Abbas: Hamas plot against PA threatens unity govt

[Expat1 971]

A vast majority of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip – 88.9 percent - are in favor of rocket fire on Israel, a new poll shows, while 61 percent say they would not want United Nations forces in the Strip.

Let's see:

You violently threw them off their land

You passed laws declaring their "abandoned property" the property of Jewish-only settlers

You continued to expand into their territory

You blockade them on all sides

You deny them medical supplies

You encroach on their water supplies

You ration their water based on whether they are Jewish or non-Jewish

You encroach on their coastal territories

You put them under siege

You routinely surround their villages, storm into their homes, and tear up their property

You summarily execute whole families in their own homes

You allow settlers to torment their children then protect those settlers at gunpoint

You set up checkpoints then harass them, search them, slap them around, and delay them to no purpose

You have a government bureau that calculates the bare minimum number of calories they need then ensure that they get less

You shoot them randomly in the street

You arrest them and hold them in prison with no trial

You bomb their schools

You bomb their homes

You bomb their hospitals

You deny them energy

Then you all stand around with stupid looks on your faces scratching your a$$es with one hand and pointing fingers at them with the other like we are supposed to be completely floored when they want to and do support shooting back and they do not want another occupying force? What's even stupider is the "master-race" expectation that "just because of who we are" everyone else is supposed to support this cr-p?

No. We don't. Israel is the aggressor here and deserves neither our support nor our pity until they demonstrate that they can leave their neighbors, their neighbors resources, their neighbors children, and their neighbors property alone. Until then - get lost. Take your propaganda with you.

Edited August 29, 2014 by Expat1

[OriZ 3,157]

Israel and the UN Resolutions

Resolution 181 (the Partition Plan)

Adopted by the United Nations on Nov 29 1947, Resolution 181 was a non-binding recommendation to partition Palestine in to 2 states, one Jewish and one Arab. The implementation hinged on acceptance by both parties – Arabs and Jews. With Arab refusal, this Resolution lost its validity and relevance. Despite numerous attempts by the UN to implement this Resolution and the Jews continual acceptance of this resolution, the Arabs continued to refuse and in fact acted with violence in response. Attempts by the Palestinians to resuscitate Resolution 181 more than 6 decades after they first rejected it are a baseless ploy to use Resolution 181 as leverage to bring about a greater Israeli withdrawal from parts of Western Palestine with even less defendable borders.

“To attempt to show … that Resolution 181(II) ‘remains’ in force in 1981 is thus an undertaking even more miraculous than would be the revival of the dead. It is an attempt to give life to an entity that the Arab states had themselves aborted before it came to maturity and birth. To propose that Resolution 181(II) can be treated as if it has binding force in 1981, [E.H., the year the book was written] for the benefit of the same Arab states, who by their aggression destroyed it ab initio, [in Latin: From the beginning] also violates ‘general principles of law,’ such as those requiring claimants to equity to come ‘with clean hands,’ and forbidding a party who has unlawfully repudiated a transaction from holding the other party to terms that suit the later expediencies of the repudiating party.”[1]

Professor Stone,a distinguished authority on the Law of Nations, wrote about the above ‘novelty of resurrection’ in 1981 when he analysed a similar attempt by pro-Palestinian ‘experts’ at the UN to rewrite the history of the conflict (their writings were termed “Studies”). Stone called it “revival of the dead”!

Resolution 242

This Resolution was approved in Nov 1967 5 months after the 1967 war. This is what Resolution 242 stated:

• Affirms that the fulfillment of Charter principles requires the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, which should include the application of both of these principles.
  
  • Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in recent conflict
    
  • Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every state in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized borders free from threats or act of force
    
  
  

An important point to notice is that the Resolution does not call for the withdrawal from ALL the territories, only “territories”, thus allowing for certain territorial adjustments meant to provide securer borders for Israel.

Israel Immediately accepted the principles of Resolution 242 but both Egypt and Syria rejected it. Israel has implemented it with willing parties for example the lasting peace struck with Egypt and Jordan.

The Arabs claim that certain drafts of the Resolution do contain the word “the” but these are in French and under international law, English versions are followed and accepted as the conclusive reference point, the French versions are not.

In terms of the Refugee problem mentioned in the Resolution 242, it mention “a just settlement of the refugee problem”. It does not say the “Palestinian of Arab Refugee problem”. The history of the Resolution shows that it was intentional and reflected recognition that the Arab-Israeli conflict created 2 refugee populations. Parallel to the estimated 600000 Arabs who left Israel, more than 899000 Jews fled from Arab countries in the aftermath of the 1948 war – 650000 of them finding asylum in Israel.

Resolution 338

It was drafted as an attempt to bring about ceasefire during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. It essentially reaffirmed the principles of Resolution 242. The Yom Kippur War illustrated that the recommendations of Resolution 242 were not implemented. The Arabs preferred to abide by the 1967 post war Khartoum Resolution signed by 8 Arab Heads of state that set 3 “nays”: “No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel and no negotiations with Israel”. Instead of the negotiations requested in 242, Egypt and Syria decided to take back by force lost territories and attacked Israel on Yom Kippur in 1973.

In effect, Resolution 338 legally forced the Arab states and Israel to reach a cease- fire. Parallel to this, it sought to renew efforts for both sides to sit down and negotiate a settlement based on the language of Resolution 242. Combined, those two resolutions became the basis for future attempts to establish ‘a just and durable peace in the Middle East.’ Ultimately, they resulted in peace with Egypt and Jordan, a result yet to be achieved through negotiations with Israel’s other neighbors, Syria and Lebanon.

[OriZ 3,157]

The Flotilla has often been used by anti-Israel proponents, as an example of Israel’s indiscriminate use of force, war crimes and disregards for civilian, humanitarian life. The true aim of this Flotilla was to break the Naval blockade enforced on Gaza since 2007, as a result of Hamas’ rise to power.

Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization in many countries in the world. It is the organization within the territories, which has spearheaded numerous terrorist attacks, on Israeli citizens and on an almost continuous basis fires rockets indiscriminately into Israeli civilian territory. Hamas was founded on the belief that Israel has no right to exist, and any methods available are to be used to bring about the Jewish States demise. These sentiments are very well expressed in the Hamas Charter [1]. To this day, Hamas refuses to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist.

