BBC's shameless 'apology' for its biased reporting
I know - it's been a long time since I posted anything. I've been working - pays much better than blogging. But I don't want to let the blog die entirely, and I wanted to share with you what has to be one of the worst media bias stories from Western media in recent years.
I am sure that many of you saw the headline above. On Friday night, an Israeli policewoman, 23-year old Hadas Malka HY"D (May God Avenge her blood) was murdered by three 'Palestinian' terrorists who conducted coordinated attacks in two places along the outside of the Old City's wall. The headline above sat on the BBC's website and in its Twitter feed for many hours. The bias in the headline is obvious - the 'deadly stabbing' didn't happen itself. It was perpetrated by the three 'Palestinians' who were shot. A more appropriate headline would have been 'Israeli policewoman murdered by three Palestinians.' Even Maan's headline was
less biased.
This morning, the Beeb 'apologized' for its headline. No, not really, but they posted a response to outrage in the virtual world that included
Donald Trump Jr., the US President's son. Here's the Beeb's entire '
apology.'
BBC Response: We accept that our original headline did not
appropriately reflect the nature of the events and subsequently changed
it. Whilst there was no intention to mislead our audiences, we regret
any offence caused.
They don't regret the headline. They regret the 'offence caused.' They accept that it didn't appropriately reflect the nature of the events, but they don't apologize for writing it, nor for leaving it up for many hours.
Surreal.
By the way, the
New York Times' headline was not much better (and it's still up):
Makes it sound like there's no connection between the Israeli's death and the 'Palestinian' attackers' assault - they just happened to occur around the same time.
And you wonder about the origins of the #FakeNews epidemic?
Labels: anti-Israel media bias, BBC bias, Jerusalem, New York Times, Old City of Jerusalem, Palestinian terrorism, Ramadamadan
Pizza Hut mocks 'hunger strike leader' Marwan Barghouti
Earlier this week, the leader of the 'Palestinian' terrorist 'hunger strike' for better cable TV, Marwan Barghouti, was caught on camera
eating a candy bar in the bathroom of his cell.
On Tuesday, Pizza Hut Israel released the ad below in which Barghouti is asked, 'if you're already going to break the [hunger] strike, why not at least have pizza?'
The ad was on Pizza Hut Israel's Facebook page, where it was quickly
removed.
With the Arab world
threatening to boycott Pizza Hut, Pizza Hut Lebanon
apologized on its Facebook page.
If you're in Israel (I'm in the US again), please visit a Pizza Hut today. Pizza with a sense of humor.
Labels: humor, hunger strike, Marwan Barghouti, Palestinian terrorists
Which one do you believe?
Is Fatah lying or is Hamas lying?
Who cares? Pass the popcorn....
Labels: Fatah, Gaza, Hamas, Palestinian Authority
'Palestinian' 'hunger strike' 'leader' caught on camera (twice) sneaking a candy bar in the bathroom
Oh dear. Here's Marwan Barghouti, the supposed 'leader' of the 'Palestinian' terrorist 'hunger strike' in an Israeli prison caught - not once but twice - sneaking candy bars in the bathroom of his cell.
Let's go to the videotape.
I wonder how many 'hunger strikers' will continue if they see their 'fearless leader' in this video. Hope it's being broadcast on the big screen outside Ofer prison in Ramallah, where the worst of the terrorists live.
Labels: hunger strike, Marwan Barghouti, Palestinian terrorists
Breaking: Syrian drone shot down over Golan Heights
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad apparently doesn't have enough on his mind these days. Or maybe he's just trying to find a distraction.
Hmmm.
Labels: Bashar al-Assad, drone, Golan Heights, Syria, Syrian uprising
No one blinked - Netanyahu canceled meeting with German FM Gabriel
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel went ahead with this meetings with extreme anti-Israel groups B'Tselem and Breaking the Silence (and another one to boot) and Prime Minister Netanyahu followed through on his threat to cancel his meeting with Gabriel.
Netanyahu's office said the prime minister wouldn't meet with foreign
dignitaries who meet "groups that slander IDF soldiers as war
criminals," referring to Breaking the Silence, a whistleblower group
critical of Israeli military actions in the West Bank.
The German minister, Sigmar Gabriel, was set to meet with members of
the organization during his visit to Israel and said Netanyahu's
cancellation was "relatively surprising" since such meetings were
"rather standard" for foreign diplomats.
Gabriel said he didn't want to be turned into "a plaything for
Israeli domestic politics," using unusually frank language in light of
the sensitive nature of Israel-Germany ties.
Israel and Germany have had a long, close and complicated
relationship. Israel was established in 1948 in the wake of the
Holocaust, when Nazi Germany killed 6 million Jews. The countries only
established diplomatic relations in 1965.
Today, Germany is a key Israeli trade partner and ally in Europe, and
assumes responsibility for the crimes committed during the Holocaust.
Both Gabriel and former president Joachim Gauck took part in Holocaust
memorial events in Israel on Monday.
When he met with Rivlin, Gabriel
called the Holocaust "the most criminal action we did in the history of
humankind."
