What does a Palestinian mother want her sons to be before they grow up?
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
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?
What does a Palestinian mother want her sons to be before they grow up?
Saturday, May 12, 2007
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.
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.
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.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
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.
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.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
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.)
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!
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!
Friday, May 04, 2007
The Gospel of Azmi
(Azmi Bizbullah, courtesy of Ma'ariv). About the South Lebanon Army – It is inconceivable that traitors and mercenaries be allowed to live amongst us. (October 5, 1999)
About Hezbollah – Hezbollah is a brave national movement that will teach Israel a lesson. It has become a pilot force in the Arab world and it is willing to sacrifice itself for the cause. (February 19, 1999 and June 27, 2000).
About the State of Israel - I am not against the entire Israel becoming Palestine. The Israelis immigrated to us, we did not emigrate to them. (October 14, 2000, interview with Austrian weekly).
About the democratic state – Israel is the greatest robber of the century … Give us back Palestine and take back your democracy. We, the Arabs, are not interested. (December 2005).
According to Ma'ariv, April 10, 2007 (Itamar Enbari), there are several Jewish Israelis in Bishara's constituency among them: translator Yael Lerer, former assistant to Azmi, attorney Leah Tsemel and her husband, Michael Warshawski. I am not surprised that some "people" even consider him their brother. I find this relieving, I now know who my enemies are, thanks to Yisrael Medad.
While crying foul and oppression/suppression he has amassed a substantial fortune (now we know he has been receiving thousands of dollars from Hezbollah and from an undisclosed country), and has managed to close several real estate transactions in the form of houses/mansions in Haifa and Jerusalem, along with securing ownership of his parental house in Nazareth – which is perfectly alright with me: everybody should be entitled to inherit their parents and buy property. According to eye witness reports, he made quite an entrance when he attended his party's (Balad) first post-election gathering in 1996 – in a Benz!!! Which is quite alright with me again – everybody should have access to luxury cars. How many Israeli Arabs can afford several mansions and one luxury automobile? How many Israeli Jews?
I suppose that he is not troubled by any qualms at the thought of several of his Arab brethren (Christian, Muslim and Druze) having been killed in vicious rocket attacks. The cries of the dead and wounded were probably drowned by the sweet sound of counting hundreds of thousands of dollars. There's Judas Iscariot for you! (Azmi is a proud Christian).
By the way, Carl in Jerusalem has a comprehensive analysis of Azmi's secret agent activities.
In any case, some Arab commentators hold Azmi in great admiration, such as Nawaf Atamna who posted on his internet site Machsom (Checkpoint): "Never has the Israeli parliament seen a man of such intellectual prowess, such high moral standards, such sharp insight as MK Azmi Bishara."
I say aye. Alongside the "oldies but goldies" above, here is one more unforgettable example of Azmi's power of expression. Please note the depth of analysis, the ancient wisdom and higher intelligence quality that left his opponent speechless:
On May 12, 2005, during a heated debate in the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice committee over an intended bill to sack such MK's who just can't stay away from terror organizations, Likud MK Gilad Erdan (in favor of the legislation) turned to Azmi (fervent opponent by nature and definition) and said: "Go find a good job in Syria." Azmi, with his quick grasp of the words and unique talent of volleying lethal retorts, not to mention aristocratic manners and elegance, shouted at the top of his lungs: "You go fuck yourself, ya piece of garbage!" See? Go find, go fuck…
About Hezbollah – Hezbollah is a brave national movement that will teach Israel a lesson. It has become a pilot force in the Arab world and it is willing to sacrifice itself for the cause. (February 19, 1999 and June 27, 2000).
About the State of Israel - I am not against the entire Israel becoming Palestine. The Israelis immigrated to us, we did not emigrate to them. (October 14, 2000, interview with Austrian weekly).
About the democratic state – Israel is the greatest robber of the century … Give us back Palestine and take back your democracy. We, the Arabs, are not interested. (December 2005).
According to Ma'ariv, April 10, 2007 (Itamar Enbari), there are several Jewish Israelis in Bishara's constituency among them: translator Yael Lerer, former assistant to Azmi, attorney Leah Tsemel and her husband, Michael Warshawski. I am not surprised that some "people" even consider him their brother. I find this relieving, I now know who my enemies are, thanks to Yisrael Medad.
While crying foul and oppression/suppression he has amassed a substantial fortune (now we know he has been receiving thousands of dollars from Hezbollah and from an undisclosed country), and has managed to close several real estate transactions in the form of houses/mansions in Haifa and Jerusalem, along with securing ownership of his parental house in Nazareth – which is perfectly alright with me: everybody should be entitled to inherit their parents and buy property. According to eye witness reports, he made quite an entrance when he attended his party's (Balad) first post-election gathering in 1996 – in a Benz!!! Which is quite alright with me again – everybody should have access to luxury cars. How many Israeli Arabs can afford several mansions and one luxury automobile? How many Israeli Jews?
I suppose that he is not troubled by any qualms at the thought of several of his Arab brethren (Christian, Muslim and Druze) having been killed in vicious rocket attacks. The cries of the dead and wounded were probably drowned by the sweet sound of counting hundreds of thousands of dollars. There's Judas Iscariot for you! (Azmi is a proud Christian).
By the way, Carl in Jerusalem has a comprehensive analysis of Azmi's secret agent activities.
In any case, some Arab commentators hold Azmi in great admiration, such as Nawaf Atamna who posted on his internet site Machsom (Checkpoint): "Never has the Israeli parliament seen a man of such intellectual prowess, such high moral standards, such sharp insight as MK Azmi Bishara."
