[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] 08/02 Links: Netanyahu to Shapiro US must 'never second-guess me again' on Hamas ~ EoZ

From Ian:

They come from every corner of the country—investment bankers, farmers, computer geeks, jazz drummers, botany professors, car mechanics—leaving their jobs and their families. They put on uniforms that are invariably too tight or too baggy, sign out their gear and guns. Then, scrambling onto military vehicles, 70,000 reservists—women and men—join the young conscripts of what is proportionally the world's largest citizen army. They all know that some of them will return maimed or not at all. And yet, without hesitation or (for the most part) complaint, proudly responding to the call-up, Israelis stand ready to defend their nation. They risk their lives for an idea.
The idea is Zionism. It is the belief that the Jewish people should have their own sovereign state in the Land of Israel. Though founded less than 150 years ago, the Zionist movement sprung from a 4,000-year-long bond between the Jewish people and its historic homeland, an attachment sustained throughout 20 centuries of exile. This is why Zionism achieved its goals and remains relevant and rigorous today. It is why citizens of Israel—the state that Zionism created—willingly take up arms. They believe their idea is worth fighting for.
Yet Zionism, arguably more than any other contemporary ideology, is demonized. "All Zionists are legitimate targets everywhere in the world!" declared a banner recently paraded by anti-Israel protesters in Denmark. "Dogs are allowed in this establishment but Zionists are not under any circumstances," warned a sign in the window of a Belgian cafe. A Jewish demonstrator in Iceland was accosted and told, "You Zionist pig, I'm going to behead you." (h/t Jewess)

Piers Akerman: All we are saying, is give war a chance

THE real message coming from the Gazan conflict is give war a chance. That’s right. All peace-loving people should be demonstrating in the streets and singing, “All we are saying, is give war a chance”.
If, as the Left says, the Palestinians want peace, then let Israel smash the terrorist group Hamas, which runs Gaza and uses Palestinian children as human shields. Get the terrorists out of the hospitals, get their rockets out of the schools (a third stockpile was found in a UN school earlier this week), get them out of their rat-run tunnels and away from the civilian population.
On the other hand, if the Left wants the terrorists to smash Israel, and that is the clear message from the Greens and Labor MPs who attend rallies where the flags of Hezbollah, Hamas and the jihadists fly, there will be no holding back terrorism around the world.
Strip away the Al Jazeera propaganda that the ABC broadcasts and Fairfax media supports in its commentaries by erratic penny-a-line scribblers like Mike Carlton, and there is no other way to view the conflict. There is no moral equivalency argument to be had. Loss of civilian life is of course abhorrent. But in this conflict there is only one side which is going to great lengths in its attempt to avoid killing civilians. No, not Hamas, which enjoys the support of the anti-Israeli rallies staged by so-called peace groups and some deluded Christian churches here and elsewhere in the West, but Israel.

Jeffrey Goldberg: The Most Dangerous Moment in Gaza

There is near-unanimity in Israel already that Hamas represents an unbearable threat. Add in the perfidy of a raid conducted after a ceasefire went into effect and near-unanimity becomes total unanimity. The most interesting article I've read in the past 24 hours is an interview with the Israeli novelist Amos Oz, the father of his country's peace-and-compromise movement, who opened the interview with Deutsche Welle in this manner:

Amoz Oz: I would like to begin the interview in a very unusual way: by presenting one or two questions to your readers and listeners. May I do that?
Deutsche Welle: Go ahead!
Question 1: What would you do if your neighbor across the street sits down on the balcony, puts his little boy on his lap and starts shooting machine gun fire into your nursery?
Question 2: What would you do if your neighbor across the street digs a tunnel from his nursery to your nursery in order to blow up your home or in order to kidnap your family?
With these two questions I pass the interview to you.
The point is, if Amos Oz, a severe critic of his country's policies toward the Palestinians, sounds no different on the subject of the Hamas threat than the right-most ministers in Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing cabinet, then there will be a national consensus that it is not enough to manage the Hamas rocket-and-tunnel threat, but that it must be eliminated if at all possible. This doesn't mean that the Israeli government wants to see the Hamas government in Gaza replaced. What it could mean is that the Israeli public demands that its leaders ensure them that the tunnel threat, in particular, is neutralized in a decisive way. (h/t Jewess)

White House ‘Champion of Change’ Goes After Black Pro-Israel Activist

An Obama administration-endorsed “champion of change” has lashed out at an African American pro-Israel activist, accusing her of forgetting “where she came from” and implying that she is being manipulated by the pro-Israel community.
Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American Muslim activist who has been honored by the White House as a “champion of change,” upbraided pro-Israel activist Chloe Simone Valdary Thursday on Twitter after she criticized the campus group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which has come under fire for engaging in anti-Semitic rhetoric.
The heated exchange between Valdary (@Cvaldary on Twitter) and Sarsour (@lsarsour on Twitter) elicited multiple responses from observers who accused Sarsour of engaging in racist and anti-Semitic stereotypes. (h/t MtTB)

Ted Cruz: A tale of two hospitals: One in Israel, one in Gaza

If you want to judge a nation, look at how it treats its most vulnerable civilians. Hospitals are a good place to start.
Al-Shifa, the largest hospital in Gaza, is housed in a converted British army barracks. Some 126 miles north is Israel’s Ziv Medical Center in Zefat.
Hamas, which controls Gaza, is using the civilian population as human shields. The terrorist group has placed its missiles in schools and mosques and, even more deplorably, burrowed its command center underneath the al-Shifa hospital.
Meanwhile in Israel, Ziv is a center for pediatric and orthopedic medicine. Given its proximity to Israel’s borders with Lebanon and Syria, Ziv has seen its share of violence, but despite taking direct rocket fire during the 2006 Lebanon war, it has remained in continuous operation.
During the past three years of the Syrian civil war, Ziv has treated more than 1,000 Syrians injured in that conflict — all free of charge.