It is understandable, that with such a neighbor, maintaining a naval blockade, is of utmost importance to the protection of civilian lives within Israel. What is commonly forgotten, or neglected, is the fact that both Israel and Egypt enforce the blockade. Israel in the North and Egypt in the South. A United Nations investigative committee in September 2011 concluded in the Palmer Report, that the Naval blockade is legal.

In June 2010 Israel eased the blockade for non-military goods. Israel does allow the passage of thousands of tons of aid (medical, construction, food, etc) through the Kerem Shalom border crossing on a daily basis. Egypt opened the Rafah border crossing to women of all ages, men below 18 years and men over 40 years, in May 2011. It still does restrict movement of goods into and out of Gaza.

On the 31^st May 2010 six ships as part of a flotilla left Turkey on their way to Gaza in order to break this legal Naval blockade. This Flotilla was organized, primarily, by the Turkish non-governmental organization -Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH). This “Humanitarian” aid group is a well documented ally of Hamas and al-Qaeda, and was identified in the trial of the “millennium bomber” as playing a key role in the plot to blow up Los Angeles airport. On board one of the ships, the Mavi Marmara, were active terrorists who had been allowed to board without inspection in Istanbul and vowed on departure to become jihadist martyrs[2].

As the flotilla approached the area of the blockade, Israel repeatedly requested the ships reroute themselves to an Israeli port in Ashdod. There the goods would be unloaded, checked and sent to Gaza. This request was refused. In order to enforce this legal blockade, Israeli forces were left with no choice but to board the flotilla ships.

During the operation, flotilla members on the ship, the Mavi Marmara, violently attacked the Israel Defense Force personell with weapons, which included knives, metal rods, clubs and reportedly live gunfire. The soldiers were armed with paintball guns. In the resulting confrontation eight flotilla members were killed and more were wounded. At least seven Israeli soldiers were wounded, two critically. This loss of life was regrettable but could have been prevented with due co-operations from the flotilla members.

The aim of this Flotilla was clear from the outset. It was another way of delegitimizing Israel, through denying her, her right of self-defense. The journalists on board the ship were waiting for a show, and in due course they got the footage they wanted. The very fact that there were journalists on this ship from the outset, points to the try intentions of the participants. It was never truely about “humanitarian aid”. This farce of a set up, drew world wide condemnation of Israel well before any facts were uncovered. It once again drew attention to the impossible position Israel is in; damned if she does, and damned if she doesn’t

Edited August 30, 2014 by OriZ

[OriZ 3,157]

A few minutes before the Attila Somfalvi

(Video) Defense minister, IDF chief of staff and Navy commander explain Israeli considerations following takeover of aid ships sailing to Gaza, which left at least 10 pro-Palestinian activists dead. 'We regret the casualties, but soldiers were in danger'

Full story

Officials estimated that passengers will show slight resistance, and possibly minor violence; for that reason, the operation’s commander decided to bring the helicopter directly above the top deck. The first rope that soldiers used in order to descend down to the ship was wrested away by activists, most of them Turks, and tied to an antenna with the hopes of bringing the chopper down. However, Flotilla 13 fighters decided to carry on.

Navy commandoes slid down to the vessel one by one, yet then the unexpected occurred: The passengers that awaited them on the deck pulled out bats, clubs, and slingshots with glass marbles, assaulting each soldier as he disembarked. The fighters were nabbed one by one and were beaten up badly, yet they attempted to fight back.

However, to their misfortune, they were only equipped with paintball rifles used to disperse minor protests, such as the ones held in Bilin. The paintballs obviously made no impression on the activists, who kept on beating the troops up and even attempted to wrest away their weapons.

One soldier who came to the aid of a comrade was captured by the rioters and sustained severe blows. The commandoes were equipped with handguns but were told they should only use them in the face of life-threatening situations. When they came down from the chopper, they kept on shouting to each other “don’t shoot, don’t shoot,” even though they sustained numerous blows.

‘I saw the tip of a rifle’

The Navy commandoes were prepared to mostly encounter political activists seeking to hold a protest, rather than trained street fighters. The soldiers were told they were to verbally convince activists who offer resistance to give up, and only then use paintballs. They were permitted to use their handguns only under extreme circumstances.

The planned rush towards the vessel’s bridge became impossible, even when a second chopper was brought in with another crew of soldiers. “Throw stun grenades,” shouted Flotilla 13’s commander who monitored the operation. The Navy chief was not too far, on board a speedboat belonging to Flotilla 13, along with forces who attempted to climb into the back of the ship.

The forces hurled stun grenades, yet the rioters on the top deck, whose number swelled up to 30 by that time, kept on beating up about 30 commandoes who kept gliding their way one by one from the helicopter. At one point, the attackers nabbed one commando, wrested away his handgun, and threw him down from the top deck to the lower deck, 30 feet below. The soldier sustained a serious head wound and lost his consciousness.

Only after this injury did Flotilla 13 troops ask for permission to use live fire. The commander approved it: You can go ahead and fire. The soldiers pulled out their handguns and started shooting at the rioters’ legs, a move that ultimately neutralized them. Meanwhile, the rioters started to fire back at the commandoes.

“I saw the tip of a rifle sticking out of the stairwell,” one commando said. “He fired at us and we fired back. We didn’t see if we hit him. We looked for him later but couldn’t find him.” Two soldiers sustained gunshot wounds to their knee and stomach after rioters apparently fired at them using guns wrested away from troops.

2 errors

During the commotion, another commando was stabbed with a knife. In a later search aboard the Marmara, soldiers found caches of bats, clubs, knives, and slingshots used by the rioters ahead of the IDF takeover. It appeared the activists were well prepared for a fight.

Some passengers on the ship stood at the back and pounded the soldiers’ hands as they attempted to climb on board. Only after a 30-minute shootout and brutal assaults using clubs and knifes did commandoes manage to reach the bridge and take over the Marmara.

