For those of you who have forgotten Diana Buttu, here's Hillel Neuer making mincemeat out of her, here's Jake Tapper being totally fooled by her, and here's Fox News owning her.
Buttu's tweet above - retweeted by Gershon Baskin - points to the video below. The video talks about Google mapping the Israel trail, a 1000-kilometer trail network meant to be Israel's version of the Appalachian trail.
Let's go to the videotape.
The video has over a million views in the nearly a month since it was posted, and you would think that if the Israel trail included Judea and Samaria someone else would have made that comment before Buttu made it around 1:00 this afternoon Israel time. And you're probably right. Because, you see, Buttu is lying - or at least grossly exaggerating.
The Israel trail's route is mapped here (link in Hebrew) and here. There's a note in the English version that claims that the trail crosses the 'green line,' and a quick look at the map (below - I used the Hebrew one because it's larger) shows that it does for a very short time - west northwest of Jerusalem. My guess is that it's the same place where Highway 1 - the main highway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv - crosses the green line for a couple of kilometers. It's near Latrun. And you can bet that if there is ever a 'Palestinian state,' they won't be getting it.
That's a far cry from a claim that Google mapped Judea and Samaria as part of Israel. Too bad they didn't. If the 'Palestinians' are going to whine anyway, we may as well give them something real to whine about.
Oh and Gaza? that's the place on the left-most point on the white with the gray outline. The trail is nowhere near there.
An aerial view of Israel's security dilemma (via Google Earth)
Have you ever used Google Earth to take a look at Israel and the West Bank? Israel and its neighbors are often very close together, and understanding that is important to making peace. Come along with us as we examine this tenacious problem from a birds eye view.
Google Earth to give higher-resolution photos of Israel in 2013
Google Earth gives remarkably clear photos of locations around the World.
Let's go to the videotape.
There's one place where Google Earth gives less clear views: Israel. But that could be changing in 2013.
Israel's low-resolution e-presence can be traced back to the 1997 National Defense Authorization Act. Tucked inside the 2,870-page bill is a two-bullet point section titled "SEC. 1064. PROHIBITION ON COLLECTION AND RELEASE OF DETAILED SATELLITE IMAGERY RELATING TO ISRAEL" (page 2653).
...
While we have previously reported on the U.S. government's Google Earth unease, Section 1064, also known as the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment, limits zoomed-in satellite imagery of Israel. Because the section stipulates that imagery can be "no more detailed or precise than satellite imagery of Israel that is available from commercial sources," the amendment has a material impact on "non-federal" entities, like Google.
"The images in Google Earth are sourced from a wide range of both commercial and public sources," a Google spokesperson told Mother Jones. "We source our satellite imagery from U.S.-based companies who are subject to US law ... which limits the resolution of imagery of Israel that may be commercially distributed."
These laws are policed by NOAA's Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but an article in the Washington Reports on Middle East Affairs offers a more specific working explanation.
"Letters sent by NOAA to every major U.S. commercial satellite firm were widely interpreted to mean that the baseline for what is commercially available was one-meter digital imagery," the article said. "The widely held belief in the industry was that the Kyl-Bingaman amendment would not be enforced against U.S. firms that didn't collect digital imagery of Israel below the one-meter threshold, which none of the major U.S. firms planned to do."
A "one-meter threshold" means that U.S. companies, such as Google, could provide images with no higher resolution than one pixel representing one square meter. Whether that threshold applies, however, to disputed territories—such as Gaza Strip—remains unclear, though, Mother Jones reports that Human Rights Watch has yet to provide "detailed imagery of the Gaza Strip in its reports." At the bottom of the page I have included two images from Google Earth: The first is from the Gaza Strip, the second Tripoli. You be the judge.
While U.S. companies—regulated by Section 1064—currently lead the world in satellite imaging, that may soon change, and with it, the view of Israel. Earlier this spring Turkey announced that its GokTurk satellite would provide high-resolution Israeli images beginning in 2013. Once those images are "commercially available" from a non-U.S. entity, Google would conceivably have the option to use them in Google Earth.
The IDF is building mountain bunkers in which it will store and protect sensitive arms and equipment.
The multi-million-dollar plan was created by the IDF’s Logistics and Technology Directorate, and is set to receive a dedicated budget from the General Staff in the military’s next multi-year plan – expected to go into effect in 2012.
Under the plan, next year the IDF will begin building a relatively small bunker of several thousand square meters inside a mountain whose location is classified. If the project is successful, it will enter the next phase, which includes building several more bunkers over the next few years.
Following the Second Lebanon War against Hizbullah in 2006 – and amid predictions that IDF bases will be targeted in a future conflict – the Logistics and Technology Directorate formulated the plan, dubbed “Operational Continuity.” Its primary objective is to disperse important equipment into mountain bunkers across the country.
“At the same time, we need to be able to continue to supply troops who will be operating behind enemy lines, and have a limited amount of supplies with them.”
The army will also bolster protection of sensitive locations – such as warehouses where advanced weapons are stored. Bunkers inside mountains could serve as an alternative to open bases, the officer said.
“We work under the assumption that in the next war, IDF bases will be targeted,” a senior officer said on Monday.
Two small questions: If this was known to be an issue during the Second Lebanon War - four and a half years ago - why was nothing done about it until now?
And given the existence of Google Earth all over the place, how are we going to prevent enemies from seeing these bunkers under construction, let alone prevent them from seeing trucks loading and unloading at their entrances?
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