I say aye. Alongside the "oldies but goldies" above, here is one more unforgettable example of Azmi's power of expression. Please note the depth of analysis, the ancient wisdom and higher intelligence quality that left his opponent speechless:
On May 12, 2005, during a heated debate in the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice committee over an intended bill to sack such MK's who just can't stay away from terror organizations, Likud MK Gilad Erdan (in favor of the legislation) turned to Azmi (fervent opponent by nature and definition) and said: "Go find a good job in Syria." Azmi, with his quick grasp of the words and unique talent of volleying lethal retorts, not to mention aristocratic manners and elegance, shouted at the top of his lungs: "You go fuck yourself, ya piece of garbage!" See? Go find, go fuck…
Ben Caspit (Ma'ariv, dang, those dates again, but I guess last Friday's edition):
Most people agree that Azmi Bishara won't return to Israel. And why should he? Several years ago he started "living la dolce vita". The great, articulate "ideologist" enjoyed life à la Saudi prince: business class flights around the world, VIP lounge receptions, house guest in Arab world leaders palaces, popular rally speaker. Lots of money must have gone into funding all that.
Were he to return to Israel, he would have to enjoy the good life of a prison cell, his name highly
unlikely to appear on the next prisoner exchange list, nor the one after that. That's why Azmi Bishara will not return to Israel, or so his friends will have us know. This is how a brave man runs for his life. The parliamentary career of this great revolutionary comes to an end under suspicion of bribery. The great warrior became a fugitive criminal overnight. The Shabak was aware of his intention to flee the country, yet did not stand in his way. Although weeks ago some suggested that his passport be revoked, Azmi was allowed to travel unhindered.
The first police investigation gave him a hint into what would follow, therefore he packed his bags and boarded the first plane out of Israel only to resurface on Al-Jazeera, as expected. He will keep on bothering us for some time courtesy of Arab TV stations. On the other hand, his image as a freedom fighter (fucker, go find, go fuck, go fight, go fuck), social justice advocate, great socio-political and ideological reformer would have been greatly amplified by the wall-to-wall media coverage of the circus act of his trial (had there ever been one). Now, it appears that Azmi was none of the above (except perhaps fucker).
Let us be clear on this point: investigating ex-MK Bishara is not aiming to investigate the entire Israeli Arab sector. Not even Balad (shame, Zahalka advocates kidnapping IDF troops, plus the Balad trio - Bishara, Zahalka and Wassil travelled to Beirut after the second Lebanon war to express their support for Hezbollah). The police are investigating the doings of one person alone. And rightly so, because the large majority of Israeli Arabs (except the rapists and those who crash their vehicles into ours with the sole purpose of killing us or at least maiming us for life) are not suspected of espionage or money-laundering. The Arab minority in Israel is a lot better than its leaders combined (I largely agree).
...
On the rare occasions when he graced the Knesset with his presence, Bishara's eyes were full of contempt for everything this institution stands for, contempt for the state that generously covered his expenses contempt for his Zionist colleagues, contempt for most of the issues on the agenda. He kept on spitting into the very well he himself was drinking from. And nothing stopped him from fighting like a cornered panther for a seat in the "Zionist parliament". He craved the honors, the attention, the spotlight and mostly the immunity. He never intended to relinquish any of those. Except that now that his monkey business has been discovered, it suddenly dawns on him that perhaps this might be a good time to retire. To do what? Since we know that he has already taken very good care of his own house, he will probably concentrate on ruining our own. Quite adroitly.
There were more sides to his activities. Such as performing discreet missions for the Israeli government, such as carrying Ehud Barak's messages to president Assad, e.g., while the napkin carrying Danny Yatom's proposed borders for Israel retreat from the Golan Heights earned him the "collaborationist" status.
He loathed the media covering that. Balad's internet site did what was expected in such situation: blamed the press. But we loved it. So Azmi traveled to Damascus, met with Assad and presented Barak's plan and how the depth of the redeployment. But as far as he himself was concerned, the world should have remained ignorant. That was worse than spying for the enemy during war: that was colluding with the enemy during peace. Bishara was very careful in picking his enemies, according to his ideology or financial needs at any given time.
All of this is over now. In any normal country this man would not have been allowed a parliamentary seat. Except that six years ago the Supreme Court Justices ruled - seven to four - that he should not be demoted , in other words they came up with a new and original formula on how to turn shit into gold - the risk of Bishara's ideas materializing was so low that he should be allowed to maintain his Knesset seat whence he would be allowed to go on "preaching". This was the lame rationale behind their decision, despite the fact the both Talia Sasson (State Attorney) and Elyakim Rubinstein (Attorney General) recommended outlawing Balad. Translated into English - imagine that the Americans would allow Al-Qaeda supporters Congress seats on the assumption that "the risk of Al-Qaeda's aspirations of destroying the USA is not high enough". In the meantime we have discovered that Bishara's aspirations had a higher chance of materializing than the Supreme court had initially assessed. And we have to pay the price.
And now for a bit of Hebrew:
Az mi boged? (? אז מי בוגד) - so who is a traitor?
Azmi boged (עזמי בוגד) - Azmi is a traitor.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Roni's Victory
Five years ago, Border Police Roni Gozlan was badly wounded in the terrorist bombing at the French Hill Junction in Jerusalem. He became a national hero, much like Natan Sandaka (and here). Unfortunately, so many other brave young men, such as Tomer Mordechai were not so lucky.The terrorist blew himself up killing six people and injuring 45. Gozlan lost both his legs in the attack, but managed to overcome his physical and mental trauma. He has now decided to make a fresh start: he has just asked his young girlfriend Mali to marry him. He will "break the glass" on June 19th, exactly five years after the deadly attack that would have been a lot deadlier had Roni not blocked the terrorist with his own body. "There was no doubt in my mind that this happiest event in my life had to be celebrated on my second birthday, the day the gift of life was given to me a second time."