Krauthammer: Israeli War Producing 'Resurgence In Anti-Semtism Not Seen Since The 30s'

“The rest of the world’s reaction to what’s happening in Gaza is Orwellian,” Krauthammer declared. “It is shocking. Especially in Europe. It is a resurgence of anti-Semitism not seen since the 1930s.”
“This is a recurrence,” he continued. “It’s all over the world. And don’t tell me it’s anti-Zionism. You listen to the slogans. You see the signs. ‘Hitler was right,’ in Germany, a sign in Germany saying that.”
“This is a veneer that is a front for anti-Semitism,” Krauthammer asserted. “It is back. It’s all over the world. And that’s what we are now beginning to face.”

Alan M. Dershowitz: What should Israel do? What would the United States do?

Imagine you are the Prime Minister of Israel or the President of the United States, or the Chief-of-Staff of either Army. Your soldiers are fighting a just war to try to prevent rockets from hitting your civilians or tunnels from being used to murder and kidnap your people. Your enemy, knowing that you wish to prevent casualties among their civilians, purposely shoots at your soldiers from civilian areas. Your soldiers, caught in the midst of an ongoing fire fight, basically have two choices: one, fire back and try to stop the enemy from killing you, while trying to avoid or minimize civilian casualties; or two, lay down your arms, because you don't want to endanger civilians, and accept the risk that your soldiers may be killed.
The United Nations, and much of the rest of the world—sitting in the safety of peaceful areas—have condemned Israel for allowing its soldiers to try to stop the attacks on them while also trying to minimize civilian casualties. "You can do more," the White House has insisted.
But what more could Israel do, that would not endanger its own civilians and soldiers? Would President Obama like to be the one who has to call the parents of an American soldier and explain to them that their son was killed because he, the Commander in Chief, had ordered the soldier not to fire back at enemy mortars that were being fired at him from behind human shields?

Times of Israel Blog: PM: Gaza op goes on till quiet ensured; seized soldier’s family pleads: don’t forsake him

Netanyahu says IDF will redeploy according to Israel’s security needs once last tunnels demolished soon, thanks Obama for support, slams countries that are tolerant of terror; family of kidnapped soldier Hadar Goldin makes emotional appeal

US must ‘never second-guess me again’ on Hamas, Netanyahu tells Shapiro

In a phone call with US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro about the breakdown of the short-lived UN- and US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vented his anger, according to people familiar with the call.
Netanyahu told Shapiro the Obama administration was “not to ever second-guess me again” and that Washington should trust his judgment on how to deal with Hamas, according to people familiar with the conversation. Netanyahu added that he now “expected” the US and other countries to fully support Israel’s offensive in Gaza, according to those familiar with the call. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter by name.

Caroline Glick: Congress, Obama and the way to defeat Hamas

Why did Hamas attack the Givati forces, kill two soldiers and capture 2nd. Lt. Hadar Goldin Friday morning in violation of the US-UN brokered 72-hour cease fire? Hamas acted as it did, because it thinks it can get away with it. And Hamas thinks that it can get away with it because Hamas is convinced that it will win this war.
And as long as Hamas is convinced that it will win this war, it will continue to attack, no matter what its situation is on the ground in Gaza. It will continue to attack Israel no matter what Israel does.
As a consequence, there is no way for Israel to disengage. There can never be a ceasefire with Hamas for as long as Hamas is convinced that it will win this war.
To understand why Hamas is convinced that it will win, it is necessary to understand first why Hamas is fighting in the first place.
Hamas went to war with one goal, to reopen Gaza to the world.
Hamas is fighting to open Gaza’s border with Egypt, to end Israel’s maritime blockade of the Gaza coast, and to reinstate its lines of finance.
Today Hamas’s leadership, snug in their multi-million dollar villas in Qatar and well-equipped bunkers under Shifa Hospital in Gaza City are that they will achieve their goal. They will win.

MEMRI Egyptian Columnists: Gaza Conflict Is Over Rafah Crossing

Against the backdrop of the current Gaza conflict, several pro-regime Egyptian columnists have written about Hamas' demands to open the Rafah crossing as a condition for a ceasefire, and claimed that this conflict was against Egypt more than it was against Israel. They said that getting the Rafah Crossing opened, with the aim of assuring Hamas' continued control in Gaza, was the real reason for the current round of fighting, and that the fighting was unrelated to the Palestinian national struggle.
Most of the columnists think that Egypt should reject Hamas' demand for a full opening of the crossing, because that would constitute recognition of the movement's rule in Gaza, would provide a boost to the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), and would endanger Egyptian national security. Some support the reopening of the crossing in accordance with the 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access, under which the Palestinian Authority (PA) must control the Palestinian side of the crossing under the supervision of an EU taskforce.

Gaza’s fantasy siege

Siege? The claim that Gaza is under siege from Israel is also a stretch. Historically, attackers who laid siege to cities would poison their water and prevent any supplies from entering, with the intent of starving the inhabitants into submission. Israel, in contrast, supplies Gaza with its electricity, with its gas and with its water as well as trucking in food and medical supplies. During the current war, when a stray Hamas missile knocked out power lines from Israel that supplied Gazans with electricity, Israeli repair crews donned protective gear and restored power to Gazans while Hamas rockets soared overhead. Likewise, despite the rockets, Israel is continuing to take in Gazans to provide them with medical care in Israeli hospitals, just as it has prior to the current war — Israel has even provided medical care to close relatives of Hamas terrorists.
Blockade? Wrong word for the limitations that Israel places on the free flow of goods. Not only does Israel permit numerous imports into Gaza (witness the hundreds of thousands of tons of cement now known to have been used to construct tunnels), Israel also allows Gaza to export its goods freely, including to the enormous EU market where Gaza has duty-free status. But with two exceptions: The two exceptions are exports to Israel and exports to the West Bank, to prevent the surreptitious entry of bombs, weapons and other materiel that could cause Israel grief.

Israel aims for unilateral end to Gaza operation

Israel will seek to reach a unilateral end to combat in the Gaza Strip, after the Security Cabinet decided overnight that it would not negotiate with Hamas on yet another truce and would not send a delegation to Cairo at this time, Channel 2 reported Saturday, quoting unnamed senior diplomatic officials.
According to the report, such a decision would base the conclusion of Operation Protective Edge, launched by Israel 26 days ago, on deterrence rather than a bilateral ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
“Israel has made it clear to Hamas that they can get lost,” a senior diplomatic official told Channel 2.

