I'm sure that many of you - especially in the US - have been following the Brian Williams scandal at NBC News.
On Tuesday, the New York Post reports that Williams told a lie about Israel, claiming that he was in a helicopter that was fired upon during the 2006 Second Lebanon War (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).
But that's not the only lie Williams told about his experiences in Israel. This is an account of an earlier Williams lie as told by Sherri Mandell, whose son Koby was brutally murdered by 'Palestinian' terrorists in his home town of Tekoa in 2001.
When Williams interviewed my family in our
home, he similarly staged a false drama in order to sell a story. And in
that process, he betrayed us and his viewers.
Brian Williams interviewed our family in the late of summer 2004 about our son Koby’s
murder. We sat on the nubby sofas in our sunroom in Tekoa, in the West
Bank, and he told us that he had been in the neighborhood — in Greece
for the summer Olympics — and that is how he came to be in Israel. I
looked at his pressed pants, his shiny black shoes, his clean shirt:
impeccable.
...
After talking about how we came to Israel, we
told Mr. Williams that Koby and Yosef had been eighth-grade boys who cut
school, went hiking in the canyon behind our home in 2001, and were
murdered by Palestinians terrorists, beaten with rocks.
He sympathized and then asked whether Seth had a gun. Seth said yes—he had one locked in a safe upstairs in the bedroom.
“Would you mind going upstairs and getting the gun so we can film you with it?” his producer asked Seth.
Seth said no. We both realized that they
wanted to stage a scene – to reinforce a stereotype, a visual of the
angry rifle-toting, trigger-happy settler.
...
A few days later, we saw the interview on the
Internet. I was furious. I wasn’t upset by what Seth and I had said. We
were distraught about the way our story was framed. To open the segment,
NBC interviewed an Israeli – an English speaker from Tel Aviv – about
her views on the intifada. She sat on the couch in her Tel Aviv
apartment and said: The settlers are a cancer on today’s society. They are the reason for all of the problems in Israel.
Then the newscaster said: And here is an example of the people she is talking about: Seth and Sherri Mandell. Settlers from Tekoa. And the camera panned to show us sitting on our couch in our sunroom.
This story is probably a lot less surprising to all of you after hearing Matti Friedman's accounts of the bias in the international media. But it means that supporters of Israel should not be sorry to see Williams go.
Mothers of terror victims oppose terrorist releases
The picture above comes from a story in Yedioth Aharonoth (and from its Facebook page) about mothers of terror victims who are opposed to the release of 'Palestinian' terrorists.
From left to right, the mothers are Shira Avraham, Chaya Rond, Sherrie Mandel, Ruti-Rina Ishran and Tali Ben Yishai.
For the Hebrew-impaired, Shira Avraham is the mother of Shaked HY"D (May God Avenge her blood), who was murdered in Negohot (home of Avigdor Liberman) at the age of seven months. Her daughter's murderer was released from jail before trial(!) and was subsequently liquidated participating in another terror attack.
Chaya Rond is the mother of Erez HY"D, who was murdered in 2002 in the Arab village of Senjal. Her son's murderer was sentenced to three life terms.
Sherrie Mandel is the mother of Koby Mandel HY"D (as in Camp Koby for terror victims' families). Koby was murdered with his friend and classmate Yossi Ish Ran in 2001 in a cave near Tekoa as they prepared a bonfire for Lag BaOmer. Koby was 13. His murderers were never caught.
Ruti-Rina Ish Ran is the mother of Yosef Ish Ran HY"D (see also above).
Tali Ben Yishai is the mother of Ruti Fogel HY"D, the mother-in-law of Udi Fogel HY"D and the grandmother of Yoav, Elad and Hadas Fogel HY"D, who were murdered in Itamar in 2011. Her offspring's murderers are serving 130 years each in jail.
While some of you might think that these ladies' actions are cathartic, there's more to it than that. A group called the Four Mothers, which was founded in 1997, managed to force Israel's (foolish) withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. If the Left can do it, why can't the Right? (Answer: The Left automatically gets sympathetic media coverage).
US legally required to prosecute released terrorists
David Bedein of the Center for Near East Policy Research says in this interview that the United States is legally required to pursue and prosecute approximately 40 of the terrorists who were released by Israel this week under the Koby Mandell Act.
Let's go to the videotape.
I would start with an extradition request to Obama's good friend and ally Jordanian King Abdullah for Ahlam Tamimi - the quarterback of the Sbarro massacre.
Terror victim's Mum: Better that his murderers have never been caught
I'm sure that many of you remember Koby Mandell HY"D (May God avenge his blood), the kid who skipped school one day ten years ago with his friend Yosef Ish-Ran, only to be murdered by stone-throwing 'Palestinians.' Koby's Mom, Sherrie, says that Koby's murderers have never been caught, and after Tuesday's terrorists for Gilad trade, she's happy that they haven't been caught (Hat Tip: Leah P).
