Playing the Palestinian Shadow Game

Jonathan S. Tobin..
Commentary/Contentions..
02 May '13..

Secretary of State John Kerry was encouraged yesterday by the idea of a revived and improved Arab Peace Initiative being floated by an Arab League delegation. But the Palestinian Authority wasted no time in pouring cold water on the idea that even this baby step means a thing. Palestinian Authority negotiators dismissed the significance of the statement issued by the foreign minister of Qatar that the 2002 proposal would be modified to recognize the idea of “minor” territorial swaps that would modify the 1967 lines. As far as Erekat is concerned, the Palestinians won’t even bother to return to the talks so long as Israel is unwilling to concede the outcome in advance.

“Netanyahu has to say 1967,” Erekat told Nazareth-based Radio Ashams. “If he doesn’t say that, there’s nothing to talk about. For us, what the Arab League delegation presented in Washington is no different from the official Palestinian position.”

Erekat noted that the Palestinian Authority had negotiated in the past based on the 1967 borders and had been willing to adjust 5 percent to 7 percent of the border.

“We don’t see that as recognition of the settlement blocs, as some commentators on both sides try to interpret it. For us, every stone in the settlements constitutes a violation of international law, so it’s impossible to talk about Palestinian consent regarding the settlements,” he said.

“Our position is clear: As long as Netanyahu does not say the number 1967, there’s nothing to talk about. Maybe he needs to undergo psychological therapy to utter that number.”

But if the Palestinians are really interested in peace, it’s they who need the therapy. By issuing demands in this manner, Erekat is not just directly defying President Obama’s call for them to come back to the peace table without preconditions. Nor is his attempt to justify a continued refusal to talk just about borders. It’s part of a strategy the Palestinians have been pursuing for more than four years. Since the PA knows it has neither the will nor the ability to sign a peace agreement recognizing the legitimacy of a Jewish state no matter where its borders are drawn, their goal is to avoid any diplomatic setting at which they might be forced to admit this, as they did when they turned down peace offers in 2000, 2001 and 2008.

Aggressive and offensive, unconnected to any particular conflict or borders

...In Israel, we have fought against jihadi terrorism long before there was a single Israeli foot in the West Bank, and even before Jewish sovereignty was reestablished in 1948. In the 1920s and 1930s, the mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, would whip his followers into a religious frenzy who would then murder, burn, and frequently dismember innocent Jews.

Yair Shamir..
Foreign Policy..
01 May '13..

George Orwell wrote in his seminal tome, 1984, "The object of terrorism is terrorism ... Now do you begin to understand me?"

Unfortunately, we live in a world where too many still do not understand.

After the recent terrorist attacks in Boston, there was immense incredulity when the ethnic nationality of the perpetrators was made known. The act did not make sense to many, because terror has so often been explained merely as a product of national conflict, or as a logical reaction to "oppression" or "occupation." Even al Qaeda, we are told, is merely reacting to America's role in the Muslim world.

Neither the United States in particular, nor the West in general, has played a significant role in the decades-long war in Chechnya. The usual talking heads were left scratching their heads -- even after more evidence of the bomber's Islamist ideology came to light.

Modern terror connected to an extremist Islamist mindset is simply something that many in the West are unable or unwilling to truly understand. Our opinion-shapers will look into every possible angle of a terrorist's background and history to find some way to explain away, or on occasion sympathize with, the perpetrators' motives.

We ignore terrorists' ideology at our own peril. While their acts are inhuman, these people are human and we must hold them accountable for their actions -- not treat them as a mere tool of retribution for other misdeeds. Ignoring their ideology will mean that we can never fully understand the implications behind these attacks.

What PM Netanyahu Understands About Qatar

Seth Mandel..
Commentary/Contentions..
02 May '13..

The Washington Post has a story up today gently knocking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for being less than enthusiastic about the resurgence of the Arab Peace Initiative. The Arab plan is slightly improved from its past iterations, but to understand why Netanyahu is so cautious about embracing the plan as an outline for negotiations, the Post story should be read in tandem with Jeffrey Goldberg’s incisive and spot-on portrait of the Qatari government in his latest Bloomberg column.