Kerry, Obama to Blame for Kidnapping of IDF Soldier

While the immediate blame for the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Hadar Goldin Friday morning, a mere 90 minutes into a humanitarian ceasefire, lies with Hamas, the responsibility must also be shared by Secretary of State John Kerry and President Barack Obama, who put enormous pressure on Israel for weeks to accept a ceasefire before it had eliminated the terrorist threat, and while it had significant momentum against Hamas on the battlefield.
Israelis will also certainly blame Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe "Bogey" Ya'alon, who caved to the White House and international pressure.
The one positive for Israeli leaders is that the kidnapping, and the associated collapse of the ceasefire, means that the case for continuing the war is clear. Hamas has shown no willingness to cooperate with international demands, and must be ousted to be stopped.

Retired Israeli General: We Do More to Protect Civilians than the US Did in Fallujah or WWII

Retired Israeli Major General Amos Yadlin said that Israel does more to avoid civilian casualties than the United States has in its military operations.
On Thursday’s “Wolf” on CNN, he argued the IDF is “doing more than the Americans have done in Fallujah and more than the Americans have done in Germany in the second World War” to avoid harming innocent civilians. “We are the moralist army in the world ... I am really willing to have any kind of debate with American journalists, spokesmen about how Israel is doing it compared to how America [has] done it” he added.
Yadlin also accused Hamas of covering up the number of terrorists killed by the Israelis, stating, “Hamas military terrorists are killed in [the] hundreds, and they are not reporting it. They, of course, are putting all the cameras on the civilians...they will show you only the civilians, and the civilians [are harmed] because of the tactics of the terrorists.”

Israel says Gazans in two areas can return to their homes

Israel told Palestinian residents from the Beit Lahiya and al-Atatara areas of the northern Gaza Strip that they could return to their homes on Saturday afternoon.
The announcement, confirmed by Palestinian sources, marked the first time since Israel launched its ground offensive against Hamas targets in Gaza on July 17 that the IDF told Gaza residents it had completed its military operations in a specific area.

Inside a Hamas Terror Tunnel

IDF Paratroopers Expose Weapons and Tunnel Openings

IDF Forces Expose Tunnel, Destroy Booby-Trapped Building

Israel Air Force Strikes Terror Tunnel

IDF Forces Detonate Tunnels in Gaza

IDF Soldiers Welcome Shabbat in the Middle of Combat

British Jews call on UK gov’t to secure Goldin’s release

The umbrella group representing British Jews on Friday urged the country’s government to do everything in its power to secure the release of Hadar Goldin, an Israeli soldier who spent some of his childhood in the UK, who is believed to be captured by Hamas.
Goldin, a 23-year-old second lieutenant in the Givati Brigade, was feared seized on Friday in the Rafah region amid exchanges of heavy fire between Hamas gunmen and IDF troops that erupted 1.5 hours after the the 8 a.m. local time start of a ceasefire brokered by the United Nations and the United States.
“The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council, on behalf of the UK Jewish community, would like to express our dismay and revulsion at the kidnapping of British-born Israeli soldier Hadar Goldin,” the board wrote in a statement. (Goldin was not born in the UK, but spent part of his childhood there with his family).

Kidnap must not become a second Shalit case, says ex-IDF hostage negotiator

The kidnapping of 2nd.-Lt. Hadar Goldin Friday morning is not, and must not be allowed to become, a second Gilad Shalit incident, Col. (res.) Lior Lotan, the former head of the IDF’s POW and MIA department and former head of the IDF’s hostage negotiation team and counter-terrorism unit said Friday, hours after the kidnapping.
Lotan, who currently heads the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at Herzliya’s Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), said that the coming hours were known as “the golden hours” in which forces on the ground will try to intercept or thwart the terrorist’s plans for the rest of the kidnapping operation.

An insight into what is really going on in Gaza

A friend has sent me the following letter they received from a close relative in Israel (for obvious reasons I have removed the names). While a lot of it is simply an excellent restatement of what is known to people following the conflict, it also contains some information that has not been previously made public:

"We know from X's job that there are many tunnels. There are several types: Bunkers, hiding places (for pop-out, attack, pop-in), command posts, housing in war for important and rich Gazans, etc. The main type of tunnel that BB has spoken of, consistently, from the beginning of the operation, has been attack tunnels that lead from Gaza into Israel, some into the middle of kibbutzim and moshavim on the border, the others very close to them. Some of these tunnels are two-three kms long!
From the captured Hamas people we have learned that the sole purpose of these attack tunnels being for one huge operation at Rosh hashana this year. They had planned to instantaneously attack the settlements, with crews of ten to fifteen terrorists to each tunnel, slaughtering as many people gathered together in their settlement dinning rooms celebrating the Rosh hashana eve meal as they could and kidnapping others.

ABC News: IDF Armored Unit Changes Route, Doesn’t Fire with School Nearby

On Wednesday, ABC’s Terry Moran was embedded with an IDF armored unit going into Gaza to investigate a recently discovered terror tunnel. In the course of the brief excursion into Gaza, Moran saw firsthand the care Israel takes to avoid collateral damage.
Moran reported that one of the tanks “spotted what they feared was a Hamas militant team with an anti-tank missile.”
"The tank took cover. [Unit commander Col. Tomer] Ifrah assessed the situation. A school housing refuges was located nearby – too close to engage the threat, Ifrah decided – so another route was taken.
The tunnel the soldiers visited was uncovered the day before when an armored vehicle sank into the sandy ground under what were once greenhouses, but now were sandy ruins. The IDF dug it out this morning."

