Disproportionate response, UN-style

Posted on 11/16/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Palestinians have fired more than 100 rockets during the eight months of the so-called cease-fire, including dozens of rockets in the last two weeks. But let’s just start with the order of recent events.

Israel discovers a tunnel that Hamas intends to use to kidnap more Israeli soldiers. The IDF goes in to destroy it, meets opposition from Hamas. There is a gunfight. Terrorists die, one soldier is wounded. Israel destroys the tunnel and the building it was dug from. Hamas responds by firing 35 rockets into Israel on November 4th.

Israel closes the Gaza crossings and refuses to allow in fuel and supplies. There is silence from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

On November 6th, more rockets are fired into Israel. There is silence from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

On November 7th, more rockets are fired into Israel. There is silence from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

On November 8th, more rockets are fired into Israel. There is silence from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

On November 9th, more rockets are fired into Israel. There is silence from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

On November 10th, more rockets are fired into Israel. There is silence from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

On November 11th, more rockets are fired into Israel. There is a brief mention of Gaza from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon during a press conference.

We were acutely conscious of the distressing conditions in Gaza. I call for Hamas and all Palestinian factions to respond positively to Egypt’s unity efforts. I call for the calm to be respected. And I call on Israel to ease the severe closure of Gaza by allowing sufficient and predictable supplies to reach the population, ensuring access for humanitarian workers, and facilitating stalled UN projects.

There is no mention of the rocketing of Israel’s civilian population.

On November 12th, more rockets are fired into Israel. There is silence from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

On November 13th, more rockets are fired into Israel. Israeli FM Tzipi Livni meets with Ban Ki-Moon and protests the barrage of rockets into Israel’s civilian areas. There is silence from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

On November 14th, more rockets are fired into Israel. The UN says they have to close down their food banks in Gaza (in spite of the fact that the very article on closing down the food bank says they have enough food to feed another 130,000 people for four weeks). Finally, after ignoring the dozens of rockets crashing into Israeli civilian areas in cities and towns, Ban Ki-Moon speaks. Or, well, issues a statement, anyway.

He calls for both sides to “exercise restraint.” Israel is killing only terrorists. Not a single Palestinian civilian has been harmed. Two Israeli civilians have suffered shrapnel wounds, and hundreds have suffered the terror of rocket attacks. And Ban Ki-Moon says that Israel should open the Gaza crossings, and supply her enemies with fuel and goods—including, I presume, the cement that Hamas is using to build the tunnels.

The Secretary-General is deeply concerned at the deterioration of the humanitarian and security situation in Gaza and southern Israel, and at the potential for further suffering and violence. He calls on all parties to uphold international humanitarian and human rights law.

The Secretary-General reiterates his condemnation of rocket attacks. He calls for an end to such attacks and urges full respect by all parties of the calm that has been in effect since 19 June 2008. The Secretary-General is concerned that food and other life saving assistance is being denied to hundreds of thousands of people, and emphasizes that measures which increase the hardship and suffering of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip as a whole are unacceptable and should cease immediately. In particular, he calls on Israel to allow urgently, the steady and sufficient supply of fuel and humanitarian assistance. He also calls on Israel to resume facilitating the activities of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and all humanitarian agencies, including through unimpeded access for UN officials and humanitarian workers.

The “calm that has been in effect” is the calm that included dozens of rockets fired, one or two or three at a time, since June. It includes the re-arming of Hamas, the digging of tunnels, the import of weapons and ammunition, and the continued holding of Gilad Shalit as a hostage, without any regard to Geneva Conventions or the human rights of the prisoner. Ban Ki-Moon swore when he was first elected that he would work tirelessly for Shalit’s release. Yeah, how’s that coming, Ban?

Once again, Jewish blood is cheap. The world simply doesn’t care that Jews are at risk. Only that their precious Palestinians might have to use the supplies that Hamas has been smuggling in via the tunnels from Egypt.

Apparently, now Israel doesn’t even have the right not to arm and supply her own enemies with the very fuel that they use to make bombs to drop on her own citizens. That now falls under the rubric of “disproportionate response.”

Not a single Palestinian civilian has so much as chipped a fingernail this time around. And still, the world calls for Israel to stop killing terrorists and reopen their supply routes.

Screw the world. And most especially, the UN, led by Ki-Moon.

Posted in Hamas, Terrorism, United Nations | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Canning spam ^ 2

Posted on 11/16/2008 by Soccerdad

A tale of two meanings.

