Boys and cat toys

Posted on 12/06/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Remember this post? The one where I showed you how my mother utterly spoils my cats? Well, as a result of her visit, Tig now has a nightly routine with me (or at least, I thought it was just with me) where he must attack me under the covers. Well, I’m taking care of Sarah’s eldest son, Jake, while she and Larry manage next-oldest boy’s tenth birthday sleepover. And Jake has a bar mitzvah to attend today, so we just had him sleep over Aunt Meryl’s, who will drive him to synagogue this morning. Meantime, Tig decided that he has a nightly routine with anyone who happens to be in a bed, and so we have this:

Cat and boy

That’s Tig attacking Jake’s feet under the cover. This morning, Jake told me that Tig was in and out of his room much of the night, since he left the door open. I’m a little surprised, because Tig was sleeping on my shins through what I thought was the entire night (but obviously only the post-2 a.m. part, and we know the time because Jake was sleepless until then, he says).

Tig likes visitors. Especially their feet, it seems.

That’s a Dr. Dolittle book in Jake’s hand. It turns out that he read one or two, and wanted to read the rest but couldn’t find them. They’re out of print. Well, Aunt Meryl has them all, and constantly looks for new copies to supplement the ones falling apart.

Off to make breakfast. And shut off the Wii. (Yes, I know. I’m such a good aunt.)

Posted in Cats, Life | 5 Comments

Human wrongs

Posted on 12/05/2008 by Soccerdad

When you see a headline like: Israel Under Fire At UN Over Rights Record, it sounds pretty serious. Then you read the article itself.

The Jewish state was being examined by the U.N. Human Rights Council as part of the “Universal Periodic Review” to which every U.N. member state must submit.

In Thursday’s session, Syria’s ambassador to the council referred ironically to the “oasis of democracy” he claimed was presented by Israel’s own submission as part of the proceedings.

The Palestinian representative declared he was “astonished” by Israel’s presentation “which did not mention its responsibilities as an occupying power” in the Palestinian territories.

So Syria which represses its opposition and is occupying a neighboring country (through intimidation) and the Palestinians who still engage in vicious antisemitic propaganda and deny their own people due process are judging Israel.

Israel’s ambassador Aharon Leshno-Yaar said his country wished to show “proof of its humility” before the council, but also pointed to progress in the rights of disabled people, greater tolerance of sexual diversity and the banning of corporal punishment in schools.

“Greater tolerance of sexual diversity” is an excellent rebuke to societies that still countenance “honor killings.” But in this forum such a rebuke may be brazenly ignored.

This failed to convince Israel’s Arab neighbors who rained down criticism of the treatment of the Palestinians who have lived under occupation for more than four decades.

Israel failed to its “Arab neighbors.” What a surprise. If its Arab neighbors were interested in giving Israel a fair hearing, that sentence might have some significance. But this was the proceeding of a kangaroo court. To treat it as a serious hearing is ridiculous.

Claudia Rosett shares some nuggets demonstrating how perverse this review of Israel’s human rights record is, including:

Epitomizing the hypocrisy of this exercise is a statement submitted to the U.N. earlier this year by Iran, which also helped organize the original, 2001 Durban conference. Tehran proclaims that “The Islamic Republic of Iran, according to its formal and practical policies, is opposed to any policy based on racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and has fought against this phenomenon at national, regional and international levels.” This comes from the Iranian regime, which along with supporting terrorists, threatening to wipe Israel off the map and violating five U.N. Security Council resolutions meant to stop its nuclear bomb program, pursues domestic policies of forcing women to wear the veil and executes homosexuals.

All that’s missing is the Queen of Hearts.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Israel, Israel Derangement Syndrome, Israeli Double Standard Time | Tagged | Comments Off on Human wrongs

Chabad massacre: They did try to kill the baby

Posted on 12/05/2008 by Meryl Yourish

I have not written about the Mumbai terrorist attack for a variety of reasons. There is a half-finished essay that is waiting for the right words before you can see it. One of the things I wondered was why the terrorists didn’t murder Moshe Holtzberg. They never stopped at murdering children before. Today, I discovered that the reason: They probably thought they had killed him.

Samuel says she emerged early the next afternoon, when she heard Moshe calling for her. She found the child crying as he stood between his parents, who she says appeared unconscious but still alive.

Based on the marks on Moshe’s back, she believes he was struck so hard by a gunman that he fell unconscious at some point as well.

