donderdag 29 mei 2014

India's nieuwe minister van buitenlandse zaken fan van Israel

Eens een opsteker voor Israel, te midden van alle kritiek uit het Westen:

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India’s new foreign minister a strong fan of Israel

http://www.timesofisrael.com/indias-new-foreign-minister-a-strong-fan-of-israel/

Sushma Swaraj, the first woman to hold the post, has called the Jewish state ‘a reliable partner’ and admires Golda Meir

BY MARISSA NEWMAN May 27, 2014, 6:23 pm

India's new Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi on May 27, 2014. (photo credit: AFP PHOTO/RAVEENDRAN)

Sushma Swaraj, India’s newly appointed foreign minister, has in the past publicly defended Israel against naysayers, and is said to be a strong admirer of the late Israeli prime minister Golda Meir.

Swaraj also served as chairwoman of the Indo-Israel Parliamentary Friendship Group from 2006 to 2009.

As the first female in that – and many other — political positions in India, Swaraj is said to look to Meir for inspiration. Like Swaraj, Meir had served as foreign minister under prime minister David Ben Gurion in 1956.

Swaraj boasts a long list of accomplishments in her 30-odd-year political career: At the age of 25, she became the youngest cabinet member India has ever voted into parliament; she was also the first female chief minister of Delhi and the first female political spokesperson.

Swaraj’s appointment, along with the election of Narendra Modi as India’s new prime minister, bodes well for Israel’s increasingly warm ties with its South Asian ally.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a congratulatory phone call to Modi following his victory in India’s national elections 10 days ago.

During the call, Netanyahu expressed his admiration for Indian democracy and the two leaders agreed to deepen cooperation between the two countries, according to a Reuters report.

Modi, who heads the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), “has long courted political and trade links with the state of Israel,”according to the International Business Times.

Modi had previously visited Israel as chief minister of Gurajat province, a position he held since 2001. During the trip, he suggested that, “as the possible next prime minister, he could make history by journeying to the Jewish state,” the report read.

“Modi’s ties to Israel, which BJP officials strongly endorse, has turned into a financial bonanza for the western Indian province of Gujarat, where he has served as chief minister for the past 13 years,” the report said.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Nieuw bewijs: Dood 2 Palestijnen in Beituniyah is hoax

Er komt steeds meer info naar buiten die de videobeelden van vorige week in een ander daglicht plaatst. Zeker nu Betselem de complete videobeelden naar buiten heeft gebracht, blijkt dat er sprake is van Pallywood achtige taferelen. Zie ook de posts van Elder of Ziyon onder het MP stuk, waar de bevindingen van MP mede oop zijn gebaseerd.

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Nieuw bewijs: Dood 2 Palestijnen in Beituniyah is hoax

http://missingpeace.eu/nl/2014/05/nieuwe-bewijs-dood-2-palestijnen-in-beituniyah-is-hoax/

Door Missing Peace

Gisteren publiceerde de Israëlische organisatie B'Tselem dan eindelijk de complete videobeelden van de incidenten in Beituniyah tijdens de Naqba herdenking op 15 mei jl. Het gaat om uren video opnamen.

De belangrijkste zaken uit dat verslag worden in de video hieronder goed in beeld gebracht.
Op die video is namelijk goed te zien dat ondanks de bewering dat beide Palestijnen zouden zijn getroffen door echte kogels die hun lichamen hadden doorboord, er geen spoor van bloed is te zien. Niet op hun kleding en ook niet op het asfalt nadat zij werden weggedragen!

Uit alles wat er tot nu toe gepubliceerd is over de incidenten ontstaat het volgende plaatje:

