Missing from American News, Context over clashes in Jerusalem

**this is a draft**

As clashes have increasingly erupted in Jerusalem between Palestinian rock throwers and the IDF since September/Rosh Hashanah, with Prime Minister Netanyahu escalating the response, allowing stone throwers to be shot, and cutting off larger parts of Arab neighborhoods from Jerusalem, what is missing from American news about the current crisis is the context (an often occurrence since the media only reports on the latest incident in a longer, more complicated situation that is never explained in corporate news media) about what started the conflict, specifically Netanyahu's policies in Jerusalem. 

Israeli historian Ilan Pappe describes in this article how members of Netanyahu's government including the Ministers of Education and Agriculture as well as other politicians put Jerusalem into a Jewish only context, ignoring cultural and religious teachings of Christianity and Islam in favor of the Jewish dream for Jerusalem and it's holy sites.

as he writes 

The only explanation official Israel and its supporters could give for why Palestinians have risen up lately is that they were influenced by Islamic propaganda. That propaganda so easily incited the “impulsive and unpredictable” Palestinians in recent weeks, according to Israeli spin.

fearing future of Al Aqsa is

a realistic analysis of the ideology of some of the potent political forces today in Israel, who are represented in Benjamin Netanyahu’s current government.

Netanyahu repeatedly calls it Jerusalem the "undivided Jewish Capital" which is political code that has stopped any real chance of peace negotiations with Palestinians, as the "Palestine Papers" leak showed the behind the scenes history of failed negotiations over the last 20 years.

The biggest failure in negotiations was not Palestinians refusing offers by peace-loving Israelis, but actually Israelis rejecting a Palestinian offer as I wrote in this blog post

quoting from the leaked secret negotiations called the Palestine Papers

Israel spurned offer of 'biggest Jerusalem in history'

The concession in May 2008 by Palestinian leaders to allow Israel to annex the settlements in East Jerusalem – including Gilo, a focus of controversy after Israel gave the go-ahead for 1,400 new homes – has never been made public.

All settlements built on territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 war are illegal under international law, but the Jerusalem homes are routinely described, and perceived, by Israel as municipal "neighbourhoods". Israeli governments have consistently sought to annex the largest settlements as part of a peace deal – and came close to doing so at Camp David.

Erekat told Israeli leaders in 2008: "This is the first time in Palestinian-Israeli history in which such a suggestion is officially made." No such concession had been made at Camp David.

But the offer was rejected out of hand by Israel because it did not include a big settlement near the city Ma'ale Adumim as well as Har Homa and several others deeper in the West Bank, including Ariel. "We do not like this suggestion because it does not meet our demands," Israel's then foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, told the Palestinians, "and probably it was not easy for you to think about it, but I really appreciate it".

Thanks to the Palestine Papers leak we can see Israel behind the scenes. The problem is when American Mainstream Media keeps these facts behind the scenes.

Stories of the Palestine Papers (NPR, January 24-28 2011) were later overshadowed by the Egyptian Revolution that ousted Mubarak (January 25-February 11 2011)

Just as President Obama announced that troops will not be leaving Afghanistan as he promised, and sadly Bernie Sanders agrees with Obama that we need some US troops there, occupations, wherever they are, are the issues that create wars and make them last longer, from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan and Israel/Palestine "forever wars."

Netanyahu, the Mufti, and the British White Paper

There was something I realized recently.

Because I was educated by Israelis at Hebrew School and Jewish summer camps, I learned nothing true about Israel.

But there was actually something that I did learn about from Rabbi Joseph Telushkin's excellent book Jewish Literacy, given to me when I graduated Hebrew school.***

***(That counts as them teaching me right? LOL.  Actually it was everything they didn't teach me, plus a few more lies about Israel).  The Jewish summer camp gave me Myths and Facts---everything is the opposite in that book......)

When recently Prime Minister Netanyahu claimed that in 1941 the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, convinced Hitler to kill the Jews of Europe instead of letting them just leave and emigrate to Palestine,

saying

to the Zionist Congress on Tuesday night that “Hitler didn’t want to exterminate the Jews at the time, he wanted to expel the Jews.” The prime minister said that the mufti, Haj Amin al-Husseini, had protested to Hitler that “they’ll all come here,” referring to Palestine.

“ ‘So what should I do with them?’ ” Mr. Netanyahu quoted Hitler as asking Mr. Husseini. “He said, ‘Burn them.’ ”

there was something Netanyahu, son of a historian (and personal secretary to Ze'ev Jabotinsky) knew he was leaving out.....the White Paper of 1939.

The news articles that I saw also left this out as part of the answer to Netanyahu's revisionist history.  While Israel focuses too much on the Holocaust in my opinion, as IDF soldiers recently showed how well they have learned lessons on their annual trips to Poland to visit concentration camps----there is one thing that we must remember.  Almost no country would take Jewish refugees during the war.  Not America, Canada, British Mandate Palestine, only the Dominican Republic offered to take in Jews in 1938, ironic because now they are kicking out Haitian descendants born in the Dominican Republic.

***OK one paper mentions the White Paper---The Times of Israel, in a contradictory argument that Netanyahu is right

The Grand Mufti’s meeting with Hitler was driven by his concern regarding the consequences of a possible expulsion of the Jews from the Reich, many of whom were likely to end up in Palestine, thus strengthening the Yishuv.[13]

However this prospect was no longer an option in 1941 because the British had barred the Jews to immigrate in Palestine by means of theWhite Paper[14]. As no other country was prepared to welcome Jews anyway, the Nazis concluded that the only remaining solution, which had to be final, consisted in systematically and industrially exterminate them.