Sandra Samuel is a righteous woman. She stands very high in contrast to the subhumans who killed Rabbi and Rebbetzin Holtzberg. And Moshe? Well, he’s been traumatized. He may get over it, but rest assured, he will always know that his parents were murdered by terrorists. As to how this will cause him to react when he is grown, well, only time will tell.

In the aftermath of the attacks, Moshe asked for his mother continuously, Samuel says, and he is learning to play again — though he likes the nanny close by. And while she still has nightmares of the horrific siege that took hold of Mumbai, Samuel, a non-Jew and native of India, said she will stay in Israel for as long as Moshe needs her.

Time, and thoughts like these:

“I vow that we will avenge the deaths of Gabi and Rivki,” announced Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice chairman of Chabad’s educational arm, from New York, referring to Mumbai emissaries Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka.

“But not with AK-47s, not with grenades and tanks. We will take revenge in a different way,” Kotlarsky said.

“We will add light. We will add good deeds. We will make sure that there is not one Jewish man who does not put on tefillin. We will make sure that there is not one Jewish woman who does not light candles.

Remember that, when you look at this, and then think of the funerals of Palestinians, and the howls for revenge you hear from the crowds there.

Moshe

I don’t always light Shabbat candles. I will make sure to do so tonight, to honor their memories.

Posted in Jews, Religion, Terrorism | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The huge problem of Islamophobia

Posted on 12/05/2008 by Soccerdad

via Contentions:

SIMON JENKINS

What I think is extraordinary to people abroad, is that those of us who are enthusiasts for America and American liberties cannot see why you needed to do these things. You will never persuade the outside world that you have not restricted liberty in America. You will never persuade them that you have not taken out Muslims as a particular group, and you will never, and you never persuade them that you really needed to do these things.

Yes I understand that Jenkins is accusing the government of harrassing Muslims in the United States and that he’s not speaking about hate crimes, however it is emblematic of a meme that a torrent of oppression – official and unofficial – was unleashed against Muslims in the United States since 9/11. Guess what? the numbers don’t show it! (via memeorandum)

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee said it received an average of 120 to 130 reports of ethnically motivated attacks or threats each year between 2003 and 2007, a sharp decrease from the 700 violent incidents it documented in the weeks following the 2001 attacks.

Jihad Watch comments:

Of course, most Muslims worldwide are not Arabs, and most Arabs and native Arabic speakers in the United States are not Muslims, but this story is still extraordinarily significant in light of CAIR’s repeated claims that “anti-Muslim hate crimes” have risen sharply in the U.S. since 9/11. They know well that victimhood is big business: insofar as they can claim protected victim status for themselves, they can deflect unwanted scrutiny and any critical examination of how jihadists use Islamic texts and teachings to justify violence and supremacism.

According the FBI in 2001 (.pdf), there were 481 anti-Islamic incidents. (In 2001 there were about twice as many anti-Jewish incidents.) In 2002 there were 155 anti Islamic incidents. (There were 930 – 6 times as many – anti-Jewish incidents in 2002.)The 700 figure cited by the AADC is likely high.

Israel Matzav correctly points out that antisemitism (or anti-Jewishness) was a much bigger problem in 2007. According to the FBI anti-Jewish incidents outnumbered anti-Islamic incident by 969 to 115.

For all the talk about Islamophobia, it still remains a less significant problem in America than antisemitism.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Anti-Semitism | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Tunnel vision

Posted on 12/05/2008 by Soccerdad

After noting that Hamas in a fit of pique, denied residents who had been approved for the Hajj to travel to Saudi Arabia, the NYT reported.

Israel and Hamas are also eyeing each other warily because on Dec. 19 their six-month truce comes to an end, and neither is sure whether to renew it. For the past several weeks, both have violated its terms, with Hamas lobbing rockets into southern Israel, terrorizing and injuring dozens, and Israeli forces carrying out raids into Gaza, killing and wounding militants.

“…both have violated its terms?!?!” Yikes. Israel struck at a tunneling project in northern Gaza. Let me remind you what Gen Doron Almog said last week:

On Wednesday, Almog addressed a conference in Westminster, central London, titled “Ending Impunity or Decreasing Accountability: Averting Abuse of Universal Jurisdiction.”

To show that the IDF deferred to the judicial system, Almog said that while he headed the Southern Command, he requested the demolition of a certain house in Gaza. His request was turned down by the legal echelons of the IDF.

