Opuscula Perspective

This is keyed in Yavne, Israel.

Yavne is fairly close to an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) air base.

Consequently, the noise of IDF aircraft — and occasionally a single-engine civilian high wing — is common and, for this scrivener, of no concern.

Besides, I grew up with aircraft noise of all types.

 

BUT, I WONDERED TO myself: “What must the noises I find familiar sound like to Israel’s enemies, particularly those stuck in Gaza.”

Gaza’s despotic leadership — Hamas and Islamic Jihad, both Iranian proxies — stupidly make and break cease fire agreements with Israel, fire unguided missiles at Israeli civilian centers, knowing Israel will retaliate.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad use the locals as propaganda tools, hiding war materiel under UN schools, mosques, and other public facilities.

When Israel strikes back, some public facilities are targeted; rarely, civilians — that is, people who neither are aligned with Hamas or Islamic Jihad (IJ) — sometimes are injured or killed. All this makes for great anti-Israel pr in the world’s media. (Never mind that usually only one side of the story is promulgated.)

 

Two points that need to be abundantly clear.

1. Israeli civilians include not only Jews, but Muslims, Christians, Druze, and “others.” The missiles are indiscriminate.

2. A number of Hamas/IJ missiles fall short of the Gaza-Israel border, killing Gaza citizens, children, young adults, seniors: again, indiscriminately.

 

Hamas/IJ sympathizers whine that

a. Gaza lacks Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system

b. A “disproportionate” number of Gazans are injured or killed in Israel’s retaliatory strikes. Do they want Israel to kill its own citizens for “proportional” numbers?

It is a waste of effort reminding these sympathizers that if Hamas/IJ ceased firing missiles at Israelis, Israel would not be retaliating.

The leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad — a few ruling from distant countries — should be glad Israel has a relatively solid missile defense. If not for Iron Dome, it is possible Israeli casualties would be far higher, prompting a massive invasion of Gaza, with all the associated “collateral damage.”

 

If there was peace

Granted, peace with Gaza’s rulers is a pipe dream, but imagine if Hamas and Islamic Jihad actually wanted to benefit the people rather than kill or enslave Jews.

Gaza could have

* A deep water seaport

* A restored airfield (https://tinyurl.com/2j4767c7)

* Fresh water

* Fuel for electricity generating plants

* Increased exports to the region and the world

* Relatively unrestricted travel to Israel (employment, medical care) and Egypt (access to Europe)

However, peace won’t happen with Hamas/IJ in control of Gaza.

Gazans who want peace and a better life need to cast off the despots, admittedly a difficult task and one requiring outside help. Unfortunately, that does not mean the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (a/k/a UNRWA). UNRWA would be out of business if Gazans made and sustained a peace agreement with Israel.

The mindset “From the river (Jordan) to the Sea (Mediterranean)” espoused by Hamas and Islamic Jihad must be replaced by one of coexistence with Israel.

Such coexistence has proven beneficial to Egypt and Jordan as well as Israel, and indications are that this also will be true for the nations of the Abraham Accord; nations brought together by former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Could Gaza survive sans the PLO. Would an independent (from Iran and its proxies) survive as part of a “Palestinian” state or even as an independent entity?

When Israel controlled Gaza — Anwar Sadat refused Menachem Begin’s plea to take back Gaza as part of the Egypt-Israel peace agreement — Gaza had a thriving export business.

With a peace agreement with Israel, Gazans would have access to Israeli technology, technology freely shared with other Muslim (and non-Muslim) states.

But peace will not, cannot, happen while Hamas/IJ are in control and in turn are under the control of Iran.

But imagine.

No more missiles flying in either direction.

No more Israelis or Gazans injured or killed in conflict.

An economy that supports a livable income.

Fresh water and reliable electricity for the Strip.

And that is just the beginning.

 

Meanwhile, the planes keep flying about my abode. I’m used to the noise.

But I feel for the ordinary folks in Gaza.

 

 

 

 

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

 

 

 

Comment on Perspective

Opuscula Self-defense: If not for myself, Who will be?

KAMAU BOBB, GOOGLE'S FORMER GLOBAL LEAD FOR DIVERSITY STRATEGY AND RESEARCH wrote in a now-deleted 2007 blog post that if he were Jewish, he “would be concerned about my insatiable appetite for war and killing in defense of myself,” and referred to Jews’ “increasing insensitivity to the suffering (of) others.” (https://tinyurl.com/vfs3cs )

 

FORTUNATELY Google removed Bobb from his diversity position after complaints started to embarrass the company.

I will assume — always a foolish thing to do — that Bobb originated on the Indian sub-continent.

His “killing in defense of myself” smacks of Gandhi.

Gandhi and the nazis

Gandhi said: “Hitler killed five million [sic] Jews. It is the greatest crime of our time. But the Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher’s knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs.....It would have aroused the world and the people of Germany.... As it is they succumbed anyway in their millions.” Mahatma Gandhi, June 1946, in an interview with his biographer Louis Fischer. (https://tinyurl.com/3zuw69da)

Unfortunately, Gandhi was wrong; the world was not “aroused” as the nazis slaughtered Jews, Roma, Communists, mentally and physically disabled and anyone else the nazis determined less than human.  

Gandhi and Hitler (https://tinyurl.com/vx6sy6ps)

 

Gandhi also is quoted writing to the English during the war: “This manslaughter must be stopped. You are losing; if you persist, it will only result in greater bloodshed. Hitler is not a bad man.” (https://tinyurl.com/4pr9uvaf)

Gandhi was wrong — again. Hitler most assuredly was a “bad man.”

Did anyone ever prevail by NOT defending himself against murderers?

 

"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And being only for myself, what am 'I'? And if not now, when?¹

 

Had we not defended ourselves

Had Jews not defended themselves in our homeland,

✡.  We would not HAVE a homeland

✡  We would not NEED a homeland since we would be dead at the hands of our “neighbors.”

A little history

1920: Jerusalem and Passover Six Jews were killed and some 200 injured in Jerusalem

1924: Jerusalem 133 Jews and 116 Arabs lay dead

1929: Hebron Death toll was 133 Jews, including eight Americans, and 110 Arabs

1936: April, an Arab attack on a Jewish bus led to a series of incidents that escalated into a major Palestinian rebellion.

1936-39: A total of 415 Jewish deaths were recorded during the Arab Revolt period.

1948: 78 Jews, including 23 women, were killed by gunfire or were burnt when their vehicles were set on fire. A convoy consisting of two ambulances, three buses of medical staff, three logistical trucks and two Haganah armored cars headed up the narrow road to Hadassah Hospital with medical and military supplies with assurances from the occupying English that all was well. It was not.

1948: Independence war; Israel attacked by five Muslim armies (Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Egypt. Saudi Arabia) and eventually by English-led Jordan.

1956 Sinai Campaign: Operation Kadesh

1967 Six-Day War

1968-70 War of Attrition

1973 Yom Kippur War

1982 Lebanon War: Operation Peace for Galilee

1991 Gulf War

2006 Second Lebanon War.

Source: (1920-1948) https://tinyurl.com/txxwj3f7 and (1956-2006) https://tinyurl.com/nvxn94c7

The frequent attacks from Lebanon/Syria (Hezbollah) and Gaza (Hamas, Islamic Jihad) are a continuing problem.

Defending against leftists

While Israel manages to fend off physical attacks, it fails to prevent or even mitigate attacks by leftist media and politicians eager to have a soapbox on which to rail against Israel and, increasingly, Jews in general.

According to many in politics and the media, Israel “disproportionally” defends itself. Why “disproportionally?”

1: Body count. Israel protects its citizens — ALL of its citizens: Jew, Muslim, other — with safe rooms, warning sirens, and anti-missile defenses to shoot down incoming mortars and drones.

