Yeah, tell it to the Czar: Israel is complaining to Russia about the Russian-made, Iranian-bought, Syrian-smuggled Kornet anti-tank missile used against an Israeli school bus last week. Think Russia gives a shit? I don’t.

Feel-good reads for you: Read this. And this. And this. Mind you, they’re not warm-fuzzy feel good op-eds. But they’re good to read.

Seriously? Gee, I can’t imagine why: The UN sent an investigator to Quantico to try to determine if Bradley Manning is being tortured by the U.S. Marines. He was denied access to Manning. See title.

Shyeah, like that’s gonna work: The Red Cross wants Hamas to show proof Gilad Shalit is still alive. See title.

They are the eye in the sky: Israel launched another spy satellite. You have to wonder, though: If intel about Iranian nukes falls on Obama’s desk, will he actually read it?

But how many would have shown up for an anti- Israel rally? 10,000 people showed up at a rally for Gilad Shalit in Paris. See title.

That “humanitarian” crisis in Gaza? Pound sand. So if there’s such a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, howcome people are shelling out bucks for private beach houses with big-screen TV and waiters? Oh, of course. That last class is made up of Hamas bigwigs. The average joes just pay the beach fees and rent cabins.

Mubarak to Israel: You’re shirking responsibility for the Egyptians I refused to take back these past 43 years. Well, it’s true. Gazans are basically Egyptians. They’re your problem, Hosni, not Israel’s. I think the shirking is coming from the Egyptian side.

Israel Opens Border Crossings into Gaza
Israel opened three border crossings with Gaza on Friday, allowing about 80 trucks filled with fuels and commodities into the Palestinian territory. Among the goods were 400,000 liters of fuel and 120 tons of cooking gas. The decision to open the crossings at Kerem Shalom, Karni and Nahal Oz came after requests from international aid groups and Egypt. (CNN)

Hamas “Military Industry” Working Overtime to Manufacture Rockets – Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff (Ha’aretz)
    For two years Hamas, with Iranian assistance, has been working hard on developing its military power.
    In recent years dozens of Gazans have traveled to training camps in Iran and Lebanon run by terror organizations and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
    Hamas has learned to create ammonium perchlorate compound, an advanced rocket propellant that extends Kassam rocket range beyond 20 kilometers and significantly increases a rocket’s shelf life.
    That means that, for the first time, Hamas can maintain a supply of rockets for months at a time.

A Separate Standard for Israel – Mark Silverberg
On any given day, Israeli prisons are hosting Red Cross representatives, journalists, lawyers, prisoners’ advocates, as well as family members of convicted Palestinian prisoners, while Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas on Israeli soil, is being held in isolation and denied any and all visitation rights from lawyers, family and even the International Red Cross in violation of his human rights and international law. So, where is the international outcry for Shalit?

(via Daily Alert)

From the Goldstone Report:

266. The intensified closure regime on the Gaza crossings which began in November continued in December, with imports restricted to very basic food items and limited amounts of fuel, animal feed and medical supplies. According to OCHA, many basic food items were no longer available and negligible amounts of fuel were allowed to enter Gaza. This resulted in the health sector in Gaza deteriorating further into a critical condition, with hospitals continuing to face problems as a result of power cuts, low stocks of fuel to operate back-up generators, lack of spare parts for medical equipment and shortages of consumables and medical supplies.151 On 18 December 2008, UNRWA once again suspended its food distribution programme for the rest of the month, owing to shortages.152
267. On 27 December 2008, Israel started its military operations in Gaza.153

From this brief chronology it’s easy to see factors that Judge Goldstone and his commission ignored or downplayed.

For one thing, Israel allowed in 80 trucks of aid right before launching Cast Lead. It’s possible that that fact is mentioned in the Goldstone report, but if it is, it is extremely well hidden. (Yes, I searched.) Certainly it would have been relevant to mention in the chronology cited above.

