Both houses of Congress have passed resolutions supporting Israel in its current conflict with Gaza. Representative Ron Paul makes some wise statements.
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Ron Paul Speaks ON the Supporting Israel Resolution
Posted in: Aspen
THE REV. MARTIN Luther King Jr. understood the meaning of discrimination and oppression. He sought ways to achieve liberation and peace, and he thus understood that a special relationship exists between African Americans and American Jews.
This message was true in his time and is true today.
He knew that both peoples were uprooted involuntarily from their homelands. He knew that both peoples were shaped by the tragic experience of slavery. He knew that both peoples were forced to live in ghettoes, victims of segregation.
He knew that both peoples were subject to laws passed with the particular intent of oppressing them simply because they were Jewish or black. He knew that both peoples have been subjected to oppression and genocide on a level unprecedented in history.
King understood how important it is not to stand by in the face of injustice. He understood the cry, “Let my people go.”
Long before the plight of the Jews in the Soviet Union was on the front pages, he raised his voice. “I cannot stand idly by, even though I happen to live in the United States and even though I happen to be an American Negro and not be concerned about what happens to the Jews in Soviet Russia. For what happens to them happens to me and you, and we must be concerned.”
During his lifetime King witnessed the birth of Israel and the continuing struggle to build a nation. He consistently reiterated his stand on the Israeli-Arab conflict, stating “Israel’s right to exist as a state in security is uncontestable.” It was no accident that King emphasized “security” in his statements on the Middle East.
On March 25, 1968, less than two weeks before his tragic death, he spoke out with clarity and directness stating, “peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy. Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality.”
During the recent U.N. Conference on Racism held in Durban, South Africa, we were all shocked by the attacks on Jews, Israel and Zionism. The United States of America stood up against these vicious attacks.
Once again, the words of King ran through my memory, “I solemnly pledge to do my utmost to uphold the fair name of the Jews-because bigotry in any form is an affront to us all.”
During an appearance at Harvard University shortly before his death, a student stood up and asked King to address himself to the issue of Zionism. The question was clearly hostile. King responded, “When people criticize Zionists they mean Jews, you are talking anti-Semitism.”
MLK had no idea what was really going on in Israel. If he was alive today, he would be absolutely appaled, and there is no way he would give his blind support to the brutal apartheid and ethnic cleansing of an indigenous people.
On November 10, 1975 the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 3379, which states as its conclusion that ZIONISM IS A FORM OF RACISM AND RACIAL DISCRIMINATION.
The resolution also endorsed an August 1975 statement by the Conference of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Non-Aligned Countries, that: “…severely condemned Zionism as A THREAT TO WORLD PEACE AND SECURITY and called upon all countries to oppose this racist and imperialist ideology.”
Israel made revocation of the resolution a condition of Israel’s participation in the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference, so on December 16, 1991 the UN General Assembly revoked Resolution 3379.
Sue Gray thinks she is smarter than Martin Luther King! She wrote”MLK had no idea what was really going on in Israel.” Really! If he was alive today he would be appaled at Sue’s ingnorance and misuse of the word apartheid. Syria, Iran, Saudi Arbia and other states are practicing apartheid. MLK was smart and not a racist, he knew the meaning of the word and wouldn’t twist it because he was not a hater!
The resolutio 3379, which states as its conclusion that ZIONISM IS A FORM OF RACISM AND RACIAL DISCRIMINATION.
was revoked by Resolution 46/86 on December 16, 1991. this is a great example how Gray distorts the truth! The Israeli response to 3379
in his response address to the United Nations General Assembly the same day, 10. November 1975, Israeli Ambassador Chaim Herzog stated:
“I can point with pride to the Arab ministers who have served in my government; to the Arab deputy speaker of my Parliament; to Arab officers and men serving of their own volition in our border and police defense forces, frequently commanding Jewish troops; to the hundreds of thousands of Arabs from all over the Middle East crowding the cities of Israel every year; to the thousands of Arabs from all over the Middle East coming for medical treatment to Israel; to the peaceful coexistence which has developed; to the fact that Arabic is an official language in Israel on a par with Hebrew; to the fact that it is as natural for an Arab to serve in public office in Israel as it is incongruous to think of a Jew serving in any public office in an Arab country, indeed being admitted to many of them. Is that racism? It is not! That… is Zionism.”
In his response he also said that the resolution was:
“another manifestation of the bitter anti-Semitic, anti-Jewish hatred which animates Arab society. Who would have believed that in this year, 1975, the malicious falsehoods of the ‘Elders of Zion’ would be distributed officially by Arab governments? Who would have believed that we would today contemplate an Arab society which teaches the vilest anti-Jewish hate in the kindergartens?… We are being attacked by a society which is motivated by the most extreme form of racism known in the world today… expressed so succinctly in the words of the leader of the PLO, Yassir Arafat, in his opening address at a symposium in Tripoli, Libya: “There will be no presence in the region other than the Arab presence…”
Herzog ended his statement, while holding a document of the resolution, with these words:
“For us, the Jewish people, this resolution based on hatred, falsehood and arrogance, is devoid of any moral or legal value. For us, the Jewish people, this is no more than a piece of paper and we shall treat it as such.”
I too doubt MLK would support this today.
entire article: http://www.rense.com/general84/isz.htm
The Israel Prime Minister and terrorist, Menachem Begin, described the Palestinians in a speech to the Israeli parliament as ‘beasts walking on two legs’. Another Prime Minister and terrorist, Yitzhak Shamir, told Jewish settlers in 1988 that the Palestinians ‘would be crushed like grasshoppers … heads smashed against the boulders and walls.’
Prime Minister and terrorist, Ariel Sharon, then Israeli Foreign Minister, confirmed in 1998 what the plan really was for the Palestinians:
‘It is the duty of Israeli leaders to explain to public opinion, clearly and courageously, a certain number of facts that are forgotten with time. The first of these is that there is no Zionism, colonialisation, or Jewish State without the eviction of the Arabs and the expropriation of their lands.’
The plan is to kill or drive out the Palestinian people using poverty, hunger and war and so allow the Zionists to expand into ‘Greater Israel’. That plan is now well advanced.
In early 2008, the United Nations’ leading humanitarian affairs official said he was ‘shocked’ by the ‘grim and miserable’ conditions in Gaza. Undersecretary General John Holmes blamed this on Israel closing the border crossings and so limiting the supply of food and other materials just as they are doing today.
He said: ‘All this makes for a grim human and humanitarian situation here in Gaza, which means that people are not able to live with the basic dignity to which they are entitled’.
But they are just ‘beasts walking on two legs’, right?
Richard Falk, the UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on the occupied territories, has also condemned Israel for its actions in Gaza. He is Jewish and therefore much more dangerous to the Israel government because he can’t be dismissed as the old favourite ‘anti-Semitic’. Or maybe he is a ‘self-hater’, the tag given by these sick people to those Jews who speak out against Israel.
Falk’s punishment for daring to criticise the Promised Land as a UN official was to be held for 20 hours and then denied entry to the country and so he is prevented from doing his job of reporting on conditions for the Palestinian people during the current air attacks.
His entry was denied in mid-December perfect timing not to be there for the latest bombing that they knew was coming. Click here for an interview with Richard Falk
The Bush administration for the last eight years has been dominated by the Neo-conservative, or ‘Neocon’, network which is, itself, dominated by US/Israeli duel citizens and/or Zionists like Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Pearle, Dov Zackheim, William Kristol, Robert Kagan, Elliot Abrams, Douglas Feith, John Bolton, Robert B Zoellick, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and others. The neo-con godfather is the late Leo Strauss, a German-born Jewish ‘philosopher’, who believed that people must be governed by a ‘pious elite’.
But surely those days of Zionist dominance are over because ‘Mr. Change’ is coming to ‘power’ now. Er, if only. Barack Obama has packed his ‘new’ administration with Zionists like Rahm Emanuel, his White House Chief of Staff.
Emanuels’ father, Benjamin, was a member of the Irgun terrorist group in Palestine that I mentioned earlier and we can clearly expect the Obama administration to be balanced and fair on its Israel/Palestinian policy. No wonder Obama has kept quiet on the Israeli bombing of Gaza.
Obama speaks out on Gaza crisis: ‘Hey, I got nothin’ to say, I got the chance of a par here ask my Chief of Staff, he’s a rabid Zionist and his dad helped bomb Israel into existence. He’ll know what’s goin’ on.’
The Obama government is going to be slavishly pro-Israel because he needed the sanction of the truly massive Zionist lobby in the United States to secure the presidency. His vice-president, Joe Biden, is a long-time bag-carrier for Israel. He said on Israeli television: ‘I am a Zionist – you don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist’.
Ron Paul video to the Congress
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/528.html
Against the resolution to support Israel
Amazing.
A man who tells it like it is on the floor on Congress.
Israel created Hamas. The US created Osama bin Laden.
Can’t have a man like that as president though.
Statements made ~40 years ago by MLK are not applicable to the Israel/Palestine conflict. To understand one needs to visit the West Bank cities of Hebron, Bil’in, Nabalus, Ramallah, Bethlehem, etc.; stay at one of the several West Bank refugee camps such as Dehieshah; talk to representatives of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolistion and Rabbis for Human Rights and stay a night with a Palestinian family on their vineyard such as the Daher Vineyard around Bethlehem. Finally go through the humiliating check points Palestinians face everyday and attend a Friday peaceful demonstration against the Separation Wall that separates towns from their farm land and see the violent response from the Israeli Defense Force soldiers.
Of course ,one has to see the 2 Jerusalems, visit Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Museum), talk with the Hebron Jewish community leader David Wilder as he tells you that all Arabs need to leave and go to the 21 other Arab countrys and all Jews should move to Israel or the West Bank. If safe, go to the area around Gaza and and see the fence around Gaza.
The conflict comes down to land with the indigenous Palestinians not wanting to be displaced by a group suffering from Anti Semitism who feel God gave them the land called Palestine. The Palestinians are attached to the land and some Jews feel that having their own country with at least a 70 % majority is the only way they can be secure.
After spending time in Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank, I can only wonder why all these people fight for land that is not as beautiful as the valley I live. It must be that I am just not that religious or attached to land.