2: Targeting. Israel precisely targets military assets. When it targets multi-use (military/civilian) assets such as a Hamas HQ/media center, it repeatedly warns the occupants to evacuate; that the site about to be eliminated. Missiles from Gaza and Lebanon/Syria so far have mostly been unguided mortars generally aimed at Israeli civilian areas. This is classified as a “war crime,” but this crime rarely is noted by the media.

It is sadly interesting to note that many of the civilian casualties in Gaza during the Spring 2021 campaign were caused by Hamas/Islamic Jihad missiles than blew up or landed in Gaza.

Israel’s major failure is in the field of “hasbara” — public relations.

It never seems able to get its side of the story published n the “major media,” the name newspapers and tv networks.

As an example: the so-called International Criminal Court (ICC) is charged with investigating and, where warranted, tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression. (https://www.icc-cpi.int/about).

The ICC intends to investigate Israel for war crimes, but it ignores actual war crimes committed by Israel’s enemies. (The ICC also threatens to investigate and try the United States for crimes presumably committed under the previous administration.) The ICC is encouraged in its witch hunt of Israel by several terrorist organizations, including the PFLP and Hamas.

As far as investigating “crimes against humanity,” the ICC chooses to ignore actual offenders.

Of the 197 countries of the world, there are 20, including three territories, considered to be the most societally repressive. Burma, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, North Korea and Sudan are at the top of the global list for countries that are among the worst abusers of human rights. To be deemed an abuser of human rights, civil liberties and political rights are the violations assessed, and these particular countries mentioned above have concurrently been on such lists in the previous years. (https://tinyurl.com/27kv6k4e)

Human rights groups believe China, although not mentioned above, has detained more than a million Muslim Uighurs over the past few years in what the state defines as "re-education camps".

There is evidence of Uighurs being used as forced labour and of women being forcibly sterilised. (https://tinyurl.com/yuucd3s7)

Despite the above, the ICC only has time to investigate claims leveled by the very people who attack Israel both physically and politically.

The (dis)United Nations has a “Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices.” (https://tinyurl.com/25wv3393) The committee only recognizes complaints, real or imagined, by Israel's enemies.

As an example, “After recent annual consultations with Member States, the United Nations Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices* today expressed deep concern over reports that Israel, while donating surplus COVID-19 vaccines overseas, has failed to fulfill its international legal responsibility and obligation to ensure the vaccination of the Palestinian population in the occupied Palestinian territory. The number of vaccines received so far by the Palestinian people represents only a ‘drop in the sea’, in addressing the overall vaccination needs and containing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Against this background, the Special Committee calls on Israel, as an occupying power, to urgently comply with its international legal obligations, to ensure that Palestinians and Syrians under occupation have access to available vaccines, in accordance with the Fourth Geneva Convention.”

What the “Special Committee” fails to acknowledge is

a. The PLO’s executive refused vaccines from Israel.

b. According to many international law experts, the Oslo Accords specifically place healthcare for Palestinians squarely on the PLO.

c. Israel vaccinated many Palestinians who came into Israel to work (obviously for “selfish reasons” to reduce the spread of the Chinese virus in Israel).

d. Israel allowed Qatar — an enemy state — to land multiple aircraft at Israel’s main international airport with aid for the PLO — aid the PLO rejected because the planes landed at Lod. (Palestine lacks an airport capable of accommodating large commercial aircraft.)

About the only thing the United Nations is united about is castigating Israel at every opportunity and facts be damned.

QUESTION: How much of the above was reported by the media or acknowledged by politicians?

 

To return to Hillel’s question: If I am not for myself,
Who will be for me?

 

 

Sources

1. Hillel HaBavli: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_the_Elder

 

 

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

 

 

Comment on If I am not for myself

Opuscula Gaza puts Israel Between a rock And a hard spot

WITH BIDEN, HARRIS-EMHOFF , and other “progressives” in control of the U.S., Hamas and its Iranian-backed crazies are again lobbing missiles at Israeli civilians.

Fortunately, Israel’s “Iron Dome” anti-missile defense prevents most of the “gifts from Gaza” from doing any physical damage to Israel. There IS psychological damage, especially to young children that the best defenses cannot prevent.

 

THERE IS NO QUESTION that Israel could reduce Gaza to ashes. The Israel Defense Force (IDF) has the capability, with enough resources left over to eliminate Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria, or, for that matter, to send Iran back to the dark ages.

So why does it tolerate the renewed attacks from Gaza?

Several reasons.
1. Because, despite what anti-Semites claim, Israel makes every effort NOT to injure or kill civilians
2. Because if it DID eliminate Gaza’s tyrants, who would, could, step in to fill the vacuum?

During WW 2, with the nazis in charge of much of Europe, many occupied countries had “governments in exile.”

When the allies — primarily the U.S. and the (then) USSR — defeated the nazis and their collaborators, the “governments in exile” filled the vacuum left by the departing nazis and their sycophants.

Gaza lacks such a “government in exile.

When Japan surrendered, the U.S. military became the defacto government, but the mentalities of the Japanese and the Arabs of Gaza are vastly different.

The Gazans have been indoctrinated for generations to hate Israelis — Israeli Arabs, Israeli Jews, and Israeli Druze. While there are some Gazans who may feel otherwise, there probably are too few to influence the population to accept Israeli rule, even if only on a temporary basis.

The terrorist PLO/PFLP is not acceptable to either Israel or Gaza; Hamas pushed out the PLO/PFLP from Gaza apparently with little, if any objection by the residents.

Sponsor

Governments in exile need a sponsor, a nation that will
(a) Recognize their authority
(b) Provide sanctuary for the exiles
(c) Provide financial support
(d) Provide leadership and mentoring

Israel could provide all of the above, BUT it likely would be resented.

Iran supports Hamas (and Hezbollah), so it is not a contender.

The U.S. is not trusted anymore by anyone in the Middle East.

European powers? No better than the U.S.

Aside from China — already buying control of the world — only the Muslim states in the region are candidates to host a Gazan government in exile.

Egypt and Jordan might be good options. Most Gazans have an “Egyptian connection.”

Jordan is, at best, “shaky.” It has its own “Palestinian” problems and fears for its monarchy.

Egypt has a fairly strong military.

Egypt also has an official peace agreement with Israel (as does Jordan).

Egypt borders Gaza; at one point, Gaza was an Egyptian territory. (https://tinyurl.com/ej28hpcc)

Other Muslim countries in the region might be considered by the Gazans, but there are issues with the other countries’ governments and the distance from Gaza.

Morocco, for example, has a fairly stable government, but it is somewhat removed from Gaza. Likewise Bahrain and then UAE. They might be less initially acceptable to Gazans since they have “normalization” agreements with Israel. Lebanon and Syria are not good candidates due to their own internal conflicts. Qatar is in bed with Iran.

Gaza and surrounding states (Gaza too small to be seen).

Israel had experience with Gaza.

At one time, Israel controlled Gaza and Israelis developed a substantial hot house export business.

When Ariel Sharon expelled Israelis from Gaza, the locals quickly destroyed the hot houses and infrastructure, and with it a potential national income.

(Blogger’s opinion: Sharon made two major mistakes: invading Lebanon and expelling Israelis from Gaza.)

Gaza could be close to self-sufficient — it has access to the sea, it has an airport for Boeing 737-type aircraft — but its government’s belligerent behavior toward its neighbors — Egypt and Israel — prevent full commercial development.

It has the potential; all it needs is a good government.

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind. Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.  

Comment on Gaza: Rock & hard spot

Opuscula Freedom of speech Vs. blatantly false Op-Ed statements

 

WHERE SHOULD A PUBLICATION draw the line on op-ed (reader commentary) even if the commentary is false and the lies documented as lies by numerous independent sources?

Is there ever a time when a publication, of any type, can ignore falsehoods and inflammatory statements and publish the canards sans comment?

 

 

APPARENTLY, THE WASHINGTON (D.C.) POST has no line over which a commentary writer can cross with impunity; it has no restriction about printing flagrant lies and half-truths.