But tensions occasionally flare up over Israeli policies toward the
Palestinians, as well as settlement construction in the occupied West
Bank and Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem. Germany, along with most of the
international community, considers Israeli settlements illegal.
...
Netanyahu's office said that foreign dignitaries are welcome to meet
with civil society representatives, but that the prime minister "will
not meet with those who lend legitimacy to organizations that call for
the criminalization of Israeli soldiers."
But Germany more than any other country appears to be obsessed with financing the establishment of a 'Palestinian state,' and many ordinary Germans appear to be determined to
finish the job that Adolph Hitler started. This is from a 2013 review of Tuvia Tenenboim's
I Sleep in Hitler's Room.
Then, Tuvia and Isi schlepped their sacks full of
laughs and chutzpah and important ideas from one German city to another.
He had not intended to write about Jews at all. He had been
commissioned to write about Germany Today. “But the subject of Jews and
Israel kept coming up. It turned out to be a German obsession. Everyone
wanted to talk about it, fight about it.”
According
to Tuvia, the Turks and Muslims in Germany hate Jews. But so do the
Germans. “At least the Muslims are open about it. The Germans deny and
deny and then fly into a rage.” The German peace-loving, progressive
left - including “the feminists who believe in women’s liberation,” -
is colluding with Muslims who veil their women, keep them in the
kitchen, and refuse them prayer access in the mosque.
“The Germans can’t look at themselves in the mirror.”
I (and others) have written about the nature of
European Jew-hatred for many years now, especially about why Europeans
are ostensibly embracing the violent and hostile “Semites” among them
after having murdered six million of their assimilated or non-violent
“Semites.” European Jew-hatred still expresses itself by taking the
“Palestinian” side against the evil, Nazi Israeli Jews. They can feel
guilt-free, superior—even justified in having murdered so many Jews.
“They
don’t know the names of their own political leaders, but they hang
photos of Mahmud Abbas in their offices and march for Palestine. They do
not care about what Putin did in Chechnya. They care only about
Palestine.”
Tuvia took this message across
Germany. The young people of Germany wanted to hear him speak and
crowded the auditoriums. And they bought his book in record numbers. He
told them: “Hitler understood the Germans. He said: You hate them (the
Jews). Okay. Let’s kill them. Let’s act on what we believe.”
I'd bet that Gabriel thinks the same way. If the shoe fits....
Labels: Adolph Hitler, B'Tselem, Binyamin Netanyahu, Breaking the Silence, German anti-Semitism, Nazis
Who will blink first - Netanyahu or German Foreign Minister?
Prime Minister Netanyahu is scheduled to meet today with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel. Last night, Netanyahu issued an ultimatum saying he would cancel the meeting if Gabriel did not cancel meetings he has scheduled with
European-financed anti-Israel NGO's. At first, it was reported that Netanyahu was referring to '
Peace Now,' but it now appears that it's even worse: Gabriel proposes to meet with
B'Tselem and '
Breaking the Silence,' both of which are guilty of
libeling Israel on the international stage.
Netanyahu was
quite blunt.
“It’s time to make clear to Germany that we too have red lines,” the official told Arutz Sheva.
“If it was a low-level meeting, it might have looked different. But
when the Foreign Minister comes here and goes to meet with organizations
that are working against the government's policy and against the Prime
Minister's policy, this is unacceptable."
“The Prime Minister would never come to a country like Britain or
Germany, where there are organizations that are working against the
government's policy, and meet with the heads of those organizations. How
would that country react if he did? There is significance to such a
meeting held by a foreign minister,” the source continued.
Gabriel apparently
plans to go ahead with his meetings with the anti-Israel organizations.
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel responded
to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ultimatum on Tuesday,
saying that it would be "regrettable" if the latter decides to cancel
their meeting because the Gabriel's meeting with representatives of
left-wing Israeli organizations.
Speaking to German TV
network ZDF, Gabriel defined his planned meetings with representatives
of B'Tselem and Breaking the Silence and "totally normal."
Gabriel said that he
had only learned of Netanyahu's threat from the media and noted it
would be "inconceivable" for the German minister to cancel a meeting
with the Israeli leader if the latter met with figures critical of the
German government. He nevertheless said that "it wouldn't be a
catastrophe" if their meeting is cancelled, and that it wouldn't change
his ties with Israel.
"You never get the full picture of any state in the world if you just meet with figures in government ministries," he said.
Netanyahu has
plenty of support within the government.
Netanyahu’s ultimatum to Gabriel was backed on Monday by Deputy
Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely (Likud), who said she "backs the Prime
Minister's decision to set a red line regarding anti-Israel
organizations such as B'Tselem and Breaking the Silence. This is an
important struggle against those who defame Israel in the world."
MK Yoav Kisch (Likud), who heads the Knesset House Committee,
expressed support for Netanyahu’s move as well, saying, "The German
Foreign Minister and any other leader who wants to meet those who spread
poison against Israel must understand: Legitimizing hatred of Israel is
out of the question."
But of course the opposition thinks Netanyahu should meet with Gabriel anyway.
