To the list of Israel’s deliberate attacks on civilians must be added this brilliant report by Lia Tarachansky from Nablus on Israeli assassinations in December of three Palestinians–"three terrorists"– who Israel said were responsible for the recent killing of a settler (and that killing was a Palestinian reprisal for settlers torching a mosque).
Note Tarachansky’s exploration below of why two of these Palestinian "terrorists" were selected for an illegal procedure, assassination. The rationale seems very flimsy indeed, and recalls the flimsy connections that Israel made in Gaza in seeking to justify killings there.
Tarachansky: In the government press release, the Israeli army explained the reason for Raed Sarkaji’s death was that he was once imprisoned by Israel and that he was an activist with Fatah Tanzim [second intifada group] in the past. For his alleged involvement with the group, Sarkaji was jailed for six and a half years, followed by an extra six months of military detention, and was reportedly interrogated for 140 days. When asked whether her husband was indeed involved in the Al-Aqsa Brigade, Tahani said that after being released last year, Raed was trying to get hired by the Palestinian Authority.
WIDOW TAHANI SARKAJI: Then the soldier said, "Where’s his M-16? Where is it?" And I said, "I don’t know. Aren’t you searching the house? He doesn’t have one. Look around, fish around, explode the house if you have to, but you won’t find a gun in here, because my husband did not have a gun."
TARACHANSKY: The Israeli press release said that soldiers gave the three men the opportunity to surrender and that they didn’t. This, however, directly contradicts the testimonies of the witnesses. The Real News also spoke to Abu Sharkh, the mother of Ghassan Abu Sharkh, who was also assassinated that night. The only reason the army gave for targeting him was that he was the brother of Nayef Abu Sharkh, a militant the Israeli army assassinated in 2004.
So, Philip, let’s be blunt here and state the obvious, shall we?
Israeli forces murdered these men for the same reason they murdered so many children in Gaza last year; in their world view every Palestinian regardless of age or affiliation is a terrorist. He may not be a terrorist today or tomorrow, but one day, he will.
What was it Rabbi Ovadiya Yosef once said? He said “The only good Arab is a dead Arab”.
As for the guns they claimed to find, everyone knows how cops always carry a drop gun to leave at the scene when they kill an unarmed suspect.
And there will be no investigation, no judgment.
Anyone who still believes in a “two state solution” should see this as an example of how Israel will honor Palestinian sovereignty in the Bantustans-to-come. Nablus is is Area A, supposedly under Palestinian jurisdiction. The Palestinian police were on the job, investigating the murder, arresting suspects. But the IDF just had no choice but to take revenge personally after a Jew was killed.
Exactly. Israel does not respect Lebanon’s sovereignty or internationally recognized borders. Daily incursions into Lebanese land, air and sea are common.
Ergo, any Palestinian state, regardless of its shape or form, will never be sovereign.
International Law has no bearing on Israel. Period. Everyone might as well accept it and go from there instead of debating historical revisionists like Dick Witt.
Avi, Palestinian Authority Muslims are taught murdering Jews is the highest goal in life and attains paradise:
link to pmw.org.il
Baruch,
I don’t blame you if the view from your Brooklyn apartment seems a little cloudy and gray today.
But, as someone who was born and raised in Israel. And as someone who works on a daily basis with Palestinian human rights organizations and other internationally renowned NGOs, I must say, you’re clueless at best and a bigoted dim bulb at worse.
Heal thyself. It’s going to take considerable effort on your part. You’re not worth my time.
Avi, One day after the Ramallah lynching of two Israelis, Ahmad Abu Halabiya, a member of the PA-appointed Fatwa Council, called on listeners to find and butcher Jews “no matter where they are, in any country. Fight them, wherever you are. Wherever you meet them, kill them.” link to world.std.com
Avi, I know your radical but do you realize how insane you are.
This is who you support?
PA Defends Right to Publicly Honor Terrorists
Hana Levi Julian
1/15/10
The Palestinian Authority government is defending its practice of honoring terrorists who murder Israelis by naming public places and events in their honor.