Case in point

According to Honest Reporting¹, The Washington Post (WashPost), ran an opinion piece by Tarek Loubani that claimed, among other things, that Gaza is an open-air prison. As covid-19 spreads, it's time to lift the siege.²

Loubani isn’t some naive humanitarian guided by inaccurate information. He is actually a political activist previously deported from Israel in 2003 for his activities as part of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

The ISM, while claiming to be “non-violent,” supports Palestinian “armed resistance” and has a long history of anti-Israel activities, including violence, support for terrorism and the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS).

Time for truth

One: Israel has been supplying both Hamas and the PLO with materials to combat the Chinese virus.

There is NO restriction on humanitarian aid entering either anti-Israel stronghold.

Some residents of Gaza and the PLO areas still are allowed entry into Israel for work and medical care.

Two: Egypt’s border with Gaza is closed. Nothing goes in or comes out legally. Loubani’s rant fails to mention that.

The author’s greatest lies are by omission.

He fails to mention that Hamas has failed to invest in medical facilities and infrastructure such as hospitals and equipment.

Honest Reporting asks Could it be that huge amounts of money have been spent on rockets, weapons, attack tunnels and terror infrastructure at the expense of ordinary Gazans? Could it be that a terrorist organization is capable of gross mismanagement?

Indeed, Loubani apparently believes Hamas is innocent of all blame for its captives’ condition, and the WashPost either agrees or ignores the truth.

In his WashPost rant he never places any blame for any problem on Hamas. It is if Israel, not Hamas , is responsible for electrical problems (despite Israel providing thousands of gallons of Diesel fuel) or its water woes that Hamas allows to happen.

Responsible journalism

If the WashPost and other publications had honest management and had the WashPost and other publications had responsible management, Loubani’s screed could have been printed with the caveat that the information he puts forth is challenged by others on the ground.

Loubani, a Canadian, found another outlet for his rants on the magazine Logic that, interestingly never states its credentials or even its location. (Who vets the articles, anyone with the ability to challenge a writer a la a professional journal such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA?) Loubani, writing for Logic, claims to have been taking regular trips since 2011 and where the Israeli and Egyptian blockade ensures that he rarely has access to basic medical equipment like gauze and plastic gloves when he’s there. Reliable access to more expensive equipment is out of the question. ³

Never mind that foreign investors tried to build a new hospital in Gaza; there was no interference from either Israel or Egypt. Never mind that Israeli doctors — both Muslim and Jewish — provide training to Gaza and PLO practitioners.

And most certainly never mind that the majority of Hamas’ income goes to build tunnels to attack Israeli civilians, and to produce rockets to fall on Israeli civilians.

These are facts, unlike Loubani’s claims on any media that is sufficiently gullible to assume Loubani’s facts are indeed “facts” and not fiction.

Yes, Israel DOES block access of goods to Gaza on a temporary basis after being attacked by Hamas

Yes, Israel DOES block delivery of materials known to be used against it by Hamas.

Question: Why is it none of Loubani’s ilk ever seem to mention that Egypt also prevents Gazans free passage to and from Egypt. They are, after all, fellow Muslims.

If the Egyptians, a people to whom many Gazans are related (not to real or imagined “Palestinians”) won’t allow Gazans free access, there must be something wrong with Gaza. There is: Hamas, Islamic Brotherhood by name.

Let them rant

The WashPost, like the New York Times and other leftist publications, allow, if not encourage, op-ed commentaries similar to Loubani’s. This is the U.S. and we zealously guard our right to speak freely.

However, — and I write this as a former newspaper reporter and editor — publications have, at least in this scrivener’s opinion, an obligation to vet all copy for truth. In the case of op-eds, the publication is obligated to check the writer’s “facts” and when they are at variance to the truth, to publish an appropriate caveat.

Sources

1. Honest Reporting: https://tinyurl.com/y83eekp9

2. WashPost: https://tinyurl.com/ybl25t6j

3. Logic: https://tinyurl.com/y2gcn5fg

עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comments on WashPost lies

Opuscula London bombed; Dresden bombed Lesson for Hamas?

 

HAMAS AND Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ) send missiles, fire balloons, and other weapons into Israel, mostly southern Israel where few Knesset members live.

Israel wastes thousands of shekels in jet fuel and more thousands in munitions to surgically target places where Hamas and PIJ were but are not now, having run away leaving the target populated by civilians.

Hamas and PIJ tell Israel and the world they want a cease fire which Israel gives and then Hamas and PIJ almost immediately violate the cease fire, proving, once again, that Israel’s politicians are either stupid or two faced — or both.

 

DURING WORLD WAR 2, the nazi air force bombed London, the Luftwaffe attacked ports in Liverpool and Hull as well the cities of Bristol, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Southampton, Cardiff, and Swansea. The industrial powerhouses of Birmingham, Belfast, Coventry, Glasgow, Manchester and Sheffield were also heavily bombed. (https://tinyurl.com/tlpxtqc)

While these bomber attacks should have been expected — the nazis had bombed and shelled cities on the continent, killing hundreds, the Brits apparently thought their cities were safe.

After the bombers came the V-1 flying bombs, the predecessors of today’s missiles.

The raids caused enormous destruction and heavy civilian casualties—some 43,000 British civilians were killed and another 139,000 were wounded. (https://tinyurl.com/y4ncbqhc)

When the nazis focused their attention on Russia in 1941, the bombing ceased (too few aircraft for a two-front war) and bomber attacks were replaced with rocket attacks from June 1944 through March 1945. During that time, 6,725 rockets were launched at Britain. Of these, 2,340 hit London, causing 5,475 deaths, with 16,000 injured. (https://tinyurl.com/ws7pb7x)

 

Revenge

The most extreme examples of Allied bombing of German cities included Hamburg in Operation Gomorrah (45,000 dead), and the bombings of Kassel (10,000 dead), Darmstadt (12,500 dead), Pforzheim (21,200 dead), Swinemuende (23,000 dead), and Dresden (25,000 dead). (https://tinyurl.com/btzvqng)

It can be argued that the first civilians killed by bombing — by either side — were in areas with military objectives; initially civilians in areas of no military value were relatively safe.

While Hamburg had the highest number of fatalities, Dresden is famous for the cruelty of the attack.

Unlike other targets, e.g., Hamburg, Dresden was, according to some, of little military significance. (https://tinyurl.com/y6pukj8d) Others however, contend that the city did have military value to the nazis, but admit the bombing of Dresden also was “for effect.” (https://tinyurl.com/redc8w4)

The bottom line was that Dresden was fire bombed day and night by U.S. and English bombers at least in part to make civilians suffer for the nazis’ war.

 

Israeli option

There are, from time to time, reports of dissatisfaction with Hamas and PIJ by the residents of Gaza.

Reports also claim that voices pressing for change are suppressed violently.

The left-leaning New York Times’ writer,  David M. Halbfinger, posits that Hamas, the militant group that runs the Gaza Strip, has been trying for over a year to keep a lid on its conflict with Israel, to improve the abysmal quality of life for the two million Palestinians under its control, and to keep millions of dollars in cash coming in each month from its generous allies in Qatar.

But a nettlesome, unruly and heavily armed little group called Palestinian Islamic Jihad has repeatedly sabotaged those plans by firing rockets at Israel, which more often than not has responded by raining down destruction on Hamas’s own installations and men. (Never mind the Times’ {Times’s?} use of “’s”. [https://tinyurl.com/yxbmoees, https://tinyurl.com/y36vj9zr])

Admittedly, if Israel did to Gaza what the allies did to Dresden — or any other mixed value target — the world would loudly object. Israel’s responses always must be “proportional.”

Some fool fails to understand that Hamas et al have sworn to drive the Jews — and presumably all non Muslims — into the sea; Hamas has declared war on Israel.

 

Government in exile?

The primary problem with Israel indiscriminately bombing Gaza, is that, as the nazis in Germany, Hamas et al won’t get the message and the people will remain under Hamas’ (or Hamas’s if you are a NY Times’s reader) thumb.

