Israel Matzav: IDF ground troops to be equipped with satellite dishes

IDF ground troops to be equipped with satellite dishes

The IDF is planning to equip all infantry and armored brigades with satellite dishes to enhance communications with the brigades behind enemy lines. The satellites will be installed on armored personnel carriers.

Under a multi-year plan recently approved by the General Staff and estimated to cost close to $100 million, the IDF is purchasing several satellite dishes that will be installed on armored personnel carriers. The very small aperture terminal (VSAT) two-way broadband satellite communications systems were developed by Gilat Satellite Networks.

The IDF’s Golani Infantry Brigade used ground-based satellite systems during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip last winter so the commander Col. Avi Peled, could hold video-conference calls with division headquarters back in Israel. The satellite dish also enables commanders to receive live video footage from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

In addition to the VSAT systems, the IDF’s C4I Directorate is also purchasing a number of larger satellite dishes for the division level command and new ground terminals for the stations, which work on multiple bands.

Gilat is an Israeli company. Of course.

Israel Matzav: IDF ground troops to be equipped with satellite dishes

Israel Matzav: IAF jets come under anti-aircraft fire over Lebanon?

IAF jets come under anti-aircraft fire over Lebanon?

Lebanon is claiming this evening that its troops opened fire with anti-aircraft missiles at four IAF jets flying over southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley. Lebanon claims that it forced the planes out of its airspace. The IAF has apparently not commented.

The IAF frequently flies reconnaissance missions over Lebanon to monitor Hezbullah's rearmament. The rearmament violates UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

Hmmm.

Israel Matzav: IAF jets come under anti-aircraft fire over Lebanon?

Israel Matzav: Born-again supermodel loves Israel

Born-again supermodel loves Israel

A lot of you guys in your 40's and 50's probably remember Kathy Ireland, who appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated a few times. Kathy has become a born-again Christian and is a very strong supporter of Israel. She was here recently to make a documentary about the Sheba - Tel HaShomer Medical Center, which has the top rehabilitation unit in the country.

She’s 178 cm. with red hair and blue eyes, a former supermodel with a figure to die for and the owner, founder and CEO of a $1.4 billion lifestyle business: Kathy Ireland might just be Israel’s perfect public diplomacy ambassador.

“I love Israel, it’s very close to my heart,” says the 46-year-old born-again Christian. “Because of my faith it’s very special to me.”

Ireland was here recently to film a promotional documentary for Sheba Medical Center. Titled Holy Land Heroes, the documentary aims to expose the work being done at Sheba with wounded soldiers and victims of terror attacks.

“Holy Land Heroes is bringing awareness of these heroes of Israel to the rest of the world,” says Ireland. “I’ve had some incredible life-changing experiences spending time at the hospital meeting with patients, doctors, researchers, nurses and volunteers who are dedicated and committed to rehabilitating these heroes.”

Ireland is a passionate advocate for Israel, with an unwavering belief in the righteousness of its actions. Her faith is such that even the most adept spin doctor would be hard pressed to come up with so much positive PR.

“I think so often Israel is not fairly portrayed in the media,” she says. “Meeting with the military, the air force, [I saw] the efforts that go into the strategy of not hurting civilians and the heroic efforts of these soldiers who put themselves in harm’s way to rescue the wounded, even when the wounded might be their enemy.

“In America, we’ve been so spoiled not to have really known, our generation, what it is to be at war. But that’s changed, and really regardless of someone’s faith, it’s very apparent that if Israel is not safe, then the rest of the world is not safe.”

Read the whole thing.

I wonder whether she'd consider going into politics. She certainly sounds a lot more likable than that other 'supermodel' who's been in the news here recently.

Israel Matzav: Born-again supermodel loves Israel

Israel Matzav: Chabad House in Pune, India targeted

Chabad House in Pune, India targeted

A bomb planted at a bakery that is popular with foreigners killed nine people and wounded 60 in Pune, India on Saturday night. But it turns out that the bakery may not have been the real target of the attack. The bakery is just a few yards from the Chabad House in Pune, and according to India's Home (Interior) Minister, it was Chabad House that was once again the target.

No Jews were killed in the Pune blast, although police officials said that foreigners were targeted. Among the dead and wounded were Iranians, Sudanese and Germans.

Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram told reporters that the Beit Chabad "has been on the radar [of terrorists] for quite some time." Chidambaram arrived at the Beit Chabad shortly after the attack as the official representative of the Indian Government. Beit Chabad emissary Rabbi Betzalel Kupchik thanked him for the permanent security stationed at the Beit Chabad, and added words of encouragement for the Indian Government's fight against terrorism.

People in the Beit Chabad building when the bomb exploded said they felt the building shake, and that it took them a few moments to realize that it had actually not been hit.

I'm sure you all recall that the Chabad House in Mumbai was targeted as part of a series of terror attacks in that city in November 2008. As in that incident, this incident is being blamed on Pakistani Muslims.

The bombing came just a day after nuclear rivals India and Pakistan set a date for their first formal dialogue since the Mumbai attacks prompted New Delhi to suspend wide-ranging talks aimed at normalizing relations after six decades of hostility.

On Sunday, Hindu nationalist leaders blamed the attack in the western city of Pune on majority-Muslim Pakistan and demanded the government call off the talks, scheduled for Feb. 25 in New Delhi.

Arun Jaitley of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party said India shouldn't restart peace talks until Pakistan stops allowing terrorists to base themselves there and punishes those involved in the Mumbai attacks.

"Terrorism and talks can't coexist," Jaitley said.

I wish Israel would learn that lesson.

By the way, there's an American connection to this attack too:

The bakery is about 200 yards (meters) from the meditation center that Home Secretary G.K. Pillai said had been surveyed by David Headley, who is facing charges in Chicago for allegedly scouting targets for the November 2008 Mumbai attack. Another senior official said Headley had also observed the Chabad House Jewish center near the bakery.

The center's rabbi, Betzalel Kupchik, told Israel's Army Radio station that four months earlier, Pune police warned him of possible attacks and stationed a guard around the clock at the center.

"We are not worried," Kupchik said. "We sleep here and eat here and hope for the best."

And in Washington, they continue to pretend that there's no longer any need for a global war on terror.

Israel Matzav: Chabad House in Pune, India targeted

Israel Matzav: Spineless ex-general claims Israel can't hit Iran

Spineless ex-general claims Israel can't hit Iran

Here's another loser from the 2006 Second Lebanon War. Maybe Amir Comrade Peretz will have something to say about the IDF this week too.