1. De Palestijnse kroongetuige loog over de schoten die hij kort na elkaar hoorde en waarbij beiden zouden zijn gedood. Tussen beide incidenten verstreek een uur en een kwartier.
2. Op alle gepubliceerd videomateriaal is te zien dat alle Israelische soldaten schoten met M16′s die een opzetstuk hadden voor rubber kogels (n,b. men kan dat opzetstuk niet even snel verwijderen).
3. Een kogel die zou zijn gevonden in de rugzak van één van de slachtoffers kan nooit hebben gedaan wat de vader beweerde. Dat was namelijk een onbeschadigde kogel.
4. Een van de Palestijnen valt gestrekt voorover terwijl hij van voren in de borst met een echte kogel zou zijn getroffen. Mensen die worden getroffen door een kogel in de borst krimpen in elkaar.
5. De wijze waarop beide Palestijnen vallen past bij een hit van een rubberkogel.
6. Camera ploegen arriveerden tien minuten voor ieder incident ter plekke.
7. Ondanks de aanwezigheid van al die camera mensen heeft slechts CNN beelden vrijgegeven. Die beelden bewezen dat de IDF met rubber kogels schoot.
8. Een aanwezige Palestijn pretendeerde te zijn getroffen maar liep kort daarna normaal weg terwijl zijn vrienden om een ambulance riepen.
9. Op foto's en video beelden van beide slachtoffers zijn geen kogelgaten waarneembaar in de kleding terwijl er zelfs close up's bestaan.
10. Er is geen spoor van bloed te zien, niet in kleding en ook niet op de grond nadat beiden zijn weggedragen. De pro-Palestijnse organisatie Al Haq maakte echter melding van excessieve bloedingen.
11. Er zijn twee medische rapporten gepubliceerd over de doodsoorzaak van Nadim Nawarah, één van de slachtoffers. In het eerste rapport werd geen melding gemaakt van een kogelwond in de borst. Maar nadat Nadim's vader op TV een kogel liet zien (die duidelijk niet afgevuurd was) en beweerde dat hij die in de rugzak van zijn zoon had gevonden, werd een nieuw medisch rapport gepubliceerd. Daarin werd alsnog melding gemaakt van een kogelwond.
12. Hetzelfde bericht op de website van Al Haq beweert dat Muhammed Salama, een van de slachtoffers, om drie uur precies het ziekenhuis werd binnengedragen en om 3.15 uur stierf op de operatietafel. De klok in de beelden van de beveiligingscamera laat echter zien dat om drie uur de ambulance nog altijd de plek van het incident niet had verlaten.

Het onderzoeksrapport over de dood van de twee Palestijnen moet nog gepubliceerd worden maar nu al is duidelijk dat dezaak alle kenmerken draagt van een hoax.
Bijna exact dezelfde vreemde zaken troffen onderzoekers ook aan toen men de dood van Mohammed Al Durah onderzocht.
Al Durah en zijn vader werden volgens de Palestijnen aan het begin van de Tweede Intifada beschoten door de IDF. Ook dat bleek later niet waar te zijn.
Hetzelfde geldt voor het zogenaamde Gaza strandincident in 2006. Hamas beweerde toen dat een IDF granaat de dood van een heel gezin had veroorzaakt op een strand in Gaza. Later bleek dat een door Hamas geplante mijn de oorzaak was en dat de Palestijnen de lichamen van de slachtoffers hadden ontdaan van ieder bewijsmateriaal.

Zie ook: http://missingpeace.eu/nl/2014/05/doodde-israel-twee-palestijnse-jongeren-tijdens-de-naqba-herdenking/

Dank aan EOZ voor zijn bijdrage aan dit rapport

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A botched attempt at Pallywood: "The Hopper"

More footage taken from the extended "Nakba Day" CCTV video in Beitunia shows an attempt to fake an injury for the cameras that doesn't pan out.

Now that we have established that people faked injuries for the cameras, what else might have been faked?

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Extended "Nakba Day" video shows no blood stains from Israeli bullets

Now that the entire hours-long footage of the CCTV cameras from the Nakba Day incidents in Beitunia are available, interesting facts are emerging.

We can see cameramen arriving at both incident scenes about ten minutes ahead of time, even sitting on the same object directly in front of where the youths are supposedly shot. We see a youth hopping around on one leg, pretending to be injured, and his buddies calling an ambulance over, only to see him walking around normally by the time they arrive.

But here's one thing I thought was a bit more interesting:

The medical reports for both youths claimed that the bullets ripped through their bodies and exited out the other side. We have seen no blood on any of the still photos anywhere near the entrance or exit wounds.

But the video shows that the ground where they were supposedly shot through has no bloodstains at all.

Truly amazing.

By the way, Walla reports that there were two medical reports issued for Nadim Nawarah. In the first there was no exit wound at all, but after his father went on TV claiming to have seen a bullet hole in Nadim's backpack and a (clearly unfired) bullet within, then the medical report was changed to suddenly find an exit wound.

