Verklaringen IDF soldaten over Gaza Oorlog: "Het is zij of wij"

Heeft u iets gehoord of gelezen over de op het nippertje verijdelde mega aanslag in Haifa? Nee? Dat komt omdat alle ruimte voor het Midden-Oosten werd gereserveerd voor de verklaringen van sommige soldaten van het Israelische leger over het doodschieten van Palestijnse burgers, of opblazen van huizen voordat absoluut zeker is dat zich er geen burgers bevinden. Of anders wel aan bespiegelingen over het fascistoide karakter van de nieuwe Israelische regering of een pleidooi Israelische producten te boycotten.

 

RP

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Purity of arms

Mar. 22, 2009, THE JERUSALEM POST - Editorial

 

Had the car containing 40 kilograms of explosives detonated shortly after 9:20 p.m. Saturday at the outdoor car park adjacent to Haifa's Lev Hamifratz mall, the death toll would have been shockingly high - the equivalent, the bomb squad said, of seven or eight suicide bombers. Fortunately, the device malfunctioned and was discovered before Palestinian terrorists could turn a night at the mall into a murder-filled nightmare.

 

The incident reminds us Israelis of what we are up against: an enemy whose main modus operandi is anti-civilian warfare, necessitating that we guard everything from schools and supermarkets to cinemas and hospitals.

 

Many observers are fascinated by how a largely tolerant Western society, the epicenter of Jewish civilization, manages to function in an environment of relentless belligerency. When those outsiders combine empathy with insight, they tend to judge Israel as a work-in-progress worthy of encouragement despite its multitude of imperfections.

 

But starry-eyed idealists - at home and abroad - hold Israel to a different standard: Do we conduct ourselves 24/7 as paragons of virtue unhindered by the character flaws that burden ordinary mortals? And when - surprise, surprise - we fall short of this yardstick, they denigrate us as being no better than our enemies.

 

 

HOW ELSE to evaluate the so-called testimonies of troops who served in Gaza, solicited and disseminated by Dani Zamir, founder of the Yitzhak Rabin pre-military preparatory course at Oranim Academic College outside Haifa? They allege that due to "loose rules of engagement" several Palestinian civilians were needlessly killed during Operation Cast Lead.

 

In one of the two most egregious cases, an IDF sharpshooter mistakenly shot a Palestinian mother and her two children. A soldier in Zamir's discussion group, however, felt the sharpshooter hadn't felt "too bad about it." In the second case, a Palestinian woman described as "elderly" was shot at 100 meters as she approached an IDF position (Was she suspected of being a suicide bomber? Zamir's testimonies don't say).

 

These "revelations" received three consecutive days of page 1 coverage in Haaretz, and were also featured in Friday's Ma'ariv, even though Zamir was disinclined to reveal the identities of his "witnesses." And whether the men who took part in his discussion session were aware their remarks would be publish as "testimony" is unclear.

 

Zamir's secular young people appeared perturbed by the presence of IDF chaplains in the field, and by the esprit de corps of the religiously observant soldiers.

While the BBC gave scant coverage to the attempted attack in Haifa, it played up Zamir's claims: "Israel troops admit Gaza abuses... including cold-blooded murder."

 

The International Herald Tribune led its Friday paper with "Grim testimony on Israeli assault: Soldiers report killing of unarmed civilians in Gaza." And London's matchless Independent splashed its entire front page with "Israel's dirty secrets in Gaza."

 

AS Post diplomatic reporter Herb Keinon noted in the Friday paper - alongside our own coverage of the allegations - Zamir is a man with an agenda. He was sentenced to 28 days in a military lock-up for refusing to protect West Bank settlers. Should the Kibbutz Movement deem him a worthy exemplar to prepare its youngsters for induction into the IDF?

 

Zamir's "witnesses" see themselves as virtuous upholders of liberal values, and the comrades-in-arms they criticize as religious fanatics, bloodthirsty and fascist.

More "revelations" are coming to light. Channel 10 unearthed a company commander who instructed his men as they were about to go into battle: "I want aggressiveness - if there's someone suspicious on the upper floor of a house, we'll shell it. If we have suspicions about a house, we'll take it down…If it is us or them, it will be them."

 

Gosh! How would Zamir have reacted to Gen. George S. Patton's famous line: "Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his…."

 

Zamir's uncorroborated claims help blur the distinction between "us and them." But we don't set out to kill innocents - and if we do, our society feels anguish. They set out to kill civilians - and when they fail, they're disappointed.

 

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This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1237727508339&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

 

Melanie Philips over de Haaretz blood libel

Het wordt hieronder wel wat gebagatelliseerd, maar het is goed ons te realiseren dat er nog niks is bewezen en het in feite ook maar om enkele gevallen gaat, waarop andere soldaten zeiden zaken wel te herkennen, of zeiden dat er een algehele sfeer was waarin bepaalde dingen mogelijk waren, maar feiten zijn er eigenlijk weinig. Het is zeker niet terecht nu te stellen dat 'het leger' het leven van Palestijnen niks waard achtte en de huizen van Palestijnen om niks vernielde. Er lijken veel verschillen te zijn: soldaten en officieren die zeer strak hechtten aan de morele codes en zij die het minder nauw namen, ofwel omdat de codes gewoon niet altijd voor 100% zijn na te leven ofwel omdat zij waren afgestompt en - als gevolg van de Hamas strategie het verschil tussen burger en strijder zoveel mogelijk uit te wissen - dit verschil niet altijd meer maakten.

Zie ook op IMO: De ethiek van het IDF in de Gaza Oorlog

 

RP

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The Ha'aretz Blood Libel

Melanie Philips

Sunday, 22nd March 2009
www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/3464331/the-haaretz-blood-libel.thtml


On his eponymous BBC TV show this morning, I listened open-mouthed as Andrew Marr invited Tory foreign affairs spokesman William Hague to express his views about the pretty appalling looking reports coming out of Israel where members of the Israeli Defence Force who were involved in the Gaza operation have talked about effectively being told to shoot at civilians.

Hague replied:

  Well those are absolutely appalling stories. There is no question about that. We don't yet know the truth of them. I think it's very important to say that. This is evidence that now has to be looked at, of course, by Israel's military investigations unit; and it is a good thing that Israel does have provision for that, for investigating these things and for bringing to book any who were responsible for behaving in such a way. But we will expect. I think across the world, we will expect Israel to deal decisively with anybody who committed such crimes. It will be very important for Israel to do that if it is to keep any moral authority in these situations in the future. So we're all appalled by that and we hope that it will be dealt with.

Of course Hague was careful to say the truth of this evidence was not yet known. But there is no evidence.  So far, there is simply nothing to prove or disprove from these reports of the soldiers' discussion carried in Ha'aretz last week, here and here -- just innuendo, rumour and hearsay, demonstrably (read the second account) wrenched out of context and refracted through the patent prejudice of the soldiers' instructor Danny Zamir, an ultra-leftist who had previously been jailed for refusing to guard settlers at a religious ceremony and who said of the soldiers who spoke at the meeting in question that they  reflected an atmosphere inside the army of 'contempt for, and forcefulness against, the Palestinians.'

So what are these pretty appalling looking reports and absolutely appalling stories?

There are precisely two charges of gratuitous killing of Palestinian civilians under allegedly explicit orders to do so. One is what even Ha'aretz made clear was an accidental killing, when two women misunderstood the evacuation route the Israeli soldiers had given them and walked into a sniper's gunsights as a result. Moreover, the soldier who said this has subsequently admitted he didn't see this incident - he wasn't even in Gaza at the time - and had merely reported rumour and hearsay.

The second charge is based on a supposedly real incident in which, when an elderly woman came close to an IDF unit, an officer ordered that they shoot her because she was approaching the line and might have been a suicide bomber. The soldier relating this story did not say whether or not the woman in this story actually was shot. Indeed, since he says 'from the description of what happened' it would appear this was merely hearsay once again. And his interpretation was disputed by another soldier who said:

  She wasn't supposed to be there, because there were announcements and there were bombings. Logic says she shouldn't be there. The way you describe it, as murder in cold blood, that isn't right.

So two non-atrocity atrocities, then. What else?

Soldiers mouthing off -- in conversations of near-impenetrable incoherence - that instructions to kill everyone who remained in buildings designated as terrorist targets after the IDF had warned everyone inside to get out amounted to instructions to murder in cold blood. There cannot be an army in the world which would not issue precisely such instructions in such circumstances, where Hamas had boasted it had booby-trapped the entire area.

Gloating graffiti left in the houses of presumed terrorists.

Tasteless T-shirts emblazoned with motifs crowing about killing, condemned immediately by the IDF.

Rabbis distributing to soldiers psalms and religious opinions about the conflict.

