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10月23日 The Temperature's Rising... There's a sharav wind blowing and here in Jerusalem, it's 34 degrees Celsius in the shade, but that's not the reason I've got smoke blowing out of my ears. For that you can thank Judge Richard Goldstone and his anti-Israel diatribe, otherwise known as "The Goldstone Report". Let's take a look at the mandate given by the UN to Goldstone's so-called "fact-finding mission". According to the official website of the UN Human Rights Council, the Commission was set up in order “to investigate all violations of international human rights
law and international humanitarian law that might have been committed
at any time in the context of the military operations that were
conducted in Gaza during the period from 27 December 2008 and 18
January 2009, whether before, during or after.” Pay attention to the words in italics, I shall be returning to them later. The HRC's official website further informs us that the appointment of the mission followed the adoption on 12 January 2009 of Resolution S-9/1 by the United Nations Human Rights Council at the end of its 9th Special Session. Let us therefore examine Resolution S-9/1. It's easy enough to do, just follow the link on the website. We thus discover that the subject of the resolution (proposed by the Arab, African and Islamic Bloc) is none other than "The grave violations of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly due to the recent Israeli military attacks against the occupied Gaza Strip". At the end of the resolution, the UN Human Rights Council " Decides to dispatch an urgent, independent international fact-finding mission, to be appointed by the President of the Council, to investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law by the occupying Power, Israel, against the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip, due to the current aggression, and calls upon Israel not to obstruct the process of investigation and to fully cooperate with the mission". We see, therefore, that the "fact-finding" commission set out with the intention of finding Israel guilty. Its mandate was to investigate violations of international human rights law by Israel, and by Israel alone, with no mention of the violations of human rights law carried out by the Hamas terrorists who used schools, hospitals and UN buildings as launch sites for their Kassam rockets, thus turning "Palestinian" civilians into human shields (a war crime, under international law) in order to fire missiles at Israeli civilian targets (another war crime, under international law). And while we're on the subject - what's all this about "the occupied Gaza Strip"? Occupied by who? Israel completely withdrew from the Gaza Strip in August 2005!!! So, who are the "occupiers" referred to in the Resolution? The only non-Palestinians there (I use the word "Palestinians" merely for the sake of convenience, as there is, in fact, no such nation and never has been) were the UN workers! Now let's take a look at the members of Judge Goldstone's "Fact" Finding Mission. Professor Christine Chinkin was one of the signatories to a letter published in the Sunday Times on January 11, 2009, condemning Israel and accusing her of war crimes. Two months later, she was drafted to the so-called "independent fact-finding mission". In any normal court of law, a judge who had voiced an opinion, in advance of the trial, as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant, would be expected to recuse him/herself. Prof. Chinkin, however, hadn't the integrity to do so. Nor had Judge Goldstone, as head of the mission, the integrity to disqualify her, or to refuse to lend his name to a "fact" finding mission in which at least one of the members had already judged the case! Ms. Hina Jilani is an advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Pakistan, on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, was one of the sponsors of the biased and one-sided resolution S-9/1. Now, while, admittedly, Ms. Jilani has not always seen eye to eye with the Pakistani Government, a representative from one of the countries which sponsored such a one-sided resolution (and that, on behalf of the Islamic Conference) is hardly a guarantee that justice will be done. I was always taught that "Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done." Furthermore, as early as October 11, 2005, Ms. Hini had already accused Israel of "depriving Palestinians of basic rights." Thus she too had already judged Israel guilty. Next, we come to Col. Desmond Travers, who together with Richard Goldstone himself had, as early as March 16, 2009, signed an open letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, stating that gross violations of international law had been committed (albeit by both sides). Thus we see that his mind was already made up that Israel had committed "gross violations of international law". In fact, the same can be said - and for the same reasons - about the Commission leader, Richard Goldstone, himself. Furthermore, Goldstone has since accused Israel of not being interested at all in peace talks. In short, he is now revealing his true colours. It is therefore painfully obvious that there was not one truly objective and unbiased member of the "Fact Finding Mission", not a single one of whom it could be said that he or she undertook the job with an open mind. Let us now examine the breakdown of votes in favour of, or opposing, the decision of the UN Human Rights Council to adopt the findings of the Mission: 25 in favour, 6 against, 11 abstentions, 2 delegations were absent and 2 more, Britain and France, refused to participate in the vote. (I would call that an abstention, but apparently, there is a difference. I'm not sure what it is though.) Of the 25 in favour of adopting the Report, 11 were Arab or Muslim countries, including the Palestinian Authority. I'm not sure how they got the right to vote, inasmuch as they are not a state, but even if they were - how come they get to vote on a subject in which they are a side to the conflict, while Israel does not??? Those countries supporting adoption of the Report included such beacons of human rights as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China, Cuba, Nigeria and Russia. The latter was the only European country (if you can call her that) to support the adoption of the Report. Even the Ukraine voted against (I am cynical enough to wonder if this was maybe because Russia voted in favour) - in company with Italy, the Netherlands, Hungary, Slovakia and, of course, the United States. So now, the Goldstone Report is to go before the Security Council of the United Nations, with the recommendation of the HRC that they too adopt the Report. Of course, in the Security Council, the US has a veto. I demand that they use it! Furthermore, I call upon France and Britain to add their own vetoes, Britain especially, in light of the declaration of Col. Richard Kemp CBE, former Commander of the British forces in Afghanistan, holder of the Queen's Commendation for Bravery, a man who has served in Northern Ireland and in Bosnia, who stated, at the 12th Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council last Friday, October 16th: "Mr. President, based on my knowledge and experience, I can say this: During Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli Defence Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare." Israel did all this, while facing an enemy that deliberately positioned its military capability behind the human shield of the civilian population. In short, Israel had no choice. So, to Britain and to France, and to all those other countries who sat on the fence and abstained or, like the Cheshire Cat, disappeared and were absent at the moment of truth, I say this: If and when this iniquitous and biased Report comes before the UN Security Council, reject it. For once, do what is right, not what is expedient. Those of you who have been regular followers of this blog will observe that Col. Kemp is saying what I have held all along. But for those of you who may think that as an Israeli, I cannot be objective, I will leave you with Col. Kemp's own words. Remember them, for they are no more than the truth. During Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli Defence Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.  Download the latest version of Flash to view this content 10月10日 How the Norwegian Parliament Debased a Once-Noble PrizeWhen I heard the news that the 2009 Nobel Peace prize was to be awarded to US President Barack Hussein Obama, I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. When it became clear I was not, I had to look at the calendar to make sure it wasn't April 1st. No, it really was October 10th.
