Azmi again

Nadav Eyal
Ma'ariv, April 13, 2007 (before Azmi's defection)

A swamp has been bubbling since Israeli-Arab weekly Al-Senara gloatingly published its exclusive headlines about Azmi Bishara. Our politicians, weary and heavy with the Passover meals, rushed into their roles: the right cried treason, the left warned of generalizations. The Arab MK's were divided: those who had been in Azmi's camp were justified to express their fears about the future. Those who had not been in Azmi's camp couldn't hide their relief. Some of them loathe Azmi to an extent that wouldn't shame the Hilltop Youth. As one of them put it, they were felt "restrained, but unadulterated joy".

Unfortunately, there are things concerning this issue that cannot be said. However, in order to make something of the Azmi affair, one needs to examine Israeli Arab politics, as it combines all the elements and tensions among the Israeli Arabs. Bishara represents the secular nationalists, pan-Arabism if you wish. Opposing him are those who embrace the Islamic movement. Bishara's nationalistic views are not necessarily socialist, such as are expressed by the Hadash party. Moreover, Bishara is Christian, and that is his Achilles heel. His opponents will not readily admit to it, but they don't consider him "one of them".
In fact, Azmi Bishara isn't one of anybody. He was never seen in the Knesset cafe sitting down to a cup of coffee with his political opponents, Zionists or Arabs. He had no friends in the house. How could he have befriended anyone? He was the absentee champion for years. Bishara was a separatist. Ahmad Tibi, Taleb a-Sana, Muhammad Barake are all part of the Knesset machinery. They are no friends of Zion. They are the bitter parliamentary opposition, revoltingly nationalistic to the best of their abilities. But they are part of the Israeli political scene. They propose legislation, they lobby, they engage in fierce disputes but also share friendly luncheons in the Knesset cafe. Self-righteous Bishara was also arrogant, so he stayed away from the Knesset. So the Knesset, including the left, stayed away from him.
However, in this story two opposing political camps are expressing false joy: the right is concentrating on Azmi's public figure, but if certain facts that cannot be named due to the gag order are right, and if Bishara is in fact not returning to Israel (which he didn't, return, that is), that's bad news. "Imagine", said a political personality this week, "imagine that he starts a political movement abroad, plays the conscience dissenter and calls on all Israeli Arabs to revolt. All Arab MK's will be considered traitors, collaborators with the Israeli regime. We have no need for that. It will not benefit the Jews if the Arab sector distances itself from Israeli political life."
The other camp, the Arab MK's, doesn't get it right either. They are relieved by Bishara's disappearing act, probably hoping that the Jewish sector is going to differentiate between Bishara and themselves. Wrong again. The Jewish public sees no difference between the Arab parties, and does not care about their internal bickering. "All Arabs are the same" in the eyes of many a Jew. Bishara will be just one more brick in the wall that is beginning to separate Arabs from Jews. Just one more reason to argue.

Ami ben-David and Felix Frish
Ma'ariv, May 3rd, 2007

Following months of ambiguity, rumors and speculations, the gag order was finally lifted: former MK dr. Azmi Bishara is suspected of assisting the enemy during the second Lebanon war. According to the Israeli police and the Shin Bet, transcriptions of the telephone conversations conducted by Bishara during the past few months prove that he crossed the red lines and acted as an agent on behalf of the Hezbollah.
Details of the investigations reveal that several months before the second Lebanon war broke out Bishara established telephonic contact with several Hezbollah agents. It appears that during the war, Hezbollah advised the Hezbollah what Israeli objectives they should target, and also offered them assessments on how rockets landing South of Haifa might affect the Israeli public resilience.
On one occasion, Bishara complained about the rockets landing in Arab villages: "I can understand attacking Haifa, but I can't understand rockets landing in Arab villages." And also: "Rockets falling beyond Haifa will precipitate the ceasefire". And indeed, when comparing the dates, several days after this conversation, rockets fell beyond Haifa and Hedera.
The investigators also suspect that Bishara passed on to Hezbollah military information, despite his knowledge that such information was classified (perhaps it is high time that the security of Israel be off-limits for Arab MK's. Let them concentrate on the well-being and welfare of their own electorate). He is also suspected of delivering details concerning the assessment of the situation that the was privy to as a member of the Israeli parliament participating in parliamentary debates during the war. According to the investigators, Bishara warned Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah that Israel might considering targeting when the war was over.
The investigators also reveal that in exchange for information collected and delivered to his operators, Bishara received hundreds of thousands of USD in cash, from several Arab sources, including the Hezbollah. Three money changers with offices in Jordan and East Jerusalem seem to have acted as couriers, delivering each time 50 thousand USD to Bishara's residence in Beit-Hanina (Jerusalem).
The police also claims that the information available to Bishara was not of the highest security level and that he was never exposed to critical security data. This did not stop his Hezbollah operators from seeing in him a reliable source of information, due to his senior political status in Israel: "Bishara's operators considered him a highly reliable source, and they were thirsty for every tidbit of information he could provide."
The covert investigation began in the months prior to the war, with permission from the Attorney General and the State Prosecutor. The Supreme Court authorized the police to tap Bishara's phone lines. On March 22, he was summoned for the first time and was questioned for three hours. The following day he met again with the investigators, but he refused to even consider or even provide a response to the preliminary evidence presented before him. At the end of the meeting, he informed the police that he intended to travel abroad and has since refused to appear before the investigators.
Amichai Shai, head of the police's international crimes unit, was in charge of the investigation, said that it was impossible to stop Bishara from leaving the country before the Knesset Committee lifted his parliamentary immunity. The police feared that action might have disclosed important details of the investigation. In the wake of his flight, Bishara has been declared "wanted for investigation", and should he be found on Israeli soil he will be arrested and brought in for questioning. The police are currently considering an international arrest warrant.

