tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-371786572024-03-13T04:29:00.056+02:00Writing The WrongsWe are a grass roots organization located in both Israel and the United States. Our intention is to be pro-active on behalf of Israel. This means we will identify the topics that need examination, analysis and promotion. Our intention is to write accurately what is going on here in Israel rather than react to the anti-Israel media pieces that comprise most of today's media outlets.GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.comBlogger7199125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-63033191885780127072014-08-15T19:34:00.003+03:002014-08-15T19:34:35.062+03:00US Jewish leaders' deafening silence<a href="http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=9623">Isi Leibler</a><br />
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<span class="fullpost"><span lang="EN"><span lang="EN"></span></span></span><br />
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="fullpost"><span class="normal14">Over
the past few months, the Jewish state has been increasingly castigated
by U.S. President Barack Obama and his spokesmen as part of botched
efforts to bring about a settlement between Israel and the Palestinian
Authority. The tense relationship deteriorated further in recent weeks
when the U.S. ritual endorsement of Israel's right to self-defense was
linked to criticisms of its behavior. </span></span></div>
<span class="fullpost">
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">The U.S. is
unquestionably Israel's principal ally. In contrast to most of the
world, the American public and a bipartisan Congress remain
overwhelmingly pro-Israel. Until this week, the U.S. has maintained the
military partnership with Israel and exercised its veto powers to defend
Israel from biased resolutions at the U.N. Security Council. Israel is
therefore reluctant to confront the offensive statements emanating from
the White House and has gone through the motions of minimizing
differences. </span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">Under such
circumstances, one would have expected the American Jewish leadership to
actively express its concern. Yet, other than the hawkish Zionist
Organization of America, the Jewish establishment appears to have
burrowed behind a curtain of deafening silence.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">Ironically, engaged
American Jews are currently more united in support of Israel than at any
time since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Even groups like Peace Now endorsed
solidarity meetings and publicly expressed their support. This, despite
the fact that the left-wing media again provided excessive exposure to
anti-Israeli Jewish individuals and groups, who represent a marginal
portion of the committed Jewish community.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">American Jews related
with shame to the events in 1944 when their leaders, headed by Rabbi
Stephen Wise, failed to protest the failure to rescue Jews during the
Holocaust in order to appease then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Over
the past four decades Jewish leaders have earned a proud reputation of
speaking up without fear or favor in relation to Jewish rights, actively
combating the demonization and delegitimization of Israel.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">In retrospect, American
Jewish activism in our era has been rather uncontroversial. The
successful protest movements to alleviate the plight of Soviet Jewry and
campaigns against anti-Semitism did not ruffle any feathers.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">There were occasional
differences over Israel with various administrations but, aside from the
Carter era and until the Reagan administration, Democratic presidents
proved more favorable toward Israel than the Republicans did. That was a
source of gratification for most Jews, for whom support of the
Democratic Party had virtually become part of their DNA.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">Today the situation has
changed dramatically. While there is evidence that, overall, Americans
have become more pro-Israel, there has been an erosion of support for
Israel among far-left elements in the Democratic Party who strongly
support Obama. The debates over resolutions relating to Israel at the
last Democratic convention highlighted the emergence of intensifying
hostility.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">Over the past few
months, the attitude of the president and his administration toward
Israel has dramatically deteriorated. Israel was unfairly blamed for the
breakdown in the U.S. peace negotiations with the Palestinian
Authority. More recently, Secretary of State John Kerry shocked Israelis
by attempting to substitute Egypt with pro-Hamas Qatar and Turkey as
mediators of a Gaza cease-fire agreement -- a step that could have been
disastrous for Israel had it not been thwarted.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">Obama has not treated
Israel as befits an ally. The State Department has condemned Israel for
civilian casualties, describing its actions as "disgraceful" and
"appalling," while the president referred to thousands of rockets from
Hamas as "extraordinarily irresponsible" and even indicated that Israel
is obligated to lift the blockade, with no regard to security
requirements. In effect, he related to Israel and Hamas in terms of
moral equivalency. </span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">Regrettably, Obama's
condemnations encouraged the rest the world to demonize Israel and
allowed Hamas to believe that continuing the war and sacrificing
civilians would ultimately lead to global action to force Israel to
concede to its demands. This week, the U.S. upped the ante by
introducing new restrictions on the provision of arms supplies to
Israel. </span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">Yet not a single
criticism of White House policy was heard from the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee, the Conference of Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organizations, the American Jewish Committee or the
Anti-Defamation League.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">American Jewish leaders
are certainly not indifferent to events. Malcolm Hoenlein, the
executive vice president of the Presidents Conference, has a proven
record of devoted and passionate commitment to Israel and the Zionist
cause and orchestrated large numbers of effective solidarity
demonstrations on behalf of Israel.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">There is also no doubt
that Jewish organizations like AIPAC, whose efforts over the years have
achieved bipartisan congressional support for Israel, have been striving
quietly to promote the case for Israel to the White House. </span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">What is difficult to
accept is the reluctance to publicly repudiate the offensive statements
concerning Israel emanating from Obama and White House spokesmen.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">In the past, some
Jewish leaders have argued that by speaking up, they would be denied
access to the White House. Today that argument is no longer relevant
because meaningful access to Jewish leaders is probably more limited
than it has ever been in the past half-century.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">It seems that the
Jewish leadership has decided that confronting Obama would only further
polarize the situation, encouraging him to be even more critical toward
Israel. There were also concerns that criticizing the White House could
result in some Democratic legislators abandoning them in favor of their
president. </span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">There are also concerns
that after the November congressional elections, Obama will feel free
to do whatever he wishes until his term expires. Thus, they have decided
that it would be "safer" to concentrate on silent diplomacy and
strengthen the relationship with Congress.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">Admittedly, these
issues of where to draw the line between silent diplomacy and public
action are complex and frequently confront Jewish leaders in democratic
countries. It is noteworthy that even in relation to Soviet Jewry,
initially there were major arguments about the potential terrible
consequences protests could incur on Soviet Jews. In most cases, a
twin-track approach was adopted. But, since those successful campaigns,
American Jews have prided themselves on speaking out and have even
derided other Diaspora Jewish communities for remaining silent. </span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">Today, despite the
concerns about further polarization, the leadership of the Jewish
community is failing to fulfill its mandate if it remains silent when
the White House makes negative statements while Israel is locked in a
bitter war with genocidal terrorists.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">In the wake of the
inexplicable silence by the Jewish leadership on the New York
Metropolitan Opera's performance of the anti-Semitic "The Death of
Klinghoffer," questions are being raised as to whether Jewish leaders
are unconsciously drifting back to the "trembling Israelites" approach
of the 1940s.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">There is an urgent need
for soul-searching by the American Jewish leadership. Failure to
respond to such provocative outbursts from the White House sends a
message of weakness that the Jewish community is no longer willing to
publicly confront hostility, and could lead to a significant erosion of
American Jewry's political influence.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">American Jewish leaders
may be motivated by good intentions, but there are means of expressing
dissent and retaining respect and dignity. Their ongoing public silence
is likely to be condemned by future historians.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14"><em>Isi Leibler's website can be viewed at www.wordfromjerusalem.com. He may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com.</em></span></div>
</span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-23427535627585105292014-08-15T19:22:00.003+03:002014-08-15T19:22:41.575+03:00Raymond Ibrahim: The West’s Prostration to Islam
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<div class="meta">
<span class="meta-author">
<span class="meta-inner">
<a href="http://www.jihadwatch.org/author/raymond-ibrahim" rel="author" title="Posts by Raymond Ibrahim">Raymond Ibrahim</a> </span></span><span class="meta-comments"><span class="meta-inner">
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<div style="color: #202021;">
<em><a href="http://www.jihadwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/dhimmitude.jpg"><img alt="dhimmitude" class="size-medium wp-image-57105 alignleft" height="235" src="http://www.jihadwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/dhimmitude-300x235.jpg" width="300" /></a>I was
recently interviewed by Fronda, a leading website in Poland. The
English-language version of the Polish interview, originally titled “<a href="http://www.fronda.pl/a/raymond-ibrahim-plaszczenie-sie-przed-islamem,39012.html" style="color: #cf0000;">Raymond Ibrahim: Prostration before Islam</a>,” follows:</em></div>
<ol start="1" style="color: #202021;">
<li>Who is Raymond Ibrahim? A scholar, a writer, an activist? What is his mission and the main goal?</li>
</ol>
<div style="color: #202021;">
Raymond Ibrahim: I am a little of all that
and more. Due to my background, academic and personal, I have had a
long interest in the Middle East and Islam, especially the historic and
contemporary interaction between Islam and Christianity. After the
strikes of September 11, 2001, I took an interest in the current events
of the region vis-à-vis the West, and what immediately struck me was
how, on the one hand, the conflict was almost identical to the historic
conflict, one of continuity—at least that is how many Muslims were
portraying it.</div>
<div style="color: #202021;">
But on the other hand, in the West, the
narrative was very different and based on a “new paradigm,” one that saw
Islam and Muslims as perpetual victims of all sorts of outside and
material pressures, mostly from the West. Thus the analyses that were
being disseminated through media and academia were to my mind immensely
flawed and, while making perfect sense to people in the West—for they
were articulated through Western, secular, materialistic paradigms—had
little to do with reality as I saw and understood it.</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="color: #202021;">
That was one of the reasons I left academia
and began writing for more popular audiences, to try to offer a
corrective to these flawed narratives. My first book, <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Qaeda-Reader-Essential-Terrorist-Organization/dp/076792262X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407175739&sr=1-2" style="color: #cf0000;">The Al Qaeda Reader</a></em> (2007),
was meant to do precisely this—to compare the words of al-Qaeda as
delivered to the West and as delivered to fellow Muslims, and to show
how when speaking to the West, al-Qaeda and other Islamists used Western
arguments, claiming any number of grievances, political and otherwise,
as being the source of their jihad. Obviously such arguments, widely
disseminated by Western mainstream media, made perfect sense to the
West.</div>
<div style="color: #202021;">
But al-Qaeda’s Arabic writings that I
discovered when I was working at the African and Middle Eastern Division
of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., and which I translated
for the book, made completely different arguments, basically saying
that, irrespective of all grievances, Muslims must hate and wage jihad
on all non-Muslim “infidels” until they come under Islamic authority,
according to the worldview of Sharia, or Islamic law.</div>
<div style="color: #202021;">
So in a way, you can say my mission since
then has been to open Western eyes to the truths and reality of Islam—at
least the reality of how it is understood and practiced by many
Muslims—for Western eyes have been closed shut in recent times.</div>
<ol start="2" style="color: #202021;">
<li>You have a dual background. You were born and raised in the U.S. by
parents who were born and raised in a Coptic community in Egypt. Are you
the ‘clash of civilizations’ personified? What kind of advantages and
disadvantages does such an identity and upbringing lead do?</li>
</ol>
<div style="color: #202021;">
Raymond Ibrahim: That’s an interesting way of
putting it. Along with obvious benefits—being bilingual (Arabic and
English), for example—yes, I do believe my background gives me more
subtle advantages. Growing up cognizant of both worlds and cultures
has, I believe, imparted a higher degree of objectivity to my thinking.
Most people’s worldviews are colored by whichever culture they are
immersed in—hence exactly why so many Western people tend to project
their own values on the Islamic world, convinced that any violence and
intolerance that comes from that region must be a product of some sort
of socio-political or economic “grievance”—some sort of material, not
religious, factor. While I understand, appreciate and participate in
Western values and norms, because of my “dual” background, I also cannot
project such values and norms on non-Western peoples (and vice-versa,
of course).</div>
<div style="color: #202021;">
This has caused my worldview to be, I
believe, more neutral and objective, less colored by cultural values and
references. Conversely, I have, so far, not encountered any notable
disadvantages from such a background—other than perhaps being overly
objective and not always able to participate in the common.</div>
<ol start="3" style="color: #202021;">
<li>In addition to numerous articles in a variety of media, you are also the author of two books. The last one, <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621570258/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1621570258&linkCode=as2&tag=uhurnetw-20" style="color: #cf0000;">Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians</a></em> argues that martyrdom is not a thing from the past. It is not a book with a happy ending, is it?</li>
</ol>
<div style="color: #202021;">
Raymond Ibrahim: I prefer to think of it as a
dire wake up call to the West. The topic of Muslim persecution of
Christians is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. In <em>Crucified Again</em>,
I look at the history of this phenomenon, the Islamic scriptures that
support it, and the modern era. And what I find and document is
unwavering continuity. According to Islamic teaching, Christians and
other non-Muslims are “infidels,” and as such, they are seen as at best
third class subjects in Islamic states. They cannot build or renovate
churches, display crosses or Bibles; they have to pay tribute with
humility, according to Koran 9:29; they cannot speak well of
Christianity or criticize Islam. They are even required to give up
their seats to a Muslim if he demands it, according to strict Islamic
teaching (and as found in the “<a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/western-ignorance-of-the-conditions-of-omar/" style="color: #cf0000;">Conditions of Omar</a>,” an important text that discusses how Christian minorities are to be treated under Islam).</div>
<div style="color: #202021;">
Now if you look at history—as recorded by
early Arabic/Islamic historians—you will see that that is exactly how
Christians were treated under Islam for centuries; that is exactly how
nations like Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and all of north Africa, went from
being Christian majority to Muslim majority over the centuries: most
Christians opted to convert to Islam rather than constantly suffer from
third-class status as well as sporadic persecution.</div>
<div style="color: #202021;">
And today, what we are seeing is simply the
ongoing continuation of history, as Christians continue to be
persecuted, continue to dwindle in numbers in lands that were Christian
centuries before Western Europe embraced the faith. Yet, according to
Western analysts, etc., all of this is some sort of “misunderstanding”
or because Muslims are angry about Israel—anything and everything but
codified religious intolerance, even though the latter is so well
documented, doctrinally, historically, and in current events.</div>
<ol start="4" style="color: #202021;">
<li>There are many initiatives aimed at bringing the ‘spirit of
dialogue’ between the religions. In the Catholic Church we even
celebrate a Day of Islam. What is your opinion on this kind of
inter-faith outreach? Will it be successful in decreasing the
persecution of Christians or helping individuals like Asia Bibi?</li>
</ol>
<div style="color: #202021;">
Raymond Ibrahim: No, it will exacerbate
Christian persecution. From my perspective, the more the West and/or
Christianity kowtow to Islam—and that is what modern day “interfaith
outreach” often amounts to—the more aggressive that religion becomes.</div>
<div style="color: #202021;">
Here, again, is another example of Westerners
projecting their norms onto others, namely, Muslims. In the Western
paradigm, itself an offshoot of Christianity, showing tolerance and
forgiveness will supposedly cause some sort of reciprocation from the
one being forgiven and tolerated—since everything is always supposedly a
“misunderstanding.” Yet in Islam, might has always made right, and
“tolerance” has always been seen as sign of equivocation or weakness—a
lack of conviction. If Christians praise Islam, so many Muslims
conclude, that is because they feel it is the truth—not because they are
trying to find commonalities, a paradigm that is foreign to classical
Islam, which sees the world in terms of right (Islam) and wrong
(non-Islam).</div>
<div style="color: #202021;">
Again, history sheds some light on this. In
the medieval era, there were Christians like Francis of Assisi who tried
to have dialogue with Muslims—but in order to get to the truth,
including by asking hard questions about Islam often in the context of
Christian teaching. Such dialogue is of course admirable because it is
sincere. But trying to have dialogue in order to find and parade some
minor “commonalities”—while overlooking and ignoring the fundamental
differences, which are much more immense and the true sources of
conflict—is simply a game of wasting time.</div>
<ol start="5" style="color: #202021;">
<li>In your writings regarding the Muslim persecutions of Christians,
two themes are constantly recurring. Firstly, you claim that it
constitutes “an elephant in the room” and secondly you believe that
liberal academia and media are biased “whitewashing Islam and blaming
the West” for Islamic attacks against non-Muslims. Can you explain the
reasons for such arguments?</li>
</ol>
<div style="color: #202021;">
Raymond Ibrahim: It’s the “elephant in the
room” because few things show such remarkable continuity between the
past and the present—while still being thoroughly ignored and treated as
an aberration by academia, media, and government—as Muslim persecution
of Christians. If you look at the true history recorded by both Muslims
and Christians during the Medieval era—one Muslim historian tells of
how one caliph destroyed 30,000 churches—you will see that the
persecution and subjugation of Christians is an ironclad fact of
history.</div>
<div style="color: #202021;">
Today, not only do we see Christians
persecuted from one end of the Islamic world to the other, but we see
the same exact patterns of persecution that Christians experienced
centuries ago, including hostility for and restrictions on churches,
hostility for the crucifix and other Christian symbols and icons,
restrictions on Christian worship and freedom. (I discuss this in more
depth <a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/western-ignorance-of-the-conditions-of-omar/" style="color: #cf0000;">here</a> and <a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/muslim-persecution-of-christians/the-existential-elephant-in-the-christian-persecution-room/" style="color: #cf0000;">here</a>.)
As for academia and media, they reject modern day persecution of
Christians for a plethora of reasons—not least because they tend to be
ideologically anti-Christian—but primarily because it contradicts their
entire narrative, specifically the notion that, far from being
persecuted, Christians themselves are the most intolerant groups, and
that Muslims are “misunderstood others” who have been oppressed by the
West.</div>
<div style="color: #202021;">
These themes are today so predominant in the
West that few can believe they are almost entirely fabricated—but so
they are, according to both history and current events, both of which
are naturally suppressed or distorted by academia and media in the
interest of keeping their ideologically-charged narrative alive… <a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/the-wests-prostration-to-islam/" target="_blank">Keep reading</a></div>
<span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-14415185183893483582014-08-13T12:11:00.002+03:002014-08-13T12:11:51.797+03:00End the Arab-Israel War<div class="author">
By <a href="http://www.americanthinker.com/shoshana_bryen">Shoshana Bryen</a></div>
<div class="article_body">
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;">In
two sets of remarks, President Obama shared his concerns about what
happens between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. He worries
about the<a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/08/07/mideast-gaza-obama-idINKBN0G705C20140807"> people of Gaza</a>:</span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;">Long
term, there has to be a recognition that Gaza cannot sustain itself
permanently closed off from the world and incapable of providing some
opportunity -- jobs, economic growth -- for the population that lives
there…The question then becomes: can we find a formula in which Israel
has greater assurance that Gaza will not be a launching pad for further
attacks ... but at the same time ordinary Palestinians have some
prospects for an opening of Gaza so that they do not feel walled off?</span></span><br />
</blockquote>
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;">About <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/09/opinion/president-obama-thomas-l-friedman-iraq-and-world-affairs.html?_r=0%20">Israel,</a> not so much:</span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;">I
don’t worry about Israel’s survival. ... I think the question really
is how does Israel survive? And how can you create a State of Israel
that maintains its democratic and civic traditions? How can you preserve
a Jewish state that is also reflective of the best values of those who
founded Israel? And, in order to do that, it has consistently been my
belief that you have to [meaning Israel has] find a way to live side by
side in peace with Palestinians... You [meaning Israel] have to
recognize that they have legitimate claims, and this is their land and
neighborhood as well.”</span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
</blockquote>
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;">To
the president, the problem is Gaza poverty and the lack of a
Palestinian State. That being the case, Israel has to “find a way” to
live in peace with the neighbors; the neighbors have no reciprocal
obligation. Israel has to legitimate Palestinian claims to land for a
country, but Israel’s claim to land for a state recognized as legitimate
by the neighbors remains unaddressed.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;">Missing
from the president’s understanding is that Israel still faces the
century-long Arab determination to deny it as a permanent, legitimate
part of the region. Israel’s independence, under terms the UN used to
establish post-colonial states across the Middle East and Africa,
prompted the Arab states in their entirety not only to object, but to
use their armies to invade the nascent Jewish State. The wars of 1948,
1956, 1967, and 1973 were not about Palestinians; they were Arab
attempts to destroy Israel. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;">Over
time, peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, and the exit of Iraq from
regional politics after 2003 made Israel’s borders quieter. Syria was
deterred by Israel’s position atop the Golan Heights. But smaller wars
with non-state actors supported by Arab states -- 1982 and 2006 in
Lebanon, 2001-4 in the West Bank, and 2008/9, 2012 and 2014 with Hamas
in Gaza -- changed the impression of Israel from a small state facing
large states to a militarily superior state facing ragtag guerrillas and
poor refugees.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;">It
was a major public relations coup for the Palestinians, for whom poor
civilians are an excellent cover for hiding millions of dollars worth of
weapons and private Swiss bank accounts.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;">From
the despised of the Arab world -- more than 200,000 Palestinians were
expelled from Kuwait after the First Gulf War and no one paid any
attention at all; tens of thousands have been displaced from Syria --
they became the last bastion of resistance against Israel. Even the name
of the war changed from the “Arab-Israel conflict” to the
“Palestinian-Israeli conflict.” The “peace process” is no longer about
making the Arab states meet the requirement of UN Resolution 242
[“Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for
and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and
political independence of every State in the area and their right to
live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats
or acts of force.”]. It is about making Israel cough up a Palestinian
State.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;">Two long-time “peace process” devotees wrote in the Washington <em>Post </em>this weekend -- the <em>Post</em> being the newspaper that most advances the Obama Administration’s positions. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;">Dennis Ross, a fixture in the “process” since Oslo, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/hamas-could-have-chosen-peace-instead-it-made-gaza-suffer/2014/08/08/eefd2b48-1d83-11e4-82f9-2cd6fa8da5c4_story.html">definitively slams Hamas</a>.
“Because Hamas is incapable of changing, it needs to be discredited.”
Not defeated, destroyed, or ousted, just “discredited” in order that the
Palestinian Authority (PA) take over the border crossings to permit the
U.S. to organize “a Marshall Plan for Gaza contingent on Hamas
disarming. If Hamas chooses arms over civilian investment and
development, it should be exposed before Palestinians and the
international community,”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;">“Exposed,” ooh, scary.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;">Hamas
fought a short, brutal, and ultimately successful war against the
Palestinian Authority in 2007. What makes Ross think the PA can
“reestablish itself” in Gaza now? Presumably he means Israel should
establish the PA as the authority in Gaza. Furthermore, Ross wants
Israel to undertake a variety of activities designed to strengthen the
PA on the West Bank as well: to expedite the movement of goods from
Israeli ports; open Area C to Palestinian construction; freeze
settlements except in major blocs. In exchange, the PA would be asked to
forego movements in international organizations that would delegitimize
Israel.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;">So,
Israel’s obligation is to embarrass Hamas, hand over Gaza to the PA,
shore up the corrupt and weak Abu Mazen -- now in the 9th year of a 4
year term of office -- flood Gaza with American-organized aid, and stop
building houses for Jews.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;">In
exchange for what? Peace? Recognition of the legitimacy of the Jewish
State from either Palestinians or the larger Arab world? The PA would be
“asked” to meet its Oslo obligation to forego unilateral activity in
international organizations. Not “required,” just “asked.” Nothing would
be “asked” of the Arab states.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;">The other “peace process” maven, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/peace-in-the-mideast-will-come-only-with-international-help/2014/08/08/7c74698a-1e80-11e4-82f9-2cd6fa8da5c4_story.html">Daniel Kurtzer</a>,
was ambassador to Israel. Kurtzer agrees that a “settlement freeze” by
Israel is essential as well as the release of all the prisoners slated
for release by Israel prior to the kidnapping and murder of three
Israeli teens. In exchange, the PA would “freeze” its activities in the
UN and “intensify steps to curb incitement in media and education.”
