Obama finally gets off golf course, urges Israel not to retaliate, forgets how to say 'Hamas' and 'Palestinians'
President Hussein Obama has left the golf course long enough to urge Israel not to retaliate against the 'Palestinians' for the murder of Eyal Yifrach, Gil-Ad Shaer, and Naftali Frenkel '– who held Israeli and American citizenship.' (I wonder whether Jen Psaki gave him the name). This is from the first link.
US President Barack
Obama expressed his condolences Monday evening to the three bereaved
families: "On behalf of the American people I extend my deepest and
heartfelt condolences to the families of Eyal Yifrach, Gil-Ad Shaer, and
Naftali Frenkel – who held Israeli and
American
citizenship. As a father, I cannot imagine the indescribable pain that
the parents of these teenage boys are experiencing."
He added: "The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms
this senseless act of terror against innocent youth. I also urge all
parties to refrain from steps that could further destabilize the
situation. As the Israeli people deal with this tragedy, they have the
full support and friendship of the United States."
Who committed 'this senseless act of terror' Mr. President? Why aren't you condemning Hamas for committing it? Why aren't you condemning the 'Palestinian Authority' for celebrating it, thereby encouraging the next such act? Why did your State Department earlier today commend Abu Bluff for his 'help'? Why don't you even apologize for the fact that the two prime suspects were both released from Israeli prisons as part of the terrorists for Gilad trade?
Oh wait a minute. That last question ought to be put to Mr. Netanyahu. But you should answer the rest of them Mr. President.
Teens were murdered within hours, car burnt to destroy evidence
Two more from Sheera Frenkel (no relation to Naftali as far as I know).
Clearer timeline emerging of kidnapping of 3 kidnapped teens: They were shot and killed within hours of hitching ride near Gush Etzion 1/2
— Sheera Frenkel (@sheeraf) June 30, 2014
They were shot at close range in car. Kidnappers then torched car and moved to 2nd vehicle, drove to field where they buried bodes 2/2
— Sheera Frenkel (@sheeraf) June 30, 2014
'White House' now condemns murders of Israeli teens, still no word from Obama
Although President Hussein Obama has yet to make a statement himself, the 'White House' has now condemned the murders of the three Israeli teenagers, Eyal Yifrach, Naftali Frenkel and Gilad Shaar HY"D (May God Avenge their blood).
In response to the
murder of the three Israeli teens, White House spokesman Josh Earnest
said, "We obviously condemn in the strongest possible terms violence
that takes the lives of innocent civilians."
President Hussein Obama has been too busy to comment.
Received by email (since I am not in Israel and not listening to Reshet Bet Israel Radio).
Giora Eiland - IDF Major General, former Israeli National Security Advisor, etc - was interviewed on Israel's noon-time
Reshet Bet radio show, about the overnight rocket Hamas rocket barrages
from the Gaza Strip. Short version: Israel is working very hard to
deescalate the situation, but unless things calm down in the next few
days there will be no stopping an escalation. Israel would be forced to
launch a major operation to stop the rocket fire. Quick, rough
translation:
“I assume it’s a matter of days for us to know if we
succeeded [together with other parties] to create the required calm, or
if not we will certainly be prepared to carry out a larger process than
the [current] spontaneous responses... a hard/harsh Israeli action
against Gaza would be accepted, maybe not with encouragement, but with
great understanding in Washington and most places in the world... Hamas
knows this and therefore there is a structure of deterrence... [without
deescalation] I estimate that there will be an Israeli action, or at
least there will be a call for an Israeli action that is much more
massive – like Operation Pillar of Defense maybe even bigger than it, in
order to achieve a renewed deterrence for another period of a year or
two.”
RT @Lemapal: Israeli forces start the demolish of Qwasmi family house ib #Hebron after finding the body's of the 3 settlers dead in #Halhoul
— Sheera Frenkel (@sheeraf) June 30, 2014
Released from gag order: Shot heard on tape during call from Naftali Frenkel HY"D to police
The IDF has now lifted a gag order over the fact that a gunshot was heard in the background as Naftali Frenkel HY"D (May God Avenge his blood) called the police on June 12. There was also forensic evidence found that the boys were murdered in the kidnap vehicle almost immediately.
Israeli officials have imposed a gag order on many details of the
search for the teens. That gag order initially included a phone call
made from one of the teens to police, as well as evidence found in a
burnt-out car in the Hebron area.
BuzzFeed spoke to an Israeli official involved in the case, who
confirmed that during the police call a gunshot can clearly be heard.
The car, he added, had clear evidence of foul play. Over the last week.
Israeli soldiers could be seen digging through rocks and dredging wells
in Hebron in the search for the teens.
“We have been operating, for some time now, with evidence that these
boys were killed,” he said. “It is with a heavy heart that we realized
we were looking for bodies.”
An Israeli army officer, who spoke to BuzzFeed by phone from the
Hebron area, said that an autopsy had not yet been conducted. He said
that the bodies of three teens had been found shot, likely very close to
the time of their abduction.
The families of the three, however, kept hope that they would be
found alive – holding prayer rallies for the safe return of their sons.
The
officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity before the official
announcement, said the Army had found the three bodies buried “in a
field near Hebron” and were waiting to inform the families before
releasing information.
“They
know it’s the three, they will know for sure after they do the
autopsy."The official said the three appeared to have been shot to
death, likely “very close to the kidnap” time, and that the prime
suspects had still not been caught.
Four police officers have been removed from their posts as part of
the findings of an internal police probe into the handling of a distress call placed by one of the three kidnapped teens on the night of June 12th.
The
officers do not include the “Shaham” cop performing his national
service in the police, who answered the call and passed it on to his
supervisors. He was found by the probe to have conducted himself as
expected.
Those removed from their posts include the head of the operations
branch of the Judea and Samaria district, the deputy head of district
operations, the head of the police control center where the call was
handled, and the shift leader responsible for supervising the dispatch
center that night.
During the 2:09 call, which was received at
10:25 pm on June 12th, a single voice can be heard whispering “they
kidnapped me” after which he goes silent. The call was not given the
proper urgency or handed over to security services until nearly five
hours later, when one of the boy’s parents reported him missing to
police.
The handling of the call represented a severe failure “that ran along
along the entire chain of command at the center, crossing a series of
police, officers, and commanders," police said Monday.
National
Police Commissioner Yochanan Danino said Monday that the incident
represented “a failure of the utmost severity" and vowed to improve
service at police dispatch centers, which he calls "the address the
public turns to when they face trouble".