A city square in Ramallah was recently named after Dalal Mughrabi, the lead terrorist in a murderous attack on an Israeli bus traveling on the Coastal Road during the 1970s. Mughrabi, who was killed during the incident, led a team of several other terrorists in murdering 37 Israelis after hijacking the bus in 1978.
You forgot to blame me for global warming. tsk tsk tsk…..you’re slipping.
Baruch, you forget to mention that Israel not only rewards its terrorists but has national holidays for them.
And names streets after them.
Report the troll, Baruch Rosen. Julian as well. Just write Phil or Adam. This is getting ridiculous.
I mean, they even RE-POST their ZioGarbage, after we refute them.
Lunchbox posted the PA-Honors-Terrorists article in a previous thread.
I’m sure Julian has done it before, as Nomi999 or w/e did and as I’m sure Chris Barrel, yonira, etc. have.
Cliff, you are a child.
Someone doesn’t agree with you and you automatically think they need to be silenced. its fucking ridiculous. Surprised you didn’t call them Nazis.
Avi, the International community condemmed Israel for arresting Eichmman in 1960.
They said Israel had no right to kidnap Eichmann from Argentina.
All the Arab countries supported this.
Avi was probably like, how dare Israel arrest this peaceful Eichmann?
Lia Tarachansky if she would have been around in 1960, would have made it like Eichmann was an innocent victim.
The international community condemmed Israel for the Entebee rescue?
Avi was probably like how dare Jews try to rescue their people against terrorists.
The International community condemmed Israel for bombing Iraq’s nuclear facility in 81.
Avi was probably like how dare Jews try to rescue their people against terrorists.
Who’s “their”, numb nuts?
Do you even know what you’re spouting?
And since when does Israel represent world Jewry?
I’m an Israeli. I think I have the right to criticize my own country. Whereas you, ROSEN, well……
nu-uh, I remember it well: Israel was praised to the heavens by the “international community” for trying Eichmann. The old news reels ran again and again.
Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim Madi, a Palestinian Authority religious leader: “We will blow them up in Hadera, we will blow them up in Tel-Aviv”
“We will blow them up in Hadera, we will blow them up in Tel-Aviv and in Netanya… We will fight against them and rule over them until the Jew will hide behind the trees and stones and the tree and stone will say: ‘Moslem! Servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, kill him’. We will enter Jerusalem as conquerors, and Jaffa as conquerors, and Haifa as conquerors and Ashkelon as conquerors….”
[Preacher Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim Madi, PATV, 3 August 2001] link to freeman.org
Chabad rabbi: Jews should kill Arab men, women and children during war
link to haaretz.com
IDF Chief Rabbi: Troops who show mercy to enemy will be ‘damned’
link to haaretz.com
And that’s just from things that happened in the last couple years. I have endless examples of Israeli state sponsored actors making more of the same claims.
You see unlike the Palestinians, the Israelis actually fund and have the means to carry out the nasty rhetoric they preach. When Avigdor Lieberman says he has the buses ready to take the Palestinians to the dead sea for drowning he ACTUALLY has the means to do it.
When a Palestinian living under a brutal military occupation says something retarded because hes living under occupation, apartheid, and under threat of being kicked out of his home he doesn’t have the means to carry it out.
Unlike his Israeli state sponsored counter part.
An Orthodox Jewish Rabbi in the West Bank has written that it is permissible for Jews to kill Gentiles including children and babies who threaten Israel or break the commandments.
link to haaretz.com
Avi your the idiot.
A public survey conducted by the Office of Palestinian Information last week shows a solid majority of Palestinian Arabs support terrorist attacks against Israeli Jews. Nearly all of those polled said they absolutely oppose the detention of terrorists belonging to groups such as Hamas and the Palestine Islamic Jihad by PA forces. The poll
The poll was conducted among a random sampling of 1,102 Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza from August 21-28, and was reported in the Hebrew edition of the leftist Israeli daily newspaper Ha’aretz Wednesday.
