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1. Helen Thomas ‘Shoots Self in Mouth,’ Speech Canceled
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas “shot herself in the mouth” with her off-the-cuff remarks that Jews should “get the hell out of Palestine.” Her speech scheduled for next Monday at a high school graduation near Washington, D.C. was canceled.
Walt Whitman High School principal Alan Goodwin in Bethesda, Maryland wrote an email to parents that “a mutual understanding” was reached with Thomas that she would not speak to graduating students.
"Graduation celebrations are not the venue for divisiveness," Goodwin wrote. "Graduation is the time for a cohesive and joyous celebration of our students' achievements.”
Thomas, 89 and the daughter of Lebanese immigrants, was filmed and taped after a Jewish Heritage event at the White House late last week. She said that Jews in Israel should "go home” to Poland, Germany and the United States.
A Facebook campaign is underway demanding that the Hearst newspaper chain fire her, and New York gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio commented, "Helen Thomas' racist and despicable comments against members of the Jewish community is an offense to all who wish to live in freedom… Hearst must do the right thing and fire Ms. Thomas immediately. Nothing less will do."
Her scheduled commencement speech was to be heard in a school that has a large number of Jewish students. If Thomas were to appear, she would be met by "a lot of people booing her off the stage... It would be an embarrassment," Whitman high school parent Raisa Siepoy told American media.
“One worries about freedom of speech, [but] the biggest concern is this is the kids' day, and nothing should be a distraction,” commented Patricia O'Neill, president of the Montgomery County School Board.
Hamas, on the other hand, gave its approval, writing on the Al Qassam website:
"[There is] no doubt that Thomas Helen [sic] has told the truth that everybody in the world knows, but as [an] American in a very important position, she was attacked by Zionists who went mad from the reality she mentioned in front of all people. Thomas Helen was directly accused by Jews and pro-Israel masses as anti-Semite Nazi. Israelis ignore the reality, that they never belong in Palestine but belong in some other countries...they know better.
2. Knesset C'tee: Strip MK Zouabi of Extra Rights
by Hillel Fendel
The Knesset House Committee voted Monday to strip Arab MK Hanin Zouabi of three privileges granted her by virtue of her parliamentary immunity. MK Michael Ben-Ari, who initiated the move, warns other Arab MKs that their turn is coming.
The vote was 7-1, with only MK Ilan Gil'on of Meretz voting against. The full Knesset must now vote on the committee's recommendation. "We are pushing for it to take place quickly," Ben-Gvir's parliamentary aide Baruch Marzel told Israel National News. "It's a good atmosphere."
The three rights rescinded from Zouabi, according to the committee recommendation, are her diplomatic passport for travel abroad, special travel rights out of Israel, and legal counsel for her role in the flotilla, should she be indicted.
Letter to Arab MKs
Several Arab Knesset Members – specifically, those who took part in a recent trip to Libya, an enemy country – arrived at work this morning to find an unusual email awaiting them: A letter of warning, in Arabic, from fellow MK Dr. Ben-Ari of the National Union party.
The letter stated as follows:
“In light of my request, the Knesset House Committee will debate [on Monday] the removal of the parliamentary immunity of Knesset Members who collaborate with the enemy. The first session will deal with your comrade Hanin Zouabi, who led the terrorist flotilla to Gaza.
“After we deal with her, it will be your turn! The Israeli nation has become tired of the taking of advantage of the Israeli democracy as a means of liquidating the State. Know: Now it’s Zouabi, and next week, it will be you!”
The letter was sent to MKs Jamal Zekhalke of Zouabi’s Balad party, Muhammed Barakeh and Afu Agbariya of Hadash, and Taleb a-Sana and Dr. Ahmed Tibi of Raam-Taal. They traveled to Libya two months ago, and exchanged warm greetings and praises there with Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, who addressed them and other Arab visitors for an hour.
