Violence in the West Bank

Violent attacks in the West Bank but nobody can say they were perpetrated by Israeli settlers so it amounts to What CBS Does Not Want to Hear

Ruth Pollard's not interested either.

The Bastard Spy

This is an old one but well worth a read  - The ex-spy who stepped into the cold

This man, his odious views, and his nefarious organization have had a free pass for far too long. It is time to recognize Conflicts Forum for what it is: a champion not of “resistance and revolution” but of violence, intolerant religious fanaticism and totalitarian ideologies. That should be enough to make Crooke and his organization anathema to anyone even remotely interested in a decent future for Arabs and Muslims.

Another BDS fail

It was shades of another era as anti-Israel protesters attempted to disrupt a performance of Merchant of Venice before a sell out crowd at London's Globe Theatre.But unlike the Nazi boycotts, this one was a complete failure - Protests fail to disrupt Habimah’s London show

Meanwhile, thousands of Syrians lie dead, murdered by their own dictator with the support of Iran and Hizbullah and yet these disgusting demonstrators pick this time to single out Israeli artists in a country encircled by hateful regimes.

Note: There were no protests when the Palestinian troupe performed even though their people are ruled partly by Hamas which echoes the anti Semitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion and threatens genocide against Jews and partly by the PA whose media constantly produces hate-filled antiSemitic material on a daily basis and hails suicide murderers.Those who tried to disrupt Merchant of Venice are hypocrites of the lowest order.

Where's the story?

Maan News reports that Hamas students start hunger strike at Birzeit University protesting political detentions by the Palestinian Authority.

A group of students protesting political detentions by the Palestinian Authority went on hunger strike Thursday in Birzeit University.

The students, who are Hamas supporters, have been sleeping inside the university since May 5. They fear the Fatah-led PA's security forces will arrest them if they leave camp.

In a statement, the students said they would remain on campus until the issue was resolved with the PA, adding that they would escalate the strike if political detentions did not stop.

Now, if the students are seeking attention in an Australian newspaper, I can tell them that they've missed the boat where Fairfax Media is concerned.

Hunger strikes and political detantions are only newsworthy in places such as Fairfax Media when some mud can be flung at the Israelis but when it's the PA and its corript band of shonks and murderers you can look away. There's nothing to see here.

Where's the march?

According to UN sources almost 100 Syrians, many of them children, have been massacred by Assad's brave troops.

Just wondering where the march is that the local Arab community and their supporters have organised?

What are the odds ...

Gay Palestinian man petitions for asylum

A little bit of Dry Bones

We need some more of that Kirschen Dry Bones humour!

Fatah and Hamas tell lies to their people

Israeli Arab journalist Khalid Abu Tuomeh tells his readers something you'll never read about in the Fairfax media:-

It is much easier for Mahmud Abbas to reach a deal with Israel than with Hamas, whose ultimate goal is to get rid of both Fatah and Israel. Instead of wasting his time on meaningless efforts to achieve unity with Hamas, it would be better for Abbas to devote his energies and time to making peace with Israel - Fatah and Hamas Lie to Their People

Opinions in Haaretz on Nakba and Apartheid

There are two interesting Op Eds in Haaretz on the subject of Nakba and Apartheid:

Nakba, a self-inflicted catastrophe by Moshe Arens explores why the Arabs do not accept that it was the war that they began in 1948, which is the cause of their suffering?

Denis McShane argues in Israel cannot be compared to apartheid South Africa that Gideon Levy and Harvard professor Steven Walt preferred to let a lie live than tell the truth.

[Paywall Warning]

Dictatorial Journalism

Writing in The Algemeiner, editor David Efune looks ar Israel and the Fall of Dictatorial Journalism.

A disturbing trend is developing, according to the Israel Defense Forces official blog, whereby terror attacks against Israel routinely go unreported. “Though they’re very significant,” writes the IDF blogger, “A lot of incidents are never published.” The site goes on to list 12 notable incidents of thwarted terror attempts all of which took place this year.

This notable omission is no small travesty, especially as the power of media influence in shaping minds and policy is well known. An astute reader recently shared with me a saying that he had heard in Hebrew, which translated into English reads, “nowadays, kingship has been transposed by journalism.” How true, whereas in imperial days of old, the status of all subjects and members of the court as well as national priorities, sentiment and campaigns were determined by the monarch; today they are largely influenced by powerful media voices and trends rallying behind individuals and causes, then just as quickly, banishing them as they see fit.

