Shin Bet: Significant rise in Palestinian attacks

YAAKOV LAPPIN   A total of 139 attacks, including firebombings and improvised explosives occurred in the W. Bank and east J'lem in last month.

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) released a report Tuesday documenting a significant rise in Palestinian attacks in the West Bank and east Jerusalem in February. A total of 139 attacks, including firebombings and improvised explosives, occurred in February, compared to 83 in January. Two members of the security forces and one civilian were wounded during violent disturbances involving rocks and Molotov cocktails in east Jerusalem and the southern West Bank, according to the figures. One civilian sustained wounds in the Beitunya region, and two security officers were hurt in Jerusalem and Hebron.

The Middle East's real apartheid

Efraim Karsh
The Jerusalem Post
March 5, 2012

http://www.meforum.org/3186/middle-east-apartheid

In light of Israel Apartheid Week, which hit cities and campuses throughout the world recently, supporters of the Jewish state find it difficult to agree on the best response to this hate fest. Some suggest emphasizing Israel's peacemaking efforts, others propose rebranding the country by highlighting its numerous achievements and success stories. Still others advocate reminding the world of "what Zionism is – a movement of Jewish national liberation – and what it isn't – racist." Each of these approaches has its merits yet none will do the trick.
Peace seeking and/or prosperity are no proof of domestic benevolence and equality. The most brutal regimes have peacefully coexisted with their neighbors while repressing their own populations; the most prosperous societies have discriminated against vulnerable minorities. South Africa was hardly impoverished and technologically backward; the United States, probably the most successful and affluent nation in recent times was largely segregated not that long ago.

'Apartheid' Bus Lines Update

myrightword

Further to my previous post (here) I was sent this fisking of the accusation of "Palestinian only" buses which also asks how a policy which excluded Jews from a bus line could be considered racist towards Arabs in the first place.

- and see the Yesha Council reaction below -

I also picked up this:

Another point one could make is how it is possible that the PA did not succeed to set up normal public transportation during the last twenty years. They received plenty foreign aid to do so.

http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2013/03/06/state-dept-has-ramped-up-programs-to-bring-muslim-students-to-us/

 MARK SILVERBERG

In the aftermath of World War II, with the hideous revelation that two-thirds of European Jews had been systematically exterminated by the Nazis, anti-Semitism became unfashionable. But that is no longer the case. As the memory of the Holocaust fades into history, as we continue to transfer petro-wealth to our enemies; as Europe morphs into Eurabia; as Islamists take control over the UN and an increasing number of Middle East and North African countries, and as our universities become hotbeds for virulent anti-Israel teachings and rhetoric - logic fades, facts become confused with fictions, distinctions between democracies and tyrannies become irrelevant, history becomes unimportant, and anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism become indistinguishable.

"A Heavy Struggle"

There is a lot of hard work to do, a lot of heavy pulling, to bring our nation to where it needs to be.  I hold on to hope that all will yet be well, but am sorely disheartened.

 

Yesterday, I quoted Naftali Bennett, head of Habayit Hayehudi, thus:

 

"for days after the election the Likud refused to speak to the Jewish Home. They boycotted us… we expected to be a natural partner and to be the first to enter the Netanyahu government."  The message he claims he got was, "the religious Zionist party won’t enter the coalition, at any price."   

 

What Netanyahu did was foolish, I said. Rude.  Conveying to the newcomer Bennett a sense of being excluded.  But, I asked, now that Netanyahu had contacted Bennett was the prime minister's original rudeness sufficient reason for Bennett to have fashioned his current policy as he has?  

Belgian Attitudes Toward Jews

Peter Martino

The survey, conducted by Professor Mark Elchardus also showed that Islamic anti-Jewish feelings are widespread among all socio-economic and ethic groups, regardless of whether the pupils are from richer or poorer families, or whether the parents consider themselves moderate or traditionalist. This leads to the conclusion that the anti-Jewish sentiments are caused by Islam, and not by socio-economic factors.

