B'Tslem admits its primary researcher in Judea and Samaria is a Holocaust denier
A month ago, I reported that Atef Abu-Alrub, 'human rights group' B'Tselem's chief source in Judea and Samaria, is a Holocaust denier.
At first, B'Tselem claimed that Abu-Alrub's remarks were 'lies' and were 'taken out of context,' but now they're changing their tune.
[O]n Sunday, a Facebook post by the group pledged to "seriously examine the issue."
"After an [initial] investigation conducted with the researcher, and
in a letter sent to our employees, we established that Mr. Abu feels
'unequivocally that the Holocaust is a 'crime,' was a 'threat against
the Jewish people,' and that Channel 2 translated the words of another speaker who was present," the organization began.
"[However,] a few days ago a video was posted of the full
conversation. Indeed, most of the conversation that was filmed is
translation of a third person [present at the interview]," it continued.
"But, upon watching the video, we saw that it shows that contrary to
the above, the [remarks about the Holocaust] were not translating the
words of a third person, but were made directly by Mr. Abu-Alrub."
"In view of this, we seek to fix our response on this matter,
which was given in good faith and make it clear that we are disgusted,"
it concluded. "B'Tselem is careful in maintaining the
reliability and accuracy of its work and publications. Therefore, we
promise to hold inquiry as soon as possible into the incident and we
will publish the decision as soon as it is made."
I'm shocked. No, not shocked that B'Tselem would use a Holocaust-denying researcher, but shocked that they would admit it and pledge to do something about it. Please - shock me again and actually do something about it.
Of course: Leftist AG's office clears B'Tselem as 'national service'
National Service (Sheirut Leumi) is a substitute for army service which is undertaken by many religious Jewish women (and some religious Jewish men) who won't serve in the army on religious grounds, as well as by people who have physical impediments to serving in the army... and by some conscientious objector types. About six weeks ago, the service's director - Sar Shalom Jerbi - issued a directive stating that volunteering at B'Tselem, our Holocaust-denying anti-Israel propaganda machine, did not constitute national service. Our Leftist Attorney General's office has now overruled that decision, which means that providing anti-Israel propaganda to the biased Schabas Commission will now be deemed 'national service' to the State of Israel.
On Tuesday Deputy Attorney General Dina Zilber announced that the decision was null and void.
Zilber
said that Jerbi can strip an organization of the right to receive
national service volunteers only if the organization rejects Israel’s
existence as a Jewish and democratic state, incites to violence, terror
or racism, or supports terrorism or armed struggle against Israel.
However, she said, he failed to prove that B’Tselem does any of these.
Jerbi
had cited two interviews B’Tselem director Hagai El-Ad gave during the
war, one to the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television network and another to
Radio Tel Aviv, as evidence that the organization supports or incites
to terror. But Zilber deemed this evidence “weak.”
Moreover, she
said, the agency is obligated to treat all organizations equally, and
the fact that Jerbi hadn’t investigated other groups whose activities
are similar to those of B’Tselem “also paints the decision in a
problematic hue from the standpoint of equality.”
Jerbi’s
decision, Zilber wrote, “opens the door to politicization of the
National Civilian Service Administration, which is liable to use its
authority to deny recognition only to certain groups, thereby imposing
an economic and public price tag on them, only because of statements
that are controversial on one side of the political spectrum.”
Jerbi
said he would honor Zilber’s decision, but also plans to explore other
ways “to prevent the absurd situation in which the State of Israel,” via
its provision of national service volunteers, “continues financing an
organization that accused Israel Defense Forces soldiers and the State
of Israel of committing war crimes during Operation Protective Edge [in
Gaza] and libeled it around the world.”
Jerbi is seemingly faced with the Hobson's choice of providing national service volunteers to numerous anti-Israel organizations, or finding the budget to investigate all of them. What could go wrong?
Oh my... Haaretz op-ed admits that the Left is free to speak in Israel but cannot make a case
An op-ed in Haaretz debunks an op-ed in the New York Times that claims that the Left in Israel has been terrorized into silence.
As I write this, the most-emailed post on the New York Times website is a short piece called “How Israel Silences Dissent,” by Mairav Zonszein who, like me, moved to Israel from America where she was born. And like me, she is a leftist and a political activist. Zonszein describes a small group of thugs who mixed it up with Tel Aviv peace demonstrators at the start of the Gaza war, a death threat phoned into a theater against a renowned 75 year old stage actress, Gila Almagor, after a newspaper reported that the grotesque murder and immolation of a Palestinian teen in Jerusalem left her embarrassed to be an Israeli, the cancelling of an endorsement deal for a gifted comedian, Orna Banai, after she expressed sympathy for Gazan kids, and threats against a Haaretz journalist, Gideon Levy, who described Israeli pilots as war criminals. All these, Zonszein wrote, demonstrate “the aggressive silencing of anyone who voices disapproval of Israeli policies or expresses empathy with Palestinians.”
The thing is, they don’t.
Don’t get me wrong; they’re terrible.... My stomach churned when I watched, heard and read all these things, just as Zonszein’s did.