In my not so humble opinion, Gabriel ought to be declared persona non grata if he goes ahead with the meetings with Breaking the Silence and B'Tselem. The European - and particularly German (read
I Sleep in Hitler's Room) - obsession with finishing the job that Hitler started (God Forbid) needs to be met head on. Especially on the day after Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Labels: B'Tselem, Binyamin Netanyahu, Breaking the Silence, European anti-Semitism, German anti-Semitism, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Peace Now, Tzipi Hotovely
What a place for a tailgate party!
I have mentioned that there are some 'Palestinian' terrorists in Israeli jails who
claim to be on a
hunger strike.
In a move that's nothing short of brilliant, the National Union (Ichud Leumi) youth group has been holding a massive barbecue outside the Ofer Prison. The Ofer Prison is at the entrance to Ramallah along Route 443 and is the home of many high risk security prisoners. And the barbecue is enhanced by fans.
Let's go to the videotape.
The fumes have the 'Palestinians'
fuming.
The Wall Street Journal reported widespread Palestinian anger over the barbecue:
Palestinian newspapers on Friday condemned the barbecue as another aggression against the Palestinian people.
“How can anyone barbecue with the smell of meat near political
prisoners fighting for their country?” said Qadura Fares, head of the
Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, which supports the inmates. He spoke at a
demonstration Friday by dozens of Palestinians at Ofer prison, north of
Jerusalem.
Various anti-Israel groups have joined the chorus of condemnation.
The Palestine Information Center, a primary center for anti-Israel propaganda, called the Israelis the “
scum of the earth“:
Well. Boo. Hoo. (
Read the whole thing for a lot more reactions from the Jew haters and the self-hating JINOs).
In the meantime, the funes are having their effect. YNet reported yesterday that 186 hunger strikers have already
officially dropped out.
Momentum in a mass hunger strike launched by Palestinian security
prisoners last week suffered a blow on Saturday when all of the 84
prisoners in the Hamas wing at Gilboa Prison, and two prisoners in
Megiddo Prison, ceased to strike.
The break is the second to have taken place since the hunger
strike got underway last week, with 100 prisoners reporting that they
were dropping out just 24 hours after it began.
The latest sign of cracks forming in the unified protest, which
is being led by Marwan Barghouti—a convicted terrorist—comes just days
after 1,187 Palestinian security prisoners announced that they had begun
the hunger strike.
What are the 'Palestinian' demands? You won't believe them....
The demands included a provision that the Prisons Service install
public telephone wings, similar to those installed for criminal
prisoners.
The second demand laid out by the prisoners was that Israel
restore the procedure of two visits per month by prisoners' families.
Nine months ago, the Red Cross, which finances the
transportation of family members on buses from the West Bank and the
Gaza Strip to prisons, reduced the number of family visits from twice a
month to once. ostensibly due to financial problems.
The prisoners also demanded that visits be extended from 45
minutes to 90 minutes and that Israel not prevent immediate and extended
family members with security-related offenses from visiting.
Additionally, prisoners are also demanding that they be allowed to be
photographed with their families once every three months.
They've also asked for
more cable television channels. Yes, really. What they'd really like is to be in a '
prison' like this one.
Palestinian guards confirmed yesterday that Ahmed Saadat, a leading
militant captured by Israeli troops in the raid, kept birds and flowers
in his quarters. Western officials said that Saadat in effect used other
prisoners as “domestic staff”.
An official told The Times that
Fuad Shobaki, the alleged moneyman behind a 2002 weapons shipment
intercepted by Israel, smoked up to five Cuban cigars a day and was
known as “The Brigadier” to inmates and staff. He was also seized.
“Saadat
and Shobaki were very much in charge,” one prison source said. “These
guys were running the prison. They did what they wanted, when they
wanted.”
But that prison was run by Britain and not by Israel. The Israeli Prison Service apparently still has some notion of punishment.
Labels: Ahmed Saadat, Fouad al-Shobaki, hunger strike, Marwan Barghouti, Palestinian prisoners, Palestinian terrorists
Israel to Abu Mazen: Stop Funding Terrorists
This was released today by the Prime Minister's Office.
You should share it as much as possible on social media.
Let's go to the videotape.
It goes to the core of the question of whether there CAN be a 'peace process.' Right now, the answer is clearly 'no.'
And the Trump administration - unlike its predecessor -
seems to get it:
If you want to stop terrorists, you shouldn’t be rewarding them or their families for their heinous acts.
The White House seems to get that: On Wednesday, Al-Quds
reported that Team Trump will demand the Palestinian Authority end its
practice of paying terrorists and their families and stop funding Hamas.
The demand is part of a White House plan to restart
Israel-PA peace talks — the subject of a May 3 meeting between Trump and
PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
Peace talks or not, Trump is right to demand an end to
rewards for those who slaughter innocents. However fair Palestinians’
political gripes might be, it doesn’t justify terror.
Plus, as we’ve noted before, US taxpayers fund the PA — and they surely don’t want their cash rewarding terrorists.
Stopping those payments won’t be easy. The PA has dodged
past efforts to halt them, and Abbas himself regularly encourages terror
attacks.
If only American Jews got it half as much as the White House does.
In the meantime, there was
yet another terror attack in Tel Aviv today....