This spam is canned.

Immediately after McColo was unplugged, security companies charted a precipitous drop in spam volumes worldwide. E-mail security firm IronPort said spam levels fell by roughly 66 percent as of Tuesday evening.

Spamcop.net, another spam watch dog, found a similar decline, from about 40 spam e-mails per second to around 10 per second. (See their graphic representation here.)

(via memeorandum)
This is undoubtedly good!

More Spam is canned – and sold!

Through war and recession, Americans have turned to the glistening canned product from Hormel as a way to save money while still putting something that resembles meat on the table. Now, in a sign of the times, it is happening again, and Hormel is cranking out as much Spam as its workers can produce.

In a factory that abuts Interstate 90, two shifts of workers have been making Spam seven days a week since July, and they have been told that the relentless work schedule will continue indefinitely.

(via memeorandum)

But is this a good sign or a bad one?

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Posted in Computers, Miscellaneous, Pop Culture | Tagged | 4 Comments

How to celebrate your birthday when you’re old

Posted on 11/15/2008 by Meryl Yourish

First, go watch your nephew in the playoff game and marvel at the fact that third and fourth graders can actually play good football. Then watch his team pull out a touchdown in the last two minutes of the game. Then watch the other team pull out a touchdown and tie it. Then watch his team get another touchdown but miss the extra point in overtime. Then watch his team force the other team to fumble and win the game, moving on to the Superbowl.

That was fun. So was shopping for a new Wii game (the Simpsons) with Jake, who is currently practicing his baseball game so I won’t beat him too easily.

Tonight, dinner at the G.’s and Sarah’s amazing Apple Tarty Thing for dessert. (It has a name, but we like to call it that.)

Yeah, way better than the drunken blowouts of my youth. And no hangover to recover from the next day.

Posted in Life | 11 Comments

UN to Israel: Rockets, shmockets. Feed your enemies

Posted on 11/14/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable. What other nation on earth is being told to feed, clothe, fuel, and arm its enemy by the Eurocrats?

As rocket barrages fell on southern Israel Friday, European Union Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner called for Gaza crossings to be opened and the delivery of fuel and good to be resumed.

“I am profoundly concerned about the consequences for the Gazan population of the complete closure of all Gaza crossings for deliveries of fuel and basic humanitarian assistance,” Ferrero-Waldner said in a statement.

She called on Israel to re-open the crossings for humanitarian and commercial flows, in particular food and medicine, and said facilitation of fuel deliveries for the Gaza Power Plant should be resumed immediately.

The statement continued to say that International law requires the provision of access to essential services such as electricity and clean water to the civilian population.

“Recent infringements of the calm agreed in June must not lead to a renewed cycle of violence. I call on all parties to exercise restraint,” she said.

Really? Did she say anything about Hamas rocketing Israeli civilians? Because I”m betting not. Did she call on Hamas to stop attacking Sderot? Did she mention that Israeli schoolchildren should be allowed to walk to school without being in danger of dying from a rocket attack? And last, but not least, has she heard about the Hamas tunnels, which now have oil pipelines laid in them and are transporting oil from Egypt, besides arms, ammunition, and food?

Of course not. Because that’s not part of the narrative. Can’t destroy the evil Israel bugbear by admitting that Hamas is the instigator, and the reason Gaza is cut off. The Gazans elected Hamas in free and fair elections, as Jimmy Carter has told us. Well. Let them reap what they sowed.

Posted in Israeli Double Standard Time, Terrorism, World | 10 Comments

Hamas resumes full-scale attacks; media still taking truce

Posted on 11/14/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Hamas has resumed full-scale attacks on Israel, complete with wounded Israelis in Sderot, and the headline to the AP story is this:

Gaza violence continues with airstrike, rockets

Notice the order of events in the headline. Airstrikes come first, even though they are in response to the rocketing of Israeli cities. But according to the AP, the rockets are in “response” to the airstrikes.

Palestinian militants attacked a major city in southern Israel with rocket fire on Friday, a serious escalation of widening violence that has all but buried a five-month-old truce.

Hamas fighters launched rocket barrages at Ashkelon, 11 miles north of Gaza, causing panic but no casualties. They also unleashed rockets at nearby Sderot, where rescue services said one person was lightly wounded by shrapnel. Several rockets hit open areas.

The Israeli military warned residents of communities near Gaza to remain in their homes, and police and rescue services went on high alert in preparation for more attacks.

