Hamas Terrorists Admit to Use of Hospitals, Kindergartens and Mosques for Military Activity

A number of Hamas operatives who were arrested and detained by Israel during Operation Protective Edge admitted to the use of civilian establishments, such as mosques, schools and hospitals, as covers for terrorist activity, according to a report released on Monday by the Israel Security Agency (ISA).

 http://tinyurl.com/m26aewk

The report cites extensive and detailed testimony from the Hamas members to support Israel’s long maintained assertion that the group operates behind human shields, which often accounts for civilian casualties as it exchanges blows with the Jewish state.

The report came as the Hamas controlled Gaza religious affairs ministry claimed Israeli fire throughout Monday destroyed four mosques, raising to 71 the alleged total number of mosques targeted over the past seven weeks.

Detained militants Muhammad Ala’a and Muwaz Abu Tim told ISA they were recruited for Hamas military activity at the Alabrar and Khaled Ben Alulid mosques in Khan Yunis and Bani Suheila, respectively. Another militant, Abdel Rahman Balousha, said the Alsafa and Alabra mosques in Khan Yunis serve as meeting points for Hamas terrorists. He added that in the Alabra mosque the assembly point is in an underground shelter.

Iyad Abu Rida said that the Hamas-affiliated Jamaat Asnad association is located on the second floor of the Altikva mosque in Hazara while another Hamas operative said terrorists used the same mosque to pass along orders regarding where to plant improvised explosive devices to target Israelis.

Another pair of Hamas terrorists said armed police activity was carried out adjacent to the Uthman ibn Ifan and Abdallah ibn Masoud mosques in the Alkheif junction area, the Hassan Albana and Abu Dir mosques, and the Haroun Alrashid school.

Another detainee, Muhammad Ramadan, told ISA that in February 2014 he trained as an anti-tank fighter in a hall located underneath the Alshafi mosque in his hometown of Khan Yunis. He added that the hall is also used as a training and instruction facility for the Izzadin Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing.

Another Hamas operative revealed that Izzadin Al-Qassam Brigade terrorists monitor Israel Defense Force (IDF) movements from the Abad Alrahman mosque, and said that two home-made explosive devices were hidden in the Altoheid mosque.

Khan Yunis native Muhammad Alqadra told ISA that mosques in his hometown were used to conceal war material such as RPGs, heavy PKC machine guns and AK-47s. Additionally, he confirmed that local schools and hospitals, including the Nasser and Halal hospitals, are used as weapon arsenals. It is also well known that senior Hamas leaders and their armed bodyguards, who usually wear police uniforms, use hospitals as hideouts, he said.

According to Alqadra, guards are stationed at the admission department in the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis. He also believes the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip, including senior official Ismail Haniyeh, is hiding in Gaza City’s Shifa hospital in an area closed off to civilians and guarded by plainclothes armed men.

One operative remembered delivering food to his brother, who works for a local terrorist organization, while the latter was hiding in the Nasser hospital.

A different Hamas operative told ISA he believes terrorists are hiding in the Alnajar hospital. He claimed that in July 2013 he saw many terrorists in the three-story hospital building, adding that civilians who needed medical treatment were turned away from the medical facility. Yet another operative said that since the start of the current Israel-Gaza conflict, many armed policeman have been blocking off certain sections of the same hospital and not allowing anyone, including members of patients’ families, to enter.

The ISA report also included testimony from Hamas operative Marad Amr who said he saw a Hamas military vehicle parked outside the European hospital in Khan Yunis.

The report also cited terrorists admitting to digging terror tunnels and rocket launch sites, and placing arsenals near kindergartens in the Gaza Strip. Muhammad Abu Daraz, from Greater Ibsan, said he was stationed in a tunnel that started next to a clinic adjacent to a residential dwelling. He added that there is a kindergarten in Hazara, next to a clinic, to where he was ordered to bring prisoners in the event of a kidnapping.

ISA said information it gathered from the various Hamas terrorists was passed on to the Israel Defense Forces, including warnings about launch sites, attack tunnels and infiltrations, arsenals and booby-trapped access routes.

The report is among the most extensive yet on Hamas’s endangering of civilians in combat and use of civilian structures for military purposes.

After journalists began to leave Gaza a more complete picture began to emerge, with some outlets reporting on rocket launchers in densely populated civilian areas and the Foreign Press Association condemning Hamas’s intimidation of foreign journalists.

In conclusion ISA said: “It is clear from the foregoing that Hamas knowingly and intentionally operates in and adjacent to civilian areas, including in kindergartens, hospitals and mosques in order to carry out military activity. Hamas thus endangers the civilian population even in times of calm given that munitions are liable to go off and put lives at risk. During fighting, Hamas deliberately operates in these locales, thus turning the civilian population into human shields on the assumption that Israel will be blamed for any injury and loss of life.”

Why does the world target Israel?