Kurtzer at least considers the question, “what if Hamas doesn’t agree?”
but his response is, “Well, if there was an easier way, we would have
thought of it already.”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman,times,serif;">The
president and his minions need a quick course in the modern history of
the Middle East. It is Israel that needs the legitimacy and security
that ending the Arab-Israel war would provide. If the president could
move the Arab states to that point, a Palestinian State would surely
follow.</span></span></div>
<br /><b>Page Printed from: http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/08/end_the_arabisrael_war.html</b> at August 13, 2014 - 04:11:17 AM CDT
<span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-66144885311585124802014-08-13T07:00:00.004+03:002014-08-13T07:00:53.149+03:00 What Is to Be Done About Gaza?<b>Efraim Inbar<br />
<i><a href="http://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/done-gaza-2/" target="_blank">BESA Center Perspectives</a></i><br />
</b>
<br />
<div class="ecxsans-serif">
<b><a href="http://www.meforum.org/4771/solution-to-gaza" target="_blank">http://www.meforum.org/4771/solution-to-gaza</a></b></div>
<div class="ecxsans-serif">
<br /></div>
<blockquote>
<b><sup>EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Operation Protective Edge has not weakened
or threatened Hamas enough to encourage it to accept a ceasefire.
Reconquering Gaza is an unlikely option. Involving international actors
to help manage the conflict, uprooting Hamas leadership, and/or
re-instating Mahmud Abbas as leader in Gaza are equally unlikely
solutions. Consequently, the only option available to Israel is to once
again</sup> <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01402390.2013.830972#.U-doQOOSz6o" target="_blank"><sup>"mow the grass"</sup></a><sup> by launching another ground attack to the point where Hamas fears that its rule over Gaza is at stake.</sup></b><br />
</blockquote>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="border: 1px solid black; max-width: 400px;"><img alt="" border="0" height="268" src="https://bay172.mail.live.com/Handlers/ImageProxy.mvc?bicild=&canary=emEnujxZnMh4vO7u2VQJ3TelLJQZnf9wNXMb%2bRWBL7s%3d0&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.meforum.org%2fpics%2flarge%2f548.jpg" width="400" />
<div style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">
<b>Uprooting Hamas is not in the cards.</b></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Hamas' refusal to accept a ceasefire indicates that the Protective
Edge operation has so far failed to attain its modest goal of calm on
Israel's border with Gaza. Jerusalem is not expecting peace or
integration with its neighbors – it wants just to be left alone.<br />
It is clear that Hamas does not feel weakened or threatened enough to
accept a ceasefire. If most of their conditions are met, they might
agree to a fragile ceasefire that can be violated at will, which will
amount to a Hamas victory. Such an outcome will be disastrous for
Israel, with negative political and strategic implications.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Therefore, Israel has no choice but to continue to attack Hamas
targets in order to exact a higher cost from the organization. So far
the Israeli government has shown commendable caution and reluctance to
use massive force. The media reports of the disproportionate use of
force are a result of Hamas manipulations and show little understanding
of the realities of war. Moreover, air attacks, with the exception of
targeted killings, have limited impact. Most destroyed targets are
renewable. The limited ground incursion also did not force Hamas to
accept a permanent cease-fire, despite the destruction of many tunnels.
Therefore an escalation of the military effort is necessary.<br />
Many Israelis advocate reconquering Gaza and cleaning it of its
terrorist infrastructure by hunting down all members of the terrorist
organizations, primarily Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Such an objective is
not beyond the IDF's capabilities and it commands much support in
Israel. A re-conquest may need many weeks and even months and it will be
costly in terms of casualties.<br />
It is not clear that Israel can garner the support of the
international community, particularly the US, for a prolonged operation.
Nevertheless, in the absence of Hamas willingness to stop rocket fire
for a prolonged period, there may be no choice but to revisit this
option; the conquest of all Gaza will be needed to eradicate Hamas
military capabilities and secure calm for Israel. However, staying there
will be problematic, as democratic societies are increasingly reluctant
to be enlightened conquerors.<br />
In the meantime, less drastic military options are available. In the
past, the IDF has established corridors to the sea, cutting the Gaza
strip into several parts, leaving Hamas to guess where the IDF is headed
next. Israel's government must demonstrate that it is not afraid to
have the IDF enter urban areas, even if it takes heavy casualties.
Israeli society is prepared for it. Moreover, casualties now could save
even more casualties in the future.<br />
The IDF may need to launch a ground attack to make Hamas fear that
its rule over Gaza might be at stake. It is true that Hamas has no clear
center of gravity that if pushed past would assure victory, but Hamas
political and military leaders value their power and even more so their
lives. Without going deeper into Gaza such a threat cannot develop.<br />
The sooner this happens the better. Various proposals to involve
international actors and UN forces are being aired. Israel's experience
with such experiments is terrible. All international mechanisms and
peacekeeping troops in the Arab-Israeli arena have proven again and
again to be ineffective. The last UN force stationed in Southern Lebanon
to prevent rockets reaching Hizballah (2006) was a total failure. In
Gaza, just a year after they arrived, European observers at the Rafah
crossing ran away at the first sign of trouble. Israel cannot rely on
others to be responsible for its security.<br />
There is much talk about reassessing Israel's approach toward the
rule of Hamas in Gaza. Some advocate ending its rule and bringing back
Mahmud Abbas into the Gaza Strip on Israeli bayonets, which might revive
the discredited two-state paradigm. It is not clear at all whether
Abbas is ready and able to take control of Gaza. This proposal also
displays Israeli arrogance and scant memory of Israel's attempts at
political engineering in Lebanon (the 1982 War) and among the
Palestinians (The "Villages Leagues" of the late 1970s). Israel's
involvement in deciding on who is the ruler among our Arab neighbors has
brought little benefits. It is beyond Israel's power to affect the
political dynamics within the Arab societies around us. Moreover,
favoring one contender for power immediately boomerangs because it
undermines the legitimacy of the contender. Pragmatic cooperation with
Israel does not earn popularity points in the Arab world.<br />
Furthermore, uprooting Hamas is not in the cards. It is a popular
movement that draws support amongst over thirty percent of the
Palestinians. It has a civilian wing that delivers many services to the
Gazans. Hamas also won the elections in 2006, which indicates even
larger support among the Palestinians. The violent struggle against
Israel is popular, despite the heavy price paid by Gazan civilians.<br />
Unfortunately, Palestinians are educated not to seek peace, but to
make sacrifices and be martyrs in a holy war against the Jewish state.
As long as the Palestinians do not change their education system, there
will be no end to the conflict; Israel can only manage it. It will
continue to live by its sword and "mow the grass" when it deems it
necessary. Israel has no power to mold its strategic environment, only
the power to debilitate the capabilities of its enemies to harm it. In
the case of Hamas more of this is needed.<br />
<blockquote>
<i>Efraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic
Studies, is a professor of political studies at Bar-Ilan University, and
a Shillman/Ginsburg fellow at the Middle East Forum.</i><br />
</blockquote>
<div class="ecxsans-serif">
<br /></div>
<span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-23555269559576178512014-08-12T11:14:00.003+03:002014-08-12T11:14:26.955+03:00“Barack Obama and David Cameron do not dare, even now, tell the truth about what Islamic State (or IS) are, or what motivates them”<span class="meta-author"><span class="meta-inner">
<a href="http://www.jihadwatch.org/author/samir" rel="author" title="Posts by Robert Spencer">Robert Spencer</a> </span></span><span class="meta-comments"><span class="meta-inner">
</span>
</span>
<br />
<a href="http://www.jihadwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/ISIS.jpg"><img alt="ISIS" class="size-medium wp-image-49718 alignleft" height="168" src="http://www.jihadwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/ISIS-300x168.jpg" width="300" /></a>Robin
Harris argues here for increased U.S. and U.K. military action,
combined with active aid to trustworthy local factions. The problem with
this is that no local factions favor pluralism and Western-style
republican rule. Massive military intervention would just be a holding
action postponing the fighting of various Sunni and Shi’ite factions, as
it was before. There would have to be a massive change in the political
culture of both countries, which is not on the horizon, before such an
intervention could even have the possibility of being genuinely
effective. But Harris is certainly correct that Obama, Cameron and other
Western leaders don’t dare explain clearly or confront what the Islamic
State is all about, for to do so would expose the catastrophic errors
of the analyses on which both their countries have based key foreign
policy decisions for years.<br />
“ROBIN HARRIS: Our leaders are in denial about this Islamic revolution because it exposes their own naivety,” by Robin Harris, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2721515/ROBIN-HARRIS-Our-leaders-denial-Islamic-revolution-exposes-naivety.html" target="_blank">Daily Mail</a>, August 11, 2014:<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<blockquote>
The terrorist group now calling itself Islamic State has
been lucky. It has so far been able to advance its repulsive agenda of
violence and cruelty without bothering about comeuppance from the great
powers.<br />
This is because it is confronted by probably the most incompetent and
ill-equipped Western leaders of modern times. For two months, this
barbaric group has been rolling forward. But Washington just dithered.<br />
Barack Obama and David Cameron do not dare, even now, tell the truth
about what Islamic State (or IS) are, or what motivates them. Obama and
Cameron talk of averting ‘genocide’. But genocide is, by definition, the
destruction of a racial or national group.<br />
Islamic State isn’t remotely interested in that. It is interested in
religion — its own extreme brand of Sunni Islam — and it has for months
now been engaging in forced conversions, killings, plunder and expulsion
of all those it considers infidels.<br />
The Yazidis, dying on a mountain in northern Iraq, while being pelted
from the skies with humanitarian aid, are seen as devil worshippers.
The Shia Muslims, meanwhile, are heretics, and so worthy of death. The
thousands of Christian victims of IS, about whom Obama and Cameron found
it convenient to stay silent, are regarded as having no rights
whatever.<br />
In the Iraqi city of Mosul, Christian properties were painted with
the Arab letter ‘N’ (signifying Nazarenes) and then confiscated. The
Christians were first told to convert or pay the Jizya (tax on
infidels), and then, to simplify matters, killed or expelled.<br />
They sought haven in the Nineveh plain; that, too, then fell to
Islamic State. The likely fate of many or most of these Christians, and
of the Yazidis, is now a horrible death.<br />
The West’s strategic interests are also imperilled. Islamic State is a
more dangerous terrorist force than even Al Qaeda. It has carved out a
vast territory sprawling far across the Iraq-Syria border. It possesses a
huge cache of advanced weapons. It has its own financial resources, in
the form of conquered oil installations. It is a magnet for global
jihad.<br />
And the West has looked on. Or rather Western leaders have looked away, and focused instead on Ukraine.<br />
American bombers may have finally flown sorties over northern Iraq at
the weekend, but for months it is as if nothing has mattered on the
world stage except ratcheting up pressure on Russia.<br />
David Cameron was photographed engaging in an (allegedly) ‘tense’
telephone conversation with President Putin. He will shortly be playing
host — and, doubtless, playing to the gallery — when Nato leaders head
to Newport, Wales, for their summit.<br />
Cameron repeatedly pledges ever tougher economic sanctions. But if
the objective is to make Russia disgorge Crimea — which it annexed
months ago — then it is simply a waste of time. That will not happen. If
the goal is to stop Russia supplying arms to rebels in East Ukraine,
then that will not happen either — until some modus vivendi is achieved
between Kiev and Moscow.<br />
During the Cold War, the stand-off between the West and the Soviet
Union was, of course, far more dangerous. At certain junctures, it could
have led to a nuclear exchange. For that very reason, Western leaders
and their advisers were cautious.<br />
It was a cardinal rule for Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher to
combine steady pressure with the minimum of rash provocation and the
avoidance of foolish name calling. Resolve was combined with active
diplomacy, open channels of communication and basic courtesy.<br />
So what would Reagan and Thatcher have done now? I suspect that a
secret personal message would have gone to Putin proposing a way forward
that saved his face, while also saving Ukraine as a free but neutral
country — while making it absolutely clear that Nato will defend its
members with the full resources of a formidable nuclear alliance.<br />
What we would give today — as Iraq becomes a blood-soaked killing
field — for that assured combination of the iron fist and the velvet
glove.<br />
But, then, would any previous generation of Western leaders have
viewed with such a mix of hopelessness and helplessness the rolling
Islamic revolution which now threatens the existing order of states in
the Middle East?<br />
Western policy created the conditions for it, by the botched
Bush-Blair war against Saddam. Western policy has since continued to
focus on the overthrow of other secular authoritarian Arab leaders, to
be followed by religious extremism, anarchy and war.<br />
The West still refuses to acknowledge that in this region, religious
revolution is a far greater evil than undemocratic government.<br />
David Cameron’s head was turned three years ago by the cheers of
Libyans celebrating Gaddafi’s fall. Today, they are sheltering from the
bandits that now run the country.<br />
If Cameron, of course, had had his way last year, Britain would now
be engaged on the same side as Islamic State, fighting President Assad’s
regime in Syria. But, then, the British Prime Minister is merely one
egregious example of collective folly.<br />
<strong>Western leaders, as a whole, remain in denial about what is
occurring in Muslim countries because it exposes their past analysis as
catastrophically naive.<br />
</strong><br />
What is clear is that Islamic State can be defeated. Here, Bosnia provides a model.<br />
Not till 1995 did the West follow Mrs Thatcher’s urging to intervene,
but when it did the aggressor Serbs were defeated. Massive Nato air
strikes were accompanied by the advance of Western-armed, local Croatian
and Bosnian ground forces in a lightning operation. We provided the
cover and military hardware; locals fought the battles.<br />
We must recognise that Iraq is a failed state with a dysfunctional
government. Its army not only fled, but obligingly left its weapons
behind to be captured, many of which were gifted to it by the Americans
and are therefore of the highest quality.<br />
We should arm only those enemies of Islamic State who are prepared to
fight. We should give serious military aid and provide up-to-date
intelligence, and also political backing, to the Kurds of northern Iraq
who now find themselves on the front line fighting to keep the
terrorists — who seem to so relish beheading and crucifying their
victims — away from the Kurdish capital of Irbil.<br />
It may be hard for Cameron to swallow, but we must also recognise
that in Syria the Assad regime is the only alternative — and, despite
its brutal record, a much better one — to Islamic State. An effective
policy will definitely entail a high level of co-operation with Iran.
And, yes, it will mean ending the dangerous, directionless confrontation
with Russia.<br />
To secure our own interests, we need assured access to the Middle
East, where the Russians have shown greater diplomatic aplomb than we
have, and reaped the benefits in terms of influence.<br />
Russia may be our strategic competitor in Europe — though a
manageable one — but it is an essential strategic ally in the Middle
East and in the broader fight against Islamist jihad.<br />
The British ambassador to Washington has publicly described President
Putin as a thug. This may, on some definitions, be true. But it was
stupid, not just undiplomatic. In the Middle East today, Putin can and
must be our thug.<br />
The Western nations are crying out for strong and decisive leadership
in the face of the calculated slaughter of innocents. Already, Obama
has been mocked for playing golf even as his warplanes were preparing to
bomb Islamic State positions at the weekend, and his officials seem as
concerned about the fate of U.S. diplomats as they are about the plight
of thousands of beleaguered Iraqis.<br />
Now is the moment for Britain and America to stop the march of the jihadis before it is too late.</blockquote>
<span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-77777893635539971392014-08-11T21:28:00.002+03:002014-08-11T21:28:31.022+03:00“Forecast Cloudy”
<div>
Before I look at that forecast, let me mention “Kaitana Savta,” which
translates literally as “Camp Grandma” (it sounds better in Hebrew). I am
about to begin Kaitana Savta, which comes every year in August and is truly as
much fun for me as for my grandkids. Starting tomorrow and in days ahead, I will
have two and three kids sleeping here and going out where Savta takes them to
have fun, or staying in to do games and arts and crafts.</div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" target="_blank"><img height="99" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTLynkTk00RNF2bFsajQ7s7dG5se-aWxoe0BpHfOQdODIF2pJwB" width="210" /></a>
<br />
This year especially, this time will help me regain my balance - after weeks
of focusing on the war.
<br />
And so... I will be posting. But less frequently, and perhaps – after
today – with shorter posts.
<br />
~~~~~~~~~~
<br />
Now, as to that forecast. I use the term cloudy in two regards.
First, the clouds block our vision. And then, they suggest storms
advancing.
<br />
As most of you doubtlessly already know, an Israeli negotiating team is back
in Cairo after Hamas agreed to yet another 72 hour ceasefire. Hamas
leaders had refused to extend the last one because they weren’t happy with the
way negotiations were going. And so, last Friday they began launching
rockets again.
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://bay172.mail.live.com/Handlers/ImageProxy.mvc?bicild=&canary=emEnujxZnMh4vO7u2VQJ3TelLJQZnf9wNXMb%2bRWBL7s%3d0&url=http%3a%2f%2fmarkconn.org%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2014%2f07%2fgaza_rocket.jpg" width="493" /></a>
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>Credit: mikesamerica</strong></span>
<br />
How wearisome, how straining. These rockets startled
many in Israel, as people had just begun to relax and think in terms of
“normal,” and quiet.
<br />
Hamas offered to continue to negotiate, but Israel made
it very clear that we have a policy of not negotiating under fire, and our team
was called home.
<br />
~~~~~~~~~~
<br />
Then followed a touch-and-go situation, with Hamas reluctant to stop
launching again and Egyptian mediators trying to bring about yet another
ceasefire. Finally Hamas agreed: For another 72 hours. As is the
Hamas norm, there was a barrage of launchings right before the ceasefire was to
begin – they have to get in as much as they can. This is the last
ceasefire, they said. If they are not happy with the results of
negotiations in 72 hours, forget it. They will not only begin launching
again, they will escalate their attacks.
<br />
The ceasefire was called for midnight last night, but the Israeli team was
only sent back to Cairo this morning, after it seemed that the ceasefire was
holding.
<br />
The team: Maj. Gen. (res) Amos Gilad, Director of the
Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Ministry of Defense; Shin Bet chief Yoram
Cohen; Yitzhak Molcho, lawyer and close confident of Netanyahu; Maj.-Gen. Nimrod
Sheffer, head of the IDF’s Planning Directorate; and Yoav Mordechai, Coordinator
of Government Activities in the Territories. <br />
They will concentrate on security issues.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~<br />
Israel wants Hamas disarmed: With rockets in its possession removed and the
means for bringing in more rockets blocked. <br />
Hamas wants to be fully open to the world, permanently and unconditionally:
the blockade at sea must be lifted and all crossings into Gaza must be open.
That’s just a start. They also want a seaport and an international airport.<br />
These demands are mutually exclusive and the odds that they can be reconciled
somehow within 72 hours are zero. The only way to see an extension of the
current ceasefire would be if one or both parties were to significantly
compromise or modify its demands (Heaven forbid that Israel should). <br />
~~~~~~~~~~
<br />
There are some very modest actions being taken – and proposals being made –
in an effort to reconcile demands.
<br />
Egypt, which has kept the Rafah crossing into the Sinai tightly closed for
some while now, opened it in recent days for wounded in Gaza and those with
foreign passports. Rafah is a key element here – would be a key avenue for
opening up Gaza.
<br />
Additionally, Netanyahu has been alluding for some time to the readiness of
some EU countries to lend an assist here, and it turns out that he spoke with
some solid reason. Last week, Britain, Germany and France presented Israel
with a proposal for international supervision of the rehabilitation of Gaza that
would prevent Hamas from re-arming.
<br />
<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.609310" target="_blank" title="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.609310"><span style="color: #9b00d3;">http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.609310</span></a>
<br />
It is, however, a long step from making such a proposal to providing Israel
with reassurance that sufficient mechanisms would be in place and that the
international community would persevere in its commitment. We’re talking
about making sure that forbidden armaments do not make their way into Gaza at
all, and that materials needed for reconstruction (yes, including concrete!) do
not fall in the hands of Hamas.
<br />
~~~~~~~~~~
<br />
Netanyahu has said, and it is certainly true, that the EU is more prepared to
help now because of alarm about radical Islam (and more on this
below).
<br />
But there is another proviso in the offer by the EU nations: They want to
bring Mahmoud Abbas and the PA into the act, either with regard to manning the
crossings or taking some control of Gaza in a more serious way. Obama is
pushing for this as well. This is supposed to be a solution to the problem – and
a segue into new “two state solution” negotiations!. <strong>But it is an
absolute non-starter</strong>.
<br />
Consider the major stumbling blocks here:
<br />
[] Abbas and his Fatah party are solidly in league with Hamas. They are
sitting with Hamas officials, pumped for pro-Hamas Turkey and Qatar to serve
mediator roles in negotiations, failed to criticize Hamas for breaking
ceasefires, and so on. Israel should trust representatives of Fatah to
guard Hamas? This would clearly be a case of assigning the fox to guard the
henhouse.
<br />
[] Abbas and Fatah – the Fatah-dominated PA – are weak and no match for
Hamas. Hamas drove Fatah from Gaza in the first place and has failed to
defeat Fatah in Judea and Samaria only because of an IDF presence. There
is no way Abbas’s people are up to the job, even should they want to do
it.
<br />
I see this entire scenario as totally absurd anyway, as I had mentioned the
other day when I spoke about Abbas trying to ride two horses with one
tuchis. Fatah and Hamas have a unity agreement that Fatah, and Abbas, have
not disavowed. I allude above to “the Fatah-dominated PA” because in
theory the PA now includes Hamas. Sort of. They identify as one when
it’s convenient and separately when that suits.
<br />
Such is the insanity of world diplomacy that all of this is taken seriously.
<br />
~~~~~~~~~~
<br />
As far as the crossings into Gaza from Israel are concerned, I anticipate
that in due course they will be opened to commercial merchandise. Whatever
authority is checking the crossings from the Gaza side, I cannot imagine a
situation in which Israel would not monitor the flow of goods from our
side.