But then, that’s the point: I watched, heard and read all these things. The criticisms reached me. The criticisms of the criticisms reached me. Discussion of the criticism and of the criticisms of the criticisms reached me. No one was silenced. The week after thugs punched three demonstrators, there was another demonstration, this one larger, and protected by more police. The actress, the comedian and the journalist received hours of airtime and hundreds of column inches. The murder of the Palestinian kid in Jerusalem was condemned by multitudes, including the parents of the three Israeli boys who were murdered weeks earlier.
Although most Israelis supported the war in Gaza, especially at the start, there were voices of dissent in all media and especially on the internet....
The simple fact is, a lot of the media, and a lot of academia, and a lot of NGOs and civil society in Israel lean left, and sometimes far left. We have ways of expressing ourselves, and we did express ourselves. I was not intimidated. The thugs did not keep me away from the demonstrations, and did not make me too fearful to bring my kids along. If we’re honest, the dozen right-wing bullies shouting threats infuriated lots of us, but they intimidated no one. Leftist Israelis may not have shown as much anguish or empathy as Zonszein thinks we should have. But that was not because we were aggressively silenced. Perhaps we were too silent, but not because we were silenced.
...
But we haven’t been silenced. We’ve just failed to make our case. For a dozen years, we have failed to win a majority in the Knesset. We have failed to convince other Israelis that the cost of holding onto the occupied territories is greater than the dangers of relinquishing them. In Zonszein’s analysis, this is because a right-wing cabal has shut us up, and there’s little we can do about it.
The truth is, we’ve failed because we’ve failed, and there is a lot we can do about it. Rather than whine in the New York Times about how we’ve been silenced, we need to figure out how to speak to other Israelis so that they will listen. The answer is not to convince readers of the New York Times that Israel is no longer a democracy. The answer is to accept that Israel is a democracy, and that democracy demands that we speak to our fellow citizens and listen to them, that we persuade them rather than dismiss them. Zonszein argues that democratic politics in Israel are hopeless. The fact is, it is in Israeli democracy that our greatest hope lies.
The writer, Noah Efron doesn't seem to acknowledge the possibility that maybe the Left has failed because most Israelis have realized that its ideas are not workable. Ideas don't just fail because they're not well presented - sometimes they fail because they're just plain wrong. But at least he recognizes that the Left has had the opportunity to present its ideas. Maybe one day others on the Left will reach the same epiphany.
The articles tells a story of a “worldwide network of friends
included over 150 members, speaking 20 different languages, who scanned
every post Steven has made on Facebook or Twitter and removed any
mentions of his Israeli or Jewish connections.” I can only think of one
Jewish organization that could facilitate such an grand scale operation
and it isn't JVP.
We also learned yesterday that Sotloff spent 3 years at theInterdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. An institute that is linked to the Mossad according to some media sources.
Israeli press comes short of linking Sotloff to the Mossad but it
produces the necessary evidence that would make such a suggestion into a
valid option.
If God Forbid I was kidnapped by ISIS, I'd bet that 150 of my friends would immediately wipe out this blog and then go through Facebook and Twitter and make sure they can't find anything on me. And I don't work for the Mossad. And you can bet that if Sotloff worked for the Mossad, ISIS would be crowing about it.
Atzmon's writings are those of a paranoid lunatic.
B'Tselem is the main
supplier of factual background material thanks to researcher Atef Abu
a-Rub who is also a Holocaust denier. The man is responsible for dozens
of "researches" and reports about the Israeli abuse in the territories.
He is so good at his job that when foreign reporters calls B'Tselem to
visit the territories, it is Abu a-Rub who is sent to serve as their
tour guide and shows them the area through his eyes.
The problem is not Atef Abu a-Rub; the problem is his operators.
His former boss was Lizi Sagie, the organization’s former information
director. Lizi claimed that Israel is responsible for humanity's
greatest atrocities and that it adopted Nazi values. Sagie quit
B'Tselem, but her spirit remained.
Member of B'Tselem public council Hussein Abu Hussein described
Israel as a "big monster that attacks us on a daily basis and nibbles
through our flesh… we all feel like crushing its head, but just talking
will not help, therefore everyone has a role. Atef Abu a-Rub has a role.
He is responsible for a flowing supply of "information" to describe
Israel as a monster.
How much Abu a-Rub's information is worth? According to him, the
mountains adjacent to the Jordan Valley used to be green until the Jews
came and stole the water beneath them. In addition those Jews "kill
dozens in their sleep and tell everyone it's because of the resistance".
But the Jews, he said, manage to hide their evil deeds because they
have a strong media. Yes, that is the man's opinions and the world is
fed with B'Tselem "researches".
This diabolic propaganda is fascinating, because it succeeds in
turning the tables. Holocaust surviving Jews become part of Hamas'
propaganda mechanism that wishes to continue the work of those who were
engaging in extermination of the Jewish people. Abu a-Rub and other
"human rights" activists like him, succeed in creating one of the
biggest scams of recent decades.
On one side stands a terror organization, who is also recognized as
such by the EU and most of the Western powers, and declares regularly,
in the most explicit manner, that its main goal is to annihilate the
Jewish people. Since the Nazi regime there hasn't been such a strong
body, almost a country, with such a diabolical ideology. On the other
side stands Israel who withdrew from the Gaza Strip and begs this reign
of terror to renounce terror and choose prosperity.
But the good Jews, the "Tikkun Olam" followers have really
turned a corner. There is no doubt that Abu a-Rub and the likes of him
have achieved an amazing success. The responsibility of most of it is
his employers; B'Tselem's board which Hussein Abu Hussein is one of its
members.
