So true @susskindbatzi @IsraelsVoice @IsraelMatzav @israelnetwork @netanyahu @Jerusalem_Post pic.twitter.com/MumNLwSSQM
— Israel kicks ass (@Israelkicksass) November 5, 2015
Labels: al-Jazeera, anti-Israel media bias, BBC bias, CNN lies, Haaretz, Israel's Hebrew Palestinian daily, MSNBC
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:48 PM
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Spanning a period from 2006 until December 2014, they include detailed briefings and internal analyses written by operatives of South Africa's State Security Agency (SSA). They also reveal the South Africans' secret correspondence with the US intelligence agency, the CIA, Britain's MI6, Israel's Mossad, Russia's FSB and Iran's operatives, as well as dozens of other services from Asia to the Middle East and Africa.
The files unveil details of how, as the post-apartheid South African state grappled with the challenges of forging new security services, the country became vulnerable to foreign espionage and inundated with warnings related to the US "War on Terror".Color me skeptical. Given Israel's generally poor relations with post-apartheid South Africa, I find it hard to believe that the Mossad would have shared meaningful assessments regarding Iran's nuclear program with that country.
Labels: al-Guardian, al-Jazeera, Iranian nuclear threat, Mossad, South Africa
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:52 PM
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Labels: al-Jazeera, Charlie Hebdo, Islamic terrorism, media bias
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:15 PM
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The Obama administration will maintain its close ties with Qatar and push for it to have a key role in the tenuous peace process, despite protestations from lawmakers on Capitol Hill who say that the country cannot be trusted due to its close ties to Hamas, according to the letter sent by State Department officials late last month to Rep. Peter Roskam (R., Ill.).
Although Qatar has pledged in past years to give Hamas at least $400 million in aid, it has assured the United States that the next $150 sent to the Palestinians will not make its way to the terror group.
“Qatar has pledged financial support that would be directed to the Palestinian people in Gaza,” Julia Frifield, an assistant secretary for legislative affairs at the State Department, informed Roskam in a Nov. 21 letter. “Qatar assured us that its assistance would not go to Hamas. We continue to interact closely with the government of Qatar and will reinforce that such assistance should not go to Hamas.”
The Obama administration will continue to rely on Qatar to serve a role in the peace process and to engage with Hamas, according to the letter.
“Qatar has said it wants to help bring about a cease fire to the ongoing hostilities in Israel and Gaza,” the letter states. “The Qatari government has engaged with Hamas to this end.”
While the United States still regards Hamas as a terrorist organization, “We need countries that have leverage over the leaders of Hamas to help put a ceasefire in place,” Frifield wrote. “Qatar may be able to play that role as it has done in the past.”
Lawmakers and experts remain dubious that Qatar can be taken at its word given its robust support for Hamas in the past.Forget - if it's possible - Qatar's support for Hamas. There are other reasons why Qatar can never be an honest broker. Consider this reaction to the Har Nof terror attack from Qatari government-funded al-Jazeera.
Referring to the attack by two Muslim terrorists armed with guns and axes who attacked, among other people, a 59-year-old Rabbi at prayer from behind, the op-ed calls it a “daring operation carried out by two Palestinians in a Jewish synagogue in Jerusalem”, and threatens that “The operation carried symbolic importance in targeting the synagogue, in a clear message to the settlers and extremists of all varieties and types that the attack on the Arab holy sites would lead to attacks on synagogues and their holy places.”
“The operation also was clear in terms of courage and bravery,” the Al Jazeera op-ed by Professor Abdel Sattar Qassem states. “this operation was the most daring because it was done with primitive weapons. The media picked up that the Palestinians used the gun, but the most important weapons were knives and hatchets.”
Normal non-Muslims don’t consider axing a Rabbi from behind to be courageous and brave, but that’s the difference between the human worldview and the one represented by Al Jazeera and its state sponsor of terror.
Al Jazeera is only running this murderous racist screed in Arabic for obvious reasons, but it needs to be spread around because this is what Al Jazeera really is. It’s not a media organization. It’s the press bureau for terrorists operated by Qatar, a state sponsor of terrorism.Qatar is not and cannot ever be a trustworthy, honest broker for peace between Israel and the 'Palestinians.' Insisting that it play a role in the 'peace process' is a deliberate attempt to ensure that there will be no 'peace process.'