Labels: Abu Mazen, Binyamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump, martyrs salaries, Palestinian prisoners, Palestinian terrorism, prisoner salaries
NY Times publishes op-ed by terrorist, 'forgets' to mention his five murder convictions
A group of 'Palestinian' terrorists in Israeli prisons started a hunger strike on Monday. The group is
led by mass murderer Marwan Barghouti, the former leader of the Fatah Tanzim terror group, who has been in an Israeli prison for the last 15 years, and who was considered toxic enough not to be released as part of the 'terrorists for Gilad' trade of 2011.
The New York Times considers this such important news that on Saturday - in the middle of the Passover holiday - it posted an
op-ed by Barghouti on its web site, which made the print editions on Sunday. Barghouti refers to Israel's 'system of mass arbitrary arrests' as if there was no reason to arrest him. He complains that Israel has 'violated international law' for nearly 70 years, a period which goes back to independence and is clearly not meant to be limited to the post-Six Day War era. He refers to himself and his fellow terrorists as political prisoners.
There's one small part he left out, and which the New York Times did not bother to correct until late Monday, long after almost everyone who wanted to read the op-ed had (except for those who are keeping two days of Passover who would probably not find Barghouti persuasive anyway). On Monday, the Times posted this on its web site to correct the record.
Yes, that would be the same trial that Barghouti refers to in the editorial as a 'political show trial.'
I'm reminded of Gilda Radner's famous line upon being caught in a semantic mistake on Saturday Night Live.... "Never mind...." Too bad the Times took two days to fix the 'mistake.' But then, who would expect any better of them?
Labels: anti-Israel media bias, hunger strike, Marwan Barghouti, New York Times, Palestinian prisoners, Palestinian terrorism
Is the 'Palestinian' hunger strike #FakeNews?
Hmmm.
Labels: hunger strike, Palestinian prisoners, Palestinian terrorists
Let them starve! UPDATED
'Palestinian' terrorists in Israeli prisons, led by convicted mass murderer Marwan Barghouti, are going on a
hunger strike starting Monday.
Prisoners affiliated to the Palestinian People's Party (PPP)
announced they would undertake what has come to be known as the “Freedom
and Dignity” strike, according to jailed PPP leader and member of the
PPP Central Committee Bassem Khandaqji.
"After
consultations with prisoners of various factions, PPP-affiliated
prisoners decided to join the battle for freedom and dignity on April
17, which coincides with Palestinian Prisoner's Day." Khandaqji said in a
statement.
The Palestinian Popular Struggle
Front (PPSF) also said on Sunday that prisoners affiliated to the group
would join the Fatah-led strike.
The PPSF
statement went on to warn of a potential “serious escalation by Israeli
authorities against prisoners after they launch the battle for freedom
and dignity, which will mark a turning point in the life of Palestinian
prisoners.” The group said it "urged the
Palestinian people to organize actions to support the hunger strikers in
their battle, both at popular and official levels."
Hamas
meanwhile confirmed in an official statement on Sunday that prisoners
affiliated to the movement held in Hadarim prison would join the strike.
The
higher leading committee of Hamas-affiliated prisoners in Israeli
custody said it “completely supports the Freedom and Dignity hunger
strike, which an elite group of brave prisoners will start tomorrow in
order to forcibly obtain our stolen rights.”
“We
warn the Israel Prison Service against bringing any harm to the hunger
strikers. Any delay in answering their just demands will explode the
situation inside all prisons. All prisoners will unite in the face of
all those who might harm prisoners and their dignity,” the Hamas
statement said.
In the past, Israel has panicked by releasing terrorists who went on hunger strikes in Israeli prisons to avoid letting them die in prison. But Barghouti may be too big to let go. Until his arrest in 2002, Barghouti was the leader of the Fatah Tanzim terror organization that carried out many of the most murderous attacks of the Second Intifadeh (2000-04). He was convicted of five murders in 2004 and has been in an Israeli prison ever since. Barghouti is also regarded as a rival and possible successor to '
moderate' '
Palestinian' President
Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen since he is allegedly even popular among Hamas supporters.
But not all the terrorists are going on strike.
It was previously reported that all prisoners in
Hadarim and
Nafha
prison would join, regardless of their political affiliation, including
those affiliated to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
(PFLP), the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP),
Hamas, and the Islamic Jihad.
However, the
left-wing PFLP later said that despite its “appreciation” for
Barghouthi, it was not in fact undertaking the hunger strike, because it
was organized by Fatah without coordinating with all other Palestinian
political factions.
Hopefully, this time, Israel will not force feed the 'prisoners' (as it has been forced to do by its 'Supreme Court' at times in the past). If they want to starve themselves to death, let them. This isn't about prison conditions. It's about politics.
UPDATE 5:24 PM
As usual with the 'Palestinians,' things aren't quite what they seem, as you can see in this series of tweets from Israel Radio's Gal Berger (translation follows).
Marwan Barghouti sent secret messages to the Hamas leadership outside the mail calling on them to pressure Hamas prisoners in jail to join the hunger strike that he plans to lead starting tomorrow.