On June 19th 2002, Cpl. Roni (Aharon) Gozlan of the Jerusalem Border Police became a national hero. It was 7 p.m. Roni and his fellow policemen were returning from a well-deserved vacation in Eilat. As he got off the bus at the French Hill bus-stop, another young man got out of a white Mercedes that continued on its way to Ramallah. The young man walked along the concrete wall to escape the watchful eyes of the Israeli soldiers, but started running like crazy as he approached the bus-stop (also a hitchhike post) packed with commuters. Roni spotted him. Without a second thought he ran towards the attacker to intercept him. The terrorist detonated the bomb as Roni came close to him. Seven people died in the explosion, 45 were injured. Roni, whose heroism saved the lives of many, lost both legs in the attack, along with his normal life. "I stood 1.84 m tall and had no problem climbing and jumping on Old City rooftops".
Roni remembers every single detail of the event that turned his life around forever. "My fellow officers and I were on our way back from a short vacation in Eilat, where we were supposed to get away from the routine of deadly suicide bombings that had shaken Jerusalem during the second intifadah. But you can never get away for real, so news of the deadly attack on bus no.32 reached us even in Eilat. As a policeman, I was there at the scene of almost every attack, and as soon as I heard the news I felt that my vacation was over and that I had to get back to Jerusalem without delay, but our CO decided that we should stay one more day. As we approached Jerusalem, I phoned my brother to come pick me up at the French Hill bus-stop. When I got off the bus I spotted this very suspicious looking young man – I remember him to this very day: dark oriental type, with a very large bag on his back, dressed in a red shirt and blue-grey jeans. I was puzzled by the fact that he was holding his cell-phone upside down – the antenna was pointing downwards. He was only pretending to be talking on the phone."
Roni's well-trained policeman's instincts took over and he switched to anti-terror mode: "In moments like these you stop thinking about your own life. I had trained and drilled for this situation so I was able to act on instinct. I grabbed for my pouch to get my gun. But there was no time for that. I had to act quickly. I forget if I managed to shout "terrorist" – there was no time to think or organize some kind of defense. I stormed him, pinned him to the wall, and kicked him hard in the back."
At that very moment the terrorist detonated the charge and blew himself to pieces. The blast was so powerful that Roni was sent flying through the air and landed hard on the sidewalk. "The quiet – whoever was involved in a terrorist bombing knows what kind of quiet I am talking about – is practically impossible to describe. Even in the quietest room one cannot hear that kind of absolute silence. I looked down and saw my left leg was badly mangled. My right leg was hanging on a piece of tissue. I looked to the left and saw an elderly lady with blood gushing out of her neck arteries. Instinctively I stretched out my hand and stopped the bleeding. With the other hand I improvised some kind of tourniquet for my leg."
Rescue teams rushed to the scene, as did Roni's two brothers – Motti, his twin, who serves with the Jerusalem police force, and Avi, a firefighter from a nearby station. Next Roni remembers the ambulance ride to the hospital: "I was arguing with the ambulance doctor whether I needed a catheter or not." As a trained combat medic, Roni knew by then that his legs were lost. For a week and a half he lay unconscious, swinging between life and death. When he regained consciousness, he was gazing at an entirely different world.
Last week he decided to write a new chapter in his life – he proposed to Mali, his girlfriend for the past five years: "When I proposed to Mali I already knew that this happiest day of my life would have to be celebrated on June 19th, my second birthday. Five years to the day I conquered death and the gift of life was bestowed on me for the second time. It's like coming full circle for me."
Roni went through a very long, tedious and frustrating rehab period. He had to take huge amounts of painkillers and other medication. In the beginning his doctors were certain that they could save his legs. After one year and eight months of hospitalization, however, his doctors advised him to consider amputation because he had developed RSD (a neurological complication) and because he was confined to a wheelchair anyway.
"From the scene of the terrorist attack I was taken straight to Hadassah Mount Scopus hospital, and then I was transferred to Tel-Hashomer, where I am still being treated. The rehab process throughout all this time has been long and difficult. I have been through a physical and mental earthquake. Nothing in my life is what it used to be. I am sure I would not have made it without Mali, my parents and my friends to support me."
Roni is a 34-year-old divorced father of four. Still a combat soldier at heart, he decided not to give in or up. Before consenting to the surgery that would take away his legs, he consulted specialists in Israel and abroad: "I didn't want to leave any stone unturned. I even traveled to the US. Of the 12 specialists I consulted, 11 recommended amputation. The only doctor who was against amputation told me that I would have to be on painkillers for the rest of my life. I did not want to become addicted."
Even before his return to Israel, Roni notified the Hadassah Ein-Karem hospital that he had decided to go ahead with the surgery – a complex 14-hour long procedure. "People don’t really know what it's like to live without one's legs. I slipped deep into depression and lost the will to live. I began crying and mourning and feeling sorry for myself."
Mali, the driving force behind Roni's rehabilitation, was only 18 years old at the time of the attack. She has stood by him since the very first day, pushing and urging him to fight hard for his recovery. She pulled him out of his depression and practically forced him to enroll in the amputee rehabilitation program. The riding lessons have become an enjoyable part of Roni's life. He is less happy with his behind-the-desk-job he is doing for the police. He is even less happy when bureaucracy raises its ugly head between him and his rights for which he paid a terrible price (this is one of the cruelest faults of Israeli law, and the sooner it is solved, the better. Take for instance a very dear friend of mine, whose husband sustained a severe penetrating head injury in the 32 bus bombing, that's right, the day before Roni lost his legs. The National Insurance Institute insensitive clerk was reluctant to return his taxi fares - "What's his problem? Why can't he take the bus? - until my friend retorted - Well, you see, his problem is that he was blown up in a bloody bus and there's still a piece of shrapnel stuck in his brain, that's why he can't take the bus!" By the way, my friend's husband is doing not so bad, considering, he has returned to his former job - part time - and several months ago this beautiful couple and their sons were blessed with their first little girl.)Bittersweet victory - we choose life!