That's it. Not one single verifiable actual incident of intentional killing of civilians. No evidence whatever of any such rogue incidents -- let alone any order by the IDF to tear up its actual rules of engagement which forbade the deliberate targeting of civilians. Talk by one soldier about the IAF having killed a lot of people before the soldiers went in contradicted by another who said:

  They dropped leaflets over Gaza and would sometimes fire a missile from a helicopter into the corner of some house, just to shake up the house a bit so everyone inside would flee. These things worked. The families came out, and really people [i.e., soldiers] did enter houses that were pretty empty, at least of innocent civilians. [my emphasis]

Funny sort of unethical military behaviour, that goes to some lengths to empty houses of civilians before storming them. Indeed, the soldiers' discussion contains more such material totally contradicting the impression of gross violations of ethics. Such as this:

  'I am a platoon sergeant in an operations company of the Paratroops Brigade. We were in a house and discovered a family inside that wasn't supposed to be there. We assembled them all in the basement, posted two guards at all times and made sure they didn't make any trouble. Gradually, the emotional distance between us broke down - we had cigarettes with them, we drank coffee with them, we talked about the meaning of life and the fighting in Gaza. After very many conversations the owner of the house, a man of 70-plus, was saying it's good we are in Gaza and it's good that the IDF is doing what it is doing.

  The next day we sent the owner of the house and his son, a man of 40 or 50, for questioning. The day after that, we received an answer: We found out that both are political activists in Hamas. That was a little annoying - that they tell you how fine it is that you're here and good for you and blah-blah-blah, and then you find out that they were lying to your face the whole time.

  What annoyed me was that in the end, after we understood that the members of this family weren't exactly our good friends and they pretty much deserved to be forcibly ejected from there, my platoon commander suggested that when we left the house, we should clean up all the stuff, pick up and collect all the garbage in bags, sweep and wash the floor, fold up the blankets we used, make a pile of the mattresses and put them back on the beds.

  ... 'There was one day when a Katyusha, a Grad, landed in Be'er Sheva and a mother and her baby were moderately to seriously injured. They were neighbors of one of my soldiers. We heard the whole story on the radio, and he didn't take it lightly - that his neighbors were seriously hurt. So the guy was a bit antsy, and you can understand him. To tell a person like that, 'Come on, let's wash the floor of the house of a political activist in Hamas, who has just fired a Katyusha at your neighbors that has amputated one of their legs' - this isn't easy to do, especially if you don't agree with it at all. When my platoon commander said, 'Okay, tell everyone to fold up blankets and pile up mattresses,' it wasn't easy for me to take. There was lot of shouting. In the end I was convinced and realized it really was the right thing to do. Today I appreciate and even admire him, the platoon commander, for what happened there. In the end I don't think that any army, the Syrian army, the Afghani army, would wash the floor of its enemy's houses, and it certainly wouldn't fold blankets and put them back in the closets.'

This is what instructor Danny Zamir described as 'contempt for, and forcefulness against, the Palestinians.'

No mention of any of that in the world's media, is there? Do you think Andrew Marr or William Hague read those bits? Do me the proverbial. All they've picked up and run with is the lazy and malicious boilerplate carefully spun by Ha'aretz: rumour and hearsay about two incidents related by two soldiers (one of whom wasn't even in Gaza) -- one an accidental killing, the other maybe not a killing at all -- plus some wild mouthing-off by soldiers, some unpleasant graffiti, ditto T-shirts, plus some leaflets by unidentified rabbis making statements that carry no weight with the IDF or reflect Israeli policy whatsoever.

On that basis, however, it's proof positive for the likes of Andrew Marr, William Hague, the New York Times, Guardian, Independent, BBC and Uncle Tom Israelbasher and all, that yes!! Israel is now shown (unless specifically disproved -- and how do you disprove something for which  no evidence is offered whatever?) to have been committing atrocities after all in Gaza; and so has now forfeit what remains of its moral authority, which was already hanging by a thread as a result of all the previous blood libels, and almost certainly its right to exist at all.

This is not just bigotry. It is medieval witch-hunt territory. And it's global.

Shas sluit zich aan bij coalitie Netanjahoe

Het lijkt moeilijk voor te stellen wat Labor te zoeken heeft in een dergelijk rechts kabinet, en ook waarom Netanjahoe Labor er zo graag bij wil hebben. Labor geeft de regering meer aanzien in het buitenland, en het werkt in Israel zo dat men altijd een partij meer zoekt dan strikt noodzakelijk zodat de regering niet valt wanneer een partij eruit stapt, iets wat nogal eens voorkomt. Maar de verschillen op zowel sociaal economisch gebied als wat betreft de 'Palestijnse kwestie' lijken toch onoverbrugbaar.

RP

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Shas signs coalition deal with Likud, giving Netanyahu 53 MKs
Gil Hoffman , THE JERUSALEM POST

Mar. 23, 2009
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1237727509812&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

 

 

Shas became the second party to join Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu's government Sunday night, Army Radio reported just after midnight.

According to the report, Shas chairman Eli Yishai will take the Interior Ministry portfolio as part of the agreement.

The deal also guarantees the Shas the Construction and Housing, and Religious Services portfolios. The party gave up its attempt to appoint a minister for haredi education and instead will receive a minister-without-portfolio in the Prime Minister's Office.

Netanyahu now has a coalition of 53 MKs in hand from Likud, Israel Beiteinu and Shas. Coalition talks will continue on Monday with Labor, United Torah Judaism and Habayit Hayehudi.

The party will also have a deputy minister in the Finance Ministry.

Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert lashed out during a cabinet meeting at the possible political alliance between Netanyahu and Labor chairman Ehud Barak, saying that anyone not working off the premise of two states for two peoples is "deluding themselves and the public."

Olmert said that if the new government did not actively pursue the formation of a Palestinian state, it would lead to international isolation and an unprecedented diplomatic crisis that could cause Israel "irreparable damage."

He asked how it would be possible to work productively with the international community on other issues, such as Iran, and not accept the international consensus of the need for a two-state solution.

"A government whose basis is not saying 'two states for two peoples'... will find itself bearing responsibility for a great calamity," Olmert told the cabinet.

"History will not forgive those who know the truth in their hearts but ignore it for extraneous considerations that have nothing to do with the good of the country."

When Barak entered the room, Olmert said he was not referring to anyone personally. But it was clear to the ministers that he had been talking about Barak, whom he has loathed since the Labor chairman forced his resignation from the premiership last year.

The Likud expressed outrage at Olmert for interfering with Netanyahu's efforts to form a national-unity government with Labor by the April 5 deadline. Netanyahu's associates expressed confidence that the coalition would be finalized next week.

"Olmert's hatred for Barak has made him go insane," a senior Likud source said. "He cares more about preventing Barak from remaining defense minister than about what is good for the country, which is a national-unity government as soon as possible."

Barak's office accused Olmert of a "pathetic attempt to harm the defense minister in any way possible and at any price" and called on Olmert to "leave quietly."

Sources close to Barak also expressed anger at Olmert for trying to persuade Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog not to support Labor joining the government.

Herzog's office confirmed a report by Channel 1's Ayala Hasson that Olmert had spoken to the minister outside the cabinet meeting and told him not to back Barak's effort to bring Labor into Netanyahu's government.

Herzog, who is Barak's No. 2 in Labor, remains undecided, and his decision is key ahead of Tuesday's decisive party convention.

In a lengthy meeting with Barak on Sunday, Herzog told him that since February's election, he had leaned toward entering the opposition. He issued a series of demands on socioeconomic and diplomatic issues and requested in-depth answers in the coalition agreement that Labor and Likud would draft.

Herzog's associates would not reveal any of the conditions, but stressed that they had nothing to do with cabinet portfolios. They denied a Channel 10 report that he had asked for Labor's second-best portfolio.

The report said that to satisfy Herzog, the Labor portion of the former Labor and Social Affairs portfolio could be returned to his present portfolio from its current home in the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry.

Barak appointed a coalition negotiating team on Sunday composed of Histadrut chief Ofer Eini, Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon and attorney Alon Gellert, who served as chief legal adviser to the Prime Minister's Office under Barak. Barak met with the team on Sunday night and briefed them about agreements he had already reached with Netanyahu in their recent closed conversations.

The team is expected to meet with the Likud's negotiators on Monday morning.

MKs in Labor who oppose joining the government lashed out at Barak for forming a negotiating team before the central committee meeting.

"A Labor chairman has never appointed a negotiating team without permission from his party's institutions," the MKs said in a joint statement. "This is a violation of democratic norms and an attempt to force a fait accompli on the convention."

Sources close to Barak confirmed that the aim of negotiating the principles of a deal with Likud before Tuesday was to avoid having to hold two separate committee meetings, one to authorize beginning negotiations and another to approve a coalition deal. The draft will be presented at the convention.

Barak attempted on Sunday to end speculation that he would leave Labor and enter Netanyahu's government as a professional appointment if he lost Tuesday's vote. According to Israel Radio, Netanyahu told Labor MKs he was not interested in appointing Barak if he did not bring several Labor MKs with him.

"You should direct the question to those who threatened to split more than once and not to me," Barak said when asked whether he'd stay in Labor if he lost the vote. "The answer is positive and obvious."

Simhon, who is close to Barak, went further, telling Israel Radio, "There is no chance in the world that Barak will split from Labor. There is no danger, even if his view isn't accepted. Barak has no intention of splitting."