So, what other lies have been given out by the oh-so-ethical Palestinian Arab coroner?

dinsdag 27 mei 2014

Patriarch van Jeruzalem vergelijkt Israel met Herodus en Palestijnen met Jezus

Een kritische beschouwing van de speech die de patriarch van Jeruzalem voor Paus Franciscus hield.

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Latin Patriarch tells Pope that Israel is Herod and Palestinians are Jesus

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.nl/2014/05/latin-patriarch-tells-pope-that-israel.html

The speech given by the Latin Patriarch to the Pope was filled with what can only be considered age-old
Catholic antisemitic imagery.

Holy Father, thank you for the beautiful celebration of the Eucharist here ,where we are so close to the Grotto of the Nativity.

I see a total harmony between your person, your way of leading, your way of addressing the world and the message of Bethlehem. Bethlehem: simplicity, openness, communion, the Divine who becomes incarnate, humbles himself and takes on our human form to be able to love us more.

Yes, a city where, if the Palestinian Arabs would have their way, Jews would be barred - including Rachel's Tomb, which the Patriarch's friends have been trying to usurp from the Jews. How open of them!

It is our wish that your visit will revive in human hearts, the Christmas message, the peace and the warmth of the grotto of Bethlehem.

We fervently hope that your pilgrimage may help each person to experience the greatness of the humility of Bethlehem, to recognise the futility of arrogance and the beauty of childhood and innocence.

"Arrogance" is a codeword among Middle Easterners for Western powers. Iran uses the term most often but it is used by Arabs sometimes as well.

So many children today have been reduced by the great of this world to a life of misery. They are often abandoned, homeless, without parents, and are forced to run around the dusty streets of refugee camps, as they have neither roof nor home to protect them.

Many are young people and children, friends of the child Jesus, who hear the same words spoken to Mary and Joseph “there is no room in the inn”. There is no place for them, neither in the family policy that decides their fate.

Why again are there "refugee camps" in areas under Arab control, including Palestinian Arab control? Why haven't they been replaced with permanent housing? Why have they been treated like dirt for 66 years by their Arab brothers? Why can they not become citizens of their host countries? Why are they considered "refugees" when they live in "Palestine"?

Because the "refugees" are cannon fodder. They are more useful to the cause when they are miserable than when they are happy. The Latin Patriarch has never said a word demanding that they be treated like other Arabs, that they be treated with respect by other Arabs. No, it is easier to keep them homeless to help make the specious comparison between then and baby Jesus and Mary and Joseph, homeless and suffering.

It is worth reminding the world that Israel has tried to build decent homes for the "refugees" and was rewarded with UN resolutions condemning them. The reason for homelessness for 66 years has nothing to do with Israel.

There is no place for children in legislations. Neither do they take part in negotiations for a peace that never finds its way to reach us, a peace that fails to break through the walls of fear and distrust that surround this city. In the footsteps of the Divine Child, our young people have experienced migration, hunger, cold, and also often, the demolition of their homes.

Walls of fear and mistrust? Is the Catholic leader now blaming Jews for not happily embracing being blown to bits by terrorists?

The wall does not "surround" Bethlehem. Not even close.

And once again, he compares Palestinian Arab children to Jesus, and Jews to his oppressors.

Together with you Most Holy Father, today we beg the child Jesus, to expand His grotto to welcome and accommodate the many children who are victims of violence and injustice. How can we forget to pray for the many prisoners in overcrowded prisons…

Prisoners who presumably can be forgiven for their terrorism and murder but those Jews who do not accept Jesus are damned.

They hunger for a piece of bread, yearn for justice and peace, destitute for a welcoming home. We are not yet done with the present-day Herods, who fear peace more than war, who dread the prosperity of families and who are prepared to continue killing.

There you have it. Today's Jews are the Herods while Palestinian Arab children are Jesus.

Most Holy Father, your arrival here was preceded by your reputation as a man of God, as a true leader who knows how to govern, and a true brother for all of us. We, the descendants of the first shepherds, in response to the invitation of the angels, we are with you in Bethlehem to adore the Child and to pay tribute to His parents.

And if the Palestinians are "descendants of the first shepherds" then the Jews are usurpers and thieves.

He is so loving!