Israel Making Positive Strides in Uphill Battle on the Information Front

Israel has been taking its licks in the international arena since it launched Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in Gaza on July 8. But criticism of the Jewish state was actually worse during its last battle with Hamas in 2012 and the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006, experts say.
One reason for this shift is the revelation of the cross-border tunnels Hamas has built to infiltrate Israel, according to Ilana Stein, spokesperson for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Built of concrete at a great expense relative to Gaza’s general state of poverty, the tunnels reportedly contain not just weapons, but also tranquilizers and handcuffs, presumably to subdue Israeli hostages.
“For years, our diplomats around the world have been saying that Hamas is a terrorist organization,” said Stein. “The international community didn’t understand why we wouldn’t let Hamas bring in cement to Gaza a few years ago. Now you all know why. So that’s a success for us.”

US seeks Qatari, Turkish help to free reportedly abducted IDF soldier

Turkey will do what it can to help free an IDF soldier whose capture led to the breakdown of a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas but the priority should be the reinstatement of a truce, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Friday.
"What is important is that the cease-fire is reinstated. To ensure this, together with others, we can take any step that could resolve this Israeli soldier issue. If Turkey can do anything, we will do our best," Davutoglu told reporters.

Arutz Sheva Interviewed Abducted Soldier

On Friday morning the IDF announced that a soldier had gone missing, feared abducted, in a fierce firefight with Hamas terrorists who had breached a ceasefire which began just hours before.
Shortly after, the soldier was named as Second Lieutenant (Platoon Leader) Hadar Goldin, 23, from Kfar Saba.
Late last year, Arutz Sheva's Hebrew-language radio station interviewed Hadar, together with his twin brother, as they completed their officers course.
The brothers told of their religious-Zionist upbringing, and their family's long tradition of combat service in the IDF.
"We grew up on a love of the people and the land (of Israel)... our two holocaust-survivor grandfathers took part in the War of Independence, our father is a battalion commander in the reserves - it's something from the home."

70-year-old seriously hurt by mortar shell

The man was evacuated by chopper to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba for treatment.
Also Saturday, two soldiers were reported wounded in Gaza — one lightly by a mortar shell, another moderately by sniper fire.
Channel 2 estimated that roughly 70 rockets and mortars had been fired at Israel by Saturday evening. Iron Dome intercepted rockets over Beersheba, Ashkelon and Tel Aviv.

Fallen soldier’s brother urges PM to take firm stand on Gaza

Omer Gotlib, the brother of St.-Sgt. Matan Gotlib, who was killed in clashes in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, said Friday the prime minister’s inability to decide whether he wanted the conflict in the Gaza Strip to be resolved by diplomacy or force was causing losses among the IDF soldiers who were deployed to the coastal enclave in recent weeks.
Gotlib, who described himself as a left-wing Meretz voter who had never supported Netanyahu’s party, Likud, implored the prime minister in a message he wrote on his official Facebook page, picked up by Walla News, to “stop being a politician” and either leave Gaza or destroy it.
“I ask you to take the children out of Gaza and turn to diplomacy — or just stop being afraid of the world and turn Gaza into rubble.”

Miss Israel 2013 Is Back In Uniform, Ready To Fight For Her Country

Yityish Aynaw, an Ethiopian-Jewish beauty, was crowned Miss Israel in 2013. Now, it seems she’s been summoned for reserve duty.
Here’s a photo of Aynaw holding a gun in uniform, tweeted by StandWithUs:

Stop Attacking our Lone Soldiers

This August it will be 10 years since I was released from my mandatory military service and moved into the reserves. Due to the fact that I was serving in the IDF without any immediate family in the country I had the status of ‘lone soldier’. I was 25 when I completed my service. After my release I returned to London where the Mayor of the city at the time, Ken Livingstone, I was shocked when he said the following;
“If a young Jewish boy in this country goes and joins the Israeli army, and ends up killing many Palestinians in operations and can come back, that is wholly legitimate. But for a young Muslim boy in this country, who might think: I want to defend my Palestinian brothers and sisters and gets involved, he is branded as a terrorist. And I think it is this that has infected the attitude about how we deal with these problems.”
Two young Muslim boys did indeed want to defend their Palestinians brothers. They set out on a journey that took them through Syria, the West Bank and Gaza. Their journey ended on Tel Aviv beach in a bar called Mike’s Place. One of them succeeded in detonating the bomb strapped to his body, killing 3 people and wounding 50.

Jackie Mason Slams Anti-Israel Celebs as Anti-Semitic, Ignorant and Stupid

The comments, set to air Sunday on Aaron Klein Investigative Radio on Salem Radio's AM 970 in New York, put him in company with fellow Israel defenders Joan Rivers and Howard Stern.
"[Celebrities] come from these kinds of anti-Semitic, low-class backgrounds where a Jew is the most disgusting thing in the world to them," Mason answers, according to audio obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. "The ironic thing is that it's Jewish people who own these Hollywood studios … And they all hire these people and they depend on them for a living. Every penny they made is made from Jews and they hate every Jew just by nature."
Mason went on to attack celebrities in general for their oversized egos.
"They don't have a conversation unless it's about their next picture," Mason says. "If you say to them, 'There is a war going on,' they probably never heard about it … They don't even know missiles have been raining on Israel every day for no reason anyone can think of … what's happening to Jews, they deserve it. That's all they know."

Jon Voight Pens Letter to 'Ignorant' Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz on Israel: 'Hang Your Heads in Shame'

I am asking all my peers who signed that poison letter against Israel to examine their motives. Can you take back the fire of anti-Semitism that is raging all over the world now?
You have been able to become famous and have all your monetary gains because you are in a democratic country: America. Do you think you would have been able to accomplish this in Iran, Syria, Lebanon, et cetera? You had a great responsibility to use your celebrity for good. Instead, you have defamed the only democratic country of goodwill in the Middle East: Israel.
You should hang your heads in shame. You should all come forth with deep regrets for what you did, and ask forgiveness from the suffering people in Israel.

Mayim Bialik confronts ‘dirty truth’ about being a Zionist

As Twitchy reported, “Big Bang Theory” actress Mayim Bialik reported earlier this week that she’s donated money to purchase bulletproof vests for IDF soldiers. That led to charges of Bialik being a Zionist — a charge to which she’s tweeting a hearty LOL.

