The Radical Moderate

The usual suspects are lying again. The international community hasn't failed Gaza. Gaza's failed the international community.

The Palestinians have received far more per capita money than any other group in history, and they've received it while waging a war against the existence of a sovereign nation. The Gazan government continues to hold an Israeli hostage in direct violation of the Geneva Convention, and that duly elected government continues to wage the war it says it will never end.

Yet the "aid organizations" continue to state such open lies as that about "collective punishment". The internationally monitored and accepted Palestinian election had the citizenry vote for more than 95% of the legislature from parties that openly call for Israel's destruction. The massive majority of Gazans support Hamas. Actions by a government are not "acts by individuals", and collective actions are open to collective punishment.

However, Israel is not like other nations. We (yes, I'm still a dual citizen) don't have the same rights as other nations. We are held to a different standard, a hypocritical standard that says Jews aren't allowed to defend ourselves and that terrorists are ok as long as they only attack Jews. Oxfam, et al, continue the merry ways this holiday season.

I've been talking for years about a letter from Martin Luther King that equates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. I've also used CAMERA as a source for lot of information. Somehow, I've missed, until now, CAMERA's own research, announced way back in 2002, that the letter was a hoax. They investigated information they agreed with, that supported their view, and that was wrong. Note that the link discusses the background and that King does seem to have said something very similar in a speech at Harvard and to friends, but that the letter was a hoax.

Now take the anti-Israel crowd. They still refer to the "Jenin Massacre", though even the UN had to back away from that claim when the facts were known.

I've been referring to the letter since I first heard about it, near the beginning of the hoax. I'm sorry that, until now, I missed seeing it was false.

The UN has released another screed. This time, a supposedly neutral report on Israel's response to 12,000 rockets fired from Gaza at Israeli civilians.

The lack of neutrality is loudly announced in the title, "HUMAN RIGHTS IN PALESTINE AND OTHER
OCCUPIED ARAB TERRITORIES". According to all international law, there is no Palestine and the only Arab Territory occupied by Israel is the Golan Heights and half a town split by the Israel-Lebanon border. British Mandate Palestine existed until 1948. In 1947, 80% was split off and because the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, a "Palestinian" majority nation ruled by the foreign Hashemite family who lost their civil war for the control of Mecca and Medina. Lost to the family Saud, in case you hadn't figured that out.

In 1948, Palestine ceased to exist. In its place were supposed to be two new nations, a Jewish one and another Arab one. The Arabs loudly rejected both nations. The border set between Jordan and Israel in their peace treaty, a treaty the UN never rejected, sets the official border as the Jordan River until such time as Israel might negotiate a different border with the Pals. There is no Palestine and the land is still disputed as borders between Israel and a non-existent country can't be set.

Therefore, the terminology used in the title is statetment that supports Pal claims in clear contradiction with international law. Bias.

The first "fact" which the report addresses (p. 9) is the "blockade". There is no word why the blockade exists. No mention of Israel's complete withdrawal from Gaza or the open borders that existed at the time. It does not cover that the blockades come and go only as a direct result of either Pal rockets fired at Israeli civilians or due to direct attacks at the border crossing points. It then lies about the Fourth Geneva Convention (p. 10)by claiming that it requires a nation to supply an aggressive enemy across their borders under any circumstances. That is false.

On page 11, it then turns to Israel's opening moves during Cast Lead, where it attacked police stations and government buildings. The "investigators" reject Israel's claim that the targets were part of Hamas' infrastructure. Hmmm, Hamas controlled the legislature, where it provided funding for the terrorists who continually attacked Israeli civilians, but that wasn't part of the infrastructure? Intriguing.

They then claim that attacking the police was wrong. While admitting that Hamas "merged the Gaza police with the 'Executive Force' it had created after its election victory" and that "a great number of the Gaza policemen were recruited among Hamas supporters or members of Palestinian armed groups", somehow they weren't "legitimate" targets. Hamas is a group openly at war against Israel's existence, but armed Hamas members aren't allowed to be attacked. Right.

On page 13, the report admits that Israel used a wide variety of warnings to civilians, then says none were right because attacks then followed. Of course, no mention was made of the complete lack of warning of any Pal attack.