Some 60.2 percent of respondents said they supported ongoing terrorist attacks against Israel, and 56 percent felt such attacks serve Palestinian “national interests.”
An overwhelming 88.8 percent opposed curbing terrorism by detaining those Palestinians responsible for the violence. Nearly 80 percent were against the PA’s recent decision to freeze contacts with Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Ha’aretz correspondent Arnon Regular noted the poll was part of a normal program used by Palestinian decision makers.
Was Washington wrong?
The results of the poll appear to strongly contradict Washington’s commonly expressed “belief” that the Palestinian public opposes terror and would support Palestinian compliance with a reasonable peace plan, the IMRA news agency noted. US President George W. Bush has on several occasions referred to the Palestinian killers of Jewish men, women and children as an outcast few who do not represent the majority of “peace-loving” Palestinians.
The poll you cited said that a small majority of Palestinians support violent resistance against Israel. Which makes sense given that its they the Palestinians who are living under a brutal military occupation.
Something which is ALOT different than most Palestinians supporting violence against Israeli civilians.
Furthermore, more than 90% of Israelis supported Operation Cast Lead, essentially a massacre. Many Israelis even sat down on hilltops and watched the IDF drop two ton bombs on civilian homes and cheered.
Baruch – “your the idiot”
It’s “you’re the idiot”, you idiot.
Avi, one has to wonder why, if the Palestinian Arabs want their own country so much, they have repeatedly turned down opportunities to have one. The reasons they give for not accepting statehood always has something to do with the statehood being offered is not as much as they want, even when it is 99% of what they have requested. Therefore, one may reasonably assume that Mazen & Co. really don’t want a sovereign nation.
So one must ask why being in limbo is of benefit to Mazen and then figure out a way to deprive him of this. Basically, the advantages come down to impunity, lack of responsibility, a parasitic existence, and money.
Because the Palestinian Arabs are not a sovereign nation, they cannot be signatories to any international law and are thus exempt. This means that their jihad training camps for 5-year olds is untouchably outside the International Law on Abuse of the Child. As is teaching hatred of Jews. As is encouraging children to go into areas of military operations and be using as human shields. As is using children, and even babies’ strollers and cribs to hide explosives.
Because the Palestinian Arabs are not a sovereign nation, they are parasitically dependent upon the largesse and good will of others for their existence. They do not have to promote a viable economy, public services, or jobs. All they have to do is riot and murder enough and the world comes rushing in with food, billions of dollars, housing, and health assistance.
Having a conflict is a goldmine for the Palestinians.
Olmert and Barak found this out.
The Palestinian Arabs also have impunity when it comes to murder and war. Nowhere in the annuls of history has any country borne such a sustained and prolonged attack as Israel and not fought back with extreme prejudice. The reason? Because the world consensus is that a group of people without an official country cannot possibly have an army and for Israel to attack them full scale would be considered a crime against humanity. Mazen and Hamas are wily enough to know that tens of thousands of well-trained, well-paid, well-equipped terrorists can operate as an army, yet with impunity, as long as he doesn’t have an official country.
Even when there is an ‘official’ truce, the Palestinians can and do continue their attacks with impunity from international sanctions. They use their lack of sovereignty as an excuse. It has become a mantra. “It’s not our fault. We cannot control everyone if we don’t have a country and therefore an official police force.”
And once the Israeli left give the Palestinians their own country.
Israel will no longer be responsible for them. And at the same time, the Palestinian Arabs will suddenly become wholly responsible for their economy, their utilities, their public assistance, their housing, and especially their behavior. This means that when the next Kassam rocket, homicide bomber or shooting attack comes from the new country of Palestinian Arabs and is directed at Israeli territory and/or citizens, Israel will now be able to consider it an official act of war and thus have a green light to destroy terrorists.
Please don’t feed the troll. it’s not worth it to engage with this character – note that his posts are getting longer, and more ubiquitous, even as the “arguments” remain as stale as an attic that hasn’t been aired since biblical times.