And the rockets did land South of Haifa: Nazareth, Hadera, Afula, Nesher ...

More crap from Lebanon c/o AP

These are fauxlegs. I mean the nuns are real, they have real legs, the bar stools are also real. And naughty. The whole thing is funny, and the nuns are just as amused as anybody else. Fauxtography, on the other hand is neither that innocent nor well-intended.

Below is Hezbollah anti-Israel propaganda and the MSM editors are buying it again, producing more proof of their stupidity, ignorance and lack of professionalism. During the second Lebanon war the general excuse offered by the major news outlets when caught with their pants down was that the editors were too busy okaying the posting of the huge amount of pictures coming in all the time, to spot any kind of monkey business. Okay, I'll give them that. What's there excuse now? They're too busy doing what? Trying to ignore the massacres Hamas and Fatah are inflicting on each other?

Hezbollah is back on the border to hoist its bile-stained jaundiced flag:

Hezbollah supporters set a huge Hezbollah flag in front the Israeli settlement of Metulla, in Hamames village at the Lebanese-Israeli border south of Lebanon, Thursday May 17, 2007. Israel released a Lebanese civilian on Thursday, a day after capturing him near the disputed Chebaa Farms area, U.N. and Lebanese security officials said. Israeli troops seized Hisham Daleh, 35, as he was gathering herbs near the village of Chebaa on Wednesday, the security officials said. (AP Photo/Lutfallah Daher)

And not only is this in violation of UN resolution 1701 [Aware of its responsibilities to help secure a permanent ceasefire and a long-term solution to the conflict, the Security Council created a buffer zone free of “any armed personnel” –- both Hizbollah militants and Israeli troops -- between the United Nations-drawn Blue Line in southern Lebanon and the Litani River (12 miles from the Israeli border), and called for both Israel and Lebanon to support a permanent ceasefire and comprehensive solution to the crisis], it is incitement against Israel. Take a look at the caption again: "settlement of Metulla." Except Metulla was founded in 1896 on lands bought from Druze land owners by Baron Nathan Rothschild. At the time Israel/Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire, as was Lebanon. By the way, Lebanon gained its independence in the 1940's, a few years before Israel.

In any case, during the war photographs posted by Lutfallah (or Lotfallah?) Daher for AP were also contributed by Karamallah Daher for Reuters (and they claim to be twin brothers). Is it possible that the MSM is actually funding Hezbollah due to negligent standards or are AP and Reuters supporting terrorism in earnest?

Israeli army tanks advance to new positions in the outskirts of the southern town of Marjayoun, Lebanon, Thursday Aug. 10, 2006. Israeli troops, backed by tanks and armored vehicles, took the key south Lebanon town of Marjayoun early Thursday just hours before a senior Israeli official announced that the military would hold off expanding its ground offensive to give diplomacy a chance. (AP Photo/Lotfallah Daher)

Israeli tanks are seen in the field of Marjayoun in south Lebanon, August 10, 2006. (Karamallah Daher/Reuters)

Is Marjayoun such a small place that two different photographers working for two different news agencies should need to stick together and contribute nearly identical pictures?

Two Israeli tanks on fire after a Hezbollah attack while they were advancing to a new position in the town of Marjayoun in South Lebanon early Thursday morning Aug. 10, 2006. There is no immediate information on casualties. Israeli troops, backed by tanks and armored vehicles, took the key south Lebanon town of Marjayoun early Thursday just hours before a senior Israeli official announced that the military would hold off expanding its ground offensive to give diplomacy a chance. (AP Photo/Lotfallah Daher)

An Israeli tank burns during fighting with Hizbollah guerrillas near Marjayoun town in south Lebanon August 10, 2006. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher (LEBANON)

In addition, it appears to me that they are embedded with the Hezbollah, otherwise how could they have gotten these images of burning tanks? Hezbollah has a long standing history of documenting its attacks of Israel. So the MSM is paying Hezbollah to attack Israeli troops...

Smoke billows in the town of Khiam, in southern Lebanon, Friday, July 28, 2006, after an Israeli attack. Israeli warplanes renewed attacks on suspected Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on Friday, killing at least one person and wounding four others, Lebanese security officials said. (AP Photo/Lotfallah Daher)

Smoke rises from Al-Khiam village after it was targeted by Israeli air strikes in south Lebanon July 28, 2006. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher (LEBANON)

Is it me or are the pictures practically identical? No, its' probably me. I mean could AP and Reuters be this sloppy?