Netanyahu rightly to remind that at the time of the meeting between the Grand Mufti and Hitler the Nazis were still expelling Jews,

last sentence in article, "the Nazis were still expelling Jews" when the Mufti met Hitler in 1941 contradicts the beginning of the excerpt that states that the White Paper barred emigration to Palestine and no country would welcome Jews anyway.  Expel them where??

another error---

Netanyahu never stated the Grand Mufti gave Hitler the idea of the Final Solution, but rather that he played an important role by campaigning relentlessly against Jewish emigration from Germany.

back to Netanyahu's quote

“Hitler didn’t want to exterminate the Jews at the time, he wanted to expel the Jews.” The prime minister said that the mufti, Haj Amin al-Husseini, had protested to Hitler that “they’ll all come here,” referring to Palestine.

“ ‘So what should I do with them?’ ” Mr. Netanyahu quoted Hitler as asking Mr. Husseini. “He said, ‘Burn them.’ ”

Netanyahu certainly puts words in the Mufti's mouth beyond just "don't expel Jews from Germany."  Netanyahu does credit the Mufti with the final solution, telling Hitler not only to kill the Jews but to burn them. 

The 1939 British White Paper forbidding Jewish immigration to Palestine during World War 2.

After the outbreak of war in September 1939, the head of the Jewish Agency for Palestine David Ben-Gurion declared: 'We will fight the White Paper as if there is no war, and fight the war as if there is no White Paper.'[21]

The White Paper

called for the establishment of a Jewish national home in an independent Palestinian state within 10 years, rejecting the idea of the creation of a Jewish state and the idea of partitioning Palestine. It also limited Jewish immigration to 75,000 for 5 years, and ruled that further immigration was to be determined by the Arab majority (section II). Restrictions were put on the rights of Jews to buy land from Arabs (section III). Further, it promised that only with Palestinian support would Britain allow Jewish state. This greatly upset Zionists because of the increasing persecution of Jews in Europe at the onset of World War II, particularly in Germany.

Netanyahu clearly lied, but the newspapers explaining the history left out an important piece as well. 

Fewer Israelis killed in 22 years of terrorism than Palestinians killed in 51 days

Terrorism is usually described as violence with a political goal, and it is meant to be a cheap form of fighting, for example set off one bomb and make society spend lots more preventing next attack. Before 9/11, I would say that two societies, Israel and Ireland, were the best known examples. It is generally acknowledged that terrorism is not really about killing people, but more about striking fear into the rest of the population.

I just found this on the website of the Jewish Virtual Library, a list of every victim of terrorism in Israel since 1993 when the Oslo peace agreement was signed.

Here are the total number of victims for the last 22 years.

From the Oslo Accords (Sept. 1993) until September 2000 - nearly 300 Israelis were killed in attacks.

During the Palestinian Al-Aqsa Intifada (Sept. 2000 - Dec. 2005) another 1,100 Israelis were killed.

Since December 2005, Palestinian terrorist attacks have claimed at least another 154 Israeli lives.

300 + 1,100 + 154 = 1,554 Israelis killed by terrorism in 22 years.  

2,310 Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza in 51 days of 2014 war

Compare that to the number of people, mainly civilians and more than 500 children killed in last years 51 day war in Gaza.

Governments focus on terrorism, but rarely acknowledge how few people it actually kills.

Since 9/11, an average of nine American Muslims per year have been involved in an average of six terrorism-related plots against targets in the United States. Most were disrupted, but the 20 plots that were carried out accounted for 50 fatalities over the past 13 and a half years.

As Israel bombs Gaza again, there are talks of a summer war in Lebanon

**Update June 4, 2015 from Richard Silverstein's Tikkun Olam Blog

IDF Chief of Staff Promises 1.5-Million Lebanese Refugees in Next War

Israel’s chief of staff, Gadi Eizenkot told Israeli media that his forces were preparing for the next war with Hezbollah. He promised that when (not if) it happens, Israel will force 1.5-million Lebanese to flee for their lives while it invades the country and destroys it in worse fashion than it did in 2006 (the last time Israel came knocking). Israeli media only identified the source of this threat of war crimes as a “very senior IDF source.” But an informed Israeli source confirms that it was none other than Eizenkot himself.

Main Article

Israel is bombing Gaza again this week after reporting rockets were fired at Southern Israel.

Ma'an News Agency reports that the Arab League condemned Israel's attacks

The Arab League condemned the Israeli air strikes.

"The extremist Israeli government is trying to find pretexts to divert the international community's attention from resuming (peace) negotiations," Arab League deputy head Ahmed bin Heli told reporters in Cairo.

Wafa reports on Israeli airstrikes in several cities in Gaza.

There were no reports of any casualties.

Yesterday, Israeli media sources said a projectile which was fired from Gaza exploded in an open area near the port city of Ashdod, some 20 kilometers north of the Gaza Strip.

It said that there was no damages reported, but medical services said a 15-year-old girl from Ashdod arrived at the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon suffering from shock, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported. There was no immediate claim of responsibility in Gaza for the rocket launching.

Shortly afterwards, the Israeli army issued a statement saying it had struck Hamas and Islamic Jihad facilities in the southern Gaza Strip, and blamed Hamas for the rocket fire.

The Guardian reports that Hamas arrested members of Islamic Jihad who were behind the attacks but

An Islamic Jihad spokesman was not available to comment. Hamas officials had no comment on the reported arrests.

returning to my role as media critic, this is blatantly wrong from The Guardian

The region has been largely quiet since an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that halted seven weeks of fighting.

When you follow the daily news from Israel and Palestine even casually, you see how wrong that is immediately.