Foreign Affairs Minister Baird under fire for Hamas comments

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has come under fire from Human Rights Watch over comments that “Hamas will be solely to blame for any further loss of life” after a Gaza ceasefire quickly unravelled Friday. In a statement , Mr. Baird said Hamas had violated the ceasefire and that Israel was forced to defend itself. “Hamas has lost all credibility, and we must continue to work to isolate this terrorist organization that values death over peace,” Mr. Baird said.
Human Rights Watch issued its own statement, saying Mr. Baird’s comments amounted to a “green light for more unlawful Israeli attacks that kill civilians.”

Vivian Bercovici Canadian Ambassador to Israel

Hamas Co-Founder's Son: Pelosi 'Does Not Care' about Palestinians, Israelis

On Wednesday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel, he reacted to Pelosi’s remarks by saying, “[The] Hamas organization simply is a terrorist organization and she does not care about the lives of Palestinians. She does not care about the lives of Israelis either.”
He also pressed Obama to support Israel: “How many Gaza wars are we going to witness in the future if we don’t stop Hamas now? Israel is in the middle of the job. Let’s help them, let’s support them.”
Yousef also argued, “[The] Hamas movement is not a national organization, and it's not a humanitarian organization. Hamas is a terrorist organization with a humanitarian face to it. Basically Hamas hijacked [the so-called] Palestinian calls [for statehood] to push their political and religious, most importantly, ideological agendas. Hamas does not care. If tomorrow Israel comes to Hamas and say[s] ‘we[‘ll] give you the 1967 borders,’ Hamas is not going to agree [to] that.”

Hagel: Hamas Must Be Disarmed

The Defense Department website provided an account of the call, relayed by Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby:
Kirby said Hagel also reiterated U.S. support for Israel’s security and its right to self defense and said that any process to resolve the crisis in Gaza in a lasting and meaningful way must lead to the disarmament of Hamas and all terrorist groups.
Kirby said Minister Yaalon thanked Hagel for his support for the defense of Israel, in particular the Iron Dome anti-missile system.

Poll: 65 Percent of Americans Agree That Israel “Must Stop” Hamas Terror

A new national poll surveyed 1,010 likely voters between July 21-22, 2014, specifically probing the sources of ongoing support and evaluating the effectiveness of messaging promoted by both proponents and opponents of Israel’s Operation Protective Edge. The poll was conducted completely after Jerusalem had dispatched ground troops into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip to erode the terror group’s tunnel infrastructure and rocket arsenal.
Fifty-four percent of Americans believe that the U.S. should support Israel, with majorities or pluralities across age and political demographics.
Hamas received the most blame for the current conflict, with 39 percent of those surveyed saying that the terror group is the “most responsible” for the fighting in Israel and Gaza. By contrast, just 6 percent of respondents believed Israel bore a majority of the responsibility.

UN chief Ban condemns Hamas violation of cease-fire, capture of IDF soldier

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned on Friday the reported violation by Islamist Hamas militants of a 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and demanded the immediate, unconditional release of a captured Israeli soldier.
"He is shocked and profoundly disappointed by these developments," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. "The secretary-general is deeply concerned about the resumption of Israeli attacks on Gaza."
"The secretary-general urges both sides to show maximum restraint and return to the agreed 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire that tragically lasted such a brief period of time," Dujarric said.

Interfaith Dutch volunteers defend Israel on social media

This was not Divon’s operation. In fact, he and other embassy staff were making only their first visit to the situation room set up by Jewish and Christian volunteers to counter anti-Israel rhetoric online. Community leaders say the effort is unparalleled in Europe and a testament to the vibrancy of Dutch Jewry.
“What you have done here is amazing,” Divon told the group. “I think this is unique in Europe and this is exactly what we need to give us enough time to accomplish what we need in order to ensure the safety of the people of Israel.”
The volunteers at the Buitenveldert situation room began working last week out of the the cafeteria of the local Jewish Cultural Center, which they converted into a space where 80 people can work in two 14-hour shifts each day. The volunteers have created hundreds of posts and articles on Israel, which they disseminate through the Holland4Israel Facebook group and on Twitter, among other social media.

Investigate the UN for War Crimes

Specifically, the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) should be investigated for the crime of hiding weapons in its Gaza schools—offensive weapons, at that, which have no purpose other than killing Israel civilians. Three schools have “discovered” rockets so far, and though UNRWA denies it, Israel suspects UNRWA has given the rockets back to Hamas—the “local authorities.”
“Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action,” as Ian Fleming put it in the James Bond novel Goldfinger. It is highly unlikely that personnel at UNRWA were unaware that Hamas was storing rockets at their schools, especially given the long history of association between UNRWA and Palestinian radicals. Some may have helped enthusiastically.

12,000 Demand U.N. Investigation into Hamas War Crimes

A petition being circulated online with the hopes of forcing the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) into investigating war crimes perpetuated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip has attracted over 12,000 signatories to date.
The petition, started by Oxford University student Eylon Aslan-Levy calls for the United Nations to "Urgently investigate serious violations of international humanitarian law committed by Hamas in the Gaza Strip", citing the indiscriminate firing of missiles into civilian population centres, as well as using Palestinian children as human shields, and more.
The news comes as the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations called on the UN to finally give Hamas the designation is receives in the United States and Israel: a terrorist group.

Israeli Analyst (just Gershon Baskin): Hamas Has 3,000 Elite Soldiers Ready to Die in Suicide Attacks on Israel

An Israeli analyst told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Friday morning that he received information from reliable sources that 3,000 Hamas elite soldiers told their families goodbye and appear ready to carry out suicide attacks on Israel.
Middle East analyst Gershon Baskin said that all the fighters were equipped with suicide vests and that they had expected to die in terrorist attacks.