It appears that the error in planning the operation was the estimate that passengers were indeed political activists and members of humanitarian groups who seek a political provocation, but would not resort to brutal violence. The soldiers thought they will encounter Bilin-style violence; instead, they got Bangkok. The forces that disembarked from the helicopters were few; just dozens of troops – not enough to contend with the large group awaiting them.

The second error was that commanders did not address seriously enough the fact that a group of men were expecting the soldiers on the top deck. Had they addressed this more seriously, they may have hurled tear-gas grenades and smoke grenades from the helicopter to create a screen that would have enabled them to carry out their mission, without the fighters falling right into the hands of the rioters, who severely assaulted them.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3896796,00.html

[Expat1 971]

So?

If these things happened within 27 miles of their shoreline then Israelis were, again, in places where they are neither supposed to nor have the right to be, which, again, puts them in the wrong.

Nobody cares what happens to thieves and oppressors. You can fill a million pages of stories of how terrible things happened to your countrymen outside of their recognized borders and every single one of them happened because they were not where they were supposed to be and since that is the case you get the same very basic and simple answer: Don't be there and nothing will happen to you there. Be there and under our laws and principles you deserve whatever you get + you deserve to be prosecuted for being there in the first place.

Perhaps you need to find a group of self-superior master race types to bond with. Your message of "pity for stealing just because of our race or religion" isn't working here anymore. A message of how this can be made right and how Israel could make those people's lives better would be much better welcomed.

Edited August 30, 2014 by Expat1

[OriZ 3,157]

We are radiologists and doctors, who spend our lives interpreting images to diagnose and treat the ill. We are also informed people and rely upon scientific journals such as The Lancet in order to stay informed. We have worked in Israel and have treated tens of thousands of patients – Jews and Arabs alike — for years.

In keeping with our ethics and practice, we denounce the July 23, 2014 publication in The Lancet Early Online Publication of the piece authored by “Manduca, Chalmers, et al.” This “article” was not only non-scientific, but inflammatory and political as well. There is no place in any medical and scientific journal for such slanted and politically charged drivel.

We were flabbergasted that such an established Journal as The Lancet, under the auspices of Elsevier Ltd, would print an article written by Mads Gilbert, who was quoted in 2001 as supporting the terrorist acts of 9/11 against the United States, and when asked whether or not he supports terror acts, responded “Terror is a poor weapon, but my answer is yes, within the context I have mentioned.”

But enough about Mads and his madness.

As we write, our Israel Defense Force soldiers are yet again holding back their defensive “aggression” in order to allow medical and humanitarian aid through to the same strip of land from where these rockets are originating.

The authors of this unfortunate “article” left out the fact that Gaza has been Judenrein for almost ten years — no army presence — and not one Jew on the soil of Gaza since 2005. So it surprises us to wake up one morning to the sound of sirens wailing and missiles falling in our backyards, all fired from this same strip of land.

The field hospital that was set up by Israeli physicians and medics of the IDF to welcome wounded Gazans has saved the lives of hundreds of wounded women and children – a fact omitted by our colleagues.

We are urging the informed Lancet reader not to be complicit in this crime against the intellect and not to subscribe to the mindless and hateful hokum of these terrorist sympathizers, which has so unfortunately been published by The Lancet. We urge The Lancet not to publish this internet letter in print, as not to insult our humanity, intelligence, and dignity. This literary massacre committed against The Lancet’s integrity highlights the impotence of the scientific community to adhere to the Hippocratic Oath it swears to “preserve the purity of my life and my arts.”

http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article/to_the_misled_doctors_pseudoscientists_and_supporters_in_gaza

An Open Letter for the Readers of The Lancet

I have read with interest and in an attempted state of emotional detachment the

open letter for the people of Gaza published in the correspondence section of your

Journal. (Published Online July 22, 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/

S0140-6736(14)61044-8)

I have no intentions of getting into a “fact contest” with the authors, and in fact, I

totally agree and sympathize with the cry to stop war and suffering on all sides. This

wish is built into my DNA as a physician, father to two daughters and grandfather to

three grandsons.

I am not blind to the subjectivity of every “objective” information we (including the

authors) are fed, and in turn voice out.

I also recognize the cynicism of politics and accept, with dismay, the reality that we

are often simple pawns in the hands of global, corporate and religious interests far

stronger than we can ever imagine.

For many years, I have taken upon myself to train neurosurgeons from the

Palestinian authority and maintain strong working collaborations with them after

their return to their hometowns. Until recently, almost 10% of our patients at the

department of neurosurgery at Tel Aviv Hospital were patients from Gaza and the

West Bank who came to us seeking treatment for complex brain disorders, including

brain tumors, vascular malformations, trauma and congenital birth defects. This has

come to a screeching halt in the past 3 years since Hamas (not Israel) has refused

travel permits for their citizens to our hospital. Amazingly, our attempts to

communicate directly with Hamas authorities to grant such permits (after ensuring

the approval from the Israeli authorities) fell on deaf ears. Nevertheless, some high

ranking Hamas leaders and their family members still find their way to our hospital

for complex medical care even today.

Rhetoric of extremists is often dismissed by the world as words of delusion and

insanity. I was also inclined to view the proclamations of the Hamas when it was

founded several decades ago as pure meaningless rhetoric. Unfortunately, the

events in recent years when suicide bombers exploded buses in the middle of Israeli

cities, killing hundreds of civilians, rockets fired indiscriminately into civilian

populations on a daily basis, and the scale up of such events in recent months

preceding the current conflict made me wonder whether I was naïve in my beliefs.

Slaughter of Muslims “infidels” by their fanatic extremists brothers that takes place

today world-wide helped little to dissuade my fears.

The outcry by the authors of the letter for immediate international intervention in

the current conflict is an understandable human response.

Unfortunately, when one makes the effort of studying a complex situation (as would

be expected from the educated physicians and scientist who wrote the letter), the attitude of Hamas towards such intervention is clearly stated in their Charter (also

called the The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement):

“Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences,

are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement.”

(Article Thirteen: Peaceful Solutions, [Peace] Initiatives and International

Conferences).

This may explain the refusal, with which the authors of the letter sympathize, for

truce, that has been offered through Egyptian mediators only a few days ago and

unilaterally turned down by Hamas.

