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1. Netanyahu: The Truth is Slowly Spreading Around the World
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The truth about the flotilla clash is slowing sinking in to people’s minds around the world, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the Cabinet on Sunday morning. As he was speaking, a leading Turkish newspaper published photos of brutal beatings of Navy commandos by Turkish terror activists.
The photos were a gruesome confirmation of the IDF’s documented evidence that the soldiers boarded the Mani Mamara ship virtually unarmed and were assaulted as they climbed down from ropes attached to a helicopter.
The Hurriyet newspaper showed some of the soldiers after being brutally beaten, some of them knocked unconscious under merciless attacks of Turkish citizens using metal clubs.
The Turkish daily claimed that the IDF did not publish the pictures that could easily be seen by enemies as a degradation of the Israeli armed forces. However, they also clearly contradicted flotilla organizers’ claims that the Navy commandoes attacked them as they boarded the ship.
Unlike the activists on the five other boats on the flotilla, approximately 50 men on the Mamara were trained for hand-to-hand combat and planned the ambush of the Navy soldiers. A member of the Free Gaza movement, which organized the flotilla, obtained from a source in the IDF the detailed plan of how the Navy commandoes were to take over the vessel.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, speaking to the Cabinet, compared the flotilla clash with Saturday’s peaceful interception of the Rachel Corrie ship that was turned away from Gaza by the Navy. He revealed that the Mamara ship, unlike the other five, was boarded in a separate city and “in effect, did not undergo strict security checks.
“Yesterday, the entire world saw the difference between a humanitarian flotilla and a hate flotilla by violent, terrorism-supporting extremists,” he stated.
“In both incidents, Israel used an identical procedure: We proposed that the ships unload their cargo in Ashdod port, where it would undergo a security check to prevent the entry of weapons to Hamas, after which the civilian goods would be delivered to Gaza. To the previous flotilla, we even proposed that its cargo be checked by international organizations in El Arish.
“Make no mistake. Regarding yesterday's ship and five of the six ships in the previous flotilla, this process ended without casualties or untoward incidents. Only on one ship, on which dozens of thugs from a terrorist organization – or, to be more precise, an extremist, terrorism-supporting organization – had prepared in advance, armed with axes, knives and other 'cold' weapons, were our soldiers compelled to defend themselves against a tangible danger to their lives.
“This truth is gradually spreading around the world. It must be understood that this was not a unique incident. This is a continuous process that enemies of Israel have been orchestrating for years in order to deny Israel's right to defend itself.
“I would like to emphasize: We will not allow the establishment of an Iranian port in Gaza. We will not allow the free flow of war materiel and contraband to Hamas…. On the other hand, we would like for goods that are neither war materiel nor contraband to enter Gaza.”
2. ‘Dean’ of White House Reporters: Jews, Get Out of Palestine
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Veteran Hearst newspaper journalist Helen Thomas, known as the “dean” of White House reporters, exposed her bias on video by saying that Jews "should get the hell out of Palestine." She apologized for her comments on Saturday, but Jewish and non-Jewish leaders have called on the 89-year-old journalist to “hang up the typewriter” and retire.
Her remarks, along with her grilling of White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs over the flotilla clash last Monday, expose an anti-Israel bias that also was revealed in Associated Press coverage several days ago.
Thomas’ comments, including the statement that Jews should "go back home to Poland, Germany, America and everywhere else," were posted Friday on a YouTube video. She had been asked after the White House Jewish Heritage celebration last Sunday if she had "any comments on Israel."
Thomas, a daughter of Lebanese immigrants, replied to Rabbi David Nesenoff of RabbiLIVE.com, "Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine. Remember, these people are occupied and it's their land. Not Germany. Not Poland."
Asked where the Jews should go, she shot back, "They [should] go home. Poland. Germany. And America and everywhere else."
After the video was posted, Thomas wrote on her web site, “I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians. They do not reflect my heartfelt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance. May that day come soon.”
That did not satisfy critics. Beth Gilinsky, head of the Jewish Action Alliance, called for her immediate dismissal. Ari Fleischer, who was White House Press Secretary for former U.S. President George W. Bush, remarked, “She should lose her job over this. As someone who is Jewish, and as someone who worked with her and used to like her, I find this appalling.
"She is advocating religious cleansing. How can Hearst stand by her? If a journalist, or a columnist, said the same thing about blacks or Hispanics, they would already have lost their jobs."
Minnesota Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann said,” Once again the liberal media has shown its true colors. The White House media dinosaur, also known as Helen Thomas, has called on Jews to leave Israel and move back to Poland and Germany. This anti-Semitic sentiment has no place in our public discourse. I call upon her employer, [the] Hearst Corporation, to dismiss her at once. The White House needs to revoke her press credentials immediately."
