Israel, Zionism and the Media

Month: February 2009 (Page 2 of 3)

Hamas Propaganda and the Lies About Gazan Casualties (2)

The Jerusalem Post reports more information about the alleged attack by the IDF on a UN school in Gaza during the recent conflict.

If you remember, the world, and in particular, John Ging UNRWA Head in Gaza, were outraged by an attack by the IDF that reportedly killed 42 people INSIDE the school. Ging later claimed he never said this and that the casualties were ‘near’ the school.

Since Operation Cast Lead the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) has been meticulously gathering information and statistics about casualties. Here are its findings with regard to this specific incident:

“12 Palestinians were killed in the shelling near a UN school in Jabalya, north of Gaza City – and not 42 as claimed by Palestinian officials at the time”

The names of 7 of the dead have been disclosed to the JP, 5 men and 2 women. This makes 9 names out of the 12 killed that the CLA has now discovered.

The IDF claimed that it was returning mortar fire from the vicinity of the school.

But here’s the clincher:

“On the day of the incident, officials further said, officers from the CLA contacted the Palestinian Health Ministry and were told that three Palestinian civilians had been killed and that Hamas was hiding the identities of the remaining casualties. “

Yet the UN is still seeking “to gain clarity” and is compiling its own figures. No doubt they are going back to the very people who lied to them in the first place, namely Hamas. The same people who held up UNWRA employees at gunpoint and stole Aid intended for Palestinians in need. The same Hamas who the UN left to guard a weapon stockpile which subsequently mysteriously disappeared.

I cannot give any credence to the statistics of the UN or any of their operatives when their source is Hamas or people who are being terrorised by Hamas, namely the people of Gaza, who will spout any lie that will protect them from the retribution of a vicious gang of thugs and murderers.

Disgraceful Israeli TV spoof

It does not help Israel counter claims of racism and intolerance when  a TV station, albeit a private one, screens an offensive skit on Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary.

The Australian reported:

In the program, Israeli comedian Yair Shlein joked that since Christians “deny the Holocaust, then I want to deny Christianity.” Following protests, he later apologised to Arab Israeli Christian dignitaries.

This has brought protests to the Israel government from the Vatican who, perhaps, see an opportunity to counter recent protests about Holocaust-denier Bishop Richard Williamson who the Vatican recently rehabilitated.

Israel is a free country and free speech is practised there as in any other free democratic country. However, when will Israelis realise that they have to be careful about the image they are projecting and the fuel they are providing to its enemies.

Case in point: who should come out on the side of outrage? None other than the very nice people in Hezbollah. freerepublic.com reported that: “Hezbollah blasts sacrilegious Israeli show (that offends Christianity!) A Hezbollah representative stated: “It was not surprising to see ‘Zionists’ broadcast such sacrilegious material, given their history, which is filled with ‘the massacre of prophets, destruction of mosques and churches and offensive behavior toward Islamic and Christian sanctities…” The hypocrisy, inaccuracy and thinly veiled anti-Semitic “Zionists” and “massacre of prophets” bits are pretty much common currency for “The Party of God”

This isn’t the post to rebut every single one of Hezbollah’s statement which says a lot more about them than it does about Jews.

But all this does not absolve Yair Shlein. The Israeli government made an immediate apology to the Vatican (and Shlein himself admitted the error). Let’s hope that Israeli broadcasters do not repeat any further affronts to Christianity, Islam or any other religion or group. 

I always think “How would I react if this were a Christian talking about Jewish beliefs” and I base my reaction on that. To say I am disappointed is an understatement. But it is indicative that Israel has to tread so carefully. How did the Vatican learn of this? No doubt mischievous elements in Israel ran screaming to Pope Benedict. But in other countries religious ‘jokes’ go unreported and ignored.

See the full text here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2190138/posts

Pe’er pressure pays

As previously noted Dubai seems to have recanted its policy of banning Israeli tennis players by allowing Andy Ram to play having caused an almighty row over its original decision to ban Shahar Peer.