Amos Oz and A. B. Yehoshua, who are also sit in B'Tselem board,
have completely different opinions, but them sitting there gives
legitimacy to Abu a-Rub and Abu Hussein's radical views. They are having
a hard time admitting that their organization is not dealing with human
rights, but encourage anti-Semitism; it's not about criticizing
Israel's actions or about healing the world, it's about Jewish support
of fabricated blood libels meant to assist Hamas.
Abu a-Rub's story is taken from a fascinating book called "Catch
the Jew" by Tuvia Tennenbaum. Tennenbaum, a former Israeli, wrote the
book to a German publishing house following a similar journey through
Germany, which was depicted in his book "I Sleep in Hitler's Room" Where
Tuvia posed as a German reporter and toured the realm of the "human
rights kingdom". The results were terrifying.
Tennebaum is a figurative character with figurative writing.
Initially, I thought he was exaggerating, but I was worng. Tennebaum
wasn't only writing, he also documented everything via photos and
recorders. Tennebaum asked from B'Tselem a tour in the territories and
B'tselem sent Atef Abu a-Rub who, off course, told him his 1001 Arabian
Nights tales about the Jews' wrong doings.
It's important to mention that Abu a-Rub also contributes to
Gideon Levy's research, so next time someone is reading this research
they should know that perhaps, occasionally, they point out to things
that needs fixing, but mainly they prove that this is a satanic
propaganda mechanism; it is not clear whether B'Tselem and Levy planned
it that way, but they sure serve as key players in it.
Reporter poses as German, produces video proof of 'Palestinian' and leftist Holocaust deniers
Journalist Tuvia Tenenbaum is known throughout the 'Palestinian Authority' as 'Toby.' The 'Palestinians' and the Leftist internationals were convinced that Toby really was a German and they shared their real views with him.
The video below is Hebrew only - I'm hoping to get an English subtitled version within a couple of days. But I am translating the article from Israel's Channel 2's website into English for all of you. First the video, then the article.
Let's go to the videotape.
And the translation of the article, which summarizes the video.
"The Europeans aren't really familiar with the Middle East dispute and they did not do an investigation. They are coming out of every hole here. They don't want to help, but rather to catch the Jew doing something bad. It comes from hatred," claims Tuvia Tenenbaum. "I didn't lie in this case when I presented myself as a German journalist - I wanted to know what these people think. Even if there had been a conspiracy and it had been the only way to expose the truth, I would have done it, he added.
From the beginning, "Toby" joined a group of young Italians who learned about the dispute in Schchem (Nablus) and in Israel, with funding from the European Union. But the Israeli guide, Itamar Shapira - the brother of the pilot Jonathan Shapira who refused orders and became an extreme Leftist activist - presented himself to the group as "former Jew" and said harsh things against Israel.
During a tour of Yad Vashem, Shapira chose to focus specifically on stories of the massacre at Dir Yassin [the Jenin lie of the 1948 War of Independence. CiJ] and told the young Italians that it's necessary to impose a boycott and sanctions on Israel because "we have to stop an additional Holocaust." Shapira was fired in the past from Yad Vashem after he compared the Holocaust to the Naqba [the Palestinian characterization of the creation of the State of Israel as a catastrophe. CiJ], but today he leads private groups there.
The Palestinian guide who accompanied the group was Ataf Abu Rob, a Palestinian journalist and investigator for B'Tselem who is responsible for several stories published by the [extreme Leftist Haaretz] journalist Gideon Levy. Abu Rob told "Toby" that the Holocaust is "a lie. I don't believe it."
The senior Fatah commander Jibril Rajob also opened his door after he heard about the book that "Toby" planned to publish and told him: "Israel is racist and fascist, it will be isolated like South Africa." Rajoub's close confidantes whispered to Tenenbaum "We are all German, but the only problem is that that we know that General Rommel did not succeed in coming here."
Tenenbaum's book Catch the Jew will be published this week, and he will then not be accepted as a prodigal son in the Palestinian Authority once his cover is blown.
Yad Vashem reacted: "Yad Vashem is careful that the subject of the Holocaust will be presented in detachment from any political agenda. Itamar Shapira was employed in the past as a guide in Yad Vashem and was not careful about these norms, and therefore it was decided about five years ago to terminate him [after he had worked there for three and a half years! CiJ]. Today, we allow outside guides, but we are considering changing this policy."
From B'Tselem the following reaction was received: "B'Tselem condemns any expression of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. The matter will be clarified with the investigator with the full necessary seriousness." Journalist Gideon Levy added: "I traveled to the territories a number of times over the course of the years with Atef Abu Rob. I never conducted political discussions with him and I am not aware of his views. I very much hope that Holocaust denial is not one of them.
Anyone still want to argue that anti-Zionism isn't anti-Semitism? Think about that, Leftist American and European Jews.
B'tselem: "We'll save israel from herself by trashing her to the world." You got a problem with that? http://t.co/fkfYUi5OqG
— Richard Landes (@richard_landes) August 20, 2014
For those of you who donate money to the New Israel Fund (NIF) (how long have you been reading this blog anyway?), B'Tselem is one of the largest beneficiaries of your donations, to the tune of $255,477.23 in 2012. And the New Israel Fund is getting its money's worth: B'Tselem acts as Hamas' Israeli propaganda arm.
