Why you should shop at Cliff’s Variety in San Francisco

In the summer of 2009, a small group of anti-Israel activists took it upon themselves to vandalize Israeli products at Trader Joes.

Trader Joes made it perfectly clear what they thought this, and highlighted their Israeli products with special promotions and displays.

Consumers throughout the nation fought back- and a successful "buycott" campaign was launched. There was no Israeli couscous to be found for love or money in any Trader Joes across America. The stores sold out.

The BDS holes slunk away, tails between their legs, and Trader Joes fell off the boycott list. Never to be mentioned again. Yep. BDS fail.

The lesson for the rest of us?

When we fight back we win.

Fast foward 3 years. The latest object d'ire of the BDS holes is now Sodastream- a phenomenally successful home carbonation machine. Green. Economical. Fun. Its available all over- from Walmart to Sur la Table- from the big box stores like Costco to venerable Mom and Pop businesses like Cliff's Variety in San Francisco Whats not to love?

To the BDS ers- only one thing matters. Sodastream is an Israeli company.

From Jon at Divest This:

Why you should shop at Cliff’s Variety

Well I was hoping to post some of my own BDS Christmas carols to give our tone deaf (in every meaning of the phrase) friends in BDSland something to work with other than their own contrived and butchered rhymes.

Unfortunately, everything I came up with was sung to the tune of a Gilbert and Sullivan number (no doubt an artifact of a childhood reading Mad Magazine “Sung to the Tune of…” features). So my long-delayed BDS musical will have to wait until better inspiration strikes.

Especially since the best piece of inspiration I’ve received this holiday season comes from this little shop that could, not in Bethlehem, but San Francisco:





Two things I found inspirational from this episode of the type of BDS Christmas abuse mentioned previously include:

◦For those who occasionally feel overwhelmed by perpetual propaganda attacks on Israel, check out the video to see the true face of BDS at one of its Ground Zero locations (San Francisco), a face both pinched and self-righteous, with a fat mouth singing incomprehensible lyrics out of tune. If that is what we are fighting (which we are, at least on the domestic front), is it any wonder that we’re winning?

◦And check out the guys and gals who work in a variety store to make their daily bread (vs. the BDSers who seem to enjoy a lifestyle that gives them plenty of time to abuse Cliff’s shoppers during the holiday season). As far as I can tell, the guys who introduced the BDS Bozos to the pavement outside their store were not motivated by Zionist affiliation. Rather, they were simply insisting that they were not going to serve as props (or, in this case, have their store serve as a set) for someone else’s demented morality play....

What can we do to help?  First of all, visit Cliff's Variety at  479 Castro Street San Francisco.

If you own a Sodastream, consider buying your flavorings and refill equipment there.  Even if you dont, Cliff's is a beloved  neighborhood institution- its a great place for housewares, hardware, art supplies. Visit Cliff's- show them some love, and thank them for not giving in to bullies.

Passing it Forward: An Ambulance for Israel

The story begins with a random act of kindness and generosity from a 13 year old bar mitzvah boy, Robert Leeds.  When the invitations to Roberts' bar mitzvah were mailed, the return card stated, “In lieu of gifts, let’s come together and do a very special act of kindness in our holy land. Join hands and put a lifesaving ambulance on the ground in Israel. Please send your tax-deductible contribution in Robert’s honor to MDA.”

The guests responded, and enough money was raised to donate two ambulances to Israel.


On January 8, one of those ambulances will be dedicated to the City of Ashkelon by members of the Sacramento city council, the American Friends of Magen David Adom (Israeli Red Cross) and  StandWithUs  in honor of the newly created sister-city relationship with Sacramento.

From Algemeiner:

“The ambulance dedication is a thank you to the city of Sacramento for approving the newest sister city resolution with Ashkelon last August despite opposition from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement in their on-going attempts to pariah the state of Israel,” Gail Rubin, representing the Sacramento-Davis area chapter of SWU, told JNS.org.

Rubin said Leeds “understands the true meaning of doing good deeds for others, as this ambulance will help save lives.”

“This is a great story of a young man seeing a need and making a difference,” Sacramento Councilmember Steve Cohn, who was one of the councilmembers behind the initiative, said in a statement.
Leeds said in a statement that it is his hope to show Israel and the City of Ashkelon that I stand with them and that’s what becoming a man means to me.”

 Yossi Mentz  Western Regional Director of the American Friends of Magen David declared “Robert’s bar mitzvah had both the bar and a mitzvah. There’s no greater mitzvah than saving a life.”

Demonization and Double Standards from the ISM

From the International Solidarity Movement's latest fundraising appeal:  Apparently your donations support such quality reporting as this:


Settlers attack children in Hebron

After school on the 13th of December in Al Khalil (Hebron) two children were attacked by a group of settlers. Younes Azzeh, age nine, and his sister Raghad Azzeh, age fourteen, were attacked by three male settlers that are speculated to be between seventeen and nineteen years old. Younes was kicked in the shins, thighs and generally roughed up as Raghad was accosted by a hurled stone hitting her lower back.

Notice: Palestinian teenagers are "children', but Jewish teenagers are "settlers".  A "hurled stone",  the very symbol of  "non-violent resistance" by the Palesrtinians and their ISM enablers,  is considered an "attack",  if it happened to be thrown by a Jew.

What really happen in Hebron on Dec. 13? We'll never know by  reading the ISM report. 

So much for that cease-fire

December 2012 was on track to become the first month since 2004 that no rockets were fired from Gaza targeting the Israeli people.  The last time Gaza Arab terrorists fired rockets at Israel was on November 21.   But today  a terror squad from Gaza fired a rocket at Israel, that fell short and landed within the Strip.  Every rocket from Gaza is a  double war crime- fired from a civilian area, directed towards civilian areas and violates the  ceasefire agreement signed by Hamas on November 21 ending Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense.

Over 3.5 million Israeli live within Hsmas Rocket range

Why Social Media Matters for Israel Advocacy: Twitter

Guest post from Emunah  with help from DrMike.

Why Social Media Matters for Israel Advocacy: Twitter 

 

What is Twitter?

Twitter is often described as micro-blogging. You send and receive messages of less than 140 characters. You can use Twitter via your smart phone or  your home computer. The messages can range from brief political observations,  referrals to Facebook pages,  significant articles, blog posts, or youtubes.