Hamas announced that it will support the strike and that Hamas prisoners in the Hadarim jail will join it, but did not announce general participation of its prisoners in all prisons in the strike.
Barghouti expects Hamas' leadership to join the strike later after it gathers volume. It's estimated that in the First Phase more than 1,000 prisoners will participate; not all of Fatah's prisoners are participating.
The added emphasis is mine. Note that Hamas is really taking a 'wait and see' attitude, and that not even all of Fatah's terrorists - to whom Barghouti technically belongs - are joining in.
Hmmm.
Labels: Abu Mazen, Fatah, Hamas, Marwan Barghouti, Palestinian prisoners, Palestinian terrorists
And again: 'Palestinian' stabs Christian British student to death on Jerusalem tram
A 23-year old Christian British woman was murdered by a '
mentally unstable' (is there any other kind?) 'Palestinian' terrorist on the Jerusalem tram this afternoon. The terrorist was a 57-year old (so much for 'only' letting 'over-50 Palestinians' move around freely) resident of Ras-al-Amud, the area near the Mount of Olives. The stabbing took place as the tram rounded the corner at IDF Square, just outside Jerusalem's Old City.
Another woman, who is pregnant, was injured when the train stopped, and a man was hurt while trying to flee the assailant. They are both lightly hurt, MDA said.
The assailant has been identified as Gamil Tamimi, 57, a Palestinian resident of Ras al-Amud in East Jerusalem who was recently released from a psychiatric hospital, according to the police said.
Probably related to
this Tamimi - at least distantly. Israel is holding this paragon of virtue - at least until the next Terrorists for X exchange.
The Shin Bet said that Tamimi had tried to commit suicide by swallowing a razorblade while hospitalized. In 2011, he was convicted of molesting his daughter.
"This is yet another case of a Palestinian suffering from personal, mental or moral distress choosing to commit an act of terror to escape his problems," the Shin Bet says.
So in 'Palestinian society' you can save your 'family honor' by murdering a Jew. Murder a Jew and and molesting your daughter is forgiven.
Anyone still think they're ready for peace?
Labels: Ahlam Tamimi, East Jerusalem, family honor, Jerusalem, Mount of Olives, Palestinian terrorism, religion of rape
When 'Palestinians' die and no one cares
Moadim l'Simcha, a happy holiday to all of you. I know that it's been a while since I posted on this blog - finding the time to sit down and write more than 140 characters has been difficult recently because of work. But it's been quiet today and I thought I would post something.
When does no one care if 'Palestinians' die? When they are killed by other 'Palestinians.' I've been saying that for years, but now, Israeli Defense Minister
Avigdor Lieberman has said the same thing - to Russian Middle East envoy Nikolay Mladenov.
According to the statement, Liberman protested that the UN is ignoring a
number of killings and executions that have happened in recent days
among the Palestinians in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in Lebanon, as
well as in Gaza.
“The international community’s ignoring dozens
of dead and wounded shows again the hypocrisy and the double standard
that the world employs by ignoring these grave incidents, while on the
other hand condemning Israel’s justified actions against terrorism,” he
said.
Liberman, according to the statement, expects that the
issue of intra-Palestinian killings will be raised at the next meeting
of the UN Security Council.
Who does he think will raise it? Does anyone really care?
Mladenov’s office issued a “no comment” when asked about the phone call.
...
On Saturday, Mladenov issued a statement saying that he was “deeply concerned” by growing tensions in Gaza.
He
said that over the past decade the Palestinians in Gaza “have lived
through four conflicts, with no freedom, unprecedented Israeli
restrictions, a dire humanitarian crisis, high unemployment, an ongoing
electricity crisis and the lack of political perspective.”
Mladenov
called on all Palestinian factions to allow the Palestinian Government
to assume its responsibility in Gaza. “Gaza is an integral part of the
future Palestinian state and no efforts should be spared to bring about
real national reconciliation that ends the division. Leaders have a
responsibility to avoid escalation and bridge the growing divide between
Gaza and the West Bank that further fragments the Palestinian people.”
'Unprecedented Israeli restrictions'? Really? That would be news to East Germans, Hungarians, Czechoslovaks and ordinary Russians.
And which 'Palestinian Government' does Mladenov expect to function in Russia? The one that is in the 12th year of its four-year term? Or the Hamas 'government' which throws its opponents off building roofs?
No, the world doesn't care when 'Palestinians' or other Arabs die - so long as Israel is not involved. That double standard is anti-Semitism - pure and simple.
Labels: Avigdor Lieberman, Fatah, Gaza, Gaza blockade, Gaza plenty, Hamas, hypocrisy, Russia
Change: Trump demands Sbarro murderer's extradition, tells 'Palestinians' to end incitement
One of Haaretz's editorials today speculated that ultimately,
the 'Palestinians' will have to save Israel from enacting a 'two-state solution.' Israel Radio's midnight news gave two signals that the 'Palestinians' are being put in a position where they will have to behave properly, or there will be no support from the United States for a 'Palestinian state.'
First, the United States has demanded that Jordan extradite
Ahlam Tamimi, who planned the Sbarro suicide bombing 16 years ago and
drove the bomber to the downtown Jerusalem restaurant.