In June 2006, that house served as cover for the tunnel from Gaza into Israel that was used to kidnap Gilad Schalit.

Israel had every reason to believe that the tunnel it destroyed was being built to give Hamas an opportunity to attack outside of Gaza. The tunnel may not, at that point, have been an immediate threat. But it would be. To call the attack on Hamas’s “tunnel offensive” a violation of the ceasefire is absurd.

Teh Times also reported about Hamas’s Hajj prevention techniques

Witnesses said the police used sticks to beat those who did not turn back. Five tourism company owners who dealt with the West Bank officials for the hajj were jailed by Hamas security men, according to Maher Amin, owner of another such company.

The result is that Gazans, isolated by an Israeli, Egyptian and Western closure for the past year and a half, now have another reason to feel besieged — they are being deprived of the chance to perform one of the most basic duties of a Muslim, the Mecca pilgrimage.

“Even the Israelis never dared prevent the pilgrimage this way,” Mr. Amin complained.

“Even Israel!!!!”

And here is what happened to a young man who got on the wrong side of Fatah:

However, interrogations by Israelis, who never charged him with a crime, were polite, he said, compared to three nightmarish days last month, after Palestinian intelligence agents seized the young factory worker from his home in the middle of the night and proceeded to beat him and suspend him for hours from a hook by his wrists while his arms were tied behind his back.

Too afraid to let his name be published — he said his jailers warned him not to talk to the media — L. told Reuters this week that his interrogators repeatedly demanded that he admit to being a Hamas activist. “You’re Hamas! You’re Hamas! Tell us what you’re up to! Who are you working for?” they asked, while kicking and punching the prisoner as he hung or stood in what the torture manuals call “stress positions”.

“I told them that the Israelis had let me go,” L. said, smiling nervously at the irony of citing Israelis as a character reference to protect him from his fellow Palestinians. “If I was what they said, the Israelis wouldn’t have released me.”

You mean that the Israelis allow more freedom and are not as brutal as the leaders of the PA? Are the Palestinians becoming nostalgic for Israel?

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Gaza, Israel, Media Bias | Tagged | Comments Off on Tunnel vision

Nissenbaum, missin’ it

Posted on 12/05/2008 by Soccerdad

Dion Nissenbaum, who, last week, was concerned that Israel’s preventing foreign reporters from entering Gaza damaged Israel’s image, missed the news. Israel re-opened Gaza to reporters. I would have thought that his concern for Israel’s image would have inspired him to dash off to his computer and report this change of policy immediately. Maybe his concern for Israel’s image isn’t as great as he’s boasted.

(In fairness he did observe that Hamas chased out an Israeli reporter.)

See Meryl’s more extensive indictment of media hypocrisy.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Israel, Israeli Double Standard Time, Media Bias | Tagged | Comments Off on Nissenbaum, missin’ it

An open letter to the world media

Posted on 12/04/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Dear World Media,

I know you’ve been very busy with much more important things, like Jews fighting Jews in Hebron (you really love when that happens), or Gaza banks closing due to Israel’s refusal to hand money over to Hamas (funny that you keep missing the part where Hamas smuggles millions of dollars in cash through the tunnels), or writing about Israel’s refusal to allow foreign journalists into Gaza (while ignoring utterly the restrictions the Palestinians have always had in place on journalists, which included kneecapping those who wrote critical pieces about Palestinian leaders), but I thought I would point something out to you that you appear not to notice, except when it kills someone: Hamas has been sending mortars and rockets out of Gaza on a daily basis, deliberately aiming for schoolchildren. That’s right. Every day now, just like before the so-called truce, rockets are falling on southern Israel.

And yet, the world media is more concerned with getting your reporters into Gaza than in reporting the daily rocketing of Israeli towns and cities. You only seem to notice it when Israel kills the rocketeers (and Hamas lies about who was killed), or when an Israeli is killed by a rocket or mortar shell, and even then, you manage to point out that the rockets “rarely” kill anyone. I’m sure that’s a great comfort to the victim’s family.

