Sweden attack: ‘Masked Men Attack Gothenburg Synagogue with Petrol Bombs’
Posted: December 11, 2017 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Foreign Policy, Religion, Terrorism | Tags: Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Israel Defense Forces, Jerusalem, Molotov cocktail, Palestinians, Positions on Jerusalem, President of the United States, Twitter, United States 1 Comment
A synagogue was attacked by around 20 masked men while hosting a youth party in Gothenburg, Sweden, local media have reported.
Police arrived at the scene, where Jewish students had taken refuge in the basement.A police spokesman said: “There are several molotov cocktails that have been thrown against the synagogue.”It’s about bottles and gasoline.”A fire broke out between vehicles in the car park, fire fighter Kristoffer Wahter told local news.
No injuries were caused and the building did not catch fire, Police inspector Peter Nordengard said.Initial local media reports suggest the group was around 20 men wearing masks carried out the attack.
He said: “We are in place with a number of units.”Online police have said: “We do not know much more than there are several molotov cocktails that have been thrown against the synagogue.”
Authorities have asked for asked for information on possible suspects from the local community. Security forces arrived at the scene around 10.10pm local time (9.10pm GMT).
The incident comes after protests in nearby Malmo were reported to by shout anti-Semitic chants while protests Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
GETTY
Police were at the scene at 10.10pm local time
There is no suggestion the incidents are linked.
The US President’s decision was greeted by international condemnation as his fellow world leaders spoke out against the move.A “Day of Rage” was called in Palestine with protests held across the world, including the UK. Read the rest of this entry »
Andrew C. McCarthy: What Americans Need to Know About the Encryption Debate
Posted: December 1, 2015 Filed under: France, Law & Justice, Politics, Terrorism, Think Tank | Tags: Al-Nusra Front, Andrew C. McCarthy, Apple Inc, Data Collection, Hebron, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, National security, NSA, Palestinian people, Paris terrorist attacks, Pentagon, Surveillance, West Bank 1 Comment
In the surveillance area, I believe the public is mostly wrong.
Andrew C. McCarthy writes: Should private companies that provide users with encryption technology be required to assist law-enforcement and intelligence services to defeat that technology? This question is a more pressing one in the wake of November’s Paris terrorist attacks. But it is a very tough question that has vexed both the government and providers of communications services for years.
“The problem is that encryption technology has gotten very tough to crack and very widely available. Consequently, if terrorists or other high-level criminals are using it to carry out schemes that endanger the public, government agents cannot penetrate the communications in real time.”
Part of what makes it so difficult is the new facts of life. As I noted during the debate over the NSA’s bulk-collection of telephone metadata, we are operating in a political environment that is night-and-day different from the aftermath of 9/11. Back then, a frightened public was demanding that the government do a better job of collecting intelligence and thwarting terrorist plots. Of course that sentiment was driven by the mass-murder of nearly 3,000 Americans, coupled with the destruction of the World Trade Center and a strike against the Pentagon. But it also owed in no small measure to the fact that government had done such an incompetent job gathering and “connecting the dots” prior to the attacks. There was a strong public sense that intelligence agencies needed an injection of muscle.
“That they have a legal basis to conduct surveillance is beside the point; all the probable cause in the world won’t help an agent who lacks the know-how to access what he’s been authorized to search.”
Today, the public’s sense tends in the other direction. There have been spectacular abuses of government power (e.g., IRS scandal), and intrusive security precautions infused by political correctness (e.g., airport searches). Americans understandably suspect that government cannot be trusted with enhanced authorities and that many of its tactics are more about the appearance of security than real security.
[Read the full story here, at PJ Media]
It is, moreover, no longer sufficient for the national-security right to posit that security measures pass legal muster. The public wants proof that these measures actually and meaningfully improve our security, regardless of whether they are justifiable as a matter of law.
This makes it a very uphill environment in which to suggest, as FBI Director Jim Comey has recently done, that communications providers should provide the government with keys to unlocking their encryption technology – encryption-key repositories or what is often called “backdoor” access.
The problem is that encryption technology has gotten very tough to crack and very widely available. Consequently, if terrorists or other high-level criminals are using it to carry out schemes that endanger the public, government agents cannot penetrate the communications in real time. That they have a legal basis to conduct surveillance is beside the point; all the probable cause in the world won’t help an agent who lacks the know-how to access what he’s been authorized to search. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] EDUCATION: ‘I Want to Stab a Jew,’ Young Girl Tells Her Teacher Father
Posted: November 21, 2015 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Education, Religion, Terrorism, War Room | Tags: Auschwitz concentration camp, BBC, Extermination camp, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Jerusalem, Jews, Palestinian people, The Times of Israel, West Bank 1 Comment
A video posted by a Jordanian-Palestinian teacher on Facebook shows his young daughter holding a large knife and declaring, “I want to stab a Jew,” the watchdog group MEMRI reported, amid an ongoing surge of stabbings and other terror attacks by Palestinians on Israelis.