B'Tselem published 8 updates on casualties during Protective Edge. Under
the deniability cover of an "initial investigation," every report
compared the number of dead on the Israeli side and the number of
Palestinian side. This information was published on B'Tselem's website,
in their press releases and on social media.
Naturally, B'Tselem emphasized the number of children, minors, women
and elderly among those killed in Gaza, backed by visual aids. If
B'Tselem took care to note the number of combatants killed (by its own
definitions) in its first 6 releases, this category disappeared in the
last two releases, turning all Palestinian casualties into civilians until proven otherwise. B'Tselem explained the sudden change thus:
"the data is very initial and partial, and still being checked […] over
the next few months B'Tselem will continue to look into the events and
in this framework confirm the identity of those killed and figure out
who participated in the fighting." Why did B'Tselem repeatedly publish
partial, unconfirmed data? Didn't they care that this would serve solely
to bash Israel? Probably not. Meanwhile, while B'Tselem was coy about
identifying members of Palestinian terrorist groups among the dead, they
were consistent and clear about dividing between Israeli 'soldiers' and
'civilians'. In addition, these reports were padded with lachrymose
visual aids, of the kind meant to bypass the reader's critical
faculties, among them "tear-jerking" testimonies of Gazans,
who talk of being unable to sleep at night for fear of IDF bombardment,
how their life isn't a life and an impassioned appeal to the world not
to "stand aside." We should note that B'Tselem did indeed publish
testimonies of residents of the south of Israel who live under constant
rocket fire. But as B'Tselem itself admitted, symmetry is more important than nationality for them:
"We report more on Palestinians who are harmed because many, many more
Palestinians were harmed during the operation. This in spite of the fact
that most of the casualties did not take any part in the fighting
[note: such a categorical statement based on what they themselves call
"initial and partial data"! – A.W.] […] reporting needs to reflect
reality and reality is not symmetrical when it comes to the extent of
damage in Gaza and Israel and therefore it is presented before you in
this manner." B'Tselem even tried to launch a campaign of reading the
names of dead Palestinian children on the radio, which was banned by the
Broadcasting Authority and rejected by the Israeli Supreme Court. B'Tselem also released photo albums and video clips of the destruction in the Gaza Strip. After all, property destruction is ipso facto
against international law. Who cares if the building served as a
command or combat post? B'Tselem certainly couldn't be bothered to find
out if they were.
Your charity dollars at work.... What could go wrong?
Finally: Israel decides that serving B'Tselem is not serving the State
It took way too long to happen, but the State of Israel has finally concluded that serving the 'human rights' group B'Tselem does not constitute service to the State. Working at B'Tselem will no longer count as 'national service.' I'm amazed it ever did.
National Civilian Service
Administration Director Sar-Shalom Jerbi informed B'Tselem Director
Hagai El-Ad of the decision to strip the group of its "operating
organization" certification on Wednesday, via a letter.
"After reviewing the matter with several other
operating organizations, and given [B'Tselem's] activities against
Israel and IDF troops, I have decided to revoke your participation in
the National-Civilian Service Volunteer Program; especially during this
period of time, when Israel is engaged in neutralizing the threat of
rocket fire looming over millions of its citizens."
Jerbi's letter to El-Ad continued, "As you
know, Israel is currently dealing with an international delegitimization
campaign, which includes gross incitement against the IDF -- the most
ethical military in the world. Unfortunately, B'Tselem is a party to
this smear campaign. The information released by the organization and
its expressed positions encourage our enemies worldwide and prompt
anti-Semitic expressions against Israel, as well as anti-Semitic attacks
on Jews."
A B'Tselem statement issued Wednesday read,
"B'Tselem maintains that protecting human rights is a vital democratic
action done in the best interest of Israeli society. Sar-Shalom Jerbi's
decision, which we doubt he has the authority to make, is an abuse of
his administrative power for the sake of political gain. It constitutes
political and governmental persecution of a human rights group.
"Mr. Jerbi goes as far as to allude that
releasing information about human rights violations during wartime
constitutes treason, thus fanning the flames of intolerance, which have
already poisoned the political atmosphere. He has included himself in
the dubious club of those who incite against anyone expressing any
criticism" of the Gaza operation.
The decision to exclude B'Tselem from the
national service volunteer program "allows the government to bar any
organization whose positions it does not approve of, form employing
those seeking to perform national service. This action contradicts both
the principles of democracy and proper administration norms."
I'm amazed we ever called working for B'Tselem 'national service.' Good riddance!
Shenkar College forces students to think 'out of the box' for 'Palestine'
The status above was posted to the Facebook page of former Knesset Member Michael Ben Ariby a student at Shenkar College of Engineering and Design. I am posting an English translation of its appalling contents below:
In the middle of a class day, Shenkar College requires all of its students to join lectures on "thinking out of the box." Instead of student creations that are displayed in the various corners of the campus, they hung pictures of wounded Arabs and soldiers beating. The pictures are decorated with slogans of "Free Palestine."
Any student that tried to tear down the signs was stopped and taken to a disciplinary committee!!! Shocked female students stood and cried - it could be that their families were terror victims. In a place of art, of creativity and doing in which politics should stay out of the limelight, it is instead brought out with all its ugliness, by force, and it drags the students into a civil war. A disgraceful day for the Shenkar system, for those who head it, for the faculty and for our entire state!
