IDF thumbs its nose at Europe, US State Department seethes
Four and a half years ago, the Europeans commenced a new strategy to try to force Israel to commit suicide: They began building illegally for the 'Palestinians' in areas that are classified as Area C. At the time I wrote:
When Israel entered into the Oslo Accords in 1993-1995, the entire area
of Judea and Samaria was split into three parts. 'Area A,' which mostly
comprised the seven major cities in Judea and Samaria, and which
contained most of the Arab population of the area, was to be under
'Palestinian' control. 'Area B' was to be under 'Palestinian' civilian
control with Israel responsible for security. 'Area C,' which includes
most of the Jewish cities and towns in Judea and Samaria, was to be
under complete Israeli control.
Under the Oslo Accords, there
were no restrictions on Israeli building in Area C. Those who negotiated
the Oslo Accords envisioned an eventual 'Palestinian autonomy' within
Areas A and B. There was no intent to establish a 'Palestinian state,'
and certainly no promises from Israel that one would be established. In
fact, the opposite was true. This is from Prime Minister Rabin's last
speech to the Knesset - in which he was advocating for a Knesset
endorsement of 'Oslo 2' - on October 5, 1995:
We view the
permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will
include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule
of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which
will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza
Strip and the West Bank.
We
would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which
will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its
authority. The borders of the State of Israel, during the
permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the
Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.
And these are the main changes, not all of them, which we envision and want in the permanent solution:
A. First
and foremost, united Jerusalem, which will include both Ma'ale Adumim
and Givat Ze'ev -- as the capital of Israel, under Israeli sovereignty,
while preserving the rights of the members of the other faiths,
Christianity and Islam, to freedom of access and freedom of worship in
their holy places, according to the customs of their faiths.
B. The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.
C. Changes
which will include the addition of Gush Etzion, Efrat, Beitar and
other communities, most of which are in the area east of what was the
"Green Line," prior to the Six Day War.
D. The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.
That's a far cry from what the 'international community' and the Obama administration are attempting to push on us today.
For a long time, Israel ignored the illegal European building. But the Europeans are obsessed with destroying the Jewish state (that's the strongest lesson I am learning from Tuvia Tenenboim's Catch the Jew), and the IDF has finally decided enough is enough.
The IDF on Tuesday morning razed five unauthorized Palestinian modular structures in the South Hebron region of the West Bank, three of which had been funded by the European Union. [Note the EU flag on the trailer - CiJ].
...
The five structures in question were part of the village of Um al-Kheir,
which is located next to the settlement of Carmel. Three of them were
newly built, very close to the security fence around Carmel.
The non-governmental group B’Tselem, which has opposed such
actions, released a video of the demolition, which showed the shovel of a
crane taking down the structure within minutes as the villagers
watched.
Israel is apparently going to begin taking illegal 'Palestinian' building seriously.
On Sunday, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked visited the South Hebron Hills
to see the unauthorized Palestinian construction for herself.
“I
saw on this trip a tremendous amount of illegal Palestinian building in
Area C, with the help of foreign funding. We can’t allow for a double
standard when it comes to building. It’s not clear to me how those who
fight against Jewish building in Judea and Samaria are a leading force
in illegal Palestinian building,” Shaked said.
But on Monday - before the demolitions happened - the Obama-Clinton-Kerry State Department - the foreign policy czars of the self-proclaimed 'most pro-Israel administration evah' - was seething.
“We are concerned by the accelerated rate of demolitions undertaken by
Israeli authorities that continue in the West Bank as well as east
Jerusalem,” State Department Press Office Director Elizabeth Trudeau
told reporters in Washington at the daily briefing.
Funny - don't they demolish illegal buildings in the US?
NGO Monitor reports that the German government spent millions of dollars between 2012 and 2015 supporting Israeli groups that support boycotting Israel and negating the Jewish state.
The NGO Monitor watchdog group has found that between 2012 and 2015,
Germany funneled at least $4.4 million to some 15 Israeli organizations,
and 42 percent of the donations went to groups supporting an
international boycott against Israel and policies negating Israel’s
existence as a Jewish state.