Rabbi Brant Rosen said the following on his Blog:
“Who am I to criticize? I am a Jew – one of the many millions of diaspora Jews for whom the Jewish state was created. According to the official Zionist narrative, Israel is my Jewish inheritance, my Jewish national home. As a Jew living outside of Israel, I have been given the right to receive instant citizenship if I ever decide to actually move there (something, by the way, that scores of Palestinians whose families have lived in that land for generations cannot do). …
Who am I to criticize? I am American. I am a citizen whose country, the world’s largest superpower, supports Israel with significant economic and military aid. My tax dollars thus implicate me in a very real way with Israel’s national decisions – not least of which are its military actions. I am also the citizen of a nation whose government has essentially given Israel a blank check to take numerous measures that I believe are counter to the cause of peace, including the expropriation of Palestinian lands, destruction of homes, injustice in military courts and widespread building of settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, to name but a few.
As I have written in earlier posts, I believe Israel’s response to Hamas’ missile attacks have been disproportionate and outrageous. I believe their actions only further endanger the security of Israelis while inflicting collective punishment and a severe humanitarian crisis upon Gazans. Indeed, just as I cannot understand what it must be like to be a citizen of Sderot, I cannot even begin to imagine what it must be like to be a Gazan citizen at the moment, living under constant air attack, with no running water or electricity and dwindling food, as hospitals fill up with wounded and corpses lie rotting in the streets because relief workers are unable to reach them.”
http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=RQSfeNkJgBI
Israel today is not the Israel of the 1960′s. The M.E. today is not the Middle East of the 1960′s. I can’t imagine Rev. King not supporting Israel, without condemning the present ongoing atrocities committed against those in Gaza. 41 years later certainly does make a difference. One of the biggest is that one can substitute Islam for Arabic which gives a different view through the political prism. Secular Pan-Arabism is dead along with Nassar, Sadat, Hafez Assad and Saddam Hussein.
Oddly, something that proud zionist brings up is sadly no longer true; The assasination of Malik Shabazz after his enlightenment and the assasination of MLK left only charismatic Nation of Islam vile venom hatred racially bigoted and anti-semetic spewing speakers “representing the African-American Community,” (please note that I consider this to be the worst misrepresentation imaginable and more. I simply cannot find words to describe fully the detestable despicable and lamentable drooling poison generated by these “spokesman.”) The Jewish community deserved far better and something beyond Thank You. Some of the Jewish Neo-cons I believe are so, as an understandable reaction to the abominable NOI herecy aligned against enlightenment of any kind. There is now a very deep schism between Jewish Neo cons resurrecting uber alles for their own and the hyphenated communities of “color” and between the swill swallowing adherents of the NOI and anything “white” and with a peculiar concentration of hatred toward anything Jewish. All of it is a horrible debasement of the potential ascent of humanity.
If only there was a Sadat amongst the Palestinians that commanded respect. If only there was a Begin, Rabin or Barack to receive them to simply stop the raging reaction to stupid provocation over and over and over and…………. well it is the same sorry chapter twenty times printed in the pitiable book of the M.E. after WWII.
A poem — By a Palestinian Kid
Look into my eyes
And tell me what you see.
You don’t see a damn thing,
’cause you can’t possibly relate to me.
You’re blinded by our differences.
My life makes no sense to you.
I’m the persecuted Palestinian.
You’re the American red, white and blue.
Each day you wake in tranquility,
No fears to cross your eyes.
Each day I wake in gratitude,
Thanking God He let me rise.
You worry about your education
And the bills you have to pay.
I worry about my vulnerable life
And if I’ll survive another day.
Your biggest fear is getting ticketed
As you cruise your Cadillac.
My fear is that the tank that just left
Will turn around and come back.
American, do you realize,
That the taxes that you pay
Feed the forces that traumatize
My every living day?
The bulldozers and the tanks,
The gases and the guns,
The bombs that fall outside my door,
All due to American funds.
Yet do you know the truth
Of where your money goes?
Do you let your media deceive your mind?
Is this a truth that no one knows?
You blame me for defending myself
Against the ways of Zionists.
I’m terrorized in my own land
And I’m the terrorist?
You think you know all about terrorism
But you don’t know it the way I do,
So let me define the term for you,
And teach you what you thought you knew.
I’ve known terrorism for quite some time,
Fifty-five years and more.
It’s the fruitless garden uprooted in my
yard.
It’s the bulldozer in front of my door.
Terrorism breathes the air I breathe.
It’s the checkpoint on my way to school.
It’s the curfew that jails me in my own home,
And the penalties of breaking that curfew rule.
Terrorism is the robbery of my land,
And the torture of my mother,
The imprisonment of my innocent father,
The bullet in my baby brother.
So American, don’t tell me you know about
The things I feel and see.
I’m terrorized in my own land
And the blame is put on me.
But I will not rest, I shall never settle
For the injustice my people endure.
Palestine is our land and there we’ll remain
Until the day our homeland is secure.
And if that time shall never come,
Then we will never see a day of peace.
I will not be thrown from my own home,
Nor will my fight for justice cease.
And if I am killed, it will be in Falasteen.
It’s written on my every breath.
So in your own patriotic words,
Give me liberty or give me death.
Hamas Website: High-Tech Hate for Kids
by Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
Brainwashing the younger generation of Palestinians with concepts of terrorism and hatred has great importance for Hamas. As part of its indoctrination effort, Hamas makes extensive use of the Internet, with approximately 20 Internet sites in seven languages. One sites is an children’s magazine called Al-Fateh (“The Conqueror”), http://www.al-fateh.net.
The magazine has attractive graphics and contains comic-like drawings and photographs to make it “friendly” and attractive to its target audience of young children. There are poems, articles about religious subjects, and tales of heroism from Arabic and Islamic history.
Side by side with these “innocent” items are articles preaching the perpetration of terrorist attacks, extolling the suicide bombers and presenting them as role models, and encouraging hatred for Israel and the Jewish people.
Examples:
(1) Turning the terrorist who perpetrated the 2001 suicide bombing attack at the Dolphinarium into a role model for children. The attack resulted in the deaths of 21 Israeli civilians, mostly teenagers, and 83 wounded. The attack was widely praised in Al-Fateh, which published the text of the will written by the suicide bomber before he left to blow himself up. The will was intended to glorify and extol the image of the suicide bomber and to encourage others to follow in his footsteps, promising the pleasures of paradise in the hereafter. His writings and posters bearing his portrait are distributed by Hamas throughout the Palestinian Authority- administered territories.
(2) Issue No. 38 of Al-Fateh, Hamas’ online children’s magazine, displayed a picture of a female suicide bomber next to a photograph of her decapitated head lying on the road. The caption praises the act and notes that she is now in paradise, a shaheeda like her male comrades. She killed two Israelis and wounded 17 in September 2004, at Jerusalem’s French Hill junction.
(3) Issue no. 38 of Al-Fateh features a story about Muhammad al- Durra, a Palestinian child who died when he was trapped in crossfire between Israeli soldiers and armed Palestinians. Everything about the story is biased and a total fabrication intended to portray Israeli soldiers as a band of evil sadists who enjoy killing both adults and children, and to turn a tragic incident into a tool for inciting Palestinian children to hate Israelis and the Jewish people.
“…The soldiers’ teeth protruded as they laughed aloud [when al- Durra was shot], like the protruding teeth of wolves grinding the bones of an innocent lamb they have hunted out of the arms of its mother…”
To intensify the children’s hatred for Israelis, the little girl in the story is depicted as having lost an eye when she threw stones at Jews in Al-Aqsa mosque.
“Israa’ fought against the pain in her eye with exceptional bravery… She thought of herself as a soldier in the ranks of Allah’s army, and was of the opinion that Allah honored her and counted her as one of the defenders of blessed Al-Aqsa mosque… Today her grandmother said…’Do you know, Israa’, that your missing eye will be proof and like a medal of honor… proof of the crimes of the Jews, and a medal of honor for your having stood up to their crime of wanting to desecrate our holy places…”
One article says that the Jews were the first to produce magazines for children, using them “in order to brainwash children in the ways of the Torah, the Talmud and the ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion’” — the libelous book purporting to contain the Jewish plot to take over the world.
Al-Fateh also includes a story which describes how Israeli soldiers demand that a boy, Mihnad, pull down a Palestinian flag flying above an olive tree. Mihnad refuses and does not give in even when he is shot at. When they force him to climb up the tree, Mihnad cries: “long live my land in freedom, long live the flag.” The soldiers kill Mihnad in reaction and he is left clutching the flag, drenched in his own blood.
Another story speaks of martyrdom, as a suicide bomber declares that “there is nothing greater than killing oneself on the land of Palestine, for the sake of Allah.”
* * *
The terrorist organizations frequently use militant Islamic messages to encourage children and teenagers to join the conflict and to participate in military operations, including suicide bombings. Some examples:
▪ Salah Shehada, who was one of the leaders of the Hamas in Gaza, stated in an interview (on the website Islam On-line, 26 May 2002), that children should be properly trained before they are sent on a mission and that they should be recruited into a special unit of the military arm of the Hamas in order to instill in them the culture of military jihad and to teach them to distinguish between good and evil.
▪ Dr. Padhl Abu Hin, a psychology lecturer, was interviewed on this subject for a television movie entitled “Child Patriots and a Martyrs’ Death.” He noted that the Palestinian child understands that, by means of the shahada (a martyrs’ death for the sake of Allah), through the perpetration of attacks, he/she can win honor and appreciation, without life being ended. [The concept of] Shahada, according to him, encourages children to take an active part in the conflict against Israel (Palestinian TV, 27 June 2002).
▪ Rasha el-Rantissi, wife of Abed el-Aziz el-Rantissi, told the Arab media that she is educating her children to resistance and jihad. She added, “I hope that my husband, my children and I will receive the shahada so that we may prove that we are the first to sacrifice our children for Allah;” “Allah is generous with us, because our children die as fighters, and we wait with them for death for Allah’s sake any minute” (el-Bian, 16 June 2003).