Hamas Defenders: Don't Call Them Terrorists

A July 14 blog written by Cata Charret on Mondoweiss, a website with a self-described focus on a "progressive Jewish perspective," denounced describing Hamas as a terrorist group as "reductionist and racist," noting they were democratically elected. The Huffington Post's Jonathan Russo called Hamas' terrorist reputation a result of "Israel's mislabeling and misdiagnosis."
"When they threw out Fatah in their 2007 coup they became a sovereign government, rulers of a tiny yet definable enclave. At that moment Hamas went from a terrorist group to a legitimate government," Russo wrote.
That "legitimate government," we now know, diverted millions of dollars that could have helped build Gaza and improve life for its people into building a vast rocket arsenal and tunnel network with one aim – to kill as many Israelis as possible.

We Spoke to the Manager of Gaza’s Finest Hotel

Sitting to the north of Gaza City, right on the gleaming white beach, lies the Al-Mashtal hotel. From the right angle, at the right time of day, this 200-room oasis looks like any other luxury escape. Shimmering palm trees ring an azure blue swimming pool, and a beach view to the north stretches as far as the eye can see. Back in early July, the hotel was priming itself for a decent season, with guests tweeting holiday snaps from the balcony.
But now the Mashtal lies almost empty.
“There are 60 out of the 200 rooms occupied,” says hotel director Farid al-Masry, who spoke to Vocativ on Sunday. “This is approximately 30 percent activity.”
Of the visitors staying in those 60 rooms, most of them are present because of the current war—rather than in spite of it. “Most of the rooms are now occupied by journalists,” al-Masry says. “In total there are 80 to 90 people.”

Hamas Official Praises Palestinians in Gaza for Sacrificing Themselves

Tory Support For Israel Wanes As Senior Conservatives Object To Gaza Action

A top Tory has written to the new Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond demanding he step in to stop Operation Preventive Edge, leading to concerns that the party's support for Israel may be waning. Margot James, who is a Number 10 policy adviser and parliamentary aide to William Hague, has said that Israel's actions are disproportionate, according to the Guardian.
Whilst Ms James claimed she had been a firm supporter of Israel for many years she has called for a much tougher stance on the country. In her letter she wrote: "I ask that the government rethinks policy towards the conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
"The scale of suffering in Gaza is far too great, the loss of life, and particularly the lives of children and other vulnerable individuals, cannot be justified on the grounds of defence in proportion to the level of threat faced by Israel from Hamas."

AP Corrects Unsubstantiated Captions Attributing Beit Hanoun Casualties to Israel

The AP is to be commended for setting the record straight, and for its commitment to getting the facts right on the Beit Hanoun tragedy. The Los Angeles Times, on the other hand, has yet to correct its unsubstantiated captions on the very same topic.

New York Times Slams Its Own Pulitzer-Prize Winning Photographer In Gaza

For anyone who knows anything about photojournalism, the Times’s answer raises some very serious questions about the sanity of the people who are running the newspaper, as well as the paper’s loyalty to one of the greatest photographers of his era who has put his life at risk for the newspaper time and time again in global hot spots and conflict zones.
But according to Eileen Murphy, the Times Vice President for Corporate Communications, the paper’s photographers in Gaza, led by Hicks, are the sole reason for the radical imbalance in the Times photo coverage of the war. Or at least that’s what she told Uriel Heilman of JTA, when he asked the Times to explain why, out of the 37 images that made up the paper’s last 3 slideshows from Gaza, there wasn’t a single image of a Hamas fighter or rocket launch or anything else that might signal to readers that Israel hadn’t simply decided to maim and murder Palestinian children in the coastal enclave for sport.
Incredibly, the first part of Murphy’s answer blamed Times photographers for apparently submitting only a handful of low-quality images:

The Economist Cites False Demographic Stats Against Israel

The Economist has a rather poor record of Israel, so it is no surprise that it leads this week's issue with an anti-Israel article. Among other faulty clichés (Gaza as an "open-air prison," etc.), the newspaper cites demographic claims: "Time is not on Israel’s side. Palestinians may already outnumber Israelis in the lands they share."
That is completely false. Israelis outnumber Palestinians in the historic land of mandatory Palestine (i.e. Israel itself plus the West Bank and Gaza), as do Jews. Demographic projections that suggest Arabs will outnumber Jews are based on numbers that were largely cooked up by Palestinian Authority for propaganda purposes.

The 8 Worst Hamas-Supporting Media

Over the last week, media members have begun echoing the worst libels of Hamas’ propaganda machine – as Hamas undoubtedly believed they would. Hamas has restricted reporter access in Gaza, lied repeatedly about casualties, and used the United Nations as a propaganda tool. None of that has made the press. But Hamas’ lies about Israel targeting civilians somehow have become the prevailing wisdom.
Here are the worst, Hamas-supporting media members over the last week.

Scarborough Blames Israel Again, Blasts Critics

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, host of Morning Joe, blasted his critics as "simpleminded" for objecting to his rant against Israel on Thursday morning. In the show's opening on Friday, Scarborough condemned the "mindless political posturing" of those who complained about his accusation that Israel had killed women and children with "indiscriminate" attacks, and his suggestion that Hamas was not a radical Islamist organization.
Scarborough did not recant or correct these views. Nor did he mention Israel's claims that Hamas had fired from within or near UN facilities that had been hit, allegedly, by Israeli return fire.
Instead, Scarborough argued that he had Israel's best interests at heart--that its actions in Gaza were hurting its international image, as well as restoring Hamas's popularity in the region, and that the United States would also suffer as a result.

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes calls Israeli-Nazi comparison ‘disgusting nonsense,’ faces blowback

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes wasn’t about to accept what he heard today from the speaker at a pro-Palestinian rally — that the Israelis are “worse than the Nazis.” Hayes called the comparison “disgusting nonsense,” and yet some of his followers weren’t so quick to dismiss the analogy.

Stanford University Agitprop Press

The “contribution” of these Stanford Press-sponsored essays to our understanding is that alleged “racism” explains or is “the foundation” of Israel’s Operation Protective Edge. Professor Joel Beinin of Stanford University shares this “powerful” and completely uncorroborated insight. In the process, the good professor makes false charges, overreaches about the sources of Israeli response, as if the response came from the Israeli right only, and fails to consider counterclaims.
None of the essays at the blog – not a single one — mention Hamas (the Islamic Resistance) or its fascist agenda. None mention the firing of thousands of rockets by Hamas into Israel. The diversion of scarce concrete and other resources under Hamas rule in Gaza since 2009 to the construction of terror tunnels is not deemed a subject worthy of attention. The effort by Hamas to cripple the airport of a neighboring sovereign state and halt air traffic is also somehow missed in this collection.