All of us that are involved in advocating for Israel ask ourselves this question. Kasim Hafeez is an interesting character - see a biography at the end of the article below.
This op-ed states that by singling out Israel, human rights activists abandon those who really suffer from apartheid

Kasim Hafeez

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4347381,00.html 

Genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid; if you've ever had the pleasure of speaking with some of the more zealous haters of Israel you'll hear these phrases at some point, normally yelled at you by a delightful middle class keffiyeh-wearing student.

I guess to some extent, sadly, we have become slightly accustomed to these libels. The hypocrisy of those claiming to be pro-Palestinian and champions of human rights and their obsessive hatred of Israel has led to the abandonment of those who suffer true apartheid, genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Detractors will undoubtedly be quick to ask why supporters of Israel point to other regimes to exonerate Israel. But this is not really what I'm doing. Israel needs no exoneration as, fortunately, Israelis are able to protest, challenge and choose their governments. That's democracy folks. But, just for the sake of argument, let us say all the malicious lies have some truth to them. Still the question remains: Why is Israel singled out for protests and global marches lauded by the 'enlightened' regimes in Tehran and Damascus, yet some of the world's human rights catastrophes carry on daily, completely ignored, by the same holier than thou activists?

For me, a particular source of pain and anger is the situation of minorities and women in my parents' homeland. In Pakistan, not a week goes by without a story of rape, murder, humiliation and torture. In this Islamic country, terms such as Jesus Christ are banned in text messages and a young girl is shot for demanding basic education. Yet apart from the attempted murder of Malala Yusufzai, these stories rarely make it to the press. The brutally oppressed Christian minority suffers at the hands of an archaic blasphemy law, yet, apart from small-scale protests held by Pakistani Christian groups, there were no calls to boycott Pakistan and no flotillas were planned. I guess murdered Pakistani Christians maybe not a trendy enough cause. I wonder if a British newspaper would publish a cartoon of a Pakistani mullah murdering minorities to pave the way for a Sharia state. Our journalists love freedom and liberty, but the love their lives a little bit more.

Obsessed with destruction of Israel

The House of Saud promotes religious apartheid, destroys history and spreads wahhabism, yet the world remains silent. Maybe the cause isn't cool enough. Or maybe we should just allow people to suffer and dismiss it as a cultural phenomenon; maybe we should say this is how things are in that part of the world and focus on the need to stop 'apartheid Israel,' which just elected another Knesset member of Ethiopian descent.

Remember when a handful of Darfur nationals and real human rights activists protested outside the UN Human Rights Commission against the atrocities in the region? Well, the instigator of the ethnic cleansing, Sudan, sat on the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Once again, so many of our activists remained silent because Israel was not involved. It is interesting to note that some of Israel's fiercest enemies like Syria, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain dismissed the UN report on Darfur, penned by Nobel laureate Jody Wolfe, and acted to protect Sudan at the UN.

Why are the self-appointed defenders of Palestinian rights silent while Palestinians are being massacred in Syria by Assad's regime? And why do they remain silent when a Palestinian girl is murdered in the name of honor? Where were they when Hamas fired rockets from inside a school in Gaza? Oh, I forgot, they were outside the nearest Israeli embassy chanting slogans in support of Hamas.

I know there are many people who genuinely care about Palestinians and want to see them live in peace with their neighbors, but there are too many modern-day Jean-Paul Marats who are full of fiery rhetoric and demand blood. People have become obsessed with the destruction of Israel. These people should be ashamed of themselves, emulating the Nazis by urging boycotts of Jewish businesses while murder, rape and humiliation are rampant in so many nations. Real apartheid, genocide and ethnic cleansing are occurring on our watch, yet these people have become so obsessed with the end of Zionism that the suffering of others had become a side show.

Protest the oppression of women in Saudi Arabia and you'll have my respect. Protesting against an Israeli theater group is pathetic.

Numerous Middle East countries consistently violate human rights, yet the UN vilifies Israel. Is it just me or is something deeply wrong with our moral compass?

Kasim Hafeez was born in a British Muslim household of Pakistani origin. As a result of the constant indoctrination at home and in his circle of friends, he became both anti-Israeli and antisemitic. After reading Alan Dershowitz's 'The Case for Israel' in 2007, he began to doubt his own beliefs, researched the issue and visited Israel. After his return to the UK, he became convinced that he had to take a stand by speaking out about Israel and against Islamist radicalization.

Hamas police beat peaceful female protesters in Gaza

This with thanks to CIF WAtch  http://tinyurl.com/cj7vtfs


  On March 8, the Guardian published “International Women’s Day highlights hurdles obstructing women“, (co-authored by 12 Guardian correspondents, including the paper’s Jerusalem correspondent, Harriet Sherwood), on the subjugation of women around the world.

Sherwood’s contribution, on the abrogation of women’s rights in the region she covers, didn’t mention female genital mutilation, honor killings , an endemic culture of misogyny, nor the impunity granted to men who physically and sexually abuse their spouses, throughout in Gaza and the PA.