Tamimi scouted for a target before leading the bomber, Izz al-Din
Shuheil al-Masri, to the Sbarro restaurant. They arrived just before
2:00 pm, when the restaurant was filled with customers, dozens of women,
children and babies, and pedestrian traffic outside was at its peak.
Tamimi
departed before Al-Masri, thought to be carrying a rigged guitar case
or wearing an an explosive vest weighing 5 to 10 kilograms of
explosives, nails, nuts and bolts, detonated his bomb.
She is
currently a television host in Jordan, has hosted Hamas arch-terrorist
Saleh Arouri (who ordered the kidnapping of three Jewish teenagers in
June 2014), bragged of her involvement in others murders of Israelis and
is considered as a symbol of the Palestinians fight.
Israel Radio reported that Tamimi was sentenced to 16 life sentences (15 Israelis were murdered in the bombing and a 16th - Chana Nachenberg - is in a vegetative state to this day), but was released as part of the 'terrorists for Gilad' trade in 2011. Israel Radio said that two of the terrorists' victims were US citizens (I think it was actually more than two - Malki Roth and Shoshana Heyman HY"D were also American citizens).
Jordan may have a tough call to make, honoring its strong alliance to
the US, with trying to avoid offending its majority Palestinian
population and an anti-extradition trend in its court system, according
to Shurat Hadin which is representing the family of the victim Chana
Nachenberg (Finers and Nachenbergs) who was grievously injured in the
bombing and remains in Israel in a coma even until now.
According
to Shurat HaDin President Nitsana Darshan-Leitner: "We are glad that
the US Department of Justice has decided to move forward against this
notorious mass murderer. We have been requesting for a long time that
this unrepentant Palestinian terrorist be rearrested, extradited and
prosecuted by American law enforcement officials."
"It was
outrageous that Israel released this criminal with so much innocent
blood on her hands and who has publicly rejoiced that she killed 8
Jewish children. For too long Jordan has become a safe haven for
Palestinian terrorists and, hopefully, this is a change of policy for
the new Trump administration, to start to pursue the numerous
Palestinians who have killed US citizens in Israel," she said.
Chana
Nachenberg's father, Yitzhak Bennett Finer, has responded: "We applaud
the efforts of the Department of Justice in trying to bring Tamimi to
justice and we hope they'll be successful. Our daughter Chana Nachenberg
had the prime of her life taken from her because she has spent the past
15 and half years in a vegetative state on a respirator as a result of
this inhuman act of the heinous bombing of Sbarros. Her daughter Sarah
has grown up without a mother and her husband David without the love of
his wife."
Jordan is highly unlike to extradite Tamimi. If the royal family is about anything, it's about self-preservation. Extraditing Tamimi (whose clan includes prominent Jordanian lawyers) would bring about fighting that has been unseen since the Black September uprising in 1970. There is almost no chance that King Abdullah will take that risk to keep the United States happy.
In a second report this evening, Israel Radio reported that the United States' Jerusalem Consulate's readout of Trump envoy Jason Greenblatt's meeting with '
moderate' '
Palestinian' President
Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen today included a demand that the 'Palestinians'
stop incitement to terrorism.
During a meeting at the Palestinian
Authority’s headquarters in Ramallah, Abbas committed to combat
Palestinian incitement, the statement said. The Palestinian leader and
Greenblatt also discussed building up the PA’s security forces,
advancing the peace process, and improving the Palestinian economy.
According to the readout, Abbas told
Greenblatt that “he believes that under President Trump’s leadership a
historic peace deal is possible, and that it will enhance security
throughout the region.”
“President Abbas committed to preventing inflammatory rhetoric and incitement,” the statement added.
The government of Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has been adamant that PA-sanctioned media and school
curriculum are responsible for inciting terrorism.
...
The Palestinian daily al-Quds cited sources in
the US Congress who said Greenblatt warned Abbas that US lawmakers are
working to condition US aid to the Palestinians — with the exception of
security assistance — on ending incitement, including payments to the
families of Palestinian terrorists.
The PA pays monthly stipends to families who
have a member who is considered to have been “martyred,” which usually
means being killed by an Israeli while carrying out a terror attack or
suspected attack, or who is spending time in Israeli prison for
perpetrating a terrorist act.
The US government has already taken measures
to ensure its aid isn’t funneled to the families of terrorists. That
includes paying the debts of the PA directly, rather than transferring
funds into the PA’s coffers.
In the 12th year of his four-year term, Abu Dodobird may have finally found an American President who is willing to stand up to him. The 'Palestinians' must be really disappointed that Hillary Clinton lost the election. Heh.
Labels: Ahlam Tamimi, Barack Hussein Obama, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Jason Greenblatt, Palestinian incitement, Sbarro terror attack, terror victims, terrorists for Gilad trade
It starts: US threatens to leave 'human rights council'
The times, they are a changing. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has issued a clear threat to one of the 'achievements' of the Obama administration - the decision to join the United Nations 'human rights council.' In a letter obtained by Foreign Policy Magazine, Tillerson has told the council that unless it reforms itself,
the United States will leave.