“Why do you want to stab the Jew?”
Abdulhaleem Abuesha, a teacher in the Madaba refugee camp in Jordan, posted the clip on Friday. MEMRI translated and highlighted it on Tuesday.
“Because he stole our land.”
After his daughter Rahf, standing in front of the refrigerator in the kitchen, declares her desire to stab a Jew, Abuesha asks, “Why do you want to stab the Jew?”
“With what do you want to stab them?”
“Because he stole our land,” she replies.
“With a knife.”
Her father confirms approvingly: “They stole our land.” He then asks, “With what do you want to stab them?” Read the rest of this entry »
David P. Goldman: Why France Will Do Nothing About the Paris Massacre
Posted: November 16, 2015 Filed under: Asia, France, Mediasphere, Terrorism, Think Tank, War Room | Tags: Al-Aqsa Mosque, Benjamin Netanyahu, Islamism, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Israel Police, Israeli security forces, Jerusalem, Jihadism, Palestinian people, Paris Attacks, Second Intifada, West Bank Leave a comment
France simply doesn’t have the stomach for it.
David P. Goldman writes: Ignored in news coverage of the Paris massacre is the single most pertinent piece of background: A 2014 opinion poll found that ISIS had an approval rating in France (at 16%) almost as high as President Francois Holland (at 18%). In the 18-to-24-year-old demographic, ISIS’ support jumped to 27%. Muslims comprise about a tenth of France’s population, so the results imply that ISIS had the support of the overwhelming majority of French Muslims (and especially Muslim youth), as well as the endorsement of a large part of the non-Muslim Left.
“Finding a needle in a haystack is possible only when the haystack helps you find the needles. The French authorities would have to persuade its own Muslim community to turn informer against its radicalized youth.”
Reporting the survey, conducted by the polling organization ICM for a Russian news service, Newsweek’s France correspondent Anne-Elizabeth Moutet wrote, “This is the ideology of young French Muslims from immigrant backgrounds, unemployment to the tune of 40%, who’ve been deluged by satellite TV and internet propaganda.”
“Muslim community leaders would have to fear the French state more than they fear their own radicals, and this would require a large number of arrests, deportations, and other coercive actions. In this case the situation would get worse before it got better.”
After last Friday’s massacres, to be sure, the flip-it-to-them attitude reflected in last year’s poll no doubt has attenuated somewhat. Nonetheless, it is clear that a very large proportion of French Muslims support the most extreme expression of radical Islam, offering the terrorists the opportunity to blend into a friendly milieu. The 
problem has gotten too big to be cured without a great deal of mess and pain. In the Gallic hedonistic calculus, a massacre or two per year is preferable to a breach of the tenuous social peace. And that is why France will do nothing.
That makes counter-terrorism challenging, but not impossible. There are two successful models for suppressing terrorists who enjoy the passive support of the ambient population: the French in Algeria and the Israelis after the Second Intifada of 2002. The first is infamous for the extensive use of torture and mass reprisals against civilians; the second succeeded on the strength of superb human as well as electronic intelligence and seamless integration of military, police and intelligence organizations. Israel reduced the number of Arab suicide bombings from 47 in 2002 with 238 dead to only 1 in 2007 with 3 dead.
Unlike the French in Algeria, Israel undid the Intifada entirely without the use of physical stress on prisoners. Israeli interrogation techniques do not require physical stress; humiliation is a more effective tool than pain with Arab suspects. Prior to 1999, Israeli security forces employed mild forms of enhanced interrogation (sleep deprivation, hooding, and so forth), but eschewed the practice afterwards. By contrast, the French Army shelled and bombed villages that gave refuge to the rebels of the Algerian Front de Libération Nationale, killing tens of thousands indiscriminately and forcing 2 million Algerians out of their homes.
[Read the full story here, at Asia Times]
It also used extreme forms of torture to elicit information from captured FLN fighters. Popular revulsion against the conduct of the war brought down the Fourth Republic and returned Gen. Charles De Gaulle to the presidency. More than 90% of French voters backed Algeria’s independence in a 1962 referendum, and France voluntarily abandoned what it had won by brutal methods on the ground. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Open your eyes about Gaza
Posted: June 16, 2015 Filed under: Global, Mediasphere, Politics, War Room | Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu, Gaza Strip, Gaza War, Hamas, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Palestinian people, Sami Abu Zuhri, United Nations, United Nations Human Rights Council Leave a commentHamas violently took control of Gaza in 2007. What have they been doing since? Oppressing the Gazan population and investing billions in terrorism against Israel’s civilian population. Some people choose to close their eyes to the reality on the ground. What about you?