News happens every day that is not reported, even within the country, because like in the US when it's Muslims who are the victims of white Christian violence, that is not considered “terrorism” by our news media standards

I didn't hear anything about this incident in the Israeli news , not just that, this settler was not even arrested https://t.co/nADOB6N3nr

— ❤ Palestine (@Pales601) May 27, 2015

Israeli soldiers regularly shoot at Palestinian fisherman, and that is never reported in the West as violence.

Egyptian forces injured a Palestinian fisherman with live fire on Monday, shortly after two other Gazan fishermen were shot and injured by Israeli forces earlier in the day for allegedly leaving the designated fishing zone.

Israeli forces also reportedly opened fire on boats Sunday.

Restrictions on fishing zones off the coast of the Gaza Strip have been heavily enforced by Israeli forces as part of a blockade imposed on the strip since 2006, as forces repeatedly opened fire on Palestinians on land and at sea, confiscated fishing boats and equipment, and detained fishermen.

March alone witnessed a total of 35 incidents of shootings and incursions into the coastal enclave according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.

Israel agreed to expand the fishing zone off Gaza's coast as part of last summer's ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant groups, however fishermen are regularly prevented from fishing within the agreed limits.

It is only when Palestinians retaliate that the media pays attention.

In contrast to The Guardian reporting that “The region has been largely quiet since an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that halted seven weeks of fighting” Ma'an News Agency reports that

Tuesday's rocket was the third fired from Gaza since the ceasefire, in addition to two mortar bombs reportedly fired at Israel since September, according to the Shin Bet internal security agency.

The UN Special Coordinator (UNSCO) released a report Monday saying the ceasefire that ended the latest war remains "perilously fragile."

While Palestinian armed groups have test-fired around 150 rockets into the sea, Israeli forces have carried out a range of military incursions into the coastal enclave, including two air strikes, the report said.

Gaza-based Israeli watchdog Al Mezan documented Israeli forces opening fire in the border areas inside of the Gaza Strip six separate times during the first ten days of May, leaving four injured including one child.

Wednesday's air strike was the third since the end of the 2014 war.

While Israel is bombing Gaza there is another war that is being talked about, a summer war in Lebanon against Hezbollah, possibly to strike a death blow to the Iran nuclear deal being reached by the P5 + 1

Trita Parsi, President of the National Iranian American Council just wrote in Huffington Post that

There are signs Israel may be at war again this summer. This time, not with Hamas in Gaza but with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Such a war may be the result not only of spillover from the Syrian war or ongoing Israeli-Hezbollah tensions. The deciding factor may be an Israeli calculation that war will shift momentum in the U.S. Congress decisively against the pending nuclear deal with Iran -- a deal that critics say will increase Iran's maneuverability in the region, including its support for Hezbollah.

In spite of AIPAC, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Saudis and some of its GCC allies having done everything they could to kill the pending nuclear deal with Iran, they have failed. The negotiations are on track.

continued

a case for a war with Hezbollah has been made in Israel for the past few months. On May 12 the New York Times reported that Israeli is preparing for "what it sees as an almost inevitable next battle with Hezbollah." An Israeli official added in comments to the Times: "We will hit Hezbollah hard."

The Israelis argue that Hezbollah is engaged in a massive military buildup, and that Israel is publicizing Hezbollah's armament "to put the problem on the international agenda in case there is another conflict." According to the Israeli military, Hezbollah now has the capacity to hurl 1200 rockets a day at Israel.

Israel has been pushing this angle for several months. In February, 28 US lawmakers came to Israel's aid and wrote the Secretary General of the UN Ban Ki-moon,demanding that the UN stop Hezbollah from rearming. The letter accused the UN of failing to enforce resolutions, including one that requires the "disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias."

Then I saw (via Uprooted Palestinians) that Press TV reported on a conference in Beirut of Islamic Scholars aiming to unite against Israeli aggression

Islamic scholars from around the globe participating in a conference in Lebanon’s capital Beirut have underlined the need for the Muslim world to unite against Israel, saying the Zionist regime has launched an open war on Muslims.

Participants, both Sunnis and Shias, at the International Union of Resistance conference in Beirut on Wednesday discussed ways to promote unity and solidarity in the Muslim world and focus on the problems facing the Islamic world. They highlighted the cultural and religious commonalities among Muslim countries and stressed the need for them to set aside their differences.

The organizer of the event, the International Union of Resistance, was formed in the Lebanese capital last year to create a unified front in the face of the Israeli threat in the strategically important region of the Middle East.

continued  

On January 8, 2015, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas called on all Islamic states to stand by the Palestinian nation in its struggles against Israeli atrocities.

We are seeing Israeli attacks against Gaza right now, and we may see another war in Lebanon, but the true goal may be broader than any stated goals.

Israel has been playing up fears about Iran's nuclear ambitions for decades, despite Iran's right to nuclear enrichment for energy, and their long history of not wanting a nuclear weapon, even at the height of the 8 year long Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

But efforts to keep the Middle East nuclear free were squandered once again as we found out when Netanyahu thanked Obama and Kerry for blocking an Egyptian proposal at the UN review conference of the Nuclear Non-proliferation treaty (NPT) (UNODA)

Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, thanked the US secretary of state, John Kerry, for blocking an Egyptian-led drive on a possible Middle East nuclear arms ban at a United Nations conference, an Israeli official said on Saturday.

continued

A month-long review conference on the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) ended in failure on Friday, over disagreements on the issue of a Middle East atomic weapons ban. Washington blamed the failure on Egypt, which in turn blamed the US, British and Canadian delegations.

Netanyahu spoke with Kerry “to convey his appreciation to President Obama and to the secretary”, a senior Israeli official said on condition of anonymity.