People generally need to "follow" someone’s Twitter feed in order to see their updates. Anyone or any organization can create a Twitter feed, and build followers. This takes time.  A good way to start is by following the people you want to follow you (activists, bloggers, journalists)  If you like what they have to say use the "RT" - retweet- function.  The more times an item is retweeted, the  higher visibility it gets.

Other ways to increase your following:

1.  reply to a tweet by a prominent figure with a response that is interesting and/or humorous enough to get the original tweeter to either a) reply back to you or b) retweet your reply.  then people might notice you and can choose to follow you.  

2.  mention someone (favorably) in your tweet with the @address and that person will see that you have mentioned him/her if they check their "mentions" screen. 

"Hashtags" in Twitter are preceded by the # sign. Twitter users use hashtags to refer to a topic that’s being discussed by several people at once. (During Operation Pillar of defense, for example, the pro-Israel advocacy group used "#israeunderfire" to exchange information.) Its considered particularly cool to get your hashtag trending- that means thousands of people are using it at once.

Using hashtags a valuable way to gain visibility and exposure

Why does Twitter matter?

It’s a way to bypass the traditional gatekeepers of the mainstream media.

It’s a way to amplify our voices.

It’s a way to network with fellow advocates across the traditional boundaries of time and space  

It’s a  great way to receive and spread real time information.

Time and time again  independent advocates have been able to share and distribute information using Twitter, well before it reaches the mainstream media.

Live Blogging

Trends begin in the Bay area. People all over the world watch what happens here.With Twitter and a smart phone, you can communicate instantly with Israel advocates worldwide.

Who Should I follow?
There are excellent advocates for Israel using Twitter. Do you have any other favorites? Let us know.

Start with:

 @AmbassadorOren

@ASoldiersMother

@avimayer

@ChallahHuAkbar

@CiFWatch

@elderofziyon

@GPOIsrael

@IDFSpokesperson

@HillelNeuer

@Israel

@IsraelinUSA

@IsraelMFA

@israellycool

@ofirgendelman

@SDoesntMatter

@StandWithUs

@WarpedMirrorPMB

UPDATE:

Some helpful tips to get your hashtag world trending 

1. Wait till the hashtag is revealed, and tweet the EXACT hashtag (use copy/paste to avoid mistakes).

2. Make ORIGINAL tweets with it - retweets are NOT counted for trending by Twitter.

3. What you tweet doesn't matter for trending. Add the hashtag to every tweet, even if u are responding to someone else about a totally different subject.

4. Encourage others, especially those with lots of  followers to join. 

5. Send as many tweets in as short a time as possible.

6. Be ON TIME !! We need that massive explosion of tweets with that hashtag !

7. If the hashtag hasn't trended after an hour, you can still keep sending tweets about the subject, but it becomes highly unlikely that it will still be able to cause a trend.

8. Use ONLY ONE hashtag per tweet, or it doesn't count towards trending. A tweet with 5 times the hashtag is useless, as is a tweet with any other hashtag added.

The Human Rights of the Jewish People - 1

{Cross-posted at Israel Thrives and Geoffff's Joint, Bar and Grill.}

Mike L.

Dan Bielak has written a piece entitled It's about Standing Up for the Human Rights of the Jewish People that I would like to take a little time exploring.  It is one of Dan's persistent themes that what those of us who care about the well-being of Israel must do is simply tell the truth of the Jews in the Middle East.

I must admit that when someone starts speaking to me about the truth I tend to cringe because I recognize the inherent subjectivity and inevitable bias in considering truth in history, much less politics.  The most important book to date on the difficulties of historical and academic objectivity is Peter Novick's That Noble Dream: The 'Objectivity Question' and the American Historical Profession.

Nonetheless, and Novick would agree, most in the social sciences recognize "truth" as an ideal to be striven towards and not something to be prostituted in the service of politics.  I want, therefore, to hold Dan's piece out as a reference for further discussion and intend to do so by highlighting, as the spirit moves me going forward, some of his bullet points.

Today, let's look at this.

Dan writes:

Refugees caused by the conflict between the Muslim Arab states in the Middle East and Israel: Approximately 400,000 to 700,000 Arab refugees from Israel; Approximately 800,000 to 1,000,000 Jewish refugees from Muslim states in the Middle East

I don't know about these numbers, really, but they are reasonably close to the ones that normally get bandied about.  I know of no reputable study that comes close to a definitive statement on the numbers, but that doesn't mean such a study is not out there.  Generally we read about 700,000, or so, refugees from both sides, with the Jewish side being somewhat higher.

I guess one question to ask would be, do the people who form and spread opinions about the Arab-Israel conflict know about the Jewish refugees?  The Jewish nakba, if you will.  I do not know the answer to that question.

Directly after the Holocaust, and right on the heels of the establishment of Israel, the Arab countries chased out their Jews.  People were killed and property was absconded from Jews all throughout the Middle East so that now there are virtually no Jews left throughout that part of the world other than in Israel.  These Jewish refugees were absorbed into Israeli society and therefore are not refugees any longer and certainly their children are not.

The Arab refugees, of course, were put up in camps by the surrounding Arab nations who use them, generation upon generation, as pawns in their ongoing war against Jewish sovereignty on Jewish land to this day.

I do not know the extent to which people know this, including people who persistently spit hatred and fire at the Jewish state of Israel.  But if they do know it then they are moral hypocrites.   If they don't know it, perhaps they should learn a little more history before spouting their righteous opinions in the public sphere.

In any case, Dan is right on the money when he says that this whole issue is about standing up for the human rights of the Jewish people.  That is precisely what this is about.  Over the recent decades the Arabs have successfully portrayed their ongoing aggression against the Jews in the Middle East as a matter of the "national liberation of the Palestinian people."

Before that they simply spoke of pushing the Jews into the sea and before that we were dhimmis under Muslim imperial rule.

I just find it remarkable that 13 centuries of Jewish oppression in the Middle East seems to have been airbrushed out of popular knowledge.  Although dhimmitude varied in different times and different places it always represented second or third class citizenship for Mizrahi within Muslim societies.

And this must be recognized as a big part of the context out of which Israel emerged.

