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1. Hamas Takes Responsibility for Mercaz HaRav Massacre
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Hamas revealed statistics on Saturday that contradicted predictions by
supporters of the “Disengagement” program in 2005 that the withdrawal
from Gaza would led to peace. Hamas also says it was behind the 2008
Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva massacre in Jerusalem.
Abu Obadiah, spokesman for the Izz al-Din al-Qassam military wing of
the Hamas terrorist organization, confirmed predictions by nationalists
that the expulsion of 9,000 Jews from Gush Katif and the withdrawal of
the IDF from the area would be followed by an escalation in missile
attacks.
He admitted for the first time that Hamas was responsible for the
massacre of young men, most of them teenagers, at the yeshiva. The
attack was carried out by a Jerusalem Arab.
Obadiah also said Hamas was responsible for the murder of seven other Jews in attacks in the Hevron area and Samaria. He warned
Israel that Hamas will continue to attack Israelis, who he said have to
choose between “death and leaving Palestinian lands.” He also called on
Israeli Bedouins, many of whom have been involved in terrorist attacks
and arms smuggling, to help carry out attacks against Israelis.
His statistics on the number of missiles, rockets and mortar shells
fired at southern Israel since the expulsion in 2005 thoroughly
contradicted claims by the Sharon government and supporters of the
“Disengagement” program that the withdrawal would led to
peace. Sixty-nine percent of nearly 11,000 mortar and missile attacks
were executed after the expulsion, according to his figures.
He also said that of the 1,808 Hamas terrorists killed since the
founding of the terrorist group 23 years ago, 1,053 died after 2006,
when Hamas won the first and only Palestinian Authority legislative
elections.
The escalation of missile attacks on southern Israel after 2005, which
brought the metropolitan Tel Aviv area within the range of attacks,
surprised political leaders who had banked on the expulsion as the road
to peace.
“I did not imagine that we would leave Gaza and they would fire Kassams
from there,” President Shimon Peres commented in July 2008.
2. IDF Foils Gaza Terrorist Attack; ‘Cast Lead 2’ Nears
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Air Force helicopters and ground soldiers foiled a terrorist attack in
the pre-dawn hours Sunday, killing one terrorist and seriously wounding
another, 24 hours after Hamas threatened a "tough and crushing response”
to Israeli retaliation to terrorism.
The latest incident involved another attempt by Hamas and allied
terrorists to plant bombs on the security fence road where army vehicles
patrol, barely 24 hours after a Friday night bombing of smuggling
tunnels by F-16 planes at the border between Gaza and Egypt.
“Gaza terrorists use ostensibly innocent attempts to reach the security
fence in order to plant bombs, kidnap soldiers and endanger the lives
of citizens of Israel,” IDF spokesmen said.
The continuing escalation of violence, highlighted by the unprecedented use of an Iranian-produced laser-guided anti-tank missile,
has brought the level of attacks and counter-attacks to a level not
seen since the three-week Operation Cast Lead campaign that began two
years ago this week.
Gaza-based terrorists attacked Israel with approximately 30 missiles
and mortar shells this month. One rocket wounded a young girl at a
kibbutz after it exploded several feet from a kindergarten.
Last week, the IDF attacked Hamas terrorist posts for the first time since Cast Lead, in an apparent warning to Hamas that the military will not hesitate to meet terror attacks with a strong retaliation.
Hamas claims it has been observing a “ceasefire” with Israel, which it
accused Israel of breaking. "Any kind of Zionist attack on the Gaza
Strip will be reciprocated and Israel is playing with fire through
intensifying its invasion of Gaza Strip,” warned Abu Obadiah, spokesman
for the military wing of Hamas, the Izz al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades.
%InAd1%
3. British Media: New Mossad Chief to Apologize Over Mabhouh Affair
by Chana Ya'ar
British media is reporting that the incoming head of Israel's
international intelligence agency is allegedly set to apologize to the
British government for using fake passports to assassinate a top Hamas
terrorist last May.