He has also appointed
Deputy National Commissioner Nissim Mor to head a team to examine the
performance of dispatch centers nationwide.
Police have not handed
over the tape to the press, saying that the Shin Bet does not want it
published. They have however played it for the families of the kidnapped
teens, a number of whom were reportedly seen leaving the meeting highly
distraught afterwards.
Over two minutes on the phone and they weren't taken seriously. Those police officers' careers ought to end in ignominy.
Under Israeli law, Israeli media cannot announce it until the families have been informed (hence the news conference now), but ABC News is now confirming that Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrach HY"D (May God Avenge their blood) have all been found dead.
The bodies of three Israeli teenagers who were kidnapped in the West
Bank earlier this month have been found north of the city of Hebron, a
source confirmed to ABC News today.
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group accused by Israel of taking the
boys, has denied kidnapping the teens, though senior Israeli and
Palestinian officials agree that the abductors were likely tied to -- or
part of -- Hamas but operating without orders from the organization's
leadership.
May God Have mercy on the families and give them the strength to go on. And may the murdering terrorists die slow and painful deaths.
Rumors that President Hussein Obama will interrupt his golf game to finally make a statement could not be confirmed.
UPDATE 1:25 PM EASTERN TIME
Three tweets from others as I have to work....
Israeli TV saying that censor prohibits giving details. But clear what they can't say. Video shows soldiers with hoes searching under rocks.
— Daniel Gordis (@DanielGordis) June 30, 2014
Israeli cabinet delayed until 9:30 pm local, and IDF cancels conf call with journalists. 100s of Israeli soldiers deployed to Hebron.
— Sheera Frenkel (@sheeraf) June 30, 2014
Just told by official, Israel delaying announcement over 3kidnapped teens to give IDF time to deploy more forces to Hebron, clashes feared.
— Sheera Frenkel (@sheeraf) June 30, 2014
Clashes between IDF troops and 'Palestinians' north of Hebron
There are reports of clashes between IDF troops and 'Palestinians' in Halhoul, north of Hebron (the area where that burning car was found the night the boys were kidnapped) as the announcement with respect to the kidnapping has been postponed to 8:15 Israel time - about ten minutes from now.
The security cabinet was to meet at 8:00 amidst reports of 'dramatic developments' in the investigation.
Israel’s security forces arrested six Palestinians Sunday night in an ongoing effort to find three kidnapped Israeli teens.
The IDF said that five of the suspects were
members of Hamas from Hebron, where the military has been concentrating
its search, and one was from the Ramallah area.
IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner confirmed that all of the arrests were made in connection with the search for the teens.
...
Israeli authorities on Thursday named two Hamas members as prime suspects in the kidnapping.
The two, Amer Abu Aysha and Marwan Kawasme,
have been missing from their homes in Hebron’s Hares neighborhood ever
since the kidnapping took place on the night of June 12 and are still at
large.
Hamas officials in Hebron confirmed the two
suspects were members, and said Israeli troops have targeted the men’s
homes since the beginning of Operation Brother’s Keeper. The officials
said troops had entered the homes several times, conducting intense
searches and confiscating items as evidence.
We can only hope and pray that those kids are alive and well and that God Will Grant their parents the strength to deal with whatever follows.
BREAKING: IDF SPOX TO BRIEF MEDIA ON KIDNAP INVESTIGATION AT 8:00 ISRAEL TIME; UPDATED: DEAD?
The IDF spokesman is to brief the media about the investigation into the kidnapping of Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrach a little more than 20 minutes from now.
The Hebrew term used is yimsor hodaa (will give a notice), which could mean anything from a mundane update to something very significant (link in Hebrew).
Rumors point toward the latter. The IDF is focusing its search on a house in Hebron
Stay tuned.
UPDATE 12:44 PM BOSTON TIME
Unfortunately, the news may not be good. Just saw this on Facebook:
For those who don't read Hebrew, the third entry says 'Palestinian sources: IDF found the bodies of the three missing persons in the Hebron area,' the fifth entry says 'Preliminary: Kidnap victims found lifeless' and the seventh entry says 'Three bodies together.'
The source for the third and fifth items is rotter.net.
The Sykes–Picot Agreement, officially known as the Asia Minor Agreement, was a secret agreement between the governments of the United Kingdom and France,[1] with the assent of Russia, defining their proposed spheres of influence and control in the Middle East should the Triple Entente succeed in defeating the Ottoman Empire during World War I. The negotiation of the treaty occurred between November 1915 and March 1916.[2] The agreement was concluded on 16 May 1916.[3]
The agreement effectively divided the Arab provinces of the Ottoman
Empire outside the Arabian peninsula into areas of future British and
French control or influence.[4] The terms were negotiated by the French diplomat François Georges-Picot and British Sir Mark Sykes. The Russian Tsarist government was a minor party to the Sykes–Picot agreement, and when, following the Russian Revolution of October 1917, the Bolsheviks exposed the agreement, 'the British were embarrassed, the Arabs dismayed and the Turks delighted.'[5]
ISIS, the al-Qaeda spin-off that has effectively destroyed Iraq in the last few months, aims to dismantle the Sykes-Picot agreement altogether. That's likely to lead to massive bloodshed in the Middle East, where the only true loyalty is - not even to Islam - tribal.
Here is an English language video from ISIS explaining their goal. Because YouTube has removed ISIS videos before, I downloaded this one.
Let's go to the videotape.
Thanks to US President Hussein Obama, there really isn't anyone to stop them. At least until they meet Israel.
Good morning from 35,000 feet above flyover country once again. This time I am flying from Chicago to... Boston. I should have better internet access there, but also have a lot of work there....
It's been a year and a half since Operation Pillar of Defense, and for the first time this morning, Hamas is taking responsibility for 16 rockets that were fired from Gaza into Israel. Given that Hamas also kidnapped three Israeli teenagers two and a half weeks ago, Israel Radio reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu is finally considering taking action.
The security sources, who spoke on condition
of anonymity, assessed that Hamas had probably launched the barrage in
revenge for an Israeli airstrike several hours earlier which killed one
person and injured three more.
A member of Hamas’s militant wing was killed in the attack, Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said.
While Israel has maintained it holds Hamas
responsible for all rocket attacks, officials have said that smaller
groups, such as Islamic Jihad, are usually behind the rocket attacks,
while Hamas squads generally attempt to thwart the rocket fire.
Hamas hasn’t fired rockets into Israel since
Operation Pillar of Defense ended in November 2012, and has yet to take
responsibility for this latest barrage.