Russell Brand Responds to Hannity, Defends Hamas, Mocks Jesus

In Friday's edition of his daily YouTube "The Trews" post, Russell Brand responded to Sean Hannity's segment Wednesday devoted to "educating" Brand about Hamas. In his latest post, Brand accuses Hannity of distorting the facts on the Gaza war, defends Hamas, saying that there's no evidence they've used human shields, and mocks Jesus.
The Hannity-Brand feud began with Tuesday's "The Trews" post, in which Brand labeled Hannity a "terrorist" for cutting off his guest the night before, followed by a rant in which Brand blamed Israel for the deaths of Palestinian children, arguing that it was Israel, not Hamas that was putting the children at risk:

BBC WS presenter: filmed evidence of Hamas’ misuse of hospitals is ‘rumours on the internet’

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is – as readers are most likely aware – an organisation which since the early days of the second Intifada has been providing financial, logistic and PR support to terrorist organisations which attack Israeli civilians.
One of the ISM’s activists currently located in the Gaza Strip is American Joe Catron who has been very busy in the past three weeks giving interviews to the Iranian regime-run Press TV, putting out propaganda material and acting as a voluntary human shield. Catron’s “standpoint” can be discerned very easily from his use of social media.
As readers also know, the BBC’s editorial guidelines oblige it to inform audiences of an interviewee’s “standpoint” so that his or her contribution can be understood in its correct context. However, when the BBC World Service’s Dam Damon interviewed Joe Catron for the July 31st edition of ‘World Update’ , he failed to inform listeners that Catron is a member of the Hamas-supporting ISM and made no attempt whatsoever to “summarise” his “standpoint” with the result being that listeners were subjected to over three and a half minutes of undiluted Hamas propaganda, supposedly from a ‘neutral’ source.

United Steel Workers 8751 – A Bus Drivers Union That Supports People Who Blow Up Buses

Why are the leaders of the union that represents Boston's school bus drivers siding with terrorists who blow up buses?
For the past year or so, United Steel Workers 8751, which represents the bus drivers who bring children to public schools in the city of Boston, has been in an ugly contract dispute. It’s fighting with a company called Veolia, which runs the school buses for Boston Public Schools.
In an effort to gain support in its fight with Veolia, which also runs bus lines in Israel, USW 8751 leaders have allied themselves with anti-Zionists in Boston. This is particularly true with USW 8751 president Steven Kirschbaum and his second-in-command, vice president Steven Gillis.

Thanks Mr. Government, You Craven Bastard: We Now Have Muslims Shouting Heil Hitler At Jews On Our Streets

Note that the Muslims shout Heil Hitler with the Cops right beside them. Calgary's PD was there to offer cover I assume. Now imagine if you had shouted Mohammed is a pedophile...

Palestinians And Profanity. Calgary, July 31.

Sinn Fein rebukes councillor who called on UN to bomb Israel

John Hearne, a councilman representing the Sinn Fein party in the southeastern city of Waterford, said in a July 18 radio interview that he believed the United Nations should start shelling Israel in a bid to end the latest Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip.
“Well, I’d prefer if the United Nations started shelling Israel,” he told WLR FM.
Sinn Fein on Thursday distanced itself from Hearne’s remarks and noted that the United Nations is not a war-making entity.

More stars risk opinions on Gaza

When director Jonathan Demme was approached to show support for all victims of the conflict in Gaza, he didn’t hesitate to sign on. Actor Wallace Shawn is willing to put up with jeers on the street for his opinions about the violence. And Mark Ruffalo is determined to air his views about the fighting on Twitter, no matter the cost to his social media numbers.
The Israel-Palestinian debate was once considered so delicate a topic, it was pretty much off-limits to celebrities. But in another sign that social media is intensifying how we wrestle with sensitive global issues, stars of all stripes are taking to the Internet to openly discuss the conflict that has killed more than 1,300 people. The result is a high-profile divide rarely seen within the predominantly liberal entertainment community.

Spain: 100s at Anti-Semitic Rally Call to 'Put Fear into Jews'

More disturbing footage has emerged illustrating the recent surge in anti-Semitism in Europe, as Islamists and extremists from both the hard-left and -right of the political spectrum have used the pretext of Israel's military operation in Gaza to engage in violent attacks and incitement against Jews.
The latest video is from an Islamist rally in the Spanish city of Cueta, and shows what looks to be hundreds of Muslims cheering and chanting during an anti-Semitic diatribe by one of the rally's leaders.
Branding Israel "the arm of the United States", the speaker continues: "The Jews, for decades, for thousands of years, have wanted to exterminate the prophets and everyone on the face of the Earth who is not a Hebrew.
"In the Torah of the Jews it says that they are the chosen people... I swear to God that we will put fear into you until judgement day!"

Children suspected of vandalizing Jewish, Christian tombstones near Paris

Children aged 11 and 13 are suspected of vandalizing at least 15 Jewish tombstones and six Christian ones at a cemetery near the French capital.
The three children, two of them 11 years old and the third 13, were taken into custody earlier this week and are awaiting a juvenile court judge review of the charges brought against them, the French-language news site JSSNews.com reported last week.
Police sources told JSSNews that the children were from families of Turkish descent.

International Media Scurry to Anti-Israel Demonstration Only to Find a Handful of Protesters

Photos obtained by Breitbart News showcase the struggle far-left activists are facing in persuading the public to support their anti-Israel rallies. A rally hosted by Code Pink on Wednesday in front of the Israeli embassy appeared to be more populated by journalists covering the protest than protesters themselves.
The protest was sponsored by Code Pink, a radical women’s anti-war organization that shares Communist and Marxist sympathies. Code Pink activists were said to be on the front lines of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
A source told Breitbart News that present among the media were Reuters, the Associated Press, Al Jazeera (anti-Israel, Pro-Muslim Brotherhood network based in Qatar), Al Mayadeen (Pro-Iran and Hezbollah TV station based in Lebanon), and Iranian state-media outlet Press TV.

