Since my blog has moved, I can no longer use Bloggers "Follower" gadget. If you are a part of NetWorked blogs, which includes a Facebook page, you can follow through NetworkedBlogs, and I can follow you back. Please come to my new blog - MaggiesNotebook.com, see the NetworkedBlogs widget in the right sidebar and click follow. I will follow back.
"I learned that in extreme situations when human lives and dignity are at state, neutrality is a sin. It helps the killers, not the victims." Elie Wiesel, Holocaust Survivor who lost his family in the Holocaust - Nobel Prize Author
Socialism - Liberalism Quotation
"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened." – Norman Thomas
For the last week rockets fired from Gaza have been a daily occurrence. Although they have caused limited damage to property and no one has been hurt or killed. (Frayed nerves and a couple of neurotic cats.) It is only a matter of time before someone is killed.
A Grad rocket fired by Gaza terrorists hit an open area near a residential neighborhood in Ashkelon on Friday morning. No physical injuries were reported, although several people suffered shock and required medical attention. A vehicle was also damaged.
Ashkelon had experienced relative quiet following the Cast Lead counterterror operation in Gaza in early 2009.
The attack follows an attack last week that was carried out using an imported rocket more sophisticated than the short-range “Kassam” rockets produced in Gaza. In that case, the rocket failed to explode, and no injuries were reported.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has followed a policy of quick response to attacks from Gaza. Air Force planes have demolished smuggling tunnels and weapons factories in the region following previous rocket attacks.
Sderot is the only town and the Western Negav is the only region in the world, where missiles are fired towards civilian population in the 21st Century.--Sderot Media Center
If you are planning a visit to Israel, plan a side visit to Sderot. You can contact the Sderot Media Center for a tour.
As an everyday person and member of the general public, aren't you tired of being lied to?
This past Saturday night the Gaza Strip had a grand opening for its new shopping mall called "Strip Mall." As the world continues its chastising of Israel, the nation that uprooted its citizens and got at least one rocket per person it uprooted in return for its sacrifice for peace, Gazans including the over 10,500 that received Israeli medical treatment in 2009 can enjoy the new goodies of the "Strip Mall."
This Sunday morning, EU's Senior Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton called for Israel to lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip. On her last visit this past March 18th she was in such a hurry to get to Gaza that she didn't visit nearby Netiv HaAsara where a Gaza qassam rocket murdered Manee Singmueangphon, a thai worker. On this visit when she was so overwhelmed with seeing all the terrible sites of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, was she able to stop in to check the opening day sales at the "Strip Mall?"
This past Saturday as the Gaza "Strip Mall" opened Sky News reported on the "still dire" situation in Gaza. The article reads, "The blockade has meant that only basics like flour, rice and sugar have been allowed into Gaza from Israel." Isn't it funny how one does not see any of these items in the joyous pictures of the Gaza "Strip Mall" grand opening?
UNRWA President John Ging,said on the day of the Gaza "Strip Mall" grand opening said that the people of Gaza, "Can't afford to buy cans of Coca Cola from Israel." But they can afford new clothes, luxury hair products, and children's toys at the new Gaza "Strip Mall?"
Is John Ging kidding me? The UN gave nearly $200 million in aid to Gaza in just the six months following Operation Cast Lead. It only gave $10 million in aid to Haiti following the devastating earthquake- Wyclef Jean should be campaigning in Geneva not just on The Huffington Post.
To what humanitarian crisis are these international "aid" ships sailing to? Does the Libyan warlord dictator Qaddafi, who sent a ship this past week, own a store in the Gaza Strip Mall?"
As an everyday person and member of the general public aren't you tired of being fed these lies about Gaza. If you're not, take a day off and go shopping at the new Gaza "Strip Mall."
Jacob Shrybman is the Assistant Director of the Sderot Media Center,www.SderotMedia.org.il . Jacob grew up in Takoma Park, MD and now hosts elected officials from around the world and international media visiting the Sderot/Gaza region. He has been published in The Jerusalem Post, USA Today, The Huffington Post, YNet News, and appeared on several international television and radio stations.
It has been over a week since the Gaza Mall opened its doors, Yet the world still cries out that there is an "Humanitarian Crises" in Gaza. Can you say Double Standard?
Anti-missile system is set to be deployed in Israel in November.
After passing its final operational test on Monday, the Iron Dome anti-missile system is set to be deployed in Israel in November, and residents living within rocket range of theGaza Strip are greeting the announcement with both relief and dismissal.
Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin, whose city was bombarded by Kassam and Grad rockets during Operation Cast Lead, welcomed the impending deployment of Iron Dome, which he said would make a significant improvement in the quality of life of his city’s residents.
“I very much hope that one of the Iron Dome teams will be deployed in Ashkelon, because it can ensure us protection,” Vaknin said on Tuesday. “We took hundreds of rockets and Grads in Cast Lead, so we deserve a system like this.”
Vaknin called the news “very positive” for Ashkelon and vowed that the defense system would increase the deterrence against Israel’s enemies, as well as feelings of security among the public. “It’s expensive, but what can you do, it’s for the sake of security,” he said, when asked about what many consider the platform’s prohibitive cost.
Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilna’i said later in the day that Iron Dome would not succeed in intercepting all of the rockets fired into Israel. “It is more likely that it will intercept about 80 percent,” he told Israel Radio.
Vilna’i said that residents of Gaza-belt communities would continue to be threatened by rockets for “years to come.” He added that the IDF would not deploy the system along the southern border immediately, but would do so based on operational requirements.