Someone — Egypt is probably the best option — should help Gazans who are tired of fighting Hamas, PIJ and Israel set up a government in exile. Even Israel could — and should — support this government in exile so that when — and this is a certainty — the war mongers of Hamas., PIJ, and any other interlopers are dispatched to their 70 virgins, Gaza will not be left in a vacuum.

Gazans already are escaping the strip. They are heading to Europe. Will they support a Hamas-free government?

The overthrow MUST only be with the assistance of fellow Muslims. The U.S. should not provide any direct military aid — none. Israeli Muslims, even if they want to help overthrow the despots, need to “sit on their hands” so “The World” won’t have grounds to blame Israel. (It WILL, in the end, blame Israel; that’s the knee-jerk reaction to everything.)

What Gaza does not need are Blue Bonnets patrolling the streets. UN “forces” have generally proven of little or no value.

 

Avoiding Dresden in Gaza

The people of Gaza, with help from their Muslim kin, need to overthrow the despots of Hamas, PIJ, and any other organization that puts itself before the people.

Hamas et al will not go quietly into the night and there will be casualties.

That, sadly, usually is the price of freedom from tyranny. Americans learned that lesson in 1775.

Still, Gazans who want a democratic-style government must act to prevent an Israeli politician such as the late Ariel Sharon, from invading Gaza and laying waste to the strip as Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman laid waste to Atlanta GA. (https://tinyurl.com/y8c3v4jq ) Atlanta recovered after the war and now is one of America’s major cities.

Continued attacks from Gaza on Israeli communities eventually will force Israel’s government to act, even if belatedly. Israel will not allow another “Lebanon” defeat.

The preventative is to establish a government in exile and to cast out Hamas, et al.

It won’t be easy. It will cost lives.

In the end, fewer lives will be lost than if an Israel, tired of attacks on its citizens, decides to depose the despots and invades Gaza.

 

עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

 

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Gaza & Dresden

Opuscula Anti-Semitism Is many things To many people

EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT CONSTITUTES “ANTI-SEMITISM.”

Yes ◻     No ◻

Perhaps the statement should be: Everyone THINKS they know what constitutes “anti-Semitism.”

IS IT “ANTI-SEMITIC” to criticize Israel? Israeli Jews do it all the time, even so-called “orthodox” Jews have issues with modern Israel and its government.

As with most criticisms, it is wise to have an answer to a situation other than “throw out the bast*rds.

Is it “anti-Semitic to criticize a Jew?

Jews criticize Jews all the time. If you consider Bernie Sanders a Jew, then politically conservative Jews almost constantly criticize the man. Politically conservative Jews are quick to criticize politically liberal Jews, i.e., Democrats. Most do NOT, however, refer to the others as “nazis” or racists, but it has been known to be said by leftists, both Jewish and non-Jewish..

Jews are not exactly xeonophobic, but sometimes . . .

Black hats look with disdain on clean-shaven and kippa-less Jews who look at bearded, kippa-wearing and tzit-tzit dangling Jews as “extremists.”

There ARE some crazies among us — the harideem who stand along a roadside on Shabat and throw rocks at passing vehicles and those who strung a chain across a major Bnai Brak thoroughfare sans warning; the chain decapitated a scooter driver on Shabat.

These are Muslim tactics and they are rare among most Jews in Israel and elsewhere.

There is much to criticize in Israel. Not all Jews are treated fairly; nor are all Israeli Arabs.

Legal immigrant integration

New legal immigrants are not as quickly integrated into society as possible; read: As quickly as leftists would like.

To be fair — but who wants to be fair? — there are new immigrant integration issues everywhere. But what other country makes as much of an effort to integrate legal immigrants as Israel? (Personal experience.)¹

Netanyahu seems, or perhaps now “seemed,” to be “King for Life,” taking cabinet positions (“portfolios”) for himself if the incumbent displeased him.

Is criticizing Netanyahu either anti-Semitic or anti-Israel or even anti-Likud? Today’s Likud is hardly Begin’s Likud.

Is it anti-American to criticize President Trump? The Democrats and other leftists have been doing that, relentlessly, since Trump took office.

Is it anti-American to criticize laws passed that impact one group’s rights in favor of another? Hardly.

Do Muslims complain of discrimination in the U.S.? Silly question. Muslims complain of discrimination everywhere that they are less than a majority.

Yet, there are many Muslims in Israel who prefer Israel to life in PLO or Hamas-controlled areas.

Two — or three — state solution

Is it anti-anything if a person is for — or against — a “two state solution?” How about a three state solution: Israel, Jordan,, and Egypt. It might work except that Egypt won’t absorb Gaza with its Hamas/Islamic Jihad crazies and Jordan has all the “Palestinians” it can suffer. Gaza once was part of Egypt and the so-called “West Bank” was controlled by Jordan, “back in the day.”

When “Palestine” was ruled from Amman, there was no talk of a state independent of Jordan. Likewise, does anyone recall the residents of Gaza seeking independence from Egypt?

That, of course, is conveniently forgotten. Likewise forgotten is that the PLO’s first leader (Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Hussein² ) was not “Palestinian” or even Jordanian, but Egyptian.

Also forgotten is the time when Lebanon “shared” Mt. Hermon and shelled Israeli civilians or the Katusha’s from Lebanon that fell on Zefat. (Personal experience.)

Critics can’t see own image

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the folks who criticize Israel is their blindness to all other countries less than ideal Human Rights practices.

One major talking point on which the anti-Israel groups harp is Israel’s so-called “occupation” of “Arab” lands.

Consider for a moment that no matter where an American lives in the U.S., he or she is on land taken — usually by force of arms — from the indigenous population, a population, incidentally, that was warehoused in ghettos, a/k/a reservations. America’s treatment of American Indians was far worse than anything Israel has done to Muslims.

The same applies for most countries. Russia recently took Crimea from the Ukraine as the world watched — and did nothing.

Ah, but Russia is not Israel.

Is it anti-Russian to remind the Russian government that it “stole” the Crimea?

Who does BDS hurt?

The anti-Israel folks who promote Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel hurt the people (residents of PLO areas) more than they hurt Israel.

They drove out Soda Stream, a company that employed Muslims from the so-called West Bank and paid them at the same rate as Jews. Sans Soda Stream, the former employees are financially worse off. (Arabs in southern Israel gained from the BDS effort; THEY now have jobs their kin in the north lost.)

Israel is training PLO-area residents in high tech so they can improve their communities’ economies.

BDS’ raison d'être, no less than Iran’s, is to destroy Israel.

If it did, the UN would have to close out at least two “Palestinian-specific” welfare programs: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and United Nations Development Programme's Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People.

Gaza, incidentally, with cooperation from the Israeli government, is shipping record amounts of strawberries to England as well as to the PLO territories.

When Israel, under Ariel Sharon, forced Jewish farmers out of Gaza in 2005, the Muslims destroyed most of the greenhouses and infrastructure left by the departing Jews. It has taken more than a decade of foreign funding to restore what was destroyed in 2005.

Palestinians harvest strawberries at their farm in the northern Gaza Strip, March 5, 2007. Photo: Reuters / Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Bottom line

The bottom line is that most of the people who are anti-Israel have no first hand experience with Israel, Gaza, or the PLO-controlled areas. This includes the anti-Israel representatives in the U.S. House who, despite Israel allowing them entry to the PLO areas, declined the opportunity.³

People who DO know first hand what goes on in Israel can criticize the country’s government — but not the people; they are as diverse as the people in the U.S. — after taking a look at their own history and after looking at other countries around the globe.

People also can criticize Jews for being “clannish” or a bit “xenophobic” — and why not, given the centuries of persecution for their belief or ancestry — but tarring all Jews with the same broad brush is a sign or ignorance.

The true anti-Jew — Arabs also are Semites so “anti-Semite” is not accurate unless these people also hate Arabs — DOES know a Jew is a Jew is a Jew, regardless of level of observance, where the person lives, what he or she eats (or avoids), or with what political party the person affiliates (e.g., Democrat=Good Jew, Republican=Bad Jew — or maybe it is the other way around).