▪ Yasser Arafat’s speech on the occasion of “Palestinian Child Day”, broadcast by Palestinian television (1 June 2003), in which Arafat conveyed a militant Islamic message to the Palestinian child, based on Islamic tradition, encouraged the children to be fighters on Islam’s front line (rabat) and to die as martyrs for Allah, while bestowing special status on the ones thus killed (shaheeds).
with thanks to MediaLine
Anyone reading the above should be aware of the source; a pro-Israel propaganda website used exclusively to cover up the crimes of Israel by demonizing Palestinians.
http://www.themedialine.org/
The following article debunks the veracity of that piece and shows that Israel is just as guilty of teaching their children hatred and racial stereotypes…
http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/21480/format/html/displaystory.html
Friday February 6, 2004
Reports on Palestinian kids’ hatred grossly exaggerated
by len traubman
“Where do persistent reports of incitement in Palestinian textbooks come from?” asks Nathan Brown, a Jewish professor of political science at George Washington University. “Virtually all can be traced back to the work of a single organization, the ‘Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace,’” founded by Israeli Itamar Marcus. Those involved “rely on misleading and tendentious reports to support their claim of incitement,” writes Brown, in a 2001 report delivered at Israel’s Adam Institute for Democracy and Peace.
The charges of Marcus are often grossly exaggerated. As with most reporting, he passes on some useful truths — albeit with a one-sided approach. His work is anecdotal — hardly social science — based on the statements of a few people, including small children. Quoting selectively is a good way to accuse and stereotype an entire people but not in seriously analyzing a situation.
Marcus and a few others who follow his model have been pushing their opinions in numerous periodicals, including a Jan. 9 op-ed piece in j. by Marcus and Barbara Crook headlined “For Palestinian kids, the lesson is hate.”
While the column referred to television statements from a few children, which are certainly startling, his methods are the same: Piece together anecdotal incidents, disregard true proportion and frequency of occurrence and make them bigger than life.
We have been discouraged by the reported teaching and indoctrination of hate for Israel and Jews, even desires to drive us from the Holy Land. They convey the impression that the Palestinians are not ready for peace. With faded dreams and increased fear, many of us have invested our hopes with Washington.
So in response to pressure from Congress to investigate, the U.S. government commissioned the Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Information to convene a team of professional educators — Israeli, Palestinian and American. Their 2003 report concluded: “While there are many areas for improvement in the Palestinian textbooks, it can be said that these new textbooks do not incite against Israel or against peace.”
If the Palestinians can find room for improvement, so can the Israelis. In “The Arab Image in Hebrew School Textbooks,” an article drawing from his study of 124 textbooks, Professor Dan Bar-Tal of Tel Aviv University reports that “over the years, generations of Israeli Jews were taught a negative and often delegitimizing view of Arabs.”
Bar-Tal found some positive Arab images. But he reports two major themes of Arab characteristics. One taught “primitiveness, inferiority in comparison to Jews.” The other related to “their violence, to characteristics like brutality, untrustworthiness, cruelty, fanaticism, treacherousness and aggressiveness.”
Referring to Israeli texts of the ’80s and ’90s, Bar-Tal reports: “Geography books for the elementary and junior high schools stereotype Arabs negatively, as primitive, dirty, agitated, aggressive, and hostile to Jews … history books in the elementary schools hardly mention Arabs … history textbooks of the high schools, the majority of which cover the Arab-Jewish conflict, stereotype the Arabs negatively. Arabs are presented as intransigent and uncompromising.”
“The parents and the grandparents of the present generation,” says Bar-Tal, “were provided with the same negative image of the Arabs in their school textbooks as we see today, within the context of the prolonged Jewish-Arab conflict. One might add that it takes many years to rewrite school textbooks and a few generations to change the societal beliefs about the stereotyping and delegitimization of the Arabs.”
IN ISRAEL THIS HAPPENS EVERY DAY
By Ari Slonim
A little girl walks down a street,
Looking at all the people on the concrete.
Tears welling in her eyes,
Trying not to listen to all the cries.
All she wants is her mom and dad,
Thinking of this makes her sad.
Her parents came to pick her up from school as a surprise,
While a man walked in a busy street wearing a disguise.
The little girl and her parents were walking down that street,
When the man stood up without a beat.
The girl told him to stop,
But the man in the disguise did not.
Just before it stared to rain,
The street burst up in flames.
In Israel this happens every day,
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
That little girl who walks the street,
No longer runs with happy feet.
Prayers to Hashem we do say
Trying to find peace every day!
Every day? A bit of an exaggeration considering there has only been one suicide bombing a year for the last three years.
Now there are bound to be many more as a result of Israel’s brutality in Gaza. But I guess if Palestinian civilians are suffering because of their leaders policies and actions, we can safely say the same for Israeli deaths from suicide bombs.
Too bad Israel couldn’t take the high road and be the one to end the cycle of violence. Instead they just keep perpetuating it.
To proud zionist, I spent 2 weeks in Israel, the West Bank and Jerusalem and never felt in danger. Though I was harassed by Israeli soldiers while in the West Bank and members of my group were attacked by Israel soldiers.
Below is the latest report I received from the Jewish Israeli Group New Profile:
“Al-Aqsa hospital, Gaza City located in the Tel al Huwa
neighbourhood of Gaza has been
under attack by the Israeli army since 1:30 AM (Thursday).
It has been hit by shells four times. According to International volunteers at
the hospital, the Israeli military has surrounded the building and is
preventing anyone from entering or leaving.
The hospital has received over 150 calls for help from
people including many children in the surrounding area who have been wounded
and are in desperate need of medical care. . The Israeli army has surrounded
the hospital and no one is able to get in or out.
No one is able to get to these children.”
Coordinator of
Activities in the Occupied Territories
Of course the rockets thrown into Israel were wrong and frightening but so is Israel’s bombing of Gaza and the lack of electricity, food and water that Gazans are experiencing. Plus they are fenced in and cannot leave.
The statistics so far
19 Number of days of bombing by Israel.
2,360 Israeli airstrikes so far.
1,013 Palestinians killed so far.
670 casualties who are civilians.
225 child casualties.
4,700 Palestinians wounded.
10 Israeli soldiers killed.
4 Israelis killed by friendly fire.
3 Number of Israeli civilians hit by rockets fired from Gaza.
An open letter to Gideon Levy
By A.B. Yehoshua
Tags: Gideon Levy, Gaza, Hamas
Dear Gideon,
You remember that in recent years I called you occasionally to praise you for your articles and your writing about the wrongs done to the Palestinians in the administered territories, whether by the army or by the settlers. Physical wrongs, land expropriations, acts of abuse, perversions of justice and so on. I told you that it is very difficult to read what you write, because it weighs on our conscience, but that the work you are doing and the voice you are sounding are extremely important. I was also concerned about your physical safety, knowing that you risked your life by visiting such hostile places.
I did not ask you why you did not visit Israeli hospitals in order to tell the painful stories of Israeli citizens who were hurt in terrorist attacks. I accepted your position that there are plenty of other journalists doing this and that you had taken on the crucial mission of telling the story of the afflictions of the other side, our enemies today and our neighbors tomorrow. Accordingly, it is from this position of respect that I find it necessary to respond to your recent articles on the war in which we are engaged today, so that you will be able to preserve the moral validity of your distinctive voice for the future. A few years ago, when the Hatuel family – a mother and her four children, of blessed memory – were killed on the way to one of the settlements in Gush Katif, I believed that this terrible death pained you as it did all of us but that like many of us you said in your heart: Why should these Israelis endanger their children by living provocatively, hopelessly, dangerously and immorally in Gush Katif? By what right do 8,000 Jews expropriate a sizable area in the densely overcrowded Gaza Strip in order to build blossoming villages before the eyes of hundreds of thousands of refugees living in such abysmal conditions? You were angry, as I was, at the parents and at those who sent them. And even though I believe that like all of us you felt the pain of the children who were killed, you did not brand the leaders of Hamas “war criminals” as you did the Israeli leaders, and you did not demand the establishment of an international tribunal to try them.
When I asked you after the disengagement from Gaza, Gideon, explain to me why they are firing missiles at us, you replied that they want us to open the crossings. I asked you whether you truly believe that if they fire missiles the crossings will be opened, or the opposite. And whether you truly believe that it is right and just to open crossings into Israel for those who declare openly and sincerely that they want to destroy our country. I did not get an answer from you. And even though the crossings were in fact opened many times, and were closed in the wake of the missile attacks, regrettably I still did not see you standing firmly behind a moral position which says: Now, people of Gaza, after you expelled the Israeli occupation from your land, and justly so, you must hold your fire.
The doleful thought sometimes crosses my mind that it is not the children of Gaza or of Israel that you are pining for, but only for your own private conscience. Because if you are truly concerned about the death of our children and theirs, you would understand the present war – not in order to uproot Hamas from Gaza but to induce its followers to understand, and regrettably in the only way they understand in the meantime, that they must stop the firing unilaterally, stop hoarding missiles for a bitter and hopeless war to destroy Israel, and above all for the sake of their children in the future, so they will not die in another pointless adventure.
After all, now, for the first time in Palestinian history, after the Ottoman, British, Egyptian, Jordanian and Israeli conquests, part of the Palestinians has gained a first and I hope not a last piece of land on which they are to maintain a full and independent government. And if they start building, developing and pursuing social endeavors, even according to Islamic religious law, they will prove to the whole world, and especially to us, that the moment we terminate the occupation they will be ready to live in peace with their surroundings, free to do as they wish, but also responsible for their deeds.
There is something absurd in the comparison you draw about the number of those killed. When you ask how it can be that they killed three of our children and we cause the killing of a hundred and fifty, the inference one can draw is that if they were to kill a hundred of our children (for example, by the Qassam rockets that struck schools and kindergartens in Israel that happened to be empty), we would be justified in also killing a hundred of their children.
In other words, it is not the killing itself that troubles you but the number. On the face of it, one could answer you cynically by saying that when there will be two hundred million Jews in the Middle East it will be permissible to think in moral terms about comparing the number of victims on each side. But that is, of course, a debased argument. After all, you, Gideon, who live among the people, know very well that we are not bent on killing Palestinian children to avenge the killing of our children. All we are trying to do is get their leaders to stop this senseless and wicked aggression, and it is only because of the tragic and deliberate mingling between Hamas fighters and the civilian population that children, too, are unfortunately being killed. The fact is that since the disengagement, Hamas has fired only at civilians. Even in this war, to my astonishment, I see that they are not aiming at the army concentrations along the border but time and again at civilian communities.