Harriet Sherwood not only ignored the egregious violation of womens’ rights in the Palestinian territories, but, instead, devoted 118 words to the alleged injustice meted out to a female Palestinian terrorist affiliated with Islamic Jihad held in an Israeli jail named Hana Shalabi.

So, it’s not surprising that neither Sherwood, nor any of her Guardian colleagues, have reported the following about an incident in Gaza on Nov. 6:

Hamas police violently attacked a group of women who were peacefully protesting on Tuesday in front of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza. The women were calling for Palestinian reconciliation and sent a request to protest to Hamas which was ignored. Using sticks and batons, Hamas police attacked the women and dispersed the protest.

Another report included the following information:

The protest, organized by women’s organizations including the general union of Palestinian women, was held outside the parliament building.

Iktimal Hamad, a member of the union’s secretariat, told Ma’an that police ordered protesters to leave the area.

“Women refused to leave, because this is a right for every human being to express their opinions and demand their rights,” Hamad told Ma’an.

“We were verbally insulted and hit by fists and sticks. Police tried to arrest some of us but despite that we will continue with our campaign which calls for ending the division,” she added.

Journalist Samya al-Zubeidi said female police officers hit her and ordered her to stop filming.

“They beat me up, in addition to female police officers, (male) police officers also attacked women protesters,” al-Zubeidi told Ma’an.

Interestingly, a Gulf News report on the incident quoted a Fatah spokesperson condemning the attack on Gazan women, thus:

"Hamas’ violent attack against the women gives the entire Palestinian population a bad reputation internationally,”

However, any negative publicity for the Palestinian cause in response to the beating of peaceful female protesters in Gaza could only be created if “liberal” media institutions such as the Guardian actually reported the story.

External Medical Treatment Department in Gaza Closed

The offices of External Medical Treatment Department in Gaza Closed for the 3rd Consecutive Day due to the political wrangling between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. And who is suffering? Why, the sick of course. Following is a report from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. This is the Palestinian version of Human Rights


The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) follows with utmost concern the continued closure of the offices of the External Medical Treatment Department in Gaza, and warns of the serious repercussions this closure on the health conditions of hundreds of Palestinian patients in the Gaza Strip who desperately need advanced medical treatment outside the Gaza Strip. PCHR calls for the exclusion of health services from the political conflict, and for prioritizing the interest of hundreds of patients who suffer from serious diseases and wait to be referred to hospitals outside the Gaza Strip to receive advanced medical treatment that is not available in the Gaza Strip.


According to PCHR’s research, the current crisis emerged on 15 July 2012, when Dr. Hani Aabdin, Minister of Health in the Ramallah Government, issued a decision appointing Dr. Fathi al-Hajj as the director of the External Medical Treatment Department, replacing Dr. Bassam al-Badri, the former director of the Department, and forming a technical committee chaired by Dr. Sa’id al-Hussieni with 9 different doctors as members. Dr. al-Badri stated to PCHR that when he received the decision issued by the Minister of Health in the Ramallah government on Monday morning, 15 July 2012, he took his belongings from the office and went home.


On Tuesday morning, 16 July 2012, Dr. Fathi al-Hajj went to the office of the External Medical Treatment Department to assume the responsibilities of his new post. At the same time, Dr. Hussein ‘Aashour, Director of Internal Control in the Ministry of Health in Gaza, arrived at the office of the Department and informed Dr. Fathi al-Hajj that the Minister of Health in Gaza rejects the formation of the technical committee by the Minister of Health in the Ramallah Government because it violates the agreement that was concluded 3 years ago, under which the formation of the technical committee must be agreed upon between the Ministries of Health in Ramallah and Gaza. Dr. ‘Aashour also informed Dr. al-Hajj that he must leave the office, though other staff members could stay in the office to continue their work. Conversely, Dr. Fathi al-Hajj stated that he was as surprised as the other staff members that “the offices were stormed by security services, in addition to 2 directors in the Ministry of Health, who insisted on expelling us from the offices.”


On Tuesday, 17 July 2012, the Ministry of Health in the Ramallah Government issued a statement on its website justifying, what it called, urgent administrative decisions needed to make procedural changes in the External Medical Treatment Department in Gaza. The Ministry stated that these administrative decisions were necessary to meet the needs of patients and ease their suffering.


