Friday, June 20, 2008
Good Lynch, Bad Lynch - Haaretz Displays its Integrity
AH, Haaretz, the Palestinian newspaper printed in Hebrew, the daily whose
idea of "pluralism" is based on Brezhnev's Pravda, the newspaper in which
Israel (and America) are always wrong and the Islamofascists are always
right, the newspaper of Post-Zionism and Post-Judaism, where Israeli
survival is an archaic idea whose time has past.
Haaretz, or Al-Ard in Arabic, has for many years adopted the quaint
custom of anti-Semitic newspapers elsewhere in referring to suicide bombers
and mass murderers of Jews as "activists" and "militants." Yet suddenly,
this week the "T" word appears on Haaretz' front page. "T" as in terrorist.
How come? Well, the news story concerns Eden Natan-Zada, a mentally ill
Israeli soldier (actually a deserter) who shot up Shfaram in October 2005
and killed several Druse and Arabs. Shfaram is about 40 minutes outside
Haifa. He was then attacked by locals in the crowd who lynched him,
killing him.
Ever since, the Israeli Attorney General's office has been mulling over
whether to prosecute the members of the mob who killed the by-then-disarmed
Natan-Zada. This week, the prosecution decided not to prosecute.
This is newsworthy because there have been cases in which Arab terrorists
were apprehended live after they murdered Jews and who were then summarily
executed by those who captured them. In every one of these cases, those who
dispatched the terrorhoids were prosecuted. The most famous incident being
the Bus 300 affair (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kav_300_affair).
Now after the Natan-Zada incident, I called for the prosecution NOT to
indict those who killed the perp. I also insisted that killing terrorists
should never be considered a crime, even when Jews kill captured Arab
terrorists, and that the decision not to prosecute should be regarded as
case precedent for ALL who kill terrorists, even when the killers are Jews.
I thought that those who executed the terrorists in the Bus 300 affair
should have been given medals. I am all in favor of lynching terrorists
captured immediately after they commit mass murder.
Now Haaretz is also in favor of such lynching, but only when the perp
is a Jew and the victims Arabs. Haaretz is NEVER in favor of punishing Arab
terrorists who murder Jews, and of course opposes the death penalty for
terrorists.
Which brings us to the Haaretz editorial in the very same issue (June 16)
in which it cheers the decision by the AG not to indict the killers of
Natan-Zada. Every second word referring to Natan-Zada in the Haaretz
articles about the decision refer to him as a "terrorist." He of course was
not, although he was a killer, and probably was not legally sane.
In the very same issue, it runs an editorial demanding that a Jewish
farmer in the Negev who shot Arab burglars who had broken into his small
ranch be indicted! In January 2007 one Shai Dromi shot two Arabs who had
broken into his homestead, trying to steal his sheep, and he killed one and
injured the other.
The Attorney General prosecuted him. The Knesset decided to take an
uncharacteristic stand against this case of judicial activism and judicial
tyranny by starting to pass (it already passed its "first reading") a
special law, known in the media as the Shai Dromi Law, declaring that people
who kill or injure burglars and intruders into their homes will not be
prosecuted. The farm lobby took time off from lobbying for cheap water and
subsidies to back the bill.
Haaretz of course is outraged! This law would be nothing less than a
"license to kill." (See http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/992997.html) What
about their Miranda rights?
I cite the editorial:
'The new law will lead to killing to no avail, and could include people
accidentally harming members of their own family. True, a man's home is his
castle, and he has to be granted the right of self-defense therein, but it
is not permissible to shed the blood of someone who enters the house, even
if he is a burglar. The place of thieves is in prison, but they must not be
turned into the victims of executions. Nor is it reasonable to extend the
rights granted to a person in his home to his yard, store or flock as well.'
So when is it okay in Haaretz' opinion to kill intruders? When they are
Jewish "intruders" in "Palestinian lands," of course!
2. Wall St. Journal wsj.ltrs@wsj.com
June 19, 2008
OPINION
Israel's Truce With Hamas Is a Victory for Iran
By MICHAEL B. OREN
June 19, 2008; Page A13
Proponents of an Israeli-Palestinian accord are praising the cease-fire
between Israel and Hamas that went into effect this morning. Yet even if
the
agreement suspends violence temporarily -- though dozens of Hamas rockets
struck Israel yesterday -- it represents a historic accomplishment for the
jihadist forces most opposed to peace, and defeat for the Palestinians who
might still have been Israel's partners.
The roots of this tragedy go back to the summer of 2005 and the Israeli
withdrawal from Gaza. The evacuation, intended to free Israel of Gaza's
political and strategic burden, was hailed as a victory by Palestinian
terrorist groups, above all Hamas.
Hamas proceeded to fire some 1,000 rocket and mortar shells into Israel.
Six
months later Hamas gunmen, taking advantage of an earlier cease-fire,
infiltrated into Israel, killed two soldiers, and captured Cpl. Gilad
Shalit.
Hamas's audacity spurred Hezbollah to mount a similar ambush against
Israelis patrolling the Lebanese border, triggering a war in which Israel
was once again humbled. Hamas now felt sufficiently emboldened to
overthrow
Gaza's Fatah-led government, and to declare itself regnant in the Strip.