For those who don't recognize him, the man in the picture is Dan Halutz, the IDF Chief of Staff who resigned in disgrace after the Winograd Commission report came out criticizing his (lack of) performance in the Second Lebanon War. I suppose we should be grateful - at least he resigned. Peretz dragged things out for months, while Ehud Olmert, who was also criticized by Wiongrad, was forced out due to his theft of public funds more than two years after the report came out.

Halutz has told Reuters that he 'doubts' that Israel has the power to hit Iran.

Asked in a television interview about Israeli leaders' vows to "take care" of the perceived threat, ex-general Dan Halutz, who stepped down as armed forces chief in 2007, said: "We are taking upon ourselves a task that is bigger than us."

"I think that the State of Israel should not take it upon itself to be the flag-bearer of the entire Western world in the face of the Iranian threat," Halutz, whose previous military post was as air force commander, told Channel Two.

"I'm not some passer-by ... I've filled a few positions that give me a different level of information to the average person," he said without elaborating.

That ought to do wonders for our deterrence capability.

Halutz apparently doesn't understand the idea that even delaying Iran is worthwhile because things can change. He also doesn't understand the possibility that it may take an Israeli attack to get anyone else to move. In other words, he has the same problem he had in 2006: He's not a leader. He has nothing of the legacy of Nachshon ben (the son of) Aminadav.

I'd love to know how he became the IDF Chief of Staff in the first place.

Israel Matzav: Spineless ex-general claims Israel can't hit Iran

Israel Matzav: He has no shame

He has no shame

Former Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert has written a 'tell-all' book in which, among other things, he blames Defense Minister Ehud Barak for his failure to totally incapacitate Hamas in Operation Cast Lead.

Olmert says that initial estimates of the war effort indicated that overthrowing the Hamas terror regime in Gaza was a feasible goal, that could have been accomplished in a reasonable amount of time, and with relatively few Israeli casualties. But, writes Olmert, politicians with varying interests manipulated the information presented to the government, wildly exaggerating the expected number of Israeli casualties if the IDF continued its campaign to the heart of Gaza or retook the Philadelphi route in southern Gaza. Other disinformation surrounded the amount of time the IDF would require to achieve its goals, with some "experts" claiming it would take Israel months of tough battles to finish the job. Barak, writes Olmert, was among those behind the disinformation.

In the book, Olmert writes that he did not rely on the opinions of those opposed to the operation, but that he undertook his own investigation – and after speaking to commanders in IDF's southern forces, he was convinced that Israel could, and should, deliver a stunning blow to Hamas, to the point of uprooting it from Gaza altogether. But as the operation continued and pressure mounted, both in the media and the government, Olmert writes that he let himself be persuaded to declare a ceasefire – a move, he writes, that he regrets until today.

In response, Barak made an inane comment about his own 'professionalism.'

So who was at fault for Israel's failure to finish the job? On January 14, 2009, I reported that then-Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni wanted to walk away from Gaza, while both Olmert and Barak wanted to keep on fighting. On January 15, 2009, I reported that Olmert had become a hawk and was fighting with both Barak (over his calls for a 'humanitarian cease fire') and with Livni, whom he refused to let go to Washington to get 'guarantees' against the resumption of arms smuggling. Did Livni convince Barak to stop? Keep in mind that we were three and a half weeks from elections in which Barak and Livni were both candidates and in which Olmert was not a candidate.

On January 17, 2009, only two ministers voted against the unilateral 'cease fire' that ended Operation Cast Lead. Neither of them was named Ehud K. Olmert (Roni BarOn and Eli Yishai voted against; Rafi Eitan abstained).

The truth is that Olmert did not want to win in Gaza any more than Barak or Livni did. To claim otherwise is revising history.

But it was also a war that none of our politicians really wanted to win, as Daniel Doron pointed out in Thursday's Jerusalem Post:

Only after three days of bombing did the IAF finally bomb Hamas headquarters, and it took 16 days before it bombed the residence of Hamas's top commander. This country did not exploit the surprise it achieved to kill as many top Hamas commanders as possible (just as in the past it has neglected to do so) - even though this would have most likely led to the collapse of its war machine and shortened the war.

Exploiting the surprise of the attack to the fullest would have also made unnecessary the land incursion and the many casualties it involves. Hamas could be destroyed as an effective war machine by simply killing or chasing away, in short order, many of those who operate its war machine. When we forgo such effective action, we are forced to take other, less effective actions, such as massive closures and bombardments and prolonged land incursions. These cause much greater humanitarian damage without securing victory.

While Doron's statement about not needing a ground attack may be an exaggeration, his point about not attacking the Hamas leadership the first night is well taken. Why didn't the government take full advantage of the surprise it achieved? Doron tries to explain:

Some claim that politicians become more risk averse on the eve of elections. Others blame sharp internal divisions, confusion and lack of determination that inflict the unholy trinity governing the country. Still others claim that leaders who believe that "peace must be made with enemies" make sure they survive so as to have "partners" for a deal after "teaching them a lesson." Finally there are those who claim that a crushing victory will be a great embarrassment to our leaders. "If victory was possible," the public will say, "why did you wait almost eight years before liberating us from Hamas's terror?"

There is a kernel of truth in these explanations. But every terrible mess in Israel originates in "a conception." Against all historical evidence, and against common sense, most leaders, egged on by the media, have sold themselves on the conception that "there are no wars in existence anymore that can be won like the wars of yore" (as stated by a headline to a special Ma'ariv supplement "Not By Force" preaching against seeking victory); in other words that "terror cannot be vanquished by force."

This is nonsense, of course. Almost every terrorist movement was vanquished by force, from the 11th century Assassins to the 1936 Arab Revolt, from the post World War II communist insurrections in Greece or Malaya to terrors groups in Italy, Germany, Japan, etc.

It is also absurd to claim that the IDF, which is supposed to fight several Arab armies simultaneously, cannot vanquish a ragtag guerrilla force of 20,000 fighters lacking armor or airpower. The IDF cannot win only if - like in Lebanon - it fights without a clear plan for victory and under a leadership that does not enable it to win.

Ehud Olmert was Prime Minister. Worse, he was a lame duck Prime Minister, which means that if he had really wanted to prosecute the war to the end, he could have stood up and done so and faced no adverse consequences. He has no business claiming that anyone else talked him out of doing what should have been done. The buck stopped at his desk.