Please, preserve the moral authority and concern that you possessed, and your distinctive voice. We will need them again in the future, which promises further ordeals on the road to peace. In the meantime, it would be best for us all – we and the Palestinians and the rest of the world – to follow the simple moral imperative of Kantian philosophy: “Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.”
In friendship always,
The writer is an Israeli author. His latest novel, “Friendly Fire,” was published in recent months.
[The fact is that since the disengagement, Hamas has fired only at civilians. Even in this war, to my astonishment, I see that they are not aiming at the army concentrations along the border but time and again at civilian communities. ]
Maybe, since Israel has created terror and harsh conditions under occupation and siege for Palestinian civilians, Hamas feels justified in creating terror and harsh conditions for Israeli civilians. Maybe they think that the Israeli civilians will pressure their government to end the occupation and seige, thus ending the rocketfire.
After all, this is the logic being given us by the Israeli government. They say the siege was to put pressure on the Palestinian civilians to change Hamas actions. So Israel has been targeting Palestinian civilians for the same reason Palestinians are targeting Israeli civilians.
Both are wrong of course. But the imperative is on Israel to take the high road, stop killing people, and honor the agreements they’ve made in peace treaties and the truce; to open Gaza’s borders, end the occupation and allow a Palestinian state to be created.
So if it is OK for Israel to attack civilian homes, etc. in Gaza because they have imbedded Hamas members and weapons among them, it should be OK for Hamas to throw rockets at civilian locations/homes in Israel.
Israeli soldiers are paid poorly, so many live at home with their parents and store their M 16 rifles under their beds per 2 Jewish Israeli mothers I met while in Israel last Spring. Israeli Jews are drafted at age 18, 3 yrs. for males and 2 for females.
Such is one of the many double standard that Middle East folks complain about.
you two make me laugh
“Every day? A bit of an exaggeration considering there has only been one suicide bombing a year for the last three years.”
how long has the security fence been up oh yeah about 3 years! gee maybe that has something to do with less suicide homicide bombings! it is saving palestinians live along with Israeli’s lives! thank you for proving the point and validating the security fence!
Although news about deadly terrorist attacks in Israel is beamed around the world moments after the attacks happen, there have been literally dozens of thwarted attacks against Israel that go largely unreported by the world’s media. The scale and number of these thwarted attacks, however, demonstrate the danger of Palestinian terrorism that Israel faces on practically a daily basis.
One of the most shocking examples of a thwarted terror occurred on May 7, 2002, when members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine attempted to destroy the Azrieli Towers, two 50-story buildings in Tel Aviv. The terrorists were captured on their way to the towers in a truck filled with explosives. Israeli military sources believe that there enough explosives to bring down several Twin Towers.
September 26, 2002 — Soldiers opened fire on an armed terrorist near the security road surrounding Elei Sinai in the northern Gaza Strip. The terrorist was carrying a Kalashnikov assault rifle, ammunition clips and grenades.
September 18, 2002 — An IDF reserve force encountered fire while attempting to stop a suspicious vehicle near Kfar Tamun, east of Jenin. Two men inside the vehicle refused to stop when ordered, and opened fire. The reservists returned fire, killing one man and injuring the second. The men were carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles.
September 9, 2002 — Israeli soldiers opened fire on two Palestinian men carrying bags near Suffa Passage along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel. The shooting triggered a bomb in one of the bags to explode. Both terrorists were killed in the explosion.
September 5, 2002 — Israeli soldiers thwarted a plan to carry out a suicide attack in Israel on the eve of Rosh Hashana. In the Balata refugee camp near Nablus, soldiers from the Nahal commando unit arrested three members of Hamas, including two who had planned to carry out the attack. Shots were fired at the soldiers, but there were no injuries. Additionally, two terrorists were arrested in Jama’in near Ariel.
September 4, 2002 – Border police thwarted an attempted car bombing near Pardes Hanna. Northern District Police Cmdr. Yaakov Borowsky said a large-scale terror attack was thwarted after police at a roadblock ordered two suspicious vehicles to stop. The men continued driving, eventually abandoning the vehicles and fleeing on foot. The 600-kilogram bomb was detonated in a controlled manner. The huge bomb was found in one of the vehicles, connected to a cell phone.
August 26, 2002 – Soldiers arrested a Palestinian planning to perpetrate a suicide bombing, along with his two dispatchers, in Mirka, south of Jenin.
August 25, 2002 – Soldiers spotted a number of terrorists approaching Kfar Dorom. In an exchange of gunfire, one terrorist was killed and the other was mortally wounded. The terrorists were members of the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades.
August 22, 2002 – Security forces were able to thwart an attempt to infiltrate two car bombs across the border between the West Bank and Israel.
August 19 2002 – Soldiers safely detonated a 10-kilogram bomb found in the Hebron neighborhood of Wadi al-Ariya.
August 18, 2002 – Soldiers shot dead two armed Palestinians who were crawling toward the fence around the Gaza Strip, apparently planning to attack soldiers or infiltrate into Israel. The two men were carrying a large bomb that could have caused many casualties
August 11, 2002 – Soldiers killed a terrorist who was en route to carry out a terrorist attack on a kibbutz near Gaza. Israeli troops spotted the heavily armed gunmen, a member of Hamas, cutting through the security fence. They opened fire, detonating the explosive belt he had strapped to his body.
August 8, 2002 – Jordanian security forces captured a Palestinian terrorist in a car close to the Israeli border and were searching for four others who had tried to infiltrate Israel.
August 7, 2002 – In the Negev, Israeli authorities arrested a suspect who they said intended to carry out an attack against Israel. The suspect had planted a bomb packed with ball bearings near the Gush Etzion-Jerusalem tunnel.
August 7, 2002 – Security forces arrested an Egyptian citizen who infiltrated Israel with a backpack containing an automatic weapon and ammunition.
August 6, 2002 – Soldiers on patrol encountered a group of five Palestinians near Qalqiliya in the West Bank. The terrorists ran off when they spotted the soldiers, leaving behind a large bag containing automatic rifles, hand grenades and a pistol.
August 6, 2002 – A would-be terrorist was reportedly en route to carry out an attack in Afula when the bomb exploded in a taxicab. The bomber was killed and the Israeli Arab driver was badly wounded.
August 5, 2002 – In Tulkarm, border policemen killed a terrorist who planned to carry out an attack in Israel.
July 31, 2002 – Security forces intercepted a would-be female suicide bomber and her Fatah operator.
July 31, 2002 – Acting on information supplied by the General Security Service, IDF forces discovered a large explosives factory in the Palestinian Legislative Council building in Jenin. After evacuating nearby residents, the IDF troops demolished the building, which housed more than 300 kilograms of explosives.
July 29, 2002 – IDF troops in the northern Gaza Strip discovered five anti-tank rocket launchers that were aimed at the settlement Nisanit. Near the launcher they found a booby-trapped mannequin that was meant to attract soldiers and then kill them. During a sweep of the area, soldiers also discovered a 50-kilogram roadside anti-tank bomb, a 10- kilogram anti-personnel land mine, an 82 mm mortar shell and a booby-trapped RPG launcher that had a gas balloon attached to it. Four additional anti-tank rockets were found in later searches of the area. The explosive devices were successfully neutralized.
July 28, 2002 – Ali Yamin Samoudi was arrested by Israeli security forces in the village of Wadi Burkin near Jenin. During questioning, Samoudi admitted that he was planning on perpetuating a suicide terror attack in Israel.
July 28, 2002 – Hamed Mohammed Hamed, a 22 year-old Palestinian man, was arrested in the village of Kalil. During the arrest, Israeli security forces seized an explosive belt that Hamed had intended to use to blow himself up at Joseph’s Tomb.
July 28, 2002 – IDF forces arrested Mohammed Subhi Abu Tabih, a senior Islamic Jihad activist, who had planned to dispatch a car bomb and suicide bomber to Israel. Three of Abu Tabih’s accomplices were arrested with him, and it is believed that one of the men may have been the suicide bomber.
July 27, 2002 – In a search of the Palestinian village Yatta following a fatal terrorist attack, IDF forces discovered illegal guns, knives, a homemade bomb and large amounts of ammunition in the village’s Palestinian police station.
July 27, 2002 – IDF and GSS forces arrested Umaya Mohammed Danaj, a 28 year-old Palestinian woman who was on her way to carry out a suicide bombing in Israel.
July 26, 2002 – IDF forces demolished three factories in Gaza City that had been manufacturing Kassam missiles. In the course of their demolition, the soldiers discovered and destroyed twenty-two lathes that are used to make missiles.
July 23, 2002 – IDF forces apprehended Hisam Jaber, an Islamic Jihad member who attempted to orchestrate three suicide attacks in Israel. At the same time, another would-be suicide bomber and a woman who planned to help transport the terrorists into Israel were also arrested.
July 23, 2002 – Israeli police discovered an explosive device in a wooded area in Tel Aviv. The police detonated the device, believed to be a mortar shell.
July 22, 2002 – Two IDF soldiers patrolling in northern Gush Katif were injured when they fired at two heavily armed Arabs who were making their way to Tel Katifa. The terrorists were killed.
July 21, 2002 – IDF forces arrested three members of the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine who they believed were planning to carry out a large-scale terror attack in the form of a suicide bombing inside Israel.
July 19, 2002 – A terrorist attack was thwarted near the Karni Checkpoint in the Gaza Strip by IDF soldiers who located a suspicious object along the side of the road. Upon investigation, the package was found to contain a powerful bomb, which was detonated successfully.
July 16, 2002 – An explosive device was found near the Arab village of Sinjel, near Shilo.
July 16, 2002 – IDF soldiers discovered an 80-kilogram bomb near Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. An IDF bomb squad safely detonated the device.
July 15, 2002 – A terrorist attempted to stab an Israeli border policeman near Nablus. No injuries were reported.
July 13, 2002 – IDF reservists prevented a large-scale bomb attack after stopping a suspicious car that was headed towards Kalkilya. The car contained four bombs, three gas canisters and three containers of nails, bolts and other sharp metal objects.
July 13, 2002 – Israeli border police arrested a 22 year-old Palestinian from Nablus outside Umm el-Fahm after he had infiltrated the Green Line dressed in an IDF uniform and bearing a Kalashnikov assault rifle and a bomb belt. It is believed that the man was attempting to carry out a suicide attack in Afula.