Development of Iron Dome has cost over $200 million, and the program has come under repeated criticism because of its high cost. The system operates by identifying an incoming threat and then firing a missile to intercept it in mid-air. The missiles cost tens of thousands of dollars each, while the crudely-made rockets they’re meant to take down cost very little.
In an article on the CBN News Web site on Wednesday, Yossi Drucker, director of the Iron Dome project, said each Tamir missile would cost $100,000.
Military analyst Reuven Pedatzur is less than thrilled about the system, which he has referred to as “a scam.”
“If each missile we fire costs $100,000, and each Kassam costs $10, $20, then all they’ll need to do is shoot as many rockets as they possibly can until we go broke. Hizbullah alone is believed to have over 150,000 longrange rockets. We can’t afford this.”
Pedatzur called statements that Israel now has the means to solve all of its missile and rocket threats “nonsense and delusional,” citing the short flight time of most projectiles fired at Israel, and the time it takes for Iron Dome to identify and intercept a threat.
“The system can’t defend against anything with a range of less than four and a half kilometers, and also possibly projectiles with a range of up to 10 km,” he said. “It can’t protect Sderot or the western Negev because there isn’t enough time, enough range. The flight time of a Kassam is 14 seconds, and it takes Iron Dome 15 seconds to identify a threat and fire a missile.”
Pedatzur added that the system can’t target mortars, which were heavily used by Gaza militants during Cast Lead.
“Basically, the whole story, that they have solved the threats facing Israel, is nonsense, it’s delusional.”
Sderot resident and director of the Sderot Media Center Noam Bedein was similarly underwhelmed by news that Iron Dome was on its way to deployment, saying that it won’t provide protection to the western Negev town.
“Iron Dome is supposed to work only on objects fired from over 4 km. away, so those of us on the border with Gaza won’t be protected. Here in Sderot, everyone understands that it won’t protect the people.”
Bedein added that if the government was so sure about the effectiveness of Iron Dome, it wouldn’t have spent “half a billion dollars turning us into the bomb shelter capital of the world.”
Yaakov Katz contributed to this report.
Iron Dome is a joint venture between Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and the Department of Defense. Iron Dome is only one of the many joint projects being developed.
The Iron Dome is an effective and innovative mobile defense solution for countering short range rockets and 155 mm artillery shell threats with ranges of up to 70 km in all weather conditions, including low clouds, rain, dust storms or fog.
The system uses a unique interceptor with a special warhead that detonates any target in the air within seconds.
The Iron Dome radar detects and identifies the rocket or artillery shell launch and monitors its trajectory. Target data is transmitted to the Battle Management & Weapon Control (BMC) for processing. The threat’s trajectory is quickly analyzed and the expected impact point is estimated.
If the estimated rocket trajectory poses a critical threat, a command is given within seconds and an interceptor is launched against the threat.
The interceptor receives trajectory updates from the BMC via uplink communication. The interceptor approaches the target and uses its radar seeker to acquire the target and guides the interceptor within passing distance. The target warhead is detonated over a neutral area, therefore reducing collateral damage to the protected area.
The drawbacks to such a system are:
1. Limitations of time. It takes Iron Dome 15 seconds to respond, a Kassem 14 seconds.
2. Each Iron Dome missile cost $100,000, a Grad or Kassem costs $10, $20.
3. It is only 80% effective. In the North Hezbollah can overwhelm the system with the amount of sheer numbers of rockets at their disposal.
While not the panacea both government are claiming, it is a lot better than the nothing that was there before.
Every day thousands of Israeli civilians live with the fear of an rocket attack from Gaza. And the world doesn't care. They are nothing to the world, less than animals to the media.
You can help change that. When the idiots leftists cry that Gaza is under siege, is a concentration camp, a prison, point to the Gaza Mall, the Olympic Swimming Poolor The Roots Club. Ask where the money came from? The concrete? How do they stock the stores in the mall? Or where the food for the restaurant is delivered (Aren't the people starving due to there being no food in Gaza? See the pictures here. Warning Graphic Pictures of the Gaza Crises!)?
But most of all, you can donate. The few dollars you send to the Sderot Media Center does a world of good. It helps the people of Sderot cope with the daily barrage of rockets. Did you know that over 85% of all children in Sderot suffer from PTSD? There is no other place in this world that occurs. Counseling for these children is expensive and the government can only help a few. So please give. It just takes a few moments of your time. Just click here.
A hit on YouTube with over 350,000 views, Yedida Freilich's song "Only Israel" speaks the truth louder than the meager words I can write.
A 22-year-old pianist from the Gush Etzion settlement of Neveh Daniel has become the latest YouTube phenomenon with her pro-Israel hasbara song “Only Israel.”
Yedida Freilich, a composition student at the capital’s Rubin Academy of Music and Dance, wrote the mournful piano ballad along with her father, Gabby, and brother Yuval, following the Gaza flotilla incident last month. In only two weeks, the video has attracted over 350,000 views on YouTube and turned Freilich into a celebrity in nationalist circles.
“The song transpired by chance,” Gabby Freilich told The Jerusalem Post this week from Australia, where he was visiting family. “One of Yedida’s projects in school was to compose a musical piece for a political song. As it happened, the assignment fell on the same week as the flotilla.”
Freilich said he was moved to write down lyrics after seeing the world’s reaction to the IDF raid on the Mavi Marmara, which left nine passengers dead.
The video clip of her moving performance on piano and vocals, with lyrics switching between English and Hebrew, is juxtaposed with images of Kassam rockets, St.-Sgt. Gilad Schalit, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, judge Richard Goldstone and the Mavi Marmara.