Today, I am ashamed to be a student at Shenkar!
It perhaps bears noting that the President of Shenkar is ComradeYuliTamir. Tamir was one of the founders of 'Peace Now.'
Seven and a half years ago, people who wanted to do things like this were kicked off Birthright. Now, we're paying for it. Something is seriously wrong with our government and with our self-image.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in Israel for four days this week, but if you get all of your news from uber-Leftist Israeli television, you would never have known it.
Israel's mainstream media conducted an unofficial boycott of Canadian
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's visit to Israel last week. The leading
nationwide television channel, Channel 2, devoted only a single
minute of coverage to Harper's address to the Knesset, and did so only
in the second half of the evening news program, according to Maariv's
Kalman Libeskind, who analyzed the shameful phenomenon in his latest
column. Half of that minute covered hostile Arab MK Ahmed Tibi's
heckling of Harper.
Channel 10, the second nationwide commercial channel,
completely blacked out the visit. Its news show did not cover the speech
with even a single second of airtime.
And you can probably guess why. But of course, there was no way Israel's Leftist media was going to cover the visit of a pro-Israel foreign leader who came here with his foreign minister and five other cabinet members. But Harper took it straight to the media.
Harper was quick to understand how things work in Israel, added
Libeskind. In a news conference on the day after his Knesset speech, he
berated Israeli reporters, who kept on asking him about Israeli
“settlements.”
"Yesterday in the Palestinian Authority,” Harper said, “no one asked
me to criticize the Palestinian Authority on matters of governance,
human rights or any other subject. When I am in Israel I'm asked to
criticize Israel, and when I am in the Palestinian Authority I am asked
to criticize Israel.”
Far Left 'rabbis for human rights' faked an attack on 'Palestinians'
The radical Leftist 'rabbis for human rights' (or perhaps that should be 'rabbis' for 'human rights') organization has been caught faking attacks on 'Palestinian' olive groves... can you guess where? Yes, right near Eish Kodesh. This is from the first link.
The far-left group Rabbis for Human Rights, accused in the past of inciting Arab violence and recently of distributing anti-Semitic materials,
was exposed Monday for falsely reporting cut down olive tree branches
at the Arab village of Jaloud in Samaria, right next to the Jewish town
of Esh Kodesh.
An IDF patrol that arrived on the scene detained several Israeli
youths who were in the area and fled towards the community of Shvut
Rachel.
However, upon checking the scene, the IDF found there were no signs
on the olive trees of being cut down, and consequently the Israelis were
released. The far-left group has previously used olive harvests to stir up controversy and disputes.
The recent false claim of cutting down olive trees plays upon
accusations of "price tag" vandalism, an accusation that was used last
week to justify the attempted lynch by an Arab mob of 25 Jews as they walked from Esh Kodesh to Givat Hayovel.
'Rabbis' for 'human rights' is a great group of community organizers, but they are apparently clueless about real human rights.
The Yesha (revenants') Council has sent a letter to the police, accusing Haaretz's Amira Hass of inciting violence against the revenants by writing a column that claims that the 'Palestinians' have a 'right' to throw stones at the revenants.
In a column published Wednesday, Ha'aretz writer Amira Hass,
who lives in the PA city of Ramallah, wrote, “Throwing stones is the
right and the duty of anyone living under foreign rule.” Later in the
column she termed rock-throwing “a metaphor for resistance.” Hass is the
official Ha'aretz correspondent for what the newspaper labels the "occupied territories".
Hass, who also lived in Gaza for three years in contravention
of Israeli law, wrote that arrests of rock throwers "is part of the role
of the foreign occupation, no less than gunfire, torture during
investigations, land theft... and discrimination in distribution of
water."
Several recent rock attacks by Arabs targeting Israelis living in
Judea and Samaria have caused serious injury. In the most serious case, a
terrorist wounded a mother and three of her children, including a
3-year-old who was critically injured. All were rushed to the hospital, including the toddler who has since undergone numerous surgeries.
Hass’ column constitutes praise for violent rock attacks and gives
such attacks legitimacy, Ro'eh and Shachner said in their complaint,
adding that it ignores the dangers posed by such attacks.
I do not understand why successive Israeli governments have allowed this woman to live in and report from the 'Palestinian' side. This is not the first time she and Israel's Hebrew 'Palestinian' daily have incited violence against Jews, nor is it likely to the last. Ironically, very few Israelis read Haaretz - it is one of the least read newspapers in the country. It's the international media that give Haaretz its power.
In an earlier post, I reported on the arrest of an Israeli in Egypt who was attempting to reach Gaza to help the local 'Palestinians.'I now have more details on the case.
"The Israeli officer was arrested by national security forces on
December 29. State security is now interrogating him," a national state
security officer told Reuters.
Security sources in Sinai said the 24-year-old had been gathering
information about Sinai from drivers in the area near the Taba border
crossing between Egypt and Israel. The officer was taken to the Nuweiba
area in Sinai, where he was being questioned, the sources said.
The
Foreign Ministry confirmed that Andre Chetekov from Bat Yam was
detained upon arrival to the country, and said that it is making efforts
to find out more details.