The comparison becomes even more concise when one considers the role that editors play in most mainstream media outlets today.

Quite.

BBC & the Jewish Problem

Walter Russell Mead blogging on The BBC and "The Jews" -

On last week's BBC HARDtalk program, the host's opening line was: "American Presidents have long been criticized for being too in thrall to the Jewish lobby. The American Jews influence U.S. foreign policy and that explains Washington's unwavering support for Israel." This vicious garbage isn't "sort of" or "almost" anti-Semitic; it is the real thing: vivid, unapologetic, odious and wrong.

To speak of "the Jews" in the aggregate, as though they form a monolithic super-entity with a single view and agenda, is exactly the kind of thinking that gutter anti-Semitism embraces in every age. To talk of an all-powerful "Jewish lobby" which controls American foreign policy is to embrace the paranoid fantasies of the infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Facts live in one place and narratives live in another; there is no need for them ever to meet when you are broadcasting for the BBC.When these dangerous assumptions about Jews are allowed to fester, they soon create an atmosphere which is dangerous for Jews and where violence against them becomes increasingly commonplace - as we are seeing today across Europe. If evils aren't fought, they will grow.

STORIES THE AGE MISSED THIS WEEK

Picture from Harry's Place

This is just a selection:-

The Hezbollah Prisoner of Conscience

(we don't do Arab prisoner stories unless they're held by the Jewish State)

Israeli Medics Attacked by Palestinians Near Jerusalem

(who gives a toss about Palestinians attacking an unarmed Israeli emergency medical crew assisting injured Palestinian passengers in a car accident and calling them "maniacs and f***ing Jews"?)

Chair of Manchester Palestine Solidarity Campaign Declares Israeli Hoopoe Bird Aves Non Grata

(the loonies who marched in Sydney on Nakba Day courtesy of a sympathetic judge have nothing on these village idiots from Manchester)

Corruption aplenty in the Palestine Authority - Mohammad Rashid to Mahmoud Abbas: Disclose The Source of Your Fortune

(now look, I'm the Middle East Bureau chief around here and nobody's going to tell me that the Palestinian leadership are all on the take - besides my brainwashed readership wouldn't believe it)

The bureaucracy of censorship in Kuwait

(you mean to say there are others whose job entails keeping people ignorant?)

Khamenei Told Me that Israel Must Be Burned to the Ground

(and Al Age told me they were good guys!)

How to Write About Israel

The art of how to write about Israel is beautifully explained by Daniel Greenfield in his Sultan Knish blog.

This is surely what lazy journos who lack the talent and ability to tell a story honestly actually study in their Journalism 101 classes (and sadly, they don't go much further in their education).

The template fits perfectly for many of those whose work is unfortunately far too familiar.

When visiting a terrorist prisoner in an Israeli jail, be sure to call him a militant, somewhere in the fifth paragraph, but do not mention the sheer amount of food in the prison, especially if he is on a hunger strike. If you happen to notice that the prisoners live better than most Israelis, that is something you will not refer to. Instead describe them as passionate and embittered.

Never ask them how many children they killed or how much they make a month. Ask them what they think the prospects for peace are. Nod knowingly when they say that it's up to Israel.

THIS HAD TO BE WRITTEN

Congratulations to the Australian for publishing Inconvenient truth is a lack of innocent victims which effectively rebuts much of the nonsense published in some quarters about Palestinian prisoners.

This is the inconvenient truth:

ON Passover night 2002, the perpetrators of one of the most barbaric terrorist attacks in Israel's history killed 30 and injured 140 people who were enjoying the traditional Passover meal.

These same perpetrators chose to draw attention to their agenda by a hunger strike that ended on Tuesday after 28 days. Those they killed lie in their graves and have no choices.

The media campaign on behalf of the perpetrators and against the Jewish State is nothing less than diabolically shameful.

The absurd claims of Randa Abdel-Fattah

On ABC's The Drum, Randa Abdel-Fattah, lawyer, human rights activist, award-winning author and Palestine propagandist asks What must Palestinians do to get your attention?

Who is she trying to kid?

Thanks to the worldwide lobby of Arab and Muslim States, the Palestinians receive a disproportionate amount of attention and funding through various United Nations agencies many of which are completely corrupted and seeped in anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiment.

As far as the Palestinian cause in the media is concerned, anyone who reads this blog would only be fully aware as to how well most aspects of the cause are covered in much of the mainstream media. Here in Australia, it is given prominence ad nauseum on the ABC, SBS, in Fairfax Media publications and it even gets a good run in the Murdoch Press.