But Ehud Olmert did not want to win in Gaza any more than Ehud Barak and Tzipi Livni did. To come now and claim otherwise is spineless, gutless, two-faced and shameless. In other words, it proves once again everything those of us who live here in Israel already knew about Ehud Olmert: Never in the history of this country has there been a more despicable leader. May he never hold any office in this country again.

Israel Matzav: He has no shame

Israel Matzav: Electric cars for retail sale in Israel in 2011

Electric cars for retail sale in Israel in 2011

There are going to be electric cars for retail sale in Israel in 2011 (Hat Tip: Instapundit). They will have a 350-mile range.

I wonder if they will also have a 116% purchase tax (minimum) like regular cars do here.

/sigh

Israel Matzav: Electric cars for retail sale in Israel in 2011

Israel Matzav: Huh? Danny Ayalon favors 'right of return'!

Huh? Danny Ayalon favors 'right of return'!

From an Arutz Sheva report on an interview with Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon in the London-based pan-Arabic daily Asharq-Alawsat.

Ayalon further stated he wouldn't be completely against the children and grandchildren of Arabs who fled their homes in pre-State Israel being allowed to reclaim their territory within Israel.

He commented that Israel's denial of this "right to return" was just a unrealistic as the Arab demand to freeze all construction of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

You've got to be kidding!

Israel Matzav: Huh? Danny Ayalon favors 'right of return'!

Israel Matzav: J Street jaunt to Israel: All part of Hamas 54

J Street jaunt to Israel: All part of Hamas 54

The pro-Israel pro-'peace' J Street organization is bringing a bipartisan Democratic group of representatives on a a five-day jaunt to Israel, 'Palestine' and Jordan.

Representatives Lois Capps (CA-23), Bill Delahunt (MA-10), Bob Filner (CA-51), Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15), and Donald Payne (NJ-10) will meet with Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian government officials as well as civil society leaders to get an in-depth, on-the-ground look at the state of the peace process, and to explore the American role in bringing about regional, comprehensive peace.

“We’re excited to start bringing members of Congress to the Middle East as part of our overall effort to promote strong US leadership to achieve a two-state solution and regional, comprehensive peace,” said Jeremy Ben-Ami, Executive Director of the J Street Education Fund. “Our hope is that this and future delegations will help to open up and deepen the conversation in Congress about American policy in the Middle East and, in particular, to convey to their colleagues the urgency of the situation and the need for strong American leadership toward achieving a two-state solution.”

The Congressional mission, from February 13th to 18th, will meet with Israeli government and opposition leaders, as well as key regional leaders, including Jordanian King Abdullah II and Palestinian National Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. The delegation will travel widely in Israel, the Palestinian Territories, and Jordan, taking a close look at the situation on the ground through the eyes of policy makers and civil society leaders.

The Delegation and J Street Education Fund leadership will be available to the media toward the end of the trip - with details to be announced as the schedule becomes clearer.

Jennifer Rubin points out that - surprise! - all five representatives were signers of the Hamas 54 letter to President Obama. I wonder whom they're meeting here. Hmmm.

Israel Matzav: J Street jaunt to Israel: All part of Hamas 54

Israel Matzav: North Korea sued in Puerto Rico for terror attack in Israel

North Korea sued in Puerto Rico for terror attack in Israel

In the summer of 1972, my parents sent me to Israel for the summer on a teenagers' tour. In retrospect, I'm kind of amazed that they did. I flew here on the same Sabena flight that had been hijacked seven weeks earlier and sat on the tarmac at what was then called Lod Airport for two days until it was stormed by a group of commandos from Sayeret Matkal - Israel's most elite army unit - commanded by Ehud Barak and including Binyamin Netanyahu among its participants. And three weeks after that, 26 people were killed and 72 were wounded when a group of Japanese Red Army terrorists picked up their luggage from baggage claim, took out machine guns and started firing (yes, that's how bad security was in the early '70's). The picture at the top of this post is from the aftermath of that massacre.

North Korea has taken credit for sponsoring the Red Army, and now they are going to face something that has not happened to them before, but has happened to Iran and the 'Palestinian' terror organizations: A date in an American courtroom.

The lawsuit against North Korea stems from claims it sponsored the PFLP and the Japanese Red Army, providing material support to both organizations and assistance in planning the attack.

The three terrorists arrived on an Air France flight from Paris and drew automatic guns and hand grenades, firing fired randomly at anybody in sight, after their luggage came through baggage claims.

"This attack was for Israelis what the September 11th attacks were for Americans," Ze'ev Sarig, the former manager of Lod Airport, explained in his testimony before a judge in Puerto Rico. "The attack changed how we viewed security at the airport and in Israeli civil aviation."

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the founder of Israeli rights group Shurat HaDin, filed the $30 million lawsuit at a U.S. federal court in Puerto Rico on behalf of 12 of the victims' families.

Preliminary hearings to examine evidence began in Puerto Rico on December 2, 2009. Israeli experts - including Sarig and various experts on terrorism - were flown in to testify at the hearings.

The claims were then translated and transferred to North Korean authorities, which, according to Darshan-Leitner, have yet to respond to the charges.

"We are currently waiting for the ruling of the federal judge in Puerto Rico," she said, adding that it might be possible to seize North Korean funds held at U.S. banks if the verdict is in the claimants' favor.

The lawsuit is in Puerto Rico because most of the victims were Christian pilgrims from there. I wonder whether the US State Department will be as adverse to collecting from North Korea as it is about collecting from Iran.

Israel Matzav: North Korea sued in Puerto Rico for terror attack in Israel

Israel Matzav: The engineers

The engineers

Emmanuel Sivan, a Professor of History at Hebrew University, explores the fascinating question of why so many terrorists seem to be engineers.

I am among those who attribute this phenomenon first and foremost to what is described as engineering thinking or an engineering mindset. The concept includes an assumption, which has been raised in psychological research, that engineering as a field of study and a profession tends to attract people who seek certainty, and their approach to the world is largely mechanistic. So they are characterized by a greater intolerance of uncertainty - a quality that is evident among extremists, both religious and secular.

Those with engineering mindsets are also characterized by an approach that requires society to operate "like clockwork" and abhors democratic politics, which requires compromises. It's clear that this is a cumulative tendency and not a stereotypical generalization.