On page 15, they claim it was somehow "disproportionate" to fire only four rounds at an intersection from where Israel says Palestinians had been launching mortar attacks. Why? Because a building sheltering 1368 people was nearby. Now, recall, that building was not hit. Those people weren't hurt. Yes, people closer to the targeted area were killed an injured, but that isn't what the UN is claiming. They're claiming the mortars were "indiscriminate" because they hit close to the target and missed the large body of sheltering people. Huh?

Then there are three "examples" of claims of illegal actions. No details and no references to understand what their sources were. And, of course, if those were legitimate or strong, I'd expect to see them. Rather, they're just mentioned. Also, somehow, they couldn't substantiate, though there was both proof offered by the IDF and witness statements from civilian Palestinians, that Pals were used as human shields by Pals. However, suspect information is always used differently by the UN depending on who the information supports. Against Israel: It must be true. For Israel: It must be false.

Paragraph 50, page 17, states that there were unsubstantiated rumors that Israel used legal munitions. Why is that even there? Oh, right. I just explained in the last sentence of the previous paragraph.

The pattern continues for hundreds of pages. Mention of Israel's actions without any mention of Pal actions. For instance, paragraph 193 (pg 58), makes mention of Israel going into the West Bank town of Ramallah without any mention of Arafat walking away from Camp David and restarting massive suicide bombings. It even mentions Arafat's death, which had nothing to do with the 2002 attacks but the UN wanted to link it as if Israel was at fault.

I'll skip to the Conclusions, where the apologist talk about Israelis "dehumanizing" Pals without a single mention of the massive amount of Palestinian, and in the Muslim World in general, incitement that is a normal part of their State controlled media. They talk about "Palestinian armed groups", ignoring the fact that the three largest groups, Hamas, Fatah and Islamic Jihad are all official members of the Palestinian government, so their actions represent the people. Why? So the UN can lie about Collective Punishment. International law only outlaws CP as a response to acts by individuals. In no way does it outlaw collective punishment for collective action.

In 1949, they claim Gilad Shalit should be treated as a prisoner of war. They don't mention that the Geneva Conventions directly outlaw the taking of Shalit the way it was done.

Yes, there are some actionable items in the report that should be investigated better. For instance, Israel bulldozed some farms and sewage facilities without clearly giving a military reason for doing so. Without a clear justification, that goes against the rules of war.

I'm also sure that, in the heat of battle, at least a few soldiers would have exceeded their orders and shot indiscriminately, as happens in every battle. It's war and these are kids. However, as much as I hope Israel would investigate those better, I wish the UN was as interested in all sides of both this conflict and all the many others happening around the world.

The fact that the UN chooses to focus on one side in only one conflict is strongly indicative of their bias and, yes, bigotry.

They recently gave a high national award to someone who regularly says Israel is like Nazi Germany.

Now they've fined a student for "incitement". What did she do? According to a JPost article, she was a counter protester at a Muslim protest. The main protest was against Israel protecting itself from Gaza rocket fire and excoriated the nation. Her "crime"? She showed up and waved an Israeli flag.

Yup. Calling for destruction of a nation, saying it doesn't have a right to defend itself or even exist, and linking it to Nazis isn't incitement. It's ok. Waving a flag of a sovereign nation? That's a crime. Well, only if it's the only Jewish majority nation that is...

Norway's government pensions have divested from Elbit, and large Israeli defense company. Why? Because it's involved in the construction of the barrier that minimizes terrorist incursions into Israel. Remember that barrier? The one only started a couple of years after Arafat walked from Camp David and restarted suicide bombings? The one that saved countless Israeli lives? The one that's still not complete? Yup. That one.

Meanwhile, El Mundo, a major Spanish paper is having a special on WWII. They're having experts talk about it. One of the "experts" they feel it is important to interview is David Irving. He spent a year an Austrian prison for denying the Holocaust. He also lost a libel suit when he took an American historian to court for being called a Holocaust denier. Yes, that's someone a major Spanish daily thinks is an "expert" whose voice needs to be heard. Isabella would be proud.

These come shortly after a Swedish paper made the accusation that the IDF was stealing Gazan's kidneys, reinventing blood libel for this century.

