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Saturday, December 20, 2014

Part 7 of the Rebuttal on Operation Defensive Edge and Unity Government

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                  
Jews had to wear the Star of David on clothing in Europe before WWII
NO MORE: We have our own state of Israel and must protect this with our lives.

BACKGROUND TO REBUTTAL: CHOMSKY KNOCKS ISRAEL EVERY CHANCE HE GETS. The Ottoman Empire, who was on Germany's side, lost WWI.  The empire was divided by the Allies.  Jewish leaders had held many meetings with the Allies and was promised the Jewish Homeland out of Palestine.  England held the mandate but immediately gave King Abdullah 80% of the promised land to him upon request to fulfill their promise of reward for helping them fight against the Ottomans.  The Palestinians were offered land out of Israel's remaining 20% but refused it and have ever since till today.

We find these facts:
1. Israel's land mass is about 1/625 (1/6 of 1% the size of the Arab world.
2. 6 million Jews and 1.7 million Arabs live in Israel.
3. 300 million Middle Eastern Arabs and Muslims make up the Arab world.
4. Islam has 1.3 billion people while there are 14 million Jews.
5. Israel's territory is 8,019 square miles, smaller than El Salvador or New Jersey.
6.  By my count, Palestine will be the 49th Muslim majority country/state in the world; and by others' count, there are already 56 Islamic majority countries.  There's only 1 Jewish state:  Israel, who had to wait 2,000 years to regain their state in their old neighborhood.
7.  The reason they didn't settle back completely  in Judea and Samaria was that the Ottoman Empire was in charge up to 1917 and Jews had been living again, after being kept out for hundreds of years, in Jerusalem, but lived in Safed, and had settled along the sea where it was easiest to land.  There were certain portions where they were allowed to live and where they were able to buy land, which came at very high prices, naturally.  .

Noam Chomsky's one hour interview by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now has reached the halfway point by finally talking about April 2014, when Palestinians he says, "committed another crime:  Gaza-based Hamas and West Bank-based Palestinian authority signed a unity agreement.  Israel was infuriated--infuriated even more when the world mostly supported it.  Even the USA gave weak, but actual support.  Several reasons for the Israeli reaction.
                                                                           
2014's Unified Fatah-Hamas Government
I wouldn't say they were infuriated, and they weren't surprised, either, as their union has been on and off since 2007.  They have always fought over power; who is the main leader.    By unifying, Fatah accepts the Hamas charter with the goal of destroying Israel and killing Jews. That is a bummer when your government would like to have a 2 State solution and see a peaceful Palestine at your doorstep.  The old saying of "G-d works in mysterious ways" come into play, I would say.  Just as Israel is about to follow Olmert original plans into giving away so much of of their ancient Judah, the Palestinians themselves throw in the wrench.  

According to Noam, Israel's reaction was:
1. One is that unity between Gaza and the West Bank, between the 2 movements, would threaten the long-standing policies of SEPARATING THE TWO, for the reasons I mentioned. Israel has had nothing to do with separating these 2.  They have their own internal battle of power and ways of dealing with Israel.  Remember, Hamas doesn't have anything to do with Israel, and they are terrorists, not politicians.  They are on everyone's list as terrorists.  
2. A unity government undermines one of the PRETEXTS FOR ISRAEL'S REFUSAL TO PARTICIPATE IN NEGOTIATIONS SERIOUSLY--NAMELY, HOW CAN WE NEGOTIATE WITH AN ENTITY THAT IS INTERNALLY DIVIDED?  No, Noam, how can you deal with terrorists?  You don't.  Israel is being asked to deal with the creation of an enemy state that is in 2 separate parts by my count; a section of Judea-Samaria and all of Gaza which will be ruled by 2 entities; Fatah and Hamas united.  This must be a FIRST in the world for someone to deal with.  Not only that, but there is virtually no buffer zone.  I charge that it has been the Palestinian Arabs who have been having a pretext of participate in negotiations.  First and foremost, they must recognize Israel as a Jewish state and that they refuse to do.  Be honest, Noam.  This is all a stall to get more backing in the UN and in Europe along with better weapons.  
Well, if they're unified, that PRETEXT disappears.  Israel was infuriated.  It launched MAJOR ASSAULTS on the Palestinians in the West Bank, primarily targeting Hamas.  Hundreds of people arrested, mostly Hamas members.  Also Gaza, also killings.
                                                                         
Jewish teens, two 16 yr olds and a 19 yr old slaughtered on way home from school
There was a PRETEXT, OF COURSE.  THERE ALWAYS IS.  THE PRETEXT was that 3 teenagers, Israeli teenagers, in the settlements had been brutally murdered, captured and murdered.  Israel claimed officially that they thought that they were alive, so therefore launched a long, several weeks ASSAULT on the West Bank, ALLEGING that they were trying to find them alive. Of course they knew, just like American police know, that the 1st 24 hours is the most important time of finding kidnapped children alive.  Who else but terrorists would kidnap Jewish boys?  Of course Hamas terrorists would be at the top of the list.  This is not a pretext but a fact of life.  "On 30 June, search teams found the bodies of the three missing teenagers in a field north-west of Hebron. They had apparently been killed shortly after their abduction. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed a tough response to the killings."