Tillerson, in his letter to the U.N.
advocates and human rights groups, said that while the United States
“continues to evaluate the effectiveness” of the Council, it remains
skeptical about the virtues of membership in a human rights organization
that includes states with troubled human rights records such as China,
Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.
“We may not share a common view on
this, given the makeup of the membership,” Tillerson told the
organizations, who have urged continued U.S. membership. “While it may
be the only such organization devoted to human rights, the Human Rights
Council requires considerable reform in order for us to continue to
participate.”
If the United States ultimately were
to withdraw from the Council, that would mark a victory for one of two
factions within the Trump administration debating the future of U.S.
policy at the United Nations.
“Many who despise the Council want the
U.S. to stay in and undermine efforts by others to obsesses over
Israel—and put the spotlight back on human rights abusers the Council
regularly ignores,” said a GOP congressional aide. “But there are others
who see that as fruitless and wasted diplomatic effort.”
...
For the time being, Tillerson wrote,
the U.S. will participate in the ongoing session of the Human Rights
Council, to “reiterate our strong principled objection to the Human
Rights Council’s biased agenda against Israel.”
“Our aim is to fix the organization,” the Tillerson aide told FP.
Tillerson said U.S. priorities
including renewing the mandate of a U.N. Commission of inquiry into
atrocities in Syria, and underscoring U.S. support for U.N. special
rapporteurs for Iran, North Korea, and Burma. He also said Washington
would seek to renew the mandates of special rapporteurs investigating
the use of torture and promoting freedom of expression.
UN advocates said it was unclear
whether the administration is really mulling a withdrawal, or simply
putting more pressure on for reform.
Sadly, the United Nations and its constituent bodies, including the 'human rights council,' exist only to give prominence to an anti-Israel agenda. They have long since outlived their usefulness, and ought to be shut down. The land that they currently occupy on the east side of Manhattan would be worth far more as condominiums or office buildings. Labels: anti-Israel bias, Barack Hussein Obama, Donald Trump, Rex Tillerson, United Nations Human Rights Council
Doesn't this say it all?
Look who's supporting David Friedman for US Ambassador to Israel... and who isn't.
That says it all, doesn't it? Priorities!
Labels: American Jewish indifference to Israel, American Jewish leadership, American Jewish support for Israel, American Jews, David Friedman, Donald Trump, liberal Jews
Underdog Israel beats Cuba in baseball, is one win from semi-finals
If you've been in a cave for the past week, you probably don't know that Israel's baseball team advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic, defeating 3rd ranked South Korea, 4th ranked Taiwan and 9th ranked Netherlands to get there. Israel's team was ranked 41st going into the tournament, despite having ten major leaguers on its roster.
On Sunday in Tokyo, the Israeli team
beat 5th ranked Cuba 4-1, and now needs just one win against top-ranked Japan or 9th ranked Netherlands (which they have already beaten) to advance to the semifinals at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. (If you're wondering, the US is ranked second).
Israel’s batters overcame an early 1-0
deficit, and the team’s pitchers kept the heavily favored Cuban team to
just five hits, continuing the squad’s unlikely Cinderella run.
Cuba inched ahead in the second inning with a
home run from Alfredo Despaigne, the player who singlehandedly sent his
country into the second round when he scored all of Cuba’s runs against
Australia on Thursday.
But after that, it was entirely Israel’s game.
Team Israel took a 2-1 lead in the sixth when
Zach Borenstein singled to right scoring Ty Kelly from second base.
Blake Gailen made it 3-1 with a two-out double to right that scored Nate
Freiman.
Israel tacked on another run in the eighth on a sacrifice bunt by Gailen that scored Borenstein from third.
Josh Zeid pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth when he got Willian Saavedra to ground out to third with two out.
The Israeli team has become the tournament’s unlikely darlings on its way to a 4-0 start in the international tournament.
Now we all know that there may not be 10 Israelis who aren't American born who know how to play baseball. So how does Israel have 10 major leaguers on its squad? It's a rule quirk.
Nearly all the members on Team Israel are American Jews. By WBC rules, a
player may compete for a country if he is eligible for citizenship
under its laws. Israel extends the right of automatic citizenship to
Jews, their non-Jewish children, grandchildren and the non-Jewish
spouses of their children and grandchildren.
Uh huh.
But they should have taken me along to read the Megillah for them (I've read it from a scroll more than 70 times to as many as 800 people). Let's go to the videotape.
Israel will face the Netherlands at Noon on Monday Israel time.
Haaretz
adds:
The win over Cuba gives Israel a strong mental boost ahead of games against the Netherlands and host Japan to advance in the quarterfinal round, which is played as a round robin. One win in those two games could be enough to bring Israel to Dodger Stadium for the semifinals.
...
[Manager Jerry] Weinstein rebuffed critics who have called Team Israel really a second Team USA. "The attitude in our clubhouse is we are representing Israel. We are not the Junior Varsity team for Team USA. We are Team Israel, and make no mistake about that."
After Sunday's win, starter [Jason] Marquis noted "We have quality baseball players on this team; guys who have big league experience, a lot of young prospects who have bright futures, and a good mix of veterans who can help these guys through these tournament games."