In addition, the Charter clearly states that the destruction of the state of Israel is one

of their main goals. Again, quoting from the Charter and from their spiritual leader

and founder of the Muslim Brotherhood Hassan al-Banna:

“Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as

it obliterated others before it.”

Actually, Hamas’ charter goes beyond destroying Israel. It longs for Jewish

genocide:

“The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: ‘The Day of

Judgement (the typo is in the original document) will not come about until

Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind

stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there

is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.’”

In view of the above, I would encourage (and even plead) the esteemed writers of

the letter and the other scientists and physicians who have endorsed it to offer a

solution to the current crisis. Apparently, this impasse calls for a miraculous and

ingenious thinking, and I, as well as many on both sides of the conflict, would be

grateful to hear it and plead with our leaders to adopt such course.

I am a secular person with a Jewish identity, as most Israelis are, and will not let

religious fanaticism of any kind dictate our life style and choices. Turning the other

cheek, as a good Christian would do didn’t help us much in the 20th century, and for

that matter, throughout history. Accepting the Hamas Charter for annihilation of the

Jews and the state of Israel is strangely not a very appealing option.

I am looking forward for a constructive and fair discussion

Sincerely

Prof. Zvi Ram

Chairman

Department of Neurosurgery

Tel Aviv Medical Center

Attachment: Hamas Covenant 1988

The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp

http://www.ngo-monitor.org/data/images/File/Response%20to%20Lancet%20final.pdf

[OriZ 3,157]

Open letter for the people in Gaza—more than a military conflict

Nathan M Stall a, Philip B Berger b c, Joel G Ray a d, Tali Bogler b, Chaim M Bell a e, on behalf of 1234 Canadian physicians

We too are doctors and scientists who are deeply saddened by the loss of life and human suffering occurring in Gaza and Israel.

We are concerned with an apparent oversight in the process leading to the publication of this open letter in The Lancet.1 Some of its leading authors have important conflicts of interest that are not consistent with their declaration of no competing interests. Swee Ang is founding trustee of Medical Aid for Palestinians and Mads Gilbert is a representative of the pro-Palestinian Norwegian Aid Committee, both organisations are hostile to Israel.2—5

The Lancet's declaration of interest policy states that “A conflict of interest exists when professional judgement concerning a primary interest (such as patients' welfare or validity of research) may be influenced by a secondary interest (such as financial gain).” The authors' participation in highly political non-governmental organisations dependent on fundraising constitutes both an ideological and financial conflict of interest requiring disclosure.

In their Comment,6 “Sponsorship, authorship, and accountability”, Frank Davidoff and colleagues (editors of general medical journals) stressed that “Authorship means both accountability and independence”. The letter's signatories are entitled to their opinion. But the authors fail to disclose their affiliations, such that readers cannot judge their independence as allegedly objective clinicians and scientists.

Finally, we utterly reject the suggestion that the 95% of Israeli academics who have not signed an appeal7 opposing their government are somehow “complicit” in what the authors called “the massacre and destruction of Gaza.”1 Some might not agree with all of the text in the written appeal, others might not have seen it, and many of our Israeli colleagues are in bomb shelters as rockets are sent from Gaza targeting civilians of all faiths.

TB is co-chair and CMB is former co-chair of the Young Health division at United Jewish Appeal Federation of Greater Toronto, a Jewish philanthropic organisation that supports Israel. Both TB and CMB help fundraise for the organisation. CMB sits on the Board of Directors and helps fundraise for the Canadian Friends of Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem that treat all patients irrespective of race, religion, country of origin, or financial circumstances. The other authors declare no competing interests.

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61124-7/fulltext?rss=yes

Our First Submission to The Lancet. From a Bomb-Shelter.

Tamir Wolf, MD, PhD1; Danny Hava Brown, BA2; Shachar Moshe Aharony,

MD3

1 Tel-Aviv, Israel 2 Senior policy advisor to Dr. Michael B. Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the

US from 2009 to 2013, currently the Abba Eban chair in international

diplomacy at the Interdisciplinary Center in Hertzliya, Israel 3 Urology Division, Rabin Medical Center, Petach Tikva, Israel

Corresponding author:

Dr. Tamir Wolf

8 Kaf Gimel Yordei Hasira St.

Tel-Aviv, 6350810

Israel

Email: mdtamir@gmail.com

A few weeks ago, while 3 Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and

murdered, the wife of Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman, Mahmoud

Abbas, was discharged from an Israeli private hospital after orthopedic

surgery. More often than not, reality is far from black and white 1.Yet, in

the depiction of the current situation- “An open letter for the people of

Gaza” 2 - reality is seemingly black.

Twenty-four signatories claim to “report the facts as we see them” and

under an “ethical and practice” pretense, use the pages of The Lancet,

to chant skewed and shamelessly unfounded propaganda that would fail

any peer review. Under false claims of “no conflict of interest”, the authors

who are deeply involved in pro-Palestinian organizations slander Israel.

Their evidence-less attempt to hide behind their medical degree in order

to spread the propaganda of the terrorist organization Hamas, is a

betrayal of our profession. A lot has been said about the bias of the

international media in the portrayal of this conflict 3. This rebuttal in The

Lancet is our attempt to show the other side of the coin *.

We are baffled by the decision of The Lancet’s editorial board to publish

this one-sided op-ed, full of hatred, ill-conceived notions and factual

chicanery. This publication definitely defies, in our eyes, the very calling of

The Lancet to “…consider any original contribution that advances or

illuminates medical science or practice, or that educates or entertains the

journal's readers” 4.

Like the authors, we too went through medical school. Like them – we too

are horrified by the deaths of innocent women and children. Unlike them,

the word “massacre”, used whimsically, is not foreign. Our families went

up in smoke in Europe. Israel is our home now. Unlike all of them, we

served in the (Israeli Defense Forces) IDF, and treated multiple

Palestinians. Our humanity has been truly put to the test on more than one

occasion, and we are proud to say that we prevailed.

A few days ago we saw a photo in one of the social networks in which amuslim protestor somewhere in Europe holds two signs. One saying “Stop

Hamas terrorism on Israel”, the other “Free Gaza from Hamas”. This says it

all. But how did we even get here, to a third round of fighting with Hamas?