Again, Noam doesn't know what he's talking about.  As it turns out, a senior Hamas
"Arouri said Hamas didn't intend to start a large battle but to exchange the 3 for Palestinian prisoners.  But-" He said his group did not believe Israel wanted a war either. "But Allah has chosen and willed that a large battle would be ignited," he said. 
Despite who or why the boys were killed, the Palestinians loved it and passed out candy in celebration, showing the world where their ethics lay.  "
                                                                    
The boys were kidnapped on June 12, 2014.  The search, dubbed "Operation Brother's Keeper," took 11 days before they were found on June 30th.  Israel arrested 350 Palestinians and 5 were killed in shootouts over the searching. 

 Meanwhile, the arrests, attacks etc.  It turns out THAT THEY KNEW IMMEDIATELY THAT THEY HAD BEEN KILLED.  NOW, THEY ALSO KNEW IMMEDIATELY THAT IT WAS VERY UNLIKELY THAT HAMAS WAS INVOLVED.  THE GOVERNMENT SAID THEY HAD CERTAIN KNOWLEDGE THAT HAMAS HAD DONE IT, BUT THEIR OWN LEADING SPECIALISTS, LIKE SHLOMI ELDAR, HAD POINTED OUT RIGHT AWAY THAT THE ASSAULT---which was a brutal crime---was very likely committed by members of a breakaway clan, the Qawasmeh clan in Hebron, which wasn't given a green light by Hamas and had been a thorn in their sides.  And that, apparently is true, if you look at the later arrests and punishments.  Shlomi is a writer on conflict resolution and works for TV stations in Israel.  He then felt Hamas was working to take over Judea and Samaria.  His guess was a good one, being Hebron was loaded with Hamas members and that's where the bodies were found. He was following a rumor.  There were lots going around. Anyway, that was a PRETEXT FOR THIS ASSAULT, KILLINGS IN GAZA, TOO."
                                                                           
16 yr old Abu Khdeir killed; a sickly looking Palestinian boy, thought to have been killed for other reasons
The trio's slaughter brought out the worst of some of us when Abu Khdeir was the victim in a retaliating horrid death by 3  Israelis, 29 year old resident of Adam in Judea-Samaria and two 16 year olds from Jerusalem and Beit Shemah.  According to the indictment, the adult and one of the minors have a history of mental illness and are presently on medication.  They had burned Abu's body.  
                                                                       
Let me stop here. My comment is that Fatah, which is the new uptake on Arafat's PLO, differed slightly from Hamas, whose charter is almost verbatim of the Muslim Brotherhood's charter in having as their goals the destruction of Israel and the killing of Jews.  These 2 political groups have tried to unite many times with the durations being very short.  Fatah had their own problems uniting their terrorists into a political working group with arguments between the old and the young back in 2005.  They've been together and apart since 2007.

We just read that the kidnapping goal was actually to spark another (mowing of the lawn reaction by Israel) by the Palestinians whereas Noam covers with this saying that Israel used it as a pretext to go into Gaza.  So here we go.  He blames the action on Israel.  Operation Protective Edge. July 27-August 26, 2014 (4 weeks and 3 days) 

The 1st day of Operation Protective Edge was really July 7, 2014.  On that day 120 rockets hit Israel of which 23 were stopped by the Iron Dome. " Between 12 June and 7 July,(26 days)  Hamas and other terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip fired approximately 300 rockets at Israeli civilians.  Although Israel showed great restraint and called for the cessation of the rocket attacks, Hamas kept firing indiscriminately at Israeli towns and cities.  No country in the world would accept such a reality and Israel is no exception.

Time Line
June 12-July 7, 2014=    300 rockets hit Israel
July 7 to July 27-Restraint in face of incessant rocket attacks
July 27-August 26 Operation Defensive Edge-4 wks, 3 days

After 3 weeks of restraint in the face of incessant rocket attacks, Israel was left with no alternative but to respond in order to protect its civilian population and restore calm to southern Israel.