But then this went against something else the commission wished to convey, namely the first agenda item:

1. The blockade
27. The Mission focused (chap. V) on the process of economic and political isolation imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip, generally referred to as a blockade. The blockade comprises measures such as restrictions on the goods that can be imported into Gaza and the closure of border crossings for people, goods and services, sometimes for days, including cuts in the provision of fuel and electricity. Gaza’s economy is further severely affected by the reduction of the fishing zone open to Palestinian fishermen and the establishment of a buffer zone along the border between Gaza and Israel, which reduces the land available for agriculture and industry. In addition to creating an emergency situation, the blockade has significantly weakened the capacities of the population and of the health, water and other public sectors to respond to the emergency created by the military operations.

By starting off the section, “Facts investigated by the Mission, factual and legal findings,” with the “blockade,” the commission served to undermine Israel’s rationale for attacking Hamas. It makes the focus Israel’s actions, not the arms smuggling that made the blockade necessary and certainly not the firing of rockets at Israeli civilians. Nor does it credit Israel for its massive transfers of humanitarian aid to a hostile entity, even at a time of war.

Finally by making its focus Israel’s blockade and conrtriving to call it a violation of humanitarian law, the Goldstone report effectively ignored the gross violation by Hamas of Gilad Shalit’s rights under international law. In fact it even made Shalit a reason to condemn Israel.

78. The Mission is concerned by declarations made by various Israeli officials who have indicated the intention of maintaining the blockade of the Gaza Strip until the release of Gilad Shalit. The Mission is of the opinion that this would constitute collective punishment of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip.

99. . . Following the capture by Palestinian armed groups of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in June 2006, the Israeli armed forces arrested some 65 members of the Legislative Council, mayors and ministers, mostly Hamas members. All were held at least two years, generally in inadequate conditions. Further arrests of Hamas leaders were conducted during the military operations in Gaza. The detention of members of the Legislative Council has meant that it has been unable to function and exercise its legislative and oversight function over the Palestinian executive.

91. The Mission finds that these practices have resulted in violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including the prohibition of arbitrary detention, the right to equal protection under the law and not to be discriminated based on political beliefs and the special protections to which children are entitled. The Mission also finds that the detention of members of the Legislative Council may amount to collective punishment contrary to international humanitarian law.

189. In June 2006, a squad drawn from three groups – the Popular Resistance Committees, al-Qassam Brigades and the until then unknown Army of Islam – excavated a tunnel under the Gaza-Israel border and attacked the military base of Kerem Shalom inside Israel, blowing up a tank, killing two soldiers and capturing a third, Corporal Gilad Shalit. In reaction to the capture, the Israeli Government conducted a number of targeted assassinations of alleged militants belonging to Hamas and other groups; arrested Palestinian Authority cabinet ministers, Hamas parliamentarians and other leaders in the West Bank; attacked key civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, such as the main power plant, the main bridge in central Gaza and Palestinian
Authority offices; tightened the economic isolation; and carried out major armed thrusts into the Gaza Strip for the first time since August 2005.26

Compare those selected mentions with:

1340. The Mission asked the Gaza authorities to confirm the status of Gilad Shalit. In their reply, which the Mission considered to be unsatisfactory, the Gaza authorities denied being involved in any way with the capture and detention of Gilad Shalit and stated that they are not in possession of any information regarding his current status.

Gilad Shalit has not been allowed visits by the International Red Cross despite the Goldstone commission’s acknowledgement that he’s a “prisoner of war.” And yet the reports saves its outrage for Israel for responding to Shalit’s capture.

Here are the reports “legal findings and conclusions” on the subject of Gilad Shalit:

1343. The Mission is of the opinion that, as a soldier who belongs to the Israeli armed forces and who was captured during an enemy incursion into Israel, Gilad Shalit meets the requirements for prisoner-of-war status under the Third Geneva Convention. As such, he should be protected, treated humanely and be allowed external communication as appropriate according to that Convention. ICRC should be allowed to visit him without delay. Information about his condition should also be provided promptly to his family.
1344. The Mission is concerned by the declarations referred to above, made by various Israeli officials, who have indicated the intention of maintaining the blockade of the Gaza Strip until the release of Gilad Shalit. The Mission is of the opinion that this would constitute collective punishment of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip.