Herb Keinon and Jpost.com staff contributed to this report.

Israel staat bijeenkomst gevangen Hamas leiders toe

Israel hoopt zo wellicht alsnog op een versoepeling van het standpunt van Hamas betreffende een gevangenenruil? De leiders die gevangen zitten willen natuurlijk graag vrijkomen.

 

RP

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Ma'an Exclusive: Israeli officials allow jailed Hamas leaders to meet
Date: 22 / 03 / 2009  Time:  20:45
www.maannews .net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=36619

 

Bethlehem - Ma'an Exclusive - Israeli prison officials allowed jailed Hamas leaders to meet and discuss the issue of captured soldier Gilad Shalit on Sunday, according to a source familiar with the event.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the source told Ma'an that a meeting was held in the Negev prison and was attended by members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, the Hamas-affiliated Al-Qassam Brigades, and other prominent figures and former government ministers.

Israeli prison authorities had apparently responded to a request by the Hamas officials, many of them jailed at separate prisons, to hold the meeting on a potential prisoner swap for Shalit.

They reportedly also discussed living conditions at the prison, where Israeli authorities have lately limited the rights of Hamas detainees in an effort to pressure the movement to release the captured soldier, who is believed to be held in the Gaza Strip.

Boodschap president Shimon Peres van Israel aan het volk van Iran

 

President Peres richt zich in navolging van Obama ook tot het Iraanse volk.

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PRESIDENT OF ISRAEL
OFFICE OF THE SPOKESPERSON
Sunday, March 22, 2009

President Peres Has Sent a Special Message to the Iranian People on the Occasion of the Holiday of Nowruz - the Persian New Year:

"On the Occasion of the New Year, I Turn to the Noble Iranian People in the Name of the Ancient Jewish People, and I Wish that They Will Return to Reclaim Their Rightful Place Amongst the Enlightened Nations of the World"

Political figures recently suggested to President Shimon Peres that he consider the possibility of passing a special message to the Iranian people marking the holiday of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year. President Peres acceded to the request, and has turned to the Iranian people with a special message emphasizing the respect that he has for them despite their being subjugated at the hands of radical leadership.

Accordingly, in the past week the President has recorded an interview and holiday greeting, part of which was in Farsi, for Voice of Israel-Farsi radio, which was broadcasted in Iran and which reached a broad audience.

At the beginning of the interview, President Peres told of his visit as an official guest in Iran during the period of the Shah, when Israel and Iran enjoyed very close relations. He also spoke about the current situation in Iran: "The situation in Iran is difficult. There is a great deal of unemployment, great corruption, many drugs, and general dissatisfaction. It is impossible to feed your children enriched uranium for breakfast, they need a real breakfast; you can not invest your money in enriched uranium and tell the children to remain a bit hungry, a bit ignorant. I suggest that they not listen to Ahmadinejad. You cannot rule an entire people with incitement and hatred; the people will tire of it. I see the suffering of the children and I ask myself: why? It is such a rich country with such a rich culture; why let a few religious fanatics walk on the worst path in both the eyes of God and the eyes of man? So I see Iran on one hand with admiration for its history, and on the other hand with sadness over what is happening to it, and the hope that it will return to its roots."

President Peres added: "I think that the Iranian people will bring down these leaders, because these leaders are not serving the people, and in the end the people will understand this." President Peres also discussed the Holocaust denial that the President of Iran practices, saying, "Since when is he an expert on the Jewish Holocaust? Was he in Auschwitz? What does he know? He talks and talks all day, but he is only destroying his own people. They won't succeed in destroying us so quickly, and we have already heard during the 4,000 years of our existence many speeches, many anti-Semites, and many people who wanted to wipe us out - we are still here; they are not. Iran's leaders should let people live, let women breathe, let the economy develop, and stop trafficking all day in bombs and uranium - is that in the name of God? This is what Allah wants from them?"


The following is the complete text of President Peres's message to the Iranian people:

Dear citizens of Iran,

IRANIAN-EH AZIZ, RUZ-EH NOV VANORUZE BASTANT BEH SHOMA KHOSH BAD

With great happiness I would like to wish you, on the occasion of your holiday of Nowruz, a holiday of renewal that brings joy and hope for a new day, for better days, and for a new and blessed year. What a joy it is, this, your historical holiday that you have celebrated and kept for generations.

The people of Israel have lofty historical memories from the period in which Iran thrived in a variety of fields and contributed to the world, among other things, Cyrus's ancient Bill of Rights, and to the Jewish people, our right to return to our land from the Babylonian Exile in order to establish the Temple in Jerusalem. Iran and its people therefore have a special place in our heritage.

Our relations with the Iranian people have also known good times in the modern period. We shared our experience in agriculture, industry, and scientific and medical development, and we cultivated the best possible relations.

To our great sadness, relations between our countries are at their lowest point. This derives from the leaders of your country, who are driven to act in every way possible against the State of Israel and its people, and even to threaten us with their intention to destroy us. I ask myself how a noble people like you can be caught up in a blind hatred like this, how you chose a leader who scorns the people who were murdered by the Nazis, and who wants to destroy and kill another country. You believe in God, and we believe in God, but in a God of life and respect, not a God of death and hate. I am sure that the day is not far when we will return to good neighborly relations, and effective cooperation will blossom once again, in every arena, for the benefit of our people and our shared futures.

At this time, when the current regime in Iran is calling for the destruction of Israel, we call for Iran to prosper. We remember Cyrus the Great, who is noted in the Bible as the liberating king, and we remember that our people lived in Iran for many generations, sharing in the building of the land and contributing to to its welfare and culture. We are certain and hopeful that the darkness and the evil will disappear from the world for the good of all of humanity.

On the occasion of the new year, I turn to the noble Iranian people in the name of the ancient Jewish people, and I wish that they will return to reclaim their rightful place amongst the enlightened nations of the world. They will be respected and not hated, and just as they have in the past, I am certain that they will make great cultural contributions in the future.

I will conclude with the traditional blessing:

NORUZETAN PIRUZ HAR RUZETAN NORUZ BAD

==================

 

A RECORDING OF THESE HOLIDAY WISHES, IN HEBREW AND IN FARSI, IS AVAILABLE FROM THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESPERSON:
JMEITAL@PRESIDENT.GOV.IL

For additional information:

Ayelet Frish - Spokesperson for the President of Israel - 050.620.5111
Meital Jaslovitz - Assistant Spokesperson for the President - 050.420.5230

Meer verklaringen over misdragingen IDF in Gaza Oorlog

Dit zijn voor een deel onvermijdelijke gevolgen van het vechten tegen een vijand die bewust het onderscheid tussen burger en strijder verdoezelt, en zelf bewust burgers tot doel heeft en daar nog trots op is ook. En dat het eigen leven van een soldaat boven dat van de tegenstander gaat is, hoewel het hard klinkt, vrij gebruikelijk in een oorlog. De instructies van de commandant hieronder verschillen waarschijnlijk dan ook niet van de instructies die soldaten elders krijgen wanneer ze hun eigen land moeten verdedigen (Dit is wat anders dan vredesmissies ver van huis).

RP
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Last update - 08:07 22/03/2009
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072811.html
Testimonies on IDF misconduct in Gaza keep rolling in
By Amos Harel


Further testimonies emerged this weekend of army units adopting lax rules of engagement during Operation Cast Lead. The reports followed Thursday's publication in Haaretz of soldiers' accounts of ethical violations in the Gaza offensive.

On Saturday, Channel 10 showed a documentary that included a security briefing by a company commander on the eve of the Gaza invasion.

"We're going to war," he told his soldiers. "We're not doing routine security work or anything like that. I want aggressiveness - if there's someone suspicious on the upper floor of a house, we'll shell it. If we have suspicions about a house, we'll take it down."

"There will be no hesitation," the commander continued. "If it's us or them, it'll be them. If someone approaches us unarmed, shoot in the air. If he keeps going, that man is dead. Nobody will deliberate - let the mistakes be over their lives, not ours."

A number of officers told Haaretz this weekend that the testimonies did not surprise them, as "anyone with eyes in his head knows that these things happened during the fighting in Gaza."

The soldiers who testified about misconduct "placed a very unpleasant mirror before us," said one officer.

"The chief of staff is deflecting discussion now," said another. "It's much easier to find the rotten apples, but there are many much more basic and deeper questions. It's not just an ethical issue, it's also a question of professionalism. The soldiers' accounts show there are professional difficulties in fighting in such complex territory - that we're just not doing it all that well."

"These aren't problems you can solve with the military advocate general or the chief educational officer," he said

 

 

De cruciale moraliteit van het Israelische leger

 

Een langdurige oorlogssituatie ondergraaft morele normen, en een decennialange bezetting nog meer.

Een tegenstander die bovendien geen onderscheid maakt tussen burger en strijder, maakt het er niet beter op. Kun je een oorlog vechten met zo'n vijand en zelf het onderscheid goed blijven maken? Juist dit soort verhalen geeft de worsteling van de soldaten met deze vragen weer.