After finally coming to terms with the fact that I was not in the realm of Morpheus, nor was it April Fools' Day, I was uncertain whether to laugh or cry. Alfred Nobel must be turning in his grave! By the terms of his will, the Peace Prize is to be awarded to "the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses." Does anyone seriously believe that Obama meets this requirement???
What has the man achieved other than shuttling around the world posing for the cameras at international conferences which have failed to achieve anything whatsoever, calling for "meaningful dialogue" (whatever that may be)?
Has he brought peace to even one area of conflict? Has he had even the smallest modicum of success in persuading the Iranians to abandon their nuclear programme?
On second thoughts - maybe we should just be grateful the woolly-headed Norwegian Nobel Committee didn't decide to award the prize to that noted humanitarian and lover of peace, Mahmoud Ahmedinajad. Oh well, there's always next year... 7月22日 Dear Mr. President: An Open Letter to Barack Hussein ObamaDear Mr. President,
For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem's sake I will not remain quiet, until her righteousness shines out like the Morning Star and her salvation like a blazing torch.
You are probably unaware of this fact, but today is the first day of the month of Av. The Jewish world is currently in the midst of the Three Weeks - a period of mourning between the Fast of the 17th of Tammuz and the Fast of the 9th of Av. The first of these fasts commemorates the breach made in the defence wall surrounding Jerusalem and the second commemorates the conquest of the city three weeks later and the destruction of the Temple. Jewish tradition associates these dates with both the First and Second Temples - although we learn from II Kings, Chapter 25 that Nebuchadnezzar's armies breached the city wall on the 9th of Tammuz and burned the First Temple to the ground on the 7th of Av in the year 586 B.C.E. Jeremiah confirms the date of 9th Tammuz as the date of the breaching of the city walls by the Babylonians (Chap. 25, v.6-7) but gives the date of the Destruction of the First Temple as the 10th of Av. After the Second Temple was built, the fasts commemorating these tragedies were apparently abolished and were only re-introduced after the Destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in the year 70 C.E. The Romano-Jewish historian Josephus tells us that the breach in the defence walls was made on the 17th of Tammuz and that from that day, it took the enemy three weeks until the city was reduced to final submission and the Temple was razed to the ground. It no doubt seemed unreasonable to revive a fast on the 9th of Tammuz and in addition, to introduce a fast on the 17th commemorating an identical event hundreds of years later, so the rabbis decreed that both events should be commemorated on the 17th of Tammuz. As far as the discrepancy in the dates given for the Destruction of the First and Second Temples goes, the Talmud suggests that the Babylonians entered the precincts of the Sanctuary on the 7th of Av, started the conflagration on the 9th and that the work of Destruction was completed on the 10th when the Temple actually burned down. Thus, the day when the flames started was chosen to commemorate the event, in fasting and prayer. When, 656 years later, the Second Temple was destroyed by the Roman Titus on the 10th of Av, it was decreed by the rabbis that both catastrophes should be commemorated on the original fast day, the 9th Av.
The Fast of the 9th of Av is the most solemn fast in the Jewish calendar after Yom Kippur. The Destruction of the Temple by the Romans effectively marked the end of independent Jewish statehood in the Land of Israel, which was not to be regained until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The three week period between the two fasts is, as I already stated, a period of mourning known in Hebrew as בין המיצרים (Bein Hameitzarim), literally "between the straits", during which no festivities may be held, marriages may not be solemnised and orthodox Jews also refrain from wearing new clothes, cutting their hair, going to concerts and embrace various other personal restrictions.
Why am I telling you all this, Mr President? After all, I am sure you have no interest whatsoever in Jewish religious customs. You should, however, have an interest in Jewish history, as you presume to dictate the course of that history. You choose to "forget" that during the long Exile in Babylon, between the fall of the First Temple and the Return to Zion in the reign of King Cyrus, we Jews never ceased to mourn our lost city, we hung our harps on the willow trees beside the rivers of Babylon and wept, as we remembered Zion. You ignore (or are ignorant of) the fact that for almost two thousand years, since Titus and his Roman stormtroopers razed the Second Temple to the ground, ploughed over the ruins of Jerusalem, renamed it Aelia Capitolina and bestowed upon Judaea the name Palaestina, we Jews have kept faith with our city and marked the day of its destruction, year after year, with fasting, prayer and the reading of the Book of Lamentations. All this you forget, when you have the temerity to demand that Israel refrain from building in what you term "East" Jerusalem and that Jews be prohibited by the democratically elected government of the Jewish State from living in so-called "Palestinian" areas of our Eternal Capital.