So to review, looking back at the situation at the time Israel attacked Hamas last year, the Goldstone commission studiously avoided any major discussion of Hamas’s belligerence. Furthermore it found Israel in violation of international law in matters relating to the capture and holding of Gilad Shalit and effectively absolved Hamas for any legal responsibility.

I think that Israel would have had a better shot with the Red Queen.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

1,000 to 1 odds: Gilad Shalit may actually be heading back to Israel, and convicted mass murderers will be heading to Gaza and the West Bank in return. But Hamas appears to be balking at the idea of not allowing the mass murderers in the West Bank (Israel wants them deported), where they will find it easier to go back to murdering Jews. The utter refusal of Arabs to compromise with Israel in any way, shape, or form seems to be making sure that this deal will never happen, though. And on the sidelines, a group of rabbis have drafted Halachic rules for prisoner swaps for the future. The rules will prohibit the exchange of live terrorists for dead Israelis. Good. Samir Kuntar should never have been released. Now, if only Israel will institute the death penalty for terrorist acts, these swaps would end.

Hamas condemns Egyptian Gaza wall: Hey, at least someone is condemning it. Don’t expect there to be weekly protests against it, though. Don’t expect the UN and EU to talk about how it’s an apartheid wall, yadda yadda, blah, blah, blah. Because it’s not being built by Jews.

Sweden will make you free? The Auschwitz sign was on its way to Sweden. I’m telling you, someone really has to see where Marc Garlasco was the last week or so.

Israel is killing Christmas! When you read the stories about how the separation fence is killing Christmas, refer everyone back to this interview with Mahmoud Abbas in an Arab paper, where he says this:

Let us consider Bethlehem as an example. Last year we received 1,400,000 tourists, and this year there are 2 million tourists. There are no empty beds at any hotel in the city; therefore there are preparations to introduce one thousand, perhaps two or three thousand, beds.

And what has changed in Bethlehem? Oh, that’s right. There aren’t any more terrorist attacks. Not that the MSM will acknowledge that as the real reason business has picked up there.

But the media is more active than we may realize, and journalists profoundly affect what we understand about international law. One way is through the language that journalists popularise in their reports and broadcasts.

The first reference to war crimes by the British press in relation to the Gaza conflict came less than 48 hours into Israel’s operation. It was a quotation from a Hezbollah militant in Lebanon, claiming the assault was a “war crime and represents genocide”.

What is most interesting is not the readiness of the journalist to include war crimes allegations in his report so soon, but that the journalist saw it fit to quote the legal judgement of an avowed enemy. Somewhere in the mind of the journalist is the logic that these soundbytes convey drama and sell papers.

And so every Israeli self-defense is subject to a filter, which suggests that each such action might well be a violation worthy of condemnation if not punishment.

Consider the other side of the coin. On Friday Israel released twenty female security prisoners in exhange for a video of captured soldier, Gilad Schalit. Schalit has been held for three years and not allowed any visits by the Red Cross. How did the Associated Press orient its story? On the plight of the prisoners!

Women make up only a tiny minority of more than 7,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, but they often pay a high personal price for what has largely been a supporting role in the Palestinian uprising.

Some have raised babies behind bars, and others have watched their families torn apart in their absence.

Now notice in these opening paragraphs there’s nothing about what the women may have done to deserve incarceration. It’s as if the Israelis arbitrarily picked the women off the street.

Fatima Ziq, 41, was pregnant when she was arrested in May 2007 as an alleged accomplice in a foiled suicide bombing. She returns to Gaza City with a toddler — her ninth child — who has known only prison life.

Zhour Hamdan, 45, was a married mother of eight when she was picked up in 2003, also as an accomplice in an aborted bombing. Her husband has remarried, and her children were forced to fend for themselves.

“Our mother was the heart of our family,” said one of her daughters, Neveen, 22. “When she was arrested, our entire life changed.”

“Alleged accomplice?” Was she not tried and convicted? And the only reason she’s being released is because the action she abetted was unsuccessful. Does the article ask what kind of society impels pregnant women to be actively involved in the destruction of innocents?

As far as Zhour Hamdan, was she abandoned by husband because of her absence or on account of her age? If her husband abandoned their children too, what does that say about her husband?