Now the WTP has fined the Dubai Championship $300,000 and compensated Ms Pe’er for $44,250.

Whilst I applaud the WTP’s stance I still believe that tournaments should not be held in country which does not recognise the nationality of WTP members.

Israel has been a country by vote in the UN sinc 1948. The UAE is also a member of the UN and it’s about time this nonense of not recognising Israel’s existence were ended. I don’t expect the Arab and Muslim states to like Israel but there is no foundation to any failure to recognise.

Viva Argentina

In what might be called Argentina’s second ‘Hand of God’ incident (for those who remember Snr Maradona), Richard Williamson, the Holocaust-doubting British Bishop has been kicked out of Argentina after his ‘Own Goal of the Century’.

Argentina were not too specific about the reasons and cited something about entering the country under false pretences but we all know the real reason: Argentina have already expressed outrage at his views.

Viva Argentina!

Ram allowed to play in Dubai

In a reversal of its policy which saw Shahar Pe’er banned earlier this week, the UAE has allowed Andy Ram to take part in the WTP tournament in Dubai.

Clearly international pressure and the refusal of a US network to screen the tournament has led to a rethink.

Some sanity restored then. I’m a little disappointed that Israeli nationals still want to take part in tournaments in countries which do not recognise their country and that their fellow professionals do not lobby the WTP to cut all ties with such states however many millions of dollars they want to throw at the sport.

Anti-Semitism in Yemen

For those who claim the Muslim world’s beef is with Israel alone I have decided to start a category proving otherwise.

Let’s start with an Arutz Sheva report which reports the arrival in Israel of ten new immigrants who have recently been harrassed by Muslims in Raida, Yemen:

“Yemenite Jews have been under the special protection of President Ali Abdallah Salah. In recent years, though, there has been increased harassment of Jews against a background of anti-Semitism by Muslim extremists. The tension reached a climax this past December, when Moshe Yaish Nahari, father of nine, was murdered by a Muslim. Threats against Jews in Yemen worsened following Israel’s recent military operations in Gaza.”

Yemen is thought by many to be the oldest community of Jews in the world outside Israel.  Not for much longer it appears.

It seems that those Muslims in Yemen who hate Israel also hate Jews – what a strange coincidence.

The Muslim refugees who want to get INTO Israel

In Darfur, Sudan, as the world is well aware, there has been a genocidal assault on the region’s population by the Afro-Arab Islamists who rule the country. Most Darfurians are Muslim. It is difficult to estimate numbers killed but they are in the hundreds of thousands and at least 2 million have been displaced and reside in refugee camps in neighbouring Chad or at the mercy of the Janjaweed militia within Sudan itself.

It is no exaggeration to say that this horror is the clearest and most terrible example of genocide and ethnic cleansing in the world in the past 10 years, yet it receives relatively little attention from the world and its media.

The Arab and Muslim world, which you would have thought would be making strenuous efforts to end this conflict and the murder and rape of hundreds of thousands of its fellow Muslims, just sits on its hands. Why? Well the Muslim world doesn’t exactly have a great track record when it comes to defending Muslims being murdered by other Muslims (Iran-Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine for example). 

So why do I write about this on a blog about Israel?

Well, for one, the plight of the Palestinians, especially in Gaza, has attracted an unprecedented wave of anti-Israel, anti-Zionist and Jew hatred across the world. There have been marches, convoys of  aid (Viva Palestina being a case in point), attacks on Jews and Jewish property in many countries, and widespread media vilification of Israel. Yet the comparison between what is happening in Darfur and what is happening in Israel shows a gross exaggeration and a gross misfit between the level of hate spewed out in Israel’s direction compared to what should be an even greater level of hate and outrage directed at the Sudanese government.

But listen to this: you are a Sudanese Muslim surrounded by Muslim countries. You want to leave Sudan and seek refuge elsewhere so you can rebuild your life and save your family. Where would you go? How about Israel? Yes, Israel, that so-called racist apartheid state that everyone is so fond of demonizing. Hundreds of Sudanese Muslims, who are citizens of an enemy state, are arriving in Israel after being smuggled across the border with Egypt. 