I raised a similar thesis years ago at a Technion conference, where the presidents of similar institutions from around the world were invited to discuss "The image of the engineer in the 21st Century." A lively debate took place between supporters and opponents of the thesis. According to the organizer of the conference, the late physics Prof. Paul Singer, the number of those in favor and those opposed was about equal. If this is the case, it's possible to offer additional explanations, completing or overlapping this thesis.

Hmmm.

Read the whole thing.

By the way, the cell phones at the top are dedicated to a Hamas terrorist who was known as 'the Engineer' until one fine day in January 1996 when he answered one cell phone call too many.

Israel Matzav: The engineers

Israel Matzav: J Street mum about Hamas 54 53 50 letter

J Street mum about Hamas 54 53 50 letter

Lenny Ben David tries to get to the bottom of J Street's silence on the Hamas54 53 50 letter (Hat Tip: Jennifer Rubin).

And who appears first on the Minnesota Independent’s list of the letter’s backers? “Among the groups supporting the letter: J Street, The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF), The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP), The American Near East Refugee Association (ANERA), The Methodist Church, The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), and Rabbis for Human Rights.”

With the exception of the rabbis, none of J Street’s colleagues on the letter are known for their fraternal feelings toward Israel.

Is that why J Street avoids claiming credit for the letter or publicizing the fact that it trucks with some unkosher characters? Perhaps the “pro-Israel” group wanted to avoid appearing “pro-Gahttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=20498788za” on the eve of launching its national grassroots operation last week. Or perhaps J Street got burned over the last year when it was revealed that a large portion of its PAC funds (possibly close to 10 percent) were coming from individuals never known for being “pro-Israel.” Indeed, the most recent Federal Election Commission records (for the last quarter of 2009) suggest that the J Street PAC donors with ties to Saudi Arabia — the tarnished National Iranian American Council and the Arab-American Institute — didn’t like the publicity and are keeping their checkbooks closed.

Follow the money - it seems to explain an awful lot, doesn't it?

By the way, it's worth going to the three links at the top to check if your representatives are on the list. I know of at least three representatives that have large Jewish constituencies (Bill Pascrell from Northern New Jersey, Yvonne Clarke from Brooklyn and Elijah Cummings from Baltimore - all Democrats).

Israel Matzav: J Street mum about Hamas 54 53 50 letter

Israel Matzav: Message to Arab countries: Don't house terrorists!

Message to Arab countries: Don't house terrorists!

The Times of London posts a piece in which 'Palestinian' terrorist sympathizers are whining about recent incidents in which terrorists were killed in Damascus, Beirut and Dubai, allegedly at the hands of the Mossad.

The current spate of killings began in December when a “tourist bus” carrying Iranian officials and Hamas members exploded outside Damascus. The official report by Syria claimed that a tyre had exploded but photographs surfaced showing the charred remains of the vehicle — prompting speculation that a much larger explosion had taken place.

Several weeks later a meeting between members of Hamas, which controls Gaza, and their counterparts from Hezbollah in its southern Beirut stronghold in Lebanon was also attacked, resulting in several deaths.

Hamas had sought to cover up the incidents because it was embarrassed, a senior Palestinian official in Ramallah told The Times.

“There has been growing co-operation between Gaza and Iran. Israel can read the writing on the wall and they know that with the help of Iran, the Hamas Government in Gaza will become stronger and will fight better.

“But Israel is overstepping their boundaries. Other countries don’t want to become a killing field for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

It's real simple. If you don't want your country to be a 'killing field' for Israel's conflict with the 'Palestinians,' don't house terrorists. Why is that so hard to understand?

Israel Matzav: Message to Arab countries: Don't house terrorists!

Israel Matzav: 'Real' anti-Semitism

'Real' anti-Semitism

British moonbat Jenny Tonge has called on Israel to set up an inquiry to disprove allegations that IDF medical personnel harvested organs in Haiti. Uri Dromi rips Tonge in a comment at the Guardian's Comment is Free section.

Attacking Israel's policies is one thing; insinuating that the army of the Jewish state is stealing organs or – as the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet published last year, that the IDF was killing Arabs for their organs – is to repeat what antisemites were saying about the Jews in the darkest periods of history. A blood libel, in short.

Andrew Sullivan refers to this blood libel as 'real' anti-Semitism. It's not clear where Sullivan would come out on the Aftonbladet accusations, but clearly (from other things he has written) he would not regard claims that Israel targeted civilians in Operation Cast Lead last year as a blood libel.

The problem is that it is a short step from one allegation to the other, and in fact, the same people making the Haiti allegations rallied to support the Aftonbladet allegations and were in the forefront of those making the allegations about Israel targeting 'Palestinians' in Operation Cast Lead. It's almost a pity that this time the Guardian seems to have cleaned up the spills in the comment section, because many comments have been deleted that probably would prove my point. But here are some of the comments that the Guardian let stand:

ellis

12 Feb 2010, 4:16PM

the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet published last year, that the IDF was killing Arabs for their organs

The problem was that, despite the routine outbursts (see article above) to the effect that the story was a libelous fabrication, it appeared to have a considerable amount of truth in it.

The fact that this refutation, of the charges concerning Haiti, begins by denying the Aftonbladet story gives Lady Tong's (kudos for those amazingly funny jokes about her name, by the way) an ominous validity.

jamescisv

12 Feb 2010, 4:28PM

Just when we thought we heard everything, there comes Lady Tonge, the Liberal Democrat peer, calling for Israel to set up an inquiry to disprove allegations that its medical teams in Haiti "harvested" organs of earthquake victims for use in transplants.

I'm not saying they are doing it, and I don't know how credible the accusations are, but isn't that precisely the point of setting up an inquiry?

You know, to find stuff out!?

Indeed, in the JC link at the beginning of your article, she said:

''the Israel Defence Forces were to be commended for their fantastic response to the Haitian earthquake?.

but then said:

?To prevent allegations such as these ? which have already been posted on YouTube ? going any further, the IDF and the Israeli Medical Association should establish an independent inquiry immediately to clear the names of the team in Haiti.?

Seems pretty fair to me!

Unlike, say, immediately calling this anti-Israel abuse, or antisemitism, for example!

Aliboy

12 Feb 2010, 4:35PM

So Tonge never said herself that this had happened. So she's anti-semitic when she didn't say it, is that it?

Anti-semitism is very complicated, isn't it? Nothing you can say is not anti-semitic.

Actually, all this article is is another opportunity for Dromi to pull out his accusations of anti-semitism again.