 

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Analysis: The crucial morality of the IDF's cause
Mar. 19, 2009
Herb Keinon , THE JERUSALEM POST

 

The whole world is against us, goes an old Jewish joke, and now we've joined in.

That witticism came to mind while reading headlines in the Hebrew press Thursday about the testimony that soldiers who took part in Operation Cast Lead in January gave at the Yitzhak Rabin pre-military preparatory course at Oranim Academic College in Kiryat Tivon in February. Dani Zamir, the head of the program, published the conversations in a newsletter sent to the course's graduates.

According to the testimony of a number of soldiers who took part in what appears to have been a group therapy session getting the war experiences off their chest, three soldiers told of cases in which civilians were killed by sniper fire, and of the wanton destruction of property.

The IDF military advocate general instructed the Criminal Investigation Division of the Military Police on Thursday to investigate the claims, and while some may dismiss the investigation as a fig leaf for the rest of the world, it isn't.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak's response to the story was telling. He said Israel is the most moral army in the world. While the country's detractors around the world would mock at that moniker, we Israelis believe it, and it is extremely important that we continue to do so.

The country fights not because it wants to, but because it has to. And since it has to, it is crucial that Israelis believe in the morality of their cause. The idea of a moral army is not important because of how we are perceived abroad, but rather for how we perceive ourselves.

This country demands a lot of sacrifice from its citizens, and people will only sacrifice if they feel that what they are sacrificing for is just and right. If the army would act in an immoral manner, it would pull the rug from under our feet, and would also deter good, decent people from either going into the army, or sending their children to fight there.

Thursday's headlines, picked up immediately by the wire services and getting wide play abroad, were "IDF killed civilians in Gaza under loose rules of engagement," and, "Testimony of soldiers who fought in Gaza: 'Cold blooded murder.'"

Obviously, everyone abroad who wants to accuse Israel of war crimes in Gaza will jump at these stories; every anti-Israel NGO will disseminate them as further proof of our evil.

What is lacking is context.

First of all, this type of testimony is legendary in Israel - there is even a phrase to describe it: yorim ve'bochim (shoot and weep). The most famous book of this genre, Siach Lochamim, came out immediately after the Six Day War in 1967, and was translated into English a few years latter under the title The Seventh Day.

The testimonials from the Rabin preparatory course have a similar feel: soldiers talking about their war experiences - what they saw, what they heard, what they felt good about, what they didn't feel good about.

It is important to note that none of the testimony was about what the soldiers did themselves, but rather of what they heard or saw other soldiers do. It is also important that what was reported seems to fall within the realm of aberrations by individuals during war against a cruel enemy hiding behind civilians, not a systematic loss by the army of its moral compass.

The second piece of context is Dani Zamir, the head of the program, who had the soldiers‚ words transcribed and published. A story in Haaretz on Thursday said that in 1990 Zamir, then a parachute company commander in the reserves, was tried and sentenced to prison for refusing to guard a ceremony where "right-wingers" brought Torah scrolls to Joseph's tomb in Nablus.

Zamir, in an interview on Israel Radio on Thursday, said that the soldiers from Operation Cast Lead who spoke at the meeting reflected an atmosphere inside the army of "contempt for, and forcefulness against, the Palestinians."

Zamir himself appears in a 2004 book titled Refusnik, Israel's Soldiers of Conscience, compiled and edited by Peretz Kidron, with a forward by Susan Sontag. The book, which earned commendation from no less a personage than Noam Chomsky, includes a section by Zamir, described as "an officer in the reserves from Kibbutz Ayelet Hashahar who was sentenced to 28 days for refusal to serve in Nablus and now heads the Kibbutz Movement's preparatory seminary for youngsters ahead of their induction in the army."

"With stupid resolve and the smugness of the all-knowing, primitive preachers and unbridled nationalists are leading and misleading us to calamity, while Pompeii is preoccupied with watching boxing matches and with banquets in advance of the disaster," he wrote.

"I see a volcano in the land where one-third of the inhabitants are banned, by dint of their national and ethnic origins and geographical location, from voting as equals, where they don't have basic civic rights and where thousands are detained under administrative decree - under a military justice system that is farcical.

"A land, a third of whose inhabitants have been subjected to extended military occupation for over 20 years - which means restrictions of rights and a different code of law for Jewish and Arab residents in the selfsame land - is not a democratic country.

"Accordingly, collaboration with a regime or government that forces or orders me to be part of an anti-democratic apparatus that leads to self-destruction, disintegration and national decay, along with the utter denial of its own foundations, is illegitimate, unjust and immoral, and will remain so as long as the state does not take one of only two feasible actions: annexation of all or most of the territories conquered in 1967 and granting full civil rights to those residing there; or withdrawal from densely populated areas and a settlement that will release us of responsibility for the residents of those areas, who will chose for themselves whatever regime they desire (of course with security arrangements included)."

That was what Zamir wrote in 1990, reprinted in 2004. The testimonies of the soldiers that he brought to the public's attention seem to corroborate - what a coincidence - his thesis.

 

-------------------

This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1237461630293&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

 

 

President Abbas houdt toespraak op Arabische Cultuurdag Jeruzalem

 

Abbas zei eerder:

 

"Hamas is not required, Hamas is not required to recognize Israel... It is not required of Hamas, or of Fatah, or of the Popular Front to recognize Israel, all right?

 

"The PLO, in 1993, recognized Israel. As Israel recognized the PLO. Every person has the right to say 'I do not recognize,' okay? It's your right. It is the right of every organization. But the government which will be formed, and which will function opposite the Israelis on a daily basis... every hour and perhaps every second, there will be contact between Palestinian ministers and Israeli ministers. And I ask - how can this government, or these ministers, not recognize their counterparts, and then solve people's problems?" [Abbas then gives an example of $500 million in taxes intended for the Palestinians, but put on hold by Israelis. The Palestinian finance minister has to come to an agreement with the Israeli finance minister regarding the transfer of that money.] "So how can he make an agreement with him if he does not recognize him?"

 

"So I do not demand of Hamas nor any other [organizations] to recognize Israel. But from the government that works with Israelis in day to day life, yes."

 

Het volgende zijn grove leugens en is totaal ongepast:

 

In the inaugural ceremony of Jerusalem, Capital of Arab Culture 2009, President Abbas said that Israeli policies of racism, oppression, land seizing and demolishing of towns and houses, and the policies of faking the past and present and destroying the future, have to stop, entirely, if there be a real chance for peace on this earth.

 

Wat valt er met een 'vredespartner' te praten die zo over je denkt? Is dit het antwoord op het weghalen van meer dan 100 checkpoints, het vrijlaten van zo'n 1.000 gevangenen de afgelopen 2 jaar, de samenwerking tussen PA politie en Israel in Nabloes, Jenin en andere plaatsen, de training en uitrusting waarvoor Israel goedkeuring gaf, de vele samenwerkingsprojecten met Israel?

 

Het is niet Israel maar de PA die heden en verleden vervalst, door de band van de Joden met het land en met Jeruzalem te blijven ontkennen, door hun eigen aandeel in het conflict en in de strijd te blijven ontkennen, door verhalen de wereld in te helpen over massamoorden die niet zijn gepleegd, door de Holocaust te ontkennen en de Joden van al hun ellende de schuld te geven. Helaas is er wat dat betreft niet echt een verschil tussen Hamas en Fatah. Abbas' woorden over vrede en een tweestatenoplossing klinken dan ook behoorlijk hol.

RP 

-----------

President Abbas: Palestinians, Arabs Stand Up For Jerusalem

Date : 21/3/2009
Time : 19:07
http://english.wafa .ps/?action=detail&id=12656

 

BETHLEHEM, March 21, 2009 (WAFA - PLO news agency)- President Mahmoud Abbas said, Saturday, that Jerusalem is the key of peace to human beings, the Palestinians and Arabs hope, and the symbol of justice and peace that this suffering holy land is in need of.

In the inaugural ceremony of Jerusalem, Capital of Arab Culture 2009, President Abbas said that Israeli policies of racism, oppression, land seizing and demolishing of towns and houses, and the policies of faking the past and present and destroying the future, have to stop, entirely, if there be a real chance for peace on this earth.

He also said addressing Palestinians, "I am telling you, as cautious defenders of peace, stand up for Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine, as long as we are ambitious to creating a world free of wars and tragedies."

He affirmed, today, on the occasion of mothers' day, and the anniversary of Al-Karamah victory, that the Palestinian people, led by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), its only and legitimate representative, will not give up on the world's promise to them, and will not give in on the Arabs' pledge for peace, represented by the Arab Peace Initiative adopted in Beirut in 2002. He said that, "we will continue the strife for the brave peace, we reiterate in every international event; a peace based on the two-state solution and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, on the borders of June 1967, whose capital is Jerusalem."

He pointed that any new Israeli government must reaffirm its serious commitment to go on the path for peace, through a declared acceptance of the two-state solution, and the implementation of the Road Map, and all the previously agreed on obligations, and the international legitimacy resolutions, settled down to solve this conflict."