In August 2005, Israel disengaged unilaterally from Gaza. Israel dismantled

settlements and uprooted over 10,000 Israelis. It withdrew its military and

civilian presence from every inch of Gaza, effectively ending the

occupation. Israel continued to uphold its obligations under the 4th

Geneva Convention in matters where it continues to have effective

control such as providing water and electricity 5. Likewise, and in direct

contrast to the libels told in the Open Letter, Israel has always allowed the

passage of food, medicine and fuel into Gaza †.

Rather than using the end of the Israeli occupation to create the

“Singapore of the Middle East", Hamas overthrew the PA in a military coup

d'états in June 2007 in killing 550 and leaving hundreds injured 6. Since

then, the people of Gaza have been living under the tyranny of a violent

extremist regime 7. Hamas hatred is not only towards Israel but also against

their Palestinian brethren 8.

As for the alleged “aggression of Gaza by Israel”. The current cycle of

violence began when Hamas operatives abducted and murdered three

settler teens in the West Bank. Without prejudice to the question of the

legality of settlements, the cold-blooded murder of innocent teens is

inexcusable. Amidst arrests of Hamas operatives that followed, Hamas

began indiscriminately barraging of Israeli towns. Israel initially limited its

response to air strikes aimed at the missile launchers and Hamas terrorists.

On June 15th Israel agreed to the Egyptian ceasefire and halted its

attacks. Hamas rejected the ceasefire and shot over 80 rockets at Israeli

civilian populations 9 , and violated a UN sanctioned humanitarian

ceasefire. The U.S, EU, and most of the international community

recognized Israel’s right to defend itself against the aggression of Hamas

and commended it for accepting the ceasefire. And then came the terror

tunnels 10.

The first assault by 13 terrorists emerging out of a terror attack tunnel nearan Israeli town armed with assault weapons and syringes occurred on July

17th. Their goal was to murder and kidnap Israelis. The IDF has since

uncovered 31 such tunnels, and counting. Interrogations of Hamas forces

paint a disquieting picture. A maze of tunnels accommodating two

hundred hamas terrorists led to six Israeli towns. On Rosh Hashana, (the

Jewish New Years Eve) when families would be sitting for dinner, Hamas

was planning to emerge from the tunnels, kill entire communities and

kidnap the youngsters 11. This calamitous plan would have been an Israeli

9/11.

It seems unreasonable that an impoverished community such as that of

Gaza, would have such a sophisticated and extravagant offensive

infrastructure. The question is, where did the money come from?

Over the past decade, Hamas has received an excess of $10B in foreign

aid. The signatories were quick to contend that Israel’s policies led to

“hunger, thirst, pollution, shortage of medicines, electricity…sewage

outflow…”. They claim, “building materials have been blockaded so that

schools, homes, and institutions cannot be properly rebuilt.” Nothing could

be further from the truth.

In one week of groundwork, Israel discovered over 30 terror tunnels with

estimated 500 tons of cement in each 12. The cement and materials used

to build these tunnels, alongside the reported 900 tunnels Egypt has

destroyed over the past year, could have been used to turn Gaza into an

oasis. Out of the reported hundreds of millions of dollars in aid just about

zero schools, hospitals, and institutions were built. The money, we now

know, is all underground cementing terror passages and stockpiling

ammunition bunkers 13,

14. 15.

A significant share of these funds went to cushion the pockets of Hamas

“leaders” such as Musa Abu Marzuk ($2-3B), Khaled Mashaal ($2-5B),

Ismail Haniyeh ($4M) 16, Error! Bookmark not defined., while the people of Gaza

were left in ruins.

In addition to blaming Israel for the below-par economic situation, the

authors questioned the moral asymmetry in the conflict. There definitely is

asymmetry. Israel’s strategy is aimed at protecting life. Hamas’ strategy is

to exploit children. Hundreds of Palestinian children have been killed while

building the terror tunnel network 17 and more recently, as shields.

Hamas’ use of civilian objects and populations to launch it attacks isatrocious. The recent EU Council conclusions published on July 22 stated

that "...The EU strongly condemns calls on the civilian population of Gaza

to provide themselves as human shields 18. There is asymmetry. While

Hamas’ “golden hour” terrorists ride in ambulances, Israel build a field

hospital. While Israel spends billions on civil defense, Hamas use donkeys

as IEDs ‡ and dress up as elderly women to launch perfidious attacks. UN

facilities have become a haven for terrorist activity, as acknowledged bythe UN itself 19,

20. Hospitals such as Shifa Hospital, mentioned in the Open

Letter, “[have] become a de fact headquarters for Hamas leaders who

can be seen in the hallways and offices” 21.

The authors claim that the IDF is "clearly directing fire to target whole

families killing them within their homes". This outrageous accusation is

baseless.22. Al Jazeera published an updated list of casualties in Gaza. The

data (82% of fatalities men, 66% of them between the ages of 18 and 38)

attests to the fact that the IDF is indeed targeting combatants 23.

While Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas in the world, Israel

has been working tirelessly to develop high precision weapons and

warning mechanisms to minimize civilian causalities. Such measures (text

messages, leaflets, repetitive announcements §) surpass NATO operations

in precision and its proportionality calculus. Civilians are never a target.

Unfortunately, Hamas' military tactics attempt to ensure maximum civilian

casualties.

Given these conditions, even the most humanitarian army cannot avoid

civilian casualties, however hard it tries, however tragic. International

Humanitarian Law is on Israel's side 24. When a civilian target is used for

military purpose, it loses its protective status and becomes a legitimate

target. While every life is sacred, urban warfare has its gloomy realities,

and international law recognizes and accommodates such bras tacks.

Israel should not apologize for its low death rates. It has spent billions of

dollars to create technologies and infrastructure for the world's most

advance civil defense system. While at the same time, Hamas did nothing

for its citizens.

The authors claim to have a moral high ground. More than 170,000 Syrianshave been murdered since the conflict began in March 2011 and 2.8

million people have been displaced 25 . I wonder how many of the

signatories visited Syria over the past 4 years. Israeli physicians have been

treating Syrian casualties in our hospitals as well as in a dedicated military

field hospital erected just to this end. 700 was the latest count of Syrian

victims treated by Israel 26.