<br />
Please be aware, Israel has been permitting large quantities of humanitarian
goods into Gaza. (Israel does not pay for these goods, but does permit
them to go in.) <strong>Hundreds of tons of supplies go into Gaza daily:
medical supplies, food products, hygiene products, etc., via the Keren Shalom
crossing.</strong>
<br />
Here is yet one more piece of information that exposes the true cold-blooded
nature of Hamas:
<br />
<strong>The Keren Shalom crossing had to be shut down because of deliberate
shelling of the area by Hamas</strong>. Such is Hamas concern for the
civilians of Gaza.
<br />
<a href="http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/08/10/deliberate-and-continuous-hamas-rocket-fire-forces-closure-of-gaza-crossing-video/" target="_blank" title="http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/08/10/deliberate-and-continuous-hamas-rocket-fire-forces-closure-of-gaza-crossing-video/"><span style="color: #9b00d3;">http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/08/10/deliberate-and-continuous-hamas-rocket-fire-forces-closure-of-gaza-crossing-video/</span></a>
<br />
~~~~~~~~~~
<br />
So, if (when) Hamas begins launching rockets again, what will Israel’s
response be? It’s here that vision is blocked by the clouds.
<br />
We have had several operations over the years fighting Hamas in Gaza (these
operations are not technically referred to as “wars”). In each instance,
Israel has stopped short of taking Hamas out. This is referred to as
“mowing the grass.” There are some very serious thinkers who believe the whole
notion of “solving” the problem with Hamas is not realistic, as the radical
ideology is too ingrained in the populace. They believe – even today - that it
is in Israel’s best interest to increase deterrence from time to time so that
Hamas is reluctant to attack Israel again for some period of years.
<br />
They believe that to try to do more is both unrealistic and would take too
great a toll on Israel.
<br />
People of this persuasion speak of our waging a war of attrition, and not
more, even if Hamas starts launching again: Hamas launches, we bomb from the air
and shell from the sea, until Hamas finally gets tired of doing this.
<br />
~~~~~~~~~~
<br />
But there is a growing number of Israeli voices calling for a more serious
action.
<br />
There are not only voices inside the government calling for this – I note
Avigdor Lieberman in particular. There is the almost unanimous opinion
that the job is not yet done that has been expressed by frustrated members of
the IDF.
<br />
And now we have a new situation that we did not have before: <strong>pressure
from residents of the south of Israel. This is not something that can be
ignored</strong>.
<br />
These long-suffering residents have endured years of living in shelters when
rockets were launched from Gaza – and they endured with a stoic bravery.
<strong>But when word was released about the Hamas tunnels and the Hamas plans
for massacres of thousands in the south via those tunnels, that was something
else. </strong>A large percentage of these residents fled the south, awaiting
word that it was safe to return. The tunnels were eliminated, a long term
ceasefire was about to be negotiated, and they were told it was time to
return. Turns out that it was not yet safe to return, because Hamas
started launching rockets again. They are irked and are demanding that the
government protect them. And Netanyahu has to pay attention.
<br />
~~~~~~~~~~
<br />
And then the question is, how serious would the action be? Stay in Gaza
until all terrorist elements are eliminated and then walk away. Stay
permanently? Weaken Hamas much more seriously than we’ve done yet –
including with assassination of some Hamas leaders – without totally taking
Hamas down? The opinions are vastly varied.
<br />
~~~~~~~~~~
<br />
I recognize that this is a long posting, but would like to touch upon a few
other relevant factors before closing:
<br />
It is said that Hamas is continuing on the road of attacking because it is
desperate – is low on money and feels it has nothing to lose. (And, it should be
noted, since it has had no major “success” in the fighting, it is further
motivated to keep trying.) But what I see is that it is also a more formidable
enemy than was the case previously.
<br />
This has to do in large part with those tunnels. Yes, presumably we
eliminated those that crossed the line into Israel. But a huge network of
tunnels remains: this is where rockets are kept and where many of their leaders
are hidden. A major part of this intricate underground construction is
located under Gaza City. Were our troops to enter there – which they would
have to do in a serious ground operation - they would be set upon by terrorists
literally leaping out of the ground from behind them, either to kill them or to
kidnap them.
<br />
Our marvelously trained troops, all of whom are dear to Israel, are ready to
go. But to send them into this?
<br />
~~~~~~~~~~
<br />
A confession: When Hamas started sending those rockets our way again at the
end of last week, I thought – Enough! let’s take them down. Israel cannot
tolerate this. And Hezbollah and others to the north are watching.
<br />
But then I thought again. I realized that the launching of rockets
might be a trap, luring us into Gaza City. I realized what the cost might
be.
<br />
This quandary is precisely what the decision makers of Israel must deal
with. And it is possible that some very heavy decisions will have to be
made soon.
<br />
~~~~~~~~~~
<br />
We speak about fighting the fight against radical Islam for the world.
Perhaps, then, we must do what we must do, with full determination.
<br />
But perhaps there are other avenues that can accomplish what needs to be
done...
<br />
What I am seeing, which makes me hopeful (if I am allowed to say “hopeful” in
such a gruesome context) is that the world is waking up to the horrors of
radical Islam. The absolute horrors of what ISIS is doing in Iraq may have
a quantum effect on how the world sees these matters. Finally.
<br />
<strong>And the world is starting to see that Hamas and ISIS are one and the
same</strong>. Which will bring about growing isolation for Hamas –
already Egypt and Saudi Arabia are arrayed against Hamas, and others will follow
- and a stiffening of the spine of the international community.
<br />
See this very important and articulate TV interview by anti-terrorist Steve
Emerson regarding the fact that Hamas and ISIS are one and the same.
<br />
He says <strong>Obama cannot bomb ISIS in Iraq and support Hamas as a
legitimate entity in Gaza</strong>. He says, what is more, that if
everyone doesn’t wake up, the US will have to contend with ISIS on its own
shores.
<br />
<a href="http://www.investigativeproject.org/4508/emerson-interviewed-on-fox-news-justice-with#av651" target="_blank" title="http://www.investigativeproject.org/4508/emerson-interviewed-on-fox-news-justice-with#av651"><span style="color: #9b00d3;">http://www.investigativeproject.org/4508/emerson-interviewed-on-fox-news-justice-with#av651</span></a>
<br />
Share this link broadly, please!
<br />
~~~~~~~~~~
<br />
And we have this tough statement on the issue as well - may it be a harbinger
of new attitudes:
<br />
<a href="http://teapartyorg.ning.com/video/video/show?id=4301673:Video:3019543&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_video" target="_blank" title="http://teapartyorg.ning.com/video/video/show?id=4301673%3AVideo%3A3019543&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_video"><span style="color: #9b00d3;">http://teapartyorg.ning.com/video/video/show?id=4301673%3AVideo%3A3019543&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_video</span></a>
<br />
~~~~~~~~~~
<br />
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<span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-62513237940623401772014-08-11T16:22:00.003+03:002014-08-11T16:22:41.875+03:00Rocket strikes prompt Israel to briefly close Gaza border crossing <div class="normal14" style="padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 0px;">
<div class="h3" style="color: black; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal;">
<br />After
rockets were fired at Kerem Shalom crossing, endangering workers
transferring aid into Gaza, Defense Ministry closed crossing temporarily
• Rockets fired on Tel Aviv just before cease-fire • IAF kills 12
terrorists in targeted strikes.<br /> </div>
<div class="normal">
<a href="http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=19365">Lilach Shoval, Gadi Golan, Daniel Siryoti, Itsik Saban, Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff </a></div>
<br />
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A rocket strikes the Kerem
Shalom border crossing
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|</div>
Photo credit: Defense Ministry </div>
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<div class="normal14 all_links_in_new_window" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN">
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
Ahead of a 72-hour cease-fire that began at
midnight Sunday, the Kerem Shalom border crossing into the Gaza Strip
was closed following continued rocket attacks on the area earlier that
day.</div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
The crossing has been the only functioning
transit point into Gaza for items including food, medical supplies,
cooking gas and fuel. Many of the food shipments are earmarked for U.N.
distribution once inside Gaza.</div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
</div>
<br /><em>Credit: Defense Ministry</em><br /><br />According to
Israeli authorities, the crossing came under rocket fire at 6 a.m.
Sunday. Despite the attack, work continued and 30 trucks with supplies
entered Gaza.
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
Around 12:30 p.m., the crossing was targeted
by another barrage of rockets, some of which directly hit the crossing
compound, Israeli officials say. Authorities say they stopped work at
the site to protect workers.</div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
The crossing was reopened on Monday.</div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
Israel and the Palestinians agreed late Sunday
to an Egyptian proposal for a new 72-hour cease-fire, set to take
effect at midnight Sunday, officials from both sides said.</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
Hamas fired a rocket salvo toward Tel Aviv on
Sunday night, just before the cease-fire took effect. No air raid siren
was sounded nor was the rocket intercepted by the Iron Dome defense
system, but a loud explosion was heard in the Tel Aviv area.</div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
Earlier, rockets were fired toward Ashdod and
Beersheba, and some 40 rockets and mortar shells were fired toward other
towns in southern Israel, with about 20 hitting Israeli territory and
eight being intercepted by Iron Dome. </div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
Some 20 mortar shells were fired over the Eshkol region throughout the day and into the evening, causing property damage. </div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
Meanwhile, the Israeli Air Force bombed 41
targets in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, including one directly involved in
launching rockets into Israel from southern Gaza. According to the IAF,
12 terrorists were killed in targeted strikes. </div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
Palestinian reports say buildings housing
weapons manufacturing plants were attacked, as were rocket-launching
areas in northeastern Gaza and in southern Gaza, near Khan Younis.
Islamic Jihad outposts and bases were also bombed. </div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
Palestinian media reported that an Islamic
Jihad operative was assassinated by an IAF strike while riding a
motorcycle through the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. </div>
<div align="left">
Meanwhile, five Israelis were lightly injured on Sunday evening by stones thrown at them at Zif Junction in the Hebron Hills. </div>
</span> </div>
<span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-42990480385268338642014-08-11T16:20:00.000+03:002014-08-11T16:20:34.871+03:00Lessons of the war in Gaza<a href="http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=9563">Daniel Pipes</a><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN">
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">As Israeli operations against Hamas wind down, here are seven insights into the month-long conflict:</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">Missile shield: The
superb performance of Iron Dome, the protective system that shot down
nearly every Hamas rocket threatening life or property, has major
military implications for Israel and the world. Its success signals that
"Star Wars" (as opponents maliciously dubbed it upon introduction in
1983) can indeed provide protection from short-range and also presumably
from long-range rockets and missiles, potentially changing the future
of warfare.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">Tunnels: Tunneling behind enemy lines is hardly a </span><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-enemy-below-why-hamas-tunnels-scare-israel-so-much/2014/07/25/c7ef0902-1281-11e4-9285-4243a40ddc97_story.html"><span class="normal14">new tactic</span></a><span class="normal14">; historically, it has had success, as in the 1917 </span><a href="http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/messines.htm"><span class="normal14">Battle of Messines</span></a><span class="normal14">,
when British mines killed 10,000 German soldiers. The Israel Defense
Forces knew of Hamas' tunnels before hostilities began on July 8 but
failed to appreciate their numbers, length, depth, quality of
construction, and electronic sophistication. Jerusalem quickly realized,
as the Times of Israel wrote, that "Israel's air, sea and land
supremacy is not mirrored underground." The IDF thus requires additional
time to achieve subterranean dominance.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">Consensus in Israel:
Hamas' unrelenting barbarism created a rare consensus among Jewish
Israelis in favor of victory. This near unanimity both strengthens the
government's hand in dealing with outside powers. Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu admonished the U.S. administration never again to
second-</span><a href="http://nypost.com/2014/08/02/dont-second-guess-me-again-netanyahu-to-us/"><span class="normal14">guess him</span></a><span class="normal14"> and is likely to move Israeli domestic politics decisively to the right into the nationalist camp.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">Middle Eastern
response: With the exception of Hamas' state patrons (Turkey, Qatar,
Iran), the Islamist terrorists found almost no governmental support in
the region. In one striking example, Saudi king Abdullah said of Hamas
killing Gazans, "It is shameful and disgraceful that these terrorists
are [mutilating the bodies of innocents and proudly publicizing their
actions] in the name of religion." How well he knows his mortal enemy.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">Rising anti-Semitism:
Especially in Europe, but also in Canada and Australia, anti-Semitism
came to the fore, mainly from Palestinians and Islamists as well as from
their far Left allies. This response will, in all probability, increase
immigration to the two havens of Jewish life, Israel and the United
States. By contrast, Middle East Muslims kept quiet, with the exception
of Turks and those Arabs living under Israeli control.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">Elite vs. popular responses: It's not every day that the secretary-general of the </span><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/chief-blames-hamas-breaking-cease-fire-24808235"><span class="normal14">United Nations</span></a><span class="normal14"> and all 28 foreign ministers of the European Union side with Israel against an Arab enemy, but that did occur. In the </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/01/politics/congress-israel-iron-dome/"><span class="normal14">U.S. Congress</span></a><span class="normal14">, the Senate unanimously approved and the </span><a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/113-2014/h480"><span class="normal14">House voted 395-8</span></a> <span class="normal14">in
favor of an additional $225 million for the Iron Dome program. In
contrast, among the wider public, pro-Israel sentiment declined almost
everywhere (although </span><a href="http://www.theisraelproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/140704-PI-National-Isr-Hamas-Conflict-CHARTS.pdf"><span class="normal14">not in the United States</span></a><span class="normal14">).
How to explain this disparity? My hunch: Leaders imagine what they
would do if faced with enemy rockets and tunnels, while the public
focuses on photographs of dead babies in Gaza.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">Dead babies: Which
brings us to the most complex, counter-intuitive, and strange aspect of
the entire conflict. Because the IDF enjoys a crushing advantage over
Hamas on the battlefield, their confrontation resembled a police
operation more than a war. Thus, Israelis were judged primarily by the
clarity of their leaders' public statements, the judicious use of force,
and the handling of evidence. Accordingly, media attention invariably
drifted from the military sphere to questions of proportionality,
morality and politics. Hamas' greatest strategic weapon in its effort to
damage Israel's reputation and ostracize it was neither rockets nor
tunnels, but wrenching photographs of dead civilians purportedly killed
by the IDF.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">This leads to the
bizarre situation in which Hamas seeks the destruction of Palestinian
property, compels civilians to sustain injuries and death, inflates
casualty figures, and may even intentionally attack its </span><a href="http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=64534"><span class="normal14">own territory</span></a> <span class="normal14">-- while the IDF takes gratuitous fatalities to spare harm to Palestinians. The Israeli government goes further, </span><a href="http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=18905"><span class="normal14">providing medical</span></a> <span class="normal14">care </span><a href="http://mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/humanitarian/pages/israeli-humanitarian-aid-continues-10-jul-2014.aspx"><span class="normal14">and food</span></a><span class="normal14"> and sending technicians into harm's way to make sure that Gazans continue to enjoy </span><a href="http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=18809"><span class="normal14">free electricity</span></a><span class="normal14">.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">It's a curious war in
which Hamas celebrates Palestinian misery and Israel does its best to
keep life normal for its enemy. Strange, indeed, but this is the nature
of </span><a href="http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2010/05/bibliography-my-writings-on-changes-in-warfare"><span class="normal14">modern warfare</span></a><span class="normal14">, where op-eds often carry more weight than bullets. In Clausewitzian terms, </span><a href="https://www.usnwc.edu/getattachment/d863be95-597d-4220-8cb6-169c80ca1f6b/Clausewitz-s-Center-of-Gravity--It-s-Not-What-We-T"><span class="normal14">war's center of gravity</span></a><span class="normal14"> has moved from the battlefield to public relations.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">In all, the civilized
and moral forces of Israel came off well in this face-off with
barbarism. But not well enough to forestall, for too long, yet another
assault.</span></div>
<div align="left">
<span class="normal14"><em>Daniel Pipes is president of the Middle East Forum. </em></span></div>
</span> </div>
GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-72544724499687544202014-08-11T11:26:00.003+03:002014-08-11T11:26:44.121+03:00Hiroshima's Lessons for the War on Terror<a href="http://sultanknish.blogspot.co.il/2014/08/hiroshimas-lessons-for-war-on-terror.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+FromNyToIsraelSultanRevealsTheStoriesBehindTheNews+%28from+NY+to+Israel+Sultan+Reveals+The+Stories+Behind+the+News%29"><em>Sultan Knish</em></a><br />
In the summer of '45, the United States concluded a war that had come to
be seen by some as unwinnable after the carnage at Iwo Jima with a
bang.<br /><br /><a href="http://blogspot.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4d14ba9a2c3194f9d3fc3196a&id=263f88e921&e=0ffc58f564" style="clear: right; color: #6dc6dd; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://bay172.mail.live.com/Handlers/ImageProxy.mvc?bicild=&canary=emEnujxZnMh4vO7u2VQJ3TelLJQZnf9wNXMb%2bRWBL7s%3d0&url=http%3a%2f%2f2.bp.blogspot.com%2f-94SPyb92mY4%2fUglp5F8fECI%2fAAAAAAAAMPg%2fRWkkyWBaMG8%2fs320%2fNagasaki-a-bomb.jpeg" style="-ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; border: 0; height: auto !important; text-decoration: none;" width="320" /></a>On
August 6th, the bomb fell on Hiroshima. And then on the 9th, it was
Nagasaki's turn. Six days later, Japan, which had been preparing to
fight to the last man, surrendered. <br /><br />For generations of liberals
those two names would come to represent the horror of America's war
machine when they actually saved countless American and Japanese lives. <br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />The
two bombs stand in stark contrast to our endless nation-building
exercises in which nothing is ever finished until we give up. Instead
Truman cut the Gordian Knot and avoided a long campaign that would have
depopulated Japan and destroyed the lives of a generation of American
soldiers.<br /><br />That we can talk about Japan as a victory, that the
famous couple was caught kissing in Times Square rather than sighing in
relief, is attributable to that decision to use the bomb. Without it,
Japan would have been another Iraq or Vietnam, we might have eventually
won at a terrible cost while destroying our willingness to fight any
future wars and that would have given the USSR an early victory in Asia.
<br /><br />Professional soldiers understand the humanitarian virtue of
ruthlessness. The pacifist civilian may gasp in horror at the sight of a
mushroom cloud, but the professional soldier knows that the longer way
around would have left every Japanese city looking far worse than
Hiroshima. <br /><br />More people died in the Battle of Okinawa on both
sides than in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 9 out of 10 buildings were
destroyed. As much as a third of the island's population committed
suicide, fled into caves that were bombed, were used as human shields or
were killed when American soldiers found themselves unable to
distinguish between Japanese soldiers posing as civilians and actual
civilians.<br /><br />And all that was in a part of Japan that was not fully
aligned with its national identity. It does not take much to imagine
what trying to capture Honshu would have looked like. Take the worst
horrors of Vietnam and keep multiplying until you run out of
imagination. If you run low, remember that at Okinawa the military was
handing out grenades to civilians and its home defense plans involved
encouraging the civilian population to commit suicide attacks.<br /><br />The
United States military did not understand the fanatical mindset of its
enemies, but it did understand that they had to be fought with equal
ruthlessness.<br /><br />And now on another hot August, we find ourselves in
another unwinnable war. It isn't really unwinnable, but there is the
sense that we have done everything possible and all we can do is live
with it. As the left will tell us, more Americans died in car accidents
in 2001 than on September 11. <br /><br />Doubtlessly more Americans died in
some assortment of accidents in 1941 than at Pearl Harbor. Instead of
calling it a day that will live forever in infamy, FDR could have put
their deaths into perspective by comparing them to the number of
Americans killed by Polio and given a typical Obama speech warning the
public not to jump to any conclusions.<br /><br />Obama gave one of those
conclusion-jumping speeches after Nidal Hasan murdered 13 Americans in
the Fort Hood Massacre. He gave another one after the Boston Marathon
bombings. Meanwhile the media jumped to all the right conclusions,
speculating that Hasan might be a victim of secondary PTSD and that the
Boston bombers were white tax protesters. <br /><br /><br />
<div class="ecxseparator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://blogspot.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4d14ba9a2c3194f9d3fc3196a&id=743577181d&e=0ffc58f564" style="clear: left; color: #6dc6dd; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://bay172.mail.live.com/Handlers/ImageProxy.mvc?bicild=&canary=emEnujxZnMh4vO7u2VQJ3TelLJQZnf9wNXMb%2bRWBL7s%3d0&url=http%3a%2f%2f1.bp.blogspot.com%2f-gQwlbbosgaE%2fUglqGVZm9bI%2fAAAAAAAAMPo%2fIZ2gBgBIFh8%2fs320%2fhasan_520.jpg" style="-ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; border: 0; height: auto !important; text-decoration: none;" width="320" /></a></div>
Finally
the official report dismissed all conclusions and labeled an attack by a
Muslim terrorist affiliated with a major Al Qaeda figure as a case of
workplace violence. If the authors of that report had been available to
write up the events of December 7 1941, they would have blamed Newton’s
Third Law.<br /><br />The report carefully avoided any mention of Islam, but
at his trial, Hasan declared that he was an Islamic holy warrior, in
papers he named Anwar Al-Awlaki as his mentor and claimed to be
defending Islamic law against the scourge of democracy.<br /><br />The
spectacle of Nidal Hasan trying to communicate to a politically correct
military bureaucracy that he really is a Muslim terrorist is almost
comical. Before the shootings, he expressed sympathy for terrorists and
put his Islamic holy warrior tag on his business cards. He did
everything short of hiring a skywriter to fly over Fort Hood writing,
"Nidal Hasan is a Muslim Terrorist".<br /><br />After Hasan committed the
massacre while dressed in Islamic garb and shouting "Allah Akbar", the
same establishment went back to ignoring him. It must have deeply
frustrated Hasan, whose entire legal defense is that he is a Muslim
terrorist. Hasan's defense baffles a media which had spent years warning
us not to jump to conclusions about a man named Hasan killing Americans
only to find that Hasan had already adopted those conclusions as his
own.<br /><br />Hasan had declared war on the United States and has been
trying to get someone to notice his declaration. That is a problem which
he shares with his Al Qaeda masters. The United States has learned to
notice terrorist threats, but not to understand them or deal with them.<br /><br />On
August 8, 1942, Herbert Hans Haupt was sent to the electric chair.