There is only one aspect of the Palestinian story that gets insufficient attention and that leads to the question of when will some attention be given to the abuses of the Palestinian leadership (be it Palestine Authority or Hamas) towards their own people let alone their position with respect to their neighbours in Israel?

As has been pointed out several times in this blog, those abuses are manifold but they are generally consigned to the blank pages.

A case in point is the issue of the recently ended Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike and the matter of Israel's use of administrative detention against suspected terrorists. Many of the reports ignored the murderous activities and records of some hunger strikers and the histories of the detainees denying proper context to the stories.

Of course, now that the strike is over, they walk away from the story and who cares anyway if the Hamas thugs who rule Gaza also use administrative detention against their rivals in Fatah? When you can't blame the Jews it's no longer a story and therefore no longer a matter worthy of the reader's attention.

And while that is sadly, standard procedure for much of the reporting of a conflict in which the Palestinian side of the narrative receives far too much attention.

FOOTNOTE: Sometimes, the comments section of The Drum articles on Israel/Palestine can be replete with anti-Israel sentiment and downright anti-Semitism but it's interesting that the worm appears to be turning and many Drum readers aren't buying into Ms. Abdel-Fattah's delusional claims.

Spare a thought for the other Nakba

While a small group of Israel bashers marched in Sydney to bemoan the Nakba - the Palestinian catastrophe that took place in 1948 (being the failure of the Arabs to destroy Israel) - Harry's Place has this story on the other Nakba.

Letter of the week

Baseless line on Israel

LAST year, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was released by Hamas after being held hostage for five years. In exchange, Israel released more than 1000 Palestinian prisoners.

On release, Shalit was frail and malnourished. Conversely, the Palestinians were in good health.

Therefore, Izzat Abdulhadi's claim that Palestinians detained in Israeli jails "are forced to endure conditions that would be expected in a Third World country" is incongruous and seemingly baseless ("System ignores hunger for freedom", 15/5).

Joel Feren, Elwood, Vic

Heroes of the Age

Here is a video issued by Islamic Jihad boasting about some of its past activities.

These days the ones who are caught manage to get dollops of sympathy from certain journalists while their victims are routinely ignored (as are hunger strikers in Hamas prisons by the way).

BARKING INCONVENIENCE

Anyone who listened to Anne Barker on ABC Radio National "Correspondents Report" would have been scratching their heads wondering why they were talking about boycotting Israel.

What Barker didn't reveal was the intransigence of the Palestine Arab leadership in constantly refusing to negotiate terms of peace with or even to recognise Israel's right to exist as a Jewish State which is what ultimately perpetuates this occupation that the BDSers are talking about.

It seems that Barker and friends preferred not to have mentioned that one Palestinian government (Hamas in Gaza) advocates genocide against the Jews and the other (the PA) in the West Bank routinely allows anti Semitic incitement in its media in direct contravention of previously signed accords.

It was most likely also an inconvenience to mention that the Irish group Dervish (mentioned in the report) cancelled it's planned tour of Israel as a result of a campaign of intimidation waged by a group that has connections with Hamas - The Bullying Tactics of the IPSC and that the extent of that intimidation was horrific.

Of course, there was no need to mention BDS movement is inherently racist and those who subscribe to its platform or apologise for it are exactly that.

Another question Barker failed to ask was why these BDS people weren't making any noise (let alone an equal amount) about the butcher in Syria where 12,000 have died in the past 15 months?

And why hasn't Ms. Barker connected the dots between the BDSers of George Galloway's Viva Palestina movement and the same Syrian butcher or is that just one more inconvenient fact for Barker's too hard basket?

KARL MARX ON JERUSALEM

Israeli writer Shlomo Avineri recently raised the fact that Karl Marx discussed Jerusalem in an article published in the New York Daily Tribune on April 15, 1854.

Marx noted that the city's "sedentary population numbered "about 15,500 souls, of whom 4,000 are Mussulmans [Muslims] and 8,000 Jews," thereby confirming that there has been a Jewish majority in Jerusalem since the 1850s.

(Jewish Review of Books) by Shlomo Avineri.

These days, the Palestinian leadership is doing its level best to erase the historical link between the Jews and the city, often with the assistance of those who otherwise would support Marx, his views and his philosophy.

Not cricket

Poor old Aussie cricketer Mitchell Starc has been sent packing from England after arriving without a proper visa - Aussie Test paceman deported from UK.