Last week, Israel set up a field hospital near the Gaza crossing to provide

care for those caught in the crosshairs. Hamas on its end, shot mortars at

the field hospital on July 23rd, clearly considering their own wounded asnegligible compared with the potential triumph of killing an Israeli doctor

27. Israeli physicians treat Palestinians routinely and in special programs

such as “Save a Child’s Heart” where kids from the Palestinian territories,

Iraq, and Iran (over 200 kids to date) receive free open-heart surgeries in

Israel **. In 2013, Israel treated 1-year old Amal, granddaughter of Hamas

leader Ismail Hanieyh for gastroenteritis, while scores of Gazans are

treated in Israeli hospitals at any given time.

We applaud The Lancet for addressing the current situation in our region.

We would welcome an unbiased approach though, not as much

unsubstantiated political rhetoric. We are appalled by the choice of its

authors’ terminology, and with the lack of “scientific rigor” in presenting

the facts. Such incitement only widens the gap of mistrust and solidifies

the notion that no matter what Israel does, no matter how hard it tries, it

will never be good enough for a hypocritical community that denounces

aggression “on the basis of our ethics and practice” – but only if Israel is

involved.

There is suffering, grief and pain on both sides. We sincerely hope this will

end soon, and that peace will be upon us all. Until then, as a service to

those living in the region and to our colleagues from around the world, we

call on The Lancet to promote informative dialogue and discussion.

http://www.ngo-monitor.org/data/images/File/Lancet%20Gaza%20Op-ed%20Rebuttal%20-%20Tamir%20Wolf%20(1).pdf

I find it appalling that people are so shamelessly and openly not interested in the truth, that they would rather be whiny babies and complain about walls of text, than try to learn something. Oh well. More to come tomorrow.

[OriZ 3,157]

Islamist terrorists have exploited the lawless Sinai to perpetrate vicious attacks on Egyptian Christians there, as reported earlier this week in the New York Times. Indeed, throughout Egypt, the Copts continue to be targeted and scapegoated for the ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood.

As defenseless and abandoned as Mideast Christians seem today, it is worth remembering their historical roots, and recognizing just how much the plight of Middle East Christians has deteriorated. Over 2,000 years ago, Christianity was born as a religion and spread from Jerusalem to other parts of the Levant, including territories in modern Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Egypt. The Christian faith flourished as one of the major religions in the Middle East until the Muslim conquests of the 7th century.

Despite Muslim domination of the region, Christians comprised an estimated 20% of the Middle East population until the early 20th century. Today, however, Christians make up a mere 2-5% of the Middle East and their numbers are fast dwindling. Writing in the Winter 2001 issue of Middle East Quarterly, scholar Daniel Pipes estimated that Middle East Christians would “likely drop to” half of their numbers “by the year 2020″ because of declining birth rates, and a pattern of “exclusion and persecution” leading to emigration.

The “Arab Spring” has only worsened conditions for the indigenous Christians of the Middle East. Like the Kurds, Middle East Christians are a stateless minority, struggling to survive in the world’s toughest neighborhood. But the Kurds at least have enjoyed partial autonomy in Iraqi Kurdistan since 1991 and most of them are Sunni Muslim, making it easier for them to survive in the Muslim-dominated Middle East. Christians, on the other hand, are a religious minority that controls no territory and is entirely subject to the whims of their hosts. These host countries – with the exception of Israel – offer a grim future to Middle East Christians. Home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, Egypt also has the largest Christian population in the Middle East, totaling 8-12 million people. But because Christian Copts make up only about 10-15% of Egypt’s estimated 80 million people, they have for decades lived in fear as second-class citizens, subjected to attacks on churches, villages, homes, and shops; mob killings; and the abduction and forced Islamic conversion of Christian women compelled to marry Muslim men. Such abuse took place under the staunchly secular regime of Hosni Mubarak, but grew much worse under the rule of Mohammed Morsi, the jailed Muslim Brotherhood activist who succeeded Mubarak, and they are now being blamed for Morsi’s ouster.

In Lebanon, Christians represent a bigger portion of the population, so their fate is for now less precarious than that of their Egyptian coreligionists, but their long-term prospects are worrisome. The Christian population is estimated to have dropped from over 50% (according to a 1932 census) to about 40%. Over the last few years, the de facto governing power in Lebanon has become Hezbollah, the radical and heavily-armed Shiite movement sponsored by Iran. With all of the spillover violence and instability produced by the Syrian civil war and Hezbollah’s open involvement in it, and/or the next war that Hezbollah decides to start with Israel, the emigration of Christians out of Lebanon will probably only increase in the coming years, leaving those who stay increasingly vulnerable.

In Syria, 2.5 million Christians comprised about 10% of the population and enjoyed some protection under the secular and often brutal regimes of the Assad dynasty. But as jihadi groups fighting Assad extend their territorial control, the past protection of Christians is often the cause of their current persecution by resentful Sunnis who revile the Assad regime and seek to impose Sharia law wherever they can. Christians have been regularly targeted and killed by rebels, and the sectarian chaos and violence that will likely prevail in Assad’s wake will only increase the number of Christians fleeing Syria.

In Iraq, the bloody aftermath of the 2003 invasion demonstrated how dangerous life can become for a Christian minority when a multicultural society in the Middle East explodes into sectarian violence. By 2008, half of the 800,000 Iraqi Christians were estimated to have left, rendering those remaining even more insecure. In 2010, Salafist extremists attacked a Baghdad church during Sunday Mass, killing or wounding nearly the whole congregation. Such incidents turn any communal gathering into a potential massacre, forcing Christians across the Middle East to ask the ultimate question of faith: “Am I prepared to die for Christian worship?”

The so-called “Arab Spring” threatens to exacerbate matters in much of the Middle East, as Islamists now either control the government or influence it enough to persecute Christians with impunity. As new Islamist regimes in the Middle East condone religious intolerance and introduce Sharia and blasphemy laws, the long-term trend for Christians in their ancestral lands will only grow bleaker.