Iran blames the Jews for Sandy hill Massacre

More unfathomably evil  antisemitism from press TV Iranian Press TV: (No, I don't link to hate sites)

Their headline screams out " Israeli death squads involved in Sandy Hook bloodbath: Intelligence analyst"

Days later, the Sandy Hook Massacre, the iconic slaughter of twenty small children, is now looking like a terrorist attack, not a “murder suicide.” Was “lone gunman” Adam Lanza a “patsy,” the same word Lee Harvey Oswald used to describe himself before being “silenced” in November 1963?

Today, Michael Harris, former Republican candidate for governor of Arizona and GOP campaign finance chairman, in an internationally televised news broadcast, cited “Israeli revenge” in, what he called, “the terrorist attack in Connecticut.”

Harris cited Israeli “rage” against the US and against President Barack Obama. By “Israel,” we mean “Netanyahu.”

The mission was to teach America a lesson, knowing that “America would take the punishment, keep “quiet,” and let a ‘fall guy’ take the blame.”

A “fall guy” is another word for “patsy.”

Harris, citing the flood of inconsistencies in the “cover story,” pointed out the following, “The facts are now becoming obvious. This is another case where Israel has chosen violence and terrorism where their bullying in Washington has failed. Israel believes the US “threw them under the bus,” particularly after the recent Gaza war, allowing Israel to be humiliated in the United Nations. Their response was to stage a terror attack, targeting America in the most hideous and brutal way possible, in fact, an Israeli “signature attack,” one that butchers children, one reminiscent of the attacks that killed so many children in Gaza? 

Who is this Mike Harris, described by Iranian Press TV as an "intelligence analyst"?  Its important to note that the  Mike Harris from Arizona has no relationship, ideologically or familial, to the beloved co-founder of San Francisco Voice for Israel, Dr. Mike Harris    Arizona's Mike Harris is a former typewriter salesman,  businessman and  a substitute teacher.  (not an "intelligence analyst" ) who ran for Arizona Governor in 2006, mustering 6% of the vote.  From New Times,  a local blog - Michael Harris has been quoted as saying:

"Let's first of all clear up some misconceptions.  We are not a nation of immigrants. I am the seventh generation born in this country. I did not emigrate from anywhere. This young man is the eighth generation born in this country. We did not emigrate from anywhere. We built this country."

Sounds a bit like a white supremacist to me....

Press TV continues with their interview of typewriter saleman and international "intelligence analyst" Harris :

During his interview today, Mike Harris explained his rationale for looking to Israel as responsible for Sandy Hook, saying “This is exactly what Israel did in Norway; the political party that voted sanctions against Israel was retaliated against by a “lone gunman” who killed 77 children. This is what Israel always does, they go after the children. It is what they do in Gaza every day. It is what was done in Norway. It is what happened at Sandy Hook. Nobody buys the “lone gunman” story anymore, not with the Gabby Giffords’ shooting, not with the Aurora “Batman” shooting, certainly not with Breveik, and certainly not in Connecticut.”

 As days have passed, key issues involving the Sandy Hook terror attack have been cited as “debunking” the “lone gunman” cover story.  This is an example of what Press TV presents as  "debunking": the official narrative

"Is it reasonable for a geeky 20-year-old to carry two pistols and hundreds of rounds of ammunition while wearing a bulletproof vest and a mask? "

San Francisco Voice for Israel Spokesperson Mike Harris on KGO Radio

On Nov 27, 2012 San Francisco Voice for Israel spokesperson Dr. Michael Harris was interviewed on the Ronn Owens show on KGO radio 810 AM talking about Gaza, Israel and Operation Pillar of Defense.  San Francisco Voice for Israel is the Bay Area chapter of StandWithUs.

 

BDS fail of 2012. Record Tourism in Israel

The year isn't even over yet, but it looks  like 2012 will set a new record  for incoming tourism to Israel.. Nearly 3.3 million visitors arrived in Israel up to the end of November 2012, and even more are expected for the Christmas holiday season.

Thats a massive BDS fail.

According to Al Awda's Eyad Kishawi, in an article published in  Al-Jazeerah, January 19, 2006 "Divestment from Israel in its 5th year"  (Yes, divestment started in 2001, and has been been failing for over 11 years now) there is only one strategic call:    "Material isolation of Israel until Palestinian exiles are repatriated to their towns of origin and receive reparation for lives and properties destroyed by Israel.".  Eyad Kishawi is calling for the end of Israel as a Jewish state,  and BDS is a tool for achieving this goal.

Tourists are flocking to Israel, Eyad.  Your dream of an isolated Israel is failing.  What happens to a dream deferred?

From YNET 

To date, the year 2012 will end as a new record year for incoming tourism. About 3.3 million visitors arrived in Israel up to the end of November 2012, and of these 60% were Christian tourists (52% Catholic; 21% Protestant and 10% Orthodox)

About half of all Christian tourists are pilgrims. Most of the Christian visitors to Israel also visit Bethlehem passing through Rachel’s Crossing and the various offices work to facilitate a welcoming, fast and comfortable transfer every day of the year.

According to the ministry’s 2011 Incoming Tourism Satisfaction Survey, about 87% of pilgrims were first-time visitors. Most pilgrims visit Capernaum, Yardenit, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Mount of Olives, Via Dolorosa and Bethlehem.

Source countries where pilgrims represent a very high rate among those visiting include Indonesia (83%), Nigeria (82%), Poland (69%), Portugal (59%), Romania (57%), India (50% and Brazil (49%).  

Eyad considers divestment a 20 year process, but even he must be grinding his teeth  just about now.   If the goal of  BDS was the isolation  and the eventual destruction of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people his movement is failing.  BDS at 11 is no further than achieving its goal than BDS at 5.

Another Palestinian child, dead.

You just know the headline will read "Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian child".

And it might be true, except the child was  Mohammed Ziad Sulaimeh aged 17. He attacked a border guard, near Hebron brandishing a metal toy gun that he aimed at the head of the Israeli.

How was it reported by the ISM?

 Israeli forces murder teenager on his birthday

12th December 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil (Hebron), Occupied Palestine.

Mohammed Ziad Salaymeh was murdered near the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil (Hebron) on his 17th birthday.