Labels: al-Jazeera, Barack Hussein Obama, Jerusalem, John Kerry, Middle East peace process, Palestinian terrorism, Qatar
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:11 PM
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Labels: al-Jazeera, Gaza, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, terror tunnels
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:28 PM
2 comments
Labels: al-Jazeera, Hamas, Hamas threats, terror tunnels
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:22 PM
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Later Wednesday, Abu Laith, a commander of Hamas's "military wing" - the Al-Qassam Brigades - told the British Times that "thousands" are waiting to fight Israel again.
"We have more tunnels, we can infiltrate into Israel again," he boasted.
He admitted, however, that the tunnels had undergone significant damage, and that "only a small engineering staff" knows the full extent of the damage in the terror tunnel system.If Hamas actually attacks tomorrow, I think you'll see a 'shock and awe' type of response.
Labels: al-Jazeera, Gaza, Hamas, IDF, Operation Protective Edge, terror tunnels
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:39 PM
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Labels: al-Jazeera, anti-Israel media bias, Gaza, Hamas, IDF, Operation Protective Edge
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:58 PM
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In a study published on Monday, CAMERA said that a close read of the data “shows that, as in past hostilities, the fatalities are disproportionately [compared to the overall population] among young males, which corresponds with the characteristics of combatants. Males over 40 years old are also disproportionately represented. Some of the fatalities in those over 40 years of age likely represent senior members of terrorist organizations.”
CAMERA based its conclusions on comparing the data of 150 men and 20 women reported to have been killed to the broader population make up in Gaza, where men and woman each account for 50 per cent of the population and the median age is 15 years old.
“Notably, only about 12 percent of the total fatalities are female, though females make up half the population,” CAMERA said. “Also, the median age of Gazans is reported to be around 15. Males under 15 make up just 13 percent of the total fatalities even though they represent half of all males in the Gaza Strip.”
CAMERA graphed a breakdown of the 150 reported male fatalities, excluding 19 whose ages were not listed, though the group noted that one of those was described as a member of Islamic Jihad. Due to space constraints, it also excluded three deaths of males over 65, with a total of 128 on the chart.
The chart shows that 83 deaths were of men between the ages of 16 and 39, 28 were men over 40 years old and 20 were under 16 years old.
CAMERA also noted that the “information provided by Qatar-owned Al Jazeera should not be accepted at face value, as the emirate has close ties to the Hamas-led Gazan government,” and said it would update its analysis as more data was released.You mean the media lied when it said most of the casualties are civilians? I'm shocked. Just totally shocked.
Labels: al-Jazeera, civilian casualties, Gaza, Hamas, IDF, Operation Protective Edge
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:43 PM
2 comments
The conversation on the news show "The Opposite Direction" hosted by Faisal al-Qassem centered around Syrian President Bashar Assad's military tactics in the ongoing Syrian civil war. Along with the Israeli army, al-Qassem also praised the moral character of the French military.Of course, the real question is why Hezbullah - and every Arab fighting force - choose to take shelter among civilians. The fact that they also go after civilians is simply beyond the pale in the post-Geneva convention era.
"Why don't they learn from the Israeli army, which tries, through great efforts, to avoid shelling areas populated by civilians in Lebanon and Palestine?
"Didn't Hezbollah take shelter in areas populated by civilians because it knows that the Israeli air force doesn't bomb these areas? Why doesn't the Syrian army respect the premises of universities, schools or inhabited neighborhoods?"
"Didn't they [the Syrian Army] ever hear about principles and morals of urban warfare? Didn't the Syrian army target many civilian areas despite the fact that no fighters were present there?" al-Qassem asked.
"The Israeli army, if it wanted to break up a demonstration, would have used water cannons or rubber bullets, not rockets or explosive barrels as happens in Aleppo today.
"I want to ask you on one important point. ... It's a shame to compare the National Syrian Army with the French during the French occupation, or the Israeli army. Shame!" the moderator added.
Labels: al-Jazeera, Hezbullah, human shields, IDF, Syria, Syrian army
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:10 PM
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Dubai's Deputy Police Commissioner Dahi Halfan on Monday demanded that Bishara leave the Persian Gulf and return to Israel, reports Yedioth Ahronoth. The former MK has been living in oil-rich Qatar, and working as a commentator for Al Jazeera.
