Food to Gaza

Despite what the media (and Palestinian activists) seems to be saying about a crisis in Gaza, Red Cross officials have deemed the need for medical supplies to be "not urgent", and reports from the border show that between the 2-6 July, 239 trucks with suplies crossed into Gaza. This included 105 trucks of aid and goods which passed into Gaza on the 4 July alone.

The trucks have brought basic food items, including: wheat, corn, cooking oil, meat, fruit and milk. The transfer of medicines was also approved but the transfer was delayed by the Red Cross.

The following quantities of fuel and natural gas were transferred to the Palestinians: 1,480,000 liters of diesel fuel; 180,000 liters of gasoline; 407 tons of natural gas (for cooking).

This suggests claims of a crisis being talked up by Palestinian presure groups is no more than political propoganda.

From Israel to Egypt and back

Dr Ginosar has posted an account of his family's trip from the Israel (then part of the Ottoman Empire) to Egypt in the 1800's. He recalls how his father returned to Israel (now part of the British Mandate) in 1922 (aged 22). He recalls how his father loved Israel immensely, and how this love motivated his brother Pinhas, and him, to join the Lechi underground to try to liberate Israel from the duplicitous British occupation. He notes how Israel was indeed liberated andhwo the British have not forgiven Israel to this day.

A long but very interesting read!

An Old Family Story at Dr Ginosar Recalls

Boycott Palestinian Academia!

Can I propose a boycott of Palestinian Academics for not speaking out against kidnappings and terrorism?

I don't think a single Palestinian University has policy again the Hamas state sponsored terrorism. I don't care which state (Syrian, Iran or the PLO) are sponsoring it. Academics should be at the forfront of speaking out.

I will consider exceptions for those Palestinian Academics who sign a statement denouncing their government (Hamas).

p.s. yes, this is satire.

Gaza, Hamas and the Israeli Operations

From what I've heard / read, the hope is that Hamas will return those it's kidnapped and the current Israeli operation in Gaza can be called off.

Mean time... here's some of the quotes I've come accross from the media so far:

One way or another, the Damascus-based Khaled Meshaal, with his Syrian and Iranian backers, has clearly emerged as a more powerful figure in Gaza than either Haniyeh or Abbas.

Source: yossi alpher on comment is free

Is this even anything to do with Palestinians any more, or is it part of Hamas's stratagy for global Islamism? There is a lot more to this than meets the eye, for some background see: Palestine, Hamas, Fatah and civil war

Think of the Children, oh please, won't someone think of the children?!

Israeli war planes flew low overhead, setting off sonic booms that smashed windows and frightened children. "The bombardment of civilian infrastructure, vital and central bridges and the lone power plant in the Gaza Strip is a war crime," said Hamas lawmaker Mushir al-Masri."

Source: AlertNews (Reuters)

What do you think? When you're complaining about the noise of aircraft scaring children during a war... there's not too much going on in my opinion.

Incidently, Israel is just too small for this problem to be isolated to Gaza, whatever the people in Gaza were suffering (in terms of noise polution etc from the planes), the Israelis must be suffering too. Summary: War is not nice. It should be avoided. In this case there is a way out... HAMAS SHOULD TAKE IT!

"For sure, he's in hands that will protect him and treat him well. Our morals and our religion dictate that we do this to every prisoner," Abu Marzouk said.

Source: JPost

Do you buy this? Are Islamic states the way forward? I agree that this IS what Islam says, but since when has that made any difference to Hamas? There is a difference between Islam, and the corrupted version called Islamism that wants everyone to convert and all countries under Sharia Law. See the next quote as well!

Abu Abir, told Al-Jazeera satellite TV earlier Wednesday that Asheri would be butchered in front of TV cameras" if the IDF operation in Gaza did not stop. "Our patience is running out," said Abu Abir.

Source: JPost

What? How does this follow from the previous statement? Palestinians want convicted terrorists released in exchange for returning the soldier or his body. They want about 500 people released from Israeli prisons.