...
Officials said Monday’s rocket attacks, which
appeared to deliberately target Israeli communities close to the border
with the Gaza Strip, may have been intended to warn Israel against
targeting Hamas operatives.
The army said in a statement that the Sunday
night air raid was targeting terrorists “in the southern Gaza Strip,
during their final preparations to launch rockets at civilian
communities of southern Israel.”
“Hamas is responsible for the outrageous
attacks originating from Gaza, and will be pursued as such,” IDF
spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said.
The air force attack on Khan Younis Sunday
night came minutes after Palestinians in the coastal enclave fired a
volley of rockets at southwestern Israel. The Iron Dome defense system
shot down two of the projectiles — Grad rockets — over Netivot. There
were no reports of injury or damage in the rocket attack.
Early Sunday morning, air force planes struck
12 sites in Gaza in response to rockets fired over the weekend. Two
rockets hit the town of Sderot, close to the border with Gaza, late
Saturday, causing a massive fire that destroyed a paint factory
Terror victim's mother blasts Obama's silence on kidnappings
Sherri Mandell, the mother of terror victim Koby Mandell HY"D (May God Avenge his blood) has blasted President Hussein Obama for his silence on the kidnapping two weeks ago of three Israeli teenagers. I received this by email from Jack W.
Sherri Mandell ~ "Say Something."
I would like to know why President Barack Obama has still failed to publicly condemn the kidnapping of Naftali Frenkel here in Israel, who is both an Israeli and American citizen. Two weeks ago, Naftali, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach were kidnapped by terrorists on their way home from school. There has not been any word from them since. I would like to know why President Obama and the First Lady don’t say that Naftali and the other two boys are like their children, as they said about the girls who were kidnapped in Nigeria. Michelle Obama said she was outraged and heartbroken about those girls. I would like to know why the President and First Lady have made no public statements at all about our boys, and especially about Naftali, an American citizen.
After my 13 year old son Koby, also an American citizen, was killed by terrorists in 2001, a law was introduced in Congress called the Koby Mandell Act. It later passed as an omnibus rider (my son’s name was erased), which opened an office in the Department of Justice called the Office of Justice for the Victims of Overseas Terrorism (OVT). The office’s mandate was to actively pursue terrorists who murdered Americans abroad.
At about the same time, the government initiated a Rewards for Justice Program to pay for information leading to the arrest of overseas terrorists. Yet, no terrorist killers of Americans in Israel have ever been apprehended under that program. In fact, today when I checked the Rewards for Justice website, there was not even a listing for my son’s name. His murderers have not been found, yet the Justice Department has seemingly deleted him from their consciousness. They are not looking for his killers. In fact, according to their list of atrocities, no Koby Mandell was ever killed in Israel by terrorists. They have closed his case, if it was ever opened. And if you search the Office of Victims of Overseas Terrorism, you will not find his name either, except in reference to the first version of the law.
Yet the Koby Mandell Act promised that the US government would vigorously pursue the killers of American citizens, including those killed in Israel. So far, not one of them has been brought to justice with the help of the American government.
The OVT’s primary responsibilities are to work to ensure that when Americans are injured or killed in terrorist attacks overseas, investigations and prosecution remain a high priority. Another responsibility is to honor and respect the rights of victims and their families. The office is also meant to monitor the investigation and prosecution of terrorist attacks against Americans aboard.
With these lofty goals, you would think that there would be a picture or at least a mention of Naftali on the website. Or a mention of Koby. Or of the many Americans citizens killed by Palestinian terrorists in Israel. But when it comes to Americans who are the victims of Palestinian terrorism, the Justice Department, like the President remains silent.
Please write to the President at whitehouse.gov and demand that he make a statement about Naftali and the other two boys. Ask him why the Office of Justice for Victims of Overseas Terrorism is silent.
Ask the President simply…to say something.
Then again, I think we can do without Michelle holding any stupid signs....
I am sitting in a pizza shop in Skokie, Illinois (which is about to close) because it's the first place since Thursday night I have managed to get internet access on my laptop. If you think you know where I am, you can come say hello.
In his last month as President of Israel, Slimy Shimon Peres says that Barack Hussein Obama can be 'trusted' on Iran (Hat Tip: Sunlight).
In an interview with Channel 10 ahead of his
departure from the President’s office next month, Peres rejected the
notion that Obama was a “weak president” and lauded Obama’s efforts to
strengthen US-Israeli ties. He said no other American president had been
as receptive to Israel’s security concerns, nor taken as many steps to
defend Israel in the international arena.
“What has he not done for Israel that was requested of him to do?” Peres asked of Obama.
“He vetoed UN resolutions [against Israel over
settlements], did things that I do not know if anyone else would do,”
said the outgoing president, whose seven-year term ends July 26.
Peres went on to deflect criticism regarding
Obama’s alleged hostile attitude toward Israeli officials, specifically
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and said relations between the two
countries have never been better.
“All of [Israel's] defense officials agree
that, when it comes to security, there has never been such a committed
relationship between Israel and the United States,” he said.
“Obama has not once said a word of condemnation to us… I look at the results, [Obama] says things that make sense,” he added.
Peres stressed that the US president had been
consistent in his stance towards Israel and the Jewish people, despite
not having been involved in such issues in the past. When asked whether
Obama can be trusted to dismantle Iran’s nuclear weapons program, Peres
responded with a short but definitive “yes.” Netanyahu, by contrast, has
openly challenged Obama’s declared readiness to sanction a deal with
Iran that could leave it with an ongoing, albeit heavily inspected
Iranian-enrichment program.
No one in Israel listens to Shimon Peres. Hopefully, no one in America will either. What has he not done for Israel that he's been asked to do? I cannot begin to count (and don't have the time to)..... But see the next post for one example.
Maybe they think we harvested their kidneys or something
You might recall that five years ago, the Swedish daily Aftonbladet accused Israel of harvesting 'Palestinians' organs as part of questioning. For those who have forgotten, let's go to the videotape.
Now, Sweden is investigating the fate of Swedes on the Mavi Marmara terror ship, which sailed a bit more than four years ago. Oh yes, the anti-Semitic, Israel-obsessed Swedes have had an awakening.
Sweden launched a preliminary investigation on Thursday to determine
whether Israel acted illegally against its nationals who were involved
in 2010 and 2012 flotilla efforts to break the blockade of Gaza.
A
complaint alleging aggravated assault, illegal threats and theft in
international waters was filed in Sweden in 2013 by the Ship to Gaza
group on behalf of some 20 Swedish nationals who were either on ships
that joined the Mavi Marmara in the 2010 flotilla, or another ship that
set sail in 2012.