Ignorance.

The hallmark of a bigot.

Sources

1. Immigration: https://tinyurl.com/t5vgtmz

2. PLO leader: https://tinyurl.com/rrk2cdh

3. Rep. Tlaib: https://tinyurl.com/y6obleb2

עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

Opuscula nazis taunt Jews on Rosh HaShana In German city

A DRY BONES CARTOON (below) sent me scouring the WWW for confirmation that national socialism is alive and well in parts of Germany.

On Rosh HaShana, neo-nazis marched through the German city of Dortmund, waving flags of the nazi Third Reich, chanting "Palestine help us, Israel still exists" and "Israel no more" (Dry Bones for 10/3/2019 @ http://tinyurl.com/y4hw8x7y )

An aside I cannot bring myself to capitalize the “n” in nazi. These people and their hate-laden philosophy are beneath contempt.

UNFORTUNATELY, the Dry Bones cartoon was politically accurate.
I surfed the web and found at least five articles on the presence of nazis in Germany.

   German Neo-nazi Party Demands Addresses of All Jews in Dortmund (http://tinyurl.com/y5utsycs)
   Neo-nazi protestors in Germany call for Palestinian help against Israel (http://tinyurl.com/y3ed75yq)

   Neo-nazis wave Palestinian flags in protest against Israel (http://tinyurl.com/y33cqugb)

   Hundreds of neo-nazis chant anti-Semitic slogans in Dortmund, Germany (http://tinyurl.com/yyo8d9kq)

   A Neo-nazi’s Political Rise Exposes a German City’s Ethnic Tensions (http://tinyurl.com/y2r637ae)

Most of the publications failed to make the Rosh HaShana connection.

Sadly, a resurgence of national socialism is not limited to Germany.

In other countries, notably France, anti-Semitism is coupled with xenophobia brought about by the Muslim “refugee” influx and sharia law trumping French law.

On a less physically threatening level, xenophobia — the fear of anything “different” — is behind the recent spate of anti-shechitah laws (that also generally apply to observant Muslim slaughter practices).¹

The Dortmund Germany exhibition of stupidity and hate is the first time this scrivener has heard about a call for “help from the ‘Palestinians’.” The so-called “Palestinians” cannot even help each other (PLO-controlled areas vs. Hamas/Islamic Brotherhood in Gaza), not can it pay it’s bills despite massive and continuing cash input from fellow-Muslim states and the UN.

Dortmund is hardly the only place where nazis apparently run free.

The World Socialist Web Site (http://tinyurl.com/yyo8d9kq) reported On Friday evening, several hundred neo-nazis marched through a residential area in the working-class German city of Dortmund.
That same day, radical right-wingers once again marched through the city in Chemnitz. According to media reports, followers of the “Pro Chemnitz” alliance attacked the offices of the Left Party,
On Saturday, in the Bavarian city of Bamberg, a so-called “anchor centre” for refugees was burnt down.
At the end of August, a dozen neo-nazis had attacked the Jewish restaurant “Shalom” in Chemnitz.

Yes, Virginia, there IS a difference between a “real” socialist and a “national socialist” (a/k/a nazi).

The World Socialists contend that the German government is the cause of the current unrest. 85 years after the seizure of power by the nazis and the subsequent fascist terror in Europe, which cost the lives of 6 million Jews—nazi gangs are again marching through the streets and chanting anti-Semitic slogans under the eyes of the police is the product of the policy of the German government. The grand coalition of the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and Social Democrats (SPD) is responsible for the return of the nazi hordes. The nazis managed to murder hundreds of socialists along with anyone else who opposed/might oppose their philosophy or who was physically or mentally unable to become cannon fodder for the reich.

According to the RIAS Berlin Commission, a federal organization that documents antisemitism in Germany, the police officers who escorted the neo-nazis (in Dortmund) didn’t see fit to dismantle the rally (http://tinyurl.com/y3ed75yq).

That may have been the best option and was similar to the police inaction when American nazis marched in Skokie IL with the blessing of the U.S. and Illinois supreme courts.² Violence was avoided, although citizens, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, were offended.

Sources

1, http://tinyurl.com/y2cfqdxy

2. http://tinyurl.com/n575qhd

עינים להם ולא יראו * אזנים להם ולא יאזנו

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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Opuscula Are Netanyahu, Israel’s gov’t Really crazy?

INSANITY IS DEFINED AS "DOING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AGAIN AND EXPECTING DIFFERENT RESULTS"?

Attribution: Albert Einstein (or Samuel Langhorne Clemens or Ben Franklin, or ...)

If Einstein, et al, are correct, than Israel’s political and military leaders are “insane.”

Once more they have been conned into a ceasefire guaranteed to last only as long as it takes Hamas and other jihadists to rearm.

Fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me twice, shame on me.

Netanyahu and his sycophantic political and military associates, by the definition of “insane,” must truly BE insane.

Crazy.

Also derelict in their sworn duties to protect Israel and all its citizens, residents, and visitors.

I’m not sure if “Crazy Eddie”¹ or “Madman Muntz”² controls Netanyahu’s decision making process, or if it is one of all of the six (!) Stooges who advise him, but to agree once more — in face of repeated “cease fires while we rearm” appeals from Hamas et al — is the height of irresponsibility.

 

 

Normally I keep silent re Israeli politics.

I’m not there.

But when I see, again and again and again the “modern” Likud’s caving to terrorists while leaving Israeli citizens, residents, and visitors in danger from a “stray” missile or a few hundred stray missiles — it is too much.

What frightens Netanyahu?

The UN?

Leftists?

The UN will condemn Israel no matter what. The only way the UN will have kind words for Israel is when it disappears; when the Israelis — Christians, Jews, Muslims, and whomever else — surrenders their lives as Gandhi proposed during the holocaust. (Gandhi also proposed that the English surrender, telling them to invite the nazis to take over their island, live in their homes.)

 

Gandhi 6 April 1947 quote on Muslims: “If the Muslims want to kill us, we must face death bravely.”

 

Knowing the people condemning Israel now for failing to die at its enemies’ hands will continue to condemn Israel regardless, why don’t Netanyahu and the generals let the army do what armies are trained to do: WIN WARS.

When President Harry S. Truman ordered the bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima to end the war with Japan, the world gasped and then got on with life.

When the U.S. and English firebombed Dresden into ashes, the world gasped and moved on. (The fire bombing followed nazi fire bombs on England’s tiny island; just as Hamas missiles fall on Israel from the south and Hezbollah missiles are launched from the north.)

Someone needs to inform Netanyahu and the generals that war is NOT fought by Marquis of Queensbury rules. Germany’s Erwin Rommel had much to say about warfare, words that, along with U.S. Gen. Geo. S. Patton’s thoughts, should be studied in Israel. Neither man would have settled for a cease fire — ESPECIALLY knowing it would be broken by the rearmed enemy in the near future.

It is not mere speculation that Hamas, once rearmed, will again rain missiles on Israel. Next time — and there WILL be a “next time” — Hamas’ missiles may be joined by missiles from Hezbollah. Both are, after all, funded by Iran.

If I recall correctly, Netanyahu sneered at Gen. Ganz, noting he had no political experience. Netanyahu has political experience, but only managed a captain’s rank in the IDF. Perhaps it is time for Israel to follow the American Indian’s practice of having different chiefs for different times; most had a war chief who was in control when, and only when, the tribe was at war. In Israel, let the Ramat Kal — the ranking general — drive the military action.

I suppose the real question is: Is there a general in Israel that the soldiers will follow. I’m not there; I don’t have a clue.

What I DO know is that Netanyahu, by failing to finish the job in Gaza, it giving carte blanc to Hamas to shell and kill more Israeli civilians whenever Hamas feels ready.