MK Zevulun Orlev (Jewish Home) noted at the time that, based on a law he initiated in the previous Knesset, the Arab visitors had disqualified themselves from running for Knesset in the next election. The law states that one who illegally visited an enemy state in the seven years preceding an election will be seen as having supported armed struggle against Israel and thus disqualified from running. Though Orlev said the Defense Ministry and Ministry of Interior had confirmed to him that Libya is on the list of enemy states, the legal counsel to the Knesset committee said Libya is not an enemy state.
Zouabi was nearly physically attacked by other Knesset Members when she ascended the Knesset podium to speak last week, after she returned from the Marmari ship. She has made no secret of her anti-Zionist and anti-IDF sentiments, emphasizing her desire to “serve my own principles and my people oppressed by the State [of Israel], and I have no problem doing so in the framework of the Knesset. My voters did not vote for me so that I would strengthen Zionism…
"There is a people that voted for Hamas, and I fight for their right to choose.” Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh personally called Zouabi last week and encouraged her to “remain strong.”
Asked if he believes that his bid to remove Zouabi’s immunity would pass, MK Ben-Ari said this morning that based on MKs’ remarks of the past few days, he is optimistic.
MK Zouabi and the other Arabs MKs were not present for the session, which was marked by sharp disagreements between left-wing and nationalist Knesset Members.
3. Navy Foils Major Attack by Sea, Kills 4 Terrorists
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Navy commandoes foiled a major terrorist attack from the Gaza coast shortly before dawn Monday morning, and the Air Force strafed a rocket launching cell.
Four armed terrorists were killed and three others were missing in the Navy counterterrroist maneuver. Hamas officials confirmed that two were dead and another was missing. It is not yet known whether Hamas or a different terrorist group carried out the attempted attack on Israel, but initial reports indicate that the unit identifies with Hamas.
Navy commandos, from the same unit as that involved in the flotilla clash last week, spotted a squad of terrorists wearing diving suits on their way to carry out an attack on a narby Jewish community. The force fired and hit the terrorists; no casualties were reported amongst IDF forces.
Later in the morning, the Air Force targeted a terrorist squad preparing to fire rockets from northern Gaza. Direct hits were identified. More than 10 rockets and mortars were fired from the Gaza in the last three weeks.
Military sources that Hamas and allied terrorist groups plan and continually try to carry out strikes on Israeli soldiers and civilians by land and sea. Rocket attacks and infiltrations over the past two weeks represent an escalation in attempts to kidnap or kill Israelis.
4. ‘We Con the World’ Big Hit on YouTube with 1.3 Million Clicks
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The “We Con the World” spoof of the Flotilla attackers has passed the 1.3 million mark on YouTube after making the rounds on dozens of web sites and blogs. The Government Press Office had to apologize to foreign media for accidentally sending it on its email list as if it were an official PR piece. Click here to see the video on YouTube.
GPO director Donald Seaman explained that it was sent out along with hundreds of emails it distributes daily and that the spoof “in no way represent the official policy of either the Government Press Office or of the State of Israel. This was a private video so it was not something that we could send out. We have corrected the mistake.”
“We Con the World” is five-minute satirical song performed by people dressed up as flotilla terror activists and “peace activists,” some of them appearing as Arabs and imitating an Arab accent.
IDF clips of the flotilla attackers assaulting unarmed Navy commandos occasionally appear between views of the performance.
The video was produced by the Latma satirical news web site. Using the tune for “We are the World," the performers wave knives and sing the following lyrics:
When we need to make a show
For the world, the Web and CNN
There’s no people dying,
so the best that we can do
Is create the greatest bluff of all
We must go on pretending day by day
That in Gaza, there’s crisis, hunger and plague
Coz the billion bucks in aid won’t buy their basic needs
Like some cheese and missiles for the kids.