Israel arrested and deported participants in the flotillas.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Israel had no comment on the matter.
Shocka: Most 'Palestinians' oppose 'two-state solution'
Greetings from 36,000 feet above flyover country between New York and... Chicago.
When 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud AbbasAbu Mazen made his 'unity agreement' with his fellow terrorists at Hamas, he had perfectly gauged the mood of the 'Palestinian people.' A new poll shows that most 'Palestinians' do not accept a 'two-state solution' or any other 'solution' that leaves a Jewish state in existence. I don;t know what it will take to make the world finally get it (In fact, I doubt anything can convince them: There will be no 'two-state solution.'
Sixty percent of those polled, including 55% in the West Bank and 68%
in Gaza, reject permanently accepting Israel’s existence and instead
suggest their leaders “work toward reclaiming all of historic
Palestine, from the river to the sea.”
Two-thirds of those polled support continued “resistance” against the
Jewish state. Consequentially, those who say they support a two-state
solution view such a move as “part of a ‘program of stages’ to liberate
all of historic Palestine later.”
The survey, conducted throughout the Palestinian territories, was
commissioned by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and was
conducted by a leading Palestinian pollster from June 15 to June 17.
The Washington Institute characterized the poll’s results as a sudden,
hardline shift within the Palestinian community. It also presented the
pragmatism revealed in the minutia of the survey: 80% of Palestinians
would “definitely” or “probably” be in favor of greater job
opportunities in Israel, and 70% of Gazans strongly favor Hamas
maintaining its cease-fire with the IDF – despite generally favoring
resistance.
The institute’s scholars concluded from the report that “US policy
should seriously consider abandoning all hope for now of a permanent
Israeli-Palestinian peace deal,” and instead should “focus on immediate
steps to lower tensions” and on improving conditions on the ground.
...
The State Department’s special envoy to that effort was Martin Indyk, founder of the Washington Institute.
I cannot help but wonder whether Indyk himself will accept those results.
Israel on Thursday named the two 'Palestinians' responsible for the kidnapping of teenagers Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach. They are Marwan Kawasmeh (29) and Amar Abu-Eisha (33). The father of Abu-Eisha, who has done time himself in Israeli jails for terrorism denies his son is involved but admits that his son has been missing since the night of the kidnapping.
Omar Abu-Eisha, the father of Amar, claimed Thursday night to AFP that his son was not involved - he added that he had seen no trace of Amar since the night of June 12, when the boys were abducted.
It should be noted that Omar himself has been arrested numerous times
for security offenses according to the IDF, and Amar's brother was
killed while committing a terror attack in 2005 against an IDF patrol.
Reenacting the night of the abduction, Omar told i24news "on Thursday, me and my son went to a wedding at 8 p.m. It was a wedding of a cousin."
"Around 10 p.m., I asked 'where's Amar,' and they told me he went
home. Then we went to sleep. On Friday morning, it was impossible to
find him...we don't know what happened to him," stated Omar.
It should be noted that a motorist saw Eyal Yifrah (19), Naftali Frenkel (16) and Gilad Sha'ar (16) at a hitchhiking stop at 10:05 p.m. that night, and at 10:25 p.m. police received an emergency call from
one of the teens whispering "we've been abducted! We are being
kidnapped." The call was ignored by police who thought it was a prank
call, a move that has raised a public outcry.
Given the two reported times, Amar has been missing since before the time of the kidnapping, which occurred just after 10 p.m.
Nevertheless, Omar insisted "the story of the abduction isn't logical. I don't believe all that."
"Whether he was arrested by soldiers or became a tortured martyr,
it's the fault of the Israelis in any case. Now it's in G-d's hands, I
can only pray in the meantime," said the terrorist's father.
Here's Prime Minister Netanyahu responding to the announcement.
Let's go to the videotape (Hat Tip: Debbie R).
I'll bet 'Omar' knows a lot more than he's saying. Why is he talking to AFP instead of to a Shabak interrogator?
Here are the 'Palestinians' celebrating the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers on the Temple Mount. The 'three-fingered salute' signifies that they are celebrating.
Let's go to the videotape.
Still waiting for the day that the entire Temple Mount collapses with its Muslim impurities, the defilers of the Temple Mount all die a painful death, and the Third Temple descends from the Heavens and takes its rightful place (see the book of Ezekiel).
Way back in 2006, I wrote a critique of North American airline security in which I argued that it is looking for yesterday's terrorists and that the only way to do airline security is the Israeli way. I have written manysimilarpostssince, and have gotten numerous comments claiming that it cannot be done.
Now, there will be no choice. ISIS - the new terror group that's taking over Iraq - claims to have developed non-metallic bombs and is sending them to the United States with Syrians carrying US passports.
Z Street is a pro-Israel organization whose application for a tax exemption was denied in 2009 after it was asked whether it supports the 'occupation.' Z Street sued the IRS (never cross a couple where both spouses are lawyers :-), and now finds itself at the center of a major scandal in the US involving 'lost' IRS emails.
In 2009 a pro-Israel group called Z Street applied to the IRS for
tax-exempt status. When the process was delayed, an IRS agent told the
group that its application was undergoing special review because "these
cases are being sent to a special unit in the D.C. office to determine
whether the organization's activities contradict the Administration's
public policies." In August 2010 Z Street sued the IRS on grounds that
this selective processing of its application amounted to viewpoint
discrimination.
Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
and legal precedent, once the suit was filed the IRS was required to
preserve all evidence relevant to the viewpoint-discrimination charge.
That means that no matter what dog ate Lois Lerner's hard drive or what
the IRS habit was of recycling the tapes used to back up its email
records of taxpayer information, it had a legal duty not to destroy the
evidence in ongoing litigation.
In
private white-collar cases, companies facing a lawsuit routinely operate
under what is known as a "litigation hold," instructing employees to
affirmatively retain all documents related to the potential litigation. A
failure to do that and any resulting document loss amounts to what is
called "willful spoliation," or deliberate destruction of evidence if
any of the destroyed documents were potentially relevant to the
litigation.
At the IRS, that requirement
applied to all correspondence regarding Z Street, as well as to
information related to the vetting of conservative groups whose
applications for tax-exempt status were delayed during an election
season. Instead, and incredibly, the IRS cancelled its contract with
email-archiving firm Sonasoft shortly after Ms. Lerner's computer
"crash" in June 2011.