It's sad, but it's not new.

A Swedish paper claimed that Israel used dead Palestinian bodies for organ harvesting. When the Israeli government requested the Swedish government condemn such lies, Sweden equivocated. Well, not equivocated. When the Swedish ambassador to Israel called the article "disgusting", the Swedish government forced him to retract his statement.

Rather, the Swedes say that the unsubstantiated story should be investigated to prove the lie is wrong. Of course, it doesn't demand the "journalist" prove his story, that would make sense.

After all, Sweden is a country that, according to the CIA Fact Book, is 87% Lutheran. Directly following a man, Martin Luther, who was a proud and vehement anti-semite. It is a core part of the religion. Blood libel, claiming Jews use the blood of Christians to make Matzo for Passover is not new. It predates Lutheranism. However, Luther and his followers were proud to continue the tradition. This is just a modern, med-tech version of it.

It's a serious issue, but anything is always ripe for humor, that's why the JPost mentioned, in one article about the issue that, in the largest Israeli daily paper, Yediot Aharonot "a journalist under a pseudonym penned a story, complete with dateline, research and witness accounts in quotation marks, alleging that Sweden, in an effort to compete with salmon products from neighboring Norway, harvested the feet of Norwegian fishermen to extract the secret ingredient that - according to the article - makes the Swedish salmon dish more palatable: the fungi growing on Norwegian fishermen's feet.

"The Yediot story even names the Swedish army's secret unit whose job it is to harvest the organs: Stinkande strumpor [Swedish for 'smelly socks']. At the end of the article a one-line comment appears: 'The writer is a phony investigative journalist and this report is as valueless and unfounded as the Swedish article published [by Aftonbladet] last week.'"

Javier Solano came to Gaza, promising that the EU would help rebuild. There were no statements to the Pals that they need to stop voting for parties dedicated to Israel's destruction. No call to end the 60+ year war the Arabs declared against Israel. Just another statement from a European that those countries would indemnify Arabs from their violence against Israel. There will be no demand for accountability, not expectation that the people will bear responsibility for their own choices and actions. Yet the man who supports the continuance of the war claims peace is possible?

Then there's Williams, the holocaust denying Catholic priest. He apologized. Well, kind of. He stated he's sorry his comments upset people. The Pope seems to be showing signs of slight consciousness, as the initial response from the Vatican is that the comment is not sufficient. We'll see what happens. Most likely, the controversy will die out, the priest will remain, he'll not admit the Holocaust happened and the Vatican won't defrock him. Still, we might get lucky and appropriate action may happen.

When Muslims blew up Spanish trains, in part because Spain should have always remained Dar al-Islam, the Spanish gave in to all the terrorists' demands.

Now, the Spanish legal system has decided it should investigate Israeli officers for war crimes. No mention of Hamas leaders who openly admit to both targeting civilians and using their own as shields, the Spanish are just interested in the Jews.

They surrendered in the First Jihad, it took the French to stop the Muslims near Poitiers. Spain was finally freed through Arab corruption and help from the rest of Europe, but it's never lost two things: It's dhimmi mentality and the shared hatred of Jews.

The NYT has an article that's linked far down the front page. The headline is "U.N. Staff and Hospital Come Under Shelling as Sri Lanka Fights Cornered Rebels". Remember, for a couple of months now, Sri Lanka's army has been fighting pitched battles with the Tamil Tigers, trying to wipe them out once and for all.

Remember? What? Oh, you don't remember coverage? Why that's because there's been almost none. We don't know how many folks are dead, media aren't allowed, but the later doesn't matter because the media isn't really interested. After all, they can't blame it on Jews.

You would have thought, if coverage here wasn't anti-Jewish, there'd be the same amount of coverage on Sri Lanka as there was for Gaza. More, even, since the fighting's gone one even longer. Meanwhile, where's the huge outcry from media and NGOs about the shelling of a UN facility? Low coverage, no shouts, business of ignorance as usual.

Never believe the excuses folks give for taking Israel out of context from the rest of the world and for their continued ability to treat the single Jewish nation differently than all other nations.

The Dallas Morning News has a page with a

The news is talking about how so many foreigners are leaving Gaza, including many folks married to Palestinians.