Writing for the Saturday edition of the British Telegraph, Gordon
Thomas claimed that Tamir Pardo will personally deliver the apology over
the Mahmoud al-Mabhouh affair during private meetings with British
officials in May. Pardo is scheduled to meet with Foreign Secretary
William Hague and Home Secretary Theresa May, according to “Mossad
insiders,” reported Thomas, who has written a book on the agency.
The sources added that Pardo, a former deputy to Mossad chief Meir
Dagan, allegedly objected to using cloned UK passports. Dagan resigned
his post in June 2009, half a year before the assassination was carried
out.
Israel's ties with Britain were stretched perilously thin over the
elimination of Mabhouh, who procured weapons from Iran for the Hamas
terrorist organization. The assassination, which took place in a
luxurious Dubai hotel room, involved more than two dozen operatives
using 32 fake foreign passports, at least 12 of which were British.
The UK was deeply angered by the operation, which it blamed on Israel.
The Jerusalem government has refused to acknowledge or deny
responsibility for the assassination, in accordance with standard
policy. Nevertheless, media around the world have generally credited Israel's Mossad with the hit.
“The fact that this was done by a country which is a friend, with
significant diplomatic, cultural, business and personal ties to the UK
only adds insult to injury,” charged former Foreign Secretary David
Millibrand shortly after the affair came to light.
UK Expelled Four Diplomats
In March, Britain expelled two senior Israeli diplomats in retaliation for the cloning of its passports – an unprecedented move in London.
Australia followed with similar action in May, expelling the head of
its Mossad office. The Canberra government charged that four of the
passports were “deliberately counterfeited and cloned” by the agency to
resemble Australian documents.
Ireland also expelled an Israeli diplomat
in June as punishment for the operation. According to the Dubai
government, eight of the passports pictured fictional Irish citizens.
4. Suspect in Plot to Murder Jews, Christians Released in Turkey
by Maayana Miskin
A Turkish court has released a man accused of planning to murder Jewish
and Christian leaders, according to Turkey's Anatolia news agency.
Suspect Ismet Recber was freed until the end of his trial.
Prosecutors say Recber planned the murder of rabbis and of Patriarch Bartholomew I, the Istanbul leader of Orthodox Christians.
He was arrested after an anonymous tip-off to authorities. Other
Turkish citizens were on trial for allegedly plotting to bring down the
government; the letter warned police that Recber had been chosen by one
of the men on trial to carry out murders.
Ties between Israel and Turkey have grown increasingly cold in recent
years as Islamist Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan moves closer to
Hamas, Iran and Syria. The change has had a severe impact on Israeli
tourism to Turkey, which dropped by 90% in 2010.
In May, Turkish police burst into an Istanbul synagogue
during Sabbath prayer services and demanded to see worshipers'
identification, sparking fears of a crackdown on non-Muslim minorities.
Following a clash between IDF commandos and Turkish pro-terror
activists who attempted to break a naval blockade on Hamas in May,
10,000 Turks marched in Istanbul and called for Israel to “drown in
blood.”
%InAd2%
5. Persecution of Christians Hits Radar
by Amiel Ungar
A recurrent theme of Christmas messages by senior church leaders was the beleaguered state of Christian communities
in countries with Muslim majorities or Muslim populated regions. These
concerns were further punctuated by attacks in Jos, a state in central
Nigeria, scene of conflict between the Christian south and the Muslim
north in that country. Christians were also attacked on Muslim populated
Jolo island in the Philippines.
The major concern has been Iraq, where the Christian population has
declined from 1,400,000 on the eve of the 2003 invasion to 500,000
today. The October 31 attack on a Christian church, Our Lady of
Salvation, in Baghdad by Al-Qaeda resulting in the massacre of 58
worshippers drew the attention of the Pope who said that those living in
Iraq needed comfort from their pain after deadly attacks.
Even the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who has been accused
of being too conciliatory to Islam as in his 2008 remarks where he
implied that Sharia law should have a place in the legal system, was on
the same page. He specifically mentioned Asia Bibi, a Pakistani
Christian who is facing the threat of a death sentence for blasphemy.
Williams claimed that Christians who are suffering because of their
beliefs would be helped through the knowledge they have not been
forgotten.