He finally asserted that without a total halt of colonization activities, in Jerusalem and throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, there will be no chance to re-embark on serious negotiations.

Terreuraanslag met autobom in Haifa op het nippertje mislukt

 

Hamifratz in Haifa is het belangrijkste treinstation van de derde stad van Israel. Tijdens onze bezoeken hebben we er meermaals op de trein gewacht of op de bus in het naastgelegen busstation. Kennissen van ons zijn in Haifa gaan wonen omdat het de best geintegreerde stad is.

 

Als een van de explosieven niet te vroeg gedeeltelijk was geëxplodeerd, was de aanslag waarschijnlijk gelukt...

Wouter
_______________

Major terror car bombing averted at Haifa's Lev Hamifratz mall

Yaakov Lappin , THE JERUSALEM POST
Mar 21, 2009 22:05 | Updated Mar 22, 2009 0:22
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1237461637566&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

A major terrorist car bombing was averted at a Haifa mall on Saturday night when one of several explosive devices hidden in a parked vehicle malfunctioned.

"We believe this is a terrorist incident," a police statement said.

 

After being alerted by an employee of the Lev Hamifratz shopping center, who reported hearing an explosion at about 8:30 p.m., police sappers were dispatched to scan the area.

 

The sappers found a partially exploded bomb in the trunk of a white Subaru car which was parked outside the shopping center.

 

A further search of the vehicle uncovered several more unexploded bombs, which were neutralized by the sappers. No one was injured.

 

It was not immediately clear how the vehicle managed to get past the security checks at the mall entrance. The car was registered to a woman who lives in Jerusalem, but police would not release her identity.

 

Police immediately moved to evacuate the mall, which was filled with shoppers, and sealed off the area.

 

A major road adjacent to the mall was also closed to traffic, as police went on high alert across the Haifa area. Roadblocks were erected and the police presence was increased in crowded areas.

 

Northern Police spokesman Moshe Weitzman told The Jerusalem Post that "dozens of kilograms of explosives" were uncovered in the car.

 

"We have gone on alert and will remain prepared," Weitzman said.

 

A joint police-Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) meeting was held in the hours following the incident.

 

 

Zijn Britse media geobsedeerd door Israel?

 

Een discussie die in veel Westerse landen van toepassing is. Johan Remkes (VVD) pleit naar aanleiding van een kritisch rapport over de NOS-berichtgeving in de Gaza Oorlog voor een BBC-model. De BBC is in haar berichtgeving over Israel en de Palestijnen echter waarschijnlijk even eenzijdig als de NOS. Ook op andere onderwerpen wordt haar objectiviteit betwist, er is zelfs een website http://www.bbcbias.co.uk/ 

"BBC bias" (met aanhalingstekens) levert circa 37.800 Google hits op, met Israel in het zoekvernster erbij circa 20.000 (waaronder ook pro-Palestijnen die klagen over een pro-Israel bias bij de BBC...).

 

Wouter

 

"The BBC is not impartial or neutral. It's a publicly funded, urban organisation with an abnormally large number of young people, ethnic minorities and gay people. It has a liberal bias not so much a party-political bias. It is better expressed as a cultural liberal bias", Andrew Marr, the Daily Mail, Oct 21st, 2006.

 

Dat is niet "liberaal" zoals de VVD voor ogen staat.

______________

Event Update
20 March 2009

Just Journalism Discussion Series

On Tuesday, Just Journalism hosted a panel debate addressing the question: Do the British media have an obsession with Israel? Chaired by Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard, Channel 4 newscaster Jon Snow, former Chatham House senior research fellow Robin Shepherd, Daily Mail city editor Alex Brummer and former New Statesman editor Peter Wilby, expressed a range of opinions and prompted lively contributions from an audience of more than 130 people.

Israel reporting: an obsession?

Robin Shepherd argued strongly that the media do have an obsession with Israel. He claimed Israel's treatment by British journalists is irrational and that legitimate criticism has morphed into demonisation. He also described comparisons made between Israel and Nazi Germany or Apartheid South Africa as fundamentally unreasonable, and contended that journalists failed to address Hamas' anti-Semitic ideology.

Channel 4's Jon Snow argued, 'if there were an obsession with this issue, we'd have resolved it by now.' He said that, in fact, the Israeli-Palestinian issue was neglected by the political classes, who were ultimately responsible for breeding hatred in the region. The media, he contended, 'are left to take the can'.

Peter Wilby made a wider point that the contemporary focus on images and casualty figures in news reporting gives the impression that there is a media obsession. He added 'this is an area in which everything is contested', concluding that the media 'can't win' in pleasing sympathisers on both sides of the conflict.

The  practical realities for journalists

Alex Brummer explained how the competitiveness of the news industry places great pressures on journalists reporting from the region. Responding to a question concerning inaccurate reports about an Israeli attack on a UN school in Gaza in January, Jon Snow claimed that the nature of conflict journalism necessitates the difficult task of reporting events as they take place, despite the scarcity of facts at the time. 

Jon Snow also made the point that Israel's decision to ban journalists from Gaza made some inaccurate reporting inevitable.  Robin Shepherd disagreed, drawing a parallel with similar difficulties facing journalists reporting from Chechnya. He maintained that journalistic standards 'must not go out the window' in such conditions.

On the issue of sources used to corroborate reports, raised by Peter Wilby, Robin Shepherd argued against the use of sources exclusively from organisations that are known for holding partial views on Israel.

All the panellists agreed that journalists do not necessarily have a personal agenda to criticise Israel. Robin Shepherd argued that improper reporting is often the result of institutionalised attitudes that perpetuate within news organisations.  

The extent of media accountability
 
Discussion about the recent pressures of reporting from Israel provoked questions about whether the mechanisms for maintaining the media's accountability are adequate. Jon Snow argued that one of the distinctive strengths of Britain's broadcast media was its accessible regulatory framework. He commented: 'I am regulated by it and I bask in it'. Alex Brummer added that editors take the available complaints framework very seriously.

This was the first in a series of discussions hosted by Just Journalism.

Read about the event in this week's Jewish Chronicle.

==============
For more information or to contact us, please visit www.justjournalism.com

Just Journalism | PO Box 57596 | London | NW6 9JF | United Kingdom

 

Politie Jeruzalem zal optreden tegen 'Palestijns Cultuur Festival' in Jeruzalem

 

Vandaag zou een Palestijns cultuurfestival plaatsvinden in o.a. Ramallah, Jeruzalem, Gaza, Libanon (de vluchtelingenkampen?), Nazareth en Bethlehem. Nazareth ligt sinds 1948 in Israël, maar ze zullen zich daar best verbonden voelen met de Palestijnse cultuur. Met de Palestijnse vlag gaan zwaaien daar zal echter niet goed vallen bij de Israëlische autoriteiten en de Joodse bevolking.

Een wat zwaarder probleempje is een Palestijnse vlag op een zweefvliegtuigje boven de Oude Stad van Jeruzalem, en dat tot Arabische culturele hoofdstad van 2009 verklaren... Dat is niet minder dan een politieke provocatie, en eentje die Israël niet zal dulden. Hopelijk gaat dit niet tot rellen leiden.

Wouter
_______________

Last update - 14:03 20/03/2009      
Jerusalem Police set to prevent 'Palestinian Culture Festival'
By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072679.html

 

Jerusalem Police announced on Friday they would prevent the so-called Palestinian Culture Festival the Palestinian Authority plans to organize in the city on Saturday.

The PA is planning to fly a glider plane painted in the colors of the Palestinian national flag over the walls of the Old City as part of the festival, which is meant to declare the city to be "the capital of Arabic culture for 2009."

The police said that they were determined to enforce the law, whereby any event organized and funded by the PA is prohibited within Jerusalem's municipal jurisdiction.
 
The head of the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel, Nachi Eyal, on Wednesday urged Public Security Minister Avi Dichter and Police Commissioner David Cohen to thwart the staging of the event.

"To the best of my understanding, this is an attempt to demonstrate Palestinian sovereignty in Jerusalem in an illegal manner," said Eyal.

"The law...obligates the Palestinian Authority to respect the sovereignty of Israel within the boundaries of the State of Israel, including East Jerusalem."

Since early Friday morning, large police forces, including Border Police, have arrived at the city and are slated to deploy to East Jerusalem and the surrounding Arab villages on Saturday.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, is slated to kick off the celebrations from his headquarters in Ramallah. Events are also due to be held in Gaza, Lebanon, Nazareth and Bethlehem.

 

 

IDF gaat misstanden Gaza Oorlog onderzoeken

Het leger zegt een en ander zeer serieus te nemen en de verhalen te onderzoeken. Het is echter niet de eerste keer dat dergelijke zaken aan het licht komen. Waarschijnlijk is het niet geheel te vermijden, maar ik heb wel sterk de indruk dat het leger meer zou kunnen doen.