 The doctor on the scene said that local women were arguing with Israeli forces who were preventing them from reaching Salaymeh.  “I followed the women and when I felt his pulse, I found that he was dead”.
 
At this early stage there are varying reports of the shooting; some say the teenager was carrying a cake in a box which was believed to be a weapon others suggest he had a toy gun. Either way his life was stripped away from him at far too early an age...


Just another example of how the Palestinians and their ISM enablers are willing to stretch the truth until it fractures. They'll do anything-anything- to convince the world of the eternal victimhood of the Palestinians,
 

This is a photo of the toy gun (via twitter) Mohammed Ziad Salaymeh pulled on the Israeli border patrol

What really happened? From the Times of Israel:


"The officer, a 20-year-old from Tel Aviv, recounted the events in interviews with Israeli media late Tuesday night, saying that she and two border police soldiers under her command were manning a checkpoint near the Cave of the Patriarchs when the young Palestinian approached them.

“Following the standard procedure, the soldier who was with me asked him for an ID,” she said. “The Palestinian handed him his documents and I entered the room to run a background check.”

While inside, she continued, she looked out and saw that the Palestinian had charged the soldier and drawn what appeared to be a pistol.

“With one hand,” she related, “he grabbed the soldier’s neck and pressed against him, and with the other he put the pistol to the soldier’s temple. In that situation, the soldier couldn’t break free or react.” the female officer, who was only a few meters away, cocked her weapon.

“I was looking for an angle from which to fire without hurting the soldier,” she said, and it was only after she ascertained that his life was in danger that she pulled the trigger.

“After the first shot, he continued to hold the pistol to the soldier’s temple, so I fired two more bullets,” she said, at which point the Palestinian fell to the ground, and she quickly kicked the gun away.

“It was my first time in a combat situation,” she said, explaining that she had reacted “exactly like I was taught.”

With a gun being held to the soldier’s head, there was no way she could fire a warning shot, the officer said. “My subordinate’s life was in immediate danger,” and it was important to fire without hitting him, she said."


The truth allergic folks at  the Free Gaza Organization wont  let the facts get in the way of their story. They tweeted that Mohammed was at a birthday party at school:

From Israel Matzav:  

"Schools are not in session at night, schools don't  hold sessions next to IDF patrols (close enough to grab an IDF soldier), and even if they did, people who pull guns in front of IDF soldiers cannot be ensured that their actions will be without consequences. Quite simply, 'Free Gaza' has lied again in a bid to incite riots. What a shock.... "

Not to be undone, the ISM tweeted that the  youth was "unarmed". 

UPDATE:

The IDF Has released a clip that shows 17 year old Mohammed Ziad Sulaima viciously attacking the border guard in Hebron.  These are not the actions of a young man going to buy himself a birthday cake.


 

The Noose Tightens

Mike L.

{Cross-posted at Israel Thrives and Geoffff's Joint, Bar and Grill.}

Ever since the Obama administration saved Hamas from any significant retaliation by the IDF during "Pillar of Defense," and ever since dictator Abbas went to the United Nations for the purpose of Palestinian statehood recognition, I get the distinct impression that many pro-Israel advocates are becoming increasingly worried.

Just today I read three pieces from three serious individuals each of which indicates a hardening of attitudes.

Adam Levick of CiF Watch has a piece entitled, Hanukkah Diarist: Antisemitism and the flight of the ‘progressives’.

This may be the saddest piece of the three because it neatly outlines how just as the world failed to come to the defense of the Jews during the Holocaust, so it entirely ignores the constant genocidal screechings coming out of the Muslim Middle East today.

Levick writes:

While, even in the most “enlightened” circles, the failure of so many to reveal, yet alone seriously confront, the Nazi genocide as it was being perpetrated is well-documented, in our post-Shoah world the homage paid posthumously to Jewish victims is nearly universal among the respectable class.

Indeed, such pieties are often observed, if perfunctorily, by even the most shrill critics of the modern Jewish state.

However, in observing the failure of such a large segment of the ‘progressive community’ to engage in serious moral resistance in the face of explicit threats by many leading Islamists (such as the leaders of Hamas) to annihilate the Jews, it seems extremely unlikely that the next coordinated assault on world Jewry would be radically confronted.

Also the FresnoZionist has written Why disproportionate response pays.

The FresnoZionist responds to the recent story about a few Israeli soldiers chased off their position under a hail of Palestinian-thrown rocks in Hebron.  I think the FZ has about had it.  He points out that the essential irrationality of Jew hatred precedes the rational mind and that the Jews of the Middle East need to fight back hard if they wish to secure any possible future peace.

In order to change the political landscape, it’s necessary to change the psychological one. The way to do this is not by careful surgical strikes, defensive strategies, and unbalanced concern for the welfare of those who are trying to kill IDF soldiers. It is by massive, disproportionate response to attacks.

While some are afraid that this would create legal and diplomatic problems, these problems appear anyway based on false and exaggerated ‘evidence’ — see the Goldstone report, for example.

Israel should hit its enemies hard. Deep down, even the Norwegian diplomats will understand.

 Meanwhile Shoula Romano just penned Message to hypocritical world.

Romano runs down the most recent Arab-Israel history by reminding us that every time Israel retreats from land they get attacked more.  She reminds us that ever since Israel ethnically-cleansed Gaza of Jews in 2005 there has been near constant rocket attacks into southern Israel and the world has given its silent assent.  She therefore insists that Israel should not capitulate to a Palestinian state on Jewish land.  She writes:

Recent anti-Israeli UN resolutions and condemnations remind us again that the world has not changed and still prefers the Jews to be persecuted, victimized, helpless and defenseless. The Israeli people must send a clear message back to the world that they prefer their survival as a strong and powerful Jewish state over any morally bankrupt approval or sympathy.

The Israelis must reject any world pressure to resume negotiations with the allegedly "moderate" Abbas for the establishment of another Hamastan in the West Bank in order to be embraced at last by the anti- Semitic international community.

What I think is that Jews throughout the world are feeling a tightening of the noose.

Weekly Roundup: BDS fails

Its time for a brief roundup of this weeks BDS fails, in case you were keeping score:

Dec.3

Alanis Morissette sang before a sold-out crowd at Nokia Stadium in Tel Aviv. The 7 time Grammy award winner  last performed in  Israel 12 years ago , an experience she described as "a great time… professionally, spiritually and emotionally".  Alanis ignored the bullying and pressure of the anti-Israel forces, and concluded her show with her song, "Thank You."