And there's more from Karamallah who couldn't even get his dates right. See, the war didn't start until July 12, 2006. Yet the caption claims the IDF destroyed this bridge on July 7, 2007. Unless of course, he meant August 7, 2006, in order to amplify the Israeli bombardments, a practice which became so common during the war last summer: multiple use buildings, multiple use bodies, multiple use toys, as already revealed by this blog.

<--- Lebanese civilians inspect Litani bridge that was attacked by Israeli warplanes in south Lebanon July 13, 2006. Israel struck Beirut airport and Hizbollah's television station on Thursday and killed 22 civilians in raids on south Lebanon, intensifying its reprisals after Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight. REUTERS/Karamallah Daher

To say nothing of the fact that the picture on the left seems to be a close-up of the left side of the picture below:

A bridge over the Litani river that was attacked by Israeli warplanes in south Lebanon, July 7, 2006. (Karamallah Daher/Reuters). --->

Bleez come back, Israil!

Fatah and Hamas are shooting it out in Gaza and the toll is terrible (nearly 50 this week), more than Israel inflicts over, say, several months. The MSM is still grossly biased, so Novosty proudly informs us that the Russian foreign ministry condemns the Israeli air strikes in Gaza. The Russian foreign ministry is foreign, or perhaps alienated enough to barely mention the daily Qassam rocket salvos launched from Gaza into Israel, wounding several people and causing heavy destruction in Sderot during the past few days (24 Qassams launched on Tuesday May 15, 2007 critically injuring mother critically and son moderately; 16 rockets landed on Wednesday, May 16, 2007, seriously injuring a 70-year-old woman plus 18 others. On Tuesday, May 17, 2007, 24 rockets hit Israel and wounded 30 people. Since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, Palestinian terrorists have fired more than 1,300 rockets into Israel.)

Why even today, when the Russians kindly issued their condemnation a Qassam landed in a school and destroyed a classroom where several students were taking matriculation exams. Luckily the warning siren went off and the children managed to reach the safety room.

As I am posting, Qassams hit a synagogue in Sderot. No word of condemnation or at least concern for the innocent Palestinian civilians caught in the Fatah-Hamas crossfire or executed by each of the belligerent factions. My guess is that the Russian either couldn't care less , or are delighted that there are fewer Muslims in the world, given their "silk glove" war waged against Muslim terror in Chechnya.

However, the Palios are at it in earnest: these are victims of the civil war raging in Gaza. I am posting these photos as evidence of internal Gazan violence. I hope the dishonest Gazan reporters will not republish them as victims of Israeli attacks.

A wounded Palestinian boy is rushed to a hospital following factional clashes at Rafah refugee camp, in the southern Gaza Strip. An alleged plot by Hamas militants to assassinate Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas was revealed on Thursday as deadly factional fighting resumed in Gaza and Israeli air strikes targeted the violence-wracked territory.(AFP/Said Khatib)

A wounded Palestinian man is wheeled on a stretcher after being injured by a mortar shell during clashes between rival Fatah and Hamas fighters as he arrives at hospital in Gaza City, Thursday, May 17, 2007. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Local residents fearing lethal reprisals talked on condition of anonymity to the Israeli press: "Hamas gunmen stop passing cars, commandeer them and shoot the drivers and passengers in the legs, even in the knees. As a consequence people are afraid to venture out of their homes. Hamas and Fatah gunmen attack each other's high ranking officials' residences or offices. People are dying in the streets like flies. Hamasniks believe that killing Fatah men is "halal" and will earn them a place in paradise. The dog Abu-Mazen is unable to take proper measures to stop the fighting. People are praying for "Israil" to reoccupy Gaza. The Palestinians do not have the right to live. "
I swear I heard these words several times on Israeli media. But I wouldn't count on IDF retaking Gaza. We just want to stop the rockets.
Then Khalil Hia, a Hamas official spoke to the press and condemned Fatah violence: "Gunmen chased people out of their homes and shot them in cold blood. A girl was forced to remove her hijab (now that may call for an honor killing) and was then shot BETWEEN THE LEGS (more honor killings required). Although she was bleeding she was released after several hours. Men were forced to strip and were then locked in basements."

Both factions are hiding in mosques and shooting at each other from (and therefore also into) their holy places. The media is still concentrating on the Hamas military command building destroyed by the IAF. And rightly so, that is where the aid money is going in lieu of buying food and medicine for the populace. Oh, dear! I can't blame the local journalists: they too have become victims of the civil war, a few are reported dead. They are afraid to go out and cover what is going on in the streets of Gaza (funny how they were always there heroically documenting Israeli aggression). It appears that journalists have been taking sides in the conflict, after all they are locals and allegiance is still very tribal in Gaza. Meaning that they can be liquidated by the rival factions.
So some had to spend the night in the TV building, while others were taking cover in adjoining buildings.

I must confess it was quite thrilling to see the Al-Jazeera correspondent in Gaza ducking under the table when something exploded close to the studio in the middle of her live report. I remember Katyushas landing dangerously close to Israeli and foreign journalists during the second Lebanon war, one nearly killed Israeli channel 1 reporter. No harm done when terrorist sympathizers get a taste of the same medicine.

