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.

   

Palestinian baby given bone marrow transplant in Israeli hospital

This is Zionism

After  the Palestinian Authority refused to pay for a  two-year-old Palestinian boy's bone marrow transplant , Israel's Civil Administration picked up the tab and the procedure was performed at Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer

“This procedure will save the child's life,” explained Dalia Bessa, the Health Coordinator for the Civil Administration. “When this sort of procedure is needed and the Palestinian Authority refuses to fund it, the Civil Administration steps in, in order to save lives.”

The child is under the care of a social worker who has been attending to his and his family's needs throughout the duration of the hospital stay. “My position entails taking responsibility for Palestinian patients from the minute they are admitted until they are released from the hospital, while coordinating with the Civil Administration and Dalia Bessa,” said Baloum Raid, a social worker who coordinates the hospitalization of all Palestinian patients at the Sheba Medical Center.

The patient's father expressed satisfaction with the treatment at the hospital, saying, “I am very happy with the dedicated care my son has received. The doctors, staff, and Civil Administration have not spared any effort. Thank you.”

The Civil Administration funds hundreds of operations and medical treatments each year, in addition to its support for the Palestinian health care system. “The level of care in the Palestinian Authority is different from the level of care in Israel,” Bessa said. “We try to provide them with the knowledge and experience through courses and training seminars that take place throughout the year.”

Read the full  story here.

Sabra Hummus: An Epic BDS Fail

Our friend Jon at Divest this always helps us keep things in perspective. That's why we like him. Remember a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away?  Sabra hummus- a made in New York chick pea spread  was the main focus of the BDS'ers ire.   Using the entire carpetbag of BDS tactics- threats,  intimidation, and  meaningless referendums, along with the cowards way out- destruction of private property - what have they accomplished? In over 4 years of hating on hummus, where has it gotten them?

Sabra Hummus vandalized by BDS holes in Berkeley (2008)

Vandalized display in school cafeteria

Jon points out exactly what impact the BDS'ers have made on the bottom line of Sabra hummus.  

From Fast Company:

... if Ronen Zohar has his way, hummus will become a staple snack next to the peanut butter and jelly in your fridge. As CEO of Sabra Dipping Company, Zohar’s presided over sales of hummus that bounced from $16 million to $800 million in just six years. Founded in 1986 to serve a local community of predominately Jewish customers in Queens, New York, Sabra eventually grew and became a joint venture of PepsiCo and the Strauss Group in 2007. The company now boasts more than half of the hummus marketshare and about 25% of the fresh dip category that includes salsa and guacamole, ahead of competitors Tribe and Athenos (owned by Kraft). Zohar believes hummus will bring Sabra a billion dollars in annual revenue in the next five years.

One more time- just so you realize how irrelevant the BDS'ers have been to the Sabra brand:
Sales of Sabra  hummus increased from $16 million to $800 million in just six years. 

Its yet another massive, epic BDS fail.

Obama Strikes Against Israel

Mike L.

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

Two different stories, one in the Times of Israel and one in Y-Net, infer that the Obama administration is now taking a measure of revenge on the Jewish State of Israel for daring to build housing for its citizenry in eastern Jerusalem.  Given Obama's objection to Israel fighting back against Hamas, it may also be the case that Obama is punishing Israel for daring to defend itself from the Hamas rocketeers.

According to the Times of Israel:

NEW YORK — A series of hard-hitting amendments that would have severely penalized the Palestinian Authority, along with several states and international bodies, for the successful bid last week to upgrade the PA’s status to a “nonmember observer state” at the UN failed to pass in the Senate Tuesday. One of the defeated amendments would have closed down the PLO’s office in Washington...

According to Capitol Hill observers familiar with the amendments, they were removed due to pressure from the White House. While the Obama administration actively opposed PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s UN General Assembly move — which saw a vote of 138-9 last Thursday in favor of upgrading “Palestine” to a nonmember observer state — it was concerned that the proposed amendments would limit its options when dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian issue going forward.

While it's unclear just how "actively" the White House actually opposed dictator Abbas's successful UNGA bid to see "Palestine" recognized as a non-member state, it does seem clear that Obama has, in fact, actively prevented the the US Senate from taking action in support of Israel.  This is fully consistent with Barack Obama's ongoing hostility toward that country.  Obama wrecked whatever potential that there may have been in a negotiated conclusion of hostilities through his demand for total settlement freeze.  He blamed Israel for his own miscalculations.  And he then went forward to help usher the Muslim Brotherhood into power in Egypt and, thereby, assisted the rise of political Islam throughout the Middle East.

According to Y-Net:

The European countries plan to impose sanctions on the Israeli government: Freezing agreements, labeling items that are manufactured in the settlements and lowering the level of diplomatic relations.