You constantly repeat the Hamas line that the rockets only “strain” the truce, yet Israeli response to the rockets “violate” the truce. Or you confuse cause and effect, taking the Hamas line that the reason they are firing rockets into Israel is because the IDF went into Gaza to destroy a tunnel, killing the terrorists who attempted to kill them. The rockets, you say, are “in response” to the Israel “raid” into Gaza. And yet, rockets have been raining down regularly during the entire time the so-called “truce” has been in effect, but you brilliant, talented, experienced international reporters can’t seem to add that fact into your reports. Even in an article about Hamas preventing Gazans from performing the Hajj, you pass along that false narrative. You shamelessly conflate the killing of terrorists with the deliberate targeting of civilians:

For the past several weeks, both have violated its terms, with Hamas lobbing rockets into southern Israel, terrorizing and injuring dozens, and Israeli forces carrying out raids into Gaza, killing and wounding militants.

The exchanges began when Israel discovered a tunnel being dug from Gaza to Israel that it believed was to be used for seizing another Israeli soldier — Hamas has already been holding a soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, for more than two years. Israel destroyed the tunnel, killing six Hamas militants in the operation, leading Hamas to accuse it of breaking the truce. It retaliated with dozens of rockets and mortars.

The tunnel was a violation of the truce, New York Times reporter. How is it you start the truce violation with Israel’s action to destroy the tunnel, completely ignoring the terrorists’ actions that caused the IDF equal and opposite reaction? (Yes, that was a rhetorical question. By now, we are familiar with the world media’s blindnesses in the Israel-Palestinian war.)

Only Xinhua, the Chinese news agency, is reporting regularly on the daily rocket attacks, and is actually blaming Hamas, something that Reuters and AP generally don’t do. You blame instead “rogue groups” that Hamas “can’t control.” Interesting that the media organ of one of the world’s most unfree press can still tell the truth about Hamas, while the freest media in the world can’t figure out who is actually responsible for breaking the “truce.”

In closing, world media, I would like to say that I don’t really expect you to change. I don’t even expect you to be ashamed of yourselves for the blatant promotion of a terrorist group that is trying to turn Gaza into another Somalia (and gee, look what Sharia rule got us in that failed state) while ignoring all of Hamas’ crimes against its own people. But I do expect you to understand that I will never, ever give you a pass for your shabby, biased, pseudo-reporting on Israel and the Palestinians.

And in closing: [censored]

Sincerely,

Meryl Yourish

Posted in Israel, Media Bias | Tagged , | 3 Comments

What’s peace got to do with it?

Posted on 12/04/2008 by Soccerdad

The Jerusalem Post reports that the economy under Fatah is imrpoving:

Officers in the Civil Administration said the economic surge was the result of a number of parallel factors but was mainly due to improved coordination between Israel and the PA, as well as a decision by PA President Mahmoud Abbas to make a concerted effort to stop Hamas’ build-up in the West Bank.

(h/t Backspin)

I guess this helps explain the dissatisfaction with Hamas.

So they’re cooperating more and that’s a good thing. But then I read something like this:

Fayyad spoke to journalists after he met with diplomats of EU countries on Monday.

“We asked for a meeting with representatives of those countries to express our deep concerns ahead of of the debate on the strengthening of relations with Israel,” he said.

“I told them that since Israel violated all its commitments, including on human rights issues, the EU countries should wait before upgrading the level of Israeli representation at the EU,” he said.

and I wonder if even the moderates really want peace. Things are improving so why not play them up?

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Israel, Israel Derangement Syndrome, palestinian politics | Tagged | Comments Off on What’s peace got to do with it?

The UN’s Israel obsession, continued

Posted on 12/04/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Libya called the UN Security Council into an emergency session on Wednesday. Was it war? Famine? Zimbabwe? Sudan? Piracy off the coast of Africa? The situation in Mumbai? Afghanistan? China? Tibet? Kashmir?

Nope.

It’s because the IDF turned back a Libyan ship that tried to break through the Gaza blockade.

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency session on Wednesday night to discuss Israel’s refusal to allow a Libyan vessel carrying humanitarian supplies to dock on Gaza’s shore.

The session was convened at Libya’s request on the grounds that preventing the ship from reaching the Strip constituted an affront to peace on Israel’s part.

The incident occurred on Monday, when a Libyan cargo ship approached Israel’s territorial waters on its way to Gaza. Palestinian and Libyan officials claimed it was transporting 3,000 tons of food and humanitarian equipment intended for residents of the besieged Strip.

Libya, the current representative of the group of Arab nations on the Security Council, demanded an emergency session be convened following the incident, which forced the ship to veer in the direction of Egypt. Libya’s envoy to the Council slammed Israel’s refusal to allow the humanitarian aid to reach Gaza.