Now let's take a look at the humble abode (à la Saddam Hussein or Ceausecu) of pro-Fatah security chief Rashid Abu Shbak in Gaza City where a Hamas raid killed five people. So this is how top brass lives in poverty-stricken Gaza. Once again, this is where the aid money goes. (Abu-Mazen himself lives in a 1.5 million dollar mansion. Haniyeh skimmed some 2 USD million or more from the 20 million in cash he received from Saudi Arabia).
This is where Mohammad al-Dalo (Hamas) used to live with his family before his encounter with Fatah death squads.
This is the entrance to another house in Gaza.

Before this round of violence we only saw the squalid neighborhoods of Gaza, because that served the busy anti-Israeli propaganda machine. Now the rotten corruption of the ruling clans is exposed.

OCCUPATION!!!

On May 11 2007 we were treated to pictures of a Palestinian demon-strator aka non-violent peace activist (piss activist if you ask me) "viciously" wounded by the "occupation" Zionist army. Ouch! He was reported shot in the leg with a rubber bullet, but it looks to me like they got his jewels and perhaps the production line of little peace activists might have to undergo some measure of repair, as it were.

Anyway, the MSM definition of peace activist is quite in line with its general perversion of the lexicon. Again the similarity to the Nazi propaganda tools is so obvious. They count on the general public's ignorance, which only points to their own, because they are so easy to debunk. See Viktor Klemperer's Lingua Tertii Imperii (The Language of the Third Reich), the diary he kept while trying to survive the Third Reich in Berlin.

In any case, I had seen the "poor victim" exuding much more aplomb, poise and assertivenes. And developing an attitude as he gets closer and closer to the soldiers.

For me, the term occupation is inextricably linked with Nazi Germany. I wonder whether the occupied Poles, Czechs, Greeks, former Yugoslavs, Dutch, Belgians, not to mention the Jews and Gypsies residing among them, would have been granted the democratic right to demonstrate against the occupation, would have been tolerated so close, so hostile and menacing to Nazi troops without paying for it with their lives. Yet, the Israeli "occupation" is worse. Lingua Tertii Imperii. I would also like to know whether children could have been taught that such democratic rights exist without having their heads smashed with a rifle butt or stone. Yet, the Israeli soldier is worse than a Nazi.

I also wonder whether an elderly Jew would have been taken by the hand and helped through the check point by an Aryan soldier (and notice how amused two idiots can be, probably thinking that if roles were reversed they would have shot the old man, or even beaten him to death with his own walking stick right there and then to spare him further unpleasantries)

In any case, our troublemaker seems to have been given some warning, which he chose to ignore.

tinker, tailor...

What does a Jewish mother want her sons to be when they grow up?


What does a Palestinian mother want her sons to be before they grow up?

Jenin Redux

Dorit Gabbay
Ma'ariv, April 25, 2007

Five IDF reserve troops who took part in the "Defensive Wall" operation in Jenin and were depicted as war criminals in Muhammad Bakri's production "Jenin, Jenin" have sued the film director and the Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv Cinematheque respectively. This week the five were deposed in court and claimed that the film that had portrayed them as cold-blooded murders had changed their lives and distanced their friends from them.