The one bright spot is the state of Israel – “the only place in the Middle East [where] Christians are really safe,” according to the Vicar of St. George’s Church in Baghdad, Canon Andrew White. Home to Christianity’s holiest sites and to a colorful array of Christian denominations, Israel has the only growing Christian community in the Middle East.

Because Israel is the only non-Muslim state in all of the Middle East and North Africa, it represents a small victory for religious minorities in the region, and serves as the last protector of freedom and security for Jews, Christians, Bahai, Druze, and others. Without Israel, how much more vulnerable would Christians in the Middle East become?

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/noah-beck/a-middle-east-without-christians/

Last piece for today.

To add to what's written above...it is an attempt to shut people up and prevent them from reporting the truth, which is all a response to the very posts that they themselves write, and their senseless allegations. Unlike the Totalitarian governments that those people support, all I ever grew up with is freedom of speech, which exists in Israel as well as the US, and I will exercise my freedom of speech, if you do not like a place with freedom of speech, maybe you should move to N. Korea or Syria. Better yet, maybe you should stop writing senseless allegations for me to respond to, so you don't have to whine like little babies when I refute all of it through my "walls of text".

Edited August 31, 2014 by OriZ

[OriZ 3,157]

I know I said I was done but I feel like posting this, too. So sue me.

Glenn Greenwald’s latest outrage is inspired by commentary by some in the media – in response to riots and violence in Egypt, Libya and elsewhere – expressing surprise that Muslims in those nations are not grateful to the US for backing Mubarak’s ouster and initiating military action to topple Gaddafi.

Greenwald, in ‘US media angrily marvels at the lack of Muslim gratitude‘, Sept. 15, cites “decades of arming, funding and general support [for Mubarak] from the US” and the civilian death toll from the Libya operation as reasons why citizens in both countries are rightfully far from grateful to America.

He then lambastes those, such as NBC correspondent Richard Engel, who argue that the “primary reason these Muslims have such animosity toward the US is because their heads have been filled…with crazy conspiracy theories about how the US and Israel are responsible for their woes”.

Greenwald writes:

“…to act as though Muslim anger toward the US and Israel is primarily the by-product of crazy conspiracy theories is itself a crazy conspiracy theory. It’s in the world of reality, not conspiracy, where

the US and Israel have continuously brought extreme amounts of violence to the Muslim world

, routinely killing their innocent men, women and children.

Listening to Engel, one would never know about tiny little matters like the bombing of Gaza and Lebanon, the almost five-decade long oppression of Palestinians, the

widely hated

,

child-killing drone campaign

, or the attack on Iraq.” [emphasis added]

While Greenwald’s narrative about U.S. responsibility for Muslim anger is entirely predictably – an expression of American self-flagellation over every conceivable problem afflicting non-Westerners which is popular within a segment of the American left – his implication that Muslim anti-Zionist hatred is justifiable given Israel’s ‘oppression of Muslims’ is ahistorical and morally unserious.

Citing statistics from the book “Death Tolls for the Major Wars and Atrocities of the Twentieth Century,” 2003, Professors Gunnar Heinsohn and Daniel Pipes note the following:

“

deaths in the Arab-Israeli conflict [number] 51,000 [since 1950] in all. Arabs make up roughly 35,000 of these dead and Jewish Israelis make up 16,000.

These figures mean that deaths in Arab-Israeli fighting since 1950 amount to just 0.06 percent of the total number of deaths in all conflicts in that period. More graphically, only 1 out of about 1,700 persons killed in conflicts since 1950 has died due to Arab-Israeli fighting.

In a different perspective, some 11,000,000 Muslims have been violently killed since 1948, of which 35,000, or 0.3 percent, died during the sixty years of fighting Israel, or just 1 out of every 315 Muslim fatalities. In contrast, over 90 percent of the 11 million who perished were killed by fellow Muslims.

(Adding the 11,000 killed in the Israeli war of independence, 1947-49, made up of 5,000 Arabs and 6,000 Israeli Jews, does not significantly alter these figures.)

Examples of Muslim on Muslim violence since 1950 include the Iran-Iraq War, the Algerian Civil War, the Syrian massacre in Hama, Jordan’s killing of Palestinians (Black September ), Saddam Hussein’s mass murder of Shiites, Kurds and others, and the ethnic cleansing in Darfur. The list goes on.

Massacres, of course, are still taking place in Muslim countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, and elsewhere – “extreme” Muslim on Muslim violence – and yet no citizens, other than Israeli Jews, are routinely called “blood-thirsty“, “genocidal“, “terrorist“, or “Nazi” by Muslim countries.

Click image to see video

The Muslim public’s “outrage” over Israel’s treatment of Arabs and Palestinians, as with their extreme antisemitism, is cynically exploited by the Arab media – dangerous propaganda which is often ignored, or even legitimized, by Western media elites.

While economic under-development and the continued absence of true democratic values represent the Muslim world’s greatest problem, Greenwald would have us believe that the the Muslim world’s malign obsession with Israeli Jews is somehow justified – that 1.6 billion Muslims are being oppressed by 6 millions Jews.

It is a pernicious lie.

http://cifwatch.com/2012/09/16/glenn-greenwald-on-israels-extreme-violence-against-muslims-us-child-killing-drones/

Next.

[Jacque67 7,328]

I know I said I was done but I feel like posting this, too. So sue me.

http://cifwatch.com/2012/09/16/glenn-greenwald-on-israels-extreme-violence-against-muslims-us-child-killing-drones/

Next.

Does your father own half of Manhattan , too?

[Expat1 971]

<throws a handful of dimes on the floor>

That will keep him distracted for hours

[OriZ 3,157]

Does your father own half of Manhattan , too?

Huh?

<throws a handful of dimes on the floor>

That will keep him distracted for hours

Keep insisting on letting your anti semitism show, huh?

[OriZ 3,157]

another response to The Lancet

http://www.ngo-monitor.org/data/images/File/Horton,%20Editor%20Lancet%20Letter%20280714%20from%20Edgar%20Pick.pdf

http://www.ngo-monitor.org/data/images/File/Edgar%20Pick%20replies%20to%20Richard%20Horton%20290714.pdf

http://ngo-monitor.org/data/images/File/Vanyukov%20to%20Horton_NEW.pdf

Edited August 31, 2014 by OriZ

[OriZ 3,157]

The British journal The Lancet has published online and in its print edition a nearly 1,600-word “letter” attacking Israel over the war against Hamas.