HOAX ALERT: Swastika, Racist Graffiti Reported At Northwestern University Library
Posted: April 15, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Crime & Corruption, Education, Politics, U.S. News | Tags: African American, Anti-Defamation League, Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism, Disinvestment from Israel, Dormitory, Israel Defense Forces, Jews, Joseph Aoun, Nazi symbolism, Northeastern University, swastika, Whiteboard Leave a comment
CHICAGO (CBS) — Police at Northwestern University were investigating after someone scrawled racist and anti-Semitic graffiti in the school library.
“University police said a swastika and disparaging remarks about African Americans were scrawled in pencil in a men’s restroom at the library, on Northwestern’s Evanston campus.”
University police said a swastika and disparaging remarks about African Americans were scrawled in pencil in a men’s restroom at the library, on Northwestern’s Evanston campus, and the incident prompted a campus-wide e-mail alert from university President Morton Schapiro, issued Tuesday.
Let the countdown begin! Predictably, these cases prove to be hoaxes, graffiti written by a white liberal activist, or a subversive “social justice warrior”, to stir up a false impression of intolerance, often even defending the act. How long before the facts are revealed?
While the alert said University Police see no immediate danger to the campus or any specific person, Schapiro called the graffiti “offensive to the entire Northwestern community” and said it will not be tolerated.
He wrote that “Northwestern seeks to provide a safe and welcoming environment for students, faculty and staff of all races and religious beliefs.” Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Bunch of Monks in a Snowball Fight
Posted: February 25, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Mediasphere | Tags: Activism, Bedouin, East Jerusalem, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Jerusalem, Jerusalem Gate Hotel, media, Palestinian people, Snow, Snowball Fight, video, Weather forecasting 2 CommentsBlizzards are quite rare in Jerusalem, so when a recent storm dumped around ten inches of snow on the city, some people were pretty excited. Farther south in Israel, some communities got snow for the first time since the 1990s. (read more)
[VIDEO] Benjamin Netanyahu Babysitter Ad
Posted: February 2, 2015 Filed under: Global, Mediasphere, Politics | Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu, Election, Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, media, news, video 1 CommentAn ad from the Israel election 2015
Iranian News Website Published Detailed Plan to Kill Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Sons, in Retaliation to IAF Attack
Posted: January 26, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Global, Mediasphere, Religion, War Room | Tags: Aircraft, Al-Manar, Borders of Israel, Corporate Europe Observatory, Elbit Systems, Hezbollah, Imad Mughniyah, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Israeli Air Force, media, news, Twitter Leave a commentIranian news website published detailed plan to kill Prime Minister Netanyahu’s sons, in retaliation to IAF attack. pic.twitter.com/uusOs4nBkD
— Israel News Feed (@IsraelHatzolah) January 25, 2015
‘Today, Paris is Capital of the World’: France Displays Defiance With Huge Rally
Posted: January 11, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Diplomacy, Global, Health and Social Issues, History, War Room | Tags: Antisemitism, Benjamin Netanyahu, Charlie Hebdo, David Cameron, EUROPE, François Hollande, France, Hague, International Criminal Court, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian people, Paris, President of the Palestinian National Authority, Prime Minister of Israel Leave a comment
Historic: World Leaders Gather With Crowd of Millions to Show Solidarity After Terror Attacks
PARIS— Stacy Meichtry reports: World leaders marched arm-in-arm with a massive crowd Sunday in defiance of terrorist attacks that ripped through the French capital in the past week.
A man dressed as the Statue of Liberty holds up the French national flag at the Place de la République. JOEL SAGET/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Hundreds of thousands of people from across France and elsewhere descended on Paris for a rally that drew a host of strange bedfellows from the world stage.
The families and friends of the 17 people killed in the spree of violence walked solemnly at the head of the march. In their wake came a spectrum of leaders, ranging from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron .
The rally was one of the city’s biggest gatherings in decades, and French officials adopted “exceptional” measures to manage the crowd and guarantee the security of foreign leaders. Large swaths of the city were sealed off from traffic and subway lines were shut down.
For a city that had become a backdrop of gunfire and bloodshed in recent days, the rally marked Paris’s return as a stage for symbolic gestures of peace. Ms. Merkel locked arms with Mr. Abbas, and Mr. Netanyahu shook hands with President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of Mali, which doesn’t have diplomatic relations with Israel.
emonstrators gather in Place de la République before the start of a march on Sunday in Paris. Hundreds of thousands of people and dozens of world leaders are attending the event in memory of 17 people who were killed in a spree of terror attacks in the French capital. CHRISTOPHER FURLONG/GETTY IMAGES
Thousands Gather in Paris
“Today, Paris is the capital of the world. The whole country will stand up.”
— French President François Hollande
France and the rest of Europe have been on high alert since Wednesday, when brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi allegedly went on a deadly rampage, stalking through the newsroom of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo with AK-47s. The violence continued when a third gunman, Amedy Coulibaly, allegedly killed a police woman on Thursday and four hostages at a kosher grocery store on Friday.
