After so many years, I still like watching the engineer drive the train. When I got on, the train was half empty and I took a front row seat.

I was about to have the privilege to see something totally amazing. An "Only in Israel" episode.

Near the front side door of the train (where I walked in) was a guy wearing a train security jacket and he had two very large tea thermos on the floor and two open packages of hotcups tucked into a space near the top of a holding pole. As the train entered a station, he would wave to the security personnel on the platform to go to the beginning of the platform. When the doors opened, he would quickly pour them a hot cup of tea. If the security guard could not get to the front door in time, he would hold the door for a few seconds or if there were several security guards, he would quickly pour several cups and place them on the platform right outside the train door. Once or twice he stepped out of the train and whistled to get the attention of the security guards.

At one of the stops, the train engineer opened his secure door and turned around a bit and tried to argue with the security guy that he was breaking train procedures. The security guard told him that he is doing his job (or something like that) and that he will not cause any schedule delays.

I spoke to the security guy and found out he does this every night. I said to him (and other near us) that in the 30 years I have been in Israel, I was in awe by such a good thing he was doing. He did not say anything, maybe just a smile. I did not take pictures or ask for his name.

Has the Post-Abbas Mideast Already Arrived?

...Just what is Abbas actually doing, as leader of the PA? Getting the Palestinians closer to a peace deal? Certainly not; he walked away from it (more than once). Preventing Hamas from setting the terms of the debate? Hardly. Keeping a lid on an angry Palestinian polity inclined to violence? Not anymore. Abbas may or may not get swept away by a new uprising. It’s ironic that what could save him from such a fate is the fact that, increasingly, it might not even be worth the trouble.

Seth Mandel..
Commentary Magazine..
05 November '14..

Hamas celebrated an act of suicide terrorism in Jerusalem today that mirrored both late October’s attack at a Jerusalem light rail stop and another attack later today in the West Bank. It is not suicide bombing, but more like a form of Islamist suicide by cop. Terrorists are driving cars into civilians–a tool of attack not new to the conflict but which is currently happening with some regularity–and in the first two attacks the terrorist killed a civilian and the terrorist was also killed, in each case by Israeli police arriving at the scene to stop more violence. In this afternoon’s attack, the third in the last two weeks, the driver of the vehicle sped away.

Hamas and other Palestinian “resistance” groups have not, apparently, abandoned suicide terrorism after all and are now engaged in a renewed campaign. This type of violence is, of course, reminiscent of the second intifada, which is why it has Jerusalem on edge. The Palestinians have responded to each attack by rioting, so they are basically in a consistent state of violent agitation.

There is something more concerning about this latest round of Palestinian violence, however. Though it is perpetrated in some cases by members of Hamas, it has a spontaneous quality to it, and the riots in Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem are keeping the atmosphere that engenders it going seemingly around the clock. And as much as it is reminiscent of past such campaigns of violence, there is indeed something a bit different about this one: it is heralding the arrival of the post-Abbas Palestinian polity.

Surprise! Guardian Tweet on Jerusalem terror attack: Israel police shoot dead driver…

...However, as most people who share tweets don’t actually read through the attached article, it’s reasonable to assume that most Guardian followers reading their tweet would be left with a completely false impression about what occurred today in Jerusalem. A Guardian tweet at its finest: So much deception in so few words.

Adam Levick..
CiF Watch..
05 November '14..

A couple of hours ago, a Palestinian from east Jerusalem affiliated with Hamas plowed his vehicle into a crowd of people at a light rail station along the seam-line between the east and west sections of the city, killing one and injuring 14, in what was clearly a terror attack.

Here’s a video showing some of the deadly attack.



After crashing into the pedestrians, the car eventually hit the train platform, then rammed into cars – after which the driver tried to run away. The terrorist (48-year-old Ibrahim al-Akary) then attacked a group of policemen (video) with a crowbar before he was shot and killed by police.

To recap:

A Palestinian terrorist, reportedly affiliated with Hamas, drove his car into a crowd of pedestrians in Jerusalem, killing one and injuring over a dozen.

The terrorist then fled his vehicle and began attacking police officers with a crowbar.

Police then shot and killed the terrorist.

Yet, here’s how the Guardian framed the story in a tweet to its 2.86 million followers:


A couple of observations:

(Continue)

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 as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Check-it out!
.