Is 18 year old Eliyahu Asheri being treated as a political prisoner? He hasn't actually done anything wrong besides being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Is he getting at least the same level of support, rights etc as convicted murderers in Israeli jails? If not, why not? What about 19 year old Gilad Shalit? He's a soldier in the Israeli Army, true... but that means he is a POW. Is Hamas complying with it's obligations under international law re: POWs?

Hamas is the government now, they have a responsibility just like any other government. Their
security forces are now government security forces... the rules of international law and the international community should apply just as much to them as to any one else. Has anyone even raised this point?

Is the NGO community putting pressure on Hamas about their lack of complaince? Are grass roots movements pringing up to boycott Palestinian goods?

Why not?

NATFHE boycott is on!

The National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) has this morning decided to boycott Israeli Academics who do not demonstratively oppose their government. The Union also congratulated Hamas (a proscribed terrorist organisation [Home Office]) on their electoral victory which has brought the Palestinians close to civil war [Aljazeera 5/18/2006 and Reuters 21/5/2006). There was significant opposition to the motion with the final vote being recorded as 106 for, 71 against with 21 abstentions.

While they may think of themselves as a powerful force of the British elite, in really British academics, or at least their unions, seem able only to create and foster divisions in society - both at home in the UK and in the Middle East. This boycott may only last until the merger in a few days time, but unless people speak out it will set an agenda of division and conflict for the UK, and promote War and the death of innocents on both sides in the Middle East.

With the merger British Academics can choose to put these Israel bashing attacks on academic freedom behind them. The question is, will they?

Please see the Academic boycott resource center for more information:
http://www.zionismontheweb.org/academic_boycott/

Impersonating Jews to be antisemitic

The idea of impersonating Jews in order to be antisemitic is not new. Infact this is a very well known tactic of antisemites made famous by the Protocols of the Elders of Zion... a publication allegidly by Jews, but actually put together by the Russian Secret service in order to trigger pogroms and other antisemitic actions.

On a student forum in the UK we've had someone by the handle of "People of the Book" pretending to be Jewish for quite some time. He (though they later suddenly claimed to be not only Jewish but female as well) took an extremely anti-Israel line and assured people Israel had nothing to do with Judaism. All this while claiming to be very religious and shomer shabbat... while posting just before midnight on a Friday evening. After a couple of long threads pointing out where this imposters posts contradicted, where they didn't know certain basic facts about Judaism etc they changed their handle.

Now (on the same forum) we've got a much more devious poster. This one is going for the Protocols approach. They've picked the name of an outspoke defender of Israel amd included details of the student Jewish Society in the handle just to make sure everyone got it. The real person they are impersonating has been persecuted both by anti-Zionist students and by an anti-Israel lobby group. What makes this so interesting is that now one of these people is literally putting works into this student's mouth. They start off with some rather blunt comments that are within the realms of possibility, then rapidly start saying Islaophobic things and justifying the position with very right wing material that is is likely to make almost all members of the forum (who are almost by definition left winger) see red. They start by having the "Jewish student" say:

"Jewish student": This is nonsense. Muslim students on campus have been responsible for hatred and attacks on Jews. It is a shame that the MCB who are the moderates are backing the extremists in our midst

This results in someone called "Muslim Sympathiser" saying

"Muslim Symapthiser":
well well well! look what the cat has dragged in. The Islamophobic student in Britain! I hope you are still enjoying your nomination for UK Islamophobe of 2005. Pity you didn't win, although the opposition was tough How are your friends at Front Page Magazine and The American Thinker btw?

The references are ofcourse to articles on the antisemitism at the real students university which these websites reported on. Luckily I managed to get an early post in...

Me: The person concerned has a personal policy of not posting on
here... so I would be very suprised if he's suddenly broken that to comment on
THIS story while ignoring all the other Israel related threads. So... which of
you clowns decided to post as him, and why didn't you at least put more effort
into it?