NapoleonKaramazov

12 Feb 2010, 4:38PM

The Israel organs scandal seems to be true, but apparently they also harvested from dead Israeli soldiers and civilians, and foreign workers in addition to Palestinians.

So, really it is an internal issue. Like we had with the Alder Hey organs scandal.
It happened at least 10 years ago as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sWA2BxFzhQ&feature=related

BeautifulBurnout

12 Feb 2010, 4:39PM

Hang on. What evidence do we have, other than what the JC says, that Jenny Tonge said any such thing, or the context in which it was said?

I know she can be a bit extreme in her comments at times, but I can't imagine her offering up this kind of comment without it being prompted.

This is too bizarre. She is an intelligent woman.

(Still, Uri. People say the strangest things sometimes, I'll grant you that, so you might well be right. A year ago you were denying that the IDF were using white phosophorous as a weapon during Operation Cast Lead.)

But if Jenny Tonge really believes that this is something that "needs investigating" then she is off her rocker, frankly. Not to mention being extraordinarily offensive to Jews everywhere.

PhilipD

12 Feb 2010, 4:45PM

I'd rather see what she said directly before accusing her of anti-semitism. From the linked article she seems to have directly rejected the allegations and her call for an investigation was in the spirit of saying that the allegations needed to be directly addressed rather than ignored. In the context, this may have been foolish, but its easy to see how a casual answer to a direct question could have been misintepreted that way.

Mind you, I've never heard of the woman before, and a casual google does indicate that she's a bit of a wild card, to put it mildly. But accusing someone of the very serious charge anti-semitism without directly stating what they said, and in what context they said it, smacks a bit of opportunism, especially as she has a history of campaigning for Palestinians.

BeautifulBurnout

12 Feb 2010, 4:49PM

Erm... the more I look into this, the weirder it appears to be. Google "jenny tonge haiti IDF" and the only results are the JC, ynet and a variety of blogs (any links to the Torygraph are individual bloggers, not Torygraph staff) with a vested interest, shall we say. Nothing reported in anything mainstream.

Is Baroness Tonge being smeared here?

Not happy about the authenticity of this, frankly.

Blood libel is a really vile thing to do. It is up there with holocaust denial in my book. Falsely accusing someone of a blood libel on the flimsiest of evidence is inexcusable.

exiledlondoner

12 Feb 2010, 4:50PM

Yes, Jenny Tonge's brain has clearly departed this world, and moved.. well actually, I have no idea where er brain's gone....

But why oh why get Uri Dromi to write the article? As little more than a professional apologist for the Israeli Military and propagandist for Israel, he will inevitably be the main sunject of the debate - this is a man who campaigns against the investigation of things that really need investigating.

Any number of Israeli writers could have written this article - writers whose attachment to the truth was less questionable. What Jenny Tonge has said is plain wrong. You don't need someone of Mr Dromi's particular talents to write about it - his skills lie elsewhere.

I sometimes wonder whether CIF is trying to start a shouting match for more hits?

BeautifulBurnout

12 Feb 2010, 4:52PM

north

I reiterate - blood libel is vile and disgusting.

However, I am a tad concerned at the authenticity of this, or whether she was quoted out of context, because although she is a mouth-frother when it comes to I/P she is not daft enough to become imbroiled in something as stupid as this, imo. Just my two penn'orth though - I may well be wrong and will apologise if I am.

JackofDiamonds

12 Feb 2010, 4:52PM

I heard that the British army was using the bodies of dead Argentinians left over from the Falklands war to host their efforts at keeping Hitler's brain alive in a secret MI6 facility.

Now set up an impartial investigation to prove this wrong.

But you're talking about the British not the Israelis. The Israelis are capable of anything and everything wicked - that is a given. Going to Haiti was - of course, of course - merely a pretext to steal organs - the evidence is there for all to see. Now let the Israelis get out of that. And let us not forget, that if the Israelis investigate this allegation, the investigation is suspect from the start because the Israelis cannot be trusted, they are bound to cover up their heinous crimes.

No this thing must go to the UN. A commission must be appointed to investigate these crimes. Jenny Tonge would be an ideal candidate for this commission. If the Israelis object to her taking part - it just goes to show they have something to hide. Tonge is a patron of the online newspaper that has bravely published the facts of this case - intrepid, honest, courageous Jenny - thank god for her and her newspaper.

By the way, BeautifulBurnout is marked as a 'contributor,' which I believe means that s/he writes pieces for CiF.

Those comments are all from the first page (50 comments) and there were an additional 20 or so that were deleted. We can only imagine....

By the way, Pamela Geller points out that the person who started the Haiti blood libel is a regular poster on Huffington Post. It figures.

While blood libels like stealing organs are among the most extreme, they are not far removed from claiming that Israel targeted civilians in Operation Cast Lead. Indeed, the same people are behind both allegations. Like many leftists, Andrew Sullivan can't understand that.

UPDATE 6:19 PM

Tonge has been fired as her party's spokesperson on health matters in the House of Lords, but she remains an MP.

Israel Matzav: 'Real' anti-Semitism

Israel Matzav: Obama throws in the towel on 'negotiations'?

Obama throws in the towel on 'negotiations'?

Barry Rubin points out a subtlety in a communique issued by Hillary Clinton and Tony Blair after a meeting on Thursday that may signal a significant policy shift.

First paragraph:

“This Administration has, from the beginning, worked to bring about comprehensive peace in the Middle East, including a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On that issue our approach has been three-fold: (1) to help build the economy and capacity to govern of a Palestinian state; (2) to renew political negotiations to enable the earliest possible establishment of that state; and (3) to achieve these in a manner that ensures the security of Israel and of the Palestinians.”

Wait a minute. Note the shift in priorities, very subtle but very important. Up until now, in every statement made by the Obama administration, item 2 has been in the top position. Last September, the president of the United States announced that intensive talks to reach a comprehensive peace agreement would start in early November! Three months later they aren’t even in sight. So now the administration has shifted gears and the main priority is a process of state-building and community organizing among the Palestinians to get them ready for the grand opening ceremonies. That makes sense as far as it goes.

Notice it doesn't even say the "earliest possible" renewal of political negotiations but implies that the economic and infrastructure change--not talks--will achieve the "earliest possible establishment" of a Palestinian state.