Friday’s barrages followed an earlier strike by Israeli aircraft targeting militants firing rockets in northern Gaza. Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of Gaza’s Health Ministry said two gunmen were moderately wounded.

Do you see the deliberate anti-Israel slant of the AP reporting? The barrage was in response to airstrikes, which were carried out because of an earlier rocket barrage—and somehow, the AP manages to place the blame squarely on Israel’s shoulders, once again, for defending herself against terrorists launching rockets at the civilian population. And notice the attempt to play down the damages by the rockets.

And in upside-down world, even the AP is noticing that maybe—just maybe—the truce is over.

Hamas, like Israel, said it wants to continue the truce, but events signaled the opposite is happening.

This is after they already published this in the article:

Hamas claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, and said it fired deep into Israel to demonstrate the price the Jewish state would pay if the truce collapsed.

“The resistance…is able to hit the Zionist depth,” said Hamas lawmaker Mushir al-Masri. “Either there’s full commitment to the truce and all its conditions, or the resistance will have a position on every Zionist crime.”

And what would an AP article be without pointing out that Hamas rocket barrages are mostly harmless, but Israel’s kill Palestinians. The fact that they mostly kill terrorists? Irrelevant.

The Egyptian-mediated truce has largely halted a cycle of Palestinian rocket attacks and deadly Israeli reprisals.

Funny how the actual toll of Palestinian rocket attacks never makes it into the AP articles. Well, no, not really. The AP bias is pretty well known here.

But there’s worse to come. Stay tuned.

Posted in AP Media Bias, Gaza, Hamas, Terrorism | Tagged , | Comments Off on Hamas resumes full-scale attacks; media still taking truce

What me worry?

Posted on 11/14/2008 by Soccerdad

Just One Minute wonders:

Here’s a gloom-inducer – as of Election Eve in 2004 it became obvious that Bush would get a second term and we would elect a new President in November 2008. That gave Al Qaeda (and anyone else who likes long lead times) four years to plan a transition or inaugural surprise.

I’m encouraged by what CIA chief Hayden says:

Osama bin Laden is alive and “putting a lot of energy into his own security,” the director of the CIA, General Michael Hayden, said today.

He also claimed, without providing details, that the US intelligence community had disrupted an attack “that would have rivaled the destruction of 9/11.” A senior intelligence official said Hayden was referring to the 2006 liquid bomb on airliners plot that was foiled in London.

“American and its friends have taken the fight to the enemy,” Gen. Hayden said in a broad roundup of efforts to fight al Qaeda.

I’m more worried about what will happen a few years down the road, because I don’t believe that President elect-Obama or his team fully appreciates the danger still out there. Especially if this is the debate they’re having.

According to ABC, a debate has broken out among the Obama transition team about Hayden. They like his performance and his efforts to rescue the CIA, and they want to retain some continuity in the war effort. Others on Team Obama feel that they cannot have Hayden remain, though, because of his connections to the warrantless surveillance and controversial interrogation techniques, even though those haven’t been in play since 2003. Since Obama himself voted to support the surveillance compromise, that doesn’t seem like as big a hurdle as this report paints it.

If they’re convinced that Hayden is correct and has been effective, there should be no debate. But politics intrudes.

via memeorandum

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Israel | Tagged | 1 Comment

Palestinian PM at interfaith conference: Judaism? What’s that?

Posted on 11/14/2008 by Meryl Yourish

The Palestinian Prime Minister, yet another so-called moderate, managed to speak at the UN interfaith conference about how holy Jerusalem is to the world’s major religions—and utterly leave out Judaism.

Jerusalem is holy to two religions – Islam and Christianity, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad said at the UN-organized interfaith peace conference on Wednesday night. Fayad failed to mention the importance of Israel’s capital to the Jewish people, Israel Radio reported.

“Jerusalem is home to the third most holy place to Islam, the place where Muhammad rose to the heavens, and the place where Jesus, the Christian, was resurrected,” the Palestinian leader proclaimed.

He added that Jerusalem was occupied in June 1967 and called to locate a future Palestinian state capital there.

Jerusalem is home to the holiest of holies of the Jewish religion: The First and Second Temples. The site Muslims co-opted for their two mosques. But Fayad the moderate can’t acknowledge that in front of the world’s diplomats at a conference about interfaith cooperation. Imagine that.

So in the past few days, you have the putative leader of the Palestinians (at least, the ones who aren’t in Gaza) proclaiming that he follows “the paths of the martyrs” to “uphold” Palestinian nationalism, and now you have the Prime Minister ignoring the Jewish history of Jerusalem.