Why do they want to come to Israel and what happens to them when they arrive there?

Firstly, Egypt, a Muslim state, has a policy of returning all Sudanese refugees. No absorption centres in Egypt then, just wretched camps where Sudanese wait to be repatriated to almost certain death as they are sent straight back into the hands of their oppressors.

So the Sudanese move on and cross illegally into Israel where they are at first detained as enemies of the state. But they are treated humanely, picked up by the IDF and taken to holding camps awating judgement. Human rights groups, lawyers and many sympathetic Israelis have fought for these people to be allowed to stay. The Sudanese goverment meanwhile states that any Sudanese citizen who has sought refuge in Israel and returns will be considered a Mossad spy and executed – nice.

Israel, under the International Laws, that everyone seems to believe it so flagrantly breaches as a matter of national policy, is obliged to absorb them. Many can now be found working on kibbutzim and moshavim. So let me spell this out to the ‘Israel is racist/apartheid’ brigade. BLACK MUSLIM SUDANESE REFUGEES ARE BEING GIVEN REFUGE AND WORK IN ISRAEL. I capitalise that to hammer home the point.

But wait, there are several problems. If Israel is seen as an easy touch, will it not be invaded by Sudanese hordes. Israel is a small country unable to absorb so many foreigners. And they are Muslims; what about demographic time-bombs and all that?  

These questions must wait whilst Israel abides by its oblgations to genuine refugees. They will not be held for 60 years in ‘refugee camps’, those that stay will be absorbed, taught Hebrew, given shelter, work, a home, safety and respect. Oh yes, there are racists in Israel too who don’t want more immigrants especially more Muslims, but they forget when they too were refugees from genocide, they forget their own people’s Exodus from Egypt.

The canard that is trotted out by all the anti-Zionists is that only Jews are allowed to emigrate to Israel, that Israel is an apartheid state. So why would it allow in black people? Why would it allow in Muslims? How many Sudanese has Syria or Lebanon or Jordan or Saudi Arabia or Libya allowed in? How many Iran?

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/02/16/news/ML-Israel-Sudanese-Rebel.php
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1065201.html
http://atheonews.blogspot.com/2009/02/darfur-rebel-leader-visits-israel-to.html

Can We Have Our Munitions Back Please

So you are the UN operating in Gaza and you decide that it is incumbent on you to go round the Strip collecting unexploded munitions from the recent Israeli-Hamas conflict.

You decide to place these munitions in a warehouse for future safe disposal and you need someone to guard them.

So who do you pick? Why, Hamas of course!

Then when you find that the warehouse is suddenly empty you plead with Hamas, “can we have our munitions back please?”

What kind of madness is this?

1. Hamas is classified as a terrorist organisation by the UN

2. UNWRA workers were recently held at gunpoint and had tonnes of aid stolen by Hamas

3. Who do the UN think Hamas might use these munitions against?

It is totally unbelievable. Now tell us that the UN is not deeply implicated with Hamas in Gaza. Where is their judgement? Where is their commonsense?

The UN has now, effectively, turned itself into a partner for a terrorist organisation.

Viva Palestina and Hamas’ Three Stooges

As the Viva Palestina convoy makes its inexorable way towards Gaza no-one who feels the distress and sufferings of Gazans can object to any aid being sent by any organisation. 

But this convoy is political propaganda dressed up as humanitarian aid. No doubt most of those who have contributed are genuine in their concerns and cannot be criticised.
 
However, the three main political supporters of this convoy are none other than Yvonne Ridley, George Galloway and Tony Benn.
Let’s look at their views on the Israel/Palestine issue and what they have said about this convoy:
 

Yvonne Ridley

 

A Muslim convert, she currently works for Press TV and Iranian English language news channel and is a leading member of Free Gaza. She was given a passport by Ismael Haniyah and described as an ambassador for Palestine. In 2006 she expressed views which she described as “pretty much in line with that of Hamas” and described Israel as “that disgusting little watchdog of America that is festering in the Middle East”. She has also described the Respect Party, of which she is a prominent member, as a Zionist-free zone.
 