Signs with the words “Je Suis Charlie” (I am Charlie), adorn the base of the statue of Marianne at the Place de la République before the start of the march. JOEL SAGET/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
The Kouachi brothers and Mr. Coulibaly were killed by police in separate and simultaneous raids that brought the crisis to a dramatic climax.
The violence traumatized France, puncturing public confidence in the country’s formidable security forces and sowing tensions in a land that is home to one of Europe’s biggest Muslim populations.
French doctor Patrice Pelloux, right, takes part in the march with members of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine. THOMAS SAMSON/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
On the sidelines of Sunday’s rally, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve convened a meeting of senior security officials from both sides of the Atlantic, including U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder , to address terrorist threats in the wake of the attacks.
Mr. Cazeneuve said the group of officials agreed to work together to combat threats from foreign fighters returning from Syria and Iraq and to tighten border controls.
A black X is put across the mouth on part of the base of the statue of Marianne at the Place de la République before the start of the march. The poster reads in French: “We are all defiantly Charlie,” referring to Charlie Hebdo, the satirical magazine whose Paris offices were attacked by brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi. JOEL SAGET/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
The government mobilized thousands of police and paramilitary forces to oversee the rally. Special units, officials said, were dedicated to protecting dignitaries and leaders.
Mr. Hollande welcomes Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the Élysée Palace. THIBAULT CAMUS/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Efforts to control the crowd, however, were at times overwhelmed by the sheer size of the gathering.
Crowds began flocking to the city center in the early hours of Sunday amid bright sunshine and crisp blue skies. Several dozen antique cars and tractors, in Paris for an annual procession, this year decked themselves out with “Je suis Charlie,” or “I am Charlie,” stickers in solidarity with the magazine, and drove near the Arc de Triomphe as passersby cheered and clapped.
Notably not present: Alleged world leader U.S. President Barack Obama
The sea of demonstrators pooling in Place de la Republique—the march’s starting point—quickly overflowed, sending human rivers into Paris’s manicured avenues. Crowds also breached the march’s official routes—toward Place de la Nation, 2 miles away—clogging the city’s cobblestoned byways with foot traffic.
Mr. Hollande embraces German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, as she arrives at the Élysée Palace. Mr. Hollande will lead the march and will be joined by world leaders in a sign of unity. Thibault Camus/Associated Press
Meanwhile, world leaders were ferried to the head of the rally in charted buses from the Élysée Palace, where Mr. Hollande had individually welcomed them in the morning. As the leaders arrived at the march, plain-clothed officers fanned out and police marksmen took rooftop positions. Read the rest of this entry »
Israeli Military Shoots Down Syrian Aircraft
Posted: September 23, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, Global, War Room | Tags: Fighter aircraft, Golan Heights, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Moshe Ya'alon, Sukhoi Su-24, Syria, Syrian civil war Leave a comment
A Syrian fighter jet is seen in flames after it was hit by the Israeli military over the Golan Heights on Tuesday. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
TEL AVIV—Israel shot down a Syrian fighter jet that entered its airspace over the Golan Heights, the first such strike in nearly 29 years amid heightened fighting between the regime and rebels for control along the sensitive border.
“The Syrian plane, identified by the Israeli military as a Sukhoi Su-24 Russian-made aircraft, penetrated about a half-mile into Israeli airspace and had turned to return to Syrian-controlled territory when it was shot down.”
The intercept is the latest sign of instability along the Golan Heights frontier due to the Syrian war, though former Israeli air force officers said they believed that the Syrian jet crossed into Israeli controlled airspace by accident. The aircraft downing came just hours after the U.S. and Arab allies launched an expansive air offensive against Islamic State fighters and strongholds in Syria, though Israeli experts said there appeared to be no connection. Read the rest of this entry »
Notes on Life and Death in a Mosque
Posted: August 12, 2014 Filed under: Religion, War Room | Tags: Corner, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Jay Nordlinger, Jewish prayer, Knesset Menorah, Lord's Prayer, Names of God in Judaism, Shema Yisrael, Suicide attack 1 Comment
Shema Yisrael at the Knesset Menorah in Jerusalem
From Jay Nordlinger, at The Corner, this chilling excerpt, with my notes at the end:
A friend of mine sent me an article from Breitbart (here). I’d like to quote two paragraphs:
[A unit] of [Israeli] soldiers — which had gone into a mosque looking for weapons, explosives, and rockets — encountered a female suicide bomber who was about to detonate the belt she wore, which would have resulted in the deaths of the soldiers. One of the soldiers instinctively recited the opening words of the holiest Jewish prayer “Shema Yisrael”. The female suicide bomber hesitated and began trembling, giving the soldiers a chance to grab her and disable the device.
The soldiers then took her prisoner and turned her over to a counter-intelligence unit. Their investigation uncovered that the female suicide bomber’s mother was a Jew who had married a Palestinian in Israel and, after the wedding, was smuggled against her will into Gaza. There she lived a life filled with abuse and humiliation, and was basically a captive. In addition to the female suicide bomber, there were two smaller children as well. An armored force went in and rescued the two small children.