July 11, 2002 – IDF forces arrested ten Palestinians in Assira Ashmaliya, near Nablus. Two of the arrested men planned suicide attacks, six participated in a shooting attack in Samaria, and one had planned to dispatch a suicide bomber.
July 11, 2002 – Several bombs were found in Gaza, including two very large bombs that weighed a total of 120 kilograms.
July 9, 2002 – Israeli security forces arrested a 15-year-old Palestinian girl who admitted to agreeing to carry out a suicide attack in Israel. The teen-ager was released shortly thereafter.
July 8, 2002 – IDF soldiers blew up a house in the Nablus quarter of Rafidiyeh after discovering a bomb factory that contained three bombs ready to explode. Three suspected terrorists were arrested at the site.
July 8, 2002 – Border police arrested a suspected terrorist near the A-ram checkpoint in Jerusalem. Security officials were on high alert after receiving warnings about two attacks being planned in Israel.
July 7, 2002 – A triple-barrel anti-tank rocket launcher was found in Gaza. A similar launcher was found in Netzarim.
July 7, 2002 – Five Arabs planning suicide attacks were apprehended on July 5, 2002. Shortly thereafter soldiers also discovered and destroyed bomb-making factories in Ramallah and Nablus. The bomb factory in Nablus was housed in the Juneis prison. 300 pipe bombs and 20 gas canisters were found inside.
July 4, 2002 – Three armed Palestinians attempted to enter the West Bank settlement of Mevo Datan. They fled after being spotted by Israeli security forces.
July 3, 2002 – A pipe bomb was successfully detonated at the Peroit Junction near Kalkilya. No injuries were reported.
July 2, 2002 – Osama Salahat, a member of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization, was arrested by the IDF in Yatta, south of Hebron. He was planning on carrying out a suicide attack in Israel.
July 2, 2002 – IDF soldiers arrested a terrorist in Rafidya, near Nablus, who was planning a suicide bombing in Israel.
July 2, 2002 – Four heavily armed Arabs were caught by Israeli security forces when they attempted to infiltrate the northern Gaza town of Elei Sinai. Two terrorists were captured, and two fled to an autonomous Palestinian Authority territory. Under interrogation, the two captured terrorists admitted to planning a suicide attack in Nativ HaAsarah, an area north of the Gaza Strip.
July 1, 2002 – Israeli police detonated a large bomb in Jerusalem’s Givat Ze’ev neighborhood. The bomb was found on June 28 by Jerusalem police, and was carefully monitored for two days, in the hopes that the terrorist would return.
June 26, 2002 – While searching Palestinian security organizations in Hebron, IDF soldiers discovered nearly 100 bombs, dozens of pipe bombs and a significant amount of guns and other weaponry. Israeli officials announced that such findings are a clear link between the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian terror organizations.
June 25, 2002 – As the IDF entered Hebron, they found a bomb factory in the home of a Hamas activist, as well as two bomb belts ready to be deployed, one large bomb and other explosives. The house was demolished.
June 24, 2002 – IDF forces discovered two armed anti-tank missile launchers ready to be launched in a field near the Karni Netzarim road. The missiles were aimed at civilians and an IDF outpost.
June 24, 2002 – Israeli police captured five Palestinian terrorists, including a suicide bomber on his way to perpetuate an attack in Bet Shemesh. Security officials believe the men intended to blow up a warehouse in Kfar Zecharia that reportedly contains Jericho ballistic missiles and other sophisticated weaponry, but that they abandoned their plan after they realized they would be stopped by policemen.
June 23, 2002 – IDF forces destroyed a building near Jenin that was found to house a workshop for the production of explosives, explosive belts, and empty Kassam rocket components.
June 21, 2002 – Border police prevented an attempted terror attack near the Erez checkpoint in the Gaza Strip, shooting and killing an armed terrorist as he attempted to throw grenades at a station filled with workers.
June 21, 2002 – A bomb was detonated on a road between Kiryat Arba and Hebron in an attempted attack on worshippers returning from Friday night prayers at the Machpela Caves. One person was lightly injured, and an IDF vehicle was damaged.
June 19 – IDF soldiers killed a Palestinian armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and ammunition clips as he attempted to attack a high school yeshiva in Kiryat Arba.
June 17 – A suicide terrorist detonated his bomb when approached for questioning by IDF soldiers near Zemer. The bomber was thought to be one of the five that the Israeli security forces had been pursuing.
June 17 – Police dismantled a grenade attached to an ammonia truck outside of the Tnuva Dairy in Holon. According to Mickey Levy, the Commander in Chief of the Jerusalem Police Force, three suicide-bombing attempts were averted in Jerusalem within the past 6 weeks. Two terrorists were captured in Jerusalem, and one was apprehended near a Bethlehem checkpoint.
June 17 – A Palestinian man detonated a bomb in an area north of Tulkarem, killing himself and lightly damaging a police jeep.
June 17 – IDF forces located and detonated a car bomb planted outside of Jenin.
June 15 – Israeli security forces thwarted a large-scale terror attack after spotting a car filled with 180 kilograms of explosives, mortars and launchers. An IDF tank destroyed the car with shell and machine-gun fire.
June 15 – A suspicious car close to the perimeter fence in the Northern Gaza Strip was blown up by IDF sappers after it was found to contain two rocket launchers and four mortar bombs.
June 14 – Israeli security forces successfully apprehended two female would-be suicide terrorists, who were attempting to carry out terror attacks. A fifteen-year-old girl was arrested in El-Khader near Bethlehem as she attempted to throw a firebomb at IDF soldiers. The other, a 23 year-old Palestinian teacher was arrested near Gush Etzion on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack in Israel. IDF forces continue to look for five other suspects whom they believe are planning terrorist attacks in Israel.
June 14 – Army sappers diffused a 40-kilogram bomb that had been planted near Dugit.
June 13, 2002 – A 15-year-old Palestinian girl was apprehended after throwing a firebomb at IDF forces in Bethlehem. During interrogation, the girl admitted that she had previously been recruited as a suicide terrorist.
June 12, 2002 – IDF forces in Ramallah discovered a booby-trapped car. Explosive charges were also discovered in a building that houses Yasir Arafat’s personal security guards, the Force 17.
June 12, 2002 – IDF soldiers blew up a car containing a 150-kilogram bomb and two mortars near Elei Sinai in the Gaza Strip. Security officials believe that terrorists had planned to fire the mortars and detonate the bomb when soldiers arrived on the scene.
June 11, 2002 – IDF soldiers discovered ten pipe bombs in a building in Ramallah. All were safely detonated.
June 11, 2002 – A Palestinian terrorist was killed at the Karni checkpoint in Gaza when his bomb detonated prematurely.
June 10 – Three explosive devices were found on the border between Lebanon and Israel, in the area of Shaaba Farms.
June 10, 2002 – IDF soldiers captured two cars rigged with bombs, tens of kilograms of TATP explosive charges, Israeli ID cards, and documents connecting the explosives to members of the Palestinian Authority.
June 10, 2002 – While checking a suspicious ambulance at the Gush Katif junction, IDF soldiers found a Palestinian terrorist inside. The ambulance was found to contain no medical personnel or injured people inside.
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Chronology of Terror Attacks in Israel
More About Terrorists and Their Supporters:
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades
Fatah Tanzim
Hamas
Holy Land Foundation
Islamic Jihad
Musa Abu Marzuq
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Hamas sends mixed signals on cease-fire
By Ron Kampeas · January 16, 2009
Hamas issued contradictory signals on cease-fire talks.
Reports in Arab media on Friday said the group was close to accepting Israel’s term for the Gaza Strip cease-fire, including an end to rocket attacks and weapons smuggling, and was ready to cede control of the crossing into Egypt to the relatively moderate West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.
Israeli spokesmen confirmed that a cease-fire agreement negotiated in Cairo under Egyptian auspices was “close.”
Amod Gilad, the Defense Ministry’s top diplomat, returned to Cairo Friday to continue talks.
Israel’s main objection is to Hamas’ demand for a one-year cease-fire; Israel wants it to be open-ended.
However, Khaled Meshaal, the group’s Damascus-based leader, said Hamas would not accept Israel’s cease-fire terms and called on Arab nations to cut ties with Israel. Meshaal was speaking in Doha, Qatar at an emergency summit of Arab nations on the Gaza war.
Egypt and Saudi Arabia snubbed the summit; Syria backed Hamas’ call on nations to cut off ties with Israel, and Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, made a surprise appearance. Iran, which rejects Israel’s existence, backs Hamas.
Israel launched major operations on Dec. 27 after Hamas ended a fragile cease-fire with a massive intensification of rocket attacks.
Susan Rice: Israel treated unfairly at UN
January 15, 2009
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Susan Rice said Israel is treated unfairly at the United Nations.
Barack Obama’s nominee for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations said in her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Commitee that “many try to use the U.N. to willfully and unfairly condemn our ally Israel.”
She said that such “flaws and disappointing actions within the U.N. are rooted in its potential to serve as an engine for progress.”
“When effective and principled U.N. action is blocked, our frustration naturally grows, but that should only cause us to redouble our efforts to ensure that the United Nations lives up to its founding principles.”
Later in the hearing, Rice expressed support for a “durable cease-fire” in Gaza that “has to entail the halt to Hamas rockets against Israel and the Israeli people,” according to The New York Times.
She added that once the fighting ends, “We need to mount a swift and robust effort to attend to the dire humanitarian needs inside Gaza.”
Hamas leadership locked in fierce controversy
9 Jan.: Thursday, Hamas leaders and commanders emerged from their underground hideouts for their first look at the devastation wrought in 13 days of Israeli aerial bombardment, taking advantage of the pause Israel declared in its military operations for supplies to reach the Gaza population.
IDF commanders hoped their lust for battle would be cooled by the sight of Gaza in ruins enough to give up and stop fighting.
Hamas leaders are locked in a fierce controversy in both Damascus and Gaza over Egypt’s ceasefire proposals. Politburo chief Khaled Meshaal flatly rejects them; Mussa Abu Marzouk would accept them, backed by Gaza prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, who maintains that Egypt is Hamas’ only remaining lifeline which it dare not jeopardize.
However, the military arm in Gaza and its heads, Khalil al Haya, Said Sayam and Muhammad Jabry, are strongly in favor of severing ties with Egypt and fighting on.