She has made such outrageous comments about the police that even George Galloway has distanced himself from them. She is openly supportive of terrorists around the globe such as the now dead Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Chechen terrorists. 
 
In 2006 at the Al Quds rally she said it was “great to see the flags of Hizbollah flying outside this (US) embassy” in London. She endorses boycotts against Marks and Spencer in the belief that this somehow pays for Israeli bullets used against Palestinian innocents. She has similar views on Starbucks, thus revealing her anti-Jewish rather than anti-Zionist credentials. Presumably any company owned or run by Jews who may disagree with her own views should be boycotted.
 
Ridley clearly believes that any action against Israel is justified whilst any action taken by Israel in defence against such actions is not.
 

George Galloway

 

Trotskyite, alleged fan of Saddam Hussein and his regime (which he strenuously denied), Respect Party MP, Celebrity Big Brother contestant, demagogue – he would be entertaining if he wasn’t so dangerous. He is a strong supporter of Hizbollah and Sheik Nasrallah who he denies being terrorists, on the contrary, he considers Israel to be a terrorist state.  Thus he supports an openly anti-Semitic, Holocaust-denying organisation of the vilest kind whilst at the same time being on record as stating that the Holocaust was the greatest crime in history. Meanwhile he throws the word Zionist around as if it is cognate with terrorist. Galloway is viewed by many as being a clever manipulator of facts but like so many anti-Zionists, ignorant of history.
 
Galloway is combative and bullying in interviews. His technique is to belittle or patronise the interviewer and cover his tracks with bluster and demagoguery. His skills as a debater cannot be doubted. Pity he doesn’t use them for more worthy causes.
 

Tony Benn

 

Hardly needs an introduction as the doyen of the extreme left. Called in to give his blessing to the convoy he made his customary nasty views abundantly clear: He congratulated George Galloway and Yvonne Ridley as if they were the saviours of Gaza. He described Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “War of Aggression” carefully avoiding the fact that Israel sat on its hands for 3 years whilst 6000 rockets rained down on its territory and he casually accused Israel of war crimes without mentioning that Hamas is the war criminal for deliberately targeting civilians for the past 7 years – a clear and undeniable war crime whereas no incontrovertible evidence of war crimes has yet been proven against Israel.
 
He concluded with the ludicrous statement that if Israel tried to interfere with the convoy the British Navy, Air Force and Army should guarantee its passage! What is he on? Or has he finally gone completely ga-ga? He is now, as head of the Stop the War Coalition, proposing that Britain use military force against Israel if they deign to stop an aid convoy which is, in any case, going through Egypt.
 
This is the rhetoric of the demagogue at its most absurd and obscene.
 
It would be ironic in the extreme if the convoy tries to enter Gaza via Rafah and the Egyptians refuse entry. Maybe Hamas can smuggle it all in via their tunnels and sell it to their fellow citizens via Hamas-owned shops or come for it later and take it at gunpoint.
I hope the convoy arrives safely and that Gazans receive the aid. It will be a small welcome supplement to the aid that Israel pours in to the territory every day and which no-one ever reports. If you don’t believe it, look here : www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Communiques/2009/Increased_humanitarian_aid_Gaza_after_IDF_operation_Jan_2009
 

BBC’s Web Spinning is Biased (no news there then)

BBC headline today: "Fresh violence shakes Gaza Strip" What are they reporting? It’s an Israeli retaliatory attack for several rockets fired into the Western Negev Sunday and today. So why wasn’t the headline "Fresh rocket attacks on Israel".

Hamas’ attacks and those of other groups in Gaza (who call themselves by a variety of names so they can claim that Hamas did not violate the cease fire) are never reported UNLESS Israel responds and then it’s headlines of this sort we always see subtly implying that all violence is from one side in response to rockets that, by pure chance and not by intention, cause no Israeli casualties.

« Older posts Newer posts »