On first reading, I understood it to mean the Israeli soldier spoke the opening words of the prayer “Shema Yisrael” in an effort to appeal to the suicide bomber’s humanity, to weaken her resolve, invoking the universal fear of death, fear of “the final judgement”, a fear so primal that it transcends any one religion. A humbling and insightful way to disarm a human bomb.
Because the phrase “instinctively recited” is ambiguous, my first reading was wrong. I missed the real meaning.
On second reading, I understand it wasn’t a quick-thinking tactical maneuver. It was the Israeli soldier’s “I am about to die” moment. Confronting unavoidable death, speaking for himself and his fellow soldiers, he was kissing his ass goodbye. Not unlike a Christian’s invocation of “The Lord’s Prayer“, in a moment of mortal panic. The soldier wasn’t tying to weaken his attacker. He was preparing to die.
The Israeli soldier’s words had the unexpected effect of weakening the suicide bomber’s resolve. Who, unknown to him, was the daughter of a Jewish mother. And a victim herself. She understood this prayer, and trembled upon hearing it.
Which makes this passage even more chilling. And beautiful.
Is my second reading correct?
I’m interested in what other readers think. Read the rest of this entry »
Israel Accepts Egyptian Cease-Fire Plan
Posted: August 4, 2014 Filed under: Diplomacy, Mediasphere, War Room | Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu, Gaza, Gaza Strip, Hamas, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Palestinian people, Rafah Leave a comment
Israeli soldiers walk by foot near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip as they return from the Hamas-controlled Palestinian coastal enclave on August 4, 2014. The Israeli army said today it was resuming its strikes on the Gaza Strip, after the end of a seven-hour humanitarian lull. An army spokesman said troops were redeploying within Gaza while other forces were pulling out in a process which began on August 2. GIL COHEN MAGEN/AFP/Getty Images)
UPDATE: GLOBAL PANIC OF JULY 2014 OFFICIALLY EXTENDED INTO AUGUST
Posted: August 1, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, War Room | Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu, Ceasefire, Drudge, Gaza, Gaza Strip, Global Panic of 2014, Hamas, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Palestinian people, Washington Post 1 Comment
GAZA CITY — Less than three hours after a three-day humanitarian cease-fire between Israel and Hamas went into effect Friday, the truce broke down when clashes between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters erupted and militants fired rockets into Israel…
Gaza militants captured an Israeli officer in the southern Gaza Strip just as the cease-fire was falling apart, said a senior Israeli military spokesman. Two other Israeli soldiers were reported killed…(read more)
[VIDEO] Footage of Hamas Raid Shows Why Israel Is So Freaked Out About Gaza Tunnels
Posted: July 30, 2014 Filed under: Global, Self Defense, War Room | Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Policy, Gaza, Gaza Strip, Hamas, Iron Dome, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Tunnel 1 Comment
For Foreign Policy, Elias Groll reports: Three weeks into deadly fighting in Gaza and along its border, Israeli forces have been surprised to encounter an extensive, sophisticated tunnel system that has been used by Hamas to infiltrate Israeli territory and carry out raids. The destruction of that tunnel system has become a focal point of Israeli military operations, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has emphasized that any cease-fire must allow his forces to continue identifying and sealing those tunnels.
To understand why these tunnels have become such a hot-button issue, one need look no further than a video released by Hamas by Tuesday, July 29. That video shows a group of fighters exiting such a tunnel and attacking an Israeli military installation. Read the rest of this entry »
The NYT: All The News Hamas Sees Fit to Print
Posted: July 21, 2014 Filed under: Censorship, Mediasphere, U.S. News | Tags: Gaza, Hamas, IDF, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, New York Times, NOAH POLLAK, Twitter 1 CommentThe most influential news organization in the world is manufacturing an utterly false portrait of the battle—precisely the portrait that Hamas finds most helpful
For The Weekly Standard, Noah Pollak writes: Something important is missing from the New York Times‘s coverage of the war in Gaza: photographs of terrorist attacks on Israel, and pictures of Hamas fighters, tunnels, weaponry, and use of human shields.
A review of the Times‘s photography in Gaza reveals a stark contrast in how the two sides are portrayed. Nearly every picture from Israel depicts tanks, soldiers, or attack helicopters. And every picture of Gaza depicts either bloodied civilians, destroyed buildings, overflowing hospitals, or other images of civilian anguish. It is as one-sided and misleading a depiction of the Gaza battle as one can imagine.
” It appears the Times is silently but happily complying with a Hamas demand that the only pictures from Gaza are of civilians and never of fighters.”
