Hamas would not rest until Israel was ousted from Palestine, said Ahmed al-Jabari, leader of the Izz a-din al-Qassam Brigades, adding that Israel had two options - to leave Palestinian territories or face death. He said that Hamas resistance would continue as long as Zionists remained in Palestine.Continue reading ‘New Message from Hamas To Israelis: Leave Or Die’
Archive for the 'Israel' Category
1. Readers will be familiar with the frequently rehearsed notion that the close alliance between Israel and the United States combined with the emotions aroused by the existence and deeds of the former country in the Arab and Muslim worlds puts the lives of members of the American armed forces in greater danger than they would otherwise be.
I learn here that the Israeli edition of Time Out has named Yossi Gurvitz as Israel’s best progressive blogger. Among Gurvitz’s opinions are the following:
1. The trial of Adolf Eichmann was, in part, a show trial.
2. Antisemitism is a response to the behavior of Jews.
3. Israeli settlers are Judeo-Nazis.
4. Most Israelis are fascists and the ones who say they are not are liars.
Here’s my latest on The Huffington Post.
In 1716, Francois de Callieres, an emissary of King Louis XVI, made this pithy observation about powers great and small in one of the foundational texts of modern diplomacy, On the Manner of Dealing with Princes:
The blunder of the smallest of sovereigns may indeed cast an apple of discord among all the greatest powers, because there is no state so great which does not find it useful to have relations with the lesser states.
Continue reading ‘The PA’s Choice: Palestinian State or Palestinian Cause’
Gideon Levy says that…
1. The deficiencies in Israel’s firefighting capacity shown up by the Mount Carmel fire are firm evidence that Israel has no military option against Iran.
Continue reading ‘Gideon Levy And The Dog That Doesn’t Bark’
Fernando Gimenez has some interesting technical analysis here of the recent statements from Brazil and Argentina recognizing an independent Palestinian state. There follows my translation of part of it.
Continue reading ‘Brazil, Argentina And Their Rushed And Sloppy Recognitions’
No accusation is apparently too low for the PA. After 40 Israelis died rushing to rescue Palestinian inmates of the Damon Prison from the forest fire engulfing the north of the country, a PA Minister made the following remarks on PA TV:
they created a lag and our [Palestinian] prisoners were endangered. Had there not been Israeli criminals or Jewish prisoners in this particular prison, it would have been even slower…
More - if you can bear it - at the invaluable Palestinian Media Watch.
The devastating forest fire in northern Israel which killed 40 prison wardens who were traveling through the area on a bus has brought forth an encouraging international response. Ynet reports:
Israeli authorities are expecting to receive some 20 firefighting aircraft Thursday night from Greece, Cyprus Spain, Croatia, Azerbaijan and Russia to help in the effort to contain the northern blaze that claimed at least 40 lives.
And this:
Despite the great diplomatic tensions vis-à-vis Israel, Turkish officials announced that they too will be sending two firefighting airplanes.
It should be recalled that Israeli rescue teams are usually among the first to arrive in disaster areas - as they did, for example, following the terrible earthquake in Turkey in 1999. Notwithstanding the political calculations that invariably contribute to a decision to send humanitarian aid, it’s heartening to see similar urgency in responding to Israel during its hour of need.
One of the few merits of the Wikileaks project is that it puts the obvious and already well-known on the front pages. Take Iran and its nuclear program, for example. Everybody who takes an interest in such matters and is not blinded by hatred of Jews running their own affairs knows that most Arab states are far more worried about the nuclear ambitions of the ayatollahs than they are about Israel and would be quietly pleased if the US and/or Israel put an end to them using whatever means necessary.
Continue reading ‘Wikileaks: Shock Revelations! Bomb Iran Now Say Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Bahrain’
Do you believe in an ideology? Putting it slightly more strongly, are you a follower of an ideology? I guess for most people the answer is “no” to both. Ideologies are generally felt to be bad, false and deceptive and those who follow them to be fanatics of some kind, unable to see things as they really are and act accordingly, in a calm manner and with their minds unclouded by mysterious and undisprovable notions.
Writing a few days ago for the indispensable Jewish Ideas Daily about UNESCO’s decision to approve Muslim denial of any Jewish connection to biblical sites in Israel by classifying Rachel’s Tomb, near Bethlehem, as a mosque, Alex Joffe mentioned the critically important work of the Israeli scholar, Yitzhak Reiter, in documenting “…the modern Islamic tradition according to which Jerusalem was never associated with the Jews.”
Author and journalist Stefan Frank has conducted an extensive interview with Professor Reiter, who teaches at Ashkelon Academic College and is a senior fellow of the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, which we are pleased to publish here.
Continue reading ‘Rachel’s Tomb: An Interview with Professor Yitzhak Reiter’
Last week the Turkish production company behind the disturbing “Valley of the Wolves” movies, released the trailer for the third installment of the series.
1. Over at Good Jew Central Dimi Reider is displeased that a number of his compatriots in uniform cheer, holler and show every sign of being pleased by the destruction of a number of buildings in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead.
Continue reading ‘Good Jew Central, Warfare And Nazi Germany’
I’m asking because, in his report to the scrupulously neutral and balanced UN Human Rights Council in September 2009, Judge Richard Goldstone and his fellow commissioners said: “Statements by Israeli political and military leaders prior to and during the military operations in Gaza indicate that the Israeli military conception of what was necessary in a war with Hamas viewed disproportionate destruction and creating the maximum disruption in the lives of many people as a legitimate means to achieve not only military but also political goals.”
Continue reading ‘Goldstone, Goldstone, Wherefore Are Thou, Goldstone?’
About 20% of Israel’s population is Arab and Israel comes in 15th in the UN’s (yes, the UN) latest Human Development Index rankings. The closest ranking Arab country, the UAE, comes in at number 32 on the list.
via Yaacov