(excerpts from Ma'ariv, February 23, 2007, Yif'at Reuven)
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
I love you, Chas Newkey Burden, simply love you!
Not in my name
British journalists' union boycott motion reflects deep animosity towards Israel
Chas Newkey Burden
Published: 04.19.07, 09:41 / Israel Opinion
The British public’s perception of journalists has sunk so low that when I am asked in social situations what my job is, I am sometimes tempted to pretend I am part of a more respected profession – like drug trafficking. I exaggerate, of course, but only a little. Most people view journalists as immoral liars who would sell our own grandmothers for a front-page scoop. I am an altogether softer writer, so when members of my profession publish sensationalist or intrusive stories, I don’t sit and flog myself on their behalf.
However, when the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) passed a motion at its annual meeting to boycott Israel, I hung my head in utter shame and despair - despite the fact that I am no longer an NUJ member. Those emotions of shame and despair were not joined by shock, though, because the British media has long been absorbed by a blind hatred of Israel. Newspapers like The Independent and The Guardian print editorials that are so biased and distorted that Osama Bin Laden would probably blush at them. The BBC refuses to describe suicide bombers who blow up buses full of schoolchildren as "terrorists" and one of its correspondents told a Hamas rally that he and his colleagues were “waging the campaign shoulder-to-shoulder with the Palestinian people”.
I visited Israel for the first time last year to research some articles about tourism there. Within hours of my return I received a call from a journalist acquaintance who asked me with genuine shock: “What’s all this about you going to Israel?” He said that a mutual journalist acquaintance of ours was “absolutely disgusted” with me for going there and that he hoped I was “going to put the boot in” when I wrote my articles.
These were not close acquaintances, I hadn’t even spoken to one of them for nearly nine years and it must have taken them some digging around to find my telephone number. They obviously thought it was worth the trouble to have a dig at a writer who was friendly to Israel. Apparently the “absolutely disgusted” man – a weekly columnist on a high-profile magazine - has since tried to get an article published that claims that Tony Blair murdered Yasser Arafat.
'Those suicide bombers have got guts'
The evening after my return from Israel, I met up with some journalists for some drinks in the West End of London. I was again abused for my trip. Their hatred of Israel was matched only by their adoration of the Palestinians. One of them gushed: “Boy, those suicide bombers have got guts. I wish more people in the world had their courage.” Another of them erupted when I told him that most people in Israel wanted a peaceful settlement to the conflict. “So why,” he asked, “did they murder their most peaceful Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?”
Well, I guess if you’re going to get your facts wrong you might as well get them spectacularly wrong – I wonder if anyone else has ever got Netanyahu confused with Yitzhak Rabin?
I was also warned not to get any ideas about trying to get a positive account of my trip published. In the end I did manage just that but only after an unprecedented, almost sentence-by-sentence dissection of my article by the commissioning editor during the course of which I had to repeatedly remind him that there is such a thing as an Israeli Arab and that not everyone in Israel is an Orthodox Jew. Both facts seemed to come as huge shocks to him. I’ve no doubt that if I had written on "The Hidden Wonders of Tehran" or "The Joy Of Jeddah," I’d have had a much easier ride.
The editor of another magazine once told me I was not allowed to write that Yasser Arafat turned down Ehud Barak’s offer at Camp David in 2000. I asked why and he replied “because of a need for balance.” I pointed out that nobody, including Arafat, has ever disputed that he rejected Barak’s offer and the editor replied: “Well, I don’t know about that but you still can’t write it.” The article in question was an "opinion" piece, so taking sides was exactly the brief – as long as it was not Israel’s side, apparently.
The same magazine had happily published articles accusing Israel of “war crimes” and carried advertising accusing Israel of apartheid policies. The need for balance is relative, it seems.
There was certainly nothing balanced about the NUJ boycott motion. The factual errors in the motion’s wording are clear: For instance they seem not to have noticed that Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. It’s a contemptible motion. There’s a phrase that became popular in Britain before the run-up to the war in Iraq. I’ve never liked this phrase because to me it reflects the selfishness of the anti-war lobby. However, in the aftermath of the NUJ motion it sums up perfectly how I feel about the boycott: Not in my name.
And this is not the only article signed by Mr. Burden (sweet Burden, light Burden). He has a very poignant piece about British intellectuals, that I found a bit unsettling, I must confess. I was not surprised, just unsettled by the sheer scale of the phenomenon, which I would not call stupidity or blindness, but rather antisemitism in disguise - the cause of the Palestinians is a worthy cause because Israel can be blamed in the process.
'My Name is Rachel Corrie'
Last uploaded : Friday 5th May 2006 at 19:52
Contributed by : Chas Newkey-Burden
They say a picture is worth a thousand words but sometimes a picture can be worth far more than that. There are more than a thousand words in the play My Name Is Rachel Corrie, about the US activist who accidentally died during an anti-Israel protest in Gaza in 2003. But none of them shed light on the now canonised Corrie as much as a photograph taken of her by the Associated Press a month before her death.
Corrie was snapped burning an American flag and whipping up the crowd at a pro-Hamas rally. This photograph – of which there is no mention in the play – doesn’t just contradict the image of Corrie being saintly and peace-loving, it also raises the question of why an educated, western girl would want to fall in line with an organisation that opposes every core value – freedom, fairness, women’s rights - she claims to hold dear?
Corrie is far from alone. The audience at a recent performance of the play in London’s West End was littered with white, English men and women wearing keffiyeh scarves. Moving and working as I do in liberal, literary circles, I know all about these keffiyeh-wearing types. They consider themselves left-wing or liberal minded. They hold impeccable views on social fairness, the environment and women’s rights. They believe in democracy. They wear Make Poverty History wristbands. They nod sagely at Guardian editorials about poverty in Africa while sipping fair trade lattes.