“It’s been a great 2012, Morissette told her adoring fans.  “We love you, we’re with you, America, Canada, all of us.” 

We love you, too, Alanis.

Dec.3 

If Gazans don't support BDS,  why should anyone?

The Growers' Societies in the Gaza Strip is cooperating with Arava, an Israeli export company s to  market Gazan strawberries. Nearly 400 tons of fruit geared for the European markets will be promoted with this new partnership .

Dec. 9

In spite of Stevie Wonder's last minute betrayal, the friends of the IDF fundraiser  earned 14 million dollars for Israel.  More than 1,400 people attended the event in Los Angeles, organized to aid Israel and her soldiers  Special thanks to  Haim Saban and his wife, Cheryl, who chaired the gala., to Seinfeld actor Jason Alexander emceed , David Foster and Friends, Ruben Studdard and 10-time Grammy winner Chaka Khan also performed.

Dec.10

Again, defying a mass attack on her via social media,  acclaimed Native American poet , feminist and musician Joy Harjo  performed at Tel Aviv University, to an audience of Palestinians and Israelis. Earlier today, she wrote on her blog::

I sit in a hotel room in Tel Aviv. I am far from my tribal home in Oklahoma. In eternal time, each is a room in the same heart.

I was invited to perform and speak here at Tel Aviv University several months ago. I was a guest here nearly twenty years ago and remembered this place with a great fondness. I recalled the open discussions and the cultural mix of students. I accepted the invitation....

 I will perform at the university as I promised, to an audience that will include Palestinian students. The students have written in support of me being here. I will let the words and music speak for that place beyond those who would hurt and destroy for retribution, or to be right. It is my hope that my choice will generate discussion and understanding for many paths to justice.

Dec. 10

Google launches a start up incubator in Tel Aviv   Managing director of  Google Israel R&D Center Yossi Matias said, “The Campus Tel Aviv joins Campus London. It is Google’s step to provide support for Israeli technological innovation, both because of the importance of encouraging entrepreneurship and the centrality of Israel in fostering these values. Israel’s leadership in initiating innovation is part of its DNA.”.

 

Jewish Voice for Peace: Animation FAIL

Crossposted at Bluetruth.
Written by our friend, Dr.Mike

Jewish Voice for Peace has released a 6 minute animation which purports to be an introduction to the Israeli-Arab conflict.  Like much of JVP's other work, it's cute, simple-- as well as wrong on the facts. It's also misleading with respect to JVP's actual agenda, which includes consistent support for "river-to-the-sea" rejectionist groups and support for BDS.   

It doesn't take long for them to mischaracterize the entire history of the modern Zionist movement. Their opening sentence frames the entire issue as "building a refuge for a persecuted people in a place where another people already lived."  While Westerners did both understand and sympathize with the need of the Jewish people for a land where they could live free of the pogroms and second class citizenship that marked their lives in much of Europe (as well as lands under Islamic rule, though that story wasn't as well known at the time), the goal of political Zionism was creating a Jewish state.  Only in our own state, not a protectorate of someone else's empire, could the Jewish people fulfill their own rights to national self-determination.  As Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote in his book "Emile, or On Education" in 1762:  "It seems to me we will never come to understand what the Jews are saying until they have a free state, school and universities in which they will be able to speak freely and discuss matters without danger. Only then will be we able to know what they have to say."  The Zionist movement specifically rejected the British offer of Uganda-- because what they sought was NOT a refuge in a foreign land, but a return of the Jewish people to the Jewish homeland, a land whose indigenous population was the Jewish people and which, since the fall of the Jewish nation to the Romans, had always been ruled by an outside power.  While the video insinuates that someone else built it on behalf of the Jewish people, it was Jews themselves who built up the land.  They were not only "building a refuge"-- they returned to their homeland to build a state.  This process started under Ottoman rule with Jews buying land legally according to Ottoman law to facilitate the return of an exiled people to their historic homeland.

Did "another people" already live there? That's a highly debatable point, given that in the 19th century there was no national movement of the Palestinian people. Other people certainly lived there--approximately half a million Arabs, but not as a national group. The phrase "Palestinian" was used at that time to refer to Jews residing in the British Mandate of Palestine.  The Arabs of Palestine considered themselves part of the Syrian people-- the original use of the term "Nakba" ("catastrophe') in the Arab press was in reference to 1920, when as part of the carving up of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, the French agreed to separate Syria from British Palestine and the Arabs under British rule were cut off from what they saw as their fellow Syrians. 

Interesting to note at 0:38 that the map of Jewish communities in Palestine conveniently omits Jerusalem, where Jews had lived for centuries and which had a Jewish majority since the late 19th century.  No big deal-- it's only the center of Jewish history, Jewish tradition, Jewish worship.... 

At least as the video goes on there is actually acknowledgement that Jewish communities had existed for centuries in the area (which makes me wonder what JVP thinks about the incessant PA propaganda that promotes the myth that the Jews never had a history on the region, propaganda that is eagerly digested and regurgitated by many of the groups with which they choose to collaborate).  Though the statement that Jews came to Palestine fleeing the Holocaust is incorrect-- as any student of the history of the region knows, the British cut off Jewish immigration in 1939 after 3 years of Arab riots led by the Nazi sympathasizer Haj Amin al Husseini, the British-appointed Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. (al-Husseini would spend some of the war years in Europe-- meeting with Hitler, broadcasting on Radio Berlin, recruiting Muslims for the SS, and planning with Himmler to build an Auschwitz-style extermination camp near Nablus in the event that the Germans conquered Palestine).  The video also conveniently omits any mention of extensive Arab immigration to the area in the years between the wars.  This Arab immigration was not driven by persecution, nor was it composed of those seeking to return to their historic homeland.  Rather, it was attracted by the increasing standard of living in the area due to the work of the Zionists in building up roads, hospitals and other infrastructure.  