MOST PEOPLE don’t understand the continuing devastation of grief: fathers who die of heart attacks, mothers who get sick with cancer, children who leave school, families whose only child was murdered. We see depression, suicide, symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder. You wouldn’t believe how many victims’ families are still on sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication. We see the pain that doesn’t diminish with time. We literally see people die of grief.
Bereaved families face acute psychological isolation.
Nobody understands us, they often complain.
They mean that nobody understands the duration or the severity of their pain and longing. In the aftermath of a prisoner exchange, this isolation will only be exacerbated.
So will the feeling that our children’s deaths don’t matter.
When people tell me that my son Koby died for nothing, I always used to say: No, it is our job to make his death mean something.
But now I am not sure. It seems that the government is conspiring to ensure that our loved ones’ deaths were for nothing.
Cheapening our loved ones’ deaths only enhances the pain. If Israel is willing to free our loved ones’ murderers, then the rest of the world can look on and assume that the terrorists are really freedom fighters or militants. If Palestinians were murdering Jews in cold blood without justification, surely the Israeli government wouldn’t release them.
No sane government would.
When we were sitting shiva for Koby, a general in the army told us: “We will bring the killers to justice.” I believed him. I took his words to heart. Today I am thankful my son’s killers have not been found. So are my children. Of course, I don’t want the terrorists to kill again. But if they were to be released in this prisoner exchange, I don’t think I could bear it.
We don’t want other families to be put in our situation.
We don’t want terrorists to be free when our loved ones are six feet underground. Ten years after my son was beaten to death, the pain often feels like a prison. In many ways, I am not free.
We don’t want other terrorists to be emboldened because they know that even if they murder, they may not have to stay in prison. President Shimon Peres says he will pardon but he will not forgive. Terrorist victims’ families will not pardon or forgive the government for this release.
We have been betrayed. To pardon terrorists mocks our love and our pain.
Speaking as an Israeli, we don't want to ever have to understand what you are going through and have been through. But many of us, at least, want to empathize with you and hug you and feel your pain. We too were hurt at the way the government was ready to release so many murderers in exchange for one soldier without so much as granting a hearing to terror victims' families. We too feel cheapened and taken advantage of by today's spectacle. And we hope and pray that it will never happen again.
What would make someone slaughter a three-month old baby? This article by Charles Krauthammer - written upon the 2001 murder of Koby Mandell and Yosef Ish Ran HY"D (may God avenge their blood) - provides some insight (Hat Tip: Soccer Dad). (This is from the first link).
This is not war. This is not even terrorism. This is bloodlust. It is savagery so grotesque that it might not have been believed had we not all seen that picture last fall on the cover of Time of the Palestinian, having just beaten to death the two Israeli reservists in Ramallah, exultantly holding out his blood-stained hands to the crowd in a gesture of triumph.
People are not born with bloodlust. They learn it. It is no mystery where the Palestinians have learned it.
For years Arafat's mini-police-state has been feeding his people the rawest Jew-hatred since the Third Reich. In television, radio, newspapers, and textbooks, Arafat has created the psychic infrastructure that sustains his endless war on Israel - and gives us the barbarism in the cave.
Caroline Glick argues that Israel needs to do a more effective job of fighting the information war.
WHAT ALL of this shows is that information wars are not just about getting out the facts. Like kinetic warfare, they involve power plays, intimidation and the use of subconscious and visceral manipulation.
Israel has recently awoken to one aspect of information warfare. It has recognized the consequences of years of demonization of Israel in Europe and international organizations. But Israel has yet to awaken to the fact that it is a type of warfare and has to be countered with counter-information warfare.
Obviously this doesn't mean that Israel should begin acting like its enemies. But what it does mean is that Israel must begin using more hard-knuckle techniques to defend itself. It must begin targeting people's emotions as well has their minds.
For instance, when Israel is confronted by threats of lawsuits for acts of self-defense, it responds with defense attorneys. When the US was threatened with lawfare by Belgian courts, then secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld responded by threatening to remove NATO headquarters from Belgium.
When Israel is accused of targeting Palestinian civilians, it responds by attaching legal advisors to combat units. What it should be doing instead is providing film footage of Palestinian children being trained as terrorists and exploited as human shields.
War is a dirty business. Information warfare is a dirty form of war. And if we don't want to lose, we'd better start fighting.
Read the whole thing. You'll also find out why I put a picture of Koby Mandell HY"D (may God avenge his blood) at the top of this post.
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
