JERUSALEM NEWS
NEWS AND INFORMATION
Events, happenings, and Opinions Concerning
Israel, Israelites, Judah, and Everyone Else
Jerusalem News-833
Jerusalem News-833
11 Tevet 5769, 7 January 2009
Contents:
1. "Palestinians...prefer the ravages of
war to the blessings of peace"
Extracts from Caroline Glick interview in National Review
2. Hamas
Spokesman Calls for Killing of Jewish Children all Over the World
3. Israeli Soldiers Are Battle Prepared
Hospitalized but defiant, Israeli soldiers eager to return to Gaza battle
1. "Palestinians...prefer the ravages of
war to the blessings of peace"
Extracts from Caroline Glick interview in National Review
A Mideast Glick Check [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
Monday, January 05, 2009
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ODJiZTBlNGQ5YzMwOTZlMjFkNjViZDMxNmRiZjFmMjQ=
Extracts Only:
Q: What exactly started this latest flare-up?
A: The fighting in Gaza today started about three weeks ago when Hamas
renewed its rocket, mortar, and missile assault against Israel. Last June,
Israel foolishly agreed to a six-month ceasefire with Hamas. Hamas used the
time to have Iran double the size of its missile arsenal and double the
range of its missiles, and to build up its Iranian-trained, armed, and
financed Hezbollah-style army of 20,000 men. Hamas called its renewed
offensive "Operation Oil Stain." On December 17, Hamas attacked Israel with
more than 80 missiles, rockets and mortars.
It took Israel ten days to finally respond to Hamas's assault, which for the
first time put Israeli major cities like Ashdod, Yavne, Beersheva, and
Gedera under assault.
What is interesting about this latest round of fighting is that the world
paid little attention to what was going on when it was only Hamas attacking
Israel. People only started paying attention when Israel's government said
enough is enough and started defending its territory and citizens.
Q: Is the media here in the U.S. or internationally remotely fair?
A: When the media are only interested in what is going on when Israel
defends itself, the answer is no, they aren't fair. They don't pay any
attention when hundreds of thousands of Israelis are relegated to bomb
shelters for weeks and months on end. They don't care that Israeli children
can't go to school or day care because Hamas is targeting schools and
day-care centers. They only cover the story when Israel finally decides to
put an end to this crazy situation where our children are growing up
underground. And this is appalling.
Q: A lot of critics say that Israel is just going too far in its attacks.
What do you make of the charge?
A: The interesting aspect of this claim is what it tells us about the
success of anti-Israel propaganda. For instance, Richard Falk, the Jewish
anti-Semite who the U.N.'s Human Rights Council appointed to act as its
rapporteur against Israel began accusing Israel of committing war crimes
against the Palestinians in Gaza the moment Israel began its campaign.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch systematically fabricate
international "law" backed by "eyewitness" reports from Hamas supporters in
order to accuse Israel of breaking it every single time it takes any steps
to defend itself, no matter how restrained.
Israel has done nothing in its campaign against Hamas that could be
considered going "too far." It has done nothing in its campaign that could
be considered "disproportionate." It has targeted military targets and
terror operatives.
The fact of the matter is that Israel is held to standards that are
discriminatory while its enemy - an illegal, openly genocidal terrorist
organization - is defended and shielded from attack by the media, by
self-proclaimed human-rights activists and by hostile foreign leaders like
British Foreign Minister David Miliband and Turkish Prime Minister Recip
Erdogan. Luckily, with some one million Israelis now under assault, Israel
has decided that we just aren't going to pay attention to their obscene
attacks on our right to self-defense this time around.
Q: What does the future hold for the Palestinians in Gaza?
A: Their future right now doesn't look too attractive. These are people who
overwhelmingly supported Hamas in the 2006 elections. They supported Hamas
when it expelled Fatah from Gaza in 2007. And they supported Hamas when it
began shelling Israel's main port city Ashdod and big cities like Beersheva
with missiles. By throwing their lot in with a genocidal terrorist group,
Gazans, and indeed Palestinians as a whole, have made clear that they prefer
the ravages of war to the blessings of peace. Until they change their minds,
it is hard to see how they can expect to prosper morally, politically or
economically.
Q: What does the fight in Gaza tell us about the prospects for the
Israeli-Palestinian peace process?
A: It tells us that such a process is both irrelevant and
counter-productive. It is irrelevant because even in the event that there is
a faction in Palestinian society that is willing to make peace with Israel,
that faction will never bring about a broader rapprochement or even remain
in power for long. What Hamas's current war against Israel, its alliance
with Iran and its popularity in Palestinian society tell us is that as a
society, the Palestinians are not interested in peaceful coexistence with
Israel regardless of what Israel's borders are. They prefer to remain at war
with Israel and to be led by terrorists. So even if the current Fatah
leadership is really ready to finally lay down its arms, prosecute
terrorists and reconcile to Israel, it cannot lead Palestinian society or
the larger Arab world to the same conclusion.