For shame, Mr. President.
For shame. 4月3日 The Face of the BeastI had intended to devote this week's blog to my choir's concerts last week and again, the day before yesterday. That was before yesterday's cowardly terrorist attack on the children of Bat Ayin, in the West Bank.
Yesterday (April 2nd) at noon, a Palestinian terrorist (believed to have been acting alone) entered the Jewish settlement of Bat Ayin, armed with an axe, with which he proceeded to attack a group of children playing in the centre of the village. His first victim, 13-year-old Shlomo Nativ, received a fatal wound to the neck as the terrorist scumbag tried to behead him. Mortally wounded, and bleeding, he managed to stagger to his home nearby, where he collapsed and died in his mother's arms.
The next victim was 7-year-old Yair Gamliel, who sustained severe wounds to the head and is now in hospital. Yair's 8-year-old brother, Yosef, who was playing with the other children, miraculously escaped injury after the ball with which they were playing had just fallen, some distance away, and he had run to fetch it.
Who knows what might have happened had not one of the adult residents happened along and tackled the murderer? He managed to disarm him, but the scumbag escaped and is even now being hunted by the Israel Defence Forces. When they find him, I hope and pray they do not take him alive, only to have his freedom added to the already exhorbitant list of demands Hamas is making for the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit (who may, or may not, be alive). I hope, instead, that the Beast may be killed while trying to escape capture.
I would happily put a bullet through his black heart myself.
Wouldn't you? 3月29日 Chinese WhispersWhen I was at school in England, we used to play a game called "Chinese Whispers". Here, in Israel, they play a similar game, called "Broken Telephone". The principle is the same. The players line up and the first player whispers a message, very quickly, in the ear of player no. 2. Player no. 2 whispers the message to player no. 3, who in turn, passes the message on to the next player, and so on, down the line. By the time the message has reached the last player, it has become totally garbled, even unintelligible. That, in fact, is the aim of the game.
Why am I telling you this?
A week ago, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz published an article about a symposium at a military academy here in Israel, at which Israeli Army reservists who had served in Gaza and taken part in Operation Cast Lead, disclosed what the British, European and American Press (who picked up the story) called "Israel's Dirty Little Secrets" about the recent military campaign in Gaza. In short, five reservists recounted reports of war crimes supposedly perpetrated by the Israel Defence Forces.
Among these were stories of Israeli soldiers slaughtering Palestinian civilians in cold blood. Chief of these was a fable about the alleged shooting of a mother and her baby. Naturally, the already hostile European media (and even some of the American newspapers and TV stations) pounced upon these "first-hand admissions of guilt" with unholy glee.
Before twenty-four hours had gone by, it became clear that not one of the reports was an eye-witness account. All of the reservists were merely telling stories they had heard from someone else, who had, in turn, heard them from someone else. The mother and baby who had supposedly been shot in cold blood by wicked Zionist soldiers, were found, alive and well. The newspaper report was based on nothing but hearsay - rumours, if you will, which are now under investigation by the proper authorities. If there is any truth in any of the rumours, those responsible for carrying out any such crimes will be tried and punished, by the Israeli military authorities. The IDF is the most moral army in the world. If individual soldiers carried out crimes of war - and it's a big "if" - they acted in contradiction to everything the IDF stands for. But that makes no difference to the hostile western (and particularly European) media. As far as they are concerned, the whole Israel Army - nay, every Israeli - is guilty of war crimes. When the rumours are scotched, you will look in vain for an apology from those newspapers and TV stations. And even if they do apologise, it will no doubt be a single line on the back page - nothing comparable to the front page headlines that screamed Israel's guilt. The damage has already been done and it will be irreparable.
Rumour is an ugly thing - almost impossible to contradict. It is swift and it is deadly.
Fama, malum qua non alliud velocius ullum:
mobilitate viget viresque adquirit eundo.....
monstrum horrendum, ingens, cui quot sunt corpore plumae,
tot vigiles oculi subter (mirabile dictu),
tot linguae, totidem ora sonant, tot subrigit auris.....
.....et magnas territat urbes,
tam ficti pravique tenax quam nuntia veri.
Translation:
"Rumour is of all pests the swiftest. In her freedom of movement is her power, and she gathers new strength from
her going...She is a vast, fearful monster, with a watchful eye miraculously set under every feather which grows on
her, and for every one of them a tongue in a mouth which is loud of speech, and an ear ever alert...And she strikes
dread throughout great cities, for she is as retentive of news which is false and wicked as she is ready to tell what is
true..."*
There is an old joke that goes as follows: In Britain, you are innocent until proven guilty. In Russia, you are guilty until proven innocent. In the USA, you are innocent until the Press gets hold of the story. It seems, alas, the same holds true of Israel. How can I blame The New York Times, The Independent, The Guardian etc. when the first to publish the story was Ha'aretz?
Oh, and one last thing. Rumour has it that Ha'aretz was once a responsible newspaper, whose staff checked and double checked their sources before publishing such damaging material. It seems Rumour lied about that too.