Thomas’ bias was evident in her questioning of White House spokesman Gibbs. “The initial reaction to the flotilla massacre, deliberate massacre, an international crime, was pitiful,” she asserted.
Criticizing the Obama administration for not condemning Israel for the killing of nine terror activists who attacked Israel Navy commandoes when the soldiers were virtually unarmed, Thomas added, “What is this sacrosanct ironclad relationship where a country that deliberately kills people and boycotts every aid and abet the boycott?” Gibbs responded, "Well, look, I think the initial reaction regretted the loss of life as we tried and as we still continue to gather the relevant.”
Thomas retorted, “Regret won’t bring them back…. Why didn’t you initially condemn it?... Who put the US in charge of the world?”
After the initial Associated Press report of the flotilla clash, the Washington Times exposed AP's bias for immediately jumping to the conclusion that Israel was to blame for the violence.
The AP had reported, "Dozens of activists and six Israeli soldiers were wounded in the bloody predawn confrontation in international waters. The violent takeover dealt yet another blow to Israel's international image.” After two days passed, the news service filed a more neutral report.
The IDF has released a video clip where one of the so called "human rights advocates" on the the flotilla boat that was the scene of the violent confrontation is shouting "Go back to Auschwitz" to the soldiers.
3. Leftists Protest Against the Left: ‘Out with Barak’
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The divided left-wing, led by Peace Now and Arab Knesset Members, brought its division to the streets Saturday night and called on Labor party leader and Defense Minister Ehud Barak to quit the coalition government.
Hundreds of Israeli flags were waved during the protest of approximately 6,000 people, highlighting that their object of wrath was Barak. (For a thorough critique of Barak's leadership, by Moshe Dann, click here)
“The government is drowning us all," read a large sign. Dov Henin, veteran legislator of the Arab-Israeli Hadash party, charged that “Barak has refused to move on the path of peace and leads [us to] a dangerous deterioration. The same people who sent the soldiers to take over the flotilla in the middle of the night are liable to send Israel to a new and terrible war.”
Hadash MK Mohamed Barakeh declared, “We will not let the crazy right wing push aside the left and the Arab sector into political isolation.”
In a stinging response, Yulia Shamalov Berkovich said, “Peace Now is systematically chipping away at the backbone of the State of Israel” and that the protest “justified violence against IDF soldiers. Anyone who considers himself to love Israel should” condemn the demonstration.”
Protests around the world continued to castigate Israel for intercepting the Hamas-bound flotilla last week and held the Jewish State responsible for the deaths of nine Muslim terror activists who provoked a clash with Navy commandos.
In Sweden, dockworkers are preparing a week-long boycott of Israeli ships beginning next week. "If an Israeli ship would come we would just leave it be and not work on it,” said Peter Annerback, a spokesman for the Swedish Port Workers Union. The union said the boycott is in response “the unprecedented criminal attack on the peaceful ship convoy.”
Algerians, Turks and Tunisians, many of whom held up Palestinian Authority flags, marched in Marseilles.
In Canada, hundreds of demonstrators rallied in major cities with signs reading “Boycott Israel” and “I am ashamed to live in the country that calls itself the best friend of Israel.”
Supporters of Israel rallied in Toronto and other places, and police kept both sides apart.
4. Cyber Jihad Tribute to Flotilla 'Martyrs' on the Web
by Hana Levi Julian
A musical tribute to the so-called “flotilla martyrs,” written and performed by cyber jihadist Asadullah Alshishani, is making the rounds of the Muslim Internet.
Entitled "When the Jew's Blood Reds my Knife, then my Life is Free from Strife" the nasheed -- an Islamic-oriented song traditionally sung a cappella, or accompanied only by a frame drum -- is sung in a complete monotone, with an electronic music bed in the “techno” style. Sung in American English without an accent, it is a stunning example of anti-Semitism. (See full text below.)
English lyrics are posted on an Islamist website, accompanied by a prayer for the terrorist “martyrs” of the flotilla who died after they attacked the Israeli SEALs who boarded the Mavi Marmara last week. The prayer also includes curses for the Israelis.
According to “Views from the Occident” blogger Christopher Anzalone, the singer's name translates as Lion of God, The Chechen. Anzalone, a graduate student in Middle Eastern and Islamic studies at Indiana University, specializes in researching Islam and “jihadism”. He revealed in a report written earlier this year that he had tracked down the jihadi singer's location “based on his IP address” to a village located near a major U.S. city less than seven hours from Bloomington, Indiana. Anzalone remarked with some irony that the location was “a place not famed for being 'Ard al-Jihad wa'l Ribat,' a land of struggle and guardianship.”