The outrages go beyond attacks by Muslim fundamentalists. Christian
groups currently charge that government collusion encourages these
atrocities. The Christian Association of Nigeria said that for
explosives to find their way into Jos despite the high security presence
is suspect. "That it went ‘undetected’ means that there is some
collusion between the security agents and the perpetrators... these
explosions must be investigated and the culprits brought to book no
matter how lowly or highly placed they may be". Similarly Christians in
Iraq have claimed that it is not only Al-Qaeda and its offshoots who
have targeted the Christians but also elements in the Shiite-dominated
Iraqi government.
Lately the plight of Christians under Islam is getting noticed both by
the media and political leaders. Stanford journalism professor and
former New York Times correspondent Joel Brinkley authored an article on
the sweeping Christianophobia summing up the contemporary persecution
of Christianity. Tim Rutten wrote an article in the LA Times observing
that what is currently being perpetrated upon Iraqi Christians was
perpetrated previously against Iraqi Jews. This theme was taken up by
the Orange County Register in an editorial on December 16.
Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), an Assyrian Christian member of Congress
told The Hill that "history is repeating itself" and the same
persecutions that her grandparents spoke of were recurring. Eshoo and ,
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.),want the administration to secure the welfare of
Iraqi Christians prior to the planned American withdrawal from that
country. Perhaps, suggests Wolf to The Hill, it can be done by carving
out an autonomous region similar to Kurdistan where Christians will feel
protected.
President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek said it was time for
the Iraqi government to make sure Christians in Iraq enjoy the same
protection and status as Shiites and Sunnis.
"The European Parliament is very concerned about these developments and
is a strong defender of human rights, including freedom of religion" he
said in his statement. "We monitor the situation closely and have
adopted a number of resolutions to try to draw international attention
to the plight of Christian minorities."
6. Leftists Caught Red-Handed: ‘Burning Sheep’ Libel Was Faked
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
A Jordan Valley Arab farmer has exposed the tactic of leftists
accepting Arab claims and falsely accusing Jews of attacking Arabs. He
admitted that the “burning sheep” libel against Jews was meant to
disguise his own blunder of losing control of a brush fire.
Last week, left-wing groups in Israel and counterparts in the United
States spread a story that that an Arab shepherd “saw settlers light a
fire in the field where his herd was grazing, burning to death 12
pregnant ewes, and then drive away."
The story of the sheep burning was so extreme that the police
immediately doubted the claim. The supposed burning of the sheep
occurred on the Sabbath, when observant Jews, the usual scapegoats, are
forbidden to drive.
The Arab farmer, Samir Bani Fadel, claimed that four armed Jews
approached him, chased him away, set fire to his field – which also is
forbidden on Sabbath – and drove away as the fire spread and burned to
death 12 pregnant ewes while injuring others.
Regardless of the doubts, the left-wing B'Tselem and Yesh Din human
rights group rushed to allege that the supposed attack was another one
of hundreds of supposed acts of vandalism by Jews against Arabs.
New York-based writer Philip Weiss promptly reprinted the libel on his
Mondoweiss blog, and the image of sheep being cruelly burned aroused
sympathy for Arabs and anger against Jews. “It was an awful sight,” the
farmer said. "I've lost at least $12,000."
The Palestinian Authority called on the international community to pressure Israel to stop "settler violence.”
The tale began to unravel when Arabs pointed their fingers at residents
of Itamar, an easy target as it is a religious community, but located
almost an hour’s drive from the scene of the fire. The story then was
changed, with the blame being placed on the closer community of Maaleh
Ephraim, most of whose residents are professionals and who almost never
have been accused of any activities against Arabs.
Fadel finally admitted to police the whole story was a lie and that he
was responsible for the fire, which he set to burn thorns before it
spread beyond control. Blaming Jews not only would have saved him from
the embarrassment of having burned his own sheep, it also would allow
him to claim damages from the government while being hailed as a hero
among Palestinian Authority Arabs and left-wing anti-Zionists.
Hundreds of accusations against Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria
have been leveled in recent years, usually in claims that Jews attack or
destroy olive trees, although evidence has been produced that in most
cases the Arabs have simply pruned their trees, counted on lack of
agricultural knowledge on the part of the media and leftwing groups, and
then accused Jews of damaging them. Olive trees look hacked when they
are pruned and months later, the supposedly damaged orchards have been
seen to be full of fruit.