Belgium, your average European country, sits the middle of Western Europe, between Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands. This small country of 11 million inhabitants houses both the headquarters of NATO and the European Union. If one wants to know what life is like for Jews today in Europe, the situation in Belgium is a significant measure.
As it happens, the situation is pretty bad. And worsening. Last year, anti-Semitic abuse and violence rose by 30 percent, with 88 documented complaints, compared to 62 in the previous year. Because many victims do not complain, the actual number of incidents is definitely higher. The Belgian trend mirrors the situation in neighboring France, which saw anti-Semitic attacks rise to 614 in 2012 from 389 in 2011. The most serious incident was the murder of a rabbi and three Jewish schoolchildren by an Islamic fanatic in Toulouse in March 2012.

Ailing Turkish Politician Treated in Israel

Anav Silverman / Tazpit News Agency

Kemal Unakitankidney transplantMagen David AdomSuhila Abd el-SalamTurkish governmentTurkish Politician

Kemal Unakitan. Photo: Haber5.

A senior member of the Turkish government, former Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan, recently visited Israel for stem cell treatment. Unakitan, who is suffering from chronic renal failure, served seven years with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government from 2002-2009.
According to Turkish media, the 67-year-old Turkish politician was treated at Tel Aviv’s International Center for Cell Therapy & Cancer Immunotherapy (CTCI) for almost two and a half months.

Code Pink Stages Massive Anti-Israel Rally Consisting of 4 People, 8 Cardboard Boxes

Daniel Greenfield

Apparently Code Pink protesters are outnumbered by Jewish Settlements… even in Washington D.C.
Even more disturbingly only one of the Code Pink protesters is wearing a Keffiyah. By Code Pink standards that practically qualifies as a hate crime.

"Deplorable"

Now I'm referring not to the state of the world, but to the state of Israeli politics.  I am so often proud of who we are. But now?  I would gladly grab hold of certain political shoulders and shake until the heads that sit on those respective shoulders rattled.  Where? I want to ask. Where is your devotion to the state and the greater good during these difficult times?

 

To whose shoulders am I alluding? There is, in my opinion, enough blame to go around.  No one that I'm seeing stands up as a leader (or even a potential leader), resolute in his vision, embracing his fellow Jews, and focused on the nation and not his own political future or that of his particular party.

 

Do I know what's in people's heads?  Not with any clarity.  Which makes posting difficult.