“The United States kept its commitment to Israel by preventing a Middle East resolution that would single out Israel and ignore its security interests and the threats posed to it by an increasingly turbulent Middle East,” the official added.

Israel also thanked Britain and Canada for joining the US in blocking consensus at the conference, the official said.

Last month, Egypt, backed by other Arab and non-aligned states, proposed that the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, convene within 180 days a regional conference on banning weapons of mass destruction (WMD) as called for at the 2010 NPT review meeting.

Ban voiced disappointment that NPT parties were “unable to narrow their differences on the future of nuclear disarmament or to arrive at a new collective vision on how to achieve a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction (WMD)”.

According to Egypt’s proposal the conference could take place with or without Israel’s participation, and could be held without agreement on an agenda or discussion of regional security issues – two of Israel’s conditions for participating.

Israel neither confirms nor denies the widespread assumption that it controls the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal. Israel, which has never joined the NPT, agreed to take part in the review meeting as an observer, ending a 20-year absence.

The call for a 2012 conference on a regional WMD ban, approved at the 2010 NPT review meeting, infuriated Israel, though it eventually agreed to attend planning meetings. The 2012 conference never took place, which annoyed Egypt and other Arab states. Egypt’s proposals, western diplomats say, were aimed at pressuring Israel.

Washington and Israel say Iran’s nuclear programme is the real regional threat.

Iran says its programme is peaceful. It is negotiating with world powers to curb it in exchange for lifting sanctions.

Israel has said it would consider joining the NPT only once at peace with its Arab neighbours and Iran.

But according to The Forward, quoted by Lobelog, while Israeli political leaders are "worrying" about a nuclear Iran, IDF fears Hezbollah more, showing more signs of agreement with Trita Parsi's reporting that there are rumors of a war in Lebanon this summer.

one key group of experts doesn’t buy into that threat assessment: namely, the heads of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

The Forward’s J.J. Goldberg reported on Tuesday that:

Israel’s military General Staff and intelligence services are in the midst of a series of formal discussions focused on just the opposite assumption: the likelihood that the emerging nuclear agreement between Iran and the major powers could minimize the Iranian threat for an extended period, allowing the military to redirect budgets and resources toward areas of more immediate concern. The discussions are chaired by the deputy chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Major General Yair Golan, under the supervision of the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Gadi Eizenkot.

And what does keep the IDF awake at night? “[The] likelihood of renewed flare-ups within the next few years with the heavily armed Islamist militias on Israel’s northern and southern borders, Hezbollah and Hamas,” reports Goldberg.

What keeps me up at night is Israeli and American misguided foreign policy that creates the enemies it tells us to fear.... 

News from Palestine

Human Rights Watch

The ICC treaty officially went into effect for Palestine on April 1, 2015, giving the court a mandate dating back to June 13, 2014, over serious crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on or from Palestinian territory.

continued

On January 2, 2015, Palestinian authorities transmitted a copy of Palestine’s ICC accession instrument to the United Nations Secretariat. As depository for the ICC treaty, the UN secretary-general officially accepted the document on January 6 and circulated a notification indicating that Palestine would formally become an ICC state party on April 1, making it the 123rd member of the court. On January 1, the Palestinian government had also lodged a declaration, giving the court a mandate back to June 13, 2014, to cover the 2014 conflict in Gaza.

Muftah

The United Nations Office on the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) published its latest report on humanitarian figures from the West Bank and Gaza.

Here is the most recent weekly report.

For more follow my list on Twitter

Israel elections and Netanyahu

Why Netanyahu called elections

Netanyahu complained that the current government was imposed on him and therefore it has been unable to carry out its tasks.

He claimed that Lapid has opposed the government's decisions to build in Jewish neighbourhoods in Jerusalem, recognise Israel as the state for Jewish people, and the fight against terrorism. He accused Livni of violating a security cabinet decision by meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as well as opposing the Jewish state law.

Israel elections are not over tonight

Coalition building begins after elections

President Rivlin said to be eyeing unity government

Though voting has ended, the true political game begins now, as Herzog and Netanyahu vie for the support of smaller parties to back them for the position of prime minister while sources close to Rivlin say he will vie for unity government.

#IsraelElections

My Twitter List on Israel/Palestine

Ynet Guide to Elections

Israeli Government guide to elections


Netanyahu's victory tweet

Retweet in support of an undivided Jerusalem!
— בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) March 17, 2015

While denying a Palestinian state Netanyahu insists upon Arab recognition of Israel as a Jewish state

He said the two ministers defied his own policies, including his stances regarding the “Iranian nuclear file,” in addition to opposing him on main issues, such as his insistent of a Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish State, his settlement construction agenda, and the construction of settlements in occupied Jerusalem.

Palestinians: Netanyahu's win forces us to intensify diplomatic offensive

"It is clear that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will form the next government, so we say clearly that we will go to the International Criminal Court in the Hague and we will speed up, pursue and intensify" all diplomatic efforts, chief negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP.

And on Face the Nation I noticed this (emphasis mine)

Did Netanyahu admit to STUXNET?

SCHIEFFER: Let me read you a tweet that the White House called -- sent out last week calling attention to an article by Fareed Zakaria on why he said your predictions have been wrong for 25 years. Were you offended by that?

NETANYAHU: Well, the reason I have been warning for 25 years is because Iran has been trying to get to the bomb. And if we hadn't acted, I and President Obama and Congress and others, if we hadn't acted in these intervening years, Iran would have had the nuclear weapon a long time ago.

And if we don't, if we let our guard down, if we had let our guard down, then Iran would have had the weapon. If we let our guard down now, it will have the weapon.