The report found that the German Economic Cooperation and Development
Ministry operates a Civil Peace Service (Ziviler Friedensdienst)
project in Israel, but in fact, on the ground the project is headed by a
different German group, KURVE Wustrow, which has partnered with two
local organizations—the Israeli Coalition of Women for Peace and the
Palestinian Popular Struggle Coordination Committee.
NGO Monitor argues that the Coalition of Women for Peace actively
supports the BDS movement, including heading a project titled “Who
Profits from the Occupation,” a database of potential boycott “targets.”
The Popular Struggle Coordination Committee promotes violent riots
across Judea and Samaria, and its Twitter account often features posts
encouraging violence, the report said.
The German Embassy in Israel said that Germany “remains committed to
the two-state solution and devising sustainable peace in the Middle
East. The German government opposes any boycott of Israel, including BDS
activities, as such action undermines the peace process. The German
government’s funding policy seeks to support selected projects via
earmarked funds. Germany will continue to invest in projects and
initiatives that can promote and increase awareness to the two-state
solution.”
Still reading Catch the Jew, and this is totally consistent with it. Hitler must be feeling proud.
And then there's the European Union, which despite all its problems still focuses hatred on Israel.
Yes, that's an EU sponsored caravan for 'Palestinians' in Area C (which under the Oslo accords is totally controlled by Israel) and yes, it's illegal. This one is right next to the Jewish town of Carmel in the Mount Hebron region.
Is this what the US State Department told Belgium and France after their terror attacks?
Posting this in the hope that @apdiplowriter will ask the State Department about it this afternoon.
In the aftermath of the terror attack at the Max Brenner restaurant at Tel Aviv's Sarona Market on Wednesday, the US State Department is warning Israel not to 'escalate tensions.'
"We understand the Israeli government's desire to protect its
citizens after this kind of terrorist attack," said Mark Toner, a
spokesman for the State Department. "We would just hope that any
measures that Israel takes would be designed to not escalate tensions
any further, but we certainly respect their desire to express outrage
and to protect the safety of their people."
Nine Israelis were
shot on Wednesday night by at least three Palestinian men, in what has
been characterized by the United Nations, the US and Israel as an act of
terror. Four of the victims have died.
The decision by Israel not to return the bodies of dead
Palestinian perpetrators to their families– a policy Israel considers a
deterrent against future attacks– is "obviously an internal matter for
Israel to debate," Toner remarked. But he made note of Israel's decision
to constrict ease of travel for thousands of Palestinians in and out of
the strip.
I doubt the State Department bothered to look, but Saturday night and Sunday are the Jewish holiday of Shavuoth, and on Jewish holidays travel from Judea, Samaria and Gaza (isn't there a 'blockade' in Gaza anyway?) is always restricted to humanitarian cases to enable the army to give more leaves.
The Washington Institute's Rob Satloff asks the right question:
Well, of course they didn't. But a different standard always applies to Israel.... I can't wait to hear the reaction when they find out that the cabinet is meeting today to expedite the demolition of the terrorists' homes.
And by the way, the terrorists came from Yata, which is south of Hebron, and not from Gaza.
What happens when Israel demolishes a terrorist's house
Here's what happens when Israel demolishes a terrorist's house:
Thousands of dollars and shekels were collected to rebuild the house of the terrorist Muhand El Halvi, from Kfar Surda,...
Posted by Alan Silver on Sunday, January 10, 2016
Here's hoping this one will not be rebuilt and that all that money will go to waste.
The Leftist media loves to tell us how destroying terrorists' homes has no deterrent effect, and therefore is simply cruel collective punishment to the terrorists' family members. The willing western governments - including the United States and all the Europeans as well as the United Nations - have convinced themselves this is so (it must be correct if it's being reported by the media) and routinely condemn Israel every time it demolishes a terrorist's home.
But the media is wrong. A new study shows that destroying terrorists' homes leads to a reduction in terrorism. While the terrorists are ready to be killed themselves, they're not ready to have their wives and children thrown out into the streets. Destroying terrorists' homes actually reduces terrorism.