The lyrics decry the double standard Freilich says Israel faces when trying to defend itself, and includes couplets such as “Eight thousand rockets is no excuse / suicide bombers, it’s all just a ruse” and a Hebrew chorus of “Darfur is ignored, Russian troops in Chechnya, only Israel has no right to defend itself, because the world cares nothing about Jewish blood.”
“It was obvious to me that this was a hasbara [public diplomacy] song. Our efforts at explaining what happened with the flotilla were so appalling, and this did so well in explaining our positions, I knew it had to go on YouTube,” said Freilich.
He found a professional videographer, Daniel Sass, who volunteered his time, and together they chose the images and produced the clip.
Freilich insisted that the song appear with English, Hebrew and Arabic subtitles.
“I thought that it was important that the Arabs would be able to understand it,” he said.
“I think it’s a powerful song and a great tune. Yedida sings it from the heart. You can tell she’s involved in the lyrics and the performance, because it’s part of her life – her friends and her family are involved.”
Israel's legitimacy as an independent Jewish state is being undermined and threatened like never before, especially in Europe.
This became apparent during a short journey to Brussels and a nine-day speaking tour in Norway during the diplomatic crises of the Gaza aid 'flotilla'.
"It doesn't look good for Israel in the future if in this crisis, Israel loses support from friendly countries such as Spain and Italy" said a colleague who works as a political consultant of an Italian MP, (and asked not to be named citing security concerns).
At the European Parliament house in Brussels, the flotilla aftermath made one issue obvious: Israel had better start strategizing on focusing its talking points and PR in presenting the Israeli perspective to the last of the Europeans still willing to listen. Or else Israel risks becoming isolated like South Africa was in the last years of Apartheid.
"It is a dangerous situation when EU members choose to be blind, in order not to see and hear the actual facts," an Italian MP told me regarding the Israel's side presented to the EU Parliament house after the flotilla episode.
This observation was made while en route to a press conference where Efraim Halevy, former Israeli ambassador to the EU, was ' lynched’ by reporters, over the flotilla crises, and was raked over the coals by a REUTERS reporter. Ironically, the same REUTERS news agency had fabricated flotilla photos to present the image of 'peace activists' by splicing out the knives carried by the Turkish terrorists.
All this took place minutes before a Conference on Global Terrorism, where Mr. Halevy was asked by the Palestinian ambassador to the EU: "What about the serious accusation of the Swedish reporter about the stealing Palestinian organs by Israeli soldiers during the Gaza war? Why was that reporter kicked out of Israel for further investigation?"
The fact that questions like these about Israeli policies still ring in the international forums, reflect the depths of hatred and pure misinformation that is being cultivated in Europe--emanating from successful propaganda campaigns reminiscent of the Third Reich era against the Jewish people.
No matter what basic facts were presented and exposed to all about the Gaza aid flotilla, as so well presented by Law Professor Alan Dershowitz in his article- "Israel obeyed international law: Legally, the Gaza flotilla conflict is an open-and-shut case" it wouldn't matter because EU countires and their MP's have already been wooed to one side.
"The EU’s primary ‘case' against Israel in the EU Parliament regarding the flotilla crises, is with no doubt the killings’ in "international waters," according to Mr. Nuno Martines from European Friends of Israel.
Israeli PR is ticking at one minute before the END GAME, where there’s no looking back. It must refocus its main points and battles, when the Gaza/Palestinian narrative has had so deep an effect on people’s minds and hearts.
And this is the result of losing in the first battle in the Second Gaza Media War:
Case in point: a small briefing of the Israeli Ambassador to the EU took place in a local library in down town Brussels. This session was scheduled before the flotilla crises organized by the organization "Young Professionals of Foreign Affairs’ regarding the relationship between Israel and the EU.
Almost all the questions asked by young professionals in the audience at the meeting had a direct reference to the Holocaust or to Nazi Germany.
A young Italian woman's query was typical: "I admit I don’t know enough about the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, but how can you as people who experienced a Holocaust can let children starve in an humanitarian crises like Gaza is?"
A young staffer for a Belgian MP chimed in: "How can people who’ve been through so much only 65 years ago, ignore the sufferings of the Palestinians?"
And the last question,asked in a laconic, non-chalant manner - "Why should Israel keep its identity as a Jewish state? After all, we all remember the last European country that wanted to define itself on a nationalistic note, and look what happened in Germany from there..."
The people who assess the results of the Israel PR media war at this time must come to some immediate conclusions. It is vital that we work to promote the basic human rights as Jews and Israelis for self determination as a state. The time has also come to pioneer a proactive response to the Gaza narrative as Hamas has become a household term around the world.
Based upon this experience in Brussels, Israel must re-focus its time and efforts on outreaching to the thousands of young adult professionals who work as MP staffers to the 736 EU MPs of the EU Parliament house and the European commission. Sending young Israelis to conduct dialogue with Europe's up and coming generation is the most effective outreach that can be done.
As an Israeli who lives less than a mile from Gaza and experiencing the third 'cease fire' between Israel and Hamas where already hundreds of rockets have been fired towards Israel, I know that the times are difficult. The total number of rocket and missile attacks fired from Gaza towards Israel as of mid-June, has risen to 370 since the end of the military operation in Gaza, January 18, 2009. It is clear is that the security situation in southern Israel on the ground is very fragile, just as Israel’s image is in neighboring Europe. We need to do all we can to prepare for the inevitable battle of rocket/flotilla warfare, while simultaneously implementing a media strategy to retain our allies in Europe.