But raise, if you dare, the Middle East question in front of them and stand back in shock as their spiteful, hateful side comes rushing to the surface. These people who say they back the underdog, believe in democracy, multiculturalism and fairness will spit blood against Israel – the only country in the region that represents those values. They are what I call Palestinian groupies.
I believe these groupies, like the little boys who play army in playgrounds across England, don’t look the other way on the topic of Palestinian terrorism, they seem – sorry to say – almost turned on by it. You surely can’t, after all, overlook something as big as the blowing up of buses or pizza parlours. There is no ‘bigger picture’ regarding people who do that. And why would you appropriate the uniform of the man who backed all that terrorism unless you actively had a thing for him?
Even when the bloodshed is on their doorstep, they remain as blindly loyal as a battered wife who won’t give up on the man who hurts her. These groupies were the ones who on the day London’s transport system was bombed by Islamic terrorists stomped around shouting “I hate Tony Blair” and insisting “We brought it on ourselves”. They also believe, as they sit in their comfortable Western homes, that the whole conflict is about them. My name is Rachel Corrie. Not in my name. Thousands of people are dying but it’s all about me.
Of course, the love is unrequited. When Corrie died, Hamas openly welcomed her death. These poisonous people opposed every core value she held dear in life, then danced on her grave when she died. It is too late for Corrie to see the light, but we would do well to stop idolising her. And all the other Palestinian groupies really should stop lining up to get into bed with these men that hate them.
Chas Newkey-Burden writes for a range of magazines and newspapers including The Big Issue, Attitude and The Mail On Sunday. His book, 'The Reduced History Of Britain,' was published in September 2006.
Now take a look at these figures and tell me that there is something else behind the support for the Palestinian cause, not just hypocrisy hiding behind hatred against the Jews and the Jewish state:
Ranking of 68 Most Lethal Conflicts (10.000 victims or more) after 1950
(and by the way, on the eve of our 59th Independence Day we mourned the 22,305 soldiers dead since 1860).
1 - 40.000.000 Red China 1949-1976 (outright killing, man made famine, Gulag)
2 - 10.000.000 - Late Stalinism 1950-1953; Post-Stalinism 1953-1987 (mostly Gulag)
3 - 4.000.000 - Ethiopia 1962-1992: Communists, artificial hunger, genocides
4 - 3.800.000 - Zaire (Congo-Kinshasa): 1967/68; 1977/78; 1992-1995; 1998-to date
5 - 2.800.000 - Korean war 1950-153
6 - 1.900.000 - Sudan 1955-1972; 1983-2006 (civil wars, genocides)
7 - 1.870.000 - Cambodia: Khmer Rouge 1975-1979; civil war 1978-1991
8 - 1.800.000 - Vietnam War 1954-1975 (more than 90% Vietnamese, Allies)
9 - 1.800.000 - Afghanistan, Soviet and internecine killings, Taliban 1980-2001
10 - 1.250.000 - West-Pakistan massacres in East Pakistan (Bangla Desh 1971)
11 - 1.100.000 - Nigeria 1966-1979 (Biafra); 1993 – to date
12 - 1.100.000 - Mozambique 1964-70 (30.000) and after retreat of Portugal 1976-1992
13 - 1.000.000 - Iran-Iraq-War 1980-1988
14 - 900.000 - Rwanda genocide 1994
15 - 875.000 - Algeria/France 1954-62 (675.000); Islamists/Government 1991-2006
16 - 850.000 - Uganda 1971-1979; 1981-1985; 1994 - to date
17 - 650.000 - Indonesia/Marxists 1965-1966 (450.000); East Timor, Papua, Aceh etc. 1969 -
to date.
18 - 580.000 - Angola 1961-1972 (80.000); after Portugal’s retreat (1972-2002)
19 - 500.000 - Brazil against its native Indians up to 1999
20 - 430.000 - Vietnam after war end in 1975 (own people; boat refugees)
21 - 400.000 - France/Indochina 1945-1954
22 - 400.000 - Burundi 1959-today (Tutsi/Hutu)
23 - 400.000 - Somalia 1991-2007
24 - 400.000 - North Korea up to 2006 (own people)
25 - 300.000 - Kurds in Iraq, Iran, Turkey 1980s and 1990s
26 - 300.000 - Iraq (Saddam against minorities)
27 - 240.000 - Columbia 1946-1958; 1964-to date
28 - 200.000 - Tito Regime Yugoslavia (1944-1980)
29 - 200.000 - Guatemala 1960-1996
30 - 190.000 - Laos 1975-1990
31 - 175.000 - Serbia-Bosnia-Herzegovina
32 - 150.000 - Communist Romania 1949-1989 (Marxists against own people)
33 - 150.000 - Liberia 1989-1997
34 - 140.000 - Russia against Chechnya 1994 to to date
35 - 150.000 - Lebanon (1975-1990)
36 - 140.000 - Gulf War 1990-1991 (Arabs from Iraq and Kuwait, Allies)
37 - 130.000 - Philippines 1946-1954 (10.000); 1972-today (Islamo-Marxists)
38 - 130.000 - Burma/Myanmar 1948-2006
39 - 100.000 - North Yemen 1962-1970
40 - 100.000 - Sierra Leone 1991-to date
41 - 100.000 - Albania 1945-1991
42 - 80.000 - Iran 1978-1979
43 - 75.000 - 2nd Iraq War 2003-2007 (body count)
44 - 75.000 - El Salvador 1975-1992
45 - 70.000 - Eritrea/Ethiopia 1998-2000
46 - 68.000 - Sri Lanka 1997-to date
47 - 60.000 - Zimbabwe 1966-1979; 1980-to date
48 - 60.000 - Nicaragua 1972-1991 (Marxists/natives etc.)