PCHR follows with the utmost concern these developments in the External Medical Treatment Department in Gaza, and their disastrous impact on hundreds of Palestinian patients in Gaza who need the advanced medical treatment outside the Gaza Strip that is provided through the Department. PCHR believes that:


- The current crisis in the External Medical Treatment Department is reminiscent of a previous crisis in the Department in March and April 2009, which left serious impacts on the lives of patients in the Gaza Strip, including the deaths of 10 patients;


- The decisions taken by the Minister of Health in the Ramallah Government violate the agreement that put an end to the previous crisis, under which the formation of the technical committee must be agreed upon between the Ministries of Health in Ramallah and Gaza, which was brokered by a committee comprised of PCHR; the health sector in the Palestinian NGO Network; and Dr. Eyad al-Sarraj, and sponsored by the World Health Organization;


- Accordingly, the formation of the technical committee (the Higher Medical Committee for External Medical Treatment) is possible as it is a purely professional issue, but it needs to be agreed upon between the Ministries of Health in Ramallah and Gaza according to the previous agreement, which defined several criteria with regards to the work of the External Medical Treatment Department in the Gaza Strip, based on prioritizing the best interest of patients and providing them with the most attainable level of physical and mental health care services apart from the political conflict;


- The continued closure of the External Medical Treatment Department affects approximately 70 patients daily, in addition to emergency cases which need prompt action, in particular the dozens of patients that have referred to PCHR’s offices since the beginning of the current crisis seeking assistance to receive referrals from the External Medical Treatment Department; and


- Each Palestinian has the right to enjoy the most attainable level of physical and mental health is a basic right that the Palestinian Authority must ensure, in accordance with international human rights standards and the Palestinian Basic Law. So, the parties that are responsible for providing health services must take all necessary steps to facilitate the access of Palestinians to health services.

Syria Running for the U.N. Human Rights Council!!

Is this the real world we are living in? One has to ask, how does the sane part of the world allow the utterly hypercritical UN HRC to continue to operate this way. So much for Kofi Annan's attempts to reconstitute a human rights committee that has cresibility. 

By Hillel Neuer, UN Watch, http://www.unwatch.org/cms.asp?id=3280354&campaign_id=63111 

GENEVA - In the past decade, the U.N. Human Rights Council elected Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya as chair, hailed Sri Lanka’s “promotion and protection of all human rights” after its army had killed thousands of civilians, and convened an emergency session to lament the death of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder of the Hamas terrorist organization.

Even so, historians will now have to decide whether the U.N.’s flagship human rights body is about to sink to a new low.

According to a U.S.-sponsored and EU-backed draft resolution that was debated today during informal meetings at the council in Geneva, the murderous regime of Bashar al-Assad is a declared candidate for a seat on the 47-nation U.N. body, in elections to be held next year at the 193-member General Assembly.

As part of the U.N.’s 53-nation Asian group, Syria’s candidacy would be virtually assured of victory due to the prevalent system of fixed slates, whereby regional groups orchestrate uncontested elections, naming only as many candidates as allotted seats.

That’s how non-democracies like China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia won their current seats, and how Pakistan and Venezuela are about to do the same.

Fears that Syria will indeed win—in a 2013 election for a position starting the following year—appear to have mobilized the U.S. and the European Union into taking the unprecedented action of asking the council to declare in advance that a candidate country, in this case Syria, be declared inherently disqualified to join its ranks.

In a strongly-worded resolution condemning the Syrian government for committing atrocities, slated for a Friday vote, paragraph 14 “stresses that the current Syrian government’s announced candidacy for the Human Rights Council in 2014 fails to meet the standards for Council membership” as set forth in its founding charter. That Syria is a contender came as a major revelation.

Shockingly, the perfectly reasonable attempt to keep Syria away from the world’s highest human rights body was met with strong resistance.

In today’s discussions, Cuba declared itself “totally opposed,” and demanded the paragraph’s deletion, a position quickly echoed by China. It was for the General Assembly to decide whom to elect, insisted Havana.

“We don’t like to speak to country candidacies,” added Egypt. Brazil argued that the reference to council membership was “outside the scope of the resolution.”

Russia insisted that no action be taken until Assad’s candidacy was formally submitted. Likewise, India believed the subject was “premature.”

However, as noted by the Americans, the public record shows otherwise. Syria actually had declared its official candidacy in early 2011, around the time the killings began.

It was only after UN Watch revealed Assad’s bid and organized an international coalition of human rights groups to fight it that Western democracies rallied to the cause, applying heavy pressure on the Asian states. At the last minute, on May 11th last year, a deal was announced: Kuwait would replace Syria.

Assad’s U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari made clear, however, that his country had agreed only “to reschedule the timing of our candidacy,” saying they would run instead in the 2013 elections, for a three-year term.

His Kuwaiti counterpart corroborated the pact. “We agreed to exchange terms,” said Ambassador Mansour Ayyad Alotaibi. “Syria is not withdrawing,” he told reporters.

But once Kuwait’s entry ended the controversy, no one—until now—had paid any attention to the fact that Syria would actually run again soon.

Though it’s truly difficult to imagine how the Asians could, in face of all the horrors taking place, allow Syria to be one its candidates, the reality is that they did so just last year, changing their minds only after massive lobbying.