Microsoft fixes STUXNET.....5 years later

Stuxnet malware, a sophisticated cyber-espionage malware allegedly developed by the US Intelligence and Israeli government together, was specially designed to sabotage the Iranian nuclear facilities a few years ago. First uncovered in 2010, Stuxnet targeted computers by exploiting vulnerabilities in Windows systems.

Thankfully, Microsoft has issued a patch to protect its Windows machines that have been left vulnerable to Stuxnet and other similar attacks for the past five years.

Leak investigation stalled  (see also Petraeus) 

A criminal leak investigation into a top military official has stalled out of concern it could force US officials to confirm joint US-Israeli involvement behind the Stuxnet worm that targeted Iran's nuclear program, according to a media report published Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors have been investigating whether retired Marine Gen. James E. "Hoss" Cartwright leaked highly sensitive information to New York Times reporter David Sanger.

Palestinian Authority ends security cooperation with Israel

Gaza blockade undermining living conditions

Update on Israeli airstrike in Syria

Yesterday I wrote about the latest Israeli airstrike in Syria, attacking the Golan Heights city of Quneitra again.  Today we are getting more information about who was killed.

PressTV

Hezbollah statement

Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah confirmed the death of six fighters in the new Israeli airstrike on the southwestern strategic Syrian city of Quneitra.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Hezbollah said 25-year-old Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of slain Hezbollah top commander Imad Mughniyeh, and five other fighters lost their lives in the fresh Israeli aerial assault against Syria.

Hezbollah identified the other victims as Mohammad Issa,42, Abbas Ibrahim Hijazi, 35, Mohammad Ali Hasan Abu al-Hasan, 29, Ghazi Ali Dawi, 26, and Ali Hasan Ibrahim, 21.

The martyrs were reportedly on a field reconnaissance mission in Quneitra when an Israeli military helicopter targeted their vehicle.

continued

The Israeli military has so far declined comment on the attack.

Press TV reported that the Israeli military has gone on high alert for the fear of a possible Hezbollah response to the regime’s new act of aggression.

Analysts believe the new Israeli assault is yet another attempt by Tel Aviv to change the balance of war in favor of the Takfiri militants fighting against Syria.

The new Israeli aerial raid comes as Syrian soldiers, backed by Hezbollah resistance fighters, have made numerous gains against the militants operating in Quneitra.

The Tel Aviv regime has carried out several airstrikes in Syria since the start of the nearly four-year-old foreign-sponsored militancy there.

Damascus says Tel Aviv and its Western allies are aiding the extremist terror groups operating inside Syria since March 2011.

The Syrian army has repeatedly seized huge quantities of Israeli-made weapons and advanced military equipment from the foreign-backed militants inside the Arab state.

GlobalPost

Jihad Mughniyah's father, Imad, is thought to have masterminded some of Hezbollah’s deadliest attacks, and was once one of America’s most-wanted terrorists. His operations included the bombing of a French and US Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, the kidnapping of Western hostages in Lebanon throughout the 1980s and an attack on a synagogue in Argentina in 1994.

He was assassinated in Damascus in 2008. Hezbollah, Syria and Iran blamed Israel.

For at least the past two years, Hezbollah has fought on the side of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in the country’s brutal civil war. Hezbollah’s involvement in the war has seen Syrian jihadist groups strike back in Lebanon, targeting Lebanese civilians in bomb attacks.

continued

Israel has carried out a number of strikes in Syria since the war began, often claiming to have been targeting weaponry that it said was bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The latest strike comes just days after Nasrallah warned Israel that his fighters would respond to any further attacks by Israel.

Tweets

2013 Picture of Jihad Mughnieh who was reportedly killed in #Syria today with head of #Iran's Qods force Soleimani pic.twitter.com/9GWc3BfnLi

— Golnaz Esfandiari (@GEsfandiari) January 18, 2015

#Hezbollah: Jihad Mughniyeh killed #Israel strike #Syria. File pic w/ #Iran Qods Force commander. Was 2nd gen leader. pic.twitter.com/iC3gTaML9h

— Robin Wright (@wrightr) January 18, 2015

Breaking News, Israeli Jets Strike Golan

Israeli jets bombed the Golan Heights again.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: An Israeli helicopter carried out a strike Sunday against "terrorists" in the Syrian sector of the Golan Heights who were allegedly preparing an attack on Israel, an Israeli security source said.

The source told AFP the strike took place near Quneitra, close to the cease-fire line separating the Syrian part of the Golan Heights from the Israeli-occupied sector, confirming a report by Al-Manar television.

The report had said that an Israeli helicopter fired two missiles in the Syrian province of Quneitra near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

It did not specify the target of the strike in the area, called Amal Farms. The Israeli military declined comment and Syrian state media did not mention the attack.

I wrote about earlier attacks here and here.

Meanwhile IDF on Twitter is distracting you.

Only the Air Force technical team can give a #pilot permission to take off. #SafetyFirst! #MyWorkPlace pic.twitter.com/M4GU4xiTsG

— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) January 18, 2015

ICC Takes First steps ininvestigating Israel's War Crimes in Palestine

On Friday January 16 the International Criminal Court opened a preliminary investigation into war crimes committed by Israel in Palestine, including East Jerusalem, since June 13, 2014.  This is a welcome move, but it is a first step towards a first step

A preliminary examination is not an investigation but a process of examining the information available in order to reach a fully informed determination on whether there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation pursuant to the criteria established by the Rome Statute.

I will have more to say later. 

What is being left out of the Charlie Hebdo discussion

I try to point out what is not being mentioned in the media.