Amnesty's latest report shows ignorance, bias and excuses Hamas war crimes

...Amnesty's report once again proves not that Israel violated international law. It proves that Amnesty International again twists international law and again ignores evidence that contradicts its predetermined agenda. Amnesty's anti-Israel bias is so strong that it spills over into a pro-terrorist bias.

Elder of Ziyon..
05 November '14..





Here's the crux of Amnesty's latest hit job on Israel:

Families under the Rubble: Israeli attacks on inhabited homes details eight cases where residential family homes in Gaza were attacked by Israeli forces without warning during Operation Protective Edge in July and August 2014, causing the deaths of at least 104 civilians including 62 children. The report reveals a pattern of frequent Israeli attacks using large aerial bombs to level civilian homes, sometimes killing entire families.

“Israeli forces have brazenly flouted the laws of war by carrying out a series of attacks on civilian homes, displaying callous indifference to the carnage caused,” said Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

“The report exposes a pattern of attacks on civilian homes by Israeli forces which have shown a shocking disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians, who were given no warning and had no chance to flee.”
The report contains numerous accounts from survivors who describe the horror of frantically digging through the rubble and dust of their destroyed homes in search of the bodies of children and loved ones.

In several of the cases documented in the report, possible military targets were identified by Amnesty International. However the devastation to civilian lives and property caused in all cases was clearly disproportionate to the military advantages gained by launching the attacks.

“Even if a fighter had been present in one of these residential homes, it would not absolve Israel of its obligation to take every feasible precaution to protect the lives of civilians caught up in the fighting. The repeated, disproportionate attacks on homes indicate that Israel’s current military tactics are deeply flawed and fundamentally at odds with the principles of international humanitarian law,” said Philip Luther.

I have discussed in detail the real definition of "disproportionate" under international law, and it is clear that Amnesty is more interested in damning Israel with war crimes charges than with the truth.

As we saw from the case of NATO in Yugoslavia, the lives of 15 civilians are not considered a disproportionate price to pay for taking out a communications system for a couple of hours under international law.

In this case, Amnesty allows that there were terrorists in many of the houses whose bombing they researched. I found the same.

But Amnesty stops it analysis there.

(Continue)

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 as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Check-it out!
.

Hamas Aims at West Bank While Terrorists Are Gunning for Egypt

...Understanding this triangle of "Egypt - Gaza - Israel" is key to unlocking the significance of current regional events. The more that Gaza-linked terror groups threaten Egypt, the more the Egyptian government will seek to isolate and punish Hamas. A distressed Hamas, struggling to initiate reconstruction efforts, is more likely to try to break its isolation through a terrorist provocation against Israel, even if this attempt takes an indirect form, through a proxy terror group. Hamas's dark influence continues to cast a shadow on the region, raising tensions from Sinai to the West Bank, and starting a new countdown to the next showdown.

Egyptian soldiers and armored vehicles operate
to demolish all homes and other buildings in a
500-meter wide corridor, creating a "security zone"
along Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip, October 2014.
(Image source: PressTV video screenshot)

Yaakov Lapin..
Gatestone Institute..
05 November '14..

Under Hamas's rule, terrorist groups in Gaza are currently trying to acquire a foothold in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, and Hamas is trying daily to resurface in West Bank.

Recent events in Sinai have placed Hamas on a collision course with Egypt, and threaten further instability in the region.

Egypt finds itself threatened by Al-Qaeda-inspired jihadi organizations that use Gaza -- under Hamas rule, a nest of weapons and terrorism -- as a base of operations.

These jihadi groups often attack the Egyptian state in the Sinai Peninsula, then, with their weapons, move back into Gaza through underground tunnels to escape Egyptian security forces.

Hence, Egypt continues to block underground smuggling passages linking Gaza and Sinai as quickly as it can find them.

On October 24, terrorists launched a major attack in Sinai in coordinated assaults. They targeted Egyptian security personnel in the Al-Arish area of north Sinai, near Gaza. The attack represented a blow to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and his quest to stabilize Egypt.

The car bomb, and subsequent gun attack, killed 33 Egyptian soldiers and resulted in a staggering number of casualties.

Egypt declared a state of emergency in north Sinai, closed its Rafah border crossing with Gaza, and proceeded to evacuate and destroy all homes and farm areas on the Egyptian side of the border, to create a 500-meter wide security zone.

In the aftermath of the terror attacks, President Sisi blamed "foreign powers." Egyptian media reports cited security officials who claimed that the terrorists were trained in Gaza, and that Palestinian elements were involved.

These acts, in turn, had a direct effect on affairs between Hamas and Israel.