If only he were an out and out racist like Ra'ed Saleh Judge at Passover: “nobody” saw Raed Salah blood libel sermon as harmful, he would have the approval of the English legal system to stay.

Gender Bender

Messrs. Naomi Chazan (above) and Tzipi Livni (below)

What is it about the hacks who write about the happenings in the Middle East that causes them to be confused about the genders of Israeli politicians?

Some years ago, Anthony Loewenstein, of no particular fame other than that he was once apparently rejected by Fairfax as a potential cadet reporter, infamously described the Kadima Party's Tzipi Livni as being of the male gender. The gaffe, one of many, simply confirmed Mr. Loewenstein's low credibility when discussing Israeli politics.

So what do we make of the Age's Ruth Pollard who wrote the following in a piece today about the surprise announcement of a coalition between the Israeli Likud and Kadima parties:-

Netanyahu's power play all about securing home front

The new coalition leaves ''an opposition so sparse that it cannot really be effective'', warned Naomi Chazan, a former deputy speaker in the Knesset and president of the New Israel Fund.

He said there would be much more street action: ''It will be the people against the government more because they will have so few voices in the official arena.''

Naomi Chazan is a senior political figure in Israeli politics and she is definitely not a "he".

So how is it that the head of Fairfax' Middle East could possibly get her gender wrong?

Perhaps he needs to get his eyes tested? :)

THE USEFUL IDIOTS AND THEIR BLANK PAGE

Islamic Jihad operative Khader Adnan whose cause continues to be championed by useful idiots in the western media has made the intentions of the hunger strikers clear.

'Victory will be greater if hunger strikers die'

Khader Adnan, who was the first prisoner to launch a hunger strike, said "from our perspective, the hunger strike will be considered a success in any case, regardless of whether the prisoners' demands are met or if they die in prison."

Adnan, who refused food for more than two months, ended his strike after Israel agreed to release him from administrative detention.

"If they die, the victory will be even greater," he said. "In any case, Israel will be held responsible."

Meanwhile, Islamic Jihad threatened to resume its rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza should one of the prisoners die.

Get that?

This is a deliberate policy to hold Israel responsible for any deaths. The media's willing tools of the hunger strike movement will use such deaths to hold Israel to blame, then whitewash the firing of missiles at Israeli civilians and then blame Israel again when it defends itself.

Truly despicable!

ARE YOU SYRIA'S?

Believe it or not Syria came in as one of Lonely Planet's top 10 best value destinations for 2011.

To be fair LP has more recently introduced this Travel advisory

Note that since March 2011, there’s been a surge in violence in Syria due to an uprising against the government and subsequent crackdowns. Many countries are advising their citizens against travel to the country. Check the latest news before heading to Syria.)

Probably one of the reasons why they don't have any flotillas or flytillas going to Syria to protest the carnage although I suspect that the so-called "activists" who do those sorts of things wouoldn't go there and get in your face with the Assad family.

It's much safer to fly into Israel and have a beer at a bar in Tel Aviv when you're not hyperventilating around a fence or pestering Israeli soldiers.

Tell the whole story, Ruth Pollard

I have, in the past, remarked that the Age and it's Middle East bureau person Ruth Pollard have become champions of Palestinian prisoners, many of who are currently on hunger strikes.

At the same time, the Age fails to cover the stories of the violence, the threats and incitement in Palestinian society that should provide the background and explain how many became prisoners in the first place.

Since the Age has no problems with highlighting poor behaviour of some Israelis, one can only conclude that this newspaper has a policy of discriminating in its news reporting against Israelis.

For a better appreciation of the full story of Palestinian prisoners, here's a more incisive look at the situation from Barry Rubin who mentions what might well be Pollard's clone from another once great but now ailing newspaper - New York Times coverage of Israel: What Comes After Ridiculously Biased?

Tell the whole story, John Lyons

Letters in today's Australian:-

No apartheid in Israel

MORE disturbing than the context provided in the story by John Lyons on the effect of residency restrictions on Israel's Arab citizens was the headline ("Living under the cloud of Israel's cruel apartheid", 5-6/5). Stigmatising Israel in this manner is an affront to those who endured real apartheid.Israel's Arab citizens vote in Israel's elections.

There are Arab members of parliament and Arab judges in Israeli courts. Jews and Arabs use the same public transport, eat in the same restaurants, get treated at the same hospitals, share the same beaches, theatres and cinemas, shop at the same malls, attend the same public schools and universities and work side by side.