Chetekov's mother told Army Radio
that her son got a visa to enter Egypt last week, and was scheduled to
meet friends from France in Cairo.
The man was reportedly a
left-wing activist, who lived in the Palestinian territories and
previously was denied a request for Palestinian citizenship.
He
was not carrying a passport when he entered Sinai and his name was not
on tourist arrival lists, according to the official Egyptian MENA news
agency.
Please tell me we're not going to ransom this guy.
Someone please tell me we're not going to ransom this moron
Remember Ilan Grapel, the American-Israeli who was arrested on the streets of Cairo, for whom both the US and Israel paid ransoma little over a year ago? Well, Grapel was just a fool. This guy, who was arrested trying to cross from Egypt to Gaza at the end of last week, is worse.
Egyptian officials announced Monday evening that 25-year-old Israeli Andrei Pashnichikov, who has been in an Egyptian jail since Friday, crossed
the Israel-Sinai border illegally and tried to sneak from Sinai into
Gaza to help Palestinian-Arabs fighting against Israel.
Please tell me we're not going to pay anything to get this guy back. Let him stay in Egypt or Gaza. Maybe he can move in with Amira Hass or something.
Finally, Babylonian Jewry was riven by internal disputes between its
religious and temporal leaders. Disputes, especially disputes that touch
on religious matters invariably lead to extremist views and
unacceptable behavior – all under the guise of following the will of
Heaven.
There is much extremism under display in American Jewry
today. Ah, but you will counter, how about the extremism in the
religious circles in Israel. But there is a fundamental difference
between Israel and America. Here in Israel the extremism is mostly
political in nature - the quest for patronage and budget allocations,
and the personal ambitions of politicians for office and power.
With
all of the trappings of piety surrounding them, the contests here are
basically much more personal than ideological. The anti-Israel groupings
in Israel have waned in numbers and influence while, unfortunately,
they have increased in the American Jewish society. More and more, the
hareidi society in Israel sees itself as part of the general apparatus
of the state, and the nineteenth century battle over Zionism has ended
here. It is a moot question.
Not so in American Jewish society
where actual hatred of the State of Israel exists in many sections of
that society, from the intellectual Left to the extremists in the
religious world on the Right.
When Babylonia saw itself as the substitute for Jerusalem as a safe haven for all eternity, its decline immediately set in.
Israeli Leftists want to stop ultra-Orthodox from having children
Those of you who have been readers for a while may remember the name Neve Gordon. Gordon is the chairman of the political science department at Ben Gurion University. He's back in the news again because of this piece he penned for al-Jazeera along with Yinon Cohen, another anti-Israeli Israeli. Gordon and Cohen are decrying the success of Israel's 'settlement project' due to the high reproductive rate of the 'settlements' ultra-Orthodox residents.
The ultra-Orthodox towns in Judea and Samaria are mostly right along the 1949 armistice lines, namely Beitar Ilit and Kiryat Sefer. If there is ever an arrangement with the 'Palestinians,' the border could easily be adjusted to keep the thousands of people in those two towns in their homes.
The only other place I can think of in Judea and Samaria with a large ultra-Orthodox population is Emmanuel. Emmanuel is much further away from the 1949 armistice lines, but also has a much smaller population than either of the two towns mentioned.
Gordon glosses over two bigger 'problems' that are likely to both made the 'settlement project' a success, and ultimately make the State of Israel a much more religious state.
First, the national religious population of Judea and Samaria (to whom most Israelis would not refer as ultra-Orthodox) also reproduces at a much higher rate than either the Arabs or the denizens of North Tel Aviv.
Second, the ultra-Orthodox are currently the most rapidly growing part of the population, and if present trends continue could reach 40-50% in the next 20 years. Ultimately, the growth of the ultra-Orthodox population could change the country's character.
Personally, I'd be happy to live in a country in which the ultra-Orthodox and the national religious revenants play the dominant role. Perhaps Neve Gordon will leave.
That's fine: Netanyahu and Merkel agree to disagree
Prime Minister Netanyahu andGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel have agreed to disagree about Jewish construction in 'east' Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, including E-1.
"We agreed that we disagree on this," Merkel said at a news conference with Netanyahu in Berlin.
"We
in Germany believe the work on a two-state solution must be continued
... we must keep trying to come to negotiations and one-sided moves
should be avoided," she added.
Prior to the conference, Netanyahu went on the offensive in the heart of Europe
on Wednesday, saying the EU was rewarding the Palestinians for tearing up the
Oslo Accords, the argument that building in E1 breaks up Palestinian territorial
contiguity is wrong, and Europeans have a history of first vilifying Jews, then
attacking them.
Netanyahu’s comments were made in an extensive interview
with the German Die Welt newspaper published online just before his meeting in
Berlin with Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Germany, which strongly backed
Israel during Operation Pillar of Defense last month, disappointed Jerusalem by
abstaining in the UN vote last week to upgrade the Palestinians’ status to that
of non-member observer state.
Berlin, like most of Europe, then slammed
Israel for the decision to respond to the UN move by announcing plans to build
3,000 housing units in east Jerusalem and the large settlement blocs, and to
push forward planning of the E1 neighborhood linking Jerusalem to Ma’aleh
Adumim.
Merkel has been a frequent critic of Israel’s settlement
policies, and the chancellor was expected to warn Netanyahu of harm to Israel’s
position in Europe if he continues settlement construction.