The Lancet is a London-based, weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal, established in 1823 by an English surgeon and today owned by the Elsevier publishing house. Its name, “lancet,” refers to a surgical instrument and to a type of window to indicate the “light of wisdom” or “to let in light.”

The “Open letter for the people in Gaza” that aroused a wave of protest among advocates of Israeli was written by Drs. Paola Manduca, Iain Chalmers, Derek Summerfield, Mads Gilbert and Swee Ang “on behalf of 24 signatories.

“On the basis of our ethics and practice, we are denouncing what we witness in the aggression of Gaza by Israel. We ask our colleagues, old and young professionals, to denounce this Israeli aggression. We challenge the perversity of a propaganda that justifies the creation of an emergency to masquerade a massacre, a so-called defensive aggression. In reality it is a ruthless assault of unlimited duration, extent, and intensity,” the letter goes.

“We wish to report the facts as we see them and their implications on the lives of the people. We are appalled by the military onslaught on civilians in Gaza under the guise of punishing terrorists... Anyone older than 6 years has already lived through their third military assault by Israel...

“We denounce the myth propagated by Israel that the aggression is done caring about saving civilian lives and children's well-being. Israel’s [behavior] has insulted our humanity, intelligence, and dignity as well as our professional ethics and efforts. Even those of us who want to go and help are unable to reach Gaza due to the blockade,” the anti-Israel letter went on.

It was published with the journal’s invitation to “support the letter. If you would like to join the signatories to this letter, then please submit your name and email address using the form below. Your name will appear in the list of signatories. Please note that your email address will be kept confidential and will not be used for marketing purposes.” The journal later noted that “we have reached 20,000 signatures and are no longer collecting names.”

The Lancet published online only two, very short, responses by people who opposed the article.

Dr. Bruce M. Marmor, a veteran internal medicine specialist in Syracuse, New York, said it was “purely political, inaccurate and prejudiced. If this group of doctors and scientists is so concerned about the civilians in Gaza, where is the sympathy for the civilians who are being killed in Syria, the Christians who were murdered by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or who were forced to flee their homes in Mosul, Iraq, or the victims of Boko Haram in Nigeria? And where is the sympathy for the Israeli citizens who live under constant rocket attacks and invasions through tunnels that extend under kindergartens and people's homes by Hamas, whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews? Have any of the signatories to this letter read the Hamas Charter? They should.

“The editors of The Lancet, which is supposed to be a medical journal, should have [recognized] the letter for what it is -- a gross example of anti-Jewish bigotry, pure and simple. Publishing such a letter, and soliciting additional signatures online, destroys your credibility as an objective scientific journal,” Marmor wrote.

Nathan Stall and others on behalf of 1,234 Canadian physicians wrote ironically that they were “concerned with an apparent oversight in the process leading to the publication of this open letter.

“Some of its leading authors have important conflicts of interest that are not consistent with their declaration of no competing interests. Swee Ang is founding trustee of Medical Aid for Palestinians and Mads Gilbert is a representative of the pro-Palestinian Norwegian Aid Committee, both organizations are hostile to Israel... The authors' participation in highly political nongovernmental [organizations] dependent on fund-raising constitutes both an ideological and financial conflict of interest requiring disclosure.”

The British journal has not published a long letter submitted early this week by Dr. Leonid Eidelman, chairman of the Israel Medical Association, and Health Ministry director-general Prof. Arnon Afek.

They said the original letter was “a political manifesto without any medical connection that has found its way to a prestigious academic medical journal... The only credible point in the letter was the fact that the people in Gaza are suffering.

“Despite the authors’ attempt to paint Hamas as a peace-loving organization, they are a vicious terrorist organization committed to the destruction of Israel and with no regard for the lives of their own citizens. The Hamas government has put billions of dollars into constructing tunnels intended for terrorist attacks and purchasing rockets, instead of building infrastructure for the prosperity of Gazan citizens. The Israeli military entered Gaza this month only after it was left no choice and could no longer exercise restraint, faced as it was with hundreds of missiles shot into its territory. It is well known that Hamas shoots from homes, schools and hospitals and encourages its population not to evacuate in order to better serve their propaganda interests and uses women and children as human shields,” the two Israeli physicians wrote.

http://www.jpost.com/Health-and-Science/Israel-advocates-get-little-space-to-respond-to-epistle-in-The-Lancet-369648

[Expat1 971]

Breaking the post blockade: Same old happenings on the West Bank. The poor, oppressed, peaceful Israelis take advantage of the lull in fighting to scoop up some more "abandoned" West Bank Palestinian land (that same West Bank that they withdrew from years ago ahem wink wink).

Cost of "peace" with Israel. I am quite sure that they will be "acting in self-defense" someday to keep it.

Israel converts West Bank land to state-owned

August 31, 2014 2:40pm

The Israel Defense Forces Civil Administration announced that it would recognize nearly 1000 acres of land in the Gush Etzion bloc as state land.

The Gva’ot settlement in the western area of Gush Etzion is located on the land, adjacent to the Alon Shvut settlement. Gva’ot was built without zoning permits from the military.

Gva’ot originally was established as a military base in 1984.

The announcement could create a contiguous boundary from Gva’ot, through the settlements of Kfar Etzion and Beitar Illit, to the Green Line, according to Peace Now, which in a statement called the declaration “unprecedented in scope.”

“By declaring another 4,000 dunams as state land, the Israeli government stabs President Abbas and the moderate Palestinian forces in the back, proving again that violence delivers Israeli concessions while nonviolence results in settlement expansion,” the Peace Now statement said.

The organization in the past revealed that the Ministry of Housing had an initial plan to build 15,000 units to establish a city in Gvaot.

Ten families currently live on the site and more than 500 housing units currently are under construction.

The IDF said there is no Palestinian claim on the land, but objections against the decision can be filed for the next 45 days.

Read more: http://www.jta.org/2...d#ixzz3C0yRzU7a

Edited September 1, 2014 by Expat1