Anti-Israel Group Project Palestine Flag on UK Parliament

The Daily Mail reports that the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) claimed to have carried out the stunt, in which it project the flag along with the slogans "Free Palestine", "Sanctions Now" and "Stop the Massacre", in an attempt to pressure the British government into taking action against Israel.
Hugh Lanning of the PSC said: "David Cameron has failed to listen to the voices of hundreds and thousands of British people who have taken to the streets. He has failed to stand up for an occupied people being ruthlessly murdered by an occupying power.
"The Prime Minister has weakly accepted the US' political position, which is totally out of step with the mood of this country. It is time for firm action consistent with international law."
However, Jonathan Arkush, vice-president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said the stunt was "offensive to the British public".

Baroness Warsi's Twitter Obsession With Gaza is Dishonest and Poisoning the Minds of Tories

No one really understands what Baroness Sayeeda Warsi – the "Senior Minister of State" at the British Foreign Office, and "Minister for Faith & Communities" – actually does.
It is no secret that this unelected woman was co-opted into the UK Cabinet in David Cameron's vain and racist attempt to have the first female, Muslim minister in British history. But I'm not sure that's what history will remember about her, or about him for that matter.
Instead, if anything at all is recollected about Warsi, it should be her ability to be one of the most tribal, divisive, and counter-productive characters in the modern British government. Her record speaks for itself.
Little surprise then that Warsi went to ground over the Trojan Horse affair, only to resurface to start towing the Hamas line in the latest Israeli action against terrorism in Gaza. She's positively obsessed.

UK MP Tweets Advice to Hamas Following Israeli Soldier Kidnapping

Ward, whose party is part of Britain’s coalition government, tweeted yesterday evening: "# Hamas - you have a prisoner of war - the world is watching you - behave better than #Israel".
His tweet is likely to stoke anger for numerous reasons. First, it is debatable whether Lt Goldin is genuinely a prisoner of war as he was captured during a truce, meaning it would be more accurate to consider him a kidnap victim.
Observers will also be angered by the fact that his tweet insinuates Israel would treat a prisoner of war worse than Hamas, and that he considers a terrorist organisation could behave better than UN-member liberal democracy.

This Week in Stupid: 'Queers for Palestine'

Regardless of your views on gay marriage, gay adoption and so on, I think we can all agree that Israel’s tolerant, liberal society is a much nicer place to live than the barbaric, oppressive, misogynistic and homophobic cultures that seem to spring up wherever radical Islam takes root, and particularly under Hamas in Gaza. After all, for over ten years, gay Palestinians have been fleeing their own country and settling in Tel Aviv, one of the most gay-friendly cities on the planet.
In fact, friendly is an understatement. Israel is positively enthusiastic, as the only liberal democracy in the region, of underscoring its Western credentials and celebrating people of all backgrounds and preferences —provided they’re not insane militants who want to see the Jews scrubbed from the face of the earth, obviously.
So you might imagine that gay Westerners, with an uncensored press and ready access to information about the torture and execution of homosexuals under administrations like Hamas’s, would be reluctant to support barbaric medieval homophobia. Surely they would feel a natural affinity to the permissive democracy in this conflict — not to mention how deliciously dreamy Israeli men are?

The Escalation Of Anti-Semitism In South Florida

Anti-Semitism in South Florida has escalated over the last several years, reaching levels that can no longer be ignored.
On December 30, 2008, approximately 300 pro-Palestinian/Hamas supporters took to the streets of Ft. Lauderdale, FL and were captured on film by Tom Trento, Director of The United West.
In the video, Palestinian protestors were shouting, “Nuke Nuke Israel,” “Go back to the ovens, you need a big oven that’s what you need," “Your mother's a whore”, “Go to hell, Israel," and other epithets, to name only a few. Next, in the middle of all this mayhem, an Imam (Islamic religious leader) leads the protestors in their evening prayer rituals. After the prayer rituals are over the crowd moves in to physically attack the pro-Israel supporters across the street. Mr. Trento writes, “If not for the few brave policemen and former Congressman Allen West, some of these wild Muslims would have attacked innocent, elderly Jews and Christians and hurt them badly.”

Advocating the quenelle?

Attorneys representing the suspected killer of four people in Belgium’s Jewish museum posed for a picture while performing the quenelle gesture, which many believe is an anti-Semitic salute.
A photo showing Sebastien Courtoy and Henri Laquay, the two lawyers representing Mehdi Nemmouche in Brussels, performing the quenelle surfaced this week, the Belgian Het Belang van Limburg local daily reported.
Nemmouche, a 29-year-old French national who is believed to have fought with jihadists in Syria, was extradited this week from France to Belgium to face trial for the May 24 murders at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels. He was arrested on May 30 in the French port city of Marseille during a routine customs inspection, in which he was found to be carrying weapons similar to the ones used in the attack on the museum. He has denied any involvement in the murders.

Allah’s Forehead Sore From Facepalms At Hamas Behavior (satire)

The One True God let His displeasure be known after Hamas, the Islamist terrorist organization that runs the Gaza Strip, exploited a UN-endorsed ceasefire specifically to attack and kidnap an Israeli soldier. The attack today, which represented the latest in a long series of ceasefires violated by Hamas in the current conflict, killed two Israeli soldiers in addition to the one taken hostage.
In a statement to the press, Allah noted that He may seek medical treatment for bruises and abrasions that occur every time Hamas and its ilk engage in barbarous behavior ostensibly in His name, when in fact He desires no such thing. “I wish for My creations to live first and foremost in peace, for peace is the path to Allah,” said the all-powerful One. “Those who believe they can bring peace through the sword must have camel feces for brains,” He added.

--
Posted By Ian to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 8/02/2014 09:10:00 PM