As Israel marks five years to the withdrawal of Israeli troops and civilians from Gaza Strip--the only nation in modern history that has ever given land for peace after winning a war--Hamas continues to find other means to wage conflict. Since Hamas militarily took over the Gaza Strip in 2007, the battle for Israel's right to exist has only increased. As of now, the Islamic regime of Hamas today, the only such terrorist organization in the world that controls an entire population of civilians thanks to international support, is doing all it can to win on the PR front.
It's seems as Gaza today is haunting us..
And here comes the next load of ships...
I personally have given up on Europe and the trash that lives there. I firmly believe that within a few years Europe will be living under Shar'ia Law as Dhimmis. Too bad for them, the warning signs are there now.
As the director of Sderot Media Center, I find it is important to speak at eye-level to university students and other young audiences and to present a first-hand account of Israel’s stand versus the Gaza narrative.
During my fourth visit to the Christian Zionist communities in Norway, where I was invited by a pro-Israel advocacy group by the name of MIFF, to take part in a media conference that took place in Oslo. As a resident of Sderot, I talked about what it is like to live under the constant threat of missiles fired from Hamas-ruled Gaza.
I defend Israel’s blockade of Gaza, as a legal and necessary measure against an entity sworn to Israel’s destruction and its removal that would lead to a flood of heavy Iranian weaponry, including long- range missile systems entering Gaza.
My visit coincided with Israel’s latest diplomatic crisis in wake of the Turkish-led Flotilla to Gaza that tried to forcefully break Israel’s naval blockade while posing as a self-described human rights delegation offering humanitarian aid.
I cannot begin to describe the oasis of comfort I felt at the sight of the huge Israeli flags waving proudly from the terraces of pro-Israel Christians.
Where only moments before I felt so isolated, drowning in a sea of hatred while the massive negative media blindly turned against Israel, with every headline screaming “Israel massacres human rights activists”, these Chrisitan Zionists unapologetically took a stand for Israel. While European politicians were calling for a boycott on Israel - the Christian Zionists communities got together and made a point of purchasing products with labels “Made in Israel.”
My travels have exposed me to the pro-Israel Christian communities.
Being raised in an orthodox Jewish home, it has been somewhat of an experience for me to feel at home with the Christian communities. Yet, only they understand me when I point out that the Middle East conflict is a war of religions. These communities are completely familiar and in agreement with the Jewish people’s right to live in the Land of Israel.
Nancy and Doug's beautiful home in Lyngdall, Norway.
When I get up with the Bible in hand and say “here in this Bible is the word of God saying that the Land of Israel belongs to the People of Israel”. We have every right to live in Sderot and any other part of the land in peace and security". The audience cheers and says “Amen” and “Hallelujah.”
It was New Year’s Eve, 2010, when I first met the presidential candidate of Zambia, Dr. Savior Chishimba. Savior, a devout Christian and staunch Zionist, came to Sderot to take part in the Sderot “Sderot Rally for Hope” - an initiative of the Sderot Media Center - commemorating one year to the “Cast Lead” military operation in Gaza, marching to the hope that the new decade will bring a halt to Qassam rockets from Gaza targeting civilians in Sderot.
Dr. Savior represented the African civilians who fell pray to acts of terror from radical Islamic forces during the last decade.
Saviour Chashimba at the Sderot Rally for Hope.
Nowadays, most African countries do not have diplomatic relations with Israel due to their succumbing to the Arab boycott and their oil dependency on the Gulf States.
Traveling to Africa, I was invited to speak at the Kenya Security Council and at two Kenyan universities where most of the students are Christians. I was received warmly and was able to talk openly about life in Sderot alongside Islamic terror and the necessity for a security fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip. This was mentioned in context to the parallel threat facing Kenya and the importance of a security fence between Moslem Somalia and Christian Kenya where approximately 5000 Moslems infiltrate Kenya daily including radical Islamic elements who carry out terror attacks on Kenyan territory.
Our paths crossed again last March at the “Jerusalem House of Prayer” in Lusaka, capitol of Zambia where I was invited to speak. Savior said he was planning another visit to Israel and I invited him to join my family for Seder night.
Dr. Savior took me up on the invitation and indeed joined my family for Seder Night at my parents’ home in Efrat, Gush Etzion:
Savior took delight in the many rituals he witnessed at our Seder table. He enjoyed the taste of his first Matza and loved the idea of drinking 4 cups of fine wine! He followed with rapt attention the story of Israel’s exodus from Egypt and it was clear that he was familiar with the story.
Chashimba and Bedein at press conference in Lusaka, Zambia.
His parting words to us were his promise to renew diplomatic ties with Israel when elected president and to set up the Zambian Embassy in Jerusalem. “I plan to awaken the Christian majority in Zambia to the importance of having ties with the Jewish people in Israel”, he said.
“Whosoever blesses the Jewish people will be blessed and whosoever curses the Jewish people will be cursed. You see that all the nations are now coming out against Jerusalem and the Jewish people but you have nothing to fear because the Jewish people will come out on top!”
When he left, someone at the table declared: "Elijah the Prophet has come to give us good tidings!
Speaking to many Christian Zionist audiences all over the world, has led me to believe that in order to make a dent in world opinion that is currently stacked up against us, Israel’s leaders must enlist the help of our Zionist Christian allies. To do so, Israel must send out emissaries to these communities and provide them with advocacy tools so they can stand with Israel and the values it represents and to be prepared and effective in swaying world opinion away from the dangerous Jihadists who vow to destroy all Western civilization.