In the federal
District of Columbia circuit where Z Street's case is now pending, the
operating legal obligation is that "negligent or reckless spoliation of
evidence is an independent and actionable tort." In a 2011 case a D.C.
district court also noted that "Once a party reasonably anticipates
litigation, it must suspend its routine document retention/destruction
policy and put in place a 'litigation hold' to ensure the preservation
of relevant documents."
The
government's duty is equally pressing. "When the United States comes
into court as a party in a civil suit, it is subject to the Federal
Rules of Civil Procedure as any other litigant," the Court of Federal
Claims ruled in 2007. The responsibility to preserve evidence should
have been a topic of conversation between the IRS chief counsel's office
and the Justice Department lawyers assigned to handle the Z Street
case.
As it happens, the IRS also had a
duty to notify Congress if it learned that discoverable evidence had
been lost or destroyed. We now know that the IRS has been aware of Lois
Lerner's lost emails since at least February, but IRS Commissioner
John Koskinen
failed to mention this in his congressional testimony on March
26, saying instead that the IRS was fully cooperating with congressional
requests.
...
Attorney General
Eric Holder
won't name a special prosecutor, but there's still plenty of room
for the judge in the Z Street case to force the IRS to explain and
answer for its "willful spoliation" of email evidence.
Oh my.... Here's betting that if they're prosecuted and convicted before January 2017, Obama will pardon them.
In an earlier post, I reported that the UN 'human rights council' had once again condemned Israel just before Racheli Frenkel, the mother of kidnap victim Naftali Frenkel, spoke. Here's what has happened at the UN in the last few days. It's pretty sickening.
Let's go to the videotape.
Here's hoping for the UN to sink into Turtle Bay - the sooner the better.
Oh my: Beware whose car you push, three more victims for Gilad?
Greetings from... New York City.
A report on another blog claims that the three teenagers who were kidnapped ten days ago were lured into pushing a 'broken down' car operated by an Arab and then ambushed down the road after pushing the car (Hat Tip: Mrs. Carl).
1) The boys were not hitchhiking. They were waiting at Tzomet HaGush,
which is a bus stop, as well as a hitchhiking spot. (I’ve been there
many times. It’s where the gas station for Efrat is located.) An Arab asked the boys to help him push his car that had broken down.
The last sighting of the boys - by a witness who was at the bus stop -
was at 10:15 p.m. of them pushing the Arab’s car, which had Israeli
license plates, down the road.
Presumably, the three boys were then ambushed when they got further down the road. (This was not witnessed.)
At 10:20 p.m., a 911 call was received, and one of the boys managed
to say that they’d been kidnapped. The 911 operator notified his
immediate supervisor (a young, low level police officer), who made the
decision that it was probably a prank call. One hour later, they sent an
army patrol to Tzomet HaGush to investigate, but found nothing. (If
anyone had been kidnapped an hour earlier, they would be long gone.)
At 3 a.m., the parents of the boys called their local police station,
and again at 4 a.m. and then at 5 a.m. the army was notified, but the
army commander didn’t receive the information for another hour, so no
action to search for the boys was taken by the army until 6 a.m. Eight
hours wasted. If they had acted immediately, at 10:20 p.m., they could
have immediately set up road blocks all over the area and perhaps
stopped the kidnappers’ vehicle.
This actually makes sense. There's a lot about the story that didn't fit until now. I had heard - somewhere - that the first driver who picked them up dropped them off a short distance from Kfar Etzion. Tzomet HaGush made sense as being that spot and would have allowed them to catch one of the two remaining buses from Efrat to Jerusalem. If the driver was from Beer Sheva, he would have been heading south from Tzomet HaGush, while the boys - from Nof Ayalon, Elad and Dolev - would have been heading north. The only thing that still doesn't make sense is why the driver said that they were heading to the South Hebron Hills - if that was the case, he should have taken them.
It also explains how one driver - with accomplices up the road - would have managed to kidnap three boys. Most Israeli cars have only five seats. If you had two kidnappers in a car, how could they kidnap three boys? Two in front would have allowed one boy (at least) to open a door and jump out. One in front and one in back would have been suspicious. But if there was only one driver and they pushed his car to a more isolated location....
We already heard the police story. Some heads should roll for that one.
But wait. There's more.
2) They know who the two kidnappers are. They were among the
prisoners that were released in the Shalit trade. They identified them
by process of elimination, because out of all the known terrorists, they
alone are missing from their homes, and they had told their employers
ahead of time that they wouldn’t be at work for a few days. They are
from villages near Chevron, which is why the search is focusing there.
The burned-out car that was found was burned in the hopes of
destroying any DNA connecting them to the crime, but apparently you
can’t destroy the DNA by burning .
I've heard before that the army knows who the kidnappers are. I was not aware that they were released in the Shalit trade - another reason for Israel's Leftist-controlled media to keep their identities quiet.
Weak: IDF to scale back operations against Hamas due to 'international pressure'
A report on IDF radio says that operations against Hamas will be scaled back due to 'international pressure' and the upcoming Ramadamadan month, with operations limited to 'search and rescue.'
The decision was allegedly made on the basis of concerns over the
upcoming Islamic holiday of Ramadan, which could cause Palestinian Arab
violence to get out of control.
Ministers also allegedly noted the waves of international criticism
against Israel after the operation, with critics claiming that the raids
are interrupting the pace of daily life in the Palestinian Authority
(PA).
It should be noted while the report is on the front page of the IDF Radio website, no other Israeli media outlet appears to have reported on the decision.
Arutz Sheva spoke to an IDF Spokesperson's Office
representative over the issue, who could not confirm the report, but
stressed that there are several security bodies at work in Operation
Brothers' Keeper, and to her knowledge the operation is still at full
force.
...
The report also surfaces just hours after the United Nations Human Rights Council skewered Israel at a meeting to discuss the operation, in a hearing comprised almost entirely of anti-Israel testimonies.
Wild accusations made included claims that Israel is occupying both
Syria and Lebanon, that Israel imprisons Palestinian children and the
elderly, and a pro-Palestinian NGO's claim that Israel has "kidnapped
Palestinian mothers" in comments just after the emotional speech of the mother of kidnapped teen Naftali Frenkel.
Hours earlier, a senior IDF official stated to Arutz Shevathat
the operation had progressed - and that not only was Ramadan not an
issue, but that daily life in the PA was being preserved as much as
possible despite the raids.
How do you search and rescue if you limit your ways of getting leads?