RP
----------

Last update - 15:03 19/03/2009
IDF orders probe into allegations over Gaza war
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072350.html

 

In the wake of an Haaretz expose, the Israel Defense Forces on Thursday ordered an investigation into soldiers' accounts of alleged misconduct and serious violations of the army's rules of engagement.

Military Advocate General Brig. Gen. Avichai Mendelblit instructed the Military Police Investigation unit to launch the probe after soldiers were quoted as telling a military cadet academy that combat troops in Gaza fired at unarmed Palestinian civilians and vandalized property during Operation Cast Lead.

The head of the pe-military course, Danny Zamir, told Haaretz on Wednesday that he did not know in advance what the soldiers would say at the gathering, and what they said "shocked us." He said that after hearing the soldiers, he told IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi about his fears of a serious moral failure in the IDF.

The chief of staff's bureau requested a copy of the transcript of the discussion, and Zamir provided it. This week Zamir met with the IDF's chief education officer, Brig. Gen. Eli Shermeister, to discuss the matter. Zamir said he believed the army would take the matter seriously. "They do not intend to avoid responsibility," he said.

The IDF Spokesman's Office said: "As a result of the request of the head of the Rabin pre-military course, Mr. Danny Zamir, to the chief of staff's bureau, a meeting was held between Zamir and the chief education officer, Brig. Gen. Eli Shermeister. The chief education officer described to the head of the preparatory course the processes of the operational and ethical inquiries being conducted by the IDF and the chief education officer's staff at all levels."

The chief education officer also described "the actions taken before during and after the operation to inculcate the soldiers and commanders with the moral aspects of the fighting."

The spokesman said that "Brig. Gen. Shermeister also made it clear that the IDF is now conducting intensive and comprehensive inquiries, and that commanders are encouraging discussion of these matters. The IDF has no supporting or prior information about these events. The IDF will check their veracity and investigate as required. The head of the preparatory course was also asked to pass on to the IDF any information he has so we can deal with it and investigate it in depth."

The IDF Spokesman's Office said: "As a result of the request of the head of the Rabin pre-military course, Mr. Danny Zamir, to the chief of staff's bureau, a meeting was held between Zamir and the chief education officer, Brig. Gen. Eli Shermeister. The chief education officer described to the head of the preparatory course the processes of the operational and ethical inquiries being conducted by the IDF and the chief education officer's staff at all levels."

The chief education officer also described "the actions taken before during and after the operation to inculcate the soldiers and commanders with the moral aspects of the fighting."

The spokesman said that "Brig. Gen. Shermeister also made it clear that the IDF is now conducting intensive and comprehensive inquiries, and that commanders are encouraging discussion of these matters. The IDF has no supporting or prior information about these events. The IDF will check their veracity and investigate as required. The head of the preparatory course was also asked to pass on to the IDF any information he has so we can deal with it and investigate it in depth."

Barak: We have the most moral army in the world

In reaction to the revelations in Haaretz, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he was confident the IDF would look into the matter "with all seriousness."

"We have the most moral army in the world," Barak told Israel Radio. "I spent dozens of years in uniform, I know what happened in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and Iraq, and I say to you that from the chief of staff down to the last soldier, the most moral army in the world stands ready to take orders from the government of Israel. I have no doubt that every incident will be individually examined."

 

 

Iraanse overloper onthulde Syrisch atoomproject met geld van Iran

 

De kernreactor in Syrië die Israel in september 2007 bombardeerde, was met Iraans geld en Noord-Koreaanse hulp en technologie opgezet, zo blijkt uit nieuwe onthullingen van een hooggeplaatste Iraanse overloper.

 

Dit komt overeen met eerdere waarnemingen, zoals een Noord-Koreaans schip met nucleaire brandstofstaven aan boord dat kort voor Israels bombardement werd onderschept, en het feit dat Noord-Koreanen in de reactor aan het werk waren tijdens het bombardement.

 

RP

----------

Report Iran defector revealed Syrian Nuke project financed by Iran

'Iran defector tipped off U.S. on Syrian nuclear ambitions'
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072478.html

By The Associated Press

 

 

A top-ranked Iranian defector told the United States that Iran was financing North Korean moves to make Syria into a nuclear weapons power, leading to the Israeli air strike that allegedly destroyed a secret reactor, a report said Thursday.

 

The article in the Swiss daily Neue Zuercher Zeitung goes into detail about an Iranian connection and fills in gaps about Israel's September 6, 2007, raid that knocked out Syria's nearly completed al-Kabir reactor in the country's eastern desert.

 

Ali Reza Asghari, a retired general in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards and a former deputy defense minister, changed sides in February 2007 and provided considerable information to the West on Iran's own nuclear program, said the article, written by Hans Ruehle, former chief of the planning staff of the German Defense Ministry.
 

The biggest surprise, however, was his assertion that Iran was financing a secret nuclear project of Syria and North Korea, he said. No one in the American intelligence scene had heard anything of it. And the Israelis who were immediately informed also were completely unaware.

 

Ruehle, who did not identify the sources of his information, publishes and comments on security and nuclear proliferation in different European newspapers and broadcasts and has held prominent roles in German and NATO institutions.

 

U.S. intelligence had detected North Korean ship deliveries of construction supplies to Syria that started in 2002, and American satellites spotted the construction as early as 2003, but regarded the work as nothing unusual, in part because the Syrians had banned radio and telephones from the site and handled communications solely by messengers - medieval but effective, Ruehle said.

 

Intensive investigation followed by U.S. and Israeli intelligence services until Israel sent a 12-man commando unit in two helicopters to the site in August 2007 to take photographs and soil samples, he said.

 

"The analysis was conclusive that it was a North Korean-type reactor, a gas graphite model," Ruehle said.

 

Other sources have suggested that the reactor might have been large enough to make about one nuclear weapon's worth of plutonium a year.

 

Just before the Israeli commando raid, a North Korean ship was intercepted en route to Syria with nuclear fuel rods, underscoring the need for fast action, he said.

 

On the morning of September 6, 2007, seven Israeli F-15 fighter bombers took off to the north. They flew along the Mediterranean coast, brushed past Turkey and pressed on into Syria. Fifty kilometers (30 miles) from their target they fired 22 rockets at the three identified objects inside the Kibar complex.

 

"The Syrians were completely surprised. By the time their air defense systems were ready, the Israeli planes were well out of range. The mission was successful, the reactor destroyed," Ruehle said.

 

"Israel estimates that Iran had paid North Korea between $1 billion and $2 billion for the project," Ruehle said.

 

Israel has refused from the beginning to comment on, confirm or deny the strike, but after a delay of several months Washington presented intelligence purporting to show the target was a reactor being built with North Korean help.

 

Iranian officials were not available for comment because of a national holiday. In general, Iran has been silent about the Syrian facility bombed by Israel. Syrian officials could not be reached for comment. But Syria has denied the facility was a nuclear plant, saying it was an unused military building. It has also denied any nuclear cooperation with North Korea or Iran.

 

The International Atomic Energy Agency earlier this year said United Nations inspectors had found processed uranium traces in samples taken from the site.

 

Syria has suggested the traces came from Israeli ordnance used to hit the site, but the IAEA said the composition of the uranium made that unlikely. Israel has denied it was the source of the uranium.

 

Syria has told diplomats that it built a missile facility over the ruins of the site.

 

 

Palestijnse boycot van Israelische ziekenhuizen

Uit andere bronnen heb ik begrepen dat Israelische ziekenhuizen vaak al een lager tarief rekenen voor Palestijnen.

Het is helaas een patroon dat de Palestijnen liever lijden dan iets te doen dat ook in het belang is van Israel, en deze mentaliteit is een belangrijke motor achter het conflict.

 

RP

-----------

Palestinian boycott causes Palestinian health crisis, Palestinian children die

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/03/palestinian-boycott-causes-palestinian.html

 

Where are the international organizations who should be protecting children? Will they step in and pay the costs of medical care? Will they protest against this cruel policy? Where are the donor countries who subsidize the Palestinian authority? It is easy for them to deduct the cost of the health treatment from payments to the Palestinian Authority. For that matter, where is the Israeli government, which could deduct the needed sums from the money paid Israel to the Palestinian Authority for return of VAT payments. (A.I.)

 

Seeking to Rob Israel of Good PR, PA Sentences Its Sick to Die
by Israel National News staff

 

(IsraelNN.com)

 

A decision by the Palestinian Authority Health Minister to cut off medical benefits at Israeli hospitals has cost the life of at least one little girl, and it is not clear how many more will follow.

 

Following the recent counterterrorist Operation Cast Lead against Gaza terrorists, PA minister Fathi Abu Moughli decided in January to stop covering Israeli hospital expenses of PA residents who cross the security barrier to receive treatment.

 

As a result, strokes have gone untreated and life-saving chemotherapy, radiotherapy and bone marrow transplants for cancer patients have been put off indefinitely.

 

Six-year-old Asil Manasra died. The Palestinian Authority child had for eight months been receiving intensive treatment at an Israeli hospital for complications arising from tuberculosis. One week after the PA Health Ministry forced her family to stop the visits, the little girl struggled for breath no more.