49 - 53.000 - Arab wars against Israel 1948-2006 without Israel-Palestine-Conflict
50 - 50.000 - Communist North Vietnam against own people 1954-1975
51 - 50.000 - Tajikistan 1992-1996 (secularists against Islamists)
52 - 50.000 - Equatorial Guinea (1969-1979)
53 - 50.000 - Peru (1980-2000)
54 - 50.000 - Guinea 1958-1984
55 - 40.000 - Chad 1982-1990
56 - 30.000 - Bulgaria 1948-1989 (Marxists against own people)
57 - 30.000 - Rhodesia (1972-1979)
58 - 30.000 - Argentina Military Junta 1976-1983
59 - 27.000 - Hungary 1948-1989 (Marxists against own people)
60 - 26.000 - Kashmir 1989-to date (Islamists)
61 - 25.000 - Jordan Arabs against Palestinian Arabs (Black September 1970-1971)
62 - 22.000 - Poland 1948-1989 (Marxists against own people)
63 - 20.000 - Syria 1982 against Islamists in Hama
64 - 20.000 - Chinese-Vietnamese war 1979
65 - 18.000 - Congo (Republic) 1997-1999
66 - 19.000 - Morocco/France (3000, 1953-1956) and against Western Sahara Arabs 1975-to date
67 - 12.000 Israel-Palestine - (4.792 from 1947-1987; 1.759 1st Intifada 1987-1991; 5.300 2nd Intifada 2000 - to date, Arabs (ca 80%, some 500 by other Arabs), Jews (ca. 20%). Supposedly mankind’s most dangerous conflict.
68 - 10.000 South Yemen civil war 1986
[All figures rounded; Brzezinski, Z., Out of Control: Global Turmoil on the Eve of the Twenty-first Century, 1993; Courtois, S., Le Livre Noir du Communism, 1997; Heinsohn, G., Lexikon der Völkermorde, 19992; G. Heinsohn, Söhne und Weltmacht, 20068, Rummel. R., Death by Government, 1994; Small, M., Singer, J.D., Resort to Arms : International and Civil Wars 1816-1980, 1982; White, M., “Death Tolls for the Major Wars and Atrocities of the Twentieth Century” (2003), users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat2.htm] . Heinsohn-May-2007.
British journalists' union boycott motion reflects deep animosity towards Israel
Chas Newkey Burden
Published: 04.19.07, 09:41 / Israel Opinion
The British public’s perception of journalists has sunk so low that when I am asked in social situations what my job is, I am sometimes tempted to pretend I am part of a more respected profession – like drug trafficking. I exaggerate, of course, but only a little. Most people view journalists as immoral liars who would sell our own grandmothers for a front-page scoop. I am an altogether softer writer, so when members of my profession publish sensationalist or intrusive stories, I don’t sit and flog myself on their behalf.
However, when the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) passed a motion at its annual meeting to boycott Israel, I hung my head in utter shame and despair - despite the fact that I am no longer an NUJ member. Those emotions of shame and despair were not joined by shock, though, because the British media has long been absorbed by a blind hatred of Israel. Newspapers like The Independent and The Guardian print editorials that are so biased and distorted that Osama Bin Laden would probably blush at them. The BBC refuses to describe suicide bombers who blow up buses full of schoolchildren as "terrorists" and one of its correspondents told a Hamas rally that he and his colleagues were “waging the campaign shoulder-to-shoulder with the Palestinian people”.
I visited Israel for the first time last year to research some articles about tourism there. Within hours of my return I received a call from a journalist acquaintance who asked me with genuine shock: “What’s all this about you going to Israel?” He said that a mutual journalist acquaintance of ours was “absolutely disgusted” with me for going there and that he hoped I was “going to put the boot in” when I wrote my articles.
These were not close acquaintances, I hadn’t even spoken to one of them for nearly nine years and it must have taken them some digging around to find my telephone number. They obviously thought it was worth the trouble to have a dig at a writer who was friendly to Israel. Apparently the “absolutely disgusted” man – a weekly columnist on a high-profile magazine - has since tried to get an article published that claims that Tony Blair murdered Yasser Arafat.
'Those suicide bombers have got guts'
The evening after my return from Israel, I met up with some journalists for some drinks in the West End of London. I was again abused for my trip. Their hatred of Israel was matched only by their adoration of the Palestinians. One of them gushed: “Boy, those suicide bombers have got guts. I wish more people in the world had their courage.” Another of them erupted when I told him that most people in Israel wanted a peaceful settlement to the conflict. “So why,” he asked, “did they murder their most peaceful Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?”
Well, I guess if you’re going to get your facts wrong you might as well get them spectacularly wrong – I wonder if anyone else has ever got Netanyahu confused with Yitzhak Rabin?
I was also warned not to get any ideas about trying to get a positive account of my trip published. In the end I did manage just that but only after an unprecedented, almost sentence-by-sentence dissection of my article by the commissioning editor during the course of which I had to repeatedly remind him that there is such a thing as an Israeli Arab and that not everyone in Israel is an Orthodox Jew. Both facts seemed to come as huge shocks to him. I’ve no doubt that if I had written on "The Hidden Wonders of Tehran" or "The Joy Of Jeddah," I’d have had a much easier ride.
The editor of another magazine once told me I was not allowed to write that Yasser Arafat turned down Ehud Barak’s offer at Camp David in 2000. I asked why and he replied “because of a need for balance.” I pointed out that nobody, including Arafat, has ever disputed that he rejected Barak’s offer and the editor replied: “Well, I don’t know about that but you still can’t write it.” The article in question was an "opinion" piece, so taking sides was exactly the brief – as long as it was not Israel’s side, apparently.
The same magazine had happily published articles accusing Israel of “war crimes” and carried advertising accusing Israel of apartheid policies. The need for balance is relative, it seems.