The study, “Counter-Suicide-Terrorism: Evidence from House
Demolitions,” to be published in the January issue of the Journal of
Politics, found that Israel’s policy of demolishing the homes of
Palestinian terrorists causes “an immediate, significant decrease in
the number of suicide attacks.”
The study examines data on
punitive house demolitions between 2000 and 2005, and precautionary
demolitions — those based on the location of a house but unrelated to
the identity of the house’s owner — from 2004 to 2005. The authors
found that punitive house demolitions during that time led to “fewer
suicide attacks in the month following,” while precautionary demolitions
caused “a significant increase in the number of suicide attacks.”
Co-authored
by researchers at Northwestern University and the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, the study runs contrary to the widely held belief that
punitive house demolitions do not dissuade would-be terrorists.
Nadia Abu Jamal, the wife of 31-year old Har Nof terrorist Ghassan Abu Jamal, is protesting her expulsion from Jerusalem back to her home in the 'Palestinian Authority.' She had a residence permit to live in Jerusalem because her late husband lived there.
Referring to her three children, Nadia Abu Jamal told Channel 2 News: "As if it is not enough that they lost their father, now they will also lose the home they live in.”
...
"They told us, the day after the (synagogue) attack, that they had
revoked my residency rights in Jerusalem and that the house will be
razed to the ground," Nadia Abu Jamal told AFP.
"If we'd known that my husband was planning an attack, of course we
would have stopped him," she claimed. "I heard it on the radio, I heard
that the man I loved had done such a thing."
MK Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan (Jewish Home) has no pity for Abu Jamal.
"The wife of the terrorist who murdered five innocent people and left
25 orphans is crying over the fact that following a decision by the
Interior Minister, her children will lose their home after they 'lost'
their father,” wrote Ben-Dahan on Facebook.
"It is interesting that she does not exhibit a single drop of mercy
to the 25 children whose fathers were murdered by the terrorist in cold
blood," wrote Ben Dahan. "Shocking."
Here's what gets 'human rights watch's Sarah Leah Whitson all riled up:
despicable, medieval home demolitions by #Israel punish entire family for crime of suspected killers - war crimes http://t.co/JZYzhl2nM5
— Sarah Leah Whitson (@sarahleah1) November 22, 2014
Funny. In the United States, if someone sells drugs in a house, the house is subject to forfeiture, even if the owner knew nothing about it. Does Whitson consider that 'medieval'?
The ambassadors of Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Spain conveyed
this message at a meeting with senior Foreign Ministry officials in
Jerusalem on Thursday and called to restore calm to Jerusalem.
The five ambassadors said their governments object to demolishing
Palestinians’ houses, as such punitive measures only exacerbate the
situation and escalate the tension, according to Foreign Ministry
officials and European diplomats who attended the meeting.
...
U.S. State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke told reporters on
Wednesday that “punitive home demolitions are counterproductive to the
cause of peace, especially in an already tense situation.”
He said the Israeli government itself had discontinued this practice in the past, “recognizing its effects.”
The British and Spanish parliaments recently approved measures calling for a 'Palestinian state,' and the French parliament is due to vote on a similar measure. Sweden has already recognized 'Palestine.'
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni
(Hatnua) took part on Thursday in a conference of the Council for Peace
and Security, in which she blamed the Jewish presence in the Biblical
heartland of Judea and Samaria for "heating up the atmosphere" in the
recent wave of terrorism.
"Our role as cabinet members is to rise above the present reality and
see if there's something we can do to change the direction, also in the
region and also in our relations with the Palestinians," said Livni.
The minister claimed there is a coalition of Arab states that are
threatened by radical Islam, saying "that's the same coalition that
wants to end the conflict between us and the Palestinians based on two nation states. That's good news."
"The essence of Zionism," according to Livni, is to preserve Israel
as a Jewish and democratic state - reportedly her opposition to a law
defining Israel as the Jewish nation state has led her to draft an
alternate formulation focusing on Israel as a democracy over the state's Jewish nature.
"The more that the settlement enterprise continues our future does
not improve, it heats up the atmosphere and sends a message to the world
that Israel is playing a double game," claimed Livni. "We speak about
peace and an agreement, but in parallel we come out with all kinds of
announcements on more building and more expropriation."