Haupt, a United States citizen, had joined a German raiding party into
the United States. The trial of Haupt and his fellow conspirators lasted
a month. It was over two months after their capture.<br /><br />Haupt was put to death seven days after the conclusion of his trial. <br /><br />A
few years after the war was over, a former soldier spotted a USC
student in a Los Angeles Sears. During the war, the student, Tomoya
Kawakita, had been noted for special acts of cruelty toward the captured
American soldiers in the Oyema POW camp where 1 in 10 prisoners died of
malnutrition.<br /><br />Tomoya had earned the nickname "Meatball" for
eating the rations meant for the POWs. The soldier, had first met
Tomoya when the latter attempted to tear off his tattoos while screaming
about "American symbols of freedom."<br /><br />Tomoya was also an
American. He was arrested, put on trial and sentenced to death. In
pronouncing sentence on him, the judge declared, "The only worthwhile
use for the life of a traitor is to serve as an example to those of weak
moral fiber who might hereafter be tempted to commit treason."<br /><br />JFK
disagreed, freeing him in one of his final official acts before his own
assassination at the hands of a traitor who had defected to the USSR.
Had Oswald been tried for treason after his return from Russia, the
Kennedy assassination would have never happened; but by then, that
pragmatic ruthlessness which had kept America going through Europe and
Asia had been lost.<br /><br />Imagine a general from August 2013 being sent
back in time to take over the war in August 1945 and then watch as
American soldiers are given handbooks on Japanese culture, forced to
attend Shinto ceremonies and sent out without artillery and air support
to avoid alienating the local population. The command dedicates much of
its time to emphasizing that its war is not with Japan or the Japanese
people, but a tiny minority of fanatical extremists.<br /><br />And then watch as the war goes on for two decades.<br /><br />Such a course might seem more merciful or moral, but it's neither. It prolongs the pain and suffering for both sides.<br /><br />The
failure by the stronger side to conclude a war when it has the upper
hand is not kindness; it's cruelty. It perpetuates the conflict
endlessly, dragging it out and opening the door for a prolonged civilian
resistance with all the horrors that terrorism and guerrilla warfare
can inflict on both sides. <br /><br />In Vietnam, Iraq, Korea and
Afghanistan, in the countries and wars where we pulled our punches, the
civilian population was left worse off. The tactics that we thought were
merciful were actually cruel, and their end result led to victories by
monstrous forces like the Kim family or the Taliban who did far worse
things to the civilian population than we ever dreamed of.<br /><br />America
was haunted by Hiroshima, when it should have been haunted by Okinawa.
And so now it is haunted by Hasan and by his Al Qaeda comrades and by
the Taliban and by entire networks of terrorist groups forming because
we pulled our punches in the War on Terror.<br /><br />There's some old
advice about not drawing a gun unless you intend to use it. It's true
for individuals and for nations. If you go to war, then you had better
mean it. Wars are bloody and messy. They're not for the sort of people
who think that putting "Smart" ahead of something automatically makes it
better. And "meaning it" means being committed to crushing the enemy.<br /><br /><a href="http://blogspot.us8.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=4d14ba9a2c3194f9d3fc3196a&id=bd8d9dbd60&e=0ffc58f564" style="clear: right; color: #6dc6dd; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://bay172.mail.live.com/Handlers/ImageProxy.mvc?bicild=&canary=emEnujxZnMh4vO7u2VQJ3TelLJQZnf9wNXMb%2bRWBL7s%3d0&url=http%3a%2f%2f4.bp.blogspot.com%2f-XsS76wdSazA%2fUglrm_0kgoI%2fAAAAAAAAMQA%2fh8UMwHTQFDg%2fs320%2fAvenge_december_7.jpg" style="-ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; border: 0; height: auto !important; text-decoration: none;" width="250" /></a>We
don't understand Hasan and Nidal Hasan doesn't understand us. Like so
many Islamic terrorists, Nidal Hasan believes that we are fighting a war
against Islam, because it is what he would do in our place. He would
have had no trouble understanding the America of 1945 that meant what it
said, but he is lost trying to comprehend the America of 2013 which
only wants to be liked, even when it's dropping bombs.<br /><br />Hasan
wants us to know that he hates us, but our leaders are terrified of the
idea of being hated. Ever since Hiroshima, we want the world to love us.
We don't want to be seen as the madmen who snuffed out hundreds of
thousands of lives. Our enemies are not afraid to be feared and hated.
We are.<br /><br />Our greatest weakness is that we want our enemies to love
us. And so we pretend that our enemies are really our friends. We turn
wars into humanitarian exercises that inflict a much worse toll on both
sides than an actual war would have and then we wonder what went wrong.<br /><br />Now
America faces an enemy whose chief power is hate. The Islamic terrorist
has no other real asset except his hate. Unfortunately hate is our
weakness. We are an empire terrified of being hated, a world power that
shrivels at the thought that someone might not like us. And so the
nation that dropped two atomic bombs in August 1945 wilts before the
hatred of the Kamikazes of the Koran. <div class="ecxblogger-post-footer">
Daniel
Greenfield is a New York City based writer and blogger and a Shillman
Journalism Fellow of the David Horowitz Freedom Center.</div>
<span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-8237541284927013492014-08-10T08:35:00.000+03:002014-08-10T08:35:03.742+03:00Thousands march calling for Chile to sever ties with Israel <span class="author" id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_article_control_lblAuthor"><span class="ExpertOrAutherLink"> <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/Thousands-march-calling-for-Chile-to-sever-ties-with-Israel-370613">REUTERS</a></span></span>
<br />
<div class="date">
<span class="datetime" id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_article_control_lblDateAndHour">08/10/2014</span></div>
<h2>
<span class="teaser" id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_article_control_lblTeaser">Pro-Palestinian rallies held in New York, South American country following similar demonstrations in London, Cape Town.</span>
</h2>
<img alt="child palestinian" border="0" id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_article_control_image" src="http://www.jpost.com/HttpHandlers/ShowImage.ashx?id=252176&h=236&w=370" title="Supporters and members of the Palestine community attend a rally for peace in Gaza, in Santiago, August 9, 2014." />
<div class="articleImageDetails">
<span class="photographer" id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_article_control_photographer"><span class="ImageTitle">Supporters and members of the Palestine community attend a rally for peace in Gaza, in Santiago, August 9, 2014. </span>Photo: REUTERS</span>
</div>
<div class="body">
Some 5,000 people marched through the streets of Santiago on
Saturday, to call for the Chilean government to break all ties with
Israel.<br />
The protest consisted of members of various social
organizations, human rights activists, university students, members of
Chile's Palestinian community and civilians.<br />
<div class="dyother dyMonitor" data-adid="18837||964|||" id="relatedArticles">
<label id="relatedArticlesTitle"> Related: </label><ul>
<li><div class="relatedArticlesItem">
<a href="http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/Tens-of-thousands-march-in-London-Cape-Town-in-support-of-Gaza-370568" target="_blank">Tens of thousands march in London, Cape Town in solidarity with Gaza</a></div>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
Palestinian
descendent Uasim Barros participated in the march and said that Chile's
continued ties with Israel would mean it is being an accomplice to the
bombardment of the Gaza Strip.<br />
"We are present at this march to
demand that the Chilean state, once and for all, break all types of
relationships with Israel. The government would be acting as an
accomplice to this huge massacre that Israel is carrying out against
Palestine," he said.<br />
Another Palestinian descendent also pleaded for Israel to stop the destruction and killings of his people.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
"What
they (Israel) is doing today is a genocide. They are killing the
civilian population and I, as a daughter and granddaughter of
Palestinians in Chile, I rise up here in Chile with the whole country to
bring an end to this genocide," said the woman, Stefany.<br />
The
protest was organized after Israel launched more than 30 air attacks in
Gaza on Saturday, killing five Palestinians, in response to terrorist
rocket fire at Israel as the <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/Israel-Hamas-battle-on-in-day-2-since-Egyptian-led-talks-failed-to-extend-truce-370556" target="_blank">conflict entered a second month</a> following Hamas' refusal to extend a three-day cease-fire that ended Friday morning.<br />
The
violence seemed to delay any progress in talks brokered by Egypt aimed
at securing a permanent truce. Israel had no plans to send negotiators
back to Cairo "as long as the shooting goes on", an Israeli official
said on condition of anonymity.<br />
Egypt is meeting separately with
each party. Israel and Hamas deny each other's legitimacy, with Hamas
rejecting Israel's right to exist and Israel rejecting Hamas as a
terrorist organization.<br />
Gaza officials say the war has killed
1,880 Palestinians. Sixty-four IDF soldiers and three civilians have
been killed in the conflict.<br />
Regional neighbors such as Brazil, Peru and Ecuador have recalled their ambassadors in Israel amidst the violence.<br />
<img alt="" height="283" src="http://www.jpost.com/HttpHandlers/ShowImage.ashx?ID=252179&Cap=true" width="390" /><br />
Meanwhile in New York, thousands of people took to the streets on
Saturday to protest against Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip.<br />
Waving Palestinian flags and 'Gaza ' signs, some called for an end to US aid to the country.<br />
In
New York, the crowd marched through the bustling evening streets of
Midtown Manhattan chanting "Free, free Palestine!" and "1,2,3,4, stop
the killing, stop the war!"<br />
The rally was organized by a coalition
of groups that came together as "The World Stands with Gaza!
International March to the UN."<br />
Also on Saturday, large-scale demonstrations in solidarity with the people of Gaza were also held in <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Operation-Protective-Edge/Tens-of-thousands-march-in-London-Cape-Town-in-support-of-Gaza-370568" target="_blank">London and Cape Town</a> with tens of thousands of people participating in marches in both cities. </div>
<span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-5228885998780736132014-08-09T22:24:00.004+03:002014-08-09T22:24:53.697+03:00Is Gaza Really the Most Densely Populated Place on Earth? — If So, Let Them Migrate <div class="article-main">
<div class="article-aside">
<aside class="writers">
<div class="fancy-byline" itemid="http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/author/elliott-a-green/" itemprop="createdBy" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">
<div class="media">
<img alt="Elliott A. Green" class="attachment-medium writers-thumbnail" height="140" itemprop="image" src="http://cdn.timesofisrael.com/uploads/terms-images/writers/Elliot-A.-Green-medium.jpg" title="Elliott A. Green" width="140" />
</div>
<div class="description">
<span class="name" itemprop="name">
<a href="http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/author/elliott-a-green/">
Elliott A. Green
</a>
</span>Elliott A. Green is a writer, researcher, and translator living in
Jerusalem. He has published in Nativ, Midstream, the Jerusalem
<span class="moreless">
<span class="morelink" style="display: inline;">… <a href="http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/is-gaza-really-the-most-densely-populated-place-on-earth-if-so-let-them-migrate/">[More]</a></span>
</span>
</div>
</div>
</aside></div>
<div class="article-body">
<div itemprop="articleBody">
When it comes to vilifying
Israel, hyperbole and total fraud are the rule. This is true of one the
main things said about the Gaza Strip in order to cast Israel in a bad
light. But Gaza’s population density is not Israel’s fault. And anyway,
Gaza is far from the most densely populated place on earth. But if there
are those who truly believe, or really, really need psychologically to
believe that that claim is true, then there is a solution. Allow Gazans
to emigrate from Gaza. There are several Arab countries with much
available undeveloped land. There are also quite a few non-Arab lands
that could absorb Gaza Arab immigration.
</div>
<div id="article-promo">
<a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/signup/?utm_source=toi-articles&utm_medium=middle-link&utm_campaign=signup-buttons"></a><br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Here
are population and area stats comparing the Gaza Strip with Manhattan
Island. You can calculate the density by dividing total population by
area (in square miles or square kilometers).
</div>
<div class="b300x250" id="div-gpt-ad-1328660580467-1">
</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<strong>Manhattan Island</strong></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<em>population</em> (2012)</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
1.69 million</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<em>area</em></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
22.7 square miles (or 58.8 square kilometers)</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<strong>Gaza Strip</strong></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<em>population</em></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
1.76 million (Index Mundi – 2013)</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
1.8 million (CIA World Factbook — 2014)</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<em>area</em></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
360 square miles (Information Please)</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<em>density of Gaza Strip</em></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
9,713 per square mile (Information Please)</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<em>density of Manhattan Island</em></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
74,449 per square mile</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
This web page has numbers for population density in many countries (<a href="http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0934666.html">here</a>)</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
So we see that Manhattan Island is
considerably greater in population density than the Gaza Strip. It is
7.66 times denser. That won’t make much difference to the fanatic Israel
haters, but that is the real figure.</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
Nevertheless, those who think that Gaza is too densely populated should allow Gazans to emigrate to greener pastures.</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
SOURCES <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gz.html">CIA World Factboo</a>k, <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0934666.html">Information Please</a>, <a href="http://www.indexmundi.com/gaza_strip/demographics_profile.html">Index Mund</a>i, <a href="http://www.chacha.com/question/how-many-miles-long-is-manhattan">Chacha</a>., <a href="http://www.ask.com/question/how-many-miles-long-is-manhattan">Ask.com</a>,</div>
</div>
</div>
<br />Read more: <a href="http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/is-gaza-really-the-most-densely-populated-place-on-earth-if-so-let-them-migrate/#ixzz39vNvC1Jc" style="color: #003399;">Is
Gaza Really the Most Densely Populated Place on Earth? -- If So, Let
Them Migrate | Elliott A. Green | The Blogs | The Times of Israel</a> <a href="http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/is-gaza-really-the-most-densely-populated-place-on-earth-if-so-let-them-migrate/#ixzz39vNvC1Jc" style="color: #003399;">http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/is-gaza-really-the-most-densely-populated-place-on-earth-if-so-let-them-migrate/#ixzz39vNvC1Jc</a>
<br />Follow us: <a href="http://ec.tynt.com/b/rw?id=da7qt6C20r440iacwqm_6l&u=timesofisrael" target="_blank">@timesofisrael on Twitter</a> | <a href="http://ec.tynt.com/b/rf?id=da7qt6C20r440iacwqm_6l&u=timesofisrael" target="_blank">timesofisrael on Facebook</a><span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-17946830915096501912014-08-09T22:14:00.000+03:002014-08-09T22:14:02.797+03:00Obama’s Treachery and Republican Silence <span><span><a href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/author/david-horowitz/" rel="author" target="_blank" title="David Horowitz"><span style="color: #0066cc;">David Horowitz</span></a></span></span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: medium;">Barack Obama deliberately set out to lose the war
in Iraq, and he did. He defied the advice of his joint chiefs of staff
to secure America’s formidable military presence and keep 20,000 troops
in country, and left Iraq to its own devices and the tender mercies of
Iran.<strong> In doing so, he betrayed every American and Iraqi who gave
his life to create a free Iraq and keep it out of the clutches of the
terrorists.</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Iraq is now a war zone dominated by the terrorist forces of the Islamic State</strong>, <strong>its rise Obama’s policies fostered</strong>.
Both his secretaries of state praised the animal Bashar Assad as a
“reformer” and a man of “peace,” helping him to thwart his domestic
opposition. <strong>The Islamic State was born out of the Syrian chaos that ensued.</strong></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Far worse was Obama’s open support for America’s mortal enemy, the Muslim Brotherhood</strong>, <strong>spawned of al-Qaeda and Hamas</strong>. During the “Arab Spring,” <strong>Obama
essentially put America’s weight behind the legitimization of this
murderous organization that had been outlawed for 40 years for its
assassinations and conspiracies against the Egyptian regime</strong>. <strong>Secretary of State Clinton gave totally unfounded assurances to the world </strong>that
the Brotherhood was ready to become part of the democratic process and
give up its 90-year holy war against infidels, Jews in particular but
also — and explicitly — America. <strong>During the Brotherhood’s brief
tenure as the government in Egypt Obama gave these genocidal zealots
more than a billion dollars in American aid and F-16 fighter-bombers
that could easily reach Israel’s major population centers</strong>, which, <strong>for 60 years, the Brotherhood had sworn to destroy</strong>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>By his feckless interventions in the Middle East</strong>, and <strong>his tacit support for the chief organization of Islam’s terror war against the West, Obama has set the Middle East on fire</strong>. <strong><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">All
the violence in the crescent from Gaza to Iraq, including Hamas’s
genocidal war against Israel, has been encouraged by Obama’s support for
the Brotherhood and hostility toward the Jewish state.</span></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Characteristic of this encouragement was his
illegal intervention in Libya, which violated every principle that Obama
and the Democrats invoked to attack President Bush and undermine
America’s war against the Saddam regime and the terrorists in Iraq</strong>. <strong>Thanks to Obama, Libya is now in the hands of the terrorists and thousands of Libyans are fleeing to Tunisia and Egypt</strong>. <strong>Thanks to Obama, the Christian communities of Iraq, which date back to the time of Christ, are being slaughtered</strong>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Because of Obama’s aversion to America’s role
as a keeper of international peace, the tyrant Putin has been able to
swallow Crimea and threaten the rest of Ukraine</strong>.<strong><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">
Since his election in 2009, Obama’s policies have been responsible for
the deaths of tens of thousands of people and will result in the deaths
of tens of thousands more.</span></strong> Thanks to his efforts to destroy America’s borders, Americans may be included in this grim toll. Certainly, <strong>Americans are now threatened by terrorists as never before.</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Where is the Republican opposition? Why are
Republicans still treating Obama as though his were a normal presidency
and not a national disgrace? Why are there no indictments of Obama for
the carnage he has enabled?</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>There is one foreign policy area where Republicans have shown some fight: Benghazi</strong>. But the fight here has been over an inquiry — important in its own right, but <strong>not a political challenge to Obama’s efforts to sabotage and degrade the country he is supposed to lead</strong>.</span><br />
<div id="ecxadWrapper2">
<span style="font-size: medium;">
We know the basic facts. <strong>Obama’s team was trying to monitor and recapture the weapons we had helped supply to Islamist militias in Libya.</strong> <strong>That was Ambassador Stevens’s mission</strong>. <strong>No security was provided because </strong>Stevens’ mission had to be <strong>secret
and plausibly deniable in the middle of an election in which Obama was
running on the cynical lie that the war on terror had been won</strong>. During the battle waged by American heroes against the terrorists’ assault in Benghazi, the <strong>president and his secretary of state went A.W.O.L. </strong>and <strong>left these brave Americans to die</strong>. Instead of honoring them and hunting down their killers,<strong>
Obama then took off for a fundraiser in Las Vegas. This was surely the
most shameful individual act by a president in the history of the White
House.</strong></span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;">Having abandoned these American heroes and their
families, Obama and his minions then lied to the American people about
the terrorist attack and used it as an occasion to defend the Prophet
Mohammed in a U.N. address to the world. <strong>This series of acts
showed Obama’s contempt for the American military, contempt for the
American people, and sympathy for America’s enemies, an attitude that
has been revealed over and over again.</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>When will Republicans gather the courage to start speaking truth to power? </strong></span></div>
<span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-68754129715357063552014-08-09T09:02:00.001+03:002014-08-09T09:02:12.332+03:00Hamas' Phony Statistics on Civilian Deaths<b><a href="http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/author/Alan+M.+Dershowitz">Alan M. Dershowitz</a><br />
</b>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0;">
<b><a href="http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4585/hamas-phony-statistics-on-civilian-deaths">http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4585/hamas-phony-statistics-on-civilian-deaths</a></b></div>
It's a mystery why so many in the media accept as gospel
Hamas-supplied figures on the number of civilians killed in the recent
war. Hamas claims that of the more than 1800 Palestinians killed close
to 90% were civilians. Israel, on the other hand, says that close to
half of them were combatants. The objective facts support a number much
closer to Israel's than to Hamas'.<br />
Even human rights group antagonistic to Israel acknowledge, according to a <i>New York Times</i>
report, that Hamas probably counts among the "civilians killed by
Israel" the following groups: Palestinians killed by Hamas as
collaborators; Palestinians killed through domestic violence;
Palestinians killed by errant Hamas rockets or mortars; and Palestinians
who died naturally during the conflict. I wonder if Hamas also included
the reported 162 children who died while performing child slave labor
in building their terror tunnels. Hamas also defines combatants to
include only armed fighters who were killed while fighting Israelis.
They exclude Hamas supporters who build tunnels, who allow their homes
to be used to store and fire rockets, Hamas policemen, members of the
Hamas political wing and others who work hand in hand with the armed
terrorists.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="margin-bottom: 5px; max-width: 600px;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="border: 1px solid black; max-width: 600px;"><img border="0" height="450" src="http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/pics/large/623.jpg" width="600" /><div style="font-size: 85%; margin: 4px 6px;">
Is
a Hamas member who stores weapons in his home a civilian or combatant?
Pictured, weapons and ammunition found by the IDF in the bedroom of a
Gaza home, July 2014. (Image source: IDF)</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
Several years ago I came up with a concept which I call, the
"continuum of civilianality"—an inelegant phrase that is intended to
convey the reality that who is a civilian and who is a combatant is
often a matter of degree. Clearly every child below the age in which he
or she is capable of assisting Hamas is a civilian. Clearly every Hamas
fighter who fires rockets, bears arms, or operates in the tunnels is a
combatant. Between these extremes lie a wide range of people, some of
whom are closer to the civilian end, many of whom who are closer to the
combatant end. The law of war has not established a clear line between
combatants and civilians, especially in the context of urban warfare
where people carry guns at night and bake bread during the day, or fire
rockets during the day and go back home to sleep with their families at
night. (Interestingly the Israeli Supreme Court has tried to devise a
functional definition of combatants in the murky context of urban
guerrilla warfare.)<br />
Data published by the <i>New York Times</i> strongly suggest that a
very large number—perhaps a majority—of those killed are closer to the
combatant end of the continuum than to the civilian end. First of all,
the vast majority of those killed have been male rather than female. In
an Islamic society, males are far more likely to be combatants than
females. Second, most of those killed are within the age range (15-40)
that are likely to be combatants. The vast majority of these are male as
well. The number of people over 60 who have been killed is
infinitesimal. The number of children below the age of 15 is also
relatively small, although their pictures have been shown more
frequently than others. In other words, the genders and ages of those
killed are not representative of the general population of Gaza. It is
far more representative of the genders and ages of combatants. These
data strongly suggest that a very large percentage of Palestinians
killed are on the combatant side of the continuum.<br />
They also prove, as if any proof were necessary to unbiased eyes,
that Israel did not target civilians randomly. If it had, the dead would
be representative of the Gaza population in general, rather than of the
subgroups most closely identified with combatants.<br />
The media should immediately stop using Hamas-approved statistics,
which in the past have proved to be extremely unreliable. Instead, they
should try to document, independently, the nature of each person killed
and describe their age, gender, occupation, affiliation with Hamas and
other objective factors relevant to their status as a combatant,
non-combatant or someone in the middle. It is lazy and dangerous for the
media to rely on Hamas-approved propaganda figures. In fact, when the
infamous Goldstone Report falsely stated that the vast majority of
people killed in Operation Cast Lead were civilians and not Hamas
fighters, many in Gaza complained to Hamas. They accused Hamas of
cowardice for allowing so many civilians to be killed while protecting
their own fighters. As a result of these complaints, Hamas was forced to
tell the truth: namely that many more of those killed were actually
Hamas fighters or armed policemen. It is likely that Hamas will make a
similar "correction" with regard to this conflict. But that correction
will not be covered by the media, as the prior correction was not.<br />
The headline—"Most of those killed by Israel were children, women and
the elderly"—will continue to be the conventional wisdom, despite its
factual falsity. Unless it is corrected, Hamas will continue with its
"dead baby strategy" and more people on both sides will die.<br />
<div style="margin: 0 0 10px 0;">
<br /></div>
<span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-35732693436705733492014-08-08T17:40:00.000+03:002014-08-08T17:40:00.923+03:00Take a look at yourself, world media<a href="http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=9537">Boaz Bismuth</a><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN">
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">The cease-fire between
Israel and Hamas has allowed the international media to go back to
addressing, among other things, the fighting in Ukraine (remember that?)
and the Ebola virus, which is much more worrying than the virus known
as "Hamas." The city of Donetsk in the eastern Ukraine has taken the
place of Gaza in the headlines of European newspapers.</span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">For some reason, the
evacuation on Wednesday and Thursday of tens of thousands of Christians
from their homes as the radical Sunni Islamic State takes over extensive
areas in northern Iraq and Christian cities still hasn't been properly
covered by the European media (unlike the American media), which was
very -- I mean, very -- worried about Gaza. Which by yesterday had
nearly been forgotten. </span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">Is it because there are
no European journalists in northern Iraq? Or maybe because the U.N.