The only chance of deterring this from happening again is if the 'Palestinians' see that the crazy Israelis will react to it like bulls in a china shop. If we're not doing that, this sort of thing will God forbid happen again and again.
Video: Racheli Frenkel - mother of kidnapped teenager - addresses the UN 'human rights council'
Rachel Frankel, accompanied by the mothers of the two other teenaged
Israeli kidnap victims, appealed for international support for the boys'
safe return. Full text here.
Despite this, the UNHRC meeting
held just before Frenkel spoke featured an ongoing barrage against
Israel, with several countries making wild claims against the Jewish
state, including that it had occupied Syria and Lebanon and that it is
participating in ethnic cleansing.
Greetings from Paris Charles De Gaule, where there is no Kosher food available that I have found :-(
Meanwhile, in neighboring Germany, the Nazis of the past have arrived in the present and the only one condemning them is the head of the German Jewish Community. Dieter Graumann, the President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, condemned an assault against an 83-year old man who was attending a rally for three kidnapped Israeli teenagers in Hamburg on Friday.
"The fact that here in Germany such pure hatred of Israel culminates in
assaults, is frightening and extremely worrying. We wish the injured a
speedy recovery and trust that the authorities quickly identify the
perpetrators and hold them accountable," Graumann was quoted as saying.
The rally in support of the three kidnapped teens was organized by the
German-Israeli Society of Hamburg and the organization Hamburg for
Israel. Counter-demonstrators surfaced shortly after it began.
The 83-year-old victim who was brought to hospital for treatment was
pushed to the ground so violently that he suffered a head-wound and was
unable to walk, according to the Judische Allgemeine.
When the victim's daughter tried to help her father she was also kicked by the counter-demonstrators, according to the report.
Inga Dinslage, Spokesperson for the German-Israeli Society of Hamburg was shocked by the attack.
Shocked? Why shocked?
Raus Juden Raus! (Leave Jews leave!).
Actually, from what I saw on a business trip to Frankfurt 13 years ago, it would probably be more effective to give that warning in Russian or Hebrew than in German.
In January 2009, German police broke into a private home
in Duisberg, in Western Germany, and removed an Israeli flag from a
window because Muslims found it annoying (the flag is pictured at the
top of this post). Although the Germans eventually apologized for that incident, in September 2009, a German student was fined 300 euros (about $450 at the time - much less today) for displaying an Israeli flag during a 'spontaneous' demonstration by Muslims. And in October 2009, fellow blogger Robert Spencer traveled to Germany to violate a ban on displaying the Israeli flag during demonstrations.They've really changed in the last 70 years, haven't they?
Disgraceful: 'Palestinian' savages post video satirizing kidnap victims
'Palestinian filmmakers' have produced a video that has been posted to YouTube that satirizes the kidnapping of Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrach. I can't access the video right now because Ben Gurion Airport's free WiFi does not allow access to streaming media, but it's linked above.
In the clip, two armed Palestinians with covered faces stand behind three actors who play the roles of the kidnapped teens.
The three actors, whose eyes are covered, read out their respective
names, Gil-Ad Shaer, Naftali Fraenkel and Eyal Yifrah, under the threat
of a gun. The three actors playing the kidnapped teens are then
commanded to say Allau Akbar ("God is great").
In the film the captors make the following demands: the release of
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, the termination of the
"occupation" in the West Bank and the end of IDF home demolitions and
expropriation of land.
Towards the end of the scene, other actors depicting IDF intelligence
officials are shown watching the captors' demands. An actor in the film
dressed as a haredi watches with the officials and proclaims that he is
scared.
Despicable. But as long as the West keeps supporting these savages - financially and otherwise - they will continue to behave this way. If the 'Palestinians' opponents were anyone other than the Jews, the 'international community' would have jettisoned them a long time ago. No one would give a damn about them.
Disgraceful.
UPDATE 2:54 PM PARIS TIME
Now that I'm in Paris where they have no problems viewing anti-Semitic videos, let's go to the videotape.
Good morning once again from Ben Gurion Airport from which I am flying to Europe shortly. Today may actually be a day with a lot of posts, because if all goes well, on my second flight I will have WiFi access.
Alan Johnson talks about how the world treats the 'Palestinians' like infants, giving them a free pass on all their bad behavior.
In part, because an anti-Zionist mindset that has taken root in the
West, and at its heart is unexamined assumption – that Israelis and
Palestinians are different kinds of people. Israelis have
agency, responsibility and choice, Palestinians do not. In short, the
world treats the Palestinians as children – ‘the pathology of paternalism’ it has been called.
The unarticulated assumption of anti-Zionism is that Palestinians are
a driven people, dominated by circumstances and moved by emotions;
qualities associated with the world of nature. Israelis are the opposite; masters of all circumstances, rational and calculating; qualities associated with the world of culture.
This dichotomous thinking has three bad consequences.
First, by granting only one side to the conflict agency and
responsibility, the dichotomy distorts key events of the conflict (e.g.
the war of 1948, the collapse of the Camp David peace talks in 2000,
Gaza after the 2005 disengagement). The Palestinians are cast as passive
victims; a compelled people (Haaretz writer Yitkhak Laor claims the second intifada was “instigated” by … Israeli policy); a duped people (activist Tikva Honig-Parnass writes of “Barak’s pre-planned collapse of the Camp David talks in October 2000”); and a people beyond the reach of judgement.Academic Jacqueline Rose views
Palestinian suicide bombers as “people driven to extremes” and argues
that Israel has “the responsibility for [the] dilemma” of the suicide
bomber.
Second, the dichotomous understanding of Palestinians and Israelis
distorts our understanding of Israel’s security. The threats Israel
faces are discounted and the security measures taken by Israel reframed as motiveless and cruel acts. For example, the writer Shlomo Sand argues
that Israel falsely “portray[s] itself as a persecuted innocent” and he
claims that this portrayal, not real threats, has given Israeli society
“a well of deep-seated collective anxieties.” Ilan Pappe, an Israeli
academic now teaching in the UK, claims
that “Zionists” are “[c]ompelling a nation to be constantly at arms” by
stimulating “continual angst” through the abuse of Holocaust memory. He
dismisses “useful fabrications about Israelis suffering under intense
rocketing” as a “fantasy of apologists.” For the anti-Zionists, then,
Israel’s concern with security is either a pathology (an unconscious
psychological condition Israelis cannot break out of) or – this a
contradiction, note – a case of manipulation (a conscious political
ploy).
The third consequence of this dichotomous thinking about the nature
of the two peoples is the infantalisation of the Palestinians: they
remain perpetually below the age of responsibility; the source of their
behaviour always external to themselves, always located in Israel’s actions.