But wait. It gets better. The Libyan representative accused Israel of piracy. Yes. Really.

Libya accused Israel of piracy at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday for preventing a Libyan ship from delivering humanitarian supplies to the Gaza Strip.

The Libyan boat, Al-Marwa, turned back in the face of an Israeli naval blockade on Monday. Libyan and Palestinian officials said it was carrying 3,000 tonnes of food, medicine and other aid to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Libyan U.N. Ambassador Giadallah Ettalhi told the 15-nation council that the Israeli action was “an act of piracy” as defined by the U.N. convention on law of the sea.

He asked the council “to take the necessary urgent actions to allow the … ship to enter the port and unload its cargo.” He added that Libya would allow the United Nations or other organizations to confirm that its cargo was purely humanitarian.

Basically, the Libyans wasted the evening of the UNSC members.

US Deputy Permanent Representative Alejandro Wolff also rejected Libya’s arguments during the debate and deemed it “absurd to assert Israel committed an act of piracy” since not a single shot was fired nor was the Libyan ship boarded.

He said Libya’s attempt to access a closed sea port instead of following the usual channels for international aid was “dangerous and irresponsible.”

Several council members used the debate to voice their concerns over the humanitarian situation in Gaza and deplore the Israeli blockade of the region.

I really like the AFP lead:

Libya protested in vain Wednesday before the UN Security Council over Israel’s interception of one of its cargo ships attempting to offload aid in Gaza.

Ambassador Giadalla Ettalhi told an emergency council session that Israel was guilty of “piracy in the high seas,” and called for “effective action that will ensure compliance of Israel with international humanitarian law and the law of the seas”.

His complaints, however, failed to elicit a formal condemnation of Monday’s actions by Israel, which needed unanimous consensus by the council’s 14 members — Libya is one of the 15-strong council’s 10 rotating members.

When even the AFP is mocking you, well, it’s time to throw in the towel.

And remember, this is brought to you by the geniuses who thought of “Isratine“. Of course refusing to let a ship from an enemy nation into a hostile territory is piracy—if you’re effing nuts to begin with.

Posted in Israel Derangement Syndrome, United Nations | Tagged , | 2 Comments

For the record:

Posted on 12/04/2008 by Meryl Yourish

I would just like to say that I have never, do not currently, and never will have a “dream timepiece.” I mean, for eff’s sake, it’s a watch. You tell time with it. You wear it on your wrist, or you forget to do so, depending on your state of mind.

So would you kindly please stop filling my inbox with your stupid emails claiming you’ve found my “dream timepiece”?

I have a watch. It’s an analog. It’s silver with a blue face, and it cost me $40.

Beat that.

Posted in Juvenile Scorn | 8 Comments

Mumbai myopia

Posted on 12/03/2008 by Soccerdad

Tom Gross asks:

What is the motivation of journalists in trying to mangle language — such as going out of their way to refer to terrorists as “militants,” as one Mumbai story on yesterday’s Times of London Web site seemed to do? Do they somehow wish to express sympathy for these murderers, or perhaps make their crimes seem almost acceptable? How are we going to effectively confront terrorists when we can’t even identify them as such?

(via memeorandum)

Dry Bones notes some context that’s missing from much of the coverage of the terror.

Back to Tom Gross:

But then the terrorists in Mumbai didn’t need to make any public announcements. They knew that many deluded Western journalists and academics will do that job for them, explaining that the West is to blame, especially the Zionists.

Which, I think may explain Dry Bones’s observation too.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Media Bias, Terrorism | Tagged | 2 Comments

How do you say “your maximum leader has no chin” in Arabic?

Posted on 12/03/2008 by Soccerdad

This is a great bit of psychological warfare.

Recently, Israel hacked into the Syrian phone system, and sent thousands of messages to Syrians offering a $10 million reward for information on the whereabouts of missing Israeli soldiers.

It’s not just Syria either.

For the last two years, Israel has been hacking into Lebanon based Hezbollah radio and TV broadcasts, and inserting messages that point out mistakes Hezbollah has made, or lies Hezbollah has been pushing, or simply ridiculing the Islamic radicals.

I love that last bit. Do they also ridicule the chinless ophthalmologist?

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Israel, Juvenile Scorn, Syria | Tagged | 3 Comments

Water out of thin air

Posted on 12/03/2008 by Soccerdad

There’s the high tech way of doing it.