May G-d Bless the Christian communities world-wide who understand, love and support the State of Israel. May they grow and flourish for many years to come.
Take a good look at those so-called Christian churches, the ones called Main Stream. They are dying. The young people don't attend, the families stay away, they are dying. They also don't support or recognize Israel's right to exist or the right of the Jewish people to have a homeland in our ancestral home.
The churches that are thriving have Zionists for their membership. They will flourish and grow.
The Sderot Media Center is a voice to the world for the people of Sderot. It exists only with the aid of contributions from people like you. Please give.
Magdi Khalil is an Eqyptian-American writer and Abdallah al-Hadlaq is a Kuwaiti journalist. On Al Jazeera TV Khalil blamed increased hostility toward Israel on Western anarchists and said Arab discourse has fueled "illusions and hatred." Abdallah al-Hadlaq, a Kuwaiti journalist writing in Al-Watan, supported Israel's stopping of the terror flotilla. Both men maintain that it was well-know the flotilla was not peaceful.
Magdi Khalil
Magdi Khalil's June 15th appearance on Al-Jazeera TV - a contentious interview - he noted the terrorist connections of the flotilla, which includes The Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH). Khalil calls IHH "a terrorist organization."
Magdi Khalil: Whenever there is an incident, Israel does 'damage control.' This is part of the Israeli defense tactics. These are successful people, not like Ahmadinejad, who said that Security Council Resolution 1929 should be thrown into the garbage bin. They deal with things seriously. These people know the meaning of world opinion.
And here, Khalil also blames "leftist anarchists in the West" for renewed hostility toward Israel by the West.
Magdi Khalil: The Islamists, along with the leftist anarchists in the West and some neo-Nazis, have renewed the hostility towards Israel and the West.
The interviewer tries to quiet Khalil, but it doesn't work, as he points out that the number of people killed in Arab police stations is much higher than those killed in Israeli-Arab wars. (yes, he said "wars.")
Politics and Capitalism quotes Khalil chiding Israel for actually believing the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan's characterization of the flotilla activists as "peaceful people." Khalil said simply, the Turkish PM is an "Islamist" and should not be trusted.
Abdallah Al-Hadlaq, writing that the organizers were supporters of "the terroristic Hamas," Hizbullah, al-Qaeda and Global Jihad, Abdallah Al-Hadlaq said the flotilla was "a pre-planned provocation against Israel," and the [Israeli] soldiers had no choice but to respond." Investigative Project quotes him saying "the world is obsessed" with Gaza while ignoring other important world events, and there is a double standard when it comes to Israel:
Hadlaq explains that there is a "terrible silence, lack of consideration, and indifference that has overcome the world…with regard to more important and more valuable [issues] that merit attention far more than this murky piece of land called the Gaza Strip."
This CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) blog quotes Abdallah al-Hadlaq responding to a Breaking the Silence condemnation of Israel, saying he rejects Gaza's many and varying accusations war crimes committed by Israel, saying the IDF follows international law and obeys order "despite the stress of battle."
However these allegations are to be rejected because the IDF has proved that its troops follow international law and obey orders despite the stress of battle. These testimonies lack sourcing or corroboration, thus preventing any conclusions from being drawn... Furthermore, it was the ostracized Hamas that caused much grief when it fired dozens of Qassam missiles at innocent civilians in the southern towns and villages of Israel. The IDF had no choice but to fight back causing the deaths of 1400 Palestinians, half of them civilians used as human shields by Hamas, in addition to the 5,000 wounded. Israel lost just 10 soldiers and 3 civilians.
I find this very encouraging, and hope these two men can live their lives to a ripe old ages, but I can hear the fatwas now.
In this video, you'll see the Gaza you didn't think existed...because you know - everyone knows the whole area is oppressed, starving, living in cement houses (bombed-out, no less), no air conditioning - no schools, nothing to do but run the streets and throw rocks at Israeli soldiers. Sucker!
Gaza
Roots the Club: "A unique blend of contemporary design and urban chic, Roots Club is an icon in the heart of Gaza City. This multi-use complex - which includes an international cuisine fine dining restaurant, an elegant banquet hall and a terrace cafe - is just minutes from Gazas key attractions, shopping facilities, and business center. It is only 200 meters away from the white sand Gaza beach."
I've seen some funny political videos but this one goes way beyond funny. Thanks to ChicagoRay for this delightful piece of musicality, filmography and breaking news. (My apologies - it appears the video has not been working for my readers. I think George Bush did it, but it's fixed now. Republished on 6-12-10
6-12-10: Today YouTube removed We Con The World. Stellar blogger Velvet Hammer at Ironic Surrealism v3.0 found another copy, so you can view it below or visit Velvet Hammer and say Thank You! You can also ready the story of the original YouTube removal after 3 million hits in about 1 week.
Just love that guy with the green headband!
