Israel Matzav: Erdogan gets his apology

Erdogan gets his apology

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan finally got his apology. But not from Israel. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon apologized for a violent assault on Erdogan by a UN security officer who attempted to keep the Turkish Prime Minister out of Abu Mazen's UN speech.

"I'm afraid there was an unfortunate incident," the Turkish prime minister was quoted as saying by Ankara's daily newspaper Sabah. Erdogan did not elaborate on the incident, saying only that he was kept out of the General Assembly Hall during Abbas' speech by security guards.

The Turkish media underscored the fact that Ban offered his personal apology to Erdogan for the incident because his assailant was a UN Guard officer.

Minister of Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Yuli Edelstein, who witnessed the attack, described it as a "very violent incident. Like a scene out of a movie."

Boo hoo. The Turkish Prime Minister was not hurt.

The rumor going around Manhattan on Friday was that someone tried to kill Erdogan. Not quite. But what a whiner.

Israel Matzav: Erdogan gets his apology

Love of the Land: Hostility to Israel Plays out

Hostility to Israel Plays out

Jennifer Rubin
Contentions/Commentary
28 March '10

Given the Obami’s assault on Israel’s building in its eternal capital, this should come as no surprise:

The chief of the Arab League warned Saturday that Israel’s actions could bring about a final end to the Middle East peace process. Amr Moussa urged an Arab leadership summit in Libya on Saturday to forge a new strategy to pressure Israel, saying the peace process could not be “an open ended process.”

“We must prepare for the possibility that the peace process will be a complete failure,” Moussa said. “This is the time to stand up to Israel. We must find alternative options, because the situation appears to have reached a turning point.”

Speaking at the event, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said there would be no peace agreement without ending the occupation of Palestinian land, first and foremost east Jerusalem. He accused Prime Minster Binyamin Netanyahu’s government of trying to create a de facto situation in Jerusalem that would torpedo any future peace settlement.

Then the increasingly Islamic-tilting Turkish government gets into the act:

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a guest at the summit, said in his speech that the Israeli “violation” of peace in Jerusalem and Muslim holy sites was unacceptable. Erdogan said that the Israeli position defining the whole of Jerusalem as its united capital was “madness.” Israeli construction in east Jerusalem was completely unjustified, he said

The UN, of course, can’t be left out of the Israel bash-a-thon. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pipes up:

(Read full post)

Love of the Land: Hostility to Israel Plays out

Love of the Land: The Gaza siege myth

The Gaza siege myth

Jacob Shrybman
Israel Opinion/Ynet
18 March '10

(Note:The fifth rocket attack from Gaza in the past 48 hours, killed a 23-year old Thai foreign worker, Monny, late Thursday morning, March 18. The Qassam rocket struck the greenhouses area in Netiv Ha’asara located just north of the Gaza Strip. Medics at the scene said there wasn't much they could do to save him.Over 325 rockets and mortars have been fired into Israel during the third Hamas-Israel ceasefire that began on January 18, 2009 following Operation Cast Lead.)

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is set to arrive in Israel to visit the Gaza Strip amidst demands to end a so-called siege on the terrorist-controlled territory. Yet one has to ask what siege, or blockade, he is referring to, with 738,576 tons of humanitarian aid being transferred into the Gaza Strip in 2009.

Moreover, the UN has provided $200 million in Gaza Strip aid following a military operation that reportedly claimed 1,300 fatalities amongst a population of less than 1.5 million – meanwhile, notwithstanding plans to raise more funds, it has provided only $10 million to natural disaster victims in Haiti as of the end of January, an earthquake that claimed the lives of over 230,000 people and affected over 3 million. Of course, that is without mentioning that Haitians have not been attacking an innocent nearby civilian population for a near decade.

The international community has bought into a bold-faced lie about an Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip while ignoring the facts on the ground. International humanitarian aid has been flowing rapidly into the Gaza Strip for years and in no way stopped after Operation Cast Lead, as 30,576 aid trucks entered the territory in 2009. In 2009, 4,883 tons of medical equipment entered the Gaza Strip. Just last month, a new CAT scan machine was brought into the Strip.

(Read full article)

Love of the Land: The Gaza siege myth

Love of the Land: Israel's First Response to Goldstone

Israel's First Response to Goldstone

Honest Reporting/Backspin
31 January '10

Israel released a document (pdf format) it sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in response to the Goldstone report.

The 46-page paper primarily defends the integrity of Israel's due process and civilian oversight of the IDF's investigations into 150 separate incidents and reports.

The paper also dismisses four of the Goldstone report's 36 specific allegations.

The destruction of the Namar water wells: The wells were located within a closed Hamas compound in the Jabaliyah refugee. The IDF did not know of the presence of wells there.

Damage to a sewage treatment plant: There was no record of the Israel targeting the site. Investigator couldn't rule out the possibility that the IDF caused some of the damage, nor could they rule out the possibility that a sewage basin was deliberately damaged by Hamas to hamper IDF movement.

Damage to the Bader flour mill: Israeli forces came under intense fire from the flour mill. It was hit by a tank shell, not by an aerial strike as Goldstone claimed. No phone call warning was made to the flour mill as it was not a pre-planned target.

Destruction of the Abu Askar family home: The Jabaliya home was used to store weapons and ammunition, including Grad rockets. Rockets aimed at Israeli towns were frequently launched in the vicinity of the house.

See the full report for more details.

The IDF is also preparing a separate, comprehensive point-by-point rebuttal of the Goldstone Report's allegations.

Love of the Land: Israel's First Response to Goldstone