The setting for the column is a Brookings Institution event to honor Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani. Brookings is, along with Hamas and other sordid outfits in whose company Brookings does not belong, funded by the Qatari government. Goldberg makes plain his discomfort with this. As I wrote in January, Qatar has been playing every side of the Middle East’s various conflicts, most often as a nuisance to American objectives. Goldberg’s whole column is worth reading, but this particular gem sticks out with regard to the Arab peace plan:

For a reality check, I spoke to two administration officials deeply engaged on the Syria question and on Qatar’s role in supporting the rebels. (They requested anonymity to speak freely.) They painted an unpretty picture. The officials were pleased by the role Qatar is playing in the Arab-Israeli peace process, but they were flummoxed by its support for Hamas — which directly undermines the possibility of achieving an equitable two-state solution (Hamas being, as it is, opposed to Israel’s existence). They were also concerned that Qatar may be supporting the most radical Syrian group, the Nusra Front, which is openly affiliated with al-Qaeda.

American officials who are “pleased by the role Qatar is playing in the Arab-Israeli peace process” while also acknowledging that Qatar funds Hamas–a terrorist government that has both the desire and ability to derail any progress on Arab-Israeli peace while constantly putting innocent lives in danger–are being scammed. And far too easily for people who work for the president of the United States.

Goldberg calls Qatar “an attention-starved teenager.” He puts the country’s foreign policy in context: Qatar supports Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, and is believed to be funding the most radical Islamist groups in Syria; but Qatar also funds Brookings and hosts U.S. Central Command forward headquarters. Those are strategic calculations, and they are well-placed and well-played. On the diplomatic front, Qatar publicly claims to support Israeli-Palestinian peace while making certain to undermine it in every possible way.

Guess what? Israeli Checkpoints Stop Terrorists, not Elections.

Khaled Abu Toameh..
Gatestone Institute..
02 May '13..

Is it true that Palestinians cannot hold new elections because of Israeli security measures?

This is a claim, often made in the U.S., Canada and parts of Europe, is that the Palestinians have not been able to hold new presidential and parliamentary elections for the past five years because of Israeli army checkpoints in the West Bank, and that it will be impossible for the Palestinians to hold new elections in the future so long as Israel maintains checkpoints in various parts of the West Bank.

Another claim is that Israel is responsible for the fact that Palestinians enjoy no democracy in their two separate entities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

First, it is worth noting that such claims are often made by people living in the West, and not by Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

These people in the West like to think they are pro-Palestinian, but by their consistent distortion of facts, they seem in reality to be more anti-Israeli than pro-Palestinian. They never advocate against the repression and corruption that are actually stifling the Palestinians. Instead, they prefer to ignore the reality on the ground and often blame Israel for all that goes wrong in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Not surprisingly, many Palestinians seem to be much more pragmatic and realistic than the anti-Israel spokesmen sitting in Washington, New York and London.

The Palestinians know, for example, that were it not for the continued power struggle between Hamas and Fatah, they would have had free elections several years ago.

The Palestinians, moreover, know that Israeli checkpoints have nothing to do with restricting freedom of expression and voting. They are fully aware that the checkpoints are there to stop terror attacks and not democracy or reforms.

In the past, despite Israeli security measures and checkpoints, Palestinians did have free and democratic elections for the presidency and parliament.

A Tank Driver in the Field and His Camera - 11 Remarkable Photos

Idfblog.com..
01 may '13..






Less than a year ago, Dan Josephson enlisted in the IDF. He serves as a tank driver in the IDF’s Armored Corps. Since the beginning of his service, he has been taking remarkable, professional-quality photographs, which are now available online.

1. Playing with the moonlight

When he first began his army service, Dan preferred to keep his camera at home for fear of breaking it.

”In basic training, I was afraid to use my camera, until I decided to take the initiative to take it with me and start photographing my days. Eventually I asked permission from my superiors to take pictures and in every free moment, I captured moments that seemed unique. “

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A smear of Israel that boggles the mind

Jonathan S. Tobin..
Commentary/Contentions..
01 May '13..

Freedom House released its annual report on press freedom throughout the world today at an event sponsored by the Newseum in Washington. But along with the usual and appropriate condemnations of dictatorships and totalitarian states, the group decided to slam the one democracy in the Middle East as well as one of the few states in the region where press freedom actually exists: Israel.