Halfan accused Bishara of being involved in an "Israeli plot" to control the Gulf states, writing on Twitter, "Azmi Bishara. I'm a member of the security forces, and people in the Gulf don't want you anymore. Go back to the Israeli Knesset and tell them that their plot failed."
Last week, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates made an unprecedented decision to remove their ambassadors from Qatar, in a protest of perceived Qatari meddling in their internal affairs.
The countries charged Bishara's employer Al Jazeera, which is run by Qatar, of leading the meddling. Qatar has also been distanced from its Gulf neighbors in its support of the Muslim Brotherhood.Anyone want him? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Labels: al-Jazeera, Azmi Bishara, Inspector Tamim, Israeli Arabs are a fifth column, Qatar, treason
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:23 PM
1 comments
Labels: al-Jazeera, civilian casualties, France, Israel, Syria
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:27 AM
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According to figures from Nielsen, the first airing of the Qatari broadcaster’s America Tonight programme attracted an audience of just 27,000. This doesn’t stack up well against Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, which drew 2.97m. Even CNN’s Anderson Cooper mustered 627,000 viewers during the same time slot.
The numbers make for embarrassing reading for a network that in the run up to its August 20 launch spent $500m acquiring Al Gore’s Current TV and hired hundreds of journalists, including star names like CNN’s Ali Velshi. True, its launch was not helped by the decisions of Time Warner Cable and AT&T not to carry the network, but its potential reach was still a good 50m or so US homes.
The paltry numbers are probably not surprising given the largely negative sentiment stateside, with one Fox News analyst describing Al Jazeera as a mouthpiece for Al Qaeda. “It’s a very unattractive brand in the US,” Claire Enders, of the UK’s Enders Analysis, told me in the run up to the launch. “Americans have very little interest in foreign news services anyway.”But the Qatari government won't care.
Will the Qatari royal family, which fully owns Al Jazeera, care about this poor turn out? Not one jot I reckon. Backed by the Gulf state’s petrodollars, the station is under no pressure to turn a profit and its operating costs are merely a drop in the ocean for its loaded backers.
What is the point then? With another nine years until the FIFA World Cup 2022, I’d hazard that Al Jazeera America’s intended effect is as a PR tool, designed to portray a country most Americans know next to nothing about in a positive light.Anyone think the Qataris will try to buy Time Warner or AT&T? Talk about the tail wagging the dog....
Labels: al-Jazeera, Qatar
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:22 PM
2 comments
Al Jazeera America’s launch in place of the failed Current TV network was an unsurprising dud, TV Newser reports.
Available in more than 40 million homes, its initial ratings were poor for cable news standards. Its best showing of the week was just 54,000 viewers for Thursday night’s Real Money with Ali Velshi:
The 2 PM Saturday edition of “News Live” averaged 48,000 viewers, while “Inside Story” Thursday at 12:30 PM averaged 41,000 viewers. “News Live” Thursday from 12-12:30 averaged 40,000. The debut edition of “The Stream” on Tuesday averaged 38,000 viewers, below Nielsen’s accuracy threshold, while the debut of “America Tonight” averaged 34,000 viewers.
The launch hour, which was Tuesday afternoon at 3 PM, and featured a preview of what was to come on the channel, averaged 22,000 viewers, below Nielsen’s minimum accuracy threshold. In other words, Nielsen says it cannot accurately count how many people watched it, and the number it gives is essentially a rough guess. This is also called “scratching.”
Heh.We do not have the adults 25-54 numbers, but given the total viewer numbers, one can surmise that they scratched.
Labels: al-Jazeera, Qatar
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:49 AM
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Walt rose to prominence as co-author of a conspiracy book about Jewish manipulation of American foreign policy and has been referred to by prominent liberal journalist Jeffrey Goldberg as someone who “makes his living scapegoating Jews.”It wasn't exactly a hard-hitting interview either.
Al Jazeera America has filed a lawsuit against AT&T over its refusal to carry the new cable news network.
Late Monday, the cable provider dropped Current, which switched over to Al Jazeera at 3 p.m. ET on Tuesday, meaning U-verse subscribers had no access to the new channel.
...
In a statement, AT&T told The Times that it had not yet seen the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Delaware Chancery court.