But if glossing over the crimes the women were involved in wasn’t bad enough, the AP goes further:

The release of prisoners is an emotional issue for both sides.

Palestinians view the prisoners as heroes fighting Israeli occupation at great personal cost, and virtually every Palestinian family has current or former detainees in its midst.

In contrast, many Israelis see the inmates as terrorists.

Israelis “see” these inmates as terrorists? Please. They are, by definition, terrorists. They attempted to kill civilians. Their success in doing so isn’t really relevant to what they are. It’s not a subjective judgment. That Palestinian society views them as heroes, says something about the society and about the apologists who glorify the terrorism.

The Israeli public is divided over whether to release large numbers of prisoners in exchange for Israeli captives. Some argue that such releases only drive up the cost of future exchanges and increase the dangers of future attacks.

“Some argue?” Well it’s more than an argument. It’s documented that a portion of those terrorists who are released early return to terrorism and innocents again pay the price.

As Meryl noted, there have been other articles of this ilk about Gilad Schalit or more generally.

The media may claim that they report the news, but what they report is a narrative, shaped by ideology. It has the effect of shaping opinion to fit the views of “journalists” and advocating for their preferred causes. It is generally not what we would consider “news.”

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

The names of the 20 Palestinian prisoners slated to be released in exchange for a video providing proof captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is alive, have been released.

The exchange is meant to serve as the first step in a deal to secure the soldier’s release. None of the women on the list have been convicted of murder and the majority of them were slated to be released within a year’s time, regardless of the deal.

I admit, I didn’t think he was still alive. I’ll be very happy to be proven wrong.

Abbas to Obama: Stick it in your very big ears. Wow, look at what all those preconditions Obama demanded did for the peace process. It worked! The Palestinians now think they don’t have to do anything and Israel will be handed to them by the U.S. Great job, Obama! (Is it racist to say that he has big ears?)

If it’s Quds Day, this must be Holocaust Denial: And not just Holocaust denial from Ahmadinejad—his thugs attacked ex-president Khatami. Hey, if they kill Khatami, will Iranians rise up and not stop this time? Here’s what they chanted:

“Death to the dictators,” and “Not Gaza, Not Lebanon, We are ready to die for Iran,” chanted protesters.

The normal chant, if you have forgotten, is “Death to Israel” or “Death to America.”

If this is a holiday, it must be high terror alert in Israel: But gee, Obama told me that the Palestinians want peace. So did the Saudis. So do the Egyptians. Huh. Go figure. And 75,000 Muslims attended Ramadan prayers, unmolested, in Jerusalem—in their mosque deliberately built on the Temple grounds—that was not destroyed when Israel took control of Jerusalem. Exactly which of us is the Religion of Peace, do you think?

The defense establishment recommends easing the siege on Gaza, mainly at the crossings, in order to advance the talks aimed at securing kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit’s release.

The recommendations – some of which have already been approved by the defense minister and will be brought to the political echelon’s approval – have been obtained by Ynet and are revealed here for the first time. They include allowing the transfer of coffee, tea, soup and canned food into Gaza, as well as fuel for electricity production.

[...] Beyond the aim of securing the kidnapped soldier’s release, the ease of restrictions is a response to the increasing international pressure to improve the situation in Gaza, repeated appeals by Egypt, the ongoing smuggling of humanitarian equipment through underground tunnels at the Philadelphi route, and US President Barack Obama’s historic speech in Cairo.

The AP puts it this way:

Israel’s Defense Ministry has recommended a partial lifting of the embargo on the Gaza Strip as a goodwill gesture toward the Palestinians to spur talks to free a long-held captive soldier, an Israeli news site reported Friday.

When have goodwill gestures ever worked? The Palestinians take these “gestures” and then demand more before they will do anything on their side. Really, name one that worked. Just one.