This is not, of course, an accident. In order to follow Arafat’s path, you have to pretend that Jewish history doesn’t exist, and that the mythical land of “Palestine” existed without Jews. You have to decry the “Judaization” of Jerusalem, even to the point of claiming that the Western Wall is not the outer wall of the Temple complex, but some wall that Muslims tied their horses to or something, way back when. That there was no Temple in Jerusalem. Ever.

I wonder: Did the people listening to the speech applaud Fayad, the way they applauded Ahmadinejad’s virulently anti-Semitic speech?

I’m betting.

Posted in Anti-Semitism, palestinian politics | 5 Comments

Things not covered in the manual

Posted on 11/14/2008 by Meryl Yourish

You know what they don’t mention in the Wii instruction manual?

What to do when your cat thinks that it’s a great idea to play with your legs while you’re trying to play a game on the Wii.

Yep. Tig really loved baseball. Much more than bowling.

It’s my own fault, I suppose. When he gets all arched-back Halloween kitty, I take a couple of steps at him, and he bounces at me, and it’s become a routine of ours. He leaps at my legs and runs away. I’m sure I violated about a hundred cat-training rules in the way I’ve raised him, but hey—Gracie wouldn’t play with him while he was growing up, and he needed someone to run around with.

My silly boy. Here’s a picture of him yesterday afternoon, having discovered the joys of postponing the laundry.

Tig in the laundry room

It’s a tough life, being a cat.

Posted in Cats, Life | 7 Comments

The jihad against blasphemy starts with interfaith understanding

Posted on 11/13/2008 by Soccerdad

Irony pervades this lead paragraph:

Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich Islamic kingdom that forbids the public practice of other religious faiths, will preside Wednesday over a two-day U.N. conference on religious tolerance that will draw more than a dozen world leaders, including President Bush, Israeli President Shimon Peres and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

If I were writing the next paragraph I’d change “agreed for the first time” to “deigned.”

The event is part of a personal initiative by Saudi King Abdullah to promote an interfaith dialogue among the world’s major religions. The Saudi leader agreed for the first time to dine in the same room with the Israeli president at a private, pre-conference banquet Tuesday hosted by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. But Ban hinted that the two leaders — whose governments do not have diplomatic relations — were not seated at the same table.

While the Washington Post quotes a number of critics of Saudi Arabia, it doesn’t mention what the real game is:

Saudi King Abdullah, who initiated this week’s special session, is quietly enlisting the leaders’ support for a global law to punish blasphemy – a campaign championed by the 56-member Organization of Islamic Conference that puts the rights of religions ahead of individual liberties.

If the campaign succeeds, states that presume to speak in the name of religion will be able to crush religious freedom not only in their own country, but abroad.

Abe Greenwald writes :

As President Bush and other world leaders convene for the farce, King Abdullah’s plan will move steadily along and his image as peacemaker will be broadcast far and wide. He can back off of whatever lukewarm peace initiative he’s laid out once he’s made his case for global blasphemy.

Yes. Irony is not dead.

Crossposted on Yourish.

Posted in Religion | Tagged | 1 Comment

The myth of the moderate terrorist

Posted on 11/13/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Mahmoud Abbas vowed at Yasser Arafat’s former compound to continue his predecessor’s bloody path—and he used the language of blood and violence specifically.

During the memorial, held at Abbas’ Mukataa compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the Palestinian president said, “The path of the shahids – Arafat, George Habash (founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) and (assassinated Hamas spiritual leader) Sheikh Ahmed Yassin – is the path that we cherish; it is aimed at upholding the Palestinians’ nationalist and sovereign resolutions.”

All of the people that he quoted wanted to destroy Israel and replace the Jewish state with a Palestinian state—from the river to the sea, as they say. And there was this nod to Arafat’s hudna:

Speaking to thousands of supporters, Abbas said the Palestinians were determined to pursue the “peace of the brave that Arafat stood for.” Alluding to Hamas, Abbas added that “the Palestinian nationalist resolution will not be dictated by external elements.”

The “peace” that Arafat stood for was to declare in English that he wanted peace, while declaring in Arabic that he would not rest until all of “Palestine” was in Palestinian hands. The textbooks of the Palestinians are still missing Israel in their maps, and the Palestinian media still incites against the Jewish state.