"As a result of our inability to come to terms on a new agreement and due to certain breaches of the existing agreement, we have decided not to carry Current TV on U-verse," AT&T said in its statement.
Al Jazeera America is part of the global Doha-based news organization financed by the royal family of Qatar. In the United States, AJAM is available in about 49 million of more than 100 million cable homes via Comcast DISH Network, DirecTV and FiOS.
It is not available on Time Warner Cable, which dropped Current when it was sold to Al Jazeera America's parent company. Al Jazeera executives are currently in negotiations to regain carriage on Time Warner Cable systems, but those negotiations are likely taking a backseat to the operator's heated disagreement with CBS.Current was sold to al-Jazeera by former US Vice President Al Gore. Gore thinks they're a great station.
Labels: Al Gore, al-Jazeera, conspiracy theories, Stephen Walt
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:53 PM
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Members of the crowd, some of them carrying Syrian flags, accused Al Jazeera of being one-sided, and a “propaganda outlet” that supports the Syrian rebels.
The reporter took cover in a local restaurant until he was spirited out shortly thereafter.
While the reporter was inside the restaurant and after, scuffles broke out between pro and anti Assad supporters, with some beating each other with sticks. Eventually, cooler heads prevailed and the crowd cleared out.
At no point did police arrive during the fracas, which lasted a little over a half hour.
Some 2,000 demonstrators were joined by Arab MKs, local council heads and religious leaders in Sakhnin..Israel's security authorities had a very busy day on Saturday. Read the whole thing.
Labels: al-Jazeera, Bashar al-Assad, Land Day
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:29 AM
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Labels: Al Gore, al-Jazeera
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:34 AM
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The one point Mr. Crovitz did not make but could have is this one — whatever the flaws of the Al Jazeera - Current deal, at least Al Jazeera had to pay $500 million to gain access to the American market. That's $500 million less that the emir of Qatar will now have available to donate to Hamas, or to Columbia University. That's a better outcome than the alternative that had been proposed by the president of Columbia, Lee Bollinger, who, in a March 2011 Bloomberg Businessweek article, called on the Federal Communications Commission to force American cable companies to carry Al Jazeera, access to which he called "critically valuable" to "our democracy" and to "America's understanding of the world."
If Mr. Bollinger had his way, Al Jazeera would have gotten for free what it just had to pay $500 million for. A lot of people are criticizing Mr. Gore for taking the $500 million. But Mr. Gore at least drove a hard bargain on price relative to what Mr. Bollinger wanted to use the force of government to give away for free. It's easy to see what Mr. Gore gets out of the deal — $100 million. The more intriguing question is what Mr. Bollinger hoped to get for Columbia in return for his advocacy for the emir.Indeed. And with Time Warner refusing to carry the Arab Islamic propaganda network, that $500 million is looking even better.
Labels: al-Jazeera, Islamist propaganda
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:35 PM
1 comments
Time Warner Cable pulled the plug on Current TV just hours after news of the cable channel's sale to Al Jazeera became official.
"This channel is no longer available on Time Warner Cable," read an on-screen message where Current TV used to be found.
Al Jazeera took a major step into the U.S. cable market Wednesday by acquiring beleaguered Current TV and announcing plans for a U.S.-based news network to be called Al Jazeera America. But while the new channel will soon be available in 40 million households, Al Jazeera faced a setback when Time Warner Cable -- which reaches 12 million homes -- announced it was dropping the low-rated Current, which occupied a spot that could have been switched to Al Jazeera America.
Joel Hyatt, who co-founded Current TV with former Vice President Al Gore, told staff in a Wednesday night memo that Time Warner Cable "did not consent to the sale to Al Jazeera."
"Consequently, Current will no longer be carried on TWC," Hyatt wrote. "This is unfortunate, but I am confident that Al Jazeera America will earn significant additional carriage in the months and years ahead."
A Time Warner Cable spokesman said in a statement that "our agreement with Current will be terminated and we will no longer be carrying the channel."Al-Jazeera is the mouthpiece of the anti-Semitic Qatari government. The fewer people who carry it, the better.
Labels: al-Jazeera
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:41 PM
2 comments
Ambulance chasing as journalism
Can we film the operation?The Washington Post reports Samples taken from Yasser Arafat’s remains to see if he was poisoned:
Is the head dead yet?