It appears the Times is silently but happily complying with a Hamas demand that the only pictures from Gaza are of civilians and never of fighters. The most influential news organization in the world is thus manufacturing an utterly false portrait of the battle—precisely the portrait that Hamas finds most helpful: embattled, victimized Gaza civilians under attack by a cruel Israeli military.
“Maybe all of this is an illustration of just how biased against Israel the Times has become—so biased that Times photographers and editors are simply blind to any image that doesn’t conform to their view of the war.”
Today’s Times photo essay contains seven images: three of Gaza civilians in distress; one of a smoke plume rising over Gaza; and three of the IDF, including tanks and attack helicopters. The message is simple and clear: the IDF is attacking Gaza and harming Palestinian civilians. There are no images of Israelis under rocket attack, no images of grieving Israeli families and damaged Israeli buildings, no images of Hamas fighters or rocket attacks on Israel, no images of the RPG’s and machine guns recovered from attempted Hamas tunnel infiltrations into Israel.
Another report yesterday was accompanied by a single image: that of a dead child in a Gaza hospital. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Benjamin Netanyahu: ‘Hamas Wants Palestinian Civilians Dead’
Posted: July 21, 2014 Filed under: Diplomacy, Global, Mediasphere, Politics, War Room | Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu, Civilian casualties, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Palestinian people, Prime Minister of Israel Leave a comment“This is the cruelest, most grotesque war that I’ve ever seen.”
For NRO, Celina Durgin: Hamas is purposely placing Palestinian citizens in Gaza in harm’s way to cause more civilian casualties at the hands of Israeli troops, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday on Special Report.
Hamas is “using their own people as propaganda fodder,” Netanyahu said.
Hamas soldiers have positioned their weapons in civilian homes… (read more)
[VIDEO] Lowry: Hamas Hopes ‘Media Is Lazy Enough’ to Only Report Casualty Numbers, Ignore Use of Human Shields
Posted: July 19, 2014 Filed under: Mediasphere, Politics, War Room | Tags: Civilian, Civilian casualties, Gaza, Hamas, Human shield, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Palestinian people Leave a commentIsrael Starts Gaza Land, Sea & Air Offensive
Posted: July 17, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, Self Defense, War Room | Tags: Armored Corps, Benjamin Netanyahu, Gaza, Gaza Strip, Global Panic of 2014, Hamas, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Thursday Leave a commentNetanyahu’s office says purpose of mission is to destroy terror tunnels and seriously harm the infrastructure of Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza.
After days of waiting and deliberation, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday night directed the IDF to send ground troops into Gaza to strike the terror tunnels into Israel.
A statement put out by the Prime Minister’s Office said that Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon Netanyahu directed the IDF to prepare to expand the ground operation.
The statement said that the security cabinet approved the operation after Israel agreed to the Egyptian cease-fire proposal on Tuesday, which Hamas rejected. In addition, the statement said, Hamas even fired rockets during the Thursday’s five-hour humanitarian cease-fire.
“In light of Hamas’ continuous criminal aggression, and the dangerous infiltration into Israeli territory, Israel is obligated to act in defense of its citizens,” the statement said.
The statement said that Operation Protective Edge, now in its 10th day, will continue until its goals are reached: restoring quiet for an extended period of time,and delivering a significant blow to Hamas and the other terrorist organizations in Gaza. Read the rest of this entry »
WAR GETS REAL: Israel Issues Evac Warning
Posted: July 16, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, Global, War Room | Tags: Ashkelon, Benjamin Netanyahu, Egypt, Gaza, Gaza Strip, Hamas, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Shimon Peres 3 Comments
- A few minutes ago, two rockets fired from Gaza struck the Ashkelon area, and five rockets struck elsewhere in southern Israel, as per IDF.
- In an interview to a news agency, President Shimon Peres admits that firing at Gaza made for a “moral dilemma”, but there was no alternative to it.Speaking to the Associated Process, the nonagenerian President said, “There is a moral problem, but I don’t have a moral answer to it. If they are shooting at us, and don’t let our mothers and their children … have a full night’s sleep, what can we do?”
Israel says Hamas is telling Gazan civilians to ignore IDF warnings. The Israeli Army further says that it called off three airstrikes after identifying civilians in the area.
Earlier today, we urged civilians to move away from IDF military targets in Gaza. Once again, Hamas told civilians to ignore our warnings.
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) July 16, 2014
Holding off its barrage of rockets briefly in line with a truce proposed by Egypt, Israel resumed its strikes on Gaza Strip as Hamas continued firing, dashing hopes of a ceasefire. Read the rest of this entry »
Despite offensive, Gaza rockets still hit Israel
Posted: July 13, 2014 Filed under: Global, War Room | Tags: Al-Hayat, Gaza, Hamas, Hezbollah, Institute for National Security Studies, Iron Dome, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Lebanon, London, Tel Aviv 1 Comment
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel says its punishing air assault on Hamas militants, their property and their weaponry has delivered a devastating blow to the Islamic militant group. Yet rocket fire at Israel has continued almost unabated.