But the world calls Abbas a “moderate.” I fail to see what is moderate about calling for martyrdom. But then, I actually read the words that Palestinian leaders say, and believe that when they are calling for the destruction of Israel, it isn’t just flowery rhetoric.

Posted in Israel, Terrorism | Comments Off on The myth of the moderate terrorist

Not learning from mistakes – diplomacy in the Middle East

Posted on 11/13/2008 by Soccerdad

The short version.

A longer version.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Hamas, Israel, palestinian politics | Tagged | Comments Off on Not learning from mistakes – diplomacy in the Middle East

The new Abbas is the same as the old boss

Posted on 11/13/2008 by Soccerdad

The guy being promoted as the great “moderate” hope of the Palestinians remembers his maximum leader quite fondly.

During the memorial, held at Abbas’ Mukataa compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the Palestinian president said, “The path of the shahids – Arafat, George Habash (founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) and (assassinated Hamas spiritual leader) Sheikh Ahmed Yassin – is the path that we cherish; it is aimed at upholding the Palestinians’ nationalist and sovereign resolutions.”

Elder of Ziyon notes that Abbas’s hankering for dead terrorists, is nothing unusual.

But Ynet also notes:

The memorial underscored the growing divisions between the West Bank and Gaza. The West Bank is ruled by Arafat’s successor, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Gaza is run by the Islamic militant Hamas which seized the territory in 2007.

You could say that. It was illegal to commemorate Arafat’s passing in Gaza.

The first event was scheduled for Monday in Rafah and was supposed to combine three issues: Arafat’s memory; a protest over the siege of Gaza and the closing of the border crossings; and support for rapprochement talks between Hamas and Fatah being held in Cairo. Officially, all the canceled demonstrations were not under Fatah auspices but were being arranged by a coordinating committee of all PLO member organizations. In any case, the organizers of the Rafah rally were summoned by the police, held for a few hours and then asked to sign a statement they would not organize any activities or they would be fined. Some signed and others refused. The organizations have canceled all their demonstrations, though Fatah made no official announcement.Printers were also ordered not to print any material related to Arafat or his pictures without approval.

When will the international Palestinian sympathizers start protesting this blatant effort to stifle the nationalist feelings of the Palestinians?

Other cherished memories of Arafat are at Israelly Cool, Elder of Ziyon, Scrapple Face (h/t Elder of Ziyon), and Boker Tov Boulder.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Gaza, Hamas, palestinian politics | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The Sarah Palin Africa hoax

Posted on 11/12/2008 by Meryl Yourish

I told you so. Actually, I told you twice.

And now, even the Paper of Record is admitting that it’s a load of crap.

It was among the juicier post-election recriminations: Fox News Channel quoted an unnamed McCain campaign figure as saying that Sarah Palin did not know that Africa was a continent.

Who would say such a thing? On Monday the answer popped up on a blog and popped out of the mouth of David Shuster, an MSNBC anchor. “Turns out it was Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, who has come forward today to identify himself as the source of the leaks,” Mr. Shuster said.

Trouble is, Martin Eisenstadt doesn’t exist. His blog does, but it’s a put-on. The think tank where he is a senior fellow — the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy — is just a Web site. The TV clips of him on YouTube are fakes.

And the claim of credit for the Africa anecdote is just the latest ruse by Eisenstadt, who turns out to be a very elaborate hoax that has been going on for months. MSNBC, which quickly corrected the mistake, has plenty of company in being taken in by an Eisenstadt hoax, including The New Republic and The Los Angeles Times.

Those of you who believed it: You think you were in good company? No excuse. Not if you read this blog. I have a pretty fine-tuned bullshit detector. I have been taken in by exactly two hoaxes since I started blogging. And I only wrote about one of them (the naked paintball hoax). Next rumor that comes along, you just might want to wait before hopping on the bandwagon. Especially one as obviously fake as this one.

Or maybe you should just believe me when I tell you you’re falling for pure bullshit. As for Fox News and MSNBC: They should be ashamed. But you know they won’t be.

Posted in Politics | Tagged | 18 Comments

Iran ERA Watch

Posted on 11/12/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Iranian feminism, Islamic-style: Women can be as free as they want—as long as there are no men around.

A woman clad in a red T-shirt plays an Iranian drum in a Tehran park as her teenage daughter dances nearby, her hair flowing in the air.

Anywhere else in Iran they would risk being stopped by the police and possibly arrested. Here, in the first female-only park in the Islamic country’s capital, a dozen women in summer garb have gathered on the grass to watch and applaud.