Karin Karleklar, the organization’s project direct for monitoring press freedom, told an audience at the Newseum streamed live over the Internet this morning that Israel’s status was being downgraded from “free” to “partly free.” This is astonishing by itself, but the bizarre nature of this judgment is only made clear when one hears the reasons. Two of the reasons stated by Karleklar—the indictment of a journalist for possessing stolen classified materials and the problems that one television station has had in getting its license renewed—are hardly violations of freedom but do speak to issues that could be misinterpreted as tyrannical if they were discussing a country where there wasn’t a vibrant free press. But the third is so absurd as to call into question not merely the judgment but the impartiality of the entire report.

The report claims that the appearance on the scene of Israel Hayom, a relatively new Israeli newspaper, is a threat to press freedom because it is a success that has hurt the business prospects of its competitors. No, you didn’t misread that sentence. Freedom House is taking the position that the fact that Israel Hayom has claimed an impressive share of the hyper-competitive newspaper market is undermining the freedom of the press. The justification for this ridiculous claim is that Sheldon Adelson, the casino mogul and well-known contributor to Republican candidates, has “subsidized” the paper and that its editorial line favors Prime Minister Netanyahu. The paper, which is distributed free of charge, is now the most-read paper in Israel, a state of affairs which Freedom House not unreasonably connects to the demise of Maariv, a longtime mainstay of the Hebrew daily press. But the question readers of this report have to ask is what in the name of Joseph Pulitzer does the ability of Adelson’s paper to succeed where many other print papers are failing have to do with freedom of the press?

Coming soon to the Tapuach Junction near you

Emily Amrousi..
Israel Hayom..
01 May '13..

A Jew was murdered on Tuesday. Read that last sentence again -- this time cry out the words: "A Jew was murdered." One of our own flesh and blood died. Salam Zaghal wanted to murder a Jew. He couldn't care less where that Jew resided and whom he voted for in the last election. Evyatar Borovsky happened to be the closest Jew available: He stood at the junction, hands tucked in his pockets, waiting for a friend to arrive and give him a ride to the rehearsal his ensemble was about to hold. He had just said goodbye to his five kids. For them, it was the beginning of just another ordinary day: They would drink chocolate milk; someone would tie their shoelaces.

Zaghal plunged the knife into Borovsky's abdomen -- our abdomen. Why? Because he was a Jew.

The evacuation of the wounded Zaghal from Tapuach Junction, which for many Israelis lies somewhere beyond the Mountains of Darkness, to Rabin Medical Center in Petach Tikva, took twenty minutes. The Israel that rushed Zaghal to the medical center to treat his wounds (he had been shot by Border Police as he carried out his attack) is the same Israel that had released him from prison several months earlier, and the same Israel that removed roadblocks to allow the Palestinians to lead a better life.

I wanted to ask, "But what about the life of Jews?" But then I looked at Evyatar's picture: a wonderful father; a gifted performer who wrote his own material; a man with new ideas, a big smile, and love for this land.

A life was nipped in the bud by a contaminated knife. And this, even as every Israeli radio station was reporting with great fanfare on the new Arab League peace initiative.

Teaching Children How to Kill Israelis–with Real Guns

...Needless to say, educating schoolchildren to view Israelis solely through the sights of a rifle doesn’t contribute to peaceful coexistence. And as Samar Zakout of the Gaza-based human rights groups Al Mezan noted, it also willfully endangers the students: If Hamas is using schools as military training bases, they could become targets for Israeli airstrikes in a future conflict.

Evelyn Gordon..
Commentary/Contentions..
01 May '13..

Having complained frequently about the media’s failure to report anything that might detract from their preferred narrative of Israel-as-villain, I’m delighted to discover that one British paper is bucking this trend. The Telegraph ran two articles this week describing the miserable situation in Hamas-run Gaza. And as reporter Phoebe Greenwood makes clear, the culprit isn’t Israel, but the elected Hamas government.