 

Asil first became ill after receiving a TB vaccination as a six-month-old infant. During the following four years, her father, Jamal Manasra told the Associated Press that said she was subsequently misdiagnosed by two PA hospitals. The child became sicker and sicker with severe stiffness, high fever, and then acquiring liver and lung infections. Only as a five-year-old did Asil win a referral to Hadassah, where the race for time began, as the disease had overwhelmed most of her body, necessitating intensive, constant treatments.

 

The PA Health Ministry decision ended the race in February, cutting off payments for the life-saving treatments. The little girl spent the last week of her life in a hospital in Bethlehem, where medication was administered per the advice of her doctor at Hadassah.

 

"I blame everyone. Should children die because of political decisions?" Asil's father asked the AP reporter in anguish. "How can you stop treatment? When a child is so sick that she is going to die, is there something more important than that?"

 

Mahmoud Manasra of Wadi Fukeen near Jerusalem, fears he will be next. The 23-year-old was forced last month to stop the life-saving chemotherapy treatment for leukemia he had received for the past year at Hadassah Medical Center. "God knows how much I worry, my situation is getting worse," he said. "We are waiting for mercy to come down from the sky."

 

Manasra's mother Aaliya agonizes over the situation: "My son is in danger — each day I die with him a hundred deaths," she said.

 

Sharp Drop in Referrals
Initially, Abu Moughli restricted the reversal to Gazans who were wounded during Operation Cast Lead, saying those who were injured were transferred to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Morocco and other Arab countries "so that they would not have to be treated by the same country that harmed them."

 

But the PA minister told the AP that the policy change aimed not only to cut costs, but "to rid Palestinians of their need for Israeli medicine and deny the Jewish State a 'propaganda' campaign that improves its world image while the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority foots the bill."

 

"We are trying to free our health system from dependence," he said.

 

The Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan has reported a 60 percent drop in PA referrals since Operation Cast Lead ended on Jan. 18. Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem said it has only received several dozen referrals of Arab patients in February, compared with an average of 1,600 per month (!) last year.

 

'Treat Them for Free'
The leftist Physicians for Human Rights-Israel group, meanwhile has blamed the Jewish State in part for the situation due to the cost of treatment. The group contends that the way to solve the problem is that Israeli hospitals should agree to treat the PA patients for free.

 

A Hadassah official responded that the hospital has, in fact, treated some "special cases" for free, but added: "You can't run a hospital if you treat everyone for free."

 

Abu Moughli maintained that the PA's health system has greatly improved and that there is no need to send patients to Israel. Moreover, it is expensive. Instead, the patients that cannot be treated in the PA are now referred to Egypt, Jordan and elsewhere, thus saving some $17 million, and avoiding what the minister said was a cost of up to four times that of medical care in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

 

Asil's father Jamal claims, however, that it was the PA hospitals that made his daughter sick to begin with. "They lacked experience," Asil's father said of the many PA doctors who treated her. "If they knew what the problem was, she wouldn't have gotten worse."

 

Hamas dreigt meer Israelische soldaten te kidnappen

 

"The Israelis just don't learn. When they refuse to release Palestinians, it forces the Palestinians to resort to other means to gain their release - and inevitably this includes the capture of more Israeli soldiers," Mashaal said during an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.

 

Het is natuurlijk precies omgekeerd: wanneer Israel grote aantallen Palestijnse gevangenen vrijlaat in ruil voor een soldaat, en zelfs nog andere concessies doet zoals opening van de grensovergangen voor alle materialen en commerciële goederen, maakt dat het ontvoeren van Israelische soldaten alleen maar aantrekkelijker. Nu heeft Hamas na meer dan 2,5 jaar nog steeds niets anders gekregen dan meer aanvallen van Israel. En anders dan Meshaal hieronder doet voorkomen, heeft Hamas de mogelijkheid onmiddellijk een einde te maken aan de grensafsluitingen door met het afvuren van raketten op Israel en de wapensmokkel te stoppen.

 

Hamas heeft overigens vaker gedreigd meer soldaten te ontvoeren, en hiertoe meermaals pogingen ondernomen door bijvoorbeeld tunnels onder het hek met Israel te graven (zoals begin november), maar deze pogingen zijn allemaal verijdeld door het Israelische leger.

 

RP

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The Jerusalem Post
Mar 20, 2009 20:51 | Updated Mar 20, 2009 20:54
Hamas: We may be forced to kidnap more Israeli soldiers
By JPOST.COM STAFF
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1237461634849&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


In June 2006, Hamas kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit because Israel refused to open the border crossing to the Gaza Strip, and now that Israel is refusing to release Palestinians in Israeli jails as part of a prisoner swap deal, the organization may have to resort to more kidnappings in order to get what it wants, Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal told an Australian paper in a report published on Friday.

"The Israelis just don't learn. When they refuse to release Palestinians, it forces the Palestinians to resort to other means to gain their release - and inevitably this includes the capture of more Israeli soldiers," Mashaal said during an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.

When asked if he relates to the sentiment expressed by Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was quoted as saying that had he known the extent to which Israel would retaliate in 2006, he would never have ordered the kidnapping of IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, Mashaal said that his group had no choice but to act, despite the destruction caused two years later by Operation Cast Lead.

"The 2006 captures were an option, a choice for Hizbullah, so they are entitled to assess the validity of what they did in terms of the consequences for Lebanon," he told the paper. "But for the Palestinians, Gaza wasn't a question of choice.

"Israel was supposed to end the siege and open the border crossings in return for a halt to the rockets; the rockets stopped, but the siege remained and the crossings stayed closed," Mashaal said. "It's unfair to ask Palestinians if they want to die slowly under siege or quickly under fire."

Palestinian rocket fire has plagued the South for over eight years, with thousands of projectiles fired into Israeli communities and cities throughout the western Negev causing billions of shekels in damage, and wounded and killing scores of civilians. Following the kidnapping in 2006, Israel severely restricted the flow of goods into the Gaza Strip, opening the borders intermittently to allow for the transport of essential supplies. A deal struck in July 2007 with Hamas which aimed to open the border permanently in return for a halt to rocket fire and progress in negotiations for a prisoner swap collapsed under continued Palestinian attacks on the western Negev.

Following Operation Cast Lead, and with the end of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's term only days away, efforts to secure the release of Gilad Schalit have intensified. However, on Tuesday the talks reached an impasse, with both sides accusing the other of having sabotaged negotiations through refusal to compromise.

Hindoes vluchten uit Pakistan voor Taliban en islamistisch geweld

 

Geregeld houden verlichte geesten als Anja Meulenbelt of Arjen El Fassed een pleidooi voor een zogenaamde eenstatenoplossing. Joden en Palestijnen gezellig samen in een land, met gelijke rechten voor iedereen. Zo'n staat zou, met dank aan de miljoenen Palestijnse vluchtelingen en hun nakomelingen echter spoedig een Arabische meerderheid hebben. Hieronder een mogelijk scenario van wat er dan zou gebeuren.

 

RP

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Hindus flee Taliban and Islamist violence

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/03/hindus-flee-taliban-and-islamist.html

 

This is what a democratic secular state in Israel would look like. But where would the Jews flee to?

 

Not  safe at home, Pak Hindus flee to India

 

March 16, 2009

 

 

In May 2008, Pakistan's tribal province of Orakzai was in the news. The majority Muslims did not allow the Hindus to cremate their dead at the place that had been the designated crematorium for over a century.

The next month, the Pakistan government signed a peace treaty with the Taliban. It was among many other such treaties and not much was made of it, especially since the latter agreed that it would recognise the writ of the government.

But in the next couple of months, the few Hindu families began facing the heat.

"It was like the smoke before the fire. The Taliban's presence was not very evident in the following two months. But things were becoming obvious. A group of locals who supported the Taliban gave us the distinct feeling that we were not wanted there," says Jagdish Lal Sharma, who says he is a Pandit from the region.

Though there were no direct threats, the Hindu families were never left in any doubt about their minority status. Sometimes it would be a warning not to stare at Muslim women for long, at other times, it would be the subtle coercion of the local administrators to sell their land when the situation was still normal. The families were weighing their options until October when they were asked to wear a red patch in their pagadis (turban).

"We were told Hindus are not supposed to wish a Muslim even inadvertently and that is why, in order to make it obvious for a passing Muslim that we were Hindus, we ought to have some element of red in our headgear," Hardwari Lal, who is now in Amritsar with his family of 13, says.

In Amrtisar, they found Surinder Kumar Billa, a local religious leader at the Durgaina temple in Amritsar, who has promised to help them get Indian citizenship.

 

 

Jagdish Lal Sharma fled with his wife and five kids:
I am a Pandit and also did some hakeemi on the side with natural medicines. There was no problem in our village till very recently. I had a very small temple near my home. One day, some other villagers came and said the presence of your temple is a threat to our religion. It should not be there. I pleaded with them to spare the temple but had no other option but to take the idols inside the house.