“We’re having great fun without men,” Setareh Sabzevari, 40, said.

Mothers’ Heaven opened in May as a place where women can cast off their Islamic headscarves and dress to enjoy the sun, jog and play without offending anyone. Embraced by many visitors, the park has also sparked concern it may encourage segregation after a decade in which women gained more freedom to interact with men and participate in sports in public — albeit with their hair and bodies fully covered.

Such initiatives are “positive as long as women have the freedom to choose,” said Rosa Gharachorloo, assistant professor in human and women’s rights at Tehran’s Azad University. “I just would not want this to turn into a law or to become the norm. What if it extends to public libraries or cinemas?”

Yeah, what if? Why, the next thing you know, boys and girls will be dancing together, and after that, well, it’s–trouble! Right here in River City!

Tell me again how free women are under Islamic law. Because I’m still not getting it.

They are practical solutions that respect religious beliefs and are in line with the Islamic Republic’s laws, said Mahmood Maniei, a spokesman and adviser to the mayor’s office for Tehran’s third district, where the park is located.

“Would you prefer doing sports in an Islamic coat or without?” he said. “This is not about segregation. It’s giving women equal opportunities in the city.”

Sociologist Nayereh Tavakoli said she was concerned that some activities women had already gained acceptance for could “again be viewed as abnormal.”

“This is giving opportunities, but it’s not giving equal opportunities,” she said. “Equal would mean that they would have similar access to any park in the city.”

Yes, but that won’t fit into the Islamic laws of Iran. Or Saudi Arabia. Or Kuwait. Or Egypt. Or Pakistan. Or—well, you get the idea.

Exit quote:

“Every Iranian woman dreams of being able to walk under the sky like this,” said the 22-year-old design graduate in a pink tank top and a miniskirt, who came for a tanning session.

Really? Well, dreaming doesn’t do squat. Rights, once removed, are never again given freely. They must be taken, usually by force. Until the average Iranian is truly unhappy with his or her lot, nothing will change.

Posted in Feminism, Iran, Religion | Tagged , | Comments Off on Iran ERA Watch

IDF vs. terrorists (and the AP)

Posted on 11/12/2008 by Meryl Yourish

Interesting take on today’s attempt by the IDF to stop terrorists from violating the Israeli border and attempting to murder Israelis. From Ynet:

IDF forces thwarted an attempt by a Palestinian terror cell to infiltrate Israel through the Gaza border fence Wednesday noon. The cell, which included four or five members, was apparently planning to place explosive devices in the area.

According to military sources, gunmen approached the fence in an area east of Khan Younis and were about to enter Israeli territory when a paratrooper force identified them and opened fire at them.

Four Palestinians were killed in the clashes and several were injured. One soldier was lightly injured in his hand and was evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.

The force uncovered Kalashnikov rifles and grenades on the gunmen’s bodies.

From the AP:

Israeli troops and Palestinian militants fought with missiles and mortars along the Gaza-Israel border on Wednesday, raising new concerns that an increasingly shaky five-month-old truce might collapse.

Four Hamas militants were killed in the exchange, and the Hamas military wing said it would retaliate.

And the AP’s attempt at balance:

The Israeli military and Palestinian militants gave conflicting versions of how the fighting started.

Israel’s military said it began when Israeli forces spotted armed militants approaching Gaza’s border fence, near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis. The men were trying to lay an explosive device near the fence, the military said.

An exchange of fire erupted. The militants set off an explosive device and fired three mortars at troops, the military said. Israeli soldiers hit four militants and an Israeli soldier was slightly injured, the army said.

Later, Israeli aircraft fired two missiles at open fields, the army said.

Palestinian militants said the battle began when they spotted Israeli forces crossing into Gaza and fired upon them.

The military would not say whether Israeli forces entered Gaza.

Take a look at the words in bold. The AP claims this was a battle of missiles and mortars. And yet, the IDF did not use missiles in the battle with the terrorist cell. They fired missiles at an empty field (?!). But it’s a battle of “missiles and mortars,” making it sound like the IDF fired missiles at the terrorists, instead of what it actually was: Terrorists firing mortars at troops, a tactic used to great extent by Hezbullah during the 2006 Lebanon war. One IDF soldier was lightly injured on his hand. It seems the IDF has figured out those tactics by now, and thankfully, Hamas is still fighting the last war.

But the media is still the anti-Israel media that we know and hate.

Posted in AP Media Bias, Gaza, Hamas | Tagged | 5 Comments