The first describes how Hamas has introduced military training into the curriculum of Gaza high schools–after having previously excised sports from said curriculum on the grounds that there wasn’t time for it. The mandatory weekly classes include learning how to shoot a Kalashnikov rifle; students who so choose can learn more advanced skills, like throwing grenades, at optional two-week camps. The article also includes video footage of Hamas militants demonstrating their skills for the students on a school playground: They carry out a mock raid on an Israel Defense Forces outpost, killing one soldier and capturing another, then demolish the outpost with a rocket-propelled grenade.

Needless to say, educating schoolchildren to view Israelis solely through the sights of a rifle doesn’t contribute to peaceful coexistence. And as Samar Zakout of the Gaza-based human rights groups Al Mezan noted, it also willfully endangers the students: If Hamas is using schools as military training bases, they could become targets for Israeli airstrikes in a future conflict.

Moral Inversion on Palestinian Terrorism? - Meet Robert Mackey

Robert Mackey,
"The Lede" blogger

RH..
CAMERA Snapshots..
01 May '13..

Robert Mackey, The New York Times’ “Lede” blogger often utilizes the blog as a platform to promote propaganda against Israel. In fact, he is frequently celebrated and joined by anti-Israel activists. A case in point: when Evyatar Borovsky, a 31-year-old Israeli Jewish civilian and father of five, was slain yesterday by a Palestinian terrorist, Mackey managed to twist this into a condemnation of Israelis.

How does one do this?

A) Find anti-Israel activists to whom to attribute the justification of Palestinian terrorism against Israelis.

B) Make a pretense of condemning the murder while justifying the cause.

C) Quickly turn the focus to the supposed misdeeds of Israelis (using as sources unverified posts and tweets by anti-Israel activists ) and make this the focus of the article.

Abbas' view of Arab terrorists who cold-bloodedly murder Israelis? The LA Times knows and tells.

Frimet/Arnold Roth..
This Ongoing War..
01 May '13..

The tragic death of Evyatar Borowski, an Israeli father of five young children, murdered yesterday by a knife-wielding Palestinian Arab at a hitch-hiking post at Tapuah Junction in the Shomron ["30-Apr-13: Stabbed this morning, an Israeli is murdered"], attracted media attention in the Arab world.

Fatah party representatives praised as a hero a Palestinian attacker who stabbed an Israeli to death at a West Bank junction on Tuesday. The organization posted pictures from the scene of the attack on its official Facebook page, accompanying each image with a caption boasting of the stabber’s “success.” Officials also expressed hope that he would be quickly released from prison. [Times of Israel]

The Los Angeles Times went a step further, connecting the head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, to the killing. It reminds readers that credit for the terror attack was claimed by the notorious Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades which styles itself as "the military wing" of the Fatah Party whose head is Mahmoud Abbas. Al Aqsa's post-stabbing announcement takes proud responsibility...

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From Goliath to the Dardanelles, The Case for Pre-Emptive War

Andrew Roberts..
Wall Street Journal..
30 April '13..

When—and it is most probably now a question of when, rather than if—Israel is forced to bomb Iran's uranium enrichment facilities, the Israeli government will immediately face a cacophony of denunciation from the press in America and abroad; the international left; the United Nations General Assembly; 20 secretly delighted but fantastically hypocritical Arab states; some Democratic legislators in Washington, D.C.; and a large assortment of European politicians. Critics will doubtless harp on about international law and claim that no right exists for pre-emptive military action. So it would be wise for friends of Israel to mug up on their ancient and modern history to refute this claim.

The right, indeed the duty, of nations to proactively defend themselves from foes who seek their destruction with new and terrifying weaponry far pre-dates President George W. Bush and Iraq. It goes back earlier than Israel's successful pre-emptive attacks on Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981 (not to mention other pre-emptive Israeli attacks like the one on the Syrian nuclear program in 2007). It even predates Israel's 1967 pre-emption of massed Arab armies, a move that saved the Jewish state. History is replete with examples when pre-emption was successful, as well as occasions when, because pre-emption wasn't employed, catastrophe struck.

When it became clear that the Emperor Napoleon was about to commandeer the large and formidable Danish navy stationed at Copenhagen in 1807, the British Royal Navy attacked without a declaration of war and either sank, disabled or captured almost the entire fleet. No one screamed about "international law" in those days, of course, any more than statesmen would have cared if they had. Neither did Winston Churchill give any warning to the Ottoman Empire, a German ally, when he ordered the bombardment of the Dardanelles Outer Forts in November 1914, also without a war declaration.