The measures Israel has been forced to take to prevent suicide bombers from the West Bank entering Israel and blowing Israelis to bits do indeed restrict contacts between Israel's Arab citizens and their relatives in the West Bank. But these factors pale in comparison to the way Palestinians are discriminated against in Arab countries.

Peter Wertheim, Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Sydney, NSW

ANYONE familiar with the nature of apartheid in South Africa and the democratic state of Israel will know it is false to charge Israel with being an apartheid state.

The headline above John Lyons's article is a libel that gratuitously misinforms and besmirches Israel.

Merv Morris, St Kilda, Vic

And this article from Al Arabiya - Israeli phone center inside Arab Bedouin Mosque

Dozens of Bedouin women from southern Israel join the work force after an Israeli phone company opens a service center inside a local mosque, where women feel they can work without any inhibition.

The country’s largest telecom group, Bezeq Israel Telecom, in a joint venture with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, launched the center inside the mosque in an attempt to combat unemployment among Arab Bedouin women.

It's tragic when Al Arabiya has more insight into what is going on inside Israel than the Australian. Perhaps Mr. Lyons should be enquiring into the condition of minorities in Gaza and the West Bank under Palestinian rule just for a comparison. There are no known Jews in Gaza and we know that PA law mandates a death sentence to any Palestinian who sells land to a Jew. No discrimination there, I suppose.

London is not Malmo

From Harry's Place comes the news that Jew baiting British Labour politician Ken Livingston has lost his bid to regain the London mayoralty which he lost in 2008  - London rejects the politics of hatred and division.

It was a real photo finish. But in the end, London said no to the cronyism, the infatuation with totalitarian regimes, the baiting of Jews, the pandering to Islamists and hate preachers, the disloyalty, the hypocrisy, embodied by Ken Livingstone.

London is not Malmo

ORGAN GRINDING

An interesting article for once from Ruth Pollard in today's Age about attempts by an Israeli surgeon to revolutionise the way Israel manages its organ donation program - Bedside chat that changed Israel's rules for organ transplants.

Last month, Israel "became the first country in the world to give transplant priority to patients who have agreed to donate their organs over those who have not - that is, allowing something other than medical need to be considered."

Whilst Pollard says "Israel is well down the international rankings, with only 14 per cent of the adult population registered as donors, up from 12 per cent in 2010," the accompanying chart indicates the figure is 10.35% compared with Australia's 31.96% suggesting the figures in the chart are out of date.

Still, as with most things, Israel appears to be well up in its own region if the paltry .09% figure for Lebanon is concerned.

Interestingly, with the exception of the statistic provided for Israel's northern neighbour, Pollard shies away from revealing other statistics for the region and fails to mention that organs available on Israel's organ list are also available for its neighbours and there have been instances where the organs of Israelis have been transplanted into Palestinians and vice versa.

Surely, just an oversight on her part?

She sang the anthem ...

Goes without saying

Greg Sheridan in the Australian:

Don't give aid to groups with terror connections

AUSTRALIAN taxpayers should not be forced to fund organisations with links to terrorists. This is the case with aid to at least one Palestinian group. It's not against the law, but it's wrong. It's morally and politically objectionable. It ought to stop.

Pro-Palestinian or Anti-Israel?

Journalist Khaled Abu Toameh on the so-called "Pro-Palestinian activists" who are really more interested in campaigning against Israel than helping the Palestinians -
Pro-Palestinian or Anti-Israel?

Those who care about the Palestinians should come to the Gaza Strip and work toward promoting human rights under Hamas -- of children, women, and journalists.

It would help immensely if hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists came to the West Bank and Gaza Strip to teach Palestinian children English and expose them to the benefits of democracy and Western values, such as equal justice under law, free speech and a free press, and financial transparency and accountability

It would also help immensely if these activists came to the West Bank and Gaza Strip to offer advice on, and help in building, proper government institutions, and in combatting administrative and financial corruption.

But as far as many of the pro-Palestinian activists in the West are concerned, the interests of the Palestinians are not as important as hating Israel.

The same can be said of many journalists in the West who simply wallpaper over the abuses of the corrupt Palestinian leadership and the deep seated hatred of their associated terrorist groups and who target only Israel in what passes for their journalistic efforts.

DRY BONES NEEDS YOUR HELP

I've been a long term fan of the Dry Bones cartoons and here's another goody by Yaakov Kirschen:



Yaakov needs the help of a savvy HTML, CSS programmer to do some work for the Dry Bones Project on a volunteer basis - Please give him a hand if you can!