What is more, this past November Syria won unanimous election to two human rights committees of UNESCO, the U.N.’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Despite the suspension of Assad’s regime from the Arab League, the very same nations’ UNESCO ambassadors in Paris refused to allow objections to a country’s human rights record to interfere with their backroom rotation deals—lest one day the precedent be used against them. They nominated Syria, and it was duly elected.

After UN Watch campaigned against this obscenity, too, the U.S. and Britain attempted remedial action. Yet despite their best efforts, the old boys’ club could not be convinced to expel one of their own. Syria remains a full member of UNESCO’s committee to judge human rights complaints, and of its committee dealing with human rights organizations.

And unless America’s laudable effort succeeds, Syria may soon win a seat on the world’s highest human rights body as well.

Even Judge Goldstone can support Israel??!!

Most Israelis are suspicious of the UN Human Rights Council and its disproportionate focus on Israel. A good friend of mine wrote an op-ed in the American Thinker http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/02/judge_goldstone_contradicts_th.html which debates this problem. In this article he draws some small comfort for support from non other than Richard Goldstone.

Israel has for years complained about the extreme bias of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) which has issued 35 resolutions condemning Israel since 2006 and only 15 against all other countries in the same period. At a press conference in Jerusalem on February 11, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay denied reports that the HRC unfairly targets Israel.

But Ms. Pillay's views are sharply contradicted by none other than Judge Richard Goldstone who headed the UN Mission to Gaza that produced the controversial Goldstone Report.

During a recent panel discussion on "Civilians in War Zones" at Stanford University, Judge Goldstone mentioned that Ms. Pillay had requested the HRC to establish a Mission to investigate crimes likely to have been committed during the conflict in Sri Lanka and it is indeed notable that he courageously stated publicly that "to their shame" a majority of HRC members refused to do so.


Judge Goldstone's bold statement that punishing war crimes should be "on the basis of the equality of all nations before the law" is encouraging in view of the disproportionate focus on every little wart in Israel while ignoring real gross violations of human rights elsewhere. He said that this indefensible action by the HRC:


"fueled the long-standing and repeated complaints by Israel that the Human Rights Council and the UN in general are biased against it. They repeatedly rush to pass condemnatory resolutions in the face of alleged violations of human rights law by Israel but fail to take similar action in the face of even more serious violations by other States. Until the Gaza Report they failed to condemn the firing of rockets and mortars at Israeli civilian centers."

Where are the Genuine Human Rights Organisations?

The rhetoric bandied around by the "high and mighty" operating in the human rights field knows no bounds when Israel is concerned. Fiction becomes fact and the roles of justice and injustice are reversed.Why do these hunan rights organisations not focus on the REAL issues instead of the fictional ones.

Below are a number of links to matters concerning the role of women in Palestinian society. Just why is this matter hidden under the carpet?

Gaza's Women: Who Is Defending Their Rights? Khaled Abu Tomeh December 2010

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=1294 “Hamas to women: Don't laugh and talk in public”. Palestinian Media Watch

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=3574 “PA TV highlights problem of devaluing girls and women in Palestinian society” PMW

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=866 “PA: Women and the sick used as smugglers by Hamas “ PMW

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=587 Miscellaneous examples PMW

Palestinian Human Rights

The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) throughout the Palestinian-controlled Territory have issued their report for October 2009, see http://www.ichr.ps/etemplate.php?id=174 for the full report.

WHERE ARE THE INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES NOW!!!

Based on ongoing monitoring and documentation of encroachments on human rights and public freedoms during the month of October 2009, ICHR has the following conclusions:

1. Several cases of death occurred for various reasons including family disputes and manslaughter.

2. Death cases occurred due to negligence and failure to undertake public safety precautions.

3. Torture of detainees persists in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, as indicated by detainees' claims and complaints filed to ICHR

4. ICHR representatives are still denied the right to visit detention centers administered by the Internal Security and police forces in the Gaza Strip.

5. Detention of individuals prevails in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank without regard to due process and stipulations of the Basic Law and the Code of Criminal Procedures.

6. The Ministry of Interior in Ramallah continues to deny the De facto Authority in Gaza of the supply of passport books.

7. The non-enforcement of courts’ decisions and rulings continue in the West Bank.

Below is a list of the subjects in the report:

1. Violations to the Right to life and Physical Safety

ICHR documented 19 cases of death in the Palestinian-controlled Territory during October 2009 including 9 deaths in the Gaza Strip and 10 deaths in the West Bank.

2. Torture during Detention: Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment

ICHR recorded its deepest concerns about the persistence of practices by security agencies that constitute infringements on the rights and safety of detainees in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In ICHR's opinion, these practices should be prohibited, criminalized and punishable by law.

3. Violations of the Right to Proper Legal Process and Just Procedures-

4. Attacks on Media, Academic and Personal Freedoms

5. Attacks on Public institutions and Public and Private Property

In the month of October, ICHR documented the several cases of attacks on public institutions and private properties for example - on 25/10/2009, unknown individuals set fire to a cafeteria at Deir al-Balah Service Club. According to ICHR information, all the Cafeteria’s contents were burnt down or damaged before the flames were extinguished by the Civil Defense.