"In the aftermath of the decision to upgrade the Palestinians' status in the UN to that of a non-member observer state, Netanyahu acted like the leader of a criminal gang, not like the prime minister of a country that is a member of the world body," the European official said. "We were shocked by the decision to build (more housing units beyond the Green Line). It shows that all of Netanyahu's statements regarding the two-state solution idea are meaningless."

It is safe to say that the Washington is encouraging Europe's conduct. The White House authorized Europe to punish Netanyahu's government. This has nothing to do with Netanyahu's behavior during the US elections. The Obama administration realizes that a way must be found to jumpstart the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians and reach an agreement.

It's difficult to draw hard and fast conclusions on stories such as the above.  Nonetheless, it is not unlikely that the Obama administration is taking behind the scenes actions against Israel as a punitive measure for green-lighting future homes in the eastern section of Jerusalem and for daring to defend itself during the recent conflict with Hamas.

Some will say, strangely enough, that smacking around Israel is good for the Jewish State.

There are any number of "progressives," including "progressive Zionists," who think that punishing Israel is the true yardstick of friendship and alliance with that country.  The more one smacks around Israel... for its own good, of course... the greater a friend one is.

I hope that I can perhaps be forgiven for doubting that a kick in the teeth is the behavior of a friend.

Barack Obama is no friend to the Jewish State of Israel, nor therefore a friend to the Jewish people, in general.

The evidence for this conclusion continues to mount, yet I am certain that it will continue to be ignored by Obama's "progressive Zionist" supporters.  Jeremy Ben-Ami and Peter Beinart must be very pleased.

Nine months pregnant and protecting Tel Aviv

In every conflict, stories emerge of acts of heroism beyond the call of duty- of individuals whose personal commitment and dedication to their people stand out and inspire others.

Here's one of my newest personal heros.
Courtesy of IMRA via Maariv

The Nov 30, 2012 Maariv  features a photo of Hila, the 28 year old head of the testing division responsible for the testing and transfer of Iron Dome batteries  She is in her 9th month of pregnancy and is  due next week.

'The battery was completing a series of testing at the testing field when Israel assassinated Ahmed Jabri. The team realized that they could close the gap between testing and deployment and in the course of 60 hours were able to deploy the Iron Dome battery to defend Tel Aviv. Hila is an aeronautical engineer married to an Air Force officer. When her husband’s commander told him he was sending him home to be with his wife as she was about to give birth, he replied that his wife wasn’t home."

Stand With Israel Berkeley AIPAC membership Dinner

What has Hamas done to Minimize Civilian Casualties?

What has Hamas done to minimize civilian casualties? Absolutely nothing.

What has Israel done to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza?  Its gone to extraordinary lengths.

During Israel's  Pillar of Defense operation  there were over 1500 Israeli military strikes on terror targets in Gaza.  An additional one third  were cancelled when it was felt they could not be executed  safety without  causing  civilian deaths. While all deaths are tragic,  less were killed in a week of hostilities in Gaza than were killed in a day in Syria.  In fact, since 1948, less Arabs have been killed by Israel than were killed by Syria, in one year.  

The IDF did everything it could to minimize civilian deaths , concentrating their activities on  weapons manufacturing and storage facilities, underground rocket launchers,  weapons smuggling tunnels and top-ranking Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists including

• Ahmed Jabari, head of Hamas’ military wing 
• Hab’s Hassan Us Msamch, senior operative in Hamas’ police 
• Ahmed Abu Jalal, Commander of the military wing in Al-Muazi 
• Khaled Shaer, senior operative in the anti-tank operations 
• Osama Kadi, senior operative in the smuggling operations in the southern Gaza Strip 
• Muhammad Kalb, senior operative in the aerial defense operations
• Ramz Harb, Islamic Jihad senior operative in propaganda in Gaza City 

                 

A petition, from our friends at Standwithus

Dear Friends of Israel,
Please sign the petition and share with your lists, post on your blogs,  and send to your friends

Join StandWithUs, ILC and ActforIsrael
and numerous other organizations

and stand up for Israel.

Please sign the petition against the
anti-Israel Boycott Movement!  

  
Recently hundreds of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel organizations have joined forces and applied immense pressure on singer Stevie Wonder to cancel his scheduled performance at the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) Gala on Thursday, December 6.

These organizations distributed a petition with anti-Israel propaganda and demanded that Stevie Wonder cancel the show. Thousands signed the boycott petition which is full of misinformation and hatred towards Israel, and as a result Stevie Wonder was coerced into canceling the performance. 

Join us as we unite to stand up for the State of Israel, the Jewish people and the free world.  Join us as we will no longer sit idly by as anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activists attempt to bully others into boycotting Israel.

Please sign this petition to stand against the anti-Israel boycott movement by clicking here
Thank you in advance for standing with Israel,

StandWithUs