Gaza also shows us that pushing a peace process is counter-productive. In
the context of such a process, Israel is expected to hand over land to
Fatah. In the history of Israeli land giveaways to Fatah since 1994, there
has never been a case where these transfers led to a moderation of
Palestinian behavior or feelings towards Israel. To the contrary, such
Israeli moves have only radicalized Palestinian society that has come to see
every Israeli concession as proof that Israel is collapsing.
Three and a half years ago, Israel gave its greatest concession to date when
it removed all its military personnel and forcibly expelled ten thousand of
its citizens from their homes and farms in Gaza and transferred the area to
Fatah. Rather than moderate the Palestinians, this massive Israeli
concession was seen as proof that Israel would soon disappear. Convinced
that Israel's destruction was at hand, the Palestinians elected Hamas the
group most identified with the cause of Israel's destruction to lead them.
So even though Israel may make concessions to people who claim to be
"moderate," the fact is those concessions only strengthen "extremists" and
so weaken Israel while strengthening jihadist groups dedicated to its
destruction. Obviously, this is not something that engenders peace and
stability. Rather, such "peace processes" engender only war and instability.
Q: What should the U.S. response to the fighting be?
A: Just as the U.S. supports all its allies from Pakistan to India to
Britain to the Philippines in their fights against terrorist groups, so the
U.S. should be supporting Israel without qualification in its fight against
its terrorist foes. And indeed, just as the U.S. tells its allies not to go
wobbly in their fights against terrorists, so the U.S. should be encouraging
Israel to stay firm and not try to cut a deal with its terrorist foes.
2.
Hamas
Spokesman Calls for Killing of Jewish Children all Over the World
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/129242
Zahar
Claims Victory, Calls to Kill Jewish Children
by Maayana Miskin
Extracts Only:
(IsraelNN.com) Hamas spokesman Mahmoud Az-Zahar claimed victory for Hamas on
Monday, saying Hamas had succeeded in "destroying Israel's sense of security"
with its rocket attacks. Zahar made his proclamation in video footage sent from
a secret hideout, where he is taking shelter in order to avoid being targeted in
an IAF strike. Other Hamas leaders have gone into hiding as well.
The Hamas leader called to murder Israelis and Jews worldwide, including
children. "The Israelis have sentenced their children to death... They have
legitimized the killing of their people all over the world," he said. Hamas'
platform calls for all Jews to convert to Islam or be killed, based on an
Islamic saying (Hadith), and the group has not refrained from targeting children
in the past.
Hamas will destroy synagogues and Jewish schools as well, Zahar said, just as
Israel destroyed mosques in Gaza. Israel bombed several mosques used to store
rockets and ammunition.
3. Israeli Soldiers Are Battle Prepared
Hospitalized but defiant, Israeli soldiers eager to return to Gaza battle
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1053175.html
By Dana Polak, Haaretz Correspondent
Extracts:
"I must get back out there," a wounded Israel Defense Forces soldier said Monday
from his hospital bed in Be'er Sheva. He was met with a worried look from his
mother, who was sitting by his bedside.
Since Israel began its ground offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip on
Saturday, the corridors of the Soroka medical center have been filled with
wounded soldiers and their relatives, as well as their comrades who came to
visit them before heading back into battle.
Morale among those soldiers has been unbelievably high.
Unlike Israel's Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006, this time around the
army requested that soldiers not to speak to the media.
Frieda Kaplan, whose son Yoed has been hurt from shrapnel while invading the
coastal strip with the Golani infantry brigade, looked surprisingly serene as
she was sitting by his hospital bed. It was a feeling of relief, she explained,
to know that her son was by her side - out of harm's way.
"The problem with these guys is that they want to be out there and protect their
homes," Frieda said. "But that is also their greatness."
She added that Yoed was, "frustrated his injury came so soon, and he wasn't able
to do more."
Another lesson the army seems to have learned following the Second Lebanon War,
in which the IDF fought against Hezbollah guerillas for 34-days, is the
importance of having soldiers be in touch with their families as much as
possible.
Frieda Kaplan said he son phoned his father immediately after he was wounded and
"calmed him down." She refused to elaborate on the circumstances leading up to
her son's injury, saying she had been asked to do so.
Before his injury, Yoed had planned to become an officer. Now, his mother says,
his plans may have to change. "He is very frustrated with that," she said. "Only
after speaking to the rabbi from the yeshiva he attended did he realize that
these things happen for a reason."
"These kids want to be out there - not out of thirst for blood, but in order to
fulfill their duty."
Meanwhile in Petah Tikvah, the Elbaz family huddled around Amit's hospital bed.
Amit, who sustained wounds to his eye and arm, is a resident of the
rocket-battered town of Sderot, and his family is convinced the Gaza offensive
was necessary in order to bring an end to the rocket fire.
"After a few strenuous days we were actually relieved to hear that Amit was
here," his father said. "At least he is by our side and we know how he is doing,
because Gaza is one big uncertainty."
"Amit already wants to go back there," he added. "I really don't want him to."
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