6. Delayed Execution and Procrastination in the Enforcement of Palestinian Courts' Judgments

7. Violations to the Right to Travel and Movement

8. Dismissal from Civil Service (dismissed male and female teachers who were appointed in the era of the Hamas Government in 2006)

The "Big Lie" mutates further

"A grave injustice is being committed against the Palestinian people -- perhaps among the greatest in their history. Thousands are being systematically robbed of their citizenship, made stateless once more by a hard-hearted government that pays lip service to peace and the two-state solution, but which seems determined to undermine both". Thus commences an article published in the American Thinker recently, http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/07/palestinian_rights_a_warning.html

Are we "bashing Isarael again? No -- the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which has had a long and uneasy relationship with its Palestinian majority. Now, it is cynically claiming that it has the Palestinians' best interests at heart, the regime of King Abdullah II has begun removing the citizenship of Palestinians with roots in the West Bank. There have been no discussion with the Palestinians involved.

Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads:
(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

And the world once again, has been silent; that includes the world's leading human rights organizations. The front page of Amnesty International's website features an appeal for Israel to cooperate with the UN's "independent" fact-finding mission on Gaza, but nothing on Jordan. Human Rights Watch, which recently bashed Israel for the benefit of donors in Saudi Arabia, has yet to react.

Hypocracy continues, the morality of the world degenerates further. The "Big Lie" continues to be propagated in mutated forms.

Leo Baeck Haifa and the UN

The Leo Baeck school in Haifa is once again in the forefront of preparing its pupils for the future

The Lokey International Center for Jewish Education was transformed into the United Nations for a day in March when 100 senior high school students, under the guidance of Young Ambassadors, participants in the International Model UN, decided to establish their own Leo Baeck prototype - L M U N .

Dressed for the occasion and s t r i c t l y observing the rules of protocol, 4 committees addressed key issues - the Environment, Disarmament, Territorial Disputes and Human Rights. “Being part of the International Model UN inspired us,” said one ambassador.

Following on from this the school together with 14 other schools on 5 continents are working together to create a global culture of human rights, and an international network of young empowered leaders! The Leo Baeck Junior High School, with a multicultural student body of 720, is proud to have been chosen to represent Israel in Amnesty International School’s for Human Rights Programme and to work together with other nations of the world to build a better and more caring civil society.

DURBAN II

The original aim of the upcoming UN conference on Racism was to help the African continent but it was hijacked by the Arab states to promote their agenda. With the chairmanship of the conference in the hands of Libya and the Deputy chair held by Cuba plus other muslim countries on the committee there has been a total distortion of the original aims.

The wording of the documents to be discussed at Geneva during the UN conference on racial discrimination in April has crossed the stated red lines of the Europeans and yet only Italy has had the courage of its convictions to withdraw.

These red lines are:-
a. The singling out of Israel for blame.
b. The inclusion of the "defamation of religion" clause that would protect Islamist extremist ideology from criticism.
c. Listing a hierarchy of racisms, with Islamophobia as the most disturbing form. All racisms are to be fought equally.
d. Removing the mention of the importance of Holocaust commemoration and removing the condemnation of anti-Semitism from the past document.

In FRANCE on February 13th 2008, Nicolas Sarkosy said quite categorically "France will not allow a repetition of the excesses and abuses of 2001.
Our European partners share France's concerns. France will chair the EU in the final months preceding the review conference. I say to you: if ever our legitimate demands are not taken into account, we will disengage from the process. I think my answer is unambiguous.

In BRITAIN in a parliamentary debate on May 13th 2008 Jim Murphy, minister for Europs said "We will play no part in an international conference that exhibits the degree of anti-Semitism that was disgracefully on view on the previous occasion. If it gets to a point that we come to the view that the conference cannot be a success, the option of withdrawal from the conference remains available to us."

In HOLLAND on May 18th 2008, the Foreign Minister said "The Netherlands will not accept it if there are any attempts to call Israel a racist state at a UN conference."

Finally in DENMARK on October 28th 2008, their Foreign Minister said "If the OIC (Organization of the Islamic Conference) pushes through this draft
resolution, they shall not expect European or Western countries to be present at the table... we cannot accept that religion be conflated with racism."

Now, just why have these countries not taken the decision to withdraw? All their red lines have been crossed. What a moral outrage

Jewish Assets in Muslim Lands

More than 850,000 Jews fled or were expelled from Arab lands and Iran, most after Israel's founding in 1948. Estimates of the value of the property they were forced to leave behind are hard to come by, ranging from as low as $16 billion in known assets to as high as $300b. when estimates of the value of their abandoned real estate are included.