Unfortunately, Pope Francis, whether by design or not, echoed one of the Patriarch's points:

And we have to ask ourselves: Who are we, as we stand before the Child Jesus? Who are we, standing as we stand before today’s children? Are we like Mary and Joseph, who welcomed Jesus and care for him with the love of a father and a mother? Or are we like Herod, who wanted to eliminate him? Are we like the shepherds, who went in haste to kneel before him in worship and offer him their humble gifts? Or are we indifferent?

Since the Jews have already been compared to Herod and Palestinians to Jesus, Francis' questions sound a bit too rhetorical.

(h/t Irene)

UPDATE: One of the videos welcoming the Pope says that Jesus was the first Palestinian refugee. (Turn on subtitles.)

De 'zoon van Hamas' keert terug naar Tel Aviv

De zoon van Hamasleider sjeik Hassan Yousef werkte 10 jaar samen met Shin Beth om terroristische aanslagen te voorkomen. Veel dankbaarheid heeft hem dat niet opgeleverd. Hopelijk komt daar verandering in nu zijn verhaal is verfilmd…

Wouter

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The ‘Son of Hamas’ returns to Tel Aviv

Avi Issacharoff meets up again with Mosab Hassan Yousef, the ‘Green Prince’ whose life-saving role as an Israeli agent he first uncovered

http://www.timesofisrael.com/the-son-of-hamas-returns-to-tel-aviv/

BY AVI ISSACHAROFF May 16, 2014, 10:56 am

Mosab Yousef, son of Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem in June 2012. (photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

I notice him a few seconds before he sees me. He’s sitting, leaning on the bar of the New Age coffeeshop in Tel Aviv’s Neve Tzedek neighborhood, drinking a cup of tea and reading an English book. He has the look of a veteran hipster on his face.

I met Mosab for the first time 10 years ago when his father was released from prison. He looked so different then — overweight, glasses, wearing a leather biker’s jacket. Something about his appearance seemed out of place, disconnected from the Hamas world in which he grew up and operated. But in Tel Aviv, in the restaurant with the vegan menu, he fits in as if this was always home.

He turns around and smiles. “Habibi.”

One of the first things that any journalism student learns is that the writer is not the story. He must always remain on the outside. Another is that he must keep a distance from his sources. Don’t connect to them, don’t become buddies.

That’s the theory.

But these rules always have exceptions, and Mosab is the prime example for me. He became a friend. And here I am, writing an article about my friend Mosab, who is in Tel Aviv for the premiere of the documentary about his life, The Green Prince, directed by Nadav Schirman.

And despite the fact that I’ve met Mosab countless times over the years, despite the fact that I know his story inside and out (I revealed it in Haaretz four years ago), he never fails to surprise me.

I look at him and see that something has changed. It’s not just the weight loss that I’d noticed a few days ago at a screening at Jerusalem’s Cinematheque. He was called to the stage there, and went up and down the stairs with a new lightness in his step. I can’t help but smile at how much of a Tel Avivian he looks now. The wild appearance that marked him when I revealed his story had disappeared, and in its place is a humble, more wholesome look.

Mosab Yousef’s autobiographical book ‘Son of Hamas’ (photo credit: Courtesy Tyndale Publishers)

The man who was on a crusade against Islam now seems to be at peace, and focused on other things.

“You were on a jihad against jihad,” I say to him as we get talking again. “How did you calm down?”

Mosab, the “Son of Hamas,” who was a Shin Bet agent for 10 years, who disrupted lethal attacks and uncovered terror cells, tells me how he became a vegan who meditates and does yoga every day. “It changed my life,” he starts.

And so, the beginning of our conversation revolves around healthy food and yoga. He tells me that he reached a point where he decided that he needed to cleanse his body from all the poison that was in it.

“It stabilized me and made me stronger. Mentally and physically. I quit my political activities over the past two years. I made my life healthier and simpler. I cook my vegan food myself, sometimes sleep on the carpet in people’s homes, meditate, and do yoga daily for the past three years. I needed it to deal with the traumas of the past.

Are you single? Do you have relationships?

“I am single. But I am not seeking an Israeli girl. I am also not gay, if your readers were wondering.”

What about your family? Are you in touch with your mother and father?

“Since my story came out [in 2010], I have not spoken with them. I haven’t tried and I don’t want to.”