The military says that due to years of generous Iranian shipments, thousands of rockets remain in Gaza, and there is no quick way to eliminate the threat.
“There is no attempt here to solve the conflict. We are talking about managing the conflict and as long as it goes on, quiet will only be temporary.”
It says its goal is to inflict so much pain on Hamas that it will be deterred from attacking Israel again — just like Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon have largely remained on the sidelines for the past eight years.
The military also says it wants to punish Hamas for the violence. But both goals are hard to quantify in the short term. A similar offensive in November 2012 was also deemed a military success, though it left Israel vulnerable to rocket fire. Israel also launched a large offensive in late 2008 that delivered a tenuous cease-fire.
“It’s a mistake to think that if you have established deterrence it will stay that way. Deterrence must be maintained.”
— Shlomo Brom, a retired Israeli general, analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies
“There is no knockout, it is more complicated,” said a senior military official involved in the fighting, who spoke on condition of anonymity under military guidelines. But, he added, “if there is a map of pain that the enemy sees, it will have to think about things.” Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Netanyahu Won’t Rule Out Ground Invasion
Posted: July 13, 2014 Filed under: Global, War Room | Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu, Gaza Strip, Gaza War, Hamas, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Prime Minister of Israel, YouTube 1 CommentIsrael Drops Leaflets Warning of Northern Gaza Airstrikes
Posted: July 13, 2014 Filed under: Global, War Room | Tags: Al-Atatra, Beit Lahia, Gaza, Gaza Strip, Hamas, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Sunday 1 Comment
Handout / Israel Defense Forces
Image: IDF leaflets warning residents of northern Gaza that airstrikes are imminent
TEL AVIV – Israel’s air force dropped leaflets on northern Gaza early Sunday, warning residents to evacuate ahead of a new wave of airstrikes in the coming hours, military officials said. “To the residents of Beit Lahiya, the [Israeli Defense Force] intends to attack terrorists and terror infrastructures in the area east of Al-Atatra and Al-Salatin St., and in the area west and north of Ma’bscar Jabalyia,” the leaflets said. “Israel is currently attacking, and will continue to attack, every area from which rockets are being launched at its territory.”
The warning came ahead of what Israel’s military spokesman described as a “short and temporary” campaign against northern Gaza to begin sometime after 12 p.m. local time (5 a.m. ET). Read the rest of this entry »
How Hamas Uses Human Shields
Posted: July 12, 2014 Filed under: War Room | Tags: CNN, Gaza, Hamas, Human shield, IDF, Iron Dome, Israel, Israel Defense Forces 4 CommentsZoe Liebmann reports: Since Operation Protective Edge began on Monday evening the death toll is up to 41 in Gaza and 0 in Israel. By looking blankly at these numbers one could assume that Hamas is the victim, however this assumption is proven invalid.
Bibi Netanyahu stated on July 8, “the security of our citizens is our primary consideration…we are determined to give our citizens the safety and security they deserve.” The objective of the IDF is to protect its people, not to kill. In the past two days, Gaza has fired over 300 rockets towards Israel. According to Haaretz Israeli News, the Iron Dome has shot down 90 percent of the rockets targeted at Israel. The IDF uses the Iron Dome to protect the people of Israel from terror.
Hamas on the other hand has a different objective. Hamas teaches their children to want to kill Jews. Hamas lives to kill, while Israel lives to protect. Hamas focuses on destroying Israel and using their own as human shields. Aside from Hamas promoting their own to be martyrs, they also use minors as human shields. This terrorist organization also purposely fires rockets from highly populated locations where civilians live.
Past NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in an interview with CNN news, in regards to Hamas’s tactics: “It’s the ultimate cowardness to launch your attack with human shields around you, it’s one of the oldest sick things that terrorists do. They surround themselves with civilians and they reach over their heads to attack you and if you defend yourself by attacking back the civilians get in the way and they say oh look you’re killing civilians.”
Video evidence shows Hamas launching rockets from civilian buildings, hospitals, and kindergartens. These are not new tactics for Hamas.
Hamas sends rockets nearly every day towards Israel to kill anyone it will hit. Unlike Hamas, the IDF protects its people and even tries to protect innocent civilians in Gaza. The Israeli army broadcast a radio message in Arabic, warning residents that: “For your safety, get away from Hamas and their hiding places. Don’t go near them. They’re endangering your lives. For your safety, don’t let them near your homes, don’t let them hide in your homes.”