The impersonator now tries to neutralise this. They post as the Jewish Student again (no mention of their university Jewish society this time as every one will have seen that sign posting already):

The impersonator:
Shalom, Yes it is me posting! I just could not take this s*** no more about Muslim persecution at colleges. We Jewish students are being attacked: its disgusting. How dare anyone attack our right to defend our state and people? As you know from our personal discussions Muslims are evil and the biggest threat to Israel. Anyone who disagrees should read the link below Israel forever.

Related link: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=4732&search=islam

At first it looks a little bit stupid to reply to me claiming "we" have had conversation that I know never took place. But this is not the point, he's not trying to convince me. Nor is he trying to convince other people that know the student he is impersonating. The author it trying to make it look like there is an anti Muslim element in the Jewish community. This would not only encourage pro-Muslim groups (like Respect) to turn a blind eye to the anti-Jewish rants of their Muslim allies, it would make at least some of them accept and join in these rants as justified. Further it would provide a degree of protection to some of the more radical and antisemitic Muslim groups (e.g. Hizb ut-Tahrir) as any claims against them will be returned with "But you're just as bad, look at that Jewish student!".

The comment that "Muslims are evil" is ofcourse Islamophobic, but why is it there? Again it's designed to get people's backs up. Particularly those on the left. They now have to side against the supposed Jewish student because he is clearly a "racist" (that Islam is a religion is besides the point). The author adds that Muslims are "the biggest threat to Israel" making his entire argument about Zionism rather than a response to the unrelated and unambigious antisemitism. A similar trick was tried on the forum a few days earlier when another poster accused Jews of being the Richest Faction and Controling the Media. When he was challenged he repeatedly tried to make it look like a disagreement on Israel / Palestine. He claimed the Zionists were trying silence him by calling him Antisemitic just because he critisised Israel. A bunch of leftists jumped to his defence then backed away as it was repeatedly pointed out that NONE of the threads in question had ANYTHING to do with Israel. This sentence like wise is designed to make it look like any critisism of those who will later attack the impersonator are no more than false cries of Antisemitism. "Israel forever" is designed to give the same impression. It also has a ring of Imperialism to it. And the link? The article is called "Why I write hard-hitting articles on Islam". It ends by saying "Aggressive Islam can also be challenged best by a well-explained and thoughtful Christianity" - definitly not something the real student would endorse, but the article is certain to be seen as an attack on Islam associated with them. And sure enough it is...

A poster called Muslim wrote:
ive got to say this is very funny. its the same
old stuff from you. were worse of, were being persecuted. please give us the
sympathy. we want a enquiry, why we never got kosher food, blah blah blah blah.
Ill attack youre so called state any time any where. im not even going to even
bother to comment on your last sentence it just shows what kind of person you
are you know i really feel sorry for the jews. its not the palestinains (muslims
and christians) who have lost most but it is really the jews. there faith has
been hijacked and taken over by a political idioligy. all i can say is freedom
for palestine and god help the jews.

And now the get out. In case Antisemitism is discovered, the left usually refuse to believe it could possibly come from them, with their strong anti-Racism credentials (on everything bar antisemitism in many cases). The best option therefore is to blame the right. The far right. The extreme left antisemitism borrows it's material from the extreme right in any case (a worrying trend in the UK).

I provided the get out by writting:
Dear all, The comments here were planted, there were NOT posted by the person they claim to be from, nor I expect by anyone Jewish. They are being used as an excuse to attack Jews in general. This last post amounts to saying "and now I supose you're going to accuse us of antisemitism" and belittleing the previous discrimination. Like another thread further down, this is again a case intentional antisemitism and intended cover up. Worse, the imposter also appears to be Islaophobic. I do hope
I'm not the only one who can see how serrious this is and can follow what "they"
(who ever these people / person is) are doing. Almost makes me wonder if we
don't have our BNP friends back on the forum.

Now after that we can all unite.

Muslim wrote:
well i gotta to say im glad this has been cleared up. both
sides were offended and its quite sad that somebody went to these lengths to do
so. whoever it was all i gotta to say is this isnt the way to make your argument
i guess we can end this post. peace