Similarly—though there were plenty of warnings given—Britain was formally at peace with her former ally France in July 1940 when Churchill ordered the sinking of the French fleet harbored near Oran in French Algeria, for which he was rightly cheered to the echo in the House of Commons. The sheer danger of a large naval force falling into Hitler's hands when Britain was fighting for its survival during the Battle of Britain justified the action, and the exigencies of international law could rightly go hang.

Mr. Ambassador - Such an impertinence by a foreign envoy is hardly thinkable.

The former PA security man makes it clear that the intention is to inflict unbearable pain while leaving a minimum of identifiable traces... The whole of the ambassador's piece, like its opening, rings with the unqualified confidence of old-time apologies for the Soviet regime.

Malcolm Lowe..
Gatestone Institute..
01 May '13..

What if the Israeli ambassador in Britain were to write an article in a major British daily, showering praise upon the Irish police? And demanding changes in British policy toward Ireland? Such an impertinence by a foreign envoy is hardly thinkable.

Yet the converse recently occurred in Israel. The British ambassador published an op-ed on Ynet, the internet site of Israel's biggest daily, in which he praised the Palestinian police force and its British trainers. Israel, he urged, must give that force more scope for its activities, while the world must pour in more money. Even more incredible, his piece appeared eleven days after the British Daily Mail published a major article alleging that the Palestinian police, trained by UK policemen and MI6, were engaged in the systematic torture of suspects.

The Mail's Internet site has over a hundred million visitors a month, more than any other newspaper in the world. Some of its articles get hundreds of comments and these comments may attract thousands of likes and dislikes. Were the ambassador and his Foreign Office bosses aware of that major news source? If not, they had failed to do their homework. If they were, then the ambassador's article was a grotesque error of judgment and good taste.

The Daily Mail article is comprehensive and specific, accompanied by artists' representations of the methods of torture employed. The headline spells it out in detail: "Hooded, hanged and left in agony for hours on end: Palestinian security chief tells how he has tormented 'suspects' with MI6's knowledge... and reveals how Britain helps pay for it with £33m foreign aid." There are drawings of victims suspended from the ceiling and walls or bound on their backs across chairs.

The newspaper's informant, a former PA security man, makes it clear that the intention is to inflict unbearable pain while leaving a minimum of identifiable traces."I'm not going to lie to you," he said. "Torture is used. We have to protect our people." Only, it has become more refined. "In the Nineties, we used to torture them badly. We beat them hard and we made them like a car that doesn't function. But we were defending our home, the region and the rest of the world. I am happy it was justified."

He told the reporter that now "the preferred method is termed 'shabeh' – the hooding and tying of the prisoner in a variety of agonising positions for up to eight hours," a method that "takes considerable skill." As the PA security man put it: "You have to deal with it as if you were playing a guitar. Each case has its own speciality."

(+Video) Evyatar's dream, and what the murderer has stolen from the entire world

LOTL..
01 May '13..

Sometimes not only do the words not suffice, but also the tears. Evyatar Borowsky Hy'd, his life taken yesterday by a recently released terrorist, now successful murderer, will no longer be a world who's personality radiated joy to all around him. As one who was blessed with the talent and love of acting, he shared this blessing, and was in the middle of his training as a medical clown.  However, the murderer approached from behind,  and with the taking of Evyatar's life, insured that his dream would go no further.

Here is a glimpse into the world that Evyatar wished to become part of, and perhaps, an understanding of what this murderer has stolen from us.


DreamDoctors Israel  Uploaded on Nov 1, 2011

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Who sees control of the press as a priority in securing power?

...Eid, however, suggests a disturbing metaphor, by way of explanation. Referring to the United Nations General Assembly vote last fall on the resolution to recognize Palestinian statehood, which carried with a resounding 139 votes in favour, Eid’s contempt is palpable: “The UN doesn’t love Palestinians. It just hates Israel more.”

Vivian Bercovici..
Toronto Star..
30 April '13..




Palestinian Facebook pranksters are doing prison time for lampooning Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas online.