No one seems overly concerned with Israeli “collateral damage.” Perhaps Israel should be less concerned about “collateral damage” in Gaza. Alternatively, figure out a way to arm Gazans who want to depose Hamas and similar terrorist organizations. Israel may be reluctant to arm Gazans, recalling that the Afghans, armed by the U.S. to fight the Russians, now use those same arms to kill Americans.

Hammer and anvil; rock and a hard place.

Sources

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Eddie

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madman_Muntz

3. http://tinyurl.com/y3bco53n

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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Opuscula Israel government: Caught between Hammer & anvil

Hamas & Friends have put Israel between the hammer and the anvil, or if you prefer, a rock and a hard place.

UNLESS ISRAEL “PUTS DOWN” Hamas & Friends — other Islamist crazies — the northern Islamist crazies in Lebanon will think that Israel is weak; that it cannot defeat both Iran proxies.

Militarily it CAN defeat Hamas et al in Gaza and Hezbollah in the north.

The problem for Israel is “collateral damage.”

The UN will rage about nasty Israel which never should defend itself from the kind Muslims who want to destroy it. Gandhi lives on at the UN.

Leftists the world over also will tear their hair, beat their chests, and chastise Israel for responding to enemy attacks in a “non-proportional” manner.

Here’s a thought. If Israel’s population is, say, 9 million¹ and worldwide population of Muslim-controlled nations is in excess of 1 BILLION² that would mean for every Israeli — Christian, Jew, Muslim, and “other” — killed, maybe 70,000 Muslims should die to keep things within the UN’s “proportional” stupidity. (I lost my slide rule so my 1-for-70,000 may be conservative.)

 

CEASE FIRE

When Hamas et al has used nearly all of it’s Iranian-funded missiles, it will cry to Egypt to arrange a cease fire with Israel.

Just as it did before this latest spate of missiles fell on Israel.

And just as it did before.

Israel’s politicians and generals accept the cease fire and, once again, put the population in danger.

This is NOT the Likud of Began and (David) Levy. Indeed, it is about as forceful as the former Labor governments — and Israel’s enemies know it.

Israel CAN, and HAS, made lasting peace agreements with Egypt (first) and Jordan. Began was Prime Minister when Anwar El Sadat came to Jerusalem to sign the treaty with Began and Israel. (For his effort, Islamists in Egypt assassinated Sadat.)

 

Above: Began and Sadat in Jerusalem

 

Interestingly, Began tried to give Gaza back to Egypt. Sadat was a better bargainer than Began and refused Gaza. Sinai, yes; Gaza, no. Brilliant man, Sadat.

Unless Israel wants to continue harassment from the Hamas & Friends and Hezbollah, and possibly Syria’s Bashar al-Assad who butchers his own countrymen, it MUST put down Hamas forcefully, so forcefully that it no longer is a threat, even with Iranian aid.

Unfortunately, with several Islamists groups vying for power in Gaza, the civilian “collateral damage” count will likely be far higher than Israel would like. (Despite UN and leftists “news” reports, Israel DOES try to avoid true civilian causalities. It has been proven again and again to the embarrassment of the provocateurs.)

Israel does not want to control Gaza; it would prefer Egypt to rule the strip, at least until a government that wants good for the governed — peace, a decent economy, plans to restore infrastructure, and to restore dignity to its people.

The U.S. did it in Japan after World War 2; Egypt, with Israeli cooperation, might be able to succeed in 2020.

But first, Israel must — there no longer is an option — destroy Hamas and its jihadist cohorts.

If “the world” wants to help the civilians of Gaza, it should figure out a way to keep Iranian money and influence out of the strip.

Failing that, Israel can expect its northern communities to once again come under missile fire.

Again.

Sources

1. http://tinyurl.com/yynwb8jj

2. http://tinyurl.com/kgwmcoo

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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Opuscula Of cease fires And other lies

HAMAS, while denying it had anything to do with the several missiles recently fired toward Tel Aviv, was quick to run to Egypt and beg the Egyptians to arrange a cease fire with Israel.

Once again, the current Israeli Prime Minister caved and a cease fire was ordered.

 

Above: Drybones cartoon

 
IT IS INTERESTING how Hamas cons the current Prime Minister into a cease fire after it (Hamas) tries to slaughter Israelis indiscriminately.

The last time Hamas pulled the wool over the PM’s already shut eyes it even admitted the cease fire was only for a short time — until it could restock its Iranian missile arsenal.

The “blind in one eye and can’t see out of the other” PM agreed to the convenient-for-Hamas cease fire.

And Israelis were shelled again.

Hamas, according to most in the know, has absolute control of Gaza. The PLO in Ramallah has no say even though it transfers funds to Hamas.

MEANWHILE, Hamas intends to send civilians to the border with Israel to launch balloon and kite bombs.

 

I FIND IT “FUNNY,” albeit not “ha-ha funny,” that Hamas does not send people to the border with Egypt. I believe Egypt cleared the area near its fence with Hamas so balloon and kite bombs would fall harmlessly on vacated land. (The wind also plays a role in the bombs’ flights.)

While both Egypt and Israel close their borders to Hamas, the media ignores the former and blames Israel for Hamas’ aggressive behavior.

It must be admitted that Hamas does allow a few of is resident prisoners to visit Israel for medical treatment; another things the media is loathe to report.

The problems for the Israelis are two:
1. There are people in Gaza who would like to see Hamas deposed; these people are not (necessarily) Israel-haters.
2. Gaza is ungovernable; if Hamas is eliminated, there will be an administrative vacuum that the PLO will try to fill. Israel will not make the mistake of occupying Gaza again.

In the first instance, more or less “innocent” Gazans would die if Israel decided to “carpet bomb” the strip, a concept easily within Israel’s capability. Israel, no matter how “right wing” the government, would not even contemplate such an action.

The bottom lines are:
a. Israel must find a Muslim state (Egypt, Jordan as examples) willing to assume control of Gaza, then
b. Israel needs to eliminate Hamas and associated terror groups; to cut out the cancer that plagues Gaza.

Begin, in his negotiations with Sadat, tried to give Gaza (back) to Egypt. Sadat was smart enough to refuse Begin’s “offer.”

 

MEANWHILE, sundry “news media” claim that Egypt’s President Al-Sisi has told the tyrants of Gaza that if Israel decides to remove them, Egypt will not interfere in any way.

“Not interfere,” but not assume control of the strip, either. Like Anwar Sadat before him, Al-Sisi is nobody’s fool when it comes to governing Gaza. I doubt his hesitancy is fear of the PLO, but perhaps in consideration of Jordan’s king, whose control of Jordan already is on shaky ground with his own PLO fifth column.

It is amusing that a peace agreement between two old terrorists — Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin (below) — should be so solid and beneficial to both countries.

 

Two old terrorists: Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin

 

By contrast, the agreement between Jordan’s then-Prime Minister Abdelsalam al-Majali and then Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin seems less solid. Rabin is infamous for shooting at Jews on the ship Altalena (under Ben Gurion’s orders — . see http://tinyurl.com/y25ys3gq )

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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Opuscula Everyone can lose If Israel invades And deposes Hamas

Another Lebanon?

According to Israel HaYom’s English edition of 21 November 2018 (http://tinyurl.com/ybefj3p4), Public ‎Security Minister Gilad Erdan, a member of the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet, says Israel may have to retake Gaza "until ‎we eliminate terrorist infrastructure"

While hardly any Israeli would be sad to see Hamas obliterated, what can replace it?

Not Abu Mazen’s PLO that flip-flops on its relationship with Israel more than Benjamin Netanyahu flip-flops on settlements. The Gazans allowed Hamas to run the PLO out of the Strip.

Not Islamic Brotherhood, as bad for Israel and probably for Gazens, too, as Hamas.

Egypt won’t step it.

IF ISRAEL PUTS AN END to Hamas it will be “stuck” in Gaza trying to govern a people who for decades have been indoctrinated that the only good Israeli – or Jew – is a dead Israeli (or Jew).