In light of this shift, the second paragraph reads:

“Consistent with Prime Minister Fayyad’s plan for a future Palestinian state, Tony Blair, as the Quartet representative, will intensify his partnership with Senator Mitchell in support of the political negotiations. In his role as Quartet Representative Tony Blair will continue, with full support by and coordination with Senator Mitchell, to mobilize the efforts of the international community: (1) to build support for the institutional capacity and governance of a future Palestinian State, including on the rule of law; (2) to improve freedom of movement and access for Palestinians; (3) to encourage further private sector investment; and (4) to bring change in the living conditions of the people in Gaza.”

This is NOT all good news. If Fayyad were to somehow be viewed as 'succeeding' then a second-term Obama who does not have to stand for re-election (or a new US President with a lot of goodwill from the American people, as Obama had a year ago) would push Israel quite hard to just give them their 'state' regardless of Israel's security concerns. Rubin doesn't believe that's likely to happen, and he views this as the Obama administration putting the 'peace process' on the back burner. Read the whole thing to find out why.

Al-AP takes the exact opposite view of Rubin's.

In a written statement, Clinton said she had spoken to Blair on Thursday about developments in the region. As a result of that call, she said Blair would broaden his current role as representative of the so-called Quartet of Mideast peacemakers to "intensify his partnership" with Mitchell in support of the attempt to revive political negotiations.

Blair's spokesman, Matthew Doyle, said the former prime minister would "deepen his partnership with Senator Mitchell" in support of the political negotiations, but provided no details. The spokesman also said that while the Quartet had made "real progress" on the West Bank, a new strategy was needed for Gaza.

Note that al-AP doesn't quote the statement, and that a 'new strategy' for Gaza leaves open the possibility of 'negotiating' with Hamas.

Rubin appears to be correct. The 'Middle East peace process' is being shunted to the back burner where the administration will try to keep the flame from rising. But nothing more than that at least until after the midterm elections, and maybe for longer. And that's good news.

Israel Matzav: Obama throws in the towel on 'negotiations'?

Israel Matzav: US Joint Chiefs Chairman in Israel on Sunday

US Joint Chiefs Chairman in Israel on Sunday

Admiral Michael Mullen, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, is arriving in Israel on Sunday for talks about Iran.

U.S. Admiral Mike Mullen will meet with IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi as well as Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, and other senior IDF commanders to discuss other topics, including joint defense issues between Israel and the U.S. and mutual security concerns.

Admiral Mullen's meetings follow remarks made by the U.S. on Thursday when they called Iran's nuclear intentions "anything but peaceful."

...

"Should Iran continue down the wrongful course that it's on there will be consequences," State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said.

Mullen seems like a decent fellow, but Crowley reminds me of then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak absorbing one terror attack after the next in the fall of 2000, all the while warning, "we will know how to respond." Barak figured it out only after Israelis knew how to respond - we threw him out in a special election in February 2001.

Laura Rozen adds:

Mullen's trip to coordinate with Israeli officials follows those of National Security Advisor Jim Jones, NSC Iran strategist Dennis Ross, CIA Director Leon Panetta, and Kevin Chilton, the four-star general who heads U.S. Strategic Command, to Israel the past few weeks.

Earlier this month, Centcom commander Gen. David Petraeus discussed beefed up missile defense and security cooperation between Iran's Persian Gulf neighbors and the United States.

Something tells me this is more about trying to hold Israel back than about actually doing something.

Israel Matzav: US Joint Chiefs Chairman in Israel on Sunday

Love of the Land: Nazi propaganda in the Arab world by Jeffrey Herf

Nazi propaganda in the Arab world by Jeffrey Herf

Bataween
Point of No Return
14 February '10

What is remarkable about this interview with Jeffrey Herf, author of Nazi propaganda for the Arab world, is that it was conducted in an Egyptian newspaper, al-Masry-al-Youm. The book's findings are best summed up by Bassam Tibi of Cornell University, who writes on the flyleaf: "The traces of Germany's Nazi antisemtism disclosed in this groundbreaking analysis persist, despite the Islamization of this ideology":

"Jeffrey Herf, professor of modern European history at the University of Maryland, College Park, recently authored Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World, published by Yale University Press. In 2006 he published The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda during World War II and the Holocaust. Al-Masry Al-Youm spoke with Herf to discuss his latest publication.

Al-Masry Al-Youm: The West in general uses the term anti-Semitism, although both Arabs and Jews are Semitic. Are there other terms that are more apt?

Jeffrey Herf: The answer to this and other questions are in my book, Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World. An entire chapter explores the extensive efforts made by the Nazi regime to avoid the use of the term "anti-Semitism." It was, its officials stressed, a regime animated by antagonism toward the Jews but not towards Arabs and Muslims in general. The term anti-Semitism has long entered academic discourse to refer to hatred of Jews.

Al-Masry: Most Arab historians agree that the Nazis did not contribute great ideas that grew in the region, but you posit the opposite. What evidence supports your position?

(Read full story)

Love of the Land: Nazi propaganda in the Arab world by Jeffrey Herf

Love of the Land: Beautiful Israel Photos

Beautiful Israel Photos

Assaf Luxembourg
deluxe1209
June '07

A nice way to close out the night. Y.

"This is NOT about politics. This is not a commercial video for Tourism in Israel. And not a presentation of the holy sites in Israel. Nor a sample of Tel Aviv's Urban Lifestyle and Nightlife. It's just Nature Photos of Israel Taken by Myself."

Love of the Land: Beautiful Israel Photos

Love of the Land: Guardian Invents Evidence Against Israel

Guardian Invents Evidence Against Israel

Proud Zionist
09 February '10

Last week, the IDF released it’s report to counter Goldstone. The Guardian, in it’s desperation to find a negative angle, resorted to their own “evidence” to delegitimize Israel’s version of an incident in which a flour mill in Gaza was damaged.

The Guardian repeats the Goldstone report’s claim that the flour mill was hit by an air strike, implicating that it was deliberately targeted and therefore a possible war crime.

The IDF meanwhile, described the incidents in detail, explaining how

“Hamas had fortified this area [of the flour mill] with tunnels and booby-trapped houses, and deployed its forces to attack IDF troops operating there... IDF troops came under intense fire from different Hamas positions in the vicinity of the flour mill. The IDF forces fired back towards the sources of fire and threatening locations. As the IDF returned fire, the upper floor of the flour mill was hit by tank shells.”