Mosab knows that I am in touch with his father, Hassan Yousef, the sheikh, through whom I got to know Mosab. He asks me to tell him about our last meeting, a month ago in Ramallah. I say that I am often surprised at how different his father is in public, at rallies and in speeches, than he is in private.

In Tel Aviv, Mosab is staying at one of the city’s hotels, and meeting almost daily with Gonen, or “Captain Louie,” his old Shin Bet handler. Gonen was let go from the Shin Bet after financial irregularities were discovered in his work, some of which had to do with putting up Mosab, his source, in Tel Aviv.

The two men, who became good friends after Mosab left for California and Gonen left the Shin Bet, appeared together at the premiere of the movie. Even on stage, facing hundreds of enthusiastic fans, their body language indicated something comfortable and natural, as if they were brothers, despite the lack of any physical resemblance between the two. One, the son of an IDF general, is fair and full; the other, son of a Hamas chief, is dark and thin.

Mosab had other handlers he doesn’t speak about much. “Captain Ziad had a really sharp mind,” he recalls about one of them. “He was the smartest handler I had. There were others, like Tamer, who were complete failures.”

Why did you leave the Shin Bet?

“Because of their lack of faith in me. Look, for 10 years I was humiliated so many times: agents, handlers, guards, soldiers at checkpoints and even beatings I suffered in order to remove suspicions about me. But the humiliation before I left was the worst. They did not believe me.

“I already wanted to quit because there was a drop in attacks [on Israelis]. It was already in the period when suicide bombings had stopped. I worked with them [the Shin Bet] in order to save human lives. Then they pressured me to stay and one day they decided that I needed to undergo a polygraph examination. I didn’t pass the question about whether I had planned attacks against the State of Israel.

“They held me for a few days in a basement in Jerusalem and claimed I was hiding something big. Only when they did another polygraph, which came out clean, did they release me. Imagine, this is after 10 years of working with them. And it broke me. I promise you, if Gonen had been there and not another handler, I would still be working for the Shin Bet.”

And now, do you enter Israel with ease?

“No, certainly not. I need a visa every time from the consulate, and there is quite a bit of bureaucracy. The movie’s producers helped this time, but it didn’t go any smoother. Just think, I need to request a visa every time to enter a country I served for 10 years.

“I must say, when I am here, I feel a sense of belonging, feel that this is home. I don’t know how to explain it. The people, the streets, the atmosphere, everything is familiar and dear. When I came here during my days as an agent, it was in secret. They covered up my identity. I came in through the window, as it were. This time, I came in through the front door. It’s a wonderful experience.”

Indeed, it is a little strange that this man, who received quite a few promises during his time as an agent, has still not been granted Israeli citizenship or a passport that would allow him to live here as a permanent resident. Mosab himself doesn’t hide his anger toward the state, and the Shin Bet in particular, for — according to him — pressing the FBI to expel him from the United States.

“Was it necessary to fight me this way? For three years, I fought to be allowed to stay in America, because of the Shin Bet pressure to expel me, among other things.”

A court eventually overturned the expulsion order, allowing Mosab to remain in the US.

“I wanted to say to them, to the people responsible for this, that you cannot fight darkness if you are part of it. I don’t like it when justice is violated, and I don’t understand how a state, a government, could do nothing when one of its soldiers is drowning. If this is how it acts toward its soldiers, how will it act toward its enemies?”

If we’re on the subject of darkness…. In the movie, you talk, for the first time, about the rape you suffered at the age of 5 or 6. Why now?

“It seems I was ashamed, despite the fact that I had nothing to be ashamed of. I was raped by someone in my extended family, and part of my moving beyond the incident was that I forgave him. The forgiveness helped me recover. I could have taken revenge. When I grew up, I had a gun, I had people, I could have slaughtered him — but I forgave him. And this came from a place of strength, not weakness. It’s part of my worldview. And today he is married with children. No doubt, I felt embarrassment for a long time.

“And when I worked for Israel, that was perhaps considered an embarrassment. But I’m telling you, there is no shame in saving human life, Israeli and Palestinian. In the end, I did it all out of a great love for people, and the same goes for what I’m doing today. I love my life, and want to continue to spread this message of love.”

How do you deal with all the accusations against you from Palestinians? They call you a traitor, a spy, everything.