Now we get to the heart of the video's misrepresention: the 1947 partition plan and its aftermath. The cause and effect stated by JVP is clearly backwards-- Palestinian society was destroyed not by the partition plan, but by their decision to go to war against the Jews, deciding that preventing the establishment of a Jewish state was more important than creating their own. While the Jewish mayor of Haifa was publicly urging his Arab neighbors to remain in the town, the Arab Higher Committee insisted that they leave; Time Magazine wrote on 3 May 1948: "The mass evacuation, prompted partly by fear, partly by orders of Arab leaders, left the Arab quarter of Haifa a ghost city ... By withdrawing Arab workers their leaders hoped to paralyze Haifa."  

The video notes that "several" Arab armies invaded Israel; it might have been appropriate to mention that their goal, as with the Arab population of Palestine, was not a Palestinian state but the destruction of the Jewish one. Had the Palestinians accepted the partition plan, there would have been no war and no refugees, and Arab villages would not have been left as ghost towns to be built over. Even Mahmoud Abbas recognizes this choice as one of the two worst decisions made by the Palestinians.  

At 1:18, there's a unique re-interpretation of history-- a map that shows the 1949 armistice lines with an Arab state in the area outside Israel. That might be news to West Bank Arabs who lived under Jordanian occupation and Gazans who lived under Egyptian occupation-- with no move in the Arab world to create a Palestinian state in those areas.  

The statement is then made that "three quarters of a million" Palestinians tried to return to their homes in Israel.  While indeed there were some refugees who attempted to return over the Lebanese border in the summer of 1948 and were turned back, there's no historical record of hundreds of thousands of Arabs attempting to return.  Now as far as those that were turned away, is there any precedent for a country allowing a refugee population back into the country they launched hostilities against?  Those who actually have studied the history of the conflict know that attacks against Jews were launched from many Arab villages, and the guerrilla force in the Galilee led by Fawzi al-Kaukji was sheltered and supported in many of these same villages.  The fate of Arab villages was often tied to their decision to participate in the war against the Jews.  Near Jerusalem, the leaders in the village of Abu Ghosh did not participate in attacks on Jewish convoys to Jerusalem-- and remained in their homes. Neighboring villages did-- and paid the price, established long ago in human history, for losing a war that they started.  

"To sum up" (as the narrator says at 2:00), the outcome of the creation of Israel was not the substitution of one group of refugees (the Jews) with another (the Palestinians).  Prior to 1939, it was a return of the Jewish people to their homeland. After 1948, of course, there were many Jewish refugees from Europe who immigrated but they were not the cause of the Palestinian exodus.  The Palestinian refugee population is more properly paired with the Jewish refugee population from the Middle East and North Africa.  In a deliberate, pre-panned action against their own citizens put into effect immediately after Israel's declaration of Independence, Jews living in Arab countries became immediately subject to legalized discrimination, dispossession and expulsion.  These Jews were not engaged in armed combat with their neighbors. They were targeted as Jews, as revenge for the creation of a Jewish state in what was then (and still is today) seen by Arab rejectionists as "Arab land".  This population, greater in number than the Palestinian refugees, was the other side of the coin in this population exchange, mirroring those occurring in other areas in the 20th century such as India/Pakistan and Greece/Turkey.  

Next we move on to the favorite meme of JVP and its extremist allies: that Israel is, by its nature, a racist state.  And of course they are wrong on the facts again. The discussion of what it means to be a Jewish state in this century is a vibrant and important one, led by intellectuals and scholars such as Daniel Gordis but involving large numbers of Jews both inside and outside of Israel. And in those conversations (as well as under Israeli law) the overwhelming national consensus is that in a Jewish state, Israel's Arab citizens indeed must have equality under the law.  And they do.  While in the first few decades of Israel's existence there were discriminatory laws against Arab citizens (over the same time period in which many American states enforced legalized discrimination against African Americans), currently Israel's Arab citizens vote, attend universities, access public services, and hold political office on a basis of equal rights with the Jewish citizens. While there were discriminatory land laws in the past, it's now prohibited even for the Jewish National Fund, owners of land bought by donations on behalf of the Jewish people, to refuse to sell land to Arab citizens.  

Here are some pictures (courtesy of Elder of Ziyon) to illustrate what JVP wants to you to believe is a racist state:



Now let's talk borders. Indeed Israel has not defined its permanent borders completely-- that's in part because its neighbors until recently refused to sign a peace treaty and establish normal relations.  Israel has defined borders with Egypt and Jordan, and has armistice lines established with Syria and Lebanon.  The borders on the West Bank, which has not had a legal sovereign since the end of the British Mandate, indeed remained undefined, awaiting a peace settlement between Israel and a Palestinian leadership that will agree to live alongside the Jewish state in peace and mutual recognition.  But it would be news to Israel, and to Hamas, that Israel still occupies Gaza, as the video claims at 3:05.  Maybe JVP wasn't paying close attention to the fact that Israel left Gaza in 2005, and that there are no Jews there at all (except for the occasional misguided passenger on one of the ships of fools that attempt to bring used shoes, expired medications and jihadist fighters to Gaza). 

Finally, at long last, we come to what JVP wants you to believe is the heart of the issue for them: Israel's occupation of the West Bank. And indeed, many Israelis and Israel supporters who support the concept of two states for two peoples (not one supported by JVP) share the concern that this is becoming permanent.  But we now get to staggering distortions-- not only the visual of bulldozers turning the West Bank blue (built-up areas of settlements comprise 2-3% of the land area of the West Bank) but of the whitewashing of Palestinian terror and rocket launching as "resistance" and "armed struggle". In JVP-land, Hamas doesn't launch rockets at 3.5 million Israeli civilians, Israel merely bombs a "captive civilian population in Gaza". And the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade suicide bombers didn't blow up busses and restaurants using bombs filled with nails and rat poison (to prevent blood from clotting and thereby having victims bleed slowly to death if the bomb didn't kill them instantly), but rather Israel "punishes resistance with raids, arrests and assassinations".  The next time I hear a Palestinian terrorist group such as Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad state that they are only seeking a state in the West Bank and Gaza and will then agree to live in peace with Israel-- that will also be the first time. They seek the liberation of "Arab land" such as Tel Aviv and Haifa just as much as Hebron, as was stated repeatedly during this weekend's festivities in Gaza celebrating 25 years of bus bombs, missiles and rockets. Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups have been extraordinarily clear on not only their river-to-the-sea agenda, but on their overt Jew-hatred. Yet JVP's view of the situation conveniently excludes them from the narrative except for a brief aside, because they don't fit into their distorted construct of noble oppressed peace-seeking Palestinians bravely resisting the evil racist colonial Zionists. 