* Virgil: "The Aeneid" (translated by W.F. Jackson Knight, Penguin Classics) 2月20日 Gilad Shalit - A Question of ReciprocityThe Israeli government came out yesterday (Thursday) with a firm decision not to reopen the Gaza border checkposts until Gilad Shalit, abducted by Hamas terrorists on June 25th, 2006 and held hostage ever since, is returned to his home and family. Hamas, backed by Egypt, refuses to link the negotiations for the return of Gilad with the negotiations for a temporary lull or reduction of tension between Israel and Hamas. I, personally, hold no brief with this so-called tahadiya. Just for the record, we are not talking about a ceasefire here, but a reduction of hostilities which will, I suppose, mean that the terrorists will fire "only" a couple of rockets into the western Negev every couple of days or so, rather than 60-80 a day, as it was during the days leading up to Operation Cast Lead. And at the same time, they will be free (de facto if not de jure) to continue smuggling weapons into Gaza in preparation for the next round of fighting. And a next round is inevitable, as long as the terrorist regime that is Hamas continues to rule in Gaza.
But let us return to Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped in a terrorist raid almost 32 months ago. He has been held incommunicado by his captors, so we can't even be sure he is alive - and in return for his freedom, Hamas is demanding that Israel free a thousand convicted terrorists, among them some of the vilest creatures known to man, whose hands are stained with the blood of countless Israeli civilians, men, women and children - even babies. In short, what we have here is, in many ways, a classic hostage situation.
For many years, Israel refused, on principle, to negotiate with terrorists, but since we called a halt to Operation Cast Lead without finishing the job and destroying Hamas, it seems that this time, there is no alternative. The government is also subject to pressure from within, as the Israeli people are demanding (with justification) that the government do all in its power to bring about Gilad's release. The only question seems to be, how much are we prepared to pay? For there can be no doubt that releasing 1000 vicious murderers will only lead to further kidnappings and next time, the price will be not 1000 convicted terrorists but 2000, 3000, 4000 - and so on and so on .....
So it seems to me that the time has come to put the pressure on Hamas, or rather, to see to it that their own people start to pressure the Hamas leadership. Gilad has been held incommunicado for 32 months. No Red Cross visits. No visits from family and friends. No legal representation. No-one knows in what conditions he is being held. The convicted murderers whose release is being demanded in return for his freedom, however, had the benefit of legal representation at their trials. They have regular Red Cross visits. They have family visits. They are permitted - like all prisoners in Israeli gaols - to send and receive letters. The Son of Satan, Samir Kuntar, was even permitted to marry while in prison and to enjoy conjugal visits. To compound the absurdity, his wife, as the wife of a prisoner, received financial support from the Israeli government, through the National Insurance Institute!!! Kuntar was also permitted to study for an Open University degree while in prison.
I think it is high time for some reciprocity in the treatment of prisoners. I suggest that convicted terrorists in Israel be kept incommunicado, in solitary confinement. No conjugal visitation rights. No Red Cross visits. No letters. No university studies. Nothing. Let their families suffer the agony of not knowing what has become of their loved ones, just like Aviva and Noam Shalit, the parents of Gilad. Then talk to me of proportionality. There is none. Gilad Shalit was a nineteen year old boy who had never harmed anyone. The scumbag terrorists being held in Israeli gaols were all convicted, after a fair trial, of the most heinous crimes. If we had any sense, they would have been put to death. According to military law, (under which many of them were tried) it is possible to apply the death penalty in Israel for acts of terrorism resulting in fatalities. But government policy has been not to demand it. Yet another case of killing ourselves with kindness, to my way of thinking. When, oh when will we ever learn? 2月8日 Against all oddsOn January 16th, I posted a blog asking you to pray with me for the life of seven-year old Orel Elazar from Beersheba, critically wounded in the head in a Hamas terrorist rocket attack. At the time of writing, this little boy was fighting for his life in the Children's Intensive Care Unit in Beersheba's Soroka Hospital and the prognosis was grim. Rabbis and religious leaders visited his bedside to pray for him, but there seemed to be little hope.
I am here to tell you now that, even in this day and age, miracles do still happen and prayers are answered.
This evening, I heard on the news that Orel has regained consciousness and is slowly, but surely, recovering - against all the odds. Tomorrow, he will be transferred to a rehabilitation ward in Jerusalem. To all of you who prayed for him, I want to say "thank you".
Orel's fight continues. It will be a long, hard road before he is fully restored to health, to being the happy, laughing little boy he was 24 days ago. But the journey has started. Orel is on his way. We can accompany him with our prayers. 2月6日 Where Are You Now, Annie Lennox?A few days ago - on Monday, if I am not mistaken - there was a short news item on Sky News about the bombing of a hospital in Sri Lanka's war zone, by government troups, with many fatalities among the helpless patients and staff. I didn't write about it right away. I was waiting to see what would happen next. How would the world react to the bombing of innocent civilians? To the deliberate attack on a hospital? To the heavy casualties? Without a doubt, the United Nations Security Council would call an immediate emergency session.
No? Well, surely the UN Secretary General, at least, would issue a strongly worded condemnation. Not that either? Well, maybe Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez would break off diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka, as he did with Israel. Again, no. Okay, maybe another famous Latin American, former model turned "peace activist" Bianca Jagger, would join her fellow "celebrities" Alex Sayle and Annie Lennox on a protest march through London against this atrocity. A hospital, after all!
But no - no massive demonstrations through the streets of London, Paris or Madrid. No reaction at all, in fact. I could almost believe I had imagined the whole thing!
How could this be? Sri Lankan troops bombed a hospital!!! Where are you now, Annie Lennox? You were quick enough to condemn Israel, for bombing civilians. Doesn't bombing a hospital come under the category of "crimes against humanity"?