Five years have elapsed since the terrible events in Jenin. These five men are part of the company that lost 13 combat troops in battle. They feature as war criminals in "Jenin, Jenin", the controversial movie produced and directed by actor Muhammad Bakri (Israeli Arab). Not only were they publicly humiliated, they also started fearing for their lives. In an attempt to clear their names, the five have filed a libel suit against Bakri and the cinematheques, and demanded 2.53 million NIS in compensation.
Yonathan van Caspel was born a Christian in Holland 37 years ago. He came to Israel, converted to Judaism and served as a paratrooper in the IDF: 'I knew that Jenin was the capital of Palestinian terror capital, but I was determined to fulfill my duty for my country. On the eighth day of fighting in Jenin, my company lost 13 combat soldiers in fierce fighting with the Palestinians. This terrible event was extensively covered both by the Israeli and the international media. We were interviewed and our names and addresses were disclosed. My friends and I appear in a film called "Jenin – a reservist's war diary", shot by a fellow reservist during "Defensive Wall Operation". This footage documented the reactions of IDF troops immediately after 13 of their comrades had been killed by Palestinians in the booby trapped alleys of Jenin.
Sometime later, I was contacted by the bereaved mother of one of the soldiers killed in Jenin, appalled by the fact that we were portrayed as monsters and murderers by the film "Jenin, Jenin"… I can hardly describe how shocked I was when I watched the movie myself…The images and the accusations were terrible. Nothing was like we had seen or experienced on the ground... It was enough to convince everybody who knew I had fought in the Defensive Wall Operation that my comrades and I had committed all those heinous crimes. But the worst blow I received was when my own beloved father, who lives in Holland, called and asked me in a stern voice what I had done in Jenin. He told me that he knew that IDF soldiers murdered and massacred residents of Jenin, and wanted to know whether I had anything to do with it. I told him that those were false accusations, but I felt that did not believe me. My own beloved father was under the influence of the terrible accusations, and was wondering whether I had lost the values I had been brought up on and become a monster. My loving father, who knew me so well, who believed in my moral values, who would never have suspected me of war crimes, felt the need to call and ask me what had happened… This is how damaging "Jenin, Jenin" was.
Everybody I knew started confronting me with probing questions, trying to establish whether there was any truth to the film. I found myself defending myself and my fellow soldiers, explaining that nothing like that had ever happened, and that quite the opposite was true – IDF troops remained sensitive to the civilian population, and had made every possible effort not to harm innocent Palestinians.
The fighting in the Jenin refugee camp (by the way, anyone residing in a house is not a refugee. You got to live in a tent in order to be classified as a refugee. Except, of course, if you are a Palestinian) was fierce. We were trying to capture terrorists, but thousands of booby traps and roadside bombs had been hidden in the camp. They were firing and fighting from houses inhabited by innocent people, hiding behind civilians, including women and children. They were using ambulances for terrorist activities. I personally saw loads of booby trapped dollies and toys, just waiting for a soldier to pick them up or touch them…
My fellow soldiers and I experienced and witnessed shocking scenes. Our friends were wounded and died in front of us, sometimes in our arms. And we were the ones accused of war crimes by this film maker …
My friends and I were there the day the film was screened at the Cinematheque, to voice our protest. Members of the audience shouted "Murderers! Nazis! War criminals!", cursed and abused us. I participated in the Defensive Wall Operation for the sake of this country, I wasn't looking for a hero's death. Still I couldn't believe that I would be showered with insults and abuse, so harsh and humiliating…
I began fearing for my own life. I felt exposed. I felt someone might be prompted to take revenge on me for the "crimes" I allegedly committed in the refugee camp.'

Doron Keidar owns and manages a car parts import company. To this day he avoids calling on his Arab customers:
'I saw "Jenin, Jenin" shortly after it started playing and I can hardly describe the shock I experienced. The film is not the work of an amateur, it seems very professional and convincing, so I started asking myself which troops could have perpetrated the horrors it "documents". I thought that perhaps it was a company of "regulars", young troops who perhaps lost it and started shooting at will. It took me a while to understand that it was all fiction, a fabric of lies that had nothing to do with reality. But then I also wondered what people who hadn't been there thought about the troops who had fought in Jenin. The fact that I wasn't able to tell immediately that the film was a pack of lies made me realize that the public would brand us "war criminals", who murdered innocent civilians out of disregard for Arab lives.
The terrible charges brought against me in the film have completely changed my life. I felt ashamed, humiliated and worthless for taking part in this operation. I was embarrassed by the fact that all my friends knew I was a soldier in Jenin.'

Nir Oshri, combat medic, runs a drug rehabilitation center. Most of the soldiers died in his arms: 'I treat drug-addicts at this center. I need to develop a special bond, very close rapport with the patients, for the treatment to succeed. Sometimes the addicts become dependent on me. Many of my patients are Arabs and their situation is very complex and stressful. After "Jenin, Jenin" was aired, I felt a shift in the way my Arab patients were relating to me. Instead of seeing in me their "elder brother", the one who helps them overcome their difficulties, they began avoiding me. I often heard them whispering "Jenin" between themselves, their eyes filled with hatred. I could no longer approach them freely, uninhibitedly. They were suspicious of me. One day one of them started yelling in front of the staff and patients at the center "murderer, you massacred Arabs, tens of little children in Jenin". I felt great pain, such that words cannot describe.'

Adam Arbiv, businessman.
'My father lives in the Arab part of Yaffo-Tel-Aviv. At one time, my office was also there. After the screening of the film I felt that even my closest friends and relatives were unsure about me. My mother, who lives in Holland, asked me several times about my part in the Defensive Wall Operation, and I felt that she was worried that I might have been one of the Jenin "war criminals". The woman who gave me life, who has always been so close to me, began doubting my integrity because of this film. Perhaps some of the viewers understood that the terrible accusations were blown out of proportion, but I guess they also believed that there was still some truth to it.
Some of my relatives living in the US and Canada also contacted me, to enquire in a very around the bush fashion about the terrible actions presented in the movie. Such horrible things can drive a man insane. Nobody will ever be able to compensate me and my fellow soldiers for our stained reputation. How can I put a price to the pain I felt when my own mother needed to make sure that I was or was not a war criminal as portrayed by the film? Or when my relative living abroad looked at me trying to make sure that I was not one of the perpetrators of the heinous crimes in the film?
Due to the terrible accusations we cannot go on with our lives. I was afraid to go see my father in Yaffo. I was afraid for his life. I was afraid to go to my own office in Yaffo. I am afraid and worried to this very day.'

Ofer Ben-Nathan, lawyer:
'All of my lawyer colleagues and associates started to shun me, or even display obvious hostility due to the terrible allegations of the movie. They accused me of having committed massacres and war crimes in Jenin. They weren't even trying to conceal their disgust. I am sure I have lost numerous potential clients, Arabs who would have sought my services by themselves or based on recommendations from Arab colleagues. There were days when I thought I might be forced out of my profession, and I sometimes feared for my life.'