There was certainly nothing balanced about the NUJ boycott motion. The factual errors in the motion’s wording are clear: For instance they seem not to have noticed that Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. It’s a contemptible motion. There’s a phrase that became popular in Britain before the run-up to the war in Iraq. I’ve never liked this phrase because to me it reflects the selfishness of the anti-war lobby. However, in the aftermath of the NUJ motion it sums up perfectly how I feel about the boycott: Not in my name.
And this is not the only article signed by Mr. Burden (sweet Burden, light Burden). He has a very poignant piece about British intellectuals, that I found a bit unsettling, I must confess. I was not surprised, just unsettled by the sheer scale of the phenomenon, which I would not call stupidity or blindness, but rather antisemitism in disguise - the cause of the Palestinians is a worthy cause because Israel can be blamed in the process.
'My Name is Rachel Corrie'
Last uploaded : Friday 5th May 2006 at 19:52
Contributed by : Chas Newkey-Burden
They say a picture is worth a thousand words but sometimes a picture can be worth far more than that. There are more than a thousand words in the play My Name Is Rachel Corrie, about the US activist who accidentally died during an anti-Israel protest in Gaza in 2003. But none of them shed light on the now canonised Corrie as much as a photograph taken of her by the Associated Press a month before her death.
Corrie was snapped burning an American flag and whipping up the crowd at a pro-Hamas rally. This photograph – of which there is no mention in the play – doesn’t just contradict the image of Corrie being saintly and peace-loving, it also raises the question of why an educated, western girl would want to fall in line with an organisation that opposes every core value – freedom, fairness, women’s rights - she claims to hold dear?
Corrie is far from alone. The audience at a recent performance of the play in London’s West End was littered with white, English men and women wearing keffiyeh scarves. Moving and working as I do in liberal, literary circles, I know all about these keffiyeh-wearing types. They consider themselves left-wing or liberal minded. They hold impeccable views on social fairness, the environment and women’s rights. They believe in democracy. They wear Make Poverty History wristbands. They nod sagely at Guardian editorials about poverty in Africa while sipping fair trade lattes.
But raise, if you dare, the Middle East question in front of them and stand back in shock as their spiteful, hateful side comes rushing to the surface. These people who say they back the underdog, believe in democracy, multiculturalism and fairness will spit blood against Israel – the only country in the region that represents those values. They are what I call Palestinian groupies.
I believe these groupies, like the little boys who play army in playgrounds across England, don’t look the other way on the topic of Palestinian terrorism, they seem – sorry to say – almost turned on by it. You surely can’t, after all, overlook something as big as the blowing up of buses or pizza parlours. There is no ‘bigger picture’ regarding people who do that. And why would you appropriate the uniform of the man who backed all that terrorism unless you actively had a thing for him?
Even when the bloodshed is on their doorstep, they remain as blindly loyal as a battered wife who won’t give up on the man who hurts her. These groupies were the ones who on the day London’s transport system was bombed by Islamic terrorists stomped around shouting “I hate Tony Blair” and insisting “We brought it on ourselves”. They also believe, as they sit in their comfortable Western homes, that the whole conflict is about them. My name is Rachel Corrie. Not in my name. Thousands of people are dying but it’s all about me.
Of course, the love is unrequited. When Corrie died, Hamas openly welcomed her death. These poisonous people opposed every core value she held dear in life, then danced on her grave when she died. It is too late for Corrie to see the light, but we would do well to stop idolising her. And all the other Palestinian groupies really should stop lining up to get into bed with these men that hate them.
Chas Newkey-Burden writes for a range of magazines and newspapers including The Big Issue, Attitude and The Mail On Sunday. His book, 'The Reduced History Of Britain,' was published in September 2006.
Now take a look at these figures and tell me that there is something else behind the support for the Palestinian cause, not just hypocrisy hiding behind hatred against the Jews and the Jewish state:
Ranking of 68 Most Lethal Conflicts (10.000 victims or more) after 1950
(and by the way, on the eve of our 59th Independence Day we mourned the 22,305 soldiers dead since 1860).
1 - 40.000.000 Red China 1949-1976 (outright killing, man made famine, Gulag)
2 - 10.000.000 - Late Stalinism 1950-1953; Post-Stalinism 1953-1987 (mostly Gulag)
3 - 4.000.000 - Ethiopia 1962-1992: Communists, artificial hunger, genocides
4 - 3.800.000 - Zaire (Congo-Kinshasa): 1967/68; 1977/78; 1992-1995; 1998-to date
5 - 2.800.000 - Korean war 1950-153
6 - 1.900.000 - Sudan 1955-1972; 1983-2006 (civil wars, genocides)
7 - 1.870.000 - Cambodia: Khmer Rouge 1975-1979; civil war 1978-1991
8 - 1.800.000 - Vietnam War 1954-1975 (more than 90% Vietnamese, Allies)
9 - 1.800.000 - Afghanistan, Soviet and internecine killings, Taliban 1980-2001
10 - 1.250.000 - West-Pakistan massacres in East Pakistan (Bangla Desh 1971)
11 - 1.100.000 - Nigeria 1966-1979 (Biafra); 1993 – to date
12 - 1.100.000 - Mozambique 1964-70 (30.000) and after retreat of Portugal 1976-1992
13 - 1.000.000 - Iran-Iraq-War 1980-1988
14 - 900.000 - Rwanda genocide 1994
15 - 875.000 - Algeria/France 1954-62 (675.000); Islamists/Government 1991-2006
16 - 850.000 - Uganda 1971-1979; 1981-1985; 1994 - to date
17 - 650.000 - Indonesia/Marxists 1965-1966 (450.000); East Timor, Papua, Aceh etc. 1969 -
to date.