Or is it only when Israel is the alleged attacker that your humanitarian instincts are aroused?
Your hypocrisy sickens me, Ms Lennox. And yours, Mr Sayle. And yours, Ms Jagger.
As does that of the United Nations and its Secretary General.
But then again - that's nothing new.
1月21日 Unilateral ceasefire - Unilateral FollyThe Israeli soldiers who received the order to cease firing couldn't understand why they weren't allowed to finish the job.
The citizens of Sderot, Netivot, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Beersheba and the other towns and villages of the western Negev and along the Gaza border whose lives have been made hell for the past eight years by Kassam rockets fired at them from the Gaza Strip, couldn't understand why the Israeli government didn't allow the IDF to finish what it had started.
I sure as hell can't understand why, on the basis of some vague American, European and Egyptian promises to "do all they could" to help prevent the smuggling of weapons into Gaza by the Hamas Islamofascists, the IDF has now totally withdrawn from Gaza!!!
Does anyone understand it?
Hamas continued firing rockets into Israel even after they themselves declared a "unilateral" ceasefire. That was to be expected. After all, in order to continue to lie to their own people about their great "victory", they had to be able to claim to have fired the final shot.
But for our troops not only to cease firing but also to withdraw, without some definite, enforceable arrangement for preventing the continued smuggling of weapons into the Gaza Strip - that is folly bordering on insanity.
And Hamas hasn't wasted a minute. Today the last Israeli soldier left Gaza (well, the last except for Gilad Shalit, but that's another story, for my next blog entry). And what was Hamas' first prioritytoday?
Not to start rebuilding schools.
Not to start rebuilding hospitals.
Not to start rebuilding homes.
No, my friends. Their very first priority, today, as documented by Associated Press journalists, was to start rebuilding their weapons-smuggling tunnels.
 A Hamas weapons-smuggling tunnelBecause, for Hamas, and all the other Islamofascists, killing Jews is more important than laying the foundations of a Palestinian state. Their whole raison d'etre is hatred. They don't care for the Palestinian people. That's just an excuse. And until the Palestinians recognise that fact - there will never be peace. Not for us - and not for them. 1月9日 Crimes of WarA little over an hour ago, today's three-hour "humanitarian truce" ended. In case anyone doesn't know what I am talking about, let me explain. For the past few days (since Tuesday or Wednesday, I'm not sure), Israel has been observing a three-hour truce from 1 pm to 4 pm, in order to enable food, medicines and other essential humanitarian aid, to be delivered to the citizens of Gaza. Hamas has continued to fire rockets at Israeli towns during the truce. The United Nations aid agencies have announced that they will no longer be delivering emergency aid, because their convoys have been fired on. They claim it was Israeli troops who fired on them. What is certain is that at 1 pm today, Israel sent in fifty trucks to Gaza, loaded with food and medicines for the Palestinians (against whom we are fighting, remember) - and that those trucks, loaded with humanitarian aid for their own people, were fired on by Hamas. Under the circumstances, I take leave to question the UN's claim that it was Israeli troops who fired on previous aid convoys.
Earlier this week, the whole world was horrified by the newsreel footage of a school in Gaza which was fired on by Israeli mortars, leaving over forty dead and many wounded. The school was functioning as a UN refugee centre and, according to the UN, Israel had been informed this was the case. This was the opportunity Hamas had been waiting for. "Israeli Massacre of the Innocents" screamed the international Press.
It was inevitable that something of this kind would happen sooner or later, given the Hamas policy of using the civilian population as human shields for their mortars and rocket launchers. Either way, they score a victory. If Israel refrains from firing back, in order to avoid civilian casualties, Hamas is free to fire on Israeli civilians with impunity, knowing that Israel will not fire back. But if Israel does respond in kind - as she is entitled to do under international law - and civilians are killed or wounded, then Hamas scores a huge public relations victory. The death of their own people is of no import - theirs is a religion that embraces martyrdom, even the unwilling martyrdom of others, that glorifies death. And beyond the public relations victory, pictures of dead and dying Palestinian women and children also has a demoralising effect on the Israeli public - because we Jews have a conscience, we embrace life as God's most precious gift.
The legal argument, that Israeli troops were returning fire after having been fired upon from the school building, while it would no doubt stand up in any War Crimes trial, pales before the sight of a dead Palestinian baby. And Hamas has counted on this from the very start.
Let me tell you, my friends - my heart bleeds at the sight of dead Palestinian women and children. There have indeed been war crimes committed in the course of the current conflict. And the world should certainly demand a reckoning. Those responsible should be put on trial and made to answer for what they have done. So let's start with the deliberate firing of Kassam rockets, over a period of eight years, on Israeli towns and villages (a manifestly civilian target) by Hamas. The deliberate targeting of civilians is prohibited both by the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and by the 1977 Protocols which extended the protection of the original conventions to civilians and applied them also to non-international conflicts and to so-called "wars of national liberation".
I therefore call for the Hamas leaders who ordered the deliberate bombing of Israel's civilian population, to be put on trial for war crimes.
Hamas deliberately used Palestinian civilians as human shields in order to hide their weaponry. They placed their rocket launchers in schools and refugee centres, they stockpiled weapons in mosques and hospitals, thus turning these places into legitimate military targets. Article 51(7) of the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions provides:
"The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used to render certain points
or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield,
favour or impede military operations."
