You may recall the Palestinian riots (alas, it's always riots) that followed the death of Arafat Jaradat last February. The Palestinians had kicked up a storm of violence in response to his death, alleging that Israel had tortured the man to death. Palestinian propaganda outlets (e.g., "Students for Justice in Palestine", "American Muslims for Palestine", "Students Against [imaginary] Israeli Apartheid" and other professional whiners) put on their usual sanctimony-hysteria circus and the international press, too lazy to do their job, just parroted them. Many were hurt as a result.Exactly. When Palestinians are murdered, dragged behind motorcycles and die in jail by acts of their government, the world seems to go silent. Enough!
Well, it turns out that Jaradat died of natural causes and that an autopsy of his body did not reveal any signs of violence. No one following the Middle East closely was surprised, or shocked at the lack of honesty of the anti-Israel set.
But today Khaled Abu Toameh is reporting on the recent deaths of 11Palestinians IN PALESTINIAN PRISONS IN 2012 ALONE! In addition, there has been a 10% increase in complaints of torture and human rights abuses under both Hamas and Fatah governments.
The "Pro-Palestinian" professional whiners and slanderers who call themselves activists are, of course, nowhere to be seen. That is, until they find a way to blame this on Israel too. Then, in the same breath, they will demand that these torturing governments who are never responsible for their actions be granted a state.
There's a word for that in English: Hypocrisy. What is certain is that such an attitude isn't "Pro-Palestinian".
If the Palestinians are to rule their own lives, REAL Pro-Palestinians (who seem to only exist on the Pro-Israel side these days) MUST hold Palestinian governments to account. And the despicable game of slandering democratic Israel relentlessly while being willfully blind to Palestinian crimes must end
Israel has demanded a French television station correct a report from nearly 13 years ago which helped fuel anger across the world and ignite a bloody uprising against the Jewish state.What annoys me is that they are not actually putting any reference to the clip, which is fairly clear cut.
Twelve-year-old Mohammed al-Dura and his father, Jamal, were filmed crouching in terror by a wall in the Gaza Strip in September 2000, bullets whizzing around them, as Israeli forces battled Palestinian gunmen days into an uprising that erupted after failed peace talks.
The boy was later pronounced dead, and his father wounded.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in September ordered an investigation into the incident, which Israel sees as a blight on its image and an enduring inspiration for violence against it.
Israel at first apologised then blamed Palestinian militants for the death of Dura, whose lifeless image was shown around the world, turning him into a martyr in Arab countries.
The 36-page Israeli report said the France 2 accusation that troops had killed Dura was "destructive" and said it had fuelled attacks for years by Islamist militants against it as well as American targets, and "served as an inspiration and justification for terrorism, anti-Semitism".
Based on its review of the film, the Israeli report said there was "no evidence that the Israeli military was in any way responsible for causing any of the alleged injuries" to the boy and his father.
"The review showed that it is highly doubtful that bullet holes in the vicinity of the two could have had their source in fire from the Israeli position," it said.
The document also questioned whether the footage supports conclusions that either Palestinian victim was hurt during the film clip.
"There are numerous indications that the two were not struck by bullets at all," the report said.I sincerely hope they do, but I am not holding my breath
"There remains a need to publicly correct and clarify the France 2 narrative as a first step towards moderating the report's destructive effects," it added.
In Gaza, Jamal al-Dura denounced the report as "a new fabrication". In an interview with Reuters, he demanded an international investigation, including Arab participation, into "what happened to me and my son".
In response to Israel's report, France 2 said in a statement it "has shown a willingness to participate in any official independent investigation, carried out according to international standards".
It said it was also ready to help exhume the boy's "to help clarify the circumstances" of his death.
Almost certainly they are innocent. Definitely they were tortured.Iranian authorities executed two men on Sunday convicted of working for Israeli and US spy agencies, Iran’s Fars news agency reported.Mohammad Heidari, accused of passing security-related information and secrets to Israeli Mossad agents in exchange for money, and Kourosh Ahmadi, accused of gathering information for the US Central Intelligence Agency, were hanged at dawn, it said.The sentence for their execution was handed down by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court and confirmed by the country’s Supreme Court. The report did not say when the pair were arrested nor when their trial took place.Iran has in the past said it had successfully detected and dismantled spy networks operating inside the country.It has blamed the assassinations of scientists associated with its disputed nuclear programme on Western spy agencies, especially Mossad.The United States has denied any role in the killings. Israel has not commented
According to the results of last week's poll by Ynet and the Smith Institute, seven out of ten Israelis believe in the existence of God, and six out of ten believe it was God who created the world in which we live today.
A study conducted by Rafi Smith of the Smith Institute, examined the public’s stance on faith and Judaism. Data was collected by two simultaneous methods; a telephone survey of the older community, and an internet poll posted on Ynet which had over 40 thousand participants.Smith explained that the internet poll contained questions on the socio-demographic background of participants, which allowed the results to be calculated in such a way that they represented the public desire of the over-18 Jewish community in Israel.
Who created the world we live in?God: 60% (100% religious, 79% traditional, 29% secular)Big Bang: 40%Have you become closer to Judaism in recent years?Yes, became closer to Judaism: 39% (78% religious, 35% traditional, 23% secular)No, moved away from Judaism: 9% (1% religious, 6% traditional, 14% secular)Neutral: 52%Do you think schools should provide more traditional studies?Yes, increase traditional studies: 53% (78% religious, 35% traditional, 23% secular)No, decrease traditional studies: 4% (1% religious, 6% traditional, 14% secular)No, no change necessary: 32%Not sure: 11%How would you like to see Israel?More religious: 23%More traditional: 26%More secular: 27%No change needed: 24%
Unfortunately it is becoming more prevalent and open, and the organisers of these rallies are doing less and less about it. If John Key was not of Jewish ancestry, this same malevolent behaviour would still exist, except it would probably only be displayed at anti-Israel rallies. There is a clear commonality between the two, and it is usually just rent-a-crowd attending.Last Saturday I went to the protest against asset sales organized by Aotearoa Not For Sale. I was marching with my friend Maia, discussing the latest episode of The Good Wife in between chants of ‘hey hey ho ho/John Key has got to go’.Halfway up Willis St we overheard a guy behind us talking: ‘This is all because John Key is a money-hungry Jew.’ Maia immediately turned around and told him that he was being anti-Semitic and that it wasn’t ok (she’s great like that). The guy explained that she didn’t understand the historical context, that ‘they took over this country with their money’, before finally giving up and telling her ‘you must be Jewish’ (incidentally, she isn’t. Not that it’s relevant’).By that point I’d already walked away. I was in no mood to hear about how I control the world’s money and am personally responsible for the economic recession.This wasn’t the first time that anti-Jewish racism has cropped up at Aotearoa Not For Sale events. Last year a guy named Nathan Symington joined an anti-asset sales march in Auckland holding a skateboard with swastikas chalked on it. The same man was later charged with the racist vandalism of the Symonds St Jewish cemetery.When an Auckland activist noticed that Symington had clicked ‘attending’ on a facebook page for an Aotearoa Not For Sale street party, she commented and asked the organisers to make a clear statement that racism and fascism weren’t welcome at this event. She was ignored and her comment was deleted. (I’m told that at the party itself one of the organisers did make a statement condemning racism. I don’t want to imply that everyone involved in ANFS ignores racism.)There were similar instances of anti-Jewish racism at Occupy spaces in 2011, and on the facebook pages of several of the Occupy groups as well.
"Born on occupied Palestinian land, living on occupied Māori land."They are also heavily active in trying to get BDS to New Zealand (a facebook page of 60 or so likes).