18 - 580.000 - Angola 1961-1972 (80.000); after Portugal’s retreat (1972-2002)
19 - 500.000 - Brazil against its native Indians up to 1999
20 - 430.000 - Vietnam after war end in 1975 (own people; boat refugees)
21 - 400.000 - France/Indochina 1945-1954
22 - 400.000 - Burundi 1959-today (Tutsi/Hutu)
23 - 400.000 - Somalia 1991-2007
24 - 400.000 - North Korea up to 2006 (own people)
25 - 300.000 - Kurds in Iraq, Iran, Turkey 1980s and 1990s
26 - 300.000 - Iraq (Saddam against minorities)
27 - 240.000 - Columbia 1946-1958; 1964-to date
28 - 200.000 - Tito Regime Yugoslavia (1944-1980)
29 - 200.000 - Guatemala 1960-1996
30 - 190.000 - Laos 1975-1990
31 - 175.000 - Serbia-Bosnia-Herzegovina
32 - 150.000 - Communist Romania 1949-1989 (Marxists against own people)
33 - 150.000 - Liberia 1989-1997
34 - 140.000 - Russia against Chechnya 1994 to to date
35 - 150.000 - Lebanon (1975-1990)
36 - 140.000 - Gulf War 1990-1991 (Arabs from Iraq and Kuwait, Allies)
37 - 130.000 - Philippines 1946-1954 (10.000); 1972-today (Islamo-Marxists)
38 - 130.000 - Burma/Myanmar 1948-2006
39 - 100.000 - North Yemen 1962-1970
40 - 100.000 - Sierra Leone 1991-to date
41 - 100.000 - Albania 1945-1991
42 - 80.000 - Iran 1978-1979
43 - 75.000 - 2nd Iraq War 2003-2007 (body count)
44 - 75.000 - El Salvador 1975-1992
45 - 70.000 - Eritrea/Ethiopia 1998-2000
46 - 68.000 - Sri Lanka 1997-to date
47 - 60.000 - Zimbabwe 1966-1979; 1980-to date
48 - 60.000 - Nicaragua 1972-1991 (Marxists/natives etc.)
49 - 53.000 - Arab wars against Israel 1948-2006 without Israel-Palestine-Conflict
50 - 50.000 - Communist North Vietnam against own people 1954-1975
51 - 50.000 - Tajikistan 1992-1996 (secularists against Islamists)
52 - 50.000 - Equatorial Guinea (1969-1979)
53 - 50.000 - Peru (1980-2000)
54 - 50.000 - Guinea 1958-1984
55 - 40.000 - Chad 1982-1990
56 - 30.000 - Bulgaria 1948-1989 (Marxists against own people)
57 - 30.000 - Rhodesia (1972-1979)
58 - 30.000 - Argentina Military Junta 1976-1983
59 - 27.000 - Hungary 1948-1989 (Marxists against own people)
60 - 26.000 - Kashmir 1989-to date (Islamists)
61 - 25.000 - Jordan Arabs against Palestinian Arabs (Black September 1970-1971)
62 - 22.000 - Poland 1948-1989 (Marxists against own people)
63 - 20.000 - Syria 1982 against Islamists in Hama
64 - 20.000 - Chinese-Vietnamese war 1979
65 - 18.000 - Congo (Republic) 1997-1999
66 - 19.000 - Morocco/France (3000, 1953-1956) and against Western Sahara Arabs 1975-to date
67 - 12.000 Israel-Palestine - (4.792 from 1947-1987; 1.759 1st Intifada 1987-1991; 5.300 2nd Intifada 2000 - to date, Arabs (ca 80%, some 500 by other Arabs), Jews (ca. 20%). Supposedly mankind’s most dangerous conflict.
68 - 10.000 South Yemen civil war 1986
[All figures rounded; Brzezinski, Z., Out of Control: Global Turmoil on the Eve of the Twenty-first Century, 1993; Courtois, S., Le Livre Noir du Communism, 1997; Heinsohn, G., Lexikon der Völkermorde, 19992; G. Heinsohn, Söhne und Weltmacht, 20068, Rummel. R., Death by Government, 1994; Small, M., Singer, J.D., Resort to Arms : International and Civil Wars 1816-1980, 1982; White, M., “Death Tolls for the Major Wars and Atrocities of the Twentieth Century” (2003), users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat2.htm] . Heinsohn-May-2007.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Saudi woman receives medical treatment in Jerusalem Hospital
by Efrat Zemer
Ma'ariv (this week)
Medicine can step in and bridge gaps before diplomatic ties are established and in fact even in the absence of a state of peace, or so seems to be the case of A., a 42-year-old Saudi woman who had been plagued for years by an ear condition.
Ma'ariv (this week)
Medicine can step in and bridge gaps before diplomatic ties are established and in fact even in the absence of a state of peace, or so seems to be the case of A., a 42-year-old Saudi woman who had been plagued for years by an ear condition.
She consulted the best doctors money could buy (lots of money, actually) in clinics as far away as Germany and the USA, but to no avail.
A. was diagnosed with tinnitus, a most annoying and continuous pain and ringing in the ears. When she had enough of the unsuccessful treatment she received in Germany and the US, she decided to give google a try, and she found the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem site, where she read about the successes of Dr. Zacharia Shemesh, senior ENT consultant specializing in tinnitus and about his intensive therapeutic approach. Although a possible course of treatment was so close at hand, A. quickly realized that it wouldn't be quite so easy for her to travel from Saudi Arabia to the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, Israel. She would need a great deal of paperwork and special permits.
Hospital sources confirmed yesterday (dang, I should be more careful with the dates) that "A. contacted the Hadassah Hospital Medical Tourism Department, and following tedious and secretive efforts, she was allowed to arrive in Israel via a third country - Jordan. She received the necessary treatment and is feeling much better."
Two days ago A. was discharged from hospital in very good condition and is now on her way home.
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