Relief and Works Agency, which cares only for Palestinians, isn't active
there? Either way, the Islamic State, which is much more radical than
al-Qaida (is that even possible?), continues about its business without
too many headlines after taking over Kirkuk, Iraq's most Christian city
(it was home to 50,000 Iraqi Christians). </span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">It seems like the
international media has thus far perceived members of the Islamic State
as space aliens. Hamas, on the other hand, are seen as freedom fighters
working to remove the blockade for the good of the people of Gaza.
Unlike the Islamic State people, Hamas operatives are seen as righteous.
Try and explain that they're one and the same. </span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">U.S. President Barack
Obama announced on Thursday that the U.S. was looking into the
possibility of bombing Iraq. Nothing more was needed for the American
media to devote its top headlines to what is happening in Iraq. </span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">At any rate, the
administration is sort of responsible for what is taking place in Iraq
today: the invasion (Bush) and the withdrawal (Obama). We mentioned the
American airstrikes? This is doubtless much less dangerous than a ground
operation, and between us, will anyone demand investigative committees
or a special session of the U.N. General Assembly if and when, heaven
forbid, innocent Iraqi civilians are killed in those same airstrikes? </span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">"Leave, convert, or
die" was the top headline on the Fox News website. The readers,
obviously, were shocked to discover just how hostile the radical Sunni
Islamic State is to other religions. For some reason, no one this past
month has thought to look into how Hamas sees non-Muslims. "Leave,
convert, or die"… think for a moment how much Hamas would like to see a
headline like that here. The world was busier removing the blockade than
it was perusing the group's charter. Might there be a connection? </span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">Obviously, France also
bears some responsibility for what's happening in the Middle East. Do
you remember the Sykes-Picot Agreement? Today it's collapsing and France
is seeing itself offering asylum to the Christians of the Orient. On
Thursday, the government called a special session of the U.N. General
Assembly to discuss the situation in Iraq. The Islamic state is "in" --
Hamas is "out." </span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14"><strong>How quickly the story dies</strong> </span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">In general, it's pretty
amazing to see how quickly a story can die. You should see how far down
on the CNN website Gaza has dropped. "Hamas: We are ready to renew the
fighting," one of the more modest headlines read. No one is moved by
Hamas' threats to resume shooting on Friday morning if the blockade is
not removed from Gaza. The cease-fire talks in Cairo aren't even
mentioned, lest the readers/watchers/listeners doze off. </span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">U.N. Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon managed on Wednesday to anger officials in Jerusalem when,
even before the Human Rights Council investigative committee began its
work looking into the Gaza war and civilian casualties, he laid the
blame on Israel for attacks on U.N. facilities in Gaza and said they
should stand trial. There is no question that the U.N. under Ban is
having trouble handling the troubles of the world, and it's good that
there is Gaza -- and Israel -- for the U.N. to flex its muscles over in
New York. </span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">But recent weeks have
merely shown how helpless the U.N. and the international community are
in solving crises: Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, and Gaza have not helped the
organization's image. The various conflicts around the world just prove
how weak it is. </span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">The U.N. undoubtedly
has a problem. The first clause of the U.N. Charter calls upon members
to solve conflicts through peaceful means and refrain from threats and
use of force to gain territory or power. Take note about just how
relevant it is today. </span></div>
<div align="left" dir="ltr">
<span class="normal14">And one favor from
Israelis traveling abroad this weekend: If you happen to run into
"international opinion," ask it what exactly the "international
community" is these days and where it's headed. Because between us, it
looks like the international community is in real trouble, and before it
examines us, it should take a look at itself. </span></div>
</span> </div>
GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-5790309038883346092014-08-08T16:12:00.002+03:002014-08-08T16:12:55.376+03:00“Soldiering On” <div>
In spite of decidedly negative news I must
address, below, I want to first share some very positive reports. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
We start with Ari Abramowitz -<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"> a host on Israel Inspired Radio</span><span style="color: black;">
</span><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">and former co-host of Tuesday
Night Live in Jerusalem – who wr</span></span>ote a Tisha B’Av message from his
unit, Battalion 969. It explained why the battalion had petitioned to
remain in Gaza fighting in order to defeat those who have been terrorizing our
nation (emphasis added):</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
”<strong>We want to continue fighting not
because we love war, but because we love you</strong>.<br /><br />”On a personal
level, the paradox of the past month is that <strong>in the face of
heartbreaking pain and the violence of war, my experience has been one of
unparalleled love</strong>.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
”...The love I have felt for my fellow
soldiers during this war has transcended anything I have experienced
before.<br /><br />”While the bond of ’brothers in arms’ is a universal phenomenon,
I find the love I feel for my fellow soldiers overtaking me like a wave. It is
hard to explain as I don’t fully understand it myself. All I know is
that<strong> I would happily give my life for any one of my fellow soldiers and
I don’t doubt for a moment that they would do the same for me. Together we would
not hesitate to give our lives for you.<a name='more'></a></strong><br />”Throughout this war we
have felt the love you have showered upon us – you have given us so much. I have
never felt so much love from so many. Jews from both Israel and the Diaspora
have flooded us with more care packages, clean underwear, dry socks, candy,
potato chips and toothpaste then we can use. Jewish communities, federations,
missions and individuals have not let the dangers of this war stop them from
coming and volunteering. Hospitals have had to issue statements requesting that
people refrain from visiting the wounded, for the lines to visit them were
clogging the hallways and stairwells.<br /><br />”Tens of thousands comfort the
families of the soldiers slain and communities around the world hold solidarity
and memorial rallies.<br /><br />”We hang up your children’s letters next to our
beds. I know a couple of them by heart. We read the articles, videos and
Facebook posts with which you defend us and support us as we fight this just and
moral war.<br /><br />”While there will always be exceptions, from here it seems
that this wave of solidarity spans the entirety of the religious, ideological
and political spectrum. From the Gaza border the unity behind us feels
unprecedented.”</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<img border="1" height="170" src="https://bay172.mail.live.com/Handlers/ImageProxy.mvc?bicild=&canary=emEnujxZnMh4vO7u2VQJ3TelLJQZnf9wNXMb%2bRWBL7s%3d0&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ekurd.net%2fmismas%2farticles%2fmisc2013%2f9%2farticle195.jpg" width="279" /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: xx-small; size: 1;"><strong>Credit:
landofisrael.com</strong></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
An extraordinary love letter in the midst of
the war. Ari Abramowitz has to be special to write this way, but he is
also writing about an astounding phenomenon. This is who we are now, who
we are showing ourselves to be. May it last and may our love for one
another strengthen.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
With soldiers such as this, backed by a wave
of love, we cannot be defeated. God is watching.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
~~~~~~~~~~</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
We have a report from Nefesh B’Nefesh (“soul
by soul”), which facilitates aliyah (Jewish immigration to Israel). The
war, they say, has motivated more young people to come to Israel, not fewer: The
stories of the two “lone soldiers” who died has served as an inspiration.
“...phone calls and requests by Americans to enlist into
the IDF has grown considerably.” Next week there will be a Nefesh B’Nefesh
“Lone Soldier” flight that will bring 109 young people, ages 18 to 23, who will
be enlisting in the IDF.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183808#.U-OeJZvlrIV" target="_blank" title="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183808#.U-OeJZvlrIV"><span style="color: #9b00d3;">http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/183808#.U-OeJZvlrIV</span></a></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
~~~~~~~~~~</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
And then we have this:</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox in Israel, who
have resisted being drafted, are now signing up to volunteer for the IDF.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
“We believe that the
people of Israel are in the midst of an obligatory war against ruthless enemies
who seek to annihilate us,” declared an ad that ran on several ultr-Orthodox
websites. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<span><span><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">“We believe
it is a great privilege to join the military effort, in addition to our
important contribution through Torah study. We too yearn for this precious <em style="line-height: 1; margin: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">mitzvah</em>.”</span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<span><span></span></span> </div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/shunning-taboo-hundreds-of-ultra-orthodox-seek-to-volunteer-for-idf/" target="_blank" title="http://www.timesofisrael.com/shunning-taboo-hundreds-of-ultra-orthodox-seek-to-volunteer-for-idf/"><span style="color: #9b00d3; font-family: Comic Sans MS;">http://www.timesofisrael.com/shunning-taboo-hundreds-of-ultra-orthodox-seek-to-volunteer-for-idf/</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div>
<span><span></span></span><span><span></span></span> </div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" target="_blank"><img alt="A Religious Jewish soldier is embraced by an ultra orthodox Jewish family member after attending a swearing-in ceremony for the orthodox Jewish IDF " height="243" src="https://bay172.mail.live.com/Handlers/ImageProxy.mvc?bicild=&canary=emEnujxZnMh4vO7u2VQJ3TelLJQZnf9wNXMb%2bRWBL7s%3d0&url=http%3a%2f%2fcdn.timesofisrael.com%2fuploads%2f2014%2f08%2fF130526MA23-e1407232060108-965x543.jpg" title="A Religious Jewish soldier is embraced by an ultra orthodox Jewish family member after attending a swearing-in ceremony for the orthodox Jewish IDF " width="432" /></a><span><span><span style="line-height: 1; margin: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<strong><span style="size: 1;"><span style="size: 1;"><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">Credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90
</span></span></span></strong></div>
<div dir="ltr">
I love it! Better, I am very
grateful for all of this. For this place we are in.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
~~~~~~~~~~</div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Although the first stage is not over
after all, the second stage of the war against Israel is being launched now as
well – the stage of delegitimization and attempts to level war crime charges
against our leaders and officials. A strong response that makes our case
is exceedingly important. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
The Israeli government is responding
with vigor, but I ask that each of you also take the time to inform yourselves
on the issue - using the material that follows - and then speak out on Israel’s
behalf. <strong>The vilification of the Jewish State must
stop</strong>. You know the drill: speak to people about this issue and
share links, write letters to the editor, do talkbacks on Internet sites, do
call-ins to talk radio shows, write op-eds for your local paper. You
<strong>can</strong> make a difference if you do not remain silent.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
~~~~~~~~~~ </div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
One thing that must be made clear to
people is that reporting from Gaza was exceedingly imbalanced for the simple
reason that foreign journalists literally feared for their lives. They
dared not report from inside of Gaza on what they were seeing. With the
beginning of the 72 hour ceasefire, however, they came out of Gaza and started
talking:</div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Indian
journalist Sreenivasan Jain has now written about how he saw rockets launched
right outside the hotel where he was staying:
"important to report on how Hamas places those very civilians at risk by firing
rockets deep from the heart of civilian zones."</div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
FRANCE 24
correspondent Gallagher Fenwick aired a report showing rockets being
launched...100 meters away from a UN facility: “The
Israeli army has repeatedly accused the Palestinian militants of shooting from
within densely populated civilian areas and that is precisely the type of setup
we have here. Rockets set up right next to buildings with a lot of residents in
them." </div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Italian
journalist Gabriele Barbati exposed Hamas in a tweet (emphasis added): “Out of
#Gaza far from #Hamasretaliation: <strong>misfired rocket killed children yday
(yesterday) in Shati. Witness: militants rushed and cleared debris.”</strong>
And then: <strong>“@IDFSpokesperson said truth in communiqué released yesterday
about Shati camp massacre. It was not #Israel behind it</strong>.”</div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
“Another
foreign reporter said that it is an open secret that Hamas uses Al-Shifa
hospital as its command center, but that reporters in Gaza would not report that
out of fear that it would endanger them.” </div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0%2c7340%2cL-4556016%2c00.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4556016,00.html"><span style="color: #9b00d3;">http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4556016,00.html</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
See the stunning exclusive video by
Sreenivasan Jain showing a rocket being shot from near his hotel:</div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/ndtv-s-hamas-exclusive-is-an-international-headline-571487" target="_blank" title="http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/ndtv-s-hamas-exclusive-is-an-international-headline-571487"><span style="color: #9b00d3;">http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/ndtv-s-hamas-exclusive-is-an-international-headline-571487</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<strong>Powerful stuff: use
it!</strong></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<strong></strong> </div>
<div dir="ltr">
<strong>~~~~~~~~~~</strong></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<strong></strong> </div>
<div dir="ltr">
The charge against Israel is that
the IDF does not have the right to fire at a rocket launching site if there are
civilians present – which means, of course (although this is not acknowledged in
the charges), if civilians are present because Hamas told them to remain even
after Israel warned them to leave. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
In point of fact, this is simply not
the case. The IDF has a solemn obligation to protect its soldiers and the
people of Israel. Think about it: If this were the case, Israel could
never defend herself against rocket or mortar attacks, because Hamas would
simply place civilians in the way every time and that would be the end of it –
Hamas would be able to kill whom it wanted to. Israel has more than met her
moral obligation in warning the civilians.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Prime Minister Netanyahu gave a
press conference in English on Wednesday in which he addressed this issue.
He says if Israel were to fail to respond, it would be a mistake: “<strong>It a
moral mistake. It’s an operational mistake</strong>. Because <strong>that would
validate and legitimize Hamas’s use of human shields</strong>, and it would hand
an enormous victory to terrorists everywhere and a devastating effect to the
free societies that are fighting terrorism.” (Emphasis added)</div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
See text of his full statement,
which utilizes several examples from the field:</div>
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</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-full-text-the-tragedy-of-gaza-is-that-it-is-ruled-by-hamas/" target="_blank" title="http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-full-text-the-tragedy-of-gaza-is-that-it-is-ruled-by-hamas/"><span style="color: #9b00d3;">http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-full-text-the-tragedy-of-gaza-is-that-it-is-ruled-by-hamas/</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
~~~~~~~~~~</div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px;">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">Israel Prize laureate Professor Asa Kasher, who helped
formulate the military’s Code of Ethics, says Israel is in compliance with
the ethics of battle. (Emphasis added)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px;">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">“We are fulfilling the ethical requirements. <strong>Every
battalion commander has an officer in charge of locating civilians, and
everything is overseen by too many lawyers</strong>, who help direct the
operation on the ground. The number of casualties is irrelevant—<strong>it does
not speak of omissions or any wrongdoing on the part of the
IDF</strong>.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px;">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">There is aggressive criticism of Israel’s operation, he
says, because “there are people whose perspective is very shallow.”</span></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<span style="color: #9b00d3;"> </span><a href="http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/08/07/ethics-expert-idf-fulfilled-all-ethical-requirements-in-gaza/" target="_blank" title="http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/08/07/ethics-expert-idf-fulfilled-all-ethical-requirements-in-gaza/"><span style="color: #9b00d3;">http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/08/07/ethics-expert-idf-fulfilled-all-ethical-requirements-in-gaza/</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
~~~~~~~~~~</div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Also on Wednesday, Israel Ambassador
to the UN (what a thankless job!) Ron Prosor delivered tough and honest words to
the General Assembly (emphasis added):</div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div id="ecxyui_3_17_2_1_1407414674117_42594" style="line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px;">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">“It might be too much to ask you to stand on our side in
this battle between civilization and barbarism, but at least have the decency to
swallow your selective outrage while Israel wages war against the extremist
groups seeking to eradicate the values that we all hold very dear.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px;">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">“<strong>If the U.N. assembly had invested a tenth of the
energy invested in investigating Israel, it would reveal horrific war crimes on
the part of Hamas. The international community has lost its way. This
organization was founded to promote morality, truth, and justice. Unfortunately,
that is not its mission now</strong>.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px;">
<a href="http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/08/07/israeli-u-n-envoy-says-international-community-%e2%80%98has-lost-its-way%e2%80%99/" target="_blank" title="http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/08/07/israeli-u-n-envoy-says-international-community-%e2%80%98has-lost-its-way%e2%80%99/"><span style="color: #9b00d3; font-family: Comic Sans MS;">http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/08/07/israeli-u-n-envoy-says-international-community-%e2%80%98has-lost-its-way%e2%80%99/</span></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 15px;">
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">~~~~~~~~~~</span></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Lastly on this issue, I share a
superb video by StandWithUs ( With thanks to Bernice S.):</div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEQrHkEG4Jo&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank" title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEQrHkEG4Jo&feature=youtu.be"><span style="color: #9b00d3;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEQrHkEG4Jo&feature=youtu.be</span></a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
If you share this video broadly it
will be great.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
~~~~~~~~~~</div>
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">“The head of Hamas in the West
Bank since 2010 was recently arrested and was indicted on Thursday in the IDF
West Bank Courts for organizing possibly dozens of terror cells for a wave of
potential kidnappings, suicide bus bombings and attacks on
settlements.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">“Arrested on May 27...Riad Natzer,
is accused of raising over NIS 1.5 million for terror operations, buying weapons
for his operatives and organizing them into cells – each trained for a different
kind of terror activity.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">“...Known for allegedly running
Hamas's terror operations ‘with lust’ for his job, Natzer recruited dozens of
operatives and Natzer's arrest also led to the arrests of dozens of those
operatives.” </span><br />
<a href="http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Hamas-West-Bank-head-arrested-indicted-for-planning-wave-of-terror-attacks-370332" target="_blank" title="http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Hamas-West-Bank-head-arrested-indicted-for-planning-wave-of-terror-attacks-370332"><span style="color: #9b00d3; font-family: Comic Sans MS;">http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Hamas-West-Bank-head-arrested-indicted-for-planning-wave-of-terror-attacks-370332</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">~~~~~~~~~~</span><br />
The above was written Thursday night, but I held off on sending it to see how
the situation with Hamas evolved. <br />
Yesterday, Hamas, unhappy that its demands in the negotiations were not being
met, refused to agree to an extension of the ceasefire – although Israel had
already done so. But until this morning it was not entirely clear if that
was an attempt at extortion (as Lieberman called it) or a declaration of a
genuine intent to start launching rockets again.<br />
Now we know that it was very serious indeed, as Hamas has been launching
rockets at the south – at Sderot, Ashkelon, Eshkol, Sha’ar Hanegev, etc. - since
8 AM, which marked the end of the three-day ceasefire. (Actually, I
understand two mortars had been fired before the end of the ceasefire.) As I
write, already 35 rockets have been launched. By the time you read this,
it will be much more.<br />
I held my breath for a while, as Israel did not respond immediately. But by
about 10 AM the Air Force had begun to return fire. <br />
<img alt="Israeli airstrikes in Gaza" height="203" src="https://bay172.mail.live.com/Handlers/ImageProxy.mvc?bicild=&canary=emEnujxZnMh4vO7u2VQJ3TelLJQZnf9wNXMb%2bRWBL7s%3d0&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.israelnationalnews.com%2fstatic%2fResizer.ashx%2fnews%2f468%2f282%2f518118.jpg" width="302" /><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: xx-small; size: 1;">Credit: Reuters</span></strong><br />
~~~~~~~~~~<br />
We have recalled our negotiating teams from Cairo. Hamas had said it
would agree to continue negotiating while it fired rockets. In their
dreams.<br />
Hamas has a problem: its leaders invited destruction upon Gaza with its
attacks and promised the population of Gaza that there would be a success in the
end that will have made it all worth while. But they have nothing to show
the people. Thus their shooting persists with a “go for broke” mentality.
<br />
I cited an IDF source just the other day that said Hamas had crawled to Cairo
on its knees begging for a ceasefire. Not quite. Hamas may have sought
that ceasefire, but only with the intention of securing good terms in the
subsequent negotiations. It is not yet on its knees and it must be brought
down if not eliminated. At present it still possess too much
strength. <br />
~~~~~~~~~~<br />
Our troops are still at the border of Gaza and I have no clue as to whether
they will be sent in again. What I do know is that the soldiers themselves
are ready and eager. Netanyahu said there would be a forceful response if
Hamas started firing again. Truly, do I hope so. No token
bombings.<br />
That seems to be what our MKs across the political spectrum are calling for:
a very vigorous and determined response, as our deterrence depends upon
this. This is being said by the left as much as the right.<br />
All that I so thoughtfully wrote the other day about how there is an argument
for not continuing the fight in Gaza has been rendered moot now. Currently
we are in an “ein breira” (no choice) situation. It’s not whether we think
we should continue to fight or not: We must.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~<br />
Shabbat preparations call to me now. When next I write, there may be a bit
more clarity on the situation, and there will be time to make comments about
Obama and other players on the diplomatic stage.<br />
~~~~~~~~~~<br />
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<span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-9688084440704058632014-08-08T09:55:00.001+03:002014-08-08T09:55:04.467+03:00Obama’s new plan for Hamas <br />
<div>
<span id="ecxctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_article_control_lblAuthor"><span>By <a class="" href="http://www.jpost.com/Authors/AuthorPage.aspx?id=126" rel="Author" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0066cc;">CAROLINE B. GLICK</span></a></span></span> </div>
<div>
<span></span><br /></div>
<div>
<span><span style="font-size: medium;">President Barack <strong>Obama has a plan.<br /><br /> He wants to use the cease-fire talks in Cairo to strengthen Fatah</strong>.<br />
<br /> In remarks Wednesday, Obama said, “I have no sympathy for Hamas. I
have great sympathy for some of the work that has been done in
cooperation with Israel and the international community by the
Palestinian Authority. And they’ve shown themselves to be responsible.