“I don’t take it too hard. I can’t control the thoughts of others. Our truth is warped, because our minds are too narrow to absorb things we don’t understand. I don’t see myself as a hero, nor as a traitor. I am a person who grew up in difficult circumstances, and I believe I made the right decisions.

“I look at my case and I see injustice. I see a family and blood relations that were broken because of politics. I see a father who sacrificed his son, and a son who betrayed his father. And what comes to mind is that personal circumstances don’t distinguish between Palestinian and Israeli. Injustice is found everywhere. I am not fighting only for myself. I want to believe that what I am doing now, here, in spreading my story, is worth fighting for, and that all I have fought for, my great sacrifice, won’t be for naught.”

Mosab and I go our separate ways. Maybe we’ll meet again during this visit, maybe not. But I am certain that at our next meeting as well, he’ll surprise me: another story I did not know, another dark, or bright, corner of his life I was not aware of.

Avi Issacharoff over aanval op hem tijdens Nakba Dag

Een Israelische journalist werd bijna gelyncht tijdens een nakba demonstratie in Palestijns gebied. Maar terwijl de twee Palestijnse jongens die op dezelfde dag werden gedood volop media aandacht kregen, heb ik hier niks over gelezen of gehoord in de media.

What is different, over the past few months, is that our relationship with Palestinian journalists has changed, cracked. My mentor Danny Rubinstein once said that, during the 100 years of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, two sectors maintained their deep cooperation: the criminals and the journalists. And he was right. But the situation has changed of late.

For almost 14 years, I have been reporting Middle East affairs, and mainly the Palestinian arena. I’ve covered funerals, demonstrations, the lot. I’ve met with dozens of armed, wanted men. I’ve been at mass gatherings in Gaza, where tens of thousands of Hamas supporters, hundreds of them brandishing weapons, called out, “Death to Israel.” And yet, an incident like Friday’s had never happened to me.

That’s my obligation, and that of my colleagues. If we don’t do it, Israel’s capacity to ignore what goes on in the territories will only deepen, until there is violence of a whole different order.

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Yes, my life was in danger. No, I won’t stop doing my job

http://www.timesofisrael.com/yes-my-life-was-in-danger-no-i-wont-stop-doing-my-job/

A day after The Times of Israel’s Avi Issacharoff was attacked at a Palestinian demonstration, he reflects on a terrible feeling of helplessness, and an abiding conviction to keep on reporting

BY AVI ISSACHAROFF May 17, 2014, 4:40 pm

Footage from Walla! News camerman Daniel Book's coverage of the Beitunia demonstration at which Avi Issacharof was attacked on May 16, 2014 (Walla! News screenshot)

Friday’s attempt by several dozen Palestinians to attack this Times of Israel correspondent and his cameraman colleague while we were covering a Nakba Day demonstration next to Beitunia, west of Ramallah, didn’t particularly surprise me. Neither does it surprise my Israeli colleagues. For quite some time, those of us Israeli journalists reporting on the Palestinian scene have been finding it increasingly difficult to be “there” in the heart of the action in the West Bank, in the Palestinian cities. We’ve been threatened increasingly frequently, told to get out, to go away.

Partly this stems from an initiative of a group of Palestinian journalists, with political pretensions, to “punish” their Israeli colleagues for the fact that they are denied access to Israel. And it should be stressed, the ban on some of the Palestinian reporters from entering Israel is a phenomenon to be condemned and halted. Nonetheless, the means employed by these young Palestinian journalists to protest this ban — by trying to bar Israeli reporters from Palestinians areas — helps no one.

Keeping Israeli journalists from the West Bank’s Area A — fully controlled by the Palestinian Authority — will not lead to the lifting of the ban on Palestinian journalists from Israel, unfortunately.

What these young Palestinian journalists may not recognize is that for the authorities, the entry of Israeli journalists to PA areas is a headache they’d like to be rid of. More than this, the effort to kick Israeli journalists out of PA areas has created a violent, incendiary atmosphere against us. Almost all of my Israeli colleagues have felt, on their flesh, unpleasant incidents, to put it mildly, of late. Myself included.

But on Friday, a certain red line was crossed. On Friday, the threats and the hostile atmosphere escalated into real violence and, in my case, to an attempt to lynch me.