 

~~~~~~~~~~ 

THANKS TO NORWEGIAN NRK STATE TV, 1.5 MILLION NORWEGIANS BELIEVE ISRAELIS ARE EVIL……..

KGS

Taxpayer funded propagandists.
UPDATE:  The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs(MFA) attacks the whistle blower instead of the root of the problem. (NIJ blog)

For the MFA it is apparently more severe that the director of Palestinian Media Watch has an address the Norwegian government disapproves of, than Norwegian tax money going to reward the men and women who deliberately and with pride have killed Jews – the more killed the greater the reward. The attack on Itamar Marcus is very undignified.

It’s well known that the Norwegian state propaganda machine has been arrayed against the Jewish state of Israel (facilitated by it’s taxpayer funded mouth organ, NRK) for decades. That well funded apparatus has maintained a campaign of vilification against Israel, largely for being having cast as the guilty party in the gross failure of the Oslo Accords.

According to a study of the Holocaust Center 38% of the Norwegians consider that what Israel does to Palestinians, is equal to what the Nazis did to the Jews. It’s universally recognized that the Nazis are the symbol of absolute evil. Norway has a population of 5 million. If you deduct children, that means at least 1.5 million Norwegians have a devilish view of the Jewish state.

The Holocaust Just Got More Shocking

 

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum/Collection of Eugenia Hochberg Lanceter - A group of Jewish women at the entrance to the Brody ghetto in Eastern Galicia, 1942. The sign is written in German, Ukrainian and Polish.

 

By ERIC LICHTBLAU

 

THIRTEEN years ago, researchers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum began the grim task of documenting all the ghettos, slave labor sites, concentration camps and killing factories that the Nazis set up throughout Europe.

What they have found so far has shocked even scholars steeped in the history of the Holocaust. The researchers have cataloged some 42,500 Nazi ghettos and camps throughout Europe, spanning German-controlled areas from France to Russia and Germany itself, during Hitler’s reign of brutality from 1933 to 1945.
The figure is so staggering that even fellow Holocaust scholars had to make sure they had heard it correctly when the lead researchers previewed their findings at an academic forum in late January at the German Historical Institute in Washington.

Hagel Takes Over at Pentagon, Gives Bizarre Rambling Speech

Daniel Greenfield

The real question is whether the former Senator from Nebraska and Tehran gives any other kind of speeches. At the Department of Defense, Hagel gave a rambling speech in which he graciously informed the Pentagon that they were not joining his team, he was joining their team.

Then Hagel proceeded to share deep insights such as these from the bottomless pit of his intellect.

We are living in a very defining time in the world.  You all know that.  It’s a difficult time.  It’s a time of tremendous challenge.  But there are opportunities.  And I think it’s important that we all stay focused, obviously, on our jobs, on our responsibilities, which are immense, but not lose sight of the possibilities for a better world.

Staying focused is clearly a problem for Chuck.

If there’s one thing America has stood for more than any one thing, is that we are a force for good.  We make mistakes.  We’ve made mistakes.  We’ll continue to make mistakes.  But we are a force for good.

I think Hagel might be confusing America with himself. Should the Secretary of Defense commence by announcing that America is a well-meaning bumbling idiot?

Germans Lurching towards Anti-Semitism

Isi Leibler
http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=4518

In the aftermath of the Holocaust, successive German governments have meticulously upheld their obligations to the Jewish people. Study of the Holocaust is a mandatory component of the German state education curriculum, Holocaust denial is classified as a crime and restitution commitments were honored and even exceeded.

Chancellor Angela Merkel is a genuine friend of the Jews and despite intense political pressures and occasional minor vacillations, has consistently supported Israel, describing its security as “part of my country’s raison d’etre”. However in recent years, as in other European countries, German public opinion has turned against Israel, perceiving it as the principal threat to global stability and peace. This hostility has increasingly assumed overt anti-Semitic tones.

There is growing resentment against Jews, who are blamed for imposing excessive emphasis on collective German national guilt for the Holocaust.

U.S. Helping Israel's Defense

Yaakov Lappin

Cooperation between the two countries today is at an unprecedented level. The other part involves devastating offensive capabilities, designed to surprise adversaries, bringing any war to a swift conclusion.

The cheering and the hugs exchanged by Israeli and American teams this week at Palmahim Air Force base, south of Tel Aviv, marked a historical turn of events.
For the first time ever, a successful test launch had been carried out of the Arrow 3 missile defense system, designed to stop Iranian long-range ballistic missiles – even those carrying nuclear warheads – in space.
The product of Israeli-American cooperation, and years of research and development led by the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), together with the US Department of Defense's Missile Defense Agency, the successful test represented a leap forward in missile defense technology, and a key development in the ongoing Israeli-Iranian arms race.

Israeli Politics: On the Edge of the Precipice

Isi Leibler 
http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=4509

There is madness in the air. Israel faces extraordinary challenges whilst virtually all our leaders uninhibitedly continue their intrigues and machinations in pursuit of power. They regard their responsibility to the national interest as a distant mirage uttering occasional hypocritical rhetoric.

Our friends and allies rub their eyes in disbelief and the barbarians at our gates rejoice as they observe such irresponsible posturing.

Enough is enough. We must convey the message that if our politicians fail to behave responsibly and get their act together, we will send them home at the next elections.