Their narrative on peace talks also leaves out some inconvenient truths: the offers to the Palestinians in 2000 and 2008 for a contiguous state on 100% of Gaza and 97% of the West Bank, rejected by Arafat and Abbas respectively.  If they were so desperate to end the occupation and establish a Palestinian state, then why not accept what they claimed to seek?  

The real heart of the conflict at this point involves two points of contention: refugees and recognition.  Are land and borders an issue?  Absolutely. But for JVP to claim that this is the core of the conflict ignores not only the statements of the Hamas Charter that "the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf" but even the "moderate" Mahmoud Abbas' statements insisting on the fictional "right" of return and rejecting a Jewish state. That's because JVP's real agenda is supporting groups (such as Sabeel and American Muslims for Palestine, which has been openly supportive of those convicted in US courts for aiding Hamas) and movements (such as the BDS movement) that all share the vision of one (Arab majority) state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.  To that end, they want Israel to be forced to accept descendants of Arab refugees from that failed genocidal war in 1947-8 as citizens, to change Israel from a state of the Jewish people to a "binational" state along the highly successful models of Bosnia, Lebanon, Rwanda and Iraq.  While the trend worldwide is for increasing the number of countries to allow each national group to exercise its rights of national self-determination (see Soviet Union, former; Czechslovakia, former; Kosovo; South Sudan) the anti-Israel forces realize that once Israel is no longer the state of the Jewish people, it starts down the road of no longer having millions of Jewish people.  That's why acceptance of a Jewish state is a part of a final settlement-- it's accepting that the state of the Jewish people is legitimate and that efforts to eradicate it are over.

JVP has a long track record of endorsing, supporting and partnering with "one state" groups and efforts.  It has not endorsed any groups or efforts that support peace between an Arab state of Palestine and a Jewish state of Israel.  At least their coalition partners, such as American Muslims for Palestine, are open about their goals.  And a cute little cartoon doesn't substitute for the moral, political or intellectual integrity to admit what you really stand for.

I really like the Jews, so it's quite a shame what fascists they've become.

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Hamas Celebrates 25 years of Terror

Hundreds of thousands marked Hamas' 25th anniversary in Gaza, with that symbol of enduring peace and brotherhood- an   M-75 missile on display.



This missile was also featured prominently on the 25th anniversary logo.  Why does anyone still claim that Hamas is willing to make peace with Israel?

Hamas  leader Khaled Meshal , visiting Gaza for the first time declared . "Palestine is ours from the river to the sea and from the south to the north. There will be no concession on an inch of the land,"  "We will never recogniזe the legitimacy of the Israeli occupation and therefore there is no legitimacy for Israel, no matter how long it will take," he added

The crowd responded  "Oh dear Meshal, your army struck Tel Aviv," supporters chanted, "Oh Qassam, do it again, hit Haifa next time."

Participants of all ages filled the crowd, estimated by some at 400,000.
 

Photo from Reuters

In case you've forgotten, in all the pomp and circumstance, what Hamas really stands for:.