There is a typical cycle of how breaking news  is covered especially when it is a terrorist attack or mass shooting. (**Side note is that mass shootings by white Christian males are somehow not considered terrorist attacks, no matter how many they kill, and Muslim attackers are always "terrorists" no matter how few they kill).  There is the report of breaking news, shots fired or a bomb explodes. We look for suspects, motives, and maybe some context to larger issues, like with the attack in France and a link to Al Qaeda in Yemen and ISIS in Iraq and Syria.  We learn about the victims, and politicians and world leaders express outrage and pledge resilience and retaliation (because violence apparently always solves violence, and doing the same thing before is always better than addressing legitimate grievances wink wink).

What gets ignored by most is the larger history of the conflict, just as with Israel and Gaza this summer everything was "fine" until 3 Israeli teens were kidnapped for "no apparent reason."

So let's examine quickly 2 pieces of history that can reflect on France and its relationship with Jews and Muslims.  (I wrote a quick list here in French).

One of the first major events of the modern Middle East was the invasion of Egypt by Napoleon in 1798.

Daily Caller

Counter Currents I agree with this and we make the same arguments.

Op-ed News

A key moment that finally lead a young Austrian journalist named Theodore Herzl to work to create a Jewish State was the Dreyfus Affair, which has gotten some attention.

Je Suis Dreyfus?

Express article is about Roman Polanski, who is incidentally making a movie about Dreyfus.

Jewish Exponent History of Jews in France

Huffington Post

New York Times letter to the editor by Daniel N. Swartz, who writes that France has consistently failed to protect its Jews.

Obama takes action on Israel, but it's not sanctions

**Breaking News Update

This update is regarding a law Knesset passed on December 8 about African refugees in Israel, mainly from Sudan and Eritrea.  The bill refers to them as "work infiltrators" much like the American discussion around migrants and refugees from Mexico and Latin America.

From Association for Civil Rights in Israel

Update: On December 18, the High Court of Justice issued a temporary injunction to prevent the implementation of the law. Accordingly, no new asylum seekers can be sent to the Holot detention facility. The state has until December 28 to lodge a formal response.

Statement from Hotline for Refugees and Migrants

Israeli Human Rights Organizations Appeal against the Newest Anti-Infiltration Law: “The Government is Continuing to ignore and mock the High Court of Justice”

A collection of human rights organizations submitted an expedited legal petition to the High Court of Justice calling for the invalidation of the latest amendment to the Anti-Infiltration Law, and for an interim order to delay the implementation of the law with regards to those who are yet to be summoned to the Holot Detention Facility. The petition was submitted to the court this morning (December 18, 2014)

The law mandates 20 months of detention without trial for asylum-seekers. They'll be torn from their lives in Israel & sent to detention.
— HRM Israel (@HRMIsrael) December 21, 2014

The Guardian posted an article featuring interviews with refugees filmed in April

we heard fresh accounts of many former Holot detainees having decided to return to East Africa out of despair only to be arrested by state authorities upon their arrival. They are then either imprisoned for treason or disloyalty for initially fleeing the country, or simply disappear without trace.

All of the detainees have lived in Israel for at least five years. Many own businesses and speak fluent Hebrew; some are orphans who have just graduated from Israeli high school. Their visible frustration at finding themselves in this situation is understandable. 

Shortly after we visited more than 800 men marched out of Holot and through the desert in the searing heat towards the Egyptian border. They demanded to be recognised as refugees released from the facility, issuing the following statement: “We have made a commitment to keep on struggling for our basic rights and we will never give up, justice and equality will last forever.”

And now back to the main article

Republicans claim that Obama hates Israel, responding angrily to even the possibility that Obama might sanction Israel over more illegal settlement building

The stories prompted an outcry from congressional Republicans.

“Recent reports suggest that your administration has held classified meetings over the past several weeks to discuss the possibility of imposing sanctions against Israel for its decision to construct homes in East Jerusalem,” said a letter sent Friday by 48 members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Israel is one of our strongest allies, and the mere notion that the administration would unilaterally impose sanctions against Israel is not only unwise, but is extremely worrisome.”

It turns out that Obama is not sanctioning Israel, but Obama did take action on Israel.

On Friday Obama did however sign into law S. 2673, the United States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2014.  The bill started during the summer war in Gaza.  Here is Senator Boxer introducing the bill to the Senate on August 1. (Rep Ros-Lehtinen introduced the original bill in the House in 2012)

We have a bill, Senator BLUNT and I, and it has 81 cosponsors on it. It is the Israeli American strategic partnership act, and it will send a strong signal today that we stand with Israel. We want peace. We want justice. We want a good life for the Israelis and the Palestinian people. But you cannot do it when you have a terrorist organization running, in essence, the Gaza Strip.

continued

this bill authorizes $200 million in the value of U.S. weapons sales in Israel to a total of $1.8 billion. It is a stockpile that is intended to be used by U.S. forces, but in event of emergency, Israel can tap that. And, my God, this is an emergency. It is so critical. In fact, just last week the United States provided Israel with ammunition from the stockpile after Israel requested help to replace its depleted supplies. We shouldn't be waiting another hour to pass this, and here we are as the clock ticks down and we go off on our break and as my friend knows, this bill doesn't cost one slim dime—not one slim dime—not one penny. It is such a signal to Israel that we stand with her. It also has an energy section where we help Israel develop her natural gas supplies to become energy independent.

Keep in mind why this language from Congress is important. We learned in September 2013 from Snowden documents that NSA shares raw data with Israel as outlined in a March 2009 agreement published by the Guardian. (WashingtonBlog wrote that the revelation “Implies NSA May Be Putting Israel’s Security Ahead of America’s”)

The National Security Agency routinely shares raw intelligence data with Israel without first sifting it to remove information about US citizens, a top-secret document provided to the Guardian by whistleblower Edward Snowden reveals.