They have recognized Israel. They are prepared to move forward to
arrive at a two-state solution. I think [PA Chairman and Fatah leader
Mahmoud Abbas, a.k.a.] <strong>Abu Mazen is sincere in his desire for peace.”<br />
</strong><br />Obama’s plans for the cease-fire were spelled out in
detail the day before in a column by Washington Post columnist David
Ignatius. There Ignatius claimed that Secretary of State John Kerry has
abandoned his previous position on the cease-fire. That position was
harshly criticized by Israeli leaders and US media heavyweights,
including Ignatius himself, for its clear bias in favor of Hamas.<a name='more'></a><br />
<br /> In contrast to Kerry’s previous adoption of all of Hamas’s demands
as official US positions, Ignatius wrote that “over the past week,
[Kerry] has been crafting a cease-fire plan that seeks to stabilize
Gaza under the leadership of Abbas and the moderate Palestinian
Authority.... [The PA] (with the support of the international
community) would have overall responsibility for the rehabilitation of
Gaza.”<br />
<br />Ignatius continued, “The thrust of Kerry’s new plan is to leverage
Hamas’s unity pact with Fatah and its pledge to transfer authority in
Gaza to the [PA]. As a first step, the Palestinian Authority and its
US-trained security service would assume responsibility for policing
the Rafah crossing from Gaza into Egypt, as well as the passages into
Israel.”<br />
<br />Fatah, Ignatius said, “would begin paying the salaries of
Palestinian civil servants in Gaza, assuming that the details could be
worked out. The agreement might also move toward disarmament of all
terrorist groups in Gaza.”<br />
<br /><strong>By empowering Fatah in this way</strong>, Ignatius explained, <strong>Kerry
– and Obama – are “now headed in the right direction – away from
strengthening Hamas and toward empowering the moderates on whom hopes
for a more stable and secure Gaza depend</strong>.”<br />
<br />Ignatius then turned to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and
challenged him to join with Kerry and agree “to truly open Gaza to the
free flow of people and goods in return for disarming the terrorist
groups.”<br /><br />
<strong>While the administration’s new plan sounds nice in theory, it has one basic problem.<br /><br /> Hamas and Fatah are partners</strong>. <strong>Hamas’s
demands are Fatah’s demands. Hamas’s goals are Fatah’s goals. Giving
Fatah control of the borders means giving Hamas control of the borders</strong>.<br />
<br /> Abbas said himself in a speech broadcast on the PA’s official
station in December 2009, as he was trying to form the sort of
Fatah-Hamas unity government that he established in April, “There is no
disagreement between us [Fatah and Hamas]: About belief? None! About
policy? None! About resistance? None!” Earlier this week The Jerusalem
Post’s Khaled Abu Toameh explained that almost from the outset of the
war, Hamas and Fatah have been working in perfect harmony.<br />
<br /><strong> Fatah officials have served as Hamas’s spokesmen to the Western media.</strong><br /> As <strong>Hamas conducted its terrorist war against Israel, Abbas led the diplomatic war against Israel.</strong><br />
Moreover, Abu Toameh reported that <strong>during the course of the hostilities, Fatah paid the salaries of Hamas members</strong>.<br /><br /><strong>
Due to Hamas’s designation as a foreign terrorist organization,
continued funding of the PA is illegal under US counterterror statutes</strong>. Fearing that Congress would move to enforce the law and end US aid to the PA, <strong>before the war Fatah refused to pay Hamas’s membership.<br />
</strong><br /> For whatever reason, Abbas and his comrades are no longer
concerned that financing their terrorist partners from their
donor-financed budget will endanger the US’s annual gift of $440
million.<br /><br /> From the outset of Hamas’s campaign against Israel,<strong> Fatah militias in Gaza participated in the mortar and rocket attacks against Israel</strong>. And far from trying to hide this fact, <strong>Fatah’s leadership reveled in it. They posted news of Fatah’s mortar attacks on Israel on their official social media sites.<br />
</strong><br /> Fatah published a poster on its official Fatah Facebook page on July 9 under the title “<strong>Brothers in Arms</strong>.” The poster depicted terrorists from Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad and read, “<strong>One God, on homeland, one enemy, one goal.”<br />
</strong><br />As for the cease-fire talks, last month <strong>Abbas traveled to Qatar where he met with Hamas terror master Khaled Mashaal</strong>. The <strong>result of the meeting was a coordinated Palestinian position regarding cease-fire demands</strong>. Those demands, which require Israel and Egypt to open the borders, are <strong>silent on the issue of demilitarizing Gaza. </strong>This
is the unified position of the Palestinian delegation to the ceasefire
talks in Cairo which Obama noted hopefully, is being led by Fatah.<br />
<br /> In other words, <strong>Obama’s new position on the cease-fire
terms is the same position he has held from the outset. He supports
Hamas’s extortionist demands from Israel and Egypt to open Gaza’s
borders in order to enable the terror group to resupply and rebuild its
terror infrastructure.<br />
</strong><br /> The only thing that is new about his current stand is that <strong>now he supports bringing Hamas’s supposedly moderate partners in Fatah in as window dressing.</strong><br />
For those who have been willing to pay attention to Abbas’s actions
and those of his Fatah comrades, nothing in their behavior during the
war has been remotely surprising.<br />
<br /><strong> Since the PA was established in 1994, Fatah and Hamas have had a cooperative relationship</strong>.
The only times that Fatah has fought Hamas have been when Fatah felt
directly threatened by Hamas. And the moment that perceived threat
abated, Fatah ended its operations and restored its cooperation with
Hamas.<br />
<br /> Abu Toameh reported that in the latest war, <strong>Abbas
instructed his security commanders to suspend their operations against
Hamas in Judea and Samaria. After all, they are his partners, not his
rivals</strong>.<br />
<br /> Beyond that, <strong>Fatah supports weapons smuggling across the Egyptian border</strong>.
Having Fatah in charge of the border crossings would not prevent Hamas
and Islamic Jihad from replenishing their arsenals and rebuilding their
tunnels of death. It will enable them to do so.<br />
<br /> And again, we know this from the PA/Fatah’s track record.<br /><br /> From the start of the Palestinian terror war in September 2000 until Hamas ejected Fatah from Gaza in June 2007, <strong>Fatah
was in control of the borders with Israel and Egypt. During this
period, it engineered the weapons smuggling operations into Gaza</strong>. The <strong>Iranian
weapons ship Karine-A that Israeli naval commandos intercepted in the
Red Sea en route to Gaza in January 2003 was commanded by the deputy
head of the PA’s naval force, a member of Fatah</strong>. The <strong>weapons deal was negotiated with Yasser Arafat’s paymaster Fuad Shubaki</strong>.<br />
<br /><strong> Tunnel building began during Fatah’s period of control over Gaza</strong>. When then <strong>Cpl. Gilad Schalit was abducted</strong> <strong>from
Israel to Gaza in June 2006, by terrorists who entered his base from
an underground tunnel that traversed the border, Fatah, led by Abbas,
still controlled Gaza.<br />
</strong><br /> As for those <strong>Fatah military forces trained by the US military, they are no better than the Iraqi military forces the Americans trained</strong>.<br /><br /> When Hamas threw Fatah out of Gaza in 2007, <strong>Fatah’s US-trained troops and officers were the first to flee.<br />
<br /> </strong>The counterterror training US military trainers lavished on them<strong> had no impact on their willingness to stand their ground against Hamas. They didn’t even try to fight.</strong><br /> And yet, <strong>Obama’s
plan is to bring these same Fatah forces back to Gaza. He and Kerry
(and Ignatius), want Israel to believe that these Fatah forces will
demilitarize Hamas in exchange for open borders</strong>, which they will secure and prevent Hamas from using as a means to rebuild its arsenals and replenish its financing.<br />
<br /> Not that they weren’t clear before, but <strong>two things became blindingly obvious during the war.<br /><br /> First, <span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Hamas is very bad</span>.</strong> It<strong>
really and truly is dedicated to Israel’s destruction. It is willing
to engage in Palestinian child sacrifice in order to kill Jews</strong>. <strong><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">It
used all the aid it received, all the money, all the concrete to build
a terror infrastructure and missile arsenal dedicated to killing Jews.<br />
</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"> Nothing else matters to Hamas leaders, not Gaza, not Palestine, not their mothers and children</span></strong>.<br /><br /> There is no way for Israel to reach a long term non-aggression pact with <strong>Hamas. It can only be defeated through direct military operations and attrition.<br />
</strong><br /> The other thing we learned was that <strong><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Israel simply cannot, under any circumstances, consider withdrawing from Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.</span></strong> Netanyahu made this point explicitly in his press conference at the outset of the war. He explained, “<strong>If
we were to pull out of Judea and Samaria like they tell us to there’d
be a possibility of thousands of tunnels” being dug to attack Israel.<br />
</strong><br /> Netanyahu noted that <strong>the Palestinians dug 1,200 tunnels under Gaza’s 14-kilometer-long border with Egypt.</strong><br /> Judea and Samaria, he continued, are 20 times the size of Gaza, and Israel is not prepared “<strong>to create another 20 Gazas</strong>.”<br />
<br />As soon as the cease-fire began, the Israeli Left reverted to type. The <strong>media
began pillorying Netanyahu for not viewing the war with Hamas as an
opportunity for a diplomatic breakthrough with Abbas and Fatah.<br />
</strong><br /><strong> Netanyahu, they accuse, tricked them. He wasn’t weakening Hamas to strengthen Abbas.<br /><br /> He was simply weakening Hamas so that it couldn’t harm Israel</strong>.<br /><br /><strong><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">
Netanyahu’s erred during the fighting when he made the
demilitarization of Gaza a declared war aim. By doing so he opened the
door for the Left, the White House and the EU to begin spewing their
absurd lies about Fatah as a credible, moderate force that can be
depended on – with their taxpayer dollars and euros – to demilitarize
Gaza</span></strong>.<br />
<br /> In his remarks, Obama indicated that the world – that is the US
and Europe – must be involved in any cease-fire deal related to Gaza.
And for the privilege of having them on board, Israel needs to accept
Hamas-Fatah’s demand for open borders.<br />
<br /> But the truth is that <strong>the US and the EU are completely unnecessary. Israel and Egypt can secure the borders</strong>. And<strong><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"> if the Americans and Europeans are concerned for the welfare of the people of Gaza</span></strong>, they can <strong><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">transfer their aid to Israel, which can distribute it to those who need assistance rather than handing it over to Hamas.<br />
</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">
The reason Netanyahu isn’t trying to use the war in Gaza to promote a
wider peace with Fatah is because Fatah is not interested in peace with
Israel.</span></strong> As it showed again during the war, <strong>Fatah is Hamas’s partner, not Israel’s. And any deal with Fatah is a deal that strengthens Hamas.<br />
<br /> </strong>Ignatius is wrong. The administration still backs Hamas’s
demands against Israel. It just updated the talking points to align
with Ignatius’s entirely incorrect preconceived notions about the
nature of Fatah.</span><br />
<br /><em>Caroline B. Glick is the author of The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East.</em> </span></div>
<span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-12966664201747214282014-08-08T09:52:00.006+03:002014-08-08T09:52:38.387+03:00Suicide Bombers Being Trained to ‘Dress Like Jews’ <span style="color: #5f5f5f; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><b>Palestinian Arabs are still
being fed a steady diet of hate and now they're again being taught how
to kill Jews in Israel.</b></span>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><b>By: </b></span><a href="http://www.jewishpress.com/author/rlevy/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><b>Rachel
Levy</b></span></a>
<br /><br /><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b>A terrorist disguises himself as an Orthodox
Jew before setting out on a suicide bombing mission. (Hamas TV), broadcast
three times in July 2014</b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;"><br />
Photo Credit: Palestinian Media Watch / Hamas TV </span>
<br /><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: x-small;">·</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">Suicide bombers are once again being trained
to dress like Orthodox Jews in preparation for carrying out mass casualty
attacks in Israel, while Palestinian Arab factions are sitting in Cairo
talking with Israeli representatives about a proposal to stop the war in
Gaza.</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">Last month both Hamas and Fatah — the two
main partners in the Palestinian Authority unity government — urged Arabs
to carry out suicide bombings against Israel.</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">Although one faction is based in Gaza and
the other in Ramallah, both have military terror divisions that carry out
attacks against Israel. Only Hamas is recognized by the United States as
an official terrorist organization, however.</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">According to a clip translated by the </span><a href="http://www.palwatch.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0060a0; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b>Palestinian
Media Watch (PMW)</b></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"> organization,
<i>PA TV</i> viewers were treated to a poem written by Palestinian ‘national
poet’ Mahmoud Darwish, which was used as part of a program to demonize
Israel as an enemy targeting women and children.</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">The phrasing could be interpreted as encouraging
suicide bombing, but some literature analysts say the deeper meaning of
the poem is actually a critique on suicide bombings.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">The words chosen for inclusion in the program
by <i>PA TV</i> seemed to present suicide bombing positively – literally
as an expression of life – but as writers well know, it is easy to take
words out of context and to twist them to one’s own personal use.</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">Thus did <i>PA TV</i> use the words of Darwish:</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">“She wraps her waist with dynamite and
explodes… It is neither death… nor suicide… It is Gaza’s way to declare
its right to life.”</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">The video demonizes Israel as an enemy targeting
women and children and concludes that suicide terror will go on:</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">“She shall continue to explode. It
is neither death nor suicide.”</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">When one reads the entire poem – “Silence
for Gaza” — one sees clearly the Darwish was not referring at all to
suicide bombers or terror but rather to a much broader image of the enclave
and its people.</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">Likewise, Fatah also called on its people
to launch missiles at Israel; as late as Monday night, just prior to the
cease fire, two of the faction’s military arms joined with other terror
groups in Gaza in doing so.</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">On <i>Hamas TV</i>, viewers were urged to
dress up like Jews and carry out suicide bombings – in fact, they were
even </span><a href="http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=12267" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0060a0; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b>shown
how to do it</b></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">.</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">A Hamas video showed a terrorist putting
on a suicide explosives belt, and then donning the clothing of a stereotypical,
bearded Orthodox Jewish civilian. He is then seen escorted by his handler
to the exit and sent on his way to commit a suicide bombing</span>
<span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-79458270044362935072014-08-07T13:22:00.002+03:002014-08-07T13:22:17.519+03:00"War of the Casualties:" the Hamas-controlled ministry of the interior in the Gaza Strip issued a warning not to divulge information about terrorist operatives killed in Operation Protective Edge <a href="http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/article/20698">http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/article/20698</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<h1 class="main_header long" id="hMainHeader">
<strong>"War
of the Casualties:" the Hamas-controlled ministry of the interior in
the Gaza Strip issued a warning not to divulge information about
terrorist operatives killed in Operation Protective Edge </strong></h1>
<h2 class="article_title_box" id="ucArticlePage_regularHeader">
<div class="title">
<strong></strong></div>
<div class="date">
<span class="label rc"><strong>Issued on:</strong></span>
<span class="data dgc">06/08/2014</span>
<span class="label rc"><strong>Type:</strong></span>
<span class="data dgc">Article</span>
</div>
</h2>
<div class="text_box f12 dgc" style="height: 500px;">
<div align="center" dir="LTR">
<strong style="padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="The warning issued by the ministry of the interior on its Facebook page (Facebook.com)" src="http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/data/articles/Art_20698/140_14_01_184487727.jpg" style="height: 231px; width: 300px;" title="The warning issued by the ministry of the interior on its Facebook page (Facebook.com)" /><br />
The warning issued by the ministry of the interior on its Facebook page (Facebook.com)</strong></div>
<h5 align="center" dir="LTR">
Announcement from the Ministry of the Interior in the Gaza Strip</h5>
<div dir="LTR">
1. At 2254 hours on the night of August 5, 2014, the ministry of the interior in the Gaza Strip issued an announcement <strong>warning
the Palestinians not to divulge information about terrorist operatives
("resistance" casualties) killed during Operation Protective Edge</strong>.
That was because, claimed the announcement, the "occupation" [i.e.,
Israel] was collecting all the information and reports [about
casualties] and would use them as evidence to "justify its crimes
against [Palestinian] civilians."</div>
<div dir="LTR">
2. The announcement reads as follows:</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div dir="LTR">
"The ministry of the interior and national security [in Gaza] calls on
all our [Palestinian] people and the resistance factions [i.e. the
terrorist organizations] <strong>to be wary of disseminating information
and pictures of fatalities of the resistance, and [about] mentioning
details about [the circumstances of] their deaths as martyrs and where
they died</strong>. <strong>That is because the occupation is collecting all the information and reports [about the martyrs]</strong>
and uses them as evidence to justify its crimes against [Palestinian]
civilians and [to justify] the destruction of buildings and to take
advantage [of the information] for security purposes. [We appeal]
especially to social network activists and in the media belonging to the
resistance factions. During the past few hours <strong>we have located many postings with sensitive information detrimental to our people and its resistance</strong>.<sup>[1]</sup>
Mention of the acts of heroism of our martyrs and of the men of our
resistance should not be a reason for causing greater damage, because
our people's battle against the occupation continues."</div>
<h5 align="center" dir="LTR">
Assessment of the Announcement's Background and Significance</h5>
<div dir="LTR">
3. The Hamas-controlled ministry of the interior in the Gaza Strip is responsible for <strong>enforcing
Hamas' policy of concealment and deception, which seeks to minimize the
extent of information about the numbers and identities of terrorist
operatives killed in Operation Protective Edge </strong>to preserve the
image of "victory" Hamas is attempting to establish. At the same time,
Hamas is trying to minimize the number of terrorist operatives killed
and to maximize the number of civilian casualties <strong>to smear Israel and exert media, political and legal pressure on it the morning after</strong>.</div>
<div dir="LTR">
4. So far Hamas has maintained a policy of not divulging details
about its own and the other terrorist organizations' operatives killed
in Operation Protective Edge. It provides generalized lists with a
minimum number of details, creating the impression that they were
civilians. The daily notices published by the Hamas-controlled ministry
of health clearly serve that policy. In ITIC assessment, the warning
issued by the ministry of the interior was intended to enforce
supervision of divulging information about terrorist operatives who were
killed. That is because of the many details of their identities
(including pictures) that were revealed about them (see, for example,
the ITIC documents), raised concerns within Hamas. Another possible
Hamas concern is that the identity of many other terrorist operatives
will be revealed once their bodies have been found evacuated from under
the rubble.</div>
</div>
<div class="read_more">
<a class="lnk L rc f12 sprite_laqua" href="https://www.blogger.com/null" title="Read more"><strong>Read more</strong></a>
</div>
<div class="info_box align_C">
<div class="tags f11">
<a class="tag wc" href="http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/tag/Marketing_Terrorism" id="ucArticlePage_rptTags_ctl00_aTag" title="Marketing Terrorism">Marketing Terrorism</a>
<a class="tag wc" href="http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/tag/Human_Shield" id="ucArticlePage_rptTags_ctl01_aTag" title="Human Shield">Human Shield</a>
<a class="tag wc" href="http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/tag/Lawfare" id="ucArticlePage_rptTags_ctl02_aTag" title="Lawfare">Lawfare</a>
<a class="tag wc" href="http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/tag/Hamas" id="ucArticlePage_rptTags_ctl03_aTag" title="Hamas">Hamas</a>
<a class="tag wc" href="http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/tag/The_Palestinian_Authority" id="ucArticlePage_rptTags_ctl04_aTag" title="The Palestinian Authority">The Palestinian Authority</a>
<a class="tag wc" href="http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/tag/The_Israeli-Palestinian_Conflict" id="ucArticlePage_rptTags_ctl05_aTag" title="The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict">The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict</a>
</div>
<a class="pdf rc f12 sprite_icons" href="http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/Data/articles/Art_20698/E_140_14_976270999.pdf" id="ucArticlePage_aPdf" target="_blank"><strong>Full Document in PDF Format</strong></a>
</div>
<div class="text_box f12 dgc noReadMore" id="ucArticlePage_divResources">
<div style="direction: ltr;">
<span style="font-size: 11px;"><sup>[1]</sup> At 1750 hours in the
evening on August 5, 2014, the ITIC posted a bulletin containing the
names of 150 more Palestinians killed during Operation Protective Edge
with a great deal of information about the identity of terrorist
operatives who were killed. For further information see the August 5,
2014 bulletin "Examination of the names of Palestinians killed in
Operation Protective Edge - Supplement 1." In ITIC assessment the
Hamas-controlled ministry of the interior's warning was a response to
the bulletin posted on the ITIC website. Its objective was to pose
additional difficulties in the identification of the terrorist
operatives killed in Operation Protective Edge.</span></div>
</div>
<span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-586832305145934082014-08-07T09:22:00.004+03:002014-08-07T09:22:48.577+03:00Baghdad: Sunni jihadists murder 51 with car bombs in Shiite areas<span class="meta-author"><span class="meta-inner">
<a href="http://www.jihadwatch.org/author/samir" rel="author" title="Posts by Robert Spencer">Robert Spencer</a> </span></span><span class="meta-comments"><span class="meta-inner">
</span>
</span>
<br />
<a href="http://www.jihadwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Baghdadcarbombs.jpg"><img alt="Baghdadcarbombs" class="size-medium wp-image-56793 alignleft" height="168" src="http://www.jihadwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Baghdadcarbombs-300x168.jpg" width="300" /></a>No
need to be concerned about this. It isn’t as if “Islamophobia” has
broken out anywhere. And don’t examine the belief system that is the
impetus for this endless violence, either. That would be “bigoted.”<br />
“Series of car bombs rip through Baghdad Shiite neighbourhoods killing 51,” by Sameer N. Yacoub and Sinan Salaheddin, <a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/iraqs-state-tv-government-airstrike-targets-islamic-state-113350833.html" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a>, August 6, 2014:<br />
<blockquote>
BAGHDAD – A string of car bombs tore through busy
shopping streets in several Baghdad neighbourhoods on Wednesday night
killing 51 people as the army announced that one of its airstrikes had
killed 60 militants in the northern city of Mosul.<br />
Baghdad police said the first attack was a pair of car bombs that
exploded in the densely populated Shiite neighbourhood of Sadr City,
killing 31 people, followed by another bomb in the nearby area of Ur
that claimed another 11 lives.<br />
Nine more people were killed in the southeast of the city shortly afterward by two more car bombs.<br />
Baghdad has been on edge since Sunni militants led by the radical
Islamic State group conquered large swaths of the country’s north,
including the second largest city of Mosul. While the fighters have
stopped short of advancing on the capital there has been a steady
campaign of car bombs in the city, though none this deadly.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
The attack came as state-run television announced a rare government
victory with an airstrike against a key building in Mosul that killed
some 60 suspected militants earlier in the day.<br />
The report, which cited unnamed intelligence officials, could not be
independently verified, nor did it say whether any civilians had been
killed in the strike on the northern city of Mosul.<br />
The report said the strike freed about 300 people held by the Islamic
State group at a downtown Mosul prison it had been using as a religious
court and detention centre, without elaborating.<br />
A Mosul resident, speaking on condition of anonymity fearing for his
own safety, told The Associated Press over the phone that families of
the prisoners rushed to the site to help their relatives after the
airstrike.<br />
“The prison was partly damaged in the airstrike,” he said. He said he did not know if there were casualties.<br />
Phone calls to Iraqi officials rang unanswered Wednesday.<br />
The onslaught by the Islamic State backed by local Sunni militants
has plunged Iraq into its worst crisis since the withdrawal of U.S.