Welcome to Max Blumenthal’s Halloween

...Despite his well-documented record of antisemitism – which has earned him fans wherever there are Jew-haters – Blumenthal is currently in Oslo to address a “Globalisation conference” organized by the Norwegian Social Forum, which describes itself as “working for a world where concern for people, society and the environment is more important than economic profit.” Hopefully he is the only speaker there who has fans among neo-Nazis, white supremacists and racist conspiracy theorists and spends his free time posting antisemitic tweets from Oslo.

Petra Marquadt-Bigman..
The Warped Mirror..
01 November '14..



Anti-Israel activist Max Blumenthal likes to complain that he doesn’t understand why he is so often accused of antisemitism. Tonight, he posted this tweet:

If this tweet is not antisemitic, then the (hypothetical) one below is not Islamophobic:

For those not familiar with the people pictured: the photo tweeted by Blumenthal shows hard-right Likud Knesset member Moshe Feiglin (who is wearing a kippah); the other photo shows Maryam Mohammad Yousif Farhat, a Hamas member who won a seat in the Palestinian legislative election in 2006 and was popularly known as Umm Nidal (wearing a hijab). I’m aware that some people would protest that this implies an unfair equation of a controversial right-wing politician with a frighteningly fanatic supporter of terrorism. But whether or not this comparison is fair, it highlights Blumenthal’s hypocrisy all the more starkly: he and his fans obviously see nothing wrong with ridiculing a right-wing Jewish politician wearing a kippah as having a “fascist” Halloween costume, but they would furiously attack anyone who taunted an ardent hijab-clad supporter of Hamas terrorism for wearing a fascist Halloween costume as a despicable Islamophobe.

In a way, this can be viewed as Egypt’s disengagement from Gaza

...Surely Egypt is doing what cannot be avoided. This is Gaza’s comeuppance. Nonetheless, none of this is undertaken for the love of Israel. Egypt has its own very compelling complaints against Gazan provocations and aggression. In a way, this can be viewed as Egypt’s disengagement from Gaza. Ironically, however, in its own 2005 disengagement Israel harmed no Gazan interests and had expelled its own population. This has since been repaid with violent ingratitude.

Sarah Honig..
Another Tack..
04 November '14..

Imagine the following: Israel declares its intention to create a buffer zone between itself and the Gaza Strip.

The rationale is trenchant. After the discovery of numerous attack tunnels leading from Gaza into Israeli communities – to say nothing of ambushes, attempted abductions and mortar fire – Israel resolved to clear a swathe of territory from any habitation. This would deny the terrorists cover for their tunnel-digging, ambushes, etc.

It’s no stretch to suppose that immediately upon Israel’s announcement of intentions, the entire international community would explode into a deafening recriminatory uproar. Condemnations and threats would flow in from around the globe. The UN would censure, the US would threaten and the EU would preach.

If Israel would proceed with its plans despite the pandemonium, a horrific terror spate would erupt, rockets would rain on Israeli civilians, Israel would be ostracized, sanctions would ensue and a maelstrom of malevolence would engulf the Jewish state.

Footage of hapless families evicted with all their worldly belongings and of their homes being blown sky-high would seal Israel’s fate as the pariah of the civilized world. Gaza’s sins would go unmentioned.

Not all of the above scenario is make-believe. A buffer is being created, families are evicted with all their worldly belongings, their homes being blown sky-high and the rubble is bulldozed. A deep canal is mooted along the demarcation line as is a tall concrete separation wall.

The only thing that keeps this from outraging world opinion is the identity of the side provoked into this action. It is Egypt and not Israel. The border is between Gaza and Egypt rather than the Gaza-Israel border.

These distinctions alone suffice to make it all not much of a big deal. If Jewish/Israeli culprits can’t be fingered it’s apparently of no consequence. Such is sadly the mindset abroad.

That said, Egypt deserves no worldwide rebuke. It knows, as do foreign governments and the media, that Gaza is the terrorist nerve center not only against Israel but that its fanatic reach extends elsewhere. The gangs of firebrand jihadists who roam through Sinai often penetrate via Gaza or are manipulated from there. The same goes for the military-grade weaponry which these Islamist extremist openly deploy.

Is there Some Reason Why Rabbi Yehuda Glick is Described as “Right-Wing?”

...Yet search for a term of any Palestinian official being described in the press as “right-wing” for articulating that Jews should be prevented from praying on the Temple Mount. You won’t find any because to call the Palestinian belief “right-wing” contradicts the media’s view of Jewish extremism.