The technology, Bar tells ISRAEL21c, works in three steps: first is the absorption of air’s humidity, then the removal of water from a solid desiccant (silica based gel granules) which holds the water, and third, condensation. The absorption of the humidity is an exothermic process (involving heat release), humidity absorption occurs spontaneously, and only minimal energy is used as the air is pumped through the unit. Heat recovery techniques are integrated as part of the condenser, reducing the cost for producing water to a reasonable price, similar to other processes, such as desalination.

And the low tech (high faith) too.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Israel, Religion | Tagged | 1 Comment

Rockets and mortars fall on Israel, but no news media can hear them

Posted on 12/03/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Three kassam rockets and ten mortars were fired at Israel so far today. But there is nothing on AP or Reuters about the truce violation. Because, as my readers know, the truce isn’t violated by the Palestinians. It is only violated when Israel defends herself.

Three Qassam rockets fired from northern Gaza at around noon Wednesday landed in open areas within the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council limits. Earlier another rocket and 10 mortars were fired toward Israeli communities surrounding the Hamas-controlled territory. There were no reports of injuries in either barrage.

Islamic Jihad’s al-Quds Brigades claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, saying it was “a response to Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement.”

The past 24 hours have seen at least 15 mortars and a number of Qassams fired toward the Negev region.

Here’s the information that the entire world ignores: Terrorists deliberately target Israeli children.

According to local security officers, the terrorists usually launch attacks at the beginning and end of schooldays. They added that the Palestinians have increased their use of mortars since the IDF has been relatively successful in thwarting the rocket fire emanating from the Strip.

War crimes of the Palesitinians, ignored, as usual, by the world. But yesterday, when Israel hit two “teenagers” firing rockets at Israel, the media rushed the story out.

Wait until the IDF goes after the terrorists. The headlines will be screaming about Israel killing Palestinians again. Meantime, Israeli schoolchildren once again have to cower in fear on their way to and from school, worried that the rockets will fall on them.

Can you imagine? Can you imagine walking to school and wondering if a rocket will land nearby and kill you?

No child should have to deal with that. And no world media should be ignoring it—simply because the children are Israelis.

Posted in Gaza, Media Bias, Terrorism | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Law and terror

Posted on 12/03/2008 by Soccerdad

I’ve blogged about this incident before:

On Sept. 6, Yaalon felt heavy, not happy, when the prime minister favored his recommendation over Dichter’s: Mission aborted. Sharon called off the strike to decapitate Hamas, Yaalon said, because Sharon demanded “no civilian casualties.”

Yaalon stood up and opened the bedroom door.

“Where’s Dad?” he could hear his daughter ask.

“He’s busy saving the state of Israel,” his son said.

Dichter was seething. “I’m not going to let it happen,” he said, standing in the command center. The decision to hold fire, he recalled thinking, “was unprofessional and counterproductive.” And he had done some math of his own. For every suicide bomber or terrorist caught, Dichter calculated, you saved 16 to 20 lives and 100 other people from being injured.

Dichter called the prime minister. “Arik, it’s a huge mistake,” Dichter said, using Sharon’s nickname. “We must drop the bomb on this house. The arch-terrorists will never meet like this again.”

It comes to mind because of a recent statement by Gen. Doron Almog. Almog was targeted by anti-Israel activists and forced to stay on a plane in England, because he would have been arrested for war crimes had he disembarked.

He gave a talk in London last week. But it was a videoconference. In it he noted:

On Wednesday, Almog addressed a conference in Westminster, central London, titled “Ending Impunity or Decreasing Accountability: Averting Abuse of Universal Jurisdiction.”

To show that the IDF deferred to the judicial system, Almog said that while he headed the Southern Command, he requested the demolition of a certain house in Gaza. His request was turned down by the legal echelons of the IDF.

In June 2006, that house served as cover for the tunnel from Gaza into Israel that was used to kidnap Gilad Schalit.

1) When Hamas or Fatah engages in terror, they do not defer to courts.
2) When people canonize Rachel Corrie they are honoring someone who was aiding terrorists at the time she was inadvertently killed.
3) Israel has developed a doctrine for fighting terror and reducing the risk of collateral damage. (I would add that this goes beyond what is required by the Geneva conventions.)

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Israel, Israeli Double Standard Time, Terrorism | Tagged | 1 Comment