I therefore call for the Hamas leaders who turned their own non-combatants into military targets, to be put on trial for war crimes.
Hamas terrorists fired on trucks carrying essential food and medical supplies being delivered to their own civilian population by Israel. I therefore call for the Hamas leaders, who denied emergency humanitarian aid to the civilian population of Gaza, to be put on trial for war crimes. 1月5日 CorrectionI owe my readers an apology for an error I made in my previous entry "The Numbers Game". I stated that the Israeli towns and villages of the western Negev have been subject to terrorist rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip for five years. I have been reminded that even before Hamas actually took power in Gaza, they were accustomed to commit these acts of aggression against Israeli civilians living within rocket range of the Gaza Strip. In fact, the rocket attacks - though less intensive - date back to the second intifada, which started in the year 2000. That's eight years, my friends, not five. I have corrected the blog entry in question. My deepest apologies to the citizens of Sderot and the other towns bordering Hamasland for my unintentional omission of a further three years of suffering. An Open Letter to Alexei Sayle, Annie Lennox and Bianca JaggerDear Mr Sayle, Ms Lennox and Ms Jagger,
Yesterday, all three of you saw fit to take part in an anti-Israel demonstration in London. All three of you were asked by the Sky News reporter (Sky News has least occasionally pays lip service to even-handedness, rather more so than the BBC) if you would not feel differently if you lived in Sderot. You, Mr Sayle, had sufficient honesty to reply "Probably". You, Ms Lennox, conceded that what has been happening in Sderot is, in your own words, "horrible" and you, Ms Jagger, (on the defensive?) hastened to tout your pro-human rights record and to claim that you have always condemned all violence against civilians. All three of you then qualified your replies with a "but..."
You then, all three of you, went on to claim that Israel's actions were disproportionate, that Israel was attacking innocent civilians, that one and a half million Palestinians were suffering, that Israel was basically at fault for starving the residents of Gaza by preventing "humanitaran aid" from reaching them, so what could they do but fire rockets, etc. etc. etc.
You, Mr Sayle, went on to display either incredible ignorance or monumental cynicism, by remarking that the citizens of Sderot could at least get away from the rockets by going away for the weekend (as if the Hamas terrorists only fire deadly rockets at the weekend) or (wait for this) - by moving elsewhere!!! You claim the Hamas home-made missiles only have a range of about 30 miles, so your solution is for the residents of Sderot to move out of reach. To where should they move, Mr Sayle? The circle of terror is widening. The Hamas murderers now have Iranian Grad missiles that can reach Beersheba. How long will it be before they have rockets that can reach Tel Aviv? Have you ever actually looked at a map, Mr Sayle? Do you have any idea how small Israel actually is? It's about the size of Wales, Mr Sayle. Are you not aware that this is exactly what the Arabs have always wanted? For the Israelis to pack up and leave, go, disappear? In short, for Israel to cease to exist?
You also made some vague allusions to (unspecified) Israeli "provocations". What provocations, Mr Sayle? It was Hamas which opened hostilities by launching rockets at Israel's civilian population. That was the only reason Israel launched pre-emptive strikes at those known to be preparing and planning such attacks. Hamas terrorists also targeted the border passes through which humanitarian aid trucks passed (and continue to pass, even today). It was Hamas which refused to allow the free passage of vehicles carrying food and other essential supplies unless Israel agreed to allow Hamas to police the passes! The World Food Program informed Israel, in fact, that it would cease shipment of food to Gaza because the warehouses there are at full capacity! There is no shortage of humanitarian supplies in Gaza. Why don't you ask Hamas what they have done with the supplies, as well as with the huge sums of money Israel has transferred to Gaza over the past few weeks? You ended up by calling on British Jewry to boycott Israel. In response, I call on British Jewry to show their support for Israel by buying Israeli products on every possible occasion.
And you, Ms Lennox. You admit that what has been going on in the south of Israel is "horrible" (generous of you). Why, then, the qualification? What was Israel supposed to do, after years of deliberate targeting of her civilian population by Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists? How about you, Ms Jagger, who (so you claim) have always condemned violence against civilian populations. Where were you when Qassam rockets were being fired on almost a daily basis on Sderot? I don't recall any expressions of righteous indignation from you then. Tell me, the three of you - where was the urgency to act when it was Israeli women and children who were the victims of war crimes committed by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad? You were silent then. Now you rush to lead demonstrations and to be interviewed by the BBC and Sky News. It was only when a television reporter put a direct question to you that you hurried to pay lip service to even-handedness.
In short, Mr Sayle, Ms Lennox and Ms Jagger - what a pack of hypocrites you are... 1月3日 The Numbers GameBenjamin Disraeli used to say, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics". He might have been prophesying the media coverage of Operation Cast Lead (or any other Arab-Israeli military campaign, for that matter). I have written before on this space about the twisted use of numbers in the propaganda war against Israel. But nothing changes, after all and pictures of dead Palestinian civilians are much hotter news, sell more newspapers and garner higher ratings than pictures of the destroyed rocket-launchers they were protecting (willingly or not) with their own bodies.
Israeli civilians have been killed by Hamas terrorist missiles. It is true that the number of Palestinians killed is higher (we will just have to take it on trust that they really were civilians, I suppose - the Palestinians have always been so truthful about this, after all...), but proportionality, in law and in logic, is measured, not by the actual damage caused to the side accused of disproportionality, but by the potential damage thatwould have been caused had that side not taken action. So let's just examine that, shall we?