Our sources disclose that the Hamas extremists are finding time for the brutal persecution of their rivals, the Palestinian Fatah. Under cover of the general mayhem, Hamas gangs are kidnapping Fatah operatives and executing them. Their bodies are tossed onto the mountains of uncollected garbage and their kinsmen informed where to find them. Hamas leaders are convinced their rivals are plotting to exploit the fighting to overthrow their regime.
10 Jan.: As Hamas showed first signs of cracking under Israel’s massive 14-day assault, three Gaza leaders were allowed by Israel and Egypt to make their way secretly to Cairo for a second round of ceasefire talks – this time without conditions.
DEBKAfile’s military sources identify them as: Jemal Abu Hashem, who rarely appears on public, Salah Bardaweel, leader of Hamas parliament faction, and Heiman Ta’a, member of the military wing’s command.
They were allowed to go after consenting to an unconditional ceasefire, dropping their demand for open Gaza crossings and accepting that Israeli forces would hold their present lines.
In overnight fighting Friday, five Israel soldiers were injured and 15 Hamas operatives killed. Forty Israeli operations destroyed five tunnels, 14 missile stores and production sites.
Israel held its fire for three hours Saturday for fresh aid supplies to reach the Gaza population.
UN compound shelled in response to fire: Olmert
1 day ago
JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told visiting UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday that Israeli troops had shelled a UN compound in Gaza in response to fire coming from the building.
“The Israeli forces were attacked from there and their response was severe,” Olmert’s office quoted him as telling Ban.
“We do not want such incidents to take place and I am sorry for it but I don’t know if you know, but Hamas fired from the UNRWA site.
“This is a sad incident and I apologise for it.”
MAYBE HAMAS SHOULD ALSO SAY SORRY THAT WE DID THIS ON PURPOSE CAUSE WE KNEW THE ISRAELI’S WOULD FIGHT BACK AND HIT THE U.N. COMPOUND JUST LIKE THEY DID IN THE HOSPITAL AND FROM SCHOOLS.
BYE!
MICHEAL CONNIFF SAYS IN COMMENT 28 THE PROUD ZIONIST “SOME SAY ZIONISM IS EVIL” SAYS BYE WITHOUT THE GOOD! MARTIN LUTHER KING WAS SMART,FAIR AND VERY RESONABLE AND HIS HEART CAME FROM A TRUE PLACE OF LOVE AND FAIRNESS, HE WOULD NOT HAVE CHANGED HIS VIEWS TODAY! YOU ALL CAN MAKE UP SENARIO’S AND SPECULATE ALL YOU WANT IF IT MAKES YOU FEEL MORE BETTER! THIS IS MY LAST TIME LOGG’N ON HERE SO HAVE FUN WITHOUT ME. THANX FOR THE LAUGHS!
Israel retracted its claim that their was fire coming from the attacked UN compound in Gaza. Though it can take sometime, it is possible to get into Israel from the West Bank.
Below is an abridged version of the statement that Sir Gerald Kaufman made in the House of Commons on January 15:
I was brought up as an orthodox Jew and a Zionist. On a shelf in our kitchen, there was a tin box for the Jewish National Fund, into which we put coins to help the pioneers building a Jewish presence in Palestine.
I first went to Israel in 1961 and I have been there since more times than I can count. I had family in Israel and have friends in Israel. One of them fought in the wars of 1956, 1967 and 1973 and was wounded in two of them. The tie clip that I am wearing is made from a campaign decoration awarded to him, which he presented to me.
I have known most of the Prime Ministers of Israel, starting with the founding Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. Golda Meir was my friend, as was Yigal Allon, Deputy Prime Minister, who, as a general, won the Negev for Israel in the 1948 war of independence.
My parents came to Britain as refugees from Poland. Most of their families were subsequently murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust. My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town of Staszow. A German soldier shot her dead in her bed.
My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza. The current Israeli Government ruthlessly and cynically exploit the continuing guilt among gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians….
On Sky News a few days ago, the spokeswoman for the Israeli army, Major Leibovich, was asked about the Israeli killing of, at that time, 800 Palestinians- the total is now 1,000. She replied instantly that “500 of them were militants.”
That was the reply of a Nazi. I suppose that the Jews fighting for their lives in the Warsaw ghetto could have been dismissed as militants….
However many Palestinians the Israelis murder in Gaza, they cannot solve this existential problem by military means. Whenever and however the fighting ends, there will still be 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza and 2.5 million more on the West Bank. They are treated like dirt by the Israelis, with hundreds of road blocks and with the ghastly denizens of the illegal Jewish settlements harassing them as well. The time will come, not so long from now, when they will outnumber the Jewish population in Israel.
It is time for our Government to make clear to the Israeli Government that their conduct and policies are unacceptable, and to impose a total arms ban on Israel. It is time for peace, but real peace, not the solution by conquest which is the Israelis’ real goal but which it is impossible for them to achieve. They are not simply war criminals; they are fools.
Here’s the url:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090115/debtext/90115-0013.htm#090115102001355
On page 12 in Tuesdays January 6th 2009 of the Aspen Daily News, in the World Section, there is a story entitled Gaza civilian toll rises; diplomats seek truce. In the Aspen Daily News paper it shows pictures of an Israeli kindergarten in Ashod that was hit by a rocket fired from Hamas in Gaza. There is also a pregnant Jewish woman who is being attended by Jewish EMTs (the EMTs have the Star of David on their uniforms) because she has been overcome with emotion. The pictures are from Rina Castelnuovo of the NYT.
The first paragraph of this page and a half story says;
Israel ignored mounting international calls for a cease-fire Monday, and said it won’t stop its crippling 10-day assault until peace and tranquility are achieved in southern Israeli towns in the line of Palestinians rocket fire.
Under the picture it says;
The scene after a rocket fired from the Gaza struck a kindergarten in Ashod on Monday. No one was injured in the attack as the schools in the area have been closed. A pregnant woman who witnessed a rocket landing on a kindergarten nearby, is tended to after being overcome with emotion, in Ashod, Israel, on Monday.
Now, whats the problem you might ask?
Well if you look at the photos there is dozens of problems. In them it shows pictures of undamaged desks, chairs, shopping carts, bricks, drapes, tires, pillows, LOTS of stuffed animals, LOTS of toys, curtains, matts, rugs, cardboard, an air conditioner, all spread out over the yard. There is a 3 x 3 inch steel beam roof frame that is bent and still attached to the hole/void in the wall, however, the roofing tin appears to be stacked 20 feet away from the building.
There is no mention of deaths or injuries in the article and there is no pictures of blood, bodys or parts, shoes, boots or clothes. I assume the school wasn’t open at the time.
What about the rocket?
There is no indication of a rocket.
No hit mark
No black soot
No burn marks
No fire
No smoke
No indication of fire or explosives,
No ruble or debris, the many stuffed animals and toys were clean
The metal beams to support the roof is neatly bent, not blown up, melted or twisted
The bricks and blocks are not deformed, burnt, or even busted, but broke at the motar seams and look to be neatly stacked or left, and some are very far from the “blast hole” like they were shot out 60 feet, even over the toys, carpet and stuffed animals. Another strange thing about the bricks is they dont match the building, they are brown, not white, like the ones in the building.
The blast hole….where to start.
The only area that shows a void is a rectangular shape part of the wall or garage door, to me it looks like a garage door that is open, thus hiding the door in the picture.
If a rocket did hit the side of the building, It is perfectly cut out about the size of a garage door. No holes, no burn marks, no broken glass or wood. If it was bricks from a wall, there is not enough bricks or dust around to substantiate a door or wall that size, also the floor on the inside of the building is clean and undisturbed and dont have any debris or bricks laying there. How could there be things like toys and carpet spread out 50 feet out away from the building and the inside of the building be clean? And if the rocket didn’t hit the wall, garage door or side of the building, then where is the hole in the ground? there is none, and how did all the toys and bricks get scattered around the yard?
There are also security people all over the place, but most have their hands in there pockets and causally walking around taking pictures.
My guess is that a loader broke through a short brick landscaping or perimitor wall and went up to the patio roof made of tin, then pushed up the thin roofing tin thus bending the 3×3 beams. It drove up to an open garage door, where people inside put lots of toys, matts, carpets, drapes, desks and chairs, an air conditioner, and tires and maybe shopping carts into the bucket of the loader. Then the loader spread all the items around the yard.
I think that is a very easily explained photo that makes more sense than The New York Times does. I wont even bother to ask why would Hamas attack a closed school, or why the pregnant woman is overcome with emotion when nobody was there. And I certainly wont bring up the fact that the woman has “man hands” an Adams Apple and looks like a man, she/hes is also wearing a very large coat, when everyone else is in T-shirts and tank tops.
This is obviously a staged photo.
“By Way Of Deception Thou Shalt Do War.”
- the official motto of Mossad
This picture was a press release from Israeli sources purported to show Palestian terrorists. However one of the suspected terrorists forgot to take off his star of David before being photographed.
http://www.nogw.com/mossad.html
One for the road too cut and paste that’s what I do for the truth and fight the BULLSHIT words that is fed from YOU from your hate of the Jews! In solidarity with Israel
Obama will be best served by embracing Dr. Martin Luther King’s pro-Israel legacy
Since claiming the presidency, Barack Obama has been universally praised by foreign leaders as a breath of fresh air for American diplomacy. On December 27th, however, world leaders’ jubilant anticipation of his inauguration took a backseat as Israel began Operation Cast Lead and questions arose as to how the incoming president would respond to the conflict.
While President-elect Obama has correctly insisted that there cannot be “two presidents at a time,” his inauguration is rapidly approaching and soon the global community will be looking to him for guidance on the Middle East. Mr. Obama would be best served by embracing the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his unequivocal support and commitment to the State of Israel.
Israel began its operation to end Hamas’ capacity to launch rockets from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel. These Israeli citizens are on the frontline and continue to be bombarded on a daily basis by an endless barrage of attacks from the terrorist group Hamas.
Pro-Israel supporters should take comfort in the pronouncements by President-elect Obama and key figures in his administration. Mr. Obama himself has already affirmed his pledge to aggressively pursue an end to the conflict upon taking the oath of office.