Subsequently, Hamas launched thousands more rocket and mortar salvos
against
Israel, rendering parts of the country nearly uninhabitable.
In response, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) air strikes and limited ground
incursions killed hundreds of armed Palestinians in Gaza, and Israel
earned
international censure for collateral civilian deaths and
"disproportionate"
tactics. Israel also imposed a land and sea blockade of Gaza, strictly
controlling its supply of vital commodities such as a gasoline. But the
policy enabled Hamas to hoard the fuel and declare a humanitarian crisis.
Israel never mounted the rolling, multi-month operation that the IDF had
planned. Traumatized by his abortive performance in the Lebanon War,
hobbled
by financial scandals, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert balked at a military
engagement liable to result in incalculable casualties and United Nations
condemnations, but unlikely to halt Hamas aggression.
Like Hezbollah in 2006, Hamas won because it did not lose. Its leaders
still
walked Gaza's streets freely while children in Sderot and other Israeli
border towns cowered in bomb shelters. Like Hezbollah, which recently
wrested unprecedented powers from the Lebanese parliament, Hamas parlayed
its military success into political capital.
The European Parliament demanded the immediate lifting of the Gaza
blockade,
and France initiated secret contacts with Hamas officials. A minister from
the Israeli Labor Party, Ami Ayalon, went a step further by calling for
Hamas's inclusion in peace talks -- a recommendation soon echoed by Jimmy
Carter and the New York Times.
The Egyptian-brokered cease-fire yields Hamas greater benefits than it
might
have obtained in direct negotiations. In exchange for giving its word to
halt rocket attacks and weapons smuggling, Hamas receives the right to
monitor the main border crossings into Gaza and to enforce a truce in the
West Bank, where Fatah retains formal control.
If quiet is maintained, then Israel will be required to accept a
cease-fire
in the West Bank as well. The blockade will be incrementally lifted while
Cpl. Shalit remains in captivity. Hamas can regroup and rearm.
The Olmert government will have to go vast lengths to portray this
arrangement as anything other than a strategic and moral defeat. Hamas
initiated a vicious war against Israel, destroyed and disrupted myriad
Israeli lives, and has been rewarded with economic salvation and
international prestige.
Tellingly, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who once declared Hamas
illegal, will soon travel to Gaza for reconciliation talks. Mr. Abbas's
move
signifies the degree to which Hamas, with Israel's help, now dominates
Palestinian politics. It testifies, moreover, to another Iranian triumph.
As the primary sponsor of Hamas, Iran is the cease-fire's ultimate
beneficiary. Having already surrounded Israel on three of its borders --
Gaza, Lebanon, Syria -- Iran is poised to penetrate the West Bank. By
activating these fronts, Tehran can divert attention from its nuclear
program and block any diplomatic effort.
The advocates of peace between Israelis and Palestinians should recognize
that fact when applauding quiet at any price. The cost of this truce may
well be war.
Mr. Oren, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, is the author
of "Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the
Present" (Norton, 2008).
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121383448634286853.html
3. From the ISM terrorist web site:
Subject: Re: [ISM Media Group] Israeli forces assault and forcibly deport
New Zealand peace activist once kidnapped in Iraq.
ISM Media Alerts <media@palsolidarity.org> wrote:
Harmeet Sooden, a peace activist from New Zealand, was forcibly
deported from Israel on the 18th of June at 1 am, after four days in
jail. Sooden was told he was being deported because he was a ..threat
to the security of the State of Israel... Sooden, along with Tom Fox,
Norman Kember, and James Loney, was held in captivity for four months
while working with the Christian Peacemaker..s Team (CPT) in Iraq.
..I am still reeling from this experience. It dredged up some old
feelings. I told them honestly that I had come to revisit Yad Vashem,
visit historic sites and volunteer for ISM. They never disclosed the
official reason for denying me, the Ministry of Interior official told
me that I was a ..threat to the security of the State of Israel..,..
Sooden said of his time in Israeli captivity.
When Sooden arrived early in the morning on June 14th he was
immediately questioned by the authorities, who attempted to deport him
the first time that night, without letting him talk to a lawyer. He
resisted the first deportation and was transferred to ..Unit 9... Later
they attempted to deport him again, assaulting him in the process and
dragging him on to the plane. The pilot refused to fly and so he
avoided the second deportation attempt. Sooden was later successfully
deported with security officers aboard the plane, and will arrive in
New Zealand at 2:15 pm on June 20th (Via Bangkok).
Sooden was targetted because of his past involvement with the
International Solidarity Movement (ISM). Sooden was active previously
in Nablus and Jenin with ISM and was part of a two week delegation to
Iraq which turned into four months of captivity, during which one of
his comrades, Tom Fox, was murdered.
4.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/06/the_mistakes_that_launched_300.html
June 18, 2008
The Mistakes That Launched 3,000 Rockets
By Richard A. Baehr
5.
http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1787.htm
Chicken Run
Directed By Peter Lord and Nick Park
6. More Patriotism:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/991255.html
Last update - 17:56 10/06/2008
Arab towns to distribute 'Nakba' alternative history booklet outside
schools
By Yoav Stern