So what exactly happened there? Very unfortunately, the incident began at the initiative of people who identified as Palestinian journalists. Two of them — one named Ahmed Ziada, who agreed to be named; and the second, a young woman who I suspect is not a journalist at all — approached my cameraman colleague, Daniel Book. (Looking at the footage later, I saw what seemed to be the same young woman, her face masked, carrying a Palestinian flag.) When Daniel acknowledged that he was an Israeli cameraman, the young woman and another man — who I believe is a European, not a Palestinian — ordered him to get out of the area, and moved him to the outskirts of the demonstration.

I went over to Ahmed Ziada, who pushed me forcefully away, and told me to get out. I then turned to the young woman and the second man, and asked them to leave Daniel alone and talk to me if they had a problem. (Daniel does not speak Arabic.)

From there, things got rapidly worse. I explained to the two that, on the basis of understandings recently reached by journalists from both sides, there was no reason why we Israelis should not be covering the event. They argued with me, and told me to get lost.

In retrospect, it may have been foolish of me to argue at all, and I should have taken Daniel and simply left. Evidently I made a mistake; I refused to leave.

The young woman, while making threatening gestures, told me that she was going to call somebody, and she made a phone call. Whoever she was speaking to apparently told her that there was nothing wrong with our being there.

But as she completed the call and explained to her friend that “it’s ok,” I found myself surrounded within seconds by dozens of young people, masked and not masked, waving their fists and calling still more people over.

From nowhere, two older Palestinian men arrived, and demanded that the young crowd that had been trying to hurt me, let me go. The crowd was pulling me one way; the two older Palestinians, the other.

There were some shouts for violence and then fists were raised. One young Palestinian brandished his fist in front of my face, and I shouted at him not to even think about it. The atmosphere was one of near-lynch, and the two older Palestinians continued to shout out in all directions that I be left alone. “He’s with us,” they shouted.

I was extremely worried about Daniel. I couldn’t see him, and I was surrounded by the mob and the two older Palestinians. Some people were screaming out to hurt me; others were saying that I should be left alone.

I remember lots of faces of people I believe were foreign correspondents — watching and staring and doing nothing.

And then someone attacked me from behind, kicking me. Two others joined in, beating me on my back and leg. That’s all. They didn’t hit me in the face, and I wasn’t hurt in any other way.

The feeling of sheer impotence was dreadful. I knew I was at the mercy of the two older Palestinians. I didn’t know who they were or where they had come from. And it wasn’t clear to me how they then convinced the mob — almost by force — to let me get into my car with them. I still didn’t know what had become of Daniel.

A few seconds later, though, I spotted him, and he got into the car. Then the young Palestinians began hitting the vehicle. By then, I had started the engine and we were driving away, accompanied by my two life-savers.

As we drove, I learned that they were members of the PA security forces, from the General Intelligence apparatus. When we reached their headquarters, the area commander and his men tried to calm us down. They gave us lots of coffee, tea, sweets and cigarettes, as they sought to ease the tension.

An hour later, I was back on the Israeli side of the crossing point.

In the hours since then, I have been asked whether I was in danger. Let me put it this way: Had it not been for the two Palestinian security personnel, the incident would have ended more seriously. Far more seriously. The PA intelligence people share this assessment, and I know that the IDF has come to the same conclusion.

Yes, I felt that my life was in danger. Yes, I felt absolutely helpless during those seconds when, from nowhere, a mob descended upon me, bent on doing me harm. That’s a feeling that leaves me particularly angry.

Another question I’ve been asked in the last few hours is whether I’ll go back to the Palestinian areas to cover events. The answer is a definitive yes. I know this may not be the obvious answer. But my conviction has not wavered that my job, my journalistic mission, must continue, in order to inform the Israeli and international public about Palestinian reality. That includes the bad — including the Palestinian youths and “journalists” who tried to do me harm — and the good, of which there is plenty, including those two men who saved my life and those youngsters who called out not to harm me.