Additionally, when visiting Sderot last July, Obama said he would do whatever he could to protect his daughters if they were threatened by rocket attacks. His top political advisor, David Axelrod, has been quoted as saying, “when bombs are raining down on your citizens there is an urge to respond and act to put an end to that. That’s what he (Obama) believes.” Mr. Axelrod has also said that the Obama administration plans to work closely with Israel, which he called Washington’s “most important ally in the region.”
Needless to say, one’s rhetoric is only just that – one’s words. It is action that will dictate legacy. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life is that legacy.
What irony that Barack Obama’s inauguration falls one day after King’s 80th birthday commemoration and the national observances of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Dr. King’s struggles and his supreme sacrifice laid the groundwork for an Obama presidency. As we come together to swear-in the first African American president within the backdrop of the current crisis in the Middle East, President-elect Obama should recall the noble legacy of King and his steadfast dedication to the State of Israel.
Dr. King understood the necessity for Israel to protect its citizens, invoking the sentiment, “Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all of our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity.”
The people of Israel held a special place in King’s thinking. During Israel’s 1956 war with Egypt, he wrote: “There is something in the very nature of the universe which is on the side of Israel in its struggle with every Egypt.” In March of 1959, returning to the United States by a circuitous route that took him through Jordan and Egypt, King visited Jerusalem and Jericho, then still in Arab hands. Though Jordan refused to let him into the Jewish quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem, King often spoke of the adventure and excitement of being in the Holy City and the Holy Land.
In fact, the last speech he gave before his death specifically referred to his trip on the Jericho road. Dr. King remarked, “I see Israel, and never mind saying it, as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land almost can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy.”
January 20th is rapidly approaching and the weight of the whole world will soon be thrust upon Barack Obama’s shoulders. As president, he will immediately be faced with a number of urgent domestic and international issues. The crisis in the Middle East will present a great challenge to our new president, and I trust Dr. King’s legacy will offer him great wisdom and guidance.
As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. so eloquently stated, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
As I listened to MLK’s wonderful speech this morning I could see he was also talking about the oppressed Palestinians who live in Gaza and the West Bank. If you do not know how poorly they are treated by the Israelis, it is your obligation as a citizen of the US to find out. As our country provides much of the UN votes, money and weapons that allow the opression, brutalization and human rights violations of Palestinians to continue.
Read some of the information provided by Rabbis for Human Rights. They do terrific work accompanying Palestinian farmers to their farmland so they are not attacked by Jewish settlers, try to prevent Palestinian homes from being demolished, rebuild them if they are destroyed by Israel,etc. It is pretty much impossible for a Palestinian to get a building permit from the Israeli Government.
I feel for the Israelis whose towns have been hit with rocket fire, however, I struggle with the existing geopolitical model of a bully coming in – beating & killing the innocent & then expecting others to salvage their carnage. (The US did this in Iraq.) The oppressor needs to be held accountable. Unless that’s restored justice is not served to the oppressed, I am afraid, this vicious cycle of pain will prevail.
“hate of Jews” lol
Lets try this again since you didnt answer the first time .
This is for Proud Zionist
When we are talking about the destruction and genocide in the Middle East can you tell me what “proud zionist” means in that context.
On an interesting note, most of Bush’s sidekicks were not only neo-cons but were staunch zionists as well. I would label them evil war-mongers for money, but thats another thread. And Obama’s picks as well as his VP are zionists too (looks like the zionists do try to run the world.) Its sad that this country cant take care of its own as our forefathers layed the path, without duel citizens and zionists in our government.
MLK’s Israel letter is a HOAX.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2356.shtml
[Finding direct and published utterances by Dr. King about the modern Middle East and Zionism is extremely rare. A cursory review of dozens of books on and by the civil rights leader turned up nothing.
Nonetheless, defenders of Israel often refer to a letter by Dr. King. This letter is reprinted in full on many web pages and in print…The letter was commonly cited to also have been published in a book by Dr. King entitled, "This I Believe: Selections from the Writings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr." No such book was listed in the bibliography provided by the King Center in Atlanta, nor in the catalogs of several large public and university libraries.
Antiracism writer Tim Wise checked the citation, which claimed that it originated from a "Letter to an Anti-Zionist Friend" in an August, 1967 edition of Saturday Review. In an article on January, 2003, essay he declared that he found no letters from Dr. King in any of the four August, 1967 editions. The authors of this essay verified Wise's discovery.
Soon afterwards, CAMERA, a rabidly pro-Israeli organization, published a statement declaring that the letter was "apparently" a hoax. CAMERA explained how it gained so much currency. The "letter" came from a "reputable" book, Shared Dreams, by Rabbi Marc Shneier. Martin Luther King III authored the preface for the book, giving the impression of familial approval.]
Kudos to CAMERA for admitting the MLK hoax. Too bad CAMERA executive and part-time Aspen resident David Kudish didn’t issue a memo to Aspen’s pro-Israel Jewish community. It might have saved “proud zionist” Jerome Marks a lot of embarrassment.
The foot soldiers of Zionism learn well from their masters, Sue.
“By Way Of Deception Thou Shalt Do War.”
I oppose all extremist “religions,” philosophies and ideologies and in particular those agents and leaders of these social constructs as well as any racists that seek to impose their garbage and rotted pablum on me. I do not hate anyone for being Jewish, Christian, Moslem, Hindu, Wiccan, Buddhist or anything else. It is the heinous actions of those individuals especially in the name of these constructs that I especially revile. That usually means various “leaders” of one sort or another. I have no problems applying that to the M.E. situation.
Infowars,
The Mossad motto is not as you claim.
From Wikipedia: Mossad’s former motto: be-tachbūlōt ta`aseh lekhā milchāmāh is a quote from the Bible (Proverbs 24:6) “For by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.” The motto was changed recently to: be-’éyn tachbūlōt yippol `ām; ū-teshū`āh be-rov yō’éts (Proverbs 11:14) “Where there is no guidance, a nation falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”
The motto as it appears on the Mossad website: “Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety”
By distorting the Mossad motto to appear sinister, you are fueling the conspiracy theory that “Jews are evil…in control of everything…trying to take over the world…etc.” That is destructive to the cause Cathleen and I are trying to promote; freedom for Palestine. Our credibility depends on the power of truth.
So please, cut it out.
“cut it out”?
The motto of Israel’s spy agency, Mossad, is, according to recently defected Mossad agent Victor Ostrovsky: “By way of deception thou shalt do war.”
I happen to google “By way of deception thou shalt do war” and Mossad and 56,000+ hits says your wrong.
http://www.wikinfo.org/index.php/Mossad
Mossad’s original motto: be-tahb?l?t ta`aseh lekh? milkham?h (Hebrew: בתחבולות תעשה לך מלחמה, “For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.” – Proverbs XXIV, 6 or the more recognised translation “By way of deception thou shalt make war”) was changed recently as part of the Mossad’s public ‘coming out’ to another Proverbs passage: be-’�yn tahb?l?t y?p?l `?m; ?-tesh?`?h be-r?v yo’�ts (Hebrew: באין תחבולות יפול עם, ותשועה ברוב יועץ, “Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” – Proverbs XI, 14)
Sorry infowars, but 56,000 hits doesn’t prove diddly.
There is absolutely no way that the biblical phrase can be translated “by way of deception.” The phrase is unarguably translated as “by wise council,” which can’t possibly be mistaken for deception. This is just another of those made up pieces of propaganda used to make Jews look bad, like The Protocols.
True, there is a book title “By way of deception,” but that doesn’t prove that it is the Mossad motto either.
Point is, you can’t believe everything you read on the internet.
Well we agree to disagree, but my quick scan and link is good enough for me, I dont think you have a monopoly on ALL things Jewish.
But I also wrote to Victor Ostrovsky, hopefully he will put some insight into this.
Quotes from Israeli Prime Ministers
“We must expel Arabs and take their places.” — David Ben Gurion, 1937, Ben Gurion and the Palestine Arabs, Oxford University Press, 1985.
“There has been Anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that?” — Quoted by Nahum Goldmann in Le Paradoxe Juif (The Jewish Paradox), pp. 121-122.
“Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab villages, and I do not blame you because geography books no longer exist. Not only do the books not exist, the Arab villages are not there either. Nahlal arose in the place of Mahlul; Kibbutz Gvat in the place of Jibta; Kibbutz Sarid in the place of Huneifis; and Kefar Yehushua in the place of Tal al-Shuman. There is not a single place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population.” — David Ben Gurion, quoted in The Jewish Paradox, by Nahum Goldmann, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1978, p. 99.
“Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves … politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves… The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country.” — David Ben Gurion, quoted on pp 91-2 of Chomsky’s Fateful Triangle, which appears in Simha Flapan’s “Zionism and the Palestinians pp 141-2 citing a 1938 speech.
“If I knew that it was possible to save all the children of Germany by transporting them to England, and only half by transferring them to the Land of Israel, I would choose the latter, for before us lies not only the numbers of these children but the historical reckoning of the people of Israel.” — David Ben-Gurion (Quoted on pp 855-56 in Shabtai Teveth’s Ben-Gurion in a slightly different translation).
“There is no such thing as a Palestinian people… It is not as if we came and threw them out and took their country. They didn’t exist.” — Golda Meir, statement to The Sunday Times, 15 June, 1969.
“How can we return the occupied territories? There is nobody to return them to.” — Golda Meir, March 8, 1969.
“Any one who speaks in favor of bringing the Arab refugees back must also say how he expects to take the responsibility for it, if he is interested in the state of Israel. It is better that things are stated clearly and plainly: We shall not let this happen.” — Golda Meir, 1961, in a speech to the Knesset, reported in Ner, October 1961
“This country exists as the fulfillment of a promise made by God Himself. It would be ridiculous to ask it to account for its legitimacy.” — Golda Meir, Le Monde, 15 October 1971
“We walked outside, Ben-Gurion accompanying us. Allon repeated his question, What is to be done with the Palestinian population?’ Ben-Gurion waved his hand in a gesture which said ‘Drive them out!” — Yitzhak Rabin, leaked censored version of Rabin memoirs, published in the New York Times, 23 October 1979.