You know, the boys in the newsroom got a
Running bet
Dirty Laundry - Don Henley
Tissue samples were taken Tuesday from the remains of Yasser Arafat, the longtime Palestinian leader who died in 2004, as part of an inquiry into whether he might have been poisoned, Palestinian officials said.Did the reporter have to withhold a chortle when he wrote "investigative report ... on ... al-Jazeera?" Rumors that Arafat have been poisoned have been part of Palestinian rhetoric over the past eight years. Just because the Islamist channel al-Jazeera claimed to have more rumors doesn't make the charge any more credible.
The probe was ordered after an investigative report on the Arabic satellite channel al-Jazeera in July presented what it said was evidence of possible poisoning, reviving suspicions surrounding Arafat’s death.
(I don't believe that Israel is the main target of these rumors. The story that Arafat was poisoned lately has been peddled by his former henchman Mohammed Rashid who is engaged in a feud with Mahmoud Abbas.)
The New York Times reports Arafat’s Body Is Exhumed for Poison Tests:
On Tuesday, as part of an inquiry into whether he was poisoned, Mr. Arafat’s remains were exhumed in a subdued, reflective atmosphere, with his people more fractured and less certain of their future than when he was alive.For those unfamiliar with the name Tawfiq Tirawi, he was implicated in the killing of Palestinian land dealers who had the gall to sell land to Jewish.
Mr. Arafat died in a Paris hospital in 2004 at the age of 75, an event that was swiftly surrounded by contention and mystery. Israeli officials have categorically denied Palestinian accusations of involvement. And though lab test results are expected in about three months, according to experts, they may leave open more questions than they resolve about the Palestinian suspicions.
“Our people are convinced that Israel committed this act,” Tawfiq Tirawi, a Palestinian official who leads the Palestinian investigating committee, told reporters here in a news conference. “We are seeking evidence.”
(Really, if someone wants to do an investigative story about Arafat why not find out how much the perpetually cash-strapped Palestinian Authority is funding Suha Arafat's lavish expatriate lifestyle.)
Barry Rubin made an important observation as to why these rumors are treated as "news."
In the case of any other alleged perpetrator, the kind of claim being made against Israel in this case would have been ridiculed. Yet part of the world seems to believe that the Jews are capable of anything.This past week the ombudsman of the Washington Post defended the decision to publish a front page picture of an anguished Palestinian man holding his dead son. He wrote about how the photograph told "part of the 'truth." The Washington Post didn't report much on the years of rocket fire from Gaza targeting Israel's south. It didn't report much on the supply of materiel from Iran and other sympathetic sources to Hamas. Only when Israel finally struck back did it see fit to report comprehensively on the conflict between Israel and Hamas. (The Post is not alone. Once Operation Pillar of Defense started, there was a migration of journalists to Gaza.)
There is even a special name for such tales, blood libel, and its echoes can be found in the fabricated or exaggerated tales about Israel deliberately murdering children, most recently just now in the war with Hamas. Stories of Jews murdering people out of religious hatred—often to use their blood allegedly to make Passover matzos—go way back. One example is in Thomas Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, published first in the late fourteenth century. About 130 years ago, one of my ancestors living in Czarist Russia was accused on the basis of no evidence of the ritual murder of a teen-aged Christian. The local peasants rioted, wrecked the Jewish workshops and stores, and beat up several Jews. Fortunately no one was killed. According to then-prevalent tales in the region, the Jews had a barrel whose inside was studded with nails so as to extract the blood efficiently.
Hamas locates its terror infrastructure in civilian areas knowing that it will lead to dramatic pictures. Media organizations obliged Hamas with boots on the ground to record Israel's response. All was left was to wait for the inevitable civilian casualties and Hamas's strategy would be vindicated. (In this case it isn't even clear if it was an Israeli bomb, as the ombudsman claims, that killed the baby.)
By reporting on Arafat's exhumation news organizations are giving credence to rumors. By extravagantly claiming that they're exposing some essential "truth" news organizations are furthering Hamas's media strategy. The mainstream media has become an ossified relic driven more by cynical calculations than any sort of enlightened principles.
Labels: al-Jazeera, blood libel, Gaza, Hamas, human shields, journalists, Middle East Media Sampler, Operation Pillar of Defense, Soccer Dad, Yasser Arafat
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:39 PM
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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
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