They even arranged for fire engines to reach the area and extinguish the fire.
The Guardian quotes Israel’s defence as merely that “there were Hamas fighters ‘in the vicinity of the flour mill’”. But they claim that when they visited the mill just after the war last year, they “saw what appeared to be the remains of an aircraft-dropped bomb” on the first floor, stating that:

“The UN mine action team, which handles ordnance disposal in Gaza, has told the Guardian that the remains of a 500-pound Mk82 aircraft-dropped bomb were found in the ruins of the mill last January.”

(Read full post)

Love of the Land: Guardian Invents Evidence Against Israel

Love of the Land: Senior UK Liberal-Democrat fired after suggestions Israelis have been harvesting bodily organs in Haiti

Senior UK Liberal-Democrat fired after suggestions Israelis have been harvesting bodily organs in Haiti

Robin Shepherd
Robin Shepherd Online
14 February '10

In a rare piece of good news from the UK, Baroness Tonge has been dismissed as spokesperson for the Liberal Democrat Party in the House of Lords after suggesting that Israel should investigate claims that members of its relief team in Haiti had been harvesting bodily organs and selling them on the black market.

Tonge has a sordid record of anti-Israel extremism. In 2004, she even went on record as saying she might have become a suicide bomber had she been born a Palestinian.

In her latest outburst, she associated herself with a medieval-style blood libel which was started last year by Sweden’s top selling newspaper Aftonbladet. The paper claimed that Israeli soldiers were murdering Palestinian children in order to harvest their bodily organs and sell them on the black market, possibly in conjunction with Jews in the United States. After Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt refused to distance his country from the story it spread like wildfire across the Muslim world and beyond.

(Read full post)

Love of the Land: Senior UK Liberal-Democrat fired after suggestions Israelis have been harvesting bodily organs in Haiti

Love of the Land: March 14 Has Not Stepped Up To The Plate

March 14 Has Not Stepped Up To The Plate

Ghassan Karam
Special to Ya Libnan
13 February '10

One of the most common definitions of a state is the one given by the great sociologist Max Weber: “it is that organization that has monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory”. Obviously not all states in the world meet the simple conditions set in that functional definition. A sovereign state is obviously the one that combines the de facto and the de jure aspects of that definition by exercising total control over its territory.

Unfortunately there are some “quasi” states in the world where the governmental institutions pretend to have power when in effect they do not. Unfortunately there are many such cases in the world of government setups similar to those in Afghanistan where the official government enjoys international recognition but is not capable of either promoting its policies or even of governing its territory. The Taliban’s present such a formidable threat to the government in all aspects that they might as well be viewed as the real power in the land

Lebanon is even in a worse shape. Hezbollah is the real power behind the thrown. Not much, if anything, can be accomplished in Lebanon if Hezbollah’s’ approval is not forthcoming, not even the privatization of the cellular telephone network that is falling behind the technological developments in the world and in the region as we speak. Nothing gets done in Lebanon if Hezbollah does not permit it. But the power of Hezbollah on the Lebanese scene goes far beyond that of the Taliban in Afghanistan. In Lebanon Hezbollah is part of the official cabinet that it openly opposes.

Most would agree to describe the official Afghanistan government of Mr. Karzai as a de jure state while that of the Taliban as a defacto one. But in Lebanon it is worst than this. Hezbollah and its allies are the defacto government and they are the ones that practically dictate all what passes as a dejure government

(Read full article)

Love of the Land: March 14 Has Not Stepped Up To The Plate

Love of the Land: An Anti-Israel Extremist Seeks Revenge Through Goldstone Report

An Anti-Israel Extremist Seeks Revenge Through Goldstone Report

Alan M. Dershowitz
Hudson New York
12 February '10

When Irish Colonel Travers eagerly accepted an appointment to the Goldstone Commission, he was hell bent on revenge against Israel based on paranoid fantasies and hard left anti-Israel propaganda. He actually believed, as he put it in a recent interview, that “so many Irish soldiers had been killed by Israelis,” with “a significant number who were taken out deliberately and shot (in southern Lebanon.)” This is of course complete and utter fantasy, but it was obviously part of Colonel Travers bigoted reality.

Travers came to the job having already made up his mind not to believe anything Israel said and to accept everything Hamas put forward. For example, Israel produced hard photographic evidence that Gaza mosques were used to store rockets and other weapons. Other photographs taken by journalists, also proved what everybody now acknowledges to be true: namely that Hamas, as its leaders frequently boasted, routinely use mosques as military munitions depots. When confronted with this photographic evidence, Travers said “I don’t believe the photographs.” Of course he doesn’t since they don’t comport with his politically correct and ideologically skewed world view. This is what he had previously said about why he didn’t believe that Hamas used the mosques to store weapons:

“We also found no evidence that mosques were used to store munitions. Those charges reflect Western perceptions in some quarters that Islam is a violent religion….If I were a Hamas operative the last place I’d store munitions would be in a mosque. It’s not secure, is very visible, and would probably be pre-targeted by Israeli surveillance. There are a [sic] many better places to store munitions.”

But that is exactly what Hamas did, despite Travers insistence on paraphrasing Groucho Mark’s famous quip, “Who are you going to believe? Me, or your lying eyes?”

(Read full article)

Love of the Land: An Anti-Israel Extremist Seeks Revenge Through Goldstone Report

Love of the Land: Land swaps and right of return

Land swaps and right of return

Fresnozionism.org
13 February '10

News item:

Israel and a future Palestinian state should agree to land swaps that would make settlement blocs part of Israel proper and certain Arab towns now in Israel part of a future Palestinian state, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said in an interview published on Saturday.

Ayalon also said that the Palestinian demand to stop settlement construction as a precondition to negotiations was unrealistic, and would be like Israel demanding that the PA, as a precondition to talks, give up its demand for a “right of return” for Palestinian refugees.

In an interview with the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Alawsat, Ayalon said Israeli Arabs “would not lose anything” by joining the Palestinian state as part of a land swap.

“If Israeli Arabs say that they are proud Palestinians, why should they not be proud in the Palestinian state?” the Israel Beiteinu minister asked. This population could contribute to building the Palestinian state due to its high socioeconomic status, he said.

I don’t know how much of the above was simply rhetorical, but a few comments:

A) Israeli Arabs have always been violently opposed to land swaps, for two reasons. One is that they know that they are far better off economically and more secure physically as citizens of Israel than of ‘Palestine’. The other is that they believe that the land of Israel belongs to them and that ultimately they will control it. Here’s my favorite quotation to demonstrate this:

(Read full post)

Love of the Land: Land swaps and right of return

Love of the Land: Were the Oslo Accords a state of mind?