What Johnson seems to miss is that the anti-Zionists that he cites are not 'Palestinians' but Israeli Jews, most of whom spent many years sucking at the teat of the State of Israel's publicly funded university system. You can add to the list of things that the 'Palestinians' are incapable of doing 'thinking for themselves.' They are even dependent on Israel for the intellectual backup for their Jew hatred.
Johnson, however, comes up with this sentence, which seems totally out of place with the rest of his column.
Of course, Israel has to compromise and divide the land, making possible a Palestinian state.
No, we don't. In fact, we already gave up 78% for a 'Palestinian state' known as the 'kingdom of Jordan.' If even Johnson, who actually gets the fact that the 'Palestinians' are unwilling and incapable of taking responsibility for themselves, still comes up with a line about Israel having to make possible a 'Palestinian' state, it's difficult to find anyone who is capable of drawing the proper conclusions about our conflict.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has announced that he would like to expel UN envoy Robert Serry after Serry was caught trying to facilitate the transfer of $20 million to Hamas.
The discussion comes amid allegations in the Foreign Ministry that
Serry worked inside the UN to transfer $20 million from Qatar to Hamas
to pay salaries.
According to diplomatic sources, Serry asked Israel and the Palestinian
Authority to allow the transfer of the funds, but was met with
refusals from both sides. He did not give up, however, and continued to
push the idea through the UN institutions.
According to the sources, he wanted the money to be transferred to UN
agencies, which would then transfer it to Hamas inside Gaza.
The sources said that Serry was trying to find an alternative avenue to
getting funds to Hamas, since the Egyptians have closed the smuggling
tunnels through which the money used to pass.
The sources said that for Liberman this was the final straw in a long
history of what he viewed as very problematic behavior by the UN envoy.
...
Serry issued a statement rejecting the allegations that he tried to transfer funds to Hamas.
He said that he did visit Qatar a few weeks ago, but that the issue of a UN role on the payment of salaries did not come up.
“There have since been reports that Qatar has been considering
assisting in this issue,” he said. “And indeed I was approached last
Thursday informally by Prime Minister [Rami] Hamdallah of the
Palestinian Authority. In considering any UN role on the issue of
payments of salaries in Gaza that has potentially destabilizing effects
on security in Gaza, I made it clear that we would only be able to be
of assistance if acceptable to all stakeholders, including Israel. This
information was immediately shared with Israeli authorities at the
working level and their initial reaction was indeed negative.”
Serry, a Dutch diplomat, asserted that in the past seven years as the
UN’s Mideast envoy he has “carried out my work with impartiality in an
effort to assist both Israelis and Palestinians. It is now disheartening
to hear that in considering a request from one of the parties in the
aforementioned effort, the integrity of my role is being questioned.”
Any decision to declare Serry persona non grata would have to be
approved by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who spoke over the
weekend with Ban, updated him on the developments in the West Bank and
said that Israel has unequivocal evidence that Hamas was behind the
kidnappings.
The face of the generation is like the face of a dog
The Talmud in both Sotah and Sanhedrin says that in the times leading up to the Messiah's arrival, the generation's face will be like that of a dog. The (real) rabbis explain that when one walks a dog, the dog seems to run ahead, but constantly turns around to make sure that the 'master' is following. So is the dog leading the 'master' or is the 'master' leading the dog? In reality, the 'master' is leading the dog, even though the dog gives the illusion that the opposite is the case. The dog symbolizes the Jewish communal leadership; the 'master' symbolizes the Jewish public at large.
I wonder if even the rabbis envisioned a situation where the dog would do a better job of leading.
The murderer is Ziad Awad. Awad is 42 and is from the village of Idna. He was arrested at the beginning of the month along with his 18-year old son Iz-a-Din, who helped plan the terror attack and helped his father to escape. The family that plays together....
Awad carried out the attack with a Kalashnikov rifle while riding a motorcycle. He told his son that he did it for the sake of Islam and that those who murder Jews gain admittance to Paradise. So much for anyone who still believes that this is not a religious war.
Awad was originally arrested in 1999 and sentenced to 27 years in jail for murdering 'Palestinian collaborators.' He was released in the 2011 terrorists for Gilad trade.
The army says it was a miracle that no one other than Mizrachi was killed - Awad shot hundreds of rounds.
I believe that tens of people should spend some time in Mizpe Hila this summer in front of the Shalit home with pictures of Mizrachi.
I also believe that Awad (not from the same village as - but possible related to - the two Awad scumbags who murdered the Fogel family of Itamar in 2011) and his son ought to get the death penalty. It's long past time to start implementing it.
UPDATE 2:22 PM
Israel to renew punitive measure - discontinued in 2005 - of destroying homes of terrorists. Will start with home of B. Mizrachi's killer.
— Herb Keinon (@HerbKeinon) June 23, 2014
I'm sure Leftist Noam Shalit will lead a demonstration against the home demolition. He's only into collective punishment when Jews are being punished.
But the death penalty would be much better. It is the only thing that will assure that Awad will never again go free.
Tzfat (Safed) Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu is blaming the Shalit family for the abduction of Gilad Shaar, Naftali Fraenkel and Eyal Yifrach.
“One of the major factors contributing to the erosion of Israeli society
was the atmosphere of ‘me as the individual’ and the loss of national
identity,” Eliyahu wrote.
“The Schalit family and the group that put in motion the campaign around
it [for the release of their son] enhanced this erosion,” he wrote. “It
adopted an attitude of whining and playing on sentiment. They blamed
everyone [and] perpetuated the culture of ‘I deserve it.’ It was as if
the only important thing to consider is today, not what happens
tomorrow. As long as they get their son back, damn the consequences,
even if it means that innocent civilians will pay the awful price. And
the awful price has come. Three young boys were kidnapped.”
Eliyahu drew a comparison between the Schalit family and its vocal
public relations campaign to bring pressure to bear on the government
for their son’s release after five years in captivity, and the reaction of the families of the kidnapped youngsters who went missing 10 days ago.
“Today, a new spirit is blowing,” the rabbi wrote admiringly of the
families of Naftali Fraenkel, Gil-Ad Shaer, and Eyal Yifrah. “It is a
spirit of might and heroism, a spirit of responsibility, a spirit of
unity. It’s a more responsible, healthier, more moral spirit. This
spirit is alive and well in the army and the government, the Knesset,
and the entire public. It’s a spirit of remedying the defects of the
past.”