Lyrics:
There comes a time
When we need to make a show
For the world, the Web and CNN
There’s no people dying,
so the best that we can do
Is create the greatest bluff of all
We must go on pretending day by day
That in Gaza, there’s crisis, hunger and plague
Coz the billion bucks in aid won’t buy their basic needs
Like some cheese and missiles for the kids
We’ll make the world
Abandon reason
We’ll make them all believe that the Hamas
Is Momma Theresa
We are peaceful travelers
With guns and our own knives
The truth will never find its way to your TV
Ooooh, we’ll stab them at heart
They are soldiers, no one cares
We are small, and we took some pictures with doves
As Allah showed us, for facts there’s no demand
So we will always gain the upper hand
We’ll make the world
Abandon reason
We’ll make them all believe that the Hamas
Is Momma Theresa
We are peaceful travelers
we’re waving our own knives
The truth will never find its way to your TV
If Islam and terror brighten up your mood
But you worry that it may not look so good
Well well well well don’t you realize
You just gotta call yourself
An activist for peace and human aid
We’ll make the world
Abandon reason
We’ll make them all believe that the Hamas
Is Momma Theresa
We are peaceful travelers
We’re waving our own knives
The truth will never find its way to your TV
We con the world
We con the people
We’ll make them all believe the IDF is Jack the Ripper
We are peaceful travelers
We’re waving our own knives
The truth will never find its way to your TV
We con the world (Bruce: we con the world…)
We con the people (Bruce: we con the people…)
We’ll make them all believe the IDF is Jack the Ripper
We are peaceful travelers
We’re waving our own knives
The truth will never find its way to your TV
The truth will never find its way to your TV
Shocking video showing the intolerable misery in Gaza, isolated from the world by Israel, but soon to be relieved with a Palestinian Jobs bill - $400 million from the U.S.
Fox News is reporting that Reuters has printed two different versions of a photo showing a flotilla terrorist (known as a "peace activist" in some circles): one photo with a knife in the hand of the "peace activist," and another with the knife cropped out. The photo with the knife was published in a Turkish newspaper. They are also accused of hiding the soldier's (or a soldier's) blood by cropping it out of a photo.
Reuters Photo with Knife (lower right corner)
Reuters Cropped Photo Sans Knife
According to Fox News' Trace Gallagher, Reuters is known for attempting to tarnish Israel and especially the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).
In 2006 Reuters admitted altering a photo of Beirut after an IAF attack to make it look as if more damage was caused than actually was. Reuters later admitted that 'photo editing software was improperly used on the image" and it suspended the photographer.
This time, Reuters said it was an accident. No word on any consequences for the "accident." Here's some conversation going on in the blogosphere:
The blood of a wounded Israel soldier also was omitted from the two
photographs...
"That’s a very interesting way to crop the photo," the blogger wrote.
"Most people would consider that knife an important part of the
context. There was a huge controversy over whether the activists were
armed. Cropping out a knife, in a picture showing a soldier who’s
apparently been stabbed, seems like a very odd editorial decision."
Reuters said it is standard operating procedure to crop photos at the
margins, and replaced the cropped images with the original ones after
it was brought to the agency's attention.
Just one more bit of evidence that blogs may be the most accurate place for news if you are willing to read and sift the chaff. If you desperately want Israel to look monstrous, as does Reuters, then cropping the evidence that belies that, is certainly the thing to do.
Furkan Dogan was among the dead on board the Gaza Flotilla, on the Mavi Marmara. The ship was stopped by Israeli IDF to be searched for weapons destined for Gaza. Dogan was a U.S. citizen and a Turkish-American. He lived in Turkey. Eight other Turks died as the ship's passengers attacked the Israeli military.
Furkan Dogan
Mr. Dogan was a 19-year-old high school student from the town of Kayseri. He was born in Troy, New York and moved with his family to Turkey when he was 2-years-old.
The blockade of ships going into Gaza has been in place for a number of years. Israel conducts the search, removes weaponry and send the ships on their way. This time, the flotilla knew they would be stopped and searched, and decided to aggressively stop it. Some aboard the ship used metal rods, heavy chains - they threw plates and worse. People on both sides died.
I don't know this young man's thinking for being aboard this boat that Turkey wants to spin as "charity." Turkey admits it was a "test." I don't know how Dogan was caught up in the fighting, but there is one thing very clear, every Muslim country in the area, including Turkey, wants to do away with Israel and with Jews. Israel has the right to blockade according to international law. They have to do it. They don't have a choice.
A few days ago, President Obama said the War on Terror is over, and we learned that Syria has 1,000 ballistic missiles pointed at Israel, courtesy of Iran. In the same time span, Hizballah received 1,000 rockets, courtesy of Iran. Israel is the only country that will receive these rockets - intended for launch into Israel. Also a few days ago, Israel was notified that a "six boat flotilla" of ships carrying "aid" to Gaza would pass through their blockade. Israel considered the "flotilla" "an act of provocation," and notified Turkey the "flotilla" would be searched at their port at Ashdod. In the past, numerous ships carrying supposed aid to Gaza have been stopped and found to be carrying weapons. Apparently the "flotilla" had no plans to be search. See a revealing video below - and remember, Israel had the right to board the ship, even though the ship was in international waters.
Flag of Israel
Israeli commandos boarded one of the ships and there were deaths on both sides. There is a blockade in place. This incident was not about humanitarian aid, but was about putting Israel in a terrible place in the eyes of the world. How many journalists were aboard that Turkish cruise ship?
The Israeli Navy contacted the ships and warned them they would not allowed to break the blockade, as provided by the Oslo Accords:
International law allows for countries to ask suspicious boats to identify themselves. The vessels' passengers did not cooperate and called the move "scare tactics" on their streamed broadcasts.
The request was refused. Here's what happened next:
The IDF searched the boats for arms immediately after the takeover. The soldiers were forced to use tear gas after they were attacked with knives, daggers and cudgels, putting their lives in danger. Unofficial reports that ten persons have been killed and another ten wounded were admitted to Rambam Hospital in Haifa were changed by the Arab television station Al Jazeera, to two killed and four wounded. An Al Jazeera reporter on one of the boats reported hearing gunshots.
Israel was set-up for a peaceful search. There was no way for Israel to discern the truth without boarding the ship.