Alshishani apparently also recorded a similar “tune” in praise of Osama Bin Laden recently, repeating the refrain, “Amir of the Ansaar, How beautiful you are! You fight AmeriKKKa, and terrorize the Jews...Osama bin Laden, O, how I love you! You sold your soul for Jannah, to Allah you are true.”
A listener who reviewed the tune on a separate site on the Internet commented:
“Ostensibly intended as a recruitment tool, these misguided attempts at accessible propaganda are so uniformly awful... you can't help but laugh, or be left in shivers. Sporting eerie appropriations of gangster rap tropes (gunshots-as-ambience, violent braggadocio), footage of marches and infamous mujahadeen, and a truly bush-league Auto-tune, I'm left with the image of the sad sacks sitting solitary, whispering lyrics into a janky Packard Bell, tweaking levels, uploading to YouTube.”
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Tribute to the Palestinian Humanitarian Activists
Who Were Martyred, Wounded and Imprisoned at the Hands of the Zionist Pigs
May God accept our fallen brothers and sisters from amonst the Shuhada and grant then Jannat Al-Firdaws.
May He heal our wounded brothers and sisters and take away their pains.
May He hasten the release of our imprisoned brothers and sisters and ease their suffering.
And may He curse and destroy the spite Zionist Crusaders and their allies.
Amen!
"When the Jew's Blood Reds my Knife, then my Life is Free from Strife"
Singing / Asadullah Alshishani -- Lyrics / Asadullah Alshishani
When the Jew's blood reds my knife
Then my life is free from strife
Hiding behind rocks and trees
I'll find them with greatest ease
Make them get down on their knees
Slaughter them despite their pleas
Throw them in the ovens hot
Soap and lampshades sold and bought
Made of the Jews that we shot
Mercy's something I have not
With the bomb and machinegun
Blast at them and watch them run
We will have a lot of fun
Shoot and kill Jews one by one
Rise up, O Salahuddin
Great and brave Mujahideen
Like the Sheikh Ahmed Yassin
For the Love of Filistine
At Al Aqsa we shall meet
After Israel's defeat
Their dead bodies at our feet
Taste of victory is sweet
Jerusalem is calling me
Asadullah Alshishani
Jihad's where you're meant to be
Come and set the captives free
5. Ahmadinejad Cozies Up to Turkey
by Hana Levi Julian
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to attend a three-day regional summit starting Monday in Istanbul, to be chaired by Turkish President Abdullah Gul, according to the Fars news agency. Among those attending the third summit on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) will be heads of state from Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Macedonia, Kazakhistan and Azerbaijan.
In addition, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, high-level United States officials, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Kyrgyz interim leader Roza Otunbayeva are expected to show up, along with the prime ministers of Jordan, Oman, China and Cambodia..
Turkey has been offered the organization's next presidential term by Kazakhstan, the permanent CICA head. Iran is a permanent member of the group, which also includes the Palestinian Authority as a separate country called “Palestine.” The 20-member body may soon welcome Vietnam as a new member as well.
On the agenda will be a discussion on the issue of nuclear weapons in the region.
Last week at a U.S. State Department news briefing, spokesman Phillip J. Crowley told reporters that Iran continued to refuse to comply fully with international restrictions on its nuclear development and has not stopped enriching uranium at 20 percent in its headlong rush towards the probable development of a nuclear weapon.
After the failure of more than a year of diplomatic dancing with Tehran, Washington has now joined Israel in asking for harsher economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic in the hope they might prove more persuasive.
But while the United States has not yet put the finishing touches on its resolution for sanctions at the United Nations Security Council, Brazil, Turkey and Venezuela have grown closer to Iran. Venezuela, in particular, possesses the largest source of oil outside the Middle East, and Turkey presents its own set of security risks, inasmuch as it shared many military secrets with Israel as an ally.
Back in October, a proposal for Iran to export its low-enriched uranium to Russia for safe upgrade to non-military standard was refused by Tehran. Instead, the Islamic Republic made a deal with Turkey and Brazil to export 1,200 kilograms of uranium per month for enrichment outside the country – but has yet to follow through. Crowley noted that Iran meanwhile continues to enrich its uranium to military grade at home.
“While the TRR – the joint declaration in Tehran may technically fulfill what had been the proposal back on October, we don't think that it fundamentally addresses the larger concerns about Iran's noncompliance with its international obligations,” Crowley said. “Turkey understands that. Brazil understands that. And when this is put to a vote, Turkey, Brazil, other countries will have to judge how to proceed.”
6. Ministers Debate Ousting Anti-Israel MKs
by Hillel Fendel
The ministerial committee for legislation will debate the proposed “Zouabi bill,” stipulating that MKs who actively support armed struggle against Israel will be ousted from the Knesset.