Marquis did revel a little in becoming a role model in the United States. "It's a great story for people back home who follow the game and who are in our shoes - have Jewish heritage - to look up to players like us who may not have otherwise had that opportunity."
I don't know about that. For most American Jews your Bar Mitzva is that time when you realize that you are far more likely to own a team than to play for one.
Labels: Baseball, Cuba, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, South Korea, Taiwan, United States, World Baseball Classic
Jordan releases Naharayim massacre perpetrator
I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted, but it's all been for a good cause. I have taken another trip to the US for work since I last posted, returning this past Thursday afternoon.
Oh yes, and a Freilichen (Happy) Purim to those of you who celebrate the holiday today, which is just about everyone outside Jerusalem and a couple of other cities.
On March 13, 1997, Jordanian Army Cpl. Ahmed Daqamseh opened fire on a
group of 7th and 8th grade girls from Beit Shemesh’s Feurst School. The girls were on a
class trip to Naharayim in the Jordan Valley, visiting the “Island of
Peace,” a joint Israeli-Jordanian tourist resort under Jordanian rule.
Seven of the girls were murdered. The massacre would have been worse if Daqamseh's weapons had not jammed. Daqamseh complained that the girls who died were
disturbing his prayers.
Daqamseh was sentenced to life in prison, which is a de facto 25-year
sentence in Jordan.
Israel had signed a peace treaty with Jordan's King Hussein in 1994. At the time of the massacre, Hussein actually came to Beit Shemesh to visit the mourning families.
But since Hussein's death in 1999, Jordanians have become increasingly uncomfortable holding Daqamseh - who many Jordanians regard as a hero - in prison.
His lawyer, Hussein Mjali,
praised Daqamseh in a video released in 2009. In 2011, Mjali became Jordan's
Justice Minister, and the next week joined a demonstration calling for
Daqamseh's release, sparking
outrage in Israel.
In 2013, 110 of the 120 members of Jordan's parliament
signed a petition calling for Daqamseh's release.
Today, they got their wish.
Daqamseh has been released.
Relatives said Ahmad Daqamseh was back at his home in the village of Idivir in northern Jordan.
A Jordanian military spokesman, Amer Sartawi, said Daqamseh was released early Sunday, after serving 20 years in prison.
...
Daqamseh said a month ago he was very happy and thankful to all his supporters who urged his release. He had been moved to a prison wing with better conditions after spending most of his term in isolation.
Jordanian military sources said Daqamseh was released shortly after midnight, on Sunday. Several people gathered at his home to celebrate his freedom.
Family members said Daqamseh was supposed to have been freed on Monday, the 13th, but the authorities decided to release him during the night to try and minimize the celebrations.
In 2004, Daqamseh told a Jordanian weekly that he had
no regret for his actions.
In an interview Daqamseh gave in 2004 to
Jordanian weekly a-Shahed, he expressed pride in his actions and said
that "if I could return to that moment, I'd behave exactly the same way.
Every day that passes, I grow stronger in the belief that what I did
was my duty."
Disgraceful.
Labels: Arab terrorism, Arab terrorist worship, Jordan, Naharayim
Dismantling a liar: The bankruptcy of the Left
To be honest with you, I try to ignore people on Twitter who don't have a lot of followers. Normally, it's not worth the time or the exposure I give them to respond to them. But this one has gone too far.
I'd like to introduce you to one @JamesMArcher. Here's his bio - a panoply of causes of the extreme Left, with the Democratic party being too far to the right for him.
A short while ago, Mr. Archer tweeted this at me:
He seems to use this picture fairly regularly - it's not the only time it's in his timeline.
There's just one small problem. Like so many other symbols of the Left,
the picture is a fake.
The Israeli boy in the yarmulke is Zvi Shapiro, the son of two
secular American-Israelis. The Palestinian boy is Zemer Aloni, an
Israeli Jew. The only real aspect of the photo is that the boys were
indeed friends and that the picture was taken in their Jerusalem
neighborhood of Abu Tor,
which straddles the 1949 armistice line and contains both a Jewish and
an Arab section. The boys grew up on the Jewish side of the
neighborhood, and while they both recall interactions with Palestinians,
neither counted close friends on the other side of the line.
The picture was taken by Ricki Rosen,
an American photojournalist who has been covering the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict for 26 years. Rosen snapped the photo on
assignment for Maclean’s, the national news magazine of Canada, for a
cover story about the Oslo Peace Accords. Rosen said that the magazine’s
art director was so specific in what he wanted that he even drew her a
picture — one boy in a yarmulke, the other in a keffiyeh shot from the
back walking down a long road, which was supposed to symbolize the road
to peace. He didn’t care whether the boys were actually Israelis or
Palestinians, nor did it occur to him that the Palestinian’s keffiyeh
would be styled in a way more typical for elderly Palestinian men than
for young boys.
“It was a symbolic illustration,” said Rosen. “It was
never supposed to be a documentary photo.” She also took other
real-life photos for the same article.
Oops.
Read it all.
Labels: fake Jews, fake photos, leftists, liberalism