“This spirit is being fostered by the families of the young people,” the
rabbi wrote. “With quiet conduct, they have managed to tug on the
heartstrings of the Israeli society and to rehabilitate it. There are no
accusations of guilt, no whining, no public pressure, no bitterness.
What they do have is belief.”
During the time that Gilad Shalit was being held, I had plenty of criticism for his father. Here's one.
You can't help but feel sorry for the guy but for the past five years,
Noam Shalit has done more than anyone in the world to convince everyone
that his son's release is 'just' a question of paying Hamas' price, and
therefore pressure has been brought on the government of Israel and not
on Hamas. He is also rumored to have vetoed an IDF rescue mission out of
fear that Hamas would kill his son if such a mission were undertaken.
It is questionable whether such a mission is even possible today - how
would you have any element of surprise?
What is Shalit
suggesting? Reinstating a full blockade? It was his friends that forced
the government to stop that. Cut off water and electricity? The only
people who favor doing that are the Right, who are anathema to the
Shalit family because they're not willing to trade thousands of
terrorists for Gilad's release.
And so the stalemate continues and only Hamas benefits.
I have a real problem with this kind of interference in the government's
foreign policy prerogative. It harks back to a previous set of
negotiations in Oslo, in which Beilin (whom Yitzchak Rabin famously
referred to as "Peres' poodle) participated - the illegal negotiations
with the PLO that produced the Oslo 'declaration of principles' in 1993.
In the United States, the Logan Act,
a criminal statute prohibits private citizens from engaging in
"correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any
officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies
with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States."
Israel doesn't have a Logan Act, but it should.
Suppose that
next month Beilin and Noam Shalit (whom I had figured as a leftist
almost from Day One after his son was kidnapped) go to Oslo and come
back with an agreement with Hamas: Israel will release 1400 terrorists
and Hamas will release Gilad Shalit. Despite the fact that such an
'exchange' would endanger every Israeli citizen,
the pressure on the weak Olmert-Barak-Livni government to accept such
an agreement would be enormous. That is why private citizens (and Beilin
- who is not in the government - is a private citizen in this regard)
should not be interfering with the State's conduct of foreign policy by
negotiating with its enemies about anything.
I know that someone
is going to say, "but all Beilin and Noam Shalit did was to ask the
Norwegians to bring back a sign of life." There are three responses to
this. First, the same thing could have been accomplished through the Red
Cross, which is a proper channel. The Israeli government could have
approached the Norwegian government, which would have been a proper
channel. And Beilin comes to this incident with unclean hands because he
has a history of undermining governments in this exact manner.
But perhaps this is the most important part, which came out after the terrorists for Gilad deal.
Yes, of course, the Shalit family had a public relations campaign. Now that the terrorists for Gilad trade has been made, the campaign has been exposed.
About
four years ago, after year and a half of silence in the media and the
sense that Gilad Shalit was beginning to be forgotten, Shalit's father,
Noam, enlisted the help of a public relations firm. Until that moment,
the Shalit family had operated without the close help of media
consulting. Noam was determined to change the public discourse and
offered to pay Tammy Shinkman, of the public relations firm
Rimon-Cohen-Shinkman, as much as it took. "At first, they [the Shalit
family] offered to pay us, and we of course, without second thoughts,
said 'no chance.' We insisted that we would do it voluntarily," says
Benny Cohen, a partner of the firm who ran the operational strategy and
work behind the scenes of the Shalit campaign.
Immediately after
the firm began working for the Shalit family, the media was flooded with
countless messages and news items calling for Shalit's release.
Meetings were held with newspapers and broadcast media in attempts to
convince them to cover the soldier's struggle on their front pages and
in their top headlines; politicians were asked to join the campaign; and
celebrities decided to lock themselves in a makeshift jail cell,
believed to be similar to what Shalit was kept in under Hamas captivity,
in solidarity with the soldier.
The country was filled with
billboards, flags and stickers, and pictures of the kidnapped soldier
printed in the nation's colors - blue and white - became an iconic
symbol. The Shalit family's struggle made headlines and brought crowds
of supporters out into the streets. The change marked an unprecedented
and historic shift.
"It is connected to the empowerment of
emotions. The strategy was to make everyone empathize with the terrible
fear that his or her child could leave and never return," Shinkman once
said in an interview with the Globes newspaper. "The codes of
communication are clear: You get a response when you reveal a personal
side. The Shalit family had a hard time exposing itself to the public.
They were an introverted family, and Noam himself is a bereaved sibling.
And yet it was important to facilitate emotional involvement, to
highlight the fact that every parent would expect this kind of public
solidarity if it happened to them, and this was done by massively
amplifying the dose of the family's exposure to the public."
"You
have to remember that mutual responsibility for one another is part of
the Israeli ethos and this does not exist in other cultures," Cohen
adds. "It means that when we speak of one child, we are talking about
everyone's child, not just some distant soldier fighting in Afghanistan.
As soon as we realized this would be our strategy, we did a lot of work
to keep the Shalit story alive, for example, during Purim, releasing
photos of Gilad dressed as a clown when he was a child.
"There
were many periods of quiet, so every few months we had to find some
other idea that would push the media to give us coverage. There were two
other sources that played a big role - the advertising agency Shalmor
Avnon Amichai voluntarily produced movies, designs and slogans for us,
for example the ad showing the word "help" written in handwriting; and
also Kobi Gamliel who was able to get 800,000 people to change their
profile pictures on Facebook."
What they did worked.
But
what if the Shalit family had not been in the position to say "we'll
pay you whatever it takes"? What if the Shalit family (like the leaders
of the tent city this past summer) had not been from a socio-economic
group that Israel's mass media loves? What if, for example, he had been a
religious Hesder
soldier from Judea and Samaria or from a development town? I have my
doubts whether the families of such soldiers would ever have attempted
to do what the Shalits did in the first place, but Israeli society needs
to do some soul-searching and ask itself those questions.
Well, now we have the answer as to who a religious family from Judea and Samaria (okay, two of them don't live in Judea and Samaria, but two of the kids go to school there) would react and it's nothing like the Shalits. Rav Eliyahu's criticism is very much in place. The Shalit family manipulated Israeli society into paying an exorbitant price, and that price has encouraged other kidnappings. There has been no ransom demand: maybe because the terrorists are waiting for the families to start making the kinds of demands the Shalits made, or maybe because the 'Palestinians' have decided that kidnapping random Israelis and making them 'disappear' has a chance of being a more effective tactic to spring terrorists. It's time to tell the truth.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