Yarden Frankl..
Honest Reporting..
04 November '14..

The New York Times referred to him as a “Far-right activist.” The BBC and LA Times labeled him a “Right-wing Jewish activist.” The Sydney Morning Herald calls him a “Far-right religious activist.” Throughout the media, there is an unusual consistency with the terms being used to describe Rabbi Yehuda Glick, who was the victim of an attempted assassination last week. But this is just another example of the media’s using terms that fit a preset narrative rather than the reality.

The reality of Rabbi Glick’s views is quite different than the way he is being described. He is a proponent of the right of Jews to pray on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Temple Mount is considered the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam. Those familiar with the Rabbi know that his goal is not to supplant Muslim prayer in that place. He is actually an advocate of allowing all prayers there. In his own words:

We are talking about sharing, coexistence, tolerance, respecting one another. I think that genuine peace must begin with tolerance and respect. I think that Jews, Muslims, or Christians, anybody who supports peace, anyone who supports praying — talking to G-d — should be allowed to on the Temple Mount.

Are these the views of someone who is truly “right-wing?”

The current policy on the Temple Mount allows visitors of all faiths to tour the area, but not to pray. While speaking openly about the historical significance of the area is allowed, the authorities will expel any non-Muslim who they believe is trying to pray. Rabbi Glick is an advocate of changing the status-quo and allowing adherents of all faiths to not only visit, but also pray at this holy site.

The world of folly, Swedish meatballs, moose and the Middle East

...Like any wild animal, moose are entirely unpredictable. But they are also known for not seeing things well or clearly at close range because their eyes are set on the sides of their heads, creating a large blind spot right in front of them. Having spent so much time focusing on moose, perhaps the Swedes have adopted their mindset, in the process forgetting just how dangerous and treacherous the rest of the world can be, or how precarious Israel’s position is.

Michael Freund..
Pundicity/Jpost..
03 November '14..

In an act of inexplicable folly, the Swedish government decided last week to formally recognize a state that does not exist, has no finite borders and which fails to meet even the minimal criteria for statehood under international law.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom announced that, “Today, the government takes the decision to recognize the state of Palestine. It is an important step that confirms the Palestinians’ right to self-determination.”

While three other European Union (EU) countries – Hungary, Slovakia and Poland – already recognize a Palestinian state, they took this step prior to becoming members.

Thus, Sweden now holds the ignominious distinction of being the first EU nation to confer recognition on the “state of Palestine.”

What makes this step even more mystifying is the haste with which it was taken. Newly-elected Prime Minister Stefan Lofven took office barely a month ago, and already in his swearing-in speech he stated that Sweden would soon recognize a Palestinian state, much to the chagrin of Israel and the United States.

And just what, you might be wondering, is the reasoning behind the Swedes’ decision? When declaring the move last week, Wallstrom called it “a contribution to a better future” for the Middle East and asserted that, “Some will state this decision comes too soon. I am afraid, rather, that it is too late.”

This is absolute hogwash, and Wallstrom’s logic is just as rancid as a leftover Swedish meatball.

Granting recognition to “Palestine” is a gift to Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, one that he most certainly does not deserve.

Abbas, who forged a unity government with the Hamas terrorist organization, has been openly stirring up unrest in Jerusalem, inciting Palestinians to riot over the issue of the Temple Mount.

Rewarding him with recognition is nothing less than rewarding terror and intransigence.

World's Double Standards With Egypt's War on Terrorism

...If anything, the Egyptian security crackdown in Sinai has once again exposed the double standards of the international community toward the war on terrorism. While it is fine for Egypt to demolish hundreds of houses and forcibly transfer thousands of people in the name of the war on terrorism, Israel is not allowed to fire back at those who launch rockets and missiles at its civilians.

A building is blown up by Egypt's army as part
of an operation to clear all buildings out of a
"buffer zone," along Egypt's border with the
Gaza Strip.
(Image source: PressTV video screenshot)

Khaled Abu Toameh..
Gatestone Institute..
03 November '14..

Three months after the military conformation between Hamas and Israel, the Egyptians are also waging their own war on terrorism in north Sinai.

But Egypt's war, which began after Islamist terrorists butchered 33 Egyptian soldiers, does not seem to worry the international community and human rights organizations, at least not as much as Israel's operation to stop rockets and missiles from being fired into it from the Gaza Strip.

The Egyptian army's security crackdown includes the demolition of hundreds of houses along the border with the Gaza Strip and the transfer of thousands of people to new locations.