At the end of March, a West Bank appeal court upheld a one-year sentence for a man alleged to have defamed Abbas by posting his photo online next to that of a TV villain who had collaborated with French colonial rule.

The Times of Israel reported that the convicted man denied posting the photos. Furthermore, he claimed to have been detained without legal counsel for 20 days and interrogated for 53. Following his lost appeal, Abbas pardoned the man, a small gesture after he’d been churned in the justice system for two years.

The previous month, a 26-year-old PA resident was sentenced to a year in prison for posting a photograph of Abbas kicking a soccer ball with a silly caption: “Real Madrid’s New Striker.”

The charge against him? “Extending [his] tongue” against the king; defamation, more colloquially. “King Abbas,” it seems, invoked a Jordanian law from the early 1960s that was intended, according to David Keyes, executive director of the New York-based NGO Advancing Human Rights, to punish critics of Jordan’s monarchy when it ruled the West Bank.

Apparently, the PA has been making a habit of threatening to sue (and sometimes following through) journalists, Hamas activists and just about anyone who doesn’t agree with them and Abbas. The goal? To intimidate dissenters from expressing their views.

These and other practices were noted in the U.S. State Department annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012, released on April 21. Israel, however, was recognized for supporting “an independent press, an effective judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system [which] combined to ensure freedom of speech and of the press.”

Denunciations of terror attack in Arabic? Really?

Elder of Ziyon..
30 April '13..

When Israel haters need to find an easy "proof" that Jews and Zionists are racists, they go to Facebook or YouTube or any other uncensored comment forum and find some convenient anti-Arab or anti-Muslim bigot to quote. It is a lazy way to pretend to make a point, because every group has some idiots so the existence of idiots is used to generalize about the entire group. They ignore the denunciations of the bigots on those same forums, because that would ruin their thesis.

Of course, these "progressives" are engaging in stereotyping, and obvious dishonesty, which is a major crime when anyone else does it, but that doesn't matter to them. They pretend they are revealing a "higher truth," which is pretty much how they justify their own bigotry.

But in the aftermath of this morning's terror attack, and most* others, there is something striking about the Arab comments on various venues.

They are unanimously supportive of killing Israeli civilians.

I cannot find a single naysayer, a single person who says that killing a father of five standing at a bus stop is wrong. On the contrary, they will often try to justify it as a "right" or as if it is an obligation under international law.

(Continue)

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The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - Details That Fill in the Rest of the Picture

Seth Mandel..
Commentary/Contentions..
30 April '13..

Today’s violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories contains some uncomfortable truths for Israel’s detractors, but also serves as a helpful microcosm of the larger conflict. A 30-year-old Israeli man, Eviatar Borovsky, was stabbed to death at a bus stop at Tapuach Junction by a Palestinian man, who was captured by border guards and taken into custody. A few hours later in Gaza, Haitham al-Mishal, a Palestinian involved in the production of rockets, was killed in a targeted strike by the IDF.

But the details that fill in the rest of the picture are a useful guide to the behavior of both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

Who was killed? The Israeli victim was a father of five waiting at a bus stop. The Palestinian victim was reportedly a manufacturer of rockets for use against Israeli civilians and employed by Hamas, according to the terrorist group itself. He was, according to the press here and in Israel, involved in the recent rocket attacks against the Israeli city of Eilat.

Who carried out the violence? The Palestinian perpetrator at Tapuach Junction is reportedly a repeat offender of acts of violence against civilians, having been released from prison in Israel about six months ago. On the Israeli side, the military was employed to take out a military target in Gaza.

Why did they do it? The IDF was responding to rocket attacks from enemy territory against its own civilian population. The Palestinian attacker at Tapuach Junction has a history of violence against Israeli civilians, and his brother is apparently in a Palestinian prison, having been accused of cooperating with Israeli authorities.

How did they do it? The IDF carried out a targeted strike designed to kill an active terrorist and avoid collateral damage and civilian casualties. The Palestinian assailant at Tapuach Junction carried a knife unchecked to the bus stop after the Israeli government removed a checkpoint near the area to allow Palestinians in the West Bank more freedom of movement. This was not the first such attack on an Israeli civilian at that location since the checkpoint was removed; an Israeli teenager was stabbed by a Palestinian at the junction in January.