troops in 2011.<br />
The group since has imposed a self-styled caliphate in territory it
controls in Iraq and Syria, imposing their own harsh interpretation of
Islamic law.<br />
Iraqi government forces and allied Sunni tribal militiamen have been
struggling to dislodge the militants with little apparent progress.<br />
A few hours after the reported airstrike, Islamic State group
militants broke into a nearby hospital, ordered the morgue employees to
stay in a separate room and put a number of corpses inside a
refrigerator, a medical official said on condition of anonymity for his
own safety.<br />
Also Wednesday, police discovered eight bullet-riddled and handcuffed corpses around Baghdad.<br />
Six of them were found in the town of Taji, about 20 kilometres (12
miles) north of Baghdad, a police officer said. All were men between 25
to 35 years old.<br />
Two other dead bodies, a man and woman, were found in the southeastern district of Zafaraniyah, another police officer said.<br />
The number of corpses found with gunshot wounds has been on rise
recently in a grim reminder of the sectarian killing that engulfed Iraq
in 2006 and 2007. Then, both Shiite and Sunni death squads roamed the
streets and raided homes to round up people. Their corpses would later
be found by police, often mutilated.</blockquote>
<span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-79113120608467227672014-08-07T07:23:00.005+03:002014-08-07T07:23:39.155+03:00Caliph Ibrahim's Brutal Moment<b>Daniel Pipes<br />
<i><a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/4/pipes-caliph-ibrahims-brutal-moment/" target="_blank">The Washington Times</a></i><br />
</b>
<br />
<div class="ecxsans-serif">
<b><a href="http://www.meforum.org/4769/isis-caliph-ibrahim" target="_blank">http://www.meforum.org/4769/isis-caliph-ibrahim</a></b></div>
<div class="ecxsans-serif">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxsans-serif">
<b><span style="display: inline-block; font: 11px Arial,sans-serif; vertical-align: middle;"></span>
</b></div>
<img alt="" border="0" height="279" src="https://bay172.mail.live.com/Handlers/ImageProxy.mvc?bicild=&canary=emEnujxZnMh4vO7u2VQJ3TelLJQZnf9wNXMb%2bRWBL7s%3d0&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.meforum.org%2fpics%2flarge%2f545.jpg" width="400" /><br />
After an absence of 90 years, the ancient institution of the
caliphate roared back into existence on the first day of Ramadan in the
year 1435 of the Hegira, equivalent to June 29, 2014. This astonishing
revival symbolically culminates the Islamist surge that <a href="http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/the-return-of-islam/" target="_blank">began forty years ago</a>. A Western analogy might be declaring the restoration of the Hapsburg Empire, which traced its legitimacy to ancient Rome.<br />
Whence comes this audacious move? Can the caliphate last? What will its impact be?<br />
For starters, a quick review of the caliphate (from the Arabic <i>khilafa</i>, meaning "succession"): according to <a href="http://www.meforum.org/3251/did-muhammad-exist" target="_blank">canonical Muslim history</a>,
it originated in 632 CE, on the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad,
then spontaneously developed, filling the nascent Muslim community's
need for a temporal leader. The caliph became Muhammad's non-prophetic
heir. After the first four caliphs, the office became dynastic.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
From the start, followers disagreed whether the caliph should be the
most able and pious Muslim or the closest relative of Muhammad; the
resulting division came to define the Sunni and Shi'i branches of Islam,
respectively, causing the profound schism that still endures.<br />
A single caliphate ruled all the Muslim lands until 750; but then two
processes combined to diminish its power. First, remote provinces began
to break away, with some – such as Spain – even creating rival
caliphates. Second, the institution itself decayed and was taken over by
<a href="http://www.danielpipes.org/448/military-slaves-a-uniquely-muslim-phenomenon" target="_blank">slave soldiers</a>
and tribal conquerors, so that the original line of caliphs effectively
ruled only until about 940. Other dynasties then adopted the title as a
perquisite of political power.<br />
The institution continued in an enfeebled form for a millennium
until, in a dramatic act of repudiation, modern Turkey's founder, Kemal
Atatürk, terminated its last vestiges in 1924. Despite several
subsequent attempts to restore it, the institution became defunct, a
symbol of the disarray in Muslim-majority countries and a <a href="http://www.danielpipes.org/2798/what-do-the-terrorists-want-a-caliphate" target="_blank">yearned-for goal among Islamists</a>.<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tbody>
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<td style="border: 1px solid black; max-width: 377px;"><img alt="" border="0" height="420" src="https://bay172.mail.live.com/Handlers/ImageProxy.mvc?bicild=&canary=emEnujxZnMh4vO7u2VQJ3TelLJQZnf9wNXMb%2bRWBL7s%3d0&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.meforum.org%2fpics%2flarge%2f546.jpg" width="377" />
<div style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">
<b>Top: The world as ISIS sees it, using medieval Arabic place names. Bottom: The same map in Roman lettering.</b></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
And so matters remained for 90 years, until the group known as the
Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) issued a declaration in five
languages (English version: <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bwcwh5A29xpwbFktY2JwWUFmUlU/preview?pli=1" target="_blank"><i>This Is the Promise of Allah</i></a>) proclaiming the founding of a new caliphate under "Caliph" Ibrahim. Caliph Ibrahim (aka <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ec63d94c-02b0-11e4-a68d-00144feab7de.html#ixzz37JQeO2nZ" target="_blank">Dr. Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim</a>), about 40, hailing from Samarra, Iraq, <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/07/isis-baghdadi-taliban-links-afghanistan-zarqawi.html?utm_source=Al-Monitor+Newsletter+%5bEnglish%5d&utm_campaign=260198e5a8-July_14_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_28264b27a0-260198e5a8-93111661" target="_blank">fought in Afghanistan</a>
and then Iraq. He now claims to be leader of "Muslims everywhere" and
demands their oath of allegiance. All other Muslim governments have lost
legitimacy, he claims. Further, Muslims must throw out "democracy,
secularism, nationalism, as well as all the other garbage and ideas from
the West."<br />
Reviving the universal caliphate means, announces <i>The Promise of Allah</i>,
that the "long slumber in the darkness of neglect" has ended. "The sun
of jihad has risen. The glad tidings of good are shining. Triumph looms
on the horizon." Infidels are justifiably terrified for, as both "east
and west" submit, Muslims will "own the earth."<br />
Grandiloquent words, to be sure, but also ones with zero chance of success. ISIS has enjoyed backing from states like <a href="http://www.danielpipes.org/14486/turkey-isis" target="_blank">Turkey</a>
and Qatar – but to fight in Syria, not to establish a global hegemony.
Nearby powers – the Kurds, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel (and eventually
maybe Turkey too) – regard the Islamic State as an <a href="http://www.danielpipes.org/14473/isis-iraq-mosul#chart" target="_blank">unmitigated enemy</a>, as do nearly all rival Islamic movements, including <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/09/al-qaeda-to-isis-get-off-my-lawn-the-theological-debate-behind-the-caliphate.html" target="_blank">Al-Qaeda</a>. (The only exceptions: <a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/World/2014/Jul-13/263685-boko-haram-chief-voices-support-for-isiss-baghdadi.ashx" target="_blank">Boko Haram</a>; scattered <a href="http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/article/20675" target="_blank">Gazans</a>; and a <a href="http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/8068.htm" target="_blank">new Pakistani organization</a>.) The caliphate already faces <a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Jul-31/265532-in-mosul-resistance-against-isis-rises-from-citys-rubble.ashx#axzz38s7sFLXW" target="_blank">difficulty</a>
governing the Great Britain-sized territories it conquered, troubles
that will increase as its subject populations experience the full misery
of Islamist rule. (Its apparent <a href="http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2014/07/the-acute-danger-of-iraqi-dams#ISIS_capture" target="_blank">capture of the Mosul Dam</a> on Aug. 3 portends unspeakable crimes, including the denial of electricity and water; or even creating <a href="http://www.iwtc.info/2009_pdf/4-1.pdf" target="_blank">catastrophic floods</a>.)<br />
I predict that the Islamic State, confronted with hostility both from neighbors and its <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/24/with-friends-like-these-isis-is-doomed.html" target="_blank">subject</a> <a href="http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2014/August/middleeast_August21.xml%C2%A7ion=middleeast" target="_blank">population</a>, will not last long.<br />
It will leave a legacy, though. No matter how calamitous the fate of
Caliph Ibrahim and his grim crew, they have successfully resurrected a
central institution of Islam, making the caliphate again a vibrant
reality. Islamists around the world will treasure its moment of brutal
glory and be inspired by it.<br />
<blockquote>
<i>Daniel Pipes (DanielPipes.org) is president of the Middle East Forum.</i><br />
</blockquote>
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<span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-7250451416875925472014-08-07T07:18:00.003+03:002014-08-07T07:18:46.704+03:00To My Soldiers and the Jewish People: We Have Won! <div id="ecxdivTtl">
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Words written as the fighting
ceases. Officer Shechter adds: "Hope you will all have the patience to
read to the end. Send this to everyone and tell all the Jewish People
that we must realize that we have won!"</div>
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<a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Author.aspx/1293" target="_blank"><img src="https://bay172.mail.live.com/Handlers/ImageProxy.mvc?bicild=&canary=emEnujxZnMh4vO7u2VQJ3TelLJQZnf9wNXMb%2bRWBL7s%3d0&url=http%3a%2f%2fa7.org%2fResizer.ashx%2fnews%2f136%2f83%2f522627.jpg%3fautocrop%3d1%26grayscale%3d1" /><div>
<h5>
Lt. Col. (Res.) Uri Shechter</h5>
The writer is Dep. Commander (Res.) of the IDF Nachal Brigade.<div>
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<em>These
words are dedicated to the wonderful officers and soldiers of the
Nachal Brigade, to the bereaved families, wounded soldiers and their
families, to all the IDF soldiers and to our wonderful Jewish People.</em><br />
<span>As we end a month's battle in Gaza, and I hear questioning noises about its outcome, it is <strong>important
to me to tell all of the Jewish People that we have won. Victory is
ours from both a military and a civilian point of view.</strong></span><br />
As far <strong>as the military results </strong>are concerned, <strong>we can be holding victory celebrations</strong>. <strong>Hamas is on the rocks</strong>, at best he <strong>can stick his head out of his hiding places for a second and signal a "V" with his hands - until he gets a well-aimed rocket</strong>, that is.<br />
<strong>Hamas cannot bring in more missiles via the Egyptian border, as it did freely during the Muslim Brotherhood's rule</strong>.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
It <strong>took years for Hamas to build tens of tunnels to attack from within our communities and we have destroyed them all</strong>.<br />
<strong>Everything they attempted to do to fight us has failed, from the air, land and sea. </strong><br />
So why are we giving Hamas the feeling that it won? <strong>Every contact with the enemy in this Operation ended with a decisive victory for us</strong>. <strong>Every town we wished to conquer was in our hands within hours, with the help of the IAF and artillery units</strong>.<br />
<strong>In the Yom Kippur War</strong>, we were at a terrible disadvantage and managed to regroup and achieve victory at the price of 2,656 of our soldiers. <strong>We won - but, sadly, in our national consciousness there was created a sense of defeat</strong>. In this war, fighters <strong>and the commanders who led them</strong>, as opposed to our enemies where the commanders stay behind, <strong>went out to battle filled with motivation that cannot be contained</strong>.
Wounded soldiers refused to leave the battleground so their friends
would not go on without them. Our soldiers fought with bravery and
although we lost tens of our best sons, <strong>the army returned to its real objective: defending Israel's citizens. </strong><br />
<strong>Some of the soldiers and commanders feel that we have not completed our mission</strong>, and they <strong>want to continue to lay it in to the terrorists. That's how fighters and commanders should always feel</strong>,
it's great that they feel that way. It would be a grave misconception
for them to have left with a feeling of satisfaction and finality. I
also d<strong>o not accept the expression "the IDF retreated." The upper levels of decision making have a broader <span id="ecxIL_AD2">picture of</span> the situation than we</strong>, and <strong>not everyone who writes a hysterical blog or article understands them.</strong><br />
The IDF continues to fire without restraint at the places it needs to reach and is located in places where it should be.<br />
<strong>Hamas
and Islamic Jihad are on the run to Egypt to beg for a ceasefire
agreement and we haven't sent a single delegate to the talks.</strong><br />
Not only have they accomplished nothing in the present fighting, they have also lost a great deal. <strong>The
people of Gaza will return to their no-houses without seeing rhyme or
reason for their destruction nor can they point to any results.</strong><br />
But <strong>no less important</strong> than the military achievements, is <strong>what happened to the Jewish people during this period</strong>. <strong>The
citizenry, all sectors of it, stood strong and gave the fighters and
their officers the backing they so needed - this is how a nation's
victory looks!</strong><br />
A terrorist organization's goal is not to conquer land, but to
frighten the society it is attacking and crumble its foundations. About a
month and a half ago, before our three sweet and wonderful boys were
kidnapped, our people were divided and falling apart as they had not
been for a long time. The spoken flames rose higher than every before:
the hareidim termed the religious Zionists Amalekites, and the rest of
the nation saw them as extremist "settlers". The hareidim were seen as
corrupt parasites, the secular were considered heretics, Judaism-haters
and assimilationists.<br />
Just look at what has happened to us in the last month and a half. <strong>The Jewish people and the IDF have become one solid body</strong>, filled with power and deeply connected with tradition. Even the media, which sometimes pulled us in other <span id="ecxIL_AD3">directions</span>, were mostly swept along with the massive tidal wave of the Jewish people and its armed forces.<br />
<strong>I saw the Jewish People at home standing strong: tens of
trucks kept coming from all over the country bringing equipment and
treats for the soldiers</strong>. A bereaved father came with a
truckload and said that his son had been killed, so he is busy taking
care of his other sons - the IDF soldiers. My children found it funny
that I had never before heard of the singer Muki, but he and other
performers came to appear before us, even if only ten of us were free <span id="ecxIL_AD1">to listen</span>.
People got together to help all the wives whose husbands were called up
to duty, doing shopping and babysitting and more. The owners of a hi
tech company gave every wounded soldier a tablet. Restaurant owners and
caterers came down to run barbecues for thousands of soldiers who came
out of Gaza for a break, with totally non-observant ones carefully
keeping to kosher restrictions in choice of food, dishes and utensils.<br />
And that's not all: the mother of a hareidi soldier wounded in the
stomach by a bullet asked me to make sure he returns to fight with his
friends when he recovers. A truck came from the Mir Yeshiva with food
and equipment for the soldiers, Rav Shteinman, the leading Torah Sage in
the hareidi community today, cried at his grandson's bar mitzva,
saying: "There are soldiers at the front who are being wounded and
killed and I am expected to be happy?"<br />
(Just for the record, it is told that when his beloved wife died, he
told the paramedic who came where she was and returned to learning
Torah.)<br />
A joint dance of hundreds of soldiers from all "the tribes
of Israel" on Friday night. Kiddush for 1500 soldiers whose "Amen" made
the heavens tremble. A wounded company commander who shouts to us to
count his soldiers, his children, to make sure we haven't forgotten any
of them by mistake - as he is being evacuated. I can add hundreds of
examples of the power that emanated from our soldiers, commanders and
the wonderful people I met this past month.<br />
Let's all come out of this skewed and unfounded feeling that we have
lost and Hamas has won. Let us change the atmosphere together, when
talking to our families and colleagues at work.<br />
Let us inject our national consciousness with the understanding that this is what real victory looks like!<br />
<em>Translated from the Commander's Hebrew <span id="ecxIL_AD4">Facebook page</span> by Rochel Sylvetsky</em></div>
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<span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-30713404483810243512014-08-06T13:19:00.004+03:002014-08-06T13:19:52.072+03:00The West’s Prostration to Islam <u>Frontpagemag.com</u> On August 6, 2014<br />
<br />
<div id="BlogContent">
<i>Raymond
Ibrahim, a Shillman Fellow at the Freedom Center, was recently
interviewed by Fronda, a leading website in Poland. The
English-language version of the Polish interview, originally titled “</i><a href="http://www.fronda.pl/a/raymond-ibrahim-plaszczenie-sie-przed-islamem,39012.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i>Raymond Ibrahim: Prostration before Islam</i></span></a><i>,” follows:</i><br />
<strong>1. Who is Raymond Ibrahim? A scholar, a writer, an activist? What is his mission and the main goal?</strong><br />
Raymond Ibrahim: I am a little of all that and more. Due to my
background, academic and personal, I have had a long interest in the
Middle East and Islam, especially the historic and contemporary
interaction between Islam and Christianity. After the strikes of
September 11, 2001, I took an interest in the current events of the
region vis-à-vis the West, and what immediately struck me was how, on
the one hand, the conflict was almost identical to the historic
conflict, one of continuity—at least that is how many Muslims were
portraying it.<br />
But on the other hand, in the West, the narrative was very different
and based on a “new paradigm,” one that saw Islam and Muslims as
perpetual victims of all sorts of outside and material pressures, mostly
from the West. Thus the analyses that were being disseminated through
media and academia were to my mind immensely flawed and, while making
perfect sense to people in the West—for they were articulated through
Western, secular, materialistic paradigms—had little to do with reality
as I saw and understood it.<br />
That was one of the reasons I left academia and began writing for
more popular audiences, to try to offer a corrective to these flawed
narratives. My first book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Qaeda-Reader-Essential-Terrorist-Organization/dp/076792262X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407175739&sr=1-2"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i>The Al Qaeda Reader</i></span></a>
(2007), was meant to do precisely this—to compare the words of al-Qaeda
as delivered to the West and as delivered to fellow Muslims, and to
show how when speaking to the West, al-Qaeda and other Islamists used
Western arguments, claiming any number of grievances, political and
otherwise, as being the source of their jihad. Obviously such
arguments, widely disseminated by Western mainstream media, made perfect
sense to the West.<br />
But al-Qaeda’s Arabic writings that I discovered when I was working
at the African and Middle Eastern Division of the Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C., and which I translated for the book, made completely
different arguments, basically saying that, irrespective of all
grievances, Muslims must hate and wage jihad on all non-Muslim
“infidels” until they come under Islamic authority, according to the
worldview of Sharia, or Islamic law.<br />
So in a way, you can say my mission since then has been to open
Western eyes to the truths and reality of Islam—at least the reality of
how it is understood and practiced by many Muslims—for Western eyes have
been closed shut in recent times.<br />
<strong>2. You have a dual background. You were born and raised in
the U.S. by parents who were born and raised in a Coptic community in
Egypt. Are you the ‘clash of civilizations’ personified? What kind of
advantages and disadvantages does such an identity and upbringing lead
do?</strong><br />
Raymond Ibrahim: That’s an interesting way of putting it. Along with
obvious benefits—being bilingual (Arabic and English), for example—yes,
I do believe my background gives me more subtle advantages. Growing up
cognizant of both worlds and cultures has, I believe, imparted a higher
degree of objectivity to my thinking. Most people’s worldviews are
colored by whichever culture they are immersed in—hence exactly why so
many Western people tend to project their own values on the Islamic
world, convinced that any violence and intolerance that comes from that
region must be a product of some sort of socio-political or economic
“grievance”—some sort of material, not religious, factor. While I
understand, appreciate and participate in Western values and norms,
because of my “dual” background, I also cannot project such values and
norms on non-Western peoples (and vice-versa, of course).<br />
This has caused my worldview to be, I believe, more neutral and
objective, less colored by cultural values and references. Conversely, I
have, so far, not encountered any notable disadvantages from such a
background—other than perhaps being overly objective and not always able
to participate in the common.<br />
<strong>3. In addition to numerous articles in a variety of media, you are also the author of two books. The last one, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621570258/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1621570258&linkCode=as2&tag=uhurnetw-20"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i>Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians</i></span></a> argues that martyrdom is not a thing from the past. It is not a book with a happy ending, is it?</strong><br />
I prefer to think of it as a dire wake up call to the West. The
topic of Muslim persecution of Christians is a perfect example of what
I’m talking about. In <i>Crucified Again</i>, I look at the history of
this phenomenon, the Islamic scriptures that support it, and the modern
era. And what I find and document is unwavering continuity. According
to Islamic teaching, Christians and other non-Muslims are “infidels,”
and as such, they are seen as at best third class subjects in Islamic
states. They cannot build or renovate churches, display crosses or
Bibles; they have to pay tribute with humility, according to Koran 9:29;
they cannot speak well of Christianity or criticize Islam. They are
even required to give up their seats to a Muslim if he demands it,
according to strict Islamic teaching (and as found in the “<a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/western-ignorance-of-the-conditions-of-omar/"><span style="color: #0433ff;">Conditions of Omar</span></a>,” an important text that discusses how Christian minorities are to be treated under Islam).<br />
Now if you look at history—as recorded by early Arabic/Islamic
historians—you will see that that is exactly how Christians were treated
under Islam for centuries; that is exactly how nations like Egypt,
Syria, Turkey, and all of north Africa, went from being Christian
majority to Muslim majority over the centuries: most Christians opted to
convert to Islam rather than constantly suffer from third-class status
as well as sporadic persecution.<br />
And today, what we are seeing is simply the ongoing continuation of
history, as Christians continue to be persecuted, continue to dwindle in
numbers in lands that were Christian centuries before Western Europe
embraced the faith. Yet, according to Western analysts, etc., all of
this is some sort of “misunderstanding” or because Muslims are angry
about Israel—anything and everything but codified religious intolerance,
even though the latter is so well documented, doctrinally,
historically, and in current events.<br />
<strong>4. There are many initiatives aimed at bringing the ‘spirit
of dialogue’ between the religions. In the Catholic Church we even
celebrate a Day of Islam. What is your opinion on this kind of
inter-faith outreach? Will it be successful in decreasing the
persecution of Christians or helping individuals like Asia Bibi?</strong><br />
Raymond Ibrahim: No, it will exacerbate Christian persecution. From
my perspective, the more the West and/or Christianity kowtow to
Islam—and that is what modern day “interfaith outreach” often amounts
to—the more aggressive that religion becomes.<br />
Here, again, is another example of Westerners projecting their norms
onto others, namely, Muslims. In the Western paradigm, itself an
offshoot of Christianity, showing tolerance and forgiveness will
supposedly cause some sort of reciprocation from the one being forgiven
and tolerated—since everything is always supposedly a
“misunderstanding.” Yet in Islam, might has always made right, and
“tolerance” has always been seen as sign of equivocation or weakness—a
lack of conviction. If Christians praise Islam, so many Muslims
conclude, that is because they feel it is the truth—not because they are
trying to find commonalities, a paradigm that is foreign to classical
Islam, which sees the world in terms of right (Islam) and wrong
(non-Islam).<br />
Again, history sheds some light on this. In the medieval era, there
were Christians like Francis of Assisi who tried to have dialogue with
Muslims—but in order to get to the truth, including by asking hard
questions about Islam often in the context of Christian teaching. Such
dialogue is of course admirable because it is sincere. But trying to
have dialogue in order to find and parade some minor
“commonalities”—while overlooking and ignoring the fundamental
differences, which are much more immense and the true sources of
conflict—is simply a game of wasting time.<br />
<strong>5. In your writings regarding the Muslim persecutions of
Christians, two themes are constantly recurring. Firstly, you claim that
it constitutes “an elephant in the room” and secondly you believe that
liberal academia and media are biased “whitewashing Islam and blaming
the West” for Islamic attacks against non-Muslims. Can you explain the
reasons for such arguments?</strong><br />
It’s the “elephant in the room” because few things show such
remarkable continuity between the past and the present—while still being
thoroughly ignored and treated as an aberration by academia, media, and
government—as Muslim persecution of Christians. If you look at the
true history recorded by both Muslims and Christians during the Medieval
era—one Muslim historian tells of how one caliph destroyed 30,000
churches—you will see that the persecution and subjugation of Christians
is an ironclad fact of history.<br />
Today, not only do we see Christians persecuted from one end of the
Islamic world to the other, but we see the same exact patterns of
persecution that Christians experienced centuries ago, including
hostility for and restrictions on churches, hostility for the crucifix
and other Christian symbols and icons, restrictions on Christian worship
and freedom. (I discuss this in more depth <a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/western-ignorance-of-the-conditions-of-omar/"><span style="color: #0433ff;">here</span></a> and <a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/muslim-persecution-of-christians/the-existential-elephant-in-the-christian-persecution-room/"><span style="color: #0433ff;">here</span></a>.)