What about the UN?

The UN is in bed with Hamas. It teaches hatred of Israel in its schools. It allows Hamas to use its facilities to launch rockets and mortars into Israel.

The UN is not capable of guiding Gaza toward peace with either Israel or Egypt.

Perhaps — just “perhaps” — given the improved relations with several Muslim-dominated countries, a coalition of Islamic nations no longer intent on driving the Jews to the sea could be invited to govern Gaza until the locals can create a viable, and acceptable to Israel, political infrastructure.

Israel could, and I suggest should, help the interim governors by loosening trade restrictions (both ways) and making it easier for Gazans to travel to Europe and other Muslim states – but NOT to PLO-controlled areas. (The PLO still harbors jihadists and its leader-for-life cannot be depended upon to honor yesterday’s agreements,)

Having a perhaps multi-national Muslim government in Gaza sans Israeli military presence would go a long way to “normalizing” relations with Gaza’s neighbors (Israel and Egypt). The government would need to be the same flavor of Islam as the residents of Gaza. (Iraq is a great example or NONcooperation between various Muslim sects.)

Don’t expect Gazans, especially young Gazans, to welcome Israeli tourists with open arms (at least they won’t be firearms); It took a while for Israelis to be “just another tourist” in Egypt and, even after all the years since Begin and Sadat met in Jerusalem, some tension still exists, but there is progress.

Gazans must learn that they cannot destroy whatever is left behind when a caretaker government is succeeded by a true Gazan government, unlike what happened when Sharon threw Israelis out in 2005 — the Muslims destroyed hot houses and other infrastructure that could have provided the Strip with a growing foreign trade.

The greatest risk Israel faces if it invades and deposes Hamas (and the Brotherhood standing in the wings) is to leave a vacuum that quickly will filled with anarchy.

Compare Gaza to Iraq — the allies defeated Saddam but failed to put a caretaker government in place to rule the country until a new government of Iraqis could be installed.

Compare Gaza to Germany. When Germany was defeated, the World War 2 Allies, sans the Soviet Union, established a German caretaker government that today rules a unified country. (The Soviets set up a puppet government in what was “East Germany.” Eventually that government fell and “East” Germany as absorbed into what was then “West” Germany.)

Unlike Iran under the shah, Gaza lacks a shadow government, even one in exile. When the shah was chased out, the ayatollah hiding out in Europe came back much like DeGaulle returned to Paris. (Whether the Iranians now regret his return is another matter.)

Invading Gaza sans a solid plan to install a Muslim caretaker government would be both foolish, a waste of Israeli lives, and a waste of time.

Lacking a Muslim caretaker government will allow a new Hamas to take over and nothing will be gained for Israel or the denizens of the Strip.

BOTTOM LINE: Israel needs to line up friendly Muslims to govern Gaza BEFORE it even draws up invasion plans.

It also needs to prepare its “hasbarah” (PR) to counter the howls of the world’s leftists who undoubtedly will castigate Israel for preventing Hamas, et al, to continue killing and maiming innocent Israelis.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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Opuscula When is A cease fire Not a cease fire

ANSWER: WHEN HAMAS IN GAZA keeps pushing “civilians” to fire bomb Israeli civilians.

HAMAS CONTROLS GAZA, even when other terrorists share space on the strip. Nothing happens sans Hamas’ knowledge and at least passive approval.

Why, then, does Israel’s allegedly right-wing government sit on its hands? Why does Israel rein in the military. Why does Israel not simply do as Egypt did – clear an area in Gaza near the Israel-Hamas border of all life. Get within, say, 50 meters (165 feet) of the fence and die, either by sharp shooters or armed drones.

Hamas, of course, will send children to attack Israel and Hamas will wail for all the world to hear when one of the children is killed – and the world will ignore Hamas’ role in the child’s death and focus solely on Israel.

When will parents in Gaza finally tire of burying their children?

Given the terrorists’ reading of the Koran and Muslim leaders interpretation of the book, many Muslims believe a martyr (shaheed) will go to Mohamed and will received 70 virgins of unimaginable beauty. Female martyrs have a similar fate awaiting them according to some martyr want-to-be’s. So far, no one has returned from the grave to confirm what is considered a fairy tale by non-believers.)

Click on images to enlarge

IN ANY EVENT, apparently there are many Muslim mothers who encourage their young to sacrifice themselves “for Allah” – or in the case in Gaza, for “for Ismail Haniyeh” the despot of Gaza. (A similar mentality is found in “Palestine” where Abu Mazen, a/k/a Mahmoud Abbas, rules.) That is NOT a Jewish mother’s mentality.

Interviews with jihadists can be seen and heard at https://vimeo.com/281836636

The question for the flip-flop government of Israel: How many Israeli lives must be sacrificed – or even endangered – before the government will respond forcefully and remove Hamas from power in Gaza.

It must have a plan to prevent a power vacuum in Gaza, else nothing will be gained. Egypt is too smart to want hegemony over the strip; the UN cannot be trusted and in any case, if anyone says “Boo!” to the Blue Bonnets, they run for cover. What’s left? The Arab League? A major powers coalition – U.S. and Russia, but neither wants to strengthen the other’s foothold in the region? Return the strip to the terrorist Abu Mazen? Perhaps a joint Egypt-Israel control until Gaza’s residents can decide if they prefer the prosperity of peace to the poverty of war?

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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Opuscula Japanese Did it first

HAMAS, THE RULERS OF GAZA, are not satisfied sending civilians before their fighters as shields.

Now they are flying kites over the fence with incendiary devices to set fire to Israeli land.

As King Solomon is alleged to have opined: There is nothing new under the sun.

DURING WORLD WAR 2, the Japanese floated balloons with incendiary and anti-personnel bombs over the coasts the U.S. (a few landed in Canada and Mexico) with the same intent: Set fire of America’s forests and kill anyone nearby with shrapnel.

How that would have helped the Japanese war effort escapes me.

If anything, that would be like poking a sleeping bear with a sharp stick; the response would not be pretty.

The balloon bombs killed 6 people in Bly OR on May 5, 1945, and fell on at least 17 U.S. states. A number of balloon evidence also was found in Canada’s western provinces.

According to Wikipedia¹, From late 1944 until early 1945, the Japanese launched more than 9,300 fire balloons, of which 300 were found or observed in the U.S. Despite the high hopes of their designers, the balloons were ineffective as weapons, causing only six deaths (from one single incident) and a small amount of damage.

The Japanese designed two balloon types.

The first was called the "Type B Balloon" and was designed by the Japanese Navy. It was 9 m (30 ft) in diameter and consisted of rubberized silk. The type B balloons were sent first and mainly used for meteorological purposes. The Japanese used them to determine the possibility of the bomb-carrying balloons reaching North America.

The second type was the bomb-carrying balloon. Japanese bomb-carrying balloons were 10 m (33 ft) in diameter and, when fully inflated, held about 540 m3 (19,000 cu ft) of hydrogen. Their launch sites were located on the east coast of the main Japanese island of Honshū.

Studies by Wasaburo Oishi, credited with the discovery of the high-altitude air currents, enabled Japan to attack North America during World War II with at least 9,000 incendiary bombs carried by stratospheric balloons and then dropped by a timer mechanism on U.S. forests. Very few bombs in this bombing campaign, called Project Fu-Go, actually reached their targets. "

Guided by Oishi's wind charts, 9,000 fire balloon bombs, called Fu-go, were unleashed by Japan between November 1944 and April 1945." Oishi's wind calculations were wrong, and instead of taking 65 hours to reach the US from Japan, it took 96 hours on average. As a result, most of the fire balloons fell harmlessly into the Pacific Ocean, instead of on the American mainland.

Fortunately, the rulers of Hamastan (Gaza) focus most of their attention on tunnels.

Likewise, the rulers so willing to sacrifice non-combatants, apparently lack either hydrogen or helium to float balloons into Israel. Both are commercially available so Israel must assure the gases are not imported into Gaza or PA-controlled areas of Israel.