Egypt's goal is to establish a security buffer zone along its shared border with the Gaza Strip in order to prevent terrorists from using smuggling tunnels to launch attacks on Egyptian soldiers and civilians. In other words, the Egyptians are tightening the blockade on the Gaza Strip and collectively punishing the Palestinians living there, not only Hamas.

All this is happening before eyes of the international community and media. Nonetheless, the UN Security Council has not been asked to hold an emergency meeting to condemn what some Egyptian human rights activists describe as the "transfer" and "displacement" of hundreds of families in Sinai.

Egyptian lawyer and human rights activist Gamal Eid said that the Egyptian security measures were "unconstitutional." He noted that Article 63 of the Egyptian constitution prohibits the forcible and arbitrary transfer of citizens in all forms.

Egyptian security experts warned this week that the "displacement" of Sinai residents would not stop terrorist attacks on the Egyptian police and army.

Former General Safwat al-Zayyat said he expected the terrorists to intensify their attacks not only in Sinai but also in other parts of Egypt, including Cairo, to prove that the Egyptian army's measures are ineffective. He also predicted that the transfer of thousands of families and the demolition of their homes would play into the hands of the terrorists.

Egyptian activist Massad Abu Fajr wrote on his Facebook page that the forcible eviction of families from their homes in Egypt was tantamount to a "declaration of war by the Egyptian authorities" on the three largest and powerful clans in Sinai. He too predicted that the security crackdown would boomerang and further strengthen the terrorists.

But what is perhaps more worrying is the fear that the unprecedented security clampdown in Egypt will drive Hamas and other terror groups in the Gaza Strip to resume their attacks on Israel.

The implicit message that the U.S. has no problem with more violence

...Rather than focusing their anger and contempt at Netanyahu for defending Jewish rights, they should be signaling Abbas that there must be consequences for his abandonment of even the pretense of a pursuit of peace. If, instead, they keep praising him despite his egregious misconduct, they will be encouraging the Palestinians with the implicit message that the U.S. has no problem with more violence. If so, blame for the blood that will be shed will belong to those who made more excuses for Abbas.

Jonathan S. Tobin..
Commentary Magazine..
03 November '14..

How far can you go to foment violence and encourage terrorism while still being considered a hero of peace by the Obama administration? Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas has long pushed the envelope on this question but has arguably gone further in his condolence letter to the family of Mu’taz Hijazi, a slain terrorist, in which he described the man who attempted to murder a Jewish activist last week as a “Shahid” or martyr and said that “he rose to heaven while defending our people’s rights and holy places” and described his death while fighting Israeli soldiers as “an abominable crime” carried out by “terror gangs of the Israeli occupation army.” But rather than merely express outrage about this astonishing statement, the administration should be taking a lesson from history and realize that its coddling of Abbas and his support for violence such as that practiced by Hijazi is playing a role in worsening the conflict.

Abbas’s praise of Hijazi doesn’t come out of the blue. It was the PA leader, after all, that helped incite the attack on Rabbi Yehuda Glick by claiming he and others who advocated for Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount should be resisted by all means. In doing so Abbas was following the same game plan for whipping up Arab hatred by falsely claiming Jews were intent on destroying the mosques on the Mount, a tactic that has been used by predecessors such as Haj Amin el-Husseini, the ally of the Nazis that incited anti-Jewish pogroms in the 1920s and ’30s.

Whatever one may think of those who wish to alter the status quo on the Temple Mount where Jewish prayer is now prohibited or those who support Jewish building in areas of east Jerusalem, the notion that Palestinians should feel free to attack them is incompatible with any notion of peace. That Abbas should encourage such attacks with intemperate language and then follow such statements up with extravagant praise for those who took his advice marks him as someone who is not only not a true partner for peace but also very much part of the problem negotiators are seeking to solve.

But this is part of the story about the Middle East that you almost never hear about from the Obama administration or its apologists in the media, such as The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg. Goldberg made headlines last week when he quoted “senior administration officials” lobbing vulgar insults at Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. But in the same piece and others, Goldberg has justified the administration’s attitude toward Netanyahu by saying he has been insufficiently supportive of Abbas, whom he described as “the best interlocutor Israel is going to have despite his many flaws.” The president and Secretary of State Kerry have gone further by praising Abbas’s alleged courage and his supposed dedication to the cause of peace. Clearly these testimonials are incompatible with Abbas’s behavior. His role in the recent disturbances goes beyond mere “flaws” and illustrates just how desperate he is to compete with his Hamas rivals for the support of a Palestinian people that is not reconciled to Israel’s existence whether or not its borders include Jerusalem or Jews are prohibited from stepping foot on the Temple Mount, as the PA has urged.