The preparations included a compound at the Ashdod port consisting of air conditioned tents equipped with computerized stations, metal detectors, and seating for the activists manning the ships. The IDF is preparing for the arrival of some 800 peace activists. The IDF said that they were ready to carry out the government's decision to prevent the ships from reaching the Gaza shore.
The IDF said Thursday that much thought was put into the preparations for the convoy's arrival. The plans include trained navy forces boarding the ships, with the aid of dogs, to search for weapons and explosives as well as wanted terrorists. The IDF said that they did not know whether the ships carried these items or people, but that they were preparing for any possible scenario to prevent potential catastrophes.
Nine activistsagitators terrorists are reported dead. Seven IDF are injured, two gravely. An Israeli IDF who boarded the ship said the activists tried to take hostages - Israeli hostages are the dream of Palestinians. In the video below, you will see an Israeli Navy Seal thrown overboard. This ship knew the search would be peaceful. The terrorists aboard laid-in-wait and attacked before the Israeli's feet hit the deck. Israel had the right to search!
He [Netanyahu] says hundreds of people on board that ship beat, clubbed and stabbed soldiers, and there was a report of gunfire. He says that forced soldiers to attack.
With the defection of the U.S., the world's governments have finally fallen into the footsteps of the Islamic-dominated U.N. The U.N. is meeting to discuss the horror of Israel's deeds. The world is now positioned against Israel. The War on Terror continues. The video below shows the violence against the IDF, and this IDF video is even better.
Is the fancy restaurants and Olympic-size pools kept hidden from the West!
Yes that is the truth. Some Concentration Camp! That is what the Main Stream Media and the pro-Palestinian anti-Semites in the Free Gaza Movement call Gaza: The World's Largest Concentration Camp!
What they (The Main Stream Media) won’t tell you about are the fancy new restaurants and swimming pools of Gaza, or about the wind surfing competitions on Gaza beaches, or the Strip’s crowded shops and markets. Many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza live a middle class (and in some cases an upper class) lifestyle that western journalists refuse to report on because it doesn’t fit with the simplistic story they were sent to write.
Here, courtesy of the Palestinian Ma’an news agency, is a report on Gaza’s new Olympic-sized swimming pool . (Most Israeli towns don’t have Olympic-size swimming pools. One wonders how an area that claims to be starved of water and building materials and depends on humanitarian aid builds an Olympic size swimming pool and creates a luxury lifestyle for some while others are forced to live in abject poverty as political pawn refugees?)
If you pop into the Roots Club in Gaza, according to the Lonely Planet guidebook, you can “dine on steak au poivre and chicken cordon bleu”.
The restaurant’s website in Arabic gives a window into middle class dining and the lifestyle of Hamas officials in Gaza. And here it is in English, for all the journalists, UN types and NGO staff who regularly frequent this and other nice Gaza restaurants (but don’t tell their readers about them).
And here is a promotional video of the club restaurant . In case anyone doubts the authenticity of this video, I just called the club in Gaza City and had a nice chat with the manager who proudly confirmed business is booming and many Palestinians and international guests are dining there.
In a piece for The Wall Street Journal last year, I documented the “after effects” of a previous “emergency Gaza boat flotilla,” when the arrivals were seen afterwards purchasing souvenirs in well-stocked shops. (You can also scroll down here for more pictures of Gaza’s “impoverished” shops.)
But the mainstream liberal international media won’t report on any of this. Playing the manipulative game of the BBC is easy: if we had their vast taxpayer funded resources, we too could produce reports about parts of London, Manchester and Glasgow and make it look as though there is a humanitarian catastrophe throughout the UK. We could produce the same effect by selectively filming seedy parts of Paris and Rome and New York and Los Angeles too.
Of course there is poverty in Gaza. There is poverty in parts of Israel too. (When was the last time a foreign journalist based in Israel left the pampered lounge bars and restaurants of the King David and American Colony hotels in Jerusalem and went to check out the slum-like areas of southern Tel Aviv? Or the hard-hit Negev towns of Netivot or Rahat?)
But the way that many prominent Western news media are deliberately misleading global audiences and systematically creating the false impression that people are somehow starving in Gaza, and that it is all Israel’s fault, can only serve to increase hatred for the Jewish state – which one suspects was the goal of many of the editors and reporters involved in the first place.
Olympic-sized swimming pools and fancy gourmet restaurants just like the type that Auschwitz and Dachau had. And what about those starving children?
These children look starved, malnourished, and depressed!
Depression really has taken hold on these children of Gaza.
Compare those pictures to these of actual starving children.
These children starved to death. There have been no reports of massive starvation or malnutrition coming out of Gaza. If anyone can show me reputable source (None Palestinian or Free Gaza loonies. WHO, or International Red Cross is acceptable.) I will post a retraction. But they don't
acknowledge any incidents.
Before one condemns, one should learn all the facts.
This month has been busy for the residents of Sderot (pronounced: STAY'rot). Let us start with this bit of optimism.
Sderot, Israel (31.12.09): Hours before the new year, as hundreds of pro-Palestinian and Arab demonstrators gathered at the Erez Crossing chanting "Katyushas on Ma'alot, Qassams on Sderot," while Israeli demonstrators at another Gaza viewpoint a few meters away gathered together to communicate a very different message.
A group of Israelis singing songs of peace versus a group of Arabs calling for the bombing of these people. And the idiots on the left (especially the ones in the White House, Speaker's Office and the Senate Majority Leader) all have concluded that Israelis don't want peace, only Arabs do.
And black is white, good is bad, up is down. Nothing to see here folks...just move along.