Now a government ministry has created a new department that will now to collect specific claims by Jews who lost their property when they left Arab countries during the 20th century. The department will begin to collect the claims of the Jewish refugees, about 80 percent of whom settled in Israel.

Thus it was reported recently in the Jerusalem Post
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1233050188760&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

A spokesman of the department said "the new effort comes to fill a gap in awareness both in Israel and abroad. The UN has dealt at least 700 times with Arab refugees and their property, but not once with the issue of Jewish property."

There is little awareness in the world at large, and Israel in particular, thus it is thought it is now time for Israelis to get to know better the history of the Jews of Arab lands, who make up some 60% of the ethnic ancestry of Israeli Jews.

"It's time to deal with this amongst ourselves," says the spokesman. "I say that as a citizen, as a father and as an academic. We should know the history of the pogrom in Baghdad in 1941, of the Lybian Jews who ended up in Bergen Belsen. It's time for people to know that there was this part of the Jewish people and its history was brought to an end."

In late 2007, a Baghdad-born American Jew representing the World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries (WOJAC), called on the Israeli government to begin to seriously examine the issue of Jewish property left behind in Arab lands. At the time, WOJAC had a staggering 100,000 square kilometers in property deeds.

Internationally, the project has support. "The US Congress [in mid-2008] decided that any discussion of refugees in the Middle East must include the Jewish refugees from Arab lands. The current presidency of the EU, the Czech Republic, agrees with this position," said the spokesman.

In addition to the government, "Justice for Jews from Arab Countries" (JJAC), http://www.justiceforjews.com/int.html has been increasing the awareness of this problem which has been totally overshadowed by the pressure from Arab States to consider only one side of the coin. The goals of JJAC are:
1) To conduct public education programs on the heritage and rights of former Jewish refugees from Arab countries; and
2) To register family history narratives, and catalogue communal and individual losses, suffered by Jews who fled from Arab countries.

Both sides of the argument should be considered in parallel, not one withut the other

PHONEY WAR CRIMES ACCUSATION

The acusations against Israel are now coming in thick and fast. from "war crimes" to "illegal use of phosphorous bombs, "indiscriminately attacking civilians" ad nauseum.

Allan Dershowitz, the eminent internationally renowned lawyer writes "Every time Israel seeks to defend its civilians against terrorist attacks, it is accused of war crimes by various United Nations agencies, hard left academics and some in the media. It is a totally phony charge concocted as part of Hamas' strategy --supported by many on the hard left -- to delegitimize and demonize the Jewish state."

"Israel is the only democracy in the world ever accused of war crimes when it fights a defensive war to protect its civilians. This is remarkable, especially in light of the fact that Israel has killed far fewer civilians than any other country in the world that has faced comparable threats. In the most recent war in Gaza fewer than a thousand civilians -- even by Hamas' skewed count -- have been killed. This, despite the fact that no one can now deny that Hamas had employed a deliberate policy of using children, schools, mosques, apartment buildings and other civilian areas as shields from behind which to launch its deadly anti-personnel rockets. "

"Just to take one comparison, consider the recent wars waged by Russia against Chechnya . In these wars Russian troops have killed tens of thousands of Chechnyan civilians, some of them willfully, at close range and in cold blood. Yet those radical academics who scream bloody murder against Israel (particularly in England) have never called for war crime tribunals to be convened against Russia. Nor have they called for war crime charges to be filed against any other of the many countries that routinely kill civilians, not in an effort to stop enemy terrorists, but just because it is part of their policy."

The full article can be read at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-dershowitz/the-phony-war-crimes-accu_b_160050.html. The punch is in the last statement that should worry every citizen of the world. Dershowitz writes "If the laws of war in particular, and international human rights in general, are to endure, they must be applied to nations in order of the seriousness of theviolations, not in order of the political unpopularity of the nations. If the law of war were applied in this manner, Israel would be among the last, andcertainly not the first, charged".

These are the cowards we have to fight

According to YNET, (http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3647934,00.html) the head ofIsraeli's intelligence reported today that Hamas terrorists are hiding in hospitals and maternity wards, wearing the clothes of doctors and nurses.

They are moving rocket launchers into crowded residential neighborhoods, and thus their success in shooting over 45 rockets into Israeli towns this morning alone.

The difficulty of rooting out terrorists who hide behind newborn babies and cancer patients is hard for a civilized country like Israel to deal with. Israel allowed 100 truckloads of medical supplies and basic fooditems to enter Gaza yesterday, along with five new ambulances donated byTurkey. This morning, the Gazans requested that Israeli hospitals takein two small children injured in the hostilities. Israel allowed them in, even as Hamas continued to bomb.

Durban ll - review of racism "around the world"

Since racial hatred has animated some of the worst atrocities in history, one would think that an opportunity for nations to come together and seek solutions to racial tensions would be welcomed. So says Ken Connor http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/KenConnor/2008/07/20/fanning_the_flames_of_racism?page=full&comments=true

Think again. The upcoming United Nations Durban Review Conference in Durban, South Africa—billed as an international effort to achieve racial reconciliation—is likely to make a mockery of any bona fide attempt to overcome racial discrimination.