Muhammad Bakri – No need for balance (because I received funding from rabid anti-Semitic terrorist!)
Avigdor Feldman, Bakri's lawyer, claims that the film never intended to present a balanced image of the fighting in Jenin, but rather to allow the Palestinians to tell their story. The stories certainly reflect the events that took place in Jenin. Bakri's deposition is expected within 60 days.

Jenin, Jenin – document or propaganda?
On March 27th, the eve of Passover 2002, a suicide bombing shook the Park Hotel in Netanya. Two days later Operation Defensive Wall was launched, with the purpose of rooting out the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank. During this operation, on April 3rd, IDF forces entered the Jenin refugee camp, practically the suicide bombers' breeding ground and headquarters. The IDF instructed the civilian population to leave, and then proceeded to enter several houses in order to apprehend terrorists hiding inside them. The troops were met with a tremendous amount of fire and explosive charges from the terrorists hiding among the civilian population. On April 9th 13 combat troops were ambushed and killed. They served in the same company as the five plaintiffs. The IDF decided to send in bulldozers in order to demolish the houses where the terrorists were hiding.
Twenty-three IDF combat troops were killed in Jenin, and 60 others were wounded, some very badly. 52 Palestinians were also killed, half of them civilians.
A few weeks later, actor and director Muhammad Bakri (much like Azmi Bishara in Lebanon) and his film crew toured the camp and shot interviews with some locals who claimed to have seen the troops shoot and kill innocent civilians, women, children and old people, prevent medical assistance to the wounded, and even loot. (Ahem... the Palestinians claim to be so pathetically poor, starving to say the least, and yet there still are valuables to be found in their booby-trapped houses? ) The Film Critics Committee stopped the screening of the film, defining it as "one-sided propaganda, … distortion of real events so as to appear as truthful documentation and give the public a wrong impression…, incitement and deligitimizing the very existence of the State of Israel.
When Muhammad Bakri petitioned the Supreme Court, three Supreme Court "justices" allowed the film to be screened in the Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv Cinematheques respectively.

Read more about Jenin here and here. This is the diary of an ultra-Orthodox soldier who was there. Also some extraordinary pics that, most likely from the writer's private albums.

Palestinian stabs two Border Police

On Sunday April 8, 2007 a 17-year-old Palestinian arrived at the Hebron check point. When a Border Police guard approached him, he pulled out a knife and stabbed the policeman in the chest. A second guard (who could/should have shot/killed the attacker) tried to overpower the assailant and was also wounded slightly. Only then did the Border Police officer shoot the attacker, who got away with an injury.
The two policemen were evacuated to Hadassah Ein-Karem Hospital where they received medical attention. The attacker was awarded first aid by the policemen and was also taken to hospital.
Army officials report that Arabs armed with knives have been trying to pass through the check-point ever since the 1990's.

When Palestinians whine about women and children jailed by cruel Israel, don't forget that women and children can also be terrorists.

Hall of Shame

In exchange for Gilad Shalit, snatched at the tender age of 19, and whose whereabouts are still a mystery (actually we cannot even be sure that he is still alive) Hamas would like to see the release of such seasoned murderers and terrorists (several hundreds of them, actually), responsible for the death of hundreds of innocent Israeli civilians and troops in non-combat situations. Why Israel is keeping such ruthless criminals alive is beyond my comprehension - imagine that they were dead, would Hamas still be motivated to kidnap troops in order to pressure Israel into disproportionate "prisoner exchanges"? Just a thought...

Marwan Barghouti - General Secretary of Tanzim (and here) Fatah (PLO) division, financed Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade terror cell and sent them on terror attacks against Israeli targets. Captured by IDF during Operation Defensive Shield (Homat Magen), he was sentenced by an Israeli Court to five life sentences. Some may hail him as a hero, but he was hiding in Ramallah disguised as an old woman. Moreover, while being interviewed live on Palestinian TV, he was gloating with glee at the news that a suicide bomber had managed to blow himself up among Israeli civilians. No peace maker here!


Ahmad Saadat - Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, ordered the assassination of Israeli Minister Rehavam Ze'evi. He was captured by the IDF during the Jericho Prison raid in 2006.










Ibrahim Hamed - commander of the West Bank Hamas military wing, masterminded such massacres as the Sbarro pizzeria, the Hebrew University cafeteria and the Cafe Moment suicide bombings.








Fuad Shubaki (Fouad al-Shoubaki) - senior financier to Arafat, funded the acquisition of Karin A. No innocent banker here...









Muhammad Duhan - a veteran of the Gaza Hamas military wing. On December 12, 1992, he killed IDF reservist Yuval Toutangi.










Yahia Sinwar - senior member of the Hamas military wing, credited with the founding the Qassam brigades. Arrested in 1988, he was sentenced to 450 years detention.