We’ll make the world
Abandon reason
We’ll make them all believe that the Hamas
Is Momma Theresa
We are peaceful travelers
With guns and our own knives
The truth will never find its way to your TV
Ooooh, we’ll stab them at heart
They are soldiers, no one cares
We are small, and we took some pictures with doves
As Allah showed us, for facts there’s no demand
So we will always gain the upper hand
We’ll make the world
Abandon reason
We’ll make them all believe that the Hamas
Is Momma Theresa
We are peaceful travelers
We’re waving our own knives
The truth will never find its way to your TV
If Islam and terror brighten up your mood
But you worry that it may not look so good
Well well well well don’t you realize
You just gotta call yourself
An activist for peace and human aid
We’ll make the world
Abandon reason
We’ll make them all believe that the Hamas
Is Momma Theresa
We are peaceful travelers
We’re waving our own knives
The truth will never find its way to your TV
We con the world
We con the people
We’ll make them all believe the IDF is Jack the Ripper
We are peaceful travelers
We’re waving our own knives
The truth will never find its way to your TV
We con the world
We con the people
We’ll make them all believe the IDF is Jack the Ripper
We are peaceful travelers
We’re waving our own knives
The truth will never find its way to your TV
The truth will never find its way to your TV
We Con The World. We con the world. We con the people. We’ll make them all believe the IDF is Jack the Ripper. We are peaceful travelers. We’re waving our own knives. The truth will never find its way to your TV.
5. Arab Boy from Jenin Saved in Afula Hospital
by Hillel Fendel
The antipathy of a Jenin Arab was replaced by appreciation after his son’s life was saved in HaEmek (Valley) Hospital in Afula.
"My son and I are not the same as we were before this happened,” the boy’s father said afterwards, “and I will share this with my family and friends." The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported on the story.
The incident began this past Thursday, when 15-year-old Mohammed Kalalwe of Jenin, a Palestinian Authority-controlled city in Samaria, was working in the field. At one point, the boy noticed a deadly viper snake and tried killing it with a rock, but he was unable to avoid being bitten in his right palm. Screams and panic ensued, and within minutes, the boy's father, Hafed, grabbed his stricken son and rushed him to the Jenin Hospital.
The Arab-run hospital was ill-prepared to treat the boy, and despite the common presence of snakes in the area, had no anti-serum. The hospital staff decided to send the boy by ambulance to the HaEmek Medical Center in Afula. Hafed later related that he was genuinely afraid to be taken to the Jewish hospital, because he was sure that he and his son would be ignored. His son's palm and arm were critically swollen and the pain was unbearable.
The reality of HaEmek contrasted sharply with Hafed’s negative expectations. They were immediately greeted in Arabic and rushed into the emergency room, where the multi-ethnic staff administered life-saving anti-serum and brought the boy back from the brink of death. Mohammed remained in the pediatric intensive care unit for the next two days, and is now resting comfortably in HaEmek's pediatric surgical department. It is expected that he will be released in the next two days.
Asked by a hospital staffer how he felt now about HaEmek Hospital and the Israelis he had come into contact with, the father stared his Israeli questioner straight in the eyes and said, "Our people do not know the truth about you, and our medicine has a long way to go. My son and I are not the same as we were before this happened and I will share this with my family and friends. May Allah bless all of you."
"Good Thing There are Snakes"
Walking back to his office, the hospital staffer passed HaEmek’s Head of Emergency Services, Dr. Azziz Daroushe, a Muslim from the nearby Israeli village of Iksal. Asked him what he thought about this latest case where another life from Jenin had been saved in HaEmek, Daroushe answered with a twinkle in his eye and a knowing grin, "It's a good thing there are snakes."
Established in 1924, HaEmek Medical Center is a community hospital serving a population of Jews and Arabs, equally divided. With a mixed medical staff of Jews and Arabs, its guiding philosophy is "Coexistence Through Medicine."
6. Leading Journalist: Israeli Media Dropped the Ball
by Hillel Fendel
Yoni Ben-Menachem, veteran journalist and five-year Director of Voice of Israel, says that better Israeli media coverage before the flotilla arrived could have prevented the ambush.
“It is likely that professional and accurate coverage of the preparations for the flotilla,” Ben-Menachem wrote at the end of last week, “would have helped reveal the ambush that the IHH activists planned for the Israeli commando forces above the ship.”