Notice how none left during the "humanitarian crisis." They didn't feel that their children's health or safety was at risk, as they knew it was faked for Western consumption. They didn't leave while Palestinians were firing rockets directly at Israeli civilians. After all, that's a good, liberal cause in much of the world. Damage caused to Jews is a good thing, 'aint it?

No, it was only after Israel reacted to the continued violence those people supported did they suddenly remember their foreign passports. Reap what you sow? No way. In the immortal words of a classic comedy troop: "Run Away! Run Away!"

The NYT front page today is enlightening. Big and bold is the ongoing Israeli "offensive" against terrorists who attack Israel's very existence. It's top left, very prominent and the first thing that catches your eye. Immediately below it, you get a second story on Hamas and the PR spin on why they're attacking, without ever once mentioned that Hamas's Covenant, and continued words by its leaders, clearly state their goal is the destruction of Israel.

There's another story buried. If you search on "Congo", you'll find, way down the page, as the second item in the single line header area of "world" a link on Congo. It seems that 200 people were massacred in Congo last week by a Ugandan group that uses child soldiers. More than five million people have died in Congo's war. They're openly hacking away at civilians as a direct strategic decision.

Meanwhile, the slaughter in Sudan continues unabated, yet I didn't see one article on that.

For some strange reason, I find that to be more important news that Israel's targeting of terrorists who both directly aim at civilians and use their own civilians as shields. Even with that basic strategy, much fewer people have died here, on both sides, than in Congo, Sudan, even Kenya after their latest "elections".

We come back to the only logical conclusion: The focus on the much more minor occurrences surrounding the single Jewish majority nation must be happening solely because it's the single majority Jewish nation. The history of Christianity and Islam have left a strong cultural strain of antisemitism alive in those nations, whether they call themselves secular or religious. Another day, another attempt to legitimize Israel.

I just caught a promo for a set of segments they're doing. They're retracing Mary and Joseph's trip to Bethlehem because of the holiday season. That's, on the surface, ok. That the guy's name sounds like Ali Mcbool, as if his parents named him after a female television character, is just funny.

However, the fact that they picked a Palestinian to do the retracing is far from funny.

I'm sure the BBC producers know that Mary and Joesph were Jewish. The Arabs didn't invade the region for centuries after Jesus died. There's absolutely no excuse for using a Palestinian except for one reason: To delegitimize Jewish history here. The face of the holiday is an Arab. Jews? We just get in the way here. We don't belong. We shouldn't exist.

Of course, from the land that expelled Jews long before Isabella imitated them, it's no real surprise.

In local news, yesterday, the Palestinian soccer team held its first home game, a friendly match against Jordan. Until now, home games have been played in Jordan or elsewhere, but now they have a stadium in Ramallah.

FIFA, the international football association, was represented at the game by its head, Seth Blatter. If I could meet him, I'd have to ask him where are the teams from Basque, Kurdistan, Tibet, Chechnya and a few other places. After all, the Palestinian team is the only non-national team recognized by the organization. No other people wanting a State (ignoring, of course, the Pals already have one in Jordan) have been granted that favor.

Why? Gosh, it couldn't be that the Pals are the only Stateless people who openly say their goal is the destruction of the single Jewish State, could it? After all, those Europeans have never been known for antisemitism, have they? Oh, yeah, right. Never mind...

A JPost article on the Frankfurt Book Fair shows that the supposedly "moderate" nations aren't just anti-Israel. It's no surprise Iranian publishers have such screeds.

Turkish, Egyptian and Palestinian Authority book sellers have books on such topics as "'speculating on the Jewish origins of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President Abdullah Gül, and the founder of their AKP party, Bulent Arinç;' books claiming Jewish control over US President George W. Bush, Kurdistan and Turkey; a book comparing Bush to Hitler and more."

It should be no surprise to people who pay attention that "moderation" doesn't mean the same in Islam as it does outside of it; but enough people ignore that so I need to keep pointing it out.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1008704.html

The Pentagon finally admitted that it put an engineer on leave and investigated him as a spy for only one reason. You see, he's an Orthodox Jew. That was enough for the Army brass to figure he must be a spy for Israel.