Hassan Salameh - responsible for some of the deadliest suicide attacks during February-March 1996. He recruited and dispatched the suicide bombers in the two Jerusalem bus 18 massacres and the Ashkelon hitch-hike post (where the bomber was dressed in IDF uniform). He himself was acting on behalf of Muhammad Deff (courtesy of http://www.isill.blogspot.com/), in retaliation for IDF targeting (well, yes, assassinating) Yahia Ayyash.

Alan Johnston and the Durmush clan

(Arik Weiss, Ma'ariv April 18, 2007)

The prime suspect in Alan Johnston's abduction is naturally the Durmush clan (and here and actually all over the net) of Gaza – an organized crime family with many ramifications operating a private militia of several hundred armed terrorists, whose infamous record boasts several similar cases, such as the abduction of two Fox News journalists in August 2006. Rumor has it that USD 2 million bought the release of Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig.
Up until a few months ago, the relationships between Hamas and the Durmush clan were fruitful and idyllic. Hamas often employed the services of the clan for contracted jobs (assassinations and other dirty work) in exchange for hefty sums of money and constant supply of weapons. The clan's name seems to be connected with the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The "romance" ended a few months ago when two Durmushes were killed by Hamas gunmen. It appears that Alan Johnston was abducted in order to renew the income lost in the wake of the Hamas-Durmush feud.
An unknown terrorist group in Gaza claimed recently to have executed the BBC correspondent and even promised to release the videotape of the "event", but the footage was never produced. It appears however that the journalist was killed in the abduction and the fake promise was meant only to clear the Durmush clan of the suspicion of abduction and possibly murder. The BBC has been silent all along, probably reluctant to offend the kidnappers by some inappropriate comment. After all, one never knows, the group holding Johnston might be ideology-driven, and that would complicate the situation greatly (I don't get it, most British journalists are such suckers for Palestinian lies and propaganda, that someone like Chas Newkey Burden is frowned upon when visiting Israel for a travel piece; the Palestinians should be licking the asses of British journalists instead of kidnapping and maltreating them – who knows, perhaps even killing them. Sorry, British journalists, I thought you were smarter than that!!! On the other hand, it's not that, it's your irrational anti-Semitism that turns you into such obsequious lackeys ).
Some 20 journalists have been abducted in Gaza in the past few years, and behind inflammatory declarations there were hierarchy skirmishes or cash shortages involved in all instances. Johnston's abduction seemed just another one of those, except one can never be certain that things wouldn't take a turn for the worst (after all, contrary to general belief, Gaza IS a terrorist haven, I might quote Dante's Inferno – Relinquish all hope, ye who enter here. Gaza is Inferno made in the Palestinian Authority with the assistance of Hamas).
Last year, Amit Cohen of Ma'ariv wrote that the American Intelligence Services warned the PA of contacts between an Al-Qaeda operative and a Gaza resident, and that the Gaza resident received USD 5,000 from Al-Qaeda in order to purchase weapons and attack Westerners, mostly US nationals. Luckily, the Gazan resident was apprehended before doing any harm. British officials fear that Johnston's kidnappers may have been acting on behalf of Al-Qaeda (after all it is no secret that Al-Qaeda has been operating in Gaza for some time now).
A close friend of Alan's, Stephen Farrell of the Sunday Times, says the Gaza is so complex and stratified, that it is premature to conclude that Alan is being held by a certain family. As it is practically impossible to distinguish in Gaza between ideology, money and business, one can never be sure of the real cause behind Alan's abduction was, or who it was that kidnapped him. "But this is our line of work," Farrell says, "and this is what we have to cope with, always fearing a missile launched from an IAF helicopter (you just couldn't help releasing that stinking fart via you buccal orifice, now could you, how many journalists were killed by attack helicopters? And while you are at it, don't you know IAF pilots never release a single missile, it's always a double strike, Mr. Farrell, objective journalist!!!), being shot by a Palestinian sniper (that's more like it) or getting caught in the crossfire of two rival gangs shooting it out in the streets of Gaza (now you're talking!).
Farrell himself had a similar experience while being held for ten hours by Sunnis in Iraq: "I know that the real reasons behind Alan's abduction are far more complex than money or faction rivalry, because nobody really knows what's going on in Gaza." (What are you doing over there then, how can you do any honest reporting? Oh, I forget, you are a British journalist, i.e. you can get away with pointing an accusing finger at Israel.)