Israel is allowed to receive "raw Sigint" – signal intelligence. The memorandum says: "Raw Sigint includes, but is not limited to, unevaluated and unminimized transcripts, gists, facsimiles, telex, voice and Digital Network Intelligence metadata and content."

According to the agreement, the intelligence being shared would not be filtered in advance by NSA analysts to remove US communications. "NSA routinely sends ISNU [the Israeli Sigint National Unit] minimized and unminimized raw collection"

The memorandum of understanding, which the Guardian is publishing in full, allows Israel to retain "any files containing the identities of US persons" for up to a year. The agreement requests only that the Israelis should consult the NSA's special liaison adviser when such data is found.

Notably, a much stricter rule was set for US government communications found in the raw intelligence. The Israelis were required to "destroy upon recognition" any communication "that is either to or from an official of the US government". Such communications included those of "officials of the executive branch (including the White House, cabinet departments, and independent agencies), the US House of Representatives and Senate (member and staff) and the US federal court system (including, but not limited to, the supreme court)".

While Israel is a US strategic partner in military and intelligence matters, Israel is also a target of US intelligence  

Although Israel is one of America's closest allies, it is not one of the inner core of countries involved in surveillance sharing with the US - Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. This group is collectively known as Five Eyes.

The relationship between the US and Israel has been strained at times, both diplomatically and in terms of intelligence. In the top-secret 2013 intelligence community budget request, details of which were disclosed by the Washington Post, Israel is identified alongside Iran and China as a target for US cyberattacks.

And now we can go back to Obama's press release after signing the bill, saying (emphasis mine)

underscores the United States unshakeable [sic] commitment to Israel's security and its future. This bipartisan piece of legislation reflects the importance placed by my Administration on strengthening and deepening U.S.-Israel bilateral cooperation and ties. It reinforces critical defense and security programs, which have reached an unprecedented level under my Administration.  It also lays the groundwork for increased trade and cooperation across a range of cutting-edge fields, including energy, water, agriculture, and technology.  Sections 11(b) and 12(c)(2) of this bill purport to require me to provide to the Congress certain diplomatic communications and direct the Secretary of State to undertake certain diplomatic initiatives.  Consistent with longstanding constitutional practice, my Administration will interpret and implement these sections in a manner that does not interfere with my constitutional authority to conduct diplomacy and to protect the confidentiality of diplomatic communications.

Here are some key sections as summarized by CRS of the most recent version that

Passed House without amendment (12/03/2014)

(This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the Senate on September 18, 2014. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Section 7

Authorizes the President to:(1) share and exchange with Israel research, technology, intelligence, information, equipment, and personnel that will advance U.S. national security interests; and(2) enhance U.S.-Israel scientific cooperation.

Authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to enter into cooperative research pilot programs with Israel to enhance Israel's capabilities in: (1) border, maritime, and aviation security; (2) explosives detection; and (3) emergency services.

(Sec. 11) Requires any certification that a sale or export of major defense equipment to a country in the Middle East will not adversely affect Israel's qualitative military edge to include:

• an explanation of Israel's capacity to address the improved capabilities provided by the sale or export;

• an evaluation of how the sale or export alters the regional strategic and tactical balance;

• an identification of any new capacity or training that Israel may require to address the regional or country-specific capabilities provided by such sale or export; and

• a description of any additional U.S. security assurances to Israel made, or requested to be made, in connection with the sale or export.

Despite Obama administration officials anonymously calling Netanyahu names to Jeffrey Goldberg and shaking their head at illegal settlement building, Obama is silent on even the possibility of sanctions.  (see also Richard Silverstein's post here).

Christian Science Monitor reports that instead of sanctions other actions may be taken.

According to those unnamed officials: "For example, the United States may refrain from vetoing condemnatory resolutions against the settlements in the UN Security Council. Or it could issue clearer instructions to American officials about the ban on cooperating with the settlements or funding activity in them."

continued

just a year ago, Obama's White House was campaigning vigorously against a European Union plan to outlaw funding to Israeli settlement groups.

The US has been a steady funder of Israel since the country's independence. Since 1996 alone, the US has given $50 billion to Israel, most of that military aid. The earmark for this year was over $3 billion.

Reductions and delays in such aid have been rare in modern US history. You have to go back to Ronald Reagan, who halted delivery of cluster munitions to Israel between 1982 and 1988 for the last major step to curtail military aid (Reagan acted over concerns the munitions were being used illegally in the war in Lebanon). The last US financial rebuke to Israel was under President George H. W. Bush, who delayed the provision of loan guarantees to Israel in 1991 contingent on a freeze in settlement expansion. The following year the government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin agreed to a freeze. The loan guarantees were delivered, though settlement expansion continued.

In spite of Obama's reluctance to impose sanctions against Israel generally, in 2011 the State Department did sanction

a leading Israeli company, Ofer Brothers Group, for activities supporting Iran’s energy sector.

While the State Department’s decision caused Israel considerable embarrassment, it was the timing that created the greatest stir. It came soon after Mr. Netanyahu’s friction with Mr. Obama over using the 1967 borders as a basis for solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

continued

According to the State Department, the Ofer Brothers Group and its Singapore-based subsidiary, Tanker Pacific, are being sanctioned along with Associated Shipbroking of Monaco for their roles in a September 2010 transaction that provided a tanker valued at $8.65 million to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines.

The shipping company has been cited by the United States and the European Union for its role in supporting Iran’s proliferation activities. Deputy Secretary of State James B. Steinberg told reporters in Washington that “Iran uses revenues from its energy sector to fund its nuclear program, as well as to mask procurement of dual-use items.”