As for academia and media, they reject modern day persecution of
Christians for a plethora of reasons—not least because they tend to be
ideologically anti-Christian—but primarily because it contradicts their
entire narrative, specifically the notion that, far from being
persecuted, Christians themselves are the most intolerant groups, and
that Muslims are “misunderstood others” who have been oppressed by the
West.<br />
These themes are today so predominant in the West that few can
believe they are almost entirely fabricated—but so they are, according
to both history and current events, both of which are naturally
suppressed or distorted by academia and media in the interest of keeping
their ideologically-charged narrative alive.<br />
<strong>6. In her book, <i>Tenth Parallel</i>, Eliza Griswold writes
that religion becomes means of political emancipation, especially
between the equator and the tenth parallel, where Christianity and Islam
meet. So perhaps it is not about spirituality but power?</strong><br />
Raymond Ibrahim: Again, one need only turn to history, followed by
doctrine, to see that mainstream Islam has always been about power. Its
founder and prophet, Muhammad, was a warlord, who went on caravan raids
and incited his followers to attack and plunder other tribes that
rejected his “prophecy,” seizing their property and women and
children—and all in the context of “God told me so.” After his death,
his followers did the same, giving people three choices: be part of
their “team” by converting, or else keep their religious beliefs, but
pay tribute and live as third class subjects, or else die. In this
context, and over the course of several centuries of jihadi conquest,
the Islamic world was forged.<br />
All this is well justified by the Koran and Islamic Sharia. Compare
and contrast this with Christianity’s founder, Jesus Christ: far from a
warlord, he preached mercy, peace, and spirituality. And that’s one of
the problems: Westerners are so well acquainted with Christianity that
they tend to project its approach to Islam—naively thinking that all
religions must be the same, primarily spiritual, not concerned with the
temporal. But Islam is immensely concerned with the temporal—with
power.<br />
<strong>7. You have written about conceptual failures dominating the
Western discourse on Islam. What are the main fallacies and why are they
dangerous?</strong><br />
Raymond Ibrahim: Along with the aforementioned fallacy of projecting
Christian/Western worldviews onto a distinctly different
religion/civilization like Islam, secular Westerners almost always try
to understand Islam through secular and materialistic paradigms—the only
paradigms they themselves are familiar with. Thus the mainstream
interpretation in the West is that “radical Islam” is a byproduct of
various sorts of material discontent (economic, political, social) and
has little to do with the religion itself.<br />
Westerners apparently think this way because the secular, Western
experience has been such that people respond with violence primarily
when they feel they are politically, economically, or socially
oppressed. While true that many non-Western peoples fit into this
paradigm, the fact is, the ideologies of Islam have the intrinsic
capacity to prompt Muslims to violence and intolerance vis-à-vis the
“other,” irrespective of grievances.<br />
Conceptually, then, it must be first understood that many of the
problematic ideologies associated with radical Islam trace directly back
to Sharia, Islamic law. Jihad as offensive warfare to subjugate
“infidels” (non-Muslims); mandated social discrimination against
non-Muslim minorities living in Muslim nations (the regulations
governing <i>ahl al-dhimma</i>); the obligation to hate non-Muslims—<a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/from-the-arab-world/muslim-husbands-must-hate-non-muslim-wives/"><span style="color: #0433ff;">even if a Muslim is married to one</span></a>—all
of these are clearly defined aspects that have historically been part
of Islam’s worldview and not “open to interpretation.”<br />
For example, the obligation to wage expansionist jihad is as “open to
interpretation” as the obligation to perform the Five Pillars of Islam,
including praying and fasting. The same textual sources and methods of
jurisprudence that have made it clear that prayer and fasting are
obligatory, have also made it clear that jihad is also obligatory; the
only difference is that, whereas prayer and fasting is an “individual”
duty, jihad is understood to be a “communal” duty (a <i>fard kifaya</i>). All these intricacies must be understood before Westerners can understand Islam on its own terms.<br />
<strong>8. One of the most popular views as to the reasons of Islamic
terrorism is that it is based on political and economic grievances. The
recipe to achieve the peaceful world would be then to remove the
factors contributing to poverty or oppression and this way disarm the
‘relative deprivation’ bomb. Do you think it is feasible?</strong><br />
Raymond Ibrahim: Again, as mentioned, political and economic
grievances may be a reality; yet it is a distinct fact that, wherever
Islam is—including in immensely rich nations like the Gulf
nations—violence and intolerance of non-Muslims exist. For example,
Christian persecution around the world today is being committed at the
hands of Muslims of all races, languages, cultures, and socio-political
circumstances: Muslims from among America’s allies (Saudi Arabia) and
its enemies (Iran); Muslims from economically rich nations (Qatar) and
from poor nations (Somalia and Yemen); Muslims from “Islamic republic”
nations (Afghanistan) and from “moderate” nations (Malaysia and
Indonesia); Muslims from nations rescued by America (Kuwait) and Muslims
claiming “grievances” against America. Moreover, much of the
underdeveloped world is suffering from economic, political, and social
problems—and yet it is the Islamic world where terrorism in the name of
God (Allah) is rampant. One does not hear of, say, disenfranchised
Cuban dissidents crashing explosive-laden vehicles into government
buildings—while screaming Jesus is great. Yet sceams of Allah is great
in the context of terror attacks are ubiquitous.<br />
<strong>9. You have devoted one of your publications to the concept of <i>taqiyya</i>. Can you explain what <i>taqiyya</i> is and why is it important to know it in the West?</strong><br />
Raymond Ibrahim: Although Muslims are exhorted to be truthful, <a href="http://www.meforum.org/2538/taqiyya-islam-rules-of-war"><span style="color: #0433ff;">taqiyya</span></a>
is an Islamic doctrine that permits them to deceive non-Muslims, who by
nature are deemed enemies. Some Western scholars and apologists for
Islam insist that taqiyya is a very arcane teaching developed by Shi’a
and to be used only when their lives are in danger. In reality,
however, taqiyya—as well as its sister teaching, <a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/from-the-arab-world/tawriya-lying/"><span style="color: #0433ff;">tawriya</span></a>—is
used by mainstream Islam (Sunnism) and gives Muslims great freedom to
deceive infidels if the deception can be rationalized as a way to help
empower Islam over non-Muslims.<br />
Normative Islamic teaching is so that, almost anything can be
rationalized as permissible—for example “martyrdom operations” (even
though suicide is banned by Islam)—as long as they can be perceived as
helping empower Islam. Islamic prophet Muhammad himself permitted
deceit, including to one’s wife. One of the few Arabic language books
devoted to the subject, <i>At-Taqiyya fi’l-Islam</i> (Dissimulation in Islam) makes it clear that <i>taqiyya</i> is
hardly limited to Shi‘a dissimulating in fear of persecution. Written
by Sami Mukaram, a former Islamic studies professor at the American
University of Beirut and author of some twenty-five books on Islam, the
opening sentences of the book clearly demonstrate the ubiquity and broad
applicability of <i>taqiyya</i>: “<i>Taqiyya</i> is of fundamental
importance in Islam. Practically every Islamic sect agrees to it and
practices it … We can go so far as to say that the practice of <i>taqiyya </i>is mainstream in Islam, and that those few sects not practicing it diverge from the mainstream … <i>Taqiyya</i> is very prevalent in Islamic politics, especially in the modern era.”<br />
<strong>10. Do you have any words of advice to countries like Poland
where the influence of Islam is still relatively weak but increasing due
to immigration and certain radicalization of indigenous Muslim groups
(e.g. Polish Tatars stopped their traditional prayers for Poland which
used to be their custom)?</strong><br />
Raymond Ibrahim: My advice is to take heed of what I call “<a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/islams-rule-of-numbers-and-the-london-beheading/"><span style="color: #0433ff;">Islam’s Rule of Numbers</span></a>,”
which is basically the unwavering, statistical fact that, the more
Muslims grow in numbers (and thus strength), the more aggressive they
become. In the U.S., for example, where Muslims are <a href="http://religions.pewforum.org/reports"><span style="color: #0433ff;">less than 1% of the population</span></a>,
acts of Islamic intolerance are relatively uncommon. Islamic
assertiveness is limited to political activism dedicated to portraying
Islam as a “religion of peace,” the painting of any and all critics as
“Islamophobes,” and sporadic, but clandestine, acts of terror.<br />
In some Western European nations, where Muslims make for much larger
minorities—for example, the UK and France—open violence and religious
intolerance is common. But because they are still a vulnerable minority,
Islamic violence is always placed in the context of “grievances,” a
word that, as we have seen, pacifies Westerners.<br />
Where Muslim numbers reach 35-50% of a population, the full-blown
jihad is often declared, as in Nigeria, which although is half Christian
half Muslim is also one of the most dangerous places in the world to be
a Christian. In short, Islamic aggressiveness is very much a product
of Islamic strength in numbers. I discussed this at length <a href="http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/islams-rule-of-numbers-and-the-london-beheading/"><span style="color: #0433ff;">here</span></a>.<br />
<strong>11. Inevitably one stumbles upon the ‘so what?’ question.
Nobody persecutes Christians in France and churches are not burnt in
Germany. It is doubtful that Europe will be washed away with the waves
of Islam. To the contrary, it looks like Europe wants to leave religions
behind. Would you not say so?</strong><br />
Raymond Ibrahim: Much of this view is based on selfishness, of the
modern West’s egoistic and highly individualistic worldview. What such
people are really saying is that, by and large, if nothing changes and
people remain indifferent, they themselves and their generation will go
through life fine without much worry from the Islamic question. But
this position also shows absolute indifference to future generations and
the world they will inherit. In short, yes, most Europeans today may
not personally suffer from Islam. But they are opening the floodgates
wide to the potential suffering of their descendants.<br />
</div>
<hr class="Divider" style="text-align: center;" />
Article printed from FrontPage Magazine: <strong dir="ltr">http://www.frontpagemag.com</strong><br />
URL to article: <strong dir="ltr">http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/frontpagemag-com/the-wests-prostration-to-islam/</strong><br />
<span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-2799345665135354032014-08-06T07:15:00.000+03:002014-08-06T07:15:02.012+03:00THERE ARE NO SURPRISES HERE FOR THOSE OF US WHO SAW IT COMING<span style="background-color: transparent;"></span><br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<div style="color: green; font-size: 14pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">Look</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> who's in the White House!</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent;">
</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent;">
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<br />
</div>
<span>Arif Alikhan - Assistant Secretary for Policy Development</span><br />
</div>
<span>for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security</span><br />
</div>
<br />
<span>Mohammed Elibiary - Homeland Security Adviser</span><br />
</div>
<br />
<span>Rashad Hussain - Special Envoy to the (OIC)</span><br />
</div>
<span>Organization of the Islamic Conference</span><br />
</div>
<br />
<span>Salam al-Marayati - Obama Adviser -</span><br />
<span>founder Muslim Public Affairs Council</span><br />
<span>and its current executive director</span><br />
<br />
<span>Imam Mohamed Magid - Obama's Sharia Czar -</span><br />
<span>Islamic Society of North America</span><br />
<br />
<span>Eboo Patel - Advisory Council on Faith-Based</span><br />
<span>Neighborhood Partnerships</span><br />
<span>This is flat out scary!!!!</span><br />
<br />
<img border="0" height="275" hspace="5" src="https://bay172.mail.live.com/Handlers/ImageProxy.mvc?bicild=&canary=emEnujxZnMh4vO7u2VQJ3TelLJQZnf9wNXMb%2bRWBL7s%3d0&url=http%3a%2f%2fih.constantcontact.com%2ffs164%2f1102887337241%2fimg%2f562.jpg" vspace="5" width="400" /> <br />
<div align="left" style="font-size: 14pt; text-align: left;">
<span>Fox's Judge Jeanine Interviews Emerson: Hamas Gets Away With Murder </span></div>
<div align="left" style="text-align: left;">
by <strong>Steve Emerson - Investigative Project on Terrorism</strong><br />
</div>
<div align="left" style="text-align: left;">
Interview on Fox News</div>
</span><span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-866943227633898842014-08-05T18:34:00.000+03:002014-08-05T18:34:04.111+03:00"Perhaps all this [destruction in Gaza] is for the best... <table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td bgcolor="#FFFFFF" colspan="1" height="60" rowspan="1" style="background-color: white;" width="100%"><table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" id="ecxcontent_LETTER.BLOCK6" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
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<strong>we'll build them better and more beautiful, </strong></div>
<div align="center" style="font-size: 20pt; text-align: center;">
<strong>and that will be a testimony </strong></div>
<div align="center" style="font-size: 20pt; text-align: center;">
<strong>to the victory of the Palestinian people."</strong></div>
<div align="center" style="font-size: 8pt; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001_bHo2pxZJZ8kCGpE_k3tB1ALi_IM-E5n2KeSLwUZA1_41QuqFhAR7D4JvG1vEsiqL_bUOYoQz3XPZh0-sWWuwlExtd_yqvE4otFLsAm52nkNdI3NFsxHnvlZOfmVUHvMQRtHFy1rYgmMcLFyLtD6jIfo4YG4HG_iFe2LhURmDhmGyNXWfm56hKQIMciE6yYsCH99atSSTH_Zp_E6cdj6Rg==&c=m0w2VbWOAU3fCCysQLq71zimdkFR4xRQ1kw7nkU1Yiq63uJ8tZV50w==&ch=5jSLyldjTvNljx1IvPbTVi1p-s1lETbCxjfxzLNKfgWrv5COgpVoYw==" shape="rect" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=12249</a></div>
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
by Itamar Marcus</div>
<br />
Hamas is attempting to convince Palestinians that its military actions during the Gaza conflict were <span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001_bHo2pxZJZ8kCGpE_k3tB1ALi_IM-E5n2KeSLwUZA1_41QuqFhAR7D4JvG1vEsiq8aNabSzZ_RqotWHx289Lnd3_TTokE0QNot1XyKihWc261sUztUcFt8cbrpOKRJVBoAj8WJFqUVBc7RnZCLkBawtEBE916QT9lHGIMWykldNZxJ19P2d87PskeeaHzjBzY64HYLT0skTUCrxjs_NVLw==&c=m0w2VbWOAU3fCCysQLq71zimdkFR4xRQ1kw7nkU1Yiq63uJ8tZV50w==&ch=5jSLyldjTvNljx1IvPbTVi1p-s1lETbCxjfxzLNKfgWrv5COgpVoYw==" shape="rect" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">victorious</a> </span>and that the war it caused, with all its destruction, was beneficial to the Palestinians. As <span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001_bHo2pxZJZ8kCGpE_k3tB1ALi_IM-E5n2KeSLwUZA1_41QuqFhAR7PhtISydD1ZnPI39VWRyULJxBHIylsfVrgH0HQRlOZhnB43yGRdB-eixsK0jx3V4S6qdmrXy3yaqGaHi3rHO7VJiuCmnX0TG_GTn3-ewb717xNc0HtjwNy0=&c=m0w2VbWOAU3fCCysQLq71zimdkFR4xRQ1kw7nkU1Yiq63uJ8tZV50w==&ch=5jSLyldjTvNljx1IvPbTVi1p-s1lETbCxjfxzLNKfgWrv5COgpVoYw==" shape="rect" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Palestinian Media Watch</a> </span>previously reported, Hamas justified the civilian deaths it caused in Gaza, claiming that it was <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001_bHo2pxZJZ8kCGpE_k3tB1ALi_IM-E5n2KeSLwUZA1_41QuqFhAR7BoV27hRt4nxfx4z77rlaEPeOxxi8_-5wUARZdbCkzaN5K_iEwCV0D6lKaAk_W9zyVDe0jEwgRPFesK-vlaur22YAJgNAWIeWALtWjsELJpmkfOactp5BfK-pXTRFlaHCnRtKz1IbegEO5DYCguWHGTkY55ykqoi8A==&c=m0w2VbWOAU3fCCysQLq71zimdkFR4xRQ1kw7nkU1Yiq63uJ8tZV50w==&ch=5jSLyldjTvNljx1IvPbTVi1p-s1lETbCxjfxzLNKfgWrv5COgpVoYw==" shape="rect" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">beneficial to those killed</a> to have died for Allah as <em>Shahids</em>
- Martyrs. Now, Hamas is justifying the widespread destruction it
caused to infrastructure and homes, saying, "Perhaps all this
[destruction] is for the best":<br />
<br />
<strong>Al-Aqsa TV host: </strong>"[Israel] has bombed
everything: homes, factories, institutions, organizations and mosques,
because it wants to keep us busy with reconstruction. Maybe it's for the
best, so we'll build them again<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />better and nicer, as evidence of the
Palestinian people's victory. We'll build them bigger, with monuments
for the extent of the crime and of [our] achievement in Shuja'iya, Beit
Hanoun and other places."<br />
<div align="right" style="text-align: right;">
<a class="ecximgCaptionAnchor" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001_bHo2pxZJZ8kCGpE_k3tB1ALi_IM-E5n2KeSLwUZA1_41QuqFhAR7Hh5O_gmunAE7zj96kraC3tMDdJ8Aj9HaHvEfQmPuEkPL11w-9SAsjx0oMMDJiuqkjc7qWnFZNPv_ki50_LhI1--Ka4hRoFt79ftG-UjFsSbGus7g1B1KK7cSN9iPsBGE6Kw9lH_XTvU&c=m0w2VbWOAU3fCCysQLq71zimdkFR4xRQ1kw7nkU1Yiq63uJ8tZV50w==&ch=5jSLyldjTvNljx1IvPbTVi1p-s1lETbCxjfxzLNKfgWrv5COgpVoYw==" shape="rect" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="336" hspace="5" src="https://bay172.mail.live.com/Handlers/ImageProxy.mvc?bicild=&canary=emEnujxZnMh4vO7u2VQJ3TelLJQZnf9wNXMb%2bRWBL7s%3d0&url=http%3a%2f%2fpalwatch.org%2fSTORAGE%2fBulletins%2f2013%2fbook%2520ad.gif" vspace="5" width="505" /></a>[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), July 29, 2014]</div>
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<span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37178657.post-64373510629646875912014-08-05T07:17:00.001+03:002014-08-05T07:17:07.434+03:00 “Let Us Draw Strength”<div>
Tonight begins Tisha B’Av, the most solemn day of the Jewish
calendar. It marks the day of the destruction of our two Temples and a
number of other national calamities. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" target="_blank"><img height="346" src="https://bay172.mail.live.com/Handlers/ImageProxy.mvc?bicild=&canary=emEnujxZnMh4vO7u2VQJ3TelLJQZnf9wNXMb%2bRWBL7s%3d0&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.levitt.com%2fletters%2fpics%2fPL-2012-07-03" width="506" /></a></div>
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<div>
On this day we fast and mourn, read the Book of Lamentations. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
We also look to the religious meaning in our lives, our purpose, and
examine ourselves in terms of our proper conduct.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
I had not planned to post at all today. And even though, in the end, I
decided to send out this short posting, I will still avoid news and political
analysis. There will always be time to return to this.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Instead, I am writing to share a beautiful message from Warren Goldstein,
Chief Rabbi of South Africa (with thanks to Diana S. and Rebecca M.).</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<a href="http://youtu.be/T7cN8p33328" target="_blank"><span style="color: #9b00d3;">http://youtu.be/T7cN8p33328</span></a><a name='more'></a><br /><br />It is a message we
need to hear at this difficult time.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
~~~~~~~~~~</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
We are taught that Tisha B’Av derives from the Sin of the Spies (Meraglim):
Moses sent spies to check out the land of Ca’anan, before the people of Israel
were to enter. They returned, and 10 of the 12 who had been sent told the
people, we cannot do this, we will not succeed. But the key phrase is
that, “We were like grasshoppers in our eyes.” We felt ourselves small and
so others saw us as small.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
This is the ultimate lesson for these difficult times – that we not see
ourselves as small in our own eyes, and that we believe in what it is possible
for us to do, and what we are meant to be doing, with the help of the
Almighty.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Tradition also tells us that the Moshiach will be born on Tisha B’Av. Thus
the symbol of ultimate hope and redemption.</div>
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</div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" target="_blank"><img height="320" src="https://bay172.mail.live.com/Handlers/ImageProxy.mvc?bicild=&canary=emEnujxZnMh4vO7u2VQJ3TelLJQZnf9wNXMb%2bRWBL7s%3d0&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.endtimes.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk%2fimages%2fgifs%2fjerusalem.jpg" width="450" /></a></div>
<div>
<strong><span style="font-size: xx-small; size: 1;">Credit: Keep
Jerusalem</span></strong></div>
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<strong></strong> </div>
<div>
<strong>~~~~~~~~~~</strong></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
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<span class="fullpost"></span>GS Don Morris, Ph.D./Chana Givonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14028217914514268498noreply@blogger.com0