"A Mess"

The mess is of considerable proportions, as I see it.  Redeemable, yes.  With determination, inner confidence, strength and faith.  But are we seeing these factors in play sufficiently?  A friend told me today that she's feeling demoralized, and she's not alone.

 

I actually had hopes a day ago, that by the time I sat down to write today, late in my day, there would have been an announcement about Bennett having signed on to the coalition.  Yesterday Likud was saying that it was coming any minute -- maybe last night, maybe during the day today.  Now reports have it that it will be in the "next few days."  Obviously, while there has been progress, everything is not going quite as smoothly as certain parties would have us believe. I believe the catch is Livni's role in the government.

#24h In the Life of a Soldier: Facing Hezbollah on the Israeli-Lebanese Border

 IDF
Episode 1 - Facing Hezbollah on the Israeli-Lebanese Border
The area near the Israeli-Lebanese border is beautiful. The rainy season has painted the area green. We’re joining a group from the Herev Battalion, most of whom are Druze soldiers permanently stationed at Israel’s northern border. Their base is only ten meters away from the border. You can clearly see the Lebanese villages on the other side.

These soldiers know every square foot of the area. “We need to be ready to respond at any given time,” says Osama, a company commander. “Our soldiers are brave and willing to give everything for the mission. Our strength is everything we’ve got.”
They aren’t playing around – the danger on the northern border is real. “Each of my soldiers is defending his own home,” Osama says. “Almost all of us live less than 30 minutes away from the border. During the Second Lebanon War, in 2006, rockets hit our villages.”
We joined the battalion for 24 hours – a day in their lives. Here’s what we saw:
Early Hours of the Morning – Night Patrol
For several soldiers, the day actually starts at nightfall. In the early hours of the morning, the night patrol meets for a briefing. The commander talks about the current threats at the border and peppers his soldiers with questions. He divides the patrol into three teams. We set out.
It’s a windy night – a tree falls and crashes into the border fence. The soldiers are about to remove the tree when a vehicle arrives from the Lebanese side of the border, flashing its lights in our direction.
We leave the area, and inspect every inch of the road. “This road is very dangerous,” says the patrol commander. “We’re in a valley, a vulnerable position to be in. We don’t stay here long, but it’s still part of the patrol area.”
The group continues its patrol, and repeats the same route several times. Another group replaces them a few hours later.

Truly creepy moments from the 2013 Oscars (with bonus reviewlet of Les Misérables)

theoptimisticconservative
Confessions up front: I rarely watch the Oscars broadcast, and I had to do a search on Seth McFarlane to find out what his day job is.  That’s just how immersed I am in popular culture.  (I still don’t understand who the Kardashians are, and why Bruce Jenner seems to be involved, in spite of having it explained to me more than once by my younger, hipper sisters.)
So I don’t know if last night’s broadcast differed significantly from previous Oscar productions.  I do know it had some very jarring moments, and not in a good way.  Here are my top two:
1.  Michelle Obama’s appearance – surrounded by military members in their dinner dress uniforms – via video-teleconference.  What was with the service members in dinner dress?  What point was this tableau trying to make?
Inserting the First Lady into the Oscars would have been weird – political, off-key – to begin with.  (Frankly, for me, the right jokes would have compared her Oscar moment to Nixon’s path-breaking turn on Laugh-In).  But the presence of the military transformed weird into proto-fascist.  Mrs. Obama talked about nurturing the arts in our young people, against a backdrop of military members in dress uniforms.  She also threw in a drive-by allusion to the hype-cause of the moment, same-sex marriage.

Landau: If Terrorists Want to Starve Themselves, Let 'Em

Water and Energy Minister Uzi Landau said that Israel should respect the wishes of terrorists who preferred to starve themselves 

Water and Energy Minister Uzi Landau – who has a rich defense background, having served in the past as Public Security Minister – said that Israel should respect the wishes of terrorists who preferred to starve themselves, and not try to figure out ways to convince them to eat. “This hunger strike and the riots in their wake is just another provocation by the Palestinian Authority,” he said. “We must not panic.”

Speaking to Arutz Sheva Monday, Landau said that the PA was going out of its way to cause riots, as a “greeting,” and a message, to U.S. President Barack H. Obama, due here for a visit in several weeks. “The riots in 'protest' over the prisoner who died in Megiddo Prison are just a pretext,” he said. “They would have found another reason to riot had he not died.” Landau said that the PA has never honored the agreements it signed with Israel, and has constantly promoted terror by honoring terrorists, naming streets and squares after them, providing them with pensions, etc.

Rise of the Militias in the Middle East

Kyle Shideler

“Hey! think the time is right for a palace revolution, but where I live the game to play is compromise solution…”

–The Rolling Stones, “Street-Fighting Man”
Quite a bit of the recent news flowing out of the Middle East has an interesting common thread. Whether it’s Syria, Iraq, Egypt, or Tunisia, all states once known for their strong military leadership, the new power players may not be wearing the uniforms, but they’ve still got the guns.

On the Syrian front it was recently reported that Iran and Hezbollah are preparing a militia,
with as many as 50,000 fighters
,according to the Iranians, to deal with the potential post-Assad era.  If Assad does fall, the goal would be to use these militiamen to secure key Syrian territory, enabling Iran to continue to control supply lines to Hezbollah in Lebanon and maintain its influence. Despite suffering from financial sanctions, Iran is reportedly funneling millions of dollars in cash and equipment to their newest proxies.