Another tactic has been to instigate violence, especially on the
Shabbat when Jews are forbidden to take pictures, and then accuse Jews
of attacking them.
Yossi Dagan, adviser to the Samaria Regional Council, commented, “There
is a system among left-wing groups who campaign for financial
contributions from foreign countries, many of whom are hostile to
Israel. They use European Union money, which has reached billions of
dollars the past few years. Many of the workers for left-wing groups
enjoy high salaries and use reports from so-called human rights
organizations and then travel throughout Judea and Samaria and blow up
or change facts to spread libel against Jews.”
Dagan explained that Jews are blamed for burning cars in Arab villages
when in fact they are damaged as a result of fights among Arabs.
David Ha’Ivri, who heads the Shomron (Samaria) Liaison Office that
handles public relations for the Jewish communities in Samaria, said,
"We have a very difficult task up against a bunch of well-funded NGOs
like B’Tselem and Rabbis for Human Rights, whose agenda is to hurt the
image of the State of Israel and the Jewish residents of Yehuda and
Shomron (Judea and Samaria).
“Their slanderous claims are always given the benefit of the doubt by
international media agencies who jump at an opportunity to project a
Satanic image of the ‘evil Jewish settlers.’ The events reported in this
story are a perfect example of blood libel promoted by NGOs who claim
to be humanitarian and peace activists.”
%InAd3%
7. 'Jihad Bells, Jihad Bells’ – Latest Satire from Israel's 'Latma'
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
"Jihad Bells, Jihad Bells, Jihad all the way” is the chorus of a new
Latma satire on the fate of Christians in Muslim countries and the
Palestinian Authority.
The “Palestinian Minister of Uncontrollable Rage,” Tawil Fadiha, acts
as Santa Claus before being unmasked and singing “a heartfelt message”
to the Christian world, while holding a baby girl and overstuffed toy
dog.
"Jihad Bells, Jihad Bells, Jihad all the way," sings Fadiha,
impersonated by musician and actor Noam Jacobson. “Oh what fun with a
knife or gun, a Christian guy to slay…. In Gaza, if you are a Christian,
you’d better pray your last; now here in the Palestinian Authority,
Bethlehem where you pray, it used to be a Christian town until we drove
them all away.”
8. Nof Tzion Pledges Pass Half-Way Mark; Deadline Postponed
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
More than 50 percent of needed pledges have answered the threat of a
Palestinian Authority Arab based in the United States who is prepared to
buy up the national religious Nof Tzion building project in Jerusalem. A meeting of bondholders of the bankrupt company was postponed from Sunday to Tuesday.
Bondholders of the Digal company are upset over a proposal by attorney
Dov Weisglass to sell the bonds to the American of Palestinian Authority
origin, whom he has not identified. The bondholders will meet to vote
on the proposal.
An effort to keep the project in Jewish hands has attracted 60 percent
of the money needed to buy the land, but NIS 6.7 million ($1.9 million)
still is needed to buy up the bonds, along with NIS 20 million ($5.5
million) lacking for the land. The figures were supplied by Aryeh King,
who is a leader in developing a Jewish presence in areas of Jerusalem
restored to Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.
The company representing the mysterious would-be American-Arab buyer is
registered in Cyprus. One bondholder charged that Weisglass “is hiding
something [because] if everything were on the up-and-up, why is he
hiding the identity of the Palestinian?”
Bondholders include residents of Tel Aviv, Haifa and even members of kibbutzim, in addition to residents of Jerusalem.
"It's not a matter of religious or secular,” said one bondholder. “This is Jerusalem and it belongs to everyone.
The first phase of the project was completed long ago, and much has
been written about the 90 families' satisfaction with their new
neighbors, neighborhood, and surroundings. However, they are more than
apprehensive that if the project falls into Arab hands, the 180 planned
units of Stages II and III of the project will not only not be built,
but that their own homes also will become an unsafe Jewish enclave
surrounded by Arab homes.
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