The terrorism is because the 'Palestinians' won't tolerate the presence of Jews anywhere in this country, and the only way that the 'Palestinians' will ever agree to a 'Palestinian state' is if it's Judenrein (free of Jews).
A 'Palestinian' terrorist stabbed a security guard at the entrance to the city of Maaleh Adumim just east of Jerusalem on Tuesday afternoon. The terrorist escaped. The security guard suffered moderate to severe wounds.
A terrorist stabbed a security guard at the entrance to the city of Maaleh Adumim, east of Jerusalem, Tuesday.
The guard suffered moderate to severe wounds. He fired at the
terrorist but apprently failed to hit him. The attacker ran away toward
the village of Azariyeh.
Magen David Adom medics gave the guard initial care and took him to Hadassah Har Hatzofim hospital.
Large police and Border Police forces are combing the area.
This is the third attack in 24 hours in the Jerusalem area. The police believe that in each case the terrorists were acting alone. This type of attack is almost impossible to prevent with intelligence.
The Palestinian factions recently encouraged PA residents to do just
this, in the knowledge that Israel will not be able to blame Hamas,
Fatah or any other group for the apparently "spontaneous" actions againt
its citizens.
On Monday, it was reported that the 19-year old who murdered one man and wounded six other people with a tractor was 'upset' because his cousin's home had recently been destroyed due to the cousin's participation in a terror attack. For those of you who wonder why Israel destroys terrorists' homes it's precisely because the family almost always knows what these people are up to and does not report it.
For the record, in the United States of America, if your home is used to commit a felony (e.g. it's being used to deal drugs), your home can be confiscated whether you knew about it or not. So think twice before you criticize. (I saw someone online in the US yesterday criticize the destruction of homes and he was quickly put down by this fact).
RT @Lemapal: Israeli forces start the demolish of Qwasmi family house ib #Hebron after finding the body's of the 3 settlers dead in #Halhoul
— Sheera Frenkel (@sheeraf) June 30, 2014
Longer video of Jewish civlians under attack in 'Palestinian' village
Here's a longer video than the one I posted earlier about the Jewish civilians who were attacked and held hostage in a 'Palestinian' village on Tuesday. The narration is in Hebrew, but what you'll see in this video is frightening.
Let's go to the videotape. More after the video.
The source of the video is Israel's Channel 10 newscast from Tuesday night.
The video says that the army suspects that this was intended to be a 'price tag' attack in revenge for the army's destruction earlier in the day of 'illegal buildings' in an 'outpost.' According to information I have seen, those buildings were built on land that is not privately owned - or owned at all.
Two Israelis were hospitalized as a result of the incident, and seven have been arrested.
According to Channel 10, the IDF does not believe the Jews' story that they went on a hike....
Common sense to prevail? Likud MK's propose compensating landowners instead of demolishing homes
Likud MK's, including Netanyahu ally Limor Livnat (pictured), are proposing that the government compensate landowners in cases where Jewish homes are found to have been built on private 'Palestinian' property rather than demolishing the homes. As you might imagine, this has 'human rights' groups up in arms.
At the Likud ministerial committee on Sunday, the Minister of Culture and Sports Limor Livnat proposed the creation of a committee of independent, professional experts to examine alternative options that would avoid demolitions and allow for the authorization of such homes.
“Our job is not to be bulldozers and to destroy,” she said.
Livnat said she had calculated that possibly as many as 160 homes could be removed, and that this was unacceptable.
The families that live there are law-abiding, she said. “It can’t be that the homes of some 1,000 people will be destroyed and that they will find themselves without a roof over their heads,” Livnat added.
In particular, Livnat focused on the Ulpana neighborhood of Beit El, which she said was created 15-years ago with initial government support and grants. But the two other high risk places are the Migron and Givat Assaf outposts.
Livnat said that it was not clear that land which was designated by the state as private Palestinian property truly deserved that designation and that this needed to be checked by a committee of experts.
In some cases, no one has claimed the land and in other cases, ownership cannot be documented, she said. In cases where Palestinian ownership has been proved, it is possible to grant compensation rather than returning the property, she said.