On October 2, we got a visa to India and I had a cousin in Amritsar. But the procedure is such that, I had to first go to Delhi -- where I knew no one -- and get my papers to come to Amritsar. You know very well how it is getting work done with the government. By the time I got the required papers to come to Amritsar, most of the money I had with me was spent.

It is a good feeling having at last come to Amritsar. The Punjab region is more or less the same on both sides. But we do not know how long we are going to be here. That is one issue we are worried about. The other is what we are going to do about our children. They do not know Punjabi and hence cannot get admitted to a school here. We have to find a way.

Our forefathers thought that staying back in Pakistan was a good idea. Now, we are thinking about our children and want them to grow up here in India.

 

Hardwari Lal, 13 family members:
I had a general store in my village. I live in a region where the Hindus have slowly disappeared. By the time I left, there was only one other family (which has also moved to India.) I have four sisters. My main concern is to find a match for them. I want to marry them to Hindus.

Apart from this, my main worry is the land I lost. My family owned a considerable amount of land worth several lakhs. As things started getting worse, there was a lot of pressure on me to sell the land to the locals.

The government was helpless. The central authorities in Peshawar could not do anything to help me. It was the local authorities who called the shots.

The local tehsildar (revenue officer) struck the deal like he was supporting me, but finalised it for 10 per cent of the original price. I had no other go but to concede. The local authorities are nothing but political agents for the radicals in these regions.

They used to come knocking and say no photos, no pictures, no idols. We were forced to remove all the family photos and idols of gods though it was inside our house. That is when I realised how different these same people were earlier. Samay ka prabhaav padta hi hain? (Time takes its toll)

It is not like the liberals have disappeared and radicals have moved in. It is the same neighbours who used to be pillars of strength in the past year who are behaving differently today. That is what pains me the most. The only Hindus who are better off are those in the Shia-dominated areas. There Shias protect the Hindus like their own against the Sunni fundamentalists. One thing I observed is that the Sikh people are somehow getting along. I admire them for that.

 

Avtari Lal Sharma:
I am also a medical practitioner. Unlike these people, I moved to Peshawar about two years ago. I never got wind of what is coming when I was there.

These people (he is Hardwari Lal's cousin) then started telling me how the situation was getting worse in Orakzai. So, when they decided to leave the country, I also decided to go with them. I wondered whether I did the right thing then, but now I am convinced it was the right thing to do.

As I sit here talking with you, I hear that they have reached Peshawar and signed a pact there too. Peshawar is about 250 km from Orakzai. Only now I realise... what is 250 km in these days and times. I am thankful I am here.

There are still many people who are there and want to leave. Most of them do not have relatives in Delhi. They do not have the money to go to Delhi first and pay a lot to get a permit to visit Punjab, where most of their relatives are. The best thing the government can do to us is to give a Punjab visa so that we can directly come here.

Another reason why most people hesitate is the money. They don't have much to start with, and then the Rs 10 they have becomes Rs 5 in India. So people really do not want to take the risk of losing everything. They are waiting to see if things will go back to normal.

So, if India is really interested in the welfare of the Hindus, they should issue Punjab visas. That is the only way those who are not well off can escape to safety.

 

Gulzari Lal Sharma:
I had a small shop. Things began getting worse before our eyes. I got really scared when they began enforcing the pagadi rule. They asked us to have some sort of red patch in our headgear. I do not know what purpose it would have served. All our neighbours knew we were Hindus. And we hardly left the village. It was really scary.

There has always been the shadow of the Taliban in the recent times in my place. In October it got really worse. The women in the family were harassed a lot. I had a little land and sold it for a decent price when I decided to leave the place.

The one thing I considered was the future of my children and when I thought about it, it was clear to me that they can't grow up in that environment. As we left, we were really worried about reaching Peshawar. Not just because we were Hindus, but that stretch was generally such a dangerous one and totally in control of the militants, even normal Pakistanis were scared to take that road.

We somehow made that distance of 250 km and reached Peshawar. From there we went to Lahore where we waited for our visas. The moment we got it, we left on the Samjhauta Express. Our permits are till 2010. Some have it till 2011.

These things are all in the hands of local authorities. All I hope for now is that we are not harassed when the duration lapses. We are pleading the Indian government for a right to stay here and hope we get it.

Reportage & Photograph: Krishnakumar P

 

IDF soldaten spreken misdragingen in Gaza tegen

 

In reaktie op aantijgingen door een aantal IDF soldaten in verschillende kranten van gisteren, zie Misdragingen door de IDF in Gaza Oorlog , doet Ynet hieronder verslag van soldaten die deze aantijgingen tegenspreken. Er zullen zeker incidenten als in Haaretz vermeld hebben plaatsgevonden, maar het is moeilijk te bepalen op welke schaal. In het IDF dienen jonge mannen van elke slag, van schietgrage racisten tot bevlogen idealisten. Het is de verantwoordelijkheid van de legerleiding om ze goed te scholen, niet alleen in het hanteren van wapens maar evenzeer in het afwegen wanneer die wel en niet te gebruiken en in de morele code waarop het IDF zich laat voorstaan. De commandanten ter plekke moeten op de naleving daarvan toezien, wat in ondergenoemde voorbeelden ook werd gedaan. Zo werd soldaten bestraft die eten uit Palestijnse huizen hadden meegenomen.

 

Wouter

__________________

IDF soldiers refute claims of immoral conduct in Gaza

'It is true that in war morality can be interpreted in many different ways, and there are always a few idiots who act inappropriately, but most of the troops represented Israel honorably,' soldier says in response to claims of immoral behavior during Operation Cast Lead.

Reservist: Claims 'fictitious'.
'Free Gaza' movement demands international investigation

 

Daniel Edelson - YNET

Published: 03.19.09, 22:09
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3689388,00.html

 

IDF soldiers who took part in January's offensive in Hamas-ruled Gaza refuted on Thursday claims of immoral conduct on the military's part.

The claims were made by soldiers who took part in the war during a post-op conference at the military academy at Oranim. The conference protocol was published Thursday.

"I don't believe there were soldiers who were looking to kill (Palestinians) for no reason," said 21-year-old Givati Brigade soldier Assaf Danziger, who was lightly injured three days before the conclusion of Operation Cast Lead.

"What happened there was not enjoyable to anyone; we wanted it to end as soon as possible and tried to avoid contact with innocent civilians," he said.

According to Danziger, soldiers were given specific orders to open fire only at armed terrorists or people who posed a threat. "There were no incidents of vandalism at any of the buildings we occupied. We did only what was justified and acted out of necessity. No one shot at civilians. People walked by us freely," he recounted.

A Paratroopers Brigade soldier who also participated in the war called the claims "nonsense". Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said "It is true that in war morality can be interpreted in many different ways, and there are always a few idiots who act inappropriately, but most of the soldiers represented Israel honorably and with a high degree of morality.

"For instance, on three separate occasions my company commander checked soldiers' bags for stolen goods. Those who stole the smallest things, like candy, were severely punished," he said.

"We were forbidden from sleeping in Palestinians' beds even when we had no alternate accommodations, and we didn't touch any of their food even after we hadn't had enough to eat for two days."

According to a reservist who spent a week in Gaza during the offensive, the claims of immoral behavior on the soldiers' part were "fictitious".

"Wherever we were we tried to cause minimum damage," said the paratrooper, who also asked to remain nameless. "We left some of the homes cleaner than they were before we occupied them. We even cleaned a refrigerator that really stunk.

"During one incident, we were informed that a female suicide bomber was heading in our direction, but even when women approached us and crossed a certain point we made do with firing in the air, or near the women," the soldier recalled. "Even when we came across deserted stores, we didn't even think of taking anything. One soldier took a can of food, but he immediately returned it after everyone yelled at him."

Major (res.) Idan Zuaretz of Givati said "in every war there is a small percentage of problematic soldiers, but we must look at it from a broad perspective and not focus on isolated incidents."

Zuaretz, a company commander, also questioned the integrity of the soldiers who made the controversial claims, saying "if this was such a burning issue for them, why have they remained silent until now? On an ethical and moral level, they were obligated to stop what they claimed had occurred and not wait two months to be heard at some esoteric debate."

According to the officer, the IDF went to great lengths and employed the most advanced technology to avoid harming civilian population.

"I've seen a few things in my time, but even I was blown away by the level of professionalism displayed by the army," Zuaretz said. "I personally gave my soldiers an order on the day we withdrew from Gaza to leave all of our goodies in the last house we occupied. Some reservists even left an envelope full of money to one Palestinian family."

Meanwhile, "Free Gaza" spokeswoman Hawida Araf told Ynet that "it is hard to say that the claims of immoral conduct are surprising," adding that an international investigative committee must be set up to probe the incidents in Gaza.

"Apparently some of things the soldiers had done in Gaza weighed on their conscience to such a degree that they felt compelled to make them known," she said.

Araf, who has organized seven sails to Gaza in defiance of the Israeli blockade, said a group of attorneys who visited the Strip following the offensive is expected to issue its report next week.

"We checked whether Israel violated any international laws in Gaza," she said, but admitted that the report was based on Palestinian eyewitness accounts and did not include soldiers' testimonies.