Dear hasbara lords – when, of when are we going to get a more venerated class 4 apologist? I think Phil’s blog has surely earned a higher level than this class 1 carpetbeggar, who seems stuck on hasbara point #1 (you suck!). At least yonira moved on to level 2 (we rock), though I must say, he is still feeling hia oats.
Just how long does it have to take to train a proper hasbarachnik?
He is getting more prolific, but I think the solution there is for banning to occur, if the trend continues, or at least some sort of limit be placed. That’s up to the blogowners.
Some people are putting up responses worth reading for their factual content. (Not mine so much, but David Samel and I think some others.)
I sometimes think the blog would be improved with fewer comments and maybe a sidebar of “Best posts”. For instance, Jerome Slater’s post today isn’t one that should just slip off the screen in a day or two. I don’t know what to do about “fewer posts” except to stop posting so much myself (it’s going to happen pretty soon), but I think the sidebar of Best Posts is a good idea and practical as well.
Great idea, Donald, but probably too time-consuming for Phil & Adam.
Baruch Rosen could very well be a paid troll under Israel’s well-publicized program to spam pro-peace websites with intellectually dishonest hasbara.
link to ynetnews.com
In any event, Baruch’s references are from sites such as MEMRI, CAMERA, JihadWatch, etc. His screeds are like nails across a chalkboard, and many of his contentions have long ago been debated and deemed illegitimate by Mondoweiss regulars.
They say don’t feed the trolls, but they appear to have an unlimited supply of home-cooked hasbara to keep them going.
I’m pretty sure it’s a tag team. Look at the timestamps. But whatever else it is, it’s spamming the site.
Whoa, Danaa! Of course, I know you only mis-numbered the hasbara points to give me a chance to post the link to that wonderful article. The hasbara points, by number, are (with examples):
1. Israel Rocks! (you like your cell phone, don’t you?)
2. Arabs Suck! (you’ve all seen Baron Munchrosen’s cut-n-paste indictment)
Now it gets more complicated,
3. You Suck! (People are dying in Haiti, and you are singling out Israel, you anti-Semite)
4. The Whole World Sucks! (So Israel is just doing what anybody else would do, doesn’t your religion have its own country… Oh, whoops, sorry)
Anyway, Gabriel explains it much better than I ever could at:
link to jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com
Donald, Oscar and Potsherd are left wing fascists are who afraid of people rebuking their lies.
To them Baruch Rosen must be lynched.
To them Baruch Rosen must be silenced the way the Arab dictators and Mullahs silence any criticism of them.
Oh shut up loser, you should be banned because you’re a troll. You just spam articles that you agree with. You then regurgitate the same refuted hasbara talking-points.
Go away.
Cliff, he’s trying to give readers Baron Munchrosens Syndrome-by-proxy!
“left-wing facists”
Gosh, Baron Munchrosen, could you explain that locution for us? I sorta thought “left-wing” and “facist” were sort of opposites, by I haven’t got a shitload of ziocaine affecting my thinking.
Anyway, could you explain it to us, or can’t it be done without spitting?
“To them Baruch Rosen must be lynched.
To them Baruch Rosen must be silenced.”
What did I say? Oh yes, alternating periods of grandiosity and whiny paranoia, wasn’t it? That ziocaine theory is looking better every day.
I’m telling you, there are physiological-chemical changes which must accompany this kind of distortion of reality.
“To them Baruch Rosen must be lynched.
To them Baruch Rosen must be silenced the way the Arab dictators and Mullahs silence any criticism of them.”
Don’t worry, Baron Munchrosen, I have reported these threats on your life to the editors. Please be ready to detail these threats as to time, date, etc.
Be assured the editors at Mondoweiss take anti-Semitic threats very seriously!
Because the Palestinian Arabs are not a sovereign nation, they are parasitically dependent upon the largesse…
For God’s sake, Baruch, this paragraph appears verbatim in more than two dozen webpages. Instead of regurgitating prepackaged Hasbara and passing it off as your own, could you please give us one original idea?