This is significant not just because Abbas’s fomenting of violence and paeans to those who try to kill Jews is despicable. It is important because it is part of a pattern by which the U.S. and even some Israelis become so attached to both a Palestinian leader and the concept of negotiations with him that they decide to ignore what he is doing or his ultimate goals.

Who else? Ha'aretz op-ed argues against civil rights for Jews

...This conflict is indeed about rights, and too many people think that Jews have none. For hypocritical Ha'aretz writers like Hasson, human rights are not absolute: the only absolute is the minimization of Jewish national and religious rights. Ultimately, that is the crux of the entire anti-Israel argument, that Arab rights are sacred and competing Jewish rights are non-existent in comparison.

Elder of Ziyon..
02 November '14..





Ha'aretz' Nir Hasson is clearly upset that the major argument for giving Jews free access to the Temple Mount is a liberal one:

The success of right-wing activist Yehuda Glick and the Temple Mount movement in recent years stems in part from the change Glick led in the discourse about the Mount. Instead of fiery threats to blow up the mosques and build the Temple, Glick argued the right to worship as a human right. His main point: It is inconceivable for a Jew not to be able to pray at the site most sacred of all to Jews, and that Jews who visit the Temple Mount are considered unwanted guests and are closely scrutinized, prohibited from conduct considered provocative, and first and foremost prohibited from praying.

Glick was wise enough to uncover the absurdity created at the Temple Mount, where people are arrested because they mumbled a prayer, moved to the rhythm of prayer or, perish the thought, knelt at the holy place. Raised awareness of the status quo and Glick’s argument placed no small challenge on the doorstep of spokespeople of the left, who were forced to defend a policy on the Mount that discriminates against people because of their religion – in this case, Jews.

This is terrible! An argument that Jews have rights could undermine everything Ha'aretz stands for!
Naturally, it is incumbent for Ha'aretz readers to know how to counter the argument that Jews have equal rights, and by golly, Hasson will give it his best shot. He enumerates a series of four "talking points" to counter Jewish religious, cultural, civil and human rights:

(Continue)

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 as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Check-it out!
.

Great question. Why is Israel silent?

...Just maybe Israel is the party that should be making announcements that it is Jordan that is violating the letter and surely the spirit of that treaty according to its text? In fact, why is Israel silent?

Yisrael Medad..
My Right Word/JPost..
31 October '14..





We read now

Jordan: Peace treaty with Israel under threat should Al-Aqsa violation continue

Jordan's government spokesman Mohammed Mumuni said that the peace accord with Israel, signed 20 years ago this week, was under threat should Israel continue its violations of the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount, Arab-language Sky News reported. Mumuni slammed Israel for saying it was working to preserve the status-quo in the flashpoint site while actually doing the opposite. He further noted that Jordan had formulated a plan to address Israel's actions in East Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.

Jordanians have been ranting about this matter for months.

Back in February, Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur threatened to pull the treaty if the Knesset were to continue advancing a bill to allow Jews to pray on the Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, where the Jordanian Waqf (Islamic trust) has forbidden such prayer.

It isn't even the first time this week Jordan has made such a threat, as Jordan's ambassador to Israel Walid Obeidat on Sunday threatened the agreement was in danger

and in April we read:

Israeli Ambassador to Jordan Daniel Nevo was summoned Monday by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry following violent clashes between Israeli police forces and Palestinian youths on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Sunday.

The Jordanian ministry conveyed the Hashemite Kingdom's protest of Israel's so-called violations and break-ins against the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, and told the ambassador that Israel's actions in the holy site pose a violation of the peace treaty between the countries, and "constitute and extreme insult to bilateral relations," the Jordanian news agency Petra reported.

Has anyone reviewed the treaty to ascertain what it actually contains regarding Al-Aqsa? Here:

Jeffrey Goldberg and the struggle to defend administration nonsense

...The possibility of a sovereign Palestinian state has been foreclosed by the triumph of the uncompromising Palestinian narrative over any moderate forces that may have existed. Combined with the rise of Islamism in the region, some form of the status quo looks pretty good — for Palestinian Arabs as well as Jews. Goldberg is a smart guy, and to read him regurgitating the nonsense the Obama administration cynically peddles in order to justify its support of Israel’s enemies is simply depressing.