The bill is named for freshman Arab MK Hanin Zouabi, a woman who was aboard the Turkish ship together with Hamas-supporting IHH terrorists in its attempt to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza. Her anti-Israel stance has long been well-known and documented, but her participation in the flotilla and her subsequent attempt to speak in the Knesset while MKs of various factions shouted her down and attempted to remove her have cemented her position as Israel’s #1 public enemy.
The bill now under consideration was submitted by Likud MK Danny Danon. It states that an incumbent Knesset Member who takes part in supporting an enemy’s armed struggle against the State of Israel must be removed from the Knesset.
Danon originally submitted the bill after former Arab MK Azmi Bishara was suspected of aiding Hizbullah during the Second Lebanon War; Bishara has since fled the country. Zouabi has had, and continues to have, close ties with Bishara.
“The Israeli public, and the Knesset Members, are tired of Arab MKs taking advantage of our democracy to harm the country,” Danon explained. “Zouabi must decide if she supports Hamas and Al-Qaeda, or if she is a member of the Knesset of Israel.”
Zouabi herself has stated that she wishes to be both. “I serve my own principles, and my people that is 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 Haniye personally called Zouabi last week and encouraged her to “remain strong.”
Interior Minister Eli Yishai has called for Zouabi’s citizenship to be revoked, and prominent attorney Yoram Sheftel said, “The day is not far off when the Arabs will no longer be in the Knesset.”
Speaking with Arutz-7’s Hebrew newsmagazine after the Knesset incident with Zouabi, Sheftel said he was happy that among her most vocal opponents were MKs of Kadima. “This shows that Kadima, which has been clearly and quickly swerving to the left, has now made a sharp nationalist turn, fighting this anti-Semitic [Arab] gang.”
Sheftel said that these past few days have crystallized for the Israeli public two important facts. One is that the Arab public in Israel – “not all of them, but those who comprise the majority that vote for the three gangs known as the Arab parties” – is an enemy from within. Secondly, Sheftel said, the public now realizes clearly that the Israeli radical left is “a fifth column within Israel, a total ally of our internal Arab enemy. In 99 percent of issues having to do with security and military matters, Meretz and the left vote together with the Arabs.”
“Based on what happened in the Knesset with Zouabi,” Sheftel said, “the day is not far off when the Arabs will be thrown out of the Knesset, despite the Supreme Court. Every day they sit in the Knesset is a disgrace for the Jewish People.”
7. ‘Goldstone 2’ Probe Will Be a Farce, Warns Researchers
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The United Nations’ immediate condemnation last week of Israel is a warning signal that its proposed probe of the flotilla clash will be a farce, according to researchers writing for the conservative-oriented Heritage Foundation.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (pictured below) has proposed an investigating commission that would include representatives of Israel and Turkey and would be headed by former New Zealand Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer.
Turkey reportedly has objected to the make-up of the proposed panel, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will meet on Sunday with the Inner Cabinet of seven senior ministers before giving a formal answer. He is reportedly inclined to agree to participate in the inquiry, but possibly with the condition that IDF officers and Navy commandoes will not be interrogated.
The U.N.’s immediate condemnation already makes the international body look “foolish,” according to American Enterprise Institute’s Middle East scholar Michael Rubin, quoted by the Cybercast News Service (CNS).
Hours after the clash between Turkish-led terrorist "activists" and the Israeli Navy, the United Nations Security Council issued a statement that condemns” Israel’s actions while admitting it acted without any “independent information.”
Jim Phillips, a Middle East and terrorism analyst at the Heritage Foundation, wrote on the think tank’s web site, “This whole operation was set up [by the activists] to promote a clash to discredit Israel and provide aid and comfort to Hamas. Unfortunately, the U.N. is piling it on in support of Israel’s enemies.”
He added, “Institutionally, the U.N. substantively is anti-Israel, in part because it’s made up of a body of nations, some of which are extremely anti-Israel,” such as Iran, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia and other anti-Israel states.
Phillips and Dr. Nile Gardiner, Director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, also wrote, “The United Nations, the European Union, and the Arab League have all engaged in a frenzy of denunciation -- even before all the facts have been established. Israel continues to be the U.N.’s favorite whipping boy: In the past four years, 33 of the 40 resolutions passed by the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) have condemned Israel.
The Council was responsible for the Goldstone Report last year that accused Israel of war crimes in the 2008-2009 three-week winter battle against the Hamas terrorist infrastructure, which has been responsible for more than 12,000 mortar shell and missile attacks on Israel.
The report “was a prime example of the U.N. publishing a supposedly neutral report written by a panel of ‘experts’ that included key members who had already reached their own conclusions well before the investigation had even begun," Phillips and Gardiner wrote.