Netanyahu and Merkel meeting met for 3 1/2 hours, two hours longer than planned. Netanyahu said after the
meeting that: "From the
conversation it is clear that Chancellor Merkel is a true friend of
Israel whose commitment to Israel's security is genuine and
unconditional. This was an open and comprehensive discussion on all the
issues in the Middle East."
The two leaders first met privately, and were then joined by their close aides.
The full Die Welt interview with Netanyahu is here. I think he more than held his own (and I may have more of it later). But I want to point out this important story from the JPost article linked above.
In a
related development, the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed a Haaretz report that
it intervened to keep Tel Aviv University Prof. Rivka Feldhay, the director of
the university’s Minerva Humanities Center, from participating in a roundtable
discussion with Netanyahu, Merkel and nearly a dozen German and Israeli
scientists.
Feldhay signed a letter in 2008 by Israeli university faculty
members expressing “appreciation and support” for students and lecturers who
“refuse to serve as soldiers in the occupied territories.”
A source in
Netanyahu’s entourage said the prime minister was unwilling, in a meeting during
which he represents Israel, to allow the participation of someone who blackened
the name of “pilots and soldiers who do everything they can to prevent harming
civilians, while the other side does everything it can to harm
civilians.”
Feldhay, the wife of Mordechai Kremnitzer of the Israel
Democracy Institute, was already in Berlin when she was informed she would not
be allowed to take part. She was originally invited to attend by Israel’s
embassy in Berlin.
It's about time someone told Israel's Israeli enemies that they cannot represent the State of Israel. I hope that the Leftist-dominated Foreign Ministry is starting to get it.
2011 was a very bad year for Israel, and thus, by association, for the Jews. Israel and the Jews are indistinguishable, and anyone with a mistaken notion that being a foreign national might save that person from the fate of Israel – as if the two are separable – may find reality a very rude awakening.
For instance, many American Jews claim they are “Americans first.” Their children are raised far removed from Israel, and a recent poll indicates that Israel’s continued existence is no longer crucial for them, essentially no longer the highest priority.
It is a sad state of affairs, since trying to escape one’s DNA has not worked before and will not work now. In Nazi Germany, the Jews saw themselves as Germans first. They could not believe anything bad would befall them. Many were proud of the great distance between them and their Jewish roots. “We assimilated seven generations ago,” they would boast, yet the Gestapo still sent them to the camps. Imagine the nerve, such a mistake!
In the USA, it has become necessary to “enlarge the communal tent.” Nowadays all are welcome, friends and foes alike. Regrettably, the majority that starts by saying “we are Jewish BUT,” “we are children of Holocaust survivors BUT,” “we are the daughter or the son of an Israeli BUT” or anything similar is the most outspoken against everything Israel does. They claim her very existence is a sin, for Israel is an Occupier, as evil as evil gets.
We have spread out and became tolerant of abusing our most beloved, most sacred and most precious relative. Israel is the mother that made us who we are. She is the embodiment of our hopes, our past and our future. She gave her very essence, every ounce of energy and bone marrow, so that we might have everything.
How are we repaying her sacrifices? By straying, defiling her very existence and maligning her. She is no longer important for we have grown up and are independent, strong and all knowing. She has served her purpose and has outlived her usefulness. It is time for her to go.
At one point we will realize the error of our ways, but by then it will be too late. Just as it was much too late when families were rounded up into ghettos or sent on transports or in cattle cars. They were struck in disbelief as they were standing in lines: First separated right and left, life and death, then marched to the showers of Zyklon B, the chimneys behind spewing ashes, darkening the skies.
The skies today are dark already, but Israel and the Jews ignore the stench. Instead of fighting, they bring wood and other combustible materials to support the fire that is merrily dancing, happily growing bigger and bigger until it cannot be contained.
The day will come, too soon indeed, that Jews will lament not fighting, not realizing, not preparing. Like the exiled Jews on the banks of the Babylon Rivers who lamented Jerusalem, will we be given a second chance to return to Jerusalem, or will this be the third and final Destruction?
2011 was a very bad year for the Jews, but we misinterpret the seeming quiet as success. Israel has succeeded “to contain the assault on Israel’s legitimacy,” claims a Tel Aviv-based think tank, and everyone applauds. Other than misleading the decision makers, this conclusion by the Reut Institute has managed to create a false sense of achievement and comfort, at the worse time for the Jews.
Why is that the case? When a person has persuaded himself he is healthy and well and has ignored a horrible disease that has been spreading inside, moving from one internal organ to the next, the person may find it is too late to fight when all organs are infected. In the military it would be called “dereliction of duty” and the person responsible is court-martialed. In real life, the patient dies for any treatment would be too late. For Israel? It is suicide, plain and simple.
Palestine is not yet a member of the United Nations? The seeds have been planted and the world is full of countries supporting this wonderful notion, an illness metastasizing too quickly to ever be stopped.
It is legitimate to boycott Israel, Israeli products and artists, academics and physicians, because they are from or in Occupied Territories. But then all of Israel is Occupied, thus by extension it is mandatory and acceptable to boycott all of Israeli products, human or otherwise. Ask the head of a department at Ben Gurion University or the President of his university.