Were the Oslo Accords a state of mind?

Dr. Alex Grobman
Special to The Jewish State
05 February '10

Finding a solution to the Arab/Israeli conflict has been a constant source of frustration for American administrations. Each new U.S. president assumes he can resolve this intractable dispute either through the sheer force of his personality or his unique understanding of the problems in the region.

The Oslo Peace Accords -- which were officially signed at a public ceremony in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 13, 1993, in the presence of PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and U.S. President Bill Clinton -- is among the most glaring example of how American presidents are naive about how to settle the conflict.

In "Doomed to Failure?: The Politics and Intelligence of the Oslo Peace Process," Ofira Seliktar, a professor of political science at Gratz College and adjunct professor at Temple University, analyzes the environment in which the Oslo Accords evolved, and the reasons why the agreement failed. The downfall of the Soviet Union and the defeat of Iraq in the Gulf War in 1991 were viewed by the Israeli peace activists and their supporters in the West as a sure sign that the climate was ripe to start the Oslo negotiations that lead to the Declaration of Principles.

Shimon Peres, the most vigorous proponent of this view, believed that a new Middle East had emerged that would prevail over the "irrational" and "tribalist" attitudes like extreme nationalism and religious fundamentalism among the Arabs throughout the region. Once peace was achieved, peace activists expected there would be an added bonus: Israel would probably abandon its own "tribal-particularistic culture shaped by the ultraorthodox and national religious Zionists in favor of a more universalistic-secular creed."

Seliktar describes how the negotiations began, the principles upon which they were based, and the Labor party's attempt to implement the accord even as Yasser Arafat's legitimacy continued to be repudiated. She explores how the Likud government attempted to effect a midcourse modification of the agreement, and Labor's efforts to circumvent and ignore PA blatant violations of the interim provisions of the Accord in order to achieve a final peace settlement.

Those who want to understand the way in which Israel predicts and manages political change will find this book of special interest. Seliktar shows us why the Oslo Accords were doomed from the start.

(Read full article)

Love of the Land: Were the Oslo Accords a state of mind?

Love of the Land: Second Thoughts on Israel-Bashing

Second Thoughts on Israel-Bashing

Jennifer Rubin
Contentions/Commentary
13 February '10

It seems as though at least one of the 54 signatories on the “lift the Gaza blockade” letter is having second thoughts. This report explains that U.S. Representative Yvette Clarke (D-NY) is pulling her support after a meeting with Jewish activists:

The result was an “open letter” issued by Clarke’s office disavowing her signature on the letter accusing Israel of collective punishment in Gaza. The open letter also disavowed her participation in another letter she had co-signed in support of the Goldstone report. The second letter came out against last November’s Congressional resolution calling on U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to unequivocally oppose the United Nations’ Goldstone Report accusing Israel of guilt in committing war crimes in Gaza.

“These letters are uneven in their application of pressure and do not sufficiently present a balanced approach/path to peace,” Clarke wrote in her new letter. The Congresswoman claimed that the two earlier letters did not “reflect [her] record with regards to Israel” and “have a provocative and reactionary impact, as they do not provide a complete, and therefore accurate, picture of the situation.”

(Read full post)

Love of the Land: Second Thoughts on Israel-Bashing

Love of the Land: Israel's bogus demographic threat

Israel's bogus demographic threat

Dr. Aaron Lerner/Yoram Ettinger
IMRA
12 February '10

Theodore Herzl (in 1900) and David Ben Gurion (in 1947) did not subordinate their vision and long-term strategy to tenuous demographic constraints: A Jewish minority of 8% and 33% respectively between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. Their defiance of odds was responsible for the 1948 establishment of the Jewish State.

In 2010, there is a solid 67% Jewish majority in the combined area of pre-1967 Israel and Judea and Samaria. However, some Israeli politicians employ toxic demographic assets. They inflate the number of Arabs in Judea and Samaria in order to scare the Jewish State into a retreat from a most critical area, historically and security-wise.

The following OpEd, by Haim Rozenberg, former Head of Long-Term Planning at RAFAEL (Israel Defense Ministry's Armament Development Authority), addresses the issue of toxic demographic assets.

Shabbat Shalom,
Yoram Ettinger

Toxic Demographic Assets

Haim Rozenberg
News First Class
February 8, 2010

Haim Rozenberg, former Head Long-Term Planning, RAFAEL (Israel Defense Ministry's Armament Development Authority

Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, said on February 4, 2010 that there are 12 million persons between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean: 6 million Jews and 6 million Arabs. Therefore, he concluded, a two state solution would spare Israel the wrath of Apartheid. Really?!

Barak's conclusion is based on a dramatic error of a two million person gap.

In fact, the total population west of the Jordan River is 10 million. According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS), Israel's population includes 6 million Jews and 1.5 million Arabs. The ICBS has not dealt with Judea, Samaria and Gaza Arabs since 1997.

(Read full article)

Love of the Land: Israel's bogus demographic threat

Love of the Land: Why Would Indians Need Israeli Pilots?

Why Would Indians Need Israeli Pilots?

Anna Mahjar-Barducci
Hudson New York
12 February '10

Sixty-five years after the end of World War II in which the Nazis took the lives of six million Jews, the Jews around the world are still as much in danger as they were in the 1930’s, if not more so.

In Europe anti-Semitism comes out mostly disguised as anti-Zionism. Almost all of the European Left is anti-Israeli, especially in Spain, where the anti-Israel policy of the socialist government of PM Zapatero and FM Moratinos is now notorious. It took more than a year, for instance, to close the channel connection to the Hispasat satellite of the Hizbullah TV, al-Menar, which was thereby able to continue broadcasting more than a year of hate and Islamist propaganda into Latin America. In a country with the most anti-Catholic government in its history, but with a multicultural obsession for Islam, Al-Manar TV was part of “freedom of press.”

During years in Pakistan, it was surprising to note how many metropolitan legends circulated within the country having, at their center, a Jewish plot. When Pakistan exploded its first nuclear device, for example, people said they had been compelled to do so to deter India, which was about to bomb them, and that shortly before the blast, Indian bombers, with Israeli pilots [sic], were already warming up the engines on some runaway. The logical question is: Why in Heaven would the Indians need Israeli pilots?

(Read full article)

Love of the Land: Why Would Indians Need Israeli Pilots?