Forty minutes ago, a Grad rocket fired from the Gaza Strip scored a direct hit on an eight-storey apartment block in Ashdod. By some miracle, only two people were slightly wounded. Thirteen others are being treated for shock and trauma. Another rocket, from the same volley, hit a house in Ashkelon. My aunt lives in Ashkelon. She doesn't have a bomb shelter.
Let me give you a few more examples:
On Wednesday, a Hamas terrorist rocket aimed at Beersheba, scored a direct hit on a school. Miraculously, no-one was hurt, because the Beersheba Municipality had decided that morning that there would be no school that day, so the place was empty. Do you know why that decision was taken, my friends? It was because the day before, a Hamas terrorist rocket landed on a kindergarten in the same neighbourhood. Again, by the merest luck, the toddlers had left shortly before (but I doubt the Hamas terrorists knew that when they fired their missiles).
Hamas deliberately targets civilians . The Palestinian civilians killed by Israel, on the other hand, were not deliberately targeted but died because Hamas chose to use them as human shields. This kind of terrorist rocket attack has been going on for EIGHT YEARS. When Israel responded with pre-emptive attacks on the rocket-launchers, we were accused of being assassins. When we adopted the policy of closing the border passes and applying economic sanctions (exactly as the West did to Iraq prior to the war), we were accused of collective punishment and of starving the civilian population (even though we did allow essential food and medical supplies in). Every time the Hamas terrorists fired rockets at our civilian population, the governments of the U.S.A and of the E.U. urged us to display restraint. For how long, my friends? How long were we supposed to let them continue to bomb and shell our cities and trust to luck that only 2 or 3 Israelis would be killed (for the sake of preserving "proportionality")? How long would you wait if it was your cities that were being bombed, my friends? How long would you wait before striking back, not in retaliation but to take out their rocket launchers and destroy their terrorist infrastructure? Would you wait 8 years? Would you wait 8 months? 8 weeks? Would you wait even 8 days? Ah, but isn't it strange, I hear some of you say, that Israel has such low casualty figures, despite the thousands of terrorist missiles that have been fired at us from Hamasland over the past eight years? Such luck is simply too good to be true.
Luck? Well, maybe. Or maybe something more. Maybe - just maybe - Someone up there is looking out for us. Maybe He is protecting His own. 12月26日 The Quality of Mercy is Very Much Strained9:15 A.M. I really should stop listening to the news in the morning. It's a sure-fire way to send my blood pressure soaring. Not a good way to start the day.
And what, my friends, was the rocket fuel that sent said blood pressure practically through the ceiling this morning?
Simply this.
As you probably know, if you watch or listen to the news (well, maybe not, if your source of information is the BBC or CNN), since the end of the so-called "ceasefire" on the Israel-Gaza border, Qassam rockets and mortar bombs have been constantly bombarding Israeli settlements along the border and way beyond (not that they ever stopped, even during the "ceasefire" - although you might not know that, if your sole source of information is the bleeding-heart European press or the notoriously anti-Israel CNN). On Wednesday, over 60 Hamas terrorist missiles rained down on Sderot and other settlements in the western Negev. Last night alone, over a score of rockets targeted civilian settlements well inside Israel and this morning, another five added to the trauma of Israeli children who have the misfortune to live within the range of the terrorist missiles. Yet despite all that, despite the fact that Israeli Military Intelligence has issued top-level alerts of an impending terrorist attack on one of the border passes, the Israeli Government has decided to open all three of the passes to allow supplies to reach the Palestinians. Even as I write these words, dozens of trucks carrying "humanitarian aid" to Hamasland are making their way through Israel to the Gaza Strip.
Let's be clear on this, my friends. Even if the supposed recipients are "civilians", those "innocents" are the people who elected a Hamas leadership, they are the people who put the terrorists into power.
And will we get any credit for our humanitarian gesture, when all's said and done? No, we won't reap even that benefit. We will continue to figure in the eyes of the world as those wicked Jews who, for no reason at all, are starving innocent Palestinian children. You won't hear about the Israeli children who, night after night, are forced to sleep in bomb shelters. You won't hear about the sick and the elderly Israeli civilians, suffering from severe trauma and anxiety. You won't hear about the family saved by a miracle when a Qassam rocket went right through the roof of their house and landed on the bed of one of the children who had got up minutes before. You won't hear what it's like to live under the constant threat of a 15-second incoming missile warning. Yes, that's right. 15 seconds.
Why don't you click on the link and let the citizens of Sderot tell you for themselves?
I find the "humanitarian" gestures of our government totally inexplicable. Their "humanitarianism" seems to stop short of defending our own civilians and is reserved for our enemies. Clearly they have forgotten the teaching of our sages: "He who is compassionate to the cruel will end up by being cruel to the compassionate." 12月12日 Ship of FoolsSome of the most popular stories in Eastern European Jewish folklore are the tales of Chelm, a town populated by fools. Several news items this week convinced me that I am living there. Certainly they give cause to doubt the mental ability of those navigating the Ship of State. How, for example, can one explain why it is that the Israeli Government cannot find the money to fortify homes in Sderot against the regular barrage of mortar fire and Qassam rockets emanating from the Gaza Strip (otherwise known as Hamasland), but has just authorized the transfer of funds to Gaza, where the banks were supposedly on the point of collapse, in order to pay salaries to (Palestinian) government employees (in other words, Hamas terrorists)?