The Conference, scheduled for 2009, will review the international progress made in response to the "Durban Declaration and Programme of Action" released by the first Durban conference in 2001.

Among those countries attending the 2001 conference were China, Columbia, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Two of these countries (Syria and Cuba) are on the U.S. State Department's top ten list of worst human rights violators, and China was only just dropped from the list in 2008. The United States and Israel quickly saw that they were going to be the scapegoats of the conference, and not surprisingly, they withdrew their delegations a few days into the conference.

As the Durban review conference (or "Durban II") approaches, many are wondering whether the United States will participate at all. The U.S. voted against holding the review conference, but has not yet taken an official stance on whether or not it will attend the proceedings. Canada and Israel have already stated that they will boycott the proceedings, because they are convinced that the conference will be another exercise in anti-Israel propaganda.

Casting a further shadow over Durban II is the new U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) which is planning the conference. Among the members of the council are traditional human rights violators China, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia. The HRC has been a disappointment since its inception in 2006. Its stated purpose is to "[promote] universal respect for the protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all" and to "address situations of violations of human rights." All signs so far indicate that Durban II will be no better than Durban I.

A well-framed international condemnation of racism has the potential to transform the global discussion on race and discrimination. All countries ought to acknowledge their own shortcomings as we work to overcome racial hatred at home and around the world.

Yes - The Media is at it Again!!!

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, the press and media in general is constantly being used, abused and manipulated. Take, for example, the spoofs or Pallywood productions; Hamas leaders holding a government meeting by candlelight, as daylight cuts across the photo from a slit in the curtain, the so-called “Jenin Massacre”, the Mohammed al Dura case, etc., etc.!!

So many of the newspapers and TV stations are jumping on the bandwagon of deligitmising Israel.

The Guardian UK
This paper even goes so far as to blame Israel for the recent "military escalation" while in fact justifying the Palestinian missiles that led to IDF operations in Gaza in the first place. As a friend stated in a letter to the paper "publishing opinions disguised as facts is blatant dishonesty."

The papers op-ed then goes on to say “that Israel's entry into Gaza cannot possibly be a legitimate act of self-defence" but is carefull to omit the fact that to fire rockets at a sovereign nation deliberately intended to kill and injure its citizens is an act of war, for which the country under attack is entitled to defend itself.

The BBC
This organization which I have heard referred to as the “Beirut Broadcasting Corporation” or alternatively the “Baharani Broadcasting Corporation” refers constantly to “the occupation” by Israel of the Gaza Strip. According to the Oxford dictionary “To Occupy” is defined as “to enter, stay and take control of a place by military conquest or settlement.” Strange – I thought every Israeli was removed from the strip nearly 3 years ago.

British-based human rights organizations
On Thursday the above human rights organizations released a scathing report in claiming that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is at its worst point since Israel captured the territory in 1967.

It also said that hospitals are suffering from power cuts of up to 12 hours a day, and the water and sewage systems were close to collapse, with 40-50 million liters (10-12 million gallons) of sewage pouring into the sea daily.

Now just what is the $1 – 1.4 billion donated to the Palestinians yearly used for????

Conclusion

Because I have used 3 examples for the UK, it doesn’t that it is only in the UK that we see such dishonest and biased reporting. It is not for the want of trying to get the media interested in a more balanced approach - a lot attempts are going on to try to the press involved more on the Israeli problems – they are, in the main, just not interested in our side of the story.

The journalists reporting on the Palestinian “stories”, cannot or do not check up on the facts. They have to report what they are told otherwise they don’t get access to the Palestinian “stories” in the future. Those reporters who try to be fair also can have their stories “rewritten” by their local or other editors

Israel is in a conflict not of its own making – indeed it withdrew every Israeli soldier and all 9000 Israeli civilians from the Gaza Strip in its 2005 disengagement initiative. But it is forced to act in self-defense to protect itself from deliberate missile attacks on its civilians by the Hamas terrorist organization.

International law recognizes that civilian deaths and injuries may occur in lawful military operations. For an operation to be lawful it must be directed at a "legitimate military objective" and be "proportionate".

Under the Geneva Conventions, if a military objective, such as a missile launcher or weapons stockpile, is placed in the heart of a civilian area, it does not cease being a lawful military objective. The responsibility for civilian causalities arising from the 'shielding' lies with the party that deliberately placed civilians at risk.


Hamas makes no effort to comply with international law, Israel is committed to limiting itself to a lawful response. This means that, while Hamas uses civilians both as a shield and a target, Israel seeks to limit injury to civilians on both sides.

A survey of international practice undertaken by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggests that the steps taken by Israel, and its approach to proportionality, correspond to, or are more stringent than, those taken by most western countries confronting similar threats.