Terror Mitigation at the BBC

Simon Plosker..
Honest Reporting..
30 April '13..



This morning, an Israeli was stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist at the Tapuah junction in the West Bank. As reported by The Times of Israel:

The attacker stabbed the Israeli, grabbed his weapon, and according to some accounts shot him at close range. He then fired at nearby border police, who returned fire and succeeded in subduing him. The victim, who was said to be about 30 years old, was declared dead at the scene after MDA paramedics’ resuscitation efforts failed. The attacker was evacuated to Beilinson hospital in Petah Tikva in moderate condition.

Now look at how the BBC reports on the attack:

The opening paragraph:

An Israeli settler has been killed by a Palestinian at a bus stop in the northern West Bank, police say.

Notice how the Israeli victim is described as a “settler” in both the headline and the article. If the BBC is prepared to use politicized terminology to describe an Israeli civilian then presumably, shouldn’t it also describe the Palestinian in similar terms for consistency?

While the BBC should refer to the Palestinian as a terrorist, it is noteworthy that the attacker is not even referred to as a “militant” or “activist.” He is simply a Palestinian. Yet, by referring to the Israeli as a “settler,” the BBC is already acknowledging that the Palestinian must have been motivated to carry out the attack for nationalist rather than criminal reasons.

Evidently, murdering someone for nationalistic reasons is not an act of terrorism, extremism or militancy.

The BBC’s indifference to Israeli victims of terror who happen to live in the West Bank reached its nadir in March 2011 when a mother, father and three of their children, including a three-month old baby, were stabbed to death by Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank settlement of Itamar.

Looks like nothing has changed at the BBC then.

WHERE’S THE CONSISTENCY?

Contrast the above with another piece of breaking news covered by the BBC at exactly the same time:

This article is continued on Page 2

Link: http://honestreporting.com/bbc-terminology-mitigating-terror/

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.
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Political correctness at Claremont McKenna College - Israeli professor the victim

Fresnozionism.org..
29 April '13..

Here is a little story: Claremont McKenna College is a private institution near Los Angeles. On March 4, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) held a “West Bank checkpoint simulation,” for which they had written permission from the Dean of Students, Mary Spellman.

The simulation consisted of blocking the entrance to the college dining hall and rudely demanding that students show their IDs in order to enter. One wonders what went through the mind of the dean — did she see educational value in this activity?

In any event, a student was distressed by the event and called an Israeli Economics professor, Yaron Raviv, who went to the dining hall.

(Strong language)

He reported he arrived to find students blocking the entrance, so he asked the dining hall manager to move them away from the door.

Soon after, the verbal altercation took place, as reports indicate [SJP member Najib] Hamideh – upset [that] Raviv aimed to move them – said, “Oh, you are faculty? I will hunt you down!” The professor responded: “What? You will hunt me down? You’re a fucking little cockroach.”

Exactly what was said remains unclear, but campus officials’ probe into the incident – during which nearly a dozen witnesses were interviewed – indicates that’s roughly the exchange between the two.

Raviv told administrators the “hunt you down” comment was particularly offensive because of his Jewish heritage, according to the review. Hamideh, for his part, denies saying it.

Students for Justice in Palestine also filed a bias complaint against the professor, stating “the term ‘cockroach’ must be taken in its specific historical context as hateful, racist, enemy imagery.”

The first thing that I want to say about this is that when I went to college in the early 1960′s, such a demonstration would not have been permitted, because the administrators would quite correctly assume that it would have turned into a brawl. Jewish students would have found it offensive enough to push back physically, right away.

The second thing is that it is interesting how the incident immediately became a contest about who made the most ethnically offensive remark. Is it worse to tell a Jew that you will ‘hunt him down’ or to call a Palestinian a ‘cockroach’? In his defense, Raviv argued that Israelis don’t call Palestinians ‘cockroaches’, and anyway he had no way of knowing Hamideh was Palestinian (he had grown up in the US and had no accent). On the other hand, said Raviv, it was obvious that he was Israeli and likely Jewish.

Everyone involved knew that there is no greater sin in their world than making an ethnic/racial slur. Even a physical threat.

An Israeli father of five is murdered this morning

Frimet/Arnold Roth..
This Ongoing War..
30 April '13..