Vic Rosenthal..
Abu Yehuda..
02 November '14..
Link: http://abuyehuda.com/2014/11/goldberg-struggles-to-defend-administration-nonsense/

Jeffrey Goldberg, the journalist who broke the ‘chickenshit‘ story, tried to put a good face on the Obama Administration’s pretense of frustration with PM Netanyahu. Let’s see why his — and the administration’s — position doesn’t make sense.

The Israeli government doesn’t seem to understand that the status quo is unsustainable. As I’ve written (over and over again), I am not arguing for an immediate pullout from the West Bank; the times are too dangerous, and the Palestinian Authority too weak and corrupt and cowardly, for such a move.

First of all, exactly what is the ‘status quo’? I would describe it as follows: Israel controls the borders and airspace of Judea and Samaria, and Israel treats all of Jerusalem as its indivisible capital. It does not control the lives of the 95% of the Arab population of Judea and Samaria that are in areas controlled by the PA. It isn’t that this is unsustainable, but rather that the Palestinians and their friends in Washington and Europe would like it to be different.

But as he admits in the next sentence, there is no alternative. The Palestinians won’t and can’t offer an acceptable deal, and anyway it’s too dangerous. So if there’s no alternative, then we’d best find a way to sustain the allegedly ‘unsustainable’.

But in the meantime, Israel could help create conditions so that a Palestinian state could one day be born. What this means is simple: Netanyahu should take no steps that further entangle Israel in the lives of Palestinians.

What makes him think that there will ever be a situation in which a sovereign Palestinian state in Judea/Samaria will be desirable? The geography of the region won’t change. The strategic necessity for Israel to control the high ground above its population centers and airport won’t go away, nor will the steep sides of the Jordan Valley.

In Gaza, puzzlement all over again

...So Hamas is meant to get none of the incoming materials. They are intended for the Gazan people. Comprehending this might take the Daily Sabah people and their readers some way towards understanding why (a) the thugs of Hamas have no problem firing more rockets into Israel, and (b) Israel wants Gazans to understand that Israel-bound rockets fired by Hamas rocket-men from the alleys where they live come at a price.

Frimet/Arnold Roth..
This Ongoing War..
02 November '14..




In Gaza, they're evidently at a complete loss to explain some recent developments:

ISRAEL CLOSES TWO GAZA CROSSINGS WITHOUT MENTIONING ANY REASON | Israel will on Sunday close down Gaza's only functioning two crossings, namely Kerem Shalom and Erez. Israeli authorities had told the Palestinian side that they would close down Kerem Shalom, Gaza's only functioning commercial crossing, on Sunday, even without mentioning any reasons, Mounir al-Ghalban, the head of the Palestinian side of the crossing, told Anadolu Agency. He added that Israeli authorities did not mention a date for reopening the crossing, warning against the effect of the crossing closure on Gaza's foodstuff supplies. Israeli authorities will also close down Erez Crossing in northern Gaza, al-Ghalban said. He added that only Palestinians on emergency would be allowed to cross between the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank through the crossing. [Daily Sabah (a Turkish publication), yesterday]

No reasons? We can help. Here's a little fresh background via Ynet:

(Continue)

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 as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Check-it out!
.

The Temple Mount isn't the problem. It's the solution

...Only if we make it clear to ourselves and the rest of the world that this is the holiest place to the Jewish people and we will not give it up from fear of Arab terrorism do we have a chance to win. You don't contain terrorism -- you fight it until it is defeated. Our giving up the Temple Mount is the strongest incentive for the Islamic terrorism working against us. The Temple Mount isn't the problem. It's the solution.

Dr. Aryeh Eldad..
Israel Hayom..
02 November '14..

A day after an attempt was made on the life of activist Yehuda Glick, I was sitting in the Jerusalem District Court. A few months earlier, on a date set long ahead of time, I had submitted a petition under the Freedom of Information Law in the name of Professors for a Strong Israel.

Jerusalem, as we know, has multiple authorities, not only judges. A number of them are responsible for issues related to the Temple Mount. The municipality must concern itself with building permits and ensuring that the planning and construction laws are enforced; the Israel Antiquities Authority is supposed to oversee what many, including the High Court of Justice, have defined as "the most important antiquities site in Israel"; and the police are supposed to enforced public order and public security.