Prior to Alan Johnston, no-one had been held in Gaza for more than two weeks:
September 27, 2004: Riad Ali, a producer for CNN, was seized at gunpoint from a car in Gaza City. He was freed the following day. CNN said a tape surfaced shortly before Ali’s release in which the producer said he was being held by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militant Palestinian group with ties to Fatah. The brigade had earlier denied involvement in the kidnapping and had joined other groups in condemning it. Ali said on the tape that he is a Druze, a minority Arab population in Israel whose members often serve in the Israeli army. He called for the Druze not to serve in the Israeli army. No demands were made.
January 8, 2005: Ramon Lobo and Carmen Secanella, El Pais. Reporter Lobo and photographer Secanella of the Spanish daily El Pais were briefly abducted by masked gunmen in Gaza’s Khan Younes refugee camp. They were released unharmed 90 minutes later.
August 15, 2005: Mohammed Ouathi, France 3. Ouathi, a soundman for French television channel France 3, was forced into a car on August 15 by three men with rifles as he walked to his hotel in Gaza City with France 3 colleagues. He was released on August 22. No group claimed responsibility for Ouathi’s abduction. Reuters reported that a Palestinian militant umbrella group called the Popular Resistance Committees said it had helped mediate Ouathi’s release, but it did not identify the kidnappers.
September 10, 2005: Lorenzo Cremonesi, Corriere della Serra. Masked gunmen abducted Italian journalist Cremonesi, of the newspaper Corriere della Serra, in the town of Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. He was released later that day unharmed. He claimed that all his abductors wanted "was to see their faces on Al-Jazeera."
October 12, 2005: Dion Nissenbaum, Adam Pletts, Knight Ridder. Nissenbaum, a U.S. reporter for the Knight Ridder newspaper chain, and British photographer Pletts, a freelancer working for the news organization, were abducted by armed gunmen in the southern Gaza Strip. “A car followed our vehicle for three or four minutes and then stopped us. Six gunmen pointed their weapons and said ’We want the foreigners,’” Ziad Abu Mustafa, a Palestinian interpreter who was with the journalists, told Reuters. He said the captors ordered him to stay behind as they drove off with the two journalists, heading toward the southern Gaza town of Rafah. The journalists were freed later that day after several hours in captivity. Palestinian security officials said the men were kidnapped by renegade members of the ruling Fatah party, CPJ sources said. They said Fatah officials and Palestinian security officers negotiated their release.
March 14, 2006: Caroline Laurent, Elle, Alfred Yaghobzadeh, SIPA, Yong Tae-young, KBS. Gunmen seized Laurent, a reporter for the French women’s weekly Elle, Yaghobzadeh, a photographer from the photo agency SIPA, and Tae-young, a correspondent for South Korea’s public broadcaster KBS, at the Al-Dira Hotel in Gaza. All three were released unharmed 22 hours later. Palestinian security services said the kidnappers were members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Reuters reported at the time. The abductions came after Israeli forces stormed a prison in the West Bank town of Jericho and seized a PFLP leader, Ahmad Saadat, and five other group members held in connection with the assassination of an Israeli minister.
August 14, 2006: Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, Fox News Channel. Centanni and Wiig, a correspondent and freelance cameraman respectively for Fox News Channel, were ambushed by gunmen on Omar al-Mukhtar Street in the center of Gaza City. Two vehicles trapped the journalists’ satellite uplink truck marked “TV.” Gunmen forced the driver to the ground, and abducted the two journalists. A previously unknown group called the Holy Jihad Brigades later claimed responsibility. The group demanded the release of Muslim prisoners held by the United States. The journalists were released unharmed on August 27. They were videotaped converting to Islam and reciting suras. They were also forced to praise their captors in a press conference.
October 24, 2006: Emilio Morenatti, Associated Press photographer, was abducted by unidentified Palestinian gunmen as he walked out of his Gaza City apartment toward his driver and interpreter Majed Hamdan, the AP reported. Hamdan said four gunmen grabbed his keys and phone and told him to turn away, pressing a gun to his head, and threatening to harm him. The gunmen shoved Morenatti into a white Volkswagen and sped off. He was released later that day. The AP said no group claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. (However, Morenatti seems to be quite close to the terrorists, perhaps rivals of the faction that kidnapped him? We'll never know, Stephen Farrell himself cannot make his mind up. However, Morenatti appears to be a very good friend of Kevin Frayer, who eagerly promotes anti-Israeli propaganda, as seen in his contributions from Gaza/West Bank (on an almost daily basis) and Lebanon (during the second Lebanon war).
January 1, 2007: Jaime Razuri, Agence France-Presse, a veteran staff photographer for AFP, was seized by a group of unmasked, armed men as he was entering the news agency’s bureau in Gaza City, AFP reported. He had been returning from an assignment with his interpreter and driver. Razuri was released on January 7. It is unclear who abducted him. Palestinian security officials suspected that the Dughmush family, a large armed clan in Gaza City, was behind the abduction. The Dughmush clan had been pressuring the ruling Islamic Resistance Movement to turn over 18 people suspected of killing two of its members, according to reports and CPJ sources. But an aide to President Mahmoud Abbas said the family helped in releasing the journalist and was not directly linked to the abduction. (Dughmush is an alternate spelling of Durmush.)

Honor killing?

Remember the guy who had to marry a goat? Well, apparently he is now free (and here) to marry another one (although being a Muslim he was entitled to three more wives during poor Rose's lifetime).
Despite reports that the late Mrs. Tombe (even the name sounds sinister) choked on a plastic bag, I am tempted to believe that this was an honor killing - the poor soul is reported to have been scavenging for food in the streets of Juba. Was she chaperoned by a male relative? Was she wearing her burqa or jihab or whatever a devout Muslim wife should wear? How do we know she wasn't actually having a date with another man? Or even worse, one of her own kind?

Seriously now, there is no limit to man's cruelty to animals!