(Hydrogen is explosive and it is likely – based on history – that Hamas balloon makers would blow themselves up before any balloon was launched.)

The problem for the Japanese – and it would be a problem for Hamas – is that the balloons are slaves to the wind; the direction in which thy float cannot be controlled from the ground.

Unlike the Japanese balloons that traveled at about 30,000 feet (9,144 meters), Hamas balloons would be low flying and easy targets for Israelis with “two-two” (.22 caliber) rifles – good for target practice as the gas bags floated near the border.

Sources

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_balloon

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Comments on Balloons

Modern "journalism" Newspaper's politics Vs. reality on the ground

 

ACCORDING TO THE WORLD BANK website,

“Gaza’s unemployment and poverty figures are very troubling and the economic outlook is worrying. The current market in Gaza is not able to offer jobs leaving a large population in despair particularly the youth,” said Steen Lau Jorgensen, World Bank Country Director for West Bank and Gaza. “The ongoing blockade and the 2014 war have taken a toll on Gaza’s economy and people's livelihoods. Gaza’s exports virtually disappeared and the manufacturing sector has shrunk by as much as 60 percent. The economy cannot survive without being connected to the outside world.”

Just the facts.

But then the UK's Guardian puts its twist on the World Bank report, leading off with

World Bank report says Israeli blockades, war and poor governance have left 43% of people out of work and the strip facing dangerous financial crisis

And then it adds, almost as an after-thought

The economy of Gaza – assailed by war, poor governance and a joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade – has reached the “verge of collapse” with the coastal strip suffering the highest rate of unemployment in the world.

NO ONE WILL ARGUE that Gaza's economy is a shambles; nor will anyone argue that because the economy is in the toilet, unemployment is high.

Likewise, no one denies - certainly not Israel or Egypt, the two countries that blockade Gaza - that part of the problem is that getting goods into and out of Gaza is difficult due to the blockades.

BUT

No one seems to care

* WHY Egypt and Israel blockade Gaza

* That Israel- and perhaps Egypt, too - DOES allow raw materials into Gaza and allows exports, primarily fruits and vegetables, to be exported from Gaza to the "Palestinian Authority" (PA) and elsewhere.

* That, like the PA's leaders, millions of dollars have gone into Hamas' pockets when they were intended to help the residents of Gaza.

The world has pledged USD 3.5 billion to Gaza.

Interestingly, The Guardian article included a photo of a "smuggling tunnel" with the caption:

Smuggling tunnels have been the lifeline of the Gazan economy during the Israeli-Egyptian blockade.

adding that

Gaza has been governed by the Islamist group Hamas since 2007 and has struggled with mounting problems since the closure of the smuggling tunnels to Egypt, which had acted as an economic and social pressure valve

conveniently omitting the fact that the smuggling tunnels were used to send terrorists into Israel to murder civilians young and old.

Fox, running an Associated Press (AP) article, reports that

Since its takeover, Hamas has fought three wars with Israel, including 50 days of fighting last summer in which thousands of Gaza buildings were either destroyed or damaged. Over 2,200 Palestinians, including hundreds of civilians, were killed during the war. On the Israeli side, 67 soldiers and six civilians were killed.

The report said Gaza's economy was badly hurt as a result of the fighting, especially the agriculture, construction, manufacturing and electricity sectors.

It said about 43 percent of Gaza's 1.8 million residents are unemployed; a figure it said is the highest in the world. Youth unemployment reached about 60 percent by the end of last year, it said.

It might be suggested that Hamas, Gaza's heavy-handed rulers, are deliberately keeping unemployment high (about 60 percent according to Fox) to encourage attacks on Israel, and to a lesser extant, Egypt. Striking out at Hamas, the cause of the enclave's problems, is almost guaranteed death.

The World Bank concluded Gaza's problems were two-fold:

It charged that "blockades, war and poor governance have strangled" the economy of the Gaza Strip, ruled by the Islamic militant group Hamas.

The report said Gaza's GDP would have been four times higher if not for conflicts and restrictions, including a blockade in place since 2007

while in reality ALL the blame lies on Hamas since it declared war first on Israel and then on Egypt (causing the blockade) that, in turn, caused high unemployment.

Still, its easier to blame it all on Israel.

Opuscula Israel rearming Hamas in Gaza

 

According to Arutz Sheva (Channel 7), Israel Ships Over 600 Tons of Construction Materials to Gaza. Never mind the incorrect use of "over" rather than "more than."

The text notes that

Israel began transporting construction materials into Gaza on Tuesday, in a "humanitarian gesture" to the Hamas-controlled territory which may be already rebuilding terror tunnels into the Jewish state.

The "aid" includes 600 tons of cement, 50 truckloads of aggregate and 10 truckloads of steel.

The office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) stated that the transfer is being conducted under the supervision of the UN and PA, as agreed with COGAT, General Yoav Mordechai.

"This method [of transfer] is designed to ensure that the construction materials will be used to renovate homes and public buildings for the benefit of the people of Gaza, while maintaining Israel's security," the IDF stated, noting it would "carried out under UN supervision."

In another story from the same source on the same day, Arutz 7 reports, in a story headlined ADL Decries UN Chief's 'Stunning' Bias in which UN chief Ban Ki-moon blames Hamas' attacks on Israel for Israel's "occupation" of Gaza. Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu fired back at Ban Monday by noting that the entire concept of an "occupation" in Gaza has been made moot after the 2005 Disengagement.

"The root cause of the violence that burst from Gaza is not Israel’s occupation in Gaza, for a simple reason: Israel doesn’t occupy Gaza," Netanyahu explained. "Israel left Gaza to the very last centimeter, to the very last inch. We uprooted all the settlements and vacated all the settlers. So there is no Israeli occupation of Gaza."

Netanyahu then pointed out that Ban justified Hamas's rocket barrage despite the fact that it used the UN's own facilities to break international law.

IN A RELATED ARTICLE heded UNRWA Asks for Record $1.6 Billion to 'Rebuild Gaza', Arutz reminds that

Three United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) schools were found during the course of Operation Protective Edge to have stored rocket caches for Hamas and Islamic Jihad. After the first find, UNRWA workers called Hamas to come remove them to use in their terror war on Israeli civilians, instead of destroying the weaponry.

In another incident, three IDF soldiers were killed and seven others wounded in a booby-trapped UN clinic that was situated on top of terror tunnel entrances, showing the complicity of the UN in Gaza-based terror against Israel,

And then editorializes, correctly in this scrivener's opinion, that

Ample evidence has proven that Hamas uses UN and other aid money, as well as materials, to build terror tunnels into Israeli territory with the aim of attacking Israeli citizens - instead of providing buildings to its own citizens.

To illustrate this, the IDF revealed during the course of Operation Protective Edge that 4,680 trucks carrying 181 thousand tons of gravel, iron, cement, wood and other supplies have passed through the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza since January 2014 - much of it directly from Israel to fund civilian projects.

Instead, however, a network of over 30 tunnels was found during the ground offensive, with each tunnel costing roughly $3 million to build. For every Hamas terror tunnel, the IDF stated, there was enough building materials to build 86 homes; seven mosques; six schools; or nineteen medical clinics.

Meanwhile, Hamas has begun to rebuild terror tunnels on foreign aid money - but despite this, the UN already joined the PA in making a call for $550 million to rebuild Gaza.

Meanwhile, Arutz 7 continues,

The UN Palestinian aid agency which made headlines for harboring Hamas's rockets is to make its largest ever financial plea to donors, it said on Thursday, asking for $1.6 billion to "rehabilitate Gaza" after Hamas's most recent terror war.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) unity government has already asked for more than $4 billion to rebuild the coastal territory, which is home to some 1.7 million people.

And while an international conference in March saw $200 million donated to the terror-run territory - and donations from the US and France reached a combined $61.8 million - the money is apparently still not enough for Hamas, nor for UNRWA, leaving many asking why.