Israel’s enemies are burning Israeli products. How long will it take before they celebrate the murder of Jews because they are Israelis? Oh, I forgot, they already are. [Several examples are readily available, but reporters are threatened so they remove the incriminating videos. Who ever saw what really happened inside the camps? The sign at the gate said, “Work is Liberating!”]
Targeting Israeli cities, schools and kindergartens legitimate? How else would David-the-true-Palestinian fight the Goliath-Zionist-Colonialist War Machine that took over a land-not-theirs and occupied it? Launch a few more rockets! Prepare the Missiles! Advance the troops – all those homicide bombers ready to die as Shaiids.
Then again, Israel has allowed the indiscriminate barrage of rockets to continue for over a decade. No normal country would have allowed it to continue more than a few hours or days; definitely not allow it to become the custom, a habit; a tradition. But through Israeli eyes, the equation reflects a very twisted math: Ours is permissible, yours is holy.
Israel’s enemies fire from mosques. They use kindergartens as launching pads. Hospitals and ambulances are used for storage and transport of ammunition and terrorists. Israel would not dare touch any of these places because of their “holy” aura.
Interestingly, the enemy rushes to use them, any holiness aside. The results justify the means - all Infidels, pigs and apes, must die. Herein lies the twisted logic: These “Believers,” so easily willing to defile their own holy places, are protected by Israel’s own stupidity, and the enemy realizes and utilizes this weakness.
But the twisted math continues: One Israeli soldier held in captivity for more than five years is equal to how many terrorists with life sentences? Well, at least a thousand. Explain it any way you like, the enemy knows that kidnapping Israeli soldiers is very profitable.
The downside? None. Enemy “heroes” held in Israeli prisons enjoy numerous benefits, including higher education, Internet and cell phone access, visitation rights, to name just a few of the most absurd “entitlements” Israelis bestow on those who murdered and maimed their children and elderly, men and women only because they are Jewish. These convicted terrorists never stay long enough to even feel remote pangs of contrition.
But Israel needs no enemies, when respected Hebrew-speaking professors (one, for instance, heads a department at UCLA) explain and advocate that kidnapping Israeli soldiers is a legitimate form of “Resistance.”
I remember stories of resistance of the Partisans. It was during World War II and most who survived have since died. Thus, I will try to do the reconciliation through my own mind’s eye. I cannot find any equivalency between heroic acts of the past and kidnapping Israelis to extract a very painful price. But apparently this Israeli-American professor does.
Where are the members of the Israeli academia, known as “Post-Zionists” to sign a petition supporting him too? Well, there is no need when there is no shortage of local American Jews who do just that. Many of them can be found all over the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, especially in the highest echelons of supporters and machers.
Hamas and Fatah are getting closer than ever, united in their “resistance to the Occupation.” There is only one state called “Palestine” and one “eternal capital.” “Two states living side by side?” Neither one is Jewish. To them, Israel must go; it never had any legitimate right in the first place. It stole and misplaced, uprooted and Occupied. It must be destroyed forever.
Let us all march onto Israel, from Jordan and Syria and Lebanon, from the Druze villages of the Golan Heights and the Arab towns of Judea and Samaria. Even from Jerusalem, let us march and overwhelm Israel. Incidentally, those who march for months are the Sudanese and other Africans who flee persecution and strive for a betterment of their lives in – you guessed it – Israel.
All the while, Israelis face a deep and ever-widening abyss dividing them between religious and secular, employed and entitled, those who serve and those who do not, right and left, “peaceniks” and everyone else who does not believe in succumbing to the Enemy.
It is becoming worse by the minute, this ever-widening divide, but Israelis do not see the dangers and refuse to see reality.
Israel, Israelis and Jews are major contributors to the strength of the enemy. It is sad, but trying to explain reality to any bystander who is not familiar with Israel, its geography, history, culture and demography is met with utter bewilderment, complete astonishment and puzzlement: No sane nation in the world would behave even remotely similarly in these circumstances.
For those who say that Israel is “Chosen” and has to behave as a “light unto the nations,” this does not mean Israel should be “crazy” or “stupid.” Thus the suffering that will undoubtedly befall Israel in the very near future is mostly self-made and—regrettably—deserving.
May I be proven wrong in my assumption of doom. Possibly, recent (Reut-imagined) “successes” of Israel fighting the demonization efforts against the Jewish people are so effective an ancient hatred about to surface and explode will be cooled down and contained. I for one do not believe this is possible, or that the future entertains such a hope.
Instead, I see a future where Israel suffers and can complain to no one—neither God nor humans. Israel has been given many paths from which to choose, and the Jewish people have stubbornly chosen to stray from the right one. They knew better, but then again, as Moses realized so long ago, we are a very stubborn, stiff-necked people.
The series “Postcards from America—Postcards from Israel” by Ari Bussel and Norma Zager is a compilation of articles capturing the essence of life in America and Israel during the first two decades of the 21st Century.
The writers invite readers to view and experience an Israel and her politics through their eyes, Israel visitors rarely discover and Israelis often ignore.
This point—and often—counter-point presentation is sprinkled with humor and sadness and attempts to tackle serious and relevant issues of the day. The series began in 2008, appears both in print in the USA and on numerous websites and is followed regularly by readership from around the world.
Zager and Bussel can be heard on live radio in conversation on the program “Conversations Eye to Eye between Norma and Ari.”
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