Since Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu took office in 2009, the state has spoken of authorizing illegal construction on state land, but has firmly stated that it intends to demolish such Jewish building on private Palestinian property.
Still, according to Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein who supported Livnat’s proposition, the prime minister appeared receptive to her words.
According to Livnat’s office government secretary Tzvi Hauser has been tasked with exploring the issue.
But MK Yariv Levin (Likud) is not waiting for the government. He is already working on a bill that would offer an alternative to home demolitions on private Palestinian land by offering, instead, compensation to the Palestinian owners.
“The current situation in Judea and Samaria is intolerable,” Levin said on Sunday. “The judiciary is being used as a tool to promote the extreme left’s political goals, such as harming settlers.”
Levin said “We cannot accept a policy in which we don’t build, illegal Arab construction is not dealt with, and Jewish homes are destroyed.”
“The Prime Minister does not have a mandate from the public or Likud MKs for this behavior,” he added.
I've been arguing for years that these cases ought to be treated as eminent domain cases. Maybe now it will finally happen.
Police use bulldozer to demolish three Arab homes, one killed
A police officer was killed and three Arab homes were demolished by police bulldozers on Sunday. But you heard nothing about it because... the police belonged to Hamas (Hat Tip: My Right Word).
According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 23:30 on Sunday, 31 July 2011, medical staff at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City announced the death of Majed Hamdan Karam, 23, a police officer from al-Tufah neighborhood in Gaza City. Karam died of wounds he sustained that afternoon in an armed clash in Juhor al-Dik village. He was on duty with Palestinian police and they were accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Awqaf (religious affairs) and a bulldozer in order to enforce the court ruling. The force headed to a plot owned by the Ministry of Awqaf. The plot was used by the Abu Thaher family who built three houses on the plot. Three families lived in the houses. As the force started bulldozing the three houses, members of the Abu Thaher family and members of the Abu Hein family intervened to stop the demolition. The police arrested four persons, and partially destroyed the houses which are now uninhabitable. While the police were leaving the village, gunmen who are relatives of two of the detainees approached them. The gunmen are believed to be members of a Palestinian armed group. An armed clash took place between the police and the gunmen. Two of the gunmen and three policemen, including Karam, were wounded as a result. The wounded were transferred to the al-Shifa Hospital for medical treatment. The wounds of Karam were gravely serious and he was pronounced dead on the same day.
It should be noted that the late Mohammed Salem Abu Thaher had leased the plot of land from the Ministry of Awqaf for more than 45 years. After his death, his sons continued to lease it. According to statements made to a PCHR fieldworker by lawyer Faraj al-Shurafa, in 1999, the Ministry of Awqaf filed a claim requesting the evacuation of the land. On 31 March 2009, the court issued a final ruling ordering the evacuation of the land. However, the Ministry of Awqaf continued to lease parts of the said land to heirs of Mohammed Salem Abu Thaher.
They squat everywhere, don't they? But when Israel's not involved, no one else cares.
Prime Minister's office interfering in Jerusalem zoning law enforcement
I guess this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. The Prime Minister's office has been preventing the Jerusalem authorities from enforcing the city's zoning laws by destroying illegally built structures. At least when they're built by Arabs.
"As of now, the Prime Minister's Bureau does not permit the demolition of homes," Barkat told the State Control Committee. "The bottom line is that the Jerusalem municipality can not carry out any demolitions unless accompanied by the police."
This was the first time Barkat has openly admitted to the fact that the Prime Minister's Bureau has interfered with the matter of home demolitions in East Jerusalem. The city carried out just 20 home demolitions in the last year, compared to an average of 70 to 100 in the years prior.
The committee had met to discuss a recent State Comptroller report criticizing the municipality for allowing illegal construction in area over the last decade. Barkat explained that due to budget constraints, the municipality was only able to demolish some 100 homes in a year – including only dozens in East Jerusalem.
"Therefore we focus on the most extreme and brutal cases," Barkat told the committee.
On the Jewish side, they've been getting my neighbors to destroy additions to their homes (including closing in porches!) all over the place. And the world condemns us for discriminating against the Arabs!
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