Why is it that kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has spent over 900 days in captivity in the hands of the Hamas terrorists, and our government has been apparently unable to come to an agreement with his captors over which murderers to release in exchange for his freedom, and yet saw fit, not for the first time either, to release dozens of convicted terrorists from Israeli gaols as a "gesture of goodwill" to Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas), who gives us nothing in return and who even has the hutzpa to complain that more should have been released?
And from the national to the personal level. Why is it that the Minister for Homeland Security is constantly making speeches about how the fight against organized crime is going to be stepped up, and the police budget will therefore be increased accordingly, but when it comes to putting criminals on trial, prosecutors such as myself often have to work without even the most basic equipment? For example, there are four internet terminals in my department, for direct contact with the courts. First and foremost, they serve for downloading the daily Cause Lists, as well as checking and printing out copies of summonses to defendants and witnesses, (without which, there is no way of proving that a defendant or witness who doesn't put in an appearance received a legal summons). Of the four, one has no printer, another (the newest) does have a printer, but the printer isn't connected to the computer (it was connected, but there was some problem and it is now disconnected), a third, in the Library, is connected to the printer but there is a problem with the internet connection so it has nothing to print, while the fourth has a printer which doesn't work, because it is out of toner. You might think, (as I did) - no problem, order more toner. Unfortunately, since the equipment with which the Powers That Be see fit to provide us is so ancient, hardly anyone supplies the necessary cartridges any more, and acquiring the right kind of ink therefore requires what is almost a military operation!
It's enough to send even the sanest person flying over the Cuckoo's Nest.
 12月4日 The Seventh CandleThe final death toll of the terrorist outrage in Mumbai is still not known. Besides the Jews murdered at the Chabad Centre, the victims at the Taj Mahal and Trident Oberoi Hotels, and at the Cafe Leopold, and the scores gunned down at the Victoria Terminus railway station (its old name, from the time of the British Raj), we may never know the number of "secondary victims", those who will now never see the light of day.
With one exception.
Six lives were snuffed out at the Chabad Centre, six candles extinguished.
But there was a seventh candle, one whose flame will now never burn.
Two year old Moshe Holtzman, the son of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzman הי"ד lost not only his parents, but also his new brother or sister. Rivka was five and a half months pregnant at her death. 12月3日 More on the Mumbai MassacreAccording to the news now coming out of Mumbai, it appears that the Jewish victims at the Chabad Centre, were singled out for "special treatment". Pathologists who examined the bodies report that they were tortured, before being tied up and then butchered in cold blood. A senior pathologist declared that despite having dealt with many dead bodies over the course of his career, the sight that met his eyes at the Chabad Centre had left him traumatised.
Lest anyone doubt that the murderers were motivated by anything other than Jew-hatred, let it be noted that they even desecrated the Torah scrolls, riddling them with bullets.
Back here in Israel, today witnessed the funerals of the six Israeli victims of the vicious, Islamofascist attack. In Jerusalem, thousands attended that of Rabbi Gavriel Holzberg and his wife, Rivka, on the Mount of Olives. Their son, two year old Moshe, miraculously survived, rescued from the slaughter by his Indian nanny.
The Torah is stronger than bullets. As for the Holzbergs and all the other innocent victims of this latest instance of Islamofascist terror - may G-d avenge their blood.
12月1日 Murder and Mayhem in MumbaiThe murderous Islamofascist terror attacks in Mumbai should have made it clear to the world, if nothing else has yet done so, that these people are well-organised and well-funded. We are not talking about isolated terrorist cells, but an army. I find it revealing that they targeted Jews and western nationals only. Jews - because the Islamofascists hate Jews more than anyone else; the mass media and official government sources in Muslim countries spew out Jew-hatred on a daily basis. As for the West - has anyone wondered, as I have, why Western countries, (where Muslims are not persecuted but, on the contrary, treated with a mind-boggling tolerance that includes a willingness, as in the UK, to actually consider incorporating "some aspects of Sharia law" as the Archbishop of Canterbury put it, into the local legal system) are targeted, but countries such as China, where Muslims are actively persecuted (as are Christians, for that matter and as no doubt would be Jews, if there were any Jews in China) are apparently immune to Islamofascist terror attacks? I suspect the reason is that the West is perceived by the Jihadists as weak. I have little doubt that while the immediate reaction of those countries whose nationals were butchered has been one of indignation and anger, within weeks, they will be asking themselves (as did the British, shortly after the July 7th attacks): "What did we do wrong? How have we sinned against the Muslims? What can we do to make amends? How can we abase ourselves so as to earn their forgiveness?"
Or maybe: "What is needed is dialogue with the Muslim world" (Obama-style).
Perhaps they need to be reminded - it takes two to tango.
I am reminded of a comic sketch by the late Israeli comedian, Shaike Ophir, in which he plays an Arab schoolteacher, trying to teach his class about the Shakespeare play, Hamlet: "Dialogue, my dear Hamid? Yes, I shall explain. Dialogue is exactly like monologue, except that in the case of monologue, it is one person talking to himself. Dialogue - two persons talking to themselves." 11月22日 Looks like @#$% to meThe International Atomic Energy Agency, after investigating the site in Syria allegedly bombed by Israel (I'm not sure how, exactly, as the Syrians refused to cooperate and denied them entry to the actual site) has concluded that the site does actually resemble a nuclear reactor and that significant quantities of uranium have been found there. However, they cannot (or will not) rule out the possibility that the site actually served another purpose.
Hmmm. I hold by the old theory. If it looks like s*** and smells like s*** - then by golly, it must be s***..... |
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