“[Israel will] create in the course of the next 10 or 20 years conditions which would attract natural and voluntary migration of the refugees from the Gaza Strip and the west Bank to Jordan. To achieve this we have to come to agreement with King Hussein and not with Yasser Arafat.” — Yitzhak Rabin (a “Prince of Peace” by Clinton’s standards), explaining his method of ethnically cleansing the occupied land without stirring a world outcry. (Quoted in David Shipler in the New York Times, 04/04/1983 citing Meir Cohen’s remarks to the Knesset’s foreign affairs and defense committee on March 16.)
“[The Palestinians] are beasts walking on two legs.” — Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, speech to the Knesset, quoted in Amnon Kapeliouk, “Begin and the ‘Beasts,”‘ New Statesman, June 25, 1982.
“The Partition of Palestine is illegal. It will never be recognized …. Jerusalem was and will for ever be our capital. Eretz Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. And for Ever.” — Menachem Begin, the day after the U.N. vote to partition Palestine.
“The past leaders of our movement left us a clear message to keep Eretz Israel from the Sea to the River Jordan for future generations, for the mass aliya (=Jewish immigration), and for the Jewish people, all of whom will be gathered into this country.” — Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir declares at a Tel Aviv memorial service for former Likud leaders, November 1990. Jerusalem Domestic Radio Service.
“The settlement of the Land of Israel is the essence of Zionism. Without settlement, we will not fulfill Zionism. It’s that simple.” — Yitzhak Shamir, Maariv, 02/21/1997.
“(The Palestinians) would be crushed like grasshoppers … heads smashed against the boulders and walls.” — Isreali Prime Minister (at the time) Yitzhak Shamir in a speech to Jewish settlers New York Times April 1, 1988
“Israel should have exploited the repression of the demonstrations in China, when world attention focused on that country, to carry out mass expulsions among the Arabs of the territories.” — Benyamin Netanyahu, then Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, former Prime Minister of Israel, speaking to students at Bar Ilan University, from the Israeli journal Hotam, November 24, 1989.
“The Palestinians are like crocodiles, the more you give them meat, they want more”….
– Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel at the time – August 28, 2000. Reported in the Jerusalem Post August 30, 2000
“If we thought that instead of 200 Palestinian fatalities, 2,000 dead would put an end to the fighting at a stroke, we would use much more force….” — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, quoted in Associated Press, November 16, 2000.
“I would have joined a terrorist organization.” — Ehud Barak’s response to Gideon Levy, a columnist for the Ha’aretz newspaper, when Barak was asked what he would have done if he had been born a Palestinian.
“It is the duty of Israeli leaders to explain to public opinion, clearly and courageously, a certain number of facts that are forgotten with time. The first of these is that there is no Zionism, colonialization, or Jewish State without the eviction of the Arabs and the expropriation of their lands.” — Ariel Sharon, Israeli Foreign Minister, addressing a meeting of militants from the extreme right-wing Tsomet Party, Agence France Presse, November 15, 1998.
“Everybody has to move, run and grab as many (Palestinian) hilltops as they can to enlarge the (Jewish) settlements because everything we take now will stay ours…Everything we don’t grab will go to them.” — Ariel Sharon, Israeli Foreign Minister, addressing a meeting of the Tsomet Party, Agence France Presse, Nov. 15, 1998.
“Israel may have the right to put others on trial, but certainly no one has the right to put the Jewish people and the State of Israel on trial.” — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, 25 March, 2001 quoted in BBC News Online
[Well we agree to disagree, but my quick scan and link is good enough for me]
Your quick scan revealed only that people like you, on blogs like this, are repeating an incorrect attribution. If that is good enough for you fine, but for someone like me whose credibility depends on NEVER giving false information, it is not nearly good enough. If I make even one error in reporting, everything I write after that will be suspect. That’s why I carefully research everything I write.
I prefer to use official sources and never use blogs or opinion pieces as a source. The Mossad website states both its former and current mottos, neither of which contain the phrase “by deception.” If you can name an accurate and reliable source for your version of the motto, I’ll reconsider my position, but for now it remains highly suspect.
That said, I appreciate that we are on the same side concerning Zionism’s destructive purpose and methods. There is no doubt that racism, deception, and violence are the modus operandi of Zionism and consequently of the Israeli government. On that we can definitely agree.
Using the Official Mossad Website to do your research on them is like asking the School of Americas how they view torture, or asking Bush or the Neocons how they feel about compassionate conservatism. Its ridiculous to say the least.
I only need a quick scan because there is just to much information to back up the truth, there is no need to go to great lengths to come up with something you dont want to see.
I e-mailed 3 different experts on the subject and they all said you are misinformed or lying, They said its not only their motto, its their mo. I hope they will be allowed to post here about this topic. Then we can move forward.
The Mossad also has a mascot, here is a letter from a Jewish man about this. I havent researched this mascot, but I find if it acts like a duck and quacks like a duck, then its a duck.
The Menorah As Mossad Symbol
I was extremely outraged when I saw the Mossad’s symbol and logo on website next to the Mossad Agents Arrested story. http://www.rense.com/general17/mossadagentsarrested.htm
As a Jew, I never knew that the Mossad even had a logo and symbol. I felt that the logo on your website was an example of fascist propaganda against us the Jews degrading our heritage. I saw it as the a good example of Hate Crime against us and very racist and anti-Semitic.
Before writing you an angry letter, I did a search on the Internet, and to my horror I verified on many other websites that this is the real logo and symbol of the Mossad. I am enclosing a more clear Mossad symbol which I found on the Internet. The reason that I was horrified was the logo which is absolutely supporting most of the stories that I heard recently about the Mossad, and as a Jew, I refused to believe it before.
Top: “kee betachbulot ta’ase lecha milchama”
Translation: “With clandestine terrorism we will conduct war”
(Note – This totally contradicts the Jewish ethics I learned at home, and reminds me precisely the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”)
Bottom: “Ha’Mossad Le’modiein”
Translation: “The institute for the collection of Information”
As a Jew who supports Israel, I am deeply ashamed that the Mossad has chosen to use the symbol of the State of Israel in the middle of its logo. The Menora (lamp) and the leaves are also a part of our Jewish heritage around the world, but, now that the Mossad has been implicated so seriously with the 911, Lockerbie, ADL, Drugs, Foster, and today with the Mexican Government bombing, I will remove the Menora from my house.
Sincerely yours,
Shulamit Levy Florida e Menora from my house.
Sincerely yours,
Shulamit Levy Florida
Mossad’s original motto was be-tahbūlōt ta`aseh lekhā milkhamāh (Hebrew: בתחבולות תעשה לך מלחמה, “For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war.” – Proverbs XXIV, 6 or the more recognised translation “By way of deception thou shalt make war”). This was changed recently as part of the Mossad’s public ‘coming out’ to another Proverbs passage: be-’éyn tahbūlōt yīpōl `ām; ū-teshū`āh be-rōv yo’éts (Hebrew: באין תחבולות יפול עם, ותשועה ברוב יועץ, “Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” – Proverbs XI, 14)
[I find if it acts like a duck and quacks like a duck, then its a duck.]
But what if you’ve been told that a turkey is a duck? You might believe the person that told you that and call a turkey a duck, but that doesn’t make it true. You need to apply logic and do diligent research. You can’t just go on appearances because well, they can be deceiving. Especially if you are already deceived by the plethora of propaganda on the web.
[I only need a quick scan because there is just to much information to back up the truth, there is no need to go to great lengths to come up with something you dont want to see.]
Infowars, NONE of that information backs up the truth. Every one of them is a blog or opinion piece, just like your comments. It doesn’t prove a thing that a lot of people are repeating a lie.
This is what I fight against all of the time in the Israel/Palestine debate. People like Barry Schochet and even Michael Conniff repeating lies because they believe it’s the truth. And people who hear them, believe the lies and repeat them to others, and so on.
People who are prejudiced toward Arabs want to believe the lie because it backs up what they think they know. Because of your prejudice toward Jews, you want to believe the motto, because it backs up your beliefs. I’m warning you; believing something on a surface level with no basis in fact is a slippery slope. You start spouting lies and people will stop listening to you.
Unfortunately sifting through information to find the truth is a daunting task. As you proved, any search will turn up thousands of hits. You can cut and paste them into your text, but then you are just passing on crap, not truth.
[I e-mailed 3 different experts on the subject and they all said you are misinformed or lying, They said its not only their motto, its their mo.]
And these “experts” got their information from where? Betcha they are cutting and pasting just like you. They’ve just read that motto translation so many times on other people’s sites that they think it’s true.
That’s no different than an anti-Arab like Barry Schochet saying the greenhouses that the settlers left in Gaza were destroyed by the Palestinians. It’s an outright lie, but you’ll have a hard time proving it because so many websites repeat it.
Some of those websites are official news sources and they still got it wrong because they believed what they were told without checking the facts. A lot of those websites are Jewish pro-Israel sites that use the greenhouse story to incite hatred for Arabs. That’s no different than finding the alleged Mossad motto on an anti-Semitic site for the purpose of proving that Jews are evil. Both instances are despicable and dangerous.
[Using the Official Mossad Website to do your research on them is like asking the School of Americas how they view torture, or asking Bush or the Neocons how they feel about compassionate conservatism. Its ridiculous to say the least.]
Now if I read you correctly, you’re saying that the official motto as it is on the website is not the REAL motto. There’s a SECRET motto, so secret that it appears 56.000 times on the internet. Oh I get it.
I’ll tell you what is ridiculous; “kee betachbulot ta’ase lecha milchama” is not translatable Hebrew, it’s jibberish. You’re being taken for a ride my friend.
Now Google: be-tachbūlōt ta`aseh lekhā milchāmāh
and see what you get
better yet, check out the bible verse that was used as the original motto:
http://bible.cc/proverbs/24-6.htm
good luck Sue
I will leave you and Mossad’s ideals and morals to your own devises.
meanwhile “sinister” things keep happening.
Main stream media had a pretty balanced segment on the impossibility of a two state solution for the Israeli/Palestinian conflict Sunday night on “60 Minutes.”
It was called:
“No Peace Deal
Bob Simon reports from Israel and the West Bank where a growing number of Israelis and Palestinians say that a two-state solution is no longer possible. ”
Check it out on the 60 Minute Web site. It conflicts with Barry’s view that it is the Palestinians fault that peace has not been achieved. It shows that Israel wants all of the Palestinian West Bank land for itself as they feel God gave it to the Jews.