Of course, this is going to get done. Israel has removed most of the checkpoints in the West Bank, the Palestinians are armed again, and there are no Israelis in Gaza. This will be the second time in recent history that the Palestinians have been given a chance at self-government. The last time, they launched the Al-Aqsa Intifada after Arafat refused the offer at Camp David in 2000, which would have given Palestinians control of more than 95% of the West Bank, all of Gaza, and eastern Jerusalem. Not in bantustans—that is a lie that Israel’s opponents spread. Israel offered peace, the Palestinians chose war.

Make no mistake about Palestinian intentions. There are no peacemakers on their side. They insist on the “right of return,” which would flood Israeli with millions of third- and fourth-generation descendants of the original refugees. The Arab world’s refugees were not settled anywhere by the UN—most of them move to Israel. Fifty percent of Israel’s population is made up of the original refugees and their descendants.

The blockade will be eased. And violence will resume. Hamas is restocking its weapons and has called off its rocketeers—proof that they have always had the ability to stop terror attacks, in spite of their pretense otherwise (and the uncritical media acceptance of such claims). So the calm right now has a purpose.

And one more warning: Hamas is now saying that they can’t guarantee that Gilad Shalit wasn’t harmed in the Gaza war. Prepare for the worst, because when have terrorists ever returned a live captive soldier to Israel?

Today Ha’aretz is reporting that Shalit’s transfer to Egypt is “imminent.” (via memeorandum)

The European source said Shalit’s transfer to Egypt was the first stage of the Egyptian-brokered agreement hammered out between Fatah, Hamas and other Palestinian factions, in coordination with the U.S. and with Syria’s support.

The deal would put the Gaza Strip under the leadership of a joint committee subordinate to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, removing it from the control of the government of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

There’s a lot here that’s distasteful. Ha’aretz reports that Hamas is insisting on the release of prisoners with “blood on their hands.” If Syria is supporting this deal, it suggests that the American decision to restore diplomatic relations with Syria is related to this deal. Also Jimmy Carter was apparently very much involved in the transaction.

Finally, while he’s far from ideal, the only Palestinian official who has shown any capacity for governing is Salam Fayyad. Removing Gaza from his authority is a sign that Hamas has won a power struggle. Abbas is wholly ineffectual. Of course this also would show that Fayyad has absolutely no power base.

I have to say that there’s a lot here to be skeptical about. Certainly, if the deal as described by Ha’aretz is accurate, and Shalit is released, Israel will have, once again paid an extremely high price for the return of a soldier. Additionally the deal will strengthen the positions of Syria and Hamas, which is not good.

But Ha’aretz reminds us that:

On Tuesday Palestinian news agency Maan quoted Egyptian sources as saying that Shalit was to be transferred from the Gaza Strip into Egypt within hours, a report that Israeli sources denied.

The Astute Blogger is skeptical. Michael Goldfarb is hopeful, but I think he’s wrong that it will help Netanyahu, as I wrote above it will strengthen Hamas and Syria and it will vindicate (at least in the short term) the administration’s efforts to reach out to extremists.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Israelis, Palestinians call for Shalit’s release

Solidarity at last?

Protest on both sides of fence: Hundreds of demonstrators from all over the country began blocking the Karni, Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings on the Gaza Strip border on Tuesday morning, in protest of the fact that Gilad Shalit has been held by Hamas for three years and in a demand for a sign of life from the Israeli soldier.

Nope.

On the Israeli side, the protestors planned to prevent the transfer of goods into the Strip. Dudu Gilboa, chairman of the People in Blue and White organization, said that the activists were blocking the crossings “in the hopes that this will send a message to the other side, that without a sign of life from Gilad we will only intensify our activities.”

The Palestinian protestors, on the other hand, are calling on Israel to open the crossings. “Shalit is one prisoner, but the lives of so many people are being run around him, and this blockade cannot continue,” said Sami Abed, a Palestinian journalist who organized the protest.

Business as usual.

The Palestinian rally was initiated by Sami Abed, who heard about the Israeli protest organized by Yoel Marshak. According to Abed, the demand to keep the crossings closed until the Shalit affair is solved is unfair and inhumane.

“We also want the Shalit affair to end and the siege on the Strip to be lifted. People say they cannot live like this for hundreds of years more,” he said, adding that the blockade was “a crime against Palestinian children.”

I wonder what the AP spin will be on this one.