The IDF also sends warning shots to alert civilians to evacuate the area. Read the rest of this entry »
Rocket fired from Gaza moments ago hits a gas station in Ashdod
Posted: July 10, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, War Room | Tags: Ashdod, Gaza, Gaza Strip, Hamas, Iron Dome, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Middle East 1 CommentBREAKING PHOTOS: Rocket fired from Gaza moments ago hits a gas station in Ashdod, causing fire, 3 injured 1 seriously pic.twitter.com/PkfhQc73RG
— Israel News Feed (@IsraelHatzolah) July 11, 2014
[VIDEO] Arabs Celebrate Missile Strikes On Israeli Civilians
Posted: July 8, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, Global, Mediasphere, War Room | Tags: Abbas, Al-Aqsa Mosque, Gaza, Gaza Strip, Hamas, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Israeli, Jerusalem, Temple Mount, Tuesday 1 CommentHundreds of Arabs flocked to the Temple Mount on Tuesday afternoon to celebrate the barrage of rockets upon Israel’s civilian population. The video, captioned in Arabic, reads “[c]elebrations at the Holy Al-Aqsa mosque after hearing the sounds of rockets explode in occupied Jerusalem.”
[See Also: President Abbas’ Advisor Urges Palestinians To Murder Israelis]
Israelis Taking Cover in Tel Aviv
Posted: July 8, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, Global, War Room | Tags: Gaza, Gaza Strip, Hamas, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Middle East, Tel Aviv Leave a commentIsraelis taking cover in Tel Aviv. This has to stop. #StopTheRockets pic.twitter.com/a9qlnLju3m
— Andreas Fagerbakke (@afagerbakke) July 8, 2014
BREAKING: After Bodies of Israeli Teens Found, Jets Strike Several Sites in Gaza
Posted: June 30, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, War Room | Tags: Alon Shvut, Benjamin Netanyahu, Eshkol Regional Council, Gaza, Gaza Strip, Hamas, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, New York City, Times Of Israel, West Bank Leave a comment
Air force targets locations in Khan Younis, Rafah; rocket fired at Eshkol region; no injuries or damage reported
The Times of Israel reports: Israeli jets struck several sites in Khan Younes and Rafah in the Gaza Strip early Tuesday morning, according to Palestinian sources.
ABC NEWS reports: Following the discovery of the bodies of three Israeli teenagers who were kidnapped in the West Bank earlier this month, reporters said they could hear the sound of airstrikes tonight in Gaza.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the strikes were in retaliation for the kidnappings and murders, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed to avenge. The Israel Defense Forces also tweeted early Tuesday morning that a rocket was fired from Gaza into Israel, but no damage was reported….(read more)
Vigil for the three Israeli teens outside of the Israeli Consulate in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Earlier, a rocket was fired in the direction of the Eshkol Regional Council, landing in open terrain. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
A broken window from a rocket strike on Sdot Negev
The strikes came hours after the bodies of kidnapped Israeli teenagers — Eyal Yifrach, 19, Gil-ad Shaar, 16 and Naftali Fraenkel, 16 — were found partially buried in a field near the West Bank village of Halhul, north of Hebron.
The teenagers were kidnapped on the night of June 12 at a hitchhiking post outside the settlement of Alon Shvut in the Etzion Bloc south of Jerusalem.
The bodies were found at about 5:30 p.m. Monday, bound and partially buried, in an open field in a hard-to-access area. The site is less than 20 kilometers (12 miles) from where the teens had been abducted. Read the rest of this entry »
Israel’s Christian Awakening
Posted: December 29, 2013 Filed under: Art & Culture, Global, History | Tags: Arab Christian, Christian, Christian Arab, Christmas, Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Nazareth 1 CommentA Controversial New Movement Wants to Cooperate More Closely With the Jewish State
LOOKING UP: Celebrating Christmas in Nazareth, December 2012 Reuters
Adi Schwartz writes: As Christmas neared, an 85-foot-high tree presided over the little square in front of the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Kindergarten children with Santa Claus hats entered the church and listened to their teacher explain in Arabic the Greek inscriptions on the walls, while a group of Russian pilgrims knelt on their knees and whispered in prayer. In Nazareth’s old city, merchants sold the usual array of Christmas wares.
This year, however, the familiar rhythms of Christmas season in the Holy Land have been disturbed by a new development: the rise of an independent voice for Israel’s Christian community, which is increasingly trying to assert its separate identity. For decades, Arab Christians were considered part of Israel’s sizable Palestinian minority, which comprises both Muslims and Christians and makes up about a fifth of the country’s citizens, according to the Israeli government.
But now, an informal grass-roots movement, prompted in part by the persecution of Christians elsewhere in the region since the Arab Spring, wants to cooperate more closely with Israeli Jewish society—which could mean a historic change in attitude toward the Jewish state. “Israel is my country, and I want to defend it,” says Henry Zaher, an 18-year-old Christian from the village of Reineh who was visiting Nazareth. “The Jewish state is good for us.”
The Christian share of Israel’s population has decreased over the years—from 2.5% in 1950 to 1.6% today, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics—because of migration and a low birthrate. Of Israel’s 8 million citizens, about 130,000 are Arabic-speaking Christians (mostly Greek Catholic and Greek Orthodox), and 1.3 million are Arab Muslims.
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