Update: Today's murder victim was Aviyatar Borovsky Hy"d, a resident of Yitzhar, father of 5 children. According to Ynet the terrorist is a Fatah operative from a village near Tulkarem. He was imprisoned in Israel for three years after being convicted of stone throwing and was released less than six months ago.

From Tapuah Junction in the Shomron district of Israel, close to the southern exit from Shechem (Nablus), scene of many previous attacks and attempted attacks [some links] by terror-minded Palestinian Arabs, there is a report this morning of a killing during the morning rush hour. Times of Israel says

"An Israeli was killed Tuesday morning after he was stabbed and shot by a Palestinian at the Tapuah junction in the northern West Bank. The attacker stabbed the Israeli, grabbed his weapon, and according to some accounts shot him at close range. He then shot at nearby Border Police, who returned fire and succeeded in subduing him. The victim, who was in his early 20s, was declared dead at the scene after medical personnel’s resuscitation efforts failed. The attacker was evacuated to Beilinson hospital in Petah Tikva in moderate condition. The Tapuah junction, near the city of Ariel, has seen many attacks against settlers in recent years." [Times of Israel]

Jerusalem Post says the victim is 32 years old and the father of five. The BBC says the attacker is from the Palestinian Arab town of Tulkarm.

YNet's report reminds us of a previous stabbing at the same location in January 2013 (we wrote about it here). Then, the victim was a teenage boy who survived with light to moderate injuries. The attacker, a terrorist in his twenties from Ramallah, was apprehended.

(Continue)

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Gideon Levy, dream on – but don’t inflict your nightmare on us

Gideon Levy’s dream is the triumph of hope over experience. The 650,000 Jews ( Sephardi and Mizrahi) who sought a haven in Israel and now form a 52 percent Jewish majority – some 300,000 others went to the West – did not escape violence and repression in Arab states in order to find themselves once more under Arab-Muslim dominion. Been there for 14 centuries, done that, got the blood-stained T-shirt.

Lyn Julius..
Times of Israel..
28 April '13..




Gideon Levy may be the most hated man in Israel, or the most heroic, but the controversial Haaretz columnist has a dream. Recently, he expressed his enthusiasm for turning Israel into ‘one just state for two peoples.’

One state for two peoples? It has already existed for a while now. More than two peoples live in it – Jews and Arabs; ultra-Orthodox Jews; religious Zionist and secular Jews; Jews of Middle-Eastern descent and Jews of European descent; settlers and Palestinians. (…) This, though, is how an imaginary, just state would appear: It would grant everyone the right to vote, and have a democratic constitution that would protect the rights of all communities and minorities – including an immigration policy like that of all other nations.Such a state would have a legislature that would reflect the mosaic of the country, and an elected government formed by a coalition of the communities and the two peoples’ representatives. Yes, a Jewish prime minister with an Arab deputy, or vice versa.

Levy’s Utopian ‘state of all its citizens’ will replace Zionism with ‘something infinitely more just and sustainable.’ In his dream, the lion will lie down with the lamb and all threats will dissipate. Foreign aid will flood into this cross-confessional nirvana.

One can assume that ‘an immigration policy like all other nations’ will not privilege Jews over Arabs. Very quickly, Arabs would become a majority, Hatikva would cease to be the national anthem, and the Jews will be forced to give up their national state.

Levy’s solution has already been tried. It has failed. Lebanon was a mosaic state, but following a bloody civil war, it is little more than a precarious collection of quarreling sects on the edge of another precipice. The Maronite Christians have become a beleaguered minority, prefiguring what will happen to the Jews of Israel. Who said the definition of insanity is proposing the same solution but expecting different results every time?

Gideon Levy’s dream is the triumph of hope over experience. The 650,000 Jews ( Sephardi and Mizrahi) who sought a haven in Israel and now form a 52 percent Jewish majority – some 300,000 others went to the West – did not escape violence and repression in Arab states in order to find themselves once more under Arab-Muslim dominion.

Been there for 14 centuries, done that, got the blood-stained T-shirt.

To all intents and purposes, the Arab world is now judenrein. The fewer the Jews in the Arab world, the greater the Jew-hatred.