Between 1995 and 2001, the Temple Mount -- under the tightly closed eyes of the authorities -- was the site of one of the worst instances of antiquities vandalism in the country. The Muslim Wakf took over the huge underground spaces (4 dunams, or 43,000 square feet) known as King Solomon's Stables, and turned them into the biggest mosque in Israel. They employed enormous bulldozers to dig on the Temple Mount, and were careful to eradicate any trace of Jewish history. They cleared out hundreds of trucks' worth of debris from the holiest place to the Jewish people, including many archaeological finds that were thrown on the trash heap.

When the extent of the destruction was discovered by citizens whose eyes -- unlike those of the authorities -- were open, the State Comptroller's Committee charged the comptroller with investigating and reporting on the matter. When the report was submitted, government representatives sought to have it classified because its publication could damage foreign relations (U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry could discover that Israel had given up sovereignty over the Temple Mount) and expose the police's approach of sitting with their hands folded or running away when a police station on the mount was set on fire.

Quite an item, the Palestinians’ genocidal logo

...Despite the overt violence and the clearly genocidal aspirations embedded in these national symbols, the Fatah and Hamas regimes are referred to as Israel’s “Palestinian interlocutors for peace” by Sweden, Britain and indeed the UN and EU at large.

Ilya Meyer..
Times of Israel..
31 October '14..

There is something particularly revolting about ostensibly civilized, modern nations giving both official recognition and massive funding to terrorist organizations with a clearly expressed genocidal goal.

Sweden is the latest country to officially recognize “the state of Palestine”.

But to put Sweden’s embarrassingly amateurish, vote-grabbing domestic politicking move into a proper international perspective, one has only got to look at the Palestinian Arabs’ national symbols. Just to see how “peace-loving” they really are.

Until a few years ago, the Islamic world had consistently prevented Israel and its Magen David Adom (the Israeli version of the Red Cross) from becoming a full member of the International Red Cross (the IRC). The Muslim world only relented from its overtly anti-Semitic position on absolute condition that the red Magen David symbol, the red Star of David, be erased and replaced with a bland, meaningless red square standing on its tip. This condition was only demanded as a deliberate way of demeaning the Jewish Star of David symbol.

Meantime, the Red Cross and the Red Crescent representing the Christian and Muslim faiths respectively were regarded as suitable symbols by the IRC.

Israel had to swallow that bitter pill in order to be accorded the signal privilege of joining the IRC so the Jewish state could provide Muslim (and of course other) countries with emergency aid when they suffered manmade crises or natural disasters….

But here’s the salient point: We must all – bloggers, the media, local politicians, national politicians, the diplomatic corps, the EU, the UN – insist that both Fatah and Hamas change their official logos (which show their wished-for state of Palestine as replacing ALL of Israel). Their “national symbol” actually predicates the destruction of UN member state Israel.

When the terrorists say children are their main concern

Not for the first time, we are left to wonder aloud why UNICEF, Save the Children, Amnesty, Terre des Hommes, International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and so many other well-funded, high-profile public interest organizations are taking so little interest in this unfolding tragedy. It's happening right under their noses.

Palestinian Arab child photographed at Hamas
"victory" eventin Nablus, August 29, 2014
[Image Source: AP]

Frimet/Arnold Roth..
This Ongoing War..
02 November '14..

Universal Children's Day takes place on November 20, less than three weeks from today.

The annual event was initiated by the UN General Assembly in 1954 as a way of encouraging states to "to promote mutual exchange and understanding among children" and similar blah blah. But also "to initiate action to benefit and promote the welfare of the world's children" which is a worthy and concrete goal.

Even the most cursory look at things that are done to children in many parts of the world serves to persuade of the need to take their welfare very seriously. Think of the millions of children cheated of education and forced into child labour, slavery, prostitution and pornography. And then there's the recruitment and training of child soldiers, a matter that has occupied us here on this blog often.

The UN adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child on November 20, 1958 and then the Convention on the Rights of the Child exactly 31 years later, on November 20, 1989. That convention is going to be 25 years old later this month. Pretty soon now the formalities, the issue of new postage stamps and theme posters and similar actions by civil servants are going to render the occasion even more meaningless than it probably is already. So allow us please to share a handful of observations about children in the Palestinian Arab world.

First some notes from a brief analysis triggered by the wave of violence that is currently on view here in Jerusalem from where we produce this blog. The Israeli Arab journalist and analyst, Khaled Abu Toameh ["Palestinians:Stop the Children's Intifada!", October 29, 2014] writes:

(Continue)

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 as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Check-it out!
.