                                                  Hamas terror attacks Against Israel

• September 1, 2010: Two Israelis were wounded, one seriously, when Hamas terrorists ambushed their car as as the couple was driving near Kochav Hashachar.
• August 31, 2010: Four Israelis, including a pregnant woman, were murdered when terrorists ambushed their car as they were driving near Kiryat Arba in the West Bank. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, which coincided with the restarting of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
• August 28, 2005: A suicide bombing outside the Central Bus Station in Beersheba severly injured two security guards who stopped the bomber from entering the bus station.
• January 13, 2005: Six Israelis were killed and five other civilians were wounded in a double suicide bombing at the Karni crossing betweenIsrael and the Gaza Strip. The two suicide bombers used a very large explosive device to blast through a defensive wall that separates the Israeli and Palestinian sides at the crossing. Following the blast, the bombers crossed into the Israeli side, carrying explosives on their bodies, which they detonated. 
• August 28, 2004: Sixteen people, including a 3 year old, were killed and about 100 injured when two buses in Beersheba were attacked within minutes of each other by suicide bombers.
• June 28, 2004: A Kassam rocket fired by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip struck near a nursery school in the northern Negev town ofSderot, killing an Israeli man and a 4-year old Israeli child.
• April 17, 2004: A border policeman was killed and three others wounded when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at theErez Crossing in Gaza.
• March 14, 2004: Ten people were killed and 16 wounded in a double suicide bombing in the area of the Ashdod Port. Hamas and Fatah claimed responsibility for the attack.
• January 14, 2004: A female suicide bomber killed four people and wounded 20 at the Erez Crossing in the Gaza Strip. Hamas and the Fatah Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
• October 15, 2003: Three Americans were killed and one wounded at the Beit Hanoun junction in the Gaza Strip when a massive bomb demolished an armor-plated jeep in a convoy carrying U.S. diplomats and CIA personnel. Both the militant Islamic Jihad and Hamas movements denied responsibility for the attack.
• September 9, 2003: Hamas claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings, the first at an entrance to the Tzrifin army base near Rishon Lezion and the second at Café Hillel in the German colony neighborhood of Jerusalem, which killed a total of 15 people and wounded at least 80.
• August 19, 2003: Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing of a bus in Jerusalem killing at least 18 people and wounding nearly 100.
• August 12, 2003: Suicide bombers killed two Israelis and wounded more than a dozen people in two attacks within a half hour of each other, one at a shopping mall in the Tel Aviv suburb of Rosh Ha'ayin and the other at the entrance of the West Bank town of Ariel. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility for the Rosh Ha'ayin bombing and Hamas claimed to have carried out the Ariel attack.
• June 20, 2003: An Israeli motorist was shot dead and three of his passengers were wounded when their car was fired upon by Palestinian terrorists near Ofra, north of Ramallah. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
• June 11, 2003: Sixteen people were killed and more than 80 wounded when a suicide bomber blew up a Jerusalem city bus during the afternoon rush hour. The bomber was disguised as an ultra-orthodox Jew. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
• May 19, 2003: A Palestinian suicide bomber on a bicycle attacked an Israeli checkpoint on the Gaza Strip, wounding three Israeli soldiers. Hamas claimed responsibility.
• May 18, 2003: Seven people were killed and more than 20 wounded when a suicide bomber blew up a Jerusalem city bus at the start of the Israeli work week. The bomber was disguised as an ultra-orthodox Jew. Soon after, a suicide bomber carrying explosives and dressed in the garb of an ultra-orthodox Jew was stopped at a roadblock. The Palestinian detonated his explosives, killing only himself. Hamas claimed responsibility in both attacks.
• May 17, 2003: A pregnant Israeli woman and her husband were killed when a suicide bomber detonated himself next to them in a public square in Hebron. Hamas claimed responsibility.
• April 30, 2003: Three people were killed and dozens wounded in a suicide bombing at a beachfront pub in Tel Aviv. The Fatah Tanzim and Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, carried out as a joint operation.
• March 7, 2003:  Two Israelis were killed and five were wounded when armed terrorists infiltrated the community of Kiryat Arba and attacked during Shabbat. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
• March 5, 2003: Sixteen people were killed and more than 30 wounded when a terrorist detonated a powerful bomb on a bus en route to HaifaUniversity. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
• January 5, 2003: Twenty two people were killed and about 120 wounded in a double suicide bombing near the old Central Bus Station in Tel Aviv. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Islamic Jihad and Hamas all claimed responsibility for the attacks.
• November 21, 2002: Eleven people were killed and 47 injured when a Palestinian suicide bomber exploded on a bus filled with passengers, including schoolchildren, in the Kiryat Menahem neighborhood inJerusalem. The bus was traveling toward the center of the city during the morning rush hour. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
• October 27, 2002: Two Israeli police officers and a soldier were killed, and 20 bystanders were wounded in a suicide bombing at a gas station near the settlement of Ariel in the West Bank. The two officers and soldier were killed while trying to prevent the terrorist from detonating the bomb. Hamas and the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
• September 19, 2002: Six people were killed and 60 wounded when a terrorist detonated a bomb on one of Tel Aviv's busiest streets, in a bus opposite the Great Synagogue. Many of the wounded were in critical or serious condition. Both Islamic Jihad and Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
• August 4, 2002: Nine people were killed and about 50 wounded in a suicide bombing of an Egged bus at the Meron junction in northernIsrael. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
• July 3, 2002: Eight people were killed and 86 injured, 14 seriously, when a bomb went off at the Frank Sinatra Cafeteria on the Hebrew University Mt. Scopus campus during the busy lunchtime rush. Israeli authorities reported that the explosive device had been planted ahead of time, with the terrorist possibly detonating it by remote control. Five Americans were among the dead. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
• June 18, 2002: Nineteen people were killed and more than 70 were injured, in a suicide bombing on a bus just outside of Jerusalem. The bus, which was completely destroyed, was traveling from Gilo toJerusalem and had many students on board. In addition to the bus, at least two other vehicles were severely damaged in the attack. Hamas claimed responsibility.
• June 8, 2002: Three Israelis, including a pregnant woman, were killed, and five were injured when an armed terrorist inflitrated the community of Carmei Tzur, south of Jerusalem. Hamas claimed responsiblity for the attack.
• May 19, 2002: Three Israelis were killed and more than 50 injured in a suicide bombing at an open-air market in Netanya. A Palestinian disguised as an Israeli soldier carried out the attack. Both Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility. Two of the victims were identified as Yosef Haviv, 70 and Arkadi Wiselman, 40, both of Netanya. Wiselman, a chef at the Park Hotel, survived the Passover bombing on March 27.
• April 27, 2002: Three Palestinian gunmen disguised as Israeli Army soldiers cut through the perimeter fence of Adora, a settlement on theWest Bank, and entered several homes, firing on residents in their bedrooms. Four people, including a 5-year-old girl, were killed in the attacks. Another seven were injured, including one seriously. Both Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility.
• March 31, 2002: Fourteen people were killed and more than 40 injured in a suicide bombing in Haifa, in the Matza gas station restaurant near a shopping mall. Several of the injured were in serious to critical condition. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
• March 27, 2002: Twenty-two people were killed and 140 injured - 20 seriously - in a suicide bombing at the Park Hotel in the coastal city ofNetanya, in the midst of the Passover holiday seder with 250 guests. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
• March 19, 2002: 1st Lt. Tal Zemach, 20, of Kibbutz Hulda, was killed and three soldiers were injured when Palestinian terrorists opened fire at the paratroop training compound in the Jordan Valley. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
• March 9, 2002: Eleven people were killed and 54 injured, 10 of them seriously, when a suicide bomber exploded at in a crowded cafe at the corner of Aza and Ben-Maimon streets in the Rehavia neighborhood in the center of Jerusalem. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
• March 7, 2002: Aharon Krogliak of Beit El, Tal Kurtzweil of Bnei Brak, Asher Marcus of Jerusalem, Eran Pikar of Jerusalem, and Ariel Zana of Jerusalem, all aged 18, were killed and 23 people were injured, four seriously, when a Palestinian gunman penetrated a highschool that combines religious studies and military training in the Gush Katif settlement of Atzmona late Thursday night. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
• March 5, 2002: Palestinians fired two Kassam II rockets at the city ofSderot shortly before 18:00 PM on Tuesday. One of the rockets hit a residential building, moderately wounding a 16-month-old infant. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
• February 10, 2002: A drive-by terrorist shooting at the entrance to the IDF Southern Command base in Be'er Sheva killed two female soldiers and injured four others. One of the Palestinian terrorists was killed at the scene; the second, wearing an explosives belt, fled in the direction of a nearby school when he was shot and killed by a soldier and police officer. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
• December 2, 2001: A suicide bombing on a No. 16 Egged bus in Haifakilled 15 people and injured about 40 people. Hamas claimed responsibility for the Haifa blast, while Hizbullah's radio and television stations expressed support for the attacks.
• December 1, 2001: A double suicide bombing at the Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall in Jerusalem at 11:30 p.m. on a Saturday night killed 11 people, aged 12-21, and injured 188 people. A car bomb exploded 20 minutes later. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.