This time, long range missiles were used that hit Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.  They were R160's that could reach out to 90 miles and M-302s that have a distance of 100 miles.  .  This operation was done in self defense. The main objective of Operation Protective Edge is to provide the sustained peace and security the citizens of Israel deserve.  Israel cannot accept a reality in which millions of its civilians are subject to the seconds to find shelter from incoming rockets.

Israel cannot tolerate the existence of cross-border attack tunnels which could be used at will by terrorists in Gaza to infiltrate Israeli territory in order to murder and kidnap Israeli citizens.

597 rockets that hit Israel were fired from civilian facilities inside Gaza.  Of those, 260 came from schools; 50 came from hospitals and 160 came from mosques.

On August 26, 2014, the Egyptian Foreign Minister announced a ceasefire, which entered into effect at 7pm.  Israel has agreed to Egyptian proposal for ceasefire that will be unlimited in time.

Since the start on July 7th, 4,562 rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza.  1,042 since the violation of the ceasefire on August 19th-killing 7 civilians and wounding 126.

Hamas is committing a double war crime by deliberately targeting Israeli civilians while at the same time embedding its weapons, leaders, operatives and infrastructures in the midst of non-involved Palestinian civilians.  Hamas bears full responsibility for the civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip.

There is no Israeli "siege" on the Gaza Strip.  For 4 years, all goods, except for weapons and dual-use items which could be used by terrorists, have been allowed into the Gaza Strip.  Not only food, medicine, fuel and aid enter freely, but also consumer goods of all types are transferred daily from Israel to Gaza through the land crossings.

Israel had to go into Gaza again.  Yaalon, Defense Minister, had to make this decision.  “We examine the proportionality and the morality and the sanctity of life on all sides, but the enemy does not adhere to international law or honor the morality of the value of human life, even toward their own fighters and civilians, who are sent to the front lines. The dilemmas are very difficult.  
                                                                        
One of the many tunnels found in Gaza and destroyed

"Israel was  able to take out 1,923 rocket launchers and storage facilities while their own country was the target of a total of 4,564 launched rockets.  197 of those launched never made it but were duds.  Out of those, only 735 rockets were intercepted over cities and communities by the Iron Dome.  It took the IDF and reservists to answer the call for service to protect their country. "

More than 2,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in the fighting, according to Palestinian and U.N. officials, while 67 Israelis had also been killed, all but three of them soldiers. 
It was just on January 30, 1996 in Stockholm, Sweden that Yasser Arafat spoke to an Arab audience and said, "You understand that we plan to eliminate the State of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian State.  We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion...I have no use for Jews;  they are and remain Jews."  And he was not Hamas but Fatah (PLO).  
Noam said that Operation Defensive Edge was more brutal and destructive even than the ones that preceded it, and yes, it was.  But Noam neglected to say why or that it was Hamas' actions that brought it on.  He continued saying that the pattern is very clear and so far it appears to be continuing and that the latest ceasefire was reached on August 26th.  Yes, it certainly is becoming a pattern, sadly, one that keeps growing stronger and more destructive.  He follows up saying that it was followed at once by Israel's greatest land grab in 30 years, and I'll go into that in Part 8.  

Resource:http://www.standwithus.com/online_booklets/HamasCharter/HamasCharter.pdf
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2014/09/results-of-operation-protective-edge-in.html
 http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3191456,00.html
http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/middle-east/israel-and-the-middle-east/exclusive-interview-with-alan-dershowitz-7072
http://www.israpundit.org/archives/63601347
http://int.icej.org/news/headlines/netanyahu-defends-operation-defensive-edge
http://www.npr.org/2014/08/22/342318367/hamas-finally-admits-to-kidnapping-and-killing-israeli-teens 1
http://elitedaily.com/news/world/palestinians-celebrating-praising-kidnapping-three-israeli-teens-photos/640534/
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/israeli-news-broadcasters-don-t-cry.premium-1.494640
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_kidnapping_and_murder_of_Israeli_teenagers
http://www.timesofisrael.com/3-suspects-indicted-in-killing-of-muhammad-abu-khdeir/
http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/ForeignPolicy/Issues/Pages/Operation-Protective-Edge-QA.aspx
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/182676#.VJXu5sAHA
Update: http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2014/09/results-of-operation-defensive-edge-in.html
Update:1/24/15ReportonOperationDefensiveEdge: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4618203,00.html -be sure to read to the end.
UPDATE 12/21/15 http://www.timesofisrael.com/international-defense-experts-back-idfs-2014-gaza-campaign/?utm_source=The+Times+of+Israel+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=d3db7ce77e-2015_12_13&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_adb46cec92-d3db7ce77e-54428793  ' Human rights law was not the right set of laws to govern this; the laws of armed conflict are'.  Defense experts back IDF’s 2014 Gaza campaign, claim critics are invoking 
wrong set of laws.

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