Though the press is considered the “watchdog of democracy,” it’s time to admit the truth, Ben-Menachem writes: “In this story, the Israeli press fell asleep on the watch – and after it woke up, it re-entered the same conception in which Israel’s defense establishment was mired.”
Specifically, Ben-Menachem rails against the fact that though PA and Turkish media had been talking about it for three months, “the Israeli media did not see fit to cover the preparations for the flotilla – even when the PA media publicized widely the fact that Hamas planned to send 100 boats with children from Gaza to greet it. The Israeli press simply went into a deep coma, while the Turkish, Arab and Hamas media continued to deal with it extensively.
Ben-Menachem also feels that the Israeli government decisions regarding how to deal with the flotilla once it arrived could have been influenced for the better had the media paid more attention: “The Israeli media also barely covered the governmental discussions on the flotilla that was about to arrive. The mini-Cabinet made a decision to keep the story on low-profile, and it succeeded in this very well.”
He further noted that though Israeli journalists with foreign passports occasionally enter Arab countries and return with in-depth, daring stories, "How did it happen that not one Israeli journalist reported from within Turkey on the send-off of the Marmara ship? Nor did any Israelis manage to penetrate the IHH and report back about the organization and its members? And the biggest question: How could it be that not one Israeli media person was able to penetrate the ship with 600 passengers, even with a false identity?”
Nor did any of the Israeli journalists think to challenge the official estimates as to the level of violence: “When the IDF briefed the reporters on its evaluations that the worst violence that could be expected would be ‘spitting’ on soldiers, why did not one journalist think to ask, ‘And what will happen if there is worse violence? Is the IDF prepared?’ The words of the IDF officers were received as if they were Torah from Sinai.”
Furthermore, Ben-Menachem asks, why was there no coverage of the PR efforts under the auspices of Minister Yuli Edelstein’s office, and its ties – or lack thereof – with other governmental advocacy bodies? “The media is now preparing its knives for all those responsible for the 'mistaken' action – but what about its own mistakes, and possibly even cooperation with the political and security echelons in keeping the story on a low flame?”
“It is very likely,” Ben-Menachem concludes, “that if the Israeli media had carried out their job properly, with a series of investigative pieces and reports from the field before the flotilla, they could have revealed who the IHH really is, and who really were the ‘activists’ on board the Marmara. They could have thus exposed the ambush in advance, and possibly even helped Israel’s PR efforts about the real role played by the Turkish government in supporting the flotilla.”
INN, however, it should be noted, was not the focus of his criticism. It covered the planned arrival of the flotilla and profiled the terrorists who appeared at the sendoff immediately, as well as exposing IHH days before other Israeli news sources.
7. New UAVs Take to Sky Near Gaza, Could be Used in Iran Strike
by Maayana Miskin
The Air Force put its new UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) to the test last week opposite the coast of Gaza. UAV operators had their first chance to work with the new vehicles, the IAF's most advanced.
The new UAV, dubbed “Eitan” (English name: Heron TP) has a wingspan almost as long as a Boeing 737, can stay in the air for over 36 hours, and is capable of reaching as far as Iran. It officially joined the IAF's fleet in February.
Flying the Eitan opposite Gaza was part of the training given UAV operators, who will soon be using the Eitan regularly. The operators are currently trained in using the Heron 1 (Shoval) UAVs.
Operators will be required to complete another seven flights. Once their training is complete, they will begin conducting missions.
The Eitan is designed for high-altitude missions, and can operate above 40,000 feet. It is the largest UAV in the IDF fleet, and has all-weather capability.
According to a March report in Popular Mechanics, the Eitan can carry a one-ton payload and can reach Iran's nuclear facilities. The publication speculated that Israel intends to use manned and unmanned aircraft together on missions: The drone will provide information while the manned airplanes drop guided munitions.
The Eitan "will likely be used to provide prestrike information on targets, to eavesdrop on electronic communications and to send battle damage assessments back after an attack," the report added. "It will also undoubtably be used to monitor any retaliation for the airstrike—seeking rocket launches and eavesdropping on Iran."