Nadim Nawarah kreeg een rubberen kogel in zijn been

Elder of Ziyon is de zaak in detail aan het uitzoeken, en komt daarbij interessante zaken tegen: Een van de gedode Palestijnen zou met een rubberkogel in zijn been zijn geschoten. Dat verklaart de val naar voren, die hij met zijn handen brak, en ook de manier waarop hij op de grond naar opzij rolde (om het geraakte been te ontzien). Dat roept de vraag op hoe hij even later dood kon zijn, en of hij dat wel was. Ook de dood van de andere Palestijn roept veel vragen op. Elder besluit met:

It would be wonderful if all the news agencies who were on the scene would release their full video and photo archives from May 15 so they could be examined by third parties, and not only when they think they can support their own narrative as CNN did.
And I want to make it clear that if the border police did use live fire against regulations I would want to see serious punishments meted out. So far, out of all the footage released from news agencies as well as on YouTube, I have not yet seen a single firing of live ammunition.

To be continued...

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Nadim Nawarah was shot in the leg by a rubber bullet

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.nl/2014/05/nadim-nawarah-was-shot-in-leg-by-rubber.html#.U4SxADaKDcs

Q: Who falls forward when they are shot from the front?
A: People who are shot in their legs.

By looking at the video I made recently showing Nadim Nawarah's fall synchronized with CNN's video showing Israeli police shooting what is undoubtedly a rubber bullet*, it is clear that he was hit with something. His fall comes at the same time that everyone else around him reacts instinctively to the sound of the shot; he is not play-acting as too-many Israeli "experts" are claiming.

Nawarah gets thrown off balance by being shot in his right leg or thigh. He takes weight off the injured leg, causing him to fall, breaking his fall with his hands. He then pivots to his back as he is falling to avoid his injured leg being further hurt.

Once you realize that he was not shot in the chest, all the other questions people are raising about this video are answered. He wasn't faking falling - he was really shot, but not by live fire.

A small piece of evidence, not definitive but supportive, comes from the high res photo taken during the two seconds he was alone on the ground. It shows an indentation on his pants that would be consistent with a rubber bullet. I would bet there is a large red welt beneath that indentation.

Now, what happened afterwards? I have no idea. If I am right - and I am convinced I am, at least in Nawarah's case - then you have no choice but to say that either he was shot after this incident in the chest, or another dead body was buried, and either this isn't Nawarah or that other person isn't Nawarah.

It is very difficult to say that he was shot in the ambulance or in the hospital or another body was found (actually, two bodies.) As I've said before, I dislike conspiracy theories. However, to believe that Israeli troops disobeyed orders and shot with live fire is a conspiracy theory as well. One way or another, there is a coverup going on, and Arabs in the territories are far less likely to publicly break with the official line than Israelis are.

This doesn't explain the other people shot, of course. We have one more dead person, Muhammad Salama, and one seriously injured person Muhammad Abdallah ‘Azza both of whom were allegedly shot by live fire. But the Nadim Nawarah scam - because on some level that's what it is - puts questions on the entire narrative.

As far as Muhammed Salama, the youth with the green Islamist flag, is concerned, I am having a hard time reconciling the coroner report with the video of his shooting. Here is the CCTV video of him.

He is allegedly shot from the unseen IDF position, which is around the corner from him from the camera's perspective (h/t Yenta)

The coroner report said "the bullet entered the right side of Muhammad’s back and exited the body from his left parasternal area."

I don't see, from that angle and the direction he was walking, how a bullet could have entered his right side and exited his left, unless it changed trajectory within his body (which is certainly possible.) That is hardly strong evidence that he wasn't shot by live fire from the Israelis, but it is something to research.

A further anomaly is that the CCTV videos show Salama shot at 2:58, still lying there at 2:59, yet the medical report says "Muhammad was admitted to the emergency room at the Palestine Medical Complex at 3:00 pm. Immediately upon arrival, he underwent a thoracotomy in which it was discovered that his heart was damaged. At 3:15 pm, after a failed attempt at resuscitation, Muhammad was announced dead." That seems to be a very short timeframe.

It would be wonderful if all the news agencies who were on the scene would release their full video and photo archives from May 15 so they could be examined by third parties, and not only when they think they can support their own narrative as CNN did.

And I want to make it clear that if the border police did use live fire against regulations I would want to see serious punishments meted out. So far, out of all the footage released from news agencies as well as on YouTube, I have not yet seen a single firing of live ammunition.

*In my video I mistakenly focused on the shooter to the furthest right. As Ray in Seattle notes in the comments, it was actually a shooter to his right/our left that fired the rubber bullet that felled Nawarah. It is equally clear that his gun has the rubber bullet attachment.