Since Operation Cast Lead, over 306 rockets have been fired from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. On Sunday, January 10, Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu told cabinet ministers that he regarded the recent escalation of rocket attacks very seriously.
Rocket attack in Sderot. (Photo: Hamutal Ben Shitrit/Sderot Media Center)
"Last week 20 rockets and mortar rounds were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip. The Government's policy is clear: Any firing at our territory will be responded to strongly and immediately."
Both Netivot and Ashkelon were hit by Grad rockets in the recent rocket escalation. On New Years' eve, two Russian-made Grad artillery rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip and struck Israel, with one hitting the southern town of Netivot, a city of about 26,000.
The Color Red system did not go off at the time of attack, and Netivot residents had no warning of the incoming rocket attack. No damages were reported but one woman suffered shock.
The last Grad rocket to strike Netivot had exploded near a synagogue nine months ago, causing heavy damage to the building.
A week later, on Thursday, January 7, a Grad-type Katyusha rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck a field south of Ashkelon, causing no damage or injuries. Air sirens, however, did sound, sending Ashkelon residents into panic.
Ashkelon, a coastal city with over 100,000 residents, has been a target of Palestinian-fired Katyusha rockets for nearly four years.
Since the start of 2010, tens of Iranian-supplied mortar rockets have also hit southern Israel. Terrorists also fired an anti-tank missile at IDF troops on the Gaza border.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) claimed responsibility for the recent firing of the rockets.
Hamas boasted on Friday Jan. 8, that it had managed to smuggle new types of weapons into the Gaza Strip. Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, published photographs on its website of the new weapons. The weapons include missiles with a double warhead, 107-mm caliber missiles that are designed to penetrate fortified structures and a new type of armor piercing RPG missile.
Abu Ubeida, the Hamas spokesman stated that the group "has thousands of fighters and good weapons capable of harming Israel."
Former OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Yom Tov Samia predicted on Sunday that another war with Hamas was inevitable.
"We are before another round in Gaza," Samia told Army Radio in an interview.
"I am very skeptical about the possibility that Hamas will suddenly surrender or change its ways without being hit much more seriously than it was during Cast Lead."
Will someone please explain the meaning of the word CEASE-FIRE to Hamas! In a cease-fire both side stop shooting at each other. If one side starts shooting again, then the cease-fire is over, battle begins anew.
Now for a little good news:
A new rocket-proof daycare center was inaugurated in the southern city of Sderot on December 27. The money for the furniture, equipment, and toys was donated by 13 year-old Thomas Cole of Toronto on the occasion of his Bar Mitzvah.
United Israel Appeal of Canada’s website reported that the dedication ceremony was attended by 35 members of Cole’s family, including his parents and grandparents, as well as by Sderot Mayor David Buskila, who unveiled a plaque of recognition and affixed the mezuzah together with Thomas.
The daycare center was built to withstand rocket attacks and contains three classrooms. It will serve approximately 45 infants ranging in age from three months to four years. The center will specifically serve the Reut community, a group of 150 young families who have made Sderot their home over the last decade.
Eran Shmueli-David, director of UIAC’s Israel Emergency Campaign, said that “this gift was implemented thanks to the tireless efforts of Eddy Azran, UIAC’s local coordinator in Sderot. It was his persistence and determination that pressed the municipality to open the new building as soon as construction was completed.”
Thomas Cole personally chose to dedicate the money to the Sderot Daycare Centre out of several options given to him by the B’nei Tzedek program of UJA Federation.
Young Thomas Cole of Toronto not only is on his way in life to becoming a man of good character, but has shown to the world the true meaning of becoming a man. The unselfish giving unto others. In Master Cole's case, his generosity will help many children to have a better life.
His parents MUST be busting at the seams with pride.
You can HELP too. It isn't hard. Just a few dollars can and does go a long way. Just click here and follow the instructions. Your donation to the Sderot Media Center will help the people of Sderot and the Western Negev. People who have been under rocket attack for the last 9 years.
The Children of Sderot sent out messages of peace and hope.
The Children of Gaza send out rockets to destroy them.
Yet Hamas screams bloody murder whenever the Israelis strike back at them.
Not this time.
The time is coming when the people of Israel will have had enough. When they will attack in retaliation, and not stop until Hamas is fully destroyed. This next time nothing will be able to stop the IDF from achieving their directive. Not the UN, not the EU, and definitely not Barack Hussein Obama. Let Hamas and their anti-Semitic allies on the left cry all they want. They will cry, scream, and throw a temper tantrum like they did last year. But things are different now. Europe is fed up with their antics. The US isn't buying their lies. And there will be elections this year. Now Hamas will have to contend with that.
And the Children of Sderot truly might have a peaceful childhood.
FAIR USE: This blog may contain copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner or may be authorized or licensed for publication at this site only. Permission to copy, republish or reproduce such material must be obtained from the original copyright owner.
Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Important Notice
Patrons of this Blog are advised that they will be held responsible for any unlawful, harassing, libelous, abusive, threatening, or harmful material of any kind or nature posted by their respective ISP. Patrons are cautioned not to transmit via comments, including links to any material that encourages conduct that could constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law or regulation. Comments here are typically unmoderated and unedited. The fact that particular comments remain on the site in no way constitutes the site owner's endorsement of commenters' views.
![Twitter](<a href="http://www.twitter.com/maggiesnotebook"><img src="http://twitter-badges.s3.amazonaws.com/follow_me-b.png" alt="Follow maggiesnotebook on Twitter"/></a>){kind=small}