The State Department determined that Tanker Pacific and Ofer Brothers Group “failed to exercise due diligence and did not heed publicly available and easily obtainable information” that would have indicated that they were dealing with the Iranians. As a result, the two companies are barred from security financing from the Export-Import Bank of the United States, from obtaining loans over $10 million from American financial institutions and from receiving United States export licenses, the State Department said.

While sanctioning one business for violating sanctions against Iran is a good step (issues of sanctions against Iran aside), Obama should take a stronger stand against Israel's actions instead of just shaking their heads and calling each other names and diplomatic statements like Obama

remained concerned about the settlement construction and had made that frustration "known very clearly" to the government of Israel.

Obama can take some advice from his Republican predecessors, normally seen by Republicans as great friends of Israel regardless of their actual records, including George W. Bush, who [among other amazing examples pointed out here by NJDC]

made the explicit threat to withhold loan guarantees from the Israelis due to the expansion of their “security fence” deep into Palestinian territory.

as Zaid Jilani pointed out in 2010 when Republicans were again outraged at Obama (because when are they not angry at him) when Obama envoy George Mitchell suggested that loan guarantees could be withheld (sort of the threat of a threat) in order to pressure Israel in the peace process.


Eisenhower threatened sanctions twice against Israel which were effective in changing behavior. 

Finally, it was the threat of sanctions that forced Israel in March 1957 to withdraw. Eisenhower threatened that the US would cut off all private assistance to Israel, which amounted to $40 million in tax-deductible donations and $60 million annually in the purchase of bonds. He would also terminate shipments of agricultural products and all military assistance, including deals already in the pipeline. He canceled export licenses for the shipment of munitions or other military goods. The threat of sanctions in the form of a resolution to the UN requiring the termination of all aid to Israel by UN members if it failed to withdraw was also decisive. Similarly, to force the British to pull out, the US administration withheld financial aid and applied an embargo on American oil.

Not the first time

In January 1952 the Truman administration threatened to withhold economic assistance if Israel did not replace its guards along the Jordan river, who were known to be particularly violent, and Israel complied. In 1953, Israel began to construct a canal near the B’not Yaakov bridge which would divert water from the Jordan river into Israel. The canal was being constructed in a demilitarized zone, and violated the armistice agreements. Israel had done something similar in 1951 when it drained another lake that was part of the Jordan River system, and was also in the demilitarized zone. In October 14-15 of 1953, Israel raided the Jordanian village of Kibya. This seemed to be the last straw for the Eisenhower administration. The UN Security Council strongly condemned Israel for the Kibya raid (with no veto by the US) and the State Department confirmed publicly they had suspended the $26 million of allocated Mutual Security Act funds. Israel then agreed to stop work on the diversion canal, and the US approved payment of the funds that were suspended.

The Institute for Historical Review in 1996 compared Eisenhower's actions towards Israel with Kissinger's later diplomacy  and looks at some of the possible consequences that resulted from Kissinger's leniency towards Israel.

Kissinger's policy was prohibitively costly to the United States. By making Israel the military superpower of the region, the Kissinger policy also led to tragic events. These included Israel's bloody 1982 invasion of Lebanon, an action based on its new arrogance of power stemming from US-supplied weaponry. Even graver, however, was the fact that Israel was allowed by Washington to continue its occupation and settlement of Jordanian and Syrian land. This occurred during the same period that the United States became Israel's major patron and supporter starting in the 1970s under President Richard M. Nixon and Kissinger.

The dramatic increase of US aid while Israel violated official US policy against military occupation was a declaration to the world that where the Jewish state was concerned politics outweighed principle. These events led to the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. Yigal Amir, the murderer, was one of the Jewish fanatics who emerged during the long occupation and were dedicated to retaining the occupied territories. Had Kissinger, like Ike, driven Israel off the occupied land, Amir's motive for the assassination would never have existed. The occupation would not have lasted nearly three decades and the extremist cult devoted to keeping the land that began growing strong in Israel in the 1970s would not have come into being.

Reagan actually followed through on threats as Jim White pointed out during the war in Gaza last summer when he asked if Obama would show the courage that Reagan did

Questions raised regarding the use of U.S.-supplied military equipment by Israel in Lebanon in June and July 1982, led the Reagan Administration to determine on July 15, 1982, that Israel “may” have violated its July 23, 1952, Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement with the United States (TIAS 2675). Concerns centered on whether or not Israel had used U.S.-supplied anti-personnel cluster bombs against civilian targets during its military operations in Lebanon and the siege of Beirut.

continued

On July 19, 1982, the Reagan Administration announced that it would prohibit new exports of cluster bombs to Israel. This prohibition was lifted by the Reagan Administration in November 1988"

Syria recently called for sanctions against Israel after Israel ("allegedly") bombed Damascus Airport and Dimas, a neighborhood near Damascus.  (Richard Silverstein says "This would make at least the sixth Israeli invasion of Syrian territorial sovereignty to attack military-security targets.")

Syria on Monday called for U.N. sanctions against Israel over alleged airstrikes on Syrian soil, including one that struck the Damascus International Airport on Sunday.

Muallem made the comments at a joint press conference with Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif, who echoed his sentiments.

Russia, which along with Iran is the Syrian regime’s chief international backer, demanded an explanation from Israel on Monday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement that Russia was “deeply concerned about this dangerous development, which requires a detailed investigation."

This week saw the beginning of a new relationship with Cuba after the 50-plus year embargo and assassination attempts failed to bring about the changes we wanted to see in Cuba. Maybe it's time we rethink how "successful" our relationship with Israel has been and maybe back up our anonymous name-calling and diplomatic statements such as

"remained concerned about the settlement construction and had made that frustration "known very clearly"

with sanctions against